America Beyond The Color Line Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

America Beyond The Color Line - Essay Example The main idea is that falling in love can stand some attentions such as public housing, education, race, politics and social welfare. He also shows that racism is over as whites and blacks can work together as brothers and sisters and even intermarry. Through the numerous interviews, Louis Gates examined the future, past and present relationship of the black and white race. The American beyond Color Line illustrates how the African Americans struggled in order to fit in the community and how life had been changing from the past to the present and how life might be in the future by regarding the relationship between the whites and the blacks. Louis travelled to the major cities in U.S. in order to look at the role of black communities in several key sectors of the American society. In his interviews, Gates has folksy styles and friendly association with the interviewees. However, he also had various weaknesses. For instance, he was remarkably willing to release tough subjects after the brief exploration. He repeatedly presented his interview subject with a challenge, â€Å"let me play the devils advocate for a moment.† He then asks questions that might annoy the respondents. The film presents a situation of struggle among the races. It makes the audience feel the importance of social justice. From the interviews, the blacks illustrate their struggle and hopes of socializing as brothers and sisters. This can be seen from the dream of Martin Luther King. As Louis interviewed other interviewees, they explained that the Blacks and Whites were working together. Louis stated that the U.S. Army consisted of 26% blacks compared to the past where the Blacks were restricted from socializing with the Whites. Louis’ document mainly promotes diversity among the races. It illustrates how there was extreme racism in America but the situation changes with time. As he made his interviews,

Domestic Abuse Case Study

Domestic Abuse Case Study Abuse can be defined as to treat wrongfully or harmfully. There are different categories of abuse that have been recognized and within our case study there appears to be two distinct forms of abuse, domestic abuse and child abuse. These can be sub divided into terms of physical abuse, emotional /psychological abuse, and non-organic failure to thrive. Physical abuse is the intentional inflicting of physical injury or harm or deliberately not preventing harm occurring. The minimum physical signs seen in our study to both Mrs Black and James are bruising with suspect excuses for their appearance. Emotional abuse is the continual failure to meet basic emotional needs. Emotional development is stunted and well- being impaired. The emotional signs in our case study can be seen in James by his actions of being withdrawn and non-communicative. The behavioural sign to abuse taking place to James is his aggressive behaviour. The short term effects of physical abuse to James are bruising and pain. In the long term recurring injuries can result in secondary illness and complications, permanent scarring and disfigurement. His emotional effects in the short term are a fear of adults or others, withdrawal, poor relationship with his peers. The long term emotional effects for James could be low self esteem, depression, inability to form relationships. Abuse can arise for many reasons and there are a number of theoretical perspectives which may be useful in clarifying why the abuse has taken place. The Feminist perspective believes that gender and family roles gives approval to a culture of abuse. Consider the historical and stereotypical ideas of the family, with men, women and children having definite roles. With the men having power and control in the perspective of abuse. In James case he lives in a reconstituted family with the father figure being dominant and a heavy drinker. From a psychological perspective, alcohol misuse can bring mental health problems which may increase aggression in the person and so James is more at risk from abuse by his step father. The family dysfunction theory suggests that the family is not functioning due to family dynamics. The dysfunctioning family attempts to find alternative ways of coping. The relationship between the mother and James, involves a dependency of James on his mother. With other problems in James mothers life, this leads to increasing stress and the inability of his mother to cope and manage the situation within the relationship. The attachment theory state that significant separations of a child from the carer in the early years can have an effect on their emotional development and can lead to psychological and social difficulties in later life. With the loss of both his father and his sisters` father with whom he was close, may have contributed to his deterioration of his behaviour If a client begins to make a disclosure of abuse it is important to ensure privacy and confidentiality. It is necessary to show that listening skills are employed and that I remain calm and receptive. I must listen without interruption and make it clear that I am taking their disclosure seriously. I must only ask questions of clarification if I am unclear as to what the vulnerable adult is saying. It is important that I acknowledge their courage in coming forward and tell them that they are not responsible for the abuse. I must let it be known to them what I will do to help them and where possible get their consent to inform my line manager. I must speak to my client in comfortable and quiet surroundings. I would ask my client to sit down where I shall use SOLER techniques to aid in communication. Using the SOLER theory I would use the five basic components used in communication. I would sit squarely on at the table turned towards one another. I would adopt an open posture. I would s it so that we have regular but varied eye contact and that my client could see my facial expressions and gestures to aid in communication. This would also let him know that I am involved in the situation. I would lean forward slightly to convey to him that I am interested and committed to actively listen to him. This adhered to our organizations policy on Confidentiality and the Data Protection Act of 1998 allowing my client to voice his concerns without worry and protected his privacy. I would inform him that they are not responsible for the abuse. I must let it be known to him what I will do to help him and where possible get his consent to inform my line manager. It is important that I make an immediate record of what the vulnerable adult has said, using only their own words. This should be recorded in the Incident Book, clearly, accurately and legibly, and then reported to the Line Manager who is responsible for any further action. As we do not supply a care service, we are not required to register with the Care Commission, but we ensure all our policies and procedures meet their standards. As all clients under these standards are legally allowed an individualized care plan, we instead have an activity plan. The policy and procedures on abuse of our organisation are underpinned by the National Care Standards which were set up under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. This Act came about to regulate the care and social work force and set out the principals of good care practice. The Care Commission was set up under this Act to register, regulate and inspect all care services listed in the Act. It also established The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). (ref1)The SSSC has aims and objectives to protect the service users, raise standards, strengthen and support workforce professionalism. An example of the code of practice on abuse, of the SSSC is `to protect the rights and promote the interests of the service users and carers. Strive to establish and maintain trust and confidence of service users and carers. Promote the independence of service users while protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm. Respect the rights of service users and ensure that their behaviour does not harm themselves or others.` The policy for protecting vulnerable people within our organisation is achieved through the careful selection, screening, training and supervision of staff and volunteers. Under The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 a code of good practice for vulnerable adults within our organisation has been developed which expects staff or volunteers suspecting or have had abuse disclosed must immediately report the concerns to their line manager and write up an incident report. The line manager will discuss the concerns with the person reporting the abuse; she will clarify the concerns and obtain all known relevant information. This will then be forwarded to the ap propriate local Social Work Department stating that it concerns vulnerable adult protection. In the absence of a line manager the concerns should be reported directly to the local Social work department and then inform the line manager as soon as possible. The social work department after investigation may have to inform the police to investigate further.(ref2) the primary role of Registered Social Workers is the protection and promotion of the welfare of children, vulnerable adults and the promotion of the welfare of communities in accordance with the Scottish Social Services Councils Code of Practice for Social Service Workers. (ref3)The social work department will work with the police to carry out joint enquires if necessary and organise case reviews and protection conferences. The police will keep safe from harm the individual who has been subjected to abuse and may call for a medical examination. They will examine and collect evidence, interview suspects, identify offenders and arrange cases for prosecution. The GP or hospital Doctor maybe involved giving medical evidence of abuse and treating the individual. Under our code of good practice in preventing abuse it is important that I avoid unobserved situations of one -to-one contact with a vulnerable adult. I must never invite a vulnerable adult to my home; I must never offer to take a vulnerable adult alone in my own vehicle, if it is necessary to do things of a personal nature e.g. toileting, I must have the consent and knowledge of the carers and my line manager, before doing any of the above. I must not engage or allow any sexually provocative games involving or observed by vulnerable adults. I must never make or allow suggestive remarks or discrimatory comments to be made to a vulnerable adult. I must not engage in or tolerate bullying, or inappropriate physical behaviour. I must respect all vulnerable adults regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability or sexual identity. I must avoid favouritism and singling out troublemakers. I must never trivialise abuse and never let allegations of abuse go unreported, including any made aga inst myself. The policy and procedures of our organisation adhere to the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act (Scotland) 2007 by ensuring as a way of vetting and barring every volunteer and employee has undergone a Disclosure which shows any convictions. If any convictions suggest that abuse of our clients is a possibility then they would not be allowed to volunteer or be employed. Sources of support for workers in the field of preventing abuse can be provided by statutory, voluntary, and private or independent organisations. Statutory services have a distinct concern laid down by legislation e.g. social services and NHS. The voluntary sector is run on a non profit making basis and have arisen through a recognised need and reflect society`s feelings. E.g. Advocacy, Mencap. Private organisations make a profit but I am not aware of any private local organisation that supports vulnerable adults suffering abuse. Support can consist of Casework, by working on a one to one basis, by counselling again one to one, and by group work bring people together with shared issues to resolve problems together. (Ref4) Cultural values play a part in defining what is considered abusive conduct .What we in the UK consider abuse may not be considered abuse in another culture. For example, domestic abuse has only recently become abhorrent in the UK. As up until the 1970s/80s, domestic abuse was considered a marital problem and to be accepted, but today we have little tolerance for domestic abuse. But, today, ethnic minority women still run the risk of long periods of abuse and find it difficult to report, families expect women to put up with it, as ethnic women are considered their husbands property. Honour killings` are not unknown amongst ethnic minorities using religious text as justification. (Ref5)Female circumcision is another culturally accepted form of abuse, still practised in 28 countries in Africa. It is seen to control female sexuality and sex outside marriage. This is done to girls age range from 4 to 12. It usually takes place in un- hygienic conditions with potentially fatal conse quences. Sometimes, workers may have trouble accepting the motives of people who are involved in abuse. There may be the need to ask why and how can they have abused? Where they just bad or mad? Perhaps the workers values and beliefs make working with an abuser distasteful. However, a professional approach to working with an abuser must be taken. For those who work with abusers there is a need to understand why people abuse. Abusive behaviour can sometimes be the result of mental health problems, empathy deficit, brain damage or being abused themselves. By becoming the abuser they believe they are taking control, some even believe that they are not doing anything wrong and cannot stop themselves. When working with individuals who have abused it is important to be aware that they may go on to abuse again and as well as trying to treat the underlying cause for abuse their is a need to protect the community from the abuser. So, the use of risk assessments are important to keep safe when working with an abuser. ( Ref7) It is important to be able to understand probable risks and take appropriate action to reduce them. Effective communication and personal skills are useful to understand and reduce potential conflicts. Reflection on my own values and how they may affect my practice and awareness and understanding of the abusers cultural values and background is required to ensure awareness and intervention is e mployed when required. References. SSSC. (2009). Codes of Practice. Available: http://www.arcuk.org.uk/silo/files/791.pdf. Last accessed 09/02/2010. Stephen Smellie. (2005). Role of the Social Worker: Protection of Title. Available: http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/swrole2.html. Last accessed 09/02/2010 Elizabeth Bingham +. (2009). Protection including safeguarding and management of risk.. In: HNC in Social Care. Edinburgh: Heinemann. 229. Mary Barnish. (2004). Domestic Violence: A Literature Review. Available: http://www.domestic-violence-and-abuse.co.uk/information/Cultural-Differences-in-the-UK.php. Last accessed 13/02/2010. Frances A. Althaus . (1997). Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage or Violation of Rights? Available: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2313097.html. Last accessed 13/02/2010. Kathryn Patricelli. (2005). Why do people abuse?. Available: http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=docid=8482. Last accessed 13/02/2010. Elizabeth Bingham +. (2009). Issues involved in protection from abuse. In: HNC in Social Care. Edinburgh: Heinemann. 217.

Decision Support Systems Used in Network Hardware Essay -- essays rese

Decision Support Systems Used in Network Hardware How does data pass through the internet? If you said decision support systems, you are correct. In an indecisive world, network hardware devices uses decision support systems (DSS) to efficiently and effectively route data, in a local area network, with the least amount of errors and inconsistencies. Decision support systems are the brains behind network hardware, and would be near impossible for them to work without the intelligent core of each distinct DSS. There are a variety of network hardware devices: switches, hubs, and routers; and they all use algorithms/procedures to transfer data towards the correct destination. Although there are many more DSS related methods used to route traffic, this paper describes how these three devices use them and each of there functions. Other types of decision support systems that network hardware devices may use are firewall technology, network address translation, and filter tables, which are all described in this paper. Network hardware is used in the first three layers of the OSI reference model. The OSI reference model is the Open Systems Interconnections standard and consists of seven layers that build from the wire. At the first layer, â€Å"the physical layer†, hubs maybe used for simple, inexpensive technology within a corporation. Hubs, when receiving data sent to it, sends that data too all network interface cards, or NICS on each computer. If the data is at its correct destination, the NIC to read the data, but if it is not, the data is discarded. Of course, this setting is much slower, because the other NICS are waiting for there turn, which is after the first message is delivered or timed out. Raymond R. Panko writes this about the waiting state a hub goes in when transmitting data: â€Å"This creates latency (delay), which grows as the number of stations grows. Another way of saying this is that the speed of the hub is shared. (Panko 108)† As, you can tell, hubs are simple, and don’t use more information than needed. Switches, which are layer 2 devices, use decision based routing by storing NIC hardware addresses and port numbers on a table in the switch. By doing this, when data is received by the switch, it knows where the source was, and where the data needs to go. This allows for faster data transmission for all NICS that are connected, because it uses the swi... ... mining tools are being used to uncover the congestion that slows network traffic down. With all these DSS type applications working together in harmony, the internet can be faster and safer to surf, than ever before. Sources Fairhurst, Gorry. â€Å"Operation of a Router.† 10 Jan, 2001. â€Å"How Firewalls Work.† HowStuffWorks (http://howstuffworks.com), by Jeff Tyson. HowStuffWorks Inc.,2002. â€Å"How LAN Switches Work.† HowStuffWorks (http://howstuffworks.com), bye Jeff Tyson. HowStuffWorks Inc.,2002. â€Å"How Network Address Translation Works.† HowStuffWorks (http://www.howstuffworks.com), by Jeff Tyson. HowStuffWorks, Inc., 2002. â€Å"How Routing Algorithms Work." HowStuffWorks (http://www.howstuffworks.com), by Roozbeh Razavi. HowStuffWorks, Inc., 2002. Norton, Michael J. â€Å"Layer 3 Switching -- Introducing the Router.† The O’Reilly Network. 13 Apr. 2001. http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/770 Panko, Raymond R. â€Å"Business Data Networks and Telecommunication†. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2003. Whipple, William L. â€Å"TCP/IP For Internet Administrators.† A Searchable Technical Reference Document. Western Logic Works: 1997 (http://www.pku.edu.cn/academic/research/computer-center/tc/html/TC0310.html)

A Different History- Analysis

A Different History By- Suajata Bhatt The poem ‘A Different History’ is set in India. In the first paragraph the poet describes how the world is developing at a fast pace and leaving behind culture, morals, value, spirituality etc. But India on the other hand has managed to sustain its tradition and modernity. â€Å"Great Pan is not dead; he simply emigrated to India Here, the gods roam freely Disguised as snakes or monkeys; every tree is sacred† Pan is the Greek god of nature. This reference to Greece and Pan could refer to two things.One of the possible interpretations is that- Rome, Greece and India are considered the hubs of spirituality and they have their own set of gods and goddesses. But over the years Greece has developed and consequently its people have lost faith in god. On the contrary, India continues to be highly spiritual and god fearing and the ‘Great Pan’ emigrating to India could connote how India continues to have faith and believe in god. Another explanation could be the love for nature and respect for the natural environment in India. Legend has it that Pan died due to the depletion of nature and animals in Greece.At the time this poem was written India was not a shade of what it is now and was known for its natural beauty and its peoples dependence and respect for nature. The next three lines seem to be mocking the Indian psyche of turning everything and everyone to god and creating a god for everything. The stereotypical Indian has a habit of using god’s name to get things done; associating every minute detail in his life to god and this is what I feel the poet is mocking. â€Å"And it is a sin to be rude to a book It is a sin to shove a book aside with your foot, sin to slam books down hard on a table, a sin to toss one carelessly across a room. † â€Å"You must learn how to turn the pages gently without disturbing Sarasvati, without offending the tree from whose wood the paper was made. â €  These lines describe the Indian culture, traditions and the values that are inculcated into kids at a young age. Sarasvati, who is considered the goddess of arts and knowledge, is, according to Hindu beliefs, resides in books. So books are respected (reference to mockery of Indian psyche) but in this case she is admiring this aspect of Indian culture.Books are considered an equivalent of god and touching god with your feet, slamming him et cetera is profanity. What the poet is trying to say in the first paragraph is that India is probably the only country in the world that have maintained its values, morals, culture and tradition and these have gone hand in hand with development. She also talks about the element of god being added to an array of things. Some of which, she thinks, are completely bizarre and others that she truly respects. â€Å"Which language has not been the oppressor’s tongue? Which language truly meant to murder someone? And how does it happen hat af ter the torture, after the soul has been cropped with a long scythe swooping out of the conqueror’s face- the unborn grandchildren grow to love that strange language. † I feel that the transition from the first paragraph to the second is not very good as the connection between the two themes is not evident. In my opinion the connection is that she is drawing a parallel between the pre- British India and the colonised India. She is using the English language as a representation of the colonised India and how it forgot or was made to forget its culture in the name of a ‘better future’ and ‘development’.Here, she refers to them as ‘oppressors’, ‘murderers’, but murderers of what? In my opinion murder in this context refers not just to taking lives but also the murder of spirits, souls and more relevantly cultures and customs. She seems to be blaming the British for the loss of the culture, customs, values, morals and in t his case language as well. She questions how despite all the damage done by the British we continue to speak the English language and have stopped speaking our mother tongue. This is the same language that was spoken by the people who destroyed out heritage and culture used .This is not only in reference to language but our love for anything ‘foreign’ and our disdain at our very own country and shame at our deep, brilliant and fascinating culture. But a poem is open to interpretation and the tone and the way it is said can change the meaning completely. While reading a poem it is important to analyse what background the poem has, the life of the poet how it is connected to her life. Sujata Bhatt, it was the first time I heard her name. She was born in Ahmedabad to a Gujarati family.She was brought up in Pune and then in 1968 at the age of twelve she shifted to the US. Currently she lives in Germany. Suajata Bhatt’s life is a complete contrast to the poem. In the poem she keeps talking about how we are forgetting our culture how we have been influenced by the ‘Conquerors’ et cetera. My first reaction to this was that she was a hypocrite. But then I realised that many times in life there are things that bother you, things that eat your insides but it is completely different and much harder to change or work against these things.I got to thinking that maybe Sujata Bhatt considers herself an example of the ‘unborn grandchildren’, maybe while writing this poem she had herself and her whole life in mind. Maybe she realised how she was losing contact with her motherland how she was losing the Indian in her. This poem could be a poem to reach out to the masses and try to make them understand the value of being in touch with your motherland and not commit the same mistake she had committed. This poem was written in the post colonial period.At a time when India was finding its bearings in the world. It was a time when India was still hung over from the British rule but at the same time it played the rebellious teen and tried to fight the natural course of things. When your country has been ruled by foreigners, colonisers for as many as three hundred years there are bound to be an influence on the country. The British ruled over many many generations of Indians and after a point of time the British way of living and approach in general started seeming normal to the Indians and they began to follow it.When the British left India in 1947 the youth were in an awkward predicament while they wanted to revive their culture and their lifestyle they continued to be westernised. Sujata Bhatt continuously emphasises the importance of a national identity not only in this poem but throughout. A national identity is what defines you globally. On the world map it is not the people who are visible it is the countries. Outside your territory your country plays a major part in your identity. The poet says that if you lo se your native habits, morals, values and culture your identity is depleted. * Arjun Nayar 9C

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 21

Chapter 21 â€Å"You make a very attractive woman,† Rumi said from the comfort of his pit. â€Å"Did I tell you that my wife has passed on to her next incarnation and that I am alone?† â€Å"Yeah, you mentioned that.† He seemed to have given up on us getting his daughter back. â€Å"What happened to the rest of your family, anyway?† â€Å"They drowned.† â€Å"I'm sorry. In the Ganges?† â€Å"No, at home. It was the monsoon season. Little Vitra and I had gone to the market to buy some swill, and there was a sudden downpour. When we returned†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He shrugged. â€Å"I don't mean to sound insensitive, Rumi, but there is a chance that your loss could have been caused by – oh, I don't know – perhaps the fact that you LIVE IN A FUCKING PIT!† â€Å"That's not helping, Biff,† Joshua said. â€Å"You said you had a plan?† â€Å"Right. Rumi, am I correct in assuming that these pits, when someone is not living in them, are used for tanning hides?† â€Å"Yes, it is work that only Untouchables may do.† â€Å"That would account for the lovely smell. I assume you use urine in the tanning process, right?† â€Å"Yes, urine, mashed brains, and tea are the main ingredients.† â€Å"Show me the pit where the urine is condensed.† â€Å"The Rajneesh family is living there.† â€Å"That's okay, we'll bring them a present. Josh, do you have any lint in the bottom of your satchel?† â€Å"What are you up to?† â€Å"Alchemy,† I said. â€Å"The subtle manipulation of the elements. Watch and learn.† When it was not being used, the urine pit was the home of the Rajneesh family, and they were more than happy to give us loads of the white crystals that covered the floor of their home. There were six in the family, father, mother, an almost grown daughter, and three little ones. Another little son had been taken for sacrifice at the festival of Kali. Like Rumi, and all the other Untouchables, the Rajneesh family looked more like skeletons mummified in brown leather than people. The Untouchable men went about the pits naked or wearing only a loincloth, and even the women were dressed in tatters that barely covered them – nothing as nice as the stylish sari that I had purchased in the marketplace. Mr. Rajneesh commented that I was a very attractive woman and encouraged me to drop by after the next monsoon. Joshua pounded chunks of the crystallized mineral into a fine white powder while Rumi and I collected charcoal from under the heated dying pit (a firebox had been gouged out of the stone under the pit) which the Untouchables used to render the flowers from the indigo shrub into fabric dye. â€Å"I need brimstone, Rumi. Do you know what that is? A yellow stone that burns with a blue flame and gives off a smoke that smells like rotten eggs?† â€Å"Oh yes, they sell it in the market as some sort of medicine.† I handed the Untouchable a silver coin. Go buy as much of it as you can carry.† â€Å"Oh my, this will be more than enough money. May I buy some salt with what is left?† â€Å"Buy what you need with what's left over, just go.† Rumi skulked away and I went to help Joshua process the saltpeter. The concept of abundance was an abstract one to the Untouchables, except as it pertained to two categories, suffering and animal parts. If you wanted decent food, shelter, or clean water, you would be sorely disappointed among the Untouchables, but if you were in the market for beaks, bones, teeth, hides, sinew, hooves, hair, gallstones, fins, feathers, ears, antlers, eyeballs, bladders, lips, nostrils, poop chutes, or any other inedible part of virtually any creature that walked on, swam under, or flew over the subcontinent of India, then the Untouchables were likely to have what you wanted lying around, conveniently stored beneath a thick blanket of black flies. In order to fashion the equipment I needed for my plan, I had to think in terms of animal parts. Fine unless you need, say, a dozen short swords, bows and arrows, and chain mail for thirty soldiers and all you have to work with is a stack of nostrils and three mismatched poop chutes. It was a challenge, but I made do. As Jo shua moved among the Untouchables, surreptitiously healing their maladies, I barked out my orders. â€Å"I need eight sheep bladders – fairly dry – two handfuls of crocodile teeth, two pieces of rawhide as long as my arms and half again as wide. No, I don't care what kind of animal, just not too ripe, if you can manage it. I need hair from an elephant's tail. I need firewood, or dried dung if you must, eight oxtails, a basket of wool, and a bucket of rendered fat.† And a hundred scrawny Untouchables stood there, eyes as big as saucers, just staring at me while Joshua moved among them, healing their wounds, sicknesses, and insanities, without any of them suspecting what was happening. (We'd agreed that this was the wisest tack to take, as we didn't want a bunch of healthy Untouchables athletically bounding through Kalighat proclaiming that they had been cured of all ills by a strange foreigner, thus attracting attention to us and spoiling my plan. On the other hand, neither could we stand there and watch these people suffer, knowing that we – well, Joshua – had the power to help them.) He'd also taken to poking one of them in the arm with his finger anytime anyone said the word â€Å"Untouchable.† Later he told me that he just hated passing up the opportunity for palpable irony. I cringed when I saw Joshua touching the lepers among them, as if after all these years away from Israel a tiny Pharisee stood on my shoulder and sc reamed, â€Å"Unclean!† â€Å"Well?† I said after I'd finished my orders. â€Å"Do you want your children back or not?† â€Å"We don't have a bucket,† said one woman. â€Å"Or a basket,† said another. â€Å"Okay, fill some of the sheep bladders with rendered fat, and bundle the wool in some kind of hide. Now go, we don't have a lot of time.† And they all stood and looked at me. Big eyes. Sores healed. Parasites purged. They just looked at me. â€Å"Look, I know my Sanskrit isn't great, but you do know what I am asking?† A young man stepped forward. â€Å"We do not want to anger Kali by depriving her of her sacrifices.† â€Å"You're kidding, right?† â€Å"Kali is the bringer of destruction, without which there can be no rebirth. She is the remover of the bondage that ties us to the material world. If we anger her, she will deprive us of her divine destruction.† I looked at Joshua across the crowd. â€Å"Do you understand this?† â€Å"Fear?† he said. â€Å"Can you help?† I asked in Aramaic. â€Å"I'm not good at fear,† Joshua said in Hebrew. I thought for a second as two hundred eyes pinned me to the sandstone on which I stood. I remembered the red-stained gashes on the wooden elephant statues at the altar of Kali. Death was their deliverance, was it? â€Å"What is your name?† I asked the man who had stepped out of the crowd. â€Å"Nagesh,† he said. â€Å"Stick out your tongue, Nagesh.† He did, and I threw back the cloth that covered my head and loosened it around my neck. Then I touched his tongue. â€Å"Destruction is a gift you value?† â€Å"Yes,† said Nagesh. â€Å"Then I shall be the instrument of the goddess's gift.† With that I pulled the black glass dagger from the sheath in my sash, held it up before the crowd. While Nagesh stood, passive, wide-eyed, I drove my thumb under his jaw, pushed his head back, and brought the dagger down across his throat. I lowered him to the ground as the red liquid spurted over the sandstone. I stood and faced the crowd again, holding the dripping blade over my head. â€Å"You owe me, you ungrateful fucks! I have brought to your people the gift of Kali, now bring me what I ask for.† They moved really quickly for people who were on the edge of starvation. After the Untouchables scattered to do my bidding, Joshua and I stood over the bloodstained body of Nagesh. â€Å"That was fantastic,† Joshua said. â€Å"Absolutely perfect.† â€Å"Thanks.† â€Å"Had you been practicing all that time we were in the monastery?† â€Å"You didn't see me push the pressure point in his neck then?† â€Å"No, not at all.† â€Å"Gaspar's kung fu training. The rest, of course, was from Joy and Balthasar.† I bent over and opened Nagesh's mouth, then took the ying-yang vial from around my neck and put a drop of the antidote on the Untouchable's tongue. â€Å"So he can hear us now, like when Joy poisoned you?† Joshua asked. I pulled back one of Nagesh's eyelids and watched the pupil contract slowly in the sunlight. â€Å"No, I think he's still unconscious from me holding the pressure point. I didn't think the poison would work quickly enough. I could only get a drop of poison on my finger when I loosened my sari. I knew it would keep him down, I just wasn't sure it would put him down.† â€Å"Well, you are truly a magus, now, Biff. I'm impressed.† â€Å"Joshua, you healed a hundred people today. Half of them were probably dying. I did some sleight of hand.† My friend's enthusiasm was undeterred. â€Å"What's the red stuff, pomegranate juice? I can't figure out where you concealed it.† â€Å"No, actually I was going to ask you about that.† â€Å"What?† I held my arm up and showed Joshua where I had slashed my own wrist (the source of blood for the show). I had been holding it against my leg and as soon as I removed the pressure the blood started spurting again. I sat down hard on the sandstone and my vision began to tunnel down to a pinpoint. â€Å"I was hoping you could help me out with this,† I said before I fainted. â€Å"You need to work on that part of the trick,† Joshua said when I came to. â€Å"I might not always be around to fix your wrist.† He was speaking Hebrew – that meant for my ears only. I saw Joshua kneeling above me, then beyond him the sky was blotted out by curious brown faces. The recently murdered Nagesh was in the front of the crowd. â€Å"Hey, Nagesh, how'd the rebirth go?† I asked in Sanskrit. â€Å"I must have strayed from my dharma in my last life,† Nagesh said. â€Å"I have been reincarnated, once again, as an Untouchable. And I have the same ugly wife.† â€Å"You challenged master Levi who is called Biff,† I said, â€Å"of course you didn't move up. You're lucky you're not a stink bug or something. See, destruction isn't the big favor you all thought it was.† â€Å"We brought the things you asked for.† I hopped to my feet feeling incredibly rested and energized. â€Å"Nice,† I said to Joshua. â€Å"I feel like I just had one of those strong coffees you used to make at Balthasar's.† â€Å"I miss coffee,† said Josh. I looked at Nagesh, â€Å"I don't suppose you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"We have swill.† â€Å"Never mind,† I said. Then I said one of those things that as a boy growing up in Galilee, you never think you'll hear yourself say: â€Å"Okay, Untouchables, bring me the sheep bladders!† Rumi said that the goddess Kali was served by a host of black-skinned female demons, who sometimes during the feast would bring men to corners of the altar and copulate with them as blood rained down from the goddess's saw-tooth maw above. â€Å"Okay, Josh, you're one of them,† I said. â€Å"What are you gonna be?† â€Å"The goddess Kali, of course. You got to be God last time.† â€Å"What last time?† â€Å"All of the last times.† I turned to my intrepid minions. â€Å"Untouchables, paint him up!† â€Å"They're not going to buy that a burr-headed Jewish kid is their goddess of destruction.† â€Å"O ye of little faith,† I said. Three hours later we were again crouched beneath a tree near the temple of Kali. We were both dressed as women, covered from head to toe by our saris, but I was looking much lumpier under mine due to Kali's extra arms and garland of severed heads, played tonight by painted sheep bladders filled with explosives and suspended around my neck by long strands of elephant tail hair. Any observers who might get close enough to notice my protrusions were quickly deterred by the smell coming off of Joshua and me. We had used the goo from the bottom of Rumi's pit to paint our bodies black. I didn't have the courage to ask what the substance had been in life, but if there was a place where they allowed vultures to ripen in the sun before pounding them into a smooth paste and mixing it with just the right amount of buffalo squat, then Rumi called it home. The Untouchables had also painted huge red rings around Joshua's eyes, fitted him with a ropey wig of oxtails, and affixed to his torso six pe rt little breasts fashioned from pitch. â€Å"Stay away from any open flame. Your tits will go up like volcanos.† â€Å"Why did I have to have six and you only had to have two.† â€Å"Because I am the goddess and have to wear the garland of skulls and the extra arms.† We'd made my arms from rawhide, using my primary arms as models, then drying the molded arms in place over the fire. The women made a harness that held the extra arms in place under my own, then we painted the arms black with the same black goo. They were a little wobbly, but they were light and would look realistic enough in the dark. It was still hours from the height of the ceremony at midnight, when the children would be hacked to death, but we wanted to be there in time to stop the revelers from cutting off the children's fingers if we could. Now, the wooden elephants were empty on their turntables, but the altar of Kali was already filling with gruesome tribute. The heads of a thousand goats had been laid on the altar before the goddess, and the blood ran slick over the stones and in the grooves that channeled it into large brass pots at the corners of the altar. Female acolytes carried the pots up a narrow ladder at the back of the great statue of Kali, then dumped them through some sort of reservoir that fed it through the goddess's jaws. Below, by torchlight, worshipers danced in the sticky shower as the blood flowed down upon them. â€Å"Look, those women are dressed like me,† Joshua said. â€Å"Except they only have two breasts each.† â€Å"Technically, they're not dressed, they're painted. You make a very attractive female demon, Josh. Did I tell you that?† â€Å"This isn't going to work.† â€Å"Of course it's going to work.† I guessed that there were already ten thousand worshipers in the temple square, dancing, chanting, and beating drums. A procession of thirty men came down the main boulevard, each carrying a basket under his arm. As they reached the altar, each man dumped the contents of the basket over the rows of bloody goat heads. â€Å"What are those?† Joshua asked. â€Å"Those are exactly what you think they are.† â€Å"They're not the heads of the children?† â€Å"No, I think those are the heads of strangers who happened down the road we were on before Rumi came along to pull us into the grass.† After the severed heads were dispersed across the altar, the female acolytes came out of the crowd dragging the headless corpse of a man, which they laid on the steps leading to the altar. Each one mimed having intercourse with the corpse, then rubbed their genitalia against the bloody stump of its neck before dancing away, blood and ochre dripping down the insides of their thighs. â€Å"There's sort of a theme developing here,† I said. â€Å"I think I'm going to be sick,† Joshua said. â€Å"Mindful breath,† I said, using one of the phrases that Gaspar was always barking at us when we were learning meditation. I knew that if Joshua could stay with the yeti for days at a time without freezing to death, he could certainly conjure up the bodily control to keep from throwing up. The sheer magnitude of the carnage was all that was keeping me from vomiting. It was as if the atrocity of the whole scene couldn't fit in my mind all at once, so I could only see just enough for my sanity and my stomach to remain intact. A shout went up in the crowd now and I could see a torch-lit sedan chair being carried above the heads of the worshipers. On it reclined a half-naked man with a tiger skin wrapped around his hips, his skin painted light gray with ashes. His hair was plaited with grease and he wore the bones of a human hand as a skullcap. Around his neck hung a necklace of human skulls. â€Å"High priest,† I said. â€Å"They aren't even going to notice you, Biff. How can you even get their attention after they've seen all this?† â€Å"They haven't seen what I'm going to show them.† As the sedan chair emerged from the crowd in front of the altar, we could see a procession following it: tied to the back of the sedan chair was a line of naked children, most of them not more than five or six, their hands tied together, a less ornately dressed priest on either side of them to steady them. The priests began to untie the children and take them to the great wooden elephants lining the boulevard. Here and there in the crowd I could see people beginning to brandish edged weapons: short swords, axes, and the long-bladed spears Joshua and I had seen over the elephant grass. The high priest was sitting on the headless corpse, shouting a poem about the divine release of Kali's destruction or something. â€Å"Here we go,† I said, pulling the black glass dagger from under my sari. â€Å"Take this.† Joshua looked at the blade shimmering in the torchlight. â€Å"I won't kill anyone,† he said. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, drawing long red lines through the black and if anything making him look more fierce. â€Å"That's fine, but you'll need to cut them loose.† â€Å"Right.† He took the knife from me. â€Å"Josh, you know what's coming. You've seen it before. Nobody else here has, especially those kids. You can't carry all of them, so they have to have enough of their wits about them to follow you. I know you can keep them from being afraid. Put your teeth in.† Joshua nodded and slipped the row of crocodile teeth attached to a piece of rawhide under his upper lip, leaving the teeth to protrude like fangs. I put in my own false fangs, then ran into the dark to circle the crowd. As I approached the rear of the altar I pulled the special torch I'd made from under my girdle of human hands. (Actually my girdle of human hands was made of dried goat's udders stuffed with straw, but the Untouchable women had done a pretty good job as long as no one bothered to count fingers.) Through Kali's stone legs I could see the priests tying each of the children on the trunk of a wooden elephant. As soon as the bonds were tight, each priest drew a bronze blade and held it aloft, ready to strike off a finger as soon as the high priest gave the signal. I struck the tip of my torch on the edge of the altar, screamed for all I was worth, then threw my sari off and ran up the steps as the torch burst into dazzling blue flame that trailed sparks behind me as I ran. I hopped across the array of goat heads and stood between the legs of the statue of Kali, my torch held aloft in one hand, one of my severed heads swinging by the hair in the other. â€Å"I am Kali,† I screamed. â€Å"Fear me!† It came out sort of mumbled through my fake teeth. Some of the drums stopped and the high priest turned around and looked at me, more because of the bright light of the torch than my fierce proclamation. â€Å"I am Kali,† I shouted again. â€Å"Goddess of destruction and all this disgusting crap you have here!† They weren't getting it. The priest signaled for the other priests to come around me from the sides. Some of the female acolytes were already trying to make their way across the dance floor of decapitations toward me. â€Å"I mean it. Bow down to me!† The priests charged on. I did have the crowd's attention, though unfortunately they weren't cowering in fear at my angry goddessness. I could see Joshua moving around the wooden elephants, the guarding priests having left their posts to come after me. â€Å"Really! I mean it!† Maybe it was the teeth. I spit them out toward the nearest of my attackers. Running across a sea of slick, bloody heads is evidently a pretty difficult task. Not if you've spent the last six years of your life hopping from the top of one post to another, even in ice and snow, but for the run-of-the-mill homicidal priest, it's a tough row to hoe. The priests and acolytes were slipping and sliding among the goat and human heads, falling over each other, smacking into the feet of the statue, one even impaling himself on a goat's horn when he fell. One of the priests was only a few feet away from me now, trying not to fall on his own blade as he crawled over the mess. â€Å"I will bring destruction†¦oh, fuck it,† I said. I lit the fuse on the severed head I held in my hand, then swung it between my legs and tossed it in a steep arch over my head. It trailed sparks on its way into the black goddess's open maw, then disappeared. I kicked the approaching priest in the jaw, then danced across the goat heads, leapt over the head of the high priest, and was halfway to Joshua at the first wooden elephant when Kali, with a deafening report, breathed fire out over the crowd and the top of her head blew off. Finally, I had the crowd's attention. They were trampling each other to get away, but I had their attention. I stood in the middle of the boulevard, swinging my second severed head in a circle, waiting for the fuse to burn down before I let it sail over the heads of the receding crowd. It exploded in the air, sending a circle of flame across the sky and no doubt deafening some of the worshipers who were close. Joshua had seven of the children around him, clinging to his legs as he moved to the next elephant. Several of the priests had recovered and were storming down the steps of the altar toward me, knives in hand. I pulled another head from my garland, lit the fuse, and held it out to them. â€Å"Ah, ah, ah,† I cautioned. â€Å"Kali. Goddess of destruction. Wrath et cetera.† At the sight of the sparking fuse they stopped and began to backpedal. â€Å"Now that's the sort of respect you should have shown before.† I started whirling the head by the hair and the priests lost all semblance of courage and turned and ran. I hurled the head back up the boulevard onto the altar, where it exploded, sending a spray of real severed goat heads in all directions. â€Å"Josh! Duck! Goat heads!† Joshua pushed the children to the ground and fell over them until the pieces settled. He glared at me a second, then went on to free the other children. I hurled three more heads into different directions and now the entire temple square was nearly deserted but for Joshua, the children, a few injured worshipers, and the dead. I had built the bombs without any shrapnel in them, so those who had been injured had been trampled in the panic and the dead were those who had already been sacrificed to Kali. I think we pulled it off without killing anyone. As Joshua led the children down the wide boulevard and out of the temple square, I covered our exit, backing down the boulevard, my last explosive head swinging in one hand, my torch in the other. Once I saw that Joshua and the children were safely away, I lit the fuse, whirled the head around and let it fly toward the black goddess. â€Å"Bitch,† I said. I was out of sight when it exploded. Joshua and I got as far as a limestone cliff overlooking the Ganges before we had to stop to let the children rest. They were tired and hungry, but mostly they were hungry, and we had brought nothing for them to eat. At least, after Joshua's touch, they weren't afraid, and that gave them some peace. Josh and I were too jangled to sleep, so we sat up as the children lay down on the rocks around us and snored like kittens. Joshua held Rumi's little daughter, Vitra, and before long her face was smeared with black paint from nuzzling his shoulder. All through the night, as he rocked the child, all I heard Joshua say was, â€Å"No more blood. No more blood.† At first light we could see thousands, no, tens of thousands of people gathering at the banks of the river, all dressed in white, except for a few old men who were naked. They moved into the water and stood facing east, heads raised in anticipation, dotting the river as far as the eye could see. As the sun became a molten fingernail of light on the horizon, the muddy surface of the river turned golden. The gold light reflected off its surface onto the buildings, the shanties, the trees, the palaces, making everything in sight, including the worshipers, appear to have been gilded. And worshipers they were, for we could hear their songs from where we sat, and although we could not discern the words, we could hear that these were the songs of God. â€Å"Are those the same people from last night?† I said. â€Å"They would have to be, wouldn't they?† â€Å"I don't understand these people. I don't understand their religion. I don't understand how they think.† Joshua stood and watched the Indians bowing and singing to the dawn, looking occasionally to the face of the child that slept on his shoulder. â€Å"This is testament to the glory of God's creation, whether these people know it or not.† â€Å"How can you say that? The sacrifices to Kali, the way the Untouchables are treated. Whatever they might believe, in practice their religion is hideous.† â€Å"You're right. It's not right to condemn this child because she was not born a Brahman?† â€Å"Of course not.† â€Å"Then is it right to condemn her because she is not born a Jew?† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"A man who is born a gentile may not see the kingdom of God. Are we, as Hebrews, any different from them? The lambs at the temple on Passover? The wealth and power of the Sadducees while others go hungry? At least the Untouchables can reach their reward eventually, through karma and rebirth. We don't allow any gentile to do so.† â€Å"You can't compare what they do to God's law. We don't sacrifice human beings. We feed our poor, we take care of the sick.† â€Å"Unless the sick are unclean,† Joshua said. â€Å"But, Josh, we're the chosen. It's God's will.† â€Å"But is it right? He won't tell me what to do. So I'll say. And I say, no more.† â€Å"You're not just talking about eating bacon, are you?† â€Å"Gautama the Buddha gave the way to people of all births to find the hand of God. With no blood sacrifice. Our doors have been marked with blood for too long, Biff.† â€Å"So that's what you think you're going to do? Bring God to everyone?† â€Å"Yes. After a nap.† â€Å"Of course, I meant after a nap.† Joshua held the little girl so I could see her face as she slept on his shoulder. When the children awoke we led them back to their families at the pits, handing them into the arms of their mothers, who snatched each child away from us as if we were devils incarnate; they glared over their shoulders as they carried the babies back to their pits. â€Å"Grateful bunch,† I said. â€Å"They are afraid that we've angered Kali. And we've brought them another hungry mouth.† â€Å"Still. Why did they help us if they didn't want their children back?† â€Å"Because we told them what to do. That's what they do. What they are told. That's how the Brahmans keep them in line. If they do what they are told, then perhaps they will not be Untouchables next life.† â€Å"That's depressing.† Joshua nodded. We only had little Vitra to return to her father now, and I was sure that Rumi would be happy to see his daughter. His distress over losing her had basically been the reason he had saved our lives. As we came over the sandstone rise we could see that Rumi was not alone in his pit. Rumi stood on his sitting rock, stark naked, sprinkling salt on his erect member as a large humpbacked cow, which nearly filled the rest of the pit, licked at the salt. Joshua held Vitra so she faced away from the pit, then backed away, as if he didn't want to disturb the moment of beefy intimacy. â€Å"A cow, Rumi?† I exclaimed. â€Å"I thought you people had beliefs.† â€Å"That's not a cow, that's a bull,† Joshua said. â€Å"Oh, that's got to be your super-bonus abomination there. Where we come from whole cities get destroyed for that kind of thing, Rumi.† I reached over and put my hand over Vitra's eyes. â€Å"Stay away from Daddy, honey, or you'll turn into a pillar of salt.† â€Å"But this is my wife, reincarnated.† â€Å"Oh, don't try that one on me, Rumi. For six years I lived in a Buddhist monastery where the only female company was a wild yak. I know from desperate.† Joshua grabbed my arm. â€Å"You didn't?† â€Å"Relax, I'm just making a point. You're the Messiah here, Josh. What do you think?† â€Å"I think we need to go to Tamil and find the third magus.† He set Vitra down and Rumi quickly pulled up his loincloth as the child ran to him. â€Å"Go with God, Rumi,† Joshua said. â€Å"May Shiva watch over you, you heretics. Thank you for returning my daughter.† Joshua and I gathered up our clothes and satchels, then bought some rice in the market and set out for Tamil. We followed the Ganges south until we came to the sea, where Joshua and I washed the gore of Kali from our bodies. We sat on the beach, letting the sun dry our skin as we picked pitch out of our chest hairs. â€Å"You know, Josh,† I said, as I fought a particularly stubborn gob of tar that had stuck in my armpit, â€Å"when you were leading those kids out of the temple square, and they were so little and weak, but none of them seemed afraid†¦well, it was sort of heartwarming.† â€Å"Yep, I love all the little children of the world, you know?† â€Å"Really?† He nodded. â€Å"Green and yellow, black and white.† â€Å"Good to know – Wait, green?† â€Å"No, not green. I was just fuckin' with you.†

Personality Essays

Personality Essays Personality Essay Personality Essay While there are many different theories of personality, the first step is to understand exactly what is meant by the term personality. The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which referred to a theatrical mask work by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their identities. A brief definition would be that personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life. Some other definitions of personality: Personality refers to individuals characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, together with the psychological mechanisms hidden or not behind those patterns. This definition means that among their colleagues in other subfields of psychology, those psychologists who study personality have a unique mandate: to explain whole pers ons. (Funder, D. C. , 1997) Although no single definition is acceptable to all personality theorists, we can say that personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a persons behavior. (Feist and Feist, 2009) While there are many different theories of personality, the first step is to understand exactly what is meant by the term personality. The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which referred to a theatrical mask work by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their identities. A brief definition would be that personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life. Some other definitions of personality: Personality refers to individuals characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, together with the psychological mechanisms hidden or not behind those patterns. This definition means that among their colleagues in other subfields of psychology, those psychologists who study personality have a unique mandate: to explain whole persons. (Funder, D. C. , 1997) Although no single definition is acceptable to all personality theorists, we can say that personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a persons behavior. (Feist and Feist, 2009) These personality types are Sanguine Phlegmatic Choleric Melancholic Long ago, each of these types was associated with a dominant humor present in the body: sanguine – blood humor, phlegmatic – phlegm humor, choleric – yellow bile humor, melancholic – black bile humor. Additionally to that, the latest research shows that these four basic temperaments are associated with chemicals, like dopamine (for sanguine type), estrogen (for phlegmatic type), testosterone (for choleric type) and serotonin (for melancholic type). The Sanguine Type This type is characterized by spontaneity, optimism, enthusiasm, high energy, mental flexibility, novelty seeking, impulsiveness and curiosity. These traits are associated with specific genes in the dopamine system. These people often have very expressive faces and love using words like â€Å"adventure†, â€Å"energy†, â€Å"new†, â€Å"fun†, â€Å"active†, â€Å"travel† and similar. The Phlegmatic Type These people are mainly defined by their social skills, such as their ability to express themselves and read other people face expressions and body language. They do well at connecting facts and seeing â€Å"the big picture†. They are nurturing, sympathetic, agreeable and emotionally expressive. Some of these character traits are linked with estrogen that is present in both men and women. Physically you can recognize them by their smooth skin, full lips, round faces and small noses. Their favorite words are â€Å"passion†, â€Å"passionate†, â€Å"sensitive† and â€Å"sweet†. The Choleric Type This type is associated with testosterone, which is also present in men and women, but more so in men. These people are direct, focused, tough, analytical, logical and strategic. They have a great deal of courage and like to compete, often against each other. They often have square jaws, high cheekbones and high foreheads and love to use words like â€Å"intellect†, â€Å"ambition† and â€Å"challenge†. More  » The Melancholic Type Melancholics tend to be calm, loyal and orderly, just as their personality name sounds. They are cautious and conventional. These men and women inherited genes in the serotonin system and their favorite words are â€Å"family†, â€Å"loyal†, â€Å"respect†, â€Å"caring†, â€Å"values† and â€Å"moral†. Thorndikes theory of learning 1. Learning is incremental. [9] 2. Learning occurs automatically. [9] 3. All animals learn the same way. [9] 4. Law of effect- if an association is followed by a â€Å"satisfying state of affairs† it will be strengthened and if it is followed by an â€Å"annoying state of affairs â€Å" it will be weakened. 5. Thorndike’s law of exercise has two parts; the law of use and the law of disuse. . Law of use- the more often an association is used the stronger it becomes. [15] 2. Law of disuse- the longer an association is unused the weaker it becomes. [15] 6. Law of recency- the most recent response is most likely to reoccur. [15] 7. Multiple response- problem solving through trial and error. An animal will try multiple respo nses if the first response does not lead to a specific state of affairs. [15] 8. Set or attitude- animals are predisposed to act in a specific way. [15] 9. Prepotency of elements- a subject can filter out irrelevant aspects of a problem and focus and respond only to significant elements of a problem. [15] 10. Response by analogy- responses from a related or similar context may be used in a new context. [15] 11. Identical elements theory of transfer- This theory states that the extent to which information learned in one situation will transfer to another situation is determined by the similarity between the two situations. [9] The more similar the situations are, the greater the amount of information that will transfer. 9] Similarly, if the situations have nothing in common, information learned in one situation will not be of any value in the other situation. [9] 12. Associative shifting- it is possible to shift any response from occurring with one stimulus to occurring with another stimulus. [15] Associative shift maintains that a response is first made to situation A, then to AB, and then finally to B, thus shifting a response from one condition to another by associating it with that condition. [16] 13. Law of readiness- a quality in responses and connections that results in readiness to act. 16] Thorndike acknowledges that responses may differ in their readiness. [16] He claims that eating has a higher degree of readiness than vomiting, that weariness detracts from the readiness to play and increases the readiness to sleep. [16] Also, Thorndike argues that a low or negative status in respect to readiness is called unreadiness. [16] Behavior and learning are influenced by the readiness or unreadiness of responses, as well as by their strength. [16] 14. Identifiability- According to Thorndike, the identification or placement of a situation is a first response of the nervous system, which can recognize it. 16] Then connections may be made to one another or to another response, and these connections depend upon the original identification. [16] Therefore, a large amount of learning is made up of changes in the ident ifiability of situations. [16] Thorndike also believed that analysis might turn situations into compounds of features, such as the number of sides on a shape, to help the mind grasp and retain the situation, and increase their identifiability. [16] 15. Availability- The ease of getting a specific response. 16] For example, it would be easier for a person to learn to touch their nose or mouth than it would be for them to draw a line 5  inches long with their eyes closed. [16] Development of law of effect Thorndikes research focused on instrumental learning, which means that learning is developed from the organism doing something. For example, he placed a cat inside a wooden box. The cats used various methods trying to get out, however it does not work until it hits the lever. Afterwards, Thorndike tried placing the cat inside the wooden box again, this time, the cat is able to hit the lever quickly and succeeded to get out from the box. At first, Thorndike emphasized the importance of dissatisfaction stemming from failure as equal to the reward of satisfaction with success, though in his experiments and trials on humans he came to conclude that reward is a much more effective motivator than punishment. He also emphasized that the satisfaction must come immediately after the success, or the lesson would not sink in. [ Transfer of learning is the study of the dependency of human conduct, learning, or performance on prior experience. The notion was originally introduced as transfer of practice by Edward Thorndike and Robert S. Woodworth. [1] They explored how individuals would transfer learning in one context to another context that shared similar characteristics  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ or more formally how improvement in one mental function could influence another related one. Their theory implied that transfer of learning depends on the proportion to which the learning task and the transfer task are similar, or where identical elements are concerned in the influencing and influenced function, now known as identical element theory. Transfer research has since attracted much attention in numerous domains, producing a wealth of empirical findings and theoretical interpretations. However, there remains considerable controversy about how transfer of learning should be conceptualized and explained, what its probability occurrence is, what its relation is to learning in general, or whether it may be said to exist at all. 2] Most discussions of transfer to date can be developed from a common operational definition, describing it as the process and the effective extent to which past experiences (also referred to as the transfer source) affect learning and performance in a current novel situation (the transfer target). [3] This, however, is usually where the general consensus between various research approaches ends. There are a wide variety of viewpoints and theoretical frameworks apparent in the literature. For review purposes, these are categorized as follows: a taxonomical pproach to transfer research that usually intends to categorize transfer into different types; an application domain-driven approach by focusing on developments and contributions of different disciplines that have traditionally been interested in transfer; the examination of the psychological scope of transfer models with respect to the psychological functions or faculties that are being regarded; and a concept-driven evaluation, which reveals underlying relationships and differences between theoretical and empirical traditions. Do we really forget? Many people think that the human mind is too complex to explain, and memory is no exception. Even though vast amounts of research have been carried out into how we remember (and forget! ) things, nobody knows for sure the model on which human memory is based. There are, nonetheless, two main reasons for which psychologists think we forget information: You store information in your memory but are unable to remember it when you need to, but perhaps can at a later date. In this case, information is inaccessible The human memory simply forgets information, permenantly, and the physical traces of the memory disappear. In which case, information is unavailable Forgetting You can’t talk about remembering without mentioning its counterpart. It seems that as much as we do remember, we forget even more. Forgetting isn’t really all that bad, and is in actuality, a pretty natural phenomenon. Imagine if you remembered every minute detail of every minute or every hour, of every day during your entire life, no matter how good, bad, or insignificant. Now imagine trying to sift through it all for the important stuff like where you left your keys. There are many reasons we forget things and often these reasons overlap. Like in the example above, some information never makes it to LTM. Other times, the information gets there, but is lost before it can attach itself to our LTM. Other reasons include decay, which means that information that is not used for an extended period of time decays or fades away over time. It is possible that we are physiologically preprogrammed to eventually erase data that no longer appears pertinent to us. Failing to remember something doesn’t mean the information is gone forever though. Sometimes the information is there but for various reasons we can’t access it. This could be caused by distractions going on around us or possibly due to an error of association (e. g. , believing something about the data which is not correct causing you to attempt to retrieve information that is not there). There is also the phenomenon of repression, which means that we purposefully (albeit subconsciously) push a memory out of reach because we do not want to remember the associated feelings. This is often sited in cases where adults ‘forget’ incidences of sexual abuse when they were children. And finally, amnesia, which can be psychological or physiological in origin Memory Human memory, like memory in a computer, allows us to store information for later use. In order to do this, however, both the computer and we need to master three processes involved in memory. The first is called encoding; the process we use to transform information so that it can be stores. For a computer this means transferring data into 1’s and 0’s. For us, it means transforming the data into a meaningful form such as an association with an existing memory, an image, or a sound. Next is the actual storage, which simply means holding onto the information. For this to take place, the computer must physically write the 1’ and 0’s onto the hard drive. It is very similar for us because it means that a physiological change must occur for the memory to be stored. The final process is called retrieval, which is bringing the memory out of storage and reversing the process of encoding. In other words, return the information to a form similar to what we stored. The major difference between humans and computers in terms of memory has to do with how the information is stored. For the most part, computers have only two types; permanent storage and permanent deletion. Humans, on the other hand are more complex in that we have three distinct memory storage capabilities (not including permanent deletion). The first is   Sensory memory, referring to the information we receive through the senses. This memory is very brief lasting only as much as a few seconds.

Prime Ministers of Canada Since 1867

Prime Ministers of Canada Since 1867 The prime minister of Canada heads the government of Canada and serves as the primary  minister of the sovereign, in this case, the monarch of the United Kingdom.  Sir  John A. Macdonald  was  the first prime minister since Canadian Confederation  and assumed office on July 1,  1867. Chronology of the Canadian Prime Ministers The following list chronicles the Canadian prime ministers and their dates in office since 1867. Prime Minister Dates in Office Justin Trudeau 2015 to Present Stephen Harper 2006 to 2015 Paul Martin 2003 to 2006 Jean Chretien 1993 to 2003 Kim Campbell 1993 Brian Mulroney 1984 to 1993 John Turner 1984 Pierre Trudeau 1980 to 1984 Joe Clark 1979 to 1980 Pierre Trudeau 1968 to 1979 Lester Pearson 1963 to 1968 John Diefenbaker 1957 to 1963 Louis St Laurent 1948 to 1957 William Lyon Mackenzie King 1935 to 1948 Richard B Bennett 1930 to 1935 William Lyon Mackenzie King 1926 to 1930 Arthur Meighen 1926 William Lyon Mackenzie King 1921 to 1926 Arthur Meighen 1920 to 1921 Sir Robert Borden 1911 to 1920 Sir Wilfrid Laurier 1896 to 1911 Sir Charles Tupper 1896 Sir Mackenzie Bowell 1894 to 1896 Sir John Thompson 1892 to 1894 Sir John Abbott 1891 to 1892 Sir John A Macdonald 1878 to 1891 Alexander Mackenzie 1873 to 1878 Sir John A Macdonald 1867 to 1873 More About the Prime Minister Officially, the prime minister is appointed by the  governor general of Canada, but by constitutional convention, the prime minister must have the  confidence  of the elected  House of Commons. Normally, this is the leader of the party caucus with the greatest number of seats in the house. But, if that leader lacks the support  of the majority, the governor general can appoint another leader who has that support or may dissolve parliament and call a new election. By  constitutional convention, a prime minister holds a seat in parliament and, since the early 20th century, this has more specifically meant the House of Commons.

The Spanish Armada of the Anglo-Spanish War

The Spanish Armada of the Anglo-Spanish War The battles of the Spanish Armada were part of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War between  Queen Elizabeth I of England and King Philip II of Spain. The Spanish Armada was first sighted off The Lizard on July 19, 1588. Sporadic fighting occurred over the next two weeks with the largest English attack coming on August 8, 1588, off Gravelines, Flanders. After the battle, the English pursued the Armada until August 12, 1588, when both fleets were off the Firth of Forth. Commanders and Armies England Lord Charles Howard of EffinghamSir John HawkinsSir Francis Drake35 warships, 163 armed merchant vessels Spain Duke of Medina Sedonia22 galleons, 108 armed merchant vessels The Armada Forms Built on the orders of King Philip II of  Spain, the Armada was meant to sweep the seas around the British Isles and permit the Duke of Parma to cross the Channel with an army to invade  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹England. This endeavor was intended to subdue England, end English support for the Dutch resistance to Spanish rule, and to reverse the Protestant Reformation in England. Sailing from Lisbon on May 28, 1588, the Armada was commanded by the Duke of Medina Sedonia. A naval novice, Medina Sedonia was assigned to the fleet following the death of veteran commander Alvaro de Bazan a few months earlier. Due to the size of the fleet, the last ship did not clear port until May 30, 1588. Early Encounters As the Armada put to sea, the English fleet was gathered in Plymouth awaiting news of the Spanish. On July 19, 1855, the Spanish fleet was sighted off The Lizard at the western entrance to the English Channel. Putting to sea, the English fleet shadowed the Spanish fleet, while remaining upwind to retain the weather gage. Proceeding up the Channel, Medina Sedonia had the Armada form a tightly packed, crescent-shaped formation that would allow for the ships to mutually defend one another. Over the next week, the two fleets fought two skirmishes off Eddystone and Portland, in which the English explored the Armada’s strengths and weaknesses, but were unable to break its formation. Fireships Off the Isle of Wight, the English launched an all-out assault on the Armada, with Sir Francis Drake leading the largest contingent of attacking ships. While the English enjoyed initial success, Medina Sedonia was able to reinforce those parts of the fleet that were in danger and the Armada was able to maintain formation. Though the attack had failed to scatter the Armada, it prevented Medina Sedonia from using the Isle of Wight as an anchorage and forced the Spanish to continue up the Channel without any news of Parma’s readiness. On July 27, the Armada anchored at Calais, and attempted to contact Parma’s forces at nearby Dunkirk. At midnight on July 28, the English ignited eight fireships and sent them downwind towards the Armada. Afraid that the fireships would set the ships of the Armada on fire, many of the Spanish captains cut their anchor cables and scattered. Though only one Spanish ship was burned, the English had achieved their goal of breaking up Medina Sedon ia’s fleet. The Battle of Gravelines In the wake of the fireship attack, Medina Sedonia attempted to reform the Armada off Gravelines as the rising south-westerly wind prevented a return to Calais. As the Armada concentrated, Medina Sedonia received word from Parma that another six days were required to bring his troops to the coast for the crossing to England. On August 8, as the Spanish rode at anchor off Gravelines, the English returned in force. Sailing smaller, faster, and more maneuverable ships, the English utilized the weather gauge and long-range gunnery to pummel the Spanish. This approach worked to the English advantage as the preferred Spanish tactic called for one broadside and then an attempt to board. The Spanish were further hampered by a lack of gunnery training and correct ammunition for their guns. During the fighting at Gravelines, eleven Spanish ships were sunk or badly damaged, while the English escaped largely unscathed. Spanish Retreat On August 9, 1855, with his fleet damaged and the wind backing to the south, Medina Sedonia abandoned the invasion plan and charted a course for Spain. Leading the Armada north, he intended to circle around the British Isles and return home through the Atlantic. The English pursued the Armada as far north as the Firth of Forth before returning home. As the Armada reached the latitude of Ireland, it encountered a large hurricane. Hammered by the wind and sea, at least 24 ships were driven ashore on the Irish coast where many of the survivors were killed by Elizabeth’s troops. The storm, referred to as the Protestant Wind was seen as a sign that God supported the Reformation and many commemorative medals were struck with the inscription He Blew with His Winds, and They Were Scattered. Aftermath Impact Over the following weeks, 67 of Medina Sedonia’s ships straggled into port, many badly damaged with starving crews. In the course of the campaign, the Spanish lost approximately 50 ships and over 5,000 men, though most of the ships sunk were converted merchantmen and not ships from the Spanish Navy. The English suffered around 50-100 killed and around 400 wounded. Long considered one of England’s greatest victories, the defeat of the Armada temporarily ended the threat of invasion as well as aided in securing the English Reformation and allowed Elizabeth to continue supporting the Dutch in their struggle against the Spanish. The Anglo-Spanish War would continue until 1603, with the Spanish generally getting the better of the English, but never again attempting to mount an invasion of England. Elizabeth at Tilbury The campaign of the Spanish Armada provided Elizabeth with the opportunity to deliver what is considered one of the finest speeches of her long reign. On August 8, as her fleet was sailing into battle at Gravelines, Elizabeth addressed Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester’s troops at their camp on the Thames estuary at West Tilbury: I have come amongst you as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved in the midst and heat of battle to live and die amongst you all, to lay down for my God and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too. And think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any Prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm!

Finance paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Finance paper - Assignment Example On June 25, 2002, one of the largest telecommunications company, WorldCom announced that its revenues in first quarter has been overstated by over $3.8 billion. This announcement came as surprise to the investors in financial markets. The company filed bankruptcy on July 21, 2002. Prior to the announcement, the share price of the company soared as high as $64.50/share in mid-90’s which came down to less than $2/share. Similar to case of Enron, the retirement benefits and savings plan of WorldCom heavily suffered as by end of 2000 the company had 32 percent of $642.3 million of retirement funds in form of stock options. Immediately after the emergence of the scandals, Bush Administration announced that will disqualify WorldCom form all existing Federal Government contracts. Further, the House Committee on Financial Services along with Senate Committee on Housing, Banking, and Urban Affairs investigated the cases related to recent accounting scandals of WorldCom and Enron. In response to these hearing SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) was enacted on July 30, 2002. The act recommended establishment of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board that develops standard accounting for audit and increases corporate social responsibility. The mortgage meltdown has been believed to actually begin with burst of US housing bubble in 2001 that sharply increased to maximum in 2005. The â€Å"bubble† is an economic condition that occurs in local or global real estate markets where the valuation of house properties reaches unrealistic and unsustainable levels. The research has found that many economists believed that US housing bubble was mainly caused from historically low interest rates. After the burst of â€Å"dot-com† bubble in 2000 and then consequently following recession, FED cut short term interest rates to from 6.5 percent to 1 percent. The US subprime borrowing

Screening response Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Screening response - Movie Review Example African men were not regarded good enough to have associations with white women. It is only Lago who degrades Othello and starts gossips about Desmond’s affairs with Cassio. However, even though Lago was the only white man to complain about this, he represented a vast majority of the white population. Lago, signifying all other white people, had no trouble portraying Othello, who represented a vast majority of African Americans, as a lustful person (Berardinelli 1). Another case of racism is where Brabantio is persuaded that Othello must have used magic to entice Desdemona as there was no other way that a white girl would settle at marrying an African American. Finally, the most significant or saddest aspect of racism, in the film, is that of Othello himself (Berardinelli 1). What Lago does is cunningly take advantage of Othello’s insecurities (Berardinelli 1). Othello might believe Lago’s stories since deep down his heart Othello doubts Desdemona’s loyalty and love. Such a film is extremely educational, and its further view is

Teen pregnancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Teen pregnancy - Essay Example In relation to the idea of making valuable ideas, my stand in this case will significantly focus on the cons of teen pregnancy as opposed to the pros. Teen pregnancy may be viewed as something profitable to mothers since they are considered to be a milestone ahead in the reproductive category and thus considering teen pregnancy not as an immoral action but as an action of negligence of failure to take actions (Arai, p.199). However, the cons are so alarming than the pros. For instance, early pregnancy has a higher percentage of causing obstetric complications which most often than not result into complications in the newborn (Baker p, 81). Again, people in different cultures in the world especially on the religious point of view agree that a child is a blessing, but the truth is the bearer will be economically affected. Take for example a young girl who happens to get unplanned pregnancy instead of going on with her education, the implications are that, she will have completely disoriented her life both socially and academically, since she is most likely to find problems in planning anything (Wakle, p,105, 107) further notes that the teen in question will be in deep stress of wanting to terminate the pregnancy or not to as well as pressure from her parents who always would want her to continue with her studies. Moreover, another disadvantage of teen pregnancy is that teens who have been affected end up living as social handicapped since they end up living as single mothers (Hoffman p, 52). Economically, they are more vulnerable to living under the line of poverty as indicated by Hoffman (P, 52) who further argues that statistically, bearing a child at an early age results in to the social effects under the economic trends.They live so poorly with a lot of stress of making the ends meet. Academic wise they either decide to bear the responsibility of having the

Introduction to business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Introduction to business - Essay Example The expansion and diversification of consumer market with time has established the need for employing a diversified workforce that can satisfy the diversified demand of today’s consumer. The world’s demography is changing constantly, now no country is a complete blend of one race and ethnicity. Due to increased migrations, the minorities are increasing in world developing countries. With all of these changes, it has become important for countries to have a diverse workforce that represents all aspect of the society; this representation projects a better image of the organization in the society. A major advantage of an organization attempting to acquire diverse workforce is that it have access to a large pool of candidates by which it can hire the best possible person for the job. An organization that places importance on skills and talent over characteristics like age, gender, race etc is able to achieve competitive advantage over other organizations. Another advantage of diverse workforce besides projection of better image is that it helps diversified consumer to believe that they share common grounds with the company and it helps to increase their trust in the organization. Furthermore, employees with different perspective can provide the organization with different and varied objectives helping to identify unmet needs and new opportunities. Recruitment of a diversified workforce and creating a welcoming environment for these employees helps to increase motivation and commitment of employees towards the organization. This is because these employees feel valued. Recognition and acceptance of an employee’s unique perspective helps to create a comprehensive work environment, which is very beneficial for the organization. It is evident from the above discussion that the benefits of a diversified workforce far out-weigh the cost of it. It is an essential utensil for

THE STOCK MARKET PART II (case) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

THE STOCK MARKET PART II (case) - Essay Example 85). Based on the three companies’ financial statements and historical data, the best company to invest in is Oracle. Oracle is the highest in terms of revenue growth, net income growth, net profit margin, growth rate and dividend growth (see figure 1). Compared to Darden and Sony, Oracle’s performance is more impressive, thus making it the best candidate that would be able to generate more income in the future. Based on stock price forecast for the next 12 months, Oracle will have a high estimate of $42.00 or +32.8% while its median price forecast will be $38.00 or +21.9%; however, the investment would be risky considering that the lowest forecast is $26.00 or a decreased of -17.8% (Oracle Corp., n.d.). Furthermore, it is expected that from 2008 to 2012, the annual growth of earnings per share will be 30.73% and the annual growth of sales will be 32.16%. On the other hand, Oracle’s financial ratios are above average for its industry such as the industry median for price/sales ratio (3.81), price/earnings ratio (14.25), and price/cash flow ratio (11.01) (see figure 2). Also, the current ratio and quick ratio of Oracle is high and this is a good sign that the company has the ability to meet and alleviate its short term obligations when they are due, thus the company is in good financial health. It also shows that Oracle is safe from liquidity problems and its position is much better compared to Darden and Sony. In addition, the stock P/E ratio of Oracle is traded at higher rate than the other two companies because its forecasted earnings growth is also high, making the investment more risky. However, â€Å"rational investors generally require riskier investments to offer higher returns than less risky investments† (Easterling, 2006, p. 82). The high net profit margin of the company implied that the business is doing well and that they have the capacity to control their expenses or liabilities in the company. Investing in Oracle

Education and career goals for a scholarship Essay - 1

Education and career goals for a scholarship - Essay Example Hence, serve the global community better as an accountant in an area that I have passion in beside acting as a role model to young women. Many people in the community perceive accounting as a demanding career and by taking this challenge, I will encourage many young people to venture into this field. Additionally, women for long have been relegated to low-paying jobs in the service industry. For instance, waitressing and retail positions though this seems to be changing for the better and I would like to be a part of that shift. Therefore, it would be empowering to be among those intending to break the glass ceiling and assume strategic positions in the corporate sector. However, to be in a position to achieve these goals, I require a lot of support particularly financial. This is because my husband and I own a small business in Loveland whose net income is not even sufficient for us. We neither pay ourselves a salary nor do I have any other funding available from Stafford loans for my education. Hence, implying realizing my goals will be quite a challenge due to economic constraints, which we are experiencing. This is despite having searched relentlessly for organizations that would help me in achieving my academic goals. Therefore, based on my financial condition I believe that I deserve this scholarship opportunity. Since, I am hardworking, tenacious and always striving to succeed in every endeavor I undertake. Besides, I want to be a role model for other young women in my community. Therefore, awarding me this scholarship opportunity in your foundation will help me accomplish my educational and career goals. I look forward to your positive

THE STOCK MARKET PART II (case) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

THE STOCK MARKET PART II (case) - Essay Example 85). Based on the three companies’ financial statements and historical data, the best company to invest in is Oracle. Oracle is the highest in terms of revenue growth, net income growth, net profit margin, growth rate and dividend growth (see figure 1). Compared to Darden and Sony, Oracle’s performance is more impressive, thus making it the best candidate that would be able to generate more income in the future. Based on stock price forecast for the next 12 months, Oracle will have a high estimate of $42.00 or +32.8% while its median price forecast will be $38.00 or +21.9%; however, the investment would be risky considering that the lowest forecast is $26.00 or a decreased of -17.8% (Oracle Corp., n.d.). Furthermore, it is expected that from 2008 to 2012, the annual growth of earnings per share will be 30.73% and the annual growth of sales will be 32.16%. On the other hand, Oracle’s financial ratios are above average for its industry such as the industry median for price/sales ratio (3.81), price/earnings ratio (14.25), and price/cash flow ratio (11.01) (see figure 2). Also, the current ratio and quick ratio of Oracle is high and this is a good sign that the company has the ability to meet and alleviate its short term obligations when they are due, thus the company is in good financial health. It also shows that Oracle is safe from liquidity problems and its position is much better compared to Darden and Sony. In addition, the stock P/E ratio of Oracle is traded at higher rate than the other two companies because its forecasted earnings growth is also high, making the investment more risky. However, â€Å"rational investors generally require riskier investments to offer higher returns than less risky investments† (Easterling, 2006, p. 82). The high net profit margin of the company implied that the business is doing well and that they have the capacity to control their expenses or liabilities in the company. Investing in Oracle

How a project manager may resolve some of the major potential Essay

How a project manager may resolve some of the major potential challenges involved in the initial stages of the of the project from a socio-organizational perspective critically evaluate the above question - Essay Example All of these four above cases are examples of project management. Without any doubts, in today’s ruthless, competitive, and fast-paced corporate world, project management is surrounding us from all possible directions. In fact, the concept of managing projects, plans, ventures, and events has been there on the scene since centuries. The Hanging Garden of Babylon, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal of Agra, the Great Wall of China, and others are all examples of great project management since these projects are examples of efficient work by the managers of that time, considering all their constraints (Heerkens, pp. 20-28, 2007). However, for the past few decades project management has strongly evolved as a prominent subject and has acquired its place as literature in philosophy. Experts differ in the definition as they have diverse opinions on many subjects. Yet after combining those definitions, it would not be wrong to say, â€Å"Project management is the application of skills, techniques, and tools to enable activities to attain project requirements. Project management is achieved through integration and application of project management practices of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing† (Portny, Portny, Mantel Jr., Meredith, Kramer, & Sutton, pp. 9-45, 2007). Considering this description in mind, as said earlier, projects, project managers, and projects management is everywhere, surrounding us from all possible directions. Every software engineer, mechanical engineer, Research and Development Manager, financial expert, planning manager or other, who is in middle of coming up with a new product is also facing the elements of project management in some way or the other. Gone are the days when jobs were simple, straightforward, and repetitive. The competition is just getting tougher and tougher by every day and organizations are hungry for new ways to assure their survival. History speaks that change

Causes and Solutions for Hurricanes

Causes and Solutions for Hurricanes In the south Pacific they are called cyclones. In the northern Pacific Ocean they are called typhoons. In the Atlantic Ocean areas they are called hurricanes. One thing is for certain in regard to these phenomenon, they can all be extremely dangerous. The only major difference between all of them is the locations in which they occur. For the purposes of this paper we will refer to the phenomena as hurricanes. The seasons for tropical cyclones vary depending on their location on Earth. Most tropical cyclones form between May to October but in the pacific there have been storms form as early as January. Hurricanes are some of the most powerful weather events on the planet. They can cause millions of dollars in property damage and have the potential to cause the loss of human life on a large scale. These monstrosities, especially in the Atlantic Ocean, can grow to enormous proportions and cover many square miles. These storms usually forms in the tropical regions of an ocean hence the name tropical cyclone. They are fast rotating systems that arecharacterized by low pressure centers, strong winds, and a spiral storms that produce heavy rains. They can produce winds in excess of 155 miles per hour and have been recorded gusting as high as 210 mph. Hurricanes require large bodies of warm water in order to form. There are seven different categories for â€Å"hurricanes.† The first category is a tropical depression in which winds are less than 40 miles per hour and there is no formed â€Å"eye† of the storm. They also usually lack the spiral shape of stronger storms, howeve r, they are still low pressure systems at this point. The next category is a tropical storm in which winds range from 40 mph to 73 mph. It is at this point when the storm begins to form its spiral shape and winds begin to move in a cyclonic motion. In a few instances the storm has actually formed an eye, although it is usually not very pronounced or developed. The next category is the first stage where a tropical cyclone officially becomes a hurricane or full tropical cyclone. The Saffir-Simpson scale is what is used to determine which one of the following categories a full hurricane falls into. The first is known as a category 1 storm where winds range from 74 mph to 95 mph and the winds can cause slight damage to well built homes and will likely cause power outages due to branches falling on power lines. Category 2 hurricanes have sustained wind speeds from 96 mph to 110 mph. In this category even well-built structures will sustained heavy roof damage as well as possible structura l damage. Power loss is almost certain to happen and stay out for days. Category 3 storms are the beginning of what are considered major hurricanes, meaning cyclones that are capable of causing massive damage and high loss of life. They have sustained winds from 111 mph to 129 mph. This is when many trees begin to snap and have the potential to turn into flying debris which can cause a large amount of damage to many of the buildings and windows. A category 4 storm has winds from 130 mph to 156 mph and will cause major damage such as total destruction of a building’s roof and possible full structural collapse. Large loss of life is expected during a storm as powerful as this. The final and most powerful classification of tropical cyclone is a category 5. These monstrosities have winds 157 mph and stronger. Damage should be expected to be widespread and utterly catastrophic. Power lines and other utilities are usually knocked out for weeks on end. This makes many rural areas un inhabitable for a decent amount of time. One of the most powerful storms ever recorded at landfall was Typhoon Haiyan which topped out at over 195 mph. This storm occurred in the Pacific Ocean near the Philippines. The loss of life was enormous killing almost 6300 people in the Philippines alone and as of 2014 they are still finding bodies. Another very powerful category 5 hurricane was Hurricane Andrew which made landfall in Florida as a category 5 and caused over 26 billion dollars in damage. One thing is for sure and that is that a tropical cyclone no matter what the category has the potential to cause major damage and can also cause loss of life. Many people do not heed the warnings when a â€Å"smaller† storm is approaching and they get caught in the path and ultimately lose their lives because of it. This is unfortunate, however, actions can be taken to prevent such things from happening. In recent years research has shown that with the warming of the earth tropical cyclones have started to produce more rainfall. In the past 100 years it has been determined that the warmer climate will produce an increase of 8% more water vapor for every 1 degree Celsius the temperature increases. More rainfall means a higher potential for flash flooding once the cyclone makes landfall which means more property damage as well as higher risk for loss of life Cyclone Ita is the most powerful storm to form in the southern Pacific Ocean in three years. The storm began around the Solomon Islands as a tropical depression on April 1st. It finally reached cyclone strength four days later. On the 10th it quickly gained strength to a category 5. It made landfall in the Cooktown/ Cape Flattery area in Queensland Australia on April 12th at 2200 (local time) as a category 4 storm. Upon Ita’s landfall the storm weakened very fast down to a category 1 storm. There was over $1 billion dollars in damage. One building was destroyed and 4 buildings were severely damaged in Cooktown. The damage also included large tracts of sugar cane and a banana plantation was completely destroyed. Cyclone Ita then began to move southeast maintaining gale-force winds the storm accelerated, eventually moving back to the ocean just north of a town called Mackay which is also in Queensland on April 13th. After it moved off of the land and back to the waters off the c oast it began to gain strength again as it combined with a low pressure system near New Zealand. It made landfall in New Zealand on the 17th of April and the inner eye wall collapsed which helped to dissipate the storm. The storm brought heavy rainfall and strong winds to the coast before finally destabilizing. The mitigation efforts taken by each area affected have their similarities as well as some differences. As the storm approached the Solomon Islands the authorities issued severe flood warnings along with cyclone watches. Many facilities in the area prepared for the worst by having backup plans in the event they were required to evacuate. The national hospital actually had to move over 500 patients to other areas due to the flooding that occurred. In Papua New Guinea, the National Weather Service issued tropical cyclone warnings for all island communities. It was decided that all schools and businesses were to remain closed for several days in Milne Bay and many of the residents were encouraged to stay safe indoors. Flooding did occur in this area as well and there was a bridge that was washed away. If the authorities had not issued the warnings to stay indoors and off the roads there may have been many more casualties. In Australia, the authorities issued cyclone warnings to all affe cted areas in an effort to minimize casualties since the storm was expected to be very strong at landfall. Due to the effectiveness of the pre-mitigation efforts there was minimal casualties. In the aftermath of this and other tropical cyclone events the best way to deal with all of the issues that arise is to have a well-known plan for emergency services as well as power companies. Hospitals should be prepared to receive many casualties like in the event mentioned earlier in the Solomon Islands. Emergency workers such as fire fighters and medical personnel must be available to Works Cited Hurricanes, Typhoons, Cyclones | UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Hurricanes, Typhoons, Cyclones | UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014. Keegan, Bianca. Douglas and Cairns Shires on Tropical Cyclone Ita Alert as Storm Deluge Looms. CairnsPost. N.p., 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 May 2014. National Weather Service. National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office. Andrew. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014. National Weather Service. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014. Queensland Surveys Cyclone Ita Harm. BBC News. N.p., 12 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 May 2014. Tropical Cyclone Ita. Weather Forecast Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014. Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). U.S. Agency for International Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014.