Global Warming, El Nino, and other Climate Phenomena

The weather we experience is a manifestation of the climate we live in. Our climate is affected by global warming, which has led to many observed changes, including warmer sea temperatures, warmer air temperatures, and changes in the hydrological cycle. In addition, our weather is also affected by natural climate phenomena that operate over hundreds or thousands of miles. These events are often cyclic, as they reoccur at time intervals of various lengths. Global warming can affect the intensity and return intervals of these events. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its 5th Assessment Report in 2014, with a chapter devoted to the effects of climate change on these large scale climate phenomena. Here are some important findings: Monsoons are seasonal wind reversal patterns accompanied by significant rainfall. They are responsible, for example, for the summer thunderstorm periods in Arizona and New Mexico, and the torrential downpours in India’s rainy season. Overall, monsoon patterns will increase in area and intensity with continued climate change. They will start earlier in the year and end later than what had been the average.In North America, where monsoons are limited to the U.S. Southwest region, no change in precipitation due to global warming has been clearly observed. A decrease in the length of the season has been observed, though, and monsoons are expected to be delayed during the year. So there appears to be no relief in sight for the observed (and predicted) increase in frequency of extreme summer temperatures in the U.S. Southwest, contributing to drought.The amount of precipitation from monsoon rains is forecasted to be higher in the more pessimistic scenarios considered by the IPCC. In a scenario of continued reliance on fossil fuel and the absence of carbon capture and storage, total precipitation from monsoons, globally, is estimated to increase by 16% by the end of the 21st century.The El Nià ±o Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a large area of unusually warm water that develops in the Pacific Ocean off South America, affecting weather over a large portion of the globe. Our ability to model future climates while taking into account El Nià ±o has improved, and it appears that variability in precipitation will increase. In other words, some El Nià ±o events will produce more rainfall and snowfall than expected in some areas of the globe, while others will produce less precipitation than expected.The frequency of tropical cyclones (tropical storms, hurricanes, and typhoons) is likely to stay the same or decrease, globally. The intensity of these storms, both in wind speed and precipitation, is likely to increase. There are no clear changes predicted for the track and intensity of North American extra-tropical storms (Hurricane Sandy became one of those cyclonic storms outside of the tropics).  Ã‚   Predictive models have improved significantly in the last few years, and they are currently being refined to resolve remaining uncertainties. For example, scientists have little confidence when trying to predict changes in monsoons in North America. Pinpointing the effects of the El Nià ±o cycles or the intensity of tropical cyclones in specific areas has also been difficult. Finally, the phenomena described above are largely know by the public, but there are many other cycles: examples include the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Madden-Julian Oscillation, and the North Atlantic Oscillation. The interactions between these phenomena, regional climates, and global warming make the business of scaling down global change predictions to specific locations bewilderingly complex. Source IPCC, Fifth Assessment Report. 2013. Climate Phenomena and their Relevance for Future Regional Climate Change.

The Key to Successful Custom Essay Papers Writing Service

The Key to Successful Custom Essay Papers Writing Service Up in Arms About Custom Essay Papers Writing Service? To get the best one you should observe a wide range of services which give you different advantages. A top quality essay writing services should have standard excellent quality so as to be identified as top-rated and top-quality. A greater quality essay writing services should have standard fantastic quality for a way to be identified as top-rated and top-quality. It must have standard high quality so that you can be identified as top-rated and top-quality. Your quality paper is going to be sent right to your email account. Thus, you might not doubt their quality. If you're unhappy with the standard of the essay, you're going to receive your money back. Leading quality for a moderate price is now a reality now! The Essentials of Custom Essay Papers Writing Service That You Will be Able to Benefit From Beginning Right Away Therefore, you believe ordering a paper might assist you at the present time. There's a lot of individuals who would think about ordering from an affordable paper writing service. It is possible to easily pick the writing paper service package that is suitable for your wallet. If you're using writing services online for the very first time and not certain how it works, you may always contact our support agent who will aid you through all the stages starting with the purchase placement right until the last paper is delivered to you. To learn more please don't hesitate to get in touch with our Customer Support. There are lots of main reasons why you're in a position to trust our expert services. There are lots of significant reasons why you can readily trust our expert services. Our custom writing service isn't sub-standard. Each service supplies you with different advantages but with our service, you receive all of the advantages that you require. Using our services is totally safe. Other essay services might be more efficient with regard to their operations but they're not quite as effective as us. Custom Essay Papers Writing Service: No Longer a Mystery If you aren't pleased with the essay, it's your right to request modification or revision. After submitting the form it is possible to sit tight and await your customized research essay! 6 Dollar Essay writing paper service doesn't compromise on quality in any situation. Our 1-hour essay writing service may be ideal solution for you. Based on who've you chosen to compose your papers, they're also able to give your essay or paper needs in a fast time period. You might not like some portions of the paper delivered by us. Pay for essay and receive the very best paper you require. A personalized term paper is basically focused on a certain topic that demands specific research. Although essays and research papers can be an issue, term papers are a great deal more complex than nearly all of the academic assignments. However urgent it is, we will create an incredible paper for you. You have to ensure that you don't leave out any vital information about the paper topic. It is possible to order sections of papers you're assigned to write too. You probably want an immediate chat with your writer. In the event you're indecisive to pay a person to compose your essay, explore other facets of our websites or contact our support team for any extra guidelines. Assuming your chosen writer is an authority in the subject you need assistance with, and assuming they're readily available to do the job quickly enough for your preferred deadline, you're going to be paired with your very first selection. Only writers that are interested in your topic place will place a bid to aid you. Our term paper writing service makes it possible for customers to pick the writer they wish to work with based on their abilities and assignment requirements. Our writers have actually currently assisted thousands of students from throughout the Earth, so irrespective of where you're now, you will get expert assistance. If you must make sure the last work is going to be of exceptional quality, you're welcome to bring a PRO Writer bundle to your purchase, so that one of our top writers will finish the assignment for you. When it has to do with writing, distinguishing top superior work from poorly tackled writing challenges is far from an arduous endeavor. When students consider getting academic writing assistance from a writing service, it's understandable there could possibly be concerns about plagiarism. Quite often, they do not know how and where to start writing. One of the main reasons why they are constantly stressed out is that they always get too many writing assignments. Although a lot of students need academic aid, not all of these ask for it.

Self-Absorption in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms Essay

Self-Absorption in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms Catherine Barkley and Frederick Henry, the main characters in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms are two of the most self-absorbed characters I have ever come across. Frederick Henry thinks only of what he wants while Catherine worries only about what Frederick thinks and wants. They are constantly thinking only about themselves, which is why I believe that it was a good thing that the baby was not born alive. They are too absorbed in themselves to think of anyone else. Shortly after meeting Catherine, Frederick attempts to get her into bed. By complimenting her hair, admitting that she had every right to slap him, and holding her hand, he uses these words and actions to get a kiss,†¦show more content†¦When she finally tells him that she is pregnant, she is more concerned about how he will take the news than how it will affect her. It doesn’t worry me but I’m afraid to worry you. (137). Once she begins to show, she does not want him to look at her because she is ashamed of how she looks. She was beginning to be a little big with the child and she did not want me to see her. (266). She also refused to get married because she was pregnant and fat. I’ll marry you as soon as I’m thin again. (294). This desire to stay good looking for Frederick is shown many times throughout the book. Back in those days, it was said that having alcoholic drinks would keep the child small. This was supposed to be good for women with small hips, but Catherine, who hardly drank before she became pregnant seems to drink more than is necessary while pregnant. The doctor says beer will be good for me and keep her small. (291). She used this excuse often throughout the rest of the book, The doctor said I was rather narrow in the hips and it’s all for the best if we keep young Catherine small. (294). Although she drinks more beer than is probably necessary, she is very hesitant about eating food because it will make her fat. Could I eat a chocolate bar? Or is it too close to lunch? I’m always hungry. (297). This shows how much more concerned she is about her appearance than about her child’s health. BeingShow MoreRelatedCat in the Rain - Woman the Inequality3717 Words   |  15 Pageslibrary research with the textbook of this subject, the sources from the internet include comments, essays, analyze and the quotations. B. LITERATURE REVIEW Darren Felty mentioned in â€Å"Spatial Confinement in Hemingway’s ‘Cat in the Rain’ † (1997; page 363-369) that: â€Å"Many details in Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Cat in the Rain† suggest the isolation and oppression that George’s wife experiences as she remains confined at the hotel. George and his wife are the â€Å"only two Americans stopping at the hotel,† and they

The Violence And Sexual Conquest Of Women Essay - 1836 Words

When my roommate was in elementary school, the boys in her grade would not let her play sports with her. The reason they gave her was that she was a girl, and sports were not for girls. She was told that she was not strong enough to play, and that sports were a boy thing. They then told her to go play house or kiss tag. When they said that, she proceeded to beat the boys up, making them look like the ones who weren’t strong. While violence is not the way to prove someone wrong, this story has a point. Taylor wanted to play basketball, but she was told she couldn’t because she was a girl. This might seem like innocent children making assumptions, but this is where it begins. These children will grow into adults that watch movies like Pixel, where the woman who is objectified is literally turned into an object, watch television shows like Two and a Half Men, which glorifies the manipulation and sexual conquest of women, and read books like Lolita and take it seriously. Th is idea, while developed in other places as well, is created through the media. Some people believe that equality has been reached, or that because women have obtained more rights than they had, the feminist cause is done. Contrary to this belief, feminism and equality have not been obtained. The media is a symptom of the disease, and if we continue at the pace we are at, women will continue to be degraded. Others are afraid to be labeled as a feminist. In America, 85% of people believe women and men shouldShow MoreRelated`` Bad Indians `` By Deborah Miranda1408 Words   |  6 PagesIndians†, she uses documents, images, and drawings to expose colonial violence and provides evidence of a history of conquest. There are different types of colonial violence that are depicted throughout her memoir, such as: physical, emotional, sexual, and cultural violence. Additionally, Miranda exposes the nature of colonial violence by providing evidence by implementing particular sources to contribute in confirming the history of conquest throughout the lives of California Mission Indians. The CaliforniaRead MoreThe Story Of An Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao1147 Words   |  5 Pageswhere men have high sex drive and the power to dominate women by controlling their sexuality through violence, coercion, and verbal aggression. Oscar contradicts this machismo power by appearing emasculated like a woman. This shows that women have lower social standing compared to men, even lower than that of weak men like Oscar in Dominican culture. Sexuality plays a central role in Diaz’s novel to illustrate the dominance of masculinity over women in Dominican culture. Oscar and Yunior illustrateRead MoreIntroduction In this paper, I argue that while sexual violence is arguably the monopoly of men, it1000 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction In this paper, I argue that while sexual violence is arguably the monopoly of men, it is culturally cultivated rather than biologically determined. Consistent with the concept of Hegemonic Masculinity which theorises male domination of other males and subordination of females (Connell, 2005), I assert that rape is particularly rampant in societies where sexual violence is an effective means of attaining this status quo. Thus when rape is institutionalised in the context of war whereRead MoreEssay about The Effects of Rape Culture in Modern Society 1107 Words   |  5 Pagesstates freedom of expression, statistics show rape and sexual assault numbers have risen due to the presence of rape culture in modern society. Rape culture promotes more assaults and violent acts, not only towards women but also towards men. Some evidence rape culture is present in today’s society are rising statistics showing that only three out of a hundred rapists see jail time and that over 17 million American women are victims of sexual assault every year. Rape culture is seen in every aspectRead MoreRichard Wright s Native Son1595 Words   |  7 PagesAmerica (Ann Rayson). The book follows Bigger Thomas’s journey through self-realization, while exposing the line of racism and its effects in 1930s Chicago. Yet, for an African-American narrative, the story lacks one key character, a strong woman. The women Wright includes in his story are only there as a tool to better shape Bigger’s, or another man’s, character. While the lack of any strong, female character could be based on Richard Wright’s own life, his presentation of Mrs. Thomas, Vera, Mrs. DaltonRead MoreSexual Violence And American Indian Genocide1168 Words   |  5 PagesAndrea Smith’s book Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide read passionately about Native American Indians experiences relative to violence and related topics. Part of Smith’s goal is to aid u nderstanding of Native women’s plight and spotlight how treating their sufferings separately was limiting the pain they lived through to this day. Smith pointed out that though other writers have keen interest in bringing native women’s plight mainstream, these writers fell short of taking anRead MoreChronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez1239 Words   |  5 Pagesexploitation. The Latin American model of gender dominance is unique in that sexual desire and indulgence is not seen as shameful or immoral. The aboriginal cultures didn’t view, sexuality as something to be repressed but as something to be fulfilled and celebrated. This stood in contrast to the strict Catholic principles of abstinence and purity that infiltrated and mixed with local customs throughout the Spanish conquest. Surprisingly though, prostitution wasn’t outlawed in most Latin American countriesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Story The Story Of Mustafa Saeed 1554 Words   |  7 Pagesto the North, the role of women is frequently deployed to demonstrate the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Mustafa sees sex as if it is violent in nature, a form of conquest over women whom he heavily objectifies. It feels as if the narrator almost intentionally constructs Mustafa’s journey as a perfectly symbolic anti-colonialism discourse. Mustafa bears the ambition t o reclaim and reassert Africans masculinity by physically dominating European women after his mother countryRead MoreSexual Violence on Native Women2214 Words   |  9 PagesPublications Student Scholarship Spring 2013 Oppression, Sexual Violence and Their Effects on Native American Women Isabella J. Baxter 15 Gettysburg College, baxtis01@gettysburg.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship Part of the Native American Studies Commons, and the Womens Studies Commons Baxter, Isabella J. 15, Oppression, Sexual Violence and Their Effects on Native American Women (2013). Student Publications. Paper 87. http://cupolaRead MoreMisogyny Of Hip Hop : The Solution1564 Words   |  7 Pagesthough Hip Hop is the holy grail of music. One of the main problems with Hip Hop is the misogyny of women. Adams and Fuller (2006) define misogyny as the â€Å"hatred or disdain of women† and â€Å"an ideology that reduces women to objects for men’s ownership, use, or abuse† (p. 939). Popular American hip-hop and rap artists, such as Eminem, Ludacris and Ja Rule, have increasingly depicted women as objects of violence or male domination by communicating that â€Å"submission is a desirable trait in a woman† (Stankiewicz

Selection of skin Based Region... free essay sample

Selection of skin Based Region-of-Interest (ROI) Using Clustering AbstractRegion of Interest (ROI) is defined as regions containing user defined objects of interest. ROI extraction is a vital phase for various image processing applications. Extracting ROI from images has been very much challenging as it is the base for further image analysis, interpretation and classification. ROI varies for different purpose of aim. However, the identified region are widely used for various domain-skin detection, image background removal, detect object in image, hand gesture detection and so on. In this thesis, the main concentration is to defining region of interest from an image based on skin detection. To define region of interest of skin, clustering method was used. Skin detection can be used as a preprocessing step for several applications included but not limited to various Human Computer Interaction (HCI) tasks. However, skin detection is a challenging problem due to sparse variations of skin tone of human. We will write a custom essay sample on Selection of skin Based Region or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Skin tone can be confused with background color, attire color, ethnicity, individual characteristics-age, sex, body parts, makeup, hair color, presence of non-human objects and camera calibration. Besides that, lightning conditions also plays a vital role. For these reasons, sometimes skin pixel values are very similar with non-skin pixels, make it hard to discriminate skin only pixels. Researchers have been working tirelessly for an efficient skin detection method but those are not beyond limitations. Various approach including pixel wise threshold for various color spaces, segmentation, face and hand detection based approaches are proposed. But it still lacks from a method which can be applied for all types of skin detection. In this thesis, a novel skin detection method is proposed which has the following characteristics:†¢ It is free from any manual threshold values. Which makes it better choice for dealing uncertain conditions†¢ The method is based on clustering, since skin pixels of a human are uniform in nature†¢ Proposed approach automatically define number of clusters that is a bottleneck for unsupervised learning Chapter 01IntroductionSkin detection is perhaps the most widely used primitive in human image processing research. Skin detection mostly used as a primary step in various human concerned image processing applications. Skin detection is method of discriminating human skin pixel from non-skin pixels in an image or video [1]. It is one of the prominent research area in human computer interaction, face detection, face tracking [2, 3], gesture recognition [4], computational health informatics, web content filtering and many more. Skin detection is used as a cue for detecting people in real life images. The main challenge is to make skin detection robust to the large variations in appearance that can occur. However, there are various factors that make skin detection challenging. Among them variations in illumination, various ethnicity people with many skin tones, presence or absence of shadows in an image or videos, various background color and objects including wood, cloths and their similarity to skin, human hair with different variations and their resemblance to skin color, using makeup that changes the natural skin color and different camera characteristics make skin detection problem hard. Efficient handling of aforementioned challenges demands a model that is capable of differentiate skin and non-skin pixels. But until now that seems not to be achieved. In this thesis, a skin detection model is proposed which can overcome the challenges and perform better in real world skin detection problem. Researchers have been working tirelessly to find a technique which will be able to detect skin in spite of present challenges. However, Skin detection problem can be considered a binary classification problem, meaning, a pixel can be classified whether it is a skin pixel or not. There are mainly two types of skin detection, either pixel based or region based. In pixel based detection, a pixel is classified compared with its neighbor either as a skin pixel or not. Skin detection that is based on various color spaces are an example for this type of detection. In other hand, region based skin detection focus on spatially arrangement of skin pixel with additional information of intensity and texture. However, Vezhnevets et al. [5], Kakumanu et al. [6], and Phung et al. [7] has conducted surveys about skin color modeling and skin segmentation based on color information in different color spaces. Phung has discovered that skin detection accuracy does not depend on choice of color space or color quantization bin sizes. Besides for skin segmentation a few researchers have also used texture [8, 9, 10] or shape [11] information in combination with color-

Contemporary Demand Input Models

Question: Discuss about the Contemporary Demand Input Models. Answer: Introduction: Adidas, famously known as the three stripes company, is a multinational company headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Adolf Dassler founded this company in July 1924 and named it Gebrder Dassler Schuhfabrik. In August 1949, the name was changed to Adidas. The company is a manufacturer of sports shoes, accessories and clothing. It is Europes biggest sportswear manufacturer and worlds second largest (Adidas-group.com. 2017). The Adidas Group is a parent company of Reebok, Rockport, TaylorMade-Adidas and golf company. 1996 onwards, Adidas has become one of the global leaders in the sportswear market, earning 14.88 billion in 2012 (Successstory.com. 2014). The company started with manufacturing of athletic shoes and after the success of the shoes, it expanded its business into manufacturing of other athletic products such as clothing, accessories, perfumes, watches etc. It captured the industry with comfort, durability, style, price and brand (Tolani et al. 2013). The topic of discussion of this essay is the demand and supply side factors of Adidas athletic shoes. The revenue from the footwear segment of Adidas is worth of $10.68 billion in 2016 and the employee base of the company is around 60,617 across the world in 2016 (www.statista.com 2016). Today Adidas sponsors shoes and other sportswear to biggest teams of various sports in the world. Demand for a commodity is the want or desire of the consumers to gain that commodity. Supply of a commodity refers to the accessibility of that commodity in the market in exchange for a price. Market equilibrium is the condition where the forces of demand and supply of a commodity are balanced and this value does not change if other factors remain unchanged (Varian 2014). The major factors of demand for a product are the price of that product, income level of the consumers, taste and preferences, and market competition. The factors for demand for Adidas sports shoe are described below (Petroff 2013). Price: this is the primary factor of demand for a commodity. Law of Demand states that demand is a function of price and there is an inverse relationship between the two. If price increases, the demand for that product falls and vice versa, other things remaining unchanged. Hence, if the price of Adidas shoes rise, the demand would fall and vice versa. Price of substitute products: the demand for a commodity is affected by the price of a substitute product. Substitute products are those, which can be replaced with one another. The close substitutes of Adidas shoes are the shoes of Nike, Puma, New Balance, Reebok. If the price of a Nike shoe rises, it would push up the demand for Adidas shoe, as Nike becomes relatively costlier than Adidas (Pataki and Sagi 2015). Income of the customers: Adidas shoes are normal commodities. Hence, an increase in the income level of the customers would lead to an increase in the demand for Adidas and vice versa. Tastes and preferences of customers: this factor directly affects the demand for a particular product. Adidas became a market leader in athletic products because it provided the comfort and style to the customers. Thus, a majority of the population wants to buy Adidas shoes even if it is high priced. Speculation of higher prices in future: if people speculate that the price of the Adidas shoe would increase in the near future, they tend to buy more now. This phenomenon occurs especially during the sales, when the company gives discount offers. The law of demand for Adidas shoes. As the price increased from P1 to P*, quantity demanded decreased from Q1 to Q*. Here, price is the determining factor of demand. The factors of supply for Adidas shoes are (Pataki and Sagi 2015): Price: this is the major factor of supply for any commodity. Law of supply states, that price and supply of a good are directly related. If price increases, the supply of that good also increases, and vice versa, other factors remaining unchanged. Thus, supply is a function of price. Hence, when the price of Adidas shoes rises, the company increases the volume of supply of the shoes. Cost of factors of production: as the price of any or all factors of production, that is, land, labor, entrepreneurship and capital, increases, the production cost rises too. Then the producers reduce the supply of the product to maintain profit. For example, if the wages of the workers rises, Adidas decreases the supply of the shoes temporarily. Change in technology: the innovation and implementation of new and smart technologies increase the cost efficiency of the products, and profit margin of the producers. Adidas has implemented many new technologies in the shoe designing. It not only increased the demand for the shoes, but decreased the production cost also. Hence, the supply has increased. Taxation policy: when the government imposes tax on the Adidas shoes, the price rises, as the company shifts the burden of the tax to the customers. Thus, higher tax leads to a fall in the profit margin, and fall in supply as well (Roscoe and Baker 2014). Speculation of price fall: the expectation a price rise in the future tempts the producers to supply more of the product. When there is a speculation of price rise of the shoes, Adidas would supply more shoes to increase profit. Depicts the law of supply for Adidas athletic shoes. When the price falls from P1 to P*, the supply also falls from Q1 to Q*. Here, price of the shoes is the determining factor of supply. Conclusion: Adidas is one of the global leaders in the market of athletic shoes and other sportswear. The German company has captured the athletic market of the Europe and majority of the rest of the world with its innovative design, style, brand value and comfort. This essay focuses on the factors of demand and supply for the Adidas sports shoes, which shows that price is the most important factor for demand and supply. References: Adidas-group.com., 2017. History. [online] Available at: https://www.adidas-group.com/en/group/history/. Pataki, E. and Sagi, A., 2015, September. Contemporary demand input models in the conditions of imperfect competition. InIntelligent Systems and Informatics (SISY), 2015 IEEE 13th International Symposium on(pp. 189-194). IEEE. Petroff, J., 2013. Demand and Supply. PEOI. org. Roscoe, S. and Baker, P., 2014. Supply chain segmentation in the sporting goods industry.International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications,17(2), pp.136-155. Successstory.com., 2014. Adidas Story. [online] Available at: https://successstory.com/companies/adidas-ag. Tolani, V., Puri, G., Quereshi, N., and Kaushal, S., 2013. Analysis on Footwear industry. Varian, H.R., 2014.Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach: Ninth International Student Edition. WW Norton Company. www.statista.com., 2016. Adidas Facts. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/topics/1257/adidas/.

Poverty On The Rise Essays (794 words) - , Term Papers

Poverty On The Rise There is a very wide range of income for individuals and families. This is why we have people that are very wealthy which are referred to as the upper class and there is the middle class that makes an average income, and the bottom of the income bracket lies the people in poverty. Poverty is a condition in which a person or family does not have the means to satisfy basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Your race does not matter, every race has people that are in poverty. But as it is statistically shown, different races have a different number of people in poverty. In 1996, the federal government established a minimum income level below which a person or family is declared in poverty. If a single person makes less than $7,995 then they are living in poverty, and a family has to exceed $16,036 or are also in poverty. From 1996 to 1997 the poverty rate has decreased by .4% In 1996, there was 36.5 million people at the poverty level and in 1997 the number of people in poverty decreased to 35.6 million people. Since a decade ago the poverty level has increased from 32.4 million people to as high as 39.3 million in 1993, but since 1993 the number of people living in poverty has decreased to 35.6 million people. The percent of the population a decade ago below the poverty was 13.1%, which has increases up to 15.1% but here recently the poverty rate is back down to 13.3% Gentry-2 Since the previous year the poverty rate was lower by .4% for the general population. The poverty rate of children under the age of eighteen has also decreased by .6%. The black poverty rate decreased the most from 28.4% to 26.5%. The Asians and Pacific Islanders had a decrease in their poverty rate by .5%. The whites had the smallest decrease out of all races because they decreased only by .2%. There are many different factors that contribute to the decreasing of the poverty rates, from the decrease of the unemployment to the decrease in government income maintenance programs. A lot of the poverty population is made up of income-maintenance programs. I would like to talk about few of the programs that the government offers for people in poverty. Social insurance programs is the first. There are many different types to the social insurance program. The first two are OASDHI and Medicare. OASDHI is also known as social security, which replaces wages lost after retirement. Medicare provides hospital insurance for the elderly and disabled. The third type is unemployment compensation which allows workers that are unemployed for a while to collect thirty-five percent of their lost wages. The second program is Pubic Assistance. The first type is Supplemental Security Income(SSI) this program allows disabled people to receive a minimum income. Aid to Families with Dependent Children(AFDC) and Medicaid usually are linked together. Medicaid will pay for hospital bills. AFDC provides certain families with children financial support. Medicaid is also offered to SSI recipiances. The food stamp program is the last type. It provides Americans with coupons that can be used for food. The government spends about 736 billion of its dollars on these different types of programs. Gentry-3 The government provides people in poverty that are in the public assistance programs with three different plans. They are supposed to help able-bodied, nonretired individuals get out of poverty. The three different plans have many different conflicts. Some of the conflicts are that the government is paying too much money out to the people, which means they will be dependent on the government for their income instead of working for it. Another conflict is that it is very costly to the government to keep paying for able-bodied workers. These conflicts are what stir up many different welfare reforms. All fifty states have income-maintenance programs, but the qualifications and rule vary from state to state. In each state, they calculate their poverty rates. The number of states that had an increase in poverty rate, in 1995 to 1997 was twenty-two states. The other twenty-eight states had a decrease in poverty rate. From 1996 to 1997 there were three states: Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina that had a poverty decrease while two states Arkansas and New Hampshire showed increases in their poverty rate. To answer the question, is poverty on the rise? The answer is no. Poverty for the time being is declining. There are

Literary Analysis of American Literature free essay sample

As Elinor Ostrom explains, To a great degree, his stories speak for those who are disenfranchised, cheated, abused, or ignored because of race or class. Hughess stories speak of the downtrodden African-Americans neglected and overlooked by a prejudiced society. The recurring theme of powerlessness is exemplified in his narration â€Å"Let America Be America again†, â€Å"Harlem† and â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers†. Hughes uses rhyme to draw attention to the poetic element of his narration â€Å"Let America Be America Again†. Words such as â€Å"be† and â€Å"free†, â€Å"dreamed and â€Å"schemed†, â€Å"wreathe† and â€Å"breathe† etc. all demonstrate rhyming. The central theme is that the author feels left out of the American Dream. Hughes is writing a poem of someone who feels that America is a land that lives up to begin to add up to that. The tone is angry and resentful. In this poem he is not representing the point of view of one particular group. We will write a custom essay sample on Literary Analysis of American Literature or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Hughes conveys that there are many people who’ve come here with hopes and dreams and they’re being let down. He’s also saying that there is an economic disparity between people. In essence the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, because there is no equal opportunity. That idea is something that is not real for many people because of their race, economic situation, and come up. The reader is immediately introduced to the fact that the author does not believe that America is all it can be due to the fact that the word again is used. He wants America to be â€Å"the dream it used to be. † But the powerful line is #5 which reads â€Å"America was never America. † This enhances what many people feel, that Americas ideals of equality, liberty, and land of the free don’t seem real. In a sense there is a positive tone because there is a hope that America can be a â€Å"great strong land of love,† O, let my land be a land where liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. Liberty, which is another word for freedom is important in the dream America holds so preciously. The central message here is one of greed. Money is at the center of what America has become. Hughes feels that â€Å"power, gain† and owning property is the focus. It’s all about money. He says in line #32 to what America has become in his views. â€Å"Of owning everything for one’s own greed! † At the later stage of the poem, Hughes is coming back and saying sarcastically that he wouldn’t say there is freedom. He is speaking for the â€Å"millions† of people who have been struggling, hoping, working, flying flags, â€Å"who have nothing† except for dreams that are â€Å"almost dead. † â€Å"Harlem† by Langston Hughes is a poem that talks about what happens when we postpone our dreams. The poem is made up of a series of similes and it ends with a metaphor. The objective of the poem is to get us to think about what happens to a dream that is put off, postponed; what happens when we create our very own shelve of dreams? The â€Å"dream† refers to a goal in life, not the dreams we have while sleeping, but our deepest desires. There are many ways to understand this poem; it varies from person to person. Someone like me may see this poem as talking about just dreams in general. Others may see it as African-American’s dreams. Although the meter of Harlem varies, the poem has a rhythmic, lyrical quality achieved through alliteration, rhyme, repetition of certain words, and carefully placed stressed syllables. People need to think twice before deferring their dreams. Langston Hughes says it best in his poem Harlem asking the question. What happens to a dream deferred Langston Hughes describes the outcome of the question as an altogether bad idea, saying that deferring your dream is â€Å"fester like a sore† or â€Å"it stinks like rotten meat†. By using imagery, he wants the reader to know what it is like to defer a dream and how bad it is. The first image in the poem proposes that the dream dries up like a raisin. This simile likens the original dream to a grape, which is round, juicy, green and fresh. Once the dream has lain neglected for too long, it dries up. Where the raisin image invokes the senses of taste and sight, the simile of the sore conveys a sense of touch and bodily impact. By comparing the dream to a sore on the body, Hughes suggests that unfulfilled dreams become part of us, like scars. In Langston Hughes poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Hughes makes use of some interesting poetic techniques. This poem is written in free verse, at first glance, seems to be unstructured. Hughes repeats words and lines, but does not make use of repeated sounds. Finally, some of his word choices near the end of the poem help to bring the message of the poem across more strongly. These poetic techniques contribute greatly to the quality of the poem. The textual details of the poem invoke strong imagery related to veins, rivers, and the roots of trees and give the reader a sense of the timelessness of these objects. In the short first stanza, the speaker in the poem by Langston Hughes states that he has â€Å"known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. † From this early point in the point in the poem, images of the canals of veins that run throughout the human body as well as similar images of rivers that wind around and are shaped like veins form our understanding that this poem is about more than blood or water, it is about roots and circuits. He has a very deep meaning about how people feel by debating that his soul is so much stubborn now at this point that no external source could change it. Hughes poems illustrate many of the problems that African Americans faced during the depression era, ranging from prejudice and discrete racism to a general air of hopelessness and despair. His poetry basically develops the idea of celebrating and idealizing the Negro life in America. He is not much like the other poets who just uses a single voice/entity, instead has a tendency to express the visualizations through a number of voices making it more realistic. His expression consists of renunciation and feelings of personal cruelty.

Response to Destros claim on Faust

Response to Destros claim on Faust Introduction The character of Faust and, most importantly, whether he is qualified as a heroic figure, has occupied critics for a long time. Looked at from the standard moral standpoint, Destro says: We would be forced to decant the apparent heroism we were meant to accord him. That he was eventually saved in spite of all the morally questionable deeds he had committed seems the only reason why anyone might consider him heroic. Destro is of the view, however, that we would be wrong to subject Faust to standard morality.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Response to Destros claim on Faust specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More I do agree with Destro’s assertion that it would be practically impossible to find any moral or heroic merits to the character of Faust. This is particularly so if one was to base his/her argument on the contemporary understanding of morality. It would still be problematic for one to apply the ph ilosophical notion of morality during Goethe’s time. In this essay, I will show that Destro’s view presents the most viable manner of comprehending Faust’s character. Discussion Faust was never meant to be judged using standard morality. Destro fields the assertion that in the eyes of his creator, Faust was already a morally decadent character. He was probably meant to be immoral from the viewpoint of standard morality (Destro). This would be supported by his egoistic and hedonistic attitude that runs throughout the text. It leads Destro to conclude that â€Å"the salvation of Faust, the magician, the robber, the instigator of murderers, sounds like a mockery of any kind of ethical judgment on him†. Why then would Goethe have Faust saved at the end? Here, Destro interprets it to mean what we were to subject Faust to was not the standard morality but that of the superman: â€Å"In reality, the law that Faust follows is not that of morality in its everyday meaning, which from Moses to Kant was rooted in our relation of responsibility to others but rather the immoral ‘morality’ of superman for whom the supreme law is self-realization†. Faust is immoral. His immorality can be understood from two perspectives: his immoral actions are either willingly immoral or they are immoral due to the influence of Mephistotles (Destro). For Goethe to put across the notion that he is willingly immoral, Faust has consistently been characterized as a man of action, one who is moved by profound inner passions to do things that are not always right. For instance, Faust seems to lack capacity to face penance for deserting Gretchen and chooses the dramatic, and relatively easier, route of appropriating Mephistopheles’ powers to save her. This act is Faust’s own decision and cannot be blamed on Mephistotles. It is the result of the guilt that Faust feels for having abandoned Gretchen: â€Å"Let past be past I say! / Youâ₠¬â„¢re destroying me!† (Goethe). Destro contrasts Faust’s behavior with Gretchen’s who is ready to face death rather than escape from prison in the company of Faust and Mephistopheles. To again reinforce the fact that he can be blamed for his immorality, Goethe has Faust willingly get into a wager with Mephistopheles:Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More â€Å"Have no fear I’ll break this pact! The extreme I can promise you: it is All the power my efforts can extract. I’ve puffed myself up so highly I belong in your ranks now† (Destro). His intentions in doing so are in no way noble since what he seeks in his involvement with Mephistopheles are pleasures that are both egoistic and hedonistic. He, therefore, cannot be objectively argued to be a victim of Mephistopheles. From a moral point of view, he is responsible for his actions and would be expected to atone for them in a morally apt way. Faust is given to an avid need for humanly pleasures. He portrays little responsibility in giving in to the desires of the flesh, a case in point being his lust for Gretchen. He has his way with her and leaves her, this leads to her eventual death. He shows great vanity when he accepts Mephistopheles offer to restore his youthfulness. On not finding any value in life after a spirit rejects his assertion that he and it are one, he considers committing suicide and it is only Easter bell that distracts him.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Response to Destros claim on Faust specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More From the Dungeon scene, more proof can be found to show that Faust is indeed a negative figure. Foremost, Faust’s rescue plan is motivated by the wrong impetus: his remorse and not necessarily his concern for Gretchen. This can be interpreted as a p roof of his egoistic nature. When he opens Gretchen’s cell, she thinks that time of her execution has come. She rues her death and her lover’s absence: â€Å"’I’m still so young, so young! / And yet I’ll die!/I was lovely too, that was my Ruin/ My love was near, now he’s gone /The garland’s torn: the flowers are done† (Goethe). To this lament, Faust declares: â€Å"How shall I endure this misery, say!† (Goethe). This declaration is an evidence of his inner guilt and anguish, the feeling that he seeks to assuage by freeing Gretchen. More profoundly though, Faust’s attempt to save Gretchen is a sign of a much serious flaw; Faust is obviously quite disinclined towards penance. Gretchen’s being in prison is partly his fault. Had he pursued love rather than lust when he first sought to woo Gretchen, she would not have been facing death. He is willing to disregard the past as evidenced by his saying: â€Å"Let p ast be past I say! / You’re destroying me!† (Destro) This aspect to his character, this proclivity for immorality, Destro says that he cannot be fully blamed on his flawed fictive character but rather should be analyzed from the point of view of the function that he was meant to fulfill by the playwright (Destro). This is where Destro draws us to the possibility that Goethe obliterated all possibility of our having a dilemma regarding the morality, or a lack, thereof, of Faust. In doing this, Goethe is foregrounding the need for us to overcome the hurdle of morality as it is conceptualized in our everyday lives. It is only in doing this that the real spirit of Faust would be comprehended. It is not because of his actions that Faust is eventually saved. Rather, it is because of his attitude, his need to understand the world and his unrelenting pursuit of these goals. Faust is a seeker of knowledge; this quest for knowledge occupies his whole life. He is driven by a great need to understand the nature of things, thereby, studying a number of disciplines including law, medicine, philosophy and theology as seen in scene I. â€Å"Ah! Now I’ve  done  Philosophy,Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More I’ve finished Law and Medicine, And sadly even Theology: Taken fierce pains, from end to end. Now here I am, a fool for sure! No wiser than I was before† (Destro). As Destro says, Faust’s frustration, at the beginning of the play, is understandable: â€Å"Having devoted the whole of his life to study, and mastered whatever culture of his time could offer, Faust then discovers, at the ends of a life of sacrifice, renunciation, and contempt from his ‘success,’ the vanity of his efforts† (Destro). He knows all there is to know but he still is not fulfilled. At this juncture, Faust is ready to do all it takes in order to find the all elusive fulfillment. In doing this, Faust is being both true to himself and honest to himself. And for this, he is saved. Destro argues that it is not for what Faust does but rather for what he had been that he was eventually glorified (Destro). In essence, this means that â€Å"his actions are measured, not accordin g to moral criteria (in other words, responsibility towards others) but according to the criterion of how far he corresponds to the law of his actual character† (Destro, 72). In living up to the essence of who he is, Faust is found worthy of going to heaven. Conclusion While there are many things that are contentious in the play, a few things come out very clearly. One is that Faust is decidedly an immoral character. Subjected to whatever standards of morality, it would be practically impossible to find him otherwise. Two, he is saved at the end. Less clear, however, is why Goethe chose to glorify Faust at the end. And the explanation forwarded by Destro is the most plausible one for explaining this paradox. Destro, Alberto. The Guilty Hero, or the Tragic Salvation of Faust. 2011. Web. Goethe von Wolfgang. Faust. 2012. Web. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/FaustIScenesItoIII.php

3 Types of Word Treatment

3 Types of Word Treatment 3 Types of Word Treatment 3 Types of Word Treatment By Mark Nichol Spelling, capitalization, and italicization are three aspects of writing that careful writers will attend to. This post discusses the importance of recognizing standards and making conscious decisions when contemplating deviating from them. Spelling Employing proper spelling is one of the fundamentals of composition. Unfortunately, the explosive increase in writing opportunities afforded by the internet and social media makes it easier for careless writers to spread viral errors. Where in the past, few print publications would allow mistakes like definately and predominately, today, such misspellings are rampant on websites and blogs and in texts, not to mention in some professionally produced print publications and on occasional television broadcasts- including in chyrons, the electronically generated captions that appear below talking heads on TV. Deteriorating writing skills and declining editing standards result in frequent spelling errors, and the only effective defense is a good offense: Proactively double-check spelling- using not just spell-checking functions (which are not infallible) but also print or online dictionaries (which are virtually perfectly reliable). Dictionaries and other writing resources also protect writers from using incorrect or outdated word forms. For example, the few remaining hyphenated compound nouns are undergoing an evolution, as writers increasingly omit the hyphen and treat these terms as closed compounds- sometimes in a conscious decision to accelerate what is almost always an inevitable process but far more often simply out of ignorance. Changes from, for example, mind-set to mindset and start-up to startup are inevitable, but the former choice in each case is still the form listed in most dictionaries, so avoid the variant until it becomes the norm. Capitalization Capitalization, which, with few exceptions, denotes a proper noun, in such usage distinguishes the specific from the generic, but it is employed erroneously primarily in two contexts. First, generic job titles are often mistakenly capitalized. When Jane Smith is identified as a senator, capitalize the job title if it appears before her name: â€Å"Senator Jane Smith.† And when the job title substitutes for the person’s name in direct address- when someone says or writes, for example, â€Å"Excuse me, Senator, do you have a moment?† the word is capitalized. In government or legal documents, the â€Å"publisher† may insist on capitalizing the job title even in isolation: â€Å"The Senator abstained.† But in all other usage, the term is generic- Jane Smith is being described as one of those entities designated as a senator. Take care, too, about capitalizing only exact job titles. When referring to Thomas Jones, whose official designation is director of communications and marketing, write â€Å"Director of Communications and Marketing Thomas Jones,† to be formal, or â€Å"marketing director Thomas Jones,† in more casual contexts, but not â€Å"Marketing Director Thomas Jones.† (And after the name, the job title is almost invariably not capitalized; a rare exception is the exact name of an endowed professorship. Capitalization is also standard after names on lists, on rà ©sumà ©s, and so on.) In addition, descriptions of people that identify their profession or role but are not formal job titles are not capitalized: â€Å"The truck belongs to electrician John Smith†; â€Å"She thanked team captain Mary Jones for her support.† Similarly, a term identifying a nonliving entity should be capitalized only as part of the full name: for example, â€Å"the Mississippi River,† but â€Å"the river† (with exceptions for poetic license, as when such an entity is personified), or â€Å"the Development Committee,† but â€Å"the committee† (again, in legalese, such terms may appear capitalized). Italicization Italics serve to call attention to a word, phrase, or sentence; two primary functions are to identify a foreign term and to emphasize one or more words the writer wishes the reader to notice. However, the pitfall in the case of both functions is overuse. In the case of apparently foreign words or phrases, double-check that the term is in fact still technically considered foreign; many such words and phrases have been assimilated into English (evidenced by their inclusion in English dictionaries) and are no longer considered to require emphasis. (Note, too, that some writers and publishers decide that when a foreign term is used repeatedly in one piece of content, and it is defined or explained on first reference, it is italicized only in that first instance.) And when considering whether to italicize a word, phrase, or sentence to make it stand out, think twice about whether the emphasis is merited or helpful; frequent employment of any tool or technique can diminish its effectivenes s. A third common function of italics is to call attention to a word being used to name itself rather than the concept for which the word stands; compare â€Å"Moron originally denoted a mildly retarded person† and â€Å"A moron is a stupid person.† Because of this distinction, italics should not be employed to introduce a term unless the word is described as a word, as in the disclaimer â€Å"In observing the historical context of psychiatry in the early twentieth century, we use moron according to its original medical definition: ‘a mildly retarded person.’† In spelling, capitalization, and italicization, as in any aspect of writing, the writer or publisher may choose to deviate from accepted standards, but the ultimate consideration should be whether the reader is being served by a decision that affects one or more aspects, or whether communication is being compromised rather than enhanced. In addition, a writer may ignore these standards for artistic reasons, such as in representing dialect or a fictional character’s illiteracy or overly emphatic speech patterns. Again, however, the writer should weigh the consequences of such a decision and practice moderation. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Useful Stock Phrases for Your Business Emails45 Synonyms for â€Å"Old† and â€Å"Old-Fashioned†9 Forms of the Past Tense

14 Sound Similes Evaluating Figurative Comparisons

14 Sound Similes Evaluating Figurative Comparisons In writing thats cluttered with clichà ©s, loud noises predictably sound like thunder, while sweet voices are likened to honey, angels, or bells. But in writing thats fresh and daring, unfamiliar comparisons may sometimes surprise, delight, or enlighten us. This doesnt mean that all original similes are effective. A far-fetched comparison may strike some readers as more distracting than revealing, more puzzling than entertaining. Ultimately, of course, how we respond to a figure of speech is largely a matter of taste. Drawn from recent works of fiction and nonfiction, these 14 similes about sounds should help you determine your taste in figurative language. Read each passage aloud, and then identify the similes that you think are particularly creative, insightful, or humorous. In contrast, which ones leave you bored, annoyed, or confused? Be prepared to compare your responses with those of your friends or classmates. 14 Sound Similes to Discover   Welshmen SingingWelshmen like Mr. Davis put great stock in Welsh singing, but to my Irish ears it sounds like men jumping off chairs into a bathtub full of frogs.(P.J. ORourke, The Welsh National Combined Mud Wrestling and Spelling Bee Championship. Age and Guile, Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut. Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995)Branches Scratching Against a WindowThe floorboards creaked in the room where Rain used to be, and the branches of the cherry tree in the front yard near Edgar Allan Poes grave swayed in the wind. They scratched against the glass with a soft tap, tap, tap. It sounded like a lizards paws. Then it sounded like a serpents tongue. Then it sounded like five weak fingers rapping on the windowpane, the same gentle fingers that used to comb and braid Alices hair.(Lisa Dierbeck, One Pill Makes You Smaller. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003)The Winner of the Eurovision Song ContestNobody knows what Edward II sounded like when he sang, but now the whole world knows w hat Conchita sounds like. She, or he, sounds like incoming artillery. One hundred and eighty million people in 45 countries were blown sideways by the uproar emanating from a young woman pretending to be Russell Brand, or perhaps it was Russell Brand pretending to be a young woman.(Clive James, Conchitas Voice Sounded Like Incoming Artillery. The Telegraph, May 17, 2014) A SneezeWithout warning, Lionel gave one of his tight little sneezes: it sounded like a bullet fired through a silencer.(Martin Amis, Lionel Asbo: State of England. Alfred A. Knopf, 2012)A BoyFor all his roughness and arrogance, the boy was transformed when he was in the presence of girls. He spoke in a voice as soft as the silken filaments that float out of a cocoon.(Carol Field, Mangoes and Quince. Bloomsbury, 2001)The Invisible NoiseDuring other sessions, Ive told her about the noise. The invisible noise that only I can hear- a noise that sounds like the mumbling of a million broken voices saying nothing at all or the hum of the wind through an open car window at seventy miles per hour. I can even see the noise sometimes. It circles above people like a clear vulture with sparks of electricity in its wings- hovering dangerously above their heads before swooping down.(Brian James, Life Is But a Dream. Feiwel Friends, 2012)Hoofbeats, Sabers, and ShotsThe street was alive with them, hollow-eyed and faceless astride coal-black horses, their muffled hoofbeats sounding like rapid shots miles away. Only these sounds were right here and I was in the midst of them. Sabers whistled. Once I heard a noise like a cooks cleaver striking half-boiled meat, a nauseating sound. Then there were real shots, hard and sharp, like derisive coughs, and metal-gray smoke that mingled with the white vapor exhaled by the horses.(Loren D. Estleman, Murdocks Law, 1982) Bob DylanEveryone who heard it- even the people who said that Dylan sounded like a dog with his leg trapped in barbed wire- knew Bob Dylan was a phenomenon.(Lewis Macadams, Birth Of The Cool. The Free Press, 2001)Leonard CohenIt is a penitents voice, a rabbinical voice, a crust of unleavened vocal toastspread with smoke and subversive wit. He has a voice like a carpet in an old hotel, like a bad itch on the hunchback of love.(Tom Robbins, Leonard Cohen. Wild Ducks Flying Backward. Bantam, 2005)The Reverberations of Train HornsWhen the train horns sounded and then were quiet, there were pure reverberations up and down the river that sounded like a plucked harp string or a piano note sustained by holding down a pedal.(Mark Knudsen, Old Man River and Me: One Mans Journey Down the Mighty Mississippi. Thomas Nelson, 1999)Cello MusicIt isnt music Louise has ever heard before. It sounds like a lullaby, and then it sounds like a pack of wolves, and then it sounds like a slaughterhouse, and t hen it sounds like a motel room and a married man saying I love you and the shower is running at the same time. It makes her teeth ache and her heart rattle.(Kelly Link, Louises Ghost. Poes Children: The New Horror, ed. by Peter Straub. Doubleday, 2008) Lyle FilbenderI took a deep breath and started to speak. I cant remember half of what I said, but I do know that I was at least a million times more inspiring than Lyle Filbender. He sounded like a defective robot in need of a battery change and had to be reprimanded twice for calling the Missions clients bums.(Maureen Fergus, Exploits of a Reluctant (but Extremely Goodlooking) Hero. Kids Can Press, 2007)A Voice on the PhoneCarl reached for the phone, his gut tightening. Even before he heard the voice on the other end, he suspected- no, knew- it would be him. You did real well, the voice said, a voice like dry leaves rustling down a sidewalk.(J. Michael Straczynski, We Killed Them in the Ratings. Blowout in Little Man Flats, ed. by Billie Sue Mosiman and Martin Greenberg. Rutledge Hill, 1998)Chains at the ForgeRails suspended overhead, from which black chains hung like jungle vines that clattered through their blocks, making a tooth-rattling noise, a noise like the jabbering of a tho usand jawbones in a thousand skulls.(John Griesemer, Signal and Noise. Hutchinson, 2004)

Begin the New Year in Thanks Write a Gratitude List

Begin the New Year in Thanks Write a Gratitude List Begin the New Year in Thanks: Write a Gratitude List How many times have you told yourself, This year Im going to lose weight, or This year Im gonna start a business, or pursued some other grand idea that never quite panned out? Weve all been there. This year, forgo the back-breaking resolutions that make you feel like a failure. Start the year fresh with a gratitude list. What’s a â€Å"Gratitude List?† A gratitude list is a simple exercise that can pull you out of sticky bad feelings. Take out a piece of paper (or your phone or laptop), and start writing things that are good in your life. It may seem hard at first, but starting out with a small list of five things and adding to it throughout the week can lift your spirits and create a happier and healthier you. It might be a foreign concept, but it works. Why Do a List? When you’re not feeling content or well, it’s great to look at your gratitude list. When nervous, angry, or scared, take a deep breath and reflect upon the things for which you’re grateful. It’s been proven that people who live in a spirit of gratitude do better at school and in work. A good mood can affect your life tremendously, and help you during difficult times. Making up a gratitude list may sound cheesy, but it helps de-clutter your head and allow you to focus on the positive. For more helpful tips to better yourself and your future, call 1-800-573-0840. will help you write well, achieve academically, and more.

Marketing research - social media audit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing research - social media audit - Essay Example Additional products and services include Safaricom Mail and Safaricom shops. In March 2007, Safaricom Company, in collaboration with Vodafone Group Services Limited, via Vodafone Marketing S.A.R.L., launched the M-PESA services (Mobile Money Transfer Services). Based on its advancements in terms of growth and service provision, the Company has signed agreements with other companies i.e., Vodafone International Holdings B.V. it is worth noting that one of its major achievements was realized in 2009 (two years after its establishment), when it realized a100 percent interest in Packet stream Data Networks (http://www.safaricom.co.ke/about-us/about-safaricom/our-history-heritage). WHAT: Safaricom begun as a department of the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation based on an analogue ETACS networks and later upgraded to GSM in 1996. On 3 April 1997, Safaricom Limited was integrated as prescribed in the Companies Act under the category of private limited liability company, and alt ered into a public company on 16 May 2002, with limited liability. WHO: Safaricom Company is faced with a stiff competition for Airtel, Essar-yu, and Orange companied. Although they apply different strategies, their targeted market is one. WHY: Following its good reception by the market and effective management, Safaricom Company has come up with a range of services and products such as financial aid initiatives, charity foundation, communication support, customer care services, advisory services, flashback services, ‘kipokezi’ services, mobile internet connectivity, e.t.c. KEY WORDS Safaricom limited (Current name of the company since the year 2002) Safaricom Kenya (Fundamental name of the company) Safaricom Foundation (Its branch that is tasked by major charitable activities to the communities) ‘M-Pesa’ (Safaricom being the sole provider of this service where subscribers can send and receive money via their mobile phones as long as they are within the pro ximity of the service coverage, i.e., East Africa). ‘M-Shwari’ (Safaricom being the sole provider of this service aimed at promoting local business operators i.e. SMEs). ‘Okoa Jahazi’ (Safaricom being the sole provider of this service. ‘Okoa jahazi’ is a Kiswahili term that means advance acquisition of airtime that is paid upon toping up the line). Bob Collymore (Safaricom CEO) Mobile application providers (these applications are mentioned in the executive summary covered above) Mobile Money Transfer Services provider (in addition to the ‘M-Pesa’ services covered above, pay bill services, and buy airtime/top up services are also provided). COMPANY ANALYSIS AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS Competition intensity within any industries is not an issue that is based on luck. Competition has its foundation on the underlying industries’ economics and proceeds well beyond any other established competitors within a defined market. Not all in dustries have equal potential while competing for market coverage. Companies differ basically in their definitive profit potentials as the collective strength of the forces of competition differs; the forces range from intense in industries like paper, tires and steel, where no firms earn spectacular returns, to relatively mild in industries where high returns are common. Initiating

Critique of Systematic Research Review (SRR) Assignment

Critique of Systematic Research Review (SRR) - Assignment Example Levels of evidence explored in Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt’s SRR vary in research designs of the literature used. The SRR utilized evidence from research articles and books. First, reliable applications of evidence-based practices in healthcare frameworks formed a level of evidence. Nurses in Magnet organizations reported these applications in higher levels. Magnet organizations were the designs of the first research works used by Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt (Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt, 2011). Second, the accessibility of professionals of evidence-based practices was proof of the SRR’s viability. Third, organizational cultures that supported evidence-based practices were proof of the SRR’s flexibility and comprehensiveness. In addition, there were no substantial differences in items associated with the requirements and access to sustenance of evidence-based practices. Critique of the Clarity with Which the Studies are Presented and Critiqued The clarity that Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt use to present and critique the studies in the SRR is exceptional. The researchers provide a discussion of the variances between research designs of study application and models of evidence-based practices. Both ideological variances, as well as the variances in physician competencies required and critiqued. Study models of evidence-based practices used by the writers are debated in differing levels of detail. For instance, Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt discuss the Iowa Model, Larrabee's model, and Kitson's model differently.

Strategy and Management of Change Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Strategy and Management of Change - Case Study Example The company was inspired mainly by the international brand McDonalds. Preempting the entry of McDonalds in the Philippines, our organization reinvented and differentiated itself by concentrating on Filipino way of doing the business. What pushed our organization during its earlier period are its internal strengths. Stores were structured to suit the ambiance fitted to customers, services were transformed into a full service fast food operations and equipments were updated to enhance effectivity and efficiency. Jollibee was able to enter the ranks lists of top 500 Philippine corporations in 1984 by reaching the P500 million sales mark. Barely 10 years in the business, our organization joined the ranks of the top 100 Philippine corporations. It made a record when it became the first Philippine fast food chain to break the P1 billion sales mark in 1989. In addition, it became the first Philippine food service company to be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange in 1993. This was the strategy that helped our organization broaden its capitalization and lay the groundwork for sustained expansion of business operations both domestically and internationally (www.jollibee.com.ph). Pursuant to its long-term goal to dominate the local food service industry, our organization has expanded its market coverage. It acquired Greenwich Pizza in 1994, which by then has established a strong presence in the food service industry, to penetrate the pasta segment. The franchise of Delifrance was acquired in the succeeding year and paved the way for further penetration in the food segment particularly French caf-bakery which is a growing segment in the Philippine food market. With the strategic acquisition of Chowking, our organization has solidified its position as the dominant leader and made it a leader in the Oriental quick service restaurant segment. As a result of its success domestically, the extent of its business operations have grown exponentially. It now even owns a Chinese fast food chain operating in mainland China and a popular teahouse chain doing business in Taiwan. Jollibee is now an international brand with phenomenal expansion of business operations. From an ice cream parlor a few years back, it was able to put up over 570 stores in the Philippines and 27 international stores in countries like the United States and Hong Kong. The company had been earning laurels from the corporate world for many years now. In 2001, The Far Eastern Economic Review named it the top corporation in the Philippines and the sixth leading corporation in Asia. Jollibee had also won recognition for its contribution to the economy of the Philippines and the success of its strategies by the Asian Business Review, leading management consultants Hewitt Associates, and many Filipino corporate bodies. Jollibee had the distinction of being one of the very few companies that had been able to give multinational fast-food giants such as McDonald's and Burger King a run for their money. While Jollibee had a market share of over 60%, its closest rival, McDonald's had less than half of that. CATALYSTS FOR CHANGE Competition is a great factor for the survival in any kind of business endeavor (Robbins and Coulter, 2002). To be able to stay on top and gain advantage over myriad companies within the same industry, the organization

Solvability Factors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Solvability Factors - Essay Example Solvability factors, therefore, are the elements or situations that directly or indirectly affected the resolution of a crime which, as defined above, constitutes arresting and charging the offender or perpetrator. The following are solvability factors identified in the investigation of crimes such as homicide. The first group of factors involves those associated with the crime incident (Keppel & Weis, 1994). One factor is the commission of another crime. For homicide, these include robbery and breaking and entering which may aid in the investigation of the primary crime. Another factor is the time of the commission of the crime. Crimes that are perpetrated at broad daylight or at a time wherein many people are up and about will have a higher solvability due to the possibility of witnesses. Another factor under this category is the place of the crime. Crimes committed in residential areas are more likely to be solved than those committed in non-residential areas (Keppel & Weis, 1994). The second group of factors includes those associated with the vic... The third group of factors is the law enforcement organizational factors. Different strategies, regulations and other characteristics of crime detection agencies play an important role in the resolution of a crime. One factor is the amount of time that is devoted for a particular case. It is only logical that one investigator can handle a certain number of cases for a given period of time while it is quite understandable that an investigator can be more focused and be efficient when handling one case at a time (Wellford & Cronin, 1999). Another factor under this category is the number of agents or detectives for a particular division who can handle the same types of crime. When a certain investigator handling a case cannot, for any particular reason, pursue the investigation then assistance or replacement by another capable investigator is necessary (Muozos & Muller, 2001; Wellford & Cronin,1999). Another factor is the existence and efficiency of support staff that can increase the performance and rate of accomplishment of the details and processes undertaken by an investigator. Related to this is the separate function of data or evidence analysts that can help tackle the clues and questions posed by the data or evidences. Lastly, an important solvability factor related to law enforcement practice is teamwork inside the unit which roughly translates to good cooperation and communication frameworks among colleagues (Riedel & Rinehart, 1996). The fourth group of solvability factors falls under the crime scene factors. The foremost factor in this category includes the rapid or timely security of the crime scene and other places that may be

Virtue and Courage Essay Example for Free

Virtue and Courage Essay What is the first thing that pops up in your mind when you hear this word? Is it a person jumping down a building, someone confronting his enemies, voicing out his opinions or nothing at all? For me, I think of a noble action when I hear this word. Courage was originally a Latin word, â€Å"coraticum†. The root â€Å"cor† means heart and it was added to the suffix, â€Å"age† to fit the English language. Literally, courage means â€Å"an action that comes from the heart†. Courage can be split into two, physical courage and moral courage. â€Å"Physical courage† is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, or threat of death while â€Å"moral courage† is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame or discouragement. The main interpretation of the usage of this word is â€Å"to describe people who have a quality of mind that allows them to face danger without fear†. For many people, risking or sacrificing one’s life for others is the highest example of courage. However, many of us experience courage in everyday life without even realising it. Certain devoted actions made by ordinary people in ordinary situations can be courageous. Courage can be living with a handicapped person, moving on with life after the death of a loved one, or even working hard to pay your monthly bills. In Ancient times, courage was considered to be one of the four essential virtues in life: wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. Courage is one of the most important qualities in a man because without it, he will not be able to show his other virtues. You cannot buy courage or get it from someone else. You can only be inspired by the examples of other people. All in all, courage is not just a gained state of mind as a result of meritorious education, it is a calling of a soul. An integral part of a man’s personality. So whether it is dying for another person or fighting for something good, we should all practise it.

Psychology Cae Studies Essay Example for Free

Psychology Cae Studies Essay 1) Newspaper Advertisement: -self selecting persons who had an interest in seeing the study become successful. If you volunteer to become a part of a study clearly you have an interest and feel a sense of responsibility towards the experiment.  2) Subjects were predominately white and middle class. This implies that the subjects are from similar backgrounds, and so share similar experiences. In such cases we call them a homogeneous group. A homogeneous group because of their similar experiences are not likely to be representative of the wider population. Consequently results are likely to reflective of them, not the general population. In this instance we may only have learn how a prison population with predominately white males from a middle class background is likely to behave. Remember the purpose of much of research is to generalise to the wider population. 3) Thumbs up for the use of questionnaires and an interview, which were used to screen the subjects.  Thumbs down what constituted healthy? How did they come to this judgement? Normal! What is normal?  4) The experiment was conducted at the prestigious Stanford University. The  Prestige of the University will have impacted upon the subjects. Oh my god we are here at Stanford. If Stanford is doing this then it must be good and worthwhile. They wouldnt have me doing something thats not good for me. No matter what I feel I must behave as a dutiful subject. Its not hard to imagine the subjects thinking in this manner. 5) The direct involvement of the chief researcher as a participant in the  Experiment could also impact upon the subjects. Hey hes involved, if he isnt having a problem neither should I. I need to follow his lead. This is a really valuable piece of research.  Key Terms  De-Individuation: -This is a loss of your individual identity. The guards lost their identity to the group collective. We are guards. The (uniform), inclusive of baton, reflecting sunglasses and apparel (what they had on) contributed to this. We are the authority! What we say goes! The prisoners lost their identity when they were given prison garb and prison numbers. To be referred to only by a number robs you of your name. How vital is a name to an individual? Mr, Miss, Mrs, name only. It comes to define you the individual. Without it who are you? De-humanisation: This means that you have lost your humanity and are not treated with the basic dignity to which human beings are entitled. The prisons were de-humanised. Remember they were stripped and made to stand naked in the court -yard. This is not a dignified way to treat persons. Further evidence of their dehumanisation is the prison guards referring to their rights as privileges. This implied that they were not entitled to rights. Loss of control over what we as humans have come to expect, when we eat, when we sleep, and when use the bathroom. They lost the power to do all these things. Learned helplessness: They became dependent upon the guards for everything. They lost the desire and the know how to do things for themselves. This was not the situation before since they acquired it in prison, then it is learned helplessness.  Remember power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Role Confusion: This occurs when the individual cannot separate roles that he has been given-which am I truly? This is linked to role consumption, This occurs when one particular role comes to define an individual take for example an athlete or politician who refuses to retire long after they have passed their prime. Both the guards and the prisoners suffered from this problem. The guards like the prisoners suffered de-individuation. They too lost their identities to the roles they were asked to perform. The awesome power they were given, the uniform-inclusive of whistle, baton and reflecting sunglasses all contributed to them losing their identity. They began to see themselves as guards only and begun acting accordingly. Most naturally this meant that the guards internalised the prison. By Internalisation we mean that they accepted the prison as being real, and conformed to its expectations, routines and guidelines. Did the guards truly internalise the prison? Lets look at the evidence of this-The guards attempted to hide the prisons in the broom cupboard because they felt the experimenters were being too soft- [This is evidence of internalisation because it shows that the guards had removed themselves from the confines/boundaries of the experiment and had now started to think as the collective group-prison guards-[This moment should have marked the end of the experiment as its integrity had been compromised-it was an ethical violation to continue-Zimbardo being a part of the experiment(Prison Warder-head guard) became totally subjective and could not see that anything was wrong-this again was unethical but only because his objectivity was compromised].  Further evidence of this is calling the prisoners rights privileges, and delaying the prisoner roll call to hours. For the prisoners the arresting process, which began when they were arrested and ended when they were finger printed and photographed, contributed to the prisoners internalising the prison. This occurred because of the shock value it signified a break from the prison (subjects) everyday reality they were arrested-they were now prisoners. The initiation process, which is everything, which happened to the prison subjects up until they were assigned to their cells, also contributed to their internalising the prison. This included being given prison uniforms, being stripped and deloused, being made to stand naked in the prison yard, being assigned numbers, learning the prison rules -which they had to recite and being assigned cells. Evidence of the internalisation of the prison by the prisoners is them referring to themselves by number, asking for a lawyer, bail and parole board, and returning to their cells when they could have just left.

Epic of Beowulf Essay - Noble and Cowardly Behavior :: Epic of Beowulf Essay

Beowulf may serve well as a reflection of the life of Germanic aristocracy of old times. The primary epic, by definition dealing with heroic deeds and extraordinary figures, often uses comparison and contrast to differentiate good qualities and faults and make them more explicit. Throughout the poem we acknowledge the idealisation of Beowulf both as a warrior and a king. The main features which contribute to Beowulf’s greatness are courage, martial skills, honour, responsibility, generosity and pursuit of fame. The mentioning of Scyld, the legendary Danish hero, and of Beowulf the Dane at the beginning of the poem serve as an implicit comparison with the forthcoming Beowulf the Geat. Similarities between the warrior and the heroic predecessors expose Beowulf’s qualities. Beowulf shows respect for king Hrothgar and he discloses his responsibility when asking the king to take care of his men in case of his death in the fight with Grendel. Unlike Unferth the â€Å"peace spoiler†, he hadn’t slain his kinsmen, nor had he boasted about his courage while the plain facts proved the opposite: for if Unferth was so brave, Grendel would not have been alive anymore. The negative image of a retainer which Unferth represents is boosted by the fact that he gave his sword to Beowulf, whereas a virtuous warrior never parts with his sword. An example of an ignoble behaviour is also represented in the shape of the cowardly warriors of king Beowulf’s retinue, who, except for Wiglaf, leave him unattended in the fight with the Dragon. They are a total opposition of the brave hero. As a king, Beowulf resembles wise Hrothgar and Hygelac. Generous to his thanes, he drives his land to prosperity. For his people he sacrifices his life, unlike Heremot, the avaricious former Danish king, who brought â€Å"carnage and death† to his kindred, â€Å"slew his comrades† and fled, and whose reign brought torment to his people. Beowulf shared the fate of heroic Sigemund the dragon-slayer, who gained treasure for his subordinates but whose life had a bitter end.

Computer Viruses :: essays research papers

Computer Viruses Explain the difference between viruses, worms and Trojan horses in the context of computer and data security. Discuss the measures that need to be taken in order to maintain security. There is a type of computer program that is designed and written to destroy, alter or damage data stored on computers without your knowledge or permission. These are some of the problems that these programs cause ? Your computer displays annoying messages ? Your computer develops strange visual and sound effects ? Files on your computer mysteriously disappear ? Your computer starts working very slowly ? Your computer reboots unexpectedly These programs are typically referred to as viruses although technically the computing term virus actually refers to a specific type of pest program. Other types are called Trojan horses and worms. The difference between these pest programs is how they behave when attacking a computer system and I am going to look at each type individually to explain the difference starting with viruses. A computer virus is a program that is designed to replicate and spread itself on its own, preferably without anybody knowing it exists. They spread by attaching themselves to other programs (such as your word processing or spreadsheet programs). Then when a file with a virus attached to it is executed the virus will also be executed. Viruses can also attach themselves to system files the computer uses every time it is switched on, these are called boot sector viruses, and can cause persistent and widespread disruption to the computer. Viruses can also infest documents such as those created with a word processor. Infested documents are stored with a list of instructions called a macro, which is essentially a mini program. Then when the document is viewed the macro is activated. These viruses are called macro viruses and actually account for 67.5% of all virus damage. Worms are very similar to viruses but are technically different in the way that they replicate and spread through the system. The difference is that programs or files don’t need to be run in order to activate the spreading of a worm. Because of this worms can be very dangerous when released on to computer networks. The Internet Worm was released on to the Internet on the 2nd November 1988 spread to over 6,000 computers in less than a day. And the total monetary costs of this infection are estimated at about $98,000,000. Which proves how much damage can be done with a worm.

How Christianity and Judaism are Alike and Different Essay

Judaism and Christianity are two of the many religions of the world. Both of these religions can be found in the Middle East. Although they are very similar, they also differ in many ways. People who believe in the Jewish religion are called Jews. Jews believe that the Messiah is yet to come. In the world there are about 13 million Jewish followers. Jews go to a synagogue to worship their ‘Messiah.’ They also read the Torah, which is their Holy Book. Abraham founded Judaism in 1700 B.C.E. Jews consider Jerusalem a holy city because of the Wailing Wall is located there, (which is the last remnant of the second temple.) Finally, Jews believe that they are the ‘Chosen People’ and that Israel is the ‘Promise Land.’ On the other hand you have Christianity, these followers are called Christians. Christians believe that Jesus was the ‘Son of God’ and the ‘Messiah.’ They also believe that Jesus suffered and died for people’s sins and then that he rose from the dead. There are over 1,000 million Christian followers all over the world! Christians believe that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem so they consider Jerusalem to be a Holy City. They also believe in God and read about their religion in a Bible in a Church. Finally, Jesus established Christianity in 4 B.C.E. Now you’ve learned all about the differences between Judaism and Christianity but now you have to learn the similarities between the two religions. Both religions are monotheistic meaning they have one God who created the universe. Also, both consider Jerusalem a holy city in different ways. Both religions also have a sacred book that they read to discover things of their religion, although these religions have different books they still learn many similar things, and finally, both religions recognize Jesus in some way, either as a prophet or a Messiah. So, as you can see Judaism and Christianity are very similar but also very different.

Clausewitz in the 21st Century Essay

The work of Carl von Clausewitz continues to bring about heated debate in the 21st Century. While many scholars see Clausewitz’s On War as an indispensible military thought in the modern times, others view it as an obsolete or morally repellent argument for unlimited, unrestrained and brutal warfare. [1] Notwithstanding the opposition of present times, this renowned work is considered incomplete and its lack of prescriptive contents has subjected it to interpretations and discourses. Facing this encumbrance, the study of On War has to go beyond textual analysis to an appreciation of the historical context which influenced the author’s thinking and the evolution of the book over time. Fortunately, with the enduring efforts of numerous historians, we now know that Clausewitz’s experiences in the Napoleonic Wars and his study in the age of Frederick the Great (and beyond) allowed him to create a unified, all encompassing theory of war. [2] To date, much literature has been written to attest to the relevance of Clausewitz’s theories in modern warfare and assert the timelessness of On War. This paper examines the insights gained from the great studies on Clausewitz’s works and re-confirm the continued relevance of his theories by: (1) identifying the character of 21st Century warfare, followed by (2) an interpretation of Clausewitz’s theories and his underlying thinking, and finally (3) examining the relevance of the theories concerned and determine how they can be applied in the 21st Century. The 21st Century Warfare The character of warfare has evolved since the passing of Carl von Clausewitz 180 years ago. The likelihood of massive clashes between onventional forces seems to be diminishing and the world has seen the dawn of non-state actors challenging established states with asymmetric warfare[4] techniques. William Lind aptly chronicled the evolution of warfare in four generations, which began with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. He described present day warfare as fourth-generation warfare (4GW) that is characterized by a universal crisis of legitimacy of the state, where militaries had to fight against threats that are transnational in nature and are very difficult to deal with. 5] The capabilities of these threat entities stem from the effects of globalisation that have enabled further, faster, deeper and cheaper means to reach around the world. [6] In addition to the physical reach, today’s information technology has also brought about various modern communication avenues that allow collaboration and ready access to information. Consequently, this also allowed rapid access to media pipelines enabling belligerents to exploit them to further their cause. These have bestowed transnational terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda, and the more sophisticated Hezbollah[7], with the abilities to acquire equipment, knowledge and instruments that rival those of the traditional state to wage wars. According to Lind, 4GW also brings together the relevance of mass firepower dominated by artillery in the second-generation warfare and manoeuvre concepts of third-generation warfare, making it more complex than ever before. Therefore, we can conclude at this point that 21st Century strategists and war-fighters have to contend with both conventional threats from traditional states and unconventional threats from non-state actors, both whom are capable of waging wars. Intricacies of Clausewitz’s Work To grasp how Clausewitz’s theories can be applied in 4GW, it is necessary to decipher the underlying thinking of the author’s work. Many of Clausewitz’s theories articulated in On War are remarkably well integrated despite the fact that On War is an unfinished book. Without going into details, this can be illustrated using Clausewitz’s famous paradoxical trinity. The constructs of the trinity comprises three interrelated components of war, namely â€Å"the commander and his army†, â€Å"the people† and â€Å"the government. †[8] Clausewitz connected each of these human actors to three sets of forces: (1) The commander and his army are paired mainly with non-rational forces of riction, chance and probability, (2) the people are paired mainly with irrational forces that refers to the emotions of primordial violence, hatred and enmity, and (3) the government, which is less of a concern in this paper, is paired mainly with the rational force of calculation and reasoning. [9] As illustrated, Clausewitz has unified many ideas and concepts he developed over the period of study in his own youth and middle age. The following discussion will examine the specific ideas and theories concerned. The Irrational Elements Irrational forces† is one of the three forces that were interpreted by Bassford to provide a symmetrical representation of dominant tendencies in Clausewitz’s trinity. [10] While the three sets of forces were paired with each component of the trinity, it must be stressed that Clausewitz actually used the word â€Å"mehr†¦zugewendet† in his original German manuscript, which means â€Å"mainly,† in the associations. [11] Thus, it is clear that the author did not rule out that any one of the forces can be present in all components to some variable extent, and that this is the reason behind dialectical relationships between components. Indeed, looking at the real world, military men and politicians are also members of â€Å"the people,† given that they may belong to different parts of society. In that sense, irrational forces are linked to all human actors and therefore its dominant beliefs will provide the fuel for political decisions[12]. This in turn may shape the outcome of a military campaign, which is consequential based on Clausewitz’s argument that â€Å"war is an instrument of policy. † In his book, Clausewitz contended that the â€Å"[population is] an integral element among the factors at work in war†[13] and conceived the idea of â€Å"People’s War,† defining it as a state-sponsored insurrection by armed civilians against an invader in support of action by army and the regular forces of allies. [14] This phenomenon was observed during the Napoleonic period where enormous armies that were raised using conscripts led to overwhelmed defending states to adopt â€Å"another means of war† by arming their people. 15] When a state has to wage a People’s War, the significance of irrational forces heightens and the interplay amongst the three components of Clausewitz’s trinity become more distinct. In the light of this discussion, it implies that the irrational elements in war can be referred to both the human actors of Clausewitz’s trinity, predominantly â€Å"the people†, and also, what Clausewitz called it, the â⠂¬Å"blind natural force† of primordial violence, hatred and enmity. [16] Friction, Chance and Uncertainty The concepts of chance, uncertainty and friction can hardly be examined independent of each other. When Clausewitz himself introduced friction, he brought in chance as the key subject to friction in war: â€Å"This tremendous friction cannot†¦be reduced to a few points, is everywhere in contact with chance, and brings about effects that cannot be measured, just because they are largely due to chance. †[17] For Clausewitz, friction is neither extrinsic nor abnormal[18]; it is the reflection of the effects in the real world. Friction can be generation internally within the military â€Å"machine†[19], as in physics, and externally by the collision of two opposing armies. [20] Thus with the concept of friction, Clausewitz conveyed that one can never fully anticipate how the battle will unfold, and it is only through a good military system and the strong will of the commander that friction in war can be counteracted. [21] Throughout On War, apart from Clausewitz’s pervasive mention of chance, its definition can nowhere be found. Beyerchen aptly brought in the three forms of chance conceived by the late nineteenth-century mathematician, Henri Poincare, to explain Clausewitz’s interpretation of chance. The first form is a statistical random phenomenon whereby Clausewitz referred to the role of possibility in a commander’s assessment. While some statistical analysis can be used, this form of chance requires the judgment of an experienced commander in war. The second form is the amplification of a microcause, where Poincare explained on a system point of view that certain deterministic system can cause disproportionately large effects at later time. Clausewitz work has embedded this idea in his very articulation on uncertainty and friction where the various contact of chance at the micro level, which may be concealed, can develop and produce effects at the macro level. The third form is the function of analytical blindness which is a result of simplifying the real world phenomena by people and making war seems like a linear concept instead of a complex and nonlinear state of affairs[22]. With all the complexities involved, Clausewitz stressed that the play of chance goes beyond the commander’s simple calculation of probability to a need for an intuition that allows him to exploit chance to his advantage. Culmination of the Attack Clausewitz defined culminating point of the attack as â€Å"the point where [the attacker’s] remaining strength is just enough to maintain a defence and wait for peace. † Moving beyond that point exposes the attacker to counterattack from the enemy â€Å"with a force that is usually much stronger than that of the original attack. [23] According to Clausewitz, losses will usually be greater than the gains in an attack. As the army advanced, its lines of communication will be stretched, forces will be pulled aside to control areas and other situations may be developed which will turn against the attacker. [24] As a result, the attacker has to stop at some point to rest and adopt a defensive posture for a period of time before proceeding. This is the point where the commander has to decide and exercise his imagination, as Clausewitz concluded, â€Å"what matters therefore is to detect the culminating point with discriminative judgement. †[25] Center of Gravity Antulio J. Echevarria II, a lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army, observed that center of gravity (CoG) appeared more than fifty times in On War, and explained Clausewitz’s conceptualization of the centre of gravity as being based on mechanical sciences, just as he had conceived his theory on friction. [26] Clausewitz described CoG as a focal point, â€Å"the hub of all power and movement, on which everything depends. †[27] By this, which is often misunderstood, he does not mean that the CoG is the source of power. In fact, it is the centralizing function that holds power system together, and in some cases give them purpose and direction. Clausewitz qualified that CoG is valid only when the enemy, â€Å"whether a single state or an alliance of states, have a certain unity and therefore some cohesion. †[29] When the enemy’s CoG is identified, Clausewitz advocates that all â€Å"energies should be directed† at this point to defeat the enemy. [30] Relevance of Clausewitz’s Theories in the 21st Century Thus far, the paper has briefly built a foundational understanding on present day warfare and some of Clausewitz’s brilliant ideas. Already it is quite obvious that many of Clausewitz’s thoughts still stand in present day context and are potentially applicable in 4GW. This proposition is contrary to what many critics have suggested; On War as bloodthirsty, misguided and obsolete. [31] These comments can easily be dispelled because they are often made on the superficial understanding that went little beyond the textual analysis of the book, and often built upon erroneous readings from others. Nevertheless, the fact remains that On War was written almost two centuries ago where the political, social, economic and technological evolutions of today could not be foreseen by Clausewitz. Therefore, in order to render Clausewitz his deserved place in the today’s modern age of technology, the following discussion on his ideas and concepts will not be critical towards the material changes in the 21st Century. Significance of Irrational Elements in 4GW It is axiomatic that conflicts nation-states engage in today relate closely the effects from irrational elements. Following the September 11 attacks, the world saw invasions into Afghanistan in 2001 followed by Iraq in 2003 by coalition forces. In the case of Operation Enduring Freedom (the war in Afghanistan), the cause of war stemmed from worldwide public uproar and support to root-out terror. Given the mandate by the people, the governments gain legitimacy and political will to commit their armed forces to the enduring global war on terror (GWOT). On the other hand, Operation Iraqi Freedom presented a case of â€Å"unconvincing† invasion of Iraq. As seen from how the operation unfolded, the war lost its popularity amongst the populace due to controversies that were presented as a result of the prolonged and seemingly unending war. Pressures began to be exerted by the public on their governments to draw down their armed forces’ involvement. After three years of coalition occupation in Iraq, it was found that majority of the British and Canadian people believed that the war in Iraq was unjustified. [32] A poll conducted on by the BBC World Service in January 2007 had also shown that 73% of the world population was against the handling of the Iraq War by the U. S. [33] It is thus arguable that the large-scale withdrawal of coalition forces which followed in 2009 was largely a result of public disapproval. Therein, it aptly demonstrated the significance of irrational elements, even in the context of the GWOT. Another noteworthy case in the GWOT will be the utility of â€Å"force† by terrorists. Their strategy resembles the â€Å"People’s War† which Clausewitz described. Despite being technologically and numerically inferior, Taliban operatives in Afghanistan are able to capitalize on the people, the natives of the land, to solicit like-mindedness through provocation and propaganda of the deed. [34] Until the NATO coalition is able to sever linkages between the terrorists and the natives, a repeat of the U. S. efeat in Vietnam War remains in prospect. This is an arduous task but nevertheless is in progress. It is thus clear that irrational elements of both sides (own and the native population) have to be part of the strategic and operational considerations in the 4GW. Without due considerations to pacify and buy-over the irrational elements will result in an unbalance trinity and ultimate defeat. Influence of the CoG in 4GW The wide recognition and various adaptations by various militaries of the CoG concept allow this paper to further examine on how this concept influenced the conduct of modern wars. If the current war in Afghanistan is a People’s War, like the paper has suggested, the native population becomes a logical focus. Indeed, the new strategy adopted by NATO since 2010 has placed the Afghan people as the CoG in this conflict. [35] Two of the main thrusts announced by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral James Stavridis include the protection of the Afghan people and to conduct effective strategic communication to win their hearts and minds. [36] Correspondingly, the U. S. ’s Af-Pak strategy that is in effect since early 2009 also focuses on the protection of Afghan people as a top agenda. Over the past one year, U. S. counterinsurgency (COIN) efforts have been more deliberate in their intelligence gathering and analysis to ensure that the most appropriate actions are taken, even at the lowest tactical level. In essence, the enhanced intelligence work effectively supports the traditional hunt-the-enemy role and at the same time, prevents unnecessary collateral damage thereby keeping the population safe. [38] With this brief account of the coalition effort in Afghanistan, it suffices to show that tremendous energies from all levels are directed at the CoG. Therefore, it can be concluded that the CoG concept remains relevant in 4GW and once it is identified, it produces consequential downstream effects that influences operations at the operational and tactical levels. Relevance of Friction, Chance and Uncertainty in the Technological World While it was earlier noted that Clausewitz would not have envisaged the technological development of today, his arguments on the variables of war – friction, chance and uncertainty – had not been altered. In fact, the element of uncertainty has now been compounded by the introduction of a new dynamic variable – technology itself. The advancement of technology has brought about chain of effects, impacting the social, political, bureaucratic, managerial and psychological systems. All these caused a quantum jump in the complexity of warfare. [39] Correspondingly, this led to the increased specialization and compartmentalization of the military which in turn create internal friction. If the contact with chance creates friction, like what Clausewitz suggested, with the existing military technologies today that enable longer range communication and observation capabilities, the amount of contact with chance increases and hence friction from external sources. Take for instance, intelligence collection – with so much information that can be acquired with the use of today’s technology, that is far from being unreliable as during Clausewitz’s time, the commander may be overwhelmed and become paralyzed just by trying to sift the relevant data from the trivial ones. As Clausewitz put it, â€Å"We now know more, but this makes us more, not less uncertain. †[41] While technology today may have eradicated many of the old-time difficulties, it created new problems. Among the problems, include a tendency of over-reliance on technology which may hinder the development of intuition and readiness to accept risk,[42] the qualities of commander that are necessary to exploit chance and counter friction. Hence, in today’s military context, friction that arises from both external and internal sources should be dealt with.