Sustainable transportation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sustainable transportation - Essay Example newable resources is secured by using appropriate methods of regeneration, b) even if a specific transportation means is based on nonrenewable resources, it should be checked whether the amount/ volume of non-renewable resources used can be replaced by renewable resources of the same amount/ volume and c) the pollution caused as a result of the use of a particular transport means should not be above the limits set by the authorities (Daly 1996, in Black 36). At this point, a critical issue appears: are there specific facts that can lead to the characterization of a transport system as non-sustainable? The answer is positive. Indeed, as noted in the study of Black a transport system does not meet the requirements of sustainability when it is related to the following problems: a) extremely high atmospheric pollution, b) employment of non-renewable resources above the limit stated by the relevant authorities, c) quite high level of accidents, resulted either to deaths or to injuries, d) the level of the system’s congestion is high (Black 36). According to the above when having to check the sustainability of a transportation system it would be necessary to identify primarily the effects of the specific system on the environment. In USA the needs of transportation sector in petroleum are above the country’s oil production level; in fact the petroleum used in US’ specific sector reaches the ‘147% of US oil production’ (Davis, Diegel and Boundy 2). In addition, the petroleum used in US’ transport sector represents the ‘67% of the country’s overall petroleum use’ (Davis, Diegel and Boundy 2). It should be also noted that the high percentage of petroleum used in US’ transportation sector, about 63% is used by cars and light trucks (Davis, Diegel and Boundy 2). This percentage can be considered as high if taking into consideration the following fact: the energy employed for covering the needs of US’ transportation industry is about the one third

Romanticism in American Literature

Romanticism in American Literature Kathryn Pierce American Literature, section 43 Essay #3 Since the time of Socrates it has been widely said that art imitates life. In the case of literature, however, it would be more accurate to say that art reflects life. The writings of both the Romantics and the Realists were an outgrowth of life in 19th century America and both reflected that life through style, approach, and subject matter. American Romanticism was the first truly American literary movement and it included a group of authors who wrote and published between 1820 and 1860. Among the best-known are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Romanticism first emerged as a reaction to Enlightenment ideas. Romantic writers rebelled against the idea that reason was the best tool for discovering truth. Instead, they deliberately delved into feeling, imagination, fantasy, and belief. Their style took advantage of personal freedom and spontaneity in order to break through the wall separating the author and the reader, and gave the author the freedom to comment on the events in the story in novel ways. The uniquely American history and landscape had a profound influence on the Romanticists. Many were writing not long after the American Revolution and/or the War of 1812, and these historical events were reflected in their preoccupation with democracy and freedom. (insert comment on authors and their works) This was a time of growth and expansion and their idealism fueled high hopes for the infant nation. The country was moving westward into great swaths of newly acquired territory. The frontier, both as a place and a concept, became an important representation of the American spirit. The country was filled with thousands of miles of untamed wilderness that held the promise of a new life filled with adventure. (insert comment on authors and their works) While American Romanticism was a new attitude toward nature, often stressing it over culture, it was also a new attitude toward people, promoting the solitary individual standing against society. Individualism is a quintessential American value and was central to their writings which urged people to follow their inner knowing regardless of the pressure to conform. (insert comment on authors, Emerson Thoreau, others, and their works).  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Romanticists believed that emotions shape peoples experience and their knowledge of the world. They were an important part of an individuals identity. Heartbreak, happiness, awe, and rage, and many other emotions were very important in American Romantic literature. (insert comment on authors, Emerson Thoreau, others, and their works) Stylistically, the American Romantics liked to experiment with form and the novel became an important vehicle for expression (unlike the European Romantics who focused mainly on poetry). They also made clever use of symbols to allude to truths or knowledge that exist beyond rationality. Unusual, often supernatural, characters and forces act in romantic stories. Nature was a particularly important theme, expressed in almost obsessive preoccupation with beautiful flowers, gigantic trees, towering mountains, and brilliant sunsets.   (insert Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau) Other themes that figured prominently were   an impulse toward reform (temperance, womens rights, abolition of slavery); a concern with the impact of new technology (the locomotive, for example); an idealization of women (Poes Anabel Lee, for example); and a fascination with death and the supernatural (Hawthorne, Poe). Despite these lofty ideals, the new nation faced challenges. Principle among these issues was the expanding population base due to immigration, the role of government, the treatment of Native Americans, and the expansion or limitation of slavery. At the same time, advances in science and philosophy brought changes in thinking. There were two occurrences that propelled the transition from romanticism to realism: the Industrial Revolution and the American Civil War. Both of these contributed to a change in emphasis in literary expression. Change was already coming. The Realist movement began as early as the 1830s, but the line of demarcation was the onset of war. In just four years, this war became the most disruptive and transformative event in American history. It was out of this turmoil that the movement grew and reached a prominence that continued until around the end of the nineteenth century. In the 1850s, the ideals that were driving the nation toward war were expressed in literature, but many writers became uncomfortable with this kind of moral certitude even though they had contributed to creating it. The war, with its observable gap between higher purpose and brutal reality, began to change what they believed and how and what they wrote. Realism was a reaction to and a rejection of Romanticism. In her book, Social Construction of American Realism, Amy Kaplan called realism a strategy for imagining and managing the threats of social change. Realism was about recreating life in literature. Realists were concerned with the here and now, and their work was centered in their own time and dealt with everyday events and ordinary people, and with current socio-political issues. Stylistically, the author was separate from the world of the story and acted as an objective observer/narrator. Gone was the elaborate use of figurative language. Realism presented a basic view of life and a real outlook on the world   that refused to idealize or flatter the subject. Even when the subject matter was complex, their stories used straightforward, simple language that described common scenes and experiences. American Realists chose to show their readers rather than must tell them. They made their readers face reality as it happened in the real world instead of in the make-believe world of fantasy. (insert comment on authors and their works) . They often explored the qualities that formed a persons character and examined how those qualities motivated their behavior. To accomplish this they used omniscient narrators who could jump from the mind of one character to the mind of another, and could move instantly from one location to another. For the most part, they depicted people that were in charge of their own destiny. Characters were superior to their circumstances even though it was the circumstances that created the plot. (insert comment on authors and their works) .   Their characters were dynamic and well-rounded and drove the story forward. The Realists also incorporated empirically verifiable causality into their stories and often used foreshadowing. At times the outcomes wer e left open. The Realists also used their stories to critique the social and political structures that governed peoples lives. From issues like gender inequality and racial bias to poverty, class mobility, and government power, their stories contained a strong emphasis on personal morality, particularly as it played out between the individual and society. (insert comment on authors and their works)    Theirs was a sweeping view of a city, a nation, or a society and, like the Romantics, it was supported by the format of the novel. The transition from Romanticism to Realism was a natural progression. Just as the United States grew and changed so did the literature its writers produced. Romanticism grew out of the new-found expression of national character and focused on plot, hyperbole, metaphor and feeling. The nation changed, however. Realism grew out of these societal changes and focused on characters, details, objectivity and separation of author and narrator. Realism expressed a message that depicted situations realistically, whereas romanticism illustrated messages by using fiction. Both are informative reflections of American life and culture. Works Cited Campbell, Donna M. Realism in American Literature, 1860-1890. Literary Movements. Dept. of English, Washington State University. 07 Sept 2015. Web. 24 Mar 2017. http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm Shmoop Editorial Team. Realism Top 10 List. Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 24 Mar. 2017. http://www.shmoop.com/realism/top-ten.html Shmoop Editorial Team. American Romanticism Top 10 List. Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 24 Mar. 2017. http://www.shmoop.com/american-romanticism/top-ten.html

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay -- Sir Gawain and the Green Knig

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Character Analysis of Sir Gawain "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" is a medieval romance poem written by an anonymous author. Sir Gawain is one of the major characters in the poem. He is a very likable personality. Sir Gawain represents an ideal knight of the fourteenth century. Throughout the story, we see Sir Gawain portrayed as a very courteous and noble knight, always trying to help King Arthur. The characteristics of Sir Gawain like kindness, generosity and firmness are revealed from his actions. Sir Gawain is a very gentle and noble knight, always willing to help people, particularly his king. King Arthur is in a bad predicament, as he has killed a deer while hunting in the woods. To save his life, King Arthur has a period of twelve months to find the answer to the question: What is it that women most desire? Of King Arthur's knights, Gawain is the only one who can help King Arthur: "Sir, me marvailithe right sore, Whate thing that thou sorrowist fore." (329). King Arthur is depressed about the entire situation, and needs a friend to understand him and help him. Sir Gawain being a noble and gentile knight is willing to help King Arthur with his problem. Sir Gawain suggests that the two of them ask everyone for the answer: 'Ye, Sir make good chere; Let make your hors redy To ride in straunge contrey; And evere wheras ye mete outher man or woman, in faye, Ask of them in whate they therto saye.'(330). He travels to different places to find the answer to the question, in order to help King Arthur. Sir Gawain is a noble and loyal knight. The test of his loyalty to King Arthur comes into play when King Arthur asks Gawain to marry the ugly woman named Dame Ragnell. The author descr... ...he challenge of the Green Knight. During his in the Hautdesert castle, the Character of Sir Gawain his tested by the Green Knight. He fails his last test, and is no more perfect he is still a courageous, loyal knight, that kept his promise to King Arthur. Works Cited Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In The Norton Anthology of Literature. Ed. M.H.Abrams, et al. Vol I. Sixth Edition. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1993, pp 200-256. Bobr, Janet. Origin. 1998. November 30, 1998.Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/prjs2f/gawain2.htm Finker, Leonid. Sir Gawain the Noble Knight. 1996. November 30, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/proj2a/sirgaw.html Sera, Joe. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- Close Reading of Lines 130-202. 1997. November 2, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs3f/proj2.html Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay -- Sir Gawain and the Green Knig Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Character Analysis of Sir Gawain "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" is a medieval romance poem written by an anonymous author. Sir Gawain is one of the major characters in the poem. He is a very likable personality. Sir Gawain represents an ideal knight of the fourteenth century. Throughout the story, we see Sir Gawain portrayed as a very courteous and noble knight, always trying to help King Arthur. The characteristics of Sir Gawain like kindness, generosity and firmness are revealed from his actions. Sir Gawain is a very gentle and noble knight, always willing to help people, particularly his king. King Arthur is in a bad predicament, as he has killed a deer while hunting in the woods. To save his life, King Arthur has a period of twelve months to find the answer to the question: What is it that women most desire? Of King Arthur's knights, Gawain is the only one who can help King Arthur: "Sir, me marvailithe right sore, Whate thing that thou sorrowist fore." (329). King Arthur is depressed about the entire situation, and needs a friend to understand him and help him. Sir Gawain being a noble and gentile knight is willing to help King Arthur with his problem. Sir Gawain suggests that the two of them ask everyone for the answer: 'Ye, Sir make good chere; Let make your hors redy To ride in straunge contrey; And evere wheras ye mete outher man or woman, in faye, Ask of them in whate they therto saye.'(330). He travels to different places to find the answer to the question, in order to help King Arthur. Sir Gawain is a noble and loyal knight. The test of his loyalty to King Arthur comes into play when King Arthur asks Gawain to marry the ugly woman named Dame Ragnell. The author descr... ...he challenge of the Green Knight. During his in the Hautdesert castle, the Character of Sir Gawain his tested by the Green Knight. He fails his last test, and is no more perfect he is still a courageous, loyal knight, that kept his promise to King Arthur. Works Cited Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In The Norton Anthology of Literature. Ed. M.H.Abrams, et al. Vol I. Sixth Edition. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1993, pp 200-256. Bobr, Janet. Origin. 1998. November 30, 1998.Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/prjs2f/gawain2.htm Finker, Leonid. Sir Gawain the Noble Knight. 1996. November 30, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/proj2a/sirgaw.html Sera, Joe. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- Close Reading of Lines 130-202. 1997. November 2, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs3f/proj2.html

Enhancing Creativity: Enriching the Organization and Workplace Essay

1. Risk taking is acceptable to management: a. Management must recognize the risk/reward relationship and find organizational mechanisms for handling it. And it must communicate a clear understanding that reasonable risks are acceptable, since they are the handmaidens of progress. On the innovative front, two methods are available for dealing with risk: diversification and cheap failures. They can and should be used in concert. i. Diversification- allows companies to spread risk over many rolls of the dice, as opposed to betting the company on a single roll. Because one can never know in advance which ideas will be winners and which will be losers, having a diversified â€Å"portfolio† of ideas in play makes sense. ii. Cheap Failures- project or experiment that is terminated with the least possible outlay of resources—just enough to tell managers that â€Å"This isn’t going to work.† They back promising ideas with small budgets and look for ways to test th em with the least input of resources. Like card players, they quickly fold when they recognize that they have a weak hand. Conversely, they increase backing for strong ideas. 2. New ideas and new ways of doing things are welcomed b. The worst environment for creativity is one that is unwelcoming to new ideas. â€Å"We’ve been successful over the years by doing things this way, so why should we change?† An organization with this attitude is heading for trouble. In fairness, management is compelled to shoot down good ideas when (1) those ideas lack a strategic fit with the business, or (2) the organization lacks the resources to pursue them. In these cases, how- ever, management has a responsibility to communicate its reasoning to employees. Beyond welcoming new ideas, the organization should view innovation as a normal part of business—not a special activity practiced by a handful of employees. 3. Information is free flowing c. Information can stimulate thinking, which leads to idea generation. Many creative ideas are formed at the intersection of different lines of thought or technology. When people communicate and share information, they get ideas that haven’t been considered yet. In hierarchical firms, information is often hoarded as a source of organizational power. Information flows are controlled and channeled through the chain of command. People must demonstrate a â€Å"need to know† to have access to certain information. This control impedes the catalytic function of communication and limits opportunities for different pieces of information to intersect and combine in people’s minds. Managers can encourage the free flow of information in many ways: through e-mail, the physical co-location of team members, joint work sessions, and regular brown-bag lunches. 4. Employees have access to knowledge sources d. Knowledge is often the raw material of creative thought. Some companies have developed elaborate knowledge management systems to capture knowledge, store it, and make it easily avail- able for reuse. These systems help ensure that what was learned by someone in Unit A doesn’t have to be learned anew by someone in Unit B. iii. Another way to help employees tap sources of internal knowledge is through the creation of communities of interest. A community of interest is an informal group whose members share an interest in some technology or application. Whatever the interest may be, newsletters and periodic meetings held by these communities provide opportunities to share knowledge and spark the imagination. iv. External knowledge is equally important as a stimulant to innovation. External knowledge invigorates and adds vitality to organizations. Employees access that knowledge when they have opportunities to attend professional and scientific meetings and to visit customers and benchmarking partners, and when outside experts are brought in to share their know-how via lectures and workshops. 5. Good ideas are supported by executive patrons e. Organizations need people in high places who will champion good ideas and provide them with moral support and protection as they travel the bumpy road toward commercialization. Although executive patronage is often necessary for radical innovation, such support is not always well directed. Senior executives are not necessarily more clairvoyant than other managers, and they sometimes place their bets on the wrong ponies. Nevertheless, research points to executive patronage as an important contributor to radical innovation. 6. Innovators are rewarded f. Creativity will not flourish in the absence of a reward system that encourages individuals to stretch beyond the bounds of normal work. Creative energy is quickly dissipated and must be replenished some- how. Rewards serve this purpose. v. Recognition  vi. Control vii. Celebration viii. Rejuvenation g. Motivating reward can either be intrinsic or extrinsic. An intrinsic reward appeals to a person’s desire for self-actualization, curiosity, enjoyment, or interest in the work itself. An extrinsic reward appeals to a person’s desire for attainment distinct from the work itself: a cash bonus, a promotion, or stock options. Enriching the Physical Workplace a. Physical surroundings can also have an impact on creativity. Like the organizational environment, the physical environment can be engineered in ways that encourage higher creative output. For example, when an environment is filled with many types of stimuli and when it provides physical and electronic links between individuals, it encourages people to see new connections and to think more broadly. Workspace design and work effectiveness are linked. b. Organizational researchers have known for a long time that the frequency of communication between co-workers decreases dramatically as the physical distance between them increases. Workspace design and the physical location of project team members have a major impact on the depth of communication and knowledge sharing. c. The idea to improve the physical environment is to encourage the interactions that lead to information sharing and creative ideas. What is the nature of this article? The nature of this article is to provide with guidelines and examples of information regarding making the organization’s culture and physical workplace more supportive of creativity and innovation. How does the article relate to business, management and leadership, and what is its significance to the field of business? This article relates to business, management and leadership because it provides for guidelines and the sharing of information so that after you have put together a really hot team of creative people, the organization will no be condemned to having a team produce disappointing results due to an unfriendly environment to new ideas. The purpose of this article is to provide will the implementation of a system within the organization, both physically and culturally, to create a more supportive workplace that enhances creativity and innovation. What are the objectives of the article? The objectives of the articles are to provide an organization with useful information to create organizational enrichment through characteristics that support creativity and innovation. And to create an enriched physical workplace that allows having a positive impact on creativity. Examine the author’s position within the article, what assumptions do they make? Through the information and examples provided by the author, the reader is to believe that the implementation of such guidelines and useful information will create an organization whose environment is welcoming and friendly to creativity and innovation. That this implementation will create for a physical and cultural workplace that enriches the follow of generating new ideas and the share of vital information between employees and managers of the organization.

Philosopher Joseph Campbell Essay

Joseph Campbell is considered one of the most influential and controversial mythologists, anthropologists, literary scholars and philosophers of the modern era. His contemporaries assert that Campbell surely was far above mentioned characteristics. In the global philosophical scope he was the last survivor of the modernist era. Campbell’s philosophical system genuinely combined both art and science. In his obituary Campbell’s colleges admit that he was â€Å"a hero of our time; not coincidentally, much of his work was about the heroes of history and prehistory† (Obituary, 1987). Indeed, Campbell devoted the biggest part of his scientific activity to the study of myth and a hero, however despite the majority of scholars conducting similar studies before him, Campbell’s implications were highly practical and easily projected on the existing reality. Joseph Campbell was born in 1904 in a relatively wealthy family in New York. Being a child, Campbell visited the American Museum of Natural History and was significantly impressed with Native American customs, traditions and myths. He soon began studying numerous aspects of Native American society, primarily its mythology. From the critical standpoint, it was the start point for Campbell’s lifelong passion to the myth and human culture. Unfortunately in 1919 fire destroyed Campbell’s family house along with his exceptional collection of Indian books and relics. Although at Dartmouth College he was primarily involved in studying mathematics and biology, later at Columbia University Campbell specialized in literature and art. In 1927 Campbell wrote his master thesis on the Arthurian legends. Critics consider Campbell to be one of the most famous autodidacts, self-educating experts, and practically this peculiarity has been reflected in his methodology. Interestingly, upon the completion of his master program at the university, Campbell decided not to pursue the path of the doctor. He isolated himself in New York woods and educated himself during five years.   According to some evidence, during that period Campbell developed a systematic program of reading, which in the end constituted the core of his real education. The isolation itself helped Campbell to develop his unique scientific methods and view on the nature of life. Later on Joseph Campbell continued his studying in Old French and Sanskrit at the Universities of Paris and Munich. His literary career began with editing and translation of Heinrich Zimmer’s posthumous papers. During the same period, Campbell started studying the ideas of famous psychologists and psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. From the critical point of view, Campbell’s work in mythology to the some degree bridged controversial and disparate stances of Jung and Freud and their central debate over the collective unconscious.   In addition to the substantial influence of Freud and Jung, Campbell was impacted by Wilhelm Steckel, psychologist who was the first to apply Freud’s conceptions of fantasies, dreams and the unconscious to the fields of literature and anthropology. Campbell’s philosophical system, beliefs and methodology were always sharply criticized during his lifetime. Even after his death, his contemporary Brendan Gill accused Campbell in â€Å"The Faces of Joseph Campbell† in reactionary political beliefs. Other critics in further exchange about the articles claimed that Campbell hold strong anti-Semite beliefs. Campbell based his theoretical assumptions on the texts of Jung as an explanation of psychological phenomena, as experienced through archetypes. However, Campbell did not comply with Carl Jung’s philosophical system on every issue, and surely had a very original voice of his own. Campbell questioned the application and truth of Astrology and synchronicity as Jung firmly believed. Campbell’s true study and interpretation lay in the declaration of accepted ideas and symbolism. His iconoclastic approach was both original and radical. His conclusions about the religion, its mission and foundations have been compared to Einstein’s idea of science in his last days. From the practical standpoint, Joseph Campbell considered all the religions of the world, all the rituals and deities, to be â€Å"masks† of the same transcendent truth which is â€Å"unknowable.† It is due to Campbell’s philosophical system both relativistic and agnostic. He argued that Christianity and Buddhism, whether the object is â€Å"Buddha-consciousness† or â€Å"Christ-consciousness,† to be an elevated awareness above â€Å"pairs of opposites,† such as right and wrong. For these beliefs, claims and â€Å"heresy† he was significantly disliked by many dogmatists. As Campbell quoted from the Vedas, â€Å"truth is one, the sages speak of it by many names† (Dale, 96). Joseph Campbell was taken with what he viewed as universal sentiments and truths, which have disseminated through cultures, featuring different manifestations. Campbell wanted to reveal his idea that Eastern and Western religions are similar even identical on a very basic level, therefore nobody is right but individuals are searching for the same unknown. He started evaluating and criticizing moral systems as both incorrect and necessary. Similarly to the postmodern relativists, Campbell believed in the idea that â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† are just intricate ideas. However, he understood to the very degree the necessity of a moral system. From this critical standpoint, Joseph Campbell united the concepts of modernism and postmodernism, however some interpretations characterize him as a postmodernist thinker. In his famous series â€Å"Masks of God† Campbell attempted to give the summary – such an ambitious objective – of the spiritual wealth of humanity, and simultaneously to provide a decent well-grounded support to his ideas on the â€Å"unity of the race of man† and monomyth.   The latter became the philosophical idea that all Myths spring from a common origin: â€Å"the communal past of the human race, starting off on the fertile grasslands of Europe and moving to the Levant and the â€Å"Fertile Creasant† of Mesopotamia and back to Europe (and the Far East) where it will be mixed with the newly emerging Indo-European (Aryan) culture† (Campbell, 51). Campbell affirmed that the spirituality is searching for the same unknown transcendent force from which everything originated and into which everything will return. He referred to this transcendent force as the connotation, his philosophical interpretation of various deities and other spiritual objects of the world. According to Campbell, religion constitutes a defense mechanism which attempts to explain religious experience. However, many scholars notified that Campbell’s â€Å"religious experience† can be a mere functioning of brain chemistry, and not transcendent force. Joseph Campbell affirmed that all the myths, spiritual systems and organized religions represented homogeneous substances, therefore he believed one day all people would unite under one. His major concerns always were global instability, deterioration of morality and ideals. From the critical point of view, study of myth and hero became the real apogee of Campbell’s scholar work. In 1949 Campbell wrote â€Å"The Hero with a Thousand Faces,† where he developed and explained the idea of monomyth, a concise idea for Campbell’s archetypal patterns.   The majority of myths include only a few of these patterns, though Star Wars and the Matrix stories embody all of Campbell’s archetypal patterns in the order he developed them. The idea of hero was important to Campbell because the hero represents the unique value and importance for societies and usually the image and idea of the hero blends with the mythology of a society. As Campbell pointed out: â€Å"Throughout the inhabited world, in all times and under every circumstance, the myths of mankind have flourished; and they have been the living inspiration of whatever else may have appeared out of the activities of the human body and mind. It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. Religions, philosophy, arts, the social forms of primitive and historical humankind, prime discoveries in science and technology, the very dreams that blister sleep, boil up from the basic magic ring of myth† (Campbell, 73).Campbell asserted that societies must have heroes to exemplify the society’s â€Å"values.† In addition, Joseph Campbell affirmed that â€Å"†¦the characteristic efficacy to touch and inspire deep creative centers dwells in the smallest nursery fairy tale – as the flavor of the ocean is contained in the droplet of the ocean, the whole mystery of life within the egg of a flea, the symbols of mythology are not manufactured. They cannot be ordered, invented, or permanently suppressed. They are spontaneous productions of the psyche. And each bears within it undamaged the germ power of its source. What is the secret of this timeless vision? From what profundity of the mind does it derive? Why is mythology everywhere the same, beneath it s varieties of costume? And what does it teach?† In the conclusion of his argument Campbell asserted that, â€Å"most remarkable of all, however, are the revelations that have emerged from the mental clinic. The bold and truly epic-making writings of psychoanalysis are indispensable to the student of mythology, for whatever may be thought of the detailed and sometimes contradictory interpretations of specific cases and problems, Jung and their followers have demonstrated irrefutably that the logic, the heroes, and the deeds of myth survive into modern times.† Campbell asserted that societies must have heroes to exemplify the society’s â€Å"values.† Critically, this idea contrasts with another Campbell’s notion that there are no universal values, however, simultaneously the fact that a society requires accepted â€Å"values† does not make them universal, or objectively true. After publishing his â€Å"The Hero with a Thousand Faces,† Joseph Campbell logically continued his theoretical and methodological explorations of the concept of myth. He successfully attempted to theoretically construct it in famous the Masks of God series, particularly in â€Å"Occidental Mythology† published in 1964. In this work Campbell developed the four functions of the myth: 1) Metaphysical function. Executing this function myth arouses and supports a sense of awe before the mystery of being. Myth adjusts consciousness to the preconditions of its own existence. It impels a realization of a transcendent mystery source, and through this process of realization the universe becomes a holy picture. 2) Cosmological function. It deals with the image of the world that is the focus of science. This function of myth reveals the shape of the universe, but in such a peculiar way that the mystery still comes through. According to this assumption, the cosmology should agree to the actual experience, knowledge, and mentality of the culture. The function presents a map or picture of the order of the cosmos and our relationship to it. 3) Sociological function. Myth encourages and maintains the specific moral order of the society out of which it originates. Particular traditions, customs, rituals, laws and social roles evolve significantly. This function of myth establishes in members of cultural group a system of sentiments that may lead them spontaneously to its ends. 4) Psychological function. The myths indicate the path according to which society lives under certain circumstances. According to Campbell it constitutes the pedagogical function of mythology that leads a human through different stages of life. During the early childhood, an individual is dependant on parents, however when maturity comes he/she bears responsibilities, and so on. This function of myth brings integrity, enrichment and realization into changing lives of humans. Practically, Joseph Campbell was primarily interested in the psychological function of myth. He greatly emphasized the process by which literature reflected psychological dynamics (Osbon, 124). However, interestingly this emphasis on psychology brought a considerable wave of criticism towards Campbell’s ideas. Specialists in sociology and history affirmed that the primary purposes of myths were of sociological nature. In 1972 retired from Sarah Lawrence College, Joseph Campbell concentrated on writing. His philosophical interest ranged beyond the texts to other dimensions of the mythic imagination. Campbell affirmed that timeless wisdom can be approached from three perspectives. The mythic story would provide a necessary access to the mysteries beyond conscious knowing (Noel, 217). The ritual could be considered as another direction towards wisdom, since various ceremonial practices characterize major myths and give participants an opportunity to experience the whole story through dramatic re-enactment of part of the text. The image represents the third means of entry. The idea of image can be different, varying from a sacred image such as a statue or painting to a dream or the imagination. For instance, pondering mythic stories communicate images to mind (Noel, 219). Simultaneously, the content of the image can be interpreted through consideration of the metaphor that image implies. During 1980s, Joseph Campbell published extensive Historical Atlas of World Mythology aimed to investigate the major mythological periods. In the atlas, Campbell suggested a stage model of cultural development. According to this model, the earliest era of shamanistic hunter-gatherers was characterized with the beginning of symbolic thinking. The next stage of planters was marked with rituals of birth, death, and rebirth. Goddesses, heroes, and priests symbolized the third stage of cultural development. The third stage involves high civilizations of Goddesses, heroes, and priestly orders. In the stage of modern period, individuals comprehend illumination as internal state. According to Campbell, societies do not practically experience those stages simultaneously, thus there are some societies which exhibit the characteristics of every stage.

Different Kinds of Optical Swi essays

Different Kinds of Optical Swi essays Different Kinds of Optical Switches: The biggest problem with creating an all-optical network would be the switching; re-routing the information from source A to destination B. When information is sent, it does not flow directly from point A to point B. It passes through a series of switches that narrow the path down, and eventually the signal reaches point B. These switches have thousands of possible routes which information can be transfered. Right now, the optical networks that stretch across the globe switches electronically. This is a huge set back, if you are trying to make a network that works at the speed of light. Light travels at about 982,080,000 feet per second, and electrons at 300,000 ft/sec. So when an optical network uses an electronic switch, the light first has to be converted to an electronic signal, then it has to go through the switch, and finally the electrons are converted back to a light beam. This process only takes a few milliseconds, but these seconds can be compared to what an optical switc h operates at which is nanoseconds. The signal is slowed down so much that it can be compared to going down the highway at top speed, then when you reach the off ramp you stop, get out of your car, stumble and walk awkwardly, and slowly to the next onramp then you get back in a car and speed off at top speed. Optical to electronic switches are more of an extreme, the light is going over 3,000 times faster than the electrons. It is a very unnecessary and costly reduction in speed. Many corporations have took interest in this problem and decided to take action by inventing optical prototype switches. Some of which are faster then others, but are all faster than optical-electric switches. One of the best working switches is the MEMS Switch (shown on diagram). It uses mirrors that are less than half a millimeter in diameter. These mirrors reflect the light from one pipe to another. There ar...

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Alternative Dispute Resolution Free Online Research Papers Alternative Dispute Resolution, referred hereon as ADR, can be defined as a collective description of process or mechanisms that parties can use to resolve disputes rather than bringing a claim through the formal court structure. ADR is part of the civil justice system with the United Kingdom. It is a key aspect of the civil justice system and has grown over the past forty years. The issue in question is to asses to arguments for and against the use of ADR in the Civil Justice system. These alternatives have been developed to deal specifically with the perceived shortcomings of the formal structure of law and court procedure. The increased importance of ADR has been signaled in both legislation and court procedures. The use of ADR was featured predominantly in Lord Woolf’s Interim Report and his Final Report. In his final report, Lord Woolf urged that people should be encouraged to use the growing number of grievance proceedings methods, like ADR, before taking their cases through court proceedings. ADR features prominent in the new Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) 1998.Rule 1. (4.) (1) states that the court must further the overriding objective by actively managing cases. Rule1.4. (2) goes on elaborating twelve different examples of what effective case management means. The fifth of these is to encourage the parties to use ADR procedures if the court considers that to be appropriate and to facilitate the use of such procedures. Rule 26.4 of the CPR 1998 enables judges either on their own account or with the agreement of both parties, to stop court proceedings where they consider the dispute to be better suited to solution by some alternative procedure. If subsequently a court is of the opinion that a dispute could have been effectively settled through some alternative mechanism and this was brought to the attention of the parties, then under Rule 45.5 of the CPR, the party insisting that the case be brought before the court, may be penalized by the court by awarding them reduced or no cost should they win the case. This principle is also illustrated in R (Cowl) v Plymouth City Council [2001] CA. It is possible to refuse to engage in ADR without subsequently suffering in the awards of cost: Hurst v Leeming [2002]. There are a number of different types of alternative dispute resolution. These have been identified in the Lord Chancellor Department 1998 Consultation paper as being- arbitration; mediation; conciliation; med-arb; expert determination; early neutral evaluation; neutral fact finding; Ombudsmen and Utility Regulations. However, because the scopes of the ADR mechanisms are so wide, only the most common and mostly used forms of ADR will be considered in detail. The first and the oldest of the alternative procedures is arbitration. This is the procedure whereby parties refer the issue to a third for resolution, rather than taking the case to the ordinary courts. The arbitrator must be impartial, this means, that he/she must not take sides. He is expected to be fair and just and not favoring any party. The arbitrator is expected to decide the case before him according to its facts. In most cases, the arbitrator’s decision is legally binding and so it is not possible to go to the court I a party is unhappy with the decision. There are many different types of arbitration and most have common features, including-mutual agreement between the parties to arbitrate; it is private and has less formality than the courts; the decision is not made by the individual themselves; the process is final and legally binding and there are limited grounds for challenging a decision. Arbitration is widely used for international disputes, disputes between major co-corporations, employment rights disputes and consumer disputes. It is governed by the Arbitration Act (AA) 1996 which sets out its rules and provides a definition. The parties can usually choose an arbitrator, providing they can agree on one. The AA 1996 lays down strict rules for how arbitration should work. However, as arbitration is intended to be less formal, less expensive and more flexible than the court, the rules of evidence are not as strict and parties can usually have a say in how they want the hearing to be conducted. Once the parties have decided to use arbitration and the process has begun, the parties usually give up their right to seek resolution of the matter elsewhere; such as a court or tribunal. A second alterative basis on which parties can resolve disputes is by using the process of mediation. Mediation is the process whereby a third party acts as a conduit through which two disputing parties communicate and negotiate in an attempt to reach a common resolution of a problem. The mediator may move between the parties, communicating their opinions, without them having to meet, or alternatively, the mediator may operate in the presence of the parties, but in either situation, the emphasis is on the parties themselves working out a shared agreement as to how the dispute in question is to be resolved. Mediation is more than a mere negotiation. All types of mediation have the following common features-: it is voluntary-parties can choose to mediator or to; it is private and confidential, the mediator is impartial and independent and the parties can decide how it is to be decided. Mediation can be used in cases involving only two (2) parties and those involving a large number of parties or entire communities. Mediation is the most wide-ranging ADR process and is used in many area of dispute including, inter alia, business, consumer, divorce and separation, negligence, education and personal injury. Most mediation meetings are concluded within a day, but it is possible for mediation to take place over several meetings. There are no set outcomes. The range of remedies than can be achieved is as wide as you want it to be. You are not restricted to the outcomes which a court could order. A party could make an agreement which includes an apology, a promise to do or not to do something, compensatory refunds, replacement of goods and so forth. Mediation is a non-binding process- agreements are not legally binging. However, it has a good track record when it comes to keeping agreements. If no agreement is reached, alternative methods can be used or parties can have recourse to the courts. Conciliation takes mediation a step further and gives the conciliator the power to suggest grounds for compromise and the possible basis for conclusive agreement. Thus, conciliation has a more interventionist role. The conciliator should be impartial. Conciliation is private and the terms of settlement are not made public unless the parties agree. The sort of outcomes achieved are similar to those in mediation, including- an apology; explanation and compensation changes in practice or procedure. Another Mechanism of ADR is the office of the Ombudsmen. Ombudsmen are independent office holders who investigate and rule on complaints from members of the public about mal administration in government, and I particular, services both the public and private sector. Some Ombudsmen use mediation as a part of their dispute resolution procedures. The powers of the ombudsman vary. They are able to make recommendation; only a few can make decisions which are enforceable. Med Arb is a combination of mediation and arbitration where the parties agree to mediate; bit if that fails to achieve a settlement, the dispute id referred to arbitration. The same individual may act as the mediator and the arbitrator in this type of arrangement. Although, not in itself a form of ADR, it is deemed necessary to give a brief analysis of tribunals. Tribunals are very similar to a court but rather, it is a statutory establishment in the manner of a court to hear particular grievances or specialist matters of dispute. Examples of tribunals include the administrative tribunal, employment and industrial tribunal. Tribunals do not administer any part of the judicial power of the state. (Attorney-General v British Broadcasting Corporation [1980]. HL) it has a specific jurisdiction as allocated by allocated by Parliament. The strengths and weaknesses of Alternative Dispute Resolution will now be facilitated followed by a general overview of whether the process in itself is successful. For many reasons, advocates of ADR believe that it is superior to law suits and litigation. ADR is generally faster. Cases and disputes can be resolved in a matter of weeks or even days, thus taking less time to reach a decision than waiting for the case to go to trial which can take years before a decision is reached. It is significantly more cost-efficient than the formal courts which then to be expensive. It is based on more direct participation by the disputants, rather than being regulated by the courts, lawyers or even the state. In most ADR processes, the parties outline the process they will use and define the substance of their agreements. This type of involvement is believed to increase people satisfaction with the outcomes, as well as their compliance with the agreement reached. Thus, the parties shave a certain amount of flexibility in choosing what rule swill be applied to their dispute. A special characteristic of ADR is that, unlike disputes in the courts for certain matters, there is no jury involved. This is advantageous because juries can be unpredictable and often simplify or decrease damages awarded purely according to whether they favor a particular party. Most ADR processes are based on an integrative approach. They are more cooperative and less competitive than adversarial court-based methods, like litigation. For this reason, ADR tends to generate less escalation and ill will between the parties. In fact, participating in ADR will often ultimately improve, rather than worsen, the relationship between the parties. This a key advantage where he parties continue to interact after a settlement id reached. The process is an alternative method and therefore it is not compulsory but should be appropriate. Another unique aspect of ADR which distinguishes it from the court system is that with arbitration, the decision maker is usually an expert in the field of the relevant issue under consideration. This has a twofold advantage. It speeds up the process because considerable amounts of time do not have to be spent educating a judge if there are technical or complicated issues. Secondly, if saves cost because the parties do not necessarily have to employ a lawyer. Alternative methods tend to be and informal and private procedure. the latter advantage ensures that the parties do not run the risk of any damaging publicity arising out of reports of the proceedings which may affect their reputation and that outsiders do not get access to ay potentially secretive information. Despite the wealth of advantages in using various alternative methods, many criticisms have been leveled ad possible drawbacks indentified. ADR is not always cheap. Unsuccessful ADR can result in cost being leveled at the same amount for court proceedings. ADR, with the exception of arbitration, do not always lead to a guaranteed resolution. this means that it is possible to invest time and money in ADR proceedings but nevertheless, recourse must be made to the courts. this in turn increases litigation cost. Not all forms of ADR are quick- in fact, some may require a client to pass through many stages before adjudication. Although theoretically, ADR is not compulsory, it appears to be so. This is evidential from the CPR 1998 and the case of Dunnett v Railtrack. This principle was discussed above. While these various methods tend to be faster and more, a potential drawback is that the only available remedy is damages and. this amount is limited An individual is likely to get compensation that is extremely low compared to what he could have gotten if the dispute was settled in the court. They do not have jurisdiction to award injunctions or even specific performance. Although, the parties do not necessarily need a lawyer, they are the possibility of unequal bargaining power, whereby the more powerful, wealthy party will ensure that they have a lawyer present. This is a potential weakness of ADR because the powerful party may use the power to sell off potential litigants. Critics have concerns about the legitimacy of ADR, arguing that ADR provides a second class justice, undermining the fundamental idea that there should be equal justice to all. Mediation, although not arbitration, is a non legally binding process. Despite Arbitration begin legally binding, it may be difficult to enforce or overturn a decision. Leave to appeal are only granted din limited circumstances. an arbitrator’s decision is final and is subjected to judicial review in limited cases. also there is no precedent in ADR so parties can not anticipate what a decision is likely to be. . Another concern is that because the process is private ad not in the public reports or subject to pubic scrutiny, issues that may be considered of paramount importance may never be within the public sphere. However, the confidentially rule may be waived under circumstances: Emmott v Wilson (2008). Despite the disadvantageous of the process, It is submitted that the process nevertheless plays a vital part in the opening of access to justice. Lord Woolf himself, asserted that the use of ADR had the ‘obvious’ advantage of saving scarce judicial resources and that it offered benefits to litigants or potential litigants, generally speed and reduced cost. Bibliography District Judge Trent â€Å"ADR and the new Civil Procedure Rules†. New Law Journal (March 19, 1999) 410 Elliot, C and Quinn, F. English Legal System, eighth edition, 2007 (London: Pearson Longman) Genn, Hazel, â€Å"Solving Civil Justice Problems: what might be best?† Scottish Consumer Seminar on Civil Justice, 19 January, 2005. Lord Woolf, Inquiry into Access to Justice, Interim Report, Lord Chancellors Department, 1995, Chapter 2. Saddler, Emma. â€Å"A Quick Fix or A Long Battle†, New Law Journal 159-428, Mar 20, 2009. Slapper, G and Kelly, D. The English Legal System, eighth edition, 2006 (Routledge Cavendish Publishing). Zander, Michael. Cases and Materials on The English legal System, ninth edition, 2003. (Lexis Nexis Butterworths). Zander, Michael. The State Of Justice†, fifth edition, 2008. (London: Sweet and Maxwell). Research Papers on Alternative Dispute ResolutionCapital PunishmentPETSTEL analysis of IndiaThe Project Managment Office SystemThe Fifth HorsemanQuebec and CanadaBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfOpen Architechture a white paperAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayBringing Democracy to Africa

Whats the SAT Out Of

What's the SAT Out Of SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Every year nearly 2 million students take the SAT, but what's it out of? I'll answer this question and more in this article. Scoring for the SAT The SAT isout of 1600 points.There aretwo sections Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (Reading and Writing are two tests, but together make up one section). Each section isscored from 200 to 800, so the overall scores range from 400 to 1600. Note that from 2005-2016 the SAT was scored out of 2400 (there were separate Reading and Writing sections with their own scores out of 800). For more on the old score scale and the 2016 redesing, check out ourComplete Guide to the New SAT in 2016. What Should You Do With This Information? You should try to figure out what your target score within this range should be.Don't just aim for a 1600.That is notnecessary for every student.Your target score should be based on what school you hope to attend. Find out that school’s SAT 25th/75th percentile score by searching â€Å"[College Name] SAT† in Google. The 25th percentile score signifies that 25% of accepted applicants score at or below that score. The 75th percentile score means that 75% of accepted applicants score at or below that score (so 25% of applicants scored higher). To have the best chance of being admitted, you should aim for a score at or above the 75th percentile score. For a more in-depth explanation of figuring out what your target score should be, read What is a good SAT score? A bad SAT score? An excellent SAT score?. What’s Next? Trying to raise your SAT score? Check outour ultimate study guide. Not sure where you want to go to college? Check out our guide to finding your target school. Thinking about getting a job while in high school? Check out our guide to the 8 best jobs for teensand learn how to find yours! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Substance of Reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Substance of Reality - Essay Example Another early philosopher of repute that grappled with the scientific explanation of what the substance of reality really was is Heraclitus who argued that all reality is involved in an ever-shifting flux (Solomon, Martin & Higgins 51). Precisely, Heraclitus argued that no one could ever step into the same river twice. Democritus, on his part, reduced all reality to an inestimable number of imperceptible and inseparable particles known as atoms, which are always moving in the emptiness and bumping into each other as if to combine but then separate. Just like the cosmological speculators, the Sophists also sought alternatives to thinking that was enshrined in authority, tradition and mythology; this established the foundation for two of the greatest ancient Greek philosophers ever known to this day, Plato and Aristotle. While Plato was Socrates’ greatest brainchild and student, Aristotle was Plato’s most famous student. Aristotle also mentored the greatest and most succe ssful conqueror and ruler ever known, the one and only Alexander the Great. Plato had political links both to the oligarchy and democracy and like Socrates, who participated in a discursive practice with his contemporaries challenging them to critically examine their ideas and beliefs, he believed in the prominence of virtue. Socrates taught all his students including Plato that every man was obligated to discuss virtue daily especially because a life that is not examined is not worth living at all. Socrates was largely opposed to the Sophist’s relativism and skepticism. Nevertheless, Socrates also emphasized values rather than physical science like Sophists, unlike other philosophers that came before him. Aristotle points out that Socrates emphasized questions of morality and specific definitions. Granted that Plato was thoroughly enchanted by Socrates’ teachings, it is often felt that his philosophy is a synthesis of the system of critical inquiry he inherited from h is teacher, the Socratic thought he adopted.

Korean diaspora communities in Britain and the United States process Essay

Korean diaspora communities in Britain and the United States process of community building and notion of homeland - Essay Example I intend to explore the differing patterns of immigration adaptation of Korean communities in the U.K. and the U.S., the process of community building and the degree of efforts exerted by these two comparable groups to either maintain or reject traditional customs, and their sense of identity attached to or detached from their homeland or the host country. Absolute majority of existing literature on Korean diaspora is concentrated on Koreans in the U.S. Study of Korean communities in Europe has received surprisingly little attention from academia, and scant volume of existing scholarly work clearly reflects such neglect. According to the statistics released by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Korean Foundation, the size of worldwide Korean Diaspora is 7,044,716 as of 2007. China, the U.S. and Japan are the top three recipient countries accounting for more than 80 percent of the total population of overseas Koreans. In Europe, excluding the former USSR countries , there are 111,276 ethnic Koreans and the U.K. is home to the largest Korean population in Europe with some 42,000 people. The fact that there is no existing literature on Korean immigrants in Europe provides a good justification for initiating this study. However, novelty alone is not a sufficient condition that justifies the significance of one study. Apart from the literature on Korean diaspora communities, there exists an ample volume of scholarly work comparing the U.K and the U.S. There is an obvious advantage of comparing these two countries as although imperfect, their shared Anglo-Saxon culture, and language can control many endogenous factors that can be problematic while comparing two completely different countries. My intention is not to dismiss the value of existing comparative examinations of Korean communities that have already been done, but to fill in the gap in existing literature by carrying out a research on the group that has not been covered by other researchers before, and uncovering subtle differences - rather than visible differences highlighted in the existing literature on Japan-U.S and China-U.S. comparisons, that exist between the two countries that share many similarities yet subtle differences. Such differences, although they are felt and detected, have not received scholarly attention and therefore ex ist only in forms of personal anecdotal speculations. The significance of this potential work should not be limited to the field of diaspora studies in parochial Korean context only. It will also make contribution to studies of ethnic minorities in the U.K. in the British context. Some of the empirical findings will be able to be expanded, generalized and have wider implications in the general diaspora discourse. That is, the ultimate aim of my study, and choosing Korean immigrant group, is a mere strategic choice made by a novice student coming from Korea, hoping for a smoother entry to the field of ethnicity and migration academia in her initial stage. My ambition for possible further research after the completion of doctoral dissertation will expand to other ethnic groups in different countries, and also different migrant groups recently burgeoning in Korea. Literature Review There exists no comprehensive study on Korean communities in the U.K. One book exists on a Korean community in Europe, that examines the Korean immigrants

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 17

Economics - Essay Example In a closed economy where there is no foreign trade, the level of outputs that are produced will be at market equilibrium as the demand levels will further be met by the supply levels. However, during recessions, when unemployment rate rises, the demand will still be met by the supply, although the demand level will be lower. This is why in the goods market prices and quantity will settle at the equilibrium but high unemployment can still be present in the economy. This has been termed as the â€Å"Keynesian unemployment†. As what has been described earlier, in determining output to meet the demands, there are two views—the Keynesian and the classical view. The classical view argues that prices and wages are flexible, in such a way that excesses in either demand or supply will quickly be absorbed by the economy and resume full employment of resources after economic shocks—or abrupt changes in the aggregate demand and supply curves. The Keynesian view on the other hand argues, as apparent in its sticky theory of prices and wages which says that these two factors are sticky in the short run because of contractual rigidities such as agreements made with different interest groups such as the labor unions. In the latter situation, the one proposed by Keynes, higher levels of aggregate demands are needed for output to respond positively because aggregate supply curve is relatively flat especially when output levels are low. In this situation, the economy can have long periods of unemployment b ecause prices and wages are slow to adjust to shocks, and reaching full employment of resources is slow to reach. When classical economists argue that unemployment results from the interaction of the labor demand and supply curves, and lowering the wages will spread the labor supply which can curb unemployment in the process,

Everglades National Park Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Everglades National Park - Research Paper Example Background: Balanced Diversity Everglades National Park is the largest park and preserve in the state of Florida. It has a combination of sensitive wetland and estuarine environment, spanning 1,508,000 acres in area. The mangroves that mostly constitute the park are important breeding ground for numerous marine species as well as a natural habitat for alligators and many species of birds. It is also considered the largest wilderness area east of the Rocky Mountain, the biggest continuous section of saw-grass prairie and the most important breeding location for tropical wading birds in the North America. (Kras 2009, p. 9) In 1979, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated it as a world heritage site. Such recognition was fundamentally given due to its rich biological diversity, which represented a balanced relationship of human life and nature. According to UNESCO, the area has extreme importance to the world because it has a unique blen d of human history and the diverse life forms that harmoniously lived together for ages, including those animals and plants that are considered endangered species. (Kras, p. 9) Ecological relationships A Senate Report summed up the Everglades Park’s interesting interrelationships among its life forms. It explained: The intermingling of plant and animal species from both the tropical and temperate zones, plus the merging of freshwater and saltwater habitats provide the vast biological diversity that makes Everglades National Park unique. (US Congress, p. 340) Experts point out that the park is not consisted of one single ecosystem but a system of ecosystems. The above statement underscores this highlighting how numerous and diverse habitats are in existence that offer homes to a number of flora and fauna that collectively form a kind of relationship that continually amazes scientists. Much of the area is covered by saw grass, trees and shrubs as well as palm trees, cypresses, among other tropical plants. They provide a natural habitat for animals like the American crocodile, alligators, deer, Florida panther, roseate spoonbill, wood stork, snakes, turtles, among other reptiles and animals that are endangered like the southern bald eagle. The animals are sufficiently represented to sustain a healthy food chain and sheet-flow ecosystem connected by the water system beginning with Kissimmee River, into the Lake Okeechobee and, finally into the Gulf of Mexico. The intrusion of man, particularly with the agriculture cultivation that takes place in the Everglades’ periphery, and the damage it inflicts is increasingly destroying the habitats and the relationships within. For instance, the fertilizers discharged from nearby agricultural areas led to the growth of cat-tails and furry grasses that began depleting oxygen from the waters, endangering the lives of several animals that thrive on them. (Europa 2001, p. 77) Human Intrusion Another factor that mak es Everglades National Park unique is the fact that it is situated in a mouth of a waterway instead of in a headwater like Glacier, Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Unfortunately, this variable became a major contributor in the damage being done to the park. Human activities have disrupted the water cycle that occurs within the area due to agricultural cultivation and the

Communities of practice, their benefits and management challenges Essay

Communities of practice, their benefits and management challenges - Essay Example This paper will look into Communities of Practice, their benefits and a number of management challenges that they pose in a knowledge-based organisation. A community of practice has numerous benefits to an organisation. Organisations the world over have been utilising Communities of Practice for the last 2 decades in order to have sound knowledge-management systems. It is however important to note that CoPs have existed for centuries within management circles but their full formal attention in a modern organisational setup only emerged in the early 1990s. A CoP is comprised of a group of people willing to share their knowledge and expertise for a considerable amount of time. Organisations have used them to develop their human resources and encourage innovation and new approaches to problem solving. The intensifying of globalisation trends in the 1990s triggered heightened global competition. In order to survive firms are supposed to be creative and innovating which has driven them to appreciate the role that knowledge plays in organisational development. CoPs assist in diffusing knowledge and leverage a firm’s intellectual advantages. Knowledge-based organisations therefore require CoPs in developing their knowledge strategies. As such CoPs also have their limitations in respect to management of a firm. This paper will look into Communities of Practice, their benefits and a number of management challenges that they pose in a knowledge-based organisation. A community of practice has numerous benefits to an organisation. Formerly, many firms used information systems in knowledge management but the results were disappointing. CoP offers relatively new approaches where people interact and learn together. Due to the benefits that this approaches have most firms have adopted CoPs (Wenger and Snyder 2000). Some of the key benefits are as follows; Help with challenges It is clear that all firms experience challenges in their day-to-day running. However, these ch allenges need to be dealt with and a community of practice should be established to do just that. CoP solves problems by pooling of expertise, knowledge and skills from a number of employees. It is important to note that their winding down and eventual shutting down happens when problems they were dealing with are solved and consequently their purpose is fulfilled. Access expertise Organisations that treasure CoP are predominantly knowledge-based meaning that they require a great deal of expertise to carry out their tasks. In order to have a successful CoP its membership should be comprised of knowledgeable and experienced people. In case a firm is short of such workforce it is forced to source for them. In doing this a firm attains a pool of experts within its workforce which works to improve on its performance and profitability. Enhancement of team spirit Members in a community of practice need to work together to achieve set goals. They are not necessarily people who share the sa me ideals or beliefs but they are required to have similar interests in order to ensure a solid group (Llewellyn and Hindmarsh 2010). This facilitates teamwork in decision making and strategy formulation. Saving on cost an time of searching for information A CoP is established in order to deal with problems or to develop solutions. A small team is assembled which analyses the way forward. The smaller the team, the less the time they take in coming up with a solution. A small team is also easily managed and it is relatively cheap to maintain. This saves a great deal of time that inter-departmental meetings would have taken for consultations. It also offers time for the rest of the employee to continue with their normal duties while just a handful of them are picked to deal with pending issues (Wenger and Snyder 2000). The opportunity cost would be too high in taking many workers’ time in decision making. Improvement in quality of decisions A CoP is comprised of carefully selec ted people who bring to the table high-level skills and expertise. This assures the firm that the discussions made are meaningful and that decisions arrived at have high likeliness of being the best for the particular situation. Firms that have many CoPs tend to have better operational strategies which

Researching Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Researching Politics - Essay Example The purpose of this essay is to examine how relevant the Marshall plan was to Western Europe’s economic recovery. The European continent had been devastated by the War. Most of them were battling with a series of issues. The continent was plagued with so many problems because the Second World War had been more expansive than the First World War. Industrial production was one of the key areas that had been affected by this war. This was largely as a result of the attack that nations had to face from aerial attacks. Some of the most developed cities in the continent urgently needed assistance. Berlin and London were such examples; also, there was an urgent need to look for mechanism of rebuilding other cities like Rotterdam that had been completely destroyed. (Bonds, 2000) Agricultural matters were also exerting a lot of pressure on members of the European continent. After the war, many people could not access food because agriculture had been destroyed. Infrastructure was also another problem owing to the fact that bridges, roads and rails had been air struck thus leading to their overall damage. Also, the war had used up much of the treasures that these European countries had placed in store. Consequently, there was a need to look for a system in which they could deal with some of these problems. It should also be noted that the Second World War had come after the First World War. This latter war led to a serious recession within the European continent. Also the US had played a large role in streamlining some of these problems prior to the Marshall Plan. For instance, it is on record that the US assisted Germany in paying its war reparation through a debt given to them. In the US States Department, Harry Truman became interested in luring very active foreign policy. However, the US Congress was not as enthusiastic as this leader was. In fact, at that time, the US Congress thought that Europe would look for

Communities of practice, their benefits and management challenges Essay

Communities of practice, their benefits and management challenges - Essay Example This paper will look into Communities of Practice, their benefits and a number of management challenges that they pose in a knowledge-based organisation. A community of practice has numerous benefits to an organisation. Organisations the world over have been utilising Communities of Practice for the last 2 decades in order to have sound knowledge-management systems. It is however important to note that CoPs have existed for centuries within management circles but their full formal attention in a modern organisational setup only emerged in the early 1990s. A CoP is comprised of a group of people willing to share their knowledge and expertise for a considerable amount of time. Organisations have used them to develop their human resources and encourage innovation and new approaches to problem solving. The intensifying of globalisation trends in the 1990s triggered heightened global competition. In order to survive firms are supposed to be creative and innovating which has driven them to appreciate the role that knowledge plays in organisational development. CoPs assist in diffusing knowledge and leverage a firm’s intellectual advantages. Knowledge-based organisations therefore require CoPs in developing their knowledge strategies. As such CoPs also have their limitations in respect to management of a firm. This paper will look into Communities of Practice, their benefits and a number of management challenges that they pose in a knowledge-based organisation. A community of practice has numerous benefits to an organisation. Formerly, many firms used information systems in knowledge management but the results were disappointing. CoP offers relatively new approaches where people interact and learn together. Due to the benefits that this approaches have most firms have adopted CoPs (Wenger and Snyder 2000). Some of the key benefits are as follows; Help with challenges It is clear that all firms experience challenges in their day-to-day running. However, these ch allenges need to be dealt with and a community of practice should be established to do just that. CoP solves problems by pooling of expertise, knowledge and skills from a number of employees. It is important to note that their winding down and eventual shutting down happens when problems they were dealing with are solved and consequently their purpose is fulfilled. Access expertise Organisations that treasure CoP are predominantly knowledge-based meaning that they require a great deal of expertise to carry out their tasks. In order to have a successful CoP its membership should be comprised of knowledgeable and experienced people. In case a firm is short of such workforce it is forced to source for them. In doing this a firm attains a pool of experts within its workforce which works to improve on its performance and profitability. Enhancement of team spirit Members in a community of practice need to work together to achieve set goals. They are not necessarily people who share the sa me ideals or beliefs but they are required to have similar interests in order to ensure a solid group (Llewellyn and Hindmarsh 2010). This facilitates teamwork in decision making and strategy formulation. Saving on cost an time of searching for information A CoP is established in order to deal with problems or to develop solutions. A small team is assembled which analyses the way forward. The smaller the team, the less the time they take in coming up with a solution. A small team is also easily managed and it is relatively cheap to maintain. This saves a great deal of time that inter-departmental meetings would have taken for consultations. It also offers time for the rest of the employee to continue with their normal duties while just a handful of them are picked to deal with pending issues (Wenger and Snyder 2000). The opportunity cost would be too high in taking many workers’ time in decision making. Improvement in quality of decisions A CoP is comprised of carefully selec ted people who bring to the table high-level skills and expertise. This assures the firm that the discussions made are meaningful and that decisions arrived at have high likeliness of being the best for the particular situation. Firms that have many CoPs tend to have better operational strategies which

New Media Technologies And News Production Essay

New Media Technologies And News Production - Essay Example On the other hand, families saw the need of sitting and watching the television after a day’s work rather than reading newspapers to acquire information. Additionally, the advancement in to the World Wide Web era gave birth to personalized consumption of information since it a was faster and more detailed way of news reporting. News production and the internet Moreover, the information transmission through the internet led to great cultural diversifications in the way of consuming news. The internet is a platform of free culture in that the information provided costs less or is free. Sequentially, the newspapers in the developed nations are unable to compete with the internet in terms of revenue accumulation. Undoubtedly, journalists who find themselves on the receiving end of losing their jobs because of the financial strain in the world today have implemented the use of blogging sites on the internet (Schubert, 2011:5). These blogging sites provide an avenue for the airing o f their views through cheap and reliable means (Stuart 2003:36). They do not find themselves answerable to any one except authorities of their lands of origin. Therefore, the internet has offered a way of bridging the professional gap from that of being unemployed to that of independence for practicing journalists across the globe. On the contrary, citizens have also had their fair contribution in reporting, as the internet offers a platform for posting photographs and amateur video footage on happening events. This is what citizen journalism entails (Greer & McLaughlin, 2010:1045).Once these pictures find their way to the internet, they give room for research where the researching on more facts surrounding the developing story may get to the public domain... This essay stresses that the media has a way of portraying protests and demonstrations by the public in a violent and the non-attractive way. Usually, they portray the demonstrators as those who have high traits of anarchy. This depicts the influence of the media in explaining the actual state happening events. However, governments have emphasized the need for positive reporting rather than negative reporting through the showing of disturbing images. Ideally, negative reporting may affect a country’s economy in that it may bring down a country’s attractiveness to potential investors. Modern day media forms should act as public relations features rather than weapons of ruining public image. Therefore, the media has a role to play in restoring public trust in institutions like the police force that have had the repute of violence and brutality to the public. This paper makes a conclusion that The transformed media has a critical place in the present society because many use it as a matter of the need to feel informed. In this regard, responsible journalism should be the foundation for any coverage of information intending to reach the public domain. Ideally, the media is a tremendously powerful tool that which can influence the society either negatively or positively. Subsequently, the transformed media should ensure that it is impartial and steers the society towards the right direction. Finally, the transformed media forms have defined the standards of living for many of the urban citizens since the reception and production of news is immense quality and class.

Comparing Oxygen Levels to Heart Rate Recovery and Peak Time

Comparing Oxygen Levels to Heart Rate Recovery and Peak Time Research Question How do different concentrations of oxygen provided to the respiratory system affect the heart rate and thus a subjects  athletic capabilities? Introduction Firstly, it is important to investigate how the bodys respiratory system functions. The lungs have two primary functions, releasing carbon dioxide from the body and integrating oxygen into the bloodstream 3. The lungs never reach peak capacity and are not responsible for the limitation in oxygen delivered to the muscles 1. This is important because, in the case of this experiment the limitations may be reached. There is always approximately the same amount of oxygen in the air in relation to everything else: 21%. However  as altitude increases there is less air pressure and thus less oxygen available to the lungs per diaphragm contraction cycle. Instead of changing the barometric pressure, there will simply be less or more oxygen in the air, in this experiment. This may cause an abnormal result as the body responds differently to drastically altered conditions. When the oxygen content of the air is drastically reduced, the blood will most likely be significantly less saturated and when the oxygen content of the air is drastically increased the blood should be more saturated with oxygen 2. It is then necessary to investigate how this might affect the cardiac system. The amount of oxygen that is available to the cells while they are producing ATP  to drive the body is important, because if there is not enough oxygen available for aerobic respiration, than  anaerobic respiration will take place. Anaerobic respiration will produce lactate and carbon dioxide. The lactate (lactic acid), triggers a response from the sympathetic nervous system1, 2. The noradrenergic sympathetic nervous system produces norepinephrine. The SA node (sinoatrial node), stimulated by the norepinephrine hormone increases both the rate that the heart beats and the degree to which the heart completes a systolic contraction 1,2. In addition to the sympathetic nervous system, the medulla senses the increase of carbon dioxide in the blood due to anaerobic respiration. The medulla then sends an electrical signal through the cardiac nerve to the SA node2. A live O2 machine will be used in order to carry out this experiment. It produces and stores 15% oxygen and 95% oxygen separately. These will be the two concentrations of oxygen that will be used to compare the times it takes for heart rates to peak and then recover. The independant  variable is the concentration of Oxygen. The dependant  variable is the time it takes for the subject to peak and the time it takes for the subject to recover. The experiment will be controlled by regulating the speed at which the treadmill is set to. Since the point of this experiment is to compare differences  the difference in the individuals athletic ability should not make a difference in the data. Materials Live O2 Machine Oxygen mask Treadmill Heart rate/oxygen saturation monitor Clorox and paper towels Timer Experimental Overview The Live O2 machine which will be used to create, store and deliver the two different concentrations of oxygen is comprised of an oxygen machine, storage bag with two compartments, a delivery system with a mask and a switch to change which concentration of oxygen is being delivered. The picture above, depicting the live  O2 system is the one that was used, except a treadmill was used  instead of a stationary bike as is depicted. The test subjects heart rate peak times and recovery times were first tested with the increased level of oxygen, they were then given a period of rest while another subject ran on the treadmill. Then, after the period of rest the subject would run on the treadmill again and their peak and recovery times would be measured with the restricted levels of oxygen. The threshold for the heart rate peaking was 140 bpm. The threshold for recovered was when the heart rate of the subject was within 10 of their original resting heart rate. For example, if the test subjects resting heart rate was 65 bpm, they would be considered recovered when their heart rate dropped back below 75. Procedure Step 1 First 8  willing people were found, who were athletically fit enough that there would not be any damage to their body through the testing. Then the 8  people were instructed not to drink any sort of caffeine or any other stimulant before the experiment. The mask of the live  O2 machine was cleaned with clorox  and the oxygen machine was turned on to fill up the two individual bags. Step 2 Then the resting heart rate of the subject was taken with the heart rate monitor. Ten was added to the resting number to determine the threshold that the heart rate must reach during recovery to determine whether or not the subject has recovered. The heart rate monitor was left on the subjects  finger to monitor their heart rate, Then  the oxygen was set to the 95% setting and the treadmill was set to 5 miles per hour. Then, once the subject was at 5 miles per hour the timer was started and the subject was instructed  to hold the mask to their face. The timer was stopped once the subjects heart rate reached 140 bpm. Then the treadmill was stopped and the subject was instructed to keep the mask on. Then the time it took for their heart rate to return to the predetermined resting rate was measured. Step 3 The first subject was then given rest while subject 2 performed step 2. Once subject 2 was done with step 2, subject 1 repeated step 2 with 15% oxygen instead of 95% oxygen followed again by subject 2. The mask was cleaned with clorox  between each subject. Step 4 Steps 1-3 were repeated with the remained of the test subjects and the data was recorded in a table within the lab book. Safety considerations Since this lab works with the human body and measuring its responses to what could be considered  strenuous situations, there must be precautions taken. Firstly, all of the subjects that were tested, were either in good or exceptional physical condition and had no preexisting health complications that would endanger them during the experiment. To further ensure that there was no physical harm done to the subjects, the subjects saturation was constantly monitored with the heart rate/oxygen saturation monitor. If at any point during the 15% oxygen test the saturation dipped too low (below 85% saturation) and remained there for more than a couple seconds then the 95% oxygen would immediately been switched on and that round of testing would be terminated and the subject time to rest. The mask that was being used was also constantly cleaned with clorox  to prevent the spreading of germs. Analysis Qualitative variables The two main variables that may have affected the data were: the heart rate monitor and the oxygen mask. The fact that the subject had to hold the monitor on their finger and the mask while running made the heart rate monitor slightly inaccurate and sometimes would simply not take readings. It only worked when the subject was holding onto it and this disrupted their normal running patterns. Some subjects also had trouble holding the mask to their face with enough force to hold a seal while running. This may have let some of the natural air into the mask. Holding the mask also inhibited the subjects natural running pattern. The fact that the subjects natural running pattern was inhibited made it harder for them to keep a normal running pace even with the treadmill set at a constant 5 miles per hour. Having to control all of these things at once may have also added to the strain on the subjects body, which could have affected the results. Then finally, there is also the fact that every one that was being tested was different in their biological makeup and therefore will respond slightly differently to the two concentrations of oxygen. Data Complete Peak and Recovery times (in seconds) run: 95% Oxygen Peak times (s) 95% Oxygen Recovery time (s) 15% Oxygen Peak times (s) 15% Oxygen Recovery time (s) 1 187 45 62 185 2 180 56 52 102 3 200 64 40 188 4 181 69 39 73 5 153 71 36 123 6 108 52 60 201 7 181 21 56 133 8 144 61 27 177 This table displays each run and the times in seconds associated with it. The runs where the higher concentration of oxygen (95%) was used are displayed first, on the left. The runs where the lower concentration of oxygen (15%) was used are displayed second, on the right. The peak times (the time it takes for the subjects heart rate to reach 140 bpm from resting) are displayed in the 2nd and 4th column and the recovery times (the time it takes for a subjects heart rate to go from 140 bpm back to within 10 of resting) are displayed in the 3rd and 5th column. This bar graph displays the average recovery times and peak times for the two different levels of oxygen concentration. The recovery times are listed at the top and the peak times are listed at the bottom. Average Difference in Peak and Recovery time in seconds Peak time (s) Recovery time (s) Difference 120.25 92.875 This table displays the difference between the average peak time of the 95% and 15% oxygen concentration. As well as the difference between the average recovery time of the 95% oxygen and the 15% oxygen concentrations. Evaluation Conclusion of results There is a clear difference between the times for the two different concentration of oxygen. When the subject was administered 95% oxygen their peak times took an average of 166.75 seconds, while when the average peak time when only 15% oxygen concentration was administered was 46.5 seconds. This is a difference of 120.25 seconds, so clearly when a subject is administered more oxygen it provides more oxygen for the system, this allows the body to stay out of anaerobic respiration longer and thus allows the heart to beat slower for a greater amount of time. The difference seen in recovery times was also significant. On average, with the higher 95% oxygen concentration the subjects recovered around 54.875 seconds. However when the subjects were administered the lower concentration of oxygen the recovery times took much longer, averaging out at 147.75 seconds. The difference was 92.875 seconds. This occurred because when the body was already deprived of oxygen and the saturation was low there was a large amount of carbon dioxide and lactic acid build up from anaerobic respiration. Then, after the subject stopped running, the low oxygen concentration most likely caused the subjects to stay in anaerobic respiration as the body tried to oxygenate the tissue. With the higher concentration of oxygen, the subjects body was able to quickly oxygenate the tissue and return the body to complete or near complete aerobic respiration. This would have stopped the build up of lactic acid and carbon dioxide and allowed the body to flush the two out of it s system. Once the lactic acid and carbon dioxide has either been absorbed or in the case of carbon dioxide, exited the lungs, the heart rate would return to resting. Therefore, the results matched what should have happened according to previous scientific research, outlined in the introduction. How the lab could be improved and extended The first thing that would be helpful would be to use a more accurate heart rate monitor. Most likely the best solution would be a heart rate monitor that could be taped to the finger being used in unison with a chest heart rate monitor. Using both of these simultaneously would ensure the best and most consistent results. In addition it would remove the responsibility from the subject of holding onto the heart rate monitor. Another issues that could be easily solved is the oxygen mask. The straps that were provided with the mask fell off very easily during running. As a result   the subjects had to hold the mask to their face as they ran. This hindered their ability to run smoothly and did not guarantee a complete seal around the face. Next time a full head cap could be used to ensure that a seal was maintained and would allow the subject to run normally. To further extend this experiment saturation rates could also be compared to heart rate and oxygen concentration. When the subjects were performing the test their saturation rates were monitored for safety reasons but not recorded. If the saturation rates could be recorded throughout the test at specific points along with the heart rate it would be interesting to look into how the saturation rates are correlated with the heart when very low and very high concentrations of oxygen are being administered to the subject. Works Cited Burton, Deborah Anne, FRCA, Keith Stokes, BSc PhD, and George M. Hall, MBBS PhD DSc FRCA. Physiological Effects of Exercise. Continuing Education in Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain. Oxford Journals, n.d. Web. 10 May 2016. Damon, Alan, Randy McGonegal, Patricia Tosto, and William Ward. Higher Level Biology. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. How Your Lungs Work. How Your Lungs Work. Cleveland Clinic, 13 Oct. 2010. Web. 13 May 2016. Appendix Release forms: I, Jonas Kaare-Rasmussen understand that the experiment I am involved in and the tasks that I am performing, could be dangerous for my health. I assume all liability for my actions and understand that slight Oxygen deprivation may cause health problems. Electronically signed by: Jonas Kaare-Rasmussen I, Jack Larsen understand that the experiment I am involved in and the tasks that I am performing could be dangerous for my health. I assume all liability for my actions and understand that slight Oxygen deprivation may cause health problems. Electronically signed by: Jack Larsen I, Danielle Zimber understand that the experiment I am involved in and the tasks that I am performing could be dangerous for my health. I assume all liability for my actions and understand that slight Oxygen deprivation may cause health problems. Electronically signed by: Danielle Zimber I, Hailey Zimber understand that the experiment I am involved in and the tasks that I am performing could be dangerous for my health. I assume all liability for my actions and understand that slight Oxygen deprivation may cause health complications. Electronically signed by: Hailey Zimber I, Alex Kellam understand that the experiment I am involved in and the tasks that I am performing could be dangerous for my health. I assume all liability for my actions and understand that slight Oxygen deprivation may cause health problems. Electronically signed by: Alex Kellam I, Taso Warsa understand that the experiment I am involved in and the tasks that I am performing could be dangerous for my health. I assume all liability for my actions and understand that slight Oxygen deprivation may cause health problems. Electronically signed by: Taso Warsa I, Ben Voter understand that the experiment I am involved in and the tasks that I am performing could be dangerous for my health. I assume all liability for my actions and understand that slight Oxygen deprivation may cause health problems. Electronically signed by: Ben Voter I, Alex Alsop understand that the experiment I am involved in and the tasks that I am performing could be dangerous for my health. I assume all liability for my actions and understand that slight Oxygen deprivation may cause health problems. Electronically signed by: Alex Alsop

Africa from A to Z :: essays research papers fc

Africa A to Z By: Doug Wilson Algeria Algeria is the second-largest country in Africa. Oil and gas products make up for most of Algeria’s exports. Algeria ranks as the second largest exporter of gas and oil products after Russia. The Sahara desert makes up more than 90 percent of Algeria’s territory. The population of Algeria is approximately 31 million people. The primary language of Algeria is Arabic, although French dialects are also widely spoken. The primary religion of this country is Sunni Muslim. Botswana Botswana has the world’s richest diamond mines. But, unfortunately it also has the world’s highest AIDS infection rate. Over one-third of Botswana’s people suffer from the disease. Although livestock employs seventy-five percent of the population, diamonds are its richest product. The population of Botswana is approximately one million five hundred and seventy-six thousand people. Primary languages spoke are English and Setswana. Their primary religion is made up of about 50% local beliefs, and 50% Christian beliefs. Chad Chad is one of Africa’s least developed countries; it has more than 100 languages, three religions and three types of weather. Chad’s main source of income is cotton and its chief business is cotton ginning. Starting in 2001, a controversial oil pipeline was started in Chad, run by Exxon Mobil, and could bring millions of dollars to the Chad government. The population of the country of Chad is approximately eight million four hundred and twenty-five thousand people. Chad’s official language is French and Arabic, but they also have over 100 other languages in their country. The three main religions are Muslim, Christian and Animist. Djibouti Djibouti is located in Eastern Africa, and borders the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Djibouti occupies a very important location at the mouth of the Red Sea, in relation to over-seeing the shipment of goods into and out of East Africa. Their primary sources of income and export is agricultural products. The population of Djibouti is approximately four hundred and sixty-seven thousand people. The official languages are French and Arabic, but also include Somali and Afar. This countries primary religion is Muslim. Egypt Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. The people of Egypt introduced the idea of irrigation for agriculture from the Nile River. Egypt’s main export income comes from crude oil and petroleum products as well as cotton, textiles and metal products. The Nile River, is known as the father of Africa’s rivers, and is located in Egypt. The population of Egypt is approximately sixty-eight million three hundred and sixty thousand people.