Original Myth

The Sun, the Moon, and the Great Spirit Long ago, before there was life, before there was even a planet Earth, there were celestial entities that existed in the universe back when it was a light blue. These spirits appear to humans as large masses in space, such as the other planets and the stars. Since the beginning, there were two powerful apparitions that would become rivals until the end of time, the Sun Spirit and the Moon Spirit. The Sun was favored by the other astral entities to the isolated Moon.Not long after all of the spirits of the universe were created by the Great Spirit, their creator who cannot be seen by any life form, the Sun had become the leader of all other celestial bodies and was placed in the center of the Solar System. This angered the Moon, who despised the Sun. The Moon Spirit challenged the Sun for the position as ruler of the planets. Unfortunately for the Moon, the Sun used his superior strength to outcast the Moon to a lonely location between Venus and Mars. After 4,000 years of peace among the bodies of the Solar System, the Sun was growing old and developed a feeling that something was missing.The Sun Spirit decided that it was time for him to create a new successor since he has aged and become weak over time. The Sun found stray meteors flying across space and summoned all of his remaining power to bring them to him. The aging Sun then smashed the colossal space rocks together to create one large mass. Afterwards, he engulfed the inanimate boulder with his life-giving fire to give it consciousness. â€Å"Who are you? Who am I? † said the curious new planet. â€Å"I am the Sun, your creator and protector.You are my daughter who will one day grow up to take my place as ruler of everything in existence,† said the Sun to his newborn child. â€Å"Well, do I have a name? † the naive child asked. â€Å"I shall name you ‘Earth’,† said the Sun. For many days, the cosmos celebrated the birth of t heir beloved king’s child. Eventually, the news spread so far that it got to the Moon Spirit. The Lunar Spirit then schemed the perfect plan to get revenge on the Sun. The Moon waited until all of the other entities fell asleep to sneak out of his seal. He eventually found the sleeping solar king and his princess.The Moon then kidnapped her and brought her to where the Sun had banished him. Child Earth woke up with a loud scream, constantly calling for her father. To silence her, the Moon engulfed her in such a great amount of water that she would never be able to speak again. When the Sun woke up, he looked around for his daughter; she was nowhere to be found. The King began to panic and told every spirit in the universe to look out for the young princess. Not long after, Venus confronted the Sun and said, â€Å"I know where your daughter is. She has been taken away by the twisted Moon and can no longer speak. This news made the Sun so furious, his fire grew to be so large that it gave off the largest glow anyone had ever seen. The powerful light from the glow began to illuminate all parts of the Solar System including the Moon and Earth. The Sun was now able to see his captive daughter, but had no strength left to pull her back to him. From that day on, all of the celestial entities mourned for the loss of their future queen. To show their consolation for the Sun, they all decided to use their combined power to turn space from a sky blue color to black for the second half of every day.To make matters worse, the Moon confronted the Sun to make a proposition. â€Å"If you stand down from your position as king, I will let you have your daughter. If not, then I will force you to stand down,† explained the Moon. The Sun Spirit refused to give up his position. The Moon then declared war on the Sun, but immediately after doing so, the Great Spirit appeared for the first time since the birth of the universe. The two rivals were struck with awe. The Gr eat Spirit refused to let the universe spiral into chaos because of the Sun and Moon’s conflict.In order to please them both, he gave the Sun his daughter for half of a day, but when the Sun falls asleep, the Moon would take ownership. Whenever her father would leave and the Moon would come, the Earth would try to break free of her liquid entrapment, causing the tides to rise. In addition, the Great Spirit went to the Earth and planted a massive green tree on her that would grow from both the soil from the sun and the water from the moon. This Tree of Life would give birth to all life on Earth that we see today, from insects, to sea creatures, to humans.

Why Millennials Are Screwed

Throughout the article, Hobbes uses sarcastic humor and hyperbole to not only get his point across, but to also be relatable to his audience; the millennials. Hobbes uses this to seem credible and therefore worthy of our trust. Hobbes states that older generations say â€Å"our problems are all our fault: We got the wrong degree.† This statement not only reeks of sarcasm but also subtly points out the foolishness of the generations whom would say this in Hobbes' opinion. He also goes on to say we have â€Å"killed cereal and department stores and golf and napkins and lunch† which out of context makes little sense and yet in context, still makes little sense. He does not go on to explain why he mentioned these specific items nor does he dive into any of the topics he described, but he does makes a great attempt to get the reader to laugh and therefore create the first moment of trust. Continuing to use sarcasm not only helps the reader to find humor in an unpleasant and gloomy topic but establishes relatability to Hobbes. Exaggerating his own situation by saying, â€Å"my rent consumes nearly half my income, I haven't had a steady job since Pluto was a planet and my savings are dwindling faster than the ice caps the baby boomers melted,† helps the reader to relate to Hobbes even more and therefore trusts him to be providing accurate information. His ability to write as though he is writing to a friend through humor relaxes the reader and establishes a deeper connection. In addition to humor, statistics flood this article and subtly attack the readers fear. Hobbes provides that 1 in 5 young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 are living in poverty and that they are half as likely to own a home(6), which are alarmingly figures. Giving such dramatic statistics makes the reader think about their own situation and whether that statistic includes themselves, and perhaps worse, themselves in the future. This creates a sense of concern that fuels the reader to care more about the topic and follow Hobbes as he continues to scare. Although Hobbes did not create the visual aspects of his article, it is important to note that the updated animations throughout the article contribute to him implanting terror into the mind of his readers because of their dramatic context. The use of a graph regarding 2007 and 2009 graduates and their earnings yearly is a great example showing us how a 2009 graduate could earn almost sixty-thousand dollars less than a 2007 graduate (16). Those are relatively large numbers that generate anxiety among the millennials reading this article because not only does it make them think about the statistics but also how it could relate to themselves. Undoubtedly Hobbes provides endless amounts of information as to the topic: why millennials are screwed. In fact I believe he is right. Our generation is heading for disaster and Hobbes does an immaculate job at recording why. His use of humor and sarcasm is what made this piece of writing so enticing and relatable.

Neural architecture

IntroductionThis article is traveling to discourse nervous web building from a different position than is usual in conventional attacks. This attack, which will be referred to asNervous Architecture, is intended to research building of nervous webs utilizing nerve cells asexplicitedifice blocks instead than anon. elements trained en mass. Simple Python plans will be used to show the construct for simple Boolean logic maps. The attack of this article is deliberately namedNervous Architecturebecause it is meant to parallel the manner in which a traditional designer consistently constructs a all right edifice: by developing well-known forms of building elements, which may be re-used to make of all time more sophisticated constructions. The conventional attack to nervous web development is to specify a web as consisting of a few beds in a multilayer-perceptron type of topology with an input bed, end product bed, and one or two concealed beds. Then a preparation algorithm such as backpropagation is applied to develop the interconnectedness weights. Sometimes a more sophisticated attack is taken such as utilizing a cascade or perennial topology but for all purposes and intents, the terminal consequence is a standard topology of a few highly-connected beds. This attack was a major discovery in the field because it led some people to get down believing outside the box of symbolic logical thinking that dominate d Artificial Intelligence at the clip. It has besides been successfully used in a assortment of pattern acknowledgment and control applications that are non efficaciously handled by other AI paradigms. However, these applications would non by and large be considered to stand for higher degrees of intelligence or cognitive processing. For illustration, say a nervous web is developed that can successfully acknowledge human faces under a assortment of conditions. This is a extremely utile application and good within the kingdom of conventional nervous webs. However, that is where the capableness of the web leaves away — at acknowledging the facial image. Aside from generalising facial characteristics, it can offer nil more in footings of concluding about those facial characteristics. Further, it is asserted that the standard attack to nervous web development is non suited for recognizing these higher degrees of intelligence. One of the cardinal jobs is the limited mode in which we approach the nervous architecture. To exemplify this job, we will return to the edifice architecture analogy. In this manner, our standard attack to nervous architecture can be likened to planing a edifice utilizing bricks. An designer who ever thinks in footings of bricks will non likely advancement beyond a certain degree of edification, because as a constituent, a brick merely offers one intent: to back up other bricks. Alternatively, an architecture increasingly develops more sophisticated, proved constructions based on the brick ( or other crude constituents ) which can be re-used to develop higher-level constituents. A house is conceived, non in footings of bricks and wood, but instead in footings of walls, doors, and suites. A sophisticated designer might even happen these constituents mundane and alternatively believe in more abstract footings of â€Å" infinites † , energy and flow of human traffic. This is the impression of â€Å" forms † , and in fact these ( architectural ) forms were precisely the inspiration for the field ofpackageforms. The same thought can be applied to nervous webs: a nerve cell by itself merely serves the map of exciting other nerve cells. And conventional nervous cyberspace acquisition algorithms are geared toward classification or other mapping operations. As a advocate of nervous webs, one believes that randomly complex intelligence procedures can be realized, and we have the human encephalon as pretty converting support of that belief. However, to go on advancement in this way, it is likely that we have to develop more sophisticated abilities as nervous designers and develop utile, proved nervous forms similar to the manner that edifice designers have done over clip, and in the manner package designers are now making. Adequate doctrine — we will now be taking a fresh expression at how forms can be constructed get downing with simple nervous elements, and specifically we will get down with Boolean logic elements. Architecting utilizing Boolean logic does non instantly offer an advantage over utilizing regular logic Gatess, but illustrates how sharp logic or symbolic elements can originate from fuzzed nervous processing elements. It will besides supply a conceptual foundation for future articles.Nervous websNervous web: information processing paradigm inspired by biological nervous systems, such as our encephalonStructure: big figure of extremely interconnected processing elements ( nerve cells ) working togetherLike people, they learn from experience.Nervous webs are configured for a specific application, such as pattern acknowledgment or informations categorization, through a acquisition procedureIn a biological system, larning involves accommodations to the synaptic connexions between nerv e cells.The first measure in the architecture procedure is to specify the crude edifice block, and if you have n't fallen asleep at this point, you have no uncertainty figured out that this will be anerve cell. The neuron theoretical account we will utilize is a version of the tried-and-true theoretical account used for package nervous webs, besides known as theperceptron. As illustrated in, the perceptron has multiple inputs and one end product. The mathematical theoretical account of the perceptron is given by: a = squash ( & A ; Sigma ; ( iiwi ) ) where:is input I to the perceptronis the weight for input Iis the activation ( end product )andsquash ( x ) = { 1 if x & gt ; threshold 0 otherwise The nature of the perceptron has been discussed many times elsewhere, including in Matthews, so we wo n't brood on it here. But fundamentally, the perceptron calculates a leaden amount of the inputs and so subjects it to a nonlinear â€Å" crushing † map — in our instance, this is a simple threshold operation. The nonlinear threshold operation is portion of what makes a nervous net exhibit interesting behaviour. Otherwise it would amount to matrix operations.Nature of the gameNow that we have the theoretical account for a basic nerve cell defined, we can now continue to specify basic logic Gatess by merely working out two things:the weight valuesthe thresholdFor our treatment we will presume that weights can be positive ( excitory ) or negative ( inhibitory ) and be in the scope between -1 and 1. The threshold will besides be assumed to be in the scope -1 to 1. If we cast this in footings of signals, so it equates to the demand that both inputs have to be sufficiently high to bring forth an end product. So, we will put our threshold to a high value of 0.8. Following we will put the weights for the two inputs at 0.5 each. If one input is one ( =1 ) so the nerve cell activation ( end product ) will be given by a = squash ( 1 * 0.5 + 0 * 0.5 ) = squash ( 0.5 ) = 0 since 0.5 & A ; lt ; 0.8 { the threshold } Therefore if either or both inputs is 0, the end product is zero. If both are 1, so the leaden amount will be greater than the threshold. Listing 1 show the Python plan that demonstrates the nervous AND gate, and will be used as a templet for other logic maps. The writer prefers Python for prototyping, because it consequences in compact codification that looks really close to pseudocode.Plan to prove InverterWe have shown how a simple set of logic Gatess may be implemented utilizing nerve cells. In theory, this is all we would necessitate to implement a cosmopolitan digital computing machine of arbitrary complexness, because that is all a microprocessor does. In fact, it can be shown that all the logic maps can be implemented with one type of gate: either all NAND Gatess or NOR Gatess. However, if that was our end, there would be no advantage to this attack over utilizing standard logic Gatess. The point is that a nervous attack can be used for planing intelligent constructions †” that is explicitly architecting ( there ‘s that word once more ) structures — every bit good as germinating them utilizing conventional nervous web preparation paradigms. With nervous architecture, we can get down with simple logic operations and construct them up into more interesting logical constructions. As an illustration, see our first illustration, the simple AND gate. This could be used to digitally execute an operation on spots, but it can besides be used to execute a logical AND operation on two regulations, for illustration: IF regulation X AND regulation Y THEN fire ( end product is active ) . Furthermore, by utilizing nerve cells, the inputs are non at wholly limited to binary signals, they could be analog signals ( regulation X is kind of true ) or even the end product of an full nervous web.DecisionThe nervous architecture attack can be seen to hold the undermentioned key advantages or possibilities:Can develop constructions built on a cosmopolitan ne rve cell edifice block.The same basic edifice block can be considered as a nerve cell ( standard perceptron ) or a logic gate.The attack allows sharp constructions to interface with fuzzed 1s, uniting the nondeterministic and evolutionary belongingss of nervous webs along with the advantages of explicit, structured design.Can develop recognizable higher degree edifice blocks, a of import demand for recognizing continuously more complex architectures.

How did the world media present Japan's recent tragediesWhat lessons Essay

How did the world media present Japan's recent tragediesWhat lessons has Fukushima taught us about the Nuclear Age - Essay Example In the context of the nuclear reactor blast at Fukushima, the media certainly had two options at its disposal. Either they could have used this disaster to enhance the public awareness regarding radiation and the hazards of Nuclear energy, or they could have cashed on this opportunity to augment their viewership and readers. As these two objectives were contrary to each other, so sadly speaking, a big chunk of the media coverage was predominantly and in case of some channels, was exclusively dedicated to shooting up the existing viewership. This was more than true in case of the Asian media companies. Many a times the media tried to hype every big and small incident related to radiation leakage. Some of them even went ahead to compare the magnitude of Fukushima blast with the Chernobyl disaster in a sensational and gripping tone. This was certainly a sorry trend on the part of media, when in this age of connectivity; it had access to all the relevant facts. Luckily speaking, some med ia houses do succeeded in using the Fukushima disaster to educate the masses about the hazards of nuclear energy and to nudge the competent stakeholders to do something to avoid such tragedies in the future. Not to say, NHK, that happens to be Japan’s national broadcaster, was conclusively a voice of poise and calm amidst this catastrophe. The other thing was that this line of approach on the part of the world media died down after a few days when it realized that the alarming and sensational coverage of this human catastrophe could not be sustained for long. It was only then that the media started to focus on the plight of the people who suffered from Tsunami and Fukushima blast. Fukushima blast is a disaster that would not only find a place in the annals of history, but is also a phenomenon that left many lessons for the contemporary generations. The first and foremost lesson of this tragedy is that the modern economies running on electricity do need a reliable backup arran gement (Inskeep: Online). One impact of the Fukushima was that it immediately led to a power shut in the customer businesses, localities and concerns. Not only this, in the absence of the power supply, the rescue workers were not able to do their work at an optimal level. The businesses and factories came down on their knees and the failure to restore power simply did not allow them to rescue and restart their operations in time. This not only jeopardized the Japanese economy, but also gravely affected the economy of the nations doing business with Japanese companies. So, in the future, the concerned experts should take care that there always exists a reliable backup to meet the situations posed by such disasters. The Fukushima disaster also forces the people and experts to rethink the viability and relevance of the national dependence on nuclear power (Boyle 12)). Though nuclear energy is a cost effective sources of power, it also do poses severe threats if the nuclear reactors are not prepared with a disaster plan for such eventualities (Inskeep: Online). The most important thing in a nuclear accident is the way the management responds to that accident. It was to a great extent a timely response by the Fukushima management that the situation was not allowed to uncontrollably escalate and deteriorate as it happened at Chernobyl. Still, the international community needs to give more teeth to the watchdogs like International Atomic Energy

Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Literature Review - Essay Example The leakage may then lead to security threats when the unauthorized persons manipulate the data for their benefits (Quinn, 2010). Ethics in information systems guide companies on how to handle their confidential data. Governments also formulate laws that govern the use of information systems to prevent the privacy threats. Professional bodies such as nursing that deal with confidential information of their patients adhere to ethics and laws to prevent the violation of privacy laws of data. The National Health Systems uses information system applications to make their services efficiently. The users of the applications follow the rules of ethics to ensure that they do not violate the privacy of patients’ information. One of the applications used in the health systems is the Summary Care Record (SCR). This application stores information of patients in a central database such that it can be accessed from various hospitals. The access of information in various hospitals enables pa tients to attend the health institution of their choice (Maccoby, Norman, & Margolies, 2013). The ethical principles that govern the privacy of SCRs include the golden rule, risk aversion, the rule of change by Decartes, and utilitarian hypothesis. The utilitarian theory argues that organizations and individuals should perform functions that benefit more people in the society (Diney, Hu, Smith, & Hart, 2013). National hospitals use the SCR in a way that benefits the whole society. This is because the citizens attend the hospital of their choice whenever they are sick. The doctors and nurses use the system to check the health history of patients; this helps them to determine the best treatment for their clients. The privacy of health records is also guarded by the rule of change that was formulated by Decartes, which argues that firms should use techniques that may be repeated more than once (Tajero, & De, 2012). This means that actions that may not be repeated are unethical, and the y may violate the privacy of information. The repeated action in the use of the health records is mainly the use of passwords and identification cards, which ensure that only the authorized medical practitioners access the information of patients. The authorized persons who access information may do so numerous times. An action that may not be repeated is hacking, which leads to the access of the information about a company by unauthorized persons through the exploitation of a system’s weakness (Rosenberg, 2004). Hacking violates the privacy of patients’ information meaning that it is an unethical act. The weakness of Decartes principle is that it fails to specify whether the repeated action is right. This is because in some cases, activities such as hacking are possible to repeat when the hacker identifies the weakness in a system. Since hacking is unethical, repeating it violates the principle of privacy meaning that the rule of change misleads users (Rosenberg, 2004 ). The other ethical principles that govern the use of hospital computers leading to information privacy include machines in ways that respect the society, not interfering with other people’s work in the computer, and not using the machine to steal. Computer users who observe these tenets promote the confidentiality of their information and that of others (McCarthy, & Halawi, 2013). The social issues in information systems include those that govern the way a company mingles with the

Theoretical analysis & Critical design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Theoretical analysis & Critical design - Essay Example It will argue on the various natures of museums architectural features and whether the status as being an art or artefacts is influenced by taste and designs. Much emphasis will be placed on the museums external features than internal. This will enable the articles point of view to have depth. The museums that will be studied are those that have pre-purpose built features that represent the museums, not the ones that are used in the room somewhere. This will enable the article to bring taste and designs that aerated and the  objectives of this study to light. Museum is an architectural design of its own; with a rich past and typology of its own. The working together of the different aspect of museums architectural designs bring out the overall taste that describes the museum.1 The symbioses of all this activities shore-up the museums image, as a representation of art in that area. It may not come as a surprise as the two most essential modern works of museum theory, practice and cr iticism talk about an architectural image. This book titles Andre Malraux, the museum without walls and Douglas Crimps Un the museum, ruins refer to the opening of museum wrapper, the breaking down of the museums integrity.2 These two books summed the state of museum architecture in the modern era; they represent an attempt to try and break through the boundaries that try to separate the building from existence in terms class and ethic make up. The desire to breakdown the museum architectural fortifications were either literally or figuratively. It represents an indication to inhere the architectural designs of museums around the world, to render its boundaries nonexistent and hence, open the museum to the free flow of activities. The edges of the museums thus represent seclusion from the world’s reality and activities, the walls of the museums. Sign of the walls of museums is both are both it official expression and interface between the museum and the world. The internal pa rts of the museum are where the works of arts hang. The walls of museum act as a representation of the world. They act as protection between the physical world internal worlds.3 The design of the walls is an expression of how the museums walls are made to keep us out while keeps its rich heritage inside the walls. Museum is not just a place where items are displayed but also as a full sense of marvellous construction in the world. The museum is a representation old strong foundation. Museums that are a have survived the test of time are a description of what is the strength. Considering that most museums were made decades ago, and they still maintain the old structures, when museums address themselves in matters of taste they are faced with a dilemma, of what is historical fact affecting their taste right now. When describing the taste of a building whether people define it as being value free, or non partisan, or whether endorsing or contesting a particular pattern of preference th is shows that preference can be relative and absolute depending from your point of view. Taste becomes relative when it shows that a museums taste is just a symbolic description of what is valid to people at a certain time.4 When the structures of people’s language are considered then taste becomes absolute. People can describe a refurbished museum space to either be good, better or the best. When

Harlem Renaissance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Harlem Renaissance - Research Paper Example In addition, the liberated African Americans, after the America civil war, sought for a safe place to explore their new identities, but at this time as free men and women. This is how they the African Americans found themselves in Harlem. Harlem grew to become the home of the best and brightest minds of the 20th century, with people like Langston Hughes, Walter Weldon and the parent figure of W.E.B Du Bois, hence giving birth to a cultural revolution; hence the place earned its name ‘the capital of black America’. This paper would build up the constituents’ culture, literacy, and artistic explosion that defined the birth of the Harlem Renaissance2. The burgeoning African- American middle class of 1900s began to fight for a new political agenda that advocated for racial equality. This became one the roots that came in support of the formation of the Harlem Renaissance. New York was the epicenter for all these actions. In New York, three of the largest civil rights in America by then had established their headquarters there.Among the notable ringleaders of these, the civil rights movement was the Black historian, a sociologist, and a Harvard scholar W.E.B Du Bois3. The 1905 meeting that Du Bois organized with other civil rights movement leaders to discuss the challenges facing the black community served as the game changer in awakening the African Americans. This gave birth to the resolution of 1909 by the group to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The aim of this organization, purely made by blacks was to promote the civil rights and the fight against African-American disenfranchisement. In many aspects, the Black American community fell short of so many social rights, not even privileges in the oppressive south, as opposed to the whites. Due to this lack of platform to voice

The Use Of Recycled Plastics As Structural Elements In Construction Essay

The Use Of Recycled Plastics As Structural Elements In Construction - Essay Example First the lumber is stated to be molded in one specified size and UV additives are utilized for prevention against deterioration due to UV light exposure. Structural plastic lumber does not experience such as rotting, cracking, splintering or splitting for at least fifty years and is additionally reported to be of the nature that resists such as termites, salt spray, fungus and marine borers. Formation of the plastic and fiberglass mixture involves heating and continuous extrusion and then the substance is formed into the shape that is needed followed by cooling and cutting. An outer layer that is high-density and solid results from the continuous extrusion process and produces as well a cellular inner core that is less dense and which is wanted and needed for adding to the strength and weight of the material. (American Recycled Plastic, Inc, 2006, paraphrased) It was reported by BBC News that a company is building homes made from 18 tonnes of recycled waste plastic. Specifically, Affresol of Swansea is reported to have developed a technology that is useful in building houses that are low carbon from plastics and minerals. It is reported that that Welsh Assembly Government money is backing the firm which has â€Å"launched a range of eco-friendly homes and four-tonne modular portable buildings.† (BBC News, ) The new sustainable process is reported to have great potential for the construction industry and most specifically for promoting ‘green jobs’. A new material has been developed that has been called ‘Thermo-Poly Rock (TPR) which is made from plastics and minerals that have been recycled for the specific use as a structural building product. It is reported that the TPR panels are bolted together to produce the â€Å"load bearing frame of the house which can be externally clad with brick, block or stone, with the interior insulated and plastered as any other house.† (BBC News, 2010) The roof was

Western Cultures. Loss Of Centerdness In The Early 20th Century Essay

Western Cultures. Loss Of Centerdness In The Early 20th Century - Essay Example The political power exerted by the colonizer made it easy for them to establish that they were culturally superior as well. The establishment of the cultural superiority of the colonizer has been a step by stem process by which first of all, the colonizer’s culture is imposed, then the culture of the colonized is replaced with a new culture that is still inferior to, but imitative of the colonizer’s culture. The result of this phenomenon is that slowly the colonized cultures and people belonging to them loose their self-esteem and abandon their culture out of an inferiority complex. The tragedy of this situation is that even when colonization ends, this sense of inferiority of one’s own culture will remain for a long time in the minds of the colonized. Introduction Culture is a phenomenon that embeds all human being, gives meaning and purpose to their lives and provides them a sense of belonging and connection. Once culture is disintegrated, a whole society can a lso get disintegrated. In the history of humanity, nothing else than colonialism had made such an impact on specific cultures as to disintegrate them partially or completely. As the colonizers were mostly the westerners and the colonized being the non-western cultures, the result was an imposition of the cultural hegemony of all western values. The non-western cultures faced a complex identity crisis in the face of this cultural invasion. In the later nineteenth and early twentieth century, colonialism emerged as an extension of western political and cultural imperialism, to such an extent that â€Å"the self-proclaimed â€Å"superiority† of â€Å"Western culture†, functioned as the rationale and mandate for colonialism† (Narayan and Harding, 2000, p.83). The result was that whichever cultures colonized by the western world, began to feel themselves as inferior cultures to the western culture and lost their sense of centeredness. For example, David (2011) has in vestigated the colonial experience of Philippines and showed that the Americans settled in Philippines as part of the colonial legacy, still view Filipino culture as inferior to western and American culture (p.13). Sonnenburg (2003) has pointed to how the British colonization of Australia treated the indigenous people of Australia as some animal or cattle and forcefully separated children belonging to these aborigines from their mothers, â€Å"a practice that continued into the mid-twentieth century† (p.1). Similarly, the English colonial experience in Ireland resulted in the Anglicization of Ireland and suppression of Irish language and culture (Sonnenburg, 2003, p.280). All the colonized cultures had experienced this kind of cultural oppression and this experience was described as, â€Å"loss of centeredness,† by many scholars (Kebede, 2004;Sayre, 2012). What is meant by this expression is that the colonized cultures that were self-reliant and centered around their o wn culture were forced to feel that their cultures were no more the center of the universe they knew. Instead they began to feel that their cultures were inferior to the cultures that colonized them. The most serious consequence of this loss of centeredness has been that even after the colonial rule was withdrawn, the people continue to experience this loss of centerednedd (Kebede, 2004). Rightfully calling colonialism, â€Å"a cultural project of control†, Dirk (1992) has described the complex experience of colonialism from the point of view of culture (p.7). He (Dirk, 1992) has tried to describe this complexity by saying that â€Å"not only did colonial rulers align themselves with the universal and inexorable forces of science, progress, rationality and modernity, they displaced many of the disruptions and excesses of rule

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT (MARKETING) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12000 words

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT (MARKETING) - Essay Example Following by that, different theories regarding communication and how celebrities play an important role in framing communication strategies has been clarified. Then four types of celebrity endorsement modes have been explicated in order to understand how different celebrities are associated with different products or services. After that this chapter moves out to understand the major part of literature review i.e. four-variable models which are 1] Source credibility model, 2] Source attractiveness model, 3] Product match up model and 4] Meaning transfer model. Finally, this chapter ends with benefits of using celebrities and the risks attached with celebrity endorsement. Furthermore, research objectives have been drafted at the end of the section. Celebrity endorsement is one of the most popular strategies for marketing communication and advertisers. Customers see advertisements containing celebrities everyday whether they are at home or outside with their friends and family. Varieties of celebrities’ options are available to advertisers today through which companies can decide on celebrities on the basis of their product, target audience, popularity of celebrity and others. For instance, sports product companies like Nike and Adidas approach present celebrities of the popular sports of their target market audience. The choices are not just limited to sports stars of particular sport like baseball, basketball or cricket, but national or international player choices are also available to them. These celebrities are usually paid high sign up amounts and their contract with the endorsing brand has a specific validity period. Celebrities usually earn from their profession, but they can also earn the sign up amount for any endorsement which is usually higher than their average earning for the same time period. According to Forbes.com (2007), in the list of Celebrity 100 the first five celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Madonna, Rolling Stones and Brad Pitt

Love at first sight Essay Example for Free

Love at first sight Essay Adolf Hitler was a very famous person that was in the Holocaust. He was a very cruel person who thought that everyone who wasn’t a pure blooded German was lower than him and filthy. He put a lot of people through misery and pain. He didn’t even know if the people he was killing could be nice and pleasant. All he cared about was that they weren’t pure blooded Germans. Adolf Hitler was born on the 20th of April, 1889, in a town named Braunau an inn, Austria. He was baptised catholic and his dream was to become a priest and to peruse art school. He came from a divorced family, his father died in 1903. Hitler’s mother died when he was 18 years old, 1907. Hitler’s grandfather is believed to be Jewish and while in Vienna he had two close Jewish fiends. Hitler also served in World War 1. When Hitler was a child he was brutally abused by his father and lost 3 of his siblings when he was a young boy, 2 from diphtheria and one during child birth. This must have been very traumatic and hard for a young boy to grasp. His mother and father were divorced and his father has 2 marriages after his mother. Hitler had only been 14 when his father died of pleural haemorrhage. He soon after his father’s death left school due to him suffering from lung infections. Hitler had a hard and traumatic childhood and when he turned 18 his mother died from terminal breast cancer while being treated by a Jewish doctor. It is believed that Hitler’s grandfather was Jewish and after his mothers death he became certain for what he wanted to become and moved to Vienna to become an artist, after years before being rejected. Hitler met two Jewish men and became close friends with them. This is why many of Hitler’s generation and the generations there after don’t understand why he turned against the Jewish, could it be psychological issues within his mind and thoughts after having such a rough childhood? What could have been the main reason for Hitler to turn against Jews in particular? â€Å"Hitler began growing hatred for, not the Jewish in particular but rather against the cruel world that he lived in†. There are many that believe this statement is not true because they believe Hitler grew angry after his mother’s death, because it was a Jewish doctor, Dr. Edward Bloch who put her with excruciatingly painful as well as expensive treatments and surgery, and yet she still died. As well as his â€Å"hidden shame† for his grandfather being Jewish. Others believe that he was angry at his father for the abuse, pain and suffering he put him trough and wanted to get back at the world in his own twisted way. What could have been the reason for someone to act so mentally ill, that they’d want to exterminate an entire race? I believe that Hitler was not only physically unfit but mentally too that he may have lost his mind. There are theories that Hitler turned against the Jewish population because it’s believed they killed Jesus Christ and he was a Christian. When Hitler was 18 he moved to Vienna to peruse his passion for becoming an artist, he lived a very poor life living off of hid fathers small inheritance and an orphan’s pension. He became penniless and soon was homeless; he slept in a different place every night. It is during this time that people believe he became prejudiced about Jewish people, developing his knack for politics, and forming his debating skills. Adolf Hitler, two of his closest friends at this time were Jewish. He also admired Jewish art dealers and Jewish operatic performers and producers. However, Vienna was a centre of anti-Semitism, and the portrayal of Jews as scapegoats (the people who bear the blame) with stereotyped attributes (something that someone said that was not true about them but people believed) fascinated Hitler. What could mentally have been wrong with Hitler’s mind that he’d turn so violently against his own family and friends? In May of 1913 Hitler left Vienna and went to Munich, which is the capital of Bavaria, to avoid military services. In January the police came to him with a notice from the Austrian government. It threatened a year in prison and a fine if he was found guilty of leaving his native land with the intent of avoiding conscription (enrolling for the military). Hitler was arrested right then and taken to the Austrian Consulate. When he reported to Salzburg for duty, he was found â€Å"unfit too weak and unable to bear arms. Hitler served in World War I. He was enlisted in the Bavarian army. After less than two months of training Hitler’s regiment saw its first combat near Ypres, against the British and Belgians. Hitler almost died that day and many others. He was awarded two Iron Crosses for bravery. In October of 1916 he was wounded by an enemy shell and moved to a Berlin area hospital. After recovering, and serving four years in the service, he was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack in Belgium in October 1918. Communist revolts shook Germany while Hitler was recovering. Some Jews were leaders of these revolutions and this was part of Hitler’s hatred for Jewish people. Could Hitler’s recovery stage have been the time that he started to plot plans to exterminate the Jews, it may be possible that when he was injured and had to recover that he may have become mentally ill. It is also possible that he blames the Jews for becoming injured in the first place and this may have been the last straw for him. It is impossible to know what was running through Hitler’s mind but its more then certain that for one human to hate and despise a race so much to want to demolish them is not human nature, it is not normal for a human to have any thoughts, plots or motivation towards exterminating one person let alone almost a billion people. There are many theories that Hitler was an ill man and wanted more then to exterminate a race but exterminate a nation for his own personal gain, even though this is possible to know there are still theories and accusations and this makes knowing the truth difficult. Hitler’s dictatorship began in 1933, when he joined and created the Nazi party. His leadership, many believe, made him more power hungry then ever, and made him more mentally ill then before. Hitler died in 1945, after committing suicide. There are theories that he couldn’t handle his life anymore and wanted an easy way out, others believe it was his childhood that made him mentally ill and traumatised, and others think it was the guilt of killing millions of people for no reason. What could drive a human to taking their own life? Now you see that Hitler’s life was very sad, like many others at that time. The way he was treated when he was young, his family life, might have affected the way he turned out to be an adult. Which is why many believe he was a strong and ruthless dictator due to his childhood, but this is still not a good enough reason, in my eyes, for someone to commit mass murder and attempt exterminating a race. Hitler was humanly unstable and was not fit to dictate or run a country which led to his genocide of the Jews and suicide. Bibliography www. google. com =to find out the following websites and information. www. historypics. com = was used to find childhood pictures of Hitler and adult pictures. www. historyresearch. co. za = this was used to find information about Hitler’s childhood and life experiences. www. wikipedia. com = Also used to find out more information about his childhood and to see if the information found on the other websites was similar. www. brainyquotes. co. za = Used to find a quote to support the theories and feelings about Hitler. www. ispsuk. org = was used to find out how people can be mentally ill and where it could have began. www. webmd. com = Also used to find out about mentally illness and what it means to become mentally ill.

Aristotle and Aurelius Essay Example for Free

Aristotle and Aurelius Essay Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics goes to show that he believes that the end goal of all human actions is eudaimonia, or happiness through success and fulfillment. Following this concept Aristotle goes on to explain that through virtuosity a human being can lead a happy life. He defines virtue as a disposition to make the correct decisions that lead to the chief good of happiness. A perfect example is when he describes someone who does an action well as being good, but they are only considered good because of their distinctive activity. The distinctive activity for human beings can be considered our rationale. This is where virtue comes into play in the matter, but this translation could also be deciphered as excellence. Human beings do every single thing they do for a reason and that reason is to help towards an end goal. Although it may seem like the end goal might be something good like eating lunch, it is actually a chain to the ultimate good which is being happy. Happiness in Aristotles view is not second-by-second or even minute-by-minute but an entire lifetime. This is because we view happiness as and end goal which we hope to achieve by death and that way you can look back on a persons life to see if they succeeded in their goal, through virtuous moral character and virtuous intellectual character and through the act of temperance. A life-time of that act can guarantee a happy, fulfilling, and successful life. Being virtuous come through two different ways in our actions as said by Aristotle, â€Å"Excellence being of two sorts, then, the one intellectual and the other of character, the intellectual sort mostly both comes into existence and increases as a result of teaching whereas excellence of character results from habituation † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1103a15). Intellectual virtue comes from teaching, experience, and time while character virtue is formed through the habit of repeated virtuous actions and constant practice. This allows for every human being to potentially have a virtuous moral character for the fact that it cannot be learned but only practiced, and not one person can be born already virtuous. The only problem with this concept is that there is no exact guideline in which to follow in order to become virtuous and, ultimately, happy. Basically Aristotle explains that you can find virtue in the middle ground of your actions, for xample, he says â€Å"For to arrive at one of the two extremes is more erroneous, to arrive at the other less; so, since it is hard to hit upon intermediate with extreme accuracy, one should take to the oars and sail that way, as they say, grasping what is least bad of what is available † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1109a35) There is no teaching as to why, for example, courage is preferred over cowardice or rashness but that you need to practice being courageous in order to understand the reasoning for being courageous. This is true for all virtuous traits and merits of the human character and by combining the moral and intellectual teachings and habits can you start on the path of a virtuous disposition. The key to virtue is keeping within a balance between the vices. For an excessive vice there is excessive pleasure but also excessive pain and for the opposite there is no pleasure and no pain. The key is in a state of temperance in order to feel the correct amount of pleasure for a healthy lifestyle and choices. Aristotles views show that someone with a virtuous disposition should automatically or naturally choose the best action or behavior in any circumstances without having to rely on reason because the virtuous habit has been already learned. In response to someone arguing against an accidental choice, these views only perceive the deliberate and voluntary choices made by the person of virtue. Also a virtuous moral character will always aim for the good while unjust character will try to aim for what is their perception or the â€Å"apparent† good as said in â€Å"That wish is for the end, we have already said; but to some it seems to be for the good, whereas to others it seems to be for the apparent good. The consequence, for those who say that the object of wish is the good, is that what the person making an incorrect choice wishes for is not wished for.. † (Nicomachean Ethics, 1113a10). A virtuous person will always do the right thing and will never be surprised by their actions, nor will they do it the right thing with an ulterior motive. Though you cannot live a happy life just with a virtuous disposition because you still need to act within accordance to virtue, you absolutely cannot live a happy life without virtue. Having virtue in your actions will lead to the final goal of happiness because it far outweighs the happiness found in pleasure, awards or merits. II. Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher-king and emperor of the Roman Empire and was considered of of the most influential Stoic philosophers of all time. His greatest work Meditations is an honest portrayal of Aurelius thoughts as they were found in journal form, never meant to be publicized. He wrote these books for himself as a sort of guideline and thought-provoking inner voice. In his works of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius doesnt use arguments as a way to get his point across but rather states his words as truths and seems to be very confident in his uses. It seems he is prying at the meaning of life, the whys and hows of it all on the idea of living. He is very blunt in his use of understating the human existence in the world and compares them to specks in the grand scheme, but the point of this is to provide a sort of carpe diem lifestyle. By letting yourself let go of the things you cannot control, you begin to gain a better understanding of the things you can control and act accordingly. â€Å"We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions. † (Meditations, 17). This quote goes to show how you cannot allow yourself to get angry at another person for what they have done, but to continue your existence and recognize what you need to do. He advises in his writings â€Å"To shrug it all off and wipe it clean-every annoyance and distraction-and reach utter stillness. † (Meditations, 54) and once you can do that you can realize what is natural. Stoicism being a very popular philosophy in ancient Rome for it called for a â€Å"cosmic determinism† in relation to â€Å"human freedom† by a parallel will to that of Nature . Aurelius,himself, was a firm believer in the Logos, which can be identified as a principle a guiding force for the universe, human beings and all matter. In fact, it is one of the most important concepts in Stoicism for the ancient Romans of the time. The stark and â€Å"manly† belief that every single citizen had a duty, whether they were a king or a peasant, were expected to follow it to the best of their abilities. The term utter stillness is used to acknowledge the state of no distractions. By achieving this you can focus solely on appropriate actions and how to follow your own road by the way of Nature on an unconscious level. Not by thinking about it but by acting naturally should you continue to help others, work for yourself, never stopping but continuing to reply to Natures demands. To do this all under the Logos, in order to find our common sense and avoid the annoying distractions all the while by controlling these actions through your inner unconscious/conscious self. III. The Greek philosopher Aristotle and the Roman philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius can be compared and contrasted in their similar and different ways of thoughts. First you can compare Aristotles ideas on eudaimonia and Aurelius use of utter stillness to help follow the logos, also the final step of death as the end of ones journey towards a life of fulfillment. Contrastingly, they have different outlooks on purpose of human life and how to lead to the fulfilling of that said life. Stoicism was developed within the framework of Greek theory and philosophies from Plato and Aristotle so obviously there are bound to be many similarities. Both of these men were truly brilliant and ground-breaking in their respective ways of thought and led centuries of intellectuals to search for more fulfillment and happiness’s in their lives. Some big differences between Aristotle and Aurelius were there views on mortality or death. While Aristotle concludes that our lives are given to us and as valuable as human beings want to make them, the Stoics view on life is that is shaped by death and that the thoughts, choices and actions are just based on the knowledge of death. Eudaimonia is a subject in which Aristotle and Aurelius were familiar with in their writings about philosophical life. Aristotle thought of eudaimonia as an activity done with virtue performed rationally and consciously. Aurelius and the other Stoics insist that the way for eudaimonia is to live a morally virtuous life, in regards to the fact that virtue is good, vices are bad and most everything else is neutral. A popular argument for this where a death in the family would be involved, according to Aristotle, that would rob the most virtuous person of their eudaimonia while the Stoics would consider that neutral. Another interesting fact about Aristotle is how he acknowledges how â€Å"dumb luck† can aid or block the journey for eudaimonia, for example being born beautiful or losing close friends and family. Basically, they agree that eudaimonia is self-sufficient; the chief goal in life and that eudaimonia is the most complete end result. Virtue is very important to both philosophers and their ways of thinking and considers it absolutely crucial for eudaimonia. Aristotle and Aurelius can agree that no one is born just virtuous as it must be an act learned. Virtue is believed to be how one can control their emotions for it helps them to stay stable and in moderation. Overall, living life virtuously is living a life full of dignity. Marcus Aurelius’s view is a much more justified view because it is more modern and more adaptable. As the stoicism wants people to better themselves within reasonable goals and change values into something that will bring upon an unconscious change so that they may make better decisions consciously. Aristotle instead relies too much on a proper upbringing and calls the loss of good and friends as a prevention of eudaimonia. Stoics learn to realize what is out of their control and move on to what they can control. Aristotelian views also say that if a person dies early that it is a tragedy and that they were taken away before they reached their prime which in the Stoics eyes, a virtuous person should never be afraid of death because their life is sufficient when living a virtuous life. The difference continues when viewing the topic of emotions for Aristotelian that emotions are not good nor bad, only bad when expressed inappropriately while the Stoics think the whole point of eudaimonia is to be free from emotion. Finally the stoics don’t see a difference between the rich, poor, slaves or free men, because in their views bodily and external things can no impact on their dignity, whereas Aristotle believes that a life based on virtues along with enough material and external goods like freedom, wellbeing, and close friends lead to a life of dignity. Overall, Aurelius and the Stoics have built upon and modified Aristotle’s view to be more realistic and to try and be more optimistic in leading the best possible life no matter the circumstances.

The History Of The Heavyweight Methodologies

The History Of The Heavyweight Methodologies INTRODUCTION Software has become an essential part of human life both at professional and personal end. The development of software has become a chaotic business and is normally cited as the code and fix. In the initial days the software programs were written without much of plan, design and without long term site. This however was fine for the small systems. With the advancement of technology several changes were made and it became difficult to incorporate these changes and it was hard to fix the bugs. This was the result of improper planning. This has led the roots to another alternative, Methodology. This emphasized on the disciplined process of software development to make the whole software development process smooth and predictable. Traditional methods were heavily dependent on documentation, design, work plan and structure making it the way to call it the heavy method. However, this seemed increasingly lengthy and frustrating for few developers who were looking for rapid change. This has resulted in consultants preparing methodologies independently. These methods are known as agile methods. Agile methodology is getting extensive popularity in the industry. This is a mix of accepted and controversial practices. It is the features of the projects such as scope, requirement, resource and size that determine the appropriate methodology that should be used. Thought practicing professionals still emphasise on the importance and usage of heavy methods, the empirical studies are emphasizing on the Agile methods. Heavyweight methodologies Heavyweight methodologies are considered the traditional way of software development. These are based on step by step evolution approach. Several steps in this process include, defining requirement, solution formation, testing and development. In this process it is also mandate to prepare a document that has a set of requirement at the beginning of the project. Waterfall approach: This emphasizes on structured approach. Each stage in this process has a set of actions. These activities much be fulfilled before progressing to the next stage. Each phase is named differently. The first phase determines what the system will be, the second phase determines how the system will be developed. It is in the third stage that the actual coding and designing is started. The developed system is tested in the fourth stage. In the fifth and final stage appropriate training and documentation are provided. In terms of engineering, the term waterfall is used to denote a subsequent or sequential development. Waterfall Model Life Cycle Unified Process (UP) Each activity comprising modelling is divided into workflows in the UP process. This process takes place in an repetitive and incremental manner. In this method the whole process is divided into four phases. The below diagram depicts the stages of this process: Inception At the end of this process the feasibility of the project is determined. The scope of the design is set and a business plan is prepared. Elaboration In this phase, a basic design is made and a plan of structure or construction is made. A risk analysis is also done at this stage. The major risks determined should also be addressed. Construction In the construction phase the system of beta-version is prepared. A well developed system good enough for the preliminary test should also be available in this stage. Transition This is the final stage. In this stage the system is commenced to the stakeholders and end users. The process is considered complete if the stakeholders agree that the objectives mentioned in the inception phase are met. As part of UP there are approximately 50 work items that should be completed. This rigid approach and heavy documentation add a lot of the complexity to the UP. Also, the roles in this process are predefined making it less flexible. Spiral Model This is another heavy model which merges both design and prototype stages trying to combine the benefits of top-down and bottom-up benefits. The four phases in the development model are as follows: Objective setting- In this phase objectives of the project phase are identified. Risk assessment and limitations In this phase key risks are identified and analysed. Information about reducing these risks is also collected in this phase. Development and validation A suitable model is selected for the next phase. Planning The project is reviewed and plans for the next round of spiral are made in this phase. Characteristics of Heavyweight methodologies Heavyweight methodology is known for a long time. This is a very disciplined approach in the software development. Few characteristics of heavyweight methodologies are as follows: Predictive approach: This methodology plans most part of its software development for a longer time. A great emphasis is given to drawing focusing on the needs and measure to answer these needs. Drawings determine how to build the system and act as the basis for the construction process. This also predicts time table and budget for building or constructing the software. Inclusive Documentation: Traditional software development considers the requirements documentation as a key element of documentation. It collects all the customer and stake holder requirements before writing code. Process orientation: The purpose of this method is to allocate or define a process of work that suits the one using it. A process may contain few processes just a manager or a tester can perform. For every task in this method there is a procedure. Agile modelling Agile process concentrates on adding lightness to its processes leading to high quality of software and customer satisfaction. Few of the agile models are as follows Extreme Programming (XP): This has evaluated out of problems raised from traditional systems. This process is known for short cycles of development, incremental planning and continuous feedback, communication leading to evolutionary designing. This methods life cycle is divided into 6 phases i.e. Exploration, Planning, Iterations to release, Production, Maintenance and Death. During the Exploration stage, the client creates story boards about his needs. This is followed by the planning phase in which the story boards are prioritised and a first release schedule is prepared. In the Iteration to Release stage it is the responsibility of development team to create the whole system by continuously testing and integrating the code. In the Production Phase additional testing and performance checks are done. Developments and suggestions detected in this stage are documented for later implementation. Based on this updated releases are made in Maintenance Phase. The final stage is the Death Phase is reached when customer has no more stories to be implemented and the final documentation is prepared. Scrum: Scrum is a repetitive and incremental process of product development. Scrums main focus is on how members should work in order to generate flexibility in a continuously varying environment. At the end of each iteration it makes a set of potential features. In this method it is not compulsory to use any specific software development methods. Key practices in this method are : Product Backlog, Sprints, Sprint Planning, meeting, Sprint Backlog and Daily Scrum. Dynamic System Development method: This is a mixture, and extension for rapid application development and iterative development practices. The basic notion behind this method is to give more importance to time and resources before the functionality of a system. In this method a high emphasis is given to quality. This method has five stages : Feasibility Study: A decision is made about usage of DSDM. This decision is based on project type, organization requirement and people. This stage has two outcomes, 1) feasibility report ii) A prototype plan Business Study: A business study to understand the business aspect of the project. This forms the base for prototype. Functional Model Iteration: This phase includes analysis, coding and prototypes. The output of this stage is a prototype code and analysis models. Design and build iteration: Main system is built in this stage. The prototypes are reviewed and developments are made based on user comments. Implementation: This is the final stage where the project is handed over to the user. Appropriate training is also provided. Characteristics of agile methodologies People oriented: All the stakeholders. i.e. customers, developers, users and end users are very important in this methodology. Adaptive: This methodology is preferred by those who are open to change and are flexible. Balancing Flexibility and Planning: Though planning is important, a trial and error method is followed in this approach as it is hard to predict the right things in the initial stage of software development. Simplified process and small groups: A simple process of concentrating on the present rather than the future is the motto of Agile process. It also maintains small teams and any communication is provided to the whole team. Comparison Traditional heavy methodology for software development is prevailing successfully for a long time now. However, it has several disadvantages such as inflexibility and high time consuming etc. Taking these drawbacks in to account a new system was developed which is Agile. Both the methodologies i.e. (agile and heavy weight) have their advantages and disadvantages. People usually use one of these methods based on the feasibility. A Summary of difference in agile and heavyweight is shown in the following table. There are important factors influencing the decision and selection methodology, which is suitable for different conditions. These factors can be divided into the size of the project, people and risk Project size: One of the major limitations in this process is size of the project. The important elements in this process are budget, time span of the project and team organization. A huge project needs huge team and huge budget. This in turn requires better co-ordination and better communication. Heavy methodology provides this by a thorough planning, design and documentation. However, this is not possible in case of Agile process. According to Alistair A light process needs few people in contrary to the heavy method where more people are required. A major limitation of agile methods is the size of the project. Main elements of the same are budget, duration of projects and organization of the project team. The larger unit or a larger budget, you need the larger project. Thus, requires a compilation of more demands, requirements of more people and better coordination. Heavyweight support this methodology by providing planning, documentation and processes for better communication and coordination in large groups. Fewer people are needed if the methodology used is lighter. However, more people will be needed if the heavier methodology (Alistair Cockburn, 2003). The larger group also has its impact on communication in the design and performance. The methodology is a matter of coordination and management of human communication. This implies that the level of methodology must be increased if the numbers of people increase. This makes it even more difficult to use agile methods with large groups. However, Ken Schwaber (one of the deve lopers of SCRUM) argues that large groups can be broken down into small teams using the dimensions of the scrums. Project duration is another factor in the choice of methodology. Heavyweight methodology needs a lot of extra time for output such as documentation, design documentation, writing, analysis etc. Therefore, it can be concluded that when time is short agile development methodologies would be the best option. People Factor: The Agile methodology gives very much importance to stakeholders i.e. it concentrates on peoples factor. This methodology makes sure that experienced people and skilled people are part of the process. Experts who are part of the team provide continuous feedback about the effects that the use may face in selecting the project. As part of this process the customer also gets a right to check progress and change the direction of development at any stage or iteration. This is one of the main features that make the agile process more attractive than the heavy process. Organizational culture is another important factor while choosing the methodology. If any organization is not open to change and is inflexible, An agile process cant be used there. Risk Factor: An important risk factor in the software development is how it responds to change. Agile methods can be used in case of applications that should be built quickly and dont have any quality hurdles. If the project is critical and requires several quality layers then the traditional system is appropriate. Improper definition may lead to several defects. Agile methodologies help in developing short term projects and give importance to customer reviews. Conclusion I would like to end it by saying that heavy methodology consisted of severe methods of comprehensive planning, design documentation.. Heavy thoughts that accompany them will be taken over by the agile movement not in the distant future. The need for Heavyweight approaches still prevails in large, long-lived projects that have specific security, reliability and security requirements. However, business needs to respond quickly to the environment in innovative, cost-effective and efficient manner is increasing the need to use agile methods of software development.

An Analysis of Hiltons Lost Horizon Essays -- Lost Horizon Essays

An Analysis of Hilton's Lost Horizon      Ã‚   "...the horizon lifted like a curtain; time expanded and space contracted" In James Hilton's Lost Horizon, the reader is promptly enticed to trek along with Hugh Conway and the three other kidnapped passengers, Charles Mallinson, Miss Brinklow, and Henry Barnard. Hilton commences his novel by utilizing the literary technique of a frame. At a dinner meeting, friends share their insights into life, and eventually, from a neurologist, and friend of Conway, evolves the story of Conway's exotic adventures. Apparently, Conway and the other three characters were on a plane that was hijacked by a member of the mystic civilization of Shangri-La. After crashing in the midst of nowhere, Conway led his group out of the plane and as they began to search for help, Chang and a group of Shangri-La men intercepted them and escorted them back to their lamasery. Eventually they realize they are not permitted to leave its boundaries, as the proviso of entering the Valley of the Blue Moon, Shangri-La, is that one cannot leave. Weeks pass, and the kidnapped crew, with the exception of Mallinson, become accustomed to the Shangri-La way of life, namely moderation, as well as spiritual and intellectual growth. Conway, able to decipher numerous languages including Chinese was able to decode their "gibberish" and get a better idea what was going on. Eventually, through the telepathy of the ethereal High Lama, also the founder of the civilization (some two hundreds years previous), calls Conway to a meeting. Hilton's "mini" climaxes, keep the reader compelled as he reveals more and more about this enigmatic place. As the novel continues, Conway is enlightened with the "inside scoop," and soon enough... ...ut it, "Things happen to you and you just let them happen." The most prominent concept of the novel and the community of the Valley of the Blue Moon (Shangri-La) was the "time stands still" enigma. To live over a hundred years is quite a feat, but in this civilization it was the norm. In Shangri-La, when you reached a hundred years of age you were "promoted" to lamahood. They figured that by the time you were a hundred all the "passions and moods of ordinary life are likely to have disappeared," and then you'd be able to search for that inner meaning of life. The paradoxes of life and death, and the question everyone ponders, Why?    Works Cited and Consulted Bellamy, Edward.   Looking Backward.   New York: New American Library, 1982. Hilton, James.   Lost Horizon.   New York: Pocket Books, 1984. Voltaire. Candide. London: Penguin Books; 1947.   

The birds :: essays research papers

In the course of this film we see Melanie develop as a person through confronting the things she fears. Melanie confronts many fears through the course of the film and grows as a person as the film progresses. She goes through a lot in the film and the story implies that she has found herself by the end of the film. The story is of course a thriller but behind the thriller is Melanie’s journey. Melanie’s journey is very quick. She was extremely immature and lost at the beginning of the film and is some what grown up by the end. At the start of the film Melanie was very immature and lost. She is very rich and seems to want to do something with her life. She apparently spends time with charity and other activities of the sort. She is a prankster who apparently went skinny dipping in a fountain at Rome. She also wants to teach a miner bird lewd saying to give to her linguistic aunt. She must be very lost and has no direction in life. Through this film she gains a little more maturity. Melanie gains more maturity through the film. She acts like a lost little rich kid at the beginning and through the film she begins to show a little more maturity and self respect. She begins to see who she really is under all the confidence and pranks. She is needed in the film and she needs that responsibility to become a woman. She gains more responsibility and she becomes a woman, at last. The bird attacks give that catalyst that is needed to start her to become a responsible grown up. She needs the birds to let her become the friend of Cathy, the friend of Lydia and the girlfriend of Mitch. She needs the birds to let her become a protector and a great friend of Annie. She becomes a great person because of the love she shows for the family.

Red Serpent - Fiction :: Papers

Red Serpent - Fiction Something stirred in the gloomy shadows that seemed to lurk everywhere in this town. She reached into her jacket and withdrew a small black pistol. It fitted snugly into her hand and with a feeling of safety, she loaded it. With four quick strides she reached the end of the alley where she looked round and returned the pistol to its holster. The wind howled round the corner, almost knocking her to the floor. In the process she stooped low enough for the light from a nearby streetlight to shine onto her bare left shoulder. Etched into the back of it was a tattoo of an elaborate red serpent. After bracing herself for what was to come, she stepped out into the street. Two shots echoed down the alley and struck the attacker flat in the back of the head. She had dark brown hair, parted only a little enough to let the deadly bullet part her from her existence. The victim did not falter and she did not show any pain from the metal projectile that had shattered her fragile existence. Instead she stood lifeless as though hanging in the balance between what her life had been before and what was inevitably to come. Paul Harris was about six foot three with short cut, blonde hair and eyes that his friends informed him could pierce through anyone he interrogated, something that came in handy in his line of work. "They sure make these simulations realistic, don't they?" "They sure do. I still can't believe they're not real myself and I'm supposed to be running the place!" said Willis, the Armourer. "The director wants to see you right away" Harris followed Willis towards the director's office. "See you next week," said Harris before striding off down the corridor. "I'll be waiting," muttered Willis under his breath as he set off back towards the door that he had come from. "Sit down," ordered the Director. The Director's office was expensively, but sparsely furnished. The

Quantitative Methods for Business Essay

Quantitative techniques are mathematical and reproducible. Regression analysis is an example of one such technique. Statistical analysis is also an example of a quantitative technique. Quantitative techniques are applied for business analysis to optimize decision making IE profit maximization and cost minimization. It covers linear programming models and other special algorithms, inventory and production models. Albert Humphrey, a management consultant who specialized in organizational management, devised the SWOT analysis technique at Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s. Today, not only large corporations but also nonprofit and government agencies employ SWOT analysis. An enhanced method, known as the Six Forces Model, further helps to quantify competition, buyers and suppliers. Identify strengths and weaknesses to assess whether the desired end state is possible. If it is not, revise your objective to reflect an attainable goal. Use SWOT analysis in strategic planning, crisis management and feasibility studies. Apply SWOT analysis techniques in academic environments for developmental studies. Use SWOT analysis to figure out how to exploit each strong point and minimize each disadvantage. SWOT analysis techniques facilitate decision making by classifying and categorizing factors that influence the outcome of activities. Identifying the strengths or weaknesses of your product, price, place of sale and promotion strategy in concert with listing economic, technological and legal factors help you identify your competitive position. Quantitative data help you to justify how important each activity is to your company (http://rapidbi. wordpress. com/2008/12/29/history-of-the-swot-analysis/). SWOT analysis is typically identified as one of two types: planning or marketing. Corporate planning involves setting objectives, assessing abilities, analyzing current strategies, developing new strategies or preparing for different scenarios that might require intervention. This type of SWOT analysis is typically conducted by project-management teams. Marketing analysis, on the hand, involves conducting research to gather opinions, for example, through surveys. These are usually completed by customers or potential clients. The quantifiable results can reveal trends or validate hypotheses you have about how to market your product. Form a cross-functional team to conduct your planning SWOT analysis. Diverse viewpoints produce the best results and prevent closed thinking. Resist the temptation to abandon your objectives as unattainable without close scrutiny. Think creatively to use the data your analysis produces. Match strengths to opportunities when conducting a marketing SWOT analysis. Find innovative ways to convert threats and weaknesses into strengths. Use SWOT analysis to find new markets while avoiding markets for which your company is ill-suited (http://www. ehow. com/about_54926434_sstrength-weakness-quantitative-technique. html). The use of quantitative and qualitative methods in evaluating and planning business related functions is paramount to business success. Good ideas and hard work are often irreplaceable, but proper application of pertinent analytical techniques can help assure that your company is successful by any measure. Both quantitative and qualitative tools are available to even the smallest of businesses, ranging from straightforward techniques such as break-even analysis and SWOT analysis. Quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. Quantitative Approach provides us the mathematical & statistical, tools & techniques to optimize the managerial decision making in the areas of planning and control. Such as budgeting, scheduling, quality control etc. Quantitative Courses help you get a job. Because usually you start at lower levels of management, where there aren’t many strategic decisions you make. Your intuition is not trusted upon and you must back your decisions with numbers (cook them up if you can’t find them. That’s what my internship experience says, but do not quote me on that). So, they want quantitative skills in you. However, as discussed widely across the world, obsession with quantitative stuff can be disastrous. They are only tools and do not substitute managerial judgment. And as you rise in the hierarchy, you intuition and qualitative judgment start getting valued. Qualitative skills are not just a good-to-have asset then, but absolute requirement. Because for taking higher level decisions, you may not always have the kind of precise framework you have for lower level jobs. But most important thing about quantitative courses, while you are a student, is that they can be learnt. Learnt irrespective of several things going wrong like having an incompetent instructor! Even if you do not have much aptitude, by working hard you can extract something from these courses. Qualitative courses on the other hand pose several problems in learning. Irrespective of the presence of several much touted pedagogical tools and techniques, they depend heavily on the quality of the instructor, aptitude of the student and the chemistry between the two. An inarticulate instructor may still manage to teach you a quantitative course, but for a qualitative one it is disastrous. Well, one big problem with qualitative courses is that by the time you shall be allowed to use them in an organization, you would have forgotten them all. Many students wonder if they’ll ever really need to know how to use the quadratic equation or find the volume of a cone. Not realizing how useful math can be, some choose to only fulfill the minimum requirements that their high schools requires. Those at College Board also emphasize how math can help you prepare for a career. The skills that you learn in math courses may be applicable down the line, even if you are not studying to become an engineer or an accountant. Many entry-level jobs require employees to have some math knowledge. Even understanding the basic math functions can be advantageous. Mathematical courses can prove powerful support for business decisions. In their later business careers, this will motivate them to consult with mathematicians and employ effective quantitative methods. Mathematics provides many important tools for economics and other business fields. The recognition of its importance by many students each year will certainly strengthen the position of mathematics in our society. Why do business consultants and directors need to know math? Business is all about selling a product or service to make money. All transactions within a business have to be recorded in the Company accounts and quite often involve very large sums of money. http://johnsonsr. spps. org/Why_is_math_important. html). So for example, you need to be able to estimate the effect of changing numbers in the accounts when trying to work out your expected performance for next year. Also businesses rely heavily on using percentages, in particular anyone who works as a sales person will need to be quick at mental arithmetic, approximation and in working out percentages, The more percentage discount you give a customer when you sell them a product, the less profit your company will make, so it really does pay to know your math (Brechner). One area where quantitative techniques are applied in business is in the area of finances. Some of the models that financial managers and analysts use are return on investment, decision trees and net present value. Financial analysts determine how much profit a particular product brings in versus the costs of producing that product. They run regressions and analyses to note trends over time and determine how much to invest in a particular business line. Financial analysts also use quantitative methods to determine productivity and whether or not to hire, retain or lay off workers. They use quantitative data to manage risk and create investment vehicles. Advertisers use quantitative data to determine how many viewers or readers will see a particular advertisement in a particular medium. They use data from rating services to find out how many people click on a certain website or watch a particular television show at any time. Advertisers also use quantitative data to do pre- and post-testing of advertisements. Advertisers use surveys to test ad recall in viewers, and ttitudes about proposed advertisements, among other things. Companies make heavy use of statistics to determine how to market their products, which markets their products and services will do best in and which consumers will buy their products. There are thousands of companies in the United States that gather and analyze data about consumer interests, desires, likes, dislikes, motivations and concerns. Marketers use this data to focus sponsorships, direct mail campaigns and position their companies in the general culture. Marketers also use data from UPC codes at stores (often in combination with shopper discount cards) to determine who is buying their products, how often and where. This also gives them important information to use in making decisions about stocking, delivery and promotions. Insurance companies have a multitude of applications for quantitative data. Although many of these applications could transfer to other businesses, insurance companies have dozens of statisticians or actuaries on staff. Therefore, they have the manpower and know-how to analyze mountains of data. For example, insurance companies gather data about each salesperson in each line of business. They then analyze the data to see if there are similarities in the top salespeople so they can recommend improvements to those not doing so well. They also see which lines of business produce profit and which should be closed down because they are unprofitable. Insurance company actuaries also analyze data on accidents, fires, floods and other mishaps that require them to pay out money and use these analyses to set insurance rates for their customers.

Citizenship of Organization, Nation and Planet-Rights and Responsibilities Essay

It has been rightly said by someone-â€Å"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.† Eternal vigilance for the citizen must take many forms. There are many varied definitions for Citizen, but in this context it can be said that Citizen is the person who represents the country-legally and Citizenship describes the status of belonging somewhere and it implies both rights and responsibilities (Graham, 1991). When a Citizen get the power to enforce his rights and responsibilities, then it can be said that â€Å"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility†. A Citizen needs to take full responsibility towards Organization, Nation as well as Planet-main three forms towards which the Citizen should be eternally vigilant. Many Management literates have investigated the notion of Citizenship from three perspective-an Organizational Citizenship (where the efforts are undertaken by the employees to behave as good citizens within their organization); from a social perspective with the notion of Corporate Citizenship (where initiatives are undertaken by businesses to act responsibly in society in particular and the Nation in general) and last but not the least from the planet perspective with the notion of Environment Citizenship (where efforts should be undertaken by Individuals/entity to be responsible towards environmental protection). Organization Citizens are employees in organizations who may or may not act as good corporate citizens. Organizational citizens behave in a manner that is helpful to the organization. In this case, the Company is always the main winner while the beneficiaries of Corporate Citizenship are mainly the Organizational Stakeholders. (Clarkson, 1995; Maignan, Ferrell and Hult, 1999). In as much as Corporate Citizenship may be desirable for society as a whole, it is unlikely to be embraced by a large number of organizations unless it is associated with concrete benefits. On the basis of managerial survey, Maignan, Ferrell and Hult (1999) have extended research to the potential effects of Corporate Citizenship on employees. They show a positive relationship between proactive Corporate Citizenship and Employee’s Commitment. Organizational citizenship is a concept that all companies wish to have but very few can actually achieve. It is rooted in individual employees’ view of the c ompany and how they associate themselves with it. Some of the examples of Organizational Citizenship are as follows: Assisting coworkers: An employee can take time from their work to help another to get their job done, as they know it’s important to the company and to the other employee. We have all potentially had situations where others pitched in to get a job done that had nothing to do with their specific job, outside of wanting to help the company and a fellow worker. Working for the future: So many employees look at what they are going to get right now and do not look far into the future. Those who practice organizational citizenship believe there will be rewards down the road and do not focus on the short-term; rather, they focus on the long-term. This viewpoint also makes them long-term employees, which are desirable to any company. Being a company representative: When some employees leave for the day, the company they represent stays behind them in the office. An organizational citizen represents their company 24/7 a nd has no problem talking to others about how their company might help them. Thus, it can be said that organizational citizenship is the perspective that employees have whereby they extend their behaviors beyond the normal duties of their position. It is an extremely desirable goal for any company, and if we think about it, it shows how much a company cares about their employees. Corporate citizenship refers to an organizations responsibility to create business value by caring for the well-being of all stakeholders including the environment (Glavas & Piderit, 2009). Due to its voluntary nature, organizations engage in many different types of corporate citizenship from making philanthropic donations to establishing volunteer programs with non-profit organizations to preserving environmental resources to using core competencies to create products or services that help solve social issues. It can be said the citizenship towards the environment forms the subset of the Corporate Citizenship. In fact there have been studies which show that the Corporate Citizenship impacts the Organizational Citizenship via Employee Engagement. Research has found that engagement boosts operating income, increases employee productivity, lowers turnover risk, provides a greater ability to attract top talent and leads to higher total returns (Irvine, 2009). There is also confirmation that employees with favorable opinions of their organization’s socially responsible activities are more engaged, confident and likely to state an intention to stay with the organization (Kenexa, 2010). Accordingly, some organizations are making long-term commitments to corporate citizenship as part of their pledge to increase employee engagement. More corporations will support their communities via employee volunteer programs instead of just writing checks during tough economic times (McPherson, 2012). Corporate citizenship opportunities often begin with someone who has an idea and puts it into action. An employee may decide that too many plastic cups are discarded daily and take it upon him/herself to put a sign on the water cooler asking co-workers to bring in reusable glasses. Another employee may decide that printing single sided is an inefficient use of resources and speak with the operations department about changing the printer default setting around the office to double sided. The possibilities are unlimited. And as a Good Citizen we need to explore the possibilities-so as to make a difference. Does the following instances ring any bell: A bird-watcher walking in the woods sees chemical waste flowing through a stream, traces the source to a neighbouring factory, and alerts government agencies to the factory’s violation of its emissions discharge permit. A local citizen group in a small town near a coal mine suggests to a state mining agency practical ways, based on the citizens’ own observations of the mine in operation, of making environmental standards for mines easier to administer and enforce. A city resident notices that municipal buses are emitting noxious fumes, sues the bus company, and wins a court order requiring the company to place pollution control devices in the bus exhaust systems. These are just a few examples of the many and varied influences citizens can have on the process of environmental enforcement. In a hierarchy of rights associated with national citizenship, ordinarily the right to participate in governance (the right to vote and the right to hold office) is ranked at the top. The right to move internally within a country, the right to Protection also forms a crucial part of citizenship towards nation. In fact there is another way of understanding the rights and responsibilities towards the nation and i.e. by educating the nation. The political history of India has no dearth of examples to show how the importance of providing education has evolved over the period of time. Even the Constitution of India requires that the nature of education in the country be maintained as secular. In fact, Coal India is celebrating â€Å"Shiksha Diwas†this year. Thus, the goal should be to balance environmental, economic and societal concerns. The ‘five capitals framework’ offers a way of thinking about these concerns so that action plans can be developed (Porritt, 2006). Resources required for human progress can be divided into five forms of capital from which we gain benefits: †¢ Manufactured capital – all things made by humans, e.g. buildings, roads, machines etc †¢ Social capital – all systems by which people live and work together, e.g. families, businesses, communities, parties, voluntary groups etc †¢ Human capital – people’s knowledge skills, health, motivation etc †¢ Natural capital – this consists of natural resources (both renewable and non-renewable) and services such as the powerful natural waste processing cycles †¢ Financial capital – money and other financial assets that enable other types of capital to be owned and traded. In this model, investme nt in all five forms of capital is necessary for a sustainable society. The above instances clearly requires the paradigm shift from Consumer to Citizens, People to Policies, Government to Governance, Charity to Justice and By-Chance to Choice to be able to form a Global Platform for balancing the act of a Citizenship towards Organization, Nation and Environment.

Economics of Climate Change released in 2007 insists

There is overwhelming evidence that global warming is actually occurring and is no longer just an academic concern. The Stern Review: the Economics of Climate Change released in 2007 insists that there is still time to make an impact and change the effects of global warming. Failure to do so would result in â€Å"climate change (that) will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world – access to water, food production, health, and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people could suffer hunger, water shortages and costal floodings as the world warms† (â€Å"The Stern Review†).Fossil fuels are the number one contributor to carbon dioxide emissions in the United States alone. The use of fossil fuels for transportation contributes to a host of environmental problems, from urban ozone to global warming. Carbon dioxide makes up about 85 percent of the United States' total anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases that lead to global warming. Met hane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, halocarbons, per fluorocarbons, and other gases make up the remaining 15 percent. More than 98 percent of U. S. carbon dioxide emissions are caused by the combustion of fossil fuels for energy consumption (Rubin, 1998).There are many alternatives energy sources that could slow the process of global warming. Alternative energy is energy that is renewable or is not harmful the environment, such as wind, water, or geothermal powered energy. Reviewing several sources of alternative energy including alternative fuel for vehicles, solar energy, and geothermal energy and evaluating their impact on the public and viewing public opinion of alternative energy will help us have a better understanding of the concept of alternative energy and how we can benefit from using it.The effects of global warming are being felt worldwide. â€Å"Global warming and the melting of polar ice cover is predicted to raise ocean levels worldwide, directly im pacting on island nations who plead most strongly for restraint of fossil fuel consumption by industrialized nations† (Mayer). Some alternative fuel methods have been tried and found to be very successful. â€Å"Another strategy for reducing fossil fuel emissions from vehicles is to shift to alternate fueled vehicles. Various choices include electric, natural gas, methane, and fuel cell vehicles† (Mayer).In the United States there are some environmentally conscious states have started to support energy efficient vehicles. â€Å"The federal government has provided some limited support for the development of alternate fueled vehicles, while California has mandated that companies selling vehicles there market a certain percentage of zero emission vehicles, or ZEVs†(Mayer). Solar energy is an alternative energy method that has been in practice for many years. â€Å"On June 20, 1979, President Jimmy Carter dedicated the solar hot water heating system newly installed in the West Wing of the White House†(Laird, 2001, p.1). Solar energy is obtained through solar panels that take the light from the sun and convert into energy, such as electricity. Solar power has proven to be a great source of energy and many people in the United States and Europe are switching to solar power, both for moral reasons and cash incentives from governments. In the United States, the citizens of California are taking it upon themselves to invest in alternative sources of energy. They have concentrated their investments in solar power but have also experimented with wind, water, and geothermal power.Californians find solar power advantageous not only because of its insurance against blackouts and skyrocketing electricity fees but also because it produces no pollution. As the government gives consumers cash incentives, such as tax breaks when they use these alternative sources of energy, local power companies are able to use alternative sources for energy production (Woloski, 2006). Solar energy is a cost effective and product way to utilize natural energy. Geothermal energy is the energy that is held within the core of the earth. â€Å"Geothermal energy is released naturally in geysers and volcanoes† (â€Å"Energy, Sources Of,† 2004).Geothermal energy is an effect way to heat homes or businesses because â€Å"Even where there are not naturally occurring geothermal aquifers, heat can be usefully extracted from the ground† (Derektaylor, 2000, p. 57). â€Å"In California, some of the state's electricity is generated by the geothermal plant complex known as the Geysers, which has been in production since 1960, and in Iceland, which is geologically very active, roughly 70% of the homes are heated by geothermal energy†(â€Å"Energy, Sources Of,† 2004). Although using alternative energy is a great concept and idea there are some negative consequences to using alternative energy.Alternative energy is often difficult to obtain and very costly to initiate (Woloski, 2006). For the change to occur governments and citizens will have first have to invest a great deal of money in the initial set up of alternative energy. This can be very costly both for the people and the government. â€Å"Why are so few environmentally conscious customers signing up, despite the positive outlook? New research suggests that consumers simply do not trust their utilities' green credentials†(Bloemers, Magnomi & Peters, 2001, p. 15).People are uneasy trying new things such as alternative energy, especially if it is costly in comparative to other available energy sources. There are also harmful effects on the environment by using some types of alternative energy. For example â€Å"geothermal energy sources have minimal environmental impacts that while limited, include air pollution and noise. Photovoltaic solar energy systems exhibit limited negative environmental impacts because they necessitate manufacture of ph otovoltaic cells, use of large land areas, and a negative aesthetic impact†(Ferrey, 2003).And then of course â€Å"Biomass energy facilities, depending on the fuel source, emit a variety of criteria air pollutants resulting from the combustion of organic materials†(Ferrey, 2003). The energy consumption of the people of the United States is of great concern to the world’s environmental health. The United States Congress is well aware of their countries contributions to global warming. In 2002 the Senate passed legislation that â€Å"would raise average fuel efficiency standards to 36 mpg by 2015, a standard that would classify minivans and SUV’s as passenger vehicles rather than light trucks† (Mayer).In less than ten years the classification will have an effect on the people on the United States. This amount of time is crucial when we consider the state of ozone layer and the steady increase of global warming. Becoming aware of the staggering usage o f gasoline may help sway some Americans to switch to alternative methods of transportation; with the creation of the KYOTO treaty the hope was the all nations of the world could work together and make the right choice and consciously choose to support the health of the environment, the very source that sustains us.To make changes we need to specifically â€Å"explore the complex interactions and mutual influences of philosophy, evolutionary biology, ethics–conceptual enterprises all–and our primary interactions and encounters with humans and nature in everyday life†(Donnelley). By switching to hybrid vehicles or alternative energy vehicles, making sure all vehicles on the road pass emissions tests, and discontinue driving oversized vehicles that take more fossil fuel and because more emissions to be released Americans can contribute to slowing global warming†¦ There are people all over the world who have taken measures to switch to alternative energy. "Green energy would seem to have a rosy future. Technological advances have helped to lower the cost of renewable power sources such as wind turbine generators, solar cells, small hydroelectric plants, and geothermal energy†(Bloemers, Magnomi & Peters, 2001, p. 15). Growing trends of alternative energy are popping up all over the world. In response to these suggestive trends, European utilities such as Eastern Group and Powergen, in the United Kingdom, and RWE and EON, in Germany, now offer green energy to distributors or direct to interested consumers.Typically, the utility commits itself to produce with, or to buy from, renewable sources all of the energy that it sells through green contracts. Customers thus know that they are paying for green production even if they are not directly connected to the source. Price premiums, often depending on the source, range from 2 percent to more than 30 percent above the utilities' normal tariffs. Yet in the United Kingdom and Germany, f or example, less than 1 percent of electricity customers have chosen the green option.(Bloemers, Magnomi & Peters, 2001, p. 15) In the United States â€Å"Consumers in several states have the option of selecting their choice of generation companies. Although the contract path of electricity does not remotely match the actual electron path from generators to consumers, it is possible to â€Å"select† alternate generation technologies such as biomass, solar, or wind. (Allenby & Unger, 2001, p. 22) In California, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District runs a solar power program and â€Å"has enjoyed exceptional popularity.This program equips the roofs of houses with solar cells that essentially turn these homes into â€Å"mini power-plants† by converting sunlight into electricity. The system does have several disadvantages, such as the high expenses of building a solar power station and the unreliable nature of sunlight† (Woloski, 2006). Some speculate that â⠂¬Å"American conservatives tend not to take global warming seriously and fail to see why those who do find the U. S. unwillingness to tax energy infuriating. This perhaps more than any other act cemented in the mind of many Europeans the image of George Bush as a self-serving unilateralist† (Fukuyama 143).Although the environment has not been a factor regularly addressed by the Bush administration there are huge American corporations, such as â€Å"Boeing, IBM, John Hancock and Whirlpool — (who) have publicly endorsed the notion that climate change is real by joining a business council organized by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change†(Lynch). The Pew Center is an international organization that brings together business leaders, scientists, policy makers and other experts to address controversial issues (â€Å"Working together because†).The idea behind this thinking can in fact be construed as a financial investment. â€Å"A clear sign that climate con cerns have moved into the financial mainstream is the growing activism of institutional shareholders. Over the past few years, investors have become increasingly worried about insufficient disclosure about the risks companies face from global warming. Under existing regulations, publicly traded companies are required to disclose to investors any information that could have a â€Å"material† impact on their financial results.There are no additional requirements governing climate-change issues. A changing climate threatens companies throughout the economy with costs from future regulations, the physical effects of a changing landscape, even the danger of massive lawsuits†(Lynch). Although the reasons for supporting the fight against global warming by American corporations are may be financially based, these corporations are large enough that collectively they can make a huge impact and ideally smaller companies will follow in their footsteps.Using alternative energy is a growing trend, however, â€Å"alternative sources of energy are more expensive than traditional energy production; after all, traditional energy production is so popular because such methods currently allow the least amount of fuel to produce the most energy at the cheapest prices. It is for this reason that the industry of alternative energy sources has not yet boomed† (Woloski, 2006). With the state of global warming increasing at a danger rate all people should make an effort to use less fossil fuel and create less pollution by switching to alternative energy sources.Many people have the view that one person can not make a difference, this is not true. a fine balance needs to be found between human beings and nature. â€Å"Humans and nature† problems press in upon us from all sides. We are all becoming–or should be becoming–more cognizant of global warming; ecologically unsustainable cities and agricultural practices; the overuse of antibiotics in our health care systems and on our factory farms; the global crash of ocean fisheries; a human population and use of natural resources that is squeezing out other forms of life; the pollution and degradation of our air, soil, and water† (Donnelley).Now all of these points need to be taken into consideration and changed as a whole, but the first step is for all people of the world, to accept their responsibility to the environment and create a process that will improve the way they effect global warming, even if it begins with only one small change. References Allenby, B. , & Unger, D. (2001). Information Technology Impacts on the U. S. Energy Demand Profile. In E-Vision 2000: Key Issues That Will Shape Our Energy Future: Analyses and Papers Prepared for the E-Vision 2000 Conference (pp. 7-27). Santa Monica, CA: Rand. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=106437389 Bloemers, R. , Magnomi, F. , & Peters, M. (2001). Paying a Green Pre mium. 15. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5001037408 Donnelley, Astrakhan. â€Å"Natural Responsibilities: Philosophy, Biology, and Ethics in Ernst Mayr and Hans Jonas. † The Hastings Center Report 32. 4 (2002): 36+ Energy, Sources Of. (2004). In The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed. ). New York: Columbia University Press. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=101242747 Derektaylor. (2000). Chapter 4 Renewable Energy in Housing.In Sustainable Housing: Principles & Practice (pp. 50-59). London: E & FN Spon. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=109201075 Ender, R. L. & Kim, J. C. (Eds. ). (1987). Energy Resources Development: Politics and Policies. New York: Quorum Books. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=27459699 Ferrey, S. (2003). Nothing but Net: Renewable Energy and the Environment, MidAmerican Legal Fictions, and Supremacy Doctrine. Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum, 14(1), 1+. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5005792298 Fukuyama, Francis. â€Å"8 Does â€Å"the West† Still Exist?. † Beyond Paradise and Power: Europe, America, and the Future of a Troubled Partnership. Ed. Tod Lindenberg. New York: Routledge, 2004. 137-161. Jordan, Stuart. â€Å"The Global Warming Crisis. † The Humanist Nov. -Dec. 2005: 23+. Questia. 29 Mar. 2007 . Johansen, Bruce E. The Global Warming Desk Reference. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Lackner, Klaus S. , and Jeffrey D. Sachs. â€Å"A Robust Strategy for Sustainable Energy. † Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (2005): 215+.Laird, F. N. (2001). Solar Energy, Technology Policy, and Institutional Values. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=105099570 Mayer, Donald O. â€Å"Corporate Governance in the Cause of Peace: An Environmental Perspective. † Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 35. 2 (2002): 585+. Questia. 29 Mar. 2007 . Rubin, J. (1998). Shifting Gears: To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, the United States Faces Some Tough Choices. Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, 13(4), 98+.Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5001398516 Stern Review-Summary. HM Treasury. 2007. 1-4. 29 Mar. 2007 . Woloski, A. (2006). Fuel of the Future: A Global Push toward New Energy. Harvard International Review, 27(4), 40+. Retrieved April 4, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5014475018 â€Å"Working Together Because Climate Change is Serious Business. † Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Pew Center on Global Climate Change. 29 Mar. 2007 .