Impact of Video Games in Society

A video game is an interactive computer that displays a video signal, allowing you to play thousands of games on your television or handheld video game device. (Wikipedia, Video Game) We have came a very long way since the very first type of video game console was invented by Ralph Baer in 1967. From the very first console, the â€Å"Brown Box† to the more interactive video game consoles such as the Wii, Playstation, XBOX or the handheld Nintendo DS. Regardless of which video game is being used, it has made a huge impact in life's of many children, as well as adults today.In the beginning, the games were user friendly and parents did not have much to worry about if they purchased a video game for their child. Take Pac Man for example, a very simple game where the player â€Å"Pac Man† eats dots and tries to avoid getting touched by an enemy. Now in 2012, we have games such as Call of Duty which focuses on killing members of the opposite team. As we as a society became m ore developed in technology, the video game systems became more and more high tech. For today's generation, playing a 3D interactive video game is normal.The manifest function of video game systems of today is the ability to connect the console to your television and even internet and play virtually with friends online. In 2009, it was reported by the Entertainment Software Association that nearly sixty-eight percent of households told have at least one gaming system. There are many video games aimed at children today that can be used as a learning tool. However, the amount of violent games greatly outweighs the educational ones. There are many sociological impacts from video gaming systems today.Gaming systems are a very popular way of keeping children and teenagers entertained. Teenagers and children are becoming more and more addicted to these gaming systems everyday, which could lead to many issues such as poor school work or childhood obesity. Instead of doing homework or playi ng outside as we did before video games became popular, children are spending hours a day sitting on the couch due to the addictiveness of these games. Many of the games being sold today are full violence and teaching children bad morals such as sexuality, drug trafficking and even rape. According to Dr.Craig Morrison, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University, even if children are playing games without violence, these children are forty percent more likely to show aggressive behavior after playing. The latent functions of these video gaming systems are quite clear. If we continue to allow children to play them it will lead to childhood obesity, violence as they grow older and even lack of motivation to communicate with the real world. In 2007 a sixteen year old boy in Ohio killed his own mother and shot his father simply because they took a game away from him, â€Å"Halo 3. According to the boy's lawyer, he was injured in an accident that did not allow him to go anywhere, so he focused all of his time, energy, and mostly anger on playing this video game. When his parents decided the game was too violent, they took it away, causing the boy to snap. This is just one example of how video games can unintentionally lead to violence, and in this case death. The University of Texas performed a study on the relations of childhood obesity and video games.Results were found to be that video games, due to their addictiveness were the cause of the children's overweight status, and not linked to watching television as some may argue. It was found that children with a high weight status spent more time inside and less time performing outside activities, such as sports or riding bicycles. Perhaps the parents are to blame for allowing their children to do this; however, many parents today are of the working class group, sometimes being forced to leave their children unattended to do whatever they please. Each and every video game is required to have a rating. There are seven total.Early childhood being the most non-violent and inappropriate. The rating Adults Only, requiring the purchaser to be eighteen years or older. Titles in this category usually include scenes of intense violence and or graphic sexual content and nudity. Even with the ratings, these video games are still getting into the hands of children. As our society and technology begins to grow, the problem will continue to worsen.Citations: (Iowa State University Newspaper Article) http://www. public. iastate. edu/~nscentral/news/2007/mar/vvg. shtml (Cleavlead. com Article) http://blog. cleveland. com/metro/2008/12/boy_killed_mom_and_shot_dad_ov. html

Shadow Kiss Chapter 15

Fifteen â€Å"I†¦WHAT?† â€Å"You heard me. I don't know how far things have gone, and honestly, I really don't want to know the details. That's not the point. The point is that it's going to go no farther.† The queen was looking down on me, hands on her hips, clearly waiting for me to swear I'd do whatever she wanted. Except I kind of couldn't. I glanced around the room, certain this was some sort of joke. I looked to the two guardians across the room, half-hoping they'd explain what was going on, but they were doing that seeing-without-actually-seeing thing. No eye contact. I turned back to the queen. â€Å"Um, Your Majesty †¦ there's been some kind of mistake. There's nothing going on between Adrian and me.† â€Å"Do you think I'm an idiot?† she asked. Wow. That was an opening. â€Å"No, Your Majesty.† â€Å"Well, that's a start. There's no point in lying to me. People have seen you together, here and back at your school. I saw you myself in the courtroom.† Damn it. Why had Adrian chosen that moment to be chivalrous and sneak another hug? â€Å"I've heard all the illicit details about what's going on, and it is going to stop right here, right now. Adrian Ivashkov is not going to run off with some cheap dhampir girl, so you might as well rid yourself of that delusion right now.† â€Å"I never thought he was going to – seeing as how we're not involved,† I said. â€Å"I mean, we're friends, that's all. He likes me. He's a flirt. And if you want to talk illicit stuff, then†¦yeah, I'm pretty sure he's got a list of illicit things he'd like to do with me. Lots of illicit things. But we're not doing them. Your Majesty.† As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt like an idiot. From the look on her face, however, it didn't seem like things could really get any worse for me. â€Å"I know about you,† she said. â€Å"All anyone talks about are your recent awards and accolades, but I haven't forgotten that it was you who took Vasilisa away. I also know about the trouble you used to get into – I know about the drinking, about the men. If it was up to me, I'd pack you up and send you off to some blood whore commune. You'd probably fit in well.† Drinking and men? She made me sound like an alcoholic prostitute when, honestly, I'd probably drunk no more than other teenagers at high school parties. Telling her this seemed useless, though. Pointing out that I was still a virgin probably wouldn't have made much of a difference either. â€Å"But,† she continued, â€Å"your recent†¦ achievements make sending you away impossible. Everyone believes you have some glorious future ahead of you. Maybe you do. Regardless, if I can't stop you from being a guardian, I can affect whose guardian you are.† I stiffened. â€Å"What are you saying? Are you threatening me?† I spoke the words tentatively, not as a challenge. She couldn't be serious. Taking me away from Lissa during the field experience was one thing, but we were talking about an entirely different matter now. â€Å"I'm just saying I have a great interest in Vasilisa's future, that's all. And if I have to protect her from corrupting influences, I will. We can find her another guardian. We can find you another Moroi.† â€Å"You can't do that!† I exclaimed. I could tell by the look on her face that she was happy to finally get a real reaction out of me. I was both angry and afraid, and I fought hard against my normal explosive instincts. Diplomacy and honesty were what I needed now. â€Å"I'm not doing anything with Adrian. Really. You can't punish me for something I'm not doing.† I quickly remembered to add: â€Å"Your Majesty.† â€Å"I don't want to punish you at all, Rose. I just want to make sure we understand each other. Moroi men don't marry dhampir girls. They play with them. Every girl thinks it's going to be different with her – even your mother did with Ibrahim, but she was wrong too.† â€Å"With who?† I asked, the name hitting me like a slap in the face. Ibrahim? I'd never even heard of that name, let alone someone called that. I wanted to ask who he was and what his connection to my mother was, but Tatiana just kept talking. â€Å"They're always wrong. And you can try your hardest to change that, but it's a waste of time.† She shook her head, like she felt sorry for these dhampir girls, but her smug air contradicted any true sympathy. â€Å"You can use your pretty face and easy body as much as you want, but in the end, you're the one who'll get used. He may say he loves you now, but in the end, he'll get tired of you. Save yourself the grief. I'm doing you a favor.† â€Å"But he isn't saying he loves – † There was no point. The ironic thing here was that I was fairly certain Adrian did just want to use me for sex. I didn't have any delusions about that. But seeing as I wasn't actually sleeping with him, there was no problem – except, well, that Tatiana seemed to see of all this as a problem. I sighed, suspecting no argument was going to make her believe that I wasn't interested in Adrian. â€Å"Look, if you're so certain we can't have a future together, then why are you telling me this? According to you, he's going to throw me away anyway. Your Majesty.† She hesitated for just a second, and I nearly laughed. Despite her trash-talking about me, my mom, and other dhampirs, some part of her really was worried that I might indeed be charming and pretty enough to seduce Adrian into a disgraceful marriage. She quickly hid her uncertainty. â€Å"I like to take care of things before they become messy, that's all. Besides, it's going to make things easier for him and Vasilisa if they aren't dragging around baggage from you.† Whoa, whoa. My moment of brief satisfaction shattered – into confusion. I was as lost now as I'd been when she first started accusing me of being involved with Adrian. â€Å"Him and†¦ Vasilisa? Lissa? What are you talking about?† I forgot the Your Majesty, but I don't think she cared at this point. â€Å"The two of them are an excellent match,† she said, sounding like she was about ready to purchase some artwork. â€Å"Despite your bad influence, Vasilisa's grown into a very promising young woman. She has a very serious, very dedicated nature that will cure some of his recklessness. And being together would allow them to continue examining their†¦unusual magical situation.† Five minutes ago, me marrying Adrian had been the craziest thing I'd ever heard. It had just been trumped, however, by the thought of Lissa marrying Adrian. â€Å"Lissa and Adrian. Together. You can't be serious. Your Majesty.† â€Å"If they're both here together, I think they'll come around to it. They already have a certain charisma around each other. Plus, both of Adrian's grandmothers came from branches of the Dragomir family. He has more than enough blood to help her carry on the Dragomir line.† â€Å"So does Christian Ozera.† In one of their more disgustingly cute moments, Lissa and Christian had looked up his family tree to see if he had enough Dragomir genes to be able to pass on the name. When they found out he did, they'd then starting naming their future children. It had been horrible. I'd left after Lissa told me they'd name their third daughter after me. â€Å"Christian Ozera?† That condescending smile of hers tightened. â€Å"There is no way Vasilisa Dragomir is going to marry him.† â€Å"Well, yeah. Not anytime soon. I mean, they're going to go to college and – â€Å" â€Å"Not now, not ever,† interrupted Tatiana. â€Å"The Dragomirs are an ancient and exalted line of royalty. Their last descendent is not going to attach herself to someone like him.† â€Å"He's royal,† I said in a low voice that was on the verge of becoming my scary voice. For whatever reason, her insulting Christian made me angrier than her insulting me. â€Å"The Ozera line is every bit as important as the Dragomirs and Ivashkovs. He's royal, just like Lissa, like Adrian, and like you.† She snorted. â€Å"He is not like us. Yes, the Ozeras are one of the royal houses, and yes, he has several respectable distant cousins. But we aren't talking about them. We're talking about the son of someone who purposely became a Strigoi. Do you know how many times that's happened in my lifetime? Nine. Nine in fifty years. And his parents were two of them.† â€Å"Yes – his parents,† I said. â€Å"Not him.† â€Å"It doesn't matter. The Dragomir princess cannot associate with someone like him. That position is simply too prestigious.† â€Å"But your nephew is the perfect choice,† I said bitterly. â€Å"Your Majesty.† â€Å"If you're such a smart girl, then you tell me – back at St. Vladimir's, how are they treated? How do your classmates view Christian? How do they view Christian and Vasilisa together?† Her eyes gleamed knowingly. â€Å"Fine,† I said. â€Å"They have lots of friends.† â€Å"And Christian is fully accepted?† Immediately, I thought of Jesse and Ralf grilling me about Christian. And yes, there were plenty of people who still avoided Christian like he was already Strigoi. It was why he'd had no partner in culinary science. I tried to hide my thoughts, but my hesitation had given me away. â€Å"You see?† she exclaimed. â€Å"And that's just a microcosm of society. Imagine it on a bigger scale. Imagine how it'll be when she's active in the government and trying to get others to support her. He'll be a liability. She'll make enemies just because of him. Do you really want that to happen to her?† It was exactly what Christian had feared, and I denied it now as much as I had to him. â€Å"It won't happen. You're wrong.† â€Å"And you're very young, Miss Hathaway. You're also delaying your flight.† She moved toward the door. The guardians across the room were by her side in the blink of an eye. â€Å"I have nothing more to say and hope this will be the last time we ever have a discussion like this.† Or any discussion, I thought. She left, and as soon as etiquette said I could go, I sprinted off to catch my plane. My head reeled as I went. How insane was that lady? Not only was she convinced that I was on the verge of eloping with Adrian, she also believed that she could work some kind of arranged marriage with him and Lissa. It was almost impossible to figure out which part of that conversation had been the most ridiculous. I could hardly wait to tell the others what had happened and have a good laugh over it. But, as I returned to my room to get my bag, I reconsidered. There was already so much gossip about me and Adrian going around; I didn't think I should be fueling the fire. I also didn't think Christian should hear about this. He was already insecure about his position with Lissa. How would he feel if he found out the queen was already making plans to get rid of him? So I decided to sit on the information for a while, which was hard because Lissa was practically waiting outside my door when I got back. â€Å"Hey,† I said. â€Å"I thought you'd be on the plane?† â€Å"Nope. They delayed it by a few hours.† â€Å"Oh.† Going home suddenly sounded like the best idea ever. â€Å"What'd the queen want?† asked Lissa. â€Å"To congratulate me,† I said glibly. â€Å"Over my Strigoi kills. I didn't expect that from her – it was kind of weird.† â€Å"Not that weird,† she said. â€Å"What you did was amazing. I'm sure she just wanted to recognize you for what you did.† â€Å"Yeah, I guess. So what's going on? What are we going to do with the extra time?† There was excitement in both her eyes and her feelings, and I welcomed a change in subject. â€Å"Well†¦ I was thinking. Since we're at the Royal Court†¦ don't you want to check it out? There's gotta be more to it than a bar and a coffee shop. Seems like we should know this stuff if we're going to be living here. Besides, we've got a lot to celebrate.† The full force of our situation hit me. I'd been so distracted by Victor that I hadn't even really let things sink in: We were at the Royal Court, the center of Moroi leadership. It was nearly as big as the Academy, and there had to be more to it than the all-business side we'd seen so far. Plus, she was right. We had a lot to be happy about. Victor had been put away. She'd gotten a sweet college deal. Only my alleged affair with Adrian had been a downside, but I was willing to put that aside as Lissa's contagious excitement seized me. â€Å"Where's Christian?† I asked. â€Å"Doing his own thing,† she said. â€Å"You think we need him along?† â€Å"Well, he usually is along lately.† â€Å"Yeah,† she admitted, â€Å"but I'd kind of like just us to hang out.† I sensed the thoughts behind her decision. Our brief conversation just before she'd gone to see the queen had made her nostalgic for the old days, back when it had just been the two of us on our own. â€Å"No complaints here,† I said. â€Å"How much can we cover in three hours?† A mischievous grin lit her face. â€Å"The essentials.† I could tell she had something special in mind, but she was trying to keep it in hidden. She couldn't block me out of the bond, but she had learned that if she didn't think too hard about certain things, then I wouldn't pick up on them easily. She liked being able to think that she could surprise me sometimes. Trying to hide big issues or problems from me never worked, though. We set back out into the cold weather, with Lissa leading the way. She steered us away from the administrative buildings, off toward some others set at the farther end of the Court's grounds. â€Å"The queen lives in that first building,† Lissa explained. â€Å"It's not exactly a palace but the closest we have. Back when the Court was in Europe, Moroi royalty used to live in castles.† I made a face. â€Å"You make that sound like a good thing.† â€Å"Stone walls? Turrets? Even you have to admit that sounds pretty neat.† â€Å"Yeah, but I bet they had crap Internet access.† Lissa shook her head at me, smiling, and didn't dignify my comment with a response. We passed some other buildings that had the same ornate stonework as the others but were tall and built in a style that reminded me of apartments. She confirmed as much. â€Å"Those are town houses, where people who live here year-round stay.† I eyed them, wondering what they were like on the inside, and a happy thought came to me. â€Å"You think that's where we'll live?† The thought caught her off guard, but she soon grew just as excited as me. She, too, liked the idea of us having our own place, free to decorate it and come and go as we wanted. I rather liked the idea of Dimitri living with us too, but here at Court, he wouldn't be with her 24/7. For that matter, I actually wouldn't need to be with her 24/7 either. Would they let me live with her? Or would this be another chance to show I wasn't needed? â€Å"I hope so,† she said, oblivious to my worries. â€Å"Top floor with a view.† I mustered another smile. â€Å"And a pool.† â€Å"How can you think about a pool in this weather?† â€Å"Hey, if we're fantasizing here, we might as well go the whole way. I bet Tatiana's got one. I bet she wears a bikini and has hot guys rubbing her down with suntan lotion.† I expected another eye roll, but Lissa just grinned as she led me into a building that was near the town houses. â€Å"Funny you mention that.† â€Å"What?† I exclaimed. She was about ready to burst with her secret. I was this close to pulling it out of her mind. I would have, too, if I hadn't been so stunned by our surroundings. It was sensory overload: delicate music, fountains, plants, people in white robes, everything gleaming and silver†¦ It was a spa, a full-fledged luxury spa hidden away in an old stone building here at Court. Who would have guessed? A long granite receptionist's desk guarded the entrance, so we only had a partial view, but what I could see was pretty sweet. Women sat along a wall getting pedicures and manicures. Moroi men and women were getting haircuts and color. What looked like a maze of halls could just be seen in the back of the salon, with a directory of arrows pointing to other sections: massage, sauna, facials, etc. Lissa grinned at me. â€Å"What do you think?† â€Å"I think Adrian was right about the Court having all sorts of secrets.† I gave a mock sigh. â€Å"And I hate having to admit that he's right.† â€Å"You've been so down about the field experience and†¦other stuff.† She didn't have to mention Mason's death and the Strigoi fight. I read it from her mind. â€Å"I figured you could use a treat. I checked their openings here while you were with the queen, and they were able to squeeze us in.† Lissa walked up to the receptionist and told her who we were. The woman immediately recognized our names but seemed surprised to be letting a dhampir in. I didn't care, though. I was too bedazzled by the sights and sounds around me. Compared to the harsh, practical lifestyle I usually led, this sort of luxury almost defied belief. After checking in, Lissa turned to me, face eager and radiant. â€Å"I got us set up to get massages with these – â€Å" â€Å"Nails,† I interrupted. â€Å"What?† â€Å"I want my nails done. Can I get a manicure?† It was the most exotic, completely useless thing I could imagine. Well, it wasn't useless for ordinary women. But for me? With the way I used my hands and subjected them to blisters, bruises, dirt, and wind? Yes. Useless. I hadn't painted my nails in ages. There was no reason. Half the nail polish would probably chip off after one practice session. A novice like me couldn't afford that kind of luxury. And that was why I so, so desperately wanted one. Seeing Lissa wear makeup had awakened that longing in me for some beautification of my own. I accepted that it could never be a regular part of my life, but if I was in a place like this today, then by God, I wanted my nails done. Lissa faltered a little. She'd apparently had big plans for this massage thing. But, she had a hard time refusing me and spoke to the receptionist again. It sounded like the receptionist had to do a bit of juggling with her schedule, but she said she could make it work. â€Å"Of course, Princess.† She smiled happily, entranced by Lissa's natural charisma. Half the time, Lissa didn't even need spirit to get people to help her. â€Å"I don't want to be an inconvenience,† Lissa said. â€Å"No, no. Definitely not!† We soon found ourselves sitting at adjacent tables while Moroi women soaked our hands in hot water and started scrubbing them with weird combinations of sugar and seaweed. â€Å"Why the manicure?† Lissa wanted to know. I explained my reasoning to her, about how I hardly had time for makeup anymore and how the abuse my hands went through made any sort of pampering impractical. Her face turned thoughtful. â€Å"I never thought about that before. I just figured you weren't into it lately. Or, well, that you didn't need it. Not with your looks.† â€Å"Whatever,† I said. â€Å"You're the one guys worship.† â€Å"Because of my name. You're the one that guys – like a certain one we know – actually want for other reasons.† Gee, I wondered who she could be referring to. â€Å"Yeah, but those other reasons aren't very noble.† She shrugged. â€Å"The point's the same. You don't need makeup for them to drool all over you.† Then I felt the weirdest thing through the bond. I saw myself through her eyes. It was like looking in a mirror, except she only had a profile view of me. But when she looked at me, she really did think I was beautiful. With my tan and dark brown hair, I seemed exotic to her. She felt pale and washed out compared to me, skinny next to my curves. It was surreal, considering how often I felt scruffy next to her luminous beauty. Her envy wasn't malicious; that wasn't in her nature. It was more wistful, an admiration of a look she could never have. I wanted to reassure her but had a feeling she didn't want me knowing about her insecurities. Besides, my thoughts were interrupted when the woman doing my nails asked what color I wanted. I picked a color that looked like gold glitter. Gaudy, perhaps, but I actually thought it looked kind of cool, and it wasn't like it was going to last long anyway. Lissa picked pale pink, a color as refined and elegant as she was. Hers got painted a lot faster than mine, though, because my manicurist had to spend so long softening my hands and filing the nails. Lissa finished long before I did. When we both had glamorous hands, we proudly held them up side by side. â€Å"You look gorgeous, darling,† she declared, affecting a sophisticated air. Laughing, we went off to the massage area. Lissa had originally scheduled us for extensive massages, but the manicure had cut into a chunk of that time. So we modified the full-body massage into a foot massage, which was just as well since we couldn't have put on robes or any other changes of clothes with our nails still wet. All we had to do was remove our shoes and roll up our pants. I sat down in a chair while my feet soaked in warm, bubbling water. Someone put something into the tub that smelled like violets, but I didn't pay much attention. I was too entranced by my hands. They were perfect. The manicurist had buffed and hydrated them to silky softness, and my nails had been transformed into gleaming gold ovals. â€Å"Rose,† I heard Lissa say. â€Å"Hmm?† The lady had also put a clear coat of nail polish over the gold. I wondered if that would give the nails a longer lease on life. â€Å"Rose.† Sensing that Lissa wanted my undivided attention, I finally looked up from my awesome hands. She was grinning from ear to ear. I could feel that excited news burning in her again, the secret she'd had while we'd been walking over here. â€Å"What's up?† I asked. She nodded downward. â€Å"Rose, this is Ambrose.† I glanced absentmindedly toward the masseuse at my feet. â€Å"Hey, Ambrose, how's it – † I cut myself off before the words holy crap or whoa left my lips. The guy massaging my feet couldn't have been much older than me. He had curly black hair and muscles everywhere. I knew this for a fact because he was shirtless and offered us both a good view of his sculpted pecs and biceps. His deep golden skin was a color achievable only by excessive time in the sun, indicating he was human. The bite marks on his neck confirmed it. A pretty boy feeder. Very pretty. His attractiveness was almost unreal, though. Dimitri was gorgeous, but he had little flaws that made him that much more gorgeous. Ambrose was too perfect, like a piece of art. I didn't want to throw myself into his arms or anything, but he was certainly nice to look at. Lissa, still worried about my love life, had apparently thought this was exactly what I needed. Her masseuse was female. â€Å"It's very nice to meet you, Rose,† said Ambrose. He had a musical voice. â€Å"It's nice to meet you too,† I said, suddenly self-conscious as he lifted my feet out of the water and toweled them off. I was especially self-conscious of the appearance of my feet. They weren't gross or anything, since they weren't usually exposed to the elements like my hands. I just kind of wished they'd been polished up too if this male model was going to handle them so much. Lissa, astute enough to sense me being flustered, could barely stop from laughing. I heard her thoughts in my head: Cute, huh? I cut her a look, refusing to voice my thoughts out loud. He's Tatiana's personal masseuse. That practically makes you royalty. I sighed loudly to let her know she wasn't as funny as she thought she was. And when I say personal, I mean personal. I jerked in surprise, accidentally kicking one of my feet out. Ambrose's deft hands caught it before I hit him in his pretty face, thankfully. I might not have been able to communicate telepathically but I was pretty sure there could be no question to Lissa that the look on my face said, You can't be serious because if you are, you're in big trouble. Her grin widened. I thought you'd like that. Pampered by the queen's secret lover. Pampered wasn't exactly the word that came to mind. Looking at Ambrose's young, beautiful features, I just couldn't picture him getting it on with that old hag. Of course, that denial might have just been my brain's way of refusing to acknowledge that someone who had touched her was now touching me. Ew. Ambrose's hands were checking out my calves along with my feet, and he struck up a conversation about what elegant legs I had. His dazzling white smile never left his face, but most of my answers were curt. I still couldn't get over the thought of him and Tatiana together. Silently, Lissa groaned. He's flirting with you, Rose! she thought to me. What are you doing? You can do better than that. I went to all this trouble to get you the hottest guy here, and this is what I get! This one-sided-conversation thing was becoming a pain in the ass. I wanted to tell her that I'd never asked for her to rent out this guy for me. In fact, I suddenly had images of the queen calling me in for another meeting to yell at me for having a nonexistent affair with Ambrose too. Wouldn't that be perfect? Ambrose continued smiling as he rubbed the soles of one foot with his thumbs. It hurt – but in a good way. I hadn't realized how sore that spot was. â€Å"They go to such trouble to make sure you wear the right black and white clothes, but no one ever thinks about your feet,† he mused. â€Å"How are you supposed to stand around all day and still manage roundhouse kicks and cat stances in bad shoes?† I was about to tell them that he really didn't need to keep worrying about my feet, but something odd suddenly struck me. â€Å"Roundhouse kicks† and â€Å"cat stances† weren't top-secret guardian terms. Anyone could Google â€Å"martial arts† and find out about those kinds of things. Still, it wasn't the kind of topic I'd expect a Moroi to casually throw around, let alone a feeder. I studied Ambrose closer, noting the way his dark eyes so carefully darted around and observed everything. I recalled his fast reflexes in stopping my kick. I felt my jaw start to drop, and I shut it before I looked like an idiot. â€Å"You're a dhampir,† I breathed.

Processed Foods

Processed Foods Generally speaking, processed foods are produced using manufacturing methods to transform raw ingredients into neatly packaged goods, which have a longer shelf life. Some of the artificial ingredients used include monosodium glutamate (MSG), flavors, preservatives, hydrogenated oil, fillers, and artificial sweeteners. Usually, consumers can prepare them quickly allowing immediate intake. Disappointingly, they don’t offer much in nutritional value.Most likely, it's processed food if it's wrapped in several layers of plastic, cardboard, and/or foil, and it didn't exist until after 1903 when the hydrogenation process was invented. In addition to being excessively advertised, this food category is well funded by government subsidies. These foodstuffs are located on the shelves of the inside middle aisles in grocery stores. Examples of processed foods include sodas, cereals, and crackers. Whole Foods On the other hand, whole foods are grown in orchards, gardens, or greenhouses, are unprocessed and unrefined, and have a shorter shelf life.These foods are authentically flavorful, have vibrant colors, and rich textures. Moreover, they are full of the micronutrient vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and fiber. Typically, they require longer preparation times. In contrast, they receive very little media advertising, and are not well funded with government subsidies. When you are in grocery stores, these foods are mainly found on the store’s wall aisles to the sides and back of the store. Additionally, this food category can be found at farmers markets, and at fresh fruit and vegetable stands.Examples of whole foods include unpolished grains, fruits, and vegetables. Four Basic Nutrients The four essential basic nutrients are water, carbohydrates, fat, and protein. These four are the foundation of a healthy diet. In any case, all food is composed of various combinations of nutrients. Carbohydrates supplying energy are found most ly in plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, peas, and beans. They are converted into glucose providing energy for the body’s cells, the brain, and red blood cells, or stored for future use in the liver, or in body fat.Sixty percent of daily calories should come from mainly complex carbohydrates to provide the minimum recommended daily requirement of fiber. Fats are the most concentrated source of body energy. Recently, too much negative attention has been focused upon fats. Fats are not an enemy and are needed throughout life to support growth and provide energy. Unfortunately, consuming excessive amounts of fat can contribute to many health problems. Proteins are the building blocks making up body tissues, muscles, skin, and organs.When consumed, protein is broken down into amino acids providing the body with energy for various vital functions. Examples of good sources include meat, fish, eggs, beans, nuts, and seeds. Regrettably, health problems arise when you consume too much or too little of any nutrients. Instead, endeavor to consume a variety of foods to ensure you get a mix of nutrients. In summary, for a healthy well balanced diet make it a habit to choose unrefined whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, peas, beans, and whole-grains, as opposed to refined processed foods such as soft drink sodas, candy, cookies, and cakes.

Explaining my scheme Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Explaining my scheme - Essay Example In this chapter, an overview is given in Section 4.2. Then, Section 4.3 illustrates how the initial labels are allocated and how the different relationships are determined. Section 4.4 describes how insertions are handled and how different relationships are preserved. A validation of the relationships using algebra is shown in Section 4.5. Finally, in Section 4.6, the chapter ends with a general conclusion that leads to the following chapter which discusses the scheme from the point of view of implementation. The proposed scheme is based on the parent-child grouping to facilitate the identification of parent-child and sibling relationships faster, based on a simple comparison. Parent-child grouping was also selected due to the high number of xml documents that come with this type of relationship (Goldman & Widom, 1997). Again, parent-child and sibling grouping facilitate smother insertions of new nodes, given the fact that in this form of grouping only a simple tree structure will be dealt with rather than the whole tree (Cohen, Kaplan & Milo, 2002). The advantage of allowing smoother insertion builds on the prefix GroupID labelling scheme but does not determine a fixed number of nodes to be inserted. Gusfield (1997) also observed that when dealing with parent-child groupings, labelling can be thought of as being easier, faster and more accurate as it deals with a simple tree structure. The simple structure has to do with a root node and its direct children nodes. Another critical characteristic of the scheme is that it uses two labels for each node in order to facilitate the processing nodes within the same group that uses their simple local labels. This is in contrast with multiplication-based scheme where the global label is used to connect a group to the whole tree which helps in identifying relationships between nodes belong to different group (Milo & Suciu, 1999). Based on existing schemes such

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

Quotation - Essay Example 260). The methodology to show how one can use the models for deriving an alternative measurement of a school’s performance with reference to the average difference between its actual and predicted outcomes for the five measures was shown by Toutkoushian & Curtis (2005). This derivation was made after accounting for the effects of socioeconomic factors on school performance Toutkoushian & Curtis (2005) suggested the utility of different models for measuring a school’s performance with reference to the measured average count of value addition done in the relevant five measures. This measurement was done considering the social and economic relevance of the school’s performance. The process of measuring and ranking according to the difference between the actual and the predicted outcome facilitates the more precise judgment about the comparative performance of the schools. This also gives an exact idea on the role of SES of communities in the result that the schools bring forth in terms of education. (Toutkoushian & Curtis , 2005, p. 260). Bennett (2002, p. 27) confirms that â€Å"integrated pluralism† and the allied situations would help the students to be adhered to their original social and historic values. However, on the other side this within itself becomes a platform for them to interact and learn about different backgrounds existing within the system. This in turn helps to learn to respect varied cultural and social backgrounds. Stein (1980) argued that institutions must ensure to include the science of education in the programs promoted by them. The service of a specialist in education would highly promote the concept of continuity in the leaning process among the employees. This also helps the institution to be aware of its own limitations in the learning procedure. Moran (1997, p. 106) confirmed that as the results of the evaluation would make substantial impact on the outside environment of the learning system, the efficacy

How to improve kent cssa relationship with other student organization Research Paper

How to improve kent cssa relationship with other student organization - Research Paper Example .....................................5 Research results †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.6 SOLUTIONS Solution 1†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...7 Solution 2 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 Solution 3†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...7 Comparisons †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...............7 CONCLUSION Conclusion †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦8 Benefits †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.8 REFERENCE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..............9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CSSA ( Chinese Students and Scholars Association) is one of the leading student associations in the world, having operations in over 40 world class universities and several hundred other universities and colleges (Martinez et al 4). It offers Chinese students opportunities to enjoy their campus life in overseas colleges and universities by providing sufficient academic and entertainment resources (Donovan 80). The association also links the students from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong to other cultures, with a mandate to spread the Chinese culture. There have been numerous activities and events organized and run by the CSSA. These events, such as the Mid Autumn Festival and the Chinese New Year Festivals, have helped bring together students of Chinese origin together to celebrate their culture. After working as a member in Kent CSSA for two years, I found that Kent CSSA helped Chinese students getting used to the American life, but Chinese students cannot get involved in American lif e. Chinese students still eat Chinese food with Chinese friends, and speak Chinese during the most of day. After studying, I realized, even Kent CSSA has few relationships with native organizations. Kent CSSA, as a united organization for all the Chinese students, did not provide channels for Chinese students getting to know American friends, and opportunities to real American life. In order to help Chinese students to live a real American style life, Kent CSSA should increase its relationships with the native organizations. In this research paper, I took surveys among Chinese students and native students to find out the reasons of few relationships between Kent CSSA and native organizations in Kent. According to the different reasons, I can get different solutions to solve the problem. The final step of my research is the comparison. By comparing different solutions, the best way for Kent CSSA to develop its relationship with other native organization will be found. As the results, Chinese students may have a real American style life. INTRODUCTION Despite the fact that Kent State University offers numerous opportunities for students to be involved and enjoy the campus life, most international students find it hard to get involved in the student organizations in the University (Fingar and Reed 102). With a specific focus on Chinese students, this paper aims to explore the relationships between Chinese Student Scholar Association (CSSA) with other organizations and how these relationships can be

Research Report and Presentation (Short Report) Paper

Report and Presentation (Short Report) - Research Paper Example Reynolds is also popular for being in possession of award-winning advertising skills. After starting up his tobacco company, and advertising it through the print media, he was regarded as the leading innovator by the members of his society. In 1913, Reynolds introduced the Camel brand, which enticed consumers by providing them with a lifestyle that no other cigarette brands did (Gillespie, 2012). RJR resurrected its Camel brand in 1987 and renamed it Joe camel. Joe Camel reflects a cartoon camel that has been pictured wearing sunglasses. A large number of people stipulate that this move was a ploy aimed at enticing young children to start smoking. However, RJR denied the idea and said that Joe Camel was a smooth character whose role was to attract the attention of adult smokers. This criticism was raised by the Journal of the American Medical Association, which stipulated that children who were aged 5 and 6 years were able to recognize Joe Camel than they could with Mickey Mouse (Gillespie, 2012). In this case, it was alleged that the Joe Camel campaigns targeted children to become smokers, regardless of RJR’s contentions that the campaign was researched among adults, and it was directed towards smokers who used other brands. In 1988, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company initialized an advertising campaign to boost the popularity of its Camel brand, which featured the Joe Camel cartoon. Later it was revealed that Joe Camel was rivalling Mickey Mouse in terms of recognition and that children who were as young as 11 years were able to notice the advertisement more than any other person regardless of his or her age. From the time, the campaign was started; the market share for the Camel brand had risen from 0.5 percent to 32.8 percent by 1991 (Calfee, 2000). Because of this, RJ Reynolds realized that it managed to make approximately $476 million sales illegally from Camel cigarettes to young children every

Strategic Management - The Two Men and a Lot of Trucks as a classic Case Study

Strategic Management - The Two Men and a Lot of Trucks as a classic example - Case Study Example The initial capital was only $350 while the labor included only two men and a mother who had a job in the public sector. All that was needed to be done was to haul the things that needed to be transferred, to make sure that nothing is damaged, to deliver it and then unload again and that's it! How hard can that be The crucial point that must be understood is that business ventures involving services and products that are very easy to provide/produce has low market barriers. That is, many people can easily enter the market once they realize how profitable it is. We can therefore expect sever competition. Indeed, there were competitors who even resorted to harassing the owner of the enterprise by calling her to court for a trivial offense. Nonetheless, the company grew and it is because it employed strategic management measures. First in the list is orienting the company to be customer-friendly. As clich as the concept would seem to be, it is still one effective way of generating sales. There are some products, such as necessities like food, where the demand is large and continuous that the supplier does not need to seriously bother with customer concerns. However, people do not move frequently and if they did, they can opt to do it by themselves or choose from a list of home-movers. Being customer-friendly can influence the customer not only in choosing your services but would also entice them to relegate the tasks to you. In moving appliances, there is always the risk of damaging items that may have sentimental value or is just plain expensive that people would not risk others hand ling them. It is important to show that you care and that is precisely what the company did. Next in the measures employed were innovation and focus. The company went as far as establishing a course in handling the items to be transferred. This innovation had the effect of delivering to the public the message that the company was very much into improving itself and was very serious regarding the business. If we are a prospective customer, who would we choose No doubt it would be the one who we perceive to be serious in providing quality service. It is the one who provides value for money. Another innovation that the company employed was to adapt a logo and uniforms both of which endowed them a degree of professionalism. They were not merely some service provider from across the street. The company's logo and uniform were marks that they are legitimate and that they have been in the business for some time. Another right move was for the mother (the entrepreneur) to go full time and quit from government service thereby losing her pension and other benefits. Had she decided to stay in a job that offers her a stable retirement, she would not have managed and guided the company to success. The economic principle that business involves tradeoffs is very much in operation. Another smart move was to franchise the business. Most enterprise owners are afraid to share the business to others because they might fail and drag the company with them. However, the company made sure that all the franchisee and handlers were all properly trained. Franchising the business also provided the opportunity to grow as much needed capital flowed in. It widened the service coverage and can therefore serve much more customers which translate to greater sales. There is much wisdom that can be gleaned from the case of the Two Men and Lots of Trucks all of which are worthy

Value and Risk Management in Construction Essay

Value and Risk Management in Construction - Essay Example The value management exercises are basically carried out first in order to determine an exact cause which is responsible for constituting the values to the business mainly from delivery of any project. A preferred option is also identified and together with all other risks, there is a great chance of it to occur if any particular option is implemented. (Office of government commerce, 2003) Risk management mainly includes all the activities that are required for the identification and control of the risks that are related to the option of the preferred project. Successful risk management also requires a senior management commitment along with ownership and a thorough understanding of the whole process and also an active risk management regime that is reviewed on daily basis in a much constructive culture. Attitudes to the risk are known to have a significant effect on the overall success of the projects being carried. For instance, the main objective related to ‘not failing†™ will surely have a low tolerance for the risks of all kinds. Conversely speaking, the objective of ‘succeeding’ will also encourage the participants to become more innovative and to take more risks where necessary and to make an effort for monitoring along with management of the recognized risks. (Office of government commerce, 2003) If the talk in detail about the risk management mainly in the construction projects of my country, USA, it mainly involves: a proper identification and assessment of the risks mainly in terms of its impact along with probability, proper establishment, and maintenance of the joint risk register, it should have the concept and assurance of agreement by all the integrated project team members, establishment of the procedures that are required for active management and monitoring of the risks throughout the on-going project and the during occupation on the completion, to make sure that the members of the team are having a proper opportunity for engaging in a dialogue that is eventually going to promote an agreement of the appropriate and accurate allocation of the risk, proper updating of the risk information throughout the project which would surely ensure the control of the risks by proper planning of how the risks will be managed through the on-going project so that it could have an acceptable limit and lastly efficient allocation of the responsibility for proper management of each of the risks with the suitable party that will best their job. (Office of government commerce, 2003) Now talking about value in detail particularly in much broadest sense then its main is to benefit the client or in simpler words the project that is worth doing and which could also quantify in the main business terms, for example, this can be done by creating a better and an efficient working environment or even by improving the overall experience of the associated people during their workings. In this respect, value basically means to e nsure that the correct choices and decisions are being made mainly to obtain the optimum and the best possible balance of the benefit mainly in its relation to the overall cost and its risk.

Kant and Mill Ideologies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kant and Mill Ideologies - Essay Example Indeed, Mill claims that people should value the principle of utility as a tool that derives secondary moral principles, which promote general happiness. The fundamental principle of morality means that happiness is intended pleasure and absence of pain where right actions promote happiness while wrong actions produce the reverse of happiness, which is unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure. As such, we can judge people’s actions based on the secondary principles, which promote general happiness. On the other hand, Immanuel Kant defines the fundamental principle of morality as the Categorical Imperative which basis moral requirements on a standard of rationality. He refers to the fundamental principle of morality as the law of an autonomous will where moral reasons are supreme to any other reason. Ideally, one formulation of Kant’s Categorical Imperative encourages individuals to act on a motivational thought that one can consistently urge the society to adopt as a universal law as it will derive equal worth and equal respect. Notably, the Mill and Kant's fundamental principle of morality differ. Indeed, Mill abhors the utilitarian, which defines general happiness as a secondary moral principle that refers to happiness as intended pleasure and absence of pain, while Kant defines moral requirements and moral worthiness as acts of good will.... Indeed, Will objects to the idea that pleasure is the only good, it is the highest good, and it is universal (Booher 1). He claims that there are things that people consider and that there are differences in quantity and qualities of pleasure where certain pleasures are more desirable and valuable than others in relation to moral deliberations (Booher 1). Notably, Mill’s objection to the argument against utilitarianism should reckon the distinct value that pleasures attract with higher pleasures having more value than lower pleasures. It should also distinguish between the quantity and quality of pleasure as well as favor some activities as being better than others are. More so, his argument should address the problems that relate to differentiating quantities and qualities of pleasure. Ideally, Mill's account of higher pleasures answers the objection by demonstrating that certain pleasures are better and valuable than others (Booher 1). It also negates the idea that pleasure is highest natural good and confirms that higher pleasure is the basic principle of ethics, and the foundation of morality. According to Mill, human beings are different from non-human animals in a morally interesting way. Ideally, Mil noted that animals are irrational and are not self-aware or did not have cognitive capabilities as human beings. As such, he established that human beings are different from animals because human beings can experience mental pleasures and interestingly prefer mental pleasure to body pleasures (â€Å"John Start Mill† 1). He supports this by asserting that individuals who enjoy all pleasures qualify as the only judges who equally crave for mental pleasures.

Outline the objectives of economic management and analyse the role of fiscal policy Essay Example for Free

Outline the objectives of economic management and analyse the role of fiscal policy Essay The Australian Government targets economic objectives that may provide equality and higher living standards throughout the country. For these benefits to reach Australian households, the Australia government has to overcome objectives such as economic growth, distribution of income, and external stability. To do so, the government uses the fiscal policy in order to influence the amount of government expenditure and revenue which can alter economic activity. The government’s fiscal strategy aims to ensure fiscal sustainability over the medium term; therefore the government is responsible for meeting its current and future spending commitments with revenue raised. Australia has had a low historical use of fiscal policy during the 1990s, however since the Global Financial Crisis; fiscal policy has been a powerful tool in maintaining Australia’s economy. Fiscal policy has a large influence over economic activity, through using the expansionary fiscal stance which involves a net increase in government spending, or a fall in taxation revenue. However, this was not the case during the period 1996-2007 as fiscal policy had a smaller role to play in the economy. As the Howard Government came into office, the stance of fiscal policy was largely contractionary. A contractionary stance occurs when government spending is reduced. An example of this stance is when the Howard Government was committed to achieving a balanced budget over the course of the economic cycle, as fiscal policy was tightened in 1996-97, 1998-99, resulting in a surplus of $1171 million. This meant that fiscal policy was generally not a major role in influencing the business cycle, instead monetary policy had the central role in maintaining economic activity. Although fiscal policy was not greatly used from the mid-1990s to 2007, it has had a large impact on recessions. As the Global Financial Crisis hit Australia, the fiscal policy was introduced in order to increase the level of economic activity, instead of letting Australia plunge into a recession. The impact of the GFC dramatically changed the budget balance, through a decline in government taxation revenue and an increase in discretionary government spending. This led to the movement from a cash surplus of $19. 7 billion in 2007-08 to a cash deficit of -$27 billion in 2009-10. Economic growth decreased to 1. 4% of GDP, which gave the government the incentive to introduce the fiscal stimulus, while the Rudd Government used an expansionary fiscal stance to support aggregate demand. The stimulus package involved a $77 billion package, with a $42 billion Nation building plan and Jobs Plan in the 2009 budget to support infrastructure and investment and the Economic Security Strategy package of $10 billion in spending on cash transfers to low and middle income households. The result of expansionary fiscal policy helped Australia avoid a recession, as these stimulus measures were estimated to boost Australia’s economic growth by 2. 75% of GDP in 2009-10. In addition, fiscal policy can influence the objective of inequality in income distribution. The government is committed into try to use a progressive taxation system which will provide a fairer distribution of income. The progressive taxation system is when higher income earners pay a larger proportion of tax compared to low income earner, leading to a redistribution of income to low income earners. An example of the progressive tax system can be seen in the ‘personal income tax thresholds’, where the highest income bracket of $180,001 and over has an effective tax rate of 30. 3-44. 9%. However, the structure of the progressive system of personal income tax changed when the Gillard Government announced it would increase the tax-free threshold to $18,200 on 1st July 2012 as part of the Clean Energy Future Package from the carbon tax and will rise again to $19,400 the following year. This threshold bracket changed from the previous 2009 and 2010 Personal Income tax threshold as all taxpayers where given a tax free threshold of $6000. Between 1996 and 2008, the Federal Government used fiscal policy in order to maintain external stability. External stability is an aim of government policy that seeks to promote sustainability on external accounts so that Australia can service its foreign liabilities in the medium to long run. External stability can be managed by the government achieving fiscal consolidation, which is running a budget surplus over the course of the business cycle. One of the main ways to run a budget surplus is to eliminate public debt, which in turn can help reduce the part of net foreign debt owned by the Australian Government. For instance, when the Howard Government was in power, there was a series of consecutive surplus budgets to retire a significant amount of public debt. From 1996-2007 the stance of fiscal policy was largely contractionary, since the Howard Government was committed to achieving a balanced budget over the course of the business cycle. It was tightened throughout the years of 1996-1999, and thereby, eliminated Commonwealth general government debt from the peak of $96 million (17. 6% of GDP) in 1996-97 to -0. 5% of GDP by 2005-06. This in turn increased Australia’s national savings and resulted in low net foreign debts. Subsequently, the fiscal policy has an effective role in achieving the economic objectives of economic growth during downturn economic activity, equal distribution of income and maintaining external stability. Australia was successful in using fiscal policy to avoid recession in 2009, when it implemented one of the largest fiscal stimulus packages in its history, as well as changes to the personal income threshold that gave a more equal distribution of income to lower income earners. By aiming to achieve fiscal surplus the Australian economy can achieve its economy objectives rapidly.

National Security vs Individaul Privacy Essay Example for Free

National Security vs Individaul Privacy Essay 1. Your document’s heading is not formatted correctly. In the upper left corner of the first page, the words Running head: should preface a shortened version of your title. The upper right corner of the page should have the numerical page number. The shortened version of your title should be in all capital letters. On subsequent pages, the shortened version of your title should appear on the lefthand side, with a page number on the right-hand side. For additional information, visit the Ashford Writing Center located in Constellation. Click on Ch 7 -Sample Paper with Formatting Instructions. [Nicole Moore] 2. Instructor: Leon, You should be using a 12 pt. font, and double spacing your work. [Nicole Moore] Throughout history, there have been breeches to the security of this nation which caused an increase in awareness. Rights and civil liberties of the public have been cut, and in many instances revoked completely. Individual privacy is 2 1. Throughout Leon, You are not using the correct font. You need to be using  Times New Roman 12 pt. Please adjust for your final paper. Remember to use Times New Roman 12 point font per 6th edition APA guidelines. [Nicole Moore] 2. in awareness. an awareness of what? Make sure you are clear. [Nicole Moore] 3. Block quotations of more than 40 words should be double spaced per APA 6th edition guidelines. Each line should be indented 1/2 inch. Quotation marks should not be included, and the citation should be placed at the end of the quote following the punctuation. [Nicole Moore] 4. Since the attack on the World Trade Leon, please try reading this sentence out loud what are you trying to say? I think you might be missing some words. How might you rework? [Nicole Moore] 5. In response, law enforcement agencies Are the agencies requesting them now, or have they been requesting them since 2001? You might want to use the past tense or say, ..agencies have been requesting [Nicole Moore]  important and if you take it away from the public, they will then feel an increase of intrusion and loss of privacy. â€Å"All human rights are indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated: the improvement of one right facilitates advancement of the others; the deprivation of one right adversely affects others. Freedom of expression and privacy are explicit parts of this international framework of human rights and are enabling rights that facilitate the meaningful realization of other human rights.† (Dunstan, 2011) Since the attack on the World Trade Center, U.S. soil have resulted in the tragic loss of thousands of innocent human lives. In response, law enforcement agencies are requesting broader and more pervasive laws to counter this security challenge. As technology has grown in leaps and bounds over the last three decades, it has also brought with it new challenges to protecting people’s privacy and curbing privacy violations. Determining the proper balance between citizens’ right, civil liberties, and concerns for security is a particularly vexing difficulty for the democratic societies. It has long been understood that civil liberties are neither absolute nor unequivocal and that there is normally tension between the carrier for democratic values and the desire to live in safety and security. â€Å"Citizens’ rights frequently collide with the 1. â€Å"Citizens’ rights frequently collide Great quote for right here. Double check the APA formatting guidelines you want to put the period on the outside of the (). citizens (Davis, 2008). [Nicole Moore]  rights of others and with governments’ ability to provide for the safety of its citizens.† (Davis, D. W. 2008) 1 National Security plays a part in every aspect of the world. What national security does is maintain the survival of  the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection, and political power. Protections give a nation what it needs to posses economic security, energy security, and environmental security. The national valuables in this broad sense include current assets and national interests, as well as the sources of strength upon which our future as a nation depends. A former NSA director, Gen. Michael Hayden, now director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has said the NSA often gets FISA warrants for wiretaps. He knew that Bush was using this tool to gather information. Bush had the NSA employees also listen in on conversations without such warrants if they suspect links to terror groups, he said. â€Å"In its suit, the ACLU also contends that the NSA surveillance program violates First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and assembly by intruding into the private conversations and e-mail exchanges of individuals and organizations. Deans, (2006) â€Å"Weeks after the September 11 attacks, Bush issued a top-secret order authorizing the National Security Agency to use its high-tech eavesdropping tools to listen in on phone calls and read electronic mail coming into the United States. The Fourth Amendment of the constitution prohibits â€Å"unreasonable searches and seizures† without judicial warrant affirming there is â€Å"probable cause† for suspecting criminal activity.† Deans, (2006) Despite the labors of the Bush administration to bypass the FISC system, FISA courts still exist and the number of warrant request coming before them has increased significantly in recent years. The use of FISA and its courts does protect the government from accusation that it violates the Fourth Amendment rights U. S. persons. Since the disclosure of the warrantless searches, President Bush has instructed the various intelligence organizations that the FISC system be used for all intelligence-gathering activities. The debate over FISA and its court is ongoing, with many critics believing that both the law 2. Is this another long quote? If so, you might consider the amount of quotes you are using, and rely more on your own writing and statements. Use the research to support your analysis, not fill up your paper. It generally requires the government to seek warrants before monitoring Americans’ communications. The  controversy over the FISC Court has intensified. The Bush administrations make it view known that the onerous requirements of FISA stood in the way of intelligence gathering. In a secret court proceeding before the FISA Appeals Court on September 9, 2002, with only government lawyers present, the Bush administration presented its case that the FISC had hindered the flow of information and had obstructed the president’s authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information. â€Å"Less than an hour after President Bush signed the 2008 amendment, the ACLU filed a law suit challenging the law’s constitutionality. Because the 2008 amendment is scheduled to sunset in December, the ACLU is also calling on Congress to Fix FISA by prohibiting dragnet surveillance activities, and strengthening safeguards for privacy.† American Civil Liberties Union, (2012) Bush’s main goal was to gather as much information coming into the United States, but forgot about the fact that he would invade peoples’ privacy. It seem like everything was moving fast and no thought was put in it from the government. Our civil rights is right for us the citizens of this country to have privacy, the right of peaceful protest, the right to a fair trial, the right to personal freedom and the right of equal protection. However, when you take our freedom away for expressing ourselves, you violate our civil rights. This Act allowed him to violate the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution which further blurred the lines between national security and individual privacy. It is precisely the reason why we’re so skeptical about the implementation of national security over our civil rights. They 1. but forgot about the fact that I really take issue with the word forgot I feel that you will be much better served, and have a stronger  paper, if you find a different word disregarded, ignored, etc [Nicole Moore] 2. Our civil rights is right for us the Our civil rights give the citizens of this country the right to. [Nicole Moore] 3. why we’re who is were? do you mean some U.S. citizens? Be clear about your references. [Nicole Moore] forget about the little people that make up this country. One must understand that the problem that is in conflict with our civil rights here, relates more to internal security than it does to external. National security is important to the safety of this country but it should never intrude an individual privacy. The national valuables in this broad sense include current assets and national interests as well as the sources of strength upon which our future as nation depends on it. 4 4. National security is important This, Leon, should be your specific claim, and it should be in the beginning of your paper, not on page 6. [Nicole Moore] -6- Reference ACLU, (2012) American Civil Liberties Union’s Retrieve from http://www.aclu.org/national-security/fix-fisa-endwirelesstapping Atkins, S. E., (2008) Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. ABC CLIO, Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/abcne/foreign_intelligence_su rveillance_act_of_1978 Davis, D. W., (2008) Civil Liberties and Security Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/peace/civil_liberties_a nd_security Deans, B., (2006) Domestic Wiretaps: Rights Suit Centers on U.S. security vs. privacy of citizens. The Atlanta Journal, Retrieved from http://searc.proquest.com/docview/337265486 Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved December 10, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/privacy Dunstan, A.H., (2011) Protecting Human Rights in the Digital Age.BSR Retrieved from http://www.bsr.org

Purposes of Site Investigations

Purposes of Site Investigations The purpose of a site investigation is to identify the ground conditions which might affect the proposed development. It enables better understanding of the site and immediate surroundings, which will enable safe and economic developments. They are a common requirement of the investors as well as the regulatory authorities. In the broadest sense, the ground conditions are understood to include not only the underlying soils and rocks but also the groundwater regime, any contamination and effects of any previous uses of the site The purpose of a site investigation is to identify the ground conditions which ma, any contamination and the effects o 1.1.1 The scale of problem Various reports over the past 25 years have shown that the largest element of technical and financial risk normally lies in the ground. Ground related problems have led to late completions and high cost overruns on the national scale. In an analysis of 8000 building projects, National economic Development office (NEDO) stated that one third of the projects overran by more than a month, a further one third overran up to a month due to delays due to unforeseen ground conditions. 1.2 Why carry out site investigations? The characterization of ground conditions whether for a greenfield or a previously developed brownfield site will include both the geotechnical and the geo-environmental issues. Site investigations can be required for both geotechnical and geo-environmental purposes and for many projects it would be advantageous to combine the investigations with resulting economics in cost, time and site disruption. The investigations should allow a comprehensive risk assessment of the ground conditions to be made from which a programme of risk management can be developed, The risks which may be defined can be health risks (from previous contamination of land), engineering risks (posed by difficult ground conditions), regulatory risks or financial risks, all of which may arise from unforeseen ground conditions and liabilities. The object of the site investigation is to characterize the ground conditions sufficiently to allow safe and economic design to be developed and to reduce, as far as possible, the occurrence and impact of unforeseen conditions. Objectives of Site Investigation The principal questions for site Investigation would be as follows: Suitability: Are the site and surroundings suitable for the project? Design: Obtain all the design parameters necessary for the works. Construction: Are there any potential ground or ground water conditions that would affect the construction? Contamination: Any possibilities of the site being contaminated? Materials: Are there any materials available on site, what quantity and quality? Effect of changes: How will the design affect adjacent properties and the ground water? In addition to these, it is necessary to investigate existing features of the natural ground. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8HfURxCjPlkCpg=PP15lpg=PP15dq=site+investigation+case+studiessource=webots=plbbDn_SdMsig=FQLesVN6XE07K92lw2zwKKnXlTQhl=ensa=Xoi=book_resultresnum=1ct=result#PPA3,M1 What does site investigation involve? Site Investigation is the gathering of information about the proposed location of the project.The process of site investigation can be separated into the following areas: Objectives of Site Investigation (SI) Desk study Planning Ground investigation (GI) Trial Pits Boreholes Sampling Reporting The sequence of a site investigation is as follows: Desk Study Site Reconnaissance -Walk-over study Preliminary report or feasibility study Preliminary Ground Investigation Planning of main GI Preliminary report Main Ground Investigation Laboratory testing Final report On-site Groundbreaking Work Trial pits by hand or excavator Lightweight and Heavyweight boring and testing equipment Laboratory soil testing (eg. plasticity of Clays 1.3.1 Desk Study According to the NHBC standards chapter 4.1, all sites must be assessed by a Desk Study and Walkover Survey (Clauses D1-D3). Desk Study should be carried out for every development prior to any intrusive site investigation. The desk study is work taken up prior to commencing the work on site and the Ground Investigation. It should always be the first stage of the Site Investigation and is used to plan the Ground Investigation. The work involves researching the site to gain as much information as possible, both geological and historical. The desk study examines and draws together existing information from a variety  of sources to form an initial appraisal of possible ground conditions and to  consider past uses and current status of a site. This provides a preliminary assessment of the geotechnical and geo-environmental risks which may be associated with the site. Records of Previous SI reports are also helpful in a desk study. The many sources of SI data include previous company reports, Services records are also an essential part of the desk study, necessary to locate hidden services such as electricity cables, sewers and telephone wires. This in formation is usually provided free of charge by the relevant service provider. A suggested list of sources is: Local Authority; British Telecom; Electricity Company; British Gas; Water Companies. It is also essential to check for the location of former mine workings as these can considerably affect construction and lead to cost increases. The location of these mines may be difficult but help can be found from the Divisional Plans Record Offices of the National Coal Board It is essential when conducting a desk study that as much information as possible is obtained. Work at this stage of the Investigation saves much time later and vastly improves the planning and quality of the Investigation. 1.3.2 Walk-over survey Walk -over survey of a site can give valuable insight into potential ground condition problems (for example slope instability or shallow groundwater) and contamination issues. Such site visits often give rise to anecdotal contributions by local residents. The Site Reconnaissance phase of a site investigation is normally in the form of a walk over survey of the site. Important evidence to look for is: Hydrogeology: Wet marshy ground, springs or seepage, ponds or streams and Wells. Slope Instability: Signs of slope instability include bent trees, hummocks on the ground and displaced fences or drains. Mining: The presence of mining is often signs of subsidence and possibly disused mine shafts. Open cast mining is indicated by diverted streams replaced or removed fence/hedge lines. Access: It is essential that access to the site can be easily obtained. Possible problems include low overhead cables and watercourses The combination of desk study and walk-over survey is an extremely cost-effective  first stage in an investigation. It provides early warning of potential problems and a sound basis for the scope of intrusive investigation which is to  follow. The desk study and walk-over survey can also provide early recognition of site issues such as ecology and archaeology which may have profound implications in both programme and financial terms. 1.3.2 Planning a Site Investigation Dumbleton And West2 have discussed the planning and direction of site investigations. They state that the main investigation is the full investigation of the site using boreholes and trial pits and includes the preparation of the site-investigation report with revised plans and sections, interpretation and recommendations for design. They consider that there are two aspects to the site investigation. The geological structure and character of the site and the testing of the soil both in the laboratory and in-situ. They suggest that the planning should consider the following questions. Is the succession of strata known over the whole site and is there correlation across the whole site known? Are the different strata fairly homogeneous over the site or do local variations exist? Are there more complex areas of strata that require investigation or closer examination during construction? Will there be areas where the excavated material will be unsuitable for fill and will need to be replaced? Are there areas where needs to be assessed to ascertain working methods? Will any part of the site be subject to flooding? What contact will there be with water bearing strata and will ground water lowering methods be required during construction? Do requirements for the carrying out of special in-situ tests or the taking of undisturbed samples affect the conduct of the qualitative investigation? For example, with forethought a single trial pit may be made to serve both for examining ground materials and structure, and for the in-situ testing and the taking of block samples. 1.4 Ground Investigation Ground investigation is taken to be that other than the information available from the walk over survey as discussed previously. There are two principal methods of investigating the ground conditions, trial pits and boreholes. In addition, the reader should be aware of geophysical techniques such as seismic surveys, which are not discussed here. 1.4.1 Trial Pits Trial pits are shallow excavations going down to a depth no greater 6m. The trial pit as such is used extensively at the surface for block sampling and detection of services prior to borehole excavation. Depth Excavation Method 0-2m By Hand 2-4m Wheeled Back Hoe 4-6m Hydraulic Excavator An important safety point to note is that ALL pits below a depth of 1.2m must be supported. In addition care should be taken as gases such as methane and carbon dioxide can build up in a trial pit. Breathing apparatus must therefore be used if no gas detection equipment is available. Support for a trial pit generally takes one of three forms: Timbering Steel frames with hydraulic jacks Battered or tapered sides Three types of sample can be taken from a trial pit: Disturbed Sample Samples where the soils in-situ properties are not retained. Block Sample A sample that is not undisturbed but retains some in-situ properies. Push in tube sample Tube samples of the soil in a trial pit. When preparing a trial pit log, the following information should be included. The location, orientation and size of the pit; sketches of faces; depth scale; root structur; water level; seepage. In addidtion the weather at the time of sampling should be noted as many soils are weather dependant. It is extremely important when finished to reinstate the trial pit as well as possible. 1.4.2 Boreholes A borhole is used to determine the nature of the ground (usually below 6m depth) in a qualitative manner and then recover undisturbed samples for quantitative examination. Where this is not possible, for in gravelly soils below the water table, in-situ testing methods are used. Obviously the information gained from a borehole is an extremely limited picture of the subsurface structure. It is therefore essential to compare the results obtained with those that could have been expected from the desk study. The greater the number of boreholes the more certain it is possible to be of the correlation and thus to trust in the results. The two principal types of boring machine used for Site Investigation in the United Kingdom are light percussive and drilling machines. Light Percussive is the process of making boreholes by striking the soil then removing it and the most common method is the shell and auger. This is a general term to describe various tools suspended from a triangular tripod incorporating a power winch. The tools are repeatedly dropped down the borehole while suspended by wire from the power winch. The different tools used include: Clay Cutter Used in cohesive materials and is raised and lowered, using its own weight to cut into the material. Shell Used for boring in silts and sands. Similar to the clay cutter, but has a trap door at the bottom to catch material. Chisel Used for breaking up hard material such as boulders or rocks. Additional payment is required for chiselling as per the Bill of Quantities and permission is normally required from the Resident Engineer before work can start. Drilling is the process of boring normally by using a combination of a rotating action and a hydraulic ram. There are many different types of rig depending on access and type of ground expected. Hollow drilling rods enable a flush of water, air, foam or mud which is used to carry the cuttings to the surface as well as lubricating and cooling the drill bit. The three main types of drill bit are: Double tube is where the outer tube rotates and allows for the removal of the cuttings while the inner tube is stationary and prevents the core from shearing. There are different designs of tube varying the location of the flush discharge so as to prevent sample erosion. It is necessary for the hole to be bigger than the tube and so the diamond bits are attached to the outside of the hole, thus allowing the flush to return to the surface. Triple tube in corporates a third tube to protect the core even further during extrusion and can have either a split tube, which is removed, or a plastic tube to provide longer term protection. A less effective alternative is to incorporate a nylon liner in a double tube. Retractable triple tube is a variation where the inner tube is attached to a retractor and can extend beyond the cutting edge. This gives complete protection to the core in softer rock whilst in harder rock where this is not necesary, it retracts to become a standard triple tube. This is used in alternating soft/hard rock, typical of a weathered profile. Core bits are usually diamond tipped and are either surface set, where diamonds are mounted into a matrix, or impregnated where a fine diamond dust is used in the matrix. In softer rocks, the cuttings can clog up the matrix so the softer the rock, the larger the diamonds need to be. Tungsten carbide bits can also be used in the softer rocks. Sampling Sampling can be either undisturbed, of which in-situ testing is a form, or disturbed. The principal sampling methods used in boreholes are: SPT test: This is a dynamic test as described in BS1377 (Part 9) and is a measure of the density of the soil. The test incorporates a small diameter tube with a cutting shoe known as the split barrel sampler of about 650mm length, 50mm external diameter and 35mm internal diameter. The sampler is forced into the soil dynamically using blows from a 63.5kg hammer dropped through 760mm. The sampler is forced 150mm into the soil then the number of blows required to lower the sampler each 75mm up to a depth of 300mm is recorded. This is known as the N value. For coarse gravels the split barrel is replaced by a 60 degree cone. Core Sample: Core samples must be sealed with parafin to maintain the water conditions and then end sealed to prevent physical interferance. The mpst common of these is the U100 (see below) although other sizes from 54mm to 100mm diameter are used. The standard U100 has a sample area ratio of 30% so large ammounts of soil are displaced. A thin walled Piston Sampler reduces this to 10%. The sample is pushed or jacked into the ground as opposed to a dynamic action. U100: This is a 450mm long, 100mm diameter undisturbed sample. The tube has a cutter at one end and the driving equipment at the other. Behind the cutter is a core catcher, incorporating 3 arms that go into the sample as it is withdrawn, to prevent the sample from falling out. Care should be taken to ensure that the cutting shoe is as clean and sharp as possible. Bulk Samples: Usually taken from trial pits or in soils where there is little or no cohesion. Often called block samples. WaterSamples: Water samples should be taken as soon as water is first struck and the depth recorded. After a suitable period of time (usually 10-15 mins) the depth should be re-recorded and a further sample taken. A final sample should be taken at the end of the borehole and the depth to water regularly recorded. The sample is taken using a device known as a bailer, made from teflon or plastic it incrporates a float to trap the water and should be cleaned after each sample. The sampling procedure varies according to the type of strata in which the investigation takes place. A reccomended sampling procedure is listed below. Clays: Normally need undisturbed samples U100 every 1.5m or change of stratum. Blow count and penetration should be noted. If unable to obtain a U100 then bulk samples as above. If U100 does not full penetrate SPT test is required. Sands Gravels: Undisturbed samples are not practical due to the lack of cohesion. SPT every 1m or change of stratum. Number of seating blows should also be recorded. Bulk samples to be taken between SPTs. Silts: Alternate SPT and U100 samples at 0.75m intervals 1.5 Reporting The Site Investigation report should answer all the questions set out in the planning phase of the Investigation This should include an assessment of the viability of the proposed project. Included in the report should be a location of all the boreholes, trial pits, other excavations and their logs. These logs should give as much information as possible on the soil and rock structure as it is possible to obtain. Case studies http://www.baesystems.com/BAEProd/groups/public/@businesses/@sharedservices/documents/bae_home_market/bae_pdf_pes_pillinglane.pdf Oops Oops http://www.grm-info.co.uk/cgi-bin/casestudies/casestudiescontents.cgi

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Essay

Mary Wollstonecraft, who was born during the age of enlightenment in the 18th century, is one of the most prominent feminists in women’s history. Her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman led her to become one of the first feminists, advocating for the rights of women. Born in a time where women’s education was neither prominent nor important, Wollstonecraft was raised with very little education. However, events in her life influenced her to begin writing, such as the way her father, Edward John Wollstonecraft treated her mother, â€Å"into a state of wearied servitude† (Kries,Steven)1. In 1792, she published Vindication on the Rights of Woman, which is one of the most prominent feminist pieces to date. This book is considered a reply to the male dominated society opinion on women’s roles in society. Wollstonecraft states that the lack or neglect in education is the main cause of female misery. Because of the lack of education, (the conduct and manner of women, in fact, evidently prove that their minds are not in a healthy state†¦.strength and usefulness are sacrificed to beauty) 2. Because education is the basis of achieving fundamental rights equal to that of men as Wollstonecraft’s describes, women in today’s modern day society should endorse the feminist movement in order to achieve the same fundamental rights as men; education of one’s potential and rights is vital in achieving self-respect and reviving ones self-image that would enable women to have a dynamic place in society akin to men. The off beam thought that beauty outweighs education is blamed on (a false system of education, gathered from the book written on this subject by men who, considering females rather a women than human creatures) 2. In order to understand t... ...en, their minds and future generations’ minds will be stimulated. Their brain will have the capacity to learn many things that range from simple puzzles to abstract thoughts. By educating both men and women equally, they will better understand the development of their children and the issues in the world that they will affect their children in the future. Works Cited 1. Kreis, Steven. Mary Wollstonecraft [Internet]. 2000. [cited 2012 April 15] Available from: http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/wollstonecraft.html 2. Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman [Internet] 1792. [cited 2012 April 15] Available from: http://www.bartleby.com/144/ 3. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Conference, 1848 [Internet]. 1889. [cited 2012 April 15] Available from: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/senecafalls.asp

South and Southeast Asia Essay -- essays papers

South and Southeast Asia Introduction The region under scrutiny happens to be among the most impoverished countries in the world, though allowing for so much growth that is has made them among the fastest growing countries in the world. The region with all this potential is South and Southeast Asia, and the countries holding 40% of the world’s poor are Bangladesh, Thailand, Pakistan and India. How is it that South Asia has grown so much over the past decade with 35% of its men and 59% of its woman being illiterate? Or how is it that half a billion of the people in South Asia are living off less than a dollar a day? So much of the information I have found for this paper is hard to swallow, though I will try and tell it to you straight and in this sequence: 1. What is believed to be the beginning of the crisis that South Asia is faced with now? 2. Who is supporting growth and development in South Asia? 3. Through all this support, how much debt is being created? 4. What are individual weaknesses facing certain countries in South Asia? 5. Can these countries be of success in the long run? The beginning of the crisis Since July of 1997 Southeast Asia has been hit by an economic crisis of major proportion. The economic crisis was originally limited to Thailand’s financial sector, when the central bank of Thailand devalued its currency, the baht. Like so many other currencies the baht had been pegged to the all so valuable U.S. dollar to help ensure stability. Though because of the major success in the U.S. economy the dollar has been seen as strengthening, leading many investors to feel that the baht and many of the other currencies pegged to the dollar were overvalued. Because of this created concern many of the investors fearing an unstable currency chose to exchange it’s currency for dollars. As the confidence in the baht dwindled, companies operating in Southeast Asia scrambled to get rid of its currency as well. Thailand’s central bank was hoping that this devaluation would stop and eventually restore confidence in it’s currency, how would this happen of cours e? I would assume that Thailand was hoping for a lowering in the price of goods in dollar terms, which would make those products competitive in foreign markets. This in turn would attract new investments into the country. Though this did not happen, and a monsoon of loan def... ... from a larger standpoint while still keeping the topics small. I did this because currency is something that nearly every country has trouble controlling. Plus there are a lot of troubles that come with a collapsing currency, as far as market instability and fear of investing. This was just a few of the problems that effected every country used in this paper, every country that was spoken about was among the poorest countries in the world though still receiving recognition for being among the fastest growing countries in the world. That in it’s self is hard to explain; how would this happen to this specific region of the world. These are the types of questions that were attempted in this paper. The specific answers are not given in this paper however because I personally cannot answer them. But what it will take for these countries to succeed has been answered and the funding is there for them to do that. If the progress continues in the direction that all these countries are facing, it is possible for all these countries to survive and pull themselves out of poverty. Bibliography: www.worldbank.com www.state.gov/issues/economic/trade www.facts.com www.boi.go.th

Drug Abuse and Reprocussions Essay examples -- Substance Abuse Essays

Facing everyday problemsin these recent years many people turn to drugs as an escape from the existance they hold. Drug use has rapidly increased in the last twenty years and has become a national crises. More people are experementing with different drugs at a younger age. Due to the rapid increase in drug abuse our government has looked to rehab as an alternative to jail. When a person thinks of a drug abuser one usually pictures a person that looks like thay had just jumped out of a garbage bin. What most people do not realize is that most drug offenders are the people one spends a lot of time with. Everyday humans are abusing drugs without anyone recognizing their illness (Phillips 22). Many symptoms of drug abuse are easily recognisable. Weight loss or malnutrition are the most common, resulting when the drug abuser uses their money to pay for drugs rather than food. Exhaustion is associated with the end f a recent drug binge. Fever is caused when a stimulant or a hallucinogen increases the drug users metabolic rate. A skin flush usually accompanys the fever. Gooseflesh and sweating are associated with withdrawl and rashes, dilated pupils, and a runny nose are usually correlate with any drug use (Cohen 308-309). Along with these symptoms come the various different reprocussions affiliating themselves with each different drug taken. These results ra nge from headaches to death. With all the possible side effects one may wonder why people think drugs are worth all the trouble they are. Most people start out doing drugs to feel good or to fit in. Early users had easy access to medicine that made them physically dependent on that drug and others used drugs as an only escape from a hopeless existance (Compton’s 275). Teenagers experiment with drugs to find out about the world thay live in for themselves, to prove their self worth, and to experience as much as possible. They want to try something daring to prove their oun fearlessness, to have fun, act older, or to be accepted (Phillips 22). In the 1950’smore people af all classes and occupations began to use mood changing drugs both legally and illegally (Compton’s 275). These drugs were used to induce sleep and relaxation. Other drugs gave the user a feeling on exileration. Whether the drug was used to help the user sleep or the get the person high, they all effect the person’s nervous system and cause an... ...rug abuse interested in thier programs. What was found was a greater enthusiam than expected. After ordered into either residential or out-patient treatment the drug offender goes through the initial withdrawal symptoms (Woodcook). After the first terrifying part of withdrawal over the drug abuser is able to find out what it is like to be drug free again. A desire to stay abstinant is surpiisingly the main reason for success in rehabilation facilities. During the rehabilation process the drug offender will be tought all there is to know about their drug and all the alternatives to taking the drug. A helping hand to the recovery process is work. Any type of gratifying work that will keep the offender’s mind off their addiction is acceptable. Not only does this oppurtunity give the drug offender an alternative to doing drugs but it also helps the drug offenter lose contact with their drug friends, keep his or her mind off the drugs that, until then, controlled their life, an d helps the drug offender make new, clean friends (Cohen 308-309). This also encourages the offender to stay clean. There are times this process does not work. In that case the drug offender is sent back to jail.

Kohler Terminal Value

Both approaches (used to come up with the value of the Kohler Company) are greatly impacted by the assumptions made by both the company and the dissenting shareholders. The use of the Market approach has shown that the value of the company varies greatly depending on the comparable companies. If Masco (which is the largest comparable company) is included, the value goes to nearly $3.7 B and excluding it causes the value to go down to $1.2 B. Moreover, depending of the discount for lack of liquidity and control, the value of the company could decrease considerably. Then, in the market approach there are two variables that affect the value of the company; comparable peers and the discount for lack of liquidity and control. In the Free Cash Flow (FCF) approach, the two variables that makes the value diverge is the Beta and the discount (liquidity and control) used. In this specific scenario the Beta impacts the WACC considerably due to the high weight of the cost of equity. For example, a difference of 4 points in the WACC raises the value of the company more than 150% [Table 7]. It is interesting to see that in order to arrive at Kohler’s initial valuation of $58K per share; a 65% discount is needed in both valuation approaches. Also, Masco’s exclusion is required under the Market approach while the high Beta is required under the FCC approach. The factor created by the division of standard deviations of industry peers and the deviations from different markets increases or decreases Beta considerably. (More details about this factor are discussed later in the paper.) Conversely, according to the dissenting shareholders, in order to arrive at $273K per share a 0 % discount and the inclusion of Masco and low Beta is needed. In the settlement, Kohler may use two simple methods to resolve the claim. The first would be a Weight Adjusted Value method, which consists of taking the weighted average of the proposed settlement values times the confidence level. The second method is to calculate the book value of the company using the formula (Assets- Liabilities)/ # of shares (Intangibles are not excluded). The results of these two methods indicate that The Kohler Company should be indifferent between going to trial and settling for $120K per share. Finally, the suggested settlement price should be adjusted to reflect the possibility of an increased tax liability Kohler may have with the IRS. Using a weighted average, the new settlement price is around $150K per share. Company Overview Kohler is a recognized international manufacturer of plumbing products, home furnishings, generators and engines. It also owns and operates hospitality and real estate Businesses. Kohler has been a private company, predominantly owned by the Kohler family since its founding in 1887. Market Approach Because Kohler is privately held the market value needs to be ascertained by the implied value determined by using a multiples approach based on the trading value of Kohler’s comparable industry peers. Table 1 shows the relevant multiples for Kohler’s peer group. Depending on what multiples are used to value Kohler the estimation varies considerably. Table 2 demonstrates the range of these values. If Masco, with it’s generally high multiples, is excluded from the analysis the valuation would be roughly $1.2B. On the other extreme if Kohler’s value is based on Masco’s benchmark, the value leaps to nearly $3.7B. A strict average of the peer group would yield a value of $1.6B. Our best guess of value is closer to $2B based on the peer average being averaged with Masco’s profitability multiples as we feel that the fundamentals of Kohler and Masco are closely matched. These estimates do not include any discounts for the lack of liquidity or control that the shares are characterized by. Table 3 shows the value per share given a $2B market value and various discounts applied. Â   Based on the market multiples approach it appears that Kohler takes a much more conservative approach to not only valuation but to the discounts that should be applied to the stock given his relative illiquidity and lack of controlling stake in the enterprise. From their prospective the value is the historically modest dividend and the long range growth of the business. Given their approximation of a share price of $54,000 that would suggest they excluded Masco as an outlier if they used a multiples approach and they used a discount of nearly 65% on the value of the shares to address their limitations noted previously. This would yield a value of roughly $58,000 per share. The dissenting Kohler shareholders, many of whom acquired shares for north of $100,000 each, have a vested interest in a much more generous approach to the value of Kohler’s shares. It appears they could be talking one of two approaches in arriving to their $273,000 value per share. The first is that they could also assume a market value of roughly $2B for Kohler, and not acknowledge any need to discount the shares. This would yield an estimate of $274,100 per share. The other approach could be that this estimate was derived from the multiples values using Masco as a fellow industry leader with higher margin products and strong differentiation and acknowledging the need to discount the share value for lack of liquidity and control. Based on the Masco benchmark and a 25% discount the value would be roughly $279,000 per share. Free Cash Flow Approach Kohler’s Free Cash Flow (FCF) model is developed using the Non-Cash Working Capital Approach, a correlated Beta and an EBITA that excludes both interest income and expense. The Non-Cash Working Capital is used because of the consistency each year in Kohler’s forecasted working capital. [Table 4] Secondly, in order to make the FCF model more accurate, a correlation between the company financials and its main competitors is used. Table 5 displays this correlation. The correlation is then multiplied by a factor which is defined by the division of the standard deviation of Kohler’s competitor and the standard deviation of the market (US Equity Market). Lastly, an average of each of these factors is performed and the Kohler’s Beta is found. [Table 5] The Beta in this case significantly affects the Weight Average Cost of Capital (WACC) since the weight of Kohler’s cost of equity is about 82% and the remaining 18 % tied to the cost of debt [Table 6]. The calculated WACC using this beta is 14.19%. If Beta is calculated using a different standard deviation, other than the US Equity Market, the results will vary drastically. For example, using a standard deviation of a highly correlated distribution of stocks that includes 3 kitchen & bath companies and 3 engine & generator companies, the Beta will decrease from 2.67 to 1.52. Then, the new WACC would be 10.40%[Table 5]. Just this difference in Beta would make the per share value of the stock go from $164K to $251K with 0 discount (due to the lack of control and liquidity), and from $ 57K to $ 88K with 65 % discount [Table 7]. Kohler is most likely using a relatively high WACC and high discount to come up with a $58K value per share. As it is shown in Table 8, using a WACC of 14.19% and a discount of 65% for liquidity and control of the stock arrives at $57K per share. On the other hand, the dissenting Kohler shareholders have probably used a much more generous approach to the value of Kohler’s shares. It appears they could be using a WACC close to 10% and not discount (liquidity and/or control) or a WACC of 8% and 30% discount to arrive at their $273,000 value per share.