Sensor Case Study free essay sample

Few people realize how essential the sensor industry is to today’s society. Sensors can be found in almost everything we use on a day to day basis. America’s demand for smaller, lighter and faster products has driven the technology to innovate at a break-neck pace in order to keep up with the demand. According to the National Science Foundation, â€Å"incorporating new sensor technologies, manufacturers can bring new capabilities to their products while improving performance and efficiency. † (NSF, 2008) The sole shining star in the sensor industry was Sensors, Inc. , which supplied a large majority of the manufacturing industry with electronic sensors for their products. In late 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) broke up Sensors, Inc. due to its monopoly of the U. S. market. (Capsim, 2010) The SEC released a statement which justified their move by stating, â€Å"We cannot allow monopolies of this sort to impact an entire industry! The customers that utilize these sensors are being held hostage. We will write a custom essay sample on Sensor Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † (Capsim, 2010) Sensors, Inc. was dissolved into six smaller organizations: Andrew, Baldwin, Chester, Digby, Erie and Ferris companies. A Fresh Start After Sensors, Inc. was dissolved, the assets and liabilities of the company were divided by the six new companies with each company controlling 16. 67% of the market. In 2010, over two-thirds of the sales for the new companies came from the low end and traditional segments of the market (see fig. 1). A break out star from the beginning, Andrews, Inc. saw a clear need to restructure their organization and focus on their attention on other, less crowded segments of the market. Under a new management team, the first mission for Andrews was to decide on a strategy that would allow them to be the standout in the market. Andrews decided to focus on a hybrid strategy that incorporated a broad approach to the market while focusing on three key segments to increase revenue in: Low End, High End and Performance. By focusing on three markets in the industry, the company was able to reduce marketing cost and focus attention their attention on the performance and high end segments which require significant amounts of RD and automation. Andrews sought to gain market share in their target segments by strategically positioning two products in each of their markets. Able (traditional) was to be moved to the low end segment, Agape (size) was to be moved to the high end segment, and a new product, Avenge, was to be added to the lineup in the performance segment. By 2011, Andrews, Inc. was able to establish a dominant presence in two of the three key markets. Focus on Innovation and Quality One of the key strategies for Andrews, Inc. was early and frequent innovation and automation. Because the company focused much of its attention on highly specialized segments of the sensor market, R D played a very import role in the strategic vision of the company. Given the nature of the industry, it is essential for the company to stay on the cutting edge of technology, especially for their high end and performance products. In the high end segment, ideal performance increased by 0. 9 units and size decreased by 0. 9 units each year. Buyers in the high end market value ideal product specifications as the most important factor in their decision to buy a product (43%). Buyers also value the age of a product (29%) when making their decision (Capsim, 2010). For the performance segment, ideal performance increased by 1. 0 units and size decreased by -0. 7 units each year. Buyers in the performance segment value a high reliability rate (43%) and ideal product specifications (29%). (Capsim, 2010) The buyers demand for a high quality product made it necessary to focus a large amount of their resources in those products. The company’s decision to focus on three markets, instead of the original five, allowed them to make the necessary changes without severe financial consequences. Andrews, Inc. also heavily invested early on in automating their factories which allowed the company to save money on labor because of the reduction in the production time for each product as the automation levels increased. (Capsim, 2010). The savings in labor cost helped reduce total variable cost which increased contribution margins. Although the company addressed their labor cost, their materials cost remained higher than the industry average. NamePrimary SegmentMaterial CostLabor CostContr. Marg. Automation Next Round AbleLow$4. 88$6. 4819%6. 0 AcreLow$4. 20$5. 8739%7. 0 AdamHigh$14. 11$5. 1942%8. 0 AftPfmn$13. 30$6. 8632%7. 0 AgapeHigh$11. 48$6. 4825%7. 0 AvengePfmn$14. 24$6. 8633%7. 0 In order to address the higher than average materials cost, the company began to invest in Total Quality Management (TQM) and Process Management initiatives. The company initially invested in CCE (Concurrent Engineering) and 6 Sigma Training, Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) Systems, and Vendor/ Just in Time (JIT) inventory which helped reduce material costs and labor costs as well as administrative overhead. Over the next two years the company sought to use TQM and Process Management initiatives to streamline and improve other areas of their operations. Andrews, Inc. was able to significantly reduce admin cost and R D cycle times by investing these initiatives. Process Mgt Budgets 2015TQM Budgets 2015Cumulative Impacts Channel Support Systems$1,500Quality Function Deployment Effort$1,500Material Cost Reduction7. 16% Concurrent Engineering$1,500CCE/6 Sigma Training$1,500Labor Cost Reduction8. 41% UNEP Green Programs$1,500 Reduction RD Cycle Time38. 31% Reduction Admin Costs43. 11% Demand Increase13. 49% Challenges After two successful years in business, Andrews, Inc. hit a wall. Other firms in the industry were gaining sales and market share while Andrews seemed to be running in place. One of the challenges Andrews faced was transitioning their products into their new segments. The company struggled to find a place for their Able product to be successful. As the differences in the segments began to grow, the company waited too long to definitively move the product into the low end segment. While the company’s original strategy of positioning the product between the low end and traditional segments was successful, having a product that didn’t quite fit into either segment negatively impacted sales and let to inventory carrying charges. Andrews also struggled to keep pace with the necessary R D changes necessary to compete in the high end market. The company unsuccessfully tried for three years to position their Agape product in the high end segment. Because the high end segment demands constant R D changes to keep the products up to date, the company wasted millions of dollars on a product that would ultimately never reach the company’s goal. The funds used for Agape would have been put to better use in R D for other products, stock buyback or long term debt repayment. Andrews ran into an issue with was the timing of the production of products. In 2014, Andrews made the mistake of allowing their R D projects to run through the final quarter of the year, leaving little time to produce most of their products. This oversight cost Andrews sales and market share and wasted funds on marketing. Another challenge for the company, and possible the most important was the large amount of long term debt the company owed. At the end of 2015, Andrews owed over $87 million in long term debt and roughly $12 million in short term debt. If the company continues to operate as it has, their credit rating will decline and stock prices will fall. Having such large debt is a liability and shows stockholders that the company’s funds are being mismanaged. In addition to large debts, Andrews, Inc. has oversold its stock. Andrews is in such a vulnerable position that there is a great risk of a corporate takeover. The company must immediately take steps to ensure that they retain ownership of their company. Restructuring Campaign While Andrews, Inc. is still a viable company, there is much to be done if it is to succeed in the future. The first option available is a merger with Baldwin, Inc. After the dissolution of Sensors, Inc. Baldwin struggled to gain its footing in the industry. The company refocused its strategy and gained some traction in 2014. A merger between Andrews and Baldwin would be beneficial because together because their strengths and weaknesses complement each other which would make for a powerful super company. One example of their complementary assets is Andrews highly automated factories and Baldwin’s lack thereof. By condensing factories, AB Sensors, Inc. would be able to cut labor cost and sell off the excess capacity. NamePrimary SegmentMaterial CostLabor CostContr. Marg. Automation Next Round BakerTrad$8. 81$8. 4536% 4. 0 BeadLow$4. 94$6. 5738% 6. 0 BidHigh$13. 97$9. 6635% 3. 0 BoldPfmn$13. 44$10. 5323% 4. 0 BuddySize$11. 25$11. 7528% 4. 0 Another complementary area for Andrews and Baldwin is their market share. Andrews has a strong presence in the Low End, High End, and Performance segments. Baldwin has focused its efforts on the Traditional, Size, High End and Performance segments. By combining their efforts, AB Sensors, Inc. would have control almost 50% of the Low End, Performance and High End segments. Andrews Market ShareBaldwin Market Share Another option for Andrews, Inc. is to hire an external consultant in order to shore up their finances. The company needs to repay its $88,850,000 long term debt and by back at least 50% of the stock issued in order for the firm to increase shareholder value and achieve an higher credit rating. The company should also set aside cash reserve to make capital improvements and eventually be able to pay dividends. I anticipate that the company would be able to achieve these objectives while still growing their presence in the industry over a seven year period. By following either of the strategies, the company will continue to provide highly specialized products to their customers and regain its position at the top of the market.

Renewable Energy in the UAE Essay Sample

Renewable Energy in the UAE Essay Sample Renewable Energy in the UAE Essay Sample Renewable Energy in the UAE Essay Sample UAE has for various reasons resulted to actively seeking for alternatives to replace expensive and environmentally hazardous sources of energy. The country also seeks to diversify its energy sector as well as its economy through actively developing solar energy usage. It has developed solar-energy harnessing plants, which has made the consumption of this kind of energy grow significantly in frames of the total energy consumption. The country has been actively increasing the amount of solar power plants as well as improving the technology aimed at boosting efficiency and reducing costs in all runs. Thus, this sector has seen a lot of research work done on both the materials and technology used in power generation. When the systems for tapping and storing solar energy are competitive with conventional sources, the country will be in a better position to increase the scale of energy generation and effectively replace petroleum: it will introduce an era of clean non exhaustible energy wi th very low maintenance cost. The term renewable energy has been commonly used to describe the alternative source of energy from what is considered mainstream; petroleum and coal (Alnaser Alnaser, 2011). However, the term also means a wide array of energy sources that cannot be exhausted, which means that the sources are always renewed or replenished through the Earths’ natural cycles. An example of these energy sources includes solar energy, wind geothermal energy and biomass. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘green energy’ or ‘clean energy,’ which refers to energy sources that produce no emissions or pollutants in their generation and use (Rauland Newman, 2015). Renewable energy is or can be used to replace petroleum fuels in several areas that may include the generation of electricity, heating, to drive various machines, as motor fuels, or to power localized of-the-grid homes in the rural areas. This paper will look into the various types of renewable energy in use in the UAE. This paper will discuss reasons behind UAE’s high demand for energy as well as renewable energy projects being undertaken. Moreover, specific renewable energy developments, for instance, the Masdar city besides the Shams 1 scheme will be discoursed including steps taken by the UAE government to successfully and competently utilize additional renewable energy in all runs. Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century- (REN 21) concluded that the renewable sources of energy constituted approximately 19% of the total energy used globally in 2014. Biomass was the most used accounting for 9%, thermal energy at 4.2%, and hydroelectricity at 3.8%. In 2012 and 2013, renewables had been used to generate 22% of the electricity consumed globally. In the year 2013, global investment in the technologies aimed at exploitation of renewable sources of energy amounted to US 214 Billion (Young, (2014). The leading countries were China and the US while the technologies that were heavily invested into included wind, solar, hydro and biofuels. The UAE The United Arab Emirates or simply ‘the Emirates’ is a country in the Arabian Headland, sharing boarders with Saudi Arabia and Oman. It shares maritime boarders with Qatar and Iran around the Persian Gulf. Several aspects make this nation have an extraordinarily high demand for energy, which may include a high population composed majorly of foreign emigrants (over 80%). The locals make a small percentage of the total population and made up about 1.4 million in 2014. The country is a confederation of seven states (Emirates), each administered by a sovereign ruler: these rulers select one of them to rule the whole country, which has Arabic as the official language and Islam as the official religion. In spite of the small size, UAE has one of the biggest per capita quantities of oil reserves in the world. Its oil reserves rank 7th in the world: the country also has 17th largest natural gas reserve in the world. After this state was founded in 1971, a large percentage of proceeds obtained from its petroleum and natural gas resources were channeled into the betterment of education, healthcare, as well as the development of highly advanced modern infrastructure (Alnaser Alnaser, 2011). It has led to the rapid industrialization and development, which made this country’s economy the most diversified in the region. Over the same period of time, the most populous city in the country, Dubai emerged as an international commercial and transport hub. The high population density, high level of industrialization and economic diversification, as well as its use as a regional business hub makes UAE have a high rate of energy consumption. Additionally, the country experiences hot summers, when all the households and offices use electricity for air conditioning. This situation significantly increases electricity consumption to an extent of making the relevant government authorities consider correcti ve measures. Summer months’ electric consumption causes a major strain to the supply grid (Alnaser Alnaser, 2011). The peak hours for air conditioning are usually between 12 noon and 6 PM in the evening. Additionally, the country lacks adequate fresh water resource for domestic and industrial consumption. As a result, a large amount of energy is consumed in the desalinization of sea water for domestic and industrial consumption. Due to large sea water desalinization plants, as well as widespread air-conditioning in the summer months, this country has the largest per capita carbon foot print. Carbon footprint refers to the total amount of carbon gasses that are produced during the production process. What may even encourage a larger carbon foot print is that petroleum-generated electricity is usually subsidized by the government before being sold to consumers at a price even less than per unit cost of its generation (International Renewable Energy Agency, 2013). Various researchers and scholars have researched and compiled materials concerning the use of renewable sources of energy in the UAE. Some of these materials focus on areas such as the generation, the use or even future plans concerning the use of renewable energy. This section focuses on such materials. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) among other parallel authorities in the seven emirates have come up with means of ensuring that the peak hour demand for electricity does not lead to damages in the grid or unnecessary costs. Measures such as avoiding wastage of grid electricity as well as using most appliances in the off-peak hours have been seen to be helpful in the short run but are ineffective and unsustainable in the medium and long run (Kumetat, 2015). Additionally, the government and other agencies have recognized the great need to use this country’s oil reserve in a sustainable way and preserve it for the future generations. The government and other agencies are attempting to shift to green and renewable energy for environmental and health benefits in all respect. For this reason, various projects, action plans and long-term investment proposals are being done to tap into the green energy for electricity generation including other domestic and industrial uses for benefits discussed earlier. Owing to the geographical locality of the country, it receives a noteworthy quantity of solar radiation, which can be utilized to produce electricity, either through photovoltaic cells (PV) or through heating (CSP) (Kumetat, 2015). Renewable energy is being considered by the UAE in spite of oil reserves it possesses. According to the Masdar Institute (UAE), IRENA and the Directorate of energy and climatic change in the Ministry of foreign affairs, raising renewable energy to 10% the totals consumption could save the country a total of $1.9billion by the year 2030. It was also established that avoiding the consumption of fossil fuel would significantly lower the overall cost of energy. Factoring in health benefits that would accrue from the use of renewable energy and reduction in the environmental pollution, renewable energy could help the country save between $1 and 3.7 billion by 2030. Since the year 2010, the cost of natural gas has been increasing, while that of PV solar panels for converting solar energy into electricity has been declining universally as a result of the improvement in know-how used in manufacturing those (Young, 2014). Additionally, the theoretical and the practical efficiencies of photovoltaic cells and panels have been on the rise. All these factors have made solar energy competitive relative to oil. Despite UAE’s large natural gas reserves, it is important to note that the country is a net importer of the same as the internal output is not able to meet the internal demand. The government through various agencies is also evaluating other renewable sources of energy such as wind while encouraging the adoption of the conversion of waste to energy. In 2014, the cost of natural gas rose to $ 8/mBtu (million British thermal units) creating a need for faster shift to renewable energy (Kumetat, 2015). According to Kumetat (2015), the average cost of natural gas may rise twofold by 2020. Considering that the UAE imports natural gas, it has taken bold steps to decrease its dependence on the same. Furthermore, UAE desires to extensively use green energy in order to expand its economy, free additional petroleum for exports as well as to reduce the rates of the environmental degradation. In order to achieve a sustainable consumption of renewable energy sources, various options in terms of the forms of renewable energy sources have been considered. The UAE has a high yearly radiation making the exploitation of solar energy reasonable and economical. Large, open fields can be mounted with photovoltaic solar panels to transform solar energy into electric energy. Additionally, sunshine can be used for direct heating. With this knowledge, the country has been rigorously promoting the generation of the solar power since early 2008. Abu Dhabi and Dubai were among the first to embrace the use of solar power, each set its own targets for future production and consumption. Abu Dhabi has set its target to have 7% of its energy consumption as solar generated by 2020 (Kumetat, 2015). Dubai, on the other hand, is aiming at 5% clean energy as a percentage of the total consumption by 2030. As a result of these visions, Abu Dhabi has launched many massive projects to harness solar power. Both photovoltaic (PV) as well as Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) are in various stages of installation. On the other hand, Dubai has in the recent past focused majorly on PV system for generating electricity. Types of Renewable Energy The growth in the use of renewable sources of energy was rather slow before 2008, in which the entire country generated only 1% of its entire energy production from solar energy. By 2014, it was estimated that the UAE held half the facilities for harnessing solar energy in the GCC combined with the Levant (Caprotti, 2015). The Masdar City This is a city project in the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The city is under construction and is aimed at being a global model for a carbon neutral city. When completed, the city is planned to save 45% of water and 59% compared to the amount a similar sized conventional city would consume (Caprotti, 2015). Despite this city being energy and resource efficient, it will be powered majorly by renewable sources of energy. Additionally, the term carbon neutral means that it will not emit more carbon than a unit area of undeveloped space. The major sources of energy for this city will be solar power, and large areas of open fields will be installed with photovoltaic solar panels. In addition, the design of each individual structure will be such that it will need the minimum possible artificial lighting and air conditioning. Furthermore, model structures that can produce more energy than it can consume will also be integrated. The city will house a maximum of 50,000 people in addition t o 15,000 businesses (Caprotti, 2015). The core of this city is being built by the Masdar Company, which is a part of the larger Mubadala Development Company. The Abu Dhabi government has been the chief stockholder in the provision of the initial capital required. The designer of this city will be the Britishbased fosters and partners architectural firm. The city is being developed approximately 17 km in the south east of Abu Dhabi, standing adjacent to the Abu Dhabi International Airport. The city project was commissioned in 2006 with an estimated implementation period of about 8 years. The total cost was estimated at between $ 18 and 22 billion: the initial part was slated for completion before 2009. It was, however, delayed due to the effects of global financial crisis; some of the structures in phase one were not habitable by 2009 (Caprotti, 2015). With time, the total cost of the development of this city has declined by 10-15% while several variations have been made in instances where theoretical design could not be applied successfully. IRENA will have its headquarters in this city so as to demonstrate to the world the importance of green tech in the construction of modern cities (International Renewable Energy Agency, 2013). Masdar city will be a national as well a worldwide epicenter for clean tech corporations. The Masdar institute of technology was the first institution to book space in this city and become its first tenant. This institution of higher learning and research has been operating in the proposed city in various areas since late 2010, when it occupied its campus. The most striking feature of this city is that it has been developed to exclusively use renewable energy resources. Additionally, it is fitted with a system to enable the maximum possible conservation of energy. PV solar panels are used to generate the electric energy required to run this city. A total of 87,777 PV solar panels that occupy an area of approximately 22- hectare are used. Additional PV panels are installed on roofs of some structures. Another essential component of these structures is that they lack power switches and water taps. It has been done to eliminate instances where lights and water taps and appliances may be left on unnecessarily. Lighting and water points are controlled by a series of motion sensors, which has reduced water consumption to 55% and electricity to 51%. The initial plan provided for the installation of all the solar panels on the rooftops of various building. During the development phase, it was discovered that it would be much more efficient to build solar fields on the open fields in the desert. It would make it easy to brush the dirt off their surface than having cleaners climb on every roof top to clean them. Additionally, the flat open field ensures uniformity in the power generation in addition to the fact that desert has more insolation per unit area than the location of the city. In addition to PV panels, CSP plants are being tested to find out if they can effectively be used to tap the heat energy from sunshine. If this is successfully established, the amount of electricity used for heating could be saved or reduced, which would ultimately reduce the costs. In addition to the use of renewable energy sources, comprehensive water management practices are also incorporated to reduce wastage. Mechanisms are also put in place to ensure that about 80% of the water used is recycled. It includes reusing waste water whenever applicable and utilizing grey water to irrigate crops. Apart from the projects initiated and implemented by Masdar, there are several other projects across the UAE that will exclusively use solar power. For instance, in June 2015, the roads and transport authority in the UAE announced the planned commencement of the construction of 400 bus stops in Dubai. A large percentage of the new ones constructed in areas that have been off the grid will have air conditioning systems that will be powered using solar energy. This project does not only make Dubai the first city in the world to have air conditioned bus stops but also the first one to have solar operated ones. This announcement came a year after trial projects had been done in 2014 in Al Jafliya. Even if the test projects did not provide adequate power for air conditioning systems, it provided crucial information of the possibilities of successfully applying the same in the future. The tests indicated that solar power was adequate for powering lights and advertisement, but the materials used as well as structures’ shapes could not be effectively air conditioned by a solar powered system. However, more trials indicated that with the use of crescent-shaped shelters made of improved materials and heat, dust and humidity resistant paints, a number of them would support a solar powered air conditioner. The Shams 1 Shams 1 is a project that was undertaken to harness the heat energy from the sun and use it for the purpose of generating electricity. The plant is located in Abu Dhabi and is made up of a CSP plant. The plant was completed and became operational by 17th march, 2013. Shams 1 is one of the largest CSP plants in the world. The system is made up of parabolic mirrors set on both sides of a dark pipe made of a special heat absorptive material containing oil. The parabolic glasses are used to concentrate heat from sunshine onto the pipes carrying oil hence heating it. The heated oil in turn heats water which evaporates into steam which turns turbines. The mechanical energy in this turbine is converted into electricity. Since the heat obtained from the oil is not sufficient to rapidly evaporate water, a special heater that burns natural gas ‘a natural gas booster’ is used to compensate the heat difference by heating the water to the temperatures close to 400 degrees Celsius. In the Shams 1 power plant, the parabolic mirror holders are set on an intelligent system that is able to track the movement of the sun. Close to 80% of the heat used comes from the CSP units and is converted into approximately 55% of the total electricity generated. On the other hand, 20% of the heat is obtained from combustion of natural gas and accounts for approximately 45% of the total electric energy produced. From these statistics, it is crucial to note how the heat from the sunshine is greatly used to increase the systems efficiency in the use of natural gas in the production of electricity, making it possible to generate 45% of electricity from only 20% of heat from natural gas. It saves the cost of the 80% of the heat obtained from the CSP unit and is very crucial for reducing emissions (Rauland Newman, 2015). The Shams 1 management does not disclose the cost of generating one unit of power for some reason, which may include the fact that it is in power purchase contract with the management of the power grid. According to CSP professionals, an average price of a CSP system is presently between 20 and 25 cents / kWh. During the design and the developmental phase of this project, the total annual output had been estimated at slightly less than 200GWh. However, the first year of operation saw the plant produce slightly in access of 210GWh. Experts report that this is equivalent to the amount consumed by roughly 20000 homes in the UAE or  ½% of the total electricity demand in the country. The size of this CSP unit makes it cover an area of approximately 2.5 square kilometers while the total length of the parabolic trough is approximately 120 km. The large surface area seen above is very crucial for absorbing the maximum amount of heat from the sun shine. For this reason, the whole project is an environmental conservation success as it greatly reduces carbon emission. In one year, Shams 1 is capable of reducing carbon dioxide emission by about 175,000 tones, an amount that is produced by 1500cars over the same period of time. It is also the amount that can be absorbed by 1.5 million trees in one year. Shamss1 had a nominal maximum capacity of 100MW. However, the plant was seen to produce up to 125MW at one instance. Fluctuation in the amount of heat harnessed from the sunshine is observed in several instances. For example, at night, during cloudy days or in the winter, the amount of the heating obtained from the use of natural gas is increased to compensate for the deficit. The management of Shamss 1 plant only allows the use of natural gas up to 600, 000 btu (British thermal units). The operating staff is usually mandated to determine the amount of natural gas to add in order to compensate for the shortfall in the heat collected by the CSP unit. It has been observed that PV cells are much cheaper than CSP in terms of having a shorter process of generating electricity and also having fewer components. However, CSP has several advantages over the PV systems. CSP units store heat making the generation of electricity stable, even despite sharp fluctuations that may occur in the amount of sunshine received. Additionally, the system is more durable as the storage tanks for hot water can last close to 30 years, which is very long compared to short battery lives for PV systems. As discussed earlier, CSP are able to cater for sharp fluctuations in the sunshine received, making electric generation more regular as compared to PV units. CSP is also very easy to combine with conventional heat power plants and has been used in many instances to upgrade those (Rauland Newman, 2015). Shams 1 project has been very vital and will immensely contribute towards assisting Abu Dhabi to achieve 7% of renewable energy by 2020 (Rauland Newman, 2015). Additionally, it will help the whole country to reduce carbon emissions, diversify its energy sources, as well as the entire economy. It is important to note that Shams1 is run partly by Masdar. Therefore, its existence offers a great learning experience to Masdar, which is continuously looking for ways to improve the project. It offers a great opportunity for the researchers at Masdar to experiment with an aim of improving both the technology as well as the materials used in this plant to boost efficiency, durability and sustainability. How the UAE is Approaching Renewable Energy for the Future The UAE is aiming at reducing its dependence on petroleum and natural gas for generation of electricity. The primary aim of this is to free more petroleum for export, save money used to import natural gas and avoid the degradation of the nation’s natural environment. The country had an integrated long-term plan to ensure that it derived 24 % of its power from clean sources by 2030. Later on, the government plans to accelerate this plan to achieve this by 2021. Apart from the large-scale projects carried out by Masdar, including the carbon neutral city and the mega CSP Shams 1, the country has more plans to increase generation of electricity from solar energy (Sayigh, 2013). In April 2015, the government announced its plans to add an additional 100MV of electricity by installing additional PV solar panels. The FEWA (federal Electricity and Water Authority) has set up plans to initiate large-scale projects in the expansive north of the UAE. The government is also on course to in itiate several projects to generate 24% of its entire energy demand by 2021 as seen earlier. Some of the projects underway include the development of nuclear power plants. Most of these projects are meant to benefit the five remaining emirates that have not been involved in the massive projects of Masdar city and Shams 1. Emirates such as Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Umma AL Quiwain as well as Fujairah are the ones serviced by FEWA while Dubai and Abu Dhabi have their own parallel services (Kumetat, 2015). FEWA is set to collaborate with private corporations in the inception, design and development of these projects. Tenders as well as areas of co-operations are set to be awarded via a competitive tendering process. Such an approach is set to be adopted as it is very effective in ensuring that the cost is kept the lowest while maintaining the highest attainable standards. One of such tenders awarded recently include a 200MW project awarded to ACWA Corporation from Saudi Arabia to construct a PV solar field in Dubai. It achieved the lowest flat-rate tariff (5.84 ¢/kWh) in the history (Kumetat, 2015). The project is in design phase, and the company is already securing funds through low interest bank loans in readiness for the commissioning in 2017. Upon completion, it will be the largest of its kind in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Masdar Company is already in a design stage for the first phases of the first geothermal project ever to be implemented in the UAE (Kumetat, 2 015). In addition to FEWA’s projects, Masdar and Shams 1, other plans are also underway aimed at increasing renewable power generation all across the UAE. On 15th April, 2015, Dubai announced to roll out a mega project at a cost of $3 billion aimed at boosting power generation capability to 3GW. (Kumetat, 2015) DEWA’s managing director Sayeed Tayer announced that the above plans were aimed at boosting the generation capacity of the proposed largest solar park in Dubai: Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The initial capacity of this park was planned to be 1GW upon completion in 2019 as the installation begun back in 2013. The initial authorizing of the first block of PV solar panels with a total capacity of 13 MW was also done in 2013 (Sayigh, 2013). However, DEWA has planned to upgrade the plant during and after the installation such that its capacity will triple (to 3 GW) by 2030. It shows how seriously the country is taking the harnessing and the use of renewable energy from solar power. Apart from the massive expansion of the physical capacity through the installation of larger and more powerful PV panels, the UAE is taking another very futuristic approach to the generation and storage of renewable energy. The government through its agencies is carrying out and sponsoring research to come up with futuristic ways of generating and storing energy. The Masdar institute, among others is continuously carrying out research on how to improve the generation capacities of various PV solar parks, Shams 1 CSP plant among others. Its research also includes the development of materials that are more absorptive of the solar energy. One of the ground-breaking research currently being done by this institute in conjunction with Norwegian company aims at making the storage of electricity produced by CSP solar parks more efficient. The Nest (New Energy Storage Technology) could reduce the cost of solar power by 70% in five years (Rauland Newman, 2015). The research aims at storing he at energy using special concrete material to store heat collected through CSP instead of the conventional method that is usually expensive. Another issue that has been seen to reduce the efficiency of sunshine absorption either in PV solar or CSP units is accumulation of dust. Dust or sand covers the surface needed for heat absorption: it increases costs as regular dusting and washing is required. Masdar is working to engineer transparent materials that have pore-sizes smaller than sand particle to protect the units’ surfaces. Additionally, parallel research and trials are currently underway aimed at coming up with a material that repels sand or dust particles. Materials are also being developed that have the ability to inhibit bacterial and other microbial activities that occur when dust and sand particles settle on PV or CSP units. All these are aimed at increasing the efficiency of these systems in order to generate more power, reduce cost and make the systems more sustainable (Rauland Newman, 2015). Steps described above show a country that is earnestly trying to diversify its energy mix. The diversification is aimed at attaining sustainability in all runs. With all these systems in place, the UAE seems to be ready to embrace renewable energy in the future. Research done and sponsored by various organizations may usher in an era in which renewable energy will be adequately competitive to effectively replace non renewable energy sources. Additionally, the Masdar carbon neutral city, being the first in the world, will serve as a model and an indicator of a time in the future where many other cities will be carbon neutral, therefore reducing global warming and reversing the effects of climatic change. When the systems for tapping and storing solar energy are competitive enough relative to conventional sources, the country will be in a better position to simply increase the scale of generation and effectively replace petroleum: it will usher in an era of clean non exhaustible energy with very low maintenance cost.

American Involvment in World War I Essay Example for Free

American Involvment in World War I Essay This investigation assesses American involvement in World War I before military intervention, and how this led to military intervention. In order to assess these causes, one must examine America’s involvement in the war before combat, the events that launched America’s military intervention in the war, American sentiments about the war before military intervention, and Woodrow Wilson’s actions before the war. Two sources used in the essay, America’s Great War: World War One and the American Experience by Robert H.   Ziegler and Woodrow Wilson’s speech to congress on April 2nd, 1917 are evaluated for their origins, values, purposes and limitations. The investigation does not asses the pre-war situations of any countries but the United States, and does not asses American military involvement during the First World War Summary Of Evidence Prior to 1917, America was already deeply involved in the First World War, though they did not have troops fighting in the trenches overseas. First, American involvement in the war was purely as a producer and creditor to the Allied Powers. The war, while catastrophic for the countries involved in its atrophied trench battles, provided America with an astronomical boost to its economy, from 2 billion dollars in exported materials in 1913 to nearly 6 billion dollars in exports in 1916. This economic boom was mainly brought on by Britain’s dependency on American foodstuffs and manufactured goods.. The economic ties between America and Britain tightened with public subscription loans. By 1917, Britain had borrowed 2. 7 billion dollars from American creditors. Historian Paul Koistinen wrote â€Å"Without American supplies, Britain could not continue the war; without American financing of almost 10$ million a day †¦ Britain would exhaust its reserves of gold and securities by March 1917. Its dependence was total. Cutting back procurement . . . would produce disaster in England† Originally, America did nothing but reap the reward of â€Å"neutrality†. When Americas turned their eyes to the stage of war in Europe, they were truly terrified. One Chicago newspaper joked â€Å"A hearty vote of thanks to Columbus for having discovered America†. This sentiment was echoed by many American citizens, who showed pride in President Woodrow Wilson’s decision to declare America a neutral state in the war. Americans thoughts on the war lied in their bloodlines, as a majority of Americans were descendants from either Allied or Central Powers nations. Most Americans, early in the war at least, didn’t understand the war or why it was being fought, and were glad that America wasn’t involved. However, these robust Anti-Involvement sentiments began to fade after May 7 1915, the day of the Lusitania crisis. German U-Boats torpedoed and sunk a passenger liner in British waters, killing nearly 1,200 civilians, including 128 American citizens. The murder of these innocents set off the first widespread pro war feelings in Americans. This outrage was justified, but was also heightened by yellow journalism that demonized Germans as barbarians and deranged killers. President Woodrow Wilson, taking note of this event and the outrage it caused, warned the Germans that any further violation of American rights would result in â€Å"Strict Accountability† for these actions. This, as well as the bloody war dragging on in Europe, brought up the question of military preparedness in the United States. By 1916, pro-preparedness sentiment was widespread, as 135,000 supporters of expanding the military marched on New York City’s 5th Avenue, for 12 hours. In Chicago, 130,000 telephone operators moved in the shape of an American flag, goose-stepping down State Street. In the election of 1916, Woodrow Wilson ran against Charles E. Hughes, who was backed by Theodore Roosevelt, former president and staunch Allied Powers supporter, as well as an advocate for military preparedness. Woodrow Wilson won the election by only about 600,000 popular votes. However, these sentiments were met with an equally strong anti-militarism force, saying that in a chaotic world, America must be a beacon and resist entrance into war, and resist building an enormous military. Strong anti-militaristic sentiments began to fade when British intelligence officers intercepted a telegram sent from Foreign Secretary of the German Empire Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador of Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt. This infamous proposal, known as the Zimmermann note, proposed that Mexico wage war against the United States. Throughout America’s neutrality in World War 1, President Wilson had acted as a mediator, but with tension building to a terminal level and with the Zimmermann note, Wilson was forced to ask congress to bolster America’s military forces on April 2nd 1917. Later in the same year, America sent its first military forces oversees Evaluation Of Sources Robert H Zieger: America’s Great War: World War One and the American Experience Origins- (2000) Zieger is a respected labor historian Purpose- Provides an in-depth look at American involvement in the war. Value- The economic statistics and quotations from various primary and secondary sources allow the reader to evaluate the validity of the claims Zieger makes. Limitations- does not provide any new opinions or claims Woodrow Wilson, April 2nd 1917 to congress to persuade congress to bring the United States Origin- German hostile actions towards the United States Purpose- Persuade congress to declare war on Germany and the Central Powers Value- clearly outlined Wilson’s reason’s for entering war Limitations- doesn’t explain the underlying causes of military intervention or pressure from big business to declare war for entry  Analysis America’s involvement in World War One began with producing vital weapons and foodstuffs for the Allied Powers, as well as economically supporting the Allied nation’s governments. Throughout the war, the German Empire repeatedly acted belligerently towards the neutral United States, sinking passenger lines, killing Amer ican civilians. Tension with Germany also rose after the proposal to Mexico asking the Mexican army to wage war on the United States. These belligerent German acts, however, would not have held as much effect as they did if American political opinions had not been shifted by the German actions, the economic pressure of close ties to the Allied nations, or social pressure brought along by shifting political attitudes. These all contributed to tensions growing regarding American military involvement I World War One President Woodrow Wilson was a stalwart proponent of American neutrality in the First World War for the almost all of the war, but the American political climate at the time forced his hand.. He was able to win this election because most voters at the time had pro-neutrality sentiments. However, Wilson took into account his slim margin of victory, and the Republican’s yearning for a prepared military. These yearnings were brought on mainly by the Lusitania sinking. A major proponent for intervention, the previously mentioned Theodore Roosevelt, denounced these acts of the German Empire as acts of piracy. Roosevelt’s popularity made these statements extremely well heard. This shift in public opinion helped force President Wilson’s hand. America’s involvement in World War One before it entry in combat was extremely vital, producing millions of dollars’ worth of material for Britain and France, as well as financing the war through small loans. This dependency was built by J. P Morgan, who traded nearly 3 billion dollars’ worth of goods with the allied powers. By 1917, America had invested 2. 7 billion dollars in Britain alone. Historian Paul Koistinen’s quote regarding British dependency on American trade shows how deeply entrenched America was with the war’s affairs pre involvement. These statistics show that the allied powers were completely dependent on American economic support American corporations had an immense amount of wealth in the war, and if they Allied powers lost the war, all of their investments would be worth nothing, because the countries that had been responsible for repaying these debts would no longer exist. The war was taking a detrimental toll on the populations of the warring nations, and the war was almost completely atrophied. It was only a matter of time before one side lost, and it was essential to American business that it was the Allied Powers. Had the allied powers lost to the central powers, American financers would have lost 2. 7 billion dollars as a whole, 2. 7 billion dollars that were needed to give to American business, 2. 7 billion dollars that banks needed to stay in business. Throughout pre-involvement America, as early as the dawn of the war, so called â€Å"hyphenated Americans†, had opinions on what side of the war to support, dependent on their country of origin. German-Americans, the largest ethnic group at the time , supported what they thought of as their motherland, Germany, therefore supported the Central Powers. The second largest ethnic group, Irish-Americans, saw Great Britain as an oppressor, therefore were also supporters of the central powers. However, most Americans at the time were still pro-neutrality. A Chicago newspaper, expressing thanks to Columbus, wrote an article on the blessing of the Atlantic Ocean. This was a popular sentiment at the time, and many Americans were proud of Wilson’s decision to be neutral. After the sinking of American ocean liner Lusitania the support of neutrality began to fade. Before the Lusitania disaster, however, 92 ships had been sunken by aggressive German action. None of these attacks had gained as much publicity, partially due to the fact that the previous sinking’s hadn’t been as destructive. But this was also due to the fact that the Lusitania sinking was grabbed onto by yellow journalists. â€Å"The blood of these murdered victims cries for vengeance. If that cry is unheard, the people of the United States will always bear upon them the stigma of the greatest humiliation ever put upon a nation. Writes a reporter from the Toronto Telegram. President Wilson demanded that German U-Boats stop sinking civilian liners, and if they continued to do so, they would be met with military retaliation. This didn’t stop Germans from sinking boats, and Wilson’s failure to take action against them infuriated Americans. Observing the protests in American cities at the time, one can judge that huge masses of people were strongly in favo r of interventionism. The process of the American military joining the Allied Powers seemed inevitable from the start of the war, but still took hostile action and over reaction to spark military involvement. America’s pre-war economic ties to Europe and America’s reliance on trade with these nations during the war made America’s involvement with these nations too deep to let them lose the war, therefore forcing combat. Woodrow Wilson’s strong stance on neutrality couldn’t stand up to the enormous pressure he faced from the people of the United States. American Involvment in World War I. (2016, Sep 14). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

How Is Angina Diagnosed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How Is Angina Diagnosed - Essay Example Prior to the management of unstable angina it is crucial to diagnose the problem. Unstable angina can be diagnosed by means of clinical presentation of patient and by the measurement of certain biochemical markers. Cardiac troponin and myoglobin are valid diagnostic markers (Kumar and Clark, 2012). The main tool used in diagnosis of unstable angina is the clinical presentation of the patient. The patients complain of chest pain, chest pain may occur at rest or while exertion. The patient feels chest pain which radiates to the shoulder, arm, jaw, neck or the back. A feeling of discomfort might be felt by patient, and they might describe it like tightness in the chest. Dyspnea and sweating are also the possible symptoms of unstable angina (Kumar and Clark, 2012). On physical examination the patient is usually normal. Elder patients and women present with rare symptoms such as weakness, nausea, lightheadedness and diaphoresis (Sami et al, 2010). Electrocardiography plays a vital role is assessing unstable angina. It is a good prognostic tool for physicians to make decisions for patients who are at high risk for coronary syndromes. The 12 lead electrocardiogram is used for the diagnosis. For instance if a patient with symptoms of angina comes to the ER, physicians should do an ECG as soon as possible to rule out the underlying problem. In unstable angina the findings on an electrocardiogram include ST-segment depression, brief ST-segment elevation and inversion of T-wave. The ST-segment elevation in two continuous leads as a confirmation for acute myocardial infarction (Kumar and Cannon, 2009). Measurement of cardiac biomarkers is done in patients with acute coronary syndromes. The cardiac troponins are highly specific and sensitive in marking myocardial injury. Cardiac troponins have taken over CK-MB. The major disadvantage in using cardiac troponin is that it starts to rise in the patient after about 6 hours of the appearance of the symptoms (Kumar and

Shareholder Value Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Shareholder Value - Essay Example Some strategic decisions (entering new markets, increasing sales capacity, etc.) need shareholder approval as these may require capital investments that affect profits, while most tactical marketing decisions (like advertisements, promotional campaigns, etc.) do not. Since shareholders are after increasing the value of their investment (Shareholder Value or SHV), they want higher profits. Since profits result from how much the business sells and spends to generate those sales, it seems logical that SHV is a good framework for evaluating marketing decisions. This paper in effect analyzes the reasoning that making good and correct marketing decisions would increase profits and SHV. Drucker (1955, p. 36) was among the first to argue that the purpose of a business is to create value for its owners by creating and keeping customers, and that marketing encompasses the entire business and must permeate all areas of the enterprise because it is what will create and keep customers. Since then, academics and practitioners from Levitt (1960) to the American Marketing Association (AMA) have linked the marketing function with the concept of value - both to the business owners and to its customers. AMA (2004) defined marketing as "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships (customer value) in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders (shareholder value)." Marketing therefore links two areas where value is created: customer value that leads to shareholder value. Marketing is a complex activity that aims to satisfy people outside (customers) in order to satisfy the people inside (shareholders, managers, and employees) the business, and not the other way around. Since customers are satisfied if the business makes the right strategic and tactical marketing decisions, the customers buy what the business sells, and enough profits will come to keep everyone happy, at least in theory. Marketing decisions used to be simple and easy to make: find out what customers need, what price they are willing to pay for it, make the product, and sell it to them. Friedman (2004) argued that the age of mass production after the War was more about selling than marketing, but as the world became affluent and globalized, customer needs and wants became more sophisticated, business competition intensified, and meeting market needs became more scientific and complex and considered not only what customers want now but also what they would want in the future (Achrol, 1991). Thus, marketing decisions came to be classified as long-term (or strategic) and short-term (or tactical) depending on their impact on the business. Strategic marketing decisions took into account making an accurate (or close to it) prediction of what products would be demanded by customers in the future, and how much they are willing to pay for them, so that the business would not only decrease their profits and the rate at which profits are growing, but continue to compete and grow. Strategic marketing includes long-term decisions, aside from knowing what the present market would need and want in the future, about discovering new customers for present products, deciding on which new markets to enter, how much profits each market could generate and how much of that profit the

World Without Public Schools Essay Example for Free

World Without Public Schools Essay Should America have public schools, or would we do better without them? Nothing is more important to this country than the transformation of children into educated American citizens. Thats what public schools are for, and no institutions are better suited to the rolein principle. They used to fill it with distinction. But theres no reason we must have public schools. Granted, the public has a strong interest in educating Americas children, at a cost thats divided equitably among all taxpayers and not borne by the parents of school-age children alone. But these requirements dont imply any need for public schools. We need an Air Force, and the Air Force needs planes. Taxpayers pay for the force and the planes. But the pilots are supplied directly by the government, the airplanes by private companies (with government oversight and assistance). Schooling might be furnished on either model: mainly by public or mainly by private organizations. We know that private schools are perfectly capable of supplying first-class educations. So the question stands: Why have public schools? How should we decide whether to have them or not? Vouchers have been a popular and promising (and controversial) idea for years. Under voucher plans, the public pays part or all of the bill when a child attends private school. But here I am talking about the whole hog, not just the tail and a couple of trotters. If sending some children to private school at public expense is worth discussing, why not sending all children to private school? Why not liberate all the vast resources we spend on public schools to be re-channeled to private schools chosen by the nations parents? Any public school offering an education that parents will actually pay for (of their own free will) would presumably be replaced by a private school offering essentially the same thing. But a vast array of new private schools would germinate also. And a vast number of failed public schools would disappear. I n the system I am picturing, education would continue to be free and accessible to every child, and all taxpayers would continue to pay for it. Parents would be guaranteed access to reasonable schools that cost them nothing beyond what they pay in taxes. It would all be just like todayexcept that public schools would have vanished. Would private organizations be capable of providing enough new schools to replace our gigantic public schools establishment? Private enterprise is alleged to be smarter and more resourceful in America than anywhere else in the world. So lets suppose that private schools can indeed meet the needs of nearly all parents. Do we actually need and want our public schools, or do we keep them around out of fear of the teachers unionsand habit, like a broken childs toy we are too sentimental to throw away? The basic law of public schools Many sources agree that, on the whole, American public schools are rotten. In 2000, a whopping 12 percent of graduating seniors were rated proficient in science, and international surveys rank our graduating seniors 19th overall out of 21 nations. In 2002, the Washington Post summarized a different survey: Nearly six in 10 of the nations high school seniors lack even a basic knowledge of U. S. history. And so on. Our public schools are widely agreed to be in bad shape. But these are only problems of incompetence. Others cut deeper. The basic law of public schools is this: Public schools are first and foremost agents of the public. They exist to transform children into educated citizens as the public understands this termin other words, as a public consensus defines it. Of course the United States is a large country; standards have always differed from state to state. So each state has its own public schools, charged with satisfying the consensus definition of educated citizen in that state. In 1898, Nicholas Murray Butler (soon to be president of Columbia University) described universities in terms that make explicit this connection, one that is almost forgotten today. In order to become greatindeed, in order to exist at all, he wrote, a university [or public school! ] must represent the national life and minister to it. When the universities of any country cease to be in close touch with the social life and institutions of the people, and fail to yield to the efforts of those who would readjust them, their days of influence are numbered. The same is true of any system of educational organization. Public schools even more than universities must represent the national life and minister to it. They must minister to the consensus definition of an educated citizen. And what is a consensus? Unanimity or general agreement on matters of opinion, according to Websters; solid agreement by a large majority. And in states where there is no public consensus or general agreement on the meaning of educated citizen, public schools are in an impossible position. They cant act for the public if the public cant decide how they should act. This is true without regard to whether the schools are working well or badly. Today there are few states or none where a public consensus or general agreement exists on what educated citizen means. Schools exist not only to teach skills but to mold character. (Although many object to this old-fashioned language, few Americans disagree that schools must teach an approach to life, a worldview, a moral framework. ) The culture war that has been underway since the late 60s is precisely a war over approaches to life and worldviews and moral frameworks. Our politics mirror that divide. In the 2004 presidential election, Kerry and Bush differed on politics, but stood also for two different worldviews in the larger senseKerry the globalizing man-of-the-world with his European experience versus the plainspoken, ranch-living, Bible-quoting Bush. In simplest terms, Kerry stood for globalism, Bush for Americanism. As between these divergent visions, the country split down the middle. Its pretty clear that no consensus or general agreement on the nature of education is likely to exist in a country thats so divided. Which suggests in turn that, for now, the age of the American public school is over. Obviously we shouldnt make such judgments on the basis of short-term disagreements or divisions. But Americas culture war has been underway for a generation at least. You might argue that the solution is to have two varieties of public school, roughly moderate left and moderate right, each with its own curriculum, textbooks, and standards, and its own version of a worldview or moral framework to teach children. Every neighborhood or local region would vote on left versus right local schools. In many areas such elections would be extraordinarily hard-fought and bitteryet the solution might work, except that the school establishments bias is so consistently left (and not moderate left either) that it seems unlikely we could trust it to operate moderate right schoolsor even neutral schools, if there were such a thing. (The public schools bias often shows itself in exactly the form of neutrality, as Ill discuss. If you declare yourself neutral as between America and her enemies, or normal sexuality and homosexuality, your neutrality in itself is bias. ) Of course this whole analysis might be wrong. Maybe I misunderstand the point of public schools. Was there ever a consensus in this country on what an educated citizen should be? Maybe we always have been content for the schools to speak for just one section of American society, never the whole. What would the nation look like without public schools? Nearly all existing public school buildings would be leased to private schools. All the private schools in any town or district would discuss programs and fees among themselves (which would not count as illegal price-fixing), and with the public too, via local government or town meetings. Any public school whose staff believes in it would be allowed to keep its building and reorganize on a new basis. Some large public schools, especially high schools, would reorganize as confederacies of separate schools sharing one building: a science and math school, humanities school, arts school, sports school. Many students could attend more than one simultaneously. The Internets most important role might be to help coordinate such complicated arrangements. (Though its also true that a well-designed Internet school might attract students from all over the country. ) One final question: Is there any chance that Abolition will be acted on, or even discussed? Dont hold your breath. Yet it would take just one prominent (even medium-prominent) politician or public figure to get America talking. We desperately need this national discussion. And what could be healthier for Americas public schools than to learn that they might not be immortal after all?

In The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl by Ray Bradbury and The Tell :: English Literature

In The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl by Ray Bradbury and The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe both authors have to convince the reader that the main character is mad. How do they do that? Which portrayal is more effective? Why? This essay will explore which madman is portrayed the best. Both stories deal with an obsession and a madness of some sort. In ' The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl' by Ray Bradbury the main character is William Action who frantically cleans trying to cover up the murder. Not knowing he is going mad. In ' The Tell Tale Heart' the man has an obsession with his masters eye, which drives him mad but he does not believe himself that he is mad. In 'The Tell Tale Heart' the characters motive is his masters "vulture's eye" which is shown by saying " I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! Also when he says " One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture. In 'The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" the characters motive is that his wife is having an affair this is shown by the character saying, " Where's my wife, Huxley? " and " I need one. I can't believe Lily's gone that she-". The first characters motive suggests madness because why would you want to kill a man just because of his eye. The second one stands to reason because if you find out your wife was having an affair the first thing you would want to do is kill the other person In ' The Tell Tale Heart' the narration is first person, so that the readers can put themselves there, the character addresses them directly, It also give you an insight into the characters most inner thoughts and feelings. In ' Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl ' the narration is third person with stream of consciousness. This allows you to feel as thought you are watching the events unfold and that you become omnipotent. The narration method of ' The Tell Tale Heart' is more effective and convinces the reader of the main characters madness because you can tell the characters most inner thoughts and feelings as he addresses you unlike ' Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl ' which only shows you the actions and doesn't give you an insight to his mental well being. In 'Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl ' the characters attitude to the dead body and crime is one of calmness, although he was still conscious that his actions could be traced via his fingertips on the

History of Hippies and the Counter Culture Movement Essay

The origin of the word â€Å"hippie† derives from â€Å"hipster† which was first coined by Harry Gibson in 1940 in a song titled â€Å"Harry the Hipster† (as Harry referred to himself). Hipsters were beatniks who had moved into New York City’s Greenwich Village. Beatniks were followers of the Beat Generation literary movement who through their writings, promoted anti-conformist attitudes and ideals. The first clearly used instance of the term â€Å"hippie† occurred on September 5, 1965 in the article â€Å"A New Haven for Beatniks† by San Francisco journalist Michael Fallon (who was writing about the Blue Unicorn coffeehouse). Similar counter culture movements had occurred in Germany between 1896 and 1908. Known as Wandervogel (which translates roughly to â€Å"migratory bird†), the youth movement arose as a countercultural reaction to the urbanization that was occurring in Germany at the time. Wandervogel youth opposed traditional German values and forms of entertainment and instead emphasized amateur music and singing, creative dress, and communal outings involving hiking and camping. They were a back to the earth generation who yearned for the simple, sparse, back to nature spiritual life of their ancestors. In later years, the Wandervogel Germans immigrated to the United States where they opened many West Coast area health food stores. Many moved to Southern California. Over time other Americans adapted the beliefs and practices of the Wandervogel youth. Songwriter Eden Ahbez wrote a hit song called Nature Boy that was inspired by the Wandervogel follower, Robert Bootzin. The song helped popularized health consciousness, yoga, and organic food throughout the United States.

Religion: is it a Force For Good in the Modern World? Essay

What is religion, and can it ever be a force for good? Religion is a notional series of beliefs that make sense of the world. For some people, it can help to answer questions about creation, life and death, and provides comfort and a system of belief in and worship of a supernatural power or god. Religion in the West (mainly Christianity) is now not what it once was, and in the East (for example Islam) has become rather distorted due to fundamentalism. Nevertheless, most of us would like to think that religion is a force for good. The basic nature of most religions should make them so, but when people abuse religions and use them as an excuse to make money, exert power, or even to wage war, they turn into a force for bad. The Christianity of the past has sometimes seemed horrific to our eyes, but within the context of the times for many a Christian it was a force for good. We can see now that Christianity was good in the sense that it helped to inspire many good things in education, the rule of law, and culture generally – many paintings and musical compositions were enthused by the Christian religion, because people wanted to have illustrations of their belief in the transcendent. The Ten Commandments were and still are a good way for people and groups to control their behaviour and have a clear moral framework. (It is interesting to note that the Christian idea of turning the other cheek is not what the Christian Americans will be doing if they decide to attack Afghanistan.) There were several things about Christianity in the past that nowadays we consider to be morally wrong, but the Christians at the time thought that what they were doing was right: the crusades, for example, where the European crusaders wandered around the middle east attacking Muslims, sometimes even mistaking Christian villagers for Muslims and slaughtering their families. This would be considered as anything but morally right nowadays. The crusaders, though, thought that it was God’s will that they should slaughter those people, just as was the case was with dogmatic disputes within Christianity, with Christians fighting each other – the Christians thought that they were doing these terrible things for a just cause, just as bigoted and ignorant people in Northern Ireland still do. The good thing about Christianity these days is that the majority of Christian churches are benign give hope and something to rely on (for instance, the disaster in New York attracted many people to come to church to pray, even some non-religious people). Churches provide a focus in the community, and sometimes religious groups can act as a force to counteract bad elements in governments and societies. In the western world nowadays, Christianity is being overtaken by materialism; learning and compassion associated with the Christian religion are being undermined, and in the Middle East and in Africa, fundamentalism, (which takes the words of sacred texts literally), is coming into play. There is the danger for examples of clashes between Protestantism and Catholicism, and between other groups, in particular, evangelical churches, which are fundamentalist in tone, and display for example narrow-mindedness over abortion. There is also a danger from semi-religious cults, which like sects in religion emphasize a few aspects, which are often of benefit financially to themselves, or at least to their leaders. It cannot be very religious that in these money-based cults, there is a wish to dominate financially as well as ideologically. The Islamic religion was like the Christian religion in many respects – it was charitable, respected the individual and also helped to provide the foundations for things like education, law and the arts. However, the Islamic religion expanded too quickly over a wide geographical area, and could not keep up with the development of society, and there began conflicts within itself, and with Christianity. Jihads, (or Holy Wars, similar to crusades), were probably fundamentally more concerned with political and economical aims than with religious ones. Today, when it is part of more open and tolerant Muslim societies, such as Turkey or Pakistan, the Islamic religion does not present a major threat, and it is clear in these countries that there are a lot of similarities between Islamic and Christian principles. But because it has failed overall to adapt and find a place in the modern world, and there has tended to be a large gap between the rich and poor in Muslim societies, then fundamentalism has taken hold among the more ignorant or manipulative elements, and often has strong nationalist connections, as in the Taliban. This is a reaction by the clerics and their associates against a pluralistic society, away from individual rights and especially those of women to the supposedly core beliefs of the religion. In most cases the more tolerant and benevolent aspects of the religion are ignored, and even the strictest are seen to be corrupt: the Taliban’s religious police can be bribed, and often loot the televisions etc that they confiscate. An example of the difficulty that some modern day religions face is the idea of a holy or a just war. Most religions say that you should not commit murder, and should respect the individual, and it is often not easy to see why or how this can be overruled so that churches can justify a war, but the fact is that war is justified by different religions whether we like it or not. Generally a just or holy war should involve clear identification of an enemy, clear reasons for attacking the enemy, and some idea of what the outcome will achieve, even if it is only to the attacker’s benefit. The CIA supported and trained Bin Laden and his followers in Afghanistan when it suited the USA to use him against the Soviet invaders. Now they have to face him as a dangerous enemy. An ex-Soviet general said recently that four soldiers in a tank were no match for an Al-Qaeda follower on a donkey. Bin Laden is now the arch-enemy of the USA. Because he is sheltered in Afghanistan, that country, which has suffered 20 years of terrible war, is likely to be attacked again. The Taliban, however, feels that they have reason to view the USA as the enemy. Is this to do with religion, a real jihad, or is it that because everybody in poor Muslim countries that have suffered a lot of war feel envious of the power and wealth of the world’s only remaining superpower? If President Bush can talk carelessly (or was it carelessly?) about a crusade, is it not understandable that many Muslims feel that this is anti-Islamic in general and not just anti-Bin Laden? There is really no such thing as a justifiable holy war because no one should attack anyone else simply because they have different religious beliefs: the background to any war is always far more complicated than matters of doctrine – it is usually a power game and/or an economics game. Whether we are believers or not, we all have to hope that if used properly and in the right hands, religion can still be a force for good. In bad hands such as those of religious fundamentalists of an extreme kind it can be very dangerous. It is difficult for us to enter the minds of extremists partly because their motives often seem mixed: for example, it is said that the night before the attack on the World Trade Centre a lot of shares were bought and sold by people with connections to Bin Laden, and he seems to be a rich man already. The West has not yet come to terms with what these types of religion can mean and that is why it was taken by surprise on September 11. Until we understand what lies behind the sectarianism of religious extremists we will not be able to deal with these forces which bring what can only be called evil in their wake.

Physic Sc1 Resistance Of A Wire

Physic Sc1 Resistance Of A Wire How the resistance of a wire changes with different lengths Planning We are trying to find out if and how the resistance of a wire changes by adjusting the length of the wire. I think that as the length increases; the resistance will also increase. I think this will happen because in previous experiments, my results have shown this. For example: I have done an experiment where I had to find out what variables affected the resistance of a wire. I set up a circuit similar to the one in the diagram below. But instead of keeping all the variables the same, I changed them, one at a time, to see what effect they may have on the resistance of a wire.Predicted Graph Circuit Diagram The apparatus I will use is: battery pack, leads, ammeter, constantan wire (0.25 mm), ruler, crocodile clip and a voltmeter.I did a practical in which I chose to use constantan wire.English: Four-wire configuration of a resistance t...

Link Between Academic Success and a Students Perceived Self-worth Essay

Link Between Academic Success and a Students Perceived Self-worth - Essay Example There is a vast body of research on the intricate link between academic success and a student’s perceived self-worth. There is also a large amount of research detailing how the dynamics of student-teacher interactions play a key role in the formation of self-worth by these same students. However, Fay and Funk (1995) point out that educators only have access to the formation of such perceptions when providing feedback to behavior. Schroeder (n.d.) points out that feedback also involves the methods by which the educator communicates correctness of student responses to academic questions. Jim Fay’s (1995) discussion of three major teaching styles reminders readers that feedback sends not only the overt message of the words used but the covert messages of tone, actions and general body language. Of the three teaching styles - helicopter, drill sergeants, and consultants – it is the consultant teacher who embodies the overt and covert â€Å"messages of personal worth , dignity, and strength† (Fay & Funk, 1995, p. 197). When looking to the strategies employed by consultant teachers, it becomes obvious that these can be used with all teaching styles to provide corrective feedback in a whole instruction setting. First, educators should make sure the questions being asked are of appropriate difficulty and cognitive levels while being stated as clearly as possible. Schroeder (n.d.) suggests that questions dealing with new material should be such that 80% of the responses given are correct and 90+% for review materials. Educators may find that low-level questions that ask what, where, and who are best for this. Such pedagogical procedures will promote self-esteem as well as momentum needed to progress with instructional activities. Students will then be more willing to work for answers to higher order questions dealing with the why and how. Secondly, teachers should react to responses in such a way as to encourage student answers. Quick, certain responses that are correct need only affirmation that they are indeed correct. Correct but hesitantly given responses need the affirmation of correctness as well as praise and perhaps a short review of why the response is correct. Incorrect responses that are due to a careless error need only a quick reference to the error and time for the student to be allowed to provide the correct answer. Incorrect answers based on a lack of knowledge should be met with prompts and hints that may engage the needed information. Clarifying, rephrasing, or even changing the difficulty level may also assist these students (Schroeder, n.d.). Educators should provide students with every opportunity to get a correct answer but should not prolong the experience once it becomes obvious that the student lacks the knowledge needed. Third, instead of issuing orders teachers should present expectations as a challenge of something the student can and will do - positive expectancy. There are many procedures that will engender such an atmosphere. However, students sometimes resist the challenge even though a sense of positive expectancy has been created. Effective teachers will continue to work with the student and try to help him identify how to meet the expectation.Such teachers are engaging in tenacity (Saphier & Gower, 1987). Tenacious teachers engage in a "no excuses" policy. In this procedure the teacher will ask why the student is unable to meet the expectation. She will then refuse to accept such excuses. Work may be sent back to be done over; supplies may be procured and provided to the student; help and individual instruction may be offered more often; and eventually the consequences of the performance - superior, adequate, or poor - will be given without anger (Saphier & Gower, 1987).

Epidemiology Project Interview Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Epidemiology Project Interview - Assignment Example So, my training in pharmacy and public health have prepared me to perform my job successfully. Oenga’s response: my interest in epidemiology was sparked by one of my uncles who was an epidemiologist. As an epidemiologist, my uncle Mr. Patrick Ongeri was very dedicated to his work and he really loved his work; my uncle inspired me when I was young and I resolved that I would be an epidemiologist when I grow up. Oenga’s response: for me, the main positive aspect of being an epidemiologist is that I find a lot of fulfillment it; I really love this job and I find it so fulfilling in life. On the negatives, I would say that this job is quite risky because one can easily end up getting an infectious and incurable disease like Ebola. Oenga’s response: yes I do a piece of advice to them. My advice to them is that if they want to be really happy in this carrier, they have to do it not for the love of money, but for the love of people whom they will be serving through this carrier; if they do it for the love of money, they may end up being frustrated because they will never get enough of it. Appreciation: As we conclude, I would like to sincerely thank you for giving me your time for this interview; thank you also for being so cooperative and for answering all my questions clearly and enthusiastically, thank you very  much.