Effect of Videogames on health and socially Essay

Effect of Videogames on health and socially - Essay Example In any case, it is impossible to isolate videogames completely from human life in this era of advanced science and technology. This paper analyses how videogames affect the human health and the society. According to Anderson (2003), videogames are an excellent tool for teachers to stimulate learning among the students. At the same time, violent video games have the potential to cause immense social problems. Videogames are a double edged sword. Teachers can teach difficult lessons with the help of videogames so that the students get more insights about difficult topics. For example, while teaching subjects such as physics and chemistry, teachers can make use of videogames. Imagine a case in which a teacher is teaching missile technology in a physics class. There are plenty of videogames available in the market in which fight using missiles or guns is the major theme. Such videogames can be used effectively by a teacher to teach the topics related to the operations of a missile. In short, videogames have the potential to cultivate positive effects in a society since it has the ability to stimulate or enhance the learning process. Kim et al (2010) pointed that â€Å"excessive playing of video games may result in impaired academic performance. Videogames have the ability to cultivate a kind of addiction among teenagers. Majority of the videogames are organized in such a way that each player should cross many difficult levels before reaching the target. When a teenager fails to overcome a particular difficulty level, he may spend more and more time in front of the computers or mobile phones for solving the puzzles created by the videogames. Thus he may not get enough time to spend for academic studies. Thus his studies can be negatively influenced by the addiction generated towards videogames. Teachers and parents are of the view that children who spent more time for playing videogames may spent little time for doing their home works, assignments or

Salem witch trials Essay Example for Free

Salem witch trials Essay In the commentary, â€Å"Do Video Games Kill†, Karen Sternheimer brings to light an interesting and incredibly controversial subject; are video games to blame for youth gun violence? She maintains that due to many biased opinions; political, religious and advocacy groups, the media have failed to provide ample information to the public resulting in the inability to form an educated opinion, in turn causing a mass hysteria resulting in tougher security guidelines in schools, stricter juvenile laws and far less personal and parental responsibility. An incredibly popular first person shooter video game, Doom, is ripe with gratuitous violence. So much so that it has been blamed for several mass shootings, perpetrated by middle-class, white, young-adult males. The media, politicians, advocacy groups as well as the FBI are steadfast in claiming that the only rational explanation is that of the individuals falling prey to the aggression inciting video game. In short, the violent video game made them do it. One might be reminded of the Salem Witch Trials, where no educated explanation can be derived, those which cannot defend themselves, no matter how far-fetched the reasoning, is the obvious answer. Religious and political dogma has run rampant. The media have created unnecessary fear and moral panic to legitimize their personal agendas under the guise of â€Å"protecting children†. More often than not, alternate explanations are not even taken into consideration. Depression, poverty, ignorance, self deprecation, bullying, violent home life are seldom cited and when cited are not explored in depth. The justice system in nearly every state has revised its juvenile justice laws to increase their penalties in many ways; however, the Supreme Court deemed juvenile executions unconstitutional, which in turn created even more fodder for the paranoid masses.

Performance Study of Multiphase Catalytic Monolith Reactor

Performance Study of Multiphase Catalytic Monolith Reactor Performance study of multiphase catalytic monolith reactor and its comparison with the performance of trickle bed reactor (TBR) Xiaofeng Wang Introduction Multiphase reactors are found in diverse applications such as in manufacture of petroleum-based fuels and products, in production of commodity and specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, herbicides and pesticides, in production of materials and in pollution abatement [1]. A key motivation for implementing multiphase reactor technology has largely been driven by the discovery and development of new or improved catalysts for either emerging or existing processes [2]. A wealth of products are produced in multiphase catalytic reactions. Among the multiphase reaction systems, the monolith reactor, slurry bubble column and the trickle bed reactor (TBR) (Figure 1) are being used most extensively. Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the pilot scale trickle bed reactor Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the pilot scale monolith reactor [3] In general, monolith reactors refer to reactors that contain catalysts with certain structures or arrangements (Figure 2). According to this definition, there are many different types of monolith reactors, such as honeycomb, foam, and fiber reactors, etc. Usually monolith reactors refer to those containing catalysts with parallel straight channels inside the catalyst block. Monoliths can carry active catalyst in two ways: the surface can have a washcoat of the active catalyst, or the structure can be impregnated with active catalyst. Monolith reactors offer several advantages over traditional random fixed beds or slurry reactors, such as better mass transfer characteristics, higher volumetric productivity for a smaller amount of catalyst, elimination of filtration step and lower pressure drop. In recently years, monoliths as multiphase reactors to replace trickle-bed and slurry reactors have received more and more attention. The honeycomb monolith has been very successful in gas phase reactors, most notably as the structured support for the conversion of pollutants in vehicle exhausts. The potential of monoliths to act as a catalytic support for multiphase reactions has been recognized for over 20 years and much recent work has been done to extend the application of monoliths to liquid and gas–liquid systems [4, 5]. Monoliths offer the benefits of an absence of a need for filtering catalyst from the product, low pressure drop, high geometrical surface area, safer operation and, perhaps most significantly, potentially easy scale-up. However, the latter is crucially dependent upon being able to achieve an even gas–liquid distribution across the channels. Furthermore, maldistribution can lead to a wide residence time distribution across the radial section of mon olith with consequently lower selectivity, ineffective catalyst usage and hot spots in the reactor [5, 6]. Some of the applications that have been proposed or explored include: hydrodesulphurization of oil, liquefied coal, and dibenzothiophene; hydrogenation or dehydrogenation associated with various aromatic compounds; oxidation reactions. Applications of monolith structured packed beds used for distillation and adsorption have also been reported. Now research has been done on monolith reactors in many areas, such as preparation and extruding techniques, applications and performance to various reactions, flow regime and hydrodynamics studies, mass and heat transfer, and modeling and simulation including computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation [7-10]. This report will analyze and summarize the performance of catalytic monolith reactor on the different reactions, such as hydrogenation, dehydrogenation [11-18] and oxidation [19-22] reactions, and mostly focus on the studies published in the last 10 years. Advantages Of Monolith Reactors For multiphase reaction applications, different types of conventional reactors have been used in industry. The major ones are the trickle bed reactor (TBR), slurry bubble column reactor and the stirred tank slurry reactor. Each reactor type has its own advantages and shortcomings. A TBR is a convenient reactor compared to slurry bubble column reactor and the stirred tank slurry reactor, although larger particles must be used to guarantee moderate pressure drop. However, on the catalyst surface, where the liquid is either depleted or imperfectly covers the catalyst surface, dry areas are encountered: these substantially reduce the liquid–solid contacting efficiency of the trickle-bed reactor [23]. Besides, local hot spots may develop and cause runaways. Adding to the problem are the low gas–liquid velocities required to avoid excessive pressure drop. This requirement results in high operational costs and low productivity. For the slurry bubble column reactor and stirred tank reactor, the slurry catalysts are very small, which needs the reactors offer very simple reactor geometry, high heat removal, excellent mass transfer characteristics, and a high effectiveness factor. Moreover, it is very difficult to separate product and catalyst, and catalyst attrition in these reactors. Another major drawback of conventional reactors for multiphase reactions is the difficulty of scale-up to industrial size units [24]. Monolith reactors, as novel reactors, can overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages with their excellent design. Monolith catalysts or monolith reactors have some common features in most of the applications they are used for. These features or characteristics include: (1) low pressure drop especially under high fluid throughputs; (2) elimination of external mass transfer and internal diffusion limitations; (3) low axial dispersion and backmixing, and therefore high product selectivity; (4) larger external surface; (5) uniform distribution of flow (gas phase); (6) elimination of fouling and plugging, and thus extended catalyst lifetime; (7) easy scale-up, etc [25]. Monolith reactors with these features or characteristics can make up the shortcomings of conventional reactors and can be an attractive alternative to other conventional multiphase reactors. Monolith Reactor Performance And Comparison With TBR Among the various chemical reactions occurring in broad range of industrial application areas, catalytic gas-liquid-solid reactions are widespread [10, 23]. These reactions occur extensively in chemical, petroleum, petrochemical, biochemical, material, and environmental industrial processes for a wide variety of products (such as hydrogenation, oxidation, and alkylation). Recent research has shown that monolithic reactors with a gas–liquid flow in small regular channels with an active component deposited on the walls can lead to performance enhancement in comparison with such conventional multiphase reactors as trickle bed [14, 26-28] and slurry reactors [29-31]. The performance enhancement is mainly attributed to the more intensive contact between all phases and better mass transfer inherent in the slug flow, which is characterized by the passage of elongated gas bubbles being separated by liquid slugs [32]. As a rule, research on monolithic reactors is focused on two different options with regard to practical realization. The first one is the application of monolithic systems as alternative to batch reactors, where a fixed catalyst (instead of a suspended catalyst) is used at superficial velocities needed for maximum conversion [33, 34]. The second one is the utilization of monolithic catalysts in the column type reactors, which usually employ randomly packed catalyst particles [35]. In this section, I select two different kinds of reactions to discuss the performance of a monolith reactor. And the performance is compared with that of a TBR operated at conditions typically employed for TBR. Moreover, I will point out some potential research orientations on the basis of the main problems encountered in recent research. Selective Hydrogenation of 2-butyne-1,4-diol To Butane-1,4-diol Catalytic, multiphase hydrogenation has been carried out commercially for over a century. A huge variety of reactions are accomplished via this process, using predominantly heterogeneous catalysts. In addition, product values and volumes vary enormously: by several orders of magnitude. Given this diversity it is therefore perhaps somewhat surprising that these reactions are carried out for the most part in just one reactor type: the stirred tank reactor. Furthermore, this type of reactor has been at the core of industry for over a century [36]. There are a number of other well-established alternatives used in the large-scale chemical industries [37] including the TBR, which is used almost exclusively in refinery hydroprocessing and extensively for hydrogenation in petrochemical plants. However, these reactor designs prove difficult to scaleup as key length-scales do not scale in a similar fashion. Monolith reactors, as novel reactors, can overcome the drawbacks with their distinctive design. A comparison between the monolithic reactors with traditional trickle bed reactors was reported by Fishwick et al. for a model reaction in both terms of activity and selectivity [29]. Besides, the scale-out of a single channel to larger monoliths of 1256 and 5026 channels is analyzed, demonstrating the potential for rate and selectivity enhancements whilst allowing ease of scale-out. The selective hydrogenation of 2-butyne-1,4-diol was studied as the model reaction. This is a consecutive reaction widely applied in the production of butane-1,4-diol, a raw material used in the polymers industry and in the manufacture of tetrahydrofuran (THF) [38]. Several side reactions are possible, as illustrated in Figure 3, for example the 4-hydroxybutyraldehyde and its cyclic hemiacetal, 2-hydroxytetrahydrofuran, as a consequence of double-bond isomerisation and hydrogenolysis reactions [15]. Figure 3. Reaction scheme for hydrogenation of 2-butyne-1,4-diol Conclusion The monolith reactor achieved the highest selectivity towards the alkene intermediate in the hydrogenation of 2-butyne-1,4-diol when compared to trickle bed reactors. Loss of selectivity is for the most part due to the formation of non-hydrogenation side products. The high selectivity observed in the monolith can be partly attributed to the high dispersion of palladium and small palladium particle size on the washcoat support. However, differences in product distribution between single- and two- phase modes of operation suggest that mass transfer of hydrogen to the catalyst surface also influences the selectivity. The reactor design and operating mode can therefore be optimised to achieve maximum selectivity. Additionally, a comparison of a single capillary with 5 and 10 cm monoliths (1256 and 5026 channels, respectively) indicates that initial reaction rates and selectivity are maintained. Reference 1. Dudukovic, M.P., F. Larachi, and P.L. Mills, Multiphase reactors revisited. Chemical Engineering Science, 1999. 54(13-14): p. 1975-1995. 2. DudukoviĆ¡, M.P., F. Larachi, and P.L. Mills, Multiphase catalytic reactors: A perspective on current knowledge and future trends. Catalysis Reviews Science and Engineering, 2002. 44(1): p. 123-246. 3. Cordiner, S. and G. De Simone, A new approach for modeling the thermal behavior of methane catalytic partial oxidation monolith reactors. Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology, 2010. 7(1): p. 0110201-01102011. 4. Nijhuis, T.A., F.M. Dautzenberg, and J.A. Moulijn, Modeling of monolithic and trickle-bed reactors for the hydrogenation of styrene. Chemical Engineering Science, 2003. 58(7): p. 1113-1124. 5. Roy, S. and M. Al-Dahhan, Flow distribution characteristics of a gas–liquid monolith reactor. Catalysis Today, 2005. 105(3–4): p. 396-400. 6. Van Gulijk, C., et al., Intrinsic channel maldistribution in monolithic catalyst support structures. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2005. 109(1): p. 89-96. 7. Navalho, J.E.P., et al., Catalytic partial oxidation of methane rich mixtures in non-adiabatic monolith reactors. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2013. 38(17): p. 6989-7006. 8. Gundlapally, S.R. and V. Balakotaiah, Analysis of the effect of substrate material on the steady-state and transient performance of monolith reactors. Chemical Engineering Science, 2013. 92: p. 198-210. 9. Vlakh, E.G. and T.B. Tennikova, Flow-through immobilized enzyme reactors based on monoliths: II. Kinetics study and application. Journal of Separation Science, 2013. 36(6): p. 1149-1167. 10. Wang, T., et al., Numerical investigation on CO2 photocatalytic reduction in optical fiber monolith reactor. Energy Conversion and Management, 2013. 65: p. 299-307. 11. Kreutzer, M.T., et al., Multiphase monolith reactors: Chemical reaction engineering of segmented flow in microchannels. Chemical Engineering Science, 2005. 60(22): p. 5895-5916. 12. Liu, W., et al., Monolith reactor for the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 2002. 41(13): p. 3131-3138. 13. Nijhuis, T.A., et al., Monolithic catalysts as efficient three-phase reactors. Chemical Engineering Science, 2001. 56(3): p. 823-829. 14. Nijhuis, T.A., et al., Monolithic catalysts as more efficient three-phase reactors. Catalysis Today, 2001. 66(2-4): p. 157-165. 15. Xiaoding, X., et al., Monolithic catalysts for selective hydrogenation of benzaldehyde. Catalysis Today, 1996. 30(1-3): p. 91-97. 16. Edvinsson, R.K. and A. Cybulski, A comparison between the monolithic reactor and the trickle-bed reactor for liquid-phase hydrogenations. Catalysis Today, 1995. 24(1-2): p. 173-179. 17. Hatziantoniou, V., B. Andersson, and N.H. Schà ¶Ãƒ ¶n, Mass transfer and selectivity in liquid-phase hydrogenation of nitro compounds in a monolithic catalyst reactor with segmented gas-liquid flow. Industrial Engineering Chemistry Process Design and Development, 1986. 25(4): p. 964-970. 18. Hatzlantonlou, V. and B. Andersson, SEGMENTED TWO-PHASE FLOW MONOLITHIC CATALYST REACTOR. AN ALTERNATIVE FOR LIQUID-PHASE HYDROGENATIONS. Industrial Engineering Chemistry, Fundamentals, 1984. 23(1): p. 82-88. 19. Albers, R.E., et al., Development of a monolith-based process for H2O2 production: From idea to large-scale implementation. Catalysis Today, 2001. 69(1-4): p. 247-252. 20. Klinghoffer, A.A., R.L. Cerro, and M.A. Abraham, Catalytic wet oxidation of acetic acid using platinum on alumina monolith catalyst. Catalysis Today, 1998. 40(1): p. 59-71. 21. Klinghoffer, A.A., R.L. Cerro, and M.A. Abraham, Influence of Flow Properties on the Performance of the Monolith Froth Reactor for Catalytic Wet Oxidation of Acetic Acid. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 1998. 37(4): p. 1203-1210. 22. Crynes, L.L., R.L. Cerro, and M.A. Abraham, Monolith froth reactor: development of a novel three-phase catalytic system. AIChE Journal, 1995. 41(2): p. 337-345. 23. Roy, S., et al., Monoliths as multiphase reactors: A review. AIChE Journal, 2004. 50(11): p. 2918-2938. 24. Kapteijn, F., et al., New non-traditional multiphase catalytic reactors based on monolithic structures. Catalysis Today, 2001. 66(2-4): p. 133-144. 25. Chen, J., et al., Mathematical modeling of monolith catalysts and reactors for gas phase reactions. Applied Catalysis A: General, 2008. 345(1): p. 1-11. 26. Kapteijn, F., et al., Monoliths in multiphase catalytic processes Aspects and prospects. CATTECH, 1999. 3(1): p. 24-41. 27. Bauer, T., et al., Modelling and simulation of the monolithic reactor for gas-liquid-solid reactions. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2005. 83(7 A): p. 811-819. 28. Yawalkar, A.A., et al., Axial mixing in monolith reactors: Effect of channel size. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 2005. 44(7): p. 2046-2057. 29. Fishwick, R.P., et al., Selective hydrogenation reactions: A comparative study of monolith CDC, stirred tank and trickle bed reactors. Catalysis Today, 2007. 128(1-2 SPEC. ISS.): p. 108-114. 30. Cybulski, A., et al., Monolithic reactors for fine chemicals industries: A comparative analysis of a monolithic reactor and a mechanically agitated slurry reactor. Chemical Engineering Science, 1999. 54(13-14): p. 2351-2358. 31. Lisi, L., et al., Cu-ZSM5 based monolith reactors for NO decomposition. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2009. 154(1-3): p. 341-347. 32. Liu, W., S. Roy, and X. Fu, Gas-liquid catalytic hydrogenation reaction in small catalyst channel. AIChE Journal, 2005. 51(8): p. 2285-2297. 33. Bauer, T. and S. Haase, Comparison of structured trickle-bed and monolithic reactors in Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation of alpha-methylstyrene. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2011. 169(1-3): p. 263-269. 34. Boger, T., et al., Monolithic Catalysts as an Alternative to Slurry Systems: Hydrogenation of Edible Oil. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 2004. 43(10): p. 2337-2344. 35. Enache, D.I., et al., Direct comparison of a trickle bed and a monolith for hydrogenation of pyrolysis gasoline. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 2005. 44(25): p. 9431-9439. 36. Stitt, E., et al., Multiphase hydrogenation reactors—past, present and future. 2003: The Royal Society of Chemistry: London. 37. Mills, P.L. and R.V. Chaudhari, Multiphase catalytic reactor engineering and design for pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. Catalysis Today, 1997. 37(4): p. 367-404. 38. Natividad, R., et al., Analysis of the performance of single capillary and multiple capillary (monolith) reactors for the multiphase Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation of 2-butyne-1,4-diol. Chemical Engineering Science, 2004. 59(22-23): p. 5431-5438.

Oedipus Rex †The Conflict, Climax and Resolution Essay -- Oedipus the

Oedipus Rex – The Conflict, Climax and Resolution  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, presents to the reader a full range of conflicts and their resolution after a climax.    Thomas Van Nortwick in The Meaning of a Masculine Life describes Oedipus’ tragic flaw:    As ruler, he is a father to Thebes and its citizens, and like a father he will take care of his â€Å"children.† We see already the supreme self-confidence and ease of command in Oedipus, who can address not only other people’s children as his own, but also be a father to men older than he is. But beyond even this there is, in the sretched posture of the citizens, the hint of prostration before a deity. We are â€Å"clinging to your altars,† says the priest. . . . That he also exudes a godlike mastery in the eyes of his subjects only strengthens the heroic portrait. . . .(21-22).    The â€Å"godlike mastery† to which Van Nortwick refers is the same mastery which Creon in his final lines designates as the cause of the tragic dimension in the life of the protagonist: â€Å"Crave not mastery in all, /For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.† Oedipus’ total mastery of the investigation resultant from the Delphic oracle’s declaration, yes, his forceful â€Å"railroading† of the investigation against the wishes of Jocasta, Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd, ultimately spells the downfall of King Oedipus.      Abrams says that the conflict is between the protagonist and antagonist (225). Is the antagoinst within Oedipus in the form of his â€Å"godlike mastery,† as Creon believed? Or is the antagonist weird/wyrd/fate, so that the oracle demonstrated the gods’ power to predestine their creatures? Frank B. Jevons in â€Å"In... ...shers, 1999.    Benardete, Seth. â€Å"Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus.† In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.    Jevons, Frank B.   â€Å"In Sophoclean Tragedy, Humans Create Their Own Fate.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.    Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi    Van Nortwick, Thomas.   Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. Oedipus Rex – The Conflict, Climax and Resolution Essay -- Oedipus the Oedipus Rex – The Conflict, Climax and Resolution  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, presents to the reader a full range of conflicts and their resolution after a climax.    Thomas Van Nortwick in The Meaning of a Masculine Life describes Oedipus’ tragic flaw:    As ruler, he is a father to Thebes and its citizens, and like a father he will take care of his â€Å"children.† We see already the supreme self-confidence and ease of command in Oedipus, who can address not only other people’s children as his own, but also be a father to men older than he is. But beyond even this there is, in the sretched posture of the citizens, the hint of prostration before a deity. We are â€Å"clinging to your altars,† says the priest. . . . That he also exudes a godlike mastery in the eyes of his subjects only strengthens the heroic portrait. . . .(21-22).    The â€Å"godlike mastery† to which Van Nortwick refers is the same mastery which Creon in his final lines designates as the cause of the tragic dimension in the life of the protagonist: â€Å"Crave not mastery in all, /For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.† Oedipus’ total mastery of the investigation resultant from the Delphic oracle’s declaration, yes, his forceful â€Å"railroading† of the investigation against the wishes of Jocasta, Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd, ultimately spells the downfall of King Oedipus.      Abrams says that the conflict is between the protagonist and antagonist (225). Is the antagoinst within Oedipus in the form of his â€Å"godlike mastery,† as Creon believed? Or is the antagonist weird/wyrd/fate, so that the oracle demonstrated the gods’ power to predestine their creatures? Frank B. Jevons in â€Å"In... ...shers, 1999.    Benardete, Seth. â€Å"Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus.† In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.    Jevons, Frank B.   â€Å"In Sophoclean Tragedy, Humans Create Their Own Fate.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.    Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi    Van Nortwick, Thomas.   Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.

Chapter 6 – Planning Capacity

chapter 6: Planning capacity Capacity the maximum rate of output of a process or a system. Acquisition of new capacity requires extensive planning, and often involves significant expenditure of resources and time. Capacity decisions must be made in light of several long-term issues such as the firm’s economies and diseconomies of scale, capacity cushions, timing and sizing strategies, and trade-offs between customer service and capacity utilization. Planning capacity across the organizationAccounting provide cost information needed to evaluate capacity expansion Finance financial analysis of proposed capacity expansion investments and raises funds Marketing demand forecasts needed to identify capacity gaps. Operations selection of capacity strategies that can be implemented to effectively meet future demand. Human Resources hiring and training employees needed to support internal capacity plans. planning long-term capacity When choosing a capacity strategy: How much of a cushi on is needed to handle variable or uncertain demand? Should we expand capacity ahead of demand, or wait until demand is more certain? easures of capacity and utilization Output Measures Are best utilized when applied to individual processes within the firm, or when the firm provides a relatively small number of standardized services and products. For example, a car manufacturing plant may measure capacity in terms of the number of cars produced per day. Inputs Measures Are used for low-volume, flexible processes (custom products). For example a custom furniture maker might measure capacity in terms of inputs such as number of workstations or number of workers. The problem of input measures is that demand is expressed as an output rate.If the furniture maker wants to keep up with demand, he must convert the business’s annual demand for furniture into labor hours and number of employees required to fulfill those hours. Utilization Degree to which a resource (equipment, space, w orker) is currently being used. Utilization= Average Output RateMaximum Capacityx 100% The numerator and the denominator should be measured in the same units. A process can be operated above the 100%, with overtime, extra shifts, overstaffing, subcontracting, etc, but this is not sustainable for long. Economies of scaleEconomies of scale The average unit cost of a service or good can be reduced by increasing its output rate. Why? * Spreading fixed costs same fixed costs divided by more units * Reducing construction costs doubling the size of the facility usually doesn’t double construction costs (building permits, architect’s fees, rental) * Cutting costs of purchased materials better bargaining position and quantity discounts * Finding process advantages speed up the learning effect, lowering inventory, improving process and job designs, and reducing the number of changeovers. diseconomies of scaleDiseconomies of scale The average cost per unit increases as the facili ty’s size increases. The reason is that excessive size can bring complexity, loss of focus, and inefficiencies. capacity timing and sizing strategies sizing capacity cushions Capacity cushion=100%-Average Utilization rate (%) When the average utilization rate approaches 100% for long periods, it’s a signal to increase capacity or decrease order acceptance to avoid declining productivity. The optimal capacity cushion depends on the industry. Particularly, in front-office processes where customers expect fast service times, large cushions are vital (more variable demand).For capital-intensive firms, minimizing the capacity cushion is vital (unused capacity costs money). timing and sizing expansion Two strategies: * Expansionist strategy large, infrequent jumps in capacity. Is ahead of demand, and minimizes the chance of sales lost to insufficient capacity * Wait-and-see strategy smaller, more frequent jumps. It lags behind demand. To meet any shortfalls, it relies on sho rt-term operations (overtime, temporary workers, subcontractors, postponement of preventive maintenance on equipment).It reduces the risk of overexpansion based on overly optimistic demand forecasts, obsolete technology, or inaccurate assumptions regarding the competition. This strategy fits the short-term outlook but can erode market share over the long run. Timing and sizing of expansion are related: if demand is increasing and the time between increments increases, the size of the increments must also increase. An intermediate strategy can be â€Å"follow the leader†, so nobody gains a competitive advantage for being ahead of demand, and everyone shares the agony of overcapacity in the other case. inking capacity and other decisions Capacity cushions in the long run buffer the organization against uncertainty, as do resource flexibility, inventory, and longer customer lead times. If a change is made in any one decision area, the capacity cushion may also need to be changed to compensate. For example: Lower volume of production (more capacity cushion) to raise prices or vice versa. a systematic approach to long-term capacity decisions 4 steps: 1. Estimate future capacity requirements 2. Identify gaps by comparing requirements with available capacity 3. Develop alternative plans for reducing the gaps . Evaluate each alternative, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and make a final choice step 1: estimate capacity requirements A process’s capacity requirement is what its capacity should be for some future time period to meet the demand of the firm’s customers (external or internal), given the firm’s desired capacity cushion. Larger requirements are practical for processes or workstations that could potentially be bottlenecks in the future, and management may even plan for longer cushions than normal. Capacity requirements can be expressed in: * Output measure * Input measureEither way, the foundation for the estimate is forecasts of demand, productivity, competition, and technological change. The further ahead you look, the more chance you have of making an inaccurate forecast. Using output measures Demand forecasts for future years are used as a basis for extrapolating capacity requirements into the future. If demand is expected to double in the next 5 years, then the capacity requirements also double. For example: Actual demand 50 customers per day; expected demand = 100 customers per day; desirable cushion = 20%. So capacity should be (100)/(1-0. )=125 customers per day. Using input measures Output measures may be insufficient in these situations: * Product variety and process divergence is high (customized products) * The product or service mix is changing * Productivity rates are expected to change * Significant learning effects are expected In these cases, an input measure should be used (number of employees, machines, trucks, etc) One product processed When just one service or product is processed at an operation and the time period is a particular year, the capacity requirement (M) is: M=DpN[1-C100]D=demand forecast for the year (number of customers served or units produced) p=processing time (in hours per costumer served or unit produced) N=Total number of hours per year during which the process operates C=desired capacity cushion (expressed as a percent) M=number of input units required and should be calculated for each year in the time horizon Many products processed Setup time time required to change a process or an operation from making one service or product to making another. To calculate the total setup time D/Q*s Where D=demand forecast for the yearQ= number of units processed between setups s= time per setup For example, if the demand is 1200 units, and the average lot size is 100, there are 1200/100=12 setups per year. Accounting for both processing and setup times for multiple products, we get: M=[Dp+DQs]product 1+[Dp+DQs]product 2+†¦+[Dp+DQs]product nN[1-C100 ] When â€Å"M† is not an integer and we are talking about number of machines, you can round up the fractional part, unless it is cost efficient to use short-term options, such as overtime or stockouts.But if we are talking about number of employees and we get 23. 6, we can use 23 employees and use a little overtime (in this case, 60% of a full-time person). step 2: identify gaps A capacity gap is any difference (positive or negative) between projected capacity requirements (M) and current capacity. step 3: develop alternatives Develop alternative plans to cope with projected gaps. One alternative is the base case do nothing and simply lose orders from any demand that exceeds current capacity or incur costs because capacity is too large.Other alternatives: various timing and sizing options (expansionist or wait-and-see strategies); expanding at a different location; and using short term options. For reducing capacity, the alternatives include closing plants, laying off employ ees, reducing days or hours of operations. step 4: evaluate the alternatives Evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative concerns The manager looks at how each alternative fits the overall capacity strategy and other aspects of the business not covered by the financial analysis (uncertainties about demand, competitive reaction, technological change, and cost estimates).Some of these factors can’t be quantified and must be assessed on the basis of judgment and experience. Quantitative concerns The manager estimates the change in cash flows for each alternative over the forecast time horizon compared to the base case. tools for capacity planning waiting-line models Are useful in high customer-contact processes. Waiting-line models use probability distributions to provide estimates of average customer wait time, average length of waiting lines, and utilization of the work center.Managers can use this information to choose the most cost-effective capacity, balancing cu stomer service and the cost of adding capacity. This topic will be treated more deeply in the appendix (siguiente resumen) simulation Simulations can identify the process’s bottlenecks and appropriate capacity cushions, even for complex processes with random demand patterns and predictable flows in demand during a typical day. decision trees A decision tree can be particularly valuable for evaluating different capacity extension alternatives when demand is uncertain and sequential decisions are involved.

Spanish development Essay Example

Spanish development Essay Example Spanish development Essay Spanish development Essay Essay Topic: The Lottery and Other Stories Special report: Brazil Grounded Having come tantalizingly close to taking off, Brazil has stalled. Helen Joyce explains what it must do to get airborne again Seep 28th 2013 | From the print edition IN JUNE THIS year Brazil was struck by an outbreak of mass protests as sudden as a tropical storm. Brutal policing of demonstrations against a rise in bus fares elicited a wave of solidarity and brought more than a million marchers to the streets on subsequent nights. It also gave vent to previously unsuspected public fury over rising inflation, high taxes, poor public services and political corruption. Even football, a Brazilian passion, became a target of the protesters ire. Many carried placards contrasting their governments lavish spending on stadiums for next years World Cup with the dire state of the rest of the countrys infrastructure. The change in political weather came after almost two decades of brightening skies. Since 1994, when hyperinflation was tamed with a new currency, the real, successive governments have pursued generally sound economic policies and adopted anti-poverty programmed. The economy grew rapidly and inequality declined. The global commodity boom eloped by sucking in Brazilian iron ore and agricultural produce, and in 2007 Brazil struck vast deposits of deep-sea oil. Being chosen to host both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics seemed due recognition that its days as a chronic underachiever were behind it. But Braziers economy did not play ball. Having grown by 7. 5% in 2010, the fastest rate for a quarter-century, it slowed to 2. 7% in 2011 and a mere 0. 9% in 2012. This year will see a tepid recovery at best. Inflation is sticking at around 6%. Pessimists recall that the one period of impressive growth within living memory, in the sass, ended in chaos and hyperinflation. In recent years Brazil has been seen as one of the leading emerging-market economies that would help drive global growth in the next half-century. But many now wonder whether it has managed nothing more than a v ¶o De galling (chicken flight), a brief, unsustainable growth spurt followed by a rapid return to earth. During Braziers economic miracle of the sass it was the rich who captured most of the gains. At the time Edema Bach, an economist, invented a new label for it, Believed?a combination of a small, rich country, like Belgium, and a large, poor one, like India. Public education, health care ND roads were provided for the Belgian part. Those living in India did without and expected nothing better. Brazil is still one of the worlds most unequal countries. Its murder rate rivals Mexico. Public health care is a lottery. Fewer than half its pupils leave school fully literate. But it is no longer Believed. In the past quarter-century a better labor market and a basic social safety net have cut poverty by two-thirds. In the past decade the income of the poorest 10% of Brazilian has almost doubled in real terms, whereas that of the richest 10% has grown by less than a fifth. Braziers Gin coefficient, a measure that expresses income inequality, is at a 50-year low. But there is a sense in which Brazil is still Believed, says Marcelo Inner, the president of PEA, a government-funded think-tank: A rich country thats growing like Belgium? population of mm now belongs to a new lower-middle class, living in households with a monthly income per person between 291 and 1,019 realms ($127-446). Most of these gains in income have come from earnings, though government transfers have made an important contribution, especially in the poor north-east. Tens of millions of Brazilian now live in more solid houses equipped with cookers, fridges and washing machines. Many own cars. Children of illiterate domestic servants have Jobs in the formal economy and study for degrees at night. But when the new middle classes step outside their doors, traces of sass Believed are still all around. The number of cars in circulation has more than doubled in a decade, but most roads are still unpaved and few new ones have been built. Public transport consists mainly of packed, decrepit buses. Air traffic has also more than doubled in the past ten years, but airports have barely been touched. Children attend school in two, sometimes three shifts a day. Two-fifths of Brazilian are not covered by local primary health care. When life was a struggle for survival, the economy and Jobs were the main concerns. Now that people are a little better off, the parlous state of infrastructure and public services is at the front of their minds. The government has tried but largely failed to respond to growing demand for public goods. Many of the big infrastructure projects included in its Growth Acceleration Programmer announced in 2007 are running years behind schedule and way above budget. Dilemma Rousseau, the president, appears at last to have accepted that Brazil will need private-sector involvement to get the roads, railways, ports and airports it needs, but her conversion has been late and grudging. Concessions to run three airports were auctioned at the beginning of 2012, but auctions for more airports, as well as ports, roads and railways, were delayed while the government quibbled over the terms. The dangers of complacency Many Brazilian politicians seem to believe that the protests were simply growing pains, but they are being unduly complacent. They should have realized that the new diddle classes would want decent public services, commutes without epic traffic jams and elected representatives who were visibly working towards these ends. Several parties have proposed electoral reforms to make politicians more responsive to voters, but they all want different things, so reaching consensus will be difficult. A less favorable economic climate is now making it even harder to meet the voters increasingly vocal demands. The slowdown in growth has caused a downturn in investment, which last year was Just 18. 4% of GAP, not enough to lead a recovery or to build the infrastructure Brazil needs. Ms Rousseau has been hectoring businessmen to invest more, ignoring the fact that it is mainly government obstructionism and heavy-handedness that hold them back. And commodity prices seem unlikely to bail out Braziers economy with another growth spurt. The country has also blown its chance to cash in on its demographic bonus. Its birth rate has declined steeply over the past few decades but it still has a young population, with many people currently of working age, and a relatively small number of defendants at either end of the age scale. Unfortunately most of this bonus is going on a crazily generous pension system. That will soon put an even bigger strain caveats, this special report will argue that, given the will, there is scope for the social and economic advances of the past two decades to continue. Braziers agribusiness has made huge productivity gains and offers opportunities for further growth. Innovative consumer firms are catering to the new middle classes and are starting to expand abroad. Braziers politicians have been put on notice that todays young adults, better educated than the previous generation, will be less willing to accept corrupt, venal politics and more insistent on getting decent public services in return for the gig taxes they pay. The way to fund such services is not to increase public spending, which at 38. % of GAP is already far higher than in comparable countries, but to get growth going again. To achieve that, the government will have to resume the reforms it dropped during the good times: trimming pension benefits, cutting red tape, lowering and simplifying taxes and updating labor laws. Successful infrastructure auctions, too, would help get investment back on track, and abandoning anti-profit rhetoric would improve business sentiment. But the most urgent problem that Brazil deeds to tackle is a sharp loss of competitiveness. Braziers future Has Brazil blown it? A stagnant economy, a bloated state and mass protests mean Dilemma Rousseau must change course Seep 28th 2013 | From the print edition FOUR years ago this newspaper put on its cover a picture of the statue of Christ the Redeemer ascending like a rocket from ROI De Jeaneries Cordovan mountain, under the rubric Brazil takes off. The economy, having stabilized under Fernando Henries Cards in the mid-sass, accelerated under Luis Len ¤CIO Lull dad Silva in the early sass. It barely stumbled after the Lehman collapse in 2008 and in 2010 grew y 7. %, its strongest performance in a quarter-century. To add to the magic, Brazil was awarded both next years football World Cup and the summer 2016 Olympics. On the strength of all that, Lull persuaded voters in the same year to choose as president his technocratic prop ©g ©e, Dilemma Rousseau. Since then the country has come back down to earth with a bump. In 2012 the economy grew by 0. 9%. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in June in the biggest protests for a generation, complaining of high living costs, poor public services and the greed and corruption of politicians. Many have now lost faith in the idea that their country was headed for orbit and diagnosed Just another vivo De galling (chicken flight), as they dubbed previous short-lived economic spurts. There are excuses for the deceleration. All emerging economies have slowed. Some of the impulses behind Braziers previous boom?the pay-off from ending runaway inflation and opening up to trade, commodity price rises, big increases in credit and consumption?have played themselves out. And many of Lulls policies, notably the Bolas Familial that helped lift mm people out of poverty, were admirable. The worlds most burdensome tax code But Brazil has done far too little to reform its government in the boom years. It is not alone in this: India had a similar chance, and missed it. But Braziers public sector imposes a particularly heavy burden on its private sector, as our special report 58% to salaries and the government has got its spending priorities upside down. Compare pensions and infrastructure. The former are absurdly generous. The average Brazilian can look forward to a pension of 70% of final pay at 54. Despite being a young country, Brazil spends as big a share of national income on pensions s southern Europe, where the proportion of old people is three times as big. By contrast, despite the countrys continental dimensions and lousy transport links, its spending on infrastructure is as skimpy as a string bikini. It spends Just 1. 5% of GAP on infrastructure, compared with a global average of 3. 8%, even though its stock of infrastructure is valued at Just 16% of GAP, compared with 71% in other big economies. Rotten infrastructure loads unnecessary costs on businesses. In Matt Gross a soybean farmer spends 25% of the value of his product getting it to a port; the proportion in Iowa is 9%. These problems have accumulated over generations. But Ms Rousseau has been unwilling or unable to tackle them, and has created new problems by interfering far more than the pragmatic Lull. She has scared investors away from infrastructure projects and undermined Braziers hard-won reputation for macroeconomic rectitude by publicly chivvying the Central Bank chief into slashing interest rates. As a result, rates are now having to rise more than they otherwise might to curb persistent inflation. Rather than admit to missing its fiscal targets, the government has resorted to creative accounting. Gross public debt has climbed to 0-70% of GAP, depending on the definition?and the markets do not trust Ms Rousseau. Fortunately, Brazil has great strengths. Thanks to its efficient and entrepreneurial farmers, it is the worlds third-biggest food exporter. Even if the government has made the process slower and costlier than it needed to be, Brazil will be a big oil exporter by 2020. It has several manufacturing Jewels, and is developing a world-class research base in biotechnology, genetic sciences and deep- sea oil and gas technology. The consumer brands that have grown along with the countrys expanding middle class are ready to go abroad. Despite the recent protests, it does not have the social or ethnic divisions that blight other emerging economies, such as India or Turkey. An own goal for Dilemma Fernando? But if Brazil is to recover its vim, it needs to rediscover an appetite for reform. With taxes already taking 36% of GAP?the biggest proportion in the emerging world alongside Christina Fresheners chaotic Argentina?the government cannot look to taxpayers for the extra money it must spend on health care, schools and transport to satisfy the protesters. Instead, it needs to reshape public spending, especially pensions. Second, it must make Brazilian business more competitive and encourage it to invest. The way to do that is not, as the government believes, to protect firms, but to expose them to more foreign competition while moving far more swiftly to eliminate the self-inflicted obstacles they face at home. Braziers import tariffs remain high and its customs procedures are a catalogue of bloody-minded obstructionism. More dynamic Latin American economies have forged networks of bilateral trade deals. Brazil has hidden behind Numerous, a regional block that has dwindled into a leftist talking-shop, and the moribund Doth round of world-trade talks. It needs to open up. Third, Brazil urgently needs political reform. The proliferation of parties, whose only interest is pork and patronage, builds in huge waste at every level of easy: a threshold for seats in Congress and other changes to make legislators more accountable to voters. But getting those who benefit from the current system to agree to change it requires more political skill than Ms Rousseau has shown. In a years time Ms Rousseau faces an election in which she will seek a second four-year term. On her record so far, Braziers voters have little reason to give her one. But she has time to cake a start on the reforms needed, by trimming red tape, merging ministries and curbing public spending. Brazil is not doomed to flop: if Ms Rousseau puts her hand on the throttle there is still a chance that it could take off again. From the print edition: Leaders Politics A rough ride for Rousseau But much could still change in the year to the next election Seep 28th 2013 | From the print edition BEFORE THE PROTESTS June Dilemma Rousseau of the workers party (OPT) seemed a shoo-in for a second presidential term after the elections in October 2014. Back in March this year 65% of voters approved of her government, a better mid-term wowing than for either Fernando Henries Cards, the architect of the inflation- busting Real Plan in the sass, or Luis Len ¤CIO Lull dad Silva, the former trade-unionist who succeeded him as president. But Ms Resources post-protest fall has been equally striking. By June her governments approval rating had fallen to 30%, though it rebounded to 38% in September. The sagging polls suggest that Ms Resources support lacked deep roots. Propelled into the presidency by Lull, her mentor, the dour former bureaucrat has never formed a personal connection with the electorate. But mid-term unpopularity need not mean disaster at the polls. Lulls own support suffered a big blow in 2005 after revelations that his party had been buying votes in Congress. Once the ugly stories dried up, he bounced back and was re-elected the following year. Ms Resources biggest advantage is a weak and splintered opposition. A ©CIO Never, the preferred candidate of many in Mr. Cardamoms Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (SODS), can point to two successful terms as governor of Minas Geris, the countrys second most populous state, but the current anti-politics mood has not helped his standing. Joss © Sera, also of the SODS, who lost against Lull in 002 and Ms Rousseau in 2010, wants to challenge Mr. Never for the partys nomination. He is unlikely to succeed, but the attempt may weaken Mr. Never. Eduardo Campus, the business-friendly governor of the north-eastern state of Permanence, looks increasingly likely to run, but his chances are hard to gauge since he is not well known in other regions; and some in his party, which currently supports Ms Rousseau, would prefer not to gamble on a rupture. The fourth of the possible challengers is the only one who seems capable of responding to the mood of the streets, but she is not ready to seize the moment. Marina Silva, who resigned as Lulls environment minister in 2008 and left the OPT over the issue of dam-building in the Amazon, garnered nearly 20% of the vote as the Green Partys presidential candidate in 2010. The child of poor rubber-tapers who learnt to read only as a teenager and put herself through university by working as a maid, she is admired like usual. The latest polls give her 22%. If she did that well in the election, she would force Ms Rousted a run-off. But without backing from a big, established party, she will find it hard to get airtime on television and to run an effective campaign. More worrying for Ms Rousseau than the opposition is friendly fire. Most of the parties in her unwieldy coalition Just want to stay in power. Since taking office she has managed them badly, displaying a mixture of arrogance, inexperience and a perhaps understandable distaste for the unsanitary bargains required to govern Brazil. If her candidacy looks like sinking, those allies will Jump ship without hesitation. Nor is her own partys loyalty guaranteed. It accepted her because she was Lulls choice?and because all the obvious candidates were struck by scandal. Many in the party would eke to see Lull return. He would probably garner more votes than Ms Rousseau. But since stepping down he has said many times that he does not want to run again. Only a total collapse in Ms Resources popularity would change his mind. That still looks unlikely?but it is no longer unimaginable. From the print edition: Special report The economy The price is wrong Why Brazil offers appalling value for money Seep 28th 2013 | From the print edition FROM $30 CHEESE pizzas in S ¤o Paulo to $250-a-night windowless, smelly hotel rooms in ROI, the lasting memory from a visit to Brazil in recent years has been shock t how expensive it is. When Lull came to office in 2003 a dollar bought 3. 5 realms; by mid-2011 it bought Just 1. 53 realms, barely a third of the 2003 figure in real terms, because inflation in Brazil during the period was much higher than in the United States. Since then the exchange rate has fallen to 2. 3 realms to the dollar, but that has undone little more than half the past decades gains. In any case, the causes of Braziers competitiveness problem go far deeper than the exchange rate. The strong real actually helped keep prices down by making imports cheaper. It did, however, give foreign visitors a chance to experience something the locals know so well that they have a name for it: the custom Brasilia (Brazil cost). Compared with other middle- income countries, Brazil is astonishingly poor value for money. Large domestic appliances and cars cost at least 50% more than in most other countries. For everyday items such as toothbrushes and childrens toys the difference is often a lot more. Among the 48 countries tracked by the Big Mac index, The Economists lighthearted currency-comparison tool, a burger in Brazil costs more than in only a mindful that are much richer (Norway, Sweden, Switzerland) and one that is dysfunctional (Venezuela). Burgers should be cheaper in poorer places because wages are lower: in Brazil, less than a quarter of European or North American levels. Allowing for that, a Brazilian Big Mac costs an indigestible 72% more than it should do, and the real remains one of the worlds more overvalued currencies. Special The Miffs broader cost-of-living figures show that Braziers high prices are no mere quirk of overgenerous. In most less well-off countries people find their money goes Averaged across all goods and services, a Mexicans spending power, for example, is 45% higher at home than if he bought dollars and shopped across the border. But a Brazilian can buy little more at home than he can in the United States. The causes of Braziers cost problem are legion. Start with taxes. At 36% of GAP, the total tax burden is far heavier than in other developing countries. Payroll taxes, at 58% of salary, are higher than in any other big economy. Consumption, too, is heavily taxed, which explains why a Brazilian-made car costs up to 45% less in Mexico than it does in Brazil itself. High tariffs push up the price of imports even more. A smartened costs about 50% more than in the United States. Most cars imported from outside the Numerous trade block and Mexico attract not only a 35% tariff but an extra 30% on top of the normal sales tax. The complexity of the tax code also raises compliance costs. A mid-sized Brazilian firm takes 2,600 hours to prepare its annual tax return, almost ten times the global average. Rigid labor laws make it hard to deploy workers efficiently and lead to costly court cases, 3. Mm last year alone. Many businesses prefer to hide in the informal sector. A 2006 McKinney report estimated that by remaining in the shadows a retailer could more than triple its profit margin, but at the cost of forgoing investment and economies of scale. A simplified regime for small firms introduced since then has persuaded many to register, but the resulting efficiency gains are limited by a new problem: too many Peter Pan firms unwilling to grow up and lose their privileges. A plethora of other costs help drive up prices. Poor roads and a limited rail network make for high freight charges. High crime rates have bred a private army of 650,000 security guards. Prime office rents in big cities are vertiginous; Iriss are the highest in the Americas, north or south. A low savings rate, high bank-reserve requirements and the governments considerable funding needs (it runs a budget deficit each year, despite that 36% tax burden) make credit expensive. FIEFS, S ¤o Paulos association of industrialists, says firms financing costs make up 5% of the end price of manufactured goods. Retailers manage to keep selling by accepting payment in installments. The hyperinflation years taught Brazilian consumers not to worry about the total cost, Just whether they can afford he monthly payments. But the effect is to push up the sticker price, since the cost of waiting for full payment and the risk of default has to be built in. Corners are also being cut on quality. In Mexico the bottom-of-the-range Golf, made in Brazil, is a 1 . 6-liter, four-door affair with air-conditioning. In Brazil it has a I-liter engine and two doors, with air-conditioning extra. Shopping around Brazilian respond to whopping price differences by going on foreign shopping sprees. Brazilian tourists spent $22. 2 billion abroad last year, a record, and seem set to go even higher this year. Direct Luxury Group, a consultancy, estimates that four- fifths of Brazilian spending on market goods takes place abroad. Miami has been getting so many Brazilian shoppers in recent years that many stores there have hired Portuguese-speaking staff. TAM, a Brazilian airline, says it takes on extra fuel on the return leg of that route to allow for excess baggage. The story of the custom Brasilia is decades old. Now soaring pay is adding a new chapter to it. Since 2003 the countrys have trebled, thanks to currency appreciation. One reason is the scarcity of well- educated workers. Manpower Group, an employment agency, says Brazil is the worlds second-hardest place for firms to find the skills they need, behind only ageing Japan. At the top end, headhunters say multinationals often have to pay their Brazilian executives more than their bosses in London or New York earn. But the main reason is a decade of big increases in the minimum wage, which sets a trend for all pay negotiations. At the start of 2003 it was 200 realms a month; now it is 678 realms, almost twice as much in real terms (see chart 2). The government is committed to above-inflation increases until 2015. Raising the minimum wage had its merits at iris, says Gray Newman of Morgan Stanley. In the years before Lull took office its value had eroded, creating room to shift profits from capital to labor. High interest rates kept inflation in check, and the weak currency ensured that exports remained competitive even if prices did rise a bit. Higher incomes, helped by somewhat more accessible consumer credit, boosted consumption, creating more Jobs in a virtuous cycle. Large domestic appliances and cars cost at least 50% more than in most other countries But the policy has now pushed costs beyond what either the foreign or the domestic market is willing to bear. Household consumption, one of the economys few bright spots in the past two years, has leveled off. Consumers are overstretched, with 21. 5% of household income going to service debts. Despite some of the worlds highest tariffs, imports are taking a bigger share of the manufactured products Brazilian buy. Exports of manufactured goods are slipping. After several years of price rises close to 10%, demand for services is losing steam. After a long boom driven by credit and consumption, Brazil has ended up looking in some ways like southern Europe, says Tony Pylon of Norma Securities, a broker. Only the rising value of its commodity exports saved it from ballooning current-account deficits. In the short term a weaker currency will help, as long as tight fiscal and monetary policy prevent it from fuelling inflation. The real is now 11% lower than at the start of this year, having touched 20% in August, though after taking inflation into account it is still well above its long-run average. A cheaper real will make Brazilian poorer by lowering their wages in foreign-currency terms and do nothing to get to the roots of the custom Brasilia. But it will protect Jobs by making exports cheaper and imports ricer, and by reducing the price of services compared with treatable goods. In the longer term Brazil needs to boost its productivity. A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group estimated that three-quarters of Braziers growth in the past decade has come from adding more workers and only a quarter from productivity gains. Since there is little room for the workforce to grow further, that needs to change. Other developing countries, and plenty of rich ones too, are doing far better. Regis Bonneville and Julia Fonts of the Fund#o Getting Barras, a university, calculate that in 000 Brazil achieved 19% of United States productivity levels, but by 2012 this had dropped to 18%. Over the same period the Chinese figure leapt from 6% of that in the United States to 17%. A closer look at the productivity figures points to some explanations. In the past two decades total factor productivity?the part left over after accounting for growth in in most other countries: in China by 2. 8% annually, in India by 2. 3%. That suggests Brazil missed out on gains other countries saw from investments in both human and physical capital, or that other improvements that generally come with such investments somehow failed to materialism. The World Banks annual report on doing business in various countries reads like a productivity to-do list for Brazil: make it simpler to start up and wind up companies; cut and streamline taxes; increase domestic savings and investment. For more hints, the country might turn to one of the few sectors where productivity has grown steadily in recent years: agriculture. From the print edition: Special report Agriculture v industry Leave well alone Braziers agriculture has benefited from government neglect. Its car industry has had too much attention Seep 28th 2013 | From the print edition Cottoning on to more productive farming IN 1984 WALTER HORRID, the youngest of three sons of a Japanese immigrant who farmed 500 hectares (1,240 acres) in the southern state of Prang, headed north in search of land. Matt Gross do Soul and Matt Gross, colonized by GAchose from southern states in the previous two decades, were too expensive for him. Eventually he settled on western Bah (see map below), where he bought 1,210 hectares, paying four sacks of soybeans per hectare. There was nothing, he says. No roads, no schools, no health care, no electricity, no water supply, no phone. He got digging. By 1999 the farm was so successful that his brothers in Para ¤ sold up and Joined him. Today the Horrid brothers own 150,000 hectares in western Bah, growing mostly Soya, cotton and corn. The story of how Braziers vast central and north-eastern crop belt was won starts in 1973, when Braziers military regime decided to centralist agronomy research and set up the Brazilian agricultural research corporation, Embrace. It sent 1,200 bright young scientists abroad to study. When they returned and were set to work, they achieved something of a miracle: they made the charade bloom. Until then, Braziers Savannah with its acid, nutrient-poor soil had been thought impossible to cultivate. It turned out that deep tilling, huge quantities of lime and fertilizer and fast-growing crops bred to suit the local conditions could coax a rich harvest from it. Go north, young man The new crops and techniques were adopted by GAchoc sons lured to the charade by the promise of virgin lands. They pushed northwards through Braziers central states, eventually arriving in the region now nicknamed Ambition: the cultivable parts of Marina ¤o, APIPA, Toscanini and Bah. Not only vast farms but prosperous new towns prang up as a result. When Mr. Horrid arrived in western Bah, Luis Eduardo Magical ¤sees (known as ELM) was Just a petrol station. In 2000, when it had 18,000 residents, it split away from Barriers, the regions only sizeable municipality at the time. ELM now has a population of 70,000 and is one of Braziers fastest-growing towns. The mayor says his biggest problem is finding 2,000 new school places each year. The John Deere concession run from ELM by Chic Lovelier, another GAchoc pioneer, is one of the American farm-equipment makers biggest worldwide. Around 40% of the 6. M hectares planted with grains and oilseeds in planted and harvested in the same year. Where rain is too sparse, millet replaces the cotton or corn. Marcos Junk of Agricultural, a Brazilian consultancy, reckons that another mm hectares in Brazil could be transformed in the same way without further advances in crops and technology. A further mm hectares currently under pasture could be turned over to high-productivity crop farming. The transformation of the charade is often dismissed as Braziers belated discovery of a competitive advantage. That leaves out a lot, and not Just Embarrass role and the argue of the GAchoc pioneers. Farming in the tropics is in many ways more difficult than in a temperate climate. Without cold winters, pests and crop diseases are harder to control. Intensive soil preparation and large amounts of lime and fertilizer require scale and capital. According to Roding Rodriguez of Agrarian, a company that buys and farms virgin charade, preparing land for its first crop?deep-tilling, root-picking, liming and so on?means passing over it 1 5 times, which costs as much as the land itself. The 1,300 members of AIBO, Biass farmers association, on average farm 1,269 hectares each. The average American farm is 170 hectares. Other obstacles in the way of Braziers frontier farmers include murky land titles. Bah is better in this respect than other bits of Ambition, and an electronic rural-land register will eventually bring a big improvement, but for now every purchase requires expensive due diligence. Braziers Forest Code requires some land to be set aside on every farm nationwide, no matter how far from the rainforests. Getting the environment agency to agree on set-aside and grant a license to start clearing can take years. Petty bureaucracy is a problem too. After buying a farm in western Bah in 2009, Agrarian built a km power line at a cost of 460,000 realms to connect it to the national grid. The power line has been finished since March, but the company is still waiting for permission to hook it up. Survival of the fittest On the wall of the Horrid brothers office in Barriers hangs the framed root of a drought-resistant cotton plant. It is 3. Mm long, a reminder of the power of natural selection in a harsh environment. Julio Boast, AlBAs president, says such forces have shaped the region too. One reason its farms are so big is that only the best made the grade, and they bought out the losers. Muff dont hear those stories so often, he says, but lots of people came and lost everything, and now theyre, say, driving a truck. It was the opening up of Braziers economy that enabled Embarrass tropical-farming technology to be taken up so widely, says Joss © Garcia Queues of the agriculture ministry. Until a couple of decades ago farmers were being supported by means of minimum prices, government-purchase schemes and trade controls, and agricultural output was growing only because extra land was being added. But in 1990 Braziers then president, Fernando Color, slashed tariffs and dismantled many import and export controls. Since then the total area under crop cultivation in Brazil has increased by 38% and production has more than trebled. Total factor productivity has been growing by 4. 6% a year. In these new areas [such as Ambition] they rarely even mention the government, says Mr. Queues. Theres no culture of subsidies; it was broken 20 years ago. In the past decade, propelled by the commodity boom, Brazil has become one of the worlds largest agricultural

analysis of the song Scarecrow essays

analysis of the song Scarecrow essays The Christian music industry is renowned for its many deep, thought provoking songs, but there is none whose lyrics capture my mind like the song Scarecrow, written and composed by the band Skillet. This song is a reflection of the writers perspective of his life as a scarecrow. The artist proposes that we as Christians need to surrender everything to Christ in order to gain a meaningful relationship with Him. The chorus is divided into three different sections, each showing the three essential elements pertaining to our walk with God. The first concentrates on the knowledge part of a persons relationship with God. The second entails the love and emotion that is involved. The last focuses on the servant aspect in our attempt to please God. The comparison of a scarecrow to the life of a human being seeking Christ may seem far-fetched to begin with, but careful evaluation of the wording in this song has shown many parallels. The first part of the verse refers the guilt and shame the scarecrow is dealing with. He feels alone in the world and is shameful of his dirty clothes which represent the sin in his unworthy life. This seems like the ideal analogy for the aimless, consumer driven lives of many lukewarm Christians in todays society. The distractions of life keep getting in the way of truly focusing on God, bringing about a sense of shame and worthlessness. The scarecrow, Safe enough to not let go, seems to have a sense of security in the known that prohibits him from letting go of everything and letting God take over. He is comfortable where he is and does not want to risk change. He also is fearful of the unknown as shown in the text, Scared enough to not release. He is not willing to sacrifice the safety of everything he knows to be true to venture into the unfamiliar. In the next line Open up to drink the wind, the &q...

Information About U.S. Architect Salaries and Jobs

Information About U.S. Architect Salaries and Jobs How much do architects earn? Whats the average starting salary for an architect? Can an architect earn as much as a doctor or a lawyer? Architects often supplement their income by teaching college-level courses. Some architects may even do more teaching than building things. Here are the reasons why. Salaries for Architects Many factors influence the salary an architect earns. Income varies greatly according to geographic location, type of firm, level of education, and years of experience. While published statistics can be outdated - the May 2017 statistics from the federal government were released on March 30, 2018 - they will give you a general idea of the salaries, wages, income, and benefits for architects. According to May 2017 data from the U.S. Department of Labor statistics, U.S. architects earn between $47,480 and  $134,610 a year, up from a range of $46,600 to $129,810 the previous year. Half of all architects earned $78,470 ($37.72 per hour) or more - and half earned less in 2017, but these figures are significantly more than the median in 2016. The mean (average) annual wage for 2017 was $87,500, up from $84,470 per year in 2016, and the mean hourly wage rate was $42.07. These figures exclude landscape and naval architects, the self-employed, and owners and partners of unincorporated firms. Landscape architects do not fare as well. According to May 2017 statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. landscape architects earn between  $40,480 amd  $108,470 a year, which is up from $38,950 and $106,770 a year in 2016. Half of all landscape architects earn $65,760 ($31.62 an hour) or more - and half earn less. The mean (average) annual wage of a landscape architect is $70,880, and the mean hourly wage rate is $34.08, both up from the previous year. Job Outlook for Architects Architecture, like many other fields, is profoundly affected by the local and national economy, especially the real estate market. When people dont have money to build houses, they sure dont have the means to hire an architect. All architects go through good times and down times. Even the most famous architects have stories to tell  - Frank Lloyd Wright worked on his Usonian house design after the Great Depression;  Frank Gehry experimented with his own house during the economic stagnation of the 1970s; Louis Sullivan is said to have died penniless. Most architectural firms will have a combination of residential and commercial projects to hedge against these economic ups and downs. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, in 2016 the number of jobs for architects totaled 128,800. Competition is fierce for these opportunities. The U.S. government predicts that between 2016 and 2026, employment of architects will increase only 4 percent - slower than the average growth rate of 7 percent for all occupations. The job outlook for urban and regional planners, however, is predicted to be 13 percent, but there are far fewer jobs available. More Statistics, More Sources The professional organization for architects, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), provides an AIA Compensation Survey Calculator based on their own research. It is to the organizations benefit to provide information to newly hired architects, as part of their campaign to Know Your Worth: Are you compensated fairly? Its well-known that many entry-level architects feel taken advantage of at the start of their careers, and the AIA wants you to know that they are on your side with information transparency. For more employment statistics, check out the DesignIntelligence Compensation and Benefits Survey. This report draws data from hundreds of practices that offer design services such as architecture, design-build, engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, urban design, and industrial design. Thousands of full-time staff are represented in the survey. Design Intelligence is an independent research organization who regularly publish surveys and reports that they sell in the DI online bookstore. Online communities such as Archinect also provide data input by their online members. Remember that online polling has become technologically very easy to implement, sometimes making the results a little less than scientific. The Architecture Salary Poll from anonymously input survey data may not be as reliable as federal government data collection. You Are Your Own Architect Too many people think of four-year colleges as training schools - a place to pick up specific, marketable skills to find a job. However, the world changes quickly and a fixed set of skills can become obsolete almost immediately. Consider your undergraduate time as a way to lay the foundation, as though building a structure. The design of your life is based on your learning experiences. The most successful students are curious. They explore new ideas and reach beyond the curriculum. Choose a school that offers a strong program in architecture. But, while you are an undergraduate, be sure to take classes in other disciplines - science, math, business, and the arts. You do not need to earn a bachelors degree in architecture in order to become an architect. Even a degree in psychology can help you understand your future clients. Build the critical thinking skills youll need for an unpredictable future. If architecture remains your passion, your undergraduate studies will provide a solid foundation for a graduate degree in architecture.  You are the architect of your life. Anticipate the Future Architecture can open a world of career opportunities, especially when combined with other, seemingly unrelated skills. Perhaps youll discover a new type of housing, develop a hurricane-proof city, or design the interior rooms for a space station. The particular type of architecture you pursue could be one youve never imagined...perhaps one not yet invented. Some of the highest paying careers today did not exist 30 years ago. We can only guess the possibilities for the future. What will the world be like when youre at the peak of your career? Current trends suggest that the next 45 years will bring an urgent need for inventive, creative architects who can rise to the challenges posed by aging populations and global climate change. Green architecture, sustainable development, and universal design are becoming increasingly important. Meet these demands, and the money will follow. And, speaking of money... Does Architecture Pay? Painters, poets, and musicians struggle with the challenge of earning enough money to put food on the table. Architects - not so much. Because architecture incorporates science, engineering, and many other disciplines, the profession opens many avenues for earning income. While other professions may pay more, an architect who is flexible and creative is not likely to go hungry. Remember, too, that architecture is a business. Develop project management skills that will get jobs done on time and under budget. Also, if you can develop relationships and bring steady business to the architectural practice, youll be invaluable and well-paid. Architecture is a service, a profession, and a business. The bottom line, however, is whether architecture is your passion - whether you love design so much that you cant imagine spending your life any other way. If thats the case, the size of your paycheck becomes less important than the next new project. Know what drives you. Architecture is a great profession, but there are some key things to remember, 9/11 architect Chris Fromboluti told an interviewer at Life at HOK. Chris gave this advice to young architects: develop a thick skin, go with the flow, learn the profession, get into green design, dont be driven by money.... A future is the most important design an architect will ever make. Sources Occupational Employment Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2017, 17-1011 Architects, Except Landscape and Naval and 17-1012 Landscape Architects, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor [accessed May 13, 2018]Quick Facts: Architects, Occupational Outlook Handbook,  U.S. Department of Labor, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/architects.htm [accessed May 13, 2018]Quick Facts: Urban and Regional Planners, Occupational Outlook Handbook,  U.S. Department of Labor, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/urban-and-regional-planners.htm [accessed May 13, 2018]Life at HOK at www.hoklife.com/2009/03/23/5-questions-for-cris-fromboluti/, HOK.com [accessed July 28, 2016]

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) - Coursework Example File Movement System module is used for the automation of file movement within the different departments of the institution; the system introduces transparency in organizations where there is high generation of files. E-Tendering module facilitates the completion of the tendering process through the advertisement of the requirements and signing or the finalization of the contract; the relevant documents are exchanged in electronic format. Admission, Academics and Examination (AAE) module covers the entire academic cycle (registration, admission, exams, regular attendance, results, and the issuance of certificates or degrees) of the student and it assists the university to utilize maximally its resources (such as support staff and academicians) (University ERP, 2009). Financial Accounting System module is concerned with all finance related aspects of the organization such as expenses, income, and bank and cash related transactions based on the different types of fund. The Human Resource Management System (HRMS) module offers Business Line Managers, Employees and HR Staff Managers collaboration and the ability to manage their responsibilities in an effective manner based on the organizational objectives and goals (University ERP, 2009). The implementation of the ERP system in SU is likely to affect a number of business processes. The management of the university finances (financial accounting and budgeting) will be affected by the Financial Accounting System module, tendering will be affected by e-Tendering module, and the process of recruitment, appraisal, training, performance management, and compensation of the employees will be affected by HRMS module. Since the ERP system is web based, the cost of implementing and maintaining is expected to be low. However, the implementation and maintenance of the ERP system has to be budgeted for. The implementation of the university ERP will improve and expand

Direct Manipulation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Direct Manipulation - Assignment Example This involves the continuous representation of given subjects and objects in addition to the rapid, incremental and reversible actions and their subsequent feedback. As a single characteristic, in reference to a class of various interaction styles, direct manipulation entails the direct mapping, between the semantic and syntactic level of dialogue/ interaction. The three core principles are found in direct manipulation. These include: - the end result of a systematic replacement of complex computer command-language syntax with the direct and visual manipulation of the object(s) under focus; the continuous representation of actions and objects of interest in relation to meaningful visual imagery; which is followed by the presence of rapid, reversible incremental actions, immediately visible in the objects or actions of interest. In the context of video game application, the first indicated principle is achieved through physical actions (button presses), rather than the use of typed commands (Shneiderman & Plaisant, 2010). Through varying gaming pads, the other two principles are achieved best in a 3D dimension, where the objects and actions fit into role-playing games. Users are able to control virtual avatars, with the keypad buttons enabling the change of movement, scenery, actions and interactions in the virtual worlds present. Video gaming interfaces are unique in nature, with the aspect of 3D enabling greater contrast, between the virtual and real (physical) worlds. The user, interacting with the present operating system (hardware and software), is able to manipulate directly, existing objects to perform specific actions. Such systems enable the reversal of such actions, in addition to the creation of virtual reality unimaginable in the existing physical world. This entails the direct interaction between the user, and the objects/ actions, thereby enhancing

Compare between Haredim and Secular Jews in middle east Essay

Compare between Haredim and Secular Jews in middle east - Essay Example Israel’s contemporary ultra-orthodox are free descendants of the Jews who moved and lived in Eastern Europe during the nineteenth century. At this time Jewish people sparsely populated the regions of the continent for centuries, but Eastern Europe was relatively densely populated by the Jews and was actually the largest area populated by Jews in the world. In spite of being a large population, the Jews did not assimilate within non-Jewish communities. They lived in isolated and legally independent communities which were distant from other non-Jewish population. These communities were known as shtetls. Their main occupation and lifestyle in the shtetls was studying the Law of Moses (Torah), living according to its word, and practicing the Jewish faith. At this time of history also there was a strong anti-Semitic sentiment throughout Europe, therefore, shtetls protected the Jewish religion and lifestyle in addition to protecting the Jews themselves. However, life in the shtetl w as very not very easy due to its poor economy and poor educational systems. The only thing holding the Jewish people together was their heritage and religion. Their survival in the shtetl was motivated by the belief that God was with them and would lead them. Beginning in the early nineteenth century a wave of modernization and industrialization went across all Europe. This wave opened social and economic opportunities that were new to the Jews in the shtetls. This wave of modernization mainly affected the Jews who lived in Germany and Austria, as this Jews were outside the shtetls and were therefore not protected from the rest of the world. When modernization’s first effects started being felt in Europe, Christian communities outside the shtetl started approaching Jews for their potential to contribute to European economic and social revitalization. Europeans therefore played a role in the converting the Jews

Computer laws in US. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Research Paper

Computer laws in US. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act - Research Paper Example Just like any other invention, computers have two sides; the positive and the negative side. The positive side is where business flourish, scientists do more invention and government offer better services while on the other hand, it gives criminals an extra tool to commit more crimes and get away with it. Computer crimes have been on rapid increase since the advent of intern. Internet has facilitated the criminal activities as a means of access other people’s computers regardless of geographical location. Crimes such as cyber-stalking, child pornography, fraud and scams, hacking copyright violations, malicious code are some of the computer crimes that are now easily committed because of the internet. Compute crimes are unavoidable to organizations that use IT in delivering their services and products. Computer professional therefore should ensure that there are frameworks put in place to protect and face these challenges through laws. This paper will identify and detail some o f the computer laws put in place by US federal legislation. Computer laws face greater challenge because of the dynamic nature of computer crimes because of the new and evolving technologies. The wire fraud statute was the first law in the US used to prosecute computer criminals. This law prohibited the use of communication wires that are used in the international commerce with an attempt to commit a fraud. This law is still in place and is used to date to prosecute computer criminals.... The challenges with the initial structure of CFAAA was that to successfully prosecute fraud charges, one must provide evidence that the suspect gained unauthorized access into the computer system (CFAA, 1986). Have a clause that touched on the method of entry into the computer system rather than focusing on the computer usage was a loophole for crimes committed by insiders. An employee within the company who has legal access to the computer can also commit a crime using the computer. Since it will not be proved that he/she had illegal access, then such person will not be prosecuted. CFAA was modified for the second time in 1994 so as to deal with the act of malicious code such as viruses, worms and other programs designed with an aim of changing or damaging data on the computer (Title 18 U.S.C section 1030). This amendments enhanced the law because initially it focused on the access to the computer system without looking at how the computer system was used. The law was now able to pr osecute those who executed illegal or malicious programs on computers with indention of causing damage to data or the computer. There are several acts that have been passed to add strength or deal with loopholes in CFAA. The National Information Act (NIIA) was enacted in 1996 to protect computer systems against those who access them using other people’s authorization. Penalties under CFAA Offense Minimum sentence Maximum sentence Getting national security information 10 year 20 years Unauthorized access in government computer 1 year 10 years Knowing access and damage 1 year 10 years Knowing access and reckless damage 5 years 20 years Trafficking in passwords 1 year 10 years Extortion involving threats of damage computer 5 years 10 years Theofel v. Farey-Jones in 2003 is a

Reasearch paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Reasearch - Research Paper Example Another controversial issue that was facing Hemingway was in regard to his sexual orientation. This is controversial because Hemingway is known to have a deep hatred to the gay people; however, scholars denote that this was with the intention of hiding his sexual orientation. This is because Hemingway is suspected to have been a gay person. It is these types of controversies and issues surrounding the life of Hemingway that could have an impact in negatively affecting his career. This paper examines the controversial manner which Hemingway was able to depict women, and why this could negatively affect his career. Ernest Hemingway is a famous and talented American writer. However, most of his critics do not feel the same. This is because of his writing style, and the various controversies that Mr. Hemingway was able to have. On most occasions, Mr. Hemingway is always compared to famous authors such as William Faulkner and Scott Fitzergerald. However, he has a very different writing style, when it is compared to these famous authors. Furthermore, Mr. Hemingway has made enormous and great contribution to the modern fiction, when he is compared to the above mentioned authors (Boon, 27). However, this assertion is debatable, mainly because he has only a handful of novels and fictions to his name. This is when compared to the above authors, who dedicated most of their lives in writing fiction and novels. Furthermore, he was very particular in regard to his writing (Bloom, 31). He did not just come up with a story, but he analyzed the story carefully, and every sentence, and word, for purposes of e nsuring that the story under consideration would serve its function, and disseminate the intended message. Furthermore, the novels that Hemingway created were following a chronological order. The impact of this order is that the novels were boring, and very typical. For

The Black Diasporic discourse Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Black Diasporic discourse - Term Paper Example Every period in the history of African American literature portrays its unique theme. Yet, in every period, almost all African American writers have tried to present event a quick look into the diverse and rich histories of African Americans. The transatlantic slave trade transported millions of Africans to the Americas, Caribbean, India, Europe, North Africa, and the Arab world. Numerous African American literary texts describe this great movement in detail. Michael Gomez provides a factual description of the African Diaspora in his book Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora, while Charles Henry Rowell presents a collection of African American fiction and poetry in his book Making Callaloo: 25 Years of Black Literature. This paper analyzes how the African slave trade’s shaping of the African diaspora was described in these two important books. African Diaspora in Black Literature The massive forced transport of Africans does not match precisely the meaning of dias pora. African slaves do not belong to a single ethnic or religious group, but to different beliefs, cultures, and ethnicity. However, the concept of diaspora can be related to the African diaspora in its broadest meaning of diffusion and preserved cultural traditions. Millions of Africans who were scattered across the globe through the slave trade kept hold of their culture, and continuously practiced it through rituals, traditions, music, and religion. Over the recent decades, the black Atlantic discipline has placed emphasis on the shaping of racial groups across the globe, with a focus on the flow of material objects and ideas. And still Africa is strangely missing in these lively and flourishing discourses, as the Atlantic is still viewed as mainly talking about the flow of objects, peoples, and ideas between the Americas and Europe. Hence, African American literature emerges to describe how Africa is positioned in the discourses and writings of black diasporic authors. Taking i nto consideration literary portrayals of Africa by African, black British, and African-American authors, this paper argues that a charting of Africa in diasporic literature contributes much to the reconstruction of current perspectives of diaspora. In black diaspora literary texts, the symbol of Africa refers as strongly to aspirations of liberation and restoration of a lost homeland. Read as one, the literary creations of authors, such as Caryl Phillips, Percival Everett, and the other authors included in the book Making Callaloo, make up a black Atlantic collection. This collection comprises not just writings that emphasize transnational movement across different points of the Atlantic, but also texts that adopt the theoretical features of the concept of diaspora—the effort to unearth a valuable past, the significance of memory, and the loss of home. Moreover, a study of diaspora essentially requires a thought on the outcomes of slavery, as well as an analysis on the relati onship of Africans to the Western word and its intellectual forces, specifically those that have been identified with regard to Africans—reason and modernity. Two of the most remarkable contemporary writers of African diaspora are Michael Gomez and Charles Henry Rowell. In Reversing Sail, Michael Gomez explores the factual scattering and movement of Africans since ancient times. The struggles of Africans in Europe, the Arab world, and the Mediterranean are afterward marked by their migration into the Americas, where their predicaments in territories invaded by European colonizers are examined in relation to the African

Computer laws in US. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Research Paper

Computer laws in US. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act - Research Paper Example Just like any other invention, computers have two sides; the positive and the negative side. The positive side is where business flourish, scientists do more invention and government offer better services while on the other hand, it gives criminals an extra tool to commit more crimes and get away with it. Computer crimes have been on rapid increase since the advent of intern. Internet has facilitated the criminal activities as a means of access other people’s computers regardless of geographical location. Crimes such as cyber-stalking, child pornography, fraud and scams, hacking copyright violations, malicious code are some of the computer crimes that are now easily committed because of the internet. Compute crimes are unavoidable to organizations that use IT in delivering their services and products. Computer professional therefore should ensure that there are frameworks put in place to protect and face these challenges through laws. This paper will identify and detail some o f the computer laws put in place by US federal legislation. Computer laws face greater challenge because of the dynamic nature of computer crimes because of the new and evolving technologies. The wire fraud statute was the first law in the US used to prosecute computer criminals. This law prohibited the use of communication wires that are used in the international commerce with an attempt to commit a fraud. This law is still in place and is used to date to prosecute computer criminals.... The challenges with the initial structure of CFAAA was that to successfully prosecute fraud charges, one must provide evidence that the suspect gained unauthorized access into the computer system (CFAA, 1986). Have a clause that touched on the method of entry into the computer system rather than focusing on the computer usage was a loophole for crimes committed by insiders. An employee within the company who has legal access to the computer can also commit a crime using the computer. Since it will not be proved that he/she had illegal access, then such person will not be prosecuted. CFAA was modified for the second time in 1994 so as to deal with the act of malicious code such as viruses, worms and other programs designed with an aim of changing or damaging data on the computer (Title 18 U.S.C section 1030). This amendments enhanced the law because initially it focused on the access to the computer system without looking at how the computer system was used. The law was now able to pr osecute those who executed illegal or malicious programs on computers with indention of causing damage to data or the computer. There are several acts that have been passed to add strength or deal with loopholes in CFAA. The National Information Act (NIIA) was enacted in 1996 to protect computer systems against those who access them using other people’s authorization. Penalties under CFAA Offense Minimum sentence Maximum sentence Getting national security information 10 year 20 years Unauthorized access in government computer 1 year 10 years Knowing access and damage 1 year 10 years Knowing access and reckless damage 5 years 20 years Trafficking in passwords 1 year 10 years Extortion involving threats of damage computer 5 years 10 years Theofel v. Farey-Jones in 2003 is a