Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Group protective rights in international law Essay

Group protective rights in international law - Essay Example Explain, giving an example. Group protective rights in international law ensure protection of minorities through minority specific individual rights whereas majority is treated as legal subjects and bearers of group rights. By bringing autonomous minorities and indigenous people to the international human rights convention makes the State to waive their right to interfere with their activities on human rights grounds. For example, the American legal orders deal with violations to the human rights by Indian tribes and how the Canadian legal orders deal with human rights violation by Qubec. India attributes universal laws to all Indian citizens and "personal laws", to specific ethnic groups and Muslim minority. A decision in Federal District Court confirms that Unocal could not be held liable because it did not control the Burmese military's actions. "The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, California Superior Judge Victoria Chaney reversed an earlier Federal District Court decision and will allow a groundbreaking human rights lawsuit against Unocal to go forward. In the Doe v. Unocal case, 11 Burmese villagers allege that Unocal, a California based oil company, can be held liable for human rights abuses associated with its Yadana gas pipeline project in Burma. The abuses include rape, forced labor, and murder". (http://www.mines and communities.org viewed on 12th May, 2009). 4. If an international tribunal finds that there is no applicable national or international law rule to decide the case before it, what should it do If the interpretation of the national law is vague and ambiguous, the international tribunal will adopt the interpretation which it thinks is in conformity with the law of the State. (Text Book on International law, Martin Dixon, 6th edition, p93-94, 2007, published by http://books.google.co.in/booksid ). 5. Compare customary international law rules with rules from international agreements. International law comprises of rules and rationales which rule the relations and dealings of nations with each other. It is concerned with questions of rights between several nations or nations and the citizens or subjects of other nations. Whereas International agreements make law for the parties of the agreement. They might also contribute to the foundation of customary international law with the intention of adhering generally and are widely accepted. (International law: an overview, http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/International_law). 6. Trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity in Cambodia from the 1970s are finally starting. What is the nature of the court that is hearing these cases The nature of the court is Genocide Tribunal. This court is backed by United Nations. The trial started at Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It started with the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch. The court deals with charges of crimes against humanity, torture premeditated murder and breaches of the Geneva conventions. The Khmer Rouge leaders were accused of killing around 1.75 million people through execution, starvation or overwork during 1975-79. Duch faces charges of killing 10000

Monday, October 28, 2019

Symbolic Significance in Chinese Culture and My Life Essay Example for Free

Symbolic Significance in Chinese Culture and My Life Essay We need to see the history of dumplings to find out the answer. Back to hundred years ago, dumplings are more like delicacy rather than a nice food to appease people’s hunger. When China was an economically backward country, people always eat cheap roughage such as corn, millet or rice as main meal. Smith describes rice is â€Å"a basic component of routine domestic and ritual activity. † (Smith, 2006) Dumplings were not the same thing. They were only appeared in Spring Festival as a decent food to highlight the day. Therefore, food like dumplings was also represented a happy and wealthy life that people wanted and pursued. Because of this reason, dumplings could have an outstanding impact in people’s everyday life. Although in nowadays dumplings is not a luxury food any more, people are still enjoy having dumplings whenever traditional festivals. The thousand years custom have formed to a culture appearance, carry down from generation to generation. No doubt, dumplings bring Chinese people infinite hope and happy, from past till now and possibly in the future. Dumplings gradually transferred from a general food to an influential mascot. This is because the dumplings are provided a satisfaction for people’s psychological need. In another words, Chinese people gave the auspicious meaning to dumplings in the process that people tried to create a health and good life. In the variable kinds of Chinese traditional food, dumplings are not the most â€Å"coroneted† one, but people only chose dumplings as a mascot. According to Lee, â€Å"a group’s customs and rules about appropriate social behavior can reflect important cultural values. (Lee, 2009) Except dumplings are very delicious, I think its unique looking is more correspond with Chinese national characteristics. Dumplings are a classic farcie food, contrast with burgers or pizzas, which all the material is clear at a glance. No matter what the stuffing of a dumpling is, people cannot know just by looking at it. The hidden character of dumplings just corresponds with Chi nese diffidence personality. Therefore, the decision was made by Chinese people according to their own appreciation standards, which meet their psychological needs. There are many different customs about dumplings in different regions of China. My grandparents are living at a country side in the north of China. They have a custom that bride needs eat dumplings in the wedding day. When I was very little, the bride was carried by a sedan to bridegroom’s house on the wedding day. Before that day, the mother of the bride would prepare 40 dumplings and hide them under the sedan seat. When the bride arrived on the husband’s home, the relatives would boil the hided dumplings for the bridal and the groom. The entire process means the new couples will happy and together forever. Lenkeit says that â€Å"culture is constantly changing†¦It changes internally through innovations and inventions-new ideas and combinations of old ideas to create new things. † (Lenkeit, 2009) This point explains the change of this custom. Since woman do not use sedan any more, a new â€Å"rule† replaced the old custom applied in weddings. In recent years, the mother of the bride will make some really spicy dumplings and ask groom to eat. She uses the â€Å"terrible† dumplings to show that it is not easy to get her daughter. In addition to those customs of dumplings in my hometown, dumplings also have impacts in my recent life. This is the second year since I came to US. I spend Spring Festival with my friends last year. We made a great dinner and many dumplings together to celebrate the most important holiday of the year. Like the customer for Christmas that people usually buy gift for their family members, the heart of Spring Festival is making and eating dumplings. Carrier indicates that the gift creates problems â€Å"because the objects people confront in such societies overwhelmingly are impersonal commodities. And because these objects are impersonal, they do not make good gifts. † (Carrier, 1993) For this point, dumplings would never cause problems. Although people could easily buy dumplings from supermarket, making dumplings is also an important part in Spring Festival. The process of making dumpling is more complex than making other food, but the process allows people stay together and communicate. In conclusion, dumplings are indispensable in Chinese traditional activities.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Chemistry of Drugs :: Addictions Marijuana Health Science Essays

The Chemistry of Drugs Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol is the primary psychoactive constituent of Cannibis sativa, and is bound to two cannabinoid receptors: CB1 receptors, located primarily in the brain, and CB2 receptors, located primarily in the periphery (Wiley & Martin 2002). A cannabinoid is defined as a substance that has pharmacological properties that resemble those of delta 9 THC i.e. " a drug that binds to CB1 and /or CB2 receptors in vitro and produces a profile of in vivo effects in the tetrad model" (Wiley 2002). THC inhibits the function of the enzyme adenylate cyclase which is involved in the transmission of pain messages. While there are over 60 cannibinoids identified in the plant Cannabis sativa, Delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol is the primary mood altering psychoactive agent in marijuana. Marijuana effects acetylcholine synthesis and turnover in the limbic region of the brain and in the cerebellum. (Harwood 2005) Eldreth, Matochik Cadet, and Bolla (2004) used PET 15 and a modified version of the Stroop task to determine if 25 day abstinent heavy marijuana users experienced persistent deficits in executive cognitive functioning and brain activity. The performance on a modified version of the Stroop task and brain activity was compared between 25 day abstinent, heavy users, and a matched comparison group. The 25 day abstinent users showed no deficits in performance on the modified version of the Stroop task when compared to the comparison group. They also found that despite the lack of performance differences, the anterior cingulated cortex and the left lateral prefrontal cortex had hyperactivity in the hippocampus bilaterally, when compared to the comparison group. The results suggested that users display persistent metabolic alterations in brain regions responsible for executive cognitive functioning. (Eldreth, Matochik, Cadet, & Bolla 2004). When performing the Stoop task, marijuana users were found to have greater activation compared to the comparison group in the left and right hippocampus. Marijuana users also failed to activate to the same extent as the comparison group in the left lateral prefrontal cortex and the left perigenual anterior cingulated cortex. According to Gardner (2002) drugs that are addictive to humans are similar to animal model systems in five ways. First, drugs enhance electrical brain stimulation reward in the core meso-accumbens reward circuitry of the brain, a circuit encompassing that portion of the medial forebrain bundle which links the ventral tegmental area of the mesencephalic midbrain

Thursday, October 24, 2019

The Spanish-American War :: American History Essays Spain Papers

Throughout history, there have been many wars that have been caused by many different reasons. Also, the effects of the wars may greatly impact, good or bad, either side of the fight. One great war in history of the United States was the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Spanish-American War was caused by many things. The war has left a lasting effect of both countries involved, the United States and Spain. Both Spain and the United States were greatly impacted by the war. The Spanish-American War was not started by one thing in particular. It was because of a large amount of reasons that built up until it erupted in war. It started with the explosion of the USS Maine. When Spain sent in General â€Å"Butcher† Weyler to stabilize the situation in Cuba, he put the majority of the population into concentration camps. The US sent the Maine to protect its investments there. The USS Maine was on a â€Å"friendly† mission to wait and rescue any US citizens that may be hurt in the conflict. At 4:40 pm on February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor. The source of the explosion was not known. Some thought that it may have been from a Spanish mine. Others thought there may have been a spy on board the ship sent to destroy it. Even though the United States said it might have been an accident on board, the US citizens were sent into a frenzy by â€Å"yellow journalism† that was published by men like Pulitzer and Hearst. The information posted by these yellow journalist increased the anti-Spanish feelings and made more and more people favor war. Also, when Congress passed the Fifty Million Dollar bill, which gave the president 50 million dollars to prepare for a war before it is declared, it made people more and more ready for a war and it also made them support it. Many countries in Europe tried to intervene in the situation without actually getting involved into the conflict. Most of Europe expressed sympathy for Spain and tried to talk to the US, but they would not support Spain in the conflict or in the event of a war. Also, Great Britain supported the United States all through the war and gave them advice. The two countries became uneasy as they both began to prepare their army and navy for a war in the sea and on land.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Pets Should Be Treated Like Family

Yannick Sanchez Pets should be treated like family members I agree with the statement that pats should be treated like family members because they live with us, in our home and we have to take care of them. For example a dog is in more than one way similar to a little child who can not do anything by himself. We have to provide them food, home and if needed medical support. It is trus that a dog would never be as much important as a child would but we can not neglect them either. Another example to show how important can a pet be is the relation he coult have with the children.I personally had a dog when I was a child and he was always by my side, taking care of me. He was a friend and a part of my family. That is why I think they could be important for the children and behave like a protector. They also have a sort a sixth sense that can feel when a person is worried and provide you support just like a human being would. An additional fact that make me think the pets are just like f amily members is the dogs for blind people. These dogs are one of the most important thing he their life because they are the key for their social life.Once again these pets are as much important as the family who can not be 24/7 to help them. We can also take the example of an old couple who is retired. They now live alone and a plenty of time to spend. Having a pet can occupy them and can also protect them. In that way they are like a new member of the family who need to be taken care of. In conclusion I think that pets and particularly dogs should be treated just like a family member for all that they give us and support they could be for certain people.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

How to Write a Halloween Essay to Impress Even Dead People

How to Write a Halloween Essay to Impress Even Dead People If you are going to write a Halloween essay, then you need the instruction which will help you start.   If you face difficulties, you can count on professional help from our company. Halloween is a unique festival. American children adore it because they feel free dress the way they like. In addition, people give them candies or fruit presents when kids say â€Å"trick-or-treat†. Almost every person in America even other countries in the world like Halloween because it is full of Haunted Houses, terrifying stories, parties, interesting traditions. Still, students don’t know what to write about how to make their story spooky worthy of A+. ORDER YOUR HALLOWEEN ESSAY Choose a good topic for your Halloween essay. Think of what your target audience would like to read about Halloween create a title. Compose the outline to bring your ideas on Halloween in order. Find catchy facts on Halloween. For example, find out why people wear scary costumes or why Halloween is the time of the dead. Your paper about Halloween is to be well-structured (an intro part, the body, conclusion) include the required number of pages words. Pay attention to other important details such as formatting, writing style, other issues which your college requires. Different Topics to Consider An essay on Halloween should dwell upon some striking or at least interesting topics. Here are some related topics which can help you describe one of the most popular holidays of the year. Things You Didn’t Know about the History of Halloween. Will People Celebrate Halloween in the 21nd century? The Best Ways to Have Fun on the 31st of October. The Great Tradition Unites Families: Carving a Pumpkin Designing It. Why Do Some People Consider Halloween Celebration to Be Immoral? Remember one - thing there shouldn’t be just presented some facts or statistics on Halloween, you are to show the analysis of the problem your personal point of view. These things play the main role in essay evaluation so get rid of all distractions and start working. Facts to Use When Writing the Academic Assignment on Halloween Essay writing about Halloween requires vivid catching facts. Research the topic, write down the most trustworthy sources (both web printed), be ready to analyze use them in your paper. Here are some sample facts to follow. Samhain was a Celtic holiday devoted to their God of death. Celts put on heads skin of animals, made a huge sacred fire, sacrificed animals to their God on the last day of October at night which also stood for their New Year’s Eve. They said goodbye to warm summer harvest met cold winter. There were also Druids who tried to predict the future. They believed that spirits could visit the Earth that night inhabit the body of some living being. Soon the Roman Empire occupied Celtic territories the traditions have changed greatly since then because of assimilation. Romans celebrated All Saints’ Day on the 1st of November. 2000 years have brought new customs. Today costumes of witches, ghosts, favorite TV book characters have replaced those made of animal skin heads. People carve jack-o'-lantern to drive the ghosts away from their houses organize huge parties. People in colonial New England seldom celebrated Halloween because their beliefs differed greatly. Today there are no Druids who can predict the future but females believe that they can divine their intended husband’s name using apple skin, mirrors, thread. The origin of â€Å"trick-or-treating† dates back to All Souls’ Day in England. People promised to pray for the relatives who had been already dead. They baked pastries which they called â€Å"soul cakes†, gave them to poor hungry persons. Today families buy sweets to please kids commemorate the dead. Try to avoid sources which express a personal point of view or sound unnaturally. It’s better to turn to valid reliable ones. Check what sources your college considers to be good what not. For instance, some tutors hate when students use Wikipedia ban this source. How to Start How to Finish Every essay has its introduction (the beginning), its body (the passage explains the thesis statement), its conclusion (the part which summarizes everything mentioned above). That’s really important to start finish the essay properly. As a rule, experts recommend using citations, proverbs, short stories, some wise words, anecdotes, or impressive facts/ statistics both at the beginning at the end of the writing assignment about Halloween. One more essential issue is the thesis statement which you should present in the introductory part. It must be informative brief. Connect all parts of your essay logically. Each sentence should support the main idea presented in the thesis statement. The introduction the conclusion are the shortest parts of the work the body is the biggest one. If you need to attach some files do that according to the college requirements. Use the appropriate format of pictures, diagrams, etc. Be sure that you know how to arrange the bibliography section, footnotes (if needed). Consider the Style of the Essay Dealing with essay writing on Halloween, it’s very important to pay attention to its style. There are four major styles: narrative, descriptive, expository, persuasive. Each style has its peculiarities. If you prefer the narrative one, then tell a story that happened in your or somebody’s life on Halloween. Make it vivid impressive. This style requires ‘I’ sentences letting the reader become the witness of the events. Choosing the expository style, you’d better present only evidence about Halloween. It’s the analysis of the topic, it doesn’t involve human feelings emotions. PROFESSIONAL ESSAY HELP Descriptive writing of a Halloween essay is about creating a true-to-life picture. It must make the reader smell, feel, see, hear, taste the things you describe. If you write a persuasive paper you should be ready to convince the reader that your point of view is the right one. Make it sound logical using facts, examples, statistics. Interview an expert present his or her words in the paper.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Uneasy vs. Uneased

Uneasy vs. Uneased Uneasy vs. Uneased Uneasy vs. Uneased By Maeve Maddox I read the following quotation in a newspaper account of a local city council meeting: Im uneased by the fact that we have land in the city [that is not zoned]. Surely, the councilman meant to say that he was uneasy about the fact! At once I began a Web search and discovered that this strange use of uneased is not- so far- in the millions, but its out there in the thousands: I am uneased by heights, but I love zip-lining for some reason. I am personally uneased by even letting my kid walk to the front door by himself. They were uneased by your appearance and took a few days before getting used to seeing you about town. Its not always clear what uneased in the expression uneased by is intended to convey. Sometimes, as in the councilmans quotation, it seems to be used where uneasy would be idiomatic, but sometimes it seems to mean uncomfortable, in pain, or frightened. In the following paragraph on a professional medical site, any of the four could be intended: A mammogram should never be painful. This common conception is the reason many women put off scheduling their annual mammograms. If you ever are uneased, inform your mammography technologist so that they may alleviate your discomfort. Note: This illustrative quotation contains other writing errors, but for now, let’s just consider uneased. The word ease can be either a noun or a verb. For example: Miss Hannigan desired a life of ease. (noun) We admire aid workers who ease the suffering of refugees. (verb) The verb ease (ease, eased, has eased) has acquired numerous meanings since its earliest OED citation: to give ease to (1340) to relieve or lighten a burden (1374) to give ease of mind (1385) to relieve the bowels (1440) to relax (1863) to make to fit (1891) to break in gently (1892) The following examples (all in past tense) illustrate these meanings: Joplin home eased orphans plight Following advice he had received from Pollard, Woolf had eased up on Seabiscuit, allowing his horse to see his rival, then asked for more effort.   The home mortgage market improved last quarter as demand increased and many banks eased their lending standards for the most creditworthy borrowers, Black and White Ointment quickly  eased  the itching, burn and sting. The A E crisis hitting hospitals all over the country could be eased if the paperwork burden was eased on family doctors. Defra has  eased  restrictions on the movement of animals in England. The man eased the injured foot into a shoe. The carpenter planed and eased the dragging door. The new governor eased the misery of the people by lowering taxes. Confessing to the lie eased his conscience. Far removed from the conveniences of indoor plumbing, the people eased themselves in the bushes. A conscience or a pain might go uneased, but in standard usage, people are uneasy about things that bother them. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Masters Degree or Master's Degree?26 Feel-Good Words8 Great Podcasts for Writers and Book Authors

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Teaching for understanding †Education Essay

Teaching for understanding – Education Essay Free Online Research Papers Teaching for understanding Education Essay Understanding is one of the most cherished goals of education. Teaching for understanding can bring knowledge to life by requiring students to manipulate knowledge in various ways. For instance, understanding a historical event means going beyond the facts to explain them, explore the remote causes, discuss the incident as different people might see it from their own perspectives, ans skeptically critique what various sources say. History of Teaching for Understanding: A number of years ago, several colleagues at Harvard Graduate School of Education, developed the Teaching for Understanding framework, which centers on the idea of performances of understanding (Blythe Associates, 1998; Gardner, 1999; Perkins Blythe, 1994) and investigated the development of learning processes in children, adults, and organizations since 1967. Today, named, Project Zero is building on this research to help create communities of reflective, independent learners; to enhance deep understanding within disciplines; and to promote critical and creative thinking. Project Zeros mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels. The research programs are based on a detailed understanding of human cognitive development and of the process of learning in the arts and other disciplines. They place the learner at the center of the educational process, respecting the different ways in which an individual learns at various stages of life, as well as differences among individuals in the ways they perceive the world and express their ideas. Teaching for Understanding or, now a days named PZ (Project Zero) has passed through several stages: l. Conceptual Groundwork (1967-1971): During its early years, PZ consisted of a loose collection of 10-15 research assistants and senior scholars. Included in this group were: psychologist Paul Kolers, philosopher Israel Scheffler, literary analyst Barbara Leondar, and Howard Gardner and David Perkins, as founding (and sometimes uncompensated) research assistants. The group met regularly to discuss philosophical, psychological, and conceptual issues in the arts and art education. From the first, the Project took a cognitive view of the arts, viewing artistic activity as involving mental processes fully as powerful and subtle as those used in the sciences or public policy. In that sense, the Project reflected the Cognitive Revolution of the timecountering both the behaviorist past of psychology and the overly romantic view of the arts as matters of mystery, emotion, or entertainment. The Bible for this period was Goodmans influential Languages of Art (1968). During this early period position papers were written, and mode st experiments were undertaken. The results of this first phase of work are captured in a final report for the U.S. Office of Education, prepared by Goodman, Perkins, and Gardner, called Basic Abilities Required for Understanding and Creation in the Arts (1972). During the first years of PZ, Goodman also served as impresario for a dozen memorable lecture-performances at GSE. The purpose of these lecture-performances was to introduce GSE students, and the Harvard community more broadly, to the cognitive processes that characterize artistic planning, performance, and production. In later years, Goodman continued to serve as producer for a series of artistic activities and events at Harvard: these included newly commissioned multimedia performances of John Updikes Rabbit Run (1970), multimedia presentations inspired by Katharine Sturgis drawing series Hockey Seen, and Picassos drawings after Velasquez. Goodman was also catalytic in the formation of the Harvard Summer School Dance Program and the Harvard Business School Program in Arts Management. 2. Empirical Research in Cognitive and Developmental Psychology (1971/2-1983): In 1971, Goodman announced his intention to retire from PZ. He told Gardner and Perkins that they could direct the projectquipping, in characteristic fashion, that means you can raise the money from now on. At first, Perkins took on the directorship and he was joined in 1972 by Gardner. During the following decade, Gardner, Perkins, and a small group of researchers that included Laurie Meringoff (Brown), Ellen Winner, and Dennie Wolf focussed their attention principally on empirical work in the area of cognitive psychology, with a continuing emphasis on artistic issues. An informal division of labor took place, with Gardner and colleagues focussing primarily on developmental issues and populations, while Perkins and colleagues worked primarily with adult artists (and other adult populations). Results of this work can be found in many books and articles, and a number of collections, including Perkins and Leondar The Arts and Cognition (1977) and Gardner and Perkins Art Mind and Educat ion (1989). During this period, much of PZ research was focussed on the arts. Yet across the organization, there was an increased desire to examine issues that went beyond the arts, to look at issues like problem solving, critical thinking, and brain organization. Even in these cases, however, researchers typically were informed by the artistic focus of PZ. 3. The Turn to Education (1983-1993): In 1983, the influential report A Nation at Risk was issued by the U.S. Department of Education. This report catalyzed a lengthy re-examination of American public education as well as newly energized research and development efforts on educational issues at the University Level. PZ had always been housed at the Graduate School of Education and various members had been involved in educational questions and research over the years. Nonetheless, by 1990 PZ had a very different feeling than it had in 1970 (philosophical and conceptual) or in 1980 (primarily psychological research funded by governmental grants). The staff was larger (an average of 50 persons, rather than 20); more of the staff had backgrounds in education rather than in psychology or other scholarly disciplines; and more of the research and development was of a distinctly applied nature. Funding came increasingly from private foundations. At this time, PZ became involved with schools that were based on multiple intellige nces; smart schools that encouraged creative and critical thinking; and collaborations like ATLAS, that included the Coalition of Essential Schools, the School Development Program, and the Education Development Center. In 1992, PZ celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary at a gala at the Fogg Art Museum. A few hundred individuals attended. Among the speakers were founder Goodman, long term friend Jerome Bruner, and Harvard Deans of Education Theodore Sizer, Patricia Graham, and Jerome Murphy. At the time it was evident that PZ had gone through a number of changes. Compared to the early years, it was much larger; more empirically oriented; extended well beyond the arts; and had a strong applied division, which worked in the schools, museums, and other educational institutions. 4. The Maturing of PZ (1993-2003): PZ has always been self-supporting. In the 1960s and 1970s support came chiefly from the federal government (NSF, NIH). Since the early 1980s support has come increasingly from private foundations. Thanks in significant part to core support from the Atlantic Philanthropic Services Co., Inc. (now The Atlantic Philanthropies), PZ had the opportunity in the last decade to consolidate and mature. We built up a strong central core administration. The former Development Group (led by Gardner) and Cognitive Skills Group (led by Perkins) gave way to a loosely knit but cohesive organization with many internal and external ties and arrangements. PZ became much more prominent on the national and international scene. Details on this most recent period constitute the remaining parts of this report. During the 1990s, Project Zero went through various attempts at reorganization. Each of these phases advanced PZ, and, in retrospect, each seemed a necessary stage of growth. In 2000, Steve Seidel was chosen to be the new Director. Later that year, Cynthia Quense joined Steve as the Administrative Director; Gardner and Perkins were given the honorary title of Senior Director, and continue to function as key advisors and members of the Steering Committee. Research Papers on Teaching for understanding - Education EssayThree Concepts of PsychodynamicStandardized TestingInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesResearch Process Part OneThe Project Managment Office SystemRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoEffects of Television Violence on Children

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Safety Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Safety Management - Essay Example Establishment of an effective safety action plan requires resources and time, and therefore, support of the senior management. When developing a new action plan, an organization can have a committee comprising of employees, board members and managers to facilitate acceptance, resistance to change reduction and increase chances of safety action plan success. Management support on a safety action plan remains essential in ensuring safety recognition, adequate performance results and necessary support or training provision to employee so as to improved safety, therefore, resulting in a safe working environment (Binkley 157). Whether the action plans entails introduction of a new action plan or modification of old process, it is essential for the safety manager to communicate the steps and the purpose of the safety action plan process before implementation. It is also essential that a safety manger reviews the performance management system of the organization and make necessary adjustmen ts. As mentioned earlier, safety management is a continuous process of planning, monitoring and review of processes; a safety action plan should be based on this continuity by first planning, where expectations are first identified, clarified and agreed upon. The planning process should also include identification on how results of the plan will be measured, agreement on the process of monitoring and action plan documentation (Ruding 15).

Friday, October 18, 2019

MicroL20 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MicroL20 - Essay Example b. An example of a good with a positive externality is occupied housing. Certainly, the individuals housed benefit from shelter, security, and an ability to organize their lives and families in a way that would not likely be feasible if they were homeless. Owners enjoy rents (implicit if the property is owner-occupied) on the home. These are primarily private benefits. Occupied housing tends to be better maintained, improving neighborhood property values) over the long term and neighborhoods with higher occupancy rates tend to have lower crime rates. Both of these are primarily public benefits. An example of a good with a negative externality is a car with an extremely loud stereo system. While the audiophile-owner may enjoy the experience (a private benefit), those who are forced to experience the sound against their will are faced with a nuisance (a public cost). 2. Monopolies. a. If Bart charges $15, then he sells a meal for a total profit of $10. If he charges $8, he'll sell two meals for a total profit of $6. If he charges $7, he'll sell three meals at a total profit of $6. It's in Bart's best interest to charge $15.00 and sell a single meal. The producer surplus in this case is $10 and there is no consumer surplus. b. Without advanced knowledge of who would be willing to pay which price, it would be difficult for him to price discriminate, but there are some strategies he might pursue. One is to institute â€Å"haggling.† If every transaction is negotiated, it is possible that those willing to pay a higher price might be persuaded to part with more cash for the same meal than a less well-funded customer (though this increases transaction costs). It might also be possible for Bart to create categories of customers, through some sort of discounting mechanism, which would make it more likely that those willing to pay more would spend more. He might create three cosmetically different, though essentially similar, meals (though this pushes the boundarie s of the premise, since the meals would no longer be the same). Ideally, he would be able to sell three meals, one each for $15, $8 and $7. In reality, with imperfect information, he'd likely not do this well. c. Bart would be able to sell three meals, one each for $15, $8 and $7. The producer surplus will be $15 and there will be no consumer surplus. d. If all three meals were purchased by one person, it would be difficult for Brad to price discriminate, except, perhaps, by the use of discount cards or some similar device that needed to be presented upon ordering or paying. Assuming he could not price discriminate and the consumers presented a united, three meals or nothing front, we would expect three meals sold at $7 each. e. If there were another restaurant in town, it would be much more difficult for Bart to price discriminate. He would need to depend on factors such as market friction, customer loyalty or location preference (i.e., Bart's restaurant is easier to get to) or col lusion with his competitor to maintain some degree of monopoly power if he wanted to continue to price discriminate. As the number of competitors increased the situation would increasingly resemble a perfect competition model and Bart would become a price taker. f. It would be very difficult to effectively price discriminate

The Great Gatsby Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Great Gatsby - Essay Example Instead of buying fulfillment, joy, and new life, Gatsby’s wealth ended up shrouding him in loneliness, despair, emptiness, and ultimately, death. Gatsby’s long lost love, Daisy Buchanan, also chased after the futile illusion that money and social stature would bring her happiness, and her delusions of grandeur landed her under the same pall of desperation and isolation in which Gatsby found himself. After a close analysis of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, it becomes quite evident that he uses various characters to show how affluence and the quest to gain it - the American dream - can become the very vehicle that ushers in misery. On the outside, Jay Gatsby is the epitome of the American success story - a man who grew up from a modest beginning and worked hard to make his once unreachable dreams become a reality. What many would call a healthy ambition to gain what he wants, is actually a compulsion of Gatsby’s - one to secure the woman of his dreams, who he sees as attainable only through his acquired wealth. After being away for years at war and making a fortune, Gatsby comes back to find that his unrequited love had married. But Gatsby believed that Daisy’s moral commitment was no obstacle for his higher stature, which he believes has earned him the ticket he needs to finally gain the ultimate object of his desire. One landmark event in the novel symbolizes Gatsby’s ultimate acquisition, â€Å"He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God,† (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby had waited his entire life for this moment, and this kiss served to him as being an eternal seal of success that would make Daisy his: â€Å"Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete† (111). But the only thing that made this transformative kiss possible was the material and status gains Gatsby had earned, as he believed that the love he had for Daisy before the war was not enough to win her over or prove his worth. Because Gatsby had played the game of consumerism and acquisition for so long, this episode proved to be more of a corporate takeover than an emotional experience. Consequently, the reader soon finds out that power and money are not resources from which love can be built, but rather, mechanisms that work to destroy it. The deteriorating effects of money and power are quite evident in Daisy, as well. She did not totally fall for Gatsby until he came back as a millionaire. Once he embodied the image of success, Daisy believed Gatsby now provided for her the ticket to happiness, exuding more prestige than her husband ever could. The author shows Daisy’s materialistic bent on and obsession with wealth and status when describing her thoughts about the â€Å"old money† and â€Å"new money† districts where she liv ed, â€Å"She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented ‘place’ that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village - appalled by its raw vigor that chaffed under the old euphemisms and by the too obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a shortcut from nothing to nothing,† (Fitzgerald 107). Here, the reader can see Daisy’s utter distaste for the regions that did not fit in with the economic grand scheme of things. The money that she had bought into through marriage was not as appetizing as the fresh money that Gatsby so flamboyantly threw around

Thursday, October 17, 2019

The Representation of gender roles and marriage Research Paper

The Representation of gender roles and marriage - Research Paper Example For language, as well as being a vehicle for communication, is also power. The author and psychoanalyst Eva Hoffman, who left her native Poland to complete her education in Canada and the USA, and who now practices as a psychoanalyst in London, writes about the relationship between language and identity in her autobiography Lost in Translation: Life in a New Language: I was also delighted to be asked to speak at a conference marking the 60th anniversary of the host organization, Relate. My association with Relate goes back even further than that with the Commission, and I am a firm admirer of the contribution it makes nationally to trying to improve communication between women and men through its work with troubled marriages. Talk therapy does offer the chance of finding one's voice, discovering a new language in which difficult matters can be talked about, and repossessing one's identity. Relate may not have thought of itself as a language school, but it is in the business of offering interpretive services. In that, it shares an enterprise with the work of my own organization, the Tavistock Marital Studies Institute, which also celebrated an important occasion in 1998-its 50th anniversary. Both organizations are concerned with whether and how women and men talk to each other. Not far from where I live in Hertfordshire is the village of Ayot St Lawrence. One of this little village's claims to fame is that the playwright George Bernard Shaw used to live there. His best-known play is probably Pygmalion, a quintessentially English drama about the divisions of class and gender, and one made popular by the musical My Fair Lady. The plot revolves around a bet, made by a dialectician, Professor Henry Higgins, that he can train a market girl, Eliza Dolittle, to speak and act in ways that would allow her to be passed off as aristocracy. In trying to eliminate the linguistic indicators of class, Higgins becomes increasingly frustrated by the differences of gender that he encounters. One plaintive, immortalized line from the musical, pleads `Why can't a woman be more like a man?'. The boot today is on the other foot. When it comes to communication, the exasperated cry is now `Why can't a man be more like a woman?'. You hear it in the consulting rooms of counsellors a nd therapists, in research reports on family life, and in media discussions on gender relations. The questions now are `why do men stonewall?', `why can't they talk about their feelings?', `why are they so orientated towards activities?' In an age where companionability is the primary expectation of marriage and partnership, men tend to get the blame for not delivering. Their 'failure' to communicate is taken as a key reason why marriages break down. They are no longer needed to bring home the bacon, nor even to provide the socially accepted framework of marriage for conceiving and raising children, and women are asking themselves what they need men for. Men, on the other hand, are facing a decline in their market, social and biological value. As if to underline the point, sperm levels are falling in our increasingly oestrogen-ridden environment, and even male delivery systems have proved inferior (at least, in terms of efficiency) to those carried out in the hospital laboratory. Th e recent explosion of interest in the male potency drug, Viagra, tells its own story. Is this story just of `Boy's

BP oil company Knowledge management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

BP oil company Knowledge management - Assignment Example This is then followed by a discussion on Knowledge management leadership provision and the research reveals that mid-level BP leadership together with excellence coordinators are responsible for tracking dialogue and knowledge exchange initiatives. The paper also contains an extensive assessment of learning cycle, and this illustrates that the learning sequence is prior to, during and subsequent to any experience and is supported by straightforward process tools. The paper recommends that it is crucial for BP to facilitate sharing of knowledge within its highest quality, in order not to sacrifice integrity of the company and the entire knowledge management system. The group needs to assign more individuals who will be responsible for reviewing, approving and enhancing quality of knowledge and learning cycle before it is shared to other personnel. However, the paper acknowledges that knowledge and learning scheme at BP has resulted in gains amounting to more than hundreds of billions of dollars mostly due to informal personnel networks, in addition to supplementary workplace practices. Introduction BP is among the world leading global oil and Gas Company and it offers its clients with energy for transportation, retail services plus petrochemicals products. The company makes annual sales and additional operating revenues amounting to $375,517 million as of last year. BP has over 83.400 employees spread in over 30 nations with retail sites totalling 21800 (BP Global, 2012). The company has two business segments, which are exploration, production/ refining and Marketing. However, a detached business referred to as, Alternative Energy deals with low-carbon businesses as well as future growth alternatives of oil and gas, such as solar, wind, hydrogen, and bio-fuels. The company business activities are structured into four key areas, comprising the upstream, the downstream, the chemicals, and the gas and power divisions. They all add up to around 150 self-directed bus iness units.   BP organizational structure has changed considerably to be more of an entrepreneurial emphasized business unit. Thus, the company board sets up the goals, come up with broader policy measures, and monitors the group CEO performance (Groot, 2009). However, the board does not manage the group businesses, but it delegates responsibility and executive authority to a single point, that of the CEO who is then responsible for refining and marketing affairs. The argument by BP is that a flat organization enables faster decisions making, and at the same time encourages entrepreneurial creativity from its employees along with ideas being managed better. Below the chief executive officer there is the group vice president along with the senior group vice president in charge of safety and operations, and below them there are regional vice presidents whereby individuals such as refinery managers report directly to them. Thus, every business unit contains a high level of independe nce. nevertheless they all share logic of interdependence, in addition to awareness that so as to fulfil their performance goals they will have to become skilled at both from and by each-other. The central corporate organization helps and supports individual business units, and as such individual performance contracts play a crucial role. This brings out commitment to a set of

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

The Representation of gender roles and marriage Research Paper

The Representation of gender roles and marriage - Research Paper Example For language, as well as being a vehicle for communication, is also power. The author and psychoanalyst Eva Hoffman, who left her native Poland to complete her education in Canada and the USA, and who now practices as a psychoanalyst in London, writes about the relationship between language and identity in her autobiography Lost in Translation: Life in a New Language: I was also delighted to be asked to speak at a conference marking the 60th anniversary of the host organization, Relate. My association with Relate goes back even further than that with the Commission, and I am a firm admirer of the contribution it makes nationally to trying to improve communication between women and men through its work with troubled marriages. Talk therapy does offer the chance of finding one's voice, discovering a new language in which difficult matters can be talked about, and repossessing one's identity. Relate may not have thought of itself as a language school, but it is in the business of offering interpretive services. In that, it shares an enterprise with the work of my own organization, the Tavistock Marital Studies Institute, which also celebrated an important occasion in 1998-its 50th anniversary. Both organizations are concerned with whether and how women and men talk to each other. Not far from where I live in Hertfordshire is the village of Ayot St Lawrence. One of this little village's claims to fame is that the playwright George Bernard Shaw used to live there. His best-known play is probably Pygmalion, a quintessentially English drama about the divisions of class and gender, and one made popular by the musical My Fair Lady. The plot revolves around a bet, made by a dialectician, Professor Henry Higgins, that he can train a market girl, Eliza Dolittle, to speak and act in ways that would allow her to be passed off as aristocracy. In trying to eliminate the linguistic indicators of class, Higgins becomes increasingly frustrated by the differences of gender that he encounters. One plaintive, immortalized line from the musical, pleads `Why can't a woman be more like a man?'. The boot today is on the other foot. When it comes to communication, the exasperated cry is now `Why can't a man be more like a woman?'. You hear it in the consulting rooms of counsellors a nd therapists, in research reports on family life, and in media discussions on gender relations. The questions now are `why do men stonewall?', `why can't they talk about their feelings?', `why are they so orientated towards activities?' In an age where companionability is the primary expectation of marriage and partnership, men tend to get the blame for not delivering. Their 'failure' to communicate is taken as a key reason why marriages break down. They are no longer needed to bring home the bacon, nor even to provide the socially accepted framework of marriage for conceiving and raising children, and women are asking themselves what they need men for. Men, on the other hand, are facing a decline in their market, social and biological value. As if to underline the point, sperm levels are falling in our increasingly oestrogen-ridden environment, and even male delivery systems have proved inferior (at least, in terms of efficiency) to those carried out in the hospital laboratory. Th e recent explosion of interest in the male potency drug, Viagra, tells its own story. Is this story just of `Boy's

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The case of John du point Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The case of John du point - Essay Example Upon arrival at Schultz’s residence, he found Schultz training at the wrestling facilities that du Pont had set up in his estate. Schultz greeted his boss from where du Pont returned by asking him whether he had any problem with him. After this brief exchange, it is reported that du Pont pointed his 44-caliber revolver towards Schultz and shot him thrice, once at the arm and twice at his chest. This resulted in the instant death of David Schultz. A key witness to this act was Schultz wife, Nancy Schultz, who rushed out of the house upon hearing the first gun shot and upon arrival at the scene, she saw du Pont trigger his last shot at the already lying Schultz. It is also reported that du Pont also pointed the gun at her as well as at his bodyguard, Patrick Goodale after the shoot-out (Fersch, 2005, p. 151). After John du Pont had completed the act, he retreated to his large mansion where he spent the next 48 hours in an attempt to avoid being caught by the police. Inside his mansion, he had access to his large gun collection and other armories that he had acquired over his powerful years. The two-day standoff at his â€Å"Foxcatcher Farm† ended after he was lured outside by the police in order to make amends to the houses heating system which had tactically been switched off by the police. John du Pont was finally apprehended on 28 January, 1996, and his case opened in order to pave a way for investigations and subsequent trial. The case implicating John du Pont to the murder of David Schultz started on 9 February, 1996 after the trial court ordered a competency examination of the appellant. The competency examination was completed on 9 September 1996 concluding that John du Pont was incompetent to proceed with the trial. This resulted in John du Pont being remanded to the Norristown State Hospital where he underwent treatment. John du Pont was found to be competent for procession to trial in December, 1996, and thus his trial

America’s Foreign Policy Essay Example for Free

America’s Foreign Policy Essay Since the end of the Cold War, the relationship between the U.S. government and the media has become increasingly significant. Coupled with the number of humanitarian interventions during the 1990’s, it begs the question, how far is the media responsible for the creation of U.S. foreign policy? Somalia, a nation wracked by civil war and famine, stirred the United Nations particularly the U.S. into action, but how far was the media responsible? It is argued that the CNN effect played a substantial role in U. S. foreign policy, as it was displaying graphic images and news stories of the crisis to the U.S. public, creating uproar over the situation, and a demand to ‘do something now’. Combined with the media’s ability to frame the news into a positive or negative light, this demonstrates the power the media has over public opinion. This in turn created pressure on the policy-makers of the U.S. and the United Nations to act, which is demonstrated in Operation Continue Hope, and UNOSOM (United Nations Operation in Somalia)I and II. However, it is also argued that the collapse of the USSR, and the attempt to create a New World Order was a deciding factor in the U.S.’s foreign policy. Without the constraints of competing ideologies and the USSR in the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. wanted to develop a world foreign policy based upon cooperation, economic development and humanitarian intervention for those in need. With the U.S. as the remaining great Superpower, it was considered their duty to take the lead and show the world how it is done – hence the foreign policy concerning Somalia. It is in my judgment that the media played a substantial part in affecting U.S. foreign policy, due to the effect it had upon the U.S. citizens, and their outcry for immediate action. However, the media is not solely responsible for the actions of the U.S., as other factors like the New World Order played its part too, which I shall demonstrate throughout this essay. The previous government, the Somali Democratic Republic, under the leadership of Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, posed the question of who would succeed the ailing leader, who had been seriously injured in a car accident. This, and the lessening of its strategic importance in the final years of the Cold War, and the reduction of Soviet support, opened up in Somalia an opportunity for rebellion. The government was becoming increasingly totalitarian, performing human atrocities against resistance movements who wanted freedom from the military dictatorship. This eventually led to the outbreak of civil war, the toppling of Barre’s regime, and a power vacuum, with various warlords vying for control. When increasing reports of human atrocities, and starving citizens reached the international community, with food prices rising by 800-1200%, President Bush, and the United Nations Security Council passed a unanimous resolution in December 1992, to deploy peacekeeping forces, and huma nitarian relief to Somalia, aimed at stabilizing the situation, with ‘all necessary means to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid in accordance to Chapter VII of the United Nations charter. The U.S. led United Nation forces initially met with success in providing aid to the nation, however, in 1995; United Nations peacekeepers were forced to withdraw after public opinion turned as a result of significant peacekeeper casualties, and its failure to capture General Mohamed Farah Aidid, the major warlord figure in the country. I shall now argue how the media held great responsibility for the U.S.’s foreign policy in Somalia during the 1990’s, due to the CNN effect. Since the end of the Cold War, the increasing willingness of Western governments to intervene militarily during humanitarian crises, coupled with significant levels of Western media attention to the consequences of ‘distant’ civil wars, raised substantive questions regarding the media-state relationship. Western media has enjoyed greater amounts of freedom since the toppling of the USSR, and the rise of U.S. hegemony, resulting in greater access to ‘on-scene’ news articles, and the ability to show them to the rest of the world. Coupled with the development of the internet in the 1990’s, CNN and other media stations are able to bring images and information to the public 24 hours a day. This is demonstrated when the initial U.S. marines who landed on the beaches of Mogadishu, were greeted by a swarm of American journalists and star correspondents, who had been given advance notice of the landing. With the ability to control what information is shown to their audiences, the media has a certain amount of control over public opinion, which in turn has an effect upon the government who represents them. For example, the U.S. government was already aware of the situation in Somalia before CNN shared the story, and yet was not compelled to intervene. However, once the stor y became public, the U.S., and the United Nations received a vast amount of pressure to acknowledge the situation, and act accordingly. This is known as a ‘strong CNN effect’, the ability of the media to steer the policy makers in the direction the media wants by influencing which images are shown to the public. By 1992, Somalia had become a non-functioning state. Its government and related services collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis had died, and estimated 1.5million Somali people were in imminent danger of starvation, and another 3.5million to a lesser extent. All these images were shown by media stations like CNN to the world, capturing the sense of despair and devastation, and energising a ‘must do something now feeling’, resulting in President George H. W. Bush to take the lead in the United Nations mission to prevent this humanitarian crisis. This demonstrates how the media had become greatly influential in U.S. politics, and why it holds a substantial amount of responsibility for the U.S. foreign policy in the initial invasion. Furthermore, just as the media had substantial influence on the U.S. entering Somalia in 1992, the media used this same influence to bring about the end of the humanitarian mission in 1995. In March 1993, the U.S. pushed for a more direct role in combating the various warlords in Somalia and protecting the citizens the United Nations mission had saved from starvation. This was approved by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 794, authorising the use of ‘all necessary means to establish as soon as possible a secure environment for humanitarian relief operations in Somalia’. This was met with support from the U.S. public, as during the early media reports of the intervention, words that were supportive and emphatic were used twice as many times as words which were critical and distancing. This use of positive framing and optimistic language built a support for the intervention. Initially, the U.S. led forces were successful, capturing high-ranking members of Aidi d’s government, and preventing the massacre of Somali citizens. However, on the 3rd October, the U.S. attempted to capture two high-profile lieutenants of Aidid in the city of Mogadishu, when two Black Hawk Helicopters were shot down by the Somali militia. The following rescue attempt turned what should have been an hour’s operation into an overnight standoff in the city. The battle resulted in 18 U.S. deaths, 80 wounded, and 1 helicopter pilot captured. This became known as The Battle of Mogadishu. In the wake of the battle, the media had access to images of the dead and battered American servicemen, and the victorious Somali forces parading the captured U.S. helicopter pilot Corporal William Durant through the streets of Mogadishu. Shockingly they also dragged the naked corpse of a U.S. soldier past a mob of Somali citizens who vented their anger by spitting on, stoning and kicking the body, in the full view of the cameras. In light of this news, the media changed the framing of the Somali crisis, and began to challenge the government, h ighlighting the casualty ratings the U.S. forces were sustaining. While the public had strongly supported the former President Bush’s decision to send U.S. troops to Somalia to stop the starvation, support had now almost vanished. On Capitol Hill, mounting calls for a withdrawal of U.S. troops rose to a level that newly elected President Clinton could not ignore, and announced the exit of U.S. troops by March 1994. Through the use of a ‘strong CNN effect’, the media completely turned U.S. public opinion on the Somali intervention. The starving Somali citizens, who had been the victims at the start of the intervention, had become the victimisers, who had attacked foreign soldiers who were trying to help them. The public opinion might not have deteriorated quite so substantially, if the images accompanying the story had not been present, or if the media hadn’t worded their stories quite so negatively. After all, hearing about the deaths is one thing, to see it before your eyes is quite another. This therefore, demonstrates how the media, through the use of strong CNN effect, were able to steer public opinion into entering Somalia, and out of Somalia when the situation deteriorated. Although the media holds the majority of responsibility for the U.S.’s foreign policy in Somalia, Presidents Bush and Clinton’s drive to create a New World Order also holds partially responsibility. In the wake of the Cold War, President George H. W. Bush and President Mikhail Gorbachev tried to define this new era, and the great spirit of power cooperation they hoped to see. This is highlighted in a speech by Bush, in which he indicated ‘America and the world must defend common vital interests, support the rule of law and stand up to aggression’. With this new drive to create a better world, one with cooperation between major powers, rebuilding the world and projecting a new world with greater prospects for a new millennium. Therefore, when humanitarian crises like Somalia arose, President Bush saw it as U.S.’s duty as the richest and most powerful nation in the world, to lead the international mission to save these civilians from starvation. It was hoped, that along with saving those in need, the U.S. could inspire the rest of the world to share this image of a New World Order, and help build a better tomorrow. However, since the U.S. knew about Somalia before the media published the story, it doesn’t suggest that the New World Order was the major factor in deciding to intervene in the crisis. In conclusion, the media was greatly responsible for the U.S. foreign policy in Somalia, and was, in my judgment, the main factor which decided the issue initially to intervene in Somalia, and then to exit. Firstly, through the use of a strong CNN effect, the media framed the issue, and showed images to the public in order to create uproar amongst the population. This was done in order to manipulate the policy-makers into examining the situation, and ultimately become involved. This is demonstrated by the images of starving civilians, and the chaos the various warlords and clans were creating throughout the nation. These tactics would develop a ‘do something now’ feeling. Moreover, the media was also the leading factor in the U.S. exiting from Somalia, because the media station had changed the framing of the stories to negative and critical challenges of the governments mission in Somalia. This combined with the images of The Battle of Mogadishu, and the victimisation the U.S. soldiers had suffered, dramatically changed public opinion against the U.S. foreign policy in Somalia. However, the media was not the only factor in deciding U.S. foreign policy. President Bush’s idea of a New World Order, one based on the ideas of superpower cooperation, economic prosperity and humanitarian intervention also played a part in why President Bush would send U.S. soldiers to Somalia. It was considered the U.S.’s duty to help those in need, with the hope that their example could also inspire the rest of the world to accept the New Order, and help create a new and better world, rather than the conflict and tensions which had been experienced during the Cold War. However, the New World Order arguments are not as convincing as those for the conclusive influence of the media, as the U.S. government was already of aware of the situation in Somalia before the media developed the story, suggesting that it was the public outcry that decided the issue for the U.S.’s policy makers. Which is why, it is in my judgment that the media holds the majority of the responsibility for America’s foreign policy in Somalia during the 1990’s. Bibliography: 1. Taisier Ali and Robert Matthews, Civil Wars in Africa: Roots and Resolutions, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Canada, 1999, p.p.183 2. Ekaterina Balabanova, Media, Wars and Politics: Comparing the Incomparable in Western and Eastern Europe, Ashgate Publishing Limited, Hampshire, 2007, p.p. 8 3. Arthur Banks Thomas Muller and William Overstreet, Political Handbook of the World 2008, CQ Press Publishers, Alexandria/US, 2008, p.p. 1198 4. George H.W. Bush, Address before a joint session of the Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis and the Federal Budget Deficit, 9:09p.m. in the House Chamber at the Capitol, 1900 5. Jocelyn Coulon, translated by Phyllis Arnoff and Howard Scott, Soldiers of Diplomacy: The United Nations, Peacekeeping and the New World Order, Les Casques Bleus Publishers, Canada, 1994 p.p. 78 6. Nina Fitzgerald, Somalia: Issues, History and Bibliography, Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York, 2002, p.p. 26 7. George Kohn, Dictionaries of War, Facts on File Publishers Inc., New York, 2007, p.p. 511 8. Piers Robinson, Operation Restore Hope and the Illusion of a News Driven Media Intervention, Political Studies 49, 2001, p.p. 941-956 9. Piers Robinson, The CNN Effect: The myth of news, foreign policy and intervention, Routledge Publishers, London, 2002, p.p. 1 10. Ken Rutherford, Humanitarianism under Fire: The US and UN intervention in Somalia, Kumarain Press Publishers, Sterling, 2008, p.p. Preface xv 11. James Scott, After the End: Making U.S. foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War World, Duke University Press, North Carolina, 1999, p.p. 330 12. Richard Stewart, The United States Army in Somalia 1992-1994, Dept. of the Army Publishers, 2003 p.p. 23 13. Warren Strobel, Late-Breaking Foreign Policy: The News Media’s influence on Peace Operations, United States Institute of Peace Press, Washington, 1997, p.p. 167 14. United Nations Security Council, Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea, http://www.un.org/sc/committees/751/ 15. Thomas Weiss and Don Hubert, The Responsibility to Protect: Research, Bibliography, Background: Supplementary Volume to the report of the international commission on intervention and state sovereignty, International Development Research Centre Publishers, Ottawa, 2002, p.p. 96 [ 1 ]. Arthur Banks Thomas Muller and William Overstreet, Political Handbook of the World 2008, CQ Press Publishers, Alexandria/US, 2008, p.p. 1198 [ 2 ]. Nina Fitzgerald, Somalia: Issues, History and Bibliography, Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York, 2002, p.p. 26 [ 3 ]. Taisier Ali and Robert Matthews, Civil Wars in Africa: Roots and Resolutions, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Canada, 1999, p.p.183 [ 4 ]. United Nations Security Council, Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea, http://www.un.org/sc/committees/751/ [ 5 ]. George Kohn, Dictionaries of War, Facts on File Publishers Inc., New York, 2007, p.p. 511 [ 6 ]. Piers Robinson, The CNN Effect: The myth of news, foreign policy and intervention, Routledge Publishers, London, 2002, p.p. 1 [ 7 ]. Jocelyn Coulon, translated by Phyllis Arnoff and Howard Scott, Soldiers of Diplomacy: The United Nations, Peacekeeping and the New World Order, Les Casques Bleus Publishers, Canada, 1994 p.p. 78 [ 8 ]. Ekaterina Balabanova, Media, Wars and Politics: Comparing the Incomparable in Western and Eastern Europe, Ashgate Publishing Limited, Hampshire, 2007, p.p. 8 [ 9 ]. Ken Rutherford, Humanitarianism under Fire: The US and UN intervention in Somalia, Kumarain Press Publishers, Sterling, 2008, p.p. Preface xv [ 10 ]. Thomas Weiss and Don Hubert, The Responsibility to Protect: Research, Bibliography, Background: Supplementary Volume to the report of the international commission on intervention and state sovereignty, International Development Research Centre Publishers, Ottawa, 2002, p.p. 96 [ 11 ]. Piers Robinson, Operation Restore Hope and the Illusion of a News Dr iven Media Intervention, Political Studies 49, 2001, p.p. 941-956 [ 12 ]. Richard Stewart, The United States Army in Somalia 1992-1994, Dept. of the Army Publishers, 2003 p.p. 23 [ 13 ]. James Scott, After the End: Making U.S. foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War World, Duke University Press, North Carolina, 1999, p.p. 330 [ 14 ]. Warren Strobel, Late-Breaking Foreign Policy: The News Media’s influence on Peace Operations, United States Institute of Peace Press, Washington, 1997, p.p. 167 [ 15 ]. George H.W. Bush, Address before a joint session of the Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis and the Federal Budget Deficit, 9:09p.m. in the House Chamber at the Capitol, 1900

Monday, October 14, 2019

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Evaluation

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Evaluation Application of community based participatory research (CBPR) approaches when working on collaborative projects Course name: Social and behavioral sciences INTRODUCTION TO CBPR: CBPR (community-based participatory research) is basically a collective approach to examine that equitably includes all members in the examination process and identifies the un-common powers that each one brings. Community-based participatory research starts with an examination topic of significance to the group, has the objective of uniting knowledge with activity and attaining social change to better the health results and remove health inequalities. Community-based participatory research is a registered collective approach that authorizes community inhabitants to more energetically take part in the full range of research (starting from conception, plan, conduct, examination, interpretation, termination, communication of results) with an aim of affecting rearrangement in programs or policies, community health and systems. Community fellows and researchers partner to unite comprehension and activity for social rearrangement to better community health and more often reduce health inequalities. Research/Academic and community members join to produce models and resembles to building capacity, trust and communication, with the final aim of raising community involvement in the research procedure. It is a location to examine which equally includes all members in the research procedure and identifies the unique powers that everyone brings. Upgrading the public health more often necessitates moving far off the standard health care system to intervene integrated and original and new approaches. CBPR has appeared as a substitute research archetype which combines education and social activity to better health and intensify our scientific structure of knowledge in the regions of disease prevention, health promotion and health disparities. It is termed as a successful method for transporting evidence-based studies from clinical programs to communities that can mostly welfare thereby upgrading health. CBPRs community-scheduled research procedures offer the prospective to produce better-enlightened hypotheses, enhance more successful interventions, and develop the transcription of the examination results into the practice. So, CBPR is an important tool for activity-oriented and community-operated public health examination. (NIH) ADVANTAGES OF CBPR: The advantages of community-based participatory research are discussed below:- Giving benefits to the researchers and the community alike through the actions taken and knowledge acquired Developing the use and acceptability of data Raising the validity and quality of examination and research studies Making partners with various expertise to locate and communicate complicated public health problems Remove the cultural gaps and create trust between partners The prospective to transcript examination results to direct the enhancement of future interventions and change in policies Upgrading the implementation and intervention schedules by providing participant retention and enrolment (National institutes of health) IMPLEMENTATION OF CBPR: Quality of research: Writers of meditational studies (either CBPR or traditional) rottenly must put out their result and study attitude in disconnected articles. The character of CBPR further produces this disintegration when years of corporation expansion and teamwork must be distilled to little words in a minute number of journals eager to bring out this more expressive science. This may be why in sequence regarding the performance of CBPR, both in terms of neighbourhood participation and the examination, often was not present in the EPC-reviewed articles. A imperfect number of studies expressive a absolute and fully evaluated involvement—an observational revision or an epidemiologic learning that can be comprehensive beyond the members involved—have been available to date. Restraining factors emerge to be the resounding nature of most Federal supply, funding period extent and flexibility, and the page margins of journals. There was small confirmation to designate that high-class scores in neighbourhood collaboration are connected with low-quality explore scores. Recent singular journal problems focusing on CBPR have led a digit of publications to execute high-quality examine methods. CBPR support initiatives originating with Federal companies have the latent to do the equal. (Agency for health, research and quality) Intensity of Community Involvement: Community participation varied in dissimilar stages of the study. There was sturdy participation in recruiting revise participants, calculating and implementing the intrusion, and interpreting conclusion. Many writers argued that society involvement (particularly in these regions) leads to: Higher participation toll. Bigger external strength. Reduced loss of proceedings. Enlarged personage and community competence. The issues of community participation were not commonly reported, but they may take in: The prologue of selection unfairness (bias in recruitment). Reduced (and sometimes a nonexistence of) randomization. The possible selection of greatly motivated intrusion groups not delegate of the wider population. (AHRQ) CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS RELATED TO CBPR: Community-based participatory research, as a comparatively new tactic, presents with sole problems and challenges for those who are involved in performing this type of examination. These issues relate to implementation within a cross-educational setting, quality and fairness of mutual partnerships, principles, and mechanical issues. Harrisonrecommended the subsequent procedures for fieldworkers who employ in combined research: Be bendable but be familiar with that everyone has restrictions Be enthusiastic to work together by sharing right, responsibility, and glory for success. Give considerate attention to the honest implications of your performance. Apply the notion of culture in each day working associations. Intrinsic in each of these guiding principles are challenges that need to be located. In our CBPR project, we faced technical, ethical, and interpersonal problems that were related to this course of action, as well as some supplementary challenges. Some major issues are listed below: Self-awareness and flexibility Collaboration Ethical issues Working within a civilization other than ones own A pledge of time Change can be frightening Supportability of the project (Holkup, 2004) END RESULTS OF CBPR: Research Quality Improved Results: The inspectors rated the 12 researches with finished involvements for research class and for observance to the ideology of community contribution. On a scale of 1 to 3, advanced scores reflected enhanced quality. The investigation quality scores reflected learning design stubbornness, with investigational studies ranking highest overall. Community contribution scores, though, appeared not as much of closely allied with study intend. And even as the scores on these two presentations extent are not directly equivalent, the average explore quality results ranged from 1.5 to 2.7 with a mean of 2.4, at the same time as the district participation quality results ranged from 1.5 to 3.1 with a mean of 2.3. When the EPC researchers saw the manipulation of community participation on the quality of interventional researches, they exposed 11 of the 12 concluded intervention studies had reported improved intervention superiority. Just two researchers reported improved end results, while eight famous enhanced enrolment efforts, four resulted enhanced research methods and diffusion, and three mentioned improved expressive measures. Very little proof of removed research quality consequential from CBPR was resulted. Capacity of Community and Research: Of the 60 studies revised, 47 resulted in enhanced community connection, together with added grant support and job formation, as a conclusion connected with the study. The writers—naturally academics—normally persisted on the amplified capability of the contributor neighbourhood, quite than that of the follow a line of investigation community. Health End Results: Along with the 12 studies examining finished involvements that play a part in health outcomes, 2 dealt with physiologic health end results, three with cancer screening actions, and four located other behavioural alterations (including alcohol utilization, immunization charge, and protected sex behaviour). At last, 3 studies calculated the impact of the involvement on touching support, empowerment, and member of staff well-being. Agreed the highly mottled health results, measurement procedures, and involvement approaches used, the EPC researchers are powerless to act upon a direct evaluation of studies and their comparative contact on health outcomes. Besides, a nonexistence of cost-effectiveness facts precluded any judgment of results from CBPR studies and those of more conventional research studies. (Health and Human services) CRITERIA OF FUNDING FOR CBPR: Current Approach by Funders: Centres for Disease organization/avoidance and the National organization of Environmental Health Sciences have been at the front position of Federal CBPR financial support to date. Detailed initiatives by these companies contain many of the EPC-reviewed studies. Importance in supporting CBPR at the Federal point is rising, given the current construction of an interagency operational grouping for Community-based Participatory Research. This group has begun combining information on breathing funding systems for CBPR. Consultation with persons from the NIH and CDC worked with producing requests for investigational proposals on precise topics and giving the review procedure less-scored the need for short direction materials (detail sheets) about CBPR for reviewers fewer familiar with this advance. Guiding principle for those writing RFAs intended to hearten CBPR submissions and papers given that direction for researchers presenting CBPR presentations also were suggested. Application’s Criteria: According to the particulars of conversations amid funders and researchers, the development of receiving funding for CBPR programs through conformist review programs can be a hard one. This is frequently as reviewers are less recognizable with (and maybe even sceptical about) the likelihood of integrating high-class straight research within the structure of a CBPR partnership. The EPC researchers acknowledged fairly few first-class finished involvements or observational studies, comparative to what seems to be many outstanding collaborations based on CBPR values. Guidelines for Applicants and Funding Institutions: Researchers produced three brief papers providing direction to funding institutions, applicants and reviewers, based on the EPCs reassess consultation with Federal endowment sources, reviews of financial support grouping Web sites, and the funding criterion mentioned above. The EPC designated to utilize the same re-evaluate criteria frequently used by agencies inside the U.S. subdivision of Health and Human Services in the expansion of these prototypes parameter documents; these criterion are both harmonized and meticulous. These papers (CBPR Exhibits 1, 2, and 3) are accessible on the RTI Web site. Participation in the Review procedure: Dialogue with funding presenters and their check of the narrative led EPC inspectors to counsel the insertion of intellectual experts for the satisfied area, and for CBPR procedures, on project submission reconsider panels. Furthermore, they suggested concerning persons with capability in both arenas. Researchers further recommended the possible value of counting community legislative body, but considered the need to adjust and organization the review panels to straight away and successfully tap into the knowledge of the neighbourhood government. (Department of Health and Human Services) APPLICATIONS OF CBPR IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES: The precedent two decades has experienced a fast propagation of community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects. CBPR tactic presents a substitute to conventional population-based biomedical studies practices by cheering vigorous and equivalent relationships between society members and educational investigators. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the foremost biomedical research provision for environmental health, is a principal in developing the use of CBPR in areas where community-university relationships provide to enhance our considerate of environmentally associated disease. In this piece of writing, the writers emphasized six key main beliefs of CBPR and explain how these ethics are met within specific NIEHS-supported research inspections. These projects express that community-based participatory research be able to be an efficient tool to improve our information of the reasons and procedures of disorders having an ecological aetiology, decrease d adverse health results through original involvement strategies and strategy change, and concentrate on the environmental health problems of community population. (Liam R OFallon, 2002) USE OF CBPR: Achievement research results improved and more almost whole and accurate information from the society. Connecting the society in study is more likely to gather community requirements. Accomplishment research, by relating community partners, establishes more visibility for the attempt in the society. Society members are more expected to believe the authenticity of the study and buy into its conclusion if they know it was done by people like themselves, conceivably even individuals they know. Achievement research trains inhabitant researchers who can circle their skills to other struggles as well. Participation inCBPR alters individual’s ideas of themselves and of what they can do. Skills educated in the itinerary of action study carry over into other regions of researchers’ life. Aparticipatory deed research procedure can help to fracture down and division hurdles. Research helps individuals to better comprehend the forces that manipulate their lives. Society based action study can move communities toward optimistic social change. (CTB) CONCLUSION: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is receiving raised acceptance among public health practitioners and researchers. But, there are no standard procedures in examining the standard of research methodology, the success of the involvement, and the resulting demands in the literature. The non-appearance of standard procedures precludes significant comparisons of CBPR researches. Many authors have presented a wide set of capabilities required for CBPR study for both organizations and individuals, but the discussion remains shattered. The Prevention Research Centres (PRC) schedule recently began a quality based testing of its national attempts, including an examination of how PRCs intervenes CBPR studies. Topics of attention include the community capacity for research, types of community partnerships, evaluation, factors that help and hinder partner relationships and training. The testing will likely donate to the enhancement of a standard set of capabilities and facilities req uired for effectual CBPR. CBPR has been assigned to as research plus in that, it not only raise the knowledge framework for public health but also guarantees to locate intercession that are available for circulation and are supportable because they have been enhanced with community involvement. An analysis of the quality and quantity of the CBPR written works exposes a picture as diverse as the projects, the communities involved and the researchers. Such utmost variation in methodology and standard does not cause a useful body of understanding. It is thus opportune and essential to describe a core set of expertise and skills required to be a CBPR investigator and describe the important resources and management of infrastructure needed to profitably support CBPR. Normalize the evaluation procedures will enhance the scientific exactness of the research methodology applied and upgrade the field’s capacity to study, comprehend, and rectify complex community health issues. The quality based examination of C BPR scheme within the PRC Program has the possibility to enhance this procedure. Once a concurred-upon set of compatibilities and resources are formed, testing of CBPR itself can start. (Faridi) REFERENCES: Agency for health, research and quality. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2014, from www.hhs.gov: http://archive.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/cbprsum.htm AHRQ. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2014, from www.hhs.gov: http://archive.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/cbprsum.htm CTB. (n.d.). Community Tool Box. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation/intervention-research/main Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2014, from www.hhs.gov: http://archive.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/cbprsum.htm Faridi, Z. (n.d.). CDC. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/jul/06_0182.htm Health and Human services. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2014, from www.hhs.gov: http://archive.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/cbprsum.htm Holkup, P. A. (2004, July). ANS. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774214/ Liam R OFallon, A. D. (2002, April). PMC. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241159/ National institutes of health. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2014, from www.hhs.gov: http://obssr.od.nih.gov/scientific_areas/methodology/community_based_participatory_research/ NIH. (n.d.). National Institute of health. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from www.hhs.gov: http://obssr.od.nih.gov/scientific_areas/methodology/community_based_participatory_research/ 1 | Page

Sunday, October 13, 2019

What is a Full Writing System? :: essays research papers

What is a Full Writing System? Full writing systems may be defined as collections of arbitrary signs that can represent all the words of the language to which they are applied. Limited writing systems consisting of marks made for counting or identification go back three thousand years. The evolution of full writing systems has taken place only during the past five thousand years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Writing systems have made possible the technological advances that has taken humanity from hunting, gathering, and simple farming to exploration of space. Writing created a permanent record of knowledge so that a fund of information could accumulate from one generation to the next. Before writing, human knowledge was confined by the limits of memory. For example, learning something from one self or from talking to another.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Early visual systems such as signaling by gestures or with fire or smoke were limited to the range of eyesight and subject to misinterpretation. Writing allowed accurate communication at a distance without traveling or relying on the memory of a messenger.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Writing includes both picture writing, also know as pictography and ideographs. The use of pictures to represent, not the object drawn but some attribute or idea suggested by the object. For example, a drawing of the sun gives you an idea of warmth. Limited writing refers directly to the object or idea portrayed. Pictograms or ideograms call to mind an image or concept that then may be expressed in language. The reader does not need to know the language of the writer to translate the signs into his or her own language.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A full or true writing system represents words not objects. However, the earliest writing systems came from Mesopotamia, Egypt and, Central America. These writing systems only qualify as limited writing since they used signs that refer to the objects represented and not to the words for the object.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  International traffic signs are effective because they avoid language. Simple pictures instead of words or phrases, makes it more comprehensible to illiterates and speakers of other languages. They warn drivers of road hazards and traffic regulations, which need to be followed in order to keep the road safe. A few other methods of systems are musical and scientific notation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Specific technical information like word syllabic and alphabetic writing is used to represent a language. A full writing system must maintain fixed correspondences between its signs and the element of the language.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Relationship Issues Essay -- International Relations, Japan, South Kor

Different arguments and disagreements between countries can be found throughout our history on this Earth. A relationship that is lesser known to a lot of people is the relationship between the two Asian countries, Japan and South Korea. Japan and South Korea are two countries that are trapped by their past that they share with each other and have shared for more than thirty-five years. Although the two countries are slightly similar when it comes to manners and other different aspects, they are also very different in cultures and beliefs. Different cultures and different beliefs are not the only reasons that are keeping Japan and South Korea apart though. Their history is the largest reason the Japan and South Korea do not have a strong relationship with one another. Japan and South Korea have a long history. A history of colonial rule and lack of trust in Japan, South Korea chooses not to ally itself with Japan and to not trust in Japan. Although the two countries have been workin g on stabilizing their relationship, they still need to overcome some issues and their past. South Korea may never learn to get past their long relationship with Japan, but they may be able to work around it. Japan and South Korea's unstable relationship could be improved by sharing their different cultures more or through a military alliance with each other. Japan and South Korea's relationship is known as a "quasialliance" (Cooney 9). South Korea and Japan are both allies with the United States, but Japan and South Korea still remain unallied to each other. Japan and South Korea still maintain an unstable relationship that could be improved drastically. They still have yet to overcome their differences and forget their past. Although the two count... ...ver people may go and whenever they may happen. Some consequences may occur but many benefits are also possible as well. Japan and South Korea have the potential to become allies. If they were to become allies they would become an extremely strong force in the Asian world. The process may take some time but eventually the two countries would be able to see eye to eye on certain issues regarding North Korea and other important matters. They may become allies through the culture the two already share with one another, or maybe they could become allies economically through the business relationship they have. North Korea and the United States might even play a role in the two countries becoming allies. Whatever the reason, Japan and South Korea can become allies. Both countries, Japan as well as South Korea, would both benefit by becoming allies with one another.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Deception Point Page 23

It appeared the astrobiologists had been right, Tolland thought. ET is a bug. Rachel's legs felt weak beneath her. â€Å"I can't†¦ believe it,† she said, turning the fossil in her hands. â€Å"I never thought†¦ â€Å" â€Å"Give it some time to sink in,† Tolland said, grinning. â€Å"Took me twenty-four hours to get my feet back under me.† â€Å"I see we have a newcomer,† said an uncharacteristically tall Asian man, walking over to join them. Corky and Tolland seemed to deflate instantly with the man's arrival. Apparently the moment of magic had been shattered. â€Å"Dr. Wailee Ming,† the man said, introducing himself. â€Å"Chairman of paleontology at UCLA.† The man carried himself with the pompous rigidity of renaissance aristocracy, continuously stroking the out-of-place bow tie that he wore beneath his knee-length camel-hair coat. Wailee Ming was apparently not one to let a remote setting come in the way of his prim appearance. â€Å"I'm Rachel Sexton.† Her hand was still trembling as she shook Ming's smooth palm. Ming was obviously another of the President's civilian recruits. â€Å"It would be my pleasure, Ms. Sexton,† the paleontologist said, â€Å"to tell you anything you want to know about these fossils.† â€Å"And plenty you don't want to know,† Corky grumbled. Ming fingered his bow tie. â€Å"My paleontologic specialty is extinct Arthropoda and Mygalomorphae. Obviously the most impressive characteristic of this organism is-â€Å" â€Å"-is that it's from another friggin' planet!† Corky interjected. Ming scowled and cleared his throat. â€Å"The most impressive characteristic of this organism is that it fits perfectly into our Darwinian system of terrestrial taxonomy and classification.† Rachel glanced up. They can classify this thing? â€Å"You mean kingdom, phylum, species, that sort of thing?† â€Å"Exactly,† Ming said. â€Å"This species, if found on earth, would be classified as the order Isopoda and would fall into a class with about two thousand species of lice.† â€Å"Lice?† she said. â€Å"But it's huge.† â€Å"Taxonomy is not size specific. House cats and tigers are related. Classification is about physiology. This species is clearly a louse: It has a flattened body, seven pairs of legs, and a reproductive pouch identical in structure to wood lice, pill bugs, beach hoppers, sow bugs, and gribbles. The other fossils clearly reveal more specialized-â€Å" â€Å"Other fossils?† Ming glanced at Corky and Tolland. â€Å"She doesn't know?† Tolland shook his head. Ming's face brightened instantly. â€Å"Ms. Sexton, you haven't heard the good part yet.† â€Å"There are more fossils,† Corky interjected, clearly trying to steal Ming's thunder. â€Å"Lots more.† Corky scurried over to a large manila envelope and retrieved a folded sheet of oversized paper. He spread it out on the desk in front of Rachel. â€Å"After we drilled some cores, we dropped an x-ray camera down. This is a graphic rendering of the cross section.† Rachel looked at the x-ray printout on the table, and immediately had to sit down. The three-dimensional cross section of the meteorite was packed with dozens of these bugs. â€Å"Paleolithic records,† Ming said, â€Å"are usually found in heavy concentrations. Often times, mud slides trap organisms en masse, covering nests or entire communities.† Corky grinned. â€Å"We think the collection in the meteorite represents a nest.† He pointed to one of the bugs on the printout. â€Å"And there's mommy.† Rachel looked at the specimen in question, and her jaw dropped. The bug looked to be about two feet long. â€Å"Big-ass louse, eh?† Corky said. Rachel nodded, dumbstruck, as she pictured lice the size of bread loaves wandering around on some distant planet. â€Å"On earth,† Ming said, â€Å"our bugs stay relatively small because gravity keeps them in check. They can't grow larger than their exoskeletons can support. However, on a planet with diminished gravity, insects could evolve to much greater dimensions.† â€Å"Imagine swatting mosquitoes the size of condors,† Corky joked, taking the core sample from Rachel and slipping it into his pocket. Ming scowled. â€Å"You had better not be stealing that!† â€Å"Relax,† Corky said. â€Å"We've got eight tons more where this came from.† Rachel's analytical mind churned through the data before her. â€Å"But how can life from space be so similar to life on earth? I mean, you're saying this bug fits in our Darwinian classification?† â€Å"Perfectly,† Corky said. â€Å"And believe it or not, a lot of astronomers have predicted that extraterrestrial life would be very similar to life on earth.† â€Å"But why?† she demanded. â€Å"This species came from an entirely different environment.† â€Å"Panspermia.† Corky smiled broadly. â€Å"I beg your pardon?† â€Å"Panspermia is the theory that life was seeded here from another planet.† Rachel stood up. â€Å"You're losing me.† Corky turned to Tolland. â€Å"Mike, you're the primordial seas guy.† Tolland looked happy to take over. â€Å"Earth was once a lifeless planet, Rachel. Then suddenly, as if overnight, life exploded. Many biologists think the explosion of life was the magical result of an ideal mixture of elements in the primordial seas. But we've never been able to reproduce that in a lab, so religious scholars have seized that failure as proof of God, meaning life could not exist unless God touched the primordial seas and infused them with life.† â€Å"But we astronomers,† Corky declared, â€Å"came up with another explanation for the overnight explosion of life on earth.† â€Å"Panspermia,† Rachel said, now understanding what they were talking about. She had heard the panspermia theory before but didn't know its name. â€Å"The theory that a meteorite splashed into the primordial soup, bringing the first seeds of microbial life to earth.† â€Å"Bingo,† Corky said. â€Å"Where they percolated and sprang to life.† â€Å"And if that's true,† Rachel said, â€Å"then the underlying ancestry of earth's life-forms and extraterrestrial life-forms would be identical.† â€Å"Double bingo.† Panspermia, Rachel thought, still barely able to grasp the implications. â€Å"So, not only does this fossil confirm that life exists elsewhere in the universe, but it practically proves panspermia†¦ that life on earth was seeded from elsewhere in the universe.† â€Å"Triple bingo.† Corky flashed her an enthusiastic nod. â€Å"Technically, we may all be extraterrestrials.† He put his fingers over his head like two antennas, crossed his eyes, and wagged his tongue like some kind of insect. Tolland looked at Rachel with a pathetic grin. â€Å"And this guy's the pinnacle of our evolution.† 25 Rachel Sexton felt a dreamlike mist swirling around her as she walked across the habisphere, flanked by Michael Tolland. Corky and Ming followed close behind. â€Å"You okay?† Tolland asked, watching her. Rachel glanced over, giving a weak smile. â€Å"Thanks. It's just†¦ so much.† Her mind reeled back to the infamous 1996 NASA discovery-ALH84001-a Mars meteorite that NASA claimed contained fossil traces of bacterial life. Sadly, only weeks after NASA's triumphant press conference, several civilian scientists stepped forward with proof that the rock's â€Å"signs of life† were really nothing more than kerogen produced by terrestrial contamination. NASA's credibility had taken a huge hit over that gaffe. The New York Times took the opportunity to sarcastically redefine the agency's acronym: NASA-NOT ALWAYS SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE.