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Monday, September 30, 2019

The Largest Earthquake in the World

The largest earthquake in the world had a magnitude of 9. 5 and took place in Chile. The Valdivia Earthquake, also know as the Great Chilean Earthquake, happened on Sunday, May 22, 1960. It is the largest earthquake currently on record. It occured in the afternoon and the resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The epicenter of the Valdivia earthquake was near Lumaco, a coastal city with a population of roughly 11,405.Various estimates of the total number of fatalities from the earthquake and tsunamis have been published, with the USGS citing studies with figures of 2,231; 3,000; or 5,700 killed, and another source uses an estimate of 6,000 dead. An estimated cost of 2. 9 to 5. 8 billion in damage. The 1960 Valdivia earthquake was actually just a series of many strong earthquakes from May 21 to June 6,1960. The first was the Concepcion earthquake and the strongest was the Valdivia earthquake. The first Concepcion earthquake was on May 21,1960.Its epicenter was near Curanilahue. The second and third Concepcion earthquakes occurred a few hours apart from each other on May 22. The Valdivia earthquake occurred on May 22. This earthquake affected all of Chile between Talca and Chiloe Island, more than 150,000 sq mi. Most coastal villages disappeared. At Corral, the main port of Valdivia, the water level rose 13 ft before it began to recede. A wave of 26 ft struck the Chilean coast, mainly between Concepcion and Chiloe. Ten minutes later another wave measuring 33 ft was reported.Hundreds of people were already reported dead by the time the tsunami struck. One ship, Canelos, starting at the mouth of Valdivia River sank after being moved 0. 93 mi backward and forward in the river; its mast is still visible today. A number of Spanish-colonial forts were completely destroyed. Soil subsidence also destroyed buildings, deepened local rivers, and created wetlands in places like the Rio Cruces and Chorocomayo, a new aquatic park north of the city. Extensive areas of the city were flooded.The electricity and water systems of Valdivia were totally destroyed. Witnesses reported underground water flowing up through the soil. Despite the heavy rains of May 21, the city was without a water supply. The river turned brown with sediment from landslides and was full of floating debris, including entire houses. The earthquake did not strike all the territory with the same strength. The two most affected areas were Valdivia and Puerto Octay near the northwest corner Llanquihue Lake.East of Puerto Octay in a hotel in Todos los Santos Lake piles of plates were reported to have remained in place. Two days after the earthquake a volcanic vent erupted. Other volcanoes may also have erupted, but none were recorded due to the lack of communication in Chile at the time. The relatively low death toll in Chile, estimated at 6,000, is explained in part by the low population density and by buildings being built taking into account that the region has many earthquakes and volcano eruptions.Other possible reasons include a high number of wooden houses and that coastal towns also tended to be located on higher ground. After the eruption, began the landslides. The earthquake triggered many landslides, mostly near the Andes. These landslides did not cause many fatalities nor significant economical losses because most of the areas were uninhabited with only minor roads. One landslide did cause destruction and alarm following its blockage of the outflow of Rinihue Lake.About 100 km south of Rinihue Lake, landslides in the mountains around Golgol River caused this river to dam up and then burst creating a flood down to Puyehue Lake. The Valdivia earthquake led to the formation of the ONEMI. ONEMI is the Spanish acronym for National Emergency and Information Office. ONEMI helps solve problems after earthquakes, large or small. The Valvidia earthquake was also referenced in two fictional novels, and the tsunami following the earthquake was referenced in a Hawaii Five-O episode titled â€Å"Forty Feet High and it Kills! â€Å".

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Project Plan- Risk and Quality Requirements Essay

IT Project Plan IT projects are complex in nature. A proper plan gives not only maps the elements of the project but also ensures that the progress of project is going in the desired direction. In other terms, a project plan reduces the risk of project failure or over runs and improves the quality of the project. Project plan is the initial step in executing the project management. Project management strives to meet the expectations of the project stakeholders in terms of cost, quality, delivery and operations.   Project management is a crucial process that involves, people, process, price, infrastructure and cost. Project management should balance the interests of different stakeholders of the project like Project team members, management of the working group, client parameters, industry practices and the budget restrictions. In IT industry, it becomes the responsibility of project manager to look after the co-ordination of the above aspects. Project plan becomes an essential helping tool to the project management in directing the project requirements to the people and system. The project plan aligns the activities with the project life cycle and gives visibility to different phases of the project. IT will be like indicating the stakeholders of the project like client and project team to act upon the different activities of the project like, development, testing, rollout, training and implementation. The project plan is developed in connection with Organizational plan, Risk plan, Cost plan, Test plan, Roll out plan, Quality plan, Maintenance plan etc., So it is evident that Risk identification and Quality parameters act as forecasters for the project phase activities and does have a great significance in the successful implementation. However project plan includes the The Project Plan provides complete overview on how and when a project’s objectives are to be achieved, by expressing different activities to resources to achieve targets at different milestones The major elements of the project plan are as following: Description of the project or an over view of the project plan. Project specifications and requirements of the client Project Initiation plan and requirements in terms of technology, budget and people Project dependencies- external, internal Project milestones like Analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and training Identification and specification of project assumptions like availability of resources, technical inputs, skills and competency requirements. Project plan with work break down structure through Gantt chart or bar chart and control points at different levels. Project level activity specifications for different stakeholders like client team,, analysis team, design team etc., Project level resource specifications Project budget and cost plan Project tolerance, through put and capacity in terms of users and boundaries Technology to be implemented with constrains and rationale for the usage. Network contingency plans and infrastructure layout plans to be required for the project work out Risk identification and risk tolerance specifications of he system Quality framework under which the project is expected to execute Risk Risk can be termed as the possible loss or damage to a process. Risk identification is the estimation of possible potential dangers that can occur or hinder the progress of the project.   Risk in IT project management is a major component to consider even before the project execution, as the unidentified risks not only obstruct the progress but also may turn the entire project into loss. A risk will have a probability something above 0%.   And there is an identified chance to happen, which other wise is not a risk. So a deliberate approach to identify and mitigate the risks is highly appreciable from the project learning from decades. According to Dr. Barry W. Boehm, (as cited in kjordan) the top 10 identified software risks are as follows: Personal Shortfalls in perception of risk and resources Unrealistic schedules and budgets Developing the wrong functions and properties Developing the wrong user interface Gold-plating Continuing stream of requirements changes Shortfalls in externally furnished components Shortfalls in externally performed tasks Real-time performance shortfalls Straining computer-science capabilities So, IT projects do have a risk management process that is expressed through the risk management plan. The risk management plan contains the four major areas to observe in the plan: Risk Identification: The project manager or risk management personnel will identify the possible potential threats to the project management before well in advance. Eg; Shortage of workforce due to the withdrawal of people from the team; this can be from different reasons like, maternity leave, transfers to other projects or contract termination etc., Risk Quantification: The risk identified should be quantifiable, other wise which it is will not be of much useful. Eg; What percentage of people are going to be placed on another major project or percentage of testers that may not be available on project A. Risk Response: The consequences of risk should be specified, in the sense, sometimes the system may be less altered with certain types of risks. With this, the low response of system indicates and attributes the risk as a less priority risk. And the risks that may cause major alterations to the process will be given high priority by the project plan to address them and mitigate them. Risk Monitoring and Control: Risk monitoring and controlling involves the risk mitigation tools and practices for the easy execution of the project. Eg: Training the new people to fill the gaps on attrition by the time they leave or to be transferred from the current project process. The common risk scenarios in IT projects are as follows: Schedule Risk This is the highly possible risks in IT projects, when projects over run with scheduled times or slip the release schedules or the client priorities and queries are not answered Schedule risks alters the project phases and disturbs many dependencies. Other project dependencies like testing schedules, release schedules and infrastructure costing etc., can be altered and result in excessive costing and   losses. Schedule risk can happened due to the following reasons: Inappropriate or wrong project time estimation Poor tracking and monitoring of work break down plan with the resources. Over estimation of system functionality and through put. Eg: When the existing system support only 50 resources to work, scheduling of 60 or 65 may result in non availability of proper infrastructure. Wrong estimation of effort or skills. Eg: the project with low skilled work force or low effort estimation may take much time compared with the scenario of experienced people on task. Failure to specify or identify complex functionalities or requirements that emerge and become stumbling blocks for the progress execution, takes longer time to resolve and them to continue with the projected phases. Unexpected project scope expansions: These can happen due to the poor business analysis and feasibility guidelines. Budget Risk All the above schedule risks can ultimately result in increase in resource cost. In addition to this, the following at the initial project plan phase also result in budget risks Wrong budget estimation: When the cost of resources is going to be increased in future, adaptation of old compensation rates will ask for more funds to meet the project execution after some time. Cost overruns: These will arise when the project activities are not aligning with the planned activities Project scope expansion: Wrong specification of requirement may lead to extra budgets.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Eg:   Some IT projects fail to define the project scope very specifically in terms of design,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   development, training (on site), installation, maintenance, and support. A project that fails   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to differentiate between on site training support and training support through   Ã‚  Ã‚   documentation like user guide and admin guide has to face a situation in which the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   company has to bear the traveling and expenses of training resource when on-site training   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   is demanded in the last moment. Operational Risks Operational risks arises due to non specification of appropriate project methodology and non implementation of project processes like daily meetings (scrums), communication reports, Change requirement reports. Such risks will again result in over runs in operational schedules and results in high costs. Some causes of Operational risks are as follows: Failure to address priority conflicts: when tasks and conflicts are not nor prioritized, people sit on unnecessary or low priority tasks resulting the operational delays. Failure to resolve the responsibilities: The non-defined roles and responsibilities work on the similar operations or raise conflicts at some point of time in the operations. Insufficient resources : A project with in sufficient resources may execute poor operational performance and may result in operational delay.   No proper subject training : When the project stakeholders are not given project training at consecutive levels, there will be no direction and clarity in the project operations.   No resource planning : If the resource allocation is not properly planned, conflict arises between the different activities of the system   No communication in team: poor communication is the major hindrance for smooth project execution. Excessive communication and less communication will also alter the project schedules. Non -defining the desired level and form of communication hampers the information flow . eg: Non-maintenance of Change request forms from the client may result in wastage of work on the old configuration of modules by the developers and may result in project over runs. Technical risks Technical risks are the most unidentified risks with great damage and result in failure of functionality and performance. The causes of technical risks are: Continuous changing requirements: The initial technical specifications may require different technology platform to the technology that is appropriate for the recently added requirements Poor suggestion of technology: Lack of technical expertise of resources may result in compatibility problems. Some advanced features that may not be ready by the time of release, or that may not be compatible with the already developed functionalities will hamper the project execution. Product is complex to implement: When the product development is too complex and there is a dearth of skill and expertise in the market, the project needs to suffer delay or failure. Difficult project modules integration: When different modules are products are to be integrated, incompatibility problem arises between them that result in re work or failure. External Risks    These are the external risks beyond the boundaries of project management. These are all uncertain and may result of the following: Shortage of fund. Market Changes: Transferred demand Changing customer product strategy and priority Government rule changes. Quality Requirements of Project Quality refers to the delivery of projects and products that meet the expectations of all the stakeholders. A project that may meet all the specification of the client, but may over run the project schedule is not termed as a quality project, as it has resulted in extra cost to the management. So in order to bring down the risk, IT projects adopt different Quality models. For example Software design and development projects adopt quality models like CMMI, ISO, BSI, etc., he quality model frames a risk management plan and ensures the system to adhere to the planned project activities until the successful implementation. Usually the quality models identify some risk areas and constantly work on controlling the risk areas. The parameters that are commonly observed by different Quality models for IT systems are as follows: Correctness, Reliability, Integrity, Usability, Efficiency, Maintainability, Testability, Interoperability, Flexibility, Reusability, Portability, Clarity, Modifiability, Documentation, Schedule, Validity, Functionality, Generality and Economy. The quality management department or manager will ensure the project that it is being executed properly as per the plan. All the stakeholders monitor the project activities according to the quality parameters and control the error or risk as per the risk mitigation guidelines. Project Quality Plan defines the expectation of the stakeholders in terms of project specifications, schedule time, technology inputs, dependencies etc., and also maps the process to ensure the system to balance. A Project Quality management supports the following through quality plans and system guidelines: Defining organizational and project level quality objectives and parameters Customer requirements and expectations in terms of functionality, delivery Acceptance criteria of the IT product, which is a prioritized list of criteria for the customer to accept the final product. Roles and responsibilities of Quality management team. Functionality boundaries of the project quality system Reference to Industry practices or standards to be met The quality-control and audit processes to be applied to project management Quality-control and audit process parameters and requirements Change management procedures in case of scope change in project Configuration management plan Validation and verification controls Quality control and Assurance plan and procedures By adopting quality monitoring procedures Defining test lab procedures like- test documentation, testing resources, Test cases, scenarios, error logs and other testing documentation Metrics for quality analysis System guidelines for quality management procedures Maintenance of configuration management and change control requirements Conclusion For the Successful IT Project implementation, the project plan must address the risk issues and Quality requirements to mitigate the risk issues. Effective project planning, quality control, and monitoring will ensure the quality assurance of the project mitigating the identified risks. References Elizabeth and Richard Larson, How to Create a Clear Project Plan, Retrieved February 2,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2008 from www.projectmanagement.ittoolbox.com/documents/industry-articles/how-to–  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   create-a-clear-project-plan-844 – 26k – EPA Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans (EPA QA/R-5), Retrieved February   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2, 2008 from http://www.epa.gov/QUALITY/qs-docs/r5-final.pdf kjordan, Introduction to Software Risk & Risk Management, Retrieved February 2,2008   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://baz.com/kjordan/swse625/intro.html Hyatt & L. Rosenberg, A Software Quality Model and Metrics for Identifying Project Risks and Assessing Software Quality, http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/support/STC_APR96/qualtiy/stc_qual.html Project Management Planning, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.cio.ca.gov/itpolicy/pdf/PM3.2_Planning_Process_and_Plan.pdf Project Quality Plan , Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_project_quality_plan.asp Project plan, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_project_plan_.asp QUALITY ASSURANCE PROJECT PLAN REQUIREMENTS, Retrieved February 2,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2008   Ã‚   from     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.wipp.energy.gov/library/CRA/BaselineTool/Documents/Appendices/  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   WAP%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2010.PDF Quality Assurance Planning, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.chesapeakebay.net/info/qa_planning.cfm Risk management strategy, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_strateg  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   y_.asp Risk management framework, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_framew  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ork_.as p Risk management strategy, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_strateg  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   y_.asp Risk log (risk register) Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_log_risk_register.asp Types of Risks in Software Projects, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/types-of-risks-in-software-projects/   

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Health care marketing techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health care marketing techniques - Essay Example Initially the health care marketing was using mass media marketing approach to reach the customers where uniform messages were provided to the general public. This was the era, ‘all things to all people’. This is done through television, radio and internet. But gradually the health professionals learned that this was not an efficient means of reaching the potential customers. They started to adopt the more targeted approaches to get better potential customers. As the marketing of health care become more accepted, they jumped on the marketing of health care organizations. The most well known hospital’s was emphasized and marketed its image rather than the services. They focused on the infrastructure and reputation of the organization. But this era of hospital marketing was also not realistic. Hospital marketing was considered fundamentally different from the product and service marketing. Then the health care marketing targeted on specific audience. They started em phasizing the service marketing. A specific service is provided for the particular needed audience. Marketing communication is to attract more patients’ volume by promoting high expectations. But only when the patient expects better experience, better confidence, better outcomes and strong basis for preferring one provider over another. Thus, marketing communication often promise or provide hints at better experience or outcomes. In the consumer driven market, the quality and safety issues are informed. The consumers are not making purchase once a year they choose a health plan for every day and they have a lot for choice. They want to gather maximum information about the product or services with the quality and cost. They take the suggestions of the third party and evaluate it. It’s the ability of the company to provide maximum information about the product or service. They

Friday, September 27, 2019

Innovation and Technology Management in Apple Inc Essay

Innovation and Technology Management in Apple Inc - Essay Example Apple is fully geared to take advantage of these developments. While making radical product innovations, Apple takes the pain in quickly updating and adding incremental changes while taking feedback from the customers. At Apple, ‘Time is Essence’ while developing and launching new products in quick succession. Innovative culture has percolated downwards extensively in Apples all processes and activities. Apple takes extreme precautions in creating patents for its technology products to prevent competition taking undue advantage. Apple is equally conscious in developing its human capital. ‘Apple University’ is the brainchild of Steve Jobs to continue with the same spirit of innovations in future that Apple is known for. Apple has been consistently scoring the top place on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for the last several years among all technology companies; the brand Apple has become synonymous to innovative ideas, designs and products. Apple Inc. is US-based consumers electronics company with headquarter in Cupertino, California. The company designs manufacture and sells software and hardware products such as iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes. Apple notched worldwide sales of $182 billion in the year ended October 30, 2014. By market capitalization (shareholders worth), Apple occupies a top place among technology companies for the last several years. Apple employs over 72000 full-time employees worldwide and operates over 425 retail stores across the world. The company is known for its innovation in design, and product development creating one of the most satisfying user experiences. The above mission statement from Steve Jobs was created when the company was in its early phase and when a great many products had not taken any shape. However, in later years, Steve Jobs proved what he meant.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Leadership Terms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership Terms - Essay Example The other reason for maintaining the limits for the president and changing those of the Congress and Justices is that a president who remains in the office for a long time is likely to become a dictator and the Congress and Justice may become more corrupt. Eight years of the presidency is enough as too much power in the hands of only one person is dangerous for a nation as large as the United States (Archives.gov, 2015). The judges and Congress leaders also gain a lot of power since they know that they will hold their office for life and misuse it. Limiting the terms of these categories of leaders in the US will enable the country to have other dedicated and loyal leaders to serve the country. The limits will also bring in new and fresh ideas to keep the states moving and eliminate those with selfish interest. Giving a few individuals too much power, which is unchecked, may lead the leaders to exercise some unrighteous dominion power especially giving the president unlimited terms. The president might take control of the other branches and interfere with the constitutional rights of individuals. With the president serving for only two terms, the three branches of government are kept working properly (Archives.gov, 2015). People still re-elect the president, Congress leaders, and the justices even when they do not perform, and the term limits are the only solution to ensure that the nation has good leaders.Americans like to maintain the same leaders due to the fear of change and without the term limits.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Do gay athletes affect sports Annotated Bibliography

Do gay athletes affect sports - Annotated Bibliography Example In connection to this, the objective of this paper is therefore to find out how gay athletes affect sports. In order to understand how gay athletes affect sports, I am going to use three sources; Rethinking Homophobia in Sports: Legal Protections for gays and lesbian athletes by Anne Gregory. This article is relevant to this study because it looks at how the law protects gay athletes. For example, it looks at what are the consequences for those who will be found to be intimidating gay athletes. The article is divided into two parts; part 1 looks at the causes of homophobia in sports. While part 2, looks at the legal protections for gays and lesbian athletes. The second article that I will use is the ESPN magazine, which was published in 2013. The magazine conducted a survey on N.F.L players, to find out how many people would agree to have a gay team mate. Therefore, this magazine is very relevant to this study because it shows how players perceive their team mates based on sexuality. The third article is the New York Times magazine, which was published on 18th March, 2013. The article shows what N.F.L top management, has been doing to cope up with the increasing number of gay athletes in its team. Goessling, Ben. â€Å"86 % ok with gay team mate†. ESPN magazine. 14 February, 2014. Web. 28 February, 2014. The ESPN magazine carried out a survey on NTFL players and found out that 86 % of them would accept a gay team mate. According to the source, the players did not see how, the sexuality of their team mate would affect their play. Batista, Judy. â€Å"N.F.L. Is Pressured on Issues of Gay Rights†. The New York Times. 18 March, 2013. The

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Booker T washington Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Booker T washington - Essay Example One of the most prominent amongst this school is the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. This school operated with a purpose to deploy such skills which prove to be profitable for the black Americans as well as the oppressed minorities. His purpose was to empower the troubled minorities and the black nation and unite them on a single platform. In this novel he does not forget the generosity of the instructors and the humanitarians who were involved in the education process of the black as well as Native Americans. "I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time." (History, Booker) Booker had a very disturbed childhood. Since he was born during a time where slavery was at its peak and no records where maintained of the slave class therefore his birthday remains controversial. As he was born in a state where black Americans were not c onsidered human therefore he was forced to work in the mines with his stepfather. During the time when a child was supposed to be enrolled to acquire his basic education, Booker on the other hand had become a victim of child labor. He had to spend his entire day in the furnace and whatever time he got after that he spent on educating himself through the book his mother gifted him. Later a school was established within their region with a purpose to educate the blacks. Thus he wanted to get enrolled in the school, when he asked his parents they refused as their financial state did not allow them to lose a child who was earning bread and butter for their family. This disturbed state had a profound impact on Booker and inspired him to do well for his nation, and bring about a change within them Booker spent his childhood as a slave. At an age where he was supposed to go to school he worked at a burning furnace. Later he was a slave to the whites where he used to carry his mistress to s chool at an age where he should have been carrying his luggage to school. At Virginia it was a trend that all the white families owned a black slave who used to perform their everyday chores as well as obey their master's command what so ever it be. He states in his autobiography that his masters were cruel and they did not have any sort of humanity remaining in them. The answer to the question that how his masters treated him was answered at various points in the book. In the book he wrote that his life when it started was a victim of misery, desolation and despair. But he believed that he was fairly lucky when it came to masters who kept him as slaves as they were not as cruel as others. the worst part that Booker experienced was that he had to get whipped if he reached late for work. So apparently he was victim of physical assault as well. He even describes the height of brutality which his uncle faced when he asked his master to pray. For this act he was whipped with hunter made out of cow leather by being tied to the bark of a tree. This was the level of torture and the inhumanity that a slave had to experience during that era. Further "Black and white abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century waged a biracial assault against slavery. Their efforts proved to be extremely effective. Abolitionists focused attention on slavery and made it difficult to ignore. They heightened

Monday, September 23, 2019

Market Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Market - Research Proposal Example This necessity also entails multiple other concepts of marketing that encompasses the techniques based on which the factors related to customer dissatisfaction are identified and apprehended in an effective manner (Pearson Education, Inc., 2010). In relation to the above context, the proposal will be mainly designed for gathering the viewpoints of the customers in determining their satisfaction level towards the purchase made in relation to the selected product of ‘Cornish pasty’. In this proposal, multiple outcomes that project the emergence of customer complaints concerning the above product from domestic as well as international levels will also be evaluated. If seen from a logical perspective, it can be stated that the rise within the compliant levels amid the customers towards the selected product might impose greater level of threat to the business process of the company involved in manufacturing the product in the business markets of the UK (Cornish Pasty Association, 2015). Thus, with this concern, an attempt has been made to explore the reasons as to why there has been an increase in the percentage of complaints associated with this specific food product and also determine the nature of the customers’ complaints. Considering the above stated aspects, the proposal will also lay utmost focus on accumulating customers’ feedback relating to taste, quality, price and design of the product. From a theoretical perspective, it can be affirmed that the decrease within the interest levels of the customers eventually minimises the scope of developing multiple other products of similar category and also the revenue attainment opportunity. Rest apart, another credential objective of preparing this proposal is to focus upon collecting credential information regarding the potential changes that the customers intend to see within this product. Further part of the proposal will mainly encompass preparing two specific types of

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Research Paper Example Likewise, information contained in â€Å"Today’s Job Seeker Report† published by Simply Hired (2012) revealed that from among the American job seekers surveyed, 70% revealed that they use mobile technology to search for job opportunities (Simply Hired, 2012, p. 5). Also, other relevant information disclosed was that 40% of companies rely on social networking sites, particularly Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even MySpace for recruitment purposes (Kwoh, 2012). A much higher rate of 60% in 2012, as compared to 54% in 2011 was actually reported by Simply Hired (2012) for job seekers to have resorted to social networks. Regardless of the accurate figure, it is evident that job seekers have significantly relied on social networking sites as potential sources of employment; and employers have likewise sought information from these sites to gain more information about prospective applicants and candidates. The currrent discourse hereby aims to present the benefits and costs of using social media during job search. The next section provides relevant and crucial statistical information that identifies the use of specifically identified social networking sites and the users that rely on these for employment. Subsequently, the benefits and disadvantages of using social media would be presented in detail prior to a recommendation and concluding portion. Statistics Use of Social Media in Job Search The information revealed by the Pew Research Center in 2012 has disclosed that the general profile and landscape of social networking site users fall under the following gender and age categories, shown as Table 1, below: Table 1: Profile and Landscape of Social Networking Site Users Social Networking Sites Percentage of Internet Users Demographic Profile Facebook 67% Women, 18 to 29 years old Twitter 16 African Americans, urban residents, 18-29 years old Pinterest 15 Women, white, under 50 years old Instagram 13 African Americans and Latinos, women, urban residen ts, 18 to 29 years old Tumblr 6 Adults 18 to 29 years old Source: Duggan & Brenner, 2013, p. 2 The percentage of internet users identified to be using social networking sites are shown below: Figure 1: Percent of Social Networking Site Users As noted above, both potential applicants and employers utilize these sites for employment purposes. Since Facebook leads in social networking site users, it was reported in the Huffington Post (2012) that â€Å"a survey commissioned by the online employment website CareerBuilder has found that 37 percent of hiring managers use social networking sites to research job applicants, with over 65 percent of that group using Facebook as their primary resource† (37 Percent Of Employers Use Facebook To Pre-Screen Applicants, New Study Says, 2012, par. 1). More interesting are the findings from a survey conducted by the Corporate Executive Board cited by Kwoh (2012) that provided explicit insights from the perspectives of employers which revealed that since employers are making their respective research on potential candidates for employment, those who apparently lie on their resume, provide fake references, and seek unrealistic salaries were found to be the top three pitfalls that should

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development Essay Example for Free

Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development Essay Sigmund Freud, born in 1856 was an Austrian neurologist who would later go on to found the discipline of psychoanalysis. He is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and repression and his concept of the dynamic unconscious suggesting that it is our unconscious mind that determines how we as individuals behave, Freud also believed that the unconscious mind established sexual drives as the dominant motivation of human life. He considered the unconscious mind as being the source of mental energy which determined behaviour, basing his findings on the results of his use of hypnosis where he found that he was able to produce and remove symptoms of hysteria. There have been numerous approaches in the field of psychology that have put forward the belief that behaviour is directed by an individual’s goals but the idea behind a goal-directed unconscious is an original Freudian concept. The main underlying belief of this theory is that any individuals’ behaviour is the direct result of the influences that prior experiences have had on them where these influences have an even greater effect if they are from our childhood. Freud believed that our early experiences formed the solid foundations on which we would build the structure of our life and that the adult personality is indeed formed in childhood according to the situations, treatment and feelings experienced as a child. Freud defined the human psyche as comprising of three parts, the unconscious or sub-conscious containing material that we are unable to bring into our conscious awareness and therefore unknowable. The preconscious which consists of information that is not at the present moment in our conscious awareness but is stored in our memory and can if need be easily recalled to the conscious level; and the conscious part of our mind which is where all current and new incoming content is processed. Within these parts operate the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego that work together to create complex human behaviours. The Id is the only part of our personality that is present from birth and is entirely unconscious, seeking instant gratification and fulfilling instinctive human needs. The Id is governed by the pleasure principle desiring the fulfilment of all desires, needs and wants. If these are not immediately satisfied this results in a state of anxiety or tension. The Id serves of great importance early on in life, a child will cry as a  result of their Id if they are hungry or in discomfort and ensures that their needs are met. Later on in life it is not always realistic or indeed possible to immediately satisfy such needs, it would be morally and socially unacceptable for us to just help ourselves to other peoples things in order to satisfy our own needs and wants and so later in childhood our Ego comes in to play. The Ego is responsible for dealing with reality and acts to ensure that the impulses of the Id are satisfied in a way that is acceptable to the real world and functions in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious parts of our mind. The reality principle weighs up the pros and cons of an action before deciding whether or not to act upon the impulse. Often the impulses of the Id can be satisfied but through delayed gratification with the Ego allowing the behaviour at an appropriate time and place. The Ego is a part of the Id th at has been somewhat modified and rounded by external factors in the environment in which we live. Freud originally used the word Ego to mean a sense of self but later revised it to represent a set of psychic functions such as judgement, control, intellectual functioning and memory. Finally we develop our Super Ego. The Super Ego is the part of our personality that holds our morals and ideals that we have acquired from our parents and environment and acts as a voice for right and wrong. As with the Ego it is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious parts of our mind. The Super Ego consists of two parts, the Ego ideal which sets out the rules and standards for good behaviour. Conformity to behaviours that are approved of by our parents and people in positions of authority give us feelings of pride and accomplishment. The second part of the Ego is the Conscience which holds information on all the things that are viewed as being bad by our parents and the society in which we live. Behaviours that are forbidden or at the very least frowned upon and fill us with feelings of guilt and remorse. The perfection principle of the Super Ego strives to suppress any unacceptable desires of the Id and to make our Ego act upon idealistic rather than realistic standards. One of Freuds better known theories and also one of the most controversial is that of psycho-sexual development. He proposed that an instinctual libido is present in all of us from birth and develops in five stages. First is the oral stage which occurs from birth up until around the age of eighteen months. The main focus here being the  gratification and pleasures the infant receives through feeding. Children in this stage place objects into their mouths in order to orally explore their environment. At this young age the child is entirely dependent on their carers and thus develops a sense of trust and comfort in relation to those carers. This stage is dominated by the Id as at this point the Ego and Superego have not yet fully developed and all actions are based on the â€Å"Pleasure Principle†. The key experience for a child in the oral stage of development is weaning, allowing the child to become less dependent on their caretakers. Freud said that too much or too little gratification may lead to an oral fixation, which Freud claimed could result in them developing a passive, immature, manipulative personality. This fixation could present in an adult as issues with eating, smoking, nail biting and aggression. The second stage of psycho-sexual development is the anal stage taking place between around 18 months to three years old. Freud believed at this stage that the primary focus of the libido was on controlling bladder and bowel movements. Toilet training is the key experience here which brings into conflict the Id that demands immediate gratification and the Ego that demands delayed gratification. The resulting outcome of this conflict is heavily influenced by the parenting style that a child receives during toilet training. The ideal resolution of this conflict is a gradual adjustment whereby the child adjusts to moderate parental demands, learning the values of physical cleanliness and self control. Freud suggested that if parents over-emphasized toilet training or punished accidents then the child may develop what we term as an anally retentive personality, with the potential to become obsessively concerned with neatness and order. On the other hand if the parents were too lenient then the child may develop an anally expulsive and destructive personality whereby they are self-indulgent, messy and wasteful. Faeces and money are often linked in psychodynamic literature and according to Freudian theory; attitudes to money can reveal what the individual experienced during toilet training. The third stage of psycho-sexual development is the phallic stage taking place between the ages of three and six. During this time a child begins to gain awareness of its body and also the bodies of their parents and other  children, in particular genitalia. They begin to explore their genitals and learn the physical differences between male and female. During this stage boys experience what Freud termed as the Oedipus complex whereby the child wishes to remove his father in order to gain full attention of his mother’s affections. This urge to eliminate the father is controlled by what he termed as castration anxiety and so instead the child learns to imitate the father. Girls experience what Carl Jung in 1913 termed as the Electra complex where instead she wishes to remove the mother in order to gain full possession of her father. Freud however rejected this term as being psycho-analytically inaccurate believing that the reasoning behind the Oedipus complex applied only to male children and that it was wrong to share this analogy between the two sexes. He did however believe that girls experienced what he termed as penis envy and that initially the child experiences a lot of anger towards their mother for not sharing the same appendage as their father but in time they learn to identify with their mother in order to possess their father. Freud was very much influenced by the death of his father in 1896. In the three years following the death of his father, Freud became preoccupied with self-analysis where he realised that he had repressed feelings of anger and resentment against his father. He believed that as a small boy he had been in love with his mother and was jealous of his father. Freud based his theory of early sexual development on personal theory instead of exploring further using empirical methods. The fourth stage of psycho-sexual development is the latency stage taking place from around the age of six up until puberty. During this stage the child enters into a sexually dormant period, consolidating the habits of the previous three stages. The Ego and Superego take precedence over the Id due to the childs defence mechanisms repressing its instinctual drives during the phallic stage. Now that gratification is delayed, the child is driven to derive pleasure from external activities such as friendships, education and hobbies. Any neuroses established during this fourth stage of psycho-sexual development may be due to the unresolved issues of the Oedipus complex or the Egos failure to focus on socially acceptable activities. The fifth and final stage of psycho-sexual development is the genital stage  that spans from puberty throughout the remainder of adult life. As with the phallic stage the genital stage is focussed upon genitalia but in this instance the sexuality is consensual and more often involving another adult in the form of a relationship rather than being solitary and infantile. This is due to the establishment of the Ego which shifts attention away from primary-drive gratification to secondary process thinking and to satisfy desire in a more symbolic and intellectual way through loving relationships, friendships and family. The genital stage is the time when a person is able to resolve any psycho-sexual childhood conflicts that they may have and allows psychological detachment and independence from their parents. In previous stages focus was placed solely on individual needs, now the welfare of others comes strongly into play and if all stages have been completed successfully then Freud believed that the individual should be a well-balanced and fully functioning person. Unfortunately it isnt all that simple and the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego continuously come into conflict with one another. The Ego has to work to control the demands of the Id whilst at the same time having regard for the restrictions placed upon it by the Super Ego. At times these desires and constraints cause conflict that our Ego is unable to deal with resulting in anxiety and stress. Freud identified three types of anxiety, firstly neurotic anxiety which occurs through fear that we will lose control of the Ids urges and the resulting punishment for inappropriate behaviour. Secondly reality anxiety which is a fear of external events often culminating in phobias, we are able to reduce such anxiety by avoiding the threatening object or situation. Thirdly is moral anxiety from a fear of violating our own moral principles and values that have been set down by our Super Ego. Neurosis also figured heavily in Freuds psycho-analytical theory. He proposed that neurosis occurs when the Ego is unable to deal with desires that produce feelings of guilt and a sense of wrong. Through repression these thoughts manifest themselves through symptoms that have no physical dysfunction. The mental illness acts as a replacement for the guilt ridden desires of the Id allowing the Ego to avoid the conflict between itself and the Id. Such symptoms however are worse than the conflict they set out to hide, not only stopping the individual from being accepting of their repressed desires but  also causing them to become socially incapable of enjoying a happy and healthy life. He also believed that neurosis can be triggered by a traumatic childhood event that the individual is unable to handle. Often such experiences give rise to feelings of guilt that we seek to repress through use of various displacement mechanisms. Sometimes these repressed memories make their way back into our conscious minds in a different form producing a great amount of anxiety in turn triggering psychological disorders that seek to block out the real cause. Psychoanalytical therapy has proved productive in being able to help a client uncover unconscious defence mechanisms and help them find better ways of dealing with their anxiety or removing it all together. Psycho-analysis opened up a new view regarding the treatment of mental illness, suggesting that psychological distress could be reduced through talking about their problems with a therapist. The work of Freud was responsible for bringing about a greater understanding of behaviour that was unusual and differences were no longer automatically equated as unacceptable, with understanding comes greater tolerance. He radically changed the view of sexuality making it an acceptable topic of conversation and a natural part of a healthy, happy life. The approach is also credited with highlighting the importance of childhood and our unconscious mind. Despite the influential effect of his theories Freud is open to numerous criticisms. Many psychologists have adopted his ideas but there has been a great deal of modernisation on his original views. Carl Jung who was a pupil of Freuds even disagreed with certain aspects of his theories; in particular Freud’s reliance on sex as the answer to many problems. Jung went on to develop his own theories known as Analytical Psychology. Erich Fromm rejected Freuds view that the drives of the human being are solely biological, believing instead that it was down to our freedom of choice and ability to choose our own destiny. He believed any conflict arose as a result of the fear or uncertainty which that freedom entailed. Feminists are particularly critical of the work of Freud due to the sexist nature of many of his ideas. Neo-Freudian Karen Horney proposed that instead of penis envy girls in fact developed power envy and that in their inability to bear  children men develop womb and vagina envy. Scientifically the validity of Freuds theory of psycho-sexual development is brought in to question due to his perceived personal fixation on human sexuality and the phallic stage of development proved controversial for being based upon clinical observations of the Oedipus complex. Many were critical of the fact that a lot of Freuds ideas were based on case studies or clinical observations rather than empirical, scientific research. Contemporary criticism questions the universality of Freuds theory of personality and psycho-sexual development. Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski studied the matriarchal society of the Trobriand where young boys are punished by their maternal uncles not their fathers and thus suggested that in this case power is the source of Oedipal conflict not sexual jealousy. Contemporary research has also confirmed that although personality traits corresponding to the oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital stages are observable they are not necessarily fixed stages of childhood or indeed adult personality traits that were derived from childhood. While there is no denying that Freud is of great historical significance and he developed many ground breaking theories and ideas some of which still hold relevance today although many over time have been discredited. It must then be said that Freud’s theory of psychosexual development may in some cases offer us a limited understanding of a client’s issue it would not be ethical practice to rely entirely on this theory when working with a client. Due to its lack of credibility in many areas, Freud’s theory cannot be implemented as a full explanation or means with which to begin the process of understanding and healing. Bibliography Frankland, A. and Sanders, P. 1995. Next steps in counselling. Manchester: PCCS Books. pp.70-76 Hough, M. 2006. Counselling Skills and Theory. 2nd ed. London: Hodder Arnold, pp. 59-86. Malinowski, B. 1927. Sex and repression in savage society. [e-book] London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. http://openlibrary.org/books/OL17967917M/Sex_and_repression_in_savage_society [Accessed: 1st July 2013]. Cherry, K. n.d.. Freuds Stages of Psychosexual Development. [online] Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/psychosexualdev.htm [Accessed: 19 Jun 2013]. Copperwiki.org. 1950. Human Centred Psychotherapy CopperWiki. [online] Available at: http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php?title=Human_Centred_Psychotherapy [Accessed: 01 Jul 2013] En.wikipedia.org. 2013. Psychosexual development Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosexual_development [Accessed: 01 Jul 2013]. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0072969806/286620/fei69806_ch02

Friday, September 20, 2019

Intervention of Stroop Effect on Color Naming Task

Intervention of Stroop Effect on Color Naming Task Dang Su Rene Abstract The research shows that the intervention of Stroop effect affects the time taken in completing the color naming task. To do this experiment, 248 participants were randomly selected which are half of the participants are Chinese speaking and another half are non-Chinese speaking. The two type of participants will took this experiment. Their result were recorded and shows that non-Chinese speaking took a little longer time to identify the color of round shapes, neutral words, incongruent color words and related words compared to Chinese speaking. However, their results turn out to be very competitive. In contrast, participants who are Chinese speaking they understand Chinese incongruent word and this causes them take time to identify it. (115 words) Introduction â€Å"Stroop effect† is discovered by John Ridley Stroop was first publish in 1935 in an article. This effect is a study of an intervention that the brain’s reaction time of a task. However, the misapply of interference or inhibition has given the physiologist to begin the investigation on experimental literature and has perpetuate to the present by psychologists. Many studies had been published but only several reports captured the psychologist attention. Stroop (1935) was the original Stroop Experiment that studied the speed in naming the ink color and the nature of stimulus which is round shape versus incongruent color words. It illustrates the nature of automatic processing versus visual awareness control. The results showed that the speed in naming the ink color of incongruent color words were slower compared to round shapes. The conclusion was stated were due to interference effect. After a short time, there is two alternative explanation for the Stroop Effect have been suggested which is relative speed of processing argument and automaticity account. The relative speed of argument theory was proposed by John Morton (1969). Both reading and color naming are accomplished in parallel. When it is complete at the same time, word reading is faster and therefore interferes with color naming in the race for verbal output. Schiffrin and Schneider (1977) came up automaticity account theory that suggested the two cognitive attentional processes are automatic processes and controlled processes. They illustrate the differences between the automatic and the controlled. Automatic task requires less attention, difficult to interrupt and it is a task that we are practiced at. In contrast, controlled task requires more attention, interrupt easily and new tasks is given. Therefore, the Stroop Effect happens when an automatic process disrupts a controlled process and this may causes changes after practicing at naming colors. Dalrymple-Alford (1972) considered the variation of the Stroop Effect which includes some conditions. The conditions was to have shapes, color related words and non color-related words. As a result, he concluded that more interference for color related word. Ami (2012) studied that conventional theories of the Stroop effect propose that faster color categorization on congruent trials parallel to incongruent trials is caused by channel interaction. In other words, information from the unrelated word channel disrupts processing of the print color, in turn triggers the deceleration process of incongruent displays. Karthikeyan, Murugappan, Yaacob (2014) studied the results shows that notable changes between the normal and stressed states are more apparent with categorization accuracy. The aim is to display the interference in the response time of a task. Therefore, the current research helps us understand that the participants will take longer time to identify color for incongruent color words (Sheet C) compared to color shapes (Sheet A) and color neutral words (Sheet B). Participants who are Chinese speaking will take longer time to identify color for Chinese-incongruent color words (Sheet E) compared to those non-Chinese speaking. Participants will take longer time to identify color for color related words (Sheet D) compared to color neutral words (Sheet B). (505 words) Method Participants 248 participants were randomly selected from college mates, relatives, friends and acquaintances that were recruited by the researcher. The participants are aged between 16-50 years old. In addition, half of the participants are Chinese speaking and another half are non-Chinese speaking. The participants should not be color blind and must be literate in English. Materials Construct 5 test sheets and a practice sheet of A4 paper. Color pencils or color markers are to be used for the 5 test sheets and practice sheet. A timer is used to record the duration of the experiment. Procedure Before the experiment starts, the researcher has chosen a suitable location where the participants can be seated with minimal distractions. Participants are also given a consent form to sign. Each consent form contains the participant’s signature and the date they did the experiment. Next, the instructions and the experimental conditions were explained to the participants by the researcher. The 5 pages of test sheet with objects or words that are written in different colors were not shown to the participants. The participants were required to name aloud the color of the objects or words as fast as they can. However, if the participants named it wrongly, they are alerted by the researcher and required to repeat the color of the object or word again. After that, the researcher showed the participants the practice sheet that consist one example from the 5 test sheets to make sure that they understand the instructions. Otherwise, the researcher will repeat the explanation to them until they get to understand it. Then, show them the 5 test sheets which are Sheet A, B, C, D and E one at a time. Meanwhile, the time that the participants took to complete the task was tabulated by the researcher. (295 words) Results According to the experiments, most of the participants who are Chinese speaking react faster than the participants who are non-Chinese speaking. The table below is regarding to complete color naming task which is sheet A,B,C,D and E are round shape, color neutral words, incongruent color words, color-related words and Chinese incongruent color words. Table 1 show that the participants who are Chinese speaking take a longer time to finish test sheet E which is Chinese incongruent color words than those who are non-Chinese speaking. In contrast, the participants who are Chinese speaking spent significantly less time on the color naming task than the participants who are non-Chinese speaking. Overall, my hypothesis was that the participants will take longer to identify Sheet C compared to Sheet A and B. Chinese speaking participants will spent longer time to identify Sheet E compared to those non-Chinese speaking. Participants will take longer time to identify Sheet D compared to Sheet B. My results do support my hypotheses. Table 1. Time Taken (In Seconds) to Complete Color Naming Task Figure 1. Time taken (In Seconds) to Complete Color Naming Task (163words) Discussion The result showed a significant effect of the participants in completing color naming task were found in this study that the participants who are Chinese speaking take a longer time to finish test sheet E which is Chinese incongruent color words than those who are non-Chinese speaking. In contrast, the participants who are Chinese speaking spent significantly less time on the color naming task than the participants who are non-Chinese speaking. This result is in line with previous research and it supports my hypotheses of this study. In the past research they do not have Chinese incongruent color words and the participants who are Chinese speaking. According to the past research, the findings of Stroop (1935) studied that the speed in naming ink color are affected by nature of stimulus. Morton (1969) also concluded that word reading is faster and therefore interferes with color naming in the race for verbal output. Dalrymple-Alford concluded that the results are more interference for color related words. References Dalrymple-Alford,E.C. (1972). Sound similarity and color word interference in the stroop  task. Psychonomic Science, 28, 209-210. Ami, E. (2012), Independent race of color and word can predict the stroop effect. Australian  Journal Of Psychology, 64 , 189-198. Karthikeyan, P. , Murugappan, M. Yaacob, S. (2014). Analysis of Stroop Color Word Test-Based Human StressDetection using Electrocardiography ad Heart Rate Variability Signals. Arabian Journal for Science Engineering (Springer Science Buisness Media B.V.), 39, 1835-1847 Morton, J. (1969). Categories of interference: Verbal mediation and conflict in card sorting. British Journal of Psychology, 60, 329-346. Shiffrin, R.M. Schneider, W. (1977). Controled and automatic human processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. Psychology Review, 84, 127-190. Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies in interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643-662.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Salt Pollution :: essays research papers

Salt Pollution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As awareness for pollution increases, other forms of pollution are defined. Almost everyone knows about toxic waste and carbon dioxide pollution, but not many people have heard of salt pollution. Salt pollution has been on the increase since the evolution of the automobile. With more pressure on government agencies to keep the highway clear and safe, an increase in the use of salt has developed. It is important to understand why salt is used and how it work as well as the environmental effects to understand the salt pollution problem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salt is a necessary and accepted part of the winter environment. It provides safety and mobility for motorists, commercial vehicles and emergency vehicles. Salt is used as the principal deicer because it is the most available and cost-effective deicer. Rock salt is preferred because it is cheap and effective. It costs 20 dollars a ton where as an alternative like calcium magnesium cost around 700 dollars a ton. Some 10 million tons of deicing salt is used each year in the U.S. and about 3 million in Canada.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salt is used to keep snow and ice from bonding to the pavement and to allow snowplows to remove. When salt is applied to ice and snow it creates a brine that has a lower freezing temperature than the surrounding ice or snow. Salt is the ideal deicing material because it is:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢the least expensive deicer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢easy to spread   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢easy to store and handle   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢readily available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢non-toxic   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢harmless to skin and clothing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salt pollution is broken into two main groups. Water, which includes the effects on ground water, surface water and aquatic life and land.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the salt applied to the roadways eventually ends up in the ground water. It is estimated that 30% to 50% of the salt used travels into the ground water. Salt effect two areas of ground water, chloride concentration and sodium concentration. Chlorides may be present in the form of sodium chloride crystals or as a ion in a solution. Normal concentrations in the water are average around 10 mg/litre. Concentrations found in ground water near major highways have been recorded as high as 250 mg/litre which is around the threshold of taste.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main factor with ground water pollution is the risk to human health. The raised level in sodium in water can cause high blood pressure and hypertension. With people who already suffer from these problem it is necessary to keep their salt intake relatively low, they should not drink water above 20 mg/liter. Although this is recommended, a study of private well water in Toronto showed that half the wells exceeded this limit, twenty percent exceeded Salt Pollution :: essays research papers Salt Pollution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As awareness for pollution increases, other forms of pollution are defined. Almost everyone knows about toxic waste and carbon dioxide pollution, but not many people have heard of salt pollution. Salt pollution has been on the increase since the evolution of the automobile. With more pressure on government agencies to keep the highway clear and safe, an increase in the use of salt has developed. It is important to understand why salt is used and how it work as well as the environmental effects to understand the salt pollution problem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salt is a necessary and accepted part of the winter environment. It provides safety and mobility for motorists, commercial vehicles and emergency vehicles. Salt is used as the principal deicer because it is the most available and cost-effective deicer. Rock salt is preferred because it is cheap and effective. It costs 20 dollars a ton where as an alternative like calcium magnesium cost around 700 dollars a ton. Some 10 million tons of deicing salt is used each year in the U.S. and about 3 million in Canada.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salt is used to keep snow and ice from bonding to the pavement and to allow snowplows to remove. When salt is applied to ice and snow it creates a brine that has a lower freezing temperature than the surrounding ice or snow. Salt is the ideal deicing material because it is:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢the least expensive deicer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢easy to spread   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢easy to store and handle   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢readily available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢non-toxic   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢harmless to skin and clothing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salt pollution is broken into two main groups. Water, which includes the effects on ground water, surface water and aquatic life and land.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the salt applied to the roadways eventually ends up in the ground water. It is estimated that 30% to 50% of the salt used travels into the ground water. Salt effect two areas of ground water, chloride concentration and sodium concentration. Chlorides may be present in the form of sodium chloride crystals or as a ion in a solution. Normal concentrations in the water are average around 10 mg/litre. Concentrations found in ground water near major highways have been recorded as high as 250 mg/litre which is around the threshold of taste.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main factor with ground water pollution is the risk to human health. The raised level in sodium in water can cause high blood pressure and hypertension. With people who already suffer from these problem it is necessary to keep their salt intake relatively low, they should not drink water above 20 mg/liter. Although this is recommended, a study of private well water in Toronto showed that half the wells exceeded this limit, twenty percent exceeded

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A Room of Ones Own by Virginia Woolf Essay -- Virginia Woolf Essays

Virginia Woolf, a founder of Modernism, is one of the most important woman writers. Her essays and novels provide an insight into her life experiences and those of women of the 20th century. Her most famous works include Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando: A Biography (1928), The Waves (1931), and A Room of One's Own (1929) (Roseman 11). A Room of One's Own is an based on Woolf's lectures at a women's college at Cambridge University in 1928. Woolf bases her thoughts on "the question of women and fiction". In the essay, Woolf asks herself the question if a woman could create art that compares to the quality of Shakespeare. Therefore, she examines women's historical experience and the struggle of the woman artist. A Room of One's Own explores the history of women in literature through an investigation of the social and material conditions required for writing. Leisure time, privacy, and financial independence, are important to understanding the situation of women in the literary tradition because women, historically, have been deprived of those basics (Roseman 14). The setting of A Room of One's Own is that Woolf has been invited to lecture on the topic of Women and Fiction. Her thesis is that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction (Woolf 4)." She creates the character of an imaginary narrator, "call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please, it is not a matter of any importance." The "I" who narrates the story is not Woolf, yet her experiences and thoughts provide the background for Woolf's thesis. The narrator begins her search going over the different educational experiences available to men and women and the more material ... ...s, 1882-1942. v.: ill.; 28 cm. Semiannual. Issue no. 33, 32, 1989. Vol. 1, no. 1, 1973; no.2, 1974. California State College, Sonoma, Dept. of English. Roseman, Ellen. A Room of One's Own: Women Writers and the Politics of Creativity. Twayne Publishing, Inc., New York, 1995. Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. Orlando: Harcourt, 2005. Print. Internet Sources Consulted Brooks, Rebecca B. â€Å"Timeline of Virginia Woolf’s Life.† The Virginia Woolf Blog. N.p., 19 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. . Burt, John. â€Å"Irreconcilable Habits of Thought in A Room of One’s Own and to The Lighthouse.† ELH 49.4 (1982): 889-907. JSTOR. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. Rodriguez, Lara Ma Lojo. â€Å""A New Tradition†: Virginia Woolf and the Personal Essay.â€Å"Atlantis 23.1 (2001): 75-90. JSTOR. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Public Information :: essays research papers

Ever wonder how a person not known obtains critical information once unavailable to the public? Nowadays, the easy access of computers makes it almost impossible for citizens to completely be out of the risk of privacy invasion. Anything we do is being monitored discreetly or publicly by others. Yet, there are different ways in which this issue can be viewed. It is harmful in the way that we do not know exactly what is being monitored by others, nor the way it is being used. Privacy intrusion helps us by monitoring those who may be harmful to others. Privacy invasion can be viewed as both harmful, and yet helpful. One type of privacy invasion is the placement of surveillance cameras. Cameras are made so small today that one would have to stand less than a foot away to actually see the placement of the camera. In the article, "Nowhere to hide: Lack of Privacy Is the Ultimate Equalizer," Charles Platt states, "Right now, I can buy a KGB-surplus night scope, a microtransmitter, or a videocamera that's half the size of a pack of cigarettes" (344). We can hardly go anywhere without the possibility of a camera watching our every move. This is a good thing in the sense that it gives more security to public places. A thief will think twice about robbing a bank if there is a camera pointed directly at him. Prison riots will become obsolete since the video will tell all who started the riot. Surveillance camera footage can be used as evidence in the court of law. Just as cameras can be useful in the work field, they can also be used to abuse invasion of privacy. In the article, "Privacy and Technology," Gary T. Marx points out, "A college student secretly video taped sexual encounters with a girlfriend. After breaking up with her, he played the tape for members of his fraternity. She learned of this and was victorious in a civil lawsuit, although no criminal statute had been violated" (325). Cameras are also good for business. There will be fewer shoplifters sneaking away items at the mall or grocery store. Another type of privacy invasion is the background check of a potential employee. Businesses only want employees who will benefit the business itself. The owners think of employees as a type of investment. So, to make a good investment, the managers are ordered to conduct a background check on prospective applicants.

Objective of Education Is Learning

‘The Objective of Education Is Learning' *'The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not Teaching'* *In their book,** *Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track*, authors Russell L. Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg point out that today's education system is seriously flawed — it focuses on teaching rather than learning. â€Å"Why should children — or adults — be asked to do something computers and related equipment can do much better than they can? † the authors ask in the following excerpt from the book. â€Å"Why doesn't education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create? * â€Å"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught. † — Oscar Wilde Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. It incorrectly assumes that for every ounce of teaching there is an ounce of learning by those who are taught. However, most of what we learn before, during, and after attending schools is learned without its being taught to us. A child learns such fundamental things as how to walk, talk, eat, dress, and so on without being taught these things. But are there intrinsic barriers to learning?Adults learn most of what they use at work or at leisure while at work or leisure. Most of what is taught in classroom settings is forgotten, and much or what is remembered is irrelevant. In most schools, memorization is mistaken for learning. Most of what is remembered is remembered only for a short time, but then is quickly forgotten. (How many remember how to take a square root or ever have a need to? ) Furthermore, even young children are aware of the fact that most of what is expected of them in school can better be done by computers, recording machines, cameras, and so on.They are treated as poor surrogates ; for such machines and instruments. Why should children — or adults, for that m atter — be asked to do something computers and related equipment can do much better than they can? Why doesn't education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create? When those who have taught others are asked who in the classes learned most, virtually all of them say, â€Å"The teacher. † It is apparent to those who have taught that teaching is a better way to learn than being taught. Teaching enables the teacher to discover what one thinks about the subject being taught.Schools are upside down: Students should be teaching and faculty learning. After lecturing to undergraduates at a major university, I was accosted by a student who had attended the lecture. After some complimentary remarks, he asked, â€Å"How long ago did you teach your first class? † I responded, â€Å"In September of 1941. † â€Å"Wow! † The student said. â€Å"You mean to say you have been teaching for more than 60 years? † â€Å"Ye s. † â€Å"When did you last teach a course in a subject that existed when you were a student? † This difficult question required some thought. After a pause, I said, â€Å"September of 1951. â€Å"Wow! You mean to say that everything you have taught in more than 50 years was not taught *to* you; you had to learn on your own? † â€Å"Right. † â€Å"You must be a pretty good learner. † I modestly agreed. The student then said, â€Å"What a shame you're not that good a teacher. † The student had it right; what most faculty members are good at, if anything, is learning rather than teaching. Recall that in the one-room > schoolhouse, students taught students. The teacher served as a guide and a resource but not as one who force-fed content into students' minds. *Ways of Learning*There are many different ways of learning; teaching is only one of them. We learn a great deal on our own, in independent study or play. We learn a great deal interactin g with others informally — sharing what we are learning with others and vice versa. We learn a great deal by doing, through trial and error. Long before there were schools as we know them, there was apprenticeship — learning how to do something by trying it under the guidance of one who knows how. For example, one can learn more architecture by having to design and build one's own house than by taking any number of courses on the subject.When physicians are asked whether they leaned more in classes or during their internship, without exception they answer, â€Å"Internship. † In the educational process, students should be offered a wide variety of ways to learn, among which they could choose or with which they could experiment. They do not have to learn different things the same way. They should learn at a very early stage of â€Å"schooling† that learning how to learn is largely their responsibility — with the help they seek but that is not impose d on them. The objective of education is learning, not teaching.There are two ways that teaching is a powerful tool of learning. Let's abandon for the moment the loaded word teaching, which is unfortunately all too closely linked to the notion of â€Å"talking at† or â€Å"lecturing,† and use instead the rather awkward phrase explaining something to someone else who wants to find out about it. One aspect of explaining something is getting yourself up to snuff on whatever it is that you are trying to explain. I can't very well explain to you how Newton accounted for planetary motion if ; I haven't boned up on my Newtonian mechanics first.This is a problem we all face all the time, when we are expected to explain something. (Wife asks, â€Å"How do we get to Valley Forge from home? † And husband, who does not want to admit he has no idea at all, excuses himself to go to the bathroom; he quickly Googles Mapquest to find out. ) This is one sense in which the one who explains learns the most, because the person to whom the explanation is made can afford to forget the explanation promptly in most cases; but the explainers will find it sticking in their minds a lot longer, because they struggled to gain an understanding in the first place in a form clear enough to explain.The second aspect of explaining something that leaves the explainer more enriched, and with a much deeper understanding of the subject, is this: To satisfy the person being addressed, to the point where that person can nod his head and say, â€Å"Ah, yes, now I understand! † explainers must not only get the matter to fit comfortably into their own worldview, into their own personal frame of reference for understanding the world around them, they also have to figure out how to link their frame of reference to the > world view of the person receiving the explanation, so that the explanation can make sense to that person, too.This involves an intense effort on the part of th e explainer to get into the other person's mind, so to speak, and that exercise is at the heart of learning in general. For, by practicing repeatedly how to create links between my mind and another's, I am reaching the very core of the art of learning from the ambient culture. Without that skill, I can only learn from direct experience; with that skill, I can learn > from the experience of the whole world. Thus, whenever I struggle to explain something to someone else, and succeed in doing so, I am advancing my ability to learn from others, too. Learning through Explanation* This aspect of learning through explanation has been overlooked by most commentators. And that is a shame, because both aspects of learning are what makes the age mixing that takes place in the world at large such a valuable educational tool. Younger kids are always seeking answers from older kids –sometimes just slightly older kids (the seven-year old tapping the presumed life wisdom of the so-much-more- experienced nine year old), often much older kids.The older kids love it, and their abilities are exercised mightily in these interactions. They have to figure out what it is that they understand > about the question being raised, and they have to figure out how to make their understanding comprehensible to the younger kids. The same process occurs over and over again in the world at large; this is why it is so important to keep communities multi-aged, and why it is so destructive to learning, and to the development of culture in general, to segregate certain ages (children, old people) from others.What went on in the one-room schoolhouse is much like what I have been talking about. In fact, I am not sure that the adult teacher in the one-room schoolhouse was always viewed as the best authority on any given subject! Long ago, I had an experience that illustrates that point perfectly. When our oldest son was eight years old, he hung around (and virtually worshiped) a very brilliant 1 3-year-old named Ernie, who loved science. Our son was curious about everything in the world.One day he asked me to explain some physical phenomenon that lay within the realm of what we have come to call â€Å"physics†; being a former professor of physics, I was considered a > reasonable person to ask. So, I gave him an answer — the â€Å"right† answer, the one he would have found in books. He was greatly annoyed. â€Å"That's not right! † he shouted, and when I expressed surprise at his response, and asked him why he would say so, his answer was immediate: â€Å"Ernie said so and so, which is totally different, and Ernie knows. It was an enlightening and delightful experience for me. It was clear that his faith in Ernie had been developed over a long time, from long experience with Ernie's unfailing ability to build a bridge between their minds — perhaps more successfully, > at least in certain areas, than I had been. One might wonder how on eart h learning came to be seen primarily a result of teaching. Until quite recently, the world's great teachers were understood to be people who had something fresh to say about something to people who were interested in hearing their message.Moses, Socrates, Aristotle, Jesus — these were people who had original insights, and people came from far and wide to find out what those insights were. One can see most clearly in Plato's dialogues that people did not come to Socrates to â€Å"learn philosophy,† but rather to hear Socrates' version of philosophy (and his wicked and witty attacks on other people's versions), just as they went to other philosophers to hear (and learn) their versions. In other words, teaching was understood as public exposure of an individual's perspective, which anyone could take or leave, depending on whether they cared about it.No one in his right mind thought that the only way you could become a philosopher was by taking a course from one of those g uys. On the contrary, you were expected to come up with your own original worldview if you aspired to the title of philosopher. This was true of any and every aspect of knowledge; you figured out how to learn it, and you exposed yourself to people who were willing to make their understanding public if you thought it could be a worthwhile part of your endeavor.That is the basis for the formation of universities in the Middle Ages — places where thinkers were willing to spend their time making their thoughts public. The only ones who got to stay were the ones whom other people (â€Å"students†) found relevant enough to their own personal quests to make listening to them worthwhile. By the way, this attitude toward teaching has not disappeared. When quantum theory was being developed in the second quarter of the twentieth century, aspiring atomic physicists traveled to the various places where different theorists were developing their thoughts, often in radically differen t directions.Students traveled to Bohr's institute to find out how he viewed quantum theory, then to Heisenberg, to Einstein, to Schrodinger, to Dirac, and so on. What was true of physics was equally true of art, architecture†¦ you name it. It is still true today. One does not go to Pei to learn â€Å"architecture†; one goes to learn how he does it — that is, to see him â€Å"teach† by telling and showing you his approach. Schools should enable people to go where they want to go, not where others want them to. *Malaise of Mass Education* The trouble began when mass education was introduced. It was necessary To decide what skills and knowledge everyone has to have to be a productive citizen of a developed country in the industrial age – To make sure the way this information is defined and standardized, to fit into the standardization required by the industrial culture – To develop the means of describing and communicating the standardized infor mation (textbooks, curricula) – To train people to comprehend the standardized material and master the means of transmitting it (teacher training, pedagogy) – To create places where the trainees (children) and the trainers (unfortunately called teachers, which gives them a status they do not deserve) can meet — so-called schools (again a term stolen from a much different milieu, endowing these new institutions with a dignity they also do not deserve) – And, to provide the coercive backing necessary to carry out this major cultural and social upheaval In keeping with all historic attempts to revolutionize the social order, The elite leaders who formulated the strategy, and those who implemented it, perverted the language, using terms that had attracted a great deal of respect in new ways that turned their meanings upside down, but helped make the new order palatable to a public that didn't quite catch on. Every word — *teacher, student, school, disc ipline,* and so on — took on meanings diametrically opposed to what they had originally meant. Consider this one example from my recent experience. I attended a conference of school counselors, where the latest ideas in the realm of student counseling were being presented.I went to a session on the development of self-discipline and responsibility, wondering what these concepts mean to people embedded in traditional schooling. To me, self-discipline means the ability to pursue one's goals without outside coercion; responsibility means taking appropriate action on one's own initiative, without being goaded by others. To the people presenting the session, both concepts had to do solely with the child's ability to do his or her assigned class work. They explained that a guidance counselor's proper function was to get students to understand that responsible behavior meant doing their homework in a timely and effective manner, as prescribed, and self-discipline meant the determina tion to get that homework done. George Orwell was winking in the back of the room.Today, there are two worlds that use the word *education* with opposite meanings: one world consists of the schools and colleges (and even graduate schools) of our education complex, in which standardization prevails. In that world, an industrial training mega-structure strives to turn out identical replicas of a product called â€Å"people educated for the twenty-first century†; the second is the world of information, knowledge, and wisdom, in which the real population of the world resides when not incarcerated in schools. In that world, learning takes place like it always did, and teaching consists of imparting one's wisdom, among other things, to voluntary listeners.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Differences Between The Impacts Of Hurricane Katrina And Cyclone Nargis

Tropical revolving storms have a marked influence on the areas they consume. Whether it’s at the point of striking (our primary effects) or the secondary factors days/months/years afterwards: they impact on the social, environmental and economic stature of an area. This is evident when comparing two of the most notable tropical revolving storms in the last decade. Hurricane Katrina hit the MEDC coast of Louisiana and the Mississippi in the form of a category 5 storm and the category 4 cyclone Nargis hit the LEDC nation, Burma, particularly the Irrawaddy delta.Despite similar magnitudes the impacts of these two tropical revolving storms varied- so how and why was this? A telling factor of the impacts is the initial effect on the people in the event of the storms. Significantly hurricane Katrina had its most serious effect on the densely populated area of New Orleans. The storm burst the banks of the Mississippi with gusts of wind up to 345km/h and caused widespread flooding par ticularly to the vulnerable low lying regions of the lower 9nth ward, this quickly became the major cause of death with up to 90% of initial deaths as a result of drowning with powerful current s sweeping people away.In total with the combined force of floods and wind up to 1 million people became homeless and 1,833 died. When looking at the same factors in the Irrawaddy delta, Nargis caused almost 10x the amount of death: 138,000 lost their lives with 2. 4million immediately homeless as a result of again strong 220km/h winds and flooding. Immediately then we can see a profound difference on a relatively similar impact region. This is where the infrastructure of an MEDC comes into place.To reduce the initial impacts 50% of the New Orleans population evacuated using their private cars or school buses after being warned by advanced early warning systems in place across the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally many buildings around New Orleans many of the buildings were high-rise brick/concret e constructions therefore escaped the effects of flooding, so not as many homes were completely destroyed. Alternatively in a LEDC (Burma) the area has little infrastructure or no means of evacuation: helicopters, cars, buses were not available.Buildings too did not meet the same building regulations in the USA so strong winds destroyed many homes. So how did these initial social impacts conspire to the coming days/months/years? What were the secondary effects on the people? There is evidence that shows political influences of both the USA and Burma actually worsened the social impact on the people. In Burma the state is controlled by the military or ‘Junta’ and to preserve national pride (amongst other reasons) they did not initially allow for emergency aid. This resulted in a weak slow response leaving over 2. 4 million people with no shelter, water or food, and basic sanitation.Finally 7 days later the Junta allowed the most basic supplies from the UN and other East Asian countries. Added with the poor infrastructure of an LEDC by this time thousands more had died from starvation as well as outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera so in terms of long term social affects those who had survived grew weaker by the day. Moving further in the future it’s believed more than 7% of the current Burmese population are living permanently in plastic shelters as a result of low GDP per capita, characterising LEDCs as a whole, the secondary social impacts were large also.How about the MEDC then? In the event of hurricane Katrina we can see how the USA’s- despite the world’s largest economy (at the time) – government influences slowed the relief effort which in result impacted the social impact. Firstly the federal government’s relief budget could not be accessed immediately due to no emergency congress occurring before the storm hit. The Louisiana state government too were criticised for reacting slowly as well as t he overall amount of relief workers was reduced by up to 60% as a result of the war in Afghanistan.So similarly with Burma the areas with up to 90% destruction faced shelter, water, food and sanitary issues. However with the economic power of USA and improved infrastructure and advanced emergency services including the US coast guard and fire services many people homeless initially took refuge in emergency shelters and even the New Orleans super dome meant over 100,000 found the basic needs quickly- reducing the death and disease characteristic in cyclone Nargis. Although with MEDC’s capacity of wealthy property: crime and looting was a real problem in New Orleans especially after one of the main prisons being evacuated.Something that was less prominent Burma. Socially then, both long and short term, for the basic needs cyclone Nargis had a more profound impact on the people as New Orleans suffered differently as a result of different economic stature in the USA. From the soc ial effects then, we can clearly see that many homes in both the Irrawaddy delta and New Orleans were destroyed to leave so many homeless, yet the impact of both Katrina and Nargis had a wider spread effect on the environment.The US geological survey has estimated 217 square miles of land was transformed by flooding caused by Katrina- and within this many communities, businesses, and public services were destroyed, with 80% of all dwellings damaged in some way. Other significant effects include 20% of all local marshes being permanently damaged, 16 national wildlife refuges damaged and 7 million gallons of oil being leaked into water systems.Drawing in the social effects again we can see how the effect on the initial environment impacts made up to 1 million people homeless however when we start to look at the secondary factors I believe the impacts where minor. Once the people were evacuated and received emergency aid the main environmental impact in the coming weeks/years (evidence d above) was on the wildlife or the economy- despite this being important (as I will elaborate later) it did not have any immediate danger to the people long term.In stark contrast the vast flat environment of the Irrawaddy delta is the life support system that feeds, cleans and pays the people of south Burma. The 3 main environmental factors were impacted on hugely by cyclone Nargis: the shrimp industry was 100% damaged immediately with the destruction of boats and shallow delta waters, over 200,000 livestock were killed which were used for meat or milk or as crop harvesters, and 80-90% of all rice crops were destroyed by sea waters.This then immediately meant people died so the primary environmental impacts were huge. Unlike Katrina in the USA the environmental impact then worsened in the secondary stages. With no boats the shrimp industry has still not returned to full strength to this day and the rice paddies damaged could not be used up to 12 months afterwards with no full harv est till the following year- today many of the paddies have been completely destroyed and there was a large shortage of livestock in the years following Nargis.So then the impact on the environment for the people of Burma was far more detrimental than the environmental impacts of Katrina again enhanced by the LEDC status, but we can see how these effects transpired into the social effects we saw before and indeed economic impacts. Economic impacts always tend to be a secondary issue but both Katrina and Nargis were given an estimated figure for the scale of damage on the economy- and this is certainly telling when looking at the differences in impacts of the two tropical storms. Cyclone nargis was estimated to cost $10 billion –Katrina: $150 billion.This is a clear difference and in many ways, unlike the social and environmental impacts, the LEDC is far better off. AS I mentioned before LEDCs have less infrastructure therefore when cyclone Nargis hit Burma there was far less in terms of economic value to destroy, eventually to replace. Whereas in the USA the sustained infrastructure (distinctive in a MEDC) means there is far more to destroy: so there’s more to replace. Even 8 years after Katrina both on and an individual basis and internationally the USA are still paying for Katrina.The richer people were forced to use savings and insurance to rebuild homes, whereas federal run development programmes, such as the reconstruction of the lower 9nth ward are still taking place putting a huge burden on the federal and state governments. Smaller businesses have gone bust and even public services, like fire stations or forensic labs have shortfalls of millions of dollars to once again become operational. Nationally the economic impact is thought to have also influenced the prolonging of USA’s national recession to, which in turn has affected other trading national like the UK.On the other side in the LEDC of Burma despite similar shortfalls of mo ney to restore the nation to former ‘glory’ the process has more simple. International aid has eventually covered a much higher percentage of the damage costs because of this simplicity and overall cheaper cost- therefore with this aid money pledged by the UN and the Junta it has been a much easier process for the nation and individually. so we can see how long term these economic impacts are actually more ‘manageable’ for Burma after Nargis than those for the USA after Katrina.Concluding then, we can clearly highlight the differences in impacts as a result of hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis: socially, environmentally, and economically- both primarily and secondarily. I have noticed a difference in impacts based on the previous economic state of a country, when looking at these two tropical storms. Socially the impacts of Nargis far superseded that of Katrina both primarily and secondarily and I do not think this would have differed removing the poor p olitical influence both nations had.Whereas environmentally despite the initial impacts seeming worse in New Orleans as a result of Katrina, we can see that in Burma as with many LEDC’s the effect on the environment is far more detrimental in the years/months to come. I think this is because of the pure economic power of an MEDC like USA, it has the money to rebuild the environment in a matter of years- nevertheless this is the downfall of MEDC’s as we saw when looking at the superior economic impacts of Katrina compared to Nargis’s. Thus the severity of impact of these two tropical storms differs, not because of the magnitude, but because of the economic state.