Algae Blooms and Their Effects on Water Sources

Blue – green algae are scientifically known as cyanobacteria. They are also known as pond scum. They belong to the family of bacteria and naturally develop in shallow, warm and still waters. These conditions are present in fresh water lakes, ponds, and wetlands. In order to survive and grow the algae blooms need sunlight and thus they are photo synthetic bacteria. The name blue – green algae can be attributed to the fact that the first species of this algae were blue – green in color. There are other types of algae, namely, olive – green colored and red colored.During the months of July and August, the population of the algae grows enormously due to the fact that the congenial conditions of hot, calm weather are fulfilled in these months. These weather conditions help create large numbers of blue – green algae, which are often called blooms. These blooms incline upwards to the surface of the water and cover the water. They resemble thick pea soup th at is blue – green in color and they occur naturally. A large portion of blue – green algae blooms are either toxic or poisonous. Wildlife, livestock or humans who consume these algal blooms could possibly die (Blue-green Algae Blooms.BC HEALTH FILES). The cyanobacteria have a dual effect on humans. One variety of these algae acts as a natural fertilizer for rice, whereas there are other variants of this class of bacteria, which contain dangerous toxins. The toxins of cyanobacteria cause a rash in humans. Some cyanobacteria emit high levels of neuromuscular toxins, which kill the fish that consume it. The water containing such algae, on being consumed by animals proves to be fatal. If conditions are favorable, the cyanobacteria grow in profusion and such dense algal blooms produce potent toxins that render seafood highly poisonous.The people who consume such seafood are bound to die. Algal blooms cause a discoloration of water and impart a malodorous smell and a bad ta ste to it (Steinman). During the summer season, algae blooms develop on the lakes and other reservoirs in the entire region and the blue – green algae grow abundantly on the water. They need combinations of high levels of nutrients, warm water, and prolonged sunny weather conditions. These algae make the water become odorless or pungent and the taste unpleasant. Eventually the water becomes unfit for human consumption.The various recreational activities on the Lake of the Prairies are severely hindered in summer, because the algae blooms grow abundantly on the water in summer. In Brereton Lake in the Whiteshell, the fish population was killed by the algae blooms, in the year 1990. During summer, the huge population of algae blooms in the Shoal Lake renders the water tasteless and causes a severe drinking water problem in Winnipeg (State of the Environment Reports). The blue – green algae blooms contain two different types of toxins. One type consists of neurotoxins tha t interfere with the nervous and respiratory systems of human beings.These neurotoxins cause muscle tremors, stupor, staggering, rapid paralysis, and respiratory problems. Consuming these toxins generally results in death within thirty minutes. A number of dead bodies of animals that have consumed the water, contaminated with the algal blooms, can be found near water bodies like lakes and ponds. The consumption of these algal blooms is fatal irrespective of whether an animal or a human consumes them (Blue-green Algae Blooms. BC HEALTH FILES). The other type of toxins is the hepato – toxins. These toxins damage the liver which results in slow death.Animals or humans who drink water contaminated with toxic strains of blue – green algae blooms would die within thirty – six hours. Jaundice and sensitivity to sunlight are the immediate symptoms of these toxins. Animals that consume water containing this toxin develop these symptoms (Blue-green Algae Blooms. BC HEALTH FILES). Harmful Algae Blooms cause great economic loss. They hinder activities such as commercial fishing, tourism, cultural traditions, recreational, and subsistence harvests. Maryland sustained a huge economic loss in the year 1997 due to such contamination.The seafood industries depicted a decline of over ten percent of their gross sales due to harmful Algae Blooms in the water. This industry had been making huge profits with an annual rate of increase of seventy – four percent till 1996. The reduction in sales was approximately forty – three million dollars. This huge loss was attributed to the Pfiesteria toxins of the algae blooms. In addition, persons who had been affected by this localized toxic outbreak of Pfiesteria developed several neurological diseases ( Harmful algae blooms in Mary land ).Furthermore, algal blooms cause the discoloration of water, formation of foam on the water, depletion of oxygen, and death. Some fish such as benthic fauna and wild or c aged fish or shellfish get poisoned and consuming those fish results in death. The uncontrolled growth of plankton algae causes organic matter to accumulate at the bottom of the water bodies. The ecosystem is adversely affected and the local biodiversity is harmed due to the uncontrolled growth and preponderance of filamentous macroalgae. The growth of these algae is due to the presence of excessive nutrients in the water (European Environment Agency).Domestic water supplies in the cities Brandon and Morden depend on the Assiniboine River and Lake Minnewasta. Algae blooms on these water sources result in the loss of taste and odor in this water. The water department in Brandon increased the rate of chemical feed at the water plant in order to manage this problem. In Morden, the staff added copper sulfate to Lake Minnewasta to eradicate the algae. Although these problems prevail for a short period, the residents of the cities have to countenance a great deal of inconvenience. Consequ ently, the people commenced to depend on other sources of drinking water (State of the Environment Reports).With the advancement of scientific knowledge, humans are deriving a number of advantages from the algae blooms. Some of these advantages include the production of food for people as well as animal livestock, using them as binding agents in the preparation of ice creams and shampoos, and using the algae in medicines to control certain diseases. Commercial farming of over 150 species of algae as a vital source of food is one of the positive aspects of the algae. In Japan, China, and Korea people consume seaweed that has been prepared by using algae.The revenues from such seaweed have been estimated at $2 billion per annum. Nori a red algae is a very popular item of food in these nations (Steinman). In North America and Europe, seaweeds are food supplements for animals. Some species of cyanobacteria are rich in proteins. Spirulina is very popular in this respect and it is grown i n ponds commercially. Spirulina is considered to be a health food and cattle dietary supplement. Seaweeds are a very rich source of concentrated potassium and trace elements; therefore, they are used as fertilizers and soil conditioners, in order to increase crop production.Another species of cyanobacteria converts atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia, which is a very useful plant nutrient. Growing cyanobacteria is a major agricultural activity in the tropical countries, because it provides nitrogen to rice (Steinman). Eutrophic reservoirs generally contain cyanobacteria, whose blooms destroy the aquatic environment and prove fatal to animals and humans. They are largely prevalent in water bodies all over the world. In South America, these cyanobacteria have caused the death of a very large number of fish and aquatic life.For example in Chile the blooms of these bacteria produced microcystine L – R production, which caused an enormous destruction of aquatic life. Similarly, in Bra zil, PSP phycotoxins were present in large quantities in water. Moreover, these cyanobacteria have produced hepatotoxins like Microcystis that resulted in severe ailments of the liver (Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Phycotoxins: Occurrence in South America ). Blue – green algae are as widespread as bacteria and are found to a large extent in either neutral or alkaline Eutrophic fresh water plankton and in the plankton of tropical seas.The benthic forms are usually found in hot springs, snow, ice, tree trunks. Cyanophyceae live in symbiosis with several animal and plant species. Moreover, the phycobiont of a large number of lichens is made up of these Cyanophyceae (Cyanophyceae. McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology). Apart to forming important contributors to food chains, a number of benefits are obtained from the blue – green algae. One such important activity is the fixing of Nitrogen in the soil so that rice paddies are enriched to a significant extent.Nevertheless, these blue – green algae are a veritable pestilence on occasion, for instance, they impair the function of filters by clogging them, make domestic water supplies unfit to drink due to engendering bad smell and taste, render swimming pools, aquariums and fountains unusable and cause the death of birds, fish and domestic animals (Cyanophyceae. McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology). Some of the earliest forms of life on this planet consisted of these blue – green algae and their fossils have been discovered in rocks that had been determined to be around 2.3 billion years old. Furthermore, the accretion of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere has been attributed to these blue – green algae (Cyanophyceae. McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology). It is essential to identify and monitor water bodies that contain algal blooms, in order to ensure that the quality of the water does not deteriorate. However, there risk of the occurrence of these blooms cannot be entirely eradicated and it is the duty of the water managers and the general public to keep a close watch over these water bodies so that any algae bloom can be detected.Further, a proper course of action has to be implemented, which will deal with blooms and their resultant problems in an appropriate manner (Algal Blooms – Causes and Management. Victorian Resources Online ). Harmful Algal Blooms or HABs cause significant harm to the economy, ecology and society, it has the potential to cause the death of shellfish, dolphins, manatees and humans. These HABs contain toxins that on becoming airborne make breathing difficult in people, which leads to a decline in the number of people visiting the seaside.Over a period of time almost all the coastal states have fallen prey to the depredations of these algal blooms. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that advanced detection techniques are being employed to detect and control these blooms and examples of these are biochemical detectors, computer simulated models and satellites. Nevertheless, the fact remains that loss to the tune of millions of dollars takes place annually due to these algal blooms (Mitigating Harmful Algal Blooms ). Works Cited Harmful algae blooms in Mary land . 16 July 2007 .Algal Blooms – Causes and Management. Victorian Resources Online . 9 July 2007. 16 July 2007 < http://www. nre. vic. gov. au/DPI/Vro/vrosite. nsf/pages/water-river-algal-manage>. Blue-green Algae Blooms. BC HEALTH FILES. 16 July 2007 < http://www. bchealthguide. org/healthfiles/hfile47. stm >. Cyanophyceae. McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2004. 16 July 2007 . European Environment Agency. Algal bloom in coastal waters. 16 July 2007 . Mitigating Harmful Algal Blooms .1 February 2007. 16 July 2007 . â€Å"Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Phycotoxins: Occurrence in South America . † Comments on Toxicology (2 003): ISSN: 0886-5140. Vol. 9. Pp. 175 – 193. State of the Environment Reports. Algae Blooms Perennial Problem of Water Supplies on the Prairies. 16 July 2007 . Steinman, Alan D. â€Å"Algae. † In Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005 .

POVERTY IN JAMAICA Essay

Poverty is generally accepted as an undesirable condition. However, defining poverty is extremely difficult and several definitions exist. According to Dennis brown (1995), He defined poverty as a state in which an ‘‘individual or group possesses less than some standard which has been defined as acceptable†. In the world we live it is generally accepted that there are two kinds of poverty, public and private poverty, however, the focus on poverty in this paper relates to Jamaica and its struggle to vanquish poverty. Poverty has been a persistent feature of Jamaica’s environment from the post-emancipation period, and from their, it has been a subject of continuing concern and analysis for Caribbean academics and welfare practitioners. It is mainly in the past decade the notion of poverty and poverty reduction come to occupy the central position in both local and international policy. With boldness, Jamaica promulgates policy statements that poverty will be era dicated. With this continuing dance around the crisis of poverty, the distinction between cause and consequence has become increasingly blurred, with the result that poverty reduction policies have little chance of reducing the extreme risks and hardships that Jamaicans face on a regular basis. In both national and international dialogue, the assumption remains unchallenged that poverty can be reduced if only one could correctly and channel the assistance directly to the deserving poor. The deserving poor are considered the vulnerable because of their demographic of physical characteristics, which may predispose them to health risk situations. Even though every individual will gladly accept any help they can get it is considered unfair to the real less fortunate’s of society According to the Planning Institute of Jamaica, over the past decade, the percentage of the Jamaican population classified as poor fell from 30.5 percent in 1989 to 16.9 percent in 1999. With an estimated population of 2.58 million persons, this was equivalent to approximately 400,000 persons who were unable to meet their basic needs. Assuming that three-quarters of the poor were located in rural areas, as in 1998, an estimated 300,000 rural persons lived below the poverty line. The methodology o fficially used in calculating the number of those who fall below the poverty line follows international practice and is built around the cost of feeding a low income family. It is therefore highly insensitive to the changes in food cost. Most basic foods were imported; the effect of 1991 deregulation of the foreign  exchange was immediately reflected in the poverty level, which soared to 44.6 percent. Since 1992 the poverty level has followed a steady downward path, until 1998 when it was estimated at 15.9 percent. One of the reasons why poverty permeates Jamaica’s environment is due to a number of factors that needs immediate attention which is still present in the 21st century today. Rural households are large and includes more children than in KMA( Kingston metropolitan area) households, rural area contains larger proportions of elderly and small proportions of persons in the prime working ages, as well as they can only afford to spend only two-thirds of what (KMA) counterparts spend on food beverages for each household member and their members a more likely to report being ill and less likely able to seek medical care. The question pertaining to who are considered as the poor is generally taken as sufficient justification for the heavy emphasis of current poverty reduction programs on the two target groups of children and the elderly. However in an article named (â€Å"A Rose by any other name†). A woman by Rose Morgan has been sitting outside the villa medical centre in Mandeville who came from Westmoreland in her early 20s seeking job opportunities. According to rose she came to Mandeville and she was pursued by a man that accommodated her at his home, but eventually he died. Now Rose lives off the sincerity of those that pass her by the street. Poverty receives considerable less attention, particularly because of the inadequacy of employment. If rose had a job which she said was impossible to get, she would be else where rather than begging on the streets. From 1995 the government has been trying to get rid of living conditions such as these. The formulation of the program called (NPEP) N ational Poverty Eradication Progamme, coordinated by the Office of the Prime Minister was design to improve the state of the country. This Programme serves as an umbrella for existing programs today such as the Human Employment and Resource Training, (HEART), Microenterprise credit programs; poor relief; public assistance; and food stamp Programmes. Social and economic support Programmes were also developed to promote the employment rate. Employment is seen as one of the major influences on poverty. On November 28, 2012 a Gleaner article entitle, (â€Å"Youth Unemployment still triples national average†), shows that in spite of the government trying to eliminate poverty from Jamaica’s landscape it has some how still manages to inhabit the air we breathe. According to  Director Dr Gladstone Hutchinson, he states that STATIN data during a review of the quarterly economic performance, Jamaica’s labour force increases by 20,600 in the past year (2011). The youth unemployment has consistently run two or three times the national average. The percentage of unemployed youths was 28.7%. The only improvement in jobless rate was on April 2012 (14.3%). The back of poverty is hard to brake, and I insist because majority of those without jobs are unqualified and it is either difficult at their age to pursue any form of higher education or they have no source of funding to do so. These groups of people falls w ithin the poverty category called the consumption group. For operational purposes, the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has enunciated three categories of poverty which are: Chronic Poverty, which exists when an individual is incapacitated and incapable of independently procuring the requisite means of sustenance. This category includes persons who are unable to work because of chronic physical and mental infirmity or old age and children without parents or with parents who are incapacitated. Those in this category of poverty are the primary beneficiaries of the welfare Programmes that fall under the (NPEP). Consumption Poverty, which refers to able-bodied adults who are unable to meet their basic consumption requirements. This means, they fall below the poverty line as determined by mean per capita consumption expenditure. This category may include both the employed and unemployed. Resource/capability Poverty, which refers to those who are deprived of access to private and public resources such as a basic education, basic health care, basic housing, transportation, healthy environment, water and employment. This deprivation of these basic resources in turns results in impoverishment. Categorizing poverty in this format allows the government to allocate the necessary assistance to the right persons. Hence they will not give those who need help less more than what they deserve. One of the most diverse Programmes, aiming at breaking the back of poverty is the PATH Programme. It is said often times that the children are the future, it is clear that the aim of the Programme of Advancement Through Health is to break the generational struggle starting with the future of the country. Even though Path assists the elderly and the incapable, most of the focus is placed on the school which is essential for anyone’s country. On February the 4th, 2007. The Sunday Glea ner had an article about PATH, (â€Å"Out of Poverty†) emphasizing the 1.2 million spent on  path beneficiaries which 70% were to school children. PATH is a conditional cash transfer (CCT) Programme funded by the Government of Jamaica and the World Bank and is aimed at delivering benefits by way of cash grants to the most needy and vulnerable in the society. In the article the Programme is being questioned why everyone is not benefited from Path. However it was stated that it is not because of budget limitations, but path is working on improving the attendance and performance rate in schools. In essence it justifies my point that Path is attacking poverty at the roots. It was introduced Island wide in 2002. With PATH helping to assist in the elimination of poverty, it still does not conclude that path alone can do it. On the 6th of October 2006 in the Daily observer an editorial comment was made where the writer was in favor of the (PIOJ) and (STATIN) survey on November to the month of May in 2005. It states that poverty fell by 12.7 percent. On the contrary though he states that, â€Å"While we recognize that each intervention by the necessary Programmes are important, we are convinced that they do not provide the long-term basis for the eradication of poverty. For the real solution to poverty is sustained and sustainable economic growth†. In correlation to the writers comment, the (NPEP) comprises of the Micro Invest ment Development Agency (MIDA) which was set up to support the microenterprise as mentioned earlier. It provides persons with the opportunity to gain employment through the establishment of their own businesses (2003). To date (MIDA) remains among the single largest providers of microcredit in the island. MIDA alone has been responsible for providing well over one billion Jamaican dollars to the micro-enterprise community between 1992 up until this very day. Hundreds of student graduates from HEART yearly with a skill and is now contributing to Jamaica’s economic growth. For that it seems as though the country’s quest to illuminate poverty is gradually taking place. The literature on poverty in Jamaica dearly indicates that it is a phenomenon associated with low educational attainment and often affects those who are unemployed or self-employed. Other contributing factors to poverty in Jamaica can be traced back to the increasing birthrate, delinquency in schools, child abuse and possibly drug abuse. It is each individual responsibility to profile their actions into actions that will in turn benefit them and the society they reside in. http://www.mlss.gov.jm/pub/index.php?artid=23 2006 ministry of labour and security: Planning institute of Jamaica, survey of living conditions 1998 FUNDING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG THE POOR IN JAMAICA Social & Economic Studies. Jun2008, Vol. 57 Issue 2, p119-148. FFRENCH, SEAN30phttp://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/results?sid=7145 THE DYNAMICS OF POVERTY IN JAMAICA, 1969-1999. Social & Economic Studies. Mar2001, Vol. 50 Issue 1, p199-228. 30p. Henry-Lee, Aldriehttp://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/results?sid=7145 Friday October 6,2006, (â€Å"don’t just alleviate poverty†) the observer (â€Å"out of poverty†) February 4, 2007 the Sunday gleaner The gleaner june 18, 2009 (â€Å"A rose by another name†) Thompson Mepherse (â€Å"Youth unemployment still triples national average†), November the 28, 2012

Baidu Enters African Mobile Browser Essay

Executive Summary Baidu Inc. will benefit from partnering with France Telecoms’ Orange to enter in Africa’s mobile searching market which has large potential opportunities and revenues. Africa, the Next Major Mobile Market Africa with the second large population in the world and emerging purchasing power from new middle class requires telecommunication to be popularized. The sudden growth and high density of mobile connection in Africa across countries generate large demand of smartphones and mobile webs or other mobile services. The fast speed of growth rate and potential opportunities in this market attract large mobile operators and search engines, and then Africa will become the major mobile market and transform the global economic landscape. Baidu should enter this market earlier to develop its international business Benefits and Limits of Partnering with Orange Exclusively Benefits:Enjoys Orange’s mass customer base Orange has health growth rate Orange has invested 3G networking in order to expand its market share Orange has more than 800 million customers and spreads its operation across 20 countries. Risk: The exclusive agreement limits Baidu’s expand from cooperating with others Evaluation: Despite the limits of the exclusive contract, the benefits of partnering with Orange are great. Baidu, which has less international business experiences, is good to start cooperating with large mobile operators like Orange to step into the large mobile competition in Africa, which has large potential market, opportunities, and revenues. Introduction Baidu Inc. signs its first global agreement with Orange, on an exclusive basis. The Baidu-Orange browser will provide more affordable and richer browsing experience for customers across Africa by enhancing data  compression capabilities up to 90% of compression. The browser is one-click access to web-search like apps. About Baidu: Baidu is the largest searching engine in China, taking more than 70% of the market share. It beat Google out of the Chinese market in 2010 because it was familiar with Chinese web culture in which allows free downloads and develops general searching However, Baidu lose its ability to be business internationalized, since Baidu satisfied its large market share in the region; at the same time it also lose its good timing to establish and develop its mobile searching while the popularizing and development in smartphones has changed the rules of the game from web networking to telecommunication networking. The need of Baidu expanding its global market and mobile web services is important and urgent. Baidu now is targeting in African as an emerging mobile market in the partnership with Orange, a France’s telecom Africa, the Next Major Mobile Market According to the observation from GSMA, African mobile market has dramatically grown and reaches the highest growth rate worldwide due to the governments have liberalized the telecommunication, and competitions between private telecoms have increased service affordability. Africa has large mobile connection penetration and has speedily gown From 2000 to 2011, mobile penetration has rapidly increased in Africa, from just 2% in 2000 to 63% in 2011, representing a compound annual growth rate of over 46%. It is expected to reach 85% mobile connection penetration in 2015 (GSMA, Africa Mobile Observatory Report, September. 2011) (See Figure 1) Figure 1: Mobile connections and penetration in Africa since 2000. Data sources: Wireless Intelligence. The number of cennections in North Africa has grown by 41% while Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest growth rate with 44% worldwidely, compared to an average of 34% for developing countries and 10% for developed countries.(Deloitte;GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report, November 13, 2012). (See Figure 2) Figure 2: Growth in the number of mobile connections world wide, 200-2012. Data source: wireless intelligence The rapid growth of mobile communication in Africa generates high demand of mobile telephony and mobile service and increases revenues According to Wireless Intelligence and International Monetary Fund (IMF), mobile operators reported over $35 billion revenues in 2011, growing by an average of 18% each year from $8.2 billion in 20000 in Africa. According to GSMA Africa Observatory 2011 Report, over the past 5 years, the number of subscribers across Africa had grown by almost 20% per year and was set to reach more than 735 million by the end of 2012. The mobile ecosystem in Africa currently generated approximately $56 billion or 3.5% of total GDP, with mobile operators alone contributing $49 billion. Africa is transforming the global economic landscapes. African economies are among the fastest-growing in the world while emerging economies in Asia have been slowed down due to their increasing capital and labor costs and markets saturated. Economists predicted that Africa would be poised to transform the global economic landscapes (John J.; Wild Wild, International Business: the challenge of globalization, January 16, 2013). Annual GDP growth averaged 5.7% between 2000 and 2010 in Sub-Saharan Africa. (IBM, â€Å"Is mobile Africa’s future?,† 2011) Expected annual growth averaged 7% over the next 20 years. (IBM, â€Å"Is mobile Africa’s future?,† 2011) 14% of the world’s population, the second large population in the world, provides large consumption base. (IBM, â€Å"Is mobile Africa’s future?,† 2011) New middle class has been emerging in Africa The purchasing powers from large population and middle class must stimulate the sales of mobile products and co-related mobile services. Africa’s mobile market is a good start for firms like Baidu, which seeking opportunities to expand its international business and mobile operation with  less experiences. Demands from large consumption’s requests and purchasing from new class created substantial profits. Benefits and Limits of Partnering with Orange Exclusively The Chinese Web services giant Baidu will bring its mobile browser to Africa in signing an exclusive contract with France Telecom’s Orange network, the third-biggest mobile operator in Africa. Benefits of partnering with Orange Orange, which has a mobile customer base of more than 80 million subscribers and covers 20 countries in Africa, has continued to see its smartphone user base in Arica and Middle East increasing, for example the demand for Android devices in Egypt has doubled in the second half of 2012 by Marc Rennard, senior executive vice president for Orange. (Deloitte;GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report, November 13, 2012) Orange has recently been deploying 3G networks in countries where it has operations and makes more low-cost smartphones available; customers have been steadily moving from basic feature phone towards more low-cost Android smartphones. (Deloitte;GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report, November 13, 2012) The mass user base, the wide geographical operations and the increased growth of smartphone users from Orange help Baidu expand its mobile services and data collecting in the new emerging market. This not only makes Baidu get a slice of Africa’s lucrative mobile and data market but also helps Baidu gain experience of transforming itself to be business internationalized and searching mobilized under the pressure of globalization and development in smartphones. Limits of Partnering with Orange Emeka Obiodu, Principal Analyst for Telecom Strategy, Ovum Research, pointed out that there is a limitation for Baidu by dealing with Orange exclusively. Baidu’s deal with Orange may limit the firm’s maneuverability in the market. If Baidu sticks to Orange exclusively, it will depend on Orange’s expansion of its geographical footprint. Obiodu later added his concern for Baidu that Over time, this lack of maneuverability will influence, and maybe undermine, Baidu’s ability to exploit emerging opportunities in the market. While Baidu is tie-up with Orange, its largest competitor Google has already entered in the Africa’s mobile browsing market. Google not only has a deal with South Africa’s giant telecom operator Telkom’s cellphone network unit 8ta but also rolls out a new services in Sub-Saharan Africa though operator Zambia Telecommunication Company, a government-owned telecom. (IDG Reporter, â€Å"Africa is the newest telecoms battleground,† January 27, 2013) The spread of Baidu browser is limited because it is depended on Orange’s geographical footprints due to exclusive agreement, compared with Google, which has multiple partnerships with large government-owned and private-owned operators. Despite the limitation, the benefits from cooperating with Orange for Baidu are greater. Baidu as an inexperienced international investor could decrease its risk to fail the first entry into an emerging market with the helps from sharing Orange’s wide geographical footprints and mass customer base. (TitaniumMedia, Baidu’s Radical Internationalization, 2013) Evaluation of Baidu’s Entry into Africa’s Mobile Bowering Market though Exclusive Partnership with France Telecom’s Orange. Africa’s mobile market Mobile market in Africa is potential and profitable (Deloitte;GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report, November13, 2012): 85% mobile connection penetration in 2015 (forecast)  44% mobile connection growth (the highest growth rate worldwide) $49 billion revenues (mobile operator alone)  The fast and wide dissemination of mobile connection and communication in Africa makes the demand for smartphones and mobile web be on the rise remarkably, creating potential mobile market and providing healthy grown profits for Baidu, which is seeking opportunity to internationalize and  mobilize its operation. Partnership with France Telecom’s Orange Despite the limitation of just cooperating with one company, Orange is still a good partner which already has mass customer base and keeps growing users doubly though its investment in 3G networking. Baidu, a Chinese searching engine which has less international business’ experiences, takes advantage of cooperating with Orange in order to lower the risk of first entry into a unknown market by sharing Orange’s mass customer base and wide geographical operation . Entry into Africa and cooperation with Orange are a good start for Baidu turning itself internationalized and mobilized. References Wild, J. J., & Wild, K. L. (2013). International business: the challenges of globalization (Seventh ed.). : Pearson College Div. Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012. Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from www.gsma.com/†¦/SSA_FullReport_v6.1_clean.pdf Arican Mobile Observatory 2011 Driving Economic and Social Development through Mobile Services. African Mobile Observatory Report. Retrieved , from www.gsma.com/†¦/2011/†¦/Africa-Mobile-Observatory Afica is the newest telecoms battleground. (2013, January 27). . Retrieved May 2, 2014, from http://www.cnmeonline.com/analysis/africa-is-the-newest-telecoms- battleground/ Is mobile Africa’s future?. (2011, January 1). . Retrieved May 15, 2014, fromhttp://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/global/share/19jan2012/mobile_africa/ Baidu’s Radical Internationalization. (2013, March 31). . Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://tech.163.com/13/0331/09/8R9JOH9O000915BF.html Appendix A Important notice about GSMA and Deloitt Frequent uses of data, facts, and statistics are from â€Å"Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012†, a report is prepared by Drloitte for GSM Association with contract. The â€Å"Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012† is provided exclusively for the GSMA’s use under the terms of contract. No party other than GSMA could be entitled on the report for any purpose whatever Deloitte accepts or not. Appendix B Figure 1 and 2 Figure 1 is from GSMA’s â€Å"Africa Mobile Observatory 2011 Driveng Economic and Social Development through Mobile Services.† Figure 2 from GSMA’s â€Å"Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012.† Both figures of the charts are collected data from Wireless Intelligence

Coaching process Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Coaching process - Literature review Example However, natural skill or talent will not be enough for an individual to optimally perform in any sport. With so much at stake in sports events including country’s honour, professional life of the sportspersons, fan expectations, etc, etc, individual or the individuals (team) involved in any sport need specialized tuning up or if aptly said coaching to elevate their skill to the expected levels of the competition. So, sports teams are using the services of experienced, equipped and talented individuals or experts to coach their under-skilled or underperforming members as well as further tuning the performing players. This role of coach will discussed as part of the literature review, with focus also on different coaching styles for different situations and the differentiation that exists within sports coaching. The term â€Å"coaching† is used when one individual teaches or trains another individual or group of individuals in certain aspects, in which they are failing short, by contributing physically, mentally, technically and also emotionally. The international coaching accrediting body the International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as, â€Å" an ongoing partnership that helps [people] produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives and†¦deepen their learning, improve their performance, and enhance their quality of life†. So, coaching is mainly given as part of acquiring the lacking aspects, as demonstrated from its origins in sport. That is, term coaching came into popular parlance, when sports teams all over the world had a â€Å"head person†, who observed how the players in the team played the game and corrected any weaker aspects. â€Å"By late 1800, in the US, most college sports team employed coaches as well as managers and by the 20th Century, non-sporting coaches were emerging, those who were not specifically experts in the skills of their clients but who

Bioinformatics and molecular modelling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Bioinformatics and molecular modelling - Essay Example Plant lipases are often considered to be involved in regulating certain plant growths and developments (Bos and Laxminarayan, 2011; 42). They are mainly found in seeds where triglycerides are stored in the form of intracellular structures or the oil bodies. Lipases usually hydrolyze triglycerides to fatty acids and glycerol that produces energy needed for seed germination. The plant lapses are usually classified into three main groups with the first group consisting of the triacylglycerol hydrolases that are mainly found in seeds. Their study is vital since they are responsible for seed alteration especially during storage. The second group is the acylhydrolases that are found in various plant tissues. They often exhibit limited specificity for their substrates; therefore, they are unable to hydrolyze triglycerides. However, they are cable to catalyze some esterification processes or reactions (Appel and Feytmans, 2009; p. 68). The profound acylhydrolases include phospholipases A and B, sulfolipases, glycolipases, and monoglyceride lipases. The last group in this category is the phosphorlipases that involve plant metabolism, degradation, and rearrangement. Other than the above classification, the recent studies have led to different classification of lipases based on comparison of the sequences of their amino acid among other fundamental biological and physicochemical properties (Gupta, 2007; 34). This modern classification led to eleven subfamilies. Despite being a member of many protein families, the lipases often have similar architecture that is described by the ?-hydrolase fold. The activities of all lipases often rely on the catalytic triad that is usually fromed by the Asp, Ser, and His residues. In the sequence of the amino acid especially involving ?/? hydrolases, these three residues often follow the user-Asp-His order. Additionally, lipases often share the consensus sequence defined by the Gly-Xaa-Ser-Xaa-Gly where X may be a residue of an amino acid (Bos and Laxminarayan, 2011; p. 33). The three dimensional structure of any protein molecule often provides valuable insight into the molecular function, organization, docking stimulation, and the effective designing of drug experiments. The lack of an experimentally determined crystal structure, the homology modeling may be used to provide an opportunity in obtaining a reasonable 3D model. Currently, the 3D models often provide a perfect means of predicting the structure of biomolecules since it yields models that are suitable for a wide application spectrum that are structurally based thereby providing molecular design for mechanism investigation. The 3D approach is capable of providing a reasonable structure model that is often related to template that shares more than 25 percent sequence identity. An Arabidopsis thaliana lipase model is greatly proposed to investigate the model organism mainly in the plant biology since it is relatively small and and it is genetically tractable genome. Methods The Target and Template Proteins The model is perfect in determining adequate template for the homology modeling for the Arabidopsis thaliana. This sequence allows the alignment of amino acid sequence against the protein data bank (PDB) and this is performed by means of BLAST algorithm. According to the sequence algorithm, both the template (1HLG) and the target share 31 percent of the sequence identity.

Comparison of the Happiness Concept of Young and Elderly Person Essay

Comparison of the Happiness Concept of Young and Elderly Person - Essay Example Happiness baffles definition. Each one sees the new horizon. Happiness is also related to time and circumstances and the level of spiritual progression of an individual. Spiritual giants, philosophers, and intellectuals have written millions of pages on the subjects of ‘joy’ and ‘happiness’ that have eluded the humankind in the known history. In the final analysis, the happiness of each individual is within and one has to achieve the state of happiness for oneself and it varies from individual to individual. The wise saying goes, ‘there is a beauty in the sunrise and also in the sunset’. The concept of happiness of a young man (Sunrise) discussed in the above interview differs much from the senior citizen mentioned in the second interview (Sunset). The young man is clear about the type of happiness that he is going to pursue and he is interested in long-term happiness. This means he has a vision in life and would like to remain away from negativities and gives importance to ethical values in life. He has secular ambitions; desires to earn money taking up the career of his choice, and as such, this young man is going to shape into a balanced personality and will be happy in life in the real sense of the term. According to Janaro and Altshuler (2011), this youth is given to â€Å"Critical Thinking† (the faculty of rational and logical analysis; looking at subjects objectively, gathering all information, and the opposite of jumping to hasty conclusions based upon a purely emotional response) in taking decisions in life. In the case of the senior citizen, he has c ome to terms with his life after a fairly long inning and has firmed up with his concept of happiness. He seems to be an introvert personality; the divorce might have contributed to his staying away from the society and not mixing freely with the people.     

Argument essay for or against the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and

Argument for or against the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) - Essay Example Therefore, they share a lot in common with second generation Americans since for most of their life has been spent in the USA. Having grown up here, they would have little or no attachment to their country of origin. Usually, they are bicultural and sometimes bilingual; however, they speak fluent English (65). A good number do not have an idea they are actually undocumented immigrants. The situation is so until they apply for college or a driver’s license. Once they apply for these legal documents, they realize they do not have Social Security numbers and other documents that are needed. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the DREAM Act and supports it. The experiences these youths go through can be discouraging. They represent broken dreams, shattered hope and lost ambitions. Since most of them have lived in the U.S almost all their lives, they complete their education here. In school, they take roles of athletes, valedictorians, class presidents and honor roll students (Perez 115). They are aspired to be teachers, doctors, scientists and engineers like all other children in America. However, the fact that they are documented immigrants, their lives change dramatically. Their day-to-day lives took a completely different course and their futures are no longer certain. They can neither work nor vote. As a matter of fact, something as ordinary as driving is a pleasure they cannot enjoy. At times, some are deported to a country they do not know at all. They are a direct result of economic and political significance. Sadly, only about 5-10% of these undocumented young high school graduates make it to college (110). This is usually because they cannot afford to pay their tuition or because they are not allowed to enroll. Typically, they do not even finish high school and thus end up in gangs and other illegal activities. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act) has however to the rescue of these helpless high school graduates. The DREAM Act offers a pathway for them to attain legal status for undocumented high school graduates every year. The DREAM Act was introduced by Representative Howard Berman and Senator Richard Durbin on May 11th, 2011. Today, the DREAM Act has 2 co-sponsors in the House and an overwhelming 32 in the Senate. Organizations from States in the United including California, Kentucky, Oklahoma and New York have come together in order to support the DRAM act (American Immigration Council). Many undocumented students and their classmates as well as teachers have met up with their members of congress, held rallies, sent letters and even staged hunger strikes in the hopes of making this act a reality. In June 2010, an undocumented student who studies in Harvard was held in detention. After this incident, Harvard president Drew Faust stated that these children need to be given a chance to pursue their post secondary education in their country. The DREAM act has more advantages than disadvanta ges. The DREAM act will boost the economy of the United States as well as the labor in the US. Additionally, the Act will jumpstart the process to citizenship (American Immigration Council). This will be a huge investment on human capital and service to the US. Since DREAM act beneficiaries are all high school graduates, it means that they will get decent jobs. This way, there will be more taxable income in the country and thus in return more revenue for the government. On average a college graduate earns $750,000 throughout their lifetime more than the high school graduate (American Immigration Council). In addition, the Dream Act allows talented individuals to remain in the United States (Arnold 95).

The little school by Alcia Partnoy preface by Julia Alvarez Essay

The little school by Alcia Partnoy preface by Julia Alvarez - Essay Example "The little school" by Alcia Partnoy preface by Julia Alvarez The history reveals that most of the literature created during imprisonment attains the status of ‘master piece’ and ‘The Little School’ is one of them. Moreover, literary figures with their creative abilities give tough time to dictators even during their brutal regimes and leave everlasting images on history and literature. Deep observation and strong memory is considered an asset of any person. Alicia Partnoy proves in The Little School that she is not short of these qualities. From the first story of the novel, her kidnapping from the house, to the last story, she elaborated each and every detail of the event in artistic manners. She successfully points out the brutal aspects of the Dirty War. By utilizing her power of deep observation, she notices each and every incident during the course of her imprisonment; keeps them in her mind while using astonishing skill of memory and elaborated before readers after her release. â€Å"The guard’s shift was organized in three groups of four guards each† , the sentence shows her deep observation and memory. By giving a surprise to her admirers, she tells exact numbers of security guards in The Little School at different timelines of a day. By drawing a sketch of a security guard she writes, â€Å"Approximately 22 to 23 years old, 6 ft., 154 lbs., straight hairs, brown eyes, white complexion, regular features†

Analysis of the Promotion of Krijen Games New Product, Andromeda 99-XD Case Study - 1

Analysis of the Promotion of Krijen Games New Product, Andromeda 99-XD in the Indian Market - Case Study Example The aspect of globalization implies an enhanced level of competition in the global consumer markets. This has made it important for every organization to carefully undertake and formulate a policy that would help it to grab a market share in a chosen target market. The enhanced aspect of competitiveness in the market has also enhanced the level of competition as more players are resorting to this strategy, considering the saturation of the traditional markets of Western Europe and the USA. The present study would include a marketing plan for the launch of a new product in a new market. A fictitious company named Krijen Games has been chosen as the firm while the name of the product is ‘Andromeda ® 99-XD’. The product would be a technological marvel that would have features unmatched by any of the presently available product of its kind in the market. The market chosen for the study is the Indian consumer market which has been deliberately chosen considering the busines s potential of the nation on accounts of its strong economic growth in recent years. The marketing plan would consist of a situation analysis which would help in analyzing the internal and external environment of the organization. A SWOT analysis would help in the analysis of the firm. In addition, Porter’s model of five forces would be used to analyze the competitive framework for the organization in the chosen market. Finally, a primary study would be conducted with two separate sets of questionnaires. These would help in devising an appropriate segmentation and positioning strategy for the Indian market. Finally, a product mix for the new product would be created on the basis of the situation analysis and the primary study that would help the firm to gain long-term sustainable competitive advantage in the Indian consumer market. The global markets and business environments are changing rapidity.

Study of Peak Oil and Gas Essay Example for Free

Study of Peak Oil and Gas Essay In 2004, the world production of oil was estimated at just over 29. 7 Bbl. The corresponding world consumption for oil during the same period was estimated at 29. 6 Bbl of oil, leaving a surplus of just under 0. 1 Bbl at the end of the year. In the United States, one of largest consumer markets for oil and oil products, from the first week in September 2004 to the first week in September 2005, gasoline prices increased by a staggering $1. 22 per gallon to $3. 12 before dropping to $2. 25 on November 21, 2005. These figures are quite staggering considering that contracts for crude changed hands at 10 USD/barrel in 1999. With the emergence of China in the global market and its increasing demand for oil, it is projected that unless oil companies are able to increase the world production by investing investment in oil and natural-gas production oil prices could increase exponentially over the next ten (10) years. The obvious factor in determining the supply of oil in the world is the amount of oil that can actually be extracted and processed. Oil is essentially a non-renewable energy source and cannot be replenished once it has been extracted from the ground. The role of oil companies and countries is not in the actual production of oil but in it rationing. A network of scientists called the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) which is affiliated with a wide array of global institutions and universities studies the depletion rate of oil. ASPO studies concern themselves in determining the date and impact of the peak and decline of the world’s production of oil and gas, due to resource constraints. The ASPO uses the â€Å"Peak Oil Theory† or the â€Å"Hubbert Peak Theory† which is a method of modeling known oil reserves and production rates and routinely used by oil companies to predict future yields of existing oil fields (Legget, 2005). Using this model, it has been projected that the world oil production growth trends, in the short term, have been decreasing over the last 18 months. Average yearly gains in world oil production from 1987 to 2005 were 1. 2 million barrels per day (mbbl/d) (1. 7%). Global production averaged 84. 4 mbbl/d in 2005, up only 0. 2 mbbl/d (0. 2%), from 84. 2 mbbl/d (13. 4 million m? /d) in Q4 2004 (Legget, 2005). ASPO predicts that conventional plus unconventional oil production will peak around 2007 What this data basically means is that the current supplies of oil all over the world are being depleted and newer sources have not yet been discovered. To bring the supply of oil up again, oil companies must invest more in locating more oil fields and also develop new technologies to improve the current refining processes to allow for a more efficient production of oil. This first factor in the supply of oil is basically dependent on the actual amount of oil that can be produced and processed and also considers the capacity of oil companies to refine oil more efficiently and to tap other sources of oil (Deffeyes, 2005). This factor however also heavily depends on the capital investments that oil companies make in the oil industry. One of the main factors which affect the demand for oil is the price of oil. But given the fact that oil is a necessary resource and that it is a non-renewable energy sources, the supply can basically only remain at a certain â€Å"Peak† level depending on the amount which can actually be processed and the demand also remains at a certain level even if oil prices continue to rise (Case, 1999). Ordinarily, if the resources were renewable, there would be perfect elasticity between the supply and the demand in proportion to the increase or change in the price. Therefore, if the price of oil were to increase, it would theoretically result in the demand for oil to decrease (Case, 1999). This assumption however cannot be applied to the case of oil because, as mentioned earlier, oil is a non-renewable resources and remains as the primary source of energy in the world today. This shows the inelastic demand for oil. The reason for this is that since oil remains the main energy source in most countries, the demand for oil will remain constant despite the changes in the price of oil (Case, 1999). While theoretically it is expected that there will be a greater demand for oil if the price decreases, it is important to factor in the fact that more governments around the world are implementing energy saving policies as well as trying to reduce to dependence on oil as an energy source by developing alternative sources of energy (hybrid cars, solar power, hydroelectric power) (Simmons, 2005). The fact that oil is a non-renewable resource must also be considered. The next factor which affects demand for oil is the availability of alternative energy sources which are cheaper (Bilgen, 2004). The presence of substitutes in a market allows the demand for oil to decrease if the price continues to increase (Case, 1999). Before discussing this factor, it is important to remember that the development of alternative energy sources is not in proportion to the increasing rate of demand for oil. The presence of substitutes in a market affects demand because any increase in the price of the commodity means that the consumers have an alternative and can lower their demand for the commodity and purchase the substitute instead (Case, 1999). The same principle applies for oil except that it must be remembered that the development of these substitutes or alternative sources of energy takes a considerably longer amount of time than conventional substitutes. However, under the assumption that there are already alternative sources of energy available in the market, it can be expected that the demand will react accordingly to any increase in the price of oil. The dependence on oil as an energy source will decrease thus reducing the demand for oil in proportion to the price increases (Pimentel, 1998). The challenge remains however for countries and governments to find ways to find alternative energy sources to reduce the world dependence on oil as an energy source and ease the burden that the increasing prices have on the consumer. While the government may effectively regulate its use, the best solution is still in the development of energy substitutes for the market (Pimentel, 1998). Other factors which also have an effect on the demand for oil are things such as the government regulations on the use of fossil fuels, energy saving campaigns and environmental regulations. The government can implement these measures by increasing taxes or imposing fines. The effect that this has on demand is simple. The government regulations effectively reduce demand because the consumers are restricted from buying more oil. By encouraging the implementation of energy saving policies, oil consumption is also greatly decreased thus affecting the demand. The demand for oil therefore is affected by many factors such as price, availability of substitutes, and government intervention in the form of taxes, energy regulations and price controls. References: Bahree, B. (2006) Investment by Oil Industry Stalls November 8, 2006 Wall Street Journal November 2006 Bilgen, S. and Kaygusuz, K. (2004) Renewable Energy for a Clean and Sustainable Future, Energy Sources 26, 1119 Case, K. and Fair, R. (1999). Principles of Economics (5th ed. ). Prentice-Hall Deffeyes, K. (2005). Beyond Oil: The View from Hubberts Peak. Hill and Wang publishing House. Hill and Wang United States Leggett, J. (2005). The Empty Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Financial Catastrophe. Random House. Pimentel, D. (1998). Energy and Dollar Costs of Ethanol Production with Corn Hubbert Center Newsletter, 98/2. M. King Hubbert Center for Petroleum Supply Studies, p. 8. Simmons, M. (2005). Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. Random House

Reviewing Criticisms Feminist Writers Made Of Criminology Criminology Essay

Reviewing Criticisms Feminist Writers Made Of Criminology Criminology Essay Feminism, according to Mitchell and Oakley (1986:3) suggest that it is easier to define feminism in its absence rather than its presence. Delmar (1986) defines it that, a feminist holds that women suffer discrimination because of their sex, that they have needs which are neglected and unsatisfied, and that the satisfaction of these needs requires a radical change. However, he clearly states that in order distinguish feminists or feminism from the multiplicity of those concerned with women issues, feminism should be defined as a field, even though diverse, but women can make no claim to an exclusive interest in or copyright over problems affecting women. Feminist criminology therefore proceeds from the assertion that women have been highly marginalised and are all too often invisible and when they have been the centre of attention this has not been observed and treated with sympathy. At the heart of feminist criminology, a critique of extant criminology lurks for the reasons below, th e failure to theorise or engage in the empirical study of female offending, the neglect of female victimisation and, particularly, male violence against women and the over concentration on the impact of the criminal justice system on male offenders. Carol Smart (1976) raised two crucial areas of concern. These were; that there was a particular danger of studying women separately from men would cause more marginalisation and this would also lead to the perpetuation of a male dominated criminology and the second one was that, increasing academic attention on female crime could have the unintended and undesirable consequence of increasing public and criminal justice attention on these activities. Smart also argued that, women offenders were not only being treated as criminals but also as having transgressed their gender roles. Edwards (1984:213) said, Female defendants are processed within the criminal justice system in accordance with the crimes which they committed and the extent to which the commission of the act and its nature deviate from appropriate female behaviour. Smart questioned the criminology enterprise and led to a considerable debate on feminism. (Edwards, 1981; Heindensohn, 1985; Rafter and Stanko, 1980; Young, 1996) Pat Carlene (1992) described the idea of feminist criminology as neither desirable nor possible. However, Gelsthorpe and Morris (1990) have said that criminology has been a major constraining rather than creative influence for feminist writers and researchers. Another critique, Cain (1989) argued that courts, victims, lawyers, social workers could be objects of investigation however our explanations must reach beyond and encompass all of them, this in a sense argued that feminist criminology is not possible and it disrupts the other categories of criminology itself. Cains argument was that work in theoretical criminology should question the assumptions of traditional criminology and also examine how gender is constructed by the official bodies, however; she was not purely dismissive of feminist criminology. Carlen (1992) wa s similar sceptically however she was arguing for the potential within feminist scholarships which would help in transcending the limitations of criminology as a discipline. On the other hand, the left realist were critical and said critique is not consistent, that is to say, criticising criminology for its real essentialism in treating crime like a meaningful category yet on the other hand using terms like rape and child sexual abuse yet they may also not be subject to the same criticism. (Mathew and Young, 1992) Feminist criminology criticises theoretical criminology because it was constructed by men and for men. It is argued by Valier (2002) that it does not analytically explain the different patterns in crimes carried out by females. He further points out that most of the theories do not analytically explain patterns of crime by females; these theories will only show what the social scientists are finding out presently which is that they do not seek to explain human behaviour as they claim but only explain understandings of male behaviour. This is not good practice because it has instead created a single theoretical canopy for both women and men even when it is clearly evident that their social realistic are very different. (Valier, 2002) Frances Heidensohn (1987) looked at four different characteristics of many of the female offenders which had been the subject of recent research in the past decades. These characteristics would then be used to carry out analytical research on female criminology and also help understand female offending better. The four characteristics that she looked at included; Economic rationality, women were predominantly involved in property crimes which were motivated by the economic concerns. This was different from what the earlier portrayals of Lombroso and Pollak which understood female criminality to be illustrative of irrationality and the influence of biology. Second characteristic was that of heterogeneity of their offences whereby women commit less crimes as compared to men and are less likely to be recidivists or professional criminals which implies that they contribute less to the crime tariffs and also clarifies that crimes committed by males and females derive from different condit ions like social circumstances, differences in opportunities for both men and women and the socialisation process. The third characteristic is fear and impact of deviant stigma. This is whereby the criminalisation process has a differential impact on men and women. This is because female offending is less extensive than male offending, produces a greater sense of stigmatisation. The last characteristic was that of experience of double deviance and double jeopardy. Double deviance like being dubbed as unlike woman together with the being called a criminal produces double jeopardy. The criminal justice system will punish the crime but also seek to impose controls over women behaviour. (Heidensohn, 2006)

Investigating the Energy Released of Ethanol and 1-pentanol

Investigating the Energy Released of Ethanol and 1-pentanol 1.0 Introduction Combustion reactions are always exothermic, due to the substances (fuels) releasing energy through combustion (temperature increases), which the change in enthalpy () is negative value. All fuels of this experiment are alcohols – ethanol, 1-pentanol and two mixtures of them with different ratios (90%:10% ; 80%:20%), which are the most common organic compounds. Alcohols contain the hydroxyl functional group (-OH) (Diagram 1) bonded to an alkyl group’s carbon atom (Chemwiki, 2014). The classification of alcohols depends on the number of carbon atoms are attached to the carbon atom that is attached to OH group. Both ethanol and 1-pentanol are primary () alcohols, which only one carbon atom is attached to the carbon atom with the OH group (Chemiwiki, 2014). Secondary () and tertiary () alcohols are when two and three carbon atoms are attached to the carbon atom with OH group, but they would not be used in the experiment. In this experiment, 1-pentanol () (Diagram 2) has the longest carbon chain (five carbon atoms) of the fuels, which is expected to produce the highest amount of heat during combustion (), and ethanol () (Diagram 1) has the lowest number of carbon atoms (two carbon atoms), which is believed to release low energy during combustion (). During combustion, the fuel/alcohol reacts with oxygen which produces carbon dioxide and water vapour. It is believed that the greater the change in enthalpy value, the more efficiency of the fuel and more energy will be released. The energy released is calculated through bond energy and measured data, which the heat of combustion of water is divided by the number of moles of the fuel used (). All fuels used in the experiment are hydrocarbon, which is when the carbon atoms joining together form different bonds. There are three main groups of bonding types (Diagram 3): alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015). Ethanol and 1-pentanol are both alkanes, that they only contain single bonds between carbon atoms; whereas, alkenes and alkynes group contain double and triple bonds between the carbon atoms. The calculated enthalpy change of energy is only an approximation, as the bond energy value for each bond is only an average. In addition, the bond energy value provided for each bond is measured in various states for different situations. This accounts for the difference between the calculated and the actual (Harcourt Education, 2007-2010). 4.0 Discussion 4.1 Analysis By investigating the energy produced during the combustion of different fuels, a linear increasing relationship (Figure 3) was discovered that the longer the carbon chain lengths (larger molar mass) in each fuel molecule, the higher energy released during combustion. Due to two of the fuels being mixtures, the number of carbon was hard to define; hence, the molar mass was used to compare with the average enthalpy. According to Figure 2, the average enthalpy and the fuels’ molar mass had a linear relationship, that the larger molar mass of the fuel, the higher the heat of combustion. Ethanol had the lowest molar mass of 46.069g and 1-pentanol had the highest molar mass of 88.15g (Table 2), hence ethanol had the lowest average heat of combustion (668.6403kJ/mole) whereas 1-pentanol had the highest value (1588.2183kJ/mole) (Table 1). There was a large percentage increase of 137.53% from ethanol to 1-pentanol, which supported the increasing trend and the significant difference in Figure 2. Since a longer carbon chain lengths contain more C-H and C-C bonds (more bond energies) which produce more C=O and O-H bonds ( and ); more bonds would be needed to break and larger level of energy released. Figure 1 clearly illustrated that the secondary and calculated data both supported the increasing trend as the blue and orange bars continued to rise with the increase in molar mass. Thus, 1-pentanol was expected and justified to be the most efficient fuel for this experiment. Mixtures of ethanol and 1-pentanol were used to explore whether ethanol would have a great impact on 1-pentanol and the mixture with ratio of 90% ethanol and 10% 1-pentanol was expected to be the most efficient fuel in real life context. Through calculations, both mixtures had larger values of heat of combustion than pure ethanol; hence, ethanol had an impact on 1-pentanol as the percentage change of the mixture with 10% of 1-pentanol was 22.78% and 20% of 1-pentanol mixture was 39.40% in comparison to pure ethanol. Theoretically, the percentage change of the mixture with 20% of 1-pentanol should be more efficient than the mixture with 10% 1-pentanol due to it produced more energy, which it did have a higher value of energy (933.9340 kJ/mole) released than the other mixture (820.9308 kJ/mole). However, the Australian Government regulations would have a proportion of 10% ethanol in petrol (Biofuels Association of Australia, 2014), due to most petrol used in gasoline and diesel engines (in Australia) have an expansion ratio of 10:1 for premium fuel or 9:1 for regular fuel, and some other engines have ratios of 12:1 or higher (Wikipedia, 2015). Therefore, although the mixture with 20% 1-pentanol had higher efficiency than mixture with 10% 1-pentanol, the hypothesis was justified that the mixture with a ratio of 90% ethanol and 10% 1-pentanol was a more efficient fuel for petrol because it had a more most efficient ratio in real life, whereas the mixture with ratio of 80%:20% would be not as effective and may require different design/structure of engine or cause damage to the engine. 4.2 Evaluation The trials of the experiment were completed with consistency, although heat loss occurred, the increasing trend still applied through measured, secondary and calculated data. Moreover, heat loss occurred throughout the whole experiment which justified the consistency, thus the experiment was valid. From Table 3, the average percentage error showed that the mixture with ratio of 80%:20% was the most accurate fuel with lowest percentage error (44.74%) and pure 1-pentanol was the least accurate and had the highest percentage error (50.35%). All percentage errors were mainly caused by heat loss, which was probably due to incomplete combustion occurring during combustion as some black substances were on the bottom of the small cans after burning, which would have reduced the fuel efficiency so more mass of fuel was used. The insufficiency of oxygen caused incomplete combustion to produce carbon monoxide and water vapour, which could be avoided by washing off the char on the can after use each time to ensure the fuel efficiency in the next trial. Fibreglass was used as insulator wrapped around outside the big can, it could be improved by wrapping another layer of cellulose insulator (mainly made of shredded newspaper and mixed with several of chemicals to reduce its flammability) for the next experiment to increase energy efficiency. Fibreglass’ main weakness is that its incapability of blocking air from passing though, whereas cellulose insulator has higher density which would limit the air movement and prevent air-leakage better (Binford C, 2011). The non-consistency of the flame may have reduced the fuel efficiency as well, due to the flame was not stable while burning, but this could be overcome by conducting the experiment with a diminished-scale of compartment and calorimeter (over the top of the flame and cans) to investigate the maximum heat released rate and the combustion efficiency. The precision between all trials of pure ethanol, 1-pentanol and the mixture with 10% of 1-pentanol were good as the results of mass used of fuels were consistent. However, there was a big anomaly due to heat loss, occurring in the second trial of the mixture with 20% of 1-pentanol that the mass of fuel used was 0.65g, which was approximately 9.25% higher than the other two trials. The anomaly may be due to the air-conditioning was just starting which affect the room temperature and the temperature around the flame. This could be improved by completing the experiment at a certain room temperature with no air-conditioning, and it would keep the consistency of surrounding’s temperature. The experiment could be extended by changing the percentage of ethanol (e.g. 10% of ethanol), based upon the Australian Government that most petrol have 10% ethanol because at this ratio ethanol produces the most efficient energy (justified in Analysis). It could be extended by using mixtures rat io of 50%:50% of ethanol and 1-pentanol to explore which fuel would have a greater impact, as well as mixtures with ratios of 10%:90% and 20%:80% of ethanol and 1-pentanol to investigate whether mixture with 10% of ethanol had the most fuel efficiency. Another way to extend this experiment is to use different concentration of fuels used in the original experiment, by adding water or evaporating the fuel (heating – increase the temperature) to decrease the concentration of fuels, then burn the fuels and calculate the mass of fuel used to then find the heat of combustion to investigate whether the trend of increase in carbon chain lengths/molar mass causes increase in the fuel efficiency still holds. 5.0 Conclusion In summary, the experiment was investigating the energy released of ethanol, 1-pentanol and their mixtures with ratios of 90% ethanol and 10% 1-pentanol and 80% of ethanol and 20% of 1-pentanol during combustion. Furthermore, the results of all fuels’ energy released were shown to obey the trend of increasing in carbon chain length (molar mass) lead to the increase in energy released, and the mixture with ratio of 90%:10% was discovered to be the most efficient fuel ratio for petrol as the Australian Government uses. Therefore, the hypothesis was justified that pure1-pentanol was the most efficient but when relating to real life circumstances fuel mixtures containing a ratio of 90%:10% were the most efficient for petrol.

Operation Overlord Essay -- History Attack Overlord Germany Essays

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the code name used for the Allied attack on German-occupied Northern France in the summer of 1944. The organization responsible for planning this task was SHAEF, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and the officer in command of Overlord was Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Command of ground forces was given to General Bernard Montgomery, while naval forces would be commanded by Admiral Bertram Ramsay. Air forces were under the control of Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallary, and supply and logistics the task of Lt. General John Lee. Operation Bolero The extensive buildup of troops and supplies required to support Overlord began in April of 1942. Known as Operation Bolero, this effort eventually saw the movement of over 1.5 million military personnel to England, as well as the materials required to house, clothe and feed them. The total number of soldiers participating in all aspects of the invasion numbered 2.8 million. Operation Bodyguard The overall effort to deceive the Germans was known as Operation Bodyguard, and consisted of ten smaller operations including Operation Fortitude North, Operation Fortitude South, Operation Graffham and Operation Royal Flush. Operation Fortitude was specifically designed to provide deception for Operation Overlord. Among the many tools used by Fortitude were double agents, fake radio traffic and inflatable vehicles and craft designed to convince the Germans that the buildup of forces were intended to strike at Norway and/or the Pas-de-Calais region of France. Operation Neptune The seaborne aspects of Operation Overlord were known as Operation Neptune, and involved the embarkation of the troops, their transport across the English Channel, and their landings at Normandy. The Neptune forces were also responsible for providing covering gunfire during the landings and for continued supply operations following the landings. Air Superiority By early June of 1944 the Allies had achieved air superiority over the skies of France, and had reduced the Luftwaffe to an almost token force. The Allied control of the air would play a key role in limiting the Germans ability to maneuver their forces once the Overlord landings began. With complete control of the skies, Allied planes could easily identify and destroy German forces moving during daylight. .. ...s were more difficult to locate and disable. Although the fighting at Juno Beach was more intense than that at Gold or Sword, the Canadians managed to exit the beach only a half an hour after landing. Sword Beach The British troops at Sword Beach encountered relatively little initial resistance from the Germans, but were later tasked with repelling a counterattack by the German 21st Panzer Division. Although the 3rd Infantry Division did manage to link up with the 6th Airborne forces, most of their initial objectives, including the capture of Caen, were not met. Aftermath In spite of the myriad of problems encountered by the various landing forces, especially those at Omaha Beach, the Allied forces had established positions inland by the end of June 6th. The Germans, still suspecting that the Normandy landings were a diversion from expected landings in the Pas-de-Calais, failed to launch any significant counterattacks. With beachheads established, air superiority over northern France, and relatively little organized resistance from the Germans, the Allied forces began setting up the necessary supply lines that would be needed for their push into France and on to Germany. Operation Overlord Essay -- History Attack Overlord Germany Essays Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the code name used for the Allied attack on German-occupied Northern France in the summer of 1944. The organization responsible for planning this task was SHAEF, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and the officer in command of Overlord was Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Command of ground forces was given to General Bernard Montgomery, while naval forces would be commanded by Admiral Bertram Ramsay. Air forces were under the control of Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallary, and supply and logistics the task of Lt. General John Lee. Operation Bolero The extensive buildup of troops and supplies required to support Overlord began in April of 1942. Known as Operation Bolero, this effort eventually saw the movement of over 1.5 million military personnel to England, as well as the materials required to house, clothe and feed them. The total number of soldiers participating in all aspects of the invasion numbered 2.8 million. Operation Bodyguard The overall effort to deceive the Germans was known as Operation Bodyguard, and consisted of ten smaller operations including Operation Fortitude North, Operation Fortitude South, Operation Graffham and Operation Royal Flush. Operation Fortitude was specifically designed to provide deception for Operation Overlord. Among the many tools used by Fortitude were double agents, fake radio traffic and inflatable vehicles and craft designed to convince the Germans that the buildup of forces were intended to strike at Norway and/or the Pas-de-Calais region of France. Operation Neptune The seaborne aspects of Operation Overlord were known as Operation Neptune, and involved the embarkation of the troops, their transport across the English Channel, and their landings at Normandy. The Neptune forces were also responsible for providing covering gunfire during the landings and for continued supply operations following the landings. Air Superiority By early June of 1944 the Allies had achieved air superiority over the skies of France, and had reduced the Luftwaffe to an almost token force. The Allied control of the air would play a key role in limiting the Germans ability to maneuver their forces once the Overlord landings began. With complete control of the skies, Allied planes could easily identify and destroy German forces moving during daylight. .. ...s were more difficult to locate and disable. Although the fighting at Juno Beach was more intense than that at Gold or Sword, the Canadians managed to exit the beach only a half an hour after landing. Sword Beach The British troops at Sword Beach encountered relatively little initial resistance from the Germans, but were later tasked with repelling a counterattack by the German 21st Panzer Division. Although the 3rd Infantry Division did manage to link up with the 6th Airborne forces, most of their initial objectives, including the capture of Caen, were not met. Aftermath In spite of the myriad of problems encountered by the various landing forces, especially those at Omaha Beach, the Allied forces had established positions inland by the end of June 6th. The Germans, still suspecting that the Normandy landings were a diversion from expected landings in the Pas-de-Calais, failed to launch any significant counterattacks. With beachheads established, air superiority over northern France, and relatively little organized resistance from the Germans, the Allied forces began setting up the necessary supply lines that would be needed for their push into France and on to Germany.

Young Goodman Brown VS. Paul Essay -- essays research papers fc

Young Goodman Brown vs. Paul   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After studying the short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† and Willa Cather’s â€Å"Paul’s Case†, I began to see many similarities within the two stories. Both of the main characters in each story have characteristics that could be looked at as being alike, but after analyzing each character I started to find that although alike in some aspects, these two characters are very different from one another. At first I noticed that both Goodman Brown and Paul are starved for attention, but in different ways. Next, I see that each character has issues with their past and are both trying desperately to overcome them. Finally, I found that each character’s main goal in life was the desire to become something outstanding in their communities. Each of these points is evidence that although similar, each character has many different views on how to accomplish their goals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, we will start with Goodman Brown. He is the main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story titled â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†. â€Å"Hawthorne could not escape the influence of Puritan society† (McCabe). I think that Hawthorne’s own past is and complications are reveled in his story about Goodman Brown. I believe that Goodman Brown has had a rough past and is trying to reach beyond his past in order to reach heaven. Goodman has some major problems with his wife, Faith, and everyone else in his community. I think that he is seeing everyone as perfect people, but he is having impure thoughts about himself and his past. In order to deal with these problems within himself, he is making up that everyone has this awful bad side. When he goes into the forest, he believes he is talking to the devil with looks much like his grandfather. The devil is feeding him bad thoughts about everyone he knows, even his own father and his wife Fai th. Next, I believe that Goodman Brown has had a rough past and in order for him to overcome this within himself he must search for attention. This attention may not be needed from his wife or community members, I believe it is needed from him. He is feeling overwhelmed with obligations from his wife and peers that he has no time to decide whether this type of life is right for him. So, in search for the answer to his questions about life, he turns to the devil and takes his... ...become anything he dreamed about becoming in his life he thought he should move on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After reviewing both, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s and Willa Cather’s short stories, I believe that although similar in some ways, Goodman Brown and Paul are far more different than what we might expect. Both have similar characteristics, and even may share the same problems, but these two characters are two very different people, from very different periods of time. Works Cited Cather, Willa â€Å"Paul’s Case: A Study in Temperament†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Online, Available @ http://unx1.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Cather   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  November 19, 2004 Hawthorne, Nathaniel â€Å"The Text of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Online, Available @ http://itech.fgcu.edu/Hawthorne.htm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  November 19, 2004 McCabe, Michael E. â€Å"The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Online, Available @ http://itech.fgcu.edu/facualty/wohlpart/alra/Hawthorne.htm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  November 19, 2004

Culture and social effects of globalization Essay

Some say globalization is creating an intelligent community while others say they are losing their identity. What culture and social effects has the Czech nation experienced as a result of globalization? Globalization isn’t a factor of new age. Big boom of that started at the end of WWII. This let say economic interconnection among states or countries has main effect like prevention from new world war. Globalization has huge impact or influence on all countries around whole world. I know numerous of them however I’m describe or highlight in my essay some of them which, in my point of view, they are evident in the Czech Republic. First of all, I would like to stress new diet. Globalization has brought to Czech citizen new style and kind of restaurants and fast foods. Furthermore globalization has changed people’s way of life. Nowadays men and women are hardworking and they have no time to cook and take care of their health. Secondly, I think that other thing which was brought by globalization is new culture. This impact is more visible mainly on television. More than ninety percent of all movies and serials are American. I can’t say that all of them are wrong and different in our area nevertheless we can find some really brainless. Due to my knowledge I state that this approach is visible mainly in private TV channels. On the other hand I can highlight also pleasant or engaging issue. Mainly new tradition or new celebrations like St.Valentine, Halloween or St.Patrick’s day. These holidays have become naturalized in the Czech Republic since communist’s regime was overthrown. While a few Czechs are fighting against domestication of foreign customs their fight is hopeless. Similar like Don Quijote de la Mancha and his fight with windmills. At the end I would like to say globalization has not influenced only the Czech society. We can recognize it everywhere. In my essay I tried to highlight some of them which are visible for regular citizens. To sum up I can say that globalization has brought nothing wrong to Czech society. All aspects which I stressed in my essay are more pleasant and serious impact on global world is totally different.

Ryanair Business Model

MEMO To: Steven Rand From: Morgan Murphy and James Klein Subject: Response to Memo Assignement Date: February 28, 2013 Purpose: Demonstrate the similarities and differences between an article from a magazine and an article from an academic journal and apply what is learned to future learning. Summary: The areas that will be examined regarding the two articles will be; tone, vocabulary, author background, details about the airline that are included and excluded, as well as length.Using this examination we will decide how to treat academic and magazine articles from here forth. Discussion: To begin with, Ryanair is a European budget airline based out of Dublin, Ireland. They are able to keep prices low, such as a round trip ticket from Dublin to Edinburgh for $30, because of their numerous budgeting techniques. The techniques and ideas used to cut costs, such as paying to use the restroom, cause a lot of controversy amongst the consumers. Still Ryanair has one of the largest fleets in Europe and continually has its flights filled near to capacity.The question asked by these two articles is whether or not this type of business plan can last and if consumers will continue to put up with Ryanair’s budget tactics. The tone of each of the articles is the first trait noticed by the reader. The titles of each of these articles are a good indication of what the tone will be throughout the article. The Newsweek article, â€Å"Is this Any Way to Run An Airline† (Any Way to Run), puts the reader immediately in a relaxed state and almost makes the reader feel as though the author is on their side.On the other hand, the article by the International Journal of Transport Management has a more formal title suggesting to the reader that this article is more for relaying facts than opinions. This article is titled, â€Å"The Sustainability of the Ryanair Model† (Ryanair Model). The introductions for both of these articles are also very different in their tone. â€Å"Ryanair Model† uses only facts and statistics to give the reader a short background as to where Ryanair stands amongst its competitors.However, in â€Å"Any Way to Run† there is a background on the current savings techniques used by Ryanair that directly affect their customers because this article is meant to be read mainly by Ryanair customers. Going hand in hand with tone, vocabulary can also contribute to how formal or relaxed an article may sound. The type of vocabulary used in each article is used to effectively reach the targeted audience of each article. The vocabulary used in â€Å"Any Way to Run† is meant to be simple due to the fact that Newsweek is being read by a much larger audience than an academic a journal would be.There are also many more quotes by Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, that are in fairly simple terms. An example of this would be O’Leary’s comment about fares when he stated, â€Å"You paid us a fare of $19-go away†. The other end of the spectrum is more technical vocabulary. Vocabulary that is used in â€Å"Ryanair Model† is only fully understood by economics and business professionals. In the â€Å"Ryanair Model† article, each section begins with pure statistics and facts with many terms such as net margin, industry average, deregulation etc.These terms are somewhat understood by the common reader but in order for their full meaning to be understood it would take a business professional to understand the meanings behind them. There are also many tables and charts included in this article that would make mean more to someone who is familiar with reading those kinds of statistics. The choice of vocabulary is made by the author and the background of the author can determine what kind of vocabulary they may choose to use. The article, â€Å"Any Way to Run†, was written by Daniel McGinn MBA.The academic article, â€Å"Ryanair Model†, was written by Sean Barrett PhD. While these authors are fairly similar in their qualifications for writing, Barrett, being an economics professor at Trinity College, is much more qualified to comment on qualities of business models and McGinn is much more capable of capturing the consumer perspective. After reviewing the author’s profiles it makes sense that Barrett would give the reader tremendous amounts of facts in his article and then comment on whether or not what Ryanair is doing is a good business decision, purely from an economic stand point.McGinn, being a reporter and have some knowledge on the economics behind the Ryanair model, would choose to comment only on quotes from customers and employees of Ryanair. While these authors are writing to different audiences there are still some facts about Ryanair that are included in both articles. Both the Newsweek and the Transportation Journal articles comment on Ryanair’s extensive use of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. They both m ention how versatile an aircraft it is and how it is able to hold a large amount of passengers. Any Way to Run† goes into more depth about what it means to the consumer to have an aircraft that can hold more passengers. â€Å"Ryanair Model† on the other hand goes more in depth about how Ryanair was able to negotiate with Boeing to purchase these aircraft as cheap as they did. One of the most visible and, aside from tone, the most noticeable to the viewer is length of the article. Length is one of the main deciding factors in how much credibility is received by an article, academic or general.The length directly correlates to how many sources are cited within the article and how much information is available. â€Å"Ryanair Model† is much longer than â€Å"Any Way to Run† because academic articles need many more sources to sustain their credibility in the academic world. In â€Å"Ryanair Model† most of the length is taken up with facts and statistics about Ryanair and its competitors while opinions make up most of the â€Å"Any Way to Run† article. Action Statement: After an in depth analysis and comparison of this academic and magazine article we have realized the different intended uses for each article.From this point forward we will also keep in mind, when reading magazine articles, that they are meant to be appealing to the reader and not necessarily include all the facts about the topic. For academic articles we learned that we may not necessarily understand all the content unless we are well versed in the field that the article is written for. Going forward, if we need an in depth analysis of a specific subject we will research and use academic journals. If we need more of an overview of a topic we will use magazine articles.

Accused: Eye Color and Man

The small figure bent over a table place intentionally sideways in the center of a small, dirt-floored room. The only light source that allowed him to see was the little light that trickled In through the filth stained window. As his hands worked, sewing the soft, bristled fur, a chorus of childish voices found Its way Into the house from outside. â€Å"Ring around the rosy,† they sang. The figure couldn't help but to cringe at the intricate lyrics, knowing their horrible meaning. â€Å"Pocket full of posies. † The man stood up to straighten his back, plucking his new work up as he did so.Pinched gently between his thumb and forefinger was the inert body of a rat, its fur hardened with dirt. The rat, though no longer alive, was positioned with its back arched up into the air and its paws held up as if ready to leap, whether to strike or flee. â€Å"Ashes, ashes. † A small drizzle started to fall from the gray clouds outside. Fat rain drops thumped gently against the wooden door. The man placed the rat on the window sill, the heavy stains of dirt working as a sufficient background of his new masterpiece. The rain started to fall harder from the miserable sky, and then even harder still.The fat drops pounded harshly now against the door and with a distinct flash of lightning that illuminated the rat's eyes, lighting up its dead gaze, followed by the crack of raging thunder, it was almost as if death itself rapped upon his door. And as the small children fled back to their homes, their last chorus echoed through the wind, raising the hair on the man's neck and sending a cold shiver down his spine. â€Å"We all fall down. † Jonathan Merger, a tall, thin man with dark hair and hazel eyes, stood behind a small woman and her three children as he waited to meet the sorceress.It had started to rain an hour ago, and if he hadn't of had to come outside, he wouldn't have. HIS clothes were already soaked with rain water. The offer of protection I s what drove him to come. Protection Is what drove everything now, standing alone against misery and fear. Jonathan watched as two of the children played around their mother, splashing in the muddy puddles that now line the cobblestone streets, still bustling with activity despite the weather. A third child, the smaller one of the three, grasped the dress his mother wore with small hands and buried his face into its cough fabric.As if sensing someone watching him, the small boy looked up from his mother's dress. Jonathan felt a pang in his heart. The boy, who couldn't be older than five, had a small blister just visible on the side of his cheek. His face was flushed with fever and he looked out of breath, as if he had been running for quite a long while. The boy put his face back into his mother's dress. The woman looked down and gently ran her fingers through his hair with motherly affection. As she left the small vendor, her children followed. Jonathan walked up to the small, simp le stand.Various stones and bracelets were laid out before him In small wooden boxes. Small woven designs and triangular cards tied to simple string hung from a wooden stick down past her shoulders and shockingly green eyes set into a wrinkled face splashed with freckles. Jonathan exchanged a few words with the older woman, and then placed a few silver pennies into her palm. She smiled, revealing chipped and missing teeth, then turned and reached up for one of the small triangular cards. She plucked it down from off the small stick and stretched out her arm towards him, her hand hiking with old age.Jonathan took the intricate charm with a kind nod of his head, then turned away from the woman and walked down the flooded streets seeking shelter. A small figure caught his eye as he approached the local pub. He was cloaked in a black robe that hung heavily around his body from the rain. A hood was drawn up over his face, but it didn't do well to hide him from the crowd. People began to whisper in the ancient language of gossip to one another, telling rumors and profound stories that they had heard about the man.They told each other about owe he hardly ever left his home to appear out in public, much rather sticking to the loneliest parts of town. They murmured of his shady figure, how he never really talked of his past or personal life, or they whispered about the way he presented himself in the strangest of ways, nothing like a normal man would. The strangest part about this man, however, was the fact that he never seemed to approach any of the vendors that sold magical charms and trinkets of protection, seeming to ignore them all together.Everyone tried to get protection from this horrible plague, but the an seemed to Just carry on as if it were none of his concern. Still, Jonathan couldn't help but notice that today he had seemed even odder than usually. His fingers danced and interlocked in a nervous habit, and his feet seemed to shuffle around underneath him with small, almost unnoticeable movements. Usually Jonathan preferred to stay clear of the man, but his curiosity was taking over. Without actually realizing, he had begun to follow the man as he walked back to his home.Carl Oakley walked into his small home and eased the door shut behind him. He drew his hood back from his face, now heavy and drenched with water. He sighed quietly and looked around at all the small projects he had recently completed. Black rats stood in various positions all around the room. His most recent one was placed on his window sill. He thought it would have been a good idea to put it there as a way for him to distinguish it from the rest, but now he felt as if he had made a very unfortunate mistake.One of the people in town had stopped him as he was passing through, which was unusual due to the fact that many people preferred to avoid him, and asked him about the black rats in his house. He had been so shocked that he ad nearly remained speechless, but aft er a few moments found his courage to answer. To his relief, she had thought that it had simply been a normal rat that had found its way into his humble abode. Carl quickly moved over to the window and removed the rat, wondering how the child had been able to see it through the thick layer of filth covering the lower half of his window.When he looked closer, he could see tiny streaks where the rain had run down the window, looking as if a toddler had taken its finger and swiped the dirt away. It wasn't completely clean, but it was clean enough to where the small shape of the rat could be visible from up close. He gave At that moment, Oakley heard his door open, allowing the cold outside air to flood into the dark room. A man hurried inside, looking completely unabashed at the fact that he had Just entered another man's home without any permission. Oakley threw him a confused look, but the man wasn't focused on him. He was focused on the rats.His face had gone a pale color and his ey es were wide in horror as he looked around at all of them, all in different poses, as if their death had been frozen and prolonged o that they may suffer the pain of living. His mouth moved as he tried to form words. Finally he managed, â€Å"What†¦ What is this†¦ This†¦ † â€Å"What is your reason of entering? I do not remember allowing you in,† Oakley said, his own face going pale. â€Å"Sorcerer,† the other man said, barely above a whisper, and then he spoke louder. â€Å"Sorcerer! What black magic is this? † â€Å"l am not a sorcerer neither do I practice in the skill of Black Magic.There is no such thing,† Oakley said, trying to keep his voice level at the situation. The man looked around, his eyes showing a mixture of fear and anger, and rasped a knife that had been lain down on the center table. It was the knife that Oakley had used to remove the skin from the rats. Dried blood now covered its metallic surface. Muff†¦ L s hould have known†¦ It's you isn't it? † Oakley was taken off guard by the question. â€Å"It's me what? † â€Å"The reason this plague has fallen upon our heads, shadowing the entire continent in fear and death. I knew it†¦ Ever since you arrived on that ship.You were hiding something, I knew it, I knew it†¦. But no, I won't let this go on any longer,† he said, raising the knife so that the tip faced Oakley. Have you succumbed to the rancid plague as well, or are you Just as mad as you sound! † Carl said, his anger rising up. â€Å"My son was taken by this plague,† the man continued, as if Carl had said nothing. â€Å"But no more, no more death, no more fear. † â€Å"Stop making foolish accusations against me! † Oakley shouted at realizing the reason for the accusation. The man was seeking revenge for his son, and he wanted it any way he could. Carl spoke again, this time his voice was softer. Do you not see what I have d one? Look around you. † The man glanced warily around him. L can see very well what you have done. † â€Å"l have preserved these small creatures,† Oakley said, with a sense of excitement and awe in his own voice. â€Å"Don't you see? I have made them everlasting. Now they shall be preserved for all future generations. Everyone may know of this plague, but not in the way we must suffer it. What I have done is great. † Oakley spoke like an artist would speak of one of his new masterpieces. â€Å"What you have done is evil and unholy! And I will send you back to the deepest parts of†¦ Jonathan had begun, his eyes gleaming bright with fear. Off still don't see! I have done nothing to cause this plague! † Oakley replied in anger. â€Å"l have done something marvelous that will help us too†¦ † â€Å"No more! † the man cried in a shaky voice. Muff think you're innocent, let God decide. Let us abide to the laws of the church! † Oakley froze, his hands up in gestures that he had made while he had been Jonathan had heard enough. The insanity of anger had overcome him, and now he only wanted one thing. â€Å"God will let the guilty fall against the good, and now let us judge,† the man said, raising the knife over his head.Oakley looked at the gleaming metal, feeling fear wash over him like waves of the ocean. His hands fell to his side. In a soft voice, â€Å"Please, you don't†¦ ,† he began to say, but then looked at Jonathan. His Jaw was set in determination, and his eyes shone with something so pronounced, it scared Oakley. As soon as the fear came, though, it vanished. He raised his arms out, leaving a clear strike for the man. â€Å"It doesn't matter. I have already left my mark upon this world. My work will be remembered, and later on copied. I will not be forgotten. † There was a flash of metal, and then blood sprayed the walls.