National Drug Control Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

National Drug Control Strategy - Essay Example Asides from the issue of drug abuse in its entirety and the prevention strategies, the     President's National Drug Control Strategy has the treatment and recovery vision for the recuperating drug addicts (Whitehouse.gov, 2014). International partnerships, law enforcement, grants and the role of the media are also part of the President’s National Drug Control Strategy.Asides from the issue of drug abuse in its entirety and the prevention strategies, the     President's National Drug Control Strategy has the treatment and recovery vision for the recuperating drug addicts (Whitehouse.gov, 2014). International partnerships, law enforcement, grants and the role of the media are also part of the President’s National Drug Control Strategy. The National Drug Control Policy wrote the foreword to the office of the president of the Obama Administration. The National Drug Control Policy was trying to put the detrimental effects of drug abuse in the American Society (White house.gov, 2014). Moreover, the forward also intends to put it into clarity that the office of the president is trying all it can do to tackle the issue if drug abuse. The goal, which I think deserves the most attention in the fight against drugs in the American society, is a community participation in the fight. Community involvement is essential because it is in the numerous communities that the drugs circulate. Should the community work hand in hand with the law enforcement agencies, then society would eventually be a drug-free society (Whitehouse.gov, 2014). Resultantly, the people would help in developing their respective societies because drugs tend to derail the society’s workforce.

Theory, Design, and Specification Essay Example for Free

Theory, Design, and Specification Essay The development and application of programs and projects are indeed complicated as they involved numerous aspects and concerns, critical challenges and problems in its procedures, and other hindrances that are likely to affect their effectiveness and relevance. To preserve the effectiveness of the relevance of the programs, the projects must carefully, strategically, and systematically planned and organize to ensure that all important concerns are addressed and covered to avoid complications and unexpected hindrances. In the premature stages of every project and program is the systematic organization and planning of its processes and procedures wherein the organizers expect likely problems, the value of the necessary elements, the approach that the program is to be applied, its actual relevance and others. Through taking in this course before the actual application promotes the success and effectiveness of the program.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consider the case of establishing a certain social program that is concerned with providing healthcare assistance towards children that are out-of-school and are highly impoverished subjects. This program is founded based on the ideal vision of helping children through providing critically needed assistance in their healthcare needs, which are often negated due to certain financial and social hindrances. However, regardless of its ideal vision, this project also has its own shares of stumbling hindrances and problems, which are critical for its development and actual social application. Due to which, strategic and systematic planning and organizing are necessary to secure its relevance and success regarding its social value.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Considering the factors and elements involved in this social program, the plan regarding this social program is outlined under three concerns namely the theory behind the projects, the design of its operation, and the specifications and scope of its actual application. This program is mainly based on the view and realization with the importance of healthcare assistance for children, which is often negated due to their financial and social condition. Because healthcare is viewed also as a fundamental necessity for a healthy lifestyle and well-being especially for children, this gap needs to be fill with and this program will serve as a mean to provide this need. This program is aimed towards children as they have greater needs for health assistance due to their physical vulnerability in terms of developing a foundation for their healthy adulthood. Its design will particularly takes approaches such as founding healthcare personnel visits to targeted communities, supply of medicinal provisions and health supplements for children, awareness campaigns in targeted communities regarding the importance of healthy living and prevention of common problems and diseases, and assistance projects with the financial responsibilities involving children in healthcare institutions. Since the funding of this social campaign is not much of a problem, the establishment of the healthcare and the accreditation from various healthcare organization and institutions would be the main priorities. The main concern for this program will also include establishing a social link enabling this project to be aware of the its needing subjects and their needs and concerns. This social link or accreditation is also necessary, as this will serve as a mean for the program to be enacted in intervening and assisting its established subjects or targets. This steps and procedures are necessary to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness towards providing healthcare assistance towards its subjects. Through the application of these systematic procedures in the establishing and development of this project, this healthcare social program is likely to become successful in developing health awareness for children in their early stages of their respective lives and attracting wider efforts and concern from other social groups for the same cause. In addition, the systematic development of this program will surely promote its effectiveness towards its ideal purpose of highlighting the healthcare needs for the development of a healthy society in the future.

Sutton Hoo :: Burial Tradition Traditional Culture Essays

Sutton Hoo Sutton Hoo is an Anglo-Saxon ship burial (also described by some as a grave field) that is located in England in the county of Suffolk. In 1939 a ship was found filled with the war gear and treasure of a Heroic Age English king. This site in which the ship was found is called Sutton Hoo. The ship was found buried in a ditch under a huge mound of earth. Sutton Hoo consists of at least 15 mounds of various sizes. The treasure is believed to have belonged to a king who died somewhere around the year 650. Some of the items found were a sword, shield, a huge gold belt buckle, and other items. The religious belief of the people at that time was that there was an afterlife and that the dead must be buried with all of their possessions so they would be prepared for their next life. That is why there was a need for a very large ship to hold all of the items. The poem Beowulf describes how Scyld, King of the Danes, is buried. Scyld is put onto a ship with his weapons and many treasures, and then the vessel is set off into the sea. This description is similar in detail to the Sutton Hoo ship except for the fact that this ship was buried on land. There was also nobody buried in Sutton Hoo. Because of the new belief in Christianity, the body might have been actually buried separately and Sutton Hoo stood as a sort of memorial or monument for the dead. Sutton Hoo was located on the property of a woman named Mrs. Pretty who wanted to keep the objects for herself. A decision had to be made as to who had the right to the find. It was eventually decided that the items belonged to the woman. Mrs. Pretty died a few years after the find, but she did want the public to be able to enjoy the artifacts and they were given to a British Museum after her death. In all I learned that the Sutton Hoo was a means of respect and tradition among Anglo-Saxon people. This was the people’s way to pay homage for a fallen warrior.

John Grisham Essay -- essays research papers

John Grisham’s Appeal to Contemporary Viewers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The success behind the Grisham’s novels has come from the author’s ability to focus the suspense and drama around the character, rather than the cases the character is involved in. When one looks back into time at the novels and TV shows about law, the authors tended to focus on the cases rather on the drama surrounding the event that took place. In John Grisham’s book The Firm, he turns the focus of the audience away from the actual case(s) and instead focuses on the life of the lawyer (Mitch McDeere). This allows Grisham to add drama, suspense and anything else that would help support the plot. If Grisham decided only to write about the technical aspects of law surrounding a case, then his following of viewers would probably be much smaller then it is today. Matt Zoller Seitz, an author who wrote an essay that reaffirms this point, by claiming that the contemporary viewers are attracted to Grisham’s work because of his real life like stories surrounding the main characters, like the lawyer, Mitch McDeere, in The Firm.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Grisham’s leading character in this novel is Mitch McDeere, he is the center of the plot. Grisham uses supporting characters such as Mitch’s wife, and other partners in the law firm, that brings life to Mitch McDeere. Grisham creates conflict between these characters and Mitch to form the drama of the plot and find a resolution to the problems that...

Night World : Secret Vampire Chapter 14

â€Å"YOU see,I like James,† Ash said. â€Å"I think he'sa little soft on vermin, but I don't want to seehim in trouble. I certainly don't want to see him dead.† Poppy felt the way she had last night when herbody was starving for air. She was frozen, too stillto breathe. â€Å"I mean, do youwant him dead?† Ash asked, as ifit were the most reasonable question in the world.Poppy shook her head. â€Å"Well, then,† Ash said. Poppy got a breath at last. â€Å"What are you saying?†Then, without waiting for him to answer, she said, â€Å"You're saying that they're going to kill him if theyfind out about me. But they don't haveto find out about me. Unless you tell them.† Ash glanced at his fingernails thoughtfully.. Hemade a face to show that this was as painful for himas it was for her. â€Å"Let's go over the facts,† he said. â€Å"You are, in fact,a former human.† â€Å"Oh, yeah, I was a vermin, all right.† He gave her a droll look. â€Å"Don't take that so seriously. It's what you are now that counts. But Jamesdid, in fact, change you without clearing it with anybody.Right? And he did, in fact, break cover and tellyou about the Night World before you werechanged. Right?† â€Å"How do you know? Maybe he just changed mewithout telling me a thing.† He shook a finger. â€Å"Ah, but James wouldn't dothat. He's got these radical permissive ideas abouthumans having free will.† â€Å"If you know all about it, why ask me?† Poppysaid tensely. â€Å"And if you've got a point-â€Å" â€Å"The point is that he's committed at least two capital offenses. Three, I bet.† He flashed the wild, handsome smile again. â€Å"He must have been in love withyou to have done the rest.† Something swelled in Poppy like a bird trapped inher rib cage and trying to get out. She blurted, â€Å"I don't see how you people can make laws about not falling in love! It's insane.† â€Å"But don't you see why? You're the perfect example. Because of love, James told you and then hechanged you. If he'd had the sense to squash hisfeelings for you in the beginning, the whole thingwould have been nipped in the bud.† â€Å"But what if you can'tsquash it? You can't forcepeople to stop feeling.† â€Å"Of course not,† Ash said, and Poppy stoppeddead. She stared at him. His lips curved and he beckoned to her. â€Å"I'll tellyou a secret. The Elders know they can't really legis late how you feel. What they can do is terrorize youso that you don't dare show your feelings-ideally, so you can't even admit them to yourself.† Poppy settled back. She'd seldom felt so at a loss.Talking to Ash made her head whirl, made her feel as if she were too young and stupid to. be sure of anything. She made a forlorn and helpless gesture. â€Å"Butwhat do I do now? I can't change thepast†¦.† â€Å"No, but you can act in the present.† He jumpedto his feet in a lovely, graceful motion and beganpacing. â€Å"Now. We have to think fast. Presumably everyone here thinks you're dead.† â€Å"Yes, but-â€Å" â€Å"So the answer is simple. You have to get out of jthe area and stay out. Go someplace where youwon't be recognized, where nobody will care ifyou're new or illegal. Witches. That's it! I've got some cross-cousins in Las Vegas that will put you up. Themain thing is to leave now.† Poppy's head wasn't just whirling, it was reeling.She felt dizzy and physically sick, as if she'd juststepped off Space Mountain at Disneyland. â€Å"What? Idon't even understand what you're talking about,†she said feebly. â€Å"‘I'll explain on the way. Come on, hurry! Do youhave some clothes you want to take?† poppy planted her feet solidly on the floor. Sheshook her head to try and dear it. â€Å"Look, I don'tknow what you're saying, but I can't go anywhereright now. I have to wait for James.† â€Å"But don't you see?† Ash stopped his whirlwindpacing and rounded on her. His eyes were green andhypnotically brilliant. â€Å"That's just what you can't do. James can't even know where you're going.† , what?† â€Å"Don't you see?†Ash said again. He spread hishands and spoke almost pityingly. â€Å"You'rethe only thing putting James in danger. As long as you're here, anybody can look at you and put the piecestogether. You're circumstantial evidence that he's committed a crime.† Poppy understood that. â€Å"But I can just wait and James can go away with me. He would wantthat.† â€Å"But it wouldn't work,† Ash said softly. â€Å"It doesn'tmatter where you go; whenever you're together,you're a danger to him. One look at you and anydecent vampire can sense the truth.† Poppy's knees felt weak. Ash spoke soberly. â€Å"I'm not saying that you'll bemuch safer yourself if you leave. You bring your owndanger with you, because of what you are. But aslong as you're away from James, nobody can connect you with him. It's the only way to keep him safe. Do you see?† â€Å"Yes. Yes, I see that now.† The ground seemed tohave disappeared beneath Poppy. She wasfalling,not into music, but into an icy dark void. There wasnothing to hold on to. â€Å"But, of course, it's a lot to expect, to ask you togive him up. You may not want to make that kindof sacrifice-â€Å" Poppy's chin came up. She was blind and empty and giddy, but she spoke to Ash with utter contempt,spitting out the words. â€Å"After everything he sacrificedfor me? What do you think I am?† Ash bowed his head. â€Å"You're a brave one, littledreamer. I can't believe you were ever human.† Then he looked up and spoke briskly. â€Å"So do youwant to pack?† â€Å"I don't have much,† Poppy said, slowly, becausemoving and speaking hurt her. She walked towardthe bedroom as if the floor was covered with broken glass. â€Å"Hardly anything. But I have to write a notefor James.† â€Å"No, no,† Ash said. â€Å"That's the last thing you wantto do. Well, after all,† he added as she swiveledslowly to look at him, â€Å"James being so noble andlovestruck and everything-if you let him knowwhere you're going, he'll come right after you. Andthen where will you be?† Poppy shook her head. â€Å"I†¦ okay.† Still shakingher head, she stumbled into the bedroom.She wasn't going to argue with him anymore, but she wasn't going to take his advice, either. She shut the bedroom door and tried as hard as she could toshield her mind. She visualized a stone wall around her thoughts. Stuffing her sweat pants and T-shirt and whitedress into the duffel bag took thirty seconds. Thenshe found a book under the nightstand and a felt-tippen in the drawer. She tore the flyleaf out of thebook and scribbled rapidly. Dear James, I'm so sorry, but if I stay to explain this to you, I know you'll try to stop me. Ash has made me understand the truth-that as long as I stick around I'mputting your life in danger. And I just can't do that.If something happened to you because of me, I woulddie. I really would. I'm going away now. Ash is taking me somewherefar away where you won't findme. Where they won'tcare what I am. I'll be safe there. You'll be safe here.And even if we're not together, we'll never really beapart. I love you. I'll love you forever. But I have to dothis. Please tell Phil goodbye. Your soulmate, Poppy. She was dripping tears onto the paper as shesigned it.She put the flyleaf on the pillow and went outto Ash. â€Å"Oh, there, there,† he said. â€Å"Don't cry. You'redoing the right thing.† He put an arm around hershoulders. Poppy was too miserable to shrug it off. She looked at him. â€Å"One thing. Won't I be putting youin danger if I go with you? I mean, somebodymight think youwere the one who made me an ille gal vampire.† He looked at her with wide, earnest eyes. They happened to be blue-violet at the moment. â€Å"I'm willing to take that risk,† he said. â€Å"I have alot of respect for you.† James took the stairs two at a time, sending probing thoughts ahead of him and then refusing to believe what his own senses told him. She had to be there. She hadto be†¦. He pounded on the door at the same time as hewas thrusting the key into' the lock. At the same timeas he was shouting mentally. Poppy! Poppy, answer me! Poppy! And then, even with the door flung open and hisown thoughts ricocheting off the emptiness in theapartment, he stilldidn't want to believe. He ran around, looking in every room, his heart thudding louder and louder in his chest. Her duffel bag was gone. Her clothes were gone. She was gone. He ended up leaning against the glass of the livingroom window. He could see the street below, andthere was no sign of Poppy. No sign of Ash, either. It was James's fault. He'd been following his mother's trail all afternoon, from decorating job to decorating job, trying to catch up with her. Only to find,once he did catch up, that Ash was already in Elcamino, and had, in fact, been sent over to James'sapartment hours ago. With a key. putting him alone with Poppy. James had called the apartment immediately. Noanswer. He'd broken all speed limits getting backhere. But he was too late. Ash, you snake, he thought. If you hurt her, if youput one finger on her †¦ He found himself roving over the apartment again,looking for clues as to what had happened. Then, in the bedroom, he noticed something pale against the light brown of the pillowcase. A note. He snatched it up and read it. And gotcolder and colder with every line. By the time he reached the end, he was made of ice and ready tokill. There were little round splashes where the felt-tippen had run. Tears. He was going to break one of Ash's bones for each one. He folded the note carefully and put it in hispocket. Then he took a few things from his closetand made a call on his cellular phone as he was walking down the stairs of the apartment building. â€Å"Mom, it's me,† he said at the beep of an answering machine. â€Å"I'm going to be gone for a few days. Something's come up. If you see Ash, leave me amessage. I want to talk with him.† He didn't say please. He knew his voice was clippedand sharp. And he didn't care. He hoped his tone would scare her. Just at the moment he felt ready to take on hismother and father and all the vampire Elders in theNight World. One stake for all of them. He wasn't a child anymore. In the last week he'dbeen through the crucible. He'd faced death andfound love. He was an adult. And filled with a quiet fury that would destroyeverything in its path. Everything necessary to getto Poppy. He made other phone calls as he guided the Integraswiftly and expertly through the streets of El Camino.He called the Black Iris and made sure that Ashhadn't turned up there. He called several other blackflower dubs, even though he didn't expect to find anything. Poppy had said Ash was going to take her far away. But where? Damn you, Ash, he thought. Where? Phil was staring at the TV without really seeing it.How could he be interested in talk shows or infomercialswhen all he couldthinkabout was his sister?His sister who was maybe watching the same showsand maybe out biting people? He heard the car screech to a stop outside and wason his feet before he knew it. Weird how he wasabsolutely certain of who it was. He must have cometo recognize the Integra's engine. He opened the door as James reached the porch.†What's up?† â€Å"Come on.† James was already heading for the car.There wasa deadly energy in his movements, abarely controlled power, that Phil had never seen before. White-hot fury, leashed but straining. â€Å"What's wrong?† James turned at the driver's side door. â€Å"Poppy'smissing!† Phil threw a wild glance around. There was nobodyon the street, but the door to the house was open.And James was shouting as if he didn't care whoheard. Then the words sank in. â€Å"What do you mean,she's-† Phil broke off and jerked the door to thehouse shut. Then he went to the Integra. James already had the passenger door open. â€Å"What do you mean, she's missing?† Phil said assoon as he was in the car. James gunned the engine. â€Å"My cousin Ash has taken her someplace.† â€Å"Who's Ash?† â€Å"He's dead,† James said, and somehow Phillip knew he didn't mean Ash was one of the walkingdead. He meant Ash was going to bedead, completelydead, at some point very soon. â€Å"Well, where's he taken her?† â€Å"I don't know,† James said through his teeth. â€Å"Ihave no idea.† Phil stared a moment, then said, â€Å"Okay. Okay.† He didn't understand what was going on, but hecould see one thing. James was too angry and toointent on revenge to think logically. He might seem rational, but it was stupid to drive around at fifty five miles an hour through a residential zone with no idea of where to go. It was strange that Phil felt comparatively calmit seemed as if he'd spent the last week being wacko while James played the cool part. But having someone else be hysterical always made Phil golevelheaded. â€Å"Okay, look,† he said. â€Å"Let's take this one step ata time. Slow down, okay? We might be going in exactly the wrong direction.† At that, James eased up on the gas pedal slightly. â€Å"Okay, now tell me about Ash. Why's he taking Poppy somewhere? Did he kidnap her?† â€Å"No. He talked her into it. He convinced her thatit was dangerous for me if she stuck around here. Itwas the one thing guaranteed to make her go withhim.† One hand on the wheel, James fished in his pocket and handed a folded piece of paper to Phil. It was a page torn out of a book. Phillip read thenote and swallowed. He glanced at James, who wasstaring straight ahead at the road. Phil shifted, embarrassed at having intruded on private territory, embarrassed at the sting in his eyes. Your soulmate, Poppy?Well. Well. â€Å"She loves you a lot,† he said finally, awkwardly.†And I'm glad she said goodbye to me.† He folded the note carefully and tucked it under the emergency brake handle. James picked it up and put it in hispocket again. â€Å"Ash used her feelings to get her away. Nobodycan push buttons and pull strings like he can.† â€Å"But why would he want to?† â€Å"First because he likes girls. He's a realDon Juan.†James glanced at Phil caustically. â€Å"And now he's gother alone. And second because he likes to play withthings. Like a cat with a mouse. He'll fool around with her for a while, and then when he gets tired ofher, he'll hand her over.† Phillip went still. â€Å"Who to?† â€Å"The Elders. Somebody in charge somewherewho'll realize she's a renegade vampire.† â€Å"And then what?† â€Å"And then they kill her.† Phil grabbed the dashboard. â€Å"Wait a minute.You're telling me that a cousin of yours is going tohand Poppy over to be killed?† â€Å"It's the law. Any good vampire would do thesame. My own mother would do it, without a second thought.† His voice was bitter. â€Å"And he's a vampire. Ash,† Phil said stupidly. James gave him a look. â€Å"Allmy cousins are vampires,† he said with a short laugh. Then his expression changed, and he took his foot off the gas. â€Å"What's the-hey, that was a stop sign!† Philyelped. James slammed on the brakes and swung into aU-turn in the middle of the street. He ran over somebody's lawn. â€Å"What is it?† Phil said tightly, still braced againstthe dashboard. James was looking almost dreamy. â€Å"I've just realized where they've gone. Where he'd take her. Hetold her someplace safe, where people wouldn't carewhat she was. But vampires wouldcare.† â€Å"So they're with humans?† â€Å"No. Ash hates humans. He'd want to take hersomeplace in the Night World, someplace where he'sa big man. And the nearest city that's controlled bythe Night World is Las Vegas.† Phil felt his jaw drop. Las Vegas? Controlled by theNight World? He had the sudden impulse to laugh. Sure, of course it would be. â€Å"And I always thoughtit was the Mafia,† he said. â€Å"It is,† James said seriously, swerving onto a freeway on-ramp. â€Å"Just a different mafia.† â€Å"But, look, wait. Las Vegas is a big city.† â€Å"It's not, actually. But it doesn't matter anyway. Iknow where they are. Because all my cousins aren'tvampires. Some of them are witches.† Phil's forehead puckered. â€Å"Oh, yeah? And how didyou arrange that?† â€Å"I didn't. My great-grandparents did, about fourhundred years ago. They did a blood-tie ceremonywith a witchfamily. The witches aren't my realcous ins; they're not related. They're cross-cousins.Adopted family. It probably won't even occur tothem that Poppy might not be legal. And that'swhere Ash would go.† â€Å"They're cross-kin,† Ash told Poppy. They weredriving in the Rasmussen's gold Mercedes, which Ashinsisted his aunt Maddy would want him to take.†They won't be suspicious of you. And witches don'tknow the signs of being a new vampire the way vampires do.† Poppy just stared at the far horizon. It was evening now, and a lowering red sun was setting behind them. All around them was a weird alien landscape: not as brown as Poppy would have expected a desertto be. More gray-green, with clumps of green-gray. The Joshua trees were strangely beautiful, but alsothe closest thing to a plant made up of tentacles as she'd ever seen. Most everything growing had spikes. It was oddly fitting as a place to go into exile. Poppy felt as if she were leaving behind not only herold life, but everything she'd ever foundfamiliarabout the earth. â€Å"I'll take care of you,† Ash said caressingly. Poppy didn't even blink. Phillip first saw Nevada as a line of lights in thedarkness ahead. As they got closer to the state line,the lights resolved into signs with blinking, swarming, flashing neon messages. Whiskey Pete's, they an nounced. Buffalo Bill's. The Prima Donna. Some guy with a reputation for being a Don Juanwas taking Poppy in thisdirection? â€Å"Go faster,† he told James as they left the lightsbehind and entered a dark and featureless desert.†Come on. This car can do ninety.† â€Å"Here we are. Las Vegas,† Ash said as if makingPoppy a present of the whole city. But Poppy didn'tsee a city, only a light in the clouds ahead like the rising moon. Then, as the freeway curved, she sawthat it wasn't the moon, it was the reflection of city lights. Las Vegas was a glittering pool in a flat basinbetween the mountains. Something stirred in Poppy despite herself. She'dalways wanted to see the world. Faraway places. Ex otic lands. And this would have been perfect-if onlyJames had been with her. Up close, though, the city wasn't quite the gem itlooked from a distance. Ash got off the freeway, and Poppy was thrown into a world of color and lightand movement-and of tawdry cheapness. â€Å"The Strip,† Ash announced. â€Å"You know, whereall the casinos are. There's no place like it.† â€Å"I bet,† Poppy said, staring. On one side of her wasa towering black pyramid hotel with a huge sphinxin front. Lasers were flashing out of the sphinx'seyes. On the other side was a sleazy motor inn with a sign saying â€Å"Rooms $18.† â€Å"So this is the Night World,† she said, with a twingeof cynical amusement that made her feel very adult. â€Å"Nah, this is for the tourists,† Ash said. â€Å"But it'sgood business and you can do some fairly seriouspartying. I'll show you the real Night World, though.First, I want to check in with my cousins.† Poppy considered telling him that she didn't reallycare to have himshow her the Night World.Something about Ash's manner was beginning to bother her. He was acting more as if they were out on adate than as if he were escorting her into exile. But he's the only person I know here, she realizedwith a dismayed sinking in her stomach. And it's notas if I have any money or anything–not even eighteen dollars for that crummy motel. There was something worse. She'd been hungry for some time now, and now she was starting to feel breathless. But she wasn't the dazed, unthinking animal she'd been last night. She didn't want to attacksome human on the street. â€Å"This is the place,† Ash said. It was a side street,dark and not crowded like the Strip. He pulled intoan alley. â€Å"Okay, just let me see if they're in.† On either side of them were high buildings withcinder-block walls. Above, tiers of power lines obscuredthe sky. Ash knocked at a door set in the cinder blocka door with no knob on the outside. There was no signon the door, either, just some crudely spray-paintedgraffiti. It was a picture of a black dahlia. Poppy stared at a Dumpster and tried to controlher breathing. In, out. Slow and deep. It's okay,there's air. It may not feel like it, but there's air. The door opened and Ash beckoned to her. â€Å"This is Poppy,† Ash said, putting an arm aroundher as Poppy stumbled inside. The place looked likea shop–a shop with herbs and candles and crystals. And lots of other weird things that Poppy didn't recognize. Witchy-looking supplies. â€Å"And these are my cousins. That's Blaise, andthat's Thea.† Blaise was a striking girl with masses ofdark hair and lots of curves. Thea was slimmer and blond. They both kept going out of focus as Poppy's vision blurred. â€Å"Hi,†she said, the longest greeting she couldmanage. â€Å"Ash, what's wrong with you? She's sick. What have you been doing to her?† Thea was looking atPoppy with sympathetic brown eyes. â€Å"Huh? Nothing,† Ash said, looking surprised, as ifnoticing Poppy's state for the first time. Poppyguessed he wasn't the type to worry about other peo ple's discomfort. â€Å"She's hungry, I guess. We'll haveto run out and feed-â€Å" â€Å"Oh, no, you don't. Not around here. Besides,she's not going to make it,† Thea said. â€Å"Come on,Poppy, I'll be a donor this once.† She took Poppy by the arm and led her through abead curtain into another room. Poppy let herself betowed. She couldn't think anymore-and her wholeupper jaw was aching. Even the word feedsharpenedher teeth. I need†¦I have to †¦ But she didn't know how. She had. a vision of her own face in the mirror, silvery eyes and savage canines. She didn't wantto be an animal again ,and jump on Thea andripher throat. And she couldn'task how-that would give her away as a new vampire for sure. She stood, trembling, unable to move.

P6 Legal and Ethical Issues of Business Communications Essay Example

P6 Legal and Ethical Issues of Business Communications Essay Example P6 Legal and Ethical Issues of Business Communications Essay P6 Legal and Ethical Issues of Business Communications Essay BTEC Level 3 Diploma Business Unit 4: Business Communications P6 Legal and Ethical issues of Business Communication Process What are the operational issues in relation to using ICT in the College and how does the organization deal with them? * Introduction What your report is about In this task, I will be talking about the legal and ethical issues of business communications process. I will be explaining the security of information, backups, healthy and safety, organizational policies and business continuous plans. * What are the operational issues that a business will encounter in its business communication? Security of information Information security management deals with maintaining the integrity and availability of organizational information and knowledge. Much information security management focuses upon digital data; however, the subject also covers records and knowledge management. It is important for the college to have the right information available as and when they need i t, in order to make good decisions. For this reason, many colleges (schools) keep their information on IT systems, but as the reliance on technology increases, so does the risk posed by system failure and malicious attacks (for example, viruses). The IT security policy should take account of the common risks to the information that the college relies upon. This policy might include secure login identification for using IT system and controls that limit access to information. * Backups Large businesses have developed business community programmes to try to minimize the risk of losing vital college information stored on IT service. This involves producing backups of information’s stored on the servers – some schools will create a backup every hour, while others will do so less requently this means that if the live information is destroyed or damaged, a copy is available so the business can continue with as little description as possible. Backups are stored on separate hardware for the live versions of the information. For example, a business might have a dedicated server to backup information. This means that if the whole of the live system is affected, the backup information is not lost along with the live inform ation. * Health and safety St Charles College strives for excellence in everything they do. Health and safety is top in this and it is considered an essential part of management process. The college intend to continually improve their health and safety management systems and expect all of staff, students, visitors and contractors to actively participate in this process. Following the policies, procedures and guidance will enable you to meet and where necessary, to exceed the requirements of regulation. College provides and maintains a safe and healthy environment in which you can work, study, visit and enjoy yourself. Your business has legal responsibilities to provide safe and healthy conditions for your employees, customers, suppliers and anyone else who could be affected by your activities. Your business can also benefit from good health and safety at work. Effective health and safety practices pay for themselves, because they help you avoid staff illness, accidents and the costs associated with them. They can also improve your reputation with customers, regulators and employees. * Organizational policies Organisational policies that relate to the use of business information can help make sure that decision effecting staff: are understandable and consistent, meet legal requirements, take full account of their impact, and contribute to productive working relationships. olicies help make sure that staff have guidance to help them comply with legislation – for example, an organizational policy on the storage and usage of customer data should work within the requirements of the data protection act. They should also help ensure that consistent decisions are made, which can be as important in internal communications as they are in handling customers. * Business continu ance plans This is the steps that a college puts into place to make sure it is capable of surviving a worst – case scenario. One step in the continuance programme might be to make sure the company is producing regular backups of its information. The business might consider natural disasters (such as flooding or fire), accidents (such as a deliberate breach of security, or hacking into the computer system) in its planning. As a result of the plan, employees may need to change the way they work – for example, storing information on a central server rather than on their personal hard drives.

How to Stay Safe in College

How to Stay Safe in College Staying safe while youre in college doesnt have to be complicated. These fifteen tips can be done with minimal effort and can avoid lots of problems later. Top 15 College Safety Tips Make sure the main door to your hall or apartment building is locked at all times. You wouldnt just leave the front door to your house open, would you? Dont let anyone into your hall or apartment building that you dont know. Not letting someone in doesnt make you look like a jerk. It makes you look like a good neighbor and, if the person is supposed to be in your hall, theyll be grateful for it. Make sure your room door is locked at all times. Yes, this even means when you run down the hall to borrow a book or hop in the shower. Be careful with your keys. Also, if you lose them, dont depend on your roommate to keep letting you in, thinking that your keys will just pop up. Pay the fine and get a new set. If you have a car, lock it. It seems so easy to remember, yet its so easy to forget. If you have a car, check on it. Just because you havent been using your car very much this semester doesnt mean someone else hasnt! Get a locking device for your laptop. This may be a physical lock o r some kind of electronic tracking or locking device. Watch your stuff in the library. You may need to take a quick run to the vending machines to clear your mind...just as someone happens to walk by and see your iPod and laptop unattended. Keep your windows locked. Dont be so focused on locking your door that you forget to check the windows, too. Put emergency numbers in your cell phone. If your wallet is stolen, will you know what phone number to call to cancel your credit cards? Put important phone numbers in your cell so that you can call the moment you notice something is missing. The last thing you want is someone cashing in on the money youve been budgeting for the rest of the semester. Use the campus escort service at night. You may feel embarrassed, but its such a smart idea. And besides, who wouldnt want a free ride?! Taking a friend with you when going out at night. Male or female, big or small, safe neighborhood or not, this is always a good idea. Make sure someone knows where you are at all times. Heading to a club downtow n? Going out on a date? Theres no need to spill all the intimate details, but do let someone (a friend, a roommate, etc.) know where youre going and what time you expect to get back. If you live off-campus, send someone a message when you get home.  If youre studying for finals with a friend late one night at the library, make a quick agreement that youll text each other you get home later that evening. Know the phone number for Campus Security.  You never know: you may need it for yourself or for something you see from far away. Knowing the number off the top of your head (or at least having it in your cell phone) may be the most important thing to remember during an emergency.

Virginia essays

Virginia essays The state I am going to present is Virgina. Reference: Internet http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1 Virginia is located in the eastern coast of the United States. It is surrounded by the states of West Virginia, which lies to the north west of it, Kentucky, west of it, and North Carolina, which is to the south. It has also the Atlantic Ocean to the east of it. Virginia has a coastal plain with tidal swamps and marshes flowing into rivers that lead into the Chesapeake Bay. The James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers split the mainland into three peninsulas. The size of Virginia is a total of 42,326 square miles. It also has the population of 6,733,996, which is the estimated in 1997. It is made up of 77.4 percent of whites and 18.8 percent blacks. Virginias metropolitan areas have a great deal of ethnic diversity. For the people there the religion is predominantly Protestant. The largest denominations are Methodists and Baptists. Its capital is Richmond, which was named for the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth 1st of England. Some of the largest cities there in Virginia are Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Chesapeake. Most of the economic activity that takes place in Virginia involves services and government agencies. Some of the government agencies are The Pentagon and the Department of Defense. The manufacturing of transportation equipment contributes more to personal income than any other industry there. Virginia also has about 43,000 farms that cover more than one thirds of the states land area. They mostly produce livestock. The state bird of Virginia is the Cardinal and its state flower is the Dogwood. The first people to ever arrive in Virginia is said to be nomadic groups of hunter about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago and made communities along the Chesapeake Bay. Later in abou 1607 the english settlers landed on a swampy V ...

Lenovos Brand Strategies Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Lenovos Brand Strategies - Case Study Example Mr. Yang Yuanqing, The acting CEO of Lenovo Group reported to Xinhua news agency in April 2009 that the recent cost cutting operations tagged to an aggressive branding and marketing strategy, unleashed by the company are expected to lead to an additional income of $ 300 million (Chao 2009). This will not only bring the company back on the profitability track, but will also strengthen its position as a brand in China and the other emerging markets. There is no denying the fact that Lenovo is definitely not immune to the ongoing meltdown that has hit China as well. Thus, the branding strategy and marketing communications of this firm certainly deserve the attention of interested individuals and concerns. The astounding fact is that in the Chinese PC market, Lenovo commands the most commendable brand awareness. In fact, it is amazing to acknowledge that the brand awareness of HP in China stands second to Lenovo (China Business News 2007). As per a survey conducted by the search engine Baidu, based on a sample of 43,400 cookies, associated with the data pertaining to PC related searches, nearly 16.38 percent of searches were attributed to Lenovo, with HP standing second, commanding a pathetic share of 9.19 percent (China Business News 2007). The same survey also declared Lenovo to be the top ranker in the Chinese notebook market, accruing an impressive share of 16.9 percent of all the searches (China Business News 2007). The given survey concluded beyond doubt that Lenovo commands exceptional brand awareness in the Chinese PC and notebook market, courtesy its innovative branding and marketing strategy. The effective branding strategy of Lenovo dose not happen to be a very recent phenomenon, but a plan that was conceptualized and unleashed by Lenovo at least half a decade ago. In 2005, Lenovo unravelled its new global brand strategy, which was to be first tested and fine-tuned in China. This new strategy was rolled on and implemented in the Chinese market by the end of 2005. The spike end of this strategy was to exploit the Think trademark that Lenovo inherited from IBM to target the elite corporate customers having a detectable predilection for Lenovo's high-end products. In contrast, Lenovo chose to retain its original corporate name to attract the marginal corporate customers and individual buyers interested in the company's regular and mainstream products. Hence, this double brand strategy chalked out by Lenovo turned out to be utterly successful in covering a whole range of customers located in China. Lenovo's brand integration with IBM materialized into a huge success that ce rtainly bolstered the company' brand appeal in China and the related markets. Yet, Lenovo was well aware of the possibility of diluting its brand identification to the much popular IBM brand. Hence, the top management decided to use IBM brand name for its PC products for a period of five years only. The main objective of this strategy was to eventually give way to a more identifiable and strong Lenovo brand appeal in the Chinese and world markets. Simply speaking, Lenovo intended to use the brand appeal of IBM as a launch

Role of HR in Knowledge Management Research Paper

Role of HR in Knowledge Management - Research Paper Example Most of the organizations do not effectively utilize Human Resources’ contribution for the effective implementation of Knowledge Management. If people are managed effectively and their knowledge utilized efficiently, then evidently it can become a competitive advantage. Relying on modern information systems will be fruitful if people are actively involved in knowledge sharing. The different areas of Human Resources which help in effective knowledge sharing are reward systems, recruitment, retention, succession planning and training and development. The first and most obvious area of Human Resources involvement in Knowledge Management is reward management. It is very clear that employees will not be ready to share their knowledge and expertise until and unless they are rewarded. Rewards will motivate them to share their knowledge and it is purely on the shoulders of Human Resource people to undertake this task. This way H R enables knowledge sharing in different departments. In case of recruitment, retention and succession planning from a Knowledge Management perspective can be looked at as filling knowledge gaps. While recruiting new employees, they can select candidates who are more creative and innovative and can adapt themselves to the changing work environment. Also, retention of good employees is necessary. The HR policies and procedures should be designed in such a way that they allow employees to meet their personal objectives. Succession planning, on the other hand, is about planning to meet future skills and knowledge needs with existing resources. Human Resources’ involvement and its contribution is perhaps the greatest in training and development. Human Resources should get itself actively involved in the technological developments in the workplace as they can train the employees accordingly. Training is necessary for individuals to work in teams as co-operation and sharing of information brings in benefits for the whole organization. T hough Human Resources’ contribution is inevitable in the area of Knowledge Management, it has certain limitations as Human Resources and other departments are most in conflicts. This can be seen as a limitation of Human Resources’ intervention in effective Knowledge Management. Employees in other departments need to support the HR people for effective knowledge sharing as HR people becomes the mediator in knowledge sharing. This is not Human Resources’ role alone but its contribution is necessary. Building a culture for Knowledge management on certain values will require changes in systems and processes, and a way of doing things which both transmits the organizational culture to new employees and reinforces it to old employees. As with any change situation, conflicts can arise. This is where Human Resources can contribute to the development of the Knowledge Management culture by handling such conflicts. According to Chivu and Popescu (2008),  in terms of know ledge migration, Human Resource may play a major enabling role in helping identify the potential of knowledge migrants. According to them, the HR process with regard to knowledge management involves HR sought assessment and selection, HR sought training and development, HR sought appropriate communication, reward and recognition schemes and knowledge

The History of Warfare in the Perspective of John Keegan Essay

The History of Warfare in the Perspective of John Keegan - Essay Example The samurai were roughly considered as Japanese counterparts of Western European knights during their time. The Japanese were a literate a people, and the literary culture of the samurai was highly developed (Keegan 42). The samurai also developed a strong code of ethics that revolved around loyalty, self-denial, and honor to his lord and clan, and also being in constant readiness to die in the face of duty or failure. These set in mind the samurai’s striving for perfection in the art of war, especially in swordsmanship and the martial arts: It was fostered by Zen Buddhism, which stressed the ‘two supreme ideals – fidelity and an indifference to physical hardship’. It was reinforced by the culture of the warrior class, ‘a culture that paid meticulous attention to the formal, the ceremonious, and elegantly expressed in life and art’; Japanese swordplay was as much an art as a skill, governed by rules of deportment and gesture which epitomized th e Japanese concern for style in every aspect of existence (Keegan 45). The introduction of firearms in Japanese warfare during the 16th century was initially accepted at first due to practical reasons in relation to the ever-changing landscape of war during that time. ... Also, guns were unquestionably a symbol of foreign intrusion and were associated, illogically but inescapably, with the spread of Christianity (Keegan 44). It was for this reason that during the Tokugawa Shogunate period, all firearms in Japan were banned, therefore reversing the military advantage it once enjoyed for the sake of maintaining the samurai status quo. The next question to ask is when societies and organizations are most likely to originate or adapt to new military technology. The answer simply lies in necessity. The harsh realities of war and battlefield set the precedence that societies and organizations must adapt or completely change the way they wage war. During the First World War, nations developed several new military technologies to gain battlefield dominance that would ensure victory in the war. The invention of the machine gun, the breech loading shell cartridge rifles and artillery served as the initial technology for such dominance, but this led for all comb atants to take up trench warfare with much horrific loss of life for the attacking side since all combatants were equipped with such technology on the onset of hostilities. The invention of the tank was the second solution, but the machines produced were too few in number, too slow and cumbersome to impose a decisive alteration to tactical conditions (Keegan 313). The tank was developed as a defense, and because of it, there was no need to send waves of soldiers that will be cut down by deadly volleys of bullets and artillery shells. The last inquiry deals about specific characteristics of societies, technologies, and organizations in relation to their readiness to adapt to military changes. A specific characteristic is conditioned on society possibly

Cyber Security and Information Security Assignment

Cyber Security and Information Security - Assignment Example For example, Phneah (2013) suggests that previously, risks from inside the company were previously more about financial shifts, but now corporate espionage is becoming a bigger risk. This may be because the benefits that come from understanding the organizational structure and what the company is working on may be extremely beneficial to some individuals, and there are those that are willing to pay more to understand how the company works. The article does note that the relative risk is changing, because Phneah (2013) suggests that insider risk may actually become more important from the dangers from outside the organization. Another interesting thing to consider is that there may be a risk from collaboration between insiders and outsiders, which could pose a significant risk to information security. The risk is noted to be changing because organized crime groups understand that they can cause a lot of damage (for financial game or types of terrorism) by using insiders to promote the attacks. The change may also be due to the fact that many corporations are aware of the risk from outside the company, and thus information security has been tightened up in the last decade making it very difficult for outsiders to attack without relevant passwords or passkeys. The collaboration therefore combines someone who already has access with someone who wants to commit serious attacks. Phneah, E. (2013, August). Insider threats evolving, still main risk | ZDNet. ZDNet. Retrieved August 30, 2013, from http://www.zdnet.com/insider-threats-evolving-still-main-risk-7000003491/ 2. Search your institution’s published documents, including its Web pages. Locate its mission statement, vision statement, and strategic goals. Identify any references to information security. Also look for any planning documents related to information security. From the website, UMUC has the mission statement to provide good-quality, affordable and accessible education as part of the state of Mary land. The vision statement suggests that it aims to be a part of the greater movement to allow more people to get a college degree regardless of their circumstances, although this is not stated explicitly on the website. The strategic goals of the institution are to achieve the mission and vision by providing a lot of online courses and having campuses in many locations. This increases accessibility. Additionally, there are several references to financial aid which can be given as a way of helping more people attend UMUC. There are not that many references to information security, but the website does have a secure sign-in area for students and faculty designed to keep important information secure and personal to the individual. Chapter 3 P.114 4. Using the format provided in the text, design an incident response plan for your home computer. Include actions to be taken if each of the following events occur: Virus attack Power failure Fire Burst water pipe ISP failure What other scen arios do you think are important to plan for? Type of Event Virus Attack Potential Damage Files could be corrupted, private and personal information could be taken and used in malicious and criminal ways Precautions Install anti-virus software and keep it updated regularly to prevent against potential attacks Actions to Take Immediately use anti-virus software to identify the type of virus and the damage it could do. Use the software to remove the virus if possible, if not try to

Business Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Logistics - Essay Example The launching of an extensive range of logistics inventiveness, intended to develop working efficiencies, increase service level and enhance profitability. The upcoming trends like the B2B integration, e-business, electronic procuring, and e-logistics are initiated in collaboration with trading partners, to increase efficiencies and eradicate the desecrate, out of supply chains. â€Å"The supply chain is corporate America’s last frontier. Conquering it is the key to reducing costs and maximizing profits. Damon Schechter and Gordon Sander have done a remarkable job in demonstrating the importance of supply chain management—to today’s business† (Delivering the Goods 2000). The Apple Inc, has implemented e-commerce to develop deep relationships on good rapport with their customers. Nearly 50% of Apple’s $32 billion in annual revenues are carried out over the network, and other manufacturer distributors and suppliers report quick rise in on-line sale. A part from the U.S, the country Japan, too is emerging in e-commerce and is expected to achieve a growth of 40% in comparison to previous years. Process Flows Operation of Apple: Apple Inc, previously Apple Computer Inc, is one of the multinational companies in America that plans and sells customer electronics, software of computer, and personal computers. Logistic process of Apple Inc involve a large set of activities devoted to the transformation and allocation of commodities , from raw material sourcing to marketplace distribution, in addition to the associated flow of information. The application of process logistics facilitates a greater effectiveness of movements, with a suitable choice of methods, terminals, ways and scheduling. The implied intention of logistics is to create available merchandise, raw materials and possessions; satisfying four major requirements connected to order, release, quality and cost accomplishment. Logistics is therefore a multidimensional value added action, consisting of production, place, time and control of ingredients of the supply chain. Business nowadays is in a global atmosphere. This atmosphere forces companies, irrespective of place or primary marketplace base, to consider the other parts of the earth too, in their competitive policy analysis. Firms cannot separate themselves from or disregard external factors; for instance, fiscal trends, competitive circumstances or technology modernization in other nations. Some of their participants could be in competition or are positioned in those nations. â€Å"The supply chain of the new Apple iPhone and, at some point, the supply chains of the Apple TV, hope that this might help to demonstrate the complexity involved in manufacturing the Apple iPhone — a feature-rich product, I wish I could have, if I could afford it† (Supply Chain Management of Apple Inc 2010). Objectives of Apple Inc: 1. To maximize revenue. 2. To be the global leader among the high-tech brands . 3. To invent merchandises that will be useful, practical and sleek, and that which can appeal to customers all over the world, growing special attention to developed nations like Europe, United State and Canada, and the populous Asian states like Japan, China, India and South Korea. 4. To turn out to be the world's

Cyber Security and Information Security Assignment

Cyber Security and Information Security - Assignment Example For example, Phneah (2013) suggests that previously, risks from inside the company were previously more about financial shifts, but now corporate espionage is becoming a bigger risk. This may be because the benefits that come from understanding the organizational structure and what the company is working on may be extremely beneficial to some individuals, and there are those that are willing to pay more to understand how the company works. The article does note that the relative risk is changing, because Phneah (2013) suggests that insider risk may actually become more important from the dangers from outside the organization. Another interesting thing to consider is that there may be a risk from collaboration between insiders and outsiders, which could pose a significant risk to information security. The risk is noted to be changing because organized crime groups understand that they can cause a lot of damage (for financial game or types of terrorism) by using insiders to promote the attacks. The change may also be due to the fact that many corporations are aware of the risk from outside the company, and thus information security has been tightened up in the last decade making it very difficult for outsiders to attack without relevant passwords or passkeys. The collaboration therefore combines someone who already has access with someone who wants to commit serious attacks. Phneah, E. (2013, August). Insider threats evolving, still main risk | ZDNet. ZDNet. Retrieved August 30, 2013, from http://www.zdnet.com/insider-threats-evolving-still-main-risk-7000003491/ 2. Search your institution’s published documents, including its Web pages. Locate its mission statement, vision statement, and strategic goals. Identify any references to information security. Also look for any planning documents related to information security. From the website, UMUC has the mission statement to provide good-quality, affordable and accessible education as part of the state of Mary land. The vision statement suggests that it aims to be a part of the greater movement to allow more people to get a college degree regardless of their circumstances, although this is not stated explicitly on the website. The strategic goals of the institution are to achieve the mission and vision by providing a lot of online courses and having campuses in many locations. This increases accessibility. Additionally, there are several references to financial aid which can be given as a way of helping more people attend UMUC. There are not that many references to information security, but the website does have a secure sign-in area for students and faculty designed to keep important information secure and personal to the individual. Chapter 3 P.114 4. Using the format provided in the text, design an incident response plan for your home computer. Include actions to be taken if each of the following events occur: Virus attack Power failure Fire Burst water pipe ISP failure What other scen arios do you think are important to plan for? Type of Event Virus Attack Potential Damage Files could be corrupted, private and personal information could be taken and used in malicious and criminal ways Precautions Install anti-virus software and keep it updated regularly to prevent against potential attacks Actions to Take Immediately use anti-virus software to identify the type of virus and the damage it could do. Use the software to remove the virus if possible, if not try to

Critical paper , essay on a quote Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical paper , on a quote - Essay Example (Adler, P. S. and Winograd, T. A, 55-67) Behrens seems to have influenced Kahn's design for th Ford Highland Park factory. In France, Auguste Choisy, Auguste Perret, and Tony Garnier revolted against th eclecticism of nineteenth-century architectural practice, proposing instead to apply classical geometry and clarity to th new building materials so as to achieve structural coherence. French architects were th world pioneers in th use of reinforced concrete made with cement--a new compound patented in 1824 and industrially produced after 1845. Othr similar ideas, trends, and suggestions to follow th new spirit of technology and engineering were also emerging elsewhere in Europe at this time. One could argue that it was not surprising that thse radical avant-garde modernists would engage in colorful rhetoric so as to liberate thmselves from th chains of tradition, bolster thir creativity, and attract attention, but thre was much more than creative thirst or rhetorical fluff in modernism. Th avant-garde modernists not only gl orified th beauty of industry and th mechanical in thir writings and architectural works but also endorsed and used th new scientific methods of labor management and organization originally developed in th United States at th turn of th century. Th similarities between th techniques used by th scientific managers and by th avant-garde modernists are stunning--and troubling. (Adler, P. S. and Winograd, T. A, 55-67) Explanation European modernism did not arrive at an entirely novel approach to architecture and design until th 1920s, with th Bauhaus in Germany, Constructivism in th Soviet Union, Rationalism in Italy, and Purism in France. It was at this point that European architects made thir revolutionary reinterpretation of scientific management in aesthtic terms. Walter Gropius, th founder of th Bauhaus school of art and architecture in Germany, was a firm believer in scientific management methods and became one of th most influential architects of th twentieth century. He wished to formulate a new thory of architecture and to develop "practical designs for present-day goods" that could be mass-produced. As director, Gropius managed to attract a dream team of artists to th school, including Mies van der Rohe, Kandinsky, and Klee, among othrs. He and his colleagues designed industrial and no industrial buildings, decorated interiors, and collaborated with many German manufacturing firms on product design. (Adler, P. S. and Winograd, T. A, 55-67) As a result of German influence, th Russian arts and crafts movement had been toying with th artistic possibilities of mass production since th turn of th century. While th Bolshevik Revolution spurred a myriad of competing avant-garde artistic movements, Constructivism quickly gained sway over its alternatives, absorbing such important artistic trends as Product ional Art, Projectionist, and Rationalism. Th First Working Group of Constructivists was created in 1921 within th Institute of Artistic Culture. Th institute's role was to study th practical aspects of artistic activity in production. Engineers lectured thre regularly. (Baber, 66-78) Th constructivists proposed th ideals of th "artist-constructor" and th

Purpose and Meaning of Education Essay Example for Free

Purpose and Meaning of Education Essay Poverty is my pride, struggle is my way of life, education is my weapon and love of Allah is my strength. (Hazrat Mohammad PBUH). Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, research, or simply through auto-didacticism. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts. Islam has put great stress on Education. The very first word of the first revelation was Iqra means read. The Holy Quran emphasizes more that seeking of knowledge is compulsory upon every man woman. Islam has given very clear instructions for the Education and has made it compulsory for all the genders equally. The purpose of education according to Islam is to serve the humanity in every possible way and lead a peaceful life by obeying the commandments of Allah (the only creator of the entire universe). Lack of education is the root cause of every trouble and misery. It is education only by which we can bring change, peace as well as prosperity in the world. Our aim should be clear in this regard that the only possible way to make human life as better as we can is education only. We know very well that education is the only weapon which is the best anti-biotic to every evil cause. We can destroy every evil strength through this weapon and bring desirable changes in every part of the globe. Today when we look at the world we find it divided on the bases of religion, race, colour, caste, creed and tribe. Sectarian and ethnic discrimination has drawn the boundaries of hate and egotism. We can overcome all these by spreading education in the entire world and make it a way towards social and global brotherhood on the basis of humanity. Past history proves that human is the most furious creature on this planet which is why today we see this bloody picture and insecurity all over the world but if we adopt the education in our characters and deeds we can surely make this world a better place to live on. When we speak about standard education it means there should be same and qualitative education across the world so that every human being can seek it in the very same like others do. Standard education will destroy the poverty, misery, and hunger from the world. No any other human doctrine can stop the destruction of human beings except the education as it the need of the hour as well as the only way for the survival of humanity. Conclusion. From the above mentioned facts and realities it is quite clear that the meaning, purpose and cause of education should be to serve the humanity without any kind of discrimination on the basis of equality so that we can make our world a place better to live on peacefully and purposefully.

Moving Object Detection Video Images Using Matlab Computer Science Essay

Moving Object Detection Video Images Using Matlab Computer Science Essay Moving object detection is an important research topic of computer vision and video processing areas. Detection of moving objects In video streams is the first relevant step of information extraction in many computer vision applications.. This paper puts forward an improved background subtraction of moving object detection of fixed camera condition. Then combining the adaptive background subtraction with symmetrical differencing obtains the integrity foreground image. Using chromaticity difference to eliminate the shadow of the moving target, effectively distinguishes moving shadow and moving target. The results show that the algorithm could quickly establish the background model and detect integrity moving target rapidly. Moving object detection is an important part of digital image processing techniques and it is the base of the many following sophisticated processing task such as target recognition and tracking, target classification, behavior understanding and analysis .Aside from the intrinsic usefulness of being able to segment video streams into moving and background components, detecting moving objects provides a focus of attention for recognition, classification and activity analysis. The technology has a wide application prospect such as smart monitor, autonomous navigation, human computer interaction, virtual reality and so on. This paper studies the method of obtaining the data of moving object from video images by background extraction. Object detection requires two steps: background extraction and object extraction. Moving object detection needs static background image. Since each frame of video image has moving object then background extraction is necessary. Each frame image subtracting the background image can get the moving object image. This is object extraction. Then the moving object detection can be achieved. This paper firstly introduces two moving object detection algorithms of fixed scenes frame difference method and moving edge method and analyzes their advantages and disadvantages, and then presents a new algorithm based on them, lastly gives the experimental results and analysis Background extraction of moving object Background extraction means that the background, the static scene, is extracted from the video image. Because the camera is fixed, each pixel of the image has a corresponding background value which is basically fixed over a period of time. Well known issues in background extraction include 1)Light changes: background model should adapt to gradual illumination changes. 2)Moving background: background model should include changing background that is not of interest for visual surveillance such as moving trees 3) Cast shadows: the background model should include the shadow cast by the moving objects that apparently behaves itself moving in order to have a more accurate detection of moving object shape. 4)Bootstrapping: the background model should be properly setup even in absence of a complete and static training set at the beginning of the segment 5) Camouflage: moving objects should be detected even if their chromatic features are similar to those of thebackground model. . Calculation of consecutive frames subtraction The method utilizes current two frames or the differences between the current frame and its previous frame to extract a motion region. In this paper, we adopt its improvement methods namely symmetrical differencing, that means image differences of the three current frames. This method can remove effects of unveiling background which is caused by motion, accurately obtain contour of moving targets. In the conventional background subtraction method, a fixed reference background model for the intended surveillance area is constructed in advance. The conventional background subtraction method extracts moving targets based on the difference between the current image and the reference background model. It works well for applications in controlled environments, in which a constant illumination scenario can be achieved artificially. However, for other visual tracking applications such as traffic monitoring and security/surveillance, the illumination conditions change over time so that a fixed reference background model is not realistic and may eventually lead to a detection failure. Consequently, construction and maintenance of a reliable and accurate reference background model is crucial in background subtraction based motion detection approaches. Figure 1 algorithm for background subtraction Typical moving object detection algorithms Frame difference method To detect moving object in the surveillance video captured by immobile camera, the simplest method is the frame difference method for the reason that it has great detection speed, can be implemented on hardware easily and has been used widely. While detecting moving object by frame difference method, in the difference image, the unchanged part is eliminated while the changed part remains. This change is caused by movement or noise, so it calls for a binary process upon the difference image to distinguish the moving objects and noise. Connected component labeling is also needed to acquire the smallest rectangle containing the moving objects. The noise is assumed as Gaussian white noise in calculating the threshold of the binary process. According to the theory of statistics, there is hardly any pixel which has dispersion more than 3 times of standard deviation. Thus the threshold is calculated as following: T â‚ ¬Ã‚ ½Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  u â‚ ¬Ã‚ «Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  3 ¶ While u is the mean of the difference image  ¶ â‚ ¬Ã‚  is the standard deviation of the difference image. The flow chart of the detecting process by frame method is shown in fig 2 Fig 2 Frame Differencing Method Moving edge method Difference image can be regarded as time gradient, while edge image is space gradient. Moving edge can be defined by the logic AND operation of difference image and the edge image . The advantage of frame difference method is its small calculation, and the disadvantage is that it is sensitive to the noise. If the objects do not move but the brightness of the background changes, the results of frame difference methods may be not accurate enough. Since the edge has no relation with the brightness, moving edge method can overcome the disadvantage of frame difference method. The flow chart of the detecting process by moving edge method is shown in fig 3 Fig 3. Moving edge method Improved Moving object detection algorithm based on frame difference and edge detection Moving edge method can effectively suppress the noise caused by light, but it still has some misjudgments to some other noise. This paper proposes an improved algorithm based on frame difference and edge detection. Upon analysis, the method has better noise suppression and higher detection accuracy. 1. Algorithm introduction The flow chart of the detection process by using the method based on frame difference and edge detection presented in this paper Fig 4. Improved Algorithm The steps of new algorithm presented in this paper are as follows. (1) Get edge images Ek-1 and Ek by edge detection with two continuous frames Fk-1 and Fk by using Canny edge detector. (2) Get edge difference image Dk by difference between Ek and Ek-1. (3) Divide edge difference image Dk into some certain small blocks and count the number of non-zero pixels in the block, and recorded it as Sk. (4) If Sk is larger than the threshold, mark the block is a moving area, otherwise it is a static area. Let 1 presents moving area and 0 presents static area, we can get a matrix M. (5) Do connected components labeling to M, and remove the connected components that are too small. (6) Get the smallest rectangles containing the moving objects. The algorithm has improved both the object Segmentation and object locating. .2 Object segmentation Object segmentation is to divide the image into moving area and static area. The algorithm presented in this paper will get the edge images first,then difference them to get the edge difference image. In thefinal image we get, the pixel value of background area equal to 0 and pixel value of the edge of movingobjects equal to 1. Now we will compare the difference between our algorithm and moving edge method (1) In moving edge method, assume two continuous frames are Fk-1 and Fk, background is B, moving objects are Mk-1 and Mk, and independent white noise is Nk-1 and Nk for two frames each. Then we can have So we can get the difference between two frames: Use Canny edge detection with frames Fk. We can get edge image Ek. Then we can get the result: EMk, ENk are edge images caused by Mk and Nk each. Define signal noise ratio is While SEM is the number of edges caused by moving objects, and SEN is the number of edges caused by noise. Then we know the SNR of the moving edge method is (2) In our method, we first get edge images by edge detector: Then by difference we get Since in the practical system, the difference between two edge images is absolute value of the difference value and the edges of two images are not the same when the objects are moving So actually in the edge difference image we can have the sum of the edges of two frames. Because the noise is independent and two frames are dependent with each other, we can have The SNR in our algorithm is It shows that the SNR in our algorithm is less than the moving edge method. Our method will work more efficiently. 3..Detection of moving cast shadows To prevent the moving shadows being misclassified as moving objects or parts of moving objects, this paper represents an explicit method of detection of moving cast shadows on a dominating scene background. These shadows are generated by objects between a light source and the background. Moving cast shadows cause a frame difference between two succeeding images of a monocular video image sequence. For shadow detection these frame differences are detected and classified into regions covered and regions uncovered by a moving shadow. The detection and classification assume plane background and a non negligible size and intensity of light sources. A cast shadow is detected by temporal integration of the covered background regions while subtracting the covered background regions. The shadow detection method is integrated into an algorithm for 2D shape estimation of moving objects. The extended segmentation algorithm compensates first apparent camera motion. then a spatially adaptive relax ation scheme estimates a change detection mask for two consecutive images. An object mask is derived from the change detection mask by elimination of changes due to background uncovered by moving objects and the elimination of changes due to background covered or uncovered by moving cast shadows. Experimental results and analysis In this paper, an improved moving object detection algorithm based on frame difference and edge detection is brought forward The operating environment is Windows XP. Programming environment is Matlab 8.0. Size of the sequence image is 640ÃÆ'-480. Partial stimulation results are as follows. From the results we can see that the improved moving object detection algorithm based on frame difference and edge detection has much greater recognition rate and higher detection speed than several classical algorithms. This algorithm will appear individual false under more complicated background.There is still room for improvement. V. Conclusion This paper presents an improved moving object detection algorithm based on frame difference and edge detection. This method not only retains the small calculation from frame difference method and the impregnability of light from edge detection method, but also improves in noise restraining. Meanwhile, it divides the image to small blocks to do connected component labeling, significantly speeding up the detection. Experimental results show that the algorithm has great recognition rate, high speed, and will be a good candidate for practical systems Acknowledgment I would like to thank my guide Prof.(Dr).A.P.Dhande the constant encouragement assistance he provided me at every stage of the preparation of this paper. I am very grateful to Mr.Mahesh Khadtare for his valuable suggestions and help during this paper implementation. .

John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln Essay -- Compare Contrast Compari

John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States of America. He served as President when the country was under war. Abe Lincoln was born in 1806 and grew up in the countryside as a pioneer. His mother died at a young age and he had a sister. His father married a widow that had three children and Abe Lincoln liked her very much. Every day he attended school and worked very hard on his father's farm. John F. Kennedy was born in 1917 and died in 1963. John grew up in Massachusetts in a very wealthy and politically powerful family. His father was ambassador for Great Britain and his mother was the daughter to John F. Fitzgerald, who was a congressman and major of Boston. John Kennedy was a Harvard Graduate. He was the one in the family expected to accomplish great things. JFK has 3 children, John Jr., Caroline and Patrick. John Jr. died in a plane crash, while on his way to his brother Robert's daughter Cory's wedding. Patrick died when he was 6 weeks old while JFK was in office. Caroline is the only persona live in this family. JFK's brother Robert ran for President after him but was assassinated in 1968. He was the Attorney General before this. His other brother, Ted is now the U.S. Senator for Massachusetts and also his older brother Joe was killed in World War II, flying a plane. JFK was enlisted in the Navy during World War II and was awarded for being brave. AFter the war, he got a seat in Congress in a Boston district. When he was Senator, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his book Profiles in Courage. Kennedy was elected in 1960. While he was in office, he suffered back pain from injuries from the war. Kennedy was then assassinated in 1963. One of Lincoln's first opponents was Douglas, they were running for U.S. Senate. Douglas was a two-term Senator with a great background and Lincoln was self-educated and only had one term in Congress. The odds were stacked against Lincoln's "vast moral evil" of slavery, he started to make more Republicans like him, and they thought he would be great for the Presidency in 1860. Besides Lincoln who was running was J.C. Breckinridge (Southern Democrat). John Bell (Constitutional Union) and Stephen Douglas (Northern Democrat). Lincoln won the Presidency with 180 electoral votes and 1,865,593 popular votes. Lincoln was part of the republican party. At first, that part... ...ion's stand start to arise. Looking over the evidence the Warren Report is based upon leads to that, the Commission took great liberties in smoothing over contradictions in the information and failed to follow up on evidence suggesting that Oswald had confederates. As evidence came in, the Commission went with what it believe. OPINION I can only imagine how America felt in November 1963. John F. Kennedy created this era of optimism and hope. After he died his dreams he had set for our country went along with him. America was left with sorrow and despair. No one alive then had ever imagined that would happen, not to them, not to their country. I also feel that the CIA killed JFK , just from reading Earl Warren's report, and the JFK Records Act, because some evidence is still being held back from the public and no one really knows what happen from Parkland Hospital to the autopsy room at Bethesda Naval Hospital.Was Kennedy's nody played with? I believe so. Plus i also think that there was more than one shot fired at Kennedy after watching Abraham Zapruder flim because its almost impossible that one bullet went through Kennedy and still wounded John Connally in a few places.

Film Versus Theatre Presentations of William Shakespeares Much Ado Abo

Film Versus Theatre Presentations of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing is a witty play that is interpreted in many different ways for many different audiences. Branaugh's movie rendition, compared to the Shenandoah Shakespeare Company's play, have many separately emphasized points. If we look at elements such as use of space, costuming, and love relationships we find that Kenneth Branaugh emphasizes the separation of the military from the domestic which eventually heads down to the separation of men and women, while in the stage production, the director emphasizes the relationship and friendship between Claudio, Benedict, and Don Pedro. In Branaugh's movie version of Much Ado About Nothing there is much emphasis placed visually upon the military and the domestic atmosphere. From the beginning of Branaugh's interpretation the clear distinction between the two groups is visually portrayed. The movie begins with Emma Thompson, Beatrice, reading aloud to her friends and family in a relaxed laid back setting. The first domestic scenes lay out the tranquility of Leonato's home compared to the rough and public military scenes. The first military scene shows Don Pedro and his comrades riding up to Leonato's house. The scene is visually pleasing with the soldiers striding up to the house on horses with their arms raised in the air in slow motion. A strong sense of military valor is established through the soldier's actions, and the movie has already established a sense of military and domestic space, which the play did not capture. The Shenandoah Shakespeare Company's version of the play began very differently. There was no domestic or military atmosphere at all and the ... ...oin the domestic group, but Don Pedro and Don John are not as faded out. Don Pedro is present in the end, however, he is not a main part of the action. All of the characters were present most of the time either sitting on stage or standing which made the two groups seem not as separate as in Branaugh's movie. Branaugh and the company director both made many choices, which influenced their performances. I enjoyed the movie more the play because it was not only full of funny lines and puns, but the actors and the setting were amazing. They movie seemed to flow more for me and I enjoyed being able to see the characters in a serene setting without having to visualize it all. Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing can be interpreted, acted, read, and visualized in different ways, but I thought that Kenneth Branaugh brought together an amazing cast and performance.

Plan I For Paradise Essay

As we expand our business in Kava, we have to bear in mind that the major obstacle to business in this piece of paradise in the South Pacific is the number of disasters that take place on it. We may lose our business one fine day to a tsunami if nothing else. All the same, our new plan to expand our business in Kava is necessary, seeing that we could be of tremendous assistance to the government of Kava apart from the significant number of people who reside here – all of whom are expecting perfection in this tiny patch of paradise, which is the reason why they do not leave it for good despite the threats faced by Kava. Although there are various models provided by textbooks to understand and measure organizational effectiveness, the basic meaning of organizational effectiveness remains unchanged: It is for the organization to be doing everything that it knows how to do, and to be doing it well. The organization knows how to manage its employees, and to manufacture the products or provide the services that it originally set out to manufacture or provide. However, in order to be effective in its operations, the organization should be managing its employees well, and manufacturing good quality products or providing high quality services to its customers. What is more, in the organizational environment of today, the organization that is effective in its operations must be effectively using information technology. This is, in fact, one of the requirements of organizational effectiveness in our time (Helms). Besides, this is an essential element of clearing the mess for an ‘organization’ to come into existence. With the above definition of organizational effectiveness in view, we shall make the most technologically advanced shopping mall in the center of Kava. Given that our business culture could serve as a model for the rest of the businesses on this land, our organizational culture, which will be the personality of our company, would not only accommodate the latest advances in technology in all respects, but also an emphasis on ethics (McNamara, 1997). We will be supporting the economy of Kava by hiring a great number of people to work on our premises. In our organizational culture, we will value diversity, seeing that it is a highly effective strategy (Whitfield and Landeros, 2006). Diversity in the workplace is expected to facilitate the exchange of new ideas, making the organization more creative in its thinking; improve the problem solving ability of the organization through the invitation of diverse ideas; and establish a respectful as well as tolerant and accepting work environment (Reichenberg, 2001). The workplace that values diversity among its employees would have an organizational culture that stakeholders around the world would admire and respect. An organization that does not value diversity in the workplace, however, will reflect the negative attitude and discrimination toward diverse groups also in its organizational culture. More importantly, the workplace that reflects prejudice and discrimination in its organizational culture would not be able to convince its stakeholders of allowing it to remain in the marketplace, seeing as it is impossible to satisfy the needs of those that the organization despises. Organizational health programs, too, are essential for the survival of companies. Undoubtedly, a healthy workforce would work wonders for any business by reducing absenteeism and turnover, and increasing employee motivation, productivity and revenues. Lowe (2004) writes that hundreds of studies have already documented the direct as well as indirect advantages of â€Å"healthy work environments† to employees in addition to their organizations (p. 7). Indeed, healthy workplaces as well as jobs contribute to the well-being of employees. These benefits may be realized by the whole organization through lower absenteeism, lower turnover, higher job satisfaction, improved performance on the job, lower rates of accident, in addition to â€Å"reduced health benefit and worker compensation costs (Lowe, p. 7). † Moreover, research has revealed that the largest gains in productivity may be realized by the organization that changes the entire work environment to make it healthier for all employees (Lowe). Hence, we will treat the residents of Kava that work with us with utmost respect by not only offering them good salaries, but also by focusing on their health and safety on our premises. Research has revealed that the United States has occupational injury and illness rates that rival those of AIDS, Alzheimer’s Disease, and various kinds of cancers (â€Å"Dying for the Job,† 2002). We will undo the wrongs of the organizational processes in our homeland by making our business environment as safe and healthy as possible. The impact of this aspect of our organizational culture is expected to be great. As a matter of fact, the impact will be experienced even in the United States where businesses might cite our own organization as an example in health and safety management. Because of threats of terrorism, we will employ the most technologically advanced security system in our new shopping mall in the center of paradise. In addition, the environment that we create would reveal itself to be so healthy and safe that all consumers and employees would be able to virtually forget about the disasters in Kava while they remain on our premises. It is necessary to provide such a safe haven for the people of paradise. In point of fact, creating such an environment would yield long term benefits for our company. What is more, by interacting with our customers with their best interests in our view, our company would additionally be able to strengthen its relationships within the community. Finally, it must be clarified that all of our business transactions related to the new business venture would be fair and square. There shall be no dishonesty in any aspect of our business, and all instances of fraud as well as business misunderstandings will be treated with a sense of urgency and justice. By developing a strong and effective organizational culture that incorporates the values outlined above, we would not only be able to nurture our human resources in order to effectively utilize them, but we would also be serving as an exemplar for the rest of the businesses in the community. With good business practices, our company is definitely expected to function in the community for a long time. In order not to lose our focus on ‘best practices,’ as the business community nowadays refers to good business practices, we shall make the following definition of total quality management a part of our mission statement: â€Å"[E]verything in our company has to be done the best that is humanly possible. There’s no room for `good enough (Nelton, 1993). ’† Even in the event of a major disaster, the example we set shall remain as a model for others to follow for a long time to come.

Absolute Poverty

POVERTY What is poverty? Poverty is the economic condition in which people lack sufficient income to obtain certain minimal levels of health services, food, housing, clothing, and education generally recognized as necessary to ensure an adequate standard of living. What is considered adequate, however, depends on the average standard of living in a particular society. Relative poverty is that experienced by those whose income falls considerably below the average for their particular society. Absolute poverty is that experienced by those who do not have enough food to remain healthy. However, estimating poverty on an income basis may not measure essential elements that also contribute to a healthy life. People without access to education or health services should be considered poor even if they have adequate food. CAUSES OF POVERTY One of the greatest challenges facing many least developed countries especially in the African continent is the worsening scourge of poverty with its attendant effects of unemployment, malnutrition, illiteracy, HIV/AIDS and destitution. There are many causes of poverty complex and multi-dimensional in nature. They involve among many others gender inequality, economical, political and social exclusion. Therefore any intervention measures designed to respond to the challenges above should be judged by their ability to positively make a significant dent on poverty at a micro level (lower levels of society such as the households or individual levels). There should be a clear linkage between macro level policies and micro level impacts in terms of reducing poverty or at least providing an environment for poverty reduction. Such a policy should be able to facilitate the delivery of basic needs to ordinary citizens and these include access to affordable food, health, education, shelter, water and sanitation, public information among many others. No one should be alienated from these basic and fundamental human rights on account of one’s poor economic status. IMPACT OF POVERTY ON BUSINESS OPERATIONS When a person doesn’t have disposable income he/she make purchases of commodities, goods and services. Therefore many cannot increase their sales. Production output drops. Some companies put their staff on short time. This further reduces disposable income. Financial sectors do not grant credit to low- income earners therefore the financial market suffers. Inflation rises. The GDP of the country drops. The price of goods and services increase. The people with low income and those that receive social grants do not have enough many to but commodities. Companies that do not make high turnovers cannot plough moneys back into communities for social upliftment. ALLEVIATION OF POVERTY BY THE GOVERNMENT Aid refers to the net flow of official development assistance provide by governments, international agencies, and public institutions of the industrialized countries. The term is also used to encompass help (both material and technical) provided by non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and voluntary agencies to countries and people in need, particularly for disaster or emergency relief. The overall portfolio of assistance of a donor, or the range of aid I provides to a particular country, is often referred to as its aid programme. The various recognized categories of aid such as: Bilateral aid * Project aid * Grant aid * Technical assistance * Emergency aid/Disaster relief * Food aid * Voluntary aid GLOBAL POVERTY! IS BUSINESS THE ANSWER? When activists discuss the way less developed countries have missed out on the benefits of globalization, Multinational Corporations are often portrayed as the villains. But to some, they are the solution and the only one. CONCLUTION In conclusion I would just like to say that we, as South Africans, need to show the world that we are strong and we are better prepared for global turmoil than we previously were. WE ARE HERE TO STAY!! Absolute Poverty POVERTY What is poverty? Poverty is the economic condition in which people lack sufficient income to obtain certain minimal levels of health services, food, housing, clothing, and education generally recognized as necessary to ensure an adequate standard of living. What is considered adequate, however, depends on the average standard of living in a particular society. Relative poverty is that experienced by those whose income falls considerably below the average for their particular society. Absolute poverty is that experienced by those who do not have enough food to remain healthy. However, estimating poverty on an income basis may not measure essential elements that also contribute to a healthy life. People without access to education or health services should be considered poor even if they have adequate food. CAUSES OF POVERTY One of the greatest challenges facing many least developed countries especially in the African continent is the worsening scourge of poverty with its attendant effects of unemployment, malnutrition, illiteracy, HIV/AIDS and destitution. There are many causes of poverty complex and multi-dimensional in nature. They involve among many others gender inequality, economical, political and social exclusion. Therefore any intervention measures designed to respond to the challenges above should be judged by their ability to positively make a significant dent on poverty at a micro level (lower levels of society such as the households or individual levels). There should be a clear linkage between macro level policies and micro level impacts in terms of reducing poverty or at least providing an environment for poverty reduction. Such a policy should be able to facilitate the delivery of basic needs to ordinary citizens and these include access to affordable food, health, education, shelter, water and sanitation, public information among many others. No one should be alienated from these basic and fundamental human rights on account of one’s poor economic status. IMPACT OF POVERTY ON BUSINESS OPERATIONS When a person doesn’t have disposable income he/she make purchases of commodities, goods and services. Therefore many cannot increase their sales. Production output drops. Some companies put their staff on short time. This further reduces disposable income. Financial sectors do not grant credit to low- income earners therefore the financial market suffers. Inflation rises. The GDP of the country drops. The price of goods and services increase. The people with low income and those that receive social grants do not have enough many to but commodities. Companies that do not make high turnovers cannot plough moneys back into communities for social upliftment. ALLEVIATION OF POVERTY BY THE GOVERNMENT Aid refers to the net flow of official development assistance provide by governments, international agencies, and public institutions of the industrialized countries. The term is also used to encompass help (both material and technical) provided by non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and voluntary agencies to countries and people in need, particularly for disaster or emergency relief. The overall portfolio of assistance of a donor, or the range of aid I provides to a particular country, is often referred to as its aid programme. The various recognized categories of aid such as: Bilateral aid * Project aid * Grant aid * Technical assistance * Emergency aid/Disaster relief * Food aid * Voluntary aid GLOBAL POVERTY! IS BUSINESS THE ANSWER? When activists discuss the way less developed countries have missed out on the benefits of globalization, Multinational Corporations are often portrayed as the villains. But to some, they are the solution and the only one. CONCLUTION In conclusion I would just like to say that we, as South Africans, need to show the world that we are strong and we are better prepared for global turmoil than we previously were. WE ARE HERE TO STAY!!