Article of Confederation Essay

The first constitution was written in the United States was called the â€Å"Articles of Confederation. † It established a loose league of friendship between thirteen sovereign states and proposed that each state have its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. The Articles of Confederation approve in 1781, which led to a period of crisis between the years 1781 and 1789. This period refer as the Critical Period. The Articles of Confederation was the precursor of the United States Constitution because of the many reasons it had weaknesses and replaced by the United States Constitution. The Constitution of the United States comprises the nation’s fundamental law, providing the framework for its governance and the principles under which it must operate. When the constitution was written, it was intended to endure for ages, be flexible, and adaptable for future generations. The constitution was intended to be the supreme law of the land. â€Å"To win the required approval from all 13 states, drafters changed the plan and granted the Confederation control of western lands. After four years, the Articles finally won ratification in 1781. † (Created Equal, pg. 77) The Articles of Confederation, which were ratified in 1781, became the first constitution. The Articles of Confederation dealt with three problems: taxation, representation, and the extent of control over western territories. First, the Articles of Confederation weakness was that the central government did not have the power to collect taxes. As the Articles of Confederation illustrate, â€Å"According to the Articles, Congress could not collect taxes or regulate trade; it could only requisition funds from the states. Shares would vary depending on each state’s free population. (Created Equal, pg. 177) Under the Articles of Confederation, the state government can only send its contribution annually to the national government but they cannot be compelled to pay taxes. Due to this huge weakness, many problems arose in the U. S, which were signs of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The trade agreements Congress had made with other nations were not always carried out. Many people soon started importing goods from other countries that they refused to pay for. Consequently, people in other nations soon became reluctant to trade with the U.  S; even Great Britain closed its commerce to it, which resulted in the loss of a lot of money because of lack of trade. There was also competition among the states, as they started levying taxes on goods passing through them to other states. Taxes are the lifeblood of the nation. Without it, no government machinery will function. Thus, the national government could not perform its functions because it did not have the funds. Second weakness was the enactment of laws. Under the Articles of Confederation, the enactment of laws needed the approval of 9 out of 13 states. The voting obligation is quite high. As a result, five states could easily prevent the enactment of laws, which seriously jeopardized the enactment of laws that needed to be passed. The Articles of Confederation note, â€Å"Moreover, the Confederation had no separate executive branch; executive functions fell to various committees of the Confederation Congress. † (Created Equal, pg. 177) There was no executive branch to institute the policies for the entire nation. As a result, the state governments did not have a cohesive policy that every state government should follow. Consequently, the state governments individually created their own policies. Since there was no national judiciary, the state courts were tasked to interpret laws. As George Mason indicates, â€Å"The Judiciary of the United States is so constructed & extended, as to absorb and destroy the Judiciarys of the several States; thereby rendering Law as tedious intricate and expensive, & Justice as unattainable, by a great Part of the Community, as in England, and enabling the Rich to oppress & ruin the Poor. † (Mason, Paragraph 2, pg. 10) It had become clear that it was necessary to abandon the Articles of Confederation in favor of a constitution that provided for a stronger national government, created a national judiciary and strong Congress. Finally, the United States had different issues that they had to deal with. These were foreign affairs, economic conditions, and Western land. The Articles clarify, â€Å"In addition, to the dismay of land speculators, the Congress would not control the western domains that several large states had claimed. † (Created Equal, pg. 77) The government was weak due to poor economic conditions and the people still feared the power of the central government. These weaknesses posed a threat to the effectiveness of the government. Under the Articles of Confederation, there was a unicameral legislature. There was one house and there were no executive or judiciary branches. Each state had the same number of representatives and their own currency. The states taxed each other and affecting the value of money to decrease and posed a threat to the economic stability of the United States, which was already weak and in need of reformation. The Articles of Confederation was the precursor of the United States Constitution because of the many reasons it had weaknesses and replaced by the United States Constitution. It brought the colonies together as a loose confederation with the state’s rights being more important than the power of the federal government. Even though the government under the Articles of Confederation was very weak, it was still more democratic because it gave more rights and power to the states. The Articles unified the states under a loose confederation, which lacked a strong, central government. Although the Articles of Confederation had several successes, it created far more weaknesses and failures. The failures of the Articles had to be addressed, so a new constitution was created and drafted at the Constitutional Convention, which determined the many failures of the Articles, and created a strong central government. A controversial issue has been debated over whether the government under the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution was more democratic. The Articles of Confederation created a more democratic government because it gave power to the individual states and to the people.

Diagnostic Urinalysis Lab Essay

Introduction/Background Today’s lab exercise is about diagnostic Urinalysis. Urine reflects the many chemical components found in blood. This test is a good measure of health of endocrine system, kidneys, and urinary tract. Artificial urine samples are used for today’s lab thank goodness. The test that this lab is mostly focused on is called â€Å"dipstick† urinalysis test where students will analyze the chemical composition of urine by dipping the chemical indicator stick or â€Å"dispstick† into a sample of urine. The chemicals in the pad of the indicator stick will react with various biochemicals, ions and salts found in urine and indicate the presence of hemoglobin, glucose, ketones, protein and specific gravity. The change in color indicates the quantity and presence of particular urine component. High level of glucose indicates the endocrine system’s inability to regulate sugar concentration. Dilute urine indicates the adrenal gland defect that prevents kidney from r egulating water and salt levels. Urine containing blood and protein indicates damage to a Kidney’s blood filtering system. Hypothesis: No hypothesis is necessary as this lab is an observational lab Objectives: The objective of today’s lab is to learn and understand diagnostic urinalysis. The focus of today’s lab is geared more towards dipstick analysis. Students are to complete the chart, answer all associated questions, and include references. Students will learn the importance of urine and the various diseases/problems that can be diagnosed using it. Students will diagnose the unknown samples of â€Å"Jane and John†. Materials: 1. Acetoacetic acid 2. Creatinine 3. Urine test strips – multisticks that can measure blood, glucose, ketones, pH and protein are required and should be also able to measure specific gravity – are needed. Brand recommended is Clinistick TM . 4. Five test tubes per group Procedure 1 (Calibration) Calibration This is to ensure that the data collected from the patient is accurate. You will be provided with the positive and negative standard solution. The Positive Standard determines whether the indicator determines the correct response to presence of chemicals in the urine. A false positive when using water will indicate that the â€Å"stick† is detecting substances that are not there. A false negative indicates that the stick is unable to detect the presence of substances that are present in the sample. 1. Obtain the negative and positive standard bottles. Note the color on the indicator stick prior to start of experiment. 2. Collect 2 tubes and label as â€Å"neg† and â€Å"pos† for negative and positive standard solution. 3. Pour  ¾ full of the tube with â€Å"neg† solutions in the tube labeled â€Å"neg.† 4. Pour  ¾ full of the tube with â€Å"pos† solutions in the tube labeled â€Å"pos.† 5. Insert the indicator stick in the tube la beled â€Å"neg.† Observe the color and odor of the solution. 6. Insert the indicator stick in the tube labeled â€Å"pos.† Observe the color and odor of the solution. 7. Record your data in the table as â€Å"+† or â€Å" –â€Å" to indicate positive or negative result. Procedure 2 (analysis of samples) Obtain a set of the urine samples to analyze. 1. Collect and label three tubes as normal (N), John , and Jane. 2. Pour Normal urine sample  ¾ full of the tube labeled N 3. Pour John’s urine sample  ¾ full of the tube labeled John 4. Pour Jane’s urine sample  ¾ full of the tube labeled Jane 5. Insert the indicator stick in the tube labeled N. Observe the color and odor of the solution. 6. Record the data 7. Perform the same test on the samples labeled John and Jane using new sticks and record your observation in the table provided above. Please refer to the attachment for interpretation of Urinalysis results. If not provided please ask your Instructor for the same. Discussion: This lab discussed urinalysis. Urinalysis is a diagnostic test that evaluates health of endocrine system, kidneys, and urinary tract. Urine can be visually examined sample for color (clear to dark yellow or red), and clarity (clear to cloudy), and odor. A complete diagnostic urinalysis includes a dipstick evaluation and a microscopic analysis. Dipstick evaluation includes parameters such as glucose, ketones, pH, protein, blood, bilirubin, etc. The microscopic visualization allows for detection of bacteria (UTI), RBCs, crystals (metabolic derangements), renal tubular cells (toxicity or severe renal disease), or transitional cells (from bladder). Acid urine and alkaline urine have crystals that form different from that of normal urine. Some terms that the students learned were glycosuria-excess glucose levels, hematuria-RBCs present in urine, hemaglobinuria-hemoglobin pigment is present in urine, ketonuria-high levels of ketones, myoglobinuria-high levels of myglobin (pigments that are released when muscles breakdown), and pH-measure acidity or alkalinity of urine. In order to be certain that values are correct, known negative and positive standards are used to compare with the clinical sample. This process is called calibration. Calibration should be done for all diagnostic tests and the equipment used to make these determinations. Calibration is necessary to avoid false negative and false positives. A false positive when using water will indicate that the â€Å"stick† is detecting substances that are not there. A  false negative indicates that the stick is unable to detect the presence of substances that are present in the sample. Conclusion: In conclusion, students successfully performed a urinalysis dipstick test. The lab had students test the negative and positive tests, and then the James and Jane urine samples were tested. John’s urine was clear and tested negative for protein, which indicated it was normal. The pee was slightly turbid. The urine had a strong odor and a specific gravity of 1.005, which is lower than normal urine. The pH of John’s pee is 5 and the glucose was extremely high with 1000mg, tested with small (+) amounts of ketones and also showed trace amounts of blood. Jane’s urine was a very light yellow with a very faint odor, tested negative for ketones, tested negative for proteins, had a pH of 6, and had a specific gravity of 1.015. The glucose was extremely high with 1000mg. Jane also showed About 250 Ery/nanoliters of blood in her urine. The protein portion of the dipstick tested for 100 (++) in Jane’s urine sample. Students learned different types of disease that could be associated with the test results that were discovered with the dipstick. Lab Questions: 1. What are the possible causes of John’s test results? John’s urine was clear and tested negative for protein, which indicated it was normal. The pee was slightly turbid which could be caused by Lipiduria, hyperoxaluria, chyluria, pyuria, excess phosphate crystals precipitating in alkaline urine, hyperuricosuria, or contamination with vaginal mucus or epithelial cells. The urine had a strong odor which could indicate alkaline fermentation, diabetic ketoacidosis, cysteine decomposition, gastrointestinal-bladder fistulae, or could be caused by medications or diet. John’s urine was observed to have a specific gravity of 1.005, which is lower than normal urine. Decreased specific gravity is seen in excessive fluid intake, renal failure, pyelonephritis, and central and nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. False low readings of specific gravity are associated with alkaline urine (a high-citrate diet). The pH of John’s pee is 5, which is considered to be within the normal range, but it is on the lower end which could be caused by diet and uric acid calculi. The glucose was extremely high with 1000mg, which is extremely strange due to that fact that  nearly all glucose filtered by the glomeruli is reabsorbed in the proximal tubules and only undetectable amounts appear in urine in healthy patients. False positive results are seen when high levels of ketones are present and also in patient taking levodopa. Something to remember about dipstick tests is that reagent strip tests are specific for glucose. John’s sample tested with small (+) amounts of ketones. A positive test, since ketones are not normally found in urine, is associated with uncontrolled diabetes, pregnancy without diabetes, carbohydrate-free diets, and starvation. False trace results may be seen in highly pigmented urine and in patiens taking levodopa. John’s urine also showed trace amounts of blood. 2. Of the diseases mentioned, what disease might John have? Of the diseases mentioned, it is believed that John might have either diabetes mellitus or a renal impairment. 3. How did you come to this conclusion about John’s condition? The conclusion was made that John might have diabetes mellitus, due to the high levels of glucose, slightly lower pH, and traces of ketones. The decreased level of specific gravity, and traces of blood lead to the belief that John may have a renal impairment. 4. What are the possible causes of Jane’s test results? Jane’s urine was a very light yellow with a very faint odor, tested negative for ketones, tested negative for proteins, had a pH of 6, and had a specific gravity of 1.015. All of these characteristics do not indicate abnormalities with Jane’s pee. The glucose was extremely high with 1000mg. False positive results are seen when high levels of ketones are present and also in patient taking levodopa. Something to remember about dipstick tests is that reagent strip tests are specific for glucose. Jane also showed About 250 Ery/nanoliters of blood in her urine. This could indicate lower urinary tract bleeding and inflammation/infection, acute glomerulonephritis, or lupus nephritis. The protein portion of the dipstick tested for 100 (++) in Jane’s urine sample. Proteinuria is indicative of renal disease, and small amounts accompany hematuria and acute urinary tract infection. 5. Of the diseases mentioned, what disease might Jane have? Of the diseases mentioned, Jane might have an acute urinary tract  infection/inflammation, or renal disease. 6. How did you come to this conclusion about Jane’s condition? The conclusion about renal disease is because proteinuria is indicative of renal disease. Jane might instead have an acute urinary tract infection/inflammation due to not only the protein in her urine but also the blood in the urine. 7. Why is Urine useful as an indicator of the endocrine and kidney disease? Urine is as an indicator of the endocrine and kidney disease because through its protein, pH, glucose, ketones, specific gravity, and blood that can possibly be found, physicians can diagnose disease. Urine indicates diseases with the kidney because the kidney is what filters out the body fluids that become the urine. 8. What is the laboratory procedure that can be used to test the presence of certain specific biochemicals in urine? The laboratory procedures that can be used to test the presence of certain specific biochemical in urine could be microscopic analysis, or even a urine electrophoresis test 9. Which blood chemical will be found in high levels in patients diagnosed with untreated diabetes mellitus? The chemical that will be found in high levels in the blood of patients diagnosed with untreated diabetes mellitus would be glucose. 10. How does odor help in diagnosis of disease? Odor of urine helps in diagnosing disease by merely alerting the patient that something is wrong. Because urine doesn’t have a very strong smell, if a whiff of something is particularly pungent when peeing, it may indicate that the patient could have an infection or urinary stones, which can create an ammonia-like odor. Diabetics might notice that their urine smells sweet because of excess sugar. Alkaline fermentation causes an ammoniacal smell, and patients with diabetic ketoacidosis produce a urine that may have a sweet or fruity odour. Other causes of abnormal odours are cystine decomposition (a sulphuric smell), gastrointestinal-bladder fistulae (a faecal smell), medications (eg, vitamin B6), and diet (eg, asparagus). 11. Define the following terms associated with urinalysis: Glycosuria: Glucose normally is filtered by the glomerulus, but it is almost completely reabsorbed in the proximal tubule. Glycosuria occurs when the filtered load of glucose exceeds the ability of the tubule to reabsorb it (i.e., 180 to 200 mg per dL). Etiologies include diabetes mellitus,  Cushing’s syndrome, liver and pancreatic disease, and Fanconi’s syndrome. Ketonuria: Ketones, products of body fat metabolism, normally are not found in urine. Dipstick reagents detect acetic acid through a reaction with sodium nitroprusside or nitro-ferricyanide and glycine. Ketonuria most commonly is associated with uncontrolled diabetes, but it also can occur during pregnancy, carbohydrate-free diets, and starvation. Hematuria: Hematuria can be glomerular, renal, urologic, and exercise-induced. Urologic causes of hematuria include tumors, calculi, and infections. Urologic hematuria is distinguished from other etiologies by the absence of proteinuria, dysmorphic RBCs, and erythr ocyte casts. Even significant hematuria will not elevate the protein concentration to the 2+ to 3+ range on the dipstick test. (23) Up to 20 percent of patients with gross hematuria have urinary tract malignancy; a full work-up with cystoscopy and upper-tract imaging is indicated in patients with this condition. (24) In patients with asymptomatic microscopic hematuria (without proteinuria or pyuria), 5 to 22 percent have serious urologic disease, and 0.5 to 5 percent have a genitourinary malignancy. pH: Urinary pH can range from 4.5 to 8 but normally is slightly acidic (i.e., 5.5 to 6.5) because of metabolic activity. Ingestion of proteins and acidic fruits (e.g., cranberries) can cause acidic urine, and diets high in citrate can cause alkaline urine. (15-17) Urinary pH generally reflects the serum pH, except in patients with renal tubular acidosis (RTA). The inability to acidify urine to a pH of less than 5.5 despite an overnight fast and administration of an acid load is the hallmark of RTA. In type I (distal) RTA, the serum is acidic but the urine is alkaline, secondary to an inability to secrete protons into the urine. Type II (proximal) RTA is characterized by an inability to reabsorb bicarbonate. This situation initially results in alkaline urine, but as the filtered load of bicarbonate decreases, the urine becomes more acidic. Determination of urinary pH is useful in the diagnosis and management of UTIs and calculi. Alkaline urine in a patient with a UTI suggests the presence of a urea-splitting organism, which may be associated with magnesium-ammonium phosphate crystals and can form staghorn calculi. Uric acid calculi are associated with acidic urine. Hemoglobin: The presence of free hemoglobin in the urine, an abnormal finding, that may make the urine look dark. Hemoglobin in the urine is termed hemoglobinuria. Hemoglobin is  the protein in the red blood cells which carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. The iron contained in hemoglobin gives red blood cells their characteristic color. Red blood cells are normally taken out of circulation after approximately 4 months; they are trapped and disassembled in the spleen, bone marrow, and liver. If, however, red cells hemolyze (break down) within the vascular system, the components are set free in the blood stream. Free hemoglobin is bound by haptoglobin (another protein) and reprocessed. But if the level of hemoglobin in the blood rises above the ability of haptoglobin to reclaim it, hemoglobin begins to appear in the urine — there is hemoglobinuria. Hemoglobinuria is a sign of a number of conditions including: acute nephritis, burns, kidney cancer, malaria, sickle cell anemia, a transfusion reaction, tuberculosis of the urinary tract, and many other conditions. References: Benejam R, Narayana AS. Urinalysis: the physician’s responsibility. Am Fam Physician 1985;31:103-11. Brendler, CB. Evaluation of the urologic patient: history, physical exami-nation and urinalysis. In: Campbell MF, Walsh PC. Campbell’s Urology. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1998:144-56. Fogazzi GB, Garigali G. The clinical art and science of urine microscopy. Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens 2003;12:625- 32. Hanno PM, Wein AJ, Malkowicz SB. Clinical manual of urology. 3d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. Kiel DP, Moskowitz MA. The urinalysis: a critical appraisal. Med Clin North Am 1987;71:607-24. Laboratory manual for physiology, 2005. Leman P. Validity of urinalysis and microscopy for detecting urinary tract infection in the emergency department. Eur J Emerg Med 2002;9:141-7. Rabinovitch A. Urinalysis and collection, transportation, and preservation of urine specimens: approved guideline. 2d ed. Wayne, Pa.: National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards, 2001. NCCLS document GP16-A2. Sheets C, Lyman JL. Urinalysis. Emerg Med Clin North Am 1986;4: 263-80. Van Nostrand JD, Junkins AD, Bartholdi RK. Poor predictive ability of urinalysis and microscopic examination to detect urinary tract infection. Am J Clin Pathol 2000;113:709-13.

American Fashion Industry in 21st Century

American Fashion in 21st Century ‘Fashion’ is the need to adapt to ever changing styles; to dress in distinctive and current trends and a means for one to express their individuality. Fashion refers to keeping every aspect of one’s body up-to-date for varying reasons. Some people prefer a simple life style with modest attire whereas most passionately follow the fashion industry and rapidly change accordingly. This increase in demand for individually tailored items including everything from clothing and footwear to makeup and body piercings is what gave birth to the fashion industry.The roots of this business can be traced to America in the nineteenth century where it grew rapidly and spread across the globe to become the highly integrated industry that exists today. The fashion industry has created thousands of jobs, increased national output and has made significant contributing to increases in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) but is also accompanied by exploitation of labor, eating disorder particularly in models and also the growth of counterfeit products.The international fashion industry portrays an ideal body type commonly known as the ‘size zero’ which women often attempt to attain. This leads them down the road of low self-esteem, starvation and even self-mutilation often resulting in eating disorders, health issues and even suicide. Models between the age of 18 and 24 practically give up eating and also resort to using drugs and alcohol to combat the ensuing depression and irritability which eventually leads to some of them dying young, all just to gain entry into the fashion industry.Natasha Duncan was one such prominent American model who committed suicide at the age of 21(Rose 1). The global fashion industry projects the image of thin and beautiful people that have been airbrushed to perfection thus creating an ideal image of how ‘fashionable’ people should look. Common women get conscious about their own lo oks and then try to attain this level of perfection, the road to which often go through eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.In fact, it is estimated that 8 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men( Fashion 1). Nevertheless it is argued that the American fashion industry has made vital contributions to its in terms of creating employment opportunities and boosting GDP. As a matter of fact, despite the severe recession, the fashion industry is one of the most stable and high-growth industries in the economy.This is because, irrespective of inflation and wages, people still need to buy clothes, footwear and makeup and the fashion industry is one that can rapidly adapt to provide them. In 2010 American households spent, on average, $1,700 on apparel, footwear, and related products and services which is why it generates over $20 billion in revenue is annually (Fashion 1). Moreover the fashion industry played an im portant part in giving jobs when other industries were firing people.Currently it employs over 4 million people under the following areas: design, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, retailing, advertising, communication, publishing and consulting (Fashion 1). Beside creating jobs and increasing GDP, the fashion industry has promoted the freedom of expression by allowing individuals to express themselves through their attire. Fashion designers rapidly come up with innovative and creative ideas thus essentially enriching the lives of people and making them more interesting.This is precisely why fashion shows are held: they give models a chance to flaunt their talents and also an opportunity for them to interact with models from other countries, communities and ethnicities which allows them to express themselves and their unique identities. When people are well dressed according to what is in fashion, this would reflect the culture and thinking of the society. Nevertheless, it mus t be noted that fashion leads to competition amongst people to look better than others which manifests itself through jealousy, resentment and even sabotage.What is more, this completion extends to designers as well since they strive to differentiate their products introduce innovative styles which can result in an inefficient use of resources and illegal business practices. This need for cost minimization is one of the reasons as to why the fashion industry exploits cheap foreign labor. The glamor, the runways and the exhibitions are just the front of a dark background. This industry works on the basis of subcontracting, where designers place orders with manufacturers who then hire sub-contractor to complete their orders.Since this industry is highly competitive subcontractor are given only take or leave option with often less payment compared to amount of work which forces them to resort to employing cheap labor in their own workshops which often end up resembling sweat shops. Eve n if this is not the case, designer brands have their own units to produce their goods. Recently many of the fashion retailers have been accused of underpaying their workers and violating international labor laws by running sweatshop. These involve extremely low wages, long working hours and poor working conditions.Earlier this month, factories in Cambodia were investigated for possible violation labor laws. These factories produced clothing for the fast fashion retailer H&M which was found to be paying their workers a measly wage of $61 a month by a Swedish TV program called ‘Kalla Fakta’(Keilla 1). Since America is powerful country, it negotiates trade agreements with developing countries on the basis of free trade agreements. Famous brands then shift their production units to such countries where exploitation is very common. According to a U. S. ommerce department report, the basic wage for garment workers in Honduras is $0. 473 per hour, or $3. 47 per day. After ded ucting costs for transportation to and from work, breakfast and lunch costs of $2. 59 that leaves $0. 80 a day for families and other basic needs ( the Ethics pg 345). This is considered to be completely unfair when workers are hardly making their ends meet but on the other hand fashion houses are making handsome profits. In addition to these the fashion industry has a negative social impact through the creation of counterfeit products.These are replicas of original products which are sold at substantially lower prices in black markets all over the world. It is argued that this practice is unfair since some consumers are paying more than other for the same good. In America such problems are even more complex because their legal system only protects functionality and not design or style. Since fashion houses have globalized their production and distribution process, it becomes easier to produce counterfeit goods. This is represented by the fact that the U. S. customs made 6500 seizur es in 2003 worth over $94 billion (the Ethics pg 346) .High demand for fashion goods gives other business the incentive to make fake copies of original goods and sell in the market. This not only causes a loss in the sale for fashion businesses but also increases the probability of customers mistakenly purchasing fake items. In its annual ‘’special 301† review, the office of the U. S. Trade Representative (USTR) identified more than 30 countries as centers for counterfeiting and piracy and estimated that American industries lose$200 Billion- $250 billion a year to counterfeiting (the Ethics pg 347).The international fashion industry has significantly transformed from what it started out in the nineteenth century to impact a number of aspects of one’s life as the arguments above have demonstrated. That being said, these changes are not constant and continue to grow and evolve due to a number of factors thus making it difficult for economists, industrialists and policy makers alike to objectively weigh the fashion industries benefits and disadvantages.What can be said for certain though is disadvantages such as exploitation of labor, eating disorder and coping of thought and ideas causes more harm to the society as compare to its advantages such as creating more jobs and increasing globalization. Work Cited Al-Azzawi, Ali Malik. â€Å"Fashion Industry and Media Today: The Negative Impact on Society. † (n. d. ): 109. Print. Fashion Industry Stats / Fashion Industry Statistics.  © Copyright SiteRapture, Inc. 2012, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. . Is Fashion Harmful to Society? †Ã‚  Debate. org. Copyright  © 2012 Debate. org, 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. . Keilla. â€Å"Fashionably Informed: Exploitation of Labor & Popular Clothing Retailers – College Fashion. †Ã‚  College Fashion. Copyright  © 2007-2013 College Fashion LLC, 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. . Rose, Derek, and Alice Mcquillan. â€Å"W ILHELMINA MODEL KILLED SELF, COPS SAY.   NY Daily News. N. p. , 23 July 2001. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. . â€Å"Sweatshops. †Ã‚  Sweatshops. Fashion Crimes, 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. . The Ethics of Counterfeiting in the Fashion Industry: Quality, Credence and Profit Issues Brian Hilton, Chong Ju Choi and Stephen Chen, Journal of Business Ethics  , Vol. 55, No. 4 (Dec. , 2004), pp. 345-354

Proofing Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Proofing Memo - Essay Example Then I automatically spell and grammar check through a computer program. After completing the computer program, I reread the piece one more time. While creating this document, I do not sit continuously at the computer. I get up every once in awhile to stretch, take a bathroom break, or get a drink. This helps me refocus upon my task. This is a good time to check margins and tabs. Formatting a word document depends on the computer program being used. Spacing, paragraphs, and margins are important for several reasons. The most primary reason is so your document can be printer ready. Without the correct formatting, printing can cause the document to run together, lose page numbers, or have incorrect headers or footers. Formatting is also vital for email and faxing documents. No matter how good an item is proofread, if the formatting is wrong, the document will not arrive to the intended target in a professional manner. When checking a document’s formatting, searching for one type of mistake at a time can help catch more mistakes. For example, first look for spelling errors only. Then grammar errors can be searched for in your document. Page numbers, headings, footnotes, font size and type, or any other error can be looked for one type of error at a time. This helps focus your attention on one type of mistake, instead of trying to take the whole document in at once. If I try to look for all the mistakes at once, I generally miss one type, due to my focus being divided. Then I practice another familiar technique. I walk away from my project for the day. After a good night’s sleep, I come back to my computer. Sometimes, I only take a nap. The point is to rest before continuing work. Then I reread what is written. Many times I can see where in the heat of the moment, I did not logically write what I meant. Since some spelling and grammar mistakes will not be picked up by a computer

Fats Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fats - Research Paper Example Other things also cling on to the patch work done by the white cells and that turns into a callus. This hard stuff is called plaque. That is how bad habits of smoking or cocaine usage can lead to diseases like atherosclerosis (Brewer). Sometimes there are other factors that come into play regarding extra cholesterol in the blood stream. For instance, people can have excess amounts of LDL and less of HDL which carries away excess cholesterol out of the blood stream making the blood flow smooth and keeping blood cells healthy. LDL cholesterol sticks on to the artery walls and hardens and rots. Nutritionists suggest taking appropriate amounts of antioxidants in such cases as it prevents the rotting of LDL cholesterol. If the rotting process is not prevented, other substances join the LDL cholesterol and then plaque is formed on artery walls (Brewer). If the plaque stays there for right amount of time, calcium starts depositing there and that obstructs the blood flow. Just like water can back up in the sink pipe due to clog, calcium deposits on the plaque can do the same thing by forming a clog and that backs up blood in arteries (Brewer). Regular box cereals 1 cup contains zero cholesterol (Kellogg’s cereals are preferred as they are readily available and their nutritional values are monitored by many). In grams, 1cup of cereals weighs about 30 grams, taken with fresh orange juice (no sugar), that is a breakfast with no cholesterol at all. It has 78 calories (2000 calories contain about 30 mg of cholesterol by weight and is considered a standard for measurement) ("Calories in Cereals ready-to-eat"). 1 cup of chopped boiled chicken (weigh almost 140 gm.) contains about 119mg of cholesterol (â€Å"Calories in Chicken†). Chicken can be consumed in boiled form with salt and pepper for seasoning. For dessert after chicken, raw bananas can be

Web Server Application Attacks Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Web Server Application Attacks - Research Paper Example A command injection attack refers to an attack aimed at compromising the sensitive information featured in the back end database that supports the interactive aspects of a web application. Included under this category are issues like cross-site scripting (XSS) and Structured Query Language (SQL) injection. To curb this attack, organizations need to plan and address the security matters that pertain to their web solutions during web development or planning stages. Examples of such approaches would be to hire web application developers with proper knowledge on use of more sophisticated database capabilities like stored procedures to reside in the back end database system or the concept of data objects when writing APIs to access the database system that supports the web utilities. Equally, XSS issues can be handled by employing Model Viewer Controller (MVC) frameworks like Codeignitor while developing web applications. Such frameworks have in-built capabilities to suppress the efforts of clients who try to launch XSS attacks. A precaution taken during the development or planning of a web application is worthwhile for the reason that security issues are harder to handle once a system is deployed or implemented. The third type of attack that targets web servers is interception of unencrypted information that is channeled in communication sessions that take place between the client browsers and the servers. One way to combat this problem is to use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) in web-centered communication. SSL helps in creating an encrypted link between client-server communications. In particular, the concept uses SSL certificates (typically methods like symmetric and asymmetric encryption) to transfer sensitive information like social security numbers and credit card numbers. In the diagram, the server first sends a copy that bears its asymmetric

Analyze language arts lesson plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analyze language arts lesson plan - Essay Example s showed the slightest interest to help only that at the time of enjoying the fruits of the labour, i.e., only while eating the baked bread everybody proposed to eagerly share at which the Hen then disagreed and cherished the fruits of her arduous labour and ate the bread with her chicks. This story is very colourfully and playfully presented before the children in preschool and preliminary stages of learning to instill, impart and inculcate within their tender minds the true virtues of sincerity, eagerness, earnestness, accountability, responsibility, uprightness, integrity, willpower and self-discipline. A host of interesting and enjoyable at the same time educational and knowledge-building fun-to-learn activities are usually integrated with this process of story-telling session to make the entire exercise very attractive and entertaining to the kids to make them memorable and illustrious such that learning becomes amusing and easy for them. A picturesque vibrant book of the Little Red Hen is to be selected with colourful illustrations for the pre-school purpose with each and every craft and drawing materials, and also some baking utensils be kept handy in order to perform practical illustrations to mark a long lasting memory of the activities elaborated. The third Activity is revisiting the story with individual role play intensively illustrated and demonstrated with very easy-to-construct craft items such as with funny figureheads or colourful miniatures singing each phases of the story and encouraging them to read out loud in the desired musical tone while stressing on the effectiveness and efficacies of planting, harvesting and nutritiousness of baking wheat into bread. This is followed by the fourth bread-tasting Activity of different samples of bread while sharing amongst each other during lunch break thus establishing that Sharing is fun and productive which could be even more enhanced if the bread can be baked in an oven with each member sharing the

ISO 14644 FOR AN IAP CLEAN ROOM CLASS 8 IN RESPECT OF 0.5 UM PARTICLES Essay

ISO 14644 FOR AN IAP CLEAN ROOM CLASS 8 IN RESPECT OF 0.5 UM PARTICLES - Essay Example Several items must be taken into consideration when approaching the use of a cleanroom. First, air is an extremely important item to take a close look at. The air that is coming into a cleanroom must be filtered in order to get rid of dust, while at the same time, the air inside the cleanroom must be recirculated through high efficiency particulate air (also known as HEPA) and/or through the use of an ultra low penetration air (ULPA) filter in order to get rid of contaminants that can be created internally. Furthermore, in order to control any other possible contaminants that may enter, those working in the cleanroom must leave through airlocks (which sometimes also forces an air shower), along with protective clothing. Within the cleanroom, the equipment has been made to create minimal air contamination. These include the use of specialized mops and buckets. The furniture that can be found within the cleanroom also gathers a very minimal amount of particles and is easy to clean. How ever, cleanrooms are not sterile, as much of the attention here is focused on airborne particles. These levels can often be tested through the use of a particle counter (Particle Measuring Systems, 2009). In order to avoid a disruptive air leak, many cleanrooms contain items that keep them at positive pressure. This means that if there are any leaks, the air will leak out of the chamber instead of bringing in any air that might not have been filtered. To further control air, some cleanroom systems will keep humidity to very low levels. This is done often to make sure that there are no electrostatic, or ESD problems. These EST controls are also referred to as ionizers (Clearn Room Forum, n.d.). Cleanrooms are generally given their status based on the number and size of particles allowed per the volume of air. Numbers that are typically larger, like "class 100," are usually referred to by FED-STD-209E, and denote particle number at a size of 0.5um or larger, depending on the cubic foot of air. Smaller numbers refer to ISP 14644-1 standards, and these focus on the decimal logarithm of the number of particles 0.1um or larger permitted per cubic metre of air (Clean Room Certification Standards, 2009). Thus, a class 8 cleanroom has at most 108 = 100,000 particles per m.Cleanrooms in both categories of FS209E and ISO 14644-1 both have log-log relationships that take place concernint particle size and particle concentration. Therefore, a "zero" count in particle concentration is not existent. Because 1 m equals about 35 ft, both standards are mostly equal when measuring 0.5 m particles, although the testing standards differ. Ordinary room air is approximately class 1,000,000 or I SO 9 (Federal Standards, 2009).

The impact of terrorism on tourism Literature review

The impact of terrorism on tourism - Literature review Example However, of late the terrorism activities have gained further dominance owing to its growing linkage to the tourism industry. Wilks, Pendergast and Leggat (2006) states in this regard that it is hard to uncover the reasons which have led to the growth of terrorism and its growing linkage to tourism activities. The tourism industry has become the target point for terrorism activities in the international scale owing to the slag of security and alertness. Tourists on tour tend to remain undeterred about the surrounding environment being lost in the fun of holidaying which becomes the target point of terrorist to easily lay their grounds upon. Wilks, Pendergast and Leggat (2006) further observe that the rate of infiltration of terrorist in tourism centers has also another potential reason other than the lack of alertness of the tourists. The functions of tourism mainly occur along the principal trade routes of any region. Thus the terrorists feel that attack on such trade and economic r outes would help in disrupting the economic activities of the region. Thus terrorist attacks on tourism helps in jeopardizing the trade and economic operations of a region making it poor. ... Any attack directed towards it would immediately result in loss of foreign revenue that will eventually weaken the economic position of the country and the government will in no time feel the brunt, running out of funds to carry out development of the nation. Wilks, Pendergast and Leggat (2006) also state that the growth of tourism industries of a region or country has increased its association with other industries like food and transport. Thus a spur in the terrorism activities linked with terrorism is bound to affect the potential industries of a region contributing to weakening of the economy. The linkage of terrorism operations with tourism industries can also be observed to be a potential factor that enables the terrorist outfits to gain considerable publicity. Tourist centers being largely linked with market places helps the terrorist gain wide amount of publicity having conducted a large massacre of human lives and property. It helps them reach their demands to the eyes and e ars of the higher authorities. It is also true that an attack against a group of foreign tourists even if futile would attract the global attention and put a question mark against the credibility of the government in maintaining law and order in the country and eventually might also put its reliability as a people’s body at a risk. Moreover each loss of life of foreign tourists might deteriorate the inter-nation relation and account to the loss of foreign allies. Finally, Wilks, Pendergast and Leggat (2006) state that the nature of the functions of tourism industry being so diversified and spread across international borders that it becomes difficult to trace the movement of terrorists inside hotels and tourist areas. People from

Role of the Public Relations Professional Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Role of the Public Relations Professional - Essay Example public relations department help increase the customer base of a company and it helps build a better corporate image which indirectly helps the marketing department. This paper discusses public relations and its impact in the corporate world. Public relations activities can either be perform in-house or by an external public relations agency. There are many successful businesses out there in the global economy. These companies may be good at their expertise, but most of them do not have the functional business knowledge to perform an adequate job with specific business functions such as public relations. Due to this business reality public relation agency such as 5W Public Relations exist. 5W is one of the 25 largest public relations agencies in the United States whose goal is to successful deliver their client’s messages to the target audiences (5wpr, 2009). Some of the corporate clients that enjoy the services of 5W are rapper Ice Cube, Barnes & Noble, Harrahs, Nice, Phillips Van Hausen Corporation, and McDonalds. Many of these corporate clients choose to outsource their public relations activities to public relations a public relation agency such as 5W because it more cost effective to contract them than to perform these types of activities themselves. For example in order to be successful with media relation you have good contacts with news and media channels to get media players to participate in your media initiatives. It is much easier for public relation agency to deal with the networking, than for a sole corporation or specific client to do it themselves. Public relations can have a high level of importance for corporation when they get into trouble due to bad corporate action that hurt the brand image of a firm. An example of a company that needed major help from its public relations activities after mishandling its international activities was Nike Corporation. In the late 1990’s Nike got involved in manufacturing activities in developing nation

Compare and contrast the ways that social media marketing can help Essay

Compare and contrast the ways that social media marketing can help organizations to market their products - Essay Example At the final section of the report, it has been analysed and observed that social media marketing not only helps in marketing products/services efficiently, but also provides immense facilities of creating long term and healthy relationship benefits with the existing as well as potential customers. In the modern age, social media has become one of the essential parts of human lives. It is often observed that more than 250 million people are the users of social media sites today. Perhaps it is owing to the benefits offered by social media as one of the most effective and convenient forms of communication between the people. With a similar consent, the business organisation has been using social media as their marketing tool for their products. Notably, social media marketing was in some way present from the traditional business module itself. Few of the traditional social media used for the promotion of the product are newspapers, radio and magazines, which were also denoted as the modern one-way communication tools at often instances. However, at a certain point of time, the feel for the development of newer social media marketing tools motivated organisations to perform better due to the number of such instances. For example, in the traditional era of social media development s, it was perceived to be impossible for the customers to give their feedbacks or comments to the organisation. However, in case of modern social media tools and the organisations adopting those, it has helped the business organisation to create their own contents for successful promotion of the product gaining better flexibility in their approach. Apparently, it aids the business organisation in promoting their products in a cost effective manner and allow its customers to view the product for free through easy access to the social networking sites (Zarrella, 2010). It has been

Constitutional Law of the European Union Essay Example for Free

Constitutional Law of the European Union Essay The European Court of Justice is the driving force behind European integration. The ECJ had elaborately defined the doctrines of supremacy and direct effect of the EC Law and provided remedies for damages caused by breach of EC Law by a Member State . Despite the initiatives of the ECJ, there have been conflicts between Community law and national law. Moreover, the ECJ made it clear that the EC law had supremacy over national law in the event of conflict as evidenced in the case of Costa v ENEL, wherein it held that a preliminary ruling by the Italian courts based on their national law would be of no significance. In Simmenthal, the ECJ clarified that the Community law was to take precedence over national law and that any provision of the national law that contravened the Community Law would be rescinded by it. Moreover, the ECJ prohibited the implementation of any national law that was in conflict with the Community law. The ECJ further ruled that no fundamental provision of any national law could challenge the supremacy of a directly applicable Community rule . This supremacy of Community law is one of the constitutive principles of the integration of the European Community legal order and it has been well embedded in the Treaty that established a Constitution for the European Union. The doctrine of supremacy of Community law, the principles of direct effect and uniform applicability are the primary ingredients of the Community. They are fundamental to the promotion of an effective Community legal order and form the unseen pillars of the European Constitution. Further, the doctrine of supremacy is the actual concrete personification of this constitutional power . The national constitutional courts of Member States found it very difficult to adopt the doctrine of supremacy and in the initial stages the Italian and German constitutional courts almost refused to adopt this doctrine into their respective national legislations, because they felt that they would be surrendering their power of constitutional review of secondary community law. Subsequently, the enlargement of the European Union provided a new paradigm to this doctrine of supremacy. This doctrine of supremacy was enforced by the ECJ in Costa v ENEL . This doctrine is a jurisprudential creation of the ECJ. Further, the Court clarified that the EEC Treaty had adopted a new legal system, which the Member States had integrated into their national legislation. Accordingly, the national courts were required to apply the Community law without any deviation and this generated a number of debates in the Member States. Ultimately, it was accepted by the Member States. However, total supremacy over the national constitutional provisions has not been achieved . In Frontini the Italian Constitutional Court had opined that the 1957 Act, which had accepted the provisions of the EEC Treaty, did not breach the Constitution. Moreover, the Italian court reserved to itself the right to review the continuing compatibility of the Treaty with the Constitution . In another case the Italian Constitutional Court, while accepting the precedence of Community law, maintained that the court had competence over any aspect of the relationship between Community law and municipal law . These decisions clearly established that the national constitutional courts had not completely accepted the supremacy of Community law. The German Constitutional Courts voiced their concern over the protection of fundamental rights in the decisions given in Solange I and II and introduced the concept of Kompetenz – Kompetenze. Even in the Banana case the German constitutional Court declined to give up its power to review secondary community legislation in order to protect fundamental rights . In the United Kingdom this doctrine created several problems, because the UK constitution bestows absolute power on Parliament. Further, the UK ratified a dualist policy concerning the relationship between international treaties and national law. Although such treaties were signed by the UK, they were not incorporated into the domestic law of the UK. In order to incorporate the treaties into national laws, the Parliament had to ratify them and this resulted in a problem in respect of accepting the doctrine of supremacy of Community law over national law. In the famous Factortame case the concept of the supremacy of Community law was subjected to a vast amount of discussion. In that case Spanish fishermen had argued that the norms for registering vessels under the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 were discriminatory and in conflict with the provisions of the EC Treaty. The House of Lords refused to grant any interim injunction against the Crown. The applicants in this case claimed that this would violate the Community law and the result was that a reference was made to the ECJ, which ruled in favour of these applicants. The ECJ further held that any piece of legislation in the national law that prevented a court from issuing interim relief would be tantamount to the violation of the Community law . The EOC case dealt with the suitability of the UK statute regarding unfair dismissal and redundancy pay in the broader context of the EC law . The UK law provided different benefits to employees working in full –time and part – time jobs. The appellant in the case, the Equal Opportunities Commission, opined that the statute was discriminating against female employees, which was in contravention of Article 141 of the EC Treaty and to other Community directives. The House of Lords held that the national legislation had violated the EC law and upheld the contention of the EOC. The approach of the European Court of Justice is at variance with the customary doctrine of precedent that is entrenched in domestic law. The objective of the ECJ is to bring about a European Union that follows the same law throughout its Member States and to this end it constantly endeavours to promote the EC Treaty. This could result in a change in the interpretation of legal principle over a period of time. Moreover, the ECJ bases its decisions on the extant circumstances and not on precedent. National courts of Member States in the European Union can obtain a preliminary ruling regarding the interpretation of European Union Law from the ECJ on the basis of the provisions inherent in Article 234 of the EC Treaty. However, it is not the primary objective of the ECJ to take decisions regarding the compatibility between the domestic and European laws. Further, it is also not the primary aim of the ECJ to apply the European Union Law to some specific facts of a case . The ECJ indicates the principle to be applied in a particular case and the case will have to be decided in the originating court, however, the ECJ ruling will have to be implemented by such a court. In the absence of an appeal from a national court, a reference will have to be made by the originating court, in case it is of the opinion that a clarification in respect of European Union Law is required. Nevertheless, there are instances where an ET, EAT or Appellate Court has to make a reference to the ECJ in order to pronounce judgement that is in accordance with the EU law. The function of the advocates general is to aid the judges in their judicial work. They do this by submitting analyses and recommendations regarding the issues raised in a particular case . In addition to the rights conferred on the nationals of the EU Member States by their respective national constitutions, the EU law comprises of another source that grants rights to them. As such the European Union law constitutes a legal system that in addition to being independent also, perhaps more importantly, takes precedence over the national laws of the Member States of the European Union. This European Union law comprises of treaties, which constitute primary legislation and regulations and directives that constitute secondary legislation. The importance of regulations is that they directly require compliance from the Member States without having to be codified into the national laws. However, in respect of the Directives, which are also legally binding, the onus of implementing them rests squarely with the Member States and these Member States have to do so by resorting to the relevant national law legislation on or before the final date set by the EU for such implementation. Accordingly, Article 189 of the European Economic Treaty states that â€Å"A Directive shall be binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member State to which it is addressed, but shall leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods. The European Court of Justice, subsequent to taking cognizance of the fact that Directives have to be implemented by the Member States, declared that individuals were well within their rights to ensure the implementation of Directives even in the event of failure by the Member States to meet the deadline set by the EU. In addition, individuals were permitted to enforce such rights in the national courts. The Van Gend en Loos decision unequivocally established the fact that in addition to creating obligations for the Member States to implement the Directives it also creates rights for the individual citizens of these Member States . The right of the Member States and the European Commission to proceed against other Member States before the European Court of Justice does not prohibit the lodging of complaints by individuals against the Member State to which they belong in their national courts. In this context, the European Court of Justice ruled that Article 12 of the EEC results in direct effect, which in turn result in the creation of rights for individuals and that these rights had to perforce protected by the national courts. Consequently, individuals have been empowered to ensure that rights granted by the Directives are enforced in the national courts . The offshoot of this is that individuals can ensure the implementation of human rights by resorting to legal action. In the Becker case it was clarified that if there is unconditionality and adequate precision in the provisions of a Directive that bestows individual rights, then individuals can resort to such provisions to contest the relevant national law . Furthermore, in the Francovich case the European Court of Justice established a test in three parts, which was to be utilized in order to ascertain whether the provisions that were inherent in a Directive, were sufficiently precise and unconditional in creating a right that was applicable to individuals. The ECJ has to consider the identity of the persons who are supported by the guarantee and the content of the guarantee. The identity of the person in breach and who is liable to pay the guarantee has also to be ascertained. Private persons and institutes cannot be subjected to the provisions of the Directives, because it is only the state that is subject to the Directives. The decision in the case of Francovich served to establish that damages could be claimed by an individual in a national court, in the event of a Member State’s failure to implement a Directive properly. The ECJ clarified that the spirit of the European law and the protection of rights would become ineffective if an individual failed to secure compensation. Moreover, the States are required to implement Directives wholly and properly. The ECJ decided in Brasserie du Pecheur v. Germany that there must be a sufficiently serious breach by the State in order to determine its liability. This dictum applies to situations where national legislation is implemented improperly and inconsistently with a Directive. In order to determine whether Community law was breached with sufficient seriousness, it is sufficient to demonstrate that the Member State or Community institution had seriously and knowingly ignored the limits to its discretionary power. Some of the factors that the court has to consider are the exactitude and clarity of the rule that was breached, the amount of discretion allowed to the national or Community authorities, whether the damage caused was intentional or not and whether there had been any adoption or rejection of measures that were in violation of the Community law . Member States for whom the Directives are specifically issued should be bound by them. Sometimes Directives can be addressed to one Member State or a group of them, but in general Directives are addressed to all the Member States. The exception to this practice is in respect of Directives that pertain to Common Agricultural Policy. The European Commission initiates a binding legal action in situations where a Member State fails to incorporate the provisions of a Directive into their national legislation or if the national legislation fails to properly fulfill the requirements of the Directive. Previously, the Directives were not adequately binding upon the Member States in their implementation. To address this problem, the ECJ promoted the doctrine of direct effect. Thus even if a Member States fails implement the Directives there is legal initiation under the principle of direct effect. This was clearly established in the case of Francovich v Italy. In that case, the ECJ attributed liability to Italy for its failure to implement a Directive. The Easytalk was a private limited company that had been formed with help from the UK government. It was established in order to encourage students in the EU to come to the UK in order to learn English. This company advertised all over the EU universities by means of pamphlets, in which it was stated that the course instructors would be highly qualified scholars in English with a great deal of teaching experience. A Directive was issued by the EU that prohibited the issuance of advertisements that misled and imparted false information. This Directive was to be implemented by January 2007. However, the UK government failed to implement this Directive by this deadline and in effect this Directive had been ignored by the UK government, because the latter was of the opinion that this Directive was unlawful. Subsequently, a French student, Antoine came to the UK and registered for a course that taught English. However, once the classes commenced, Antoine realized that the faculty comprised of students who were not qualified teachers of English as a foreign language. On being approached, the institute where he had enrolled refused to refund the fees paid by him. The direct effect of directives has been restrained by the concepts of vertical and horizontal effect. Van Duyn and Ratti affirmed that directives only have vertical effect so that an individual who is affected by the states’ failure to implement a directive properly or not at all only has rights against the state and not against a non-state entity or other individuals, as the directive imposes the obligation of implementation upon the state. Therefore a horizontal limitation was placed upon the scope of the direct effect of directives. This principle was addressed in Marshall v Southampton and South West Hampshire Health Authority , in which the applicant who was employed by the Health authority, was required to retire at the age of sixty – two years, while men doing the same work did not have to retire until the age of sixty – five years. Although under national law, by virtue of the Sex Discrimination Act, this was not discriminatory, she succeeded in her claim for unfair dismissal by relying on the Equal Treatment directive, which had not been implemented in the UK. This directive was sufficiently clear to have direct effect but the courts took the opportunity to confirm that a directive may not of itself impose obligations on an individual and that a provision may not be relied upon as such against such a person. Therefore since the health authority was an organ of the state, the directive had vertical direct effect. Since the respondent in this problem is a private limited company, the claimant cannot approach the Commission under the vertical direct effect. However, he can seek justice under the EU law by resorting to the procedure of indirect effect. Since, the UK government had not implemented the Directive; the claimant can approach the national courts of the UK to compel the government to apply the Directive. In respect of damages, the ECJ further held in R v H. M. Treasury, ex parte British Telecommunications plc that parties who had sustained loss as a result of incorrect implementation of a directive by a state, could claim damages for the loss sustained on such an account. In contrast to this, if a state has failed to fulfill its obligations regarding Directives, whether by non-implementation or incorrect implementation, an individual cannot request invocation of the horizontal direct effect of a directive against another individual. Similarly the effectiveness of non-implemented or incorrectly-implemented directives that do not have direct effect through the horizontal limitation has been enhanced through the doctrine of indirect effect, which emerged from Von Colson . In this case the ECJ held that national courts are required to interpret their national law in light of the wording and the purpose of the directive so that the directive is given some effect despite the absence of proper domestic implementation. This principle may be used under two circumstances; first, where the defendant is a state entity but a directive is not vertically directly effective as its provisions are insufficiently precise, conditional and require further state action for their implementation. Second, the provisions of a directive could be indirectly enforced against a non-state entity i. e. it could be applied horizontally as between individuals. The court was confronted with a ‘horizontal’ situation in Marleasing , in which this position was confirmed. Therefore, if national law was in existence that could be read in conformity with a non-implemented directive, then an individual could enforce a legal remedy against another individual through the interpretative route without seeking to enforce the directive directly and encountering the barrier to horizontal effect. In respect of the Easytalk institute the claimant can file a case for breach of contract and false representation in the UK courts in order to obtain redressal for the loss, damage and frustration caused to him. The question arises as to whether the aggrieved individuals can claim damages against the state in the national courts. The ECJ clarified that the state had to pay compensation for the damages caused due to non – implementation of a Directive and that the conditions laid down for such claim of damages must not be less reasonable than what was specified for a domestic claim. Furthermore, the Member State should not unduly complicate the claim process.

Solution of a System of Linear Equations for INTELx64

Solution of a System of Linear Equations for INTELx64 A multi core hyper-threaded solution of a system of linear equations for INTELx64 architecture Richa Singhal ABSTRACT. A system of linear equations forms a very fundamental principal of linear algebra with very wide spread applications involving fields such as physics, chemistry and even electronics. With systems growing in complexity and demand of ever increasing precision for results it becomes the need of the hour to have methodologies which can solve a large system of such equations to accuracy with fastest performance. On the other hand as frequency scaling is becoming limiting factor to achieve performance improvement of processors modern architectures are deploying multi core approach with features like hyper threading to meet performance requirements. The paper targets solving a system of linear equations for a multi core INTELx64 architecture with hyper threading using standard LU decomposition methodology. This paper also presents a Forward seek LU decomposition approach which gives better performance by effectively utilizing L1 cache of each processor in the multi core architectu re. The sample uses as input a matrix of 40004000 double precision floating point representation of the system. 1. INTRODUCTION A system of linear equations is a collection of linear equations of same variable. A system of linear equations forms a very fundamental principal of linear algebra with very wide spread applications involving fields such as physics, chemistry and even electronics. With systems growing in complexity and demand of ever increasing precision for results it becomes the need of the hour to have methodologies which can solve a large system of such equations to accuracy with fastest performance. On the other hand as frequency scaling is becoming limiting factor to achieve performance improvement. With increasing clock frequency the power consumption goes up P = C x V2 x F P is power consumption V is voltage F is frequency It was because of this factor only that INTEL had to cancel its Tejas and Jayhawk processors. A newer approach is to deploy multiple cores which are capable to parallel process mutually exclusive tasks of a job to achieve the requisite performance improvement. Hyper threading is another method which makes a single core appears as two by using some additional registers. Having said that it requires that traditional algorithms which are sequential in nature to be reworked and factorized so that they can efficiently utilize the processing power offered by these architectures. This paper aims to provide an implementation for standard LU decomposition method used to solve system of linear equations adopting a forward seek methodology to efficiently solve a system of double precision system of linear equations with 4000 variable set. The proposed solution addresses all aspects of problem solving starting from file I/O to read the input system of equations to actually solving the system to generate required output using multi core techniques. The solution assumes that the input problem has one and only one unique solution possible. 2. CHALLENGES The primary challenge is to rework the sequential LU decomposition method so that the revised framework can be decomposed into a set of independent problems which can be solved independently as far as possible. Then use this LU decomposition output and apply standard techniques of forward and backward substitution each again using multi core techniques to reach the final output. Another challenge associated is cache management. Since a set of 4000 floating point variable will take a memory approximately 32KB of memory and there will 4000 different equations put up together, hence efficiently managing all data in cache becomes a challenge. A forward seek methodology was used in LU decomposition which tries to keep the relevant data at L1 cache before it is required to be processed. It also tries to maximise operations on set of data once it is in cache so that cache misses are minimum. 3. IMPACT With a 40 core INTEXx64 machine with hyper threading the proposed method could achieve an acceleration of ~72X in performance as compared to a standard sequential implementation. 4. STATE OF THE ART The proposed solution uses state of the art programming techniques available for multithreaded architecture. It also uses INTEX ADVANCED VECTOR SET (AVX) intrinsic instruction set to achieve maximum hyper threading. Native POSIX threads were used for the purpose. Efficient disk IO was made possible by mapping input vector file to RAM directly using mmap. 5. PROPOSED SOLUTION A system of linear equations representing CURRENT / VOLTAGE relationship for a set of resistances is defined as [R][I] = [V] Steps to solve this can be illustrated as Decompose [R] into [L] and [U] Solve [L][Z] = [V] for [Z] Solve [U][I] = [Z] for [I] Resistance matrix is modelled as an array 40004000 of double precision floating type elements. The memory address being 16 byte aligned so that RAM access speeds up for read and write operations. FLOAT RES[MATRIX_SIZE*MATRIX_SIZE] __attribute__((aligned(0x1000))); Voltage matrix is modelled as an array 40001 of double precision floating type elements. The memory address being 16 byte aligned so that RAM access speeds up for read and write operations. FLOAT V [MATRIX_SIZE] _attribute__ ((aligned(0x1000))); LU Decomposition To solve the basic model of parallel LU decomposition as suggested above was adopted. Here as we move along the diagonal of the main matrix we calculate the factor values for Lower triangular matrix. Simultaneously each row operation updates elements for upper triangular matrix. Basic routine to do row operation This routine is the innermost level routine which updates the rows which will eventually determine the upper triangular matrix. For each element of row there is one subtraction and one multiplication operation (highlighted). LOOP B designates row major operation, while LOOP A designates column major operation. Basic Algorithm SUB LUDECOM (A, N) DO K = 1, n – 1 DO I = K+1, N Ai, k = Ai, k / Ak, j DO j = K + 1, N Ai, j = Ai, j Ai, k * Ak, j END DO END DO END DO END LUDECOM Each row major operation (LOOP B) iteration can be independently executed on a separate core. This was achieved by using POSIX threads which were non-blocking in nature. Because of mutual exclusion over the set of data MUTEX locks are not required provided we keep the column major operation (LOOP A) sequential. Also for 2 consecutive elements in one row operation 2 subtraction and 2 multiplication operations are done. These 2 operations each are done in single step using Single Instruction Multiple Data instructions (Hyper threading) Multi core Algorithm SUB LUDECOM_BLOCK (A, K, BLOCK_START, BLOCK_END) DO I = BLOCK_START, BLOCK_END Ai, K = Ai, K / AK, K DO j = K + 1, N Ai, j = Ai, j Ai, K * Ak, K END DO END DO END LUDECOM_BLOCK SUB LUDECOM (A, N) DO K = 1, N – 1 BLOCK_SIZE = (N – K) / MAX_THREADS Thread = 0 WHILE (Thread P_THREAD ( LUDECOMPOSITION_BLOCK (A, K, Thread*BLOCK_SIZE, Thread*(BLOCK_SIZE + 1) ) ENDWHILE END DO END LUDECOM Forward substitution Once LU decomposition is done, forward substitution gives matrix [Z]. Here again Single Instruction Multiple Data instructions are used [L][Z] = [V] for [Z] Backward substitution After forward substitution final step of backward substitution gives current matrix [I] [U][I] = [Z] for [I] Here again Single Instruction Multiple Data instructions are used 5. CACHE IMPROVEMENTS On profiling it is observed that the core processing in above solution happens to be LU decomposition. However if we create threads equal in number to available cores the result was improving but not in same proportion to the number of cores. A VALGRIND analysis of cache performance reveals that because of large size of matrix each row operation was suffering a performance hit due to cache misses happening. If we observe above solution it could be observed any jth is processed for (j – 1) columns. So (j – 1) threads are forked for each iteration of column major operation (LOOP A). The data to be processed refers to same memory location but by the time next operation or thread is forked for the same row the corresponding memory data had been pushed out of lower level caches. Thus cache miss happens. To solve this we adopted a forward seek approach wherein we first pre-process a set of columns sequentially thus enabling more operations on a row to be performed in the same thread. Now the data happens to be at lower level cache as we do not have to wait for another thread to process the same row. Multi core Algorithm with forward seek operation SUB LUDECOM_BLOCK_SEEK (A, K, S, BLOCK_START, BLOCK_END) DO I = BLOCK_START, BLOCK_END DO U = 1, S M = K + U -1 Ai, M = Ai, M / AM, j DO j = K + M + 1, N Ai, j = Ai, j Ai, M * AK, M END DO END DO END DO END LUDECOM_BLOCK SUB LUDECOM (A, N) K = 1 WHILE (K //Forward seek DO J = K, K + F_SEEK LU_DECOM_BLOCK_SEEK (A, J, 0, J, J+F_SEEK) END DO //Multi core K = K + F_SEEK DO L = 1, N – 1 BLOCK_SIZE = (N – L) / MAX_THREADS Thread = 0 WHILE (Thread P_THREAD ( LUDECOMPOSITION_BLOCK (A, L, F_SEEK, Thread*BLOCK_SIZE, Thread*(BLOCK_SIZE + 1) ) ENDWHILE END DO END WHILE END LUDECOM CONCLUSION Results For purpose of computation a sample array of double precision floating point matrix of size 40004000 was taken. Performance numbers were generated on an 8 core INTEL architecture machine. TABLE 4.i A programmer that writes implicitly parallel code does not need to worry about task division or process communication, focusing instead in the problem that his or her program is intended to solve. Implicit parallelism generally facilitates the design of parallel programs and therefore results in a substantial improvement of programmer productivity. Many of the constructs necessary to support this also add simplicity or clarity even in the absence of actual parallelism. The example above, of List comprehension in the sin() function, is a useful feature in of itself. By using implicit parallelism, languages effectively have to provide such useful constructs to users simply to support required functionality (a language without a decent for loop, for example, is one few programmers will use). Languages with implicit parallelism reduce the control that the programmer has over the parallel execution of the program, resulting sometimes in less-than-optimal solution The makers of the Oz programming language also note that their early experiments with implicit parallelism showed that implicit parallelism made debugging difficult and object models unnecessarily awkward.[2] A larger issue is that every program has some parallel and some serial logic. Binary I/O, for example, requires support for such serial operations as Write() and Seek(). If implicit parallelism is desired, this creates a new requirement for constructs and keywords to support code that cannot be threaded or distributed. REFERENCES Gottlieb, Allan; Almasi, George S. (1989).Highly parallel computing. Redwood City, Calif.: Benjamin/Cummings.ISBN0-8053-0177-1. S.V. Adve et al. (November 2008).Parallel Computing Research at Illinois: The UPCRC Agenda(PDF). [emailprotected], University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The main techniques for these performance benefits– increased clock frequency and smarter but increasingly complex architectures– are now hitting the so-called power wall. The computer industry has accepted that future performance increases must largely come from increasing the number of processors (or cores) on a die, rather than making a single core go faster. Asanovic et al. Old [conventional wisdom]: Power is free, but transistors are expensive. New [conventional wisdom] is [that] power is expensive, but transistors are free Bunch, James R.;Hopcroft, John(1974), Triangular factorization and inversion by fast matrix multiplication,Mathematics of Computation28: 231–236,doi:10.2307/2005828,ISSN0025-5718. Cormen, Thomas H.;Leiserson, Charles E.;Rivest, Ronald L.;Stein, Clifford(2001),Introduction to Algorithms, MIT Press and McGraw-Hill,ISBN978-0-262-03293-3. Golub, Gene H.;Van Loan, Charles F.(1996),Matrix Computations(3rd ed.), Baltimore: Johns Hopkins,ISBN978-0-8018-5414-9.

Dangers With Living in Close Proximity to Power Lines

Dangers With Living in Close Proximity to Power Lines Research Task: ASSESSMENT OF DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH LIVING IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO POWER LINES GAËLLE ROBERTSON Introduction There have been several deliberations about the biological effects of exposure to electric and magnetic fields (EMF) and their possible detrimental effects on the health of humans and animals over the years. Illnesses attributed to power lines include abnormal heart pulses, leukaemia, cancers, miscarriages, birth defects, and other conditions that might lead to premature death. Regardless of the conclusions of many studies that find no evident risks, many people remain uncertain about the safety of power lines. The aim of this investigation is to determine and discuss the ethical issues behind power lines in residential areas and whether there are dangers that should be seriously considered. Research Question Are electromagnetic fields around power lines harmful to people living in close proximity to them? Hypothesis Those exposed to power lines in close proximity for long periods of time may obtain health problems however the power lines are not the main cause of the health issue but rather a factor. The reason for this is that there is not sufficient research conducted to prove that power lines are dangerous and that no health programmes have advised people to refrain from living near power lines or protected them from them either. There are many possible risks associated with electromagnetic radiation as it is not only available from power lines but also from apparatus such as microwave ovens, computers, wireless networks and cell phones. However these are more powerful forms of electromagnetic fields that are essentially more detrimental to human health than power lines. Data Research All electricity is generated, transmitted, or used and electric and magnetic fields are created due to the existence and motion of electric charges. (Gledhill, 2014) An electromagnetic field (EMF) has two components: an electric field and a magnetic field. When two objects have a voltage difference between them, an electric field is created. There is an electric field between a power line and the ground below because the power line is at a large voltage relative to the ground. (Nedlands, 2006)The electric field is measured in volts per meter (V/m) or in kilovolts per meter (kV/m). (See Figure 1 below) A magnetic field exists when electric current flows through a wire. Thus magnetic fields surround the power lines conducting current from the power station to residential areas. (Geoff Cackett, 1979)Transformers decrease these high voltages for local distribution to homes and businesses. Figure 1 – Graph indicating the relationship between the Magnetic Field and Distance from the High-Voltage Power Line (Runge, 2011) The magnetic field from a power line can vary extensively because the current in the wires depends on the amount of power expended. In contrast, the electric field from a power line varies very little because the voltage fundamentally remains constant. In general, these fields are time-varying vector quantities categorised by a number of constraints which include their frequency, phase, direction, and magnitude. (Portier, 1998) Electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) are areas of energy that are invisible and connected with the usage of electrical power(Birnbaum, 2014)EMFs are characterized by wavelength or frequency into one of two radioactive categories: non-ionizing and ionizing.( See Figure 2 below) High-voltage power lines that transmit electricity expose anything nearby to electromagnetic radiation as they create electromagnetic fields around them. (Goldberg, 2014) Electromagnetic radiation is any form of energy that is sent as waves or rays between two places. Electricity and magnetism are both jointly responsible for many kinds of radiation. (Knapp, 2002) Figure 2 Table indicating differences between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation types (Gledhill, 2014) The strongest EMFs are found around those major transmissioned lines that carry the highest voltages and currents. EMFs are also present around suburban distribution systems that carry large currents but at much lower voltages,. (Nedlands, 2006) Electric and magnetic fields are also different in the way they interact with our bodies. Electric fields have very little penetration, while magnetic fields can penetrate to our inner organs. (Toufexis, 1989) A biological effect is any change that could occur either short term or long term in the physical state of the human body. (Runge, 2011) EMF’s are able to induce the conductive matter of the human body and may result in observed changes in the human health. The epidemiological studies have inspired laboratory research into how EMFs could be associated with cancer. It is generally recognised by researchers that EMFs cannot initiate a cancer. They suggest instead that EMFs may play a part in promoting the growth of an existing cancer. Researchers from the University of Tasmania and Britains Bristol University(See Figure 3 below) found that in a study of 850 lymphoma, leukaemia and cancer related conditions that living for an elongated period near high-voltage power lines increased the risk for these conditions much later in life (Zeman, 2011). However, the British Medical Journal published a paper on the investigation of the effect of 50 Hz magnetic fields on the existence of several types of cancer and concluded by stating that the extremely low frequency magnetic fields of high voltage power lines at typical residential levels do not appear to be associated with an increase in cancer among various adults; this also pertains for the haematological malignancies and for tumours of the nervous system as well as for the male and female hormone related cancers in genitals. (Verkasalo., 1996) As for specific cancer types, the presence of extremely low frequency magnetic fields remains indefinite. Numerous studies appea r to display a weak association between incidence of some cancers and the exposure to power-frequency magnetic fields. The reason for this is that the electromagnetic energy from power lines are of extremely low frequency and therefore low energy. They are evidently different in frequency from ionizing radiation such as X-rays and gamma rays and are non-ionizing. Biological material absorbs the energy from higher-frequency more readily. In contrast, extremely low frequency EMF does not have enough energy to heat body tissues or cause ionization. Generally, the evidence that power line fields cause or donate to cancer is weak to non-existent according to most scientists. Figure 3 – The study conducted by the University of Tasmania and Britains Bristol University produced these results. (Zeman, 2011) According to ESKOM and several other studies, electric fields of the intensity encountered close to power lines, cannot damage crops. (See Figure 4 below) Laboratory studies that expose animals to electromagnetic fields, looking for variations in body function, chemistry, behaviour or general health and have also concluded that they have no effect on the fertility, behaviour, carcass quality, reproduction, meat, milk and egg production or the development of their offspring. (Rayleigh, 2006) Figure 4 – Table indicating results of various investigations conducted on the effects of power lines on crops (Rayleigh, 2006) Disadvantages of power lines in residential areas: Recent studies approve a reported association between eminent long term health risks (e.g. cancer) and proximity to residential power lines, but it is not certain if the observation is coincidental or not. Physical impossibility of any health effect has been argued by scientists due to weak levels of EMFs, while others uphold that the potential health risks should not be terminated. (Zeman, 2011) The World Health Organization (WHO) publications state that EMF such as those from power lines, can also cause short term symptoms such as headaches, fatigue,anxiety, insomnia, prickling and/or burning skin, rashesand muscle pain. (Verkasalo., 1996) Power lines are not visually appealing in residential areas and are more prone to external damage as they are exposed to people living around them. Advantages of power lines in residential areas: House prices are less expensive closer to power lines as people usually look for homes without obstructions. Any technical or maintenance problems are fixed as soon as possible as many people depend on the residential power lines. There is no compelling evidence of health hazards from power lines as many forms or research indicate that some health risks are associated with power lines in close proximity but it does not prove that they are the direct cause of any biological dangers. (Goldberg, 2014) CONCLUSION Therefore there are known health risks that appear to relate to power lines and their electromagnetic fields emitted but no evidence completely proves that biological effects have been conclusively demonstrated to be caused by living near high-voltage power lines. Many scientists believe that exposure to the low-level EMFs near power lines is safe, but some scientists continue research to look for possible health risks associated with these fields. The risks are clearly small if there are any risks associated with living near power lines. References Birnbaum, L. S., 2014. Department of Health and Human Services. [Online] Available at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/index.cfm [Accessed 2 August 2014]. Geoff Cackett, R. K. A. S., 1979. Core Physics. In: C. Ratray, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 211. Gledhill, M., 2014. Electromagnetic fields (EMF). [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/ [Accessed 2 August 2014]. Goldberg, R. B., 2014. Environment, Health and Safety. [Online] Available at: http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/emf.htm [Accessed 2 August 2014]. Knapp, B., 2002. Visual Science Encyclopedia. In: M. Sanders, ed. Heat and Energy. Danbury: Grolier Educational, pp. 13-14. Nedlands, 2006. Powerlines, Electromagnetic Fields and Health. [Online] Available at: http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/cproot/1372/2/Powerlines_Electromagnetic_Fields_and_Health.pdf [Accessed 2 August 2014]. Portier, C. J., 1998. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. [Online] Available at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/assets/docs_a_e/emf1.pdf [Accessed 2 August 2014]. Rayleigh, R., 2006. EFFECT OF ELECTRICAL FIELDS, IONS AND NOISE. [Online] Available at: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/coarc/sites/default/files/publication/88 DC lines cattle crops (88).pdf [Accessed 2 August 2014]. Runge, K., 2011. Eskom Fact Sheet. [Online] Available at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/emfrapid. [Accessed 3 August 2014]. Toufexis, A., 1989. Health: Panic Over Power Lines. Times Magazine, 127 July , pp. 40-42. Verkasalo., D., 1996. British Medical Journal. [Online] Available at: http://www.bmj.com/content/313/7064/1047.abstract [Accessed 3 August 2014]. Zeman, G., 2011. Health Physics Society. [Online] Available at: http://hps.org/hpspublications/articles/powerlines.html [Accessed 3 August 2014]. Glossary Plagiarism Checker 1 | Page

Burnt by the Sun :: Nikita Mikhalkov Burnt by the Sun Movies Essays

Burnt by the Sun Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun was released in 1994, a year in which over seven decades of communism were undoubtedly still a vivid memory in the eyes of the Russian people. The transition from dictatorship to democracy left them with no choice but to try and disregard their past in order to better accept the many changes that the future would bring. In Burnt by the Sun, however, the director focuses on the characters' human emotions rather than condemn their ideology or their motivations. He thus brings us close to these individuals who are clutching the remnants of the ideals they originally fought for, and who, with the return of an old friend, are suddenly forced to simultaneously confront their future and search through their past. Throughout the whole movie this is the main theme the viewer is given to reflect on: the clash between the sweet, safe, nostalgic past and the forthcoming of a bitter, dangerous, uncertain future. This theme is particularly alive in the sequence 'Arrival of Summer Santa'. By analyzing the opening segment of this sequence, we realize that it is the editing which renders the conflict so palpable. From one cut to the next, we learn Nadia and Mitia's implicit memories and desires; during their conversation, the cutting alone makes us realize what will happen; near the end of the sequence, one simple cut says more than a minute-long scene ever could have done. Thanks to the editing, we become involved with the characters, and grow fully aware of the symbolic opposition between Nadia and Mitia, between past and future. The sequence opens with various shots of the Red Army pioneers marching along the road. We gradually move to the back of the parade until we see Mitia, in disguise, marching with them. However, the camera only stays with him for a brief instant. It tilts down to reveal a young boy who is probably the same age as Nadia, and right after that we cut to a shot of her, at the gate, saluting the pioneers. That single cut reveals the entire essence of Nadia's character. She has one desire: to be a pioneer. She has been raised in a family that cultivates the memory of an idealistic communist regime, in which unity and devotion prevail. Nadia embodies the memories and desires of her people: memories of a past utopia, and desires to keep that utopia alive. Burnt by the Sun :: Nikita Mikhalkov Burnt by the Sun Movies Essays Burnt by the Sun Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun was released in 1994, a year in which over seven decades of communism were undoubtedly still a vivid memory in the eyes of the Russian people. The transition from dictatorship to democracy left them with no choice but to try and disregard their past in order to better accept the many changes that the future would bring. In Burnt by the Sun, however, the director focuses on the characters' human emotions rather than condemn their ideology or their motivations. He thus brings us close to these individuals who are clutching the remnants of the ideals they originally fought for, and who, with the return of an old friend, are suddenly forced to simultaneously confront their future and search through their past. Throughout the whole movie this is the main theme the viewer is given to reflect on: the clash between the sweet, safe, nostalgic past and the forthcoming of a bitter, dangerous, uncertain future. This theme is particularly alive in the sequence 'Arrival of Summer Santa'. By analyzing the opening segment of this sequence, we realize that it is the editing which renders the conflict so palpable. From one cut to the next, we learn Nadia and Mitia's implicit memories and desires; during their conversation, the cutting alone makes us realize what will happen; near the end of the sequence, one simple cut says more than a minute-long scene ever could have done. Thanks to the editing, we become involved with the characters, and grow fully aware of the symbolic opposition between Nadia and Mitia, between past and future. The sequence opens with various shots of the Red Army pioneers marching along the road. We gradually move to the back of the parade until we see Mitia, in disguise, marching with them. However, the camera only stays with him for a brief instant. It tilts down to reveal a young boy who is probably the same age as Nadia, and right after that we cut to a shot of her, at the gate, saluting the pioneers. That single cut reveals the entire essence of Nadia's character. She has one desire: to be a pioneer. She has been raised in a family that cultivates the memory of an idealistic communist regime, in which unity and devotion prevail. Nadia embodies the memories and desires of her people: memories of a past utopia, and desires to keep that utopia alive.

Affirmative Action and Higher Education Essay -- Critical Thinking Essa

Affirmative Action and Higher Education    Two people stand in a room looking at a vibrant painting and receive a totally different image. This is something we all realize can happen. It is our different perspectives that make us valuable too each other. When trying to solve a problem or create a new idea, we need each other to bring forth considerations and concepts that would never occur otherwise. This concept is something most of us grasp in theory, yet it never ceases to confound and confuse us if someone draws a conclusion tangent from ours when presented with the same information. This situation lies at the heart of the argument over affirmative action. Policies that are viewed by some as righting past wrongs are viewed by others as creating a level playing field or even instigating a new phase of unjust discrimination. Part of this confusion is because the range of views not only shifts between people, but also over time. Policies that once appeared to be necessary can, in a few decades, seem excessive. When Justice P owell, along with the rest of the United States Supreme Court, handed down the decision in Regents of University of California v. Bakke in 1978, he attempted to give a rational for affirmative action in higher education that did not rely on retribution for one race; however, over time modest progress improving minority representation in schools have combined with the frustrations of a new generation to create a present situation that puts the past's policies under new political and legal scrutiny. When the Bakke decision was handed down it set standards for what affirmative action programs should be like. Specifically, it referred to the Harvard process (Schauer 592), but abstractly it was more gener... ...ronicle. November 5, 1998. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/11/05/MN16107.DTL. National Center for Policy Analysis. "Racial Preferences Don't Help Students Graduate." Idea House. June 11, 1997. http://www.ncpa.org/pd/affirm/pdaa/pdaa12.html. Regents of the University of California. "Text of Resolutions SP-1 and SP-2." Representations Online. Summer 1996. http://violet.berkeley.edu:7000/R55/regents.html. Schauer, Frederick and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. The Philosophy of Law. Harcourt Brace College Publishers: Austin. 1996. Sparks. District Judge. Hopwood v. The State of Texas. August 19, 1994. http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/hopwood/hoptxt.htm. Sowell, Thomas. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. "Body Count versus Education." AEI On the Issues. August 1997. http://www.aei.org/oti/oti7919.htm.