Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Essay

Shelley wanted the audience in this scene to feel greater sympathy for the monster as he is turned away yet again by mankind because he is simply judged too quickly because of his appearance. Branagh remains true to Shelley’s intentions in this scene by making the monster appear heartbroken. Cries echo through the forest, he runs with a limp through the forest away from the house and collapses on the ground as soon as he thinks he is out of sight from the family. These things were very good for building up sympathy for the monster. This scene is also where we see the monster beginning to change. He goes back to the house and sees that the family have fled their home, this makes the monster so angry and upset that he sets fire to the cottage and swears that he will have revenge on the man who made him, so he reads the journal left in his jacket and goes to Geneva to get his revenge on Frankenstein. Branagh made this part of his film very dramatic by using very fast powerful music against the roaring of flames and black smoke that engulfed the cottage and the monster stood in front of the cottage looking fiercely at the flames with a look of anger in his eyes. This is good because it shows that the emotions and feelings which the monster has been hiding are all being forced out of him because he is determined to find answers to all the questions he has about his life and this is exactly how Shelley intended this scene to look as the monster suddenly realises his purpose of life is an experiment. When the monster kills William and sets up Justine Branagh managed to plan this very well because Shelley wanted the monster to kill the little brother and also be able to plant it on Justine without losing sympathy from the audience for the monster and Branagh is able to do this by not actually showing the monster killing William. In the next scene the monster and Frankenstein meet in the mountains, the monster has his chance to get his answers from the man who made him. The monster comes across as being very certain of his knowledge and his feelings. This appears to scare Frankenstein because he doesn’t actually know why he did something so evil and didn’t realise the greatness of the pain he had caused. Shelley wanted this conversation between the monster and Frankenstein to make the audience judge the monster as the ‘good guy’ and Frankenstein as the ‘bad guy. ‘ Branagh does this by making the monster talk and ask a lot more questions than Frankenstein. Frankenstein has a look of shock on his face throughout the conversation but the monster looks very certain and meaningful of everything he says to Victor, again making the monster seem superior to Frankenstein. Shelley wanted the audience to feel that the monster only did certain evil things because he was given emotions and senses but not shown how to use them and Branagh fits that into the film by the monster asking Victor Why he made him and brought him into the world to live and so very quickly and then left him to die. Shelley believed that no child should be bought into the world without being loved by parents; Branagh shows this belief of Shelley’s by building up a father and son relationship and shows the father-like character abandoning an innocent child-like character. The monster asks one thing of Frankenstein and that is to have a bride that will look as ‘ugly’ as him so that she would accept him for whom he is and vows that they will never be seen again. This again shows the maturity and sense of the monster. Frankenstein grants him this and promises he will have his bride. Frankenstein doesn’t keep his promise and returns home to marry his bride and travel away with armed men on their wedding night so they will have protection if the monster does come to kill them which he promised he would if he did not get his bride. It is a dark and stormy night and raining very heavily which makes it very hard to see through the dark night, Frankenstein goes outside because he thinks he hears the monsters pipe playing and leaves Elizabeth on her own, quiet slow music start to play but it starts to get faster and louder which says to the viewer that the monster is close by, which he is because he climbs through the window and punches Elizabeth in the chest and pulls her heart out, spraying blood everywhere making a very gruesome sound and very nasty to look at. Frankenstein refuses to accept the death of his new bride so he takes her back to his laboratory and starts cutting up Justine’s body and stitching parts of her and Elizabeth together and revives her so once again we see all the gory bits of limbs being cut up and sewn together, as Elizabeth awakens she realises what Victor has done to her as the monster comes into the laboratory and mistakes her for his bride which victor had promised her, she becomes so angry and upset with the fact that she has been part of Victor ‘playing God’ she sets herself on fire and runs through the house alighting everything. This scene is again highly over exaggerated, as it is very gory and horrifically unnecessary to the viewer. As Walton and his crew come to burn Frankenstein’s body the monster emerges from the distance and is offered by Walton to come with them, this being his first offering of acceptance to mankind, the monster says â€Å"he was my father† and decides to set himself alight upon Frankenstein’s body so that they burnt together. I think Branagh managed to remain true to most of Shelley’s intentions of ‘Frankenstein’ by portraying the monsters character as a very innocent, childlike character linking it all in very well with Shelley’s beliefs she had before and whilst writing ‘Frankenstein’. Branagh definitely pandered to the accepted stereotype of the horror genre by showing a lot of close-ups of quite disturbing images and very horrific noises that went with the images that a book can’t do. Branagh also used a very wide range of music that managed to fit into all the horrific parts of his film very well. Charlotte Tufnell 10M Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Gift Shop Red Flags Essay

The interest expense on the income statement for the year is $1,560. This one is kind of tricky – you have to pay interest on loans there is really no way around it. You could either pay off the loan with the money that is in savings – this would save you a ton on interest – or you could try to find another bank with a lower interest rate for this. Because this is a non-profit organization paying interest on a loan is really unrealistic – If I were in control of the budget this would be paid off with the money that is in the checking account. Red Flag 4 The balance sheet shows that the checking account has over $20,000 in it, and the account does not pay interest. The gift shop does not have an interest bearing account. This is a problem because the gift shop is a non for profit organization so it really needs to be a little smarter with its finances – this checking account should really be an interest baring account. This needs to be switched over – it might not make a fortune but it would definitely be better served if we were gaining interest on this money that is just sitting here. Red Flag 5 You notice that in the floral cooler there are many flower arrangements which are looking as if they are dying. Not only is this not appealing to the customers that do come into the gift shop but this also means that whomever is doing the ordering for the gift shop is ordering more than they are selling – someone needs to go throw and make sure that there is not a lot of back stock for the gift shop – ordering more than the gift shop is selling is an internal control that can be fixed. Red Flag 6 There are five employees who are paid; one fulltime and the rest are part-time. The fulltime employee purchases the stock, which is to be resold. She places purchase orders, receives the goods, and pays vendors. Her sister is also a part-time employee. I really do not see the need to have that many employees running a gift shop that is not making any profit. If cutting back some hours would help until we can get the gift shop back to a profit or even just where we are coming out even then I think that should be done. We also need to make sure that there is just one person handling the books if we have to many employee’s doing the ordering and such than mistakes may happen. Our fulltime employee needs to take on more responsibility in the gift shop so the part time employee’s can be cut back. Since there is going to be a cut in what is being ordered for the shop this should increase her time to be helpful to customers and clean the gift shop.

Antisemitism in Mein Kampf Essay

Mein Kampf is a book of two volumes authored by Adolf Hitler. The first volume was written whilst dictated to Rudolph Hess and Emile Maurice in Landsberg prison where Hitler was sentenced to following the failure of an attempted coup d’etat of the Bavarian government in 1924. Mein Kampf is significant amongst historiography as it is thought to be an insight into the mind of Adolf Hitler. This book is not only autobiographical but full of memoires and political ideologies, which have subsequently sparked debate as to whether this piece of primary historical evidence can be regarded as the blue-print for Hitler’s future ambitions. An intentionalist view by Historians’ such as Lucy Dawidowicz, argues that the Holocaust was the result of Hitler’s long term plan, whereas the functionalist perspective by Historians’ such as Christopher Browning is of the result of a competing agents within the Reich to answer the Jewish question. Chapter 11 of Mein Kampf: Nation and Race, shows to comprehend with the intentionalist interpretation that this did indeed set the foundation for Holocaust as a propaganda medium. Chapter 11 of Mein Kampf is a race rhetoric that advocates social-Darwinism in favour of the German Aryan race and even justifies war with the ‘racially lower’. This chapter refers to natural selection within humanity as the will of nature and of God. The word ‘Nature’ is emphasised being mentioned 20 times within the passage purveying it as a natural process. The mixing of genes with ‘lesser’ races are referred to as a sin against God, in which context Jews are included. Language used in this passage has been described as using metaphors to enforce racial prejudice, although evident is how the use of language has not only been used for easily digestible comparisons, but also as graphic and horrifying, such as ‘blood poisoning’ when describing breeding with a ‘weaker race’. Also described are the consequences of the integration of races and given examples of how this would be catastrophic for humanity. In regards to the book as a whole, anti-Semitism is consistent throughout Mein Kampf and is evident of Hitler’s hatred of the Jewish people, with quotes of ‘real’ Germans surviving in the war if a great number of Jews had been killed with poison gas. Mein Kampf was written at a time when Hitler was banned from public speaking. This indicates that the production of Mein Kamp as composed as a method in which Hitler could communicate with the public legitimately. Volume 2 of Mein Kamp is also said to be written in plain spoken language. This indicates it was written for all people to be able read, proving it as a propaganda tool. After Hitler’s Chancellorship in January 1933 Mein Kampf was eventually introduced into schools, placed on trains and presented to every bridal couple. The mass circulation of this book again proves only t o show it as a propaganda medium. Anti-Semitism was not unique to Mein Kampf and was a keen topic of Hitler’s in many political statements given in meetings. Hitler exclaims in September 1919 that the Jewish people are a race and not a religious community, and how this race are corrupt and disliked by a large section of ‘our people’ through emotion. A year later he states that a German citizen can only be one of German blood. As head of the Nazi party Hitler placed Joseph Goebbels as the head of Nazi propaganda, who wrote in the anti-Semitic newspaper ‘Der Angriff’ from 1926. In here is written how Jews’ are destroying the German community and how they must be removed from the community or they will ever corrupt it. Hitler’s ‘last will and testament’ written hours before his suicide tells of a hatred for Jews and also blaming the Jews for the war. These sources prove that Mein Kampf was not just a unique rant of anti-Semitism, Hitler believed in this hatred of the Jews’ evident here as early as 1919, days after his first attendance at a DAP meeting. This reinforces Mein Kampf as weapon of anti-Semitic propaganda at a time when Hitler could not address the public in person. Another element that points to this being a blue-print for the Holocaust was that Hitler wrote (or dictated) Mein Kampf with the intention of becoming a fascist style leader, but not only a leader, the chosen one and almost messiah-like. The failed Beer-Hall Putsch in Munich was directly influenced by the success of Benito Mussolini’s March on Rome which had immediately led to his appointment of Prime Minister of Italy; proving Hitler’s ambitions before he authored Mein Kampf. This shows Hitler always had the ambition of become a fascist style leader in Germany who would have had the power, with support from the nation, via propaganda, to eliminate the Jews from Germany. Although the ‘chosen one’ notion comes into play when in Mein Kampf it states that â€Å"Fate will someday gift the nation with a man endowed with the purpose of leading the nation out of a great depression and elimination of a bitter distress†. The elimination of a itter distress can only be regarded to ‘the Jewish problem’ as anti-Semitism is a recurring theme in the book, but Fate sending this man who is made for the job sounds messiah-like, which with Hitler’s proven ambition to become this leader would mean that if this propaganda was effective, he would become the ‘chosen leader’ and his book of propaganda regarding anti-Semitism and social-Darwinism would almost become a gospel. Joseph Goebbels exclaimed in 1941 that one of his notable achievements in propaganda was giving the nation complete confidence in Hitler by giving him a metaphoric halo of infallibility. An edition of Der Angriff from 1935 entitled Der Fuhrer’ by Joseph Goebbels states of how the Fuhrer is divine as â€Å"all of his actions stand under the power of a higher power† and Fate has provided the German people with Adolf Hitler. Again here it is evident of Adolf Hitler being propagandised as divine, and a divine leader would command the subordination of his subjects who would in return strive to please him. Mein Kamp is an intentional method of propaganda to be used at a time when Adolph Hitler was unable to communicate verbally with a gathering of people. Mein Kampf advocated Anti-Semitism, and Chapter 11: Nation and Race with a dramatic use of language strongly advocates social-Darwinism and justifies a war with the ‘lower races’ of peoples. Hitler always had, before and after Mein Kamp, an ambition to become a fascist style leader in which he had total control, which was propagandised during the construction of Mein Kampf as being appointed by higher powers and made out as messiah-like. This reinforces the intentionalist view of the Holocaust to be a result of Hitler’s long term plan. Historian’s in future research may want to consider the ‘divine leader’ messages propagandised by Hitler, in regards to the intentionalist/functionalist argument. This analysis of Chapter 11 of Mein Kampf has evaluated the context of the chapter within the book, the message within as well as examined the language used. The significance of the document as well as the purpose of it has been considered, as well as having reinforced a current historiographical debate.

Detecting preventing or mitigating DoS or Distributed DoS attacks Research Paper

Detecting preventing or mitigating DoS or Distributed DoS attacks - Research Paper Example This process requires a large network of computers running malicious program. To acquire the network, the attacker uses software that recruits vulnerable computers (Glen, 2013). That is, the computers with improperly patched antivirus, out of date antivirus and without antivirus (FU, 2012). To recruit machines into his/her DDoS attack, the attacker may follow several processes. Firstly, the attacker may use a machine infected with malicious programs to search, find, and infect another machine (Patrikakis, Masikos, & Zouraraki, n.d.). The infected machine joins the previous in the haunt of the unprotected machine and infects them. Secondly, the attacker may create a long list of the machine he/she want to recruit before infecting them with the malicious software to make them join his/her army of attacking computers (Glen, 2013; Patrikakis, Masikos, & Zouraraki, n.d.). Notably, some public servers, when compromised, become effective to the attacker when creating the hit list (Patrikakis, Masikos, & Zouraraki, n.d.). For instance, the attacker may run topological scanning where one machine is infected and finds other machine to infect through url it stores (UMUC, 2012). Local subnet scanning uses a compromised host to attack another computer within its own network without firewall detection as it uses the information stored in the local addresses (UMUC, 2012). Lastly, permutation scanning infects the machines allocated a regular pseudorandom combination record of IP addresses (Patrikakis, Masikos, & Zouraraki, n.d.). It searches for uninfected machine in the IP addresses and infect it. When it identifies the infected machine, it jumps over it to the uninfected (UMUC, 2012). The process stops when the infected machine finds several infected machines while it scans (Patrikakis, Masikos, & Zouraraki, n.d.). There are various frames used in the wireless network as a way of

Daytime Talk Shows Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Daytime Talk Shows - Essay Example Laura Grindstaff discusses the various things that occur behind the scenes when Talk Shows are being prepared. There are things that she points out that I never thought of like that and some that I did not know. Talk shows have a lot of strange spaces of matters to be discussed. Matters like misuse, manipulation, consent and choice within the context of entertainment are clearly depicted in Talk shows. The entertainment context itself is embedded in bigger cultural landscapes with social inequality as its character. Grindstaff argues that unlike other elites and celebrities shown on television, the† ordinary people† who come as guests in the talk show at daytime are forced to be emotional about their lives and private affairs to attract and entice audiences. She believes that for talk shows, it is necessary to manipulate the people so as to create moments that are dramatic. The dramatic scenes seen on the daytime talk shows are not stories of natural occurrences but rathe r directed by producers (Shuyisun 1).Identify the thesis of the article and criteria the author states or implies for assessing responsibility. If the author does not draw a conclusion about the criteria say so and explain what you think they should be.In the â€Å"Daytime talk show† article, Grindstaff proposes that as much as the daytime talk show makes profit and entertainment from the privacy of people, the show stages a platform for manipulation in the context of entertainment.

Choose ANY project from the pre-modern (pre-1750) period Essay

Choose ANY project from the pre-modern (pre-1750) period - Essay Example The need to construct the Suez Canal therefore became imperative with the growing need for quick transportation to facilitate trade and human transport. A French company took the initiative of constructing the canal and obtained a 99 year concession for the canal. Thereafter, the Suez Canal Company was established with much funding obtained from Europe. Ferdinand de Lesseps obtained the concession in 1854 from Egypt and Sudan in order to build the canal (Farnie 58). He brought together a team of thirteen experts who were to be in charge of overseeing the construction of the canal. Indeed, myriad challenges were anticipated and it was expected that these challenges would be addressed in the course of the process. Surveys were done in Egypt and most of the discussions and deliberations were conducted in Paris. A final unanimous report for the construction was therefore produced detailing all the relevant aspects of the canal that would create any relevance at that time and in the future. The real construction work began at Port Said in Egypt on 25th April 1859 (Karabell 89). In order to provide the much needed labor that was necessary for the excavation work, forced labor was effectively used. Sources estimate that at any given time, up to 30,000 people were working on the project. It is further estimated that a total of 1.5 million, at one time or another, actually worked on the project. Challenges often abound in this process. The excavation work was very difficult and so many workers died in the process. The desert conditions where the workers did most of their work were never favorable in any way for such kind of work. Despite the imperative need for the canal, the British government had always opposed the whole idea behind the canal from the outset. In the course of the project, the British government totally opposed the use of slaves as the main source of labor for the construction of the canal.

Recruitment & Selection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Recruitment & Selection - Essay Example One of the biggest aspects of a business venture, is the sales. It is sales that makes up the profit margin and determines the fortune of the company, predominantly. Therefore, the sales department is a very integral part of the company. The job post that is vacant and needs to be filled, si that of the Sales Manager, who plays a very important role in directing and getting the whole department under him to work in coordination and also acts as a link between the higher ups and the department. Therefore, the recruitment of the sales manager entails concern and needs to be done with precision and acumen. The recruitment strategy is a combination of a number of influential factors, that help in assessing whether a candidate is appropriate for the job or not. This can be ascertained by matching the industry criteria, the company's requirements and the candidate's qualifications. The recruitment strategy is framed according to each of the job profiles that go into the company. This paper discusses the recruitment strategy for the post of the Sales Manager. For the post of the sales manager, it would be appropriate to recruit someone who is already a part of the company. ... statement in its practicality, the products, the experiences in sales and above all, what the situation has been and how to improve on it. In addition to this, the sales manager is most definitely the head of the sales department and unless he is well-acquainted with his team-members, it would be quite an ordeal to adapt to the demands of the post and establish new relations. Lack of experience in working as part of the company would definitely be a minus point. This is precisely the reason why it is desirable to have an internal recruitment for the post of the sales manager, who would gel well with his team and would have practical knowledge and experience about working with the company and developing the situation into something more profitable. The Sales Manager requires to be more outgoing, innovative and above all, involved and committed. He will have to design strategies and act as the link between his team and the higher authorities. This is the reason why a high level of involvement with the management and the sales strategies is required. He could work with the advertising, marketing and communications departments and coordinate strategies to obtain between sales. In short, the sales manager needs to be involved in every stage of the process. A sales manager is an asset to every company, since he is the one who engineers and monitors sales, which procures profits---the very aim of business. Therefore, the labour market always exhibits a demand for sales managers. The very fact that the company will

Discuss the causes and effects of cancer. To what extent is cancer Essay

Discuss the causes and effects of cancer. To what extent is cancer prevention the individual's responsibility Provide researc - Essay Example Statistics indicate that in 2007, cancer led to the death of about 7.6 million people in the world Main Body Paragraphs 1 Topic What are the causes of cancer? Topic sentence The main causes of cancer are genetic factors, tobacco, exposure to radiations, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diets Development points When DNA in a gene is damaged or undergoes mutation, the gene may also get damaged thereby affecting cell division negatively. Cancer may also affect an individual due to a genetic predisposition that is inherited from members of the family. Tobacco smoking is commonly associated with pancreas, stomach, kidney, and lung cancer. Exposure to radiations (ionizing and non-ionizing) can cause cancer in different pats of the body. Studies have shown that between 30 and 35 percent of cancer deaths are related to obesity, diet, and sedentary lifestyle or physical inactivity Concluding Sentence There are several causes of cancer. There are also factors that increase the risk of having cancer. Main Body Paragraphs 2 Topic Effects of Cancer Topic sentence There are several negative effects of cancer Death Pain Side effects of treatment Loss of livelihoods Development points: Cancer is a leading cause of deaths across the world. ... mouth cancer, lung cancer, and liver cancer can be prevented by avoiding the smoking of tobacco and consumption of alcohol Skin cancer on the other hand can be prevented by avoiding exposure to the sun’s rays Avoid contact with radiations and carcinogens Eat diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, and fresh fruits and low in salt and fat Get vaccination Exercise the body regularly Concluding Sentence Prevention of cancer is closely related to its causes. Individuals have a responsibility to play in preventing cancer attacks in their body Conclusion Topic sentence In conclusion Summary points: Cancer is a group of deadly diseases that kill many There are more than 100 different types of cancers The main causes of cancer include radiations, unhealthy diet, genetic predisposition, and physical inactivity. Cancer can be prevented by engaging in physical exercises, eating healthy diets, avoiding radiations, tobacco, alcohol and other caseinogens. Individuals play a big role in preve nting cancer infections Causes and Effects of Cancer Introduction Cancer is a wide group of ailments characterized by uncontrolled cell growth. Cancer causes harm to the body when cells that are damaged divide without regulation to form tumors (with the exception of leukemia). A tumor can develop to the point of interfering with the circulatory, nervous or digestive systems according to Medical News Today (2013). They can also harm the body by releasing hormones that change body functions. When a tumor stays in one location and grows to a limited extent, it is often considered to be benign. Malignant tumors which are more dangerous form either when cancerous cells invade and destroy healthy tissues as they move though the body via the nymph systems or blood, or when they divide and develop to a

Dis 8 - 527 - two paragraph same idea with different words Assignment

Dis 8 - 527 - two paragraph same idea with different words - Assignment Example Each country has its own interests and tries to attain its own goals. But as at present all countries are interdependent, any changes in one or several of them, which are not done for the sake of the whole world, but for personal interests and advantages, may bring to the changes in other countries and to disorder in the global system functioning. The examples of such changes and interdependence are the global financial crisis, which took place a few years ago, the cut of interest rates in the USA due to changes in global money flows, the present political and economic sanctions, imposed on Russia because of events in Ukraine, and many other. The combination and controversy of personal countries interests and the necessity to make the global system work can lead to instability of the global economy functioning. The complexity, high frequency and speed of changes make the world more unstable and fragile. The misunderstanding of the events and their reasons, lack of guarantees and the difficulty to predict future make people fear and panic, even though the overall indicators of peoples welfare increased in the whole world. So as globalization becomes more and more complex, and it cannot be stopped, it is better to consider it as a condition of future development of the world, rather than one of the possible

Comparative investigation of seismic hazards and approaches to Essay

Comparative investigation of seismic hazards and approaches to mitigation - Essay Example Comparative investigation of seismic hazards and approaches to mitigation The occurrence of earthquake in future is expected. The Asian countries are one of the most earthquake-prone nations in the world. To make sure that the infrastructure of the country and other losses caused by the natural catastrophe is minimized certain mitigation approaches are taken up by the countries. The devastating nature of the earthquake has made many countries carry on extensive research and development programs like hazard assessment and disaster response program. Japan- the seismic hazards and its mitigation approach The Seismologists in Japan are of the opinion that Japan is yet to face a large-scale devastating earthquake, which might strike the region of Kanto, Tokai and Nankai. Intensive efforts are being taken by the country to mitigate the disasters and minimize the economic impact of the earthquakes (Office of technology Assessment Washington Dc, 149). This has resulted into extensive research and development of disaster related programs to combat the earthquake. J apan is an â€Å"archipelago† in the Pacific, which is separated by the Sea of Japan from the east coast of Asia. The four main island of the nation are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. The nation is one of the most crowded and densely populated regions in the world. About 125 million people live in the cities along the coast. The closest neighbors of the nation are Korea, Russia and China. Japan is situated at a region where several continental plates like the Eurasian, the Philippine Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the North American plates converge- an important reason that the country faces frequent earthquakes and volcanoes. The largest earthquakes have occurred in the Philippine Sea and Pacific plates. Japan experienced the most devastating earthquake in the year 1923 on September 1st – the Great Kanto Earthquake. In the span of a minute 1 lakh people were dead and over 3 lakhs buildings were destroyed. The forces were so great that it lifted the southern bay as high as upto 2 m (6.6 ft) and also raised the distant land of Tokyo to 10 cm (4 in) and experienced a horizontal movement of 20cm (8in). The giant waves- tsunami that was generated by the tremor of the earthquake washed away ships inland and it swept people and houses out of the sea. The geographical situation of the country makes it earthquake prone- in one year it witnessed as many as 5000 earthquakes. After the devastating earthquake of 1923, the Japanese government imposed seismic codes based on the performance of certain buildings in Tokyo during that time. And it was after that there came in many advances in the earthquake engineering research, seismic codes and the construction practices of the city. The Japanese designing codes were a two-stage design process that was taken up. The first phase includes an analysis approach and the second phase involved an explicit assessment of the buildings, whether they will be able to withstand the severe ground motions. The construction companies in Japan spend a considerable amount on the research and development work annually including â€Å"testing of scaled building models in large in- house laboratories and research into passive and active control technologies† (Office of Technology Assessment Washington Dc, 149). The countermeasures taken up by the country included three important aspects- the making of the city more disaster resistant, strengthening the disaster prevention system of the city like tsunami warning system and raising awareness and

Reflections on Perception of Reality Essay Example for Free

Reflections on Perception of Reality Essay I have always believed in what I saw, what I heard, and what I experienced. As these elements play a significant role of perceiving the world around me, it is very hard to distrust the reality. However, it was not a long ago that I began to ponder about this issue more profoundly. What do I really perceive? Could I precisely explain our perception without the help of science? As I spend more time thinking about this fascinating issue, I realized that it is necessary to analyze how the nature of perceptual experience relates to reality, and to science. The problems of perception do not only lie on the subject of metaphysics but also on the context of epistemology. Discussing broad philosophical positions about the nature of perceptual experience is the first step to form my own perspective on perception. Identifying and comparing reasonable interpretations and support of various assertions is therefore a key to successfully solidifying my argument. I would like to begin by introducing my ideas on perceiving the world that I am currently living in. In my opinion, my perception towards the world would depend on how to deal with apparently obvious truths about my experience of the world with the possibility of particular types of perceptual errors. Although I make myself open to the reality, this fact of openness is sometimes frightened by the existence of certain illusions. For this reason, philosophical hypothesis of perception needs to respond to this threat by providing an account of perception that preserves central and significant features of perception. Materialism argues that there exists some order of reality that is independent of the human mind, consciousness, and perception. According to materialism, there is a real material world, which consists of matter and energy and obeys some natural laws independent of human mind. As far as I understand, this epistemological materialism argues that logical experience does not contain a theory about what reality is, but rather about how we should treat reality. This epistemological materialism argues that all statements should be meaningful, and that in order to be meaningful a statement should be testable and verifiable, carving away metaphysics. Testable statements must then refer to scientific properties if observers are to agree. Therefore, statements of mind, reflecting internal feelings, thoughts, and motives are meaningless unless they display some physical change or behavior. Materialism seems to offer a simple and efficient perspective on reality, which indeed appears to be in agreement with our experience and observations. Moreover, materialism also seems to be the only metaphysics most consistent with scientific knowledge. But if the materialism was clearly to be true, the world would be without purpose and my life would be absolutely meaningless. Both being a moral human through free will and taking responsibilities for immoral actions would be delusion. This is certainly not the case for all of us. We, as human beings, strive to give meanings and purposes to our lives. Idealism, on the other hand, argues that there is no order of reality independent of human minds and morality. It gives supreme power to minds over other physical values such as body. Material substances would have no existence independent of mind, or while existing, this reality may exhibit human values and morality. It may also be true that reality’s basic nature could be mind in that our apprehension of reality is more determined by mind than matter. Most idealists believe that there is a fundamental unity to the world which is simply greater than the sum of its parts. However, I think that there is a close connection between the existence of our morality and the universe as our values imply something more to the universe than just matter, laws, and physical substances. I might have become the unique outgrowth through physical processes, and my mind could still qualitatively differ. My mind may be self-actualizing while the rest of nature and reality could be still the realm of matter. The reality therefore would be able to contain mind and matter at the same time. I would also like to underline the importance of the nature of knowledge. We need to acknowledge that our sensory knowledge is in fact imperfect as not everyone has exactly the same perceptions and impressions of external reality. We are truly chained to our bodies and could only appreciate certitudes in the privacy of our minds. Hence, I believe that our knowledge and perceptions of reality could never be perfect. Beyond what we could know, reality may still consist of physical interpretations. Constructionism argues that perceptual experiences consist of representations that are constructed by the mind that express external reality. And perceptual experiences both involve objective from the world and subject material supplied by mind. In other words, my perceptual visions are being constructed and my experience contains the representations of that reality. Basically constructionism is the result of compromise between materialism and idealism. As the major focus of constructionism is to unveil the ways in which individuals behave to form the creation of their perceived reality, it involves looking at the ways the world is being created and shaped into reality. For this reason, I believe that reality could be seen as a continuous and dynamic process while it is reproduced by human beings acting on our interpretations and knowledge. My belief is closely in line with this view of constructionism. I think that everyone tends to interpret and construct a reality based on his or her experiences and interactions with circumstances. Although the world outside our minds is considered to be objective and material, it may still be perceived subjectively by us, depending upon different values and morals each one of us holds. The discussion of the nature of reality and its perception, however, does not end here. It is crucial to look at this issue from a different point of view; epistemology dimension. There exist two extreme arguments for describing the nature of knowledge linked to the perceptual experiences. Positive science, which is based on materialism, explains that the only true knowledge one could learn about the nature of reality is primarily dependent on science which provides objective knowledge. But this view does not fully explain the nature of knowledge. Intuitionism, which is based on idealism, asserts that there are different forms of knowledge that the mind has access to. Therefore, no empirical investigation is actually necessary. We could hardly distinguish above two different ideas about the nature of knowledge as they are closely linked to each other. In my opinion, science is used to prove and validate our intuitionism by showing the actual models and data. They both then provide us with a sense of justification for the nature of knowledge. Realizing that there are different philosophical positions about the nature of perceptual experience and its relation to reality, and to science is essential to successfully understanding the nature of reality and knowledge. We have discussed interpretations and critique of the fundamental beliefs that explain the relationship between perception and reality. As we know, it is not easy to simply conclude which theory is the most powerful in explaining such a complicated subject. I believe, however, that the constructionism is the most plausible theory that holds valid argument along with the combination of positive science and intuitionism. How we perceive the reality not only depends on the physical world and materials but also on the experience and morals we retain. Scientific data and methods as well as intuitionism and insight do play a significant role in supporting the conceptual space produced by broad philosophical positions. Because perception is a dynamic dispute between the attempts of the world to impose a reality and our efforts to transform this reality into our own perspective, it is important for us to develop our own perspective gradually. Thus, my initial position towards the nature of reality and science may still change and later shape a new theory as we go through more studies and discussions in the course of psychology.

A Brief History of English and American Literature Essay Example for Free

A Brief History of English and American Literature Essay The Norman conquest of England, in the 11th century, made a break in the natural growth of the English language and literature. The old English or Anglo−Saxon had been a purely Germanic speech, with a complicated grammar and a full set of inflections. For three hundred years following the battle of Hastings. this native tongue was driven from the kings court and the courts of law, from parliament, school, and university. During all this time there were two languages spoken in England. Norman French was the birth−tongue of the upper classes and English of the lower. When the latter finally got the better in the struggle, and became, about the middle of the 14th century, the national speech of all England, it was no longer the English of King Alfred. It was a new language, a grammarless tongue, almost wholly {12} stripped of its inflections. It had lost a half of its old words, and had filled their places with French equivalents. The Norman lawyers had introduced legal terms; the ladies and courtiers, words of dress and courtesy. The knight had imported the vocabulary of war and of the chase. The master−builders of the Norman castles and cathedrals contributed technical expressions proper to the architect and the mason. The art of cooking was French. The naming of the living animals, ox, swine, sheep, deer, was left to the Saxon churl who had the herding of them, while the dressed meats, beef, pork, mutton, venison, received their baptism from the table−talk of his Norman master. The four orders of begging friars, and especially the Franciscans or Gray Friars, introduced into England in 1224, became intermediaries between the high and the low. They went about preaching to the poor, and in their sermons they intermingled French with English. In their hands, too, was almost all the science of the day; their medicine, botany, and astronomy displaced the old nomenclature of leechdom, wort−cunnin g, and star−craft. And, finally, the translators of French poems often found it easier to transfer a foreign word bodily than to seek out a native synonym, particularly when the former supplied them with a rhyme. But the innovation reached even to the commonest words in every−day use, so that voice drove out steven, poor drove out earm, and color, use, and place made good their footing beside hue, {13}wont, and stead. A great part of the English words that were left were so changed in spelling and pronunciation as to be practically new. Chaucer stands, in date, midway between King Alfred and Alfred Tennyson, but his English differs vastly more from the formers than from the latters. To Chaucer Anglo−Saxon was as much a dead language as it is to us. The classical Anglo−Saxon, moreover, had been the Wessex dialect, spoken and written at Alfreds capital, Winchester. When the French had displaced this as the language of culture, there was no longer a â€Å"kings English† or any literary standard. The sources of modern standard English are to be found in the East Midland, spoken in Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and neighboring shires. Here the old Anglian had been corrupted by the Danish settlers, and rapidly threw off its inflections when it became a spoken and no longer a written language, after the Conquest. The West Saxon, clinging more tenaciously to ancient forms, sunk into the position of a local dialect; while the East Midland, spreading to London, Oxford, and Cambridge, became the literary English in which Chaucer wrote. The Normans brought in also new intellectual influences and new forms of literature. They were a cosmopolitan people, and they connected England with the continent. Lanfranc and Anselm, the first two Norman archbishops of Canterbury, were learned and splendid prelates of a {14} type quite unknown to the Anglo−Saxons. They introduced the scholastic philosophy taught at the University of Paris, and the reformed discipline of the Norman abbeys. They bound the English Church more closely to Rome, and officered it with Normans. English bishops were deprived of their sees for illiteracy, and French abbots were set over monasteries of Saxon monks. Down to the middle of the 14th century the learned literature of England was mostly in Latin, and the polite literature in French. English did not at any time altogether cease to be a written language, but the extant remains of the period from 1066 to 1200 are few and, with one exception, unimportant. After 1200 English came more and more into written use, but mainly in translations, paraphrases, and imitations of French works. The native genius was at school, and followed awkwardly. The Anglo−Saxon poetry, for example, had been rhythmical and alliterative. It was commonly written in lines containing four rhythmical accents and with three of the accented syllables alliterating. R_este hine thà ¢ r_à ºm−heort; r_à ©ced hlifade G_eà ¡p and g_à ³ld−fà ¢h, gà ¤st inne swà ¤f. Rested him then the great−hearted; the hall towered Roomy and gold−bright, the guest slept within. This rude energetic verse the Saxon scà ´p had sung to his harp or glee−beam, dwelling on the {15} emphatic syllables, passing swiftly over the others which were of undetermined number and position in the line. It was now displaced by the smooth metrical verse with rhymed endings, which the French introduced and which our modern poets use, a verse fitted to be recited rather than sung. The old English alliterative verse continued, indeed, in occasional use to the 16th century. But it was linked to a forgotten literature and an obsolete dialect, and was doomed to give way. Chaucer lent his great authority to the more modern verse system, and his own literary models and inspirers were all foreign, French or Italian. Literature in England began to be once more English and truly national in the hands of Chaucer and his contemporaries, but it was the literature of a nation cut off from its own past by three centuries of foreign rule. The most noteworthy English document of the 11th and 12th centuries was the continuation of the Anglo−Saxon chronicle. Copies of these annals, differing somewhat among themselves, had been kept at the monasteries in Winchester, Abingdon, Worcester, and elsewhere. The yearly entries were mostly brief, dry records of passing events, though occasionally they become full and animated. The fen country of Cambridge and Lincolnshire was a region of monasteries. Here were the great abbeys of Peterborough and Croyland and Ely minster. One of the earliest English songs tells how the savage heart of the Danish {16} king Cnut was softened by the singing of the monks in Ely. Merie sungen muneches binnen Ely Tha Cnut chyning reu ther by; Roweth, cnihtes, noer the land, And here we thes muneches sang. It was among the dikes and marshes of this fen country that the bold outlaw Hereward, â€Å"the last of the English,† held out for some years against the conqueror. And it was here, in the rich abbey of Burch or Peterborough, the ancient Medeshamstede (meadow−homestead) that the chronicle was continued for nearly a century after the Conquest, breaking off abruptly in 1154, the date of King Stephens death. Peterborough had received a new Norman abbot, Turold, â€Å"a very stern man,† and the entry in the chronicle for 1170 tells how Hereward and his gang, with his Danish backers, thereupon plundered the abbey of its treasures, which were first removed to Ely, and then carried off by the Danish fleet and sunk, lost, or squandered. The English in the later portions of this Peterborough chronicle becomes gradually more modern, and falls away more and more from the strict grammatical standards of the classical Anglo−Saxon. It is a most valuable historical monument, and some passages of it are written with great vividness, notably the sketch of William the Conqueror put down in the year of his death (1086) by one who had â€Å"looked upon him and at another time dwelt in his court.† {17} â€Å"He who was before a rich king, and lord of many a land, he had not then of all his land but a piece of seven feet. . . . Likewise he was a very stark man and a terrible, so that one durst do nothing against his will. . . . Among other things is not to be forgotten the good peace that he made in this land, so that a man might fare over his kingdom with his bosom full of gold unhurt. He set up a great deer preserve, and he laid laws therewith that whoso should slay hart or hind, he should be blinded. As greatly did he love the tall deer as if he were their father.† With the discontinuance of the Peterborough annals, English history written in English prose ceased for three hundred years. The thread of the nations story was kept up in Latin chronicles, compiled by writers partly of English and partly of Norman descent. The earliest of these, such as Ordericus Vitalis, Simeon ofDurham, Henry of Huntingdon, and William of Malmesbury, were contemporary with the later entries of the Saxon chronicle. The last of them, Matthew of Westminster, finished his work in 1273. About 1300 Robert, a monk of Gloucester, composed a chronicle in English verse, following in the main the authority of the Latin chronicles, and he was succeeded by other rhyming chroniclers in the 14th century. In the hands of these the true history of the Saxon times was overlaid with an ever−increasing mass of fable and legend. All real knowledge of the period {18} dwindled away until in Capgraves Chronicle of England, written in prose in 1463−64, hardly any thing of it is left. In history as in literature the English had forgotten their past, and had turned to foreign sources. It is noteworthy that Shakspere, who borrowed his subjects and his heroes sometimes from authentic English history, sometimes from the legendary history of ancient Britain, Denmark,and Scotland, as in Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth, ignores the Saxon period altogether. And Spenser, who gives in his second book of the Faerie Queene, a resumà © of the reigns of fabulous British kings—the supposed ancestors of Queen Elizabeth, his royal patron—has nothing to say of the real kings of early England. So completely had the true record faded away that it made no appeal to the imaginations of our most patriotic poets. The Saxon Alfred had been dethroned by the British Arthur, and the conquered Welsh had imposed their fictitious genealogies upon the dynasty of the conquerors. In the Roman de Rou, a verse chronicle of the dukes of Normandy, written by the Norman Wace, it is related that at the battle of Hastings the French jongleur, Taillefer, spurred out before the van of Williams army, tossing his lance in the air and chanting of â€Å"Charlemagne and of Roland, of Oliver and the peers who died at Roncesvals.† This incident is prophetic of the victory which Norman song, no less than Norman arms, was to win over England. The lines which Taillefer {19} sang were from the Chanson de Roland, the oldest and best of the French hero sagas. The heathen Northmen, who had ravaged the coasts of France in the 10th century, had become in the course of one hundred and fifty years, completely identified with the French. They had accepted Christianity, intermarried with the native women, and forgotten their own Norse tongue. The race thus formed was the most brilliant in Europe. The warlike, adventurous spirit of the vikings mingled in its blood with the French nimbleness of wit and fondness for display. The Normans were a nation of knights−errant, with a passion for prowess and for courtesy. Their architecture was at once strong and graceful. Their women were skilled in embroidery, a splendid sample of which is preserved in the famous Bayeux tapestry, in which the conquerors wife, Matilda, and the ladies of her court wrought the history of the Conquest. This national taste for decoration expressed itself not only in the ceremonious pomp of feast and chase and tourney, but likewise in literature. The most characteristic contribution of the Normans to English poetry were the metrical romances or chivalry tales. These were sung or recited by the minstrels, who were among the retainers of every great feudal baron, or by the jongleurs, who wandered from court to castle. There is a whole literature of these romans d aventure in the Anglo−Norman dialect of French. Many of them are {20} very long—often thirty, forty, or fifty thousand lines—written sometimes in a strophic form, sometimes in long Alexandrines, but commonly in the short, eight−syllabled rhyming couplet. Numbers of them were turned into English verse in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. The translations were usually inferior to the originals. The French trouvere (finder or poet) told his story in a straight−forward, prosaic fashion, omitting no details in the action and unrolling endless descriptions of dresses, trappings, gardens, etc. He invented plots and situations full of fine possibilities by which later poets have profited, but his own handling of them was feeble and prolix. Yet there was a simplicity about the old French language and a certain elegance and delicacy in the diction of the trouveres which the rude, unformed English failed to catch. The heroes of these romances were of various climes: Guy of Warwick, and Richard the Lion Heart of England, Havelok the Dane, Sir Troilus of Troy, Charlemagne, and Alexander. But, strangely enough, the favorite hero of English romance was that mythical Arthur of Britain, whom Welsh legend had celebrated as the most formidable enemy of the Sassenach invaders and their victor in twelve great battles. The language and literature of the ancient Cymry or Welsh had made no impression on their Anglo−Saxon conquerors. There are a few Welsh borrowings in the English speech, such as bard and druid; but in the old Anglo−Saxon literature there are {21} no more traces of British song and story than if the two races had been sundered by the ocean instead of being borderers for over six hundred years. But the Welsh had their own national traditions, and after the Norman Conquest these were set free from the isolation of their Celtic tongue and, in an indirect form, entered into the general literature of Europe. The French came into contact with the old British literature in two places: in the Welsh marches in England and in the province of Brittany in France, where the population is of Cymric race and spoke, and still to some extent speaks, a Cymric dialect akin to the Welsh. About 1140 Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Benedictine monk, seemingly of Welsh descent, who lived at the court of Henry the First and became afterward bishop of St. Asaph, produced in Latin a so−called Historia Britonum in which it was told how Brutus, the great grandson of Aeneas, came to Britain, and founded there his kingdom called after him, and his city of New Troy (Troynovant) on the site of the later London. An air of historic gravity was given to this tissue of Welsh legends by an exact chronology and the genealogy of theBritish kings, and the author referred, as his authority, to an imaginary Welsh book given him, as he said, by a certain Walter, archdeacon of Oxford. Here appeared that line of fabulous British princes which has become so familiar to modern readers in the plays of Shakspere and the poems of Tennyson: Lear and his {22} three daughters; Cymbeline, Gorboduc, the subject of the earliest regular English tragedy, composed by Sackville and acted in 1562; Locrine and his Queen Gwendolen, and his daughter Sabrina, who gave her name to the river Severn, was made immortal by an exquisite song in Miltons Comus, and became the heroine of the tragedy of Locrine, once attributed to Shakspere; and above all, Arthur, the son of Uther Pendragon, and the founder of the Table Round. In 1155 Wace, the author of the Roman de Rou, turned Geoffreys work into a French poem entitled Brut d Angleterre, â€Å"brut† being a Welsh word meaning chronicle. About the year 1200 Waces poem was Englished by Layamon, a priest of Arley Regis, on the border stream of Severn. Layamons Brut is in thirty thousand lines, partly alliterative and partly rhymed, but written in pure Saxon English with hardly any French words. The style is rude but vigorous, and, at times, highly imaginative. Wace had amplified Geoffreys chronicle somewhat, but Layamon made much larger additions, derived, no doubt, from legends current on the Welsh border. In particular the story of Arthur grew in his hands into something like fullness. He tells of the enchantments of Merlin, the wizard; of the unfaithfulness of Arthurs queen,Guenever; and the treachery of his nephew, Modred. His narration of the last great battle between Arthur and Modred; of the wounding of the king—â€Å"fifteen fiendly wounds he had, one might in the least {23} three gloves thrust—†; and of the little boat with â€Å"two women therein, wonderly dight,† which came to bear him away to Avalun and the Queen Argante, â€Å"sheenest of all elves,† whence he shall come again, according to Merlins prophecy, to rule the Britons; all this left little, in essentials, for Tennyson to add in his Death of Arthur. This new material for fiction was eagerly seized upon by the Norman romancers. The story of Arthur drew to itself other stories which were afloat.

Rise In Russian Military Power Politics Essay

Rise In Russian Military Power Politics Essay Military power was central to the USSRs position as global power. The Soviet Unions military strength was its prime achievement and it had learned that military power generates international respect and deference. The Soviet Union was a superpower largely because of its ability to generate enormous military power [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] Russias power is no longer the centre of international concerns, the threat of its military might no longer grips us obsessively, and the global order is no longer defined by alignment with or against Moscow.  [2]   2. Nevertheless, Russias military policy and power remain a major consideration in Eurasia and its nuclear component retains global significance. The disintegration of USSR in 1991, also led to decline of Russias military power along with a crippled economy and political leadership. The successive governments were more concerned in resolving Russias domestic problems rather than on retaining a global position. Thus over a period of time major down fall was seen in overall military capability of Russia. It was in 2000 when Vladimir Putin became president; a fundamental shift was seen in Russian politics, economy and in its military capability. Putin always regarded the collapse of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical disaster in 21st century. Once he came to power, he was able to inject a new belief that it was Russias right to be a great power and the military power being the ultimate symbol of that status. 3. Over a period of time, Russia has changed its military doctrines, policies and also downsized its military forces. The military power was used effectively to handle the Georgia conflict in 2008. After this war, Russia made major plans to reform and modernize its armed forces by 2020. In April 2009, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Denis Blair said in unclassified written answers to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the ongoing reshaping of Russias ground forces will enable it to militarily dominate most of its neighbours. RUSSIAN DEFENCE POLICY Structure of Decision Making 4. President of the Russian Federation is Supreme Commander in Chief (CIC) of the Russian Armed Forces. He is the executive authority for the formulation of defence policies and military doctrine. Minister of Defence comes next in hierarchy and is appointed directly by the President. Minister is responsible for readiness, overall deployment of the military and also the formalisation of the State Armament Plan. For the first time in recent Russian history In March 2001 then President Putin appointed a civilian defence minister with a mind set that that military reform can only be achieved with civilian oversight. Subsequently Putin also introduced a new State Law on Defence with an aim to give more powers to Ministry of Defence.  [3]   5. In 2000, under National Security and Foreign Policy Concept the threat assessment for Russia in the 21 century was carried out and based on this, Military Doctrine was formulated. The main threats to Russias national interests were identified as economic disintegration of Russia, ethnic separatism, increase in crime rate, reduction in powers of OSCE and the UN, weakening of Russias influence in political, economic and military matters, the rise of various military-political blocs and unions, eastward enlargement of NATO and militarisation of areas in close vicinity of Russias borders. 6. Based upon these threat assessments, the foreign policy priorities of Russia were to strengthen Russias sovereignty and territorial integrity; to regain its lost status of great power; ensure regional stability in adjacent areas and to counter the perceived dominance of the United States. As per military policy the main aim was as the deterrence of aggression of any scale against it [Russia] and its allies, including with the use of nuclear weapons. A RE-ASSERTIVE RUSSIA 7. Over a period of time Russia has become more confident and assertive in its foreign and military policies. This could be observed during Russian military response to Georgian conflict in South Ossetia in August 2008; Russias stand over NATO expansion and US missile defence proposals in eastern Europe. Thus Russia has been using military as a diplomatic tool in the war of words between east and west. Russia is aware that their opinions have been ignored over Iraq, Iran, Kosovo and NATO expansion at the world stage. But in spite of these, at certain aspects Russia has shown its firmness and has stool tall even to take mighty US head on. Some of these aspects have been covered in the following paragraphs. 8. Missile Defence. When US came up with the plan of deploying its ballistic missile defence in Poland and the Czech Republic, it was vehemently opposed by Russia. The Russian government continued to believe BMD plans as a threat to national security. The radars station in the Czech Republic would have seen practically entire western front of Russia. Russian Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff, General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, even suggested that this missile agreement could force Russia to carry out nuclear strike against Poland if need arise.  [4]  Even President Medvedev in his address to nation on 5 November 2008 announced that the Russia might go ahead with the deployment of the Iskander short-range surface-to-surface missile system in Kaliningrad to neutralise the BMD system and would also electronically jam the components of US BMD. The deployment of Russian naval assets in the Baltic Sea was also considered for the same purpose. However US have been confirming that these missil es have limited capabilities and would have no impact on the Russian strategic offensive forces. 9. The assertive stance of Russia has forced USA administration to reviewing its missile defence plan, thus Russian Government has also suspended the deployment plans of its Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad. This move of Russia and response from US highlights that the fact that Russias powers are on rise and it can still avert the US decision when its own integrity or safety is concerned. 10. Strategic Bomber Patrols. The rise of Russian armed forces was most symbolically demonstrated when military forces paraded in Moscows Red Square. In the summer of 2007, strategic bombers of Russia carried out patrols in international airspace over Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans for the first time, since the end of the Cold War. In March 2009 Russian military aircraft reportedly did fly past just 500 feet over two US navy warships while these were participating in a joint military exercise with South Korea in international waters in the Sea of Japan.  [5]  This used to be a common occurrence during the Cold War era. These bomber patrols were conducted to demonstrate military might and also to test the air defence reaction times of NATO countries periodically. Such patrols were stopped in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Similar incidents were also observed over UK and Norwegian air spaces in 2007 and 2008. Russian government officially acknowledged in August 2 007 that these missions were intended for pilot training, in particular air-to-air refueling. Japan has also reported an increase in the number of exercises and patrols by warships of the Russian Fleet, along with strategic bomber patrols. The timing of these incidents has been regarded as a sign of renewed Russian confidence on the international stage. 11. The Arctic. Russia has also increased its military activity in the Arctic region in the same period and this has been linked to Russias increasingly vocal claims to large territory in the region and also to vast areas of untapped natural resources. In 2004 Russia announced the creation of a new Arctic Directorate for this region and in aug 2007, about 20 Russian strategic bombers carried out five days of exercises over the North Pole.  [6]  Time and again these facts have been acknowledged by the Russian Defence Ministry. In September 2008 President Medvedev Janes Defence Weekly: A greater stake in the Arctic is intimately related to Russias increasingly assertive regional behaviour. Moscows recent incursion into Georgia was a bellwether of sorts for the concept of a Greater Russia and the outward expansion of the countrys territorial borders [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]  [7]   Expanding Russias Military Footprint 12. Russia has expanded its military co-operation with Latin and South American countries, in particular Venezuela. Since 2003 Russia has reportedly supplied $4-5bn worth of arms including combat helicopters, Su-30 fighter aircraft and the Tor-M1 air defence missile system to the Venezuelan government. In 2008 Russia had temporarily deployed two TU-160 Blackjack strategic bombers in Venezuela. 13. In December 2008 Russian naval flagship, the missile cruiser Peter the Great and the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Chabanenk, visited Cuba and then Venezuela to take part in a joint naval exercise in the Caribbean Sea. This was the first deployment conducted in the region by the Russian navy since the break up of the Soviet Union and was seen as the emerging trend in the increased activity by the Russians. In July 2008 Russia also hinted that if US plan to station its BMD systems in Eastern Europe, than Russian aircraft and submarine fleet may also once again be stationed in Cuba. An article in Janes Intelligence Review commented that the Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises served as a neat counterpoint to Washingtons decision to base its missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic, in Russias near abroad.  [8]   Russias Military Capabilities 14. Russian military is currently the fifth largest in the world considering total active personnel, exceeded only by China (2.18m), the United States (1.54m), India (1.28m), and North Korea (1.1m). However, if Russias reserve contingent (approximately 20 million Personnel) is taken into account, Russias military becomes the largest. Over all Russias military power is third behind US and china.  [9]  In spite of such a large military which is being able to address all potential threats across the combat spectrum, the Russian Military Doctrine still have reliance on nuclear weapons. Some experts believe that Russian nuclear capability is one which makes Russia as a military superpower. The military capabilities of Russia can be seen as follows. (a) Conventional Capabilities. As per the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, there are limits on the numbers of combat aircraft, tanks, attack helicopters, combat vehicles and artillery pieces that one country could held within Europe by NATO and the states of the former Warsaw Treaty Organisation (Warsaw Pact). However these limitations apply to Russian military equipments which are deployed to the West of the Ural Mountains. The treaty did not impose limitations on the overall conventional capabilities of any nation. The Russian military strength as on 2008 is as indicated.  [10]   PERSONNEL Total Population:  140,702,096  [2008] Population Available:  73,239,761  [2008] Fit for Military Service:  50,249,854  [2008] Reaching Military Age Annually:  1,602,673 Active Military Personnel:  1,245,000  [2008] Active Military Reserve:  2,400,000  [2008] Active Paramilitary Units:  359,100  [2008] ARMY Total Land-Based Weapons:  79,985 Tanks:  22,800  [2005] Armored Personnel Carriers:  9,900   Towed Artillery:  13,585  [2005] Self-Propelled Guns:  6,010  [2005] Multiple Rocket Launch Systems:  4,350   Mortars:  6,100  [2005] NAVY Total Navy Ships:  526 Merchant Marine Strength:  1,074  [2008] Major Ports and Harbors:  8 Aircraft Carriers:  1  [2005] Destroyers:  15  [2005] Submarines:  61  [2005] Faes:  19  [2005] Patrol Coastal Craft:  72  [2005] Mine Warfare Craft:  41  [2005] Amphibious Craft:  22  [2005] AIR FORCE Total Aircraft:  3,888  [2005] Helicopters:  2,625  [2003] Serviceable Airports:  1,260  [2007] (b) Nuclear Capabilities. Since 1949, when Soviet Union tested its first atomic weapon it is recognised as a nuclear state. USA and USSR (Russia) went through number of treaties such as INF treaty (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces), START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) and SORT (Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty) so as to reduce nuclear weapons of both the countries. Still Russia is estimated to have an active 5,200 operational warheads and approximately 8,800 intact warheads awaiting dismantlement thus a total of 14000 warheads(highest in the world).  [11]   Assessment of Current Military Capability 15. The actual assessment of Russian military capability is very difficult since these have not been deployed in conflict beyond their borders. Therefore the assessment of the ability of the military has been theoretical and based on various assumptions. There have been doubts about ability of the Soviet-era military-industrial complex to keep technological pace with its military peers, particularly the production of sophisticated weaponry. 16. Many analysts believe that the majority of Russian equipments are ageing, as due to financial crisis after cold war Russia had stopped buying new military equipments. In March 2009 the Russian Defence Minister, acknowledged that most of Russias weaponry was obsolete and old and modern equipment were just 10% of the armys existing capabilities. While US and other western countries have learnt during Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan war over the last decade, the Russians have had no such experience. 17. However, it is also acknowledged that Russian military does possess small amounts of state-of-the-art advanced weaponry. Air force has bought Su-34 combat aircraft, the Iskander theatre ballistic missile system and the S-400 air defence system. The SU-35 aircraft is also expected to be inducted in 2010-2011. Although western media claims otherwise, Russias armed forces still remain the most powerful and effective land force across Eurasia. They still possess state-of-the-art main battle tanks, multiple-launch rocket mortar system, heavy artillery and close ground tactical air support. Prospects 18. The increased military power, overt posturing on the international stage in recent years along with massive structural reform are the signs of the Russian resurgence. What has to be seen is that does it have longevity and what will be its implications? Russia in it self is having a strong sense of national pride and full belief that it can get back to its lost great power status. But to achieve this other than military power it needs political and economic stability. 19. In its present state the Russian Armed Forces would be able to defend its territories and national interest as in Georgia but at global level certainly they will not be able to formulate a power projection like United States. The prospects of the Russian military therefore lie primarily in the success of its modernisation plan and structural reforms. These can be achieved by strong economy but that is affected by ups and downs of global energy prices. 20. On the other hand Russias military-industrial complex has also not been able to revive completely, to cope with the technological demands of the modernisation programme. As per the reports a $50m contract has been done with Israel for UAV. Along with this there is need to upgrade their blue water navy fleet with aircraft carrier as well. However it is certain that the modernisation of Russias conventional armed forces will not come at the expense of its nuclear capabilities. Certainly Nuclear weapons will be given the priority over conventional weapons as former gives them a clear cut edge over other nations. As Jonathan Eyal succinctly noted in his October 2008 piece on Europe and Russia: A Return to the Past: The Russian military can cause difficulties. Many of Russias neighbours are far poorer and weaker, so the Russian armed forces are still a potent threat to them, as the example of Georgia showed [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] 21. However, the reality still is that Russias challenge to the US is hardly military. The Russians have no chance of emulating the Soviet Union, which tried to match Western technology weapon-for-weapon. Nor is there any ideological glue to underpin such a confrontation: most of Russias current allies are fair weather friends. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] it cannot divert the huge resources required to build a modern military away from civilian consumption. So, the main purpose behind Russias military muscle-flexing remains political and no new Cold War is in the offing.  [12]  

World Trade Organisation and Legalization :: essays research papers fc

"The WTO is now a debating society with a Supreme Court". Has the legalization of the WTO weakened its diplomacy-based negotiating mechanism? With the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), dispute settlement has moved to the centre stage of the multilateral trading order. Hence, in this essay I will consider the effects of the new Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) on trade relations. At first, I will illustrate how the DSM operates and how it is different from dispute settlement under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Secondly, I will underline the relative success of the new DSM but also point to some emerging problems and weaknesses inherent in a highly legalized DSM. I will conclude that the DSM has weakened the WTO’s diplomacy-based negotiating mechanism as the emphasis of dispute settlement has markedly shifted from political bargaining to legal proceedings. Yet, I will contend that the description of the WTO as a â€Å"debating society† is inadequate since member states are explicitly creating and enforcing trade rules rather then just debating over them. Moreover, to portray the new DSM as a â€Å"Supreme Court† seems implausible since on the one hand, it represents an ad-hoc two-tier system and not a full time court; on the other, it still supports and favours out-of-court settlements at almost any stage of the legal process. The goal of establishing a more effective DSM during the Uruguay Round negotiations was to foster the creation of a â€Å"rule-oriented system† that gives guidance in the way of predictable and generally stable rules to all participants of the multilateral world trading system (Article 3.2 of the DSU ). Although international trade is understood in the WTO as the flow of goods and services between members, it is typically not conducted by states, but rather by private economic actors. These market participants need stability and predictability in the government laws, rules and regulations applying to their commercial activity, especially when they conduct trade on the basis of long-term transactions. Hence, the DSU aims to provide a fast, efficient, dependable and rule-oriented system to resolve disputes about the application of the provisions of the WTO agreement. An interesting facet of the cases brought so far to the DSM is the much higher amount of participation by develop ing countries. They have brought a number of the cases themselves, even against some of the big industrial trading entities (Thailand vs. US in December 2004 or Korea vs.

Successful Management of a Diverse Workforce Essay -- essays research

Successful Management of a Diverse Workforce Being successful at managing workforce diversity involves attracting and retaining the highest quality individuals in the talent pool. For managers it means learning how to manage human potential sensitively. It requires an ever-increasing awareness of how people from different backgrounds deal with authority, communication, overall business etiquette, and relate to their communities of affiliation. Successful management of workforce diversity is a process that takes place in many stages and on many levels. It requires managers to first recruit a competent and qualified staff, then to accommodate individual needs within the context of the work team and the organization. However, the key to successfully building a diverse, high-quality workforce for tomorrow begins with a strong leadership commitment and knowledge of where the organization is today. Moreover, experience has demonstrated that successful diversity initiatives depend on positioning the organization first. (Department of Personnel Management, 2002) Diversity Initiatives: What They Are. A "diversity initiative" is a company's strategic response to diversity. The initiative looks at the company's needs in the area of diversity and responds with a strategically aligned approach. The initiative should have a long-term focus, as well as very specific goals and objectives. It should also be easily measurable and tied to the organization's overall business strategy. In terms of implementing the initiative, the entire organization - from the top down - should be held accountable. (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 2004) Once the vision has been developed, the organization should then develop a diversity plan. The plan outlines the goals and objectives for diversity. Many companies see fit to appoint a diversity committee, comprised of a wide variety of people and perspectives, to help implement the plan. The plan may call for training on diversity, enhancing recruiting efforts to attract and retain women and people of color, or looking at succession planning, among other issues. Leading a Diverse Workforce Today we are more likely to encounter, interact with, work with, report to, or manage numerous individuals of different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, religions, belief systems, and cultures. While we all may have the same values, ... ...ly manages diversity is critical as organizations attempt to attract, motivate, and retain employees from a workforce that is growing in variety and complexity. American business will not be able to survive if we do not have a large diverse workforce, because those are the demographics. The company that gets out in front of managing diversity will have a competitive edge. References Stoner, C., & Russell-Chapin, L (1997). Creating a culture of diversity management: moving from awareness to action. University of California. Retrieved April 8, 2005 from University of Phoenix, InfoTrac Copeland, L. (2004). Valuing Diversity training series. Reprinted with permission from the NOAA Training manual, Silver Spring, MD. U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). (2000, June). Building and Maintaining a Diverse and High Quality Workforce. Retrieved April 7, 2005 from: http://www.opm.gov/Diversity/guide.htm U.S. Census Bureau (2003). 2003 American Community Survey data. Retrieved April 10, 2005 from: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFPeople?_event=&geo_id=01000US&_geoContext=01000US&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=

Elaboration Likelyhood Essay -- essays research papers

Elaboration Likelihood 2 Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Recently the nation was bombarded with political ad campaigns of all shapes and sizes. There were the ads for and against succession, the ads that attempted to show Gray Davis as someone who could actually run the state of California, and the ads that didn’t really seem to have any purpose at all. It is obvious that each of these campaigns was focused on a specific target audience. What may not have been so obvious was that each of the ad campaigns was also based upon the involvement or interest of the voters (Perloff, 1993). This involvement or interest is a component of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. This theory helps advertising consultants decide what elections are important to voters and what elections have no relevance to anyone but lawmakers (Perloff, 1993). Important elections, such as the gubernatorial race will have strong arguments and depth while not so significant elections, such as the clean water initiative will rely on cues that are undem anding in terms of the amount of brain power used (Perloff, 1993).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The application of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to political campaigns is just one of the many practical uses of this theory. But before it is possible to examine other possible applications of the ELM, one must understand the basic ideas and factors that make it work. After a clear understanding of the ELM is devolved it will be shown in relation to the specific communication perspective that it fits into, and then used to evaluate a real life situation. Subsequent to the evaluation of the practical application the ELM will be scrutinized and summed up, but first the basics. Description of Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elaboration Likelihood 3 The elaboration likelihood theory was created by two social scientists, Richard Petty and John Cacioppo, who sought to create a model of persuasion that was more inclusive in terms of the range and depth in which the theory covered (Perloff, 1993). Petty and Cacioppo’s theory is a culmination of their research in the area of â€Å"cognitive responses to persuasion† and theories of attitude change (Perloff, 1993, p. 118). The ELM is a theory of persuasion with a central premise that seeks to explain how deeply an individual will elaborate the arguments of a persuasive message by examining the ind... ...ovements. First of all, Perloff (1993, p. 132) makes the point that there should be more consideration of â€Å"situational and personality factors that might interact to influence the processing strategy.† Perloff (1993, p. 132) also would like to know â€Å"how do people simultaneously process central and peripheral information?† Elaboration Likelihood 10 References Bargh, J. A. (2002, September). Losing Consciousness: Automatic Influences on   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consumer Judgment, Behavior, and Motivation. Journal of Consumer Research,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  29 (2).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Littlejohn, S. W. (2001). Theories of Human Communication. Albuquerque, NM:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wadsworth. Perloff, R. M. (1993). The Dynamics of Persuasion. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Assoc. Sereno, K. (2002, Fall). Comm 200: Communication as a Social Science. Lecture Notes. Stephenson, M. T., Benoit, W. L., Tschida, D. A. (2001). Testing the Mediating Role of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cognitive Responses in the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Communication   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Studies, 52 (4), 324-338.

International Business Essay

What is e-Bay’s core competency? How does it relate to its chosen strategy? e-Bay’s competencies lie in its software, which allows people to trade with little supervision. It also has competencies in dispute resolution, an automated item listing service, an online financial service and a communications platform. The integration of these allow e-Bay to have a more efficient and effective trading tool used and policed by the buyers and sellers in the site. What are the implications to the challenges identified in the case regarding e-Bay’s strategy today and the future? The challenge on translation software has the least amount of impact considering that even the users of the site are content with â€Å"pretty good.† An improvement in this area though, would make the service more reliable. Government regulation challenges are perhaps one of the most difficult. With new laws constantly passed in countries, some laws that touch on trade could prove a hindrance to e-Bay’s expansion and could restrict their operations. Unless the world becomes more open to the flow of goods, then e-Bay would constantly face problems. The digital divide is a less serious problem. With technology catching up to many countries and becoming more available and cheaper, it is only a matter of time before the internet becomes available to poor communities. Cultural attributes is one of the most problematic. Since beliefs take so much time to shape and that reactions are unpredictable, it is important for e-Bay to be able to make their strategies localized and adapt it to the current system. Finally, international expansion is an unpredictable challenge, but could prove successful if their users continue to support and trust the company for their trading needs. Which candidate should the committee nominate for the assignment? Why? The first choice would be Brett Harrison because of his experience in running line activities and supervisory staff and being rated as an excellent worker. More importantly, he has knowledge about the country which is one of the most important things in running the operations of the company there. If he doesn’t agree because of familial considerations, then, Ravi Desai should take his place, not only because of his knowledge of the country but also because he has experience in handling large operations. Should all the candidates receive the same compensation package? If not, which factors influence each package? The candidates should all receive the same principle in their compensation package: a common basic salary and a bonus dependent on their performance and contributions to the company.

Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space

The Benefits of Parks: Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space BY Paul M. Sheerer Published by: 116 New Montgomery Street Fourth Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 495-4014 www. Tip. Org 02006 the Trust for Public Land – Reprint of â€Å"Parks for People† white paper, published In 2003. Table of Contents Forward: Will Rogers, President, Trust for Public Land 5 Executive Summary 6 America Needs More City Parks U. S. Cities Are Park-Poor Low-Income Neighborhoods Are Desperately Short of Park Space Case Study: New Parks for Los Angles The Public Wants More Parks 8History of America's City Parks: Inspiration, Abandonment, Revival The Decline of City Parks A Revival Begins Budget Crises Threaten City Parks 10 Public Health Benefits of City Parks and Open Space America's Twin Plagues: Physical Inactivity and Obesity Access to Parks Increases Frequency of Exercise Exposure to Nature and Greenery Makes People Healthier 12 Economic Benefits of Parks 14 Increased Proper ty Values Property Values in Low-Income Urban Areas Property Values at the Edges of Urban Areas Effects on Commercial Property Values Economic Revitalization: Attracting and Retaining Businesses and Residents TourismBenefits Environmental Benefits of Parks Pollution Abatement and Cooling Controlling Stemware Runoff 17 Social Benefits of Parks Reducing Crime Recreation Opportunities: The Importance of Play Creating Stable Neighborhoods with Strong Community 18 Conclusion 20 Notes 21 Bibliography 24 3 Forward At the turn of the 20th century, the majority of Americans lived in rural areas and small towns, relatively close to the land. At the beginning of the 21st century, 85 desperate need of places to experience nature and refresh ourselves in the out-of- doors.The emergence of America as an urban nation was anticipated by Frederick Law Limited and other 19th-century park visionaries, who gave us New Work's Central Park, San Franciscans Golden Gate Park, and similar grand parks in cit ies across the nation. They were gardeners and designers-but also preachers for the power of parks, fired from within by the understanding that they were shaping the quality of American lives for generations to come. In the view of these park visionaries, parks were not â€Å"amenities. They were necessities, providing recreation, inspiration, and essential respite from the city blare and bustle. And the visionaries were particularly concerned that parks be available to all of a city residents-especially those who did not have the resources to escape to the countryside. As population shifted to the suburbs after World War II, this vision of parks for all faded. Many cities lost the resources to create new parks. And in the new suburbs, the sprawling landscapes of curving CUL-De-sacs were broken mostly by boxy shopping centers and concrete parking lots.The time has come for Americans to rededicate themselves to the vision of parks for all the nation's people. As the action's leading conservation group creating parks in and around cities, the Trust for Public Land (TIP) has launched its Parks for People initiative in the belief that every American child should enjoy convenient access to a nearby park or playground. This white paper outlines how desperate the need is for city parks-especially in inner-city neighborhoods. And it goes on to describe the social, environmental, economic, and health benefits parks bring to a city and its people.TIP hopes this paper will generate discussion about the need for parks, prompt new research on the benefits f parks to cities, and serve as a reference for government leaders and volunteers as they make the case that parks are essential to the health and well-being of all Americans. You will find more information about the need for city parks and their benefits in the Parks for People section of Tap's Web site (www. Tip. Org/poor) where you can also sign-up for Parks for People information and support Tap's Parks for People wo rk.TIP is proud to be highlighting the need for parks in America's cities. Thanks for Joining our effort to ensure a park within reach of every American home. Will Rogers President, the Trust for Public Land City parks and open space improve our physical and psychological health, strengthen our communities, and make our cities and neighborhoods more attractive places to live and work. But too few Americans are able to enjoy these benefits. Eighty percent of Americans live in metropolitan areas, and many of these areas are severely lacking in park space.Only 30 percent of Los Angles residents live within walking distance mile. Low-income neighborhoods populated by minorities and recent immigrants are especially short of park space. From an equity standpoint, there is a strong need to redress this imbalance. In Los Angles, white neighborhoods enjoy 31. 8 acres of park space for every 1,000 people, compared with 1. 7 acres in African-American neighborhoods and 0. 6 acres in Latino neig hborhoods. This inequitable distribution of park space harms the residents of these communities and creates substantial costs for the nation as a whole.U. S. Voters have repeatedly shown their willingness to raise their own taxes to pay for new or improved parks. In 2002, 189 conservation funding measures appeared on ballots in 28 states. Voters approved three-quarters of these, generating $10 billion in conservation-related funding. Many of the nation's great city parks were built in the second half of the 19th century. Urban planners believed the parks would improve public health, relieve the stresses of urban life, and create a demonstrating public space where rich and poor would mix on equal terms.By the mid-20th century, city parks fell into decline as people fled inner cities for the suburbs. The suburbs fared no better, as people believed that backyards would meet the requirement for public open space. Over the past couple of decades, interest in city parks has revived. Gover nments and civic groups around the country have revalidated run-down city parks, built greengages along rivers, converted abandoned railroad lines to trails, and planted community gardens in vacant lots.But with the current economic downturn, states and cities facing severe budget crises are slashing their park spending, threatening the health of existing parks, and curtailing the creation of new parks. Strong evidence shows that when people have access to parks, they exercise more. Regular physical activity as been shown to increase health and reduce the risk of a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer, and diabetes. Physical activity also relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety, improves mood, and enhances psychological well-being.Beyond the benefits of exercise, a growing body of research shows that contact with the natural world improves physical and psychological health. Despite the importance of exercise, only 25 percent of American adu lts engage in the recommended levels of physical activity, and 29 percent engage in no leisure-time physical activity. The sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet of Americans have produced an epidemic of obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for the creation of more parks and playgrounds to help fight this epidemic.Numerous studies have shown that parks and open space increase the value of neighboring residential property. Growing evidence points to a similar benefit on commercial property value. The availability of park and recreation facilities is an important quality-of-life factor for corporations choosing where to locate facilities and for well-educated individuals choosing a place to live. City parks such as San Notation's Riverview Park often become important tourism draws, contributing heavily Green space in urban areas provides substantial environmental benefits.Trees reduce air pollution and water pollution, they help keep cities cooler, and th ey are a more effective and less expensive way to manage stemware runoff than building systems of concrete sewers and drainage ditches. City parks also produce important social and community development benefits. They make inner-city neighborhoods more livable; they offer recreational opportunities for at-risk youth, low-income children, and low-income families; and they provide places n low-income neighborhoods where people can feel a sense of community.Access to public parks and recreational facilities has been strongly linked to reductions in crime and in particular to reduced Juvenile delinquency. Community gardens increase residents' sense of community ownership and stewardship, provide a focus for neighborhood activities, expose inner-city youth to nature, connect people from diverse cultures, reduce crime by cleaning up vacant lots, and build community leaders. In light of these benefits, the Trust for Public Land calls for a revival of the city parks movement of the late 19t h century.We invite all Americans to Join the effort to bring parks, open spaces, and greengages into the nation's neighborhoods where everyone can benefit from them. 7 The residents of many U. S. Cities lack adequate access to parks and open space near their homes. In 2000, 80 percent of Americans were living in metropolitan areas, up from 48 percent in 1940. 1 The park space in many of these metropolitan areas is grossly inadequate. In Atlanta, for example, parkland covers only 3. 8 percent of the city area.Atlanta has no public green space larger than one-third of a square mile. 2 The city has only 7. Acres of park space for every 1,000 residents, compared with a 19. 1 acre average for other medium-low population density cities. 3 The story is much the same in Los Angles, San Jose, New Orleans, and Dallas. Even in cities that have substantial park space as a whole, the residents of many neighborhoods lack access to nearby parks. In New York City, for example, nearly half of the c ity 59 community board districts have less than 1. 5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. Low-Income Neighborhoods Are Desperately Short of Park Space Low-income neighborhoods populated by minorities and recent immigrants are especially short f park space. Minorities and the poor have historically been shunted off to live on the wrong side of the tracks, in paved-over, industrialized areas with few public amenities. From an equity standpoint, there is a strong need to redress this imbalance. In Los Angles, white neighborhoods (where whites make up 75 percent or more of the residents) boast 31. 8 acres of park space for every 1,000 people, compared with 1. 7 acres in African-American neighborhoods and 0. Acres in Latino neighborhoods. 5 This inequitable distribution of park space harms the residents of are costs alone are potentially enormous. Lacking places for recreation, minorities and low-income individuals are significantly less likely than whites and high-income individuals t o engage in the regular physical activity that is crucial to good health. Among non-Hispanic white adults in the United States, 34. 9 percent engage in regular leisure-time physical activity, compared with only 25. 4 percent of non- Hispanic black adults and 22. 7 percent of Hispanic adults. And adults with incomes below the poverty level are three times as likely as high-income adults to never be physically active. Even where the government or voters have allocated new money for park acquisition, there is significant risk that wealthier and better-organized districts will grab more than their fair share. The Los Angles neighborhood of South Central-with the city second-highest prove- The Trust for Public Land TTY rate, highest share of children, and lowest access to nearby park space-received only about half as much per-child parks funding as affluent West Los Angles from Proposition K between 1998 and 2000. Case Study: New Parks for Los Angles With 28,000 people crammed into its o ne square mile of low-rise buildings, the city f Manhood in Los Angles County is the most densely populated U. S. City outside the New York City metropolitan area. 10 Its residents-96 percent are Hispanic and 37 percent are children-are often packed five to a bedroom, with entire families living in garages and beds being used on a time-share basis. The Trust for Public Land (TIP) has been working in Manhood since 1996 to purchase, assemble, and convert six separate former industrial sites into a seven-acre riverside park.The project will double Manhood's park space. 11 Before TIP began its work, the future park site was occupied by abandoned arouses and industrial buildings, covered in garbage, graffiti, rusted metal, and barrels of industrial waste. Until the late asses, the parcels contained a glue factory, a transfer facility for solvents, and a truck service facility; one parcel was designated an Environmental Protection Agency Superfine site. 12 TIP is preparing to acquire the final parcel and has developed preliminary designs for the site.The completed park will invite Manhood's residents to gather at its picnic benches, stroll its walking trails, relax on its lawns, and play with their children in its tot lot. The Manhood project is a precursor of Tap's Parks for People-Los Angles program, an ambitious new effort to create parks where they are most desperately needed. The case for more parks in Los Angles is among the most compelling of any American city today. Only 30 percent of its residents live within a quarter mile of a park, compared with between 80 percent and 90 percent in Boston and New York, respectively. 3 If these residents are Latino, African American, or Asian Pacific, they have even less access to green space. TIP has set a goal of creating 25 new open space projects in Los Angles over the would be invested in undeserved minority communities. To accomplish this goal, TIP will help these communities through the gauntlets of public and priv ate fundraising, real estate transactions, strategic planning, and stewardship issues. Los Angles is also the site of Tap's first application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to assess the need for parks.TIP launched the GIS program in late 2001 in Los 9 O The Trust for Public Land Angles and has since expanded the program to New York, Lass Vegas, Boston, Charlotte, Miami, and Camden and Newark, New Jersey. Tap's GIS system uses census, anemographic and other data to map out areas of high population, concentrated poverty, and lack of access to park space. With GIS technology, TIP can now pinpoint the areas of fastest population growth, study landownership patterns, and acquire key parcels before development demand drives up property prices or destroys open space.Further, GIS helps TIP create contiguous park space, protecting natural habitats and connecting larger parks with linear greengages, rather than create a patchwork quilt of open space. 14 Voters have repeatedly show n their willingness to raise their own taxes to pay for new or improved parks. In the November 2002 elections, voters in 93 communities in 22 states approved ballot measures that committed $2. 9 billion to acquire and restore land for parks and open space.Voters approved 85 percent of such referendums in these elections. 1 5 Voter support in 2002 increased from the already strong 75 percent approval rate for similar measures in November 2001. 16 History of America's City Parks: Inspiration, Abandonment, Revival During the second half of the 19th century, American cities built grand city parks to improve their residents' quality of life. Dubbed 19th-century pleasure grounds by ark historians, the parks include New Work's Central Park and San Franciscans Golden Gate Park.Municipal officials of the time saw these parks as a refuge from the crowded, polluted, stressful cities-places where citizens could experience fresh air, sunshine, and the spiritually transforming power of nature; a place for recreation; and a demonstrating public space where rich and poor would mix on equal terms. The new parks were inspired by â€Å"an anti-urban ideal that dwelt on the traditional prescription for relief from the evils of the city-to escape to the country,† Galen Crane writes.The new American parks thus were conceived as great pleasure grounds meant to be pieces of the country, with fresh air, meadows, lakes, and sunshine right in the city. † 17 The Decline of City Parks spending on city parks declined. The well-to-do and white abandoned the cities for the suburbs, taking public funding with them. Cities and their parks fell into a spiral of decay. Cities cut park maintenance funds, parks deteriorated, and crime rose; many city dwellers came to view places like Central Park as too dangerous to visit. 18 The suburbs that mushroomed at the edges of major cities were often built with little public park space.For residents of these areas, a trip out of the house mea ns a drive to the shopping mall. Beginning around 1990, many city and town councils began forcing developers to add open space to their projects. Still, these open spaces are often effectively off-limits to the general public; in the vast sprawl around Lass Vegas, for example, the newer subdivisions often have open space at their centers, but these spaces are hidden inside a labyrinth of winding streets. Residents of older, low- and middle-income neighborhoods have to get in their cars (if they have one) and drive to find recreation space. 9 More recently, city parks have experienced something of a renaissance which has benefited cities unequally. The trend began in the asses and flourished in the asses as part of a general renewal of urban areas funded by a strong economy. It coincided with a philosophical shift in urban planning away from designing around the automobile and a backlash against the alienating modernism of mid-20th-century public architecture, in favor of public spac es that welcome and engage the community in general and the pedestrian in particular.Government authorities, civic groups, and private agencies around the country have worked together to revivalist UN-down city parks, build greengages along formerly polluted rivers, convert abandoned railroad lines to trails, and plant community gardens in vacant lots. The Park at Post Office Square in Boston shows how even a small but well-designed open space can transform its surroundings. Before work on the park began in the late asses, the square was filled by an exceptionally ugly concrete parking garage, blighting an important part of the financial district.Many buildings on the square shifted their entrances and addresses to other streets not facing the square. 20 Completed in 1992, the 1. -acre park is considered one of the most beautiful city parks in the United States. Its immaculate landscaping-with 125 species of plants, flowers, bushes, and trees-its half-acre lawn, its fountains, and i ts teak and granite benches lure throngs of workers during lunchtime on warm days.Hidden underneath is a seven-floor parking garage for 1,400 cars, which provides financial support for the park. 21 â€Å"It clearly, without any question, has enhanced and changed the entire neighborhood,† says Serge Denis, managing director of Lee Meridian Hotel Boston, which borders the park. â€Å"It's absolutely gorgeous. Not surprisingly, rooms 11 Yet despite such success stories, local communities often lack the transactional and development skills to effectively acquire property and convert it into park space.TIP serves a vital role in this capacity, working closely with local governments and community residents to determine where parks are needed; to help develop funding strategies; to negotiate and acquire property; to plan the park and develop it; and finally, to turn it over to the public. Between 1971 and 2002, the Trust for Public Land's work in cities resulted in the acquisition of 532 properties totaling 40,754 cress. In the nation's 50 largest cities TIP acquired 138 properties totaling 7,640 acres. 3 In the wake of the bursting of the economic bubble of the late asses, states and cities facing severe budget crises are slashing their park spending. With a projected $2. 4 billion budget shortfall in the two-year period beginning July 2003, Minnesota has cut its aid to local governments, hurting city park systems across the state. The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, confronting a 20 percent cut in its funding through 2004, has been forced to respond by deferring maintenance, closing wading lolls and beaches, providing fewer portable toilets, and reducing its mounted police patrol program.The required program cuts â€Å"represent a huge loss to the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and to the children of Minneapolis,† says Park Board Superintendent Mary Merrill Anderson. 24 When Georgians state legislature went into session in January 2003, law makers found themselves grappling with a $650 million budget shortfall. Part of their response was to eliminate the planned $30 million in fiscal 2003 funding for the Georgia Community Greengages Program, after appropriating $30 million per fiscal year in 001 and 2002.The legislature also cut the 2004 budget from $30 million to $10 million. The program helps the state's fastest-growing counties set aside adequate green space-at least 20 percent of their land-amid all the new subdivisions and strip malls. Most of the affected counties are around Atlanta, among the nation's worst examples of urban sprawl. For legislators hunting for budget-cutting targets, Georgians $30 million Community Greengages Program â€Å"was like a buffalo in the middle of a group of chickens,† says David Swan, program director for Tap's Atlanta office.The cut â€Å"makes a compelling argument that we need a dedicated funding source, so that green space acquisition isn't depending on fiscal cycles and the legislature. â€Å"25 The federal government has also cut its city parks spending. In 1978, the federal government established the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (PARR) program to help urban areas rehabilitate their recreational facilities. The program received no funding in fiscal year 2003, down from $28. 9 million in both 2001 and 2002. 26 President Bush's budget proposal for fiscal 2004 also allocates no PARR funding.