Critically Examine the Trend and Size of Poverty in Hong Kong

No city in the world is as ironic and contradictory as Hong Kong. This city has not only the 6th highest per capita GDP, but also the highest Gini coefficient in the world (World Bank, 2011). Fortunately, the Hong Kong government isn’t turning a blind eye towards this dilemma but are instead actively looking for a trade-off between economic performance and social welfare. One notable example is the re-establishment of the Commission on Poverty, it is hoped that a clearly-defined poverty line will shed a new light into the poverty situation in Hong Kong.Another important policy in recent years is the implementation of minimum wage law, which has been in effect for two years aiming to guarantee a basic wage for low-income workers, however its effect on overall employment level in Hong Kong is still to be determined. In this essay, I will first examine the overall trend and size of poverty in Hong Kong, then move on to assess the effectiveness of the present social security syste m, as well as the minimum wage in eradicating poverty in Hong Kong. Poverty, is an ambiguous term especially in Hong Kong.The United Nations places the benchmark for poverty as living under a monthly income less than or equal to half of the median household income of equal size households. This is the definition that the Commission on Poverty is likely to adopt. But before the launch of official poverty line people are considered poor only if they apply for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), which eligibility is largely determined by nominal income. As a result, the number of people applying for CSSA decreased after minimum wage law has been imposed.In this essay therefore, I will adopt the UN definition of poverty in examining its trend and size in Hong Kong. Poverty rate up to the year 2011 was the lowest since that of 2001. Before 2011, there had been an overall increasing trend in both the number of households living in poverty as well as the poverty rate. In this sense, 2011 can be seen as a watershed year; the poverty rate plummeted to 17. 1% when compared to 17. 9% in the previous year, which meant a reduction of 55000 people suffering from poverty.Additionally, the total number of poor households had been rising from 2001 to 2007, but this trend started to decline from then on. The total number of poor households in 2011 was 444,000, when compared with that of the years 2007 and 2010; there had been a reduction of 11,000 and 7000 households respectively. In spite of the declining poverty trend and size, income disparity in Hong Kong has been worsening. In the year 2001, the median monthly income of high-income group was $31,000 while that of low-income group was $10,000, which meant that the former was 3. 1 times that of the latter.However, this disparity continued to grow and in the year 2011, the median monthly income of the high-income group increased to $35,000, while that of the low-income group plunged to $9000, which meant that the high-income group had a monthly income 3. 5 times more than that of the low-income group. In brief, it is undeniable that the declining trend and size of poverty has been promising, but that was largely due to the thriving economy instead of governmental efforts, at the same time, the income gap has been widening despite the implementation of minimum wage law.These statistics all indicate that the current social policies are inadequate in eliminating the imminent threat of poverty. The social security system in Hong Kong is a three-tier system consisting of social assistance and social allowance in the form of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Old Age Allowance, mandated occupational pension in the form of Mandatory Provident Fund as well as private saving. In the remaining part of the essay, the effectiveness of the above social security policies in lifting poverty will be assessed one by one.The Comprehensive Social Security Assistance was renamed after the Public Assi stance Scheme in 1993 has the sole purpose to provide â€Å"a safety net for those who cannot support themselves financially. It is designed to bring their income up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs. † (Social Welfare Department, 2012) It is a non-contributory and means-tested scheme financed wholly by the government. CSSA payments can be broadly classified into three categories: standard rate, supplements and special grants.Standard Rates from 2012 is divided into 5 types: elderly person aged over 60 or above, ill health adult under 60, disabled child, able-bodied adult aged under 60 and able-bodied child. The amount of standard rates payable to each type differs, but they are under the same guiding principles; the standard rates for children and seniors are higher than those of the adults, rates for single individuals living alone are greater than those of family members, and rates will increase with levels of severity of disability. Tsoi, 2002) Additionally, there are five types of supplements. Long-term supplement is an annual payment to recipients who have been receiving assistance for at least 12 months for the replacement of household and durable goods. Single parent supplement is a monthly payment to single parent families with special difficulties in bringing up their families. Community living supplement is a monthly payment to old, disabled and certified ill-health CSSA recipients living in the community instead of any institutions.Transport supplement aims to promote social integration and geographical mobility by providing monthly assistance to certified 100% disabled as well as population between 12 to 64 years of age. Last but not least, the intention of the residential care supplement is to relieve the accommodation burdens of old, disabled and certified ill-health CSSA applicants who are not living in subsidised housing estates. Besides, a range of special grants are also set up to meet applicants’ special needs in cluding school fees, school-related expenses, essential traveling expenses and so on.Famous English philosopher Midgley once commented that redistributing wealth in the form of social assistance has the â€Å"most direct potential impact on the poverty problem. † She identified three necessary conditions in order to fully realize this potential, first, social assistance must be financial by progressive taxation, second, the level of benefit provided must be sufficient to raise recipients out of poverty and third, needy people must have easy access to social assistance schemes and that these schemes would not deter them from applying for help. Tsoi, 2002). With applies the above mentioned three principles to Hong Kong, it is worthy to highlight that Hong Kong only fulfilled the first condition out of the three. In the following paragraphs, the low effectiveness of the CSSA will be discussed with respect to its level of benefits, process of application as well as incentives for its recipients to reintegrate into the job market. The level of benefits by the standard rates of the CSSA cannot reflect the actual needs of its recipients, but are in fact set arbitrarily. At the oment, the standard rates of CSSA recipients are reviewed and adjusted annually by the Legislative Council to reflect the changes in Price Level by the Census and Statistics Department. The Consumption Price Index however, is a reference to the household expenditure of the 25% of the population with the lowest income. It is highly dubious as to whether the household expenditures of the poor households would be an authentic indicator and correspond to what they actually need to support their daily living. In addition, some CSSA recipients described the process of application as humiliating and intimidating.According to a joint project by the Department of Applied Social Sciences in Polytechnic University and Oxfam Hong Kong on Perception and Utilization of the CSSA in 2007, it was found t hat some recipients felt that their applications were always delayed and mishandled. Some applicants even accused the social security officers as having bad manners and lack empathy. These findings were found out after in-depth interviews and group discussion, although it is questionable as to the representativeness of the sample size, the critique to the â€Å"humiliating† application procedures must point to some bearing of truth that the CSSA recipients feel.Besides, some social workers in the study also complained that â€Å"some officers tend to insult and threaten the applicants by making unreasonable requests†. Going back to Midgley’s third condition in order to eradicate poverty which concerns the access to social security must not deter the needy from applying; the Social Services Department could clearly do a better job. Furthermore, there is always an unspoken concern that receiving CSSA would encourage a â€Å"dependency culture†, especially w hen the CSSA mechanisms do not encourage able-bodied recipients to attain economic independence.Contrary to common misconception that only able-bodied lazy people and new immigrants would apply for CSSA, most CSSA applicants, amounting to 60% (Oxfam, 2007) treat social security as the last resort to alleviate their dire financial circumstances. However, due to a lack of support services, only 8%-10% of able-bodied CSSA recipients are able to re-enter the competitive job market (Ming Pao Daily News, 2000) through the Special Job Attachment Programme. In addition, the additional cost for attempting to re-enter the job market may ut an extra toll on the families receiving CSSA, let alone some single parent’s families with insufficient child-care facilities may choose to keep on receiving welfare instead of working. In short, CSSA do not provide sufficient incentive for its recipients to re-join the work force, which is the only way to escape poverty. Another aspect of the social security system in Hong Kong is mandated occupational pension, which is in the form of Mandatory Provident Fund in Hong Kong. It is a compulsory, occupation-related scheme with defined monthly contribution by both employers and employees.The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance was passed in 2000 with the hope of strengthening the safety net and retirement protection. Contribution to the MPF is mandated to be 10% of the employee’s income with which 5% is contributed by his/her employer. Besides, the mandatory contribution is adjusted with relevance to employees’ income. After the implementation of minimum wage, the monthly relevant income is readjusted, for employees with monthly income less than $6500, only their employers are mandated to contribute 5% of relevant income, this becomes the minimum contribution.On the other hand, for employees with income higher than $25000, both employers and employees are required to contribute $1250, this becomes the maximum c ontribution. All MPF contributions will be injected into registered MPF trustee in the market chosen by the employers, but now, employees will be able to choose new MPF scheme annually based on their performance. In the following paragraphs, the limitations of the MPF scheme will be discussed including its limited coverage as well as inadequate retirement protection which undoubtedly hamper its effectiveness.As aforementioned, MPF is an employment-related protection scheme, which means that only people with long-term employment contract will receive retirement protection. The MPF only have limited coverage and do not have universal protection as people excluded from the workforce including the sick, the disabled, housewives, hawkers, domestic employees and so on are unprotected, this amount to quite a sizable portion in the population. Besides, the employers might try to evade from the mandated contributions by altering the terms of employment contract.Employers are legally bound to contribute to MPF for their employees if they are employed for more than 60 days, therefore, some employers may deliberately change the employment contract to 59 days or terminate the contract and re-employ the employees. In brief, the MPF scheme does not provided for universal protection in the sense that a significant portion of the population is left unprotected, let alone some canny employers attempt to alter the employment contract in order to avoid contributing to their employees’ retirement protection scheme.Furthermore, the predicament of the MPF Scheme is that despite its objective is to provide retirement protection and reinforce the safety net, the protection is in fact far from sufficient. MPF is a define-contribution scheme but it is not a defined-benefits scheme, which meant that employees’ contribution is contingent upon many factors including the duration of contribution, returns from investments by the trustees after deducing the high administrative a nd transaction costs incurred, as well as the amount of contribution.This led to the inevitable unpredictability of benefits which is neither guaranteed by the trustees nor protected by the government. Besides, the scheme was introduced only in 2000, which meant that people around retirement age at that time would receive either little or no protection at all due to the short contribution period. At the moment, elderly poverty was one of the severest forms of poverty in Hong Kong. In short, contrary to its initial intention, the MPF does not guarantee retirement protection, instead only added more uncertainties and unpredictability to lives after retirement.The statutory minimum wage was passed in 2010 and fully implemented Labour Day of 2011. It aims at â€Å"striking an appropriate balance between forestalling excessively low wages and minimising the loss of low-paid jobs while sustaining Hong Kong’s economic growth and competitiveness (Labour Department, 2011). The initia l minimum wage rate was set at $28, but the commission set up by the government to review the minimum wage rate biannually has agreed to increase to $30 an hour. From a theoretical standpoint, setting up a wage floor would upset the balance of the labour market by forcing some low skill workers to be laid off.Nevertheless, the government estimated that 273800 grassroot workers would benefit from the law and could sustain a basic level of living by avoiding from being underpaid. After about two years since the law has passed, however, it seems that reports about employers trying to cut the fringe benefits of employees were not uncommon and the actual effect and repercussion of minimum wage on the labour market is yet to be unravelled. In the following essay, I will examine the implementation of minimum wage law with regard to its effectiveness in eradicating poverty in Hong Kong.In order to assess the effectiveness of minimum wage, the first indicator is changes in monthly income of the lower income groups when compared with higher income groups in the lower half year of 2011. If we divide the whole population equally into ten decile groups with the first decile group being the poorest 10% of the people and the tenth decile group being the wealthiest 10%, it was found that in the first three decile groups all experience increase in monthly income ranging from 6. 9% to 9. 3%, while the last three decile groups experience either no change or negative growth in their monthly income (HKCSS, 2011).However, looking at income alone would not be a comprehensive assessment of the effect of minimum wage law given that the economic began to boom around the time minimum wage was implemented. Therefore, a much more reliable assessment would be to compare the living standards of low income households before and after the minimum wage came into force. A study commissioned by Oxfam Hong Kong adopted a two-stage stratified surveys that interview impoverished households with at least one family member receiving minimum wage and compare their livelihood from March 2011 to January 2012.In the following paragraphs, findings from this study will be further analysed. In terms of monthly income, the minimum wage law has indeed increase the nominal household income. About 70% of interviewees, representing 131125 families reported an increase in household income after the introduction of minimum wage. Moreover, 72. 6% of them also reported a rise in individual workers’ income. In spite of an increase in monthly income and in fact, hourly income as well, working hours of workers decreased.The average hourly wage of respondents who stayed in the same job before and after implementation of minimum wage increased, 56. 8% of them even receive an hourly wage that exceeded $28. However, the same group of people who remain in the same job also experience an average cut of about 13. 9 working hours. This reduction of working hour is more often than not, at the expen se of the workers’ benefit such as cancelling paid lunch hour or meal break and no overtime payment and so on. 46. % of respondents complained that the previously paid rest days were cancelled since the enforcement of minimum wage law. Taking into account of the loss of paid rest days as well as other fringe benefits, coupled with the reduction in working hours, over half of the respondents, 55. 8% of them experienced a drop in individual income despite the apparent increase in nominal monthly income. In the paragraph above concerning CSSA recipients, it was briefly mentioned that they treat social assistance as their last resort to mitigate their financial situation.In fact, most of them felt â€Å"perceivable prejudice† against them. The introduction of minimum wage has a wide application, but it affects most significantly low-income jobs that CSSA recipients crave. About half of the respondents receiving CSSA in the Oxfam study affirm the effectiveness of wage floor as an impetus to quit receiving social assistance. This in brief, could address the need of CSSA recipients to self-reliance and eliminate the stigmatization or label that they feel attached to them by re-entering the job market.Nonetheless, increase in income to a certain extent does not mean or signify poverty alleviation. The most pivotal finding in the Oxfam study is that it reveals 40. 5% of households still live in deprivation despite the minimum wage law. This is because they define â€Å"deprivation† as the inabilities to afford at least three items that are dubbed essential by most Hong Kong residents including dental check-ups, leisure activities, afford to go to private clinics when sick and tea house and so on.According to Townsend (1979), â€Å"a person is considered to be in poverty if he or she does not have enough resources to enable him or her to participate in normal activities commonly engaged by ordinary members in the community and therefore cannot beco me fully integrated into the mainstream of society. † Therefore, when 40. 5% of respondents, representing 531354 households are still deprived of a chance to engage in social activities simply due to the fact that they still could not afford the items they need highlighted just how ineffective minimum wage legislation has been in eradicating poverty.In conclusion, lifting people out of poverty is a difficult problem that could not be solved by any social policy alone, let alone the many flaws and limitations that are embedded in social policies. However, it is only through identifying the imperfection in social welfare policies could we make improvement on them and hopefully attain the final goal of eradicating poverty at the end. Reference list: Hong Kong Council of Social Service, The Statistic review of the Low Income Household in Hong Kong, 2011. w. hkcss. org. hk/index_e. asp Labour Department (2011). Statutory Minimum Wage: Reference Guidelines for Employers and Employee s. Legislative Council (2012). Before and After the Statutory Minimum Wage Ordinance in Hong Kong: Survey of Low-income workers and their Families. Oxfam Hong Kong and Centre for Social Policy Studies, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2007). Perception and Utilization of CSSA: a Study on the Views of the Public and the Lower Income people.Social Welfare Department (2012), Comprehensive Social Assistance Scheme, retrieved from: http://www. swd. gov. hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_comprehens/ Tsoi Kcon-wah , â€Å"Poverty Eradication and Social Security in Hong kong†, in Advances in Social welfare in Hong Kong, ed. ,) by D. T. L. Shek, 2002, Chapter 9. World Bank (2011), Gini Index, retrieved from: http://data. worldbank. org/indicator/SI. POV. GINI

Current Event Fashion Ysl

Paige Restivo Fashion Fundamentals Assignment #2 Current Event Yvan Mispelaere Out as DVF Creative Director September 12, 2012 â€Å"After two-and-a-half years as creative director at Diane von Furstenberg, Yvan Mispelaere is out the door. † (Rosemary Feitelberg) The article I haven chosen was published during fashion week shortly after the DVF spring 2013 runway show. It grabbed my attention because the title claiming creative director Yvan was gone and I knew that the show had just went on. His departure was announced 48 hours after the show.Mispelaere had worked with many designers before DVF, such as Yves Saint Laurent, Chloe, Valentino, Luis Feraud and Gucci just before DVF in march. He was very talented but never known for sticking to one project. Mispelaere was in for the challenge of it, he said earlier in the week, â€Å"I came to DVF to help further the brand’s mission and create a world-class design team. I am confident we have been able to achieve that duri ng my time with the company. I can’t thank Diane enough for the opportunity to work with her and such talented people. The group is now well-positioned for even greater success, and I am eager to take on my next challenge. . I noticed a significant up bringing in Diane von Furstenberg's line shortly after Yvan had joined the team, in past years DVF had been known but not the way it is now. Yvan Mispelaere felt his job was done and it was time for time next. I think the most propionate points of this article was when press had asked von Furstenberg to comment on behalf of his departure nothing but kind words were said. Von Furstenberg thinks he added â€Å"enormous value†, and is more than thankful to have had him join the team to help further them in each direction.Even though Yvan Mispealere had left DVF without a creative director, they are not eager to replace him just yet. Thankfully shortly before Yvan leaving DVF, they had just signed on Joel Horowitz as co-chair man. Down one man, but still have another to help run things smoothly. They are determined to keep DVF growing and becoming more of a world class brand. I enjoyed reading this article because I think drama in the fashion world is interesting, but shortly after analyzing this article I realized there actually wasn't any major drama.Yvan would move on to his next big project, and Diane von Furstenberg was just happy to have had him to help. Closing this article was a comment by von Furstenberg – â€Å"I hope Yvan will immediately put his signature on the collection, I’m curious to see his slant. But it will still be DVF. † Rosemary Feitelberg (2012). Yvan Mispelaere Out as DVF Creative Director. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. wwd. com/fashion-news/designer-luxury/yvan-mispelaere-out-as-dvf-creative-director-6274810. [Last Accessed September 14, 2012].

Application Performance Optimization and Load Balancing

Application Performance Optimization and Load Balancing Application Performance Optimization and Load Balancing using RAID and Caching Techniques Akilesh Kailash Sunil Iyer Kolar Suresh Kumar Sabarish Venkatraman    ABSTRACT As the data processing and demand for storage grows, the performance of a critical application should always be intact with respect to disk I/O. There has been considerable improvements related to disk seek, latency and spindle speeds; However, these improvements have not met the challenges and addresses the need for better performance and load balancing. The challenge of any Database administrator is to maximize the Application I/O performance and ensure the high availability with zero downtime. This performance challenge can be met using I/O monitoring, Load balancing, Cache management and RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) technologies. The primary goal of this paper is to exemplify the details of successfully solving the I/O problems of a database application in a consistent fashion with the ap propriate RAID configurations, caching mechanisms and load balancing algorithm. Categories and Subject Descriptors B.3.2 [Design Styles]: Mass storage – RAID. D.4.2 [Storage Management]: Secondary storage, Storage hierarchies. D.4.3 [File Systems Management]: File organization. D.4.4 [Communications Management]: Input/Output. D.4.5 [Reliability]: Backup procedures, Fault-tolerance. General Terms Algorithms, Performance, Design, Theory, Reliability. Keywords RAID – Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks I/O – Input/Output DBA – Database Administrators HA – High Availability OLTP – Online Transaction Processing. IOPS – HBA – 1. INTRODUCTION RAID technology addresses the need for higher storage capacity in IO system and provides the feature of data redundancy. This helps in efficient and improved disk access and avoids data loss by disk failures. Theoretically, RAID is mainly used to create a logical disk from two or more physical d isk drives in order to provide high bandwidth. RAID is an imperative part of storage stack and fabric layer and is coordinated by various storage vendors like EMC, Hitachi, NetApp. RAID technologies have enumerated different methods in building storage stacks and sub-systems for different kinds of databases. Thus, the two main technical reasons for switching to RAID are scalability and high availability in the context of I/O and system performance. As the database sizes of today have grown manifold from the gigabytes to petabytes range, the intricacy to scale I/O performance of such gigantic systems is needed very much for critical applications. Load balancing is a critical factor in environments like Operating Systems, Clusters, Networking and Applications. They play a quintessential role in the performance and reliability of any environment avoiding catastrophic failures. In a quotidian scenario, the resource allocation and load balancing are done through hash methods, genetic alg orithms and several scheduling algorithms in Operating systems. Many database applications demand high throughput and availability from storage subsystems. For instance, a stock market application running in New York stock exchange will need to have a high throughput and bandwidth with absolutely no downtime. This requires continuous operation i.e., the need to satisfy each I/O request even in the case of disk failures. It is not acceptable to meet the aforementioned requirements at the cost of deprived performance mainly in real-time applications such as video and audio. It is highly unacceptable if a video is played at slower speed or the data is lost during transmission and ends abruptly.

If computer security is the answer, what is the problem, and how can Essay

If computer security is the answer, what is the problem, and how can computer security solve that problem - Essay Example As stated above, computer security deals with several issues, which are related to technology (Wong & Yeung 2009). Facebook is one of the most popular social network site globally (Kirkpatrick 2010). However, there are several security issues that pose a danger to the users. It is quite clear that Facebook has fallen victim to various security issues such as hacking, hoax applications, counterfeit product pages and affiliate spam among other issues (Stoll 2011). The number of facebook hackings has continually increased in the recent years. There are numerous aspects that make Facebook more prone to hacking since, most individuals usually post their personal information (Sterling 1993). This information enables the hackers steal the personal identity of the account (Reese 2008). Therefore, it is much easier to protect account hacking using computer security. There are several methodologies that can be employed to impede hackers from accessing a facebook account. These methodologies include using a strong password, logging out after finishing, changing the password more often and using an anti-spyware software (Erickson 2008). Using complicated passwords is one of the best ways to deal with facebook security issues. In fact, individuals are advised to use complicated passwords, which hackers are not able to retrieve (Kabay & Bosworth 2011). This will ensure that their personal information and that of their friends is protected against any alterations. Facebook users are also supposed to logout immediately they are done using the social network (Tipton & Krause 2012). This is because another individual can download malware and key loggers which affect privacy terms of the account (Burger 1991). Changing the password more often also reduces the chances of the account being hacked (Mitnick, Simon & Wozniak 2011). This toughens the ability of the hackers to find out

A Proposal for the City of New York, the Avant-Garde, and Current Art Essay

A Proposal for the City of New York, the Avant-Garde, and Current Art Practices - Essay Example Wodiczko himself seems particularly tied to the revolutionary Situationist International, often referencing them in regards to his work. The Situationists incorporated Marxist ideology and combined the sense of political ideology and art. It originated in the late 1950s as a critique of capitalism. With regard to its social and artistic avant-garde structure, it harkens back to what Poggioli sees in The Theory of the Avant-Garde as the beginning of the avant-garde. Poggioli identifies the artistic origins in 1870s France as, â€Å"†¦the connections between the political left and the literary left were sufficiently clearly defined and important to a generation that experienced â€Å"L'Annà ©e Terrible,†Ã¢â‚¬  L'Annà ©e Terrible being a series of poems by Victor Hugo that fused contemporary French political concerns regarding the Franco-Prussian War with literary avant-gardism. Indeed, many writers have identified the early connections between artistic and intellectual movements and the desire to institute progressive social reforms. Linda Nochlin quotes art critic Thà ©ophile Thorà ©, who wrote in 1855, â€Å"Art changes only through strong convictions, convictions strong enough to change society at the same time.† In the early 19th century Henri de Saint-Simon suggested that to change modern society it would be only necessary to organize intellectuals and artists and join then with engineers and inventors.

Online Pizza Security Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7000 words

Online Pizza Security - Research Paper Example We are facing many computer criminal attacks from diverse countries and continents. It is the need of the hour that we should realize these various shapes of computer criminal actions and should make an effort to avoid them as far as possible. In this way, we can lessen the possible damage concerning online computer crimes and their activities. Presently we are surrounded by a lot of new computer-based security problems. These problems are rising more and more due to viruses, phishing, worms, spyware hackers, etc. As we assess this problem from the deep then we see that no Internet user is secure from this type of computer security attacks. Now we are facing biggest danger form the online money frauds. Lots of people are uncertain from the online transactions. In our online Pizza system, we need to make sure that there is no security hole in the system working and online cash transaction. In this way the public will feel free regarding the online transaction and our business will gai n more customers loyalty. In presence of above-mentioned security limitation and difficulties, we can face problems regarding the web-based business. In a business such as online Pizza people need to enter their details (house address, name, gender, phone number, email, etc), so in this regard, they can feel some security dangers regarding the leakage of their personal data and information. So we need to consider potential security issues and establish a better security plan regarding the handling and management of these security issues and problems. This chapter is mainly planned to initially identify the main security issues we can face regarding the online pizza website and then I will suggest the main parameters we can follow to handle these security-related aspects.   Ã‚  Ã‚  

University of Miami Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

University of Miami - Essay Example As a function of this, UAVs operating in various places throughout the world, namely Iraq and Afghanistan, began to suffer a high attrition rate due to the icing of the wings that invariably occurs at high attitudes. As such, this represented a primary design flaw in that the UAV manufacturers had not foreseen the fact that due to the pilotless nature of the aircraft, it would be nearly impossible for a UAV pilot to notice and infer that icing was taking place; let alone seeks to counteract such an eventuality by employing countermeasures. Moreover, the analysis will look at the use of FEA as a means of solving the complex problems that the engineers were faced. In order to rapidly and cost effectively integrate such a level of changes, the engineers went back to the proverbial drawing board and utilized CAD (Computer Assisted Design) to seek to draw a further level of inference upon the issue at hand. Mainly, these tools were used by the analysts to seek to determine the CFD properties that the wings exhibited. The CFD, or Computational Fluid Dynamics, was a way that the engineers could seek to provide the wings and surface areas of the associated aircraft with the highest level of protection against the accumulation of ice without having the cover the entire aircraft in costly, heavy, and ultimately ineffective de-icing mechanisms. The overall importance of seeking to maximize the level of â€Å"bang for the buck† with relation to where the de-icing systems were ultimately installed centered upon the fact that the sheer nature of the jobs which the UAV’s perform and support require that they remain aloft for extraordinarily long periods of time. As a function of this, it is necessary for these aircraft to be as light, and as fuel efficient as possible. Likewise, seeking to utilize CAD and CFD to determine what aspects of the aircraft lay at the greatest degree of risk with

The various theoretical approaches to Employment Relations all fail to Essay

The various theoretical approaches to Employment Relations all fail to provide an adequate explanatory framework for the development and practise found within this function of management. Discuss - Essay Example (Dodge, 1997) These companies do not discover these characteristics on a resume, so they employ behavior-based interviews as well ad in depth interviews of their pertinent candidates. Southwest gathers a group of job candidates in a room and observes how they interact. They ask them questions that will reveal personality traits. (Woog, 1998) Consistent feedback is a key element in keeping employees stuck to their respective jobs. This feedback should go both ways and recommends that managers ask employees open-ended questions to provide an opportunity to express their opinions. Employees today will change jobs many times during their careers. These workers are continuous learners and they keep pace with change, take responsibility for their own careers and are committed to the company’s success. (Nink, 2006) Talent management is a function of HR that needs identification of true talent and retaining of employees who work within their instinctive levels, let alone show prowess which is best suited for meeting the desired needs of the HR function. The role of the government in such an exercise is all the more significant since it has to realize that its role is significant right from the onset. The relationship between the organization and the government is one of a symbiotic one since the organization has to recog nize the talent pool which is available and the government needs to make viable conditions for them to exist and work in the best manner possible. (Bell, 2001) The role of HR thus is to liaison these activities in the best interests of the organization as well as the linkage that it has with the government. This helps the overall mission and vision basis of the organization and helps develop the objectives on a long term basis more than anything else. The need is to realize that talent management can truly play a pivotal role

Different sectors and their current performance Essay

Different sectors and their current performance - Essay Example United Kingdom’s construction sector is important for the country’s economy and has a number of services,products and technologies. These differ in economic value realized from them relative to their varied outputs regarding skilled and unskilled labor, knowledge, raw materials, intangible investment and raw materials. It must also be noted that the construction industry in the UK has been growing in terms of maintaining, designing and developing, operating and repairing of buildings (CIB, 2010). These and more are captured in this paper which looks into five key sectors in the UK construction industry. Private house builders Private house builders in the United Kingdom normally raise money to put up buildings and projects. They are then paid by their clients or the government upon completion of the projects but with interest (CLG, 2010). The payment is distributed evenly over a given contracted period of time when the building process runs. Their roles comprise buildin g of houses, large buildings, estates as well as developing structured facilities for example manufacturing buildings. They are mostly associated with cheap labor which they employ in the building process while at the end of the day they reap huge sums of money in return which guarantee them huge profits. Some of the activities which are presently being worked on by private house builders include putting up of a 75-storey Hertsmene House on the Canary Wharf and building up of residential houses in new towns (CIMR, 2003). This housing project is set to take three years and its benefits are projected to boost the country’s economy. This will be in terms of investment prospects which have since been defined and planned for the building once it is complete. Social house builders UK has in the recent past had an increased rate in worker housing needs hence calling for new developments to build houses for workers (BIS, 2012). Social house builders are concerned with such building d evelopments in which they are charged with the task of building worker houses. This considers costs for constructing the houses which are usually a target of low cost ownership of homes for workers. There are quite a number of social house builders whereby some work as single entities while others work in partnerships. This has also led to emergence of associations for housing projects and at least 5000 new homes are said to be in the process of being constructed at the moment (Leftly, 2010). These are projected to take approximately a year and are set to benefit the worker community especially in relieving them from the strain of house seeking at convenient places. Social house builders understand the specific needs and requirements which are associated with affordable housing constructions. This is mainly with regards to housing designs and building approaches employed in building the houses. Social house builders are always focused on benchmarking their present position while als o look into ways of improving their building performances (UKCES, 2012). They are also keen to offer affordable housing and help in addressing particular needs of people relative to culture, security, language as well as accessibility to services. Private commercial builders Output of commercial building process in the UK has off late been noted to account for 18 per cent of all the work associated with construction industry (UKCES, 2012). Private commercial builders has however, been on the rise in the country with most of them targeting construction in various areas. They have been into construction of residential buildings whereby new building projects, renovation works, home improvements and extension projects have been part of their dealings. They have also been into commercial construction projects both in the public sector and private sector. Their main concentration has been construction of both commercial and residential build

War and displacement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

War and displacement - Essay Example World War II or the â€Å"good war† was also not morally a clean war. It resulted in the deaths of 50 million people, maiming millions more. The war was a cover for genocide, systematic destruction of cities and populations, crippling of a very strong economy, development and use of nuclear weapons and above all the trauma that every civilian and soldier had to go through in the post war life. One might think that all the past experience would have caused people to think rationally and avoid wars in the future but that has not been the case and war is prevalent even today, be it the Iran Iraq war or the earlier Russian Cold War. While claiming for justice, often the war farers overlook the centric point of war- consequentalism. (Wittner, 2003). War has never been a good path to demand justice and in the long run has brought only death and destruction. The immediate impact of war is first on the people of the war faring countries. Then comes the society, the economy and the env ironment. War takes its toll only emotionally and mentally but also affects indirectly with destruction of property, economy and well being of a society. Population Displacement Displaced population is referred to people driven away from their homes and countries. They are forcibly displaced from their roots leaving behind their property, trade and extended families. The five main causes to population displacement have been clustered as: 1. Displacement due to war and political turmoil, 2. Displacement due to natural disasters like floods, famine, earthquakes and so on 3. Displacement due to religious, ethnic or racial persecution 4. Displacement due to new infrastructures and new developments and, 5. Displacement due to disintegration of state structures or borders. Whatever be the reason for population displacement, it has dire consequences. There is massive loss of life and property, destruction of assets and economy (Christensen, 2003).That in turn causes depreciation in the sta ndard of living, unemployment and alienation of masses. Those people who get displaced also face cultural and identity crisis as the new place where they set up their home may not always welcome them. The population displacement causes increase in population in the host country that permits the refugees to come in, thereby increases hostility, unemployment and competition for both the refugees and the inhabitants. Apart from these, there is tremendous mental, emotional and psychological trauma for the population that got uprooted. Men, women and children, the aged and the elderly, the sick and the handicapped all bear the brunt of such movement. The after effects of war have been portrayed in a unique manner through a documentary by a musician Michael Frantis – I know I am not alone. (Frantis, 2005) The documentary is filmed in war torn Baghdad where the musician meets people from all walks of life like taxi drivers, craftsmen, nurses, musicians, writers who all share the sam e grief and feeling of torment. It shows Iraq today, with no water, no security and safety, entire city is run on generators as there is no electricity. The loss of lives has been tremendous but sadly that has not been highlighted in any of the news channels or political forums. The city has been shredded to bits, with people made refugees, economy in tatters and no hope of rebuilding the country. The film involves real people and shows how war has affected

Positive and Negative Associations Essay Example for Free

Positive and Negative Associations Essay Cognitive social psychology describes the â€Å"self† as a dynamic, flexible, and complex set of self-conceptions, emotions, images and memories that are stored in the long-term memory. Some of the self-related material in working memory is associated with the transient conditions of the present time frame. These self-conceptions serve the important function of guiding behavior, affection, and perception. Core self-conceptions are enduring and stable self-conceptions tend to endure over time, and are activated across situations which mean they influence a person in giving meaning to circumstances and choice on how to behave. The perspective about the self in the memory has been referred to as the self-structure where it is proposed that the self-related memory representations are not neutral, but rather carry with them an emotional quality or evaluation tone known as valence (Zephyr 91). Because self-evaluation is based on the prevailing norms and expectations of the cultural milieu, the meaning of the valence component of the core-descriptions is likely to show cultural specificity in which the positive and negative associations are mutually based. Positive and negative associations Cultures have been described in terms of interpersonal values they socialize in their members. Culture is the patterns of social institutions, relationships, and expectations that guide the development of culturally competent individuals. The social values and practices are the major basics in the cultural construction of the positive and negative social associations in a society’s culture. The Haitian culture has been overtly portrayed on racial terms by many white writers something that African American writers have been deconstructing to dispel these negative associations. On the positive associations, anybody who is Haitian upholds highly about his/her self-conceptions will regard everything with self-esteem and more so respect his/her culture; trying to paint a positive image of it. Zephyr (118) points out that Haitians are to some extent positive about their culture and that is the reason why they would like very much to change the negative perceptions the world has. Their music has transcended class boundaries expressing the greatness of the people’s culture and their nation at large. People who talk well of themselves usually have that attitude that keeps their cultural boundaries open to constructive criticism for the better. Superstitions which have for a long time dwarfed development and people’s association are being negated for a society that embraces change. Haitians have changed the African American negativism by whites which has brought new light on the racial issues as a people with equal dignity and who are supposed to be respected. Haiti had remained in the dark and students and other groups have drummed up support in peeling away the darkness and letting people learn more about the place and its people. The United States initially viewed Haiti as a threat to its existence but now that has changed with the view of Haiti as a nation that contributes to its well-being. The historical slave revolution of Haiti is very much part of its proud history. Haiti is considered as a beacon of hope for its model of self-emancipation. This much inspired Negroes in slave plantation to rise and strive for their liberties which were held at ransom by the slave masters. It also strikes positively that Haitians fought bravely against French troops which points to the strong urge among the people to resist oppression from the white masters. Their culture has been without intrusion for many years which has accounted for the people’s strong will of independence leading to self-conceptions that glorifies their lives. The positive self-descriptions of the Haitian people therefore fits within their cultural frame because of the image as a free people from the chains of colonization which are to blame in many African countries for denigrating indigenous cultures, leading to many Africans neglecting their butchered cultural values (Zephyr 89). The critique of the cultural practices of Haitians has provided culturally relevant psychiatric practice very important in the cultural mindset of the Haitians. However, the Haitian culture has not been without negative self-descriptions that are to account for the stereotypes which have influenced the society in a great way. Gender issues, like in every other patriarchal society in the world rears the ugly muzzle to the world view. Also, the Voodoo culture has had negative effects on the socio-economic and political advancement of Haitians. Zephyr (108) reminds us that the belief in cultural practices that hinder development due to inhibiting beliefs that changes will be a bad omen to the society are to blame for the situation of Haitians. The negative stereotypes are of bad influence on the self-conceptions and description which are normally based on the cultural milieu of the people. The voodoo belief has bad influence on the economic bearing in that some practices deny people the opportunity to enterprise in what can economically uplift their living standards. With this culture bearing impact on the mindset of people, ignorance and backwardness set in which make the associations with other people very difficult as these have moved from the perspective of stereotype to beliefs that oppress the people. Like any other society, oppression of women is evident on gender lines, with boy-girl privileges at stake, where education for the male child is done at the expense of the girl who might be a better achiever than the boy. But the Haiti society is changing to adapt to changes that have affected all societies in the world. Neglecting the oppressive beliefs has been a step towards building that global society that embraces change negating the ignorance of many indigenous societies of the past. With these changes, the perspective or the view of the world on Haiti has still remained negative with efforts made by the Haitian society not recognized (Zephyr 122). These degenerative views on Haiti need to change and the world to view the big picture of a changing society for there is no society without blemish. In conclusion, the positive and the negative associations in any society are embedded in the cultural frame of that society, and there is no way one can define such a society without meeting such associations. Whether positive or negative associations, they can be understood on the cognitive social psychology in terms of the self-conceptions defined by the larger cultural milieu. Societies due to globalization influence are changing and so should be our perceptions on particular societies like the Haitians. Works Cited Zephyr, Flore. The Haitian Americans. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2004.

A Brief Introduction about the growth of the USA as a Superpower Essay Example for Free

A Brief Introduction about the growth of the USA as a Superpower Essay After the end of World War-II, two allies the USA and the erstwhile USSR fought bitterly for supremacy. The power struggle between these countries witnessed the involvement of more nations, which started a cold war. Ideologically, the USA and the USSR were completely different. While the USA was a capitalist country, the USSR was a communist nation. This ideological difference was one of the prime reasons for the conflict between these two major powers as the USA always fought against communism. Cold War, which started in 1945, ended with the disintegration of USSR. After the collapse of Soviet Union, there was no competitor left to challenge the USA. The power and influence of the USA grew further and it became the unchallenged superpower. There was no other country that could match the USA in terms of military, economic and political strength. As a major donor to the United Nations, it gained the authority in all-important matters. The first display of the power of the USA came in 1990-91 in the Gulf War. Protesting against the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the USA and its allies attacked Iraq. The attack got the approval of the United Nations. The US attack was spearheaded by then President George Bush Senior. Ultimately, the war ended with the complete withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The Gulf War demonstrated the power and influence of the USA in the global arena and it opened a new chapter in the world history. Bill Clinton succeeded George Bush Senior as the President of the USA. Under his rule, there were significant developments in the US policies and it played a major role in finding a solution to most of the conflicting issues like Palestine issue and Indo-Pak conflict. George W Bush as the President of the USA After Bill Clinton’s term expired, George W Bush, son of the former President George Bush Senior, became the President of the USA in 2001. Prior to his Presidency, he served as the Governor of the Texas. He was always known for his conservative and hard-core policies, which earned him a lot of reputation. His election to the highest office of the Unites States was certain to bring major changes in the US policy towards to rest of the world. After taking the reigns of a great nation, Bush concentrated on internal issues to build a new strong and prosperous nation, which can stand against the odds. See more: introduction paragraph example Nation building was his first priority and he took certain measures on Security, Education, Health and welfare schemes to provide equal opportunities to all Americans. As a Republican, it was expected that George Bush will follow different yardsticks and will reverse the policies implemented by his predecessor Bill Clinton, a Democrat. It was feared that foreign policy of the USA will be changed and some countries might face the wrath of the USA for not following the principles set by it. But it was never expected that Bush would influence the geo-political situation in the world to such a great extent. 9/11, Attack on WTC The fateful morning of September 11, 2001 brought a significant change in the world politics. Two US Airline Planes hijacked by the terrorists hit the WTC towers in New York City. The explosion rocked not only the USA, but also the whole world. Initially, nobody understood what happened. But within minutes it was clear that terrorists successfully attacked the most powerful nation in the world, making a dent in its strong security system. Thousands of people died as the twin towers were razed to the ground. Another plane hit the Pentagon, which is the defence headquarter of the USA. A fourth plane which was supposed to hit the White House was crashed near Shanksville. Planes hitting the WTC tower and flames coming out of the building were telecasted all over the world. This incident shook the basic foundation of the Unites States of which it always boasted. Surprisingly, there was no trace of President George Bush during such a crisis. The whole world was looking for him to know his reaction. But he was busy in a school in Florida in a photo-op. At a later stage, he was criticised heavily for his failure to react to the tragedy immediately. â€Å"The attack was the most lethal ever experienced by the USA. Official death toll was almost 3000, which was the highest casualty in the US history. September 11 attack was the most significant in the history of the world. It changed the world in terms of economic, social and military aspects and the one man who took the charge to declare a war against terrorism was President George W Bush. † Reeling under criticism for his delayed response to such a tragedy, President Bush addressed the nation exactly 12 hours after the attacks were carried out. He declared, â€Å"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. † With this, he declared a war on terrorism and urged the world to join him. Al Qaeda hand in the WTC Attack The investigation made by the US Intelligence Bureau revealed that the terrorists who carried out the attacks were Arab nationals and the militant group ‘Al Qaeda’ which was headed by Osama Bin Laden trained them. Osama Bin Laden was exiled from Saudi Arabia and was living in Afghanistan, which was ruled by the Taliban Militia. He had developed a good rapport with the Taliban and Pakistan’s Secret Service, ISI. â€Å"Ironically, it was the same Laden who received full support from the USA to fight against the Soviet troops during the Cold War when Afghanistan was occupied by the USSR. The USA provided military and financial support to the groups headed by Bin Laden and Taliban, which indulged in guerrilla fighting. But within a decade, situation became completely different. Laden and the fundamentalists who supported him were angered by the US support to Israel over Palestine issue and economic sanctions imposed by the USA against Iraq and Afghanistan. US policies towards Iraq and other Islamic countries made them believe that the USA is the worst enemy of the Muslims. Such hatred feelings made them declare a ‘Jihad’ (Holy War) against the United States. † Analysis of the relationship between the Taliban and Al Qaeda â€Å"The USA warned the Taliban several times in the past against harbouring the terrorists on its soil. When the Taliban did not heed to its advice, the then Clinton administration imposed tough economic sanction against Afghanistan. After George Bush came to power, he extended the sanctions against Taliban for its continuing support to the terrorist Osama Bin Laden. This angered the Islamic militants further and they made strategies to cause more damage to the United States. † In the words of Robert Baer, Terrorist campaigns arent directed just against the enemy. They are campaigns of recruitment as well, and by demonizing bin Laden, by holding him up as the master-mind of the attacks and as the arch-enemy, we have assured that the disillusioned, the angry, the desperate young men of the Muslim world will flock to his cause, whether hes dead or alive to lead it. And yes, there are more men like that than we could ever count. After the September 11 attack, the USA realised that it has to take strong measures to tackle with terrorists who found a safe haven in Afghanistan. It is the USA, which is completely responsible for the growth of ‘Taliban’ and ‘Al Qaeda’ in Afghanistan. To weaken the Soviet Union, it always provided financial and military support to these groups. But at the later stage, they emerged as the dangerous enemies of the USA. The Taliban controlled 90 per cent of Afghanistan and was advancing to control the rest of the areas, which were controlled by its rival groups. The growing influence of the Taliban became a major concern for the US. War against Taliban and Osama Bin Laden The USA asked the Taliban to stop harbouring terrorists, destroy all the terrorist camps and hand over the dreaded militants including Osama Bin Laden to the US administration. As expected, Taliban refused to yield to the pressure of the United States and vowed to fight back if the USA attacks Afghanistan. On its war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the USA made some surprise alliances. Russia, against whom the USA used the Taliban, joined the USA on its assault against the same forces. Two former Soviet countries, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan also joined the USA. India, which was bitten by the diplomacy of the Taliban in the Kandahar hijack issue, offered its unconditional support to the United States. It was decided that while the US and Russia will fight the Taliban from the front with the help of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, India and Iran will play the role of â€Å"facilitator† by offering logistic support to the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan which always fought against the Taliban rule. The US held meetings and consultations with Russian and Indian delegations to make a clear-cut strategy on the war against the Taliban. The Northern Alliance led by Ahmed Shah Masood had a strong base in the Panjsher valley. India supplied high warfare equipments and provided tactical advice to Ahmed Shah Masood in the operation against the Taliban. Finally, the USA started bombarding the terrorist camps and key Taliban installations in Afghanistan. Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan joined the USA in the operation. While the USA continued its assault in the Taliban controlled areas, the Northern Alliance made its advance from the frontier. The US attack on Afghanistan has created a new problem for the neighbouring countries Pakistan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Thousands of refugees from Afghanistan tried to cross the borders. When these countries closed their borders fearing a heavy refugee exodus, it led to a refugee crisis in South Asia. As the war gets thicker, the power and strength of the Taliban Militia waned. Either they surrendered, got killed or hide in the mountains. Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar and Al Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden went into hiding. The Northern Alliance backed by the US reached Kabul and captured the city. Though the Taliban fighters made a retreat into the hills, they continued their guerrilla warfare. To counter their attack, the US troops engaged in the cleansing operation and searched though every village and corners to drag out the Taliban fighters. The battles of Tora Bora and Shah-I-Kot have seen the Taliban forces and Al Qaeda completely routed and running for safer places. Though the Taliban and Al Qaeda were routed, it did not show any seriousness to capture their leaders Mulla Mohammad Omar and Osama Bin Laden. As these leaders were not captured, it gave the USA enough reason to say that it had to stay in Afghanistan to stop the regrouping of Taliban and Al Qaeda forces. The Bush administration was always seen as a war-mongering one. It always tried to display its military and economic strength to the world in order to become a supreme power. It was believed that the 9/11 attacks were just used an excuse to implement its own political agenda and establish its control over all parts of the world. The USA had two rival powers, Russia and China. To resist these countries from advancing further and to keep a close watch on their movements, it needed a strong base in South Asia, from where it will be easy to monitor both the countries at the same time. Opportunity came in the form of 9/11 and Bush lost no time in seizing it. George Bush proved himself as a shrewd diplomat. By attacking the Taliban, he succeeded in curbing the dissent at home and at the same time he expanded the US military base abroad. By declaring a war on terrorism, he garnered support from the countries like Russia, India and others who were facing the menace of terrorism for a long time. He successfully exploited the public sentiments aftermath of 9/11 to fulfil global economic and military aims of American imperialism. The Bush Doctrine Under the leadership of George Bush, the USA changed its military doctrine from a policy of deterrence into a strategy of striking at the countries that threaten its interests. This doctrine, called as the ‘Bush Doctrine’ was formally adopted by the USA in September 2002. The US military and political community always considered adopting the idea of pre-emptive strikes. The Bush Doctrine has made it possible now. It was mentioned clearly that the USA would no longer allow any country to question the US military supremacy, as it happened during the Cold War era. The doctrine emphasised that the USA has the responsibility to maintain peace in the world by suppressing the rogue countries and terrorists. It also clearly stated that the US would never compromise on its national interests. It is believed beyond doubt that George Bush started implementing the new military doctrine even before it was officially adopted. It began before 9/11 and the terrorist attacks strengthened his hands to make it official. Bushs Iraq Policy The USA for decades intended to play an active role in the Gulf Region. It eyed the huge oil fields in the Iraq, which will boost its economy. Bush also felt it necessary to build up a permanent base in the Gulf region to tackle the Islamic countries like Iran and Syria and curb the Islamic fundamentalism against the USA. According to some startling revelations, George Bush planned to invade Iraq to ensure a regime change even before assuming power in January 2001. After being elected as the President of the USA, his first priority was to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. As a continuation of American policy, George Bush enforced economic sanctions against Iraq and also forced the UN to do so. The United Nations imposed stringent economic sanction against Iraq to bring it to the negotiating table and to make the Saddam regime co-operate with the UN Inspectors as a process of disarmament. Gulf War-II â€Å"The first thing Bush did was to win the support of a major power, Britain. Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair offered unconditional support to the USA in its plan for a regime change in Iraq. To settle the unresolved Iraq issue, Bush tried to influence the United Nations to muster full support of all the major countries in the world. To substantiate his claim for action against Iraq, he told the world that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction and they should be destroyed completely. † The USA tried to make the UN believe that Iraq had deadly chemical and biological weapons. The UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution (1441) to disarm Iraq. Under pressure from the United Nations, Saddam Hussein agreed to allow UN observers to search for weapons of mass destruction and destroy them. With Iraq accepting the UN Security Council resolution, special UN observers arrived in Iraq in November 2002 and began their work. A fortnight later, Iraq provided a 12,000-page declaration of its WMD programme. â€Å"The declaration maintained that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. For four months, The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and U. N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) searched extensively for the WMDs, but could not come up with any evidence to support the USA claim that Iraq possesses such deadly weapons. † But the Bush administration was not ready to believe this. It pointed towards some sources to suggest that Iraq was still continuing its weapons programme secretly. It cited several instances where Iraq had reportedly carried out tests on chemical and biological weapons. It is still unclear where the US got such reports. But these reports helped Bush to mislead the world on Iraq. The USA and the UK joined hands to use force against Iraq. To further strengthen their point, they declared that Iraq had links with the terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, which masterminded the 9/11 attack. It was not easy to get UN Security Council’s nod to attack a sovereign country arbitrarily. But Saddam’s stubbornness and unwillingness to agree to the demands of the UN made their job easier. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had a tough attitude towards the west. He suppressed his rivals ruthlessly. Thousands of people were killed during Saddam’s rule. Mass graves discovered after the war revealed about the atrocities carried out by him and his troops. On 17 March 2003, George Bush demanded that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons Uday and Qusay leave Iraq within the 48-hour deadline. Saddam Hussein was quick to denounce the US deadline. The next day US office spokesperson announced that the US would invade Iraq whether Saddam Hussein leaves or not. After the expiry of 48-hour deadline, Bush ordered to launch the attack on the key targets of Iraq. The coalition forces comprising of the USA and the UK invaded Iraq with ground and air strikes. Iraq fought back bravely with Saddam addressing the Iraqi people, Those who are believers will be victorious. In these decisive days, the enemy tried not using missiles and fighter jets as they did before. This time they sent their infantry troops. This time they have come to invade and occupy your land. After three weeks of intense fight, the Saddam regime in Baghdad collapsed and Saddam and his key aides disappeared from the city. The coalition forces led by the USA captured Baghdad and Bush announced the ‘freedom’ for the Iraqi people. After the collapse of Saddam regime, there was anarchy all over Iraq. Looting and theft took place in large numbers. It was a tough task for the Bush administration to bring the situation under control. It had to restore peace and normalcy and rebuild the war-ravaged nation which was its own doing. Later Saddam’s sons Uday and Qusay were killed and Saddam was captured. A democratically elected government was formed in Iraq. But the war against the US forces continued by the fundamentalist groups. After the defeat of Saddam Hussein, the USA and other UN agencies searched every part of Iraq to locate the so-called â€Å"weapons of mass destructions†. But they could not find a single piece of such weapons. It became clear to the world that the WMDs never existed. When asked why the US went into war in Iraq, Bush said, He retained the knowledge, the materials, the means and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction and could have passed this knowledge to our terrorist enemies. Most of the members of the Security Council and the UN Secretary General himself, strongly opposed the US attack on Iraq. For instance, French President Jacques Chirac said that an attack could only be justified if it were decided on by the Security Council, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder said there would be no support in Germany for a strike without approval of the United Nations. It was believed that the USA violated the International law by attacking Iraq without the approval of UN Security Council. But defying the international mood, George Bush attacked Iraq causing chaos and devastation. He forced the country into a civil war, which is still going on. Surprisingly, neither the UN nor the anti-war groups in the world could take any action against the global hegemony of the USA. George Bush successfully manoeuvred the situation and was sworn in for a second term in 2005, proving all his critics wrong. Michael Byers, Associate Professor at Duke University of Law commented on the Bush Doctrine, â€Å"The policy was aimed at ‘effectively closing down dangerous regimes before they become imminent threats’ and thus represented a usurpation of the Security Council’s role in global affairs. † US Mediation in the Middle East Peace Process â€Å"Middle East was a part of Bush’s foreign policy. The conflict between Israel and Palestine was a stumbling block for the peace and prosperity in the Middle East region. For years, the USA supported Israel in its crusade against the Palestinians. Initially, Bush showed no interest to facilitate the peace process to find a peaceful settlement to the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, later he realised that the USA had to play a bigger role to stay active in the region. † Palestine leader, Yasser Arafat was a stubborn man and he did not intend to make any concession to Israel. As a result, all the dialogues between the two parties failed without any conclusion. However, the situation took an interesting turn with the death of Yasser Arafat. A new moderate government under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas assumed power in Palestine. Bush found it easy to deal with the new incumbent and he prevailed on Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon to withdraw troops from the controversial Gaza Strip, which was seen as a revolutionary step for the peace in the region. Economic Policy of George Bush Economy was always in Bush’s mind to make America stronger and more powerful on the world forum. Two goals have guided Bush administration’s economic policy, i. e. , increasing economic growth and improving economic stability. The economic impact of 9/11 attacks has made the goals more challenging for George Bush. President Bush emphasised on three factors, i. e. , military, political and economic progress. The US economy was the largest in the world and it always influenced the decisions at the UN and IMF by providing the maximum financial support to these bodies. â€Å"The importance of international economic policy increased under Bush Doctrine. It was visible when Bush ordered to block all the financial accounts of the terrorist groups in the United States to cut off their main supply line. † Impact of the Bush Doctrine on the geo-political scenario of the world â€Å"Bush Doctrine changed the geo-political situation of the world to a great extent. Bush was always condemned as shrewd, warmonger and an oppressor by the world community. He displayed the might of the USA to the world at the cost of agony and suffering of the innocent people. People of America may have forgiven him by electing him for a second term, but history will never forgive him for his high-handedness and stubbornness, which devastated Afghanistan and Iraq beyond repair. † Bush’s arrogant and egoistic approach was seen in his statement after 9/11, Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. If we analyse the chronologies starting from Afghanistan to Iraq, it can be easily concluded that Bush played with the lives of innocent people for his personal gains and to settle the scores with his rivals. He always tried to show the world that nobody could ignore the United States even if the issue was related to the internal affairs of any country. He shattered the UN policy of non-interference in the internal matter of any sovereign nation. In the whole process, his action has raised serious questions on the necessity and validity of the United Nations, which became a mere puppet in the hands of the Unites States. His policies towards Afghanistan, Taliban, Iraq and Palestine clearly proved that he had a single point agenda, i. e. , to fulfil his personal ambitions by playing the role of Global Police. The consequences of the attack on Afghanistan and Iraq are visible from the causalities reported from those countries every alternate day. The destruction and chaos in these countries are far from over. One man who is responsible for this human tragedy is George W Bush. History will always remember George Bush for his destructive doctrine, which was written on the bloods of the innocent people. Bibliography BOOKS Ali, Tariq. Bush In Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq. New York: Verso, 2003. Aronowitz, Stanley; and Heather Gautney, Ed. Implicating Empire: Globalization Resistance in the 21st Century World Order. New York: Basic Books/Perseus Books, 2003. Carroll, James. Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War. New York: Henry Holt Company, 2004. Chomsky, Noam. Hegemony or Survival: Americas Quest for Global Dominance. New York: Henry Holt Company, 2003. Clarke, Richard. Against All Enemies: Inside Americas War on Terror. New York: Free Press, 2004. Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. New York: Penguin Press, 2004. Everest, Larry. Oil, Power Empire: Iraq and the U. S. Global Agenda. ME: Common Courage Press, 2004. Khalidi, Rashid. Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and Americas Perilous Path in the Middle East. Beacon, 2004. Nojumi, Neamatollah. The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region. New York: Palgrave/St. Martins Press, 2001. INTERNET SOURCES Keen, Judy. â€Å"Strain of Iraq war showing on Bush, those who know him say. † USA TODAY. 02 April 2003. 01 June 2005 http://www. usatoday. com/news/washington/2003-04-01-bush-cover_x. htm. Shah, Anup. â€Å"The Bush Doctrine of Pre-emptive Strikes; A Global Pax Americana†. Global Issues. 24 April 2004. 01 June 2005 http://www. globalissues. org/Geopolitics/Empire/Bush. asp.

War Crimes In Wwii Japan History Essay

War Crimes In Wwii Japan History Essay This paper addresses issues related to war crimes committed by the Japanese during World War Two (1942-45). It begins with a brief history, background information, and continues with an analysis of the Japanese wartime mentality that includes selected events in depth. The subsequent sections of this paper identify and describe what war crimes are, and elaborate on two vital examples during World War II. In doing so, this paper will analyze the issue of war crimes and its impact and denial as a feature within Japanese politics. The militaristic tradition feudalistic structure which concentrated power in the hands of the daimyo establishes the historical precedence that lead to the development of Japanese wartime mentality. At the top of the class structure was the Samurai Warrior Class. The Samurai were about 10% of the population and they commanded respect. The Samurai answered only to their leader the Daimyo which were the landed aristocratic leaders. Samurai as top of the class structure and in many ways sanctioned them to do anything as long as it was for and in service for their masters/warlords The tactical and political demands of the Japanese militarists outdated the strict moral and ethical essentials of the Code of Bushido. Firstly, the term Bushido is a concept that includes a large amount of interpretation. Its vital exposing the misleading context of bushido to show that within this flexible doctrine, any action can be interpreted as just or moral as long as it fulfills the end goal. For a law of a doctrine to be corrupt, and illegal action to ensue, the laws must be clearly defined which the code of bushido was not. Secondly, Bushido emphasized obedience above all over aspects of conduct. It was required as long as it serve the motives of the individual, giving them the freedom unrestrictive action which can be seen in the Japanese conduct in WWII making their behaviour part of a continuous pattern of martial culture. As an ideal construct, Bushido emphasized honesty, filial piety, honor, selflessness, loyalty and unquestioning obedience to ones superiors. In fact, according to the Historian Yuki Tanaka, the brutality committed by Japanese soldiers during WWII was an effect of the subordination and the corruption of the Code of Bushido. The second example would be Nationalism. It was in this environment that the Tokugawa Shogunate was toppled and the emperor re-empowered during the Meiji Restoration of 1868. It was also in this environment, faced with external dangers and internal instability that the Japanese government became more centralized and the importance of nationalism and patriotism was stressed to the people. Loyalty was transferred from the daimyo and the shogun to the emperor-though the emperor largely remained a figurehead and the real machinations of government were being run by an oligarchy of powerful politicians. In order to develop a deep and abiding sense of nationalism it was necessary to stress what was uniquely Japanese. According to Conroy (1955:828), the program was to be national renovation, purification of the national polity, are turn to the traditional Eastern morality. By reviving traditional Japanese ethics the Meiji government could bring the people together under a set of commonly shared values that were unique to the Japanese. This would help create a national consciousness which is a necessary component of nationalism. This moral revival largely focused on stressing traditional Shinto and Confucian ethical precepts. There was another source of ethical values, however, one which centered on the values of loyalty, honor and courage-just the values that the Meiji leaders wanted to instill. This source was Bushido, Jansen points out that the samurai served as ideal ethical types, theoretically committed to service and indifferent to personal danger and gain (2000:101).These were precisely the values that the Meiji leadership wanted to instill in the population. From the abolition of the class structure, this clearly created a tight unification among the inhabitants of Japan and this is what pushed national strength to survive. Looking forward this can be seen as the progression of the us vs. them mind-set that can be found frequently in war. By creating this exaggeration of the virtues of samurai heritage, it intensifies and separates self-image of the Japanese as a virtuous and warrior-like population from everyone else. During World War II, Japanese society was a volatile combination of feudalism and nationalism that concluded in a national acceptance of military rule during the war years. The Japanese armed forces were a highly nationalistic, well established modern fighting force. Their doctrine was the Bushido code of feudal Japan permitted the fighting code of Japans servicemen Stephen van Evera notes that the effects of nationalism depend heavily on the beliefs of nationalist movements, especially their self-images. He also argues that chauvinist mythmaking is a hallmark of nationalism and that self-glorifying myths encourage citizens to contribute to the national community-to pay taxes, join the army, and fight for the nations defense (van Evera, 1994:26-27, 30) Japans movement toward militarism began after the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the commencement of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, with Meiji oligarchs adoption of fukoku kyohei, meaning rich country, strong military. The Meiji Oligarchs did show signs of restraint towards expressions of militarism and imperialism in the first portion (decades?) of the Meiji period but this did not mean that they did not agree with the goals of foreign and military expansion. They first focused more on modernization and economic growth to catch up with Western industrial powers before they took any steps to expand Japans influence in foreign matters. Japanese militarism and imperialism progressively developed for five principal reasons. The first reason was Japans desire to be a Western-style imperialist power and the second reason was Japans concerns for its security and safety which played an important roles in the growth of militarism up to the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. The next two reasons, Japans belief in its leadership role for Asia and Japans frequent provocations by Western powers, gave rise to an expansion of militarism and imperialism from 1905 to the 1930s. The final reason, Japans desire to secure its economic interests, rose in importance as Japan entered the decade of the 1930s. The last example is during the Meiji Restoration (1868) it also resulted in the refashioning of old militaristic goals to include expansionist ambitions overseas; such as Japans desire to be a Western-style imperialist power its concerns for its security and safety, its belief in its leadership role for Asia and its desire to secure its economic interests. National survival became tied to imperialism and expansionist ambitions with increased contact with imperialistic Western countries. The island nation became to a point paranoid with Western countries and its influence; from economically and militaristically catching up, unequal treaties that brought them humiliation, to freeing other Asian countries from Western imperialist power. Militaristic tradition, the development of a fiercely nationalistic culture which helped led to the development of Japans leaders imperialistic ambitions pitted the Japanese us against outsiders. The combination of these three historical developments led to the formation of a Japanese mentality where any kind of military action against outsiders was sanctioned as long as it furthered the larger goal of increasing Japanese strength and ensuring the nations survival. This ethnocentric view was not uncommon among imperialist countries and explains the way Japanese (and in fact, imperialist countries) viewed war crimes. Understanding the Japanese mentality towards the war and their nations role in it helps shed light on how war crimes were perceived by the Japanese. As such, I would define war crime in the Japanese eyes during World War II as follows. A war crime is an act of cruelty against ones own people that is neither to the countrys benefit in any form nor sanctioned by ones superior. By approaching the war crime in this context, it is possible to deduce that the Japanese soldiers did not see the acts of cruelty they committed during the war as crimes for they were all for the larger Japanese imperialistic goals and furthermore, committed against outsiders. Japanese troops entered the capital on 13 December 1937 and for six weeks, conducted a campaign of terror, humiliation and brutality known as the murder and rape of Nanking. Civilians and captured military personnel were subjected to looting, rape, torture, decapitation, mass killings and killing practice exercises. From a population of approximately 600,000-700,000 inhabitants in the city before it fell, it is estimated that at least 300,000 were killed and at least 20,000 were raped. Of all the atrocities committed in the Asian territories occupied by Imperial Japan between 1937-1945, the Nanjing Massacre is perhaps the most well-known. As historian Professor Charles S. Maier (Harvard University) has written: Within both Japan and Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the Nanjing Massacre has assumed the somewhat same salience in public memory as the Holocaust in Europe and Americaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The Japanese armys killing spree at Nanjingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ has become the other emblematic massacre of the Pacific War, and it remains the epitome of the cruelty and aggression that the Japanese military unleashed. The Nanjing rampage seems all the more atrocious in that it involved not what has seemed so horrifying about the Holocaust its bureaucratized planning and mechanized execution but the often gleeful killing of perhaps hundreds of thousands of civilians by individual soldiers using sword and bayonet as well as bullet. The killings were all the more appalling in that they were unnecessary for the military objective, continued after the victory was secured, and apparently involved such joyful or at least indifferent murder. (Bold mine) Brutal killings that seemed to have no meaning after victory was secured killing contests Japanese saw these acts as demonstrations of military prowess which harks back to samurai brutality in the past during the Sengoku era .Japanese did not see outsiders as equals and because of that, not really worthy of compassion or sympathy and treated them as lesser beings. Mentality of Japanese as the superior race with them making light of the lives of outsiders is not unique. This can be seen in Germanys persecution of Jews during WWI or known as the racist dimension of Social Darwinism. The official and extensive enslavement of young women by the imperial government for sexual exploitation stands out as one of the most egregious examples of how women suffer the cruelest blows of war. Historians have estimated that as many as 200,000 civilian women were forcibly conscripted in Japanese-occupied countries between 1931 and 1945 and forced to serve as sexual slaves in Japanese Army brothels. The Imperial Japanese Army assigned these victims the euphemistic term comfort women. The majority of these women were conscripted in China and Korea, but this barbarous practice occurred in every country occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army. Representatives of the Japanese government pressed them into sexual servitude with lies, including promises of education, or simply by snatching them from the streets. Usually taken from their home countries to military brothels elsewhere, they were kept isolated and imprisoned. From China, Korea, SEA and even Japan itself, perhaps the fact that it included even Japanese women makes it even more of a controversial topic to talk about. Also, the 90s saw women coming out to tell of their experiences which kept this crime alive and an important feature of Japanese dealings with the outside world long after the end of WWII. Comfort woman is an example of how different forms of oppression work within a system of war. The oppression faced by the combination of race and gender create a dangerous environment for these women. These two factors worked to dehumanize Japanese women and justify the behaviour of the government. Even the language used to describe this crime is a euphemism. Language is a very powerful tool used by the government to legitimize the rape and enslavement of thousands of women. Taking away their autonomy and reducing Japanese woman to their reproductive organs denies them basic human rights. The system of comfort woman also intersects with another form of oppression class. Comfort woman were woman of the lowest class. Therefore you have a government that is using its most marginalized demographic as a tool during war. Japanese view of women are lesser than men, purpose: to service men thus even enslaved Japanese women as comfort women, needs of the soldiers come before anyone else (harks back to samurai superiority were always the top of the class structure before Meiji period). Although due to its borders the definition of war crime as mentioned above, since it included crimes against their own people as well, comfort women remains an issue that nationalists politicians struggle to reconcile even till today. Notably, this difference in perception over war crimes carries on up till today which leads to the issue of war crimes still being a feature of Japanese politics. The Tokyo War Crimes Trials (1946 1948): Ultimately, victors convicting the losers, outsiders convicting the Japanese. Japanese defendants accused of war crimes were tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, which was established by a charter issued by U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur. The so-called Tokyo Charter closely followed the Nà ¼rnberg Charter. The trials were conducted in English and Japanese and lasted nearly two years. Of the 25 Japanese defendants (all of whom were convicted), 7 were sentenced to hang, 16 were given life imprisonment, and 2 were sentenced to lesser terms. Except for those who died early of natural causes in prison, none of the imprisoned Japanese war criminals served a life sentence. Instead, by 1958 the remaining prisoners had been either pardoned or paroled. Japans refusal to acknowledge its war guilt and war crimes stands in stark contrast to the willingness of Germany to confront its war crimes. However, it is arguable that Japan has only been able to avoid squarely confronting its war guilt and war crimes because of the active connivance of the United States. In 1948, intensification of the Cold War persuaded the American government that Japan should become an American ally and bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia. This was unlikely to happen if investigation and prosecution of Japanese for war crimes continued. This is what many believe what sparked the Japanese government to refuse to acknowledge Japans military aggression. Many Japanese LDP members of parliament, government officials, academics, and revisionist film makers have aligned themselves with militarists and extreme nationalists in claiming that Japans intervention in China in 1931, 1933, and 1937 was necessary to liberate the Chinese from exploitation by Western colonial interests. Even if political figures do apologize to their neighbours they receive backlash and negative reactions in Japan. When Japans first Socialist Prime Minister, Tomiichi Murayama, was touring South-East Asia in 1995, he apologised for the tremendous damage and suffering caused by Japans colonial rule and aggressionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in the not too distant past. Murayamas apology did not mention atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre, and was the closest Japan has ever come to an admission of war guilt and apology for its war crimes. The apology by Murayama was viewed as inadequate in China but caused widespread fury in Japan. Another large issue over the years would be the textbook controversies. In 1962, an officially sponsored seven-volume history of the Pacific War was published. This sanitised history, called Japans Way into the Pacific War, ignored Japans military aggression across East Asia and the western Pacific and the countless atrocities committed by Japans military. From then, textbooks have been censored from statistical data such as the fatality rates, creating false historical information or even downplaying of words and content. Impact on foreign relations even to this day tensions between Japan and its Asian neighbours escalated from time to time. On Wednesday, the 67th anniversary of the end of World War Two, as South Korea and China both told Tokyo to do much more to resolve lingering bitterness over its past military aggression .Despite close economic ties in one of the worlds wealthiest regions, memories of Japans wartime occupation of much of China and colonisation of South Korea run deep in the two countries. Throughout wars there have always been casualties from both sides. The death tolls which include the estimates of all deaths that are either directly or indirectly cause by war, within World War II are the highest. The two most infamous executions by the Japanese military are the Nanjing massacre and the development of comfort women. Through western influence and the Meiji Restoration is what progressed into Japanese nationalism and expansionism. To this day Japans neighbors are bitter towards their history which can be seen through the attitudes of the older generation in Asia, the text book controversies and the constant refusal to accept their war crimes.

Ignorance and Air Power: The Failure of U. S. Leadership to Properly U

Ignorance and Air Power: The Failure of U. S. Leadership to Properly Utilize Air Power in Vietnam Major Ted Tolman’s F-105 Thud fighter/bomber streaked through the air at just under the speed of sound. His aircraft performed modestly at best, struggling to maintain its speed and altitude under the heavy load of ordinance and fuel it carried under its wings (Patrick). Tolman, and his wingman Major Lonnie Ferguson, were en route to a rail line that served to distribute supplies from Cam Pha Harbor to enemy troops throughout North Vietnam. The harbor itself was protected from attack by orders coming directly from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, meaning the only way to neutralize supplies coming through the harbor was to attack the distribution network that surrounded it (Patrick). As he flew low near the harbor, puffs of flack began to appear, and Tolman soon found himself under heavy attack from North Vietnamese ground based anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). He hesitated a moment, then decided that he did not want to become a prisoner in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Tolman depressed his rudder pedal and rapidly swung his F-105 around, pointing the nose at the AAA emplacement and releasing a burst of 20mm cannon fire. In doing so, he made the biggest mistake of his career (Patrick). As he swung his fighter around, Tolman inadvertently passed his gun sight directly across the Soviet cargo ship Turkestan as it traversed towards its intended target. Designed to provide a record of the action, the gun camera mounted in the nose of Tolman’s F-105 caught an image of the Soviet ship, inside the Cam Pha Harbor sanctuary, directly centered in his sights (Patrick). There was nothing that suggested any of the rounds Tol... ... Diss. United States Air Force Command Staff College, 1995. McNamara, Robert S. and Brian VanDeMark. In Retrospect. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. â€Å"Operation Rolling Thunder.† Military Analysis Network. 1998. Federation of American Scientists. 20 Dec. 2003. Patrick, Joe. â€Å"Testing the Rules of Engagement.† Vietnam Memoirs. 2003. 80th Fighter Squadron. 13 Nov. 2003. Rendall, Ivan. Rolling Thunder. New York: The Free Press, 1997. â€Å"Robert S. McNamara.† Secretaries of Defense. Defenselink. 20 Dec. 2003. United States Joint Chiefs of Staff. Memorandum to CINPAC, Definitive Rules of Engagement Applying to Laos. Washington: DoD, 1964.

Chinas Railway Essay examples -- China History Infrastructure

In 1894, the Qing government was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War; the Boxer Rebellion in China seized the railway interests. More than ten thousand kilometres to be swallowed up in China and carved up the right of way to form the imperialist plunder of China's first climax. Subsequently, in accordance with their needs, they were designed and built a number of railways; however it was in different standards, equipment clutter, resulting in confusion and China Railway backwardness. The development of China's railway construction was started from 1876, which named ‘Songhu Railway’ since 1981, and it was 105 years ago, building a 50,181 km railway. Before the People’s Republic of China was been built up, the annual average of railway construction is only more than 300 kilometres. During the Qing Dynasty Songhu Railway which was been built by British merchants in Shanghai is considered to be the China's first railway on the land. Before that, the British businessmen in Xuanwumen(Peking), built a 500 meters a small railway, only for the people to treated. In the Qing Dynasty (1876 ~ 1911), the construction of railway was about 9400 km. Imperialism, which directly accounts for about 41% of the construction business; imperialist control through loans, about 39%; state-owned railways, including China's Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was built as self-reliance, the business head office was redemption of the Beijing-Hankou Railway; and Guangzhou third rail only accounted for about 20%. From 1881 to 1911 the railway built in the Tang Xu, which collapsed the Qing government for 30 years, is the first phase of the railway. At this stage, the Qing government as the continuous Westernization and domestic proposals to promote people with lofty... ...y two. First goal is to reclaim those foreign concessions whose agreements had already been signed or drafted before this period. Secondly, the goal is to construct a Chinese railway system through investments in China. (LEE) Works Cited C.H.Paul, 1931. Railway Politics and the Open Door in China, 1916-1917[Online], 25(4). Available at: [Accessed 26 November 2010] D. Mclean, 1973.Chinese Railways and the Townley Agreement of 1903[Online], 7(2). Available at: [Accessed 14 November 2010] L.Enhan, 1977. China’s quest for railway autonomy 1904-1911. 1st Ed. Singapore: Singapore University Press. The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, Available at: [Accessed 28 November 2010]

Depth Perception, an Inborn Skill? :: essays research papers

In 1960, Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk conducted an experiment to see whether depth perception is an inborn or a learned skill in humans. They conducted their experiment with a table that had a thick glass surface on half of the table and a solid base on the other half. This created an illusion of a small cliff without the dangers of actually falling. In this experiment, infants ranging from the age of 6 to 14 months were placed on the solid side of the table. The infants’ mothers were placed on the other side of table and were there to coax the infants to the other side. Of the 30 infants tested, 27 of them crossed the glass surface when called while only 3 refused.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gibson and Walk conducted the same experiment on newborn chickens and goats with astonishing results. When chickens and goats were placed on the solid side, not a single one of them made an error to cross the â€Å"cliff.† The same test was conducted on baby rats whose results fared far worse than the results of the chickens and goats. The rats fared worse because they are nocturnal animals who rely on other senses other than vision to direct them. From this experiment, Gibson and Walk concluded that depth perception was inborn to all animals and humans by the time they achieve independent movement. This is in the case of chickens and goats at birth and for humans at around 6 months of age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The results of Gibson and Walk’s experiment are very questionable because their control group did not consist of any socially dependant animals. Infants are socially dependent of their mother for survival and nurturing throughout their childhood. Gibson and Walk should have conducted their control experiment on socially dependant animals such as elephants or cheetahs instead of animals that do not rely heavily on their caretaker. In 1985, Sorce, Emde, Campos, and Klinnert conducted the same visual cliff experiment with human infants and their mothers. This time, the mother was instructed to maintain an expression of fear or happiness on the other side of the â€Å"cliff.