Environmental Impact Assessment Of Senedd Building Environmental Sciences Essay

An Earth heat exchange system, consisted by 27 pipes drilled 100m into the land and accompanied by suited pumps, for the circulation of the H2O of steady temperature ( 14oC ) , in order to take advantage of the geothermic energy ( Assembly Wales, 2011 ) . The wood fire boiler, which unlike the belowground heat exchange system is merely used during the warming season, has the advantage of â€Å" being efficaciously carbon impersonal † ( UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs-Defra, 2011 ) , since wood is less fouling after burning than common coal ( Defra UK, 2011 ) , Furthermore, temperature detectors improve the efficiency of these systems, modulating automatically their operation ( Assembly Wales, 2011 ) . It could be considered, that since the wood fire boiler in this instance, is non the sole warming system working – in specific it is auxiliary to the belowground heat exchange system ( News Wales, 2006 ) – and furthermore since it is non necessary to run to the full at an one-year footing -apart from its operation to heat the H2O in the lavatories ( Sustainability at work, 2011 ) , the C footmark of this contraption is merely a per centum of the entire footmark of the edifice. Nevertheless, the ground of implementing such a characteristic is to better the edifice ‘s public presentation, in footings of sustainable design and energy efficiency and therefore, a proper scrutiny and if necessary an optimisation of it, could take to even better consequences.2. Wood Fire Boilers and energy usageThe edifice was designed as an model sustainable application, in an attempt to show good pattern and set up a higher criterion for new buildings ( Defra UK, 2011 ) . Therefore it showcases among other things, the passage in usage from fossil fuels to low C options and the important energy nest eggs ensuing by the operation of a wood fire boiler. Wood is a sustainable fuel that can be easy accessed, collected, or managed and adult sustainably ( Green Systems UK, 2011 ) . In footings of fuel features and C emanations, wood is about a nothing C stuff, since the CO2 that is released after burning, is the same sum as it would hold been released by the terminal of life phase and decomposition of a tree ( Green Systems UK, 2011 ) . Therefore, burning of wood is non harmful to the environment, since it is a process that follows the natural C rhythm of this stuff ( Green Systems UK, 2011 ) . Wood fire boilers can be divided in farther classs depending on the fuel used ( e.g. wood bit boilers, wood pellet boilers, log boilers, etc. ) . However, the one installed in Senedd presents the advantage of utilizing both wood french friess and wood pellets ( Wood Energy Ltd, 2011 ) , maximising this manner the handiness of the fuel to be provided in either instance. Below there are two images, declarative mood of this type of wood fuel. Wood pellets Wood french friess ( Cotton R. , 2010 ) ( Cotton R. , 2010 ) In footings of waste production after the fuel burning ( i.e. residuary ash ) , what is left â€Å" is about pure potassium hydroxide, which is sold to local nurserymans for fertiliser † ( Sustainability at work, 2011 ) , incorporating one more sustainable characteristic this manner ( i.e. reusability ) , which makes it a more efficient alternate than common dodo fuel boilers. Furthermore, wood fire boilers can be the chief beginning of heat for a edifice or they can be used in concurrence with other heating systems, offering the chance to be used partially whenever this is considered necessary ( i.e. to be accompanied by a dorsum up gas boiler or the other manner around ) ( Cotton, R. , 2011 ) . An extra advantage, is the low care characteristics that are implemented in many of this sort of boilers ( and in the 1 installed in Senedd ) , such as automatic heat money changer, tubing cleansing system and automatic de-ashing ( Cotton R. , 2010 ) . Low care characteristics like these, do non merely lend in a lower cost over clip, but they result besides in an easier overall operation. Possible fix actions can be minimized and to boot, more systematic care actions can be besides reduced significantly. Since energy devouring issues, apart from the consequence they have on clime alteration and the environment in general, they can be rather onerous besides, in footings of cost in many ways. Government grants for implementing low C engineerings and other type of actions, such as possible hereafter C revenue enhancements can work as inducement for increasing penchant in such alternate edifice energy systems ( Green Systems UK, 2011 ) . Harmonizing to Cotton, R. , 2010: â€Å" The cardinal difference between biomass and dodo fuel is the design of the wood fuel storage and bringing mechanism † .3. Senedd wood fire boiler specifications.Below there are two images of the Biomass boiler installed in Senedd. ( Cotton R. , Wood Energy Ltd. 2010 ) ( Cotton R. , Wood Energy Ltd. 2010 ) Despite the fact that this boiler is auxiliary to the belowground heat exchange system ( News Wales, 2006 ) , it is capable to match to the full at peak demand, accompanied by a gas back up option of 400kW ( Cotton, R. , 2010 ) . The tabular array below provides some basic information on the wood fire boiler operating in Senedd and it is based on information published online the company commissioned to supply and put in the wood fire boiler.Wood fire Boiler SpecificationsBoiler Type Binder RRK/RRF 400-600 Maximum rated end product 360kW Wood fuel specification Wood bit and pellet Maximal wet content 35 % Maximal atom size G50 Wood fuel storage volume 40 M3 ( Wood Energy Ltd, 2011 ) . Some extra characteristics, harmonizing to the aforementioned beginning, are: â€Å" Underfed fireplace burning system † â€Å" Automatic cleansing of heat money changer tubings † â€Å" Exhaust gas recirculation † â€Å" Gas ignition burner † â€Å" Subterranean fuel shop to let easy tipping of either wood pellets or wood french friess and is fitted with a modular walking floor system to transport the fuel to the boiler system † ( Wood Energy Ltd. , 2011 ) .4. Occupant ‘s positionThe wood fire boiler provides â€Å" hot H2O for hand-washing in the lavatories and for heating convectors † ( Sustainability at work, 2011 ) . As it can be concluded, it is merely in usage during the warming season. Due to the temperature detectors, the boiler operates merely when temperature falls under a specified degree and when there is a demand to supplement the public presentation of the belowground exchange warming system. Furthermore, it is equipped with a 400kW gas standby option, so heat inside the edifice is provided during all times when it is required. A zero user intercession can be considered, due to the automated ignition and capacity control mentioned in the boiler specification above. The Building Energy Management System ( BEMS ) , along with the attach toing sub-meters allow an energy ingestion rating including the wood fire boiler and an overall direction throughout the edifice ‘s life ( Assembly Wales, 2011 ) .5. Alternative energy systemsSing alternate options for a edifice that has been certified as â€Å" first-class † under the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method ( BREEAM ) ( National Assembly for Wales, 2011 ) , is non an easy undertaking. Nevertheless, a treatment and re-examination of current patterns is ever good, since there may be issues of adjustability for future demands originating, particularly for instances of long design life. Following the current tendency in sustainable edifice building ( i.e. C emanations decrease ) , an alternate warming system that could replace a wood fire boiler could be solar thermic energy contraptions, such as evacuated tubings. These tubes nowadays the advantage of roll uping sunshine from a wider angle, and to boot ensue in greater solar additions in winter compared to solar panels ( Sustainable Heating Solutions, 2011 ) . Below there are two images, declarative mood of this type of solar aggregators. ( GreenTerraFirma, 2011 ) ( Sustainable Heating Solutions, 2011 ) The big country of the undulating roof of Senedd, makes the installing of evacuated tubings an suited solution, since solar panels would non be satisfactory as options for this type of roof geometry. Furthermore, since evacuated tubings would non be seeable ( except from above ) , the human position on the edifice would stay unchanged, keeping this manner the initial aesthetics of the edifice. Additionally, since solar thermic contraptions can be auxiliary to bing energy systems in a edifice, they could supply the staying per centum of heat required, when the resistance heat exchange system would non be able to run into peak demand. In footings of C footmark rating, facets such as fuel transit or intervention are non necessary in the instance of solar energy contraptions. The entire C footmark of the evacuated tubings would ensue from the industry procedure and the transit and installing merely, and extra trips for wood fuel proviso could be avoided.

Lament †Gillian Clarke, Poem Imagery Analysis Essay

Gillian Clarke, the writer of Lament, uses imagery in his poem in the form of animals and nature to express the consequence of war and greed on the innocent. He uses nature imagery to show that the very thing that was meant to nurture us is being destroyed. Clarke uses imagery to mourn the destruction of the innocent and nature. He also uses imagery to show how appalling the consequences of human nature are to its surroundings. Clarke explains that â€Å"for vengeance† â€Å"the green turtle† suffers with â€Å"her pulsing burden in search for the breeding ground† and that for something that starts life, she is being put at burden for. He points that from this burden, which was put on to her by human nature, â€Å"her eggs laid in the nest of sickness†. When Clarke uses this image he intensifies the idea that the innocent egg cannot choose its life and lies in the birth place of sickness. All of this is because of the same cause, and Clarke shows us that by repeating the word â€Å"For†. We as the reader connect with the idea as Clarke uses his images with the life cycles and the innocent. The idea of mother nature is really emphasized in the poem. Clarke uses imagery to represent this image. He gives nature a comforting â€Å"lap† which shows us that nature is very nurturing. The word â€Å"lap† is an image of comfort and a mother-like feature, thus it represents the idea of mother nature. The effect of this is that we feel more sorrow as we read through the poem; we feel that we are destroying something that gives us a home, food, and much more. Clarke makes us see that it is not onlz us who are in the â€Å"ocean’s lap† but the â€Å"cormorants in his funeral silk†¦ the dugong and the dolphins,† and something as massive as the whale; they are the ones suffering from the destruction of the lap, which is caused by humans, according to the writer. He uses these animals to make us realize that innocent creatures also are under the care of nature, and as we destroy nature, we are destroying life itself for many. It is not only the innocent creatures that are suffering, but within our own kind. Clarke uses an innocent â€Å"boy who joined for the company,† to show us that even children are going into war for silly reasons and eventually in vain. This boy is â€Å"the farmer’s son† and we are brought back to this idea that the innocent poor son of some father, is suffering. The fact that he is someone’s son makes us relate to the father’s sorrow of having his son shipped of to war. It could have been anyone’s son but the author says a farmer, so we imagine this kid with a poor background and a humble past going into war. War is something in this poem that is described indirectly. The idea of war is brought up by the use of all the images of dying races. It is also brought up by the consequences of war on the earth itself. â€Å"The burnt earth and the sun put† symbolizes that war and greed has burnt the earth and mother nature. It also mentions that the sun is put out, meaning that something that gives light and life, is put out. The sun is the source of light of a new day, without it there is no new day, and so the life cycle ends. The poet then uses this image of â€Å"the ashes of language†. Language is something that is used to communicate. Without language the world is barbaric. Communication is something that is destroyed when war and greed takes place and therefore, the writer summarizes the effects of war in greed in this sentence as chaos. Gillian Clarke uses these images of nature and life to express this final consequence.

Putting Elderly Parents in Anursing Home Essay

There will almost absolutely come a day when your parents will need you. When this time comes, they will probably not admit that they need you or anyone else for that matter, but in reality, they will definitely need someone. If you look back to your childhood it’s quite similar to those days they had to care for you. They took care of your every need from bathing, feeding and dressing you appropriately. Those days you may not remember as well as they do but they happened. The days that they were responsible for you, unfortunately now they need the same care that they provided for you so long ago. So what are your options you say? Put them in a nursing home where you’ll take the chance they may be cared for properly? Chances are every time they have to use the bathroom or need assistance their going to have to press a help button and wait. Wow, they just became a number in someone’s eye and honestly how degrading can that be. The clear option for so many reasons would be to keep them at home and care for them as they did you. So with a firm standing putting your elderly parent in a nursing home is by far the worst option compared to keeping them at home. The average cost of putting an elderly parent in a nursing home verses keeping them at home is by far reason in itself. Deciding to keep you elderly parent at home verses a nursing home is an easy choice once you weigh the factors in of their independence, the cost and by far their love for u and your love for them. Are you ready to choose? This day it’s almost an inevitable choice that you’re going to have to make rather you want to or not. Do you have a clue what this involves? The bottom line is if you choose not to be there you’re given up that last chance you’ll ever have to be there for them. The normal stay in a nursing home is an average of just 2. 4 years. The average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home in the United States is $70,080 a year, or $192 a day. The average cost of a semi private room is $169 a day, or $61,685 a year. [ (Elder law answers website, 2008) ] Wow, now can you just see their life saving dwindling. I can say after being a nursing assistant employed in the nursing home setting for seventeen years now. That I can tell you I’ve heard it endless times form my elderly residents in the nursing home, how they worked hard all their life and for what? To live out their golden years watching everything they worked for go to their care. Needless to say it’s heartbreaking for those who have to watch it and those experiencing it. It’s hard enough for them to except the care they now need. But really to watch their whole life savings disappear for the need to survive every day. On so many levels it’s completely wrong and not fair. It’s hard to accept and realize that they’re hurting a lot more than you are and a lot more than their probably ever going to tell you they are. But they made great sacrifices and tremendous efforts to make your life relatively easy when you were growing up; the least they deserve now is to have a life that is comparably comfortable as they live out their golden years without having to watch their life’s work go down the drain. The average daily cost of keeping your elderly parent at home is far less than you would expect. There are so many options out there to help them stay home. If your elderly parent remains home they still have so many options available to help keep as much as their independence as possible. Home health care services are available in almost any area and provide supervised personnel care to help them with either health needs or their daily activities of living. Meals and transportation are also available to help retain independence. Home delivered meal programs can help ensure a proper diet for them. Adult day care and hospice are also options to help retain your elderly parent at home. Respite care is also available to you. They will send a trained person to care for your loved one so that you can run errands or take a vacation and have the break you may need [ (new york Life , October) ]. So with many options to help retain your loved one at home it’s easy to see the benefits of keeping them at home as long as possible once you have assessed the cost to do so. The daily average cost of keeping a loved one at home with a paid caregiver is an average of $96. 0 dollars a day and an average of $34,560 dollars a year [ (Kobrin, 2009) ]. Compared to a nursing home this is by far the cheaper option. But still with adding in the other options listed above this can be even cheaper if you do your research for your local area. By being head smart you can keep your elderly parent at home without watching everything they’ve worked for go down the drain. In ending choosing to keep your elderly parent at home is more than the right choice. In the long run it’s going to save them money and prolong their independence as long as possible. This is also your chance to give back to them all that you can for everything they did to support and raise you. It’s your turn now to make that right choice. By keeping them at home they’ll be much happier and so will you. This is their golden years! So let them shine as there suppose to. Do this by keeping them at home and showing them the respect they completely deserve. In doing this you will be letting them keep their independence and the life that they’re use to for as long as possible.

Bringing organizational change and leadership to Ford Motor Company Research Paper

Bringing organizational change and leadership to Ford Motor Company - Research Paper Example Leadership and the communication processes that are executed within the provided organizational environment have been proved by numerous evidences to be quite effective in determining the growth prospect of the organization. As stated by Quirke (2008), internal communication implemented in the working culture of an organization can work miracles when accumulated with effective leadership to turn strategies into actions (Quirke, 2008). Consequently, the aspect of leadership also plays a significant role in influencing the appropriateness and efficacy of the strategies adapted with due consideration to the internal communication. Therefore, both the aspects, i.e. leadership and communication can be stated as equally crucial in the modern perspective of business. In order to elaborate on the fact and identify the affectivity of these two most crucial aspects of modern business management, the paper shall emphasize on the organizational changes and leadership styles implied by Ford Motor s. It is worth mentioning that along with several other companies and its nearest and traditional competitors, i.e. GM and Chrysler, Ford Motors also had to fight against the recent global recession. In the year 2008, the company’s status was mounted with loads of debts and down-falling sales. This global stress faced by the auto industry led the company to refurbish its balance sheets through fresh strategies and a new outlook by 2010. This amendment included the appointing of a new CEO, Mr. Alan Mulally under whose supervision the company has to follow a comprehensive organizational change in the due course of its operations (The New York Times, 2011). The example of Ford Motors and its operations have laid remarkable evidence in re-defining the impact of efficient leadership and effective communication within the organizational hierarchy. In this milieu, the paper shall object to discuss the various aspects of leadership and communication methods implied in the realistic p ractices of the company. Another aim of the paper is to identify the problems related to the organization and intend to conclude certain relevant strategic measures to be beneficial for the company in its further performance. Company Overview Today, Ford Motors is recognized as one of the leading automobile companies in the international market with its origination in 1903. The company is a US based multinational company incorporated with designing, manufacturing, assembling and marketing its products to a wide range of customer all around the world. The company until 2010 had more than 90 plants operating worldwide. It presently employs almost 198,000 employees (Ford Motor Company, 2009). Since 1994 the company acquired the second position in the global automobile industry. It was in the year 1999 when the company earned its record profit amounted to $7.2 billion, which was followed by the purchase of Volvo as an investment strategy in the European market. In the following year the company purchased another brand, Land Rover and incorporated a new plant named Premier Automotive Group. This expansion strategy was expected by the company’s officials to be quite beneficial in achieving extra amount of profits through rejuvenated sales worldwide. But in its realistic practices, the company faced a gradual fall both in terms of sustainability and sales. For instance, the company was facing disputes among its workers in various plants. One of its major competitors Toyota had surpassed the company in terms of annual sales in 2006 (The New York Times, 2011). It is notable that a major reason which increased the chances for such occurrences was strategic announcement made by the company to shed more than 14,000 salaried and 30,000

Exercise psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Exercise psychology - Essay Example Exercise has been reported to reduce one’s feeling of depression and anxiety, as well as upgrading one’s cognitive skill and self appreciation. Any form of conscious activity requires utilizing both the mind and the body, much more if it’s a physical activity like exercising, be it a light or rigorous one. Exercise speeds up circulation of the blood, providing the brain with oxygen that aids in its function. According to Dr. Zeischegg, inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain can lead to poor concentration, mood swings, depressive thoughts, among others. Exercise likewise keeps the mind busy, allowing the person to veer away from whatever negative feelings he or she may be having at that point. It is imperative to add, however, that just like any other activity, exercise has to be done in moderation. Inexperience and lack of valuable information regarding chosen exercise may lead to adverse side effects and/or physical damage, thus, defying its purpose of psychol ogical enhancement. It is also imperative to stress the acknowledgment that depression is not a one-day sickness that goes away after sleeping on it. An excruciating experience or event generally causes depression. This experience or event may have happened overnight but this does not follow that getting over it will happen just as fast. Realizing this fact generally helps the patient realize that overcoming depression needs to be gradual, not forced. Several activities have been considered with reference to enhancing psychological well-being of a person. Frequently considered are running, walking, cycling, and swimming. Since the only given facts in the case study I chose were gender, age, and physical health, I will assume that any of the above-mentioned exercises may be apt for him. Running. â€Å"Running actually has the ability to alter an individual’s moods because hormones called endorphins are released while running†,

Survey Research and Sampling Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Survey Research and Sampling - Assignment Example This method of research is an important measurement area applied in social research within fields such as psychology, sociology, politics and market research (Creswell 2002, p.57). The approach often adopts interviews or questionnaire administration as the data collection modes. The survey method was introduced in the 1930s by a popular sociologist known as Paul Lazarsfeld (Sarah 2012b). Surveys are commonly classified according to instrumentation (questionnaires or interviews) and according to the time-frame of the study (longitudinal or cross-sectional) (Marczyk, DeMatteo&Festinger, 2010, p. 27). Surveys find wide application, but they are best suited for gathering information currently not available from other sources (Sarah 2012c). They therefore, could act as precursors to further and specific research in a quantitative, experimental approach. Surveys conducted in qualitative perspective can lay ground for the development of clearly defined and deeper studies in a quantitative a pproach (Sarah 2012c). This happens after research questions and variables get clearly defined in the preliminary qualitative surveys. Surveys are also important research instruments whose application is favored by various advantages that are inherent to the approach. For example, surveys offer a low cost approach to conducting efficient studies, especially when questionnaires are used. Unlike other approaches to research, surveys could also be tailored to take less time, and therefore, enhancing time efficiency and cost effectiveness (Sarah 2012a). Apart from cost and time effectiveness, surveys also provide high levels of representativeness (Sarah 2012a). This is important in enhancing validity of inferences made and generalization of findings to wider populations. Surveys are also important because they offer convenience in data collection, which could adopt various models such as interviews (face-to-face or telephone) and questionnaires (via mail, e-mail or hand delivery) (Sarah 2012a). This convenience could even allow globalized scale of data collection. Survey approaches are also important and appropriate when numerous variables are involved (Fink 2002, p. 71). Precision and standardization of surveys is also an important element that results from the clear definition and standardization of questions that equally assess participants. Criteria of a good sample in surveys Survey sampling entails the careful selection of survey participants by defining the inclusion and exclusion criteria as well as sample size (Sarah 2012c). Sampling is a critical phase in surveys because it determines the validity and reliability of the overall study. In order to be confident that the survey findings are truly representative of the target population, it is critical to ensure that the sample size is large enough and its components undergo random selection. In order to obtain a good sample a clearly defined criterion for the participants should be set so as to acquire a sa mple from which participants can offer reliable information for the assessment of the phenomenon of interest (Sarah 2012a). For example, in order to assess satisfaction in healthcare delivery, it would be appropriate to sample from the patient population rather than the medical practitioners’ population. Sampling the appropriate target population ensures the sample obtained is good for research. Randomness should also be enhanced so as to improve representativeness, which ensures the sample

Rhetorical Situation Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Rhetorical Situation - Dissertation Example This essay declares that Dyson is a technology company that produces and sells mainly household appliances like fans, hand dryers and vacuums but are currently operating a new line of products called 360 Eye robots that are a floor-cleaning machine. Because it is a new inventory product, Dyson becomes the only company that can be trusted to provide quality and functional 360 Eye robots. They have original ideas that have never been tested anywhere giving them a greater advantage to know what the customers need in terms of floor cleaning. It is important to identify the types of the customers Dyson would wish to sell for in the future which could be an existing customer or new customers. This can be very possible if the company identifies the types of the customers they are selling at the moment so that they can target a similar type of the customers' in the future in different regions. This paper makes a conclusion that social media is very simple and practical and therefore Dyson can adopt to help the business in many years making it possible to improve their promotional performance in the subsequent years in operating the 360 Eye robot business, as the business can evaluate to see which tactics produced the best results. In addition, Social Media combines traditional characteristic where companies talk to the customer with a high magnified word of mouth. It provides a unique role that enable a customer to talk to one another therefore making it possible for the manager to harness this power to benefit the organization.

Business environment Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business environment - Coursework Example Features are one seller, many buyers, price setter, restrictions on entry, high sunk costs and enjoys economies of scale. A monopolists has the following pros, no wastage of resources, can venture in to research, and easy to adopt to new technology. The disadvantages are low quality service, no sovereignty of consumers and there is consumer exploitation due to high prices. The price is set by the producer in the short run and not in the long run. That is at P = MC as shown by the diagram above. The structure has features such as, independent decision making, imperfect information, an individual decision affects the market, free entry and exit and firms set prices The above diagram shows the kinked curve. The price is set where P =MC or at the kink of the demand curve. The decision of a single producer can affect the entire market, therefore, coalitions exist to set the price of the goods (McConnell &Brue, 1995). The features include few large firms many buyers, firms collude, high restrictive barriers to entry and dependence decisions. The advantages are makes huge profits, can lead to innovations and stable prices. The shortcoming include dependent decisions, high entry barriers and poor quality (Baligh &Richartz,

The topic can be proposed by the writer Assignment - 2

The topic can be proposed by the writer - Assignment Example This is the reason for having proficient computer skills in Microsoft office. Derrick has excellent leadership skills from his ability to handle issues step-by-step; that is, prioritizing urgent and most important issues first. This he has proven from his capacity to balance school and work while ensuring that efficiency is not compromised. His leadership skills surpass his organization skills. For this reason, he acknowledges that job delegation is part of the working environment. He appreciates that everyone should create a suitable working environment to maximize their capabilities. His ability to handle difficult situations is an indication that he can work in a team and has team leadership skills. His knowledge on how to handle difficult situation in the working environment indicates that he can work under minimum supervision while maintaining a high level of discipline and professionalism. Derrick understands how to perfectly perform tasks. He explains that he once surpassed his supervisor’s requirements by adding value to an assignment that involved contacting customers using a spreadsheet. Derrick attributes his diverse skills to his educational background. He acquired an Associate Degree of Business Administration as he was working at a full-time job: Again, an indication of his capacity to balance school and work. He agrees that combining school with work can be a hectic undertaking. However, that does not deter him from doing so. He has proven to apply effective techniques on how to handle pressure. He attests that he is slow to react and ensures that he is calm when prioritizing tasks. This ensures that important tasks are carried out first, and meet the required standards. Such a technique is an indication of his ardent leadership skills. Derrick’s attitude is built around patience, honesty, and humility. Such qualities are what

CHANGING CLOTHES IN CHINA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CHANGING CLOTHES IN CHINA - Essay Example Considerably, the understanding of the different clothes of the said country gives a clear presentation as to how the people within the region developed from being traditional towards becoming liberated and more expressive until the present times of modernity. How did the revolution affect the recognition of culture on the part of the Chinese people Truthfully, the changes in the people's clothes also denoted the changes that were happening within the Chinese community. As the years pass, the classical understanding of China with regards their culture and traditional being has been replaced by the trends of the west and the undeniable fact that globalization has already entered the classical years of the Chinese life thus suggesting a much more different approach to clothing on the part of the natives. As the foreigners started coming in and out of China for tourism and other businesses in concern, it could be observed that the clothing of the Chinese people also began to develop. It is considerably undeniable that the clothes of the Chinese society began to take new shape and has begun to flood the international market. Apparently, the Chinese clothing line is considered to be one of the major products that bring in profit to the national economy.

Global Poverty Essay Example for Free

Global Poverty Essay The definition of poverty is a matter of debate. In 1795, English magistrates decided that a minimum income should be the cost of a gallon loaf of bread, multiplied by three, plus an allowance for each dependent. Today, the Census Bureau defines the threshold of global poverty as the minimum amount of money families need to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet, assuming they use one-third of their income for food. The term underclass has been applied by some social scientists to a population of people, concentrated in an inner city, who are persistently poor, unemployed, and dependent on welfare, with an emphasis on persistently. Initially, sociologist William Julius Wilson championed the concept to describe the plight of the truly disadvantaged. But he and a number of other sociologists have since expressed concern that the term underclass is being misused by some journalists and political conservatives to argue that the poor have created their own plight and are to blame for their poverty (Hinkle, 1994). Wilson contends that the underclass exists mainly because of a sharp climb in inner-city joblessness by virtue of the elimination of hundreds of thousands of lower-skill jobs, the growing polarization of the labor market into low-wage and high-wage sectors, the relocation of manufacturing industries out of the central city, and periodic recessions. The problem has been compounded by the concentration of the disadvantaged in inner-city ghettos and the isolation of these areas from more affluent communities (Hinkle, 1994). Before World War I, most African Americans lived in the rural South. But industrial jobs during World Wars I and II drew hundreds of thousands of blacks to cities in the North (Davis, 2004). Almost all of these people were poor, unskilled workers. Structural factors, i. e. the disappearance over the past quarter-century of hundreds of thousands of low-skill jobs, mainly involving physical labor, have meant that inner-city blacks have become a severely disadvantaged class (Hinkle, 1994). They settled in slum areas near the factories where they worked in the inner city. As slums grew, ghetto conditions worsened. These patterns are most evident in large American cities where smokestack industries once attracted young men with few or no skills to jobs that nonetheless paid well enough to support wives and children. Prejudice and discrimination have made it difficult for African Americans and other minorities to improve these conditions. Legislation has been used to try to eliminate ghetto conditions in the United States. But segregation remains a serious problem. Now poor urban blacks find themselves relegated to all-black neighborhoods where they are socially isolated from mainstream life (Davis, 2004). According to the conflict theory, though, the underclass indeed constitutes a minority of the poor. The underclass is a cote of inner-city poor, those individuals and families who are trapped in an unending cycle of joblessness and dependence on welfare or criminal earnings. Their communities are plagued by drug abuse, lawlessness, crime, violence, and poor schools. Many underclass women were teenage mothers and high school dropouts who subsequently found themselves sidetracked without the resources or skills to escape a life of poverty (Hinkle, 1994). Some sociologists portray global poverty as a structural feature of capitalist societies. The cyclical movements between economic expansion and contraction, boom and bust, contribute to sharp fluctuations in employment (Iceland, 2003). A century ago, Karl Marx contended that an industrial reserve army is essential for capitalist economies. The industrial reserve army consists of individuals at the bottom of the class structure who are laid off in the interests of corporate profits during times of economic stagnation, then rehired when needed for producing profits during times of economic prosperity. It is disproportionately composed of minorities, who traditionally have been the last hired and the first hired. Contemporary structural functionalists say that a new industrial order characterized by a significant shift from manufacturing to service-sector employment has produced massive vulnerability among all blue-collar workers (Hinkle, 1994). Poverty derives from a lack of income-producing employment. And high inner-city rates of family disintegration, welfare dependency, drug abuse, and crime are additional outcomes of faulty economic organization. Clustered in large ghettos and squatters Mexico, Africa, and some parts of Asia, the poor develop feelings of marginality, helplessness, dependence, and inferiority. These circumstances allegedly breed weak ego structures, lack of impulse control, a present-time orientation characterized by little ability to deter gratification, and a sense of resignation and fatalism. The resulting lifeways are both an adaptation and a reaction of the poor to their disadvantaged positions (Iceland, 2003). They become self-perpetuating patterns as the ethos associated with the culture of poverty is transmitted to successive generations. United Nations bureaus revealed that nearly half of the state’s children have mothers who have failed to fulfill elementary school. Statistics illustrate there exists a positive relationship between parents’ educational attainment and their offspring’s odds in their latter life. Children of parents who have no adequate formal education are prone to endure scarcity as they age. Poverty-stricken people around the world suffer from the lack of many things they need. For example, they are less likely to receive adequate medical care or to eat the foods they need to stay healthy. The poor have more diseases, become more seriously ill, and die at a younger age than other people do. Poor people often live in substandard housing in socially isolated areas where most of their neighbors are poor. Many low-income families live in crowded, run-down buildings with inadequate heat and plumbing. The jobs most readily available to the poor provide low wages and little opportunity for advancement. Many of these jobs also involve dangerous or unhealthful working conditions. Financial, medical, and emotional problems often strain family ties among the poverty-stricken (Iceland, 2003). In Laos, saddled with debt, lacking infrastructure, and short of trained personnel, the government simply cannot afford to provide basic schooling for all of their children. However, this is not a problem of lack of resources, but rather a problem of resource allocation. In Ghana, misdistribution and capitalistic exploitation make the medicines inaccessible to the poor clients in the district. If in the past, the causes of illnesses may have been shared between man and nature, from this time forth, diseases are brought about by the caustic arms of industrialization, which might have not destroyed or alternatively benefited the sub-Saharan Africa. In Thailand, young people, some hardly elapsed pre-school age, vending on streets virtually every single day is a heartbreaking scene to the passersby. While at first glance it may seem to be effortless, risk-free toil that equips a deprived family a most wanted boost, it essentially stems from a chain of causes, and begets a mesh of costs for the child, his family and the society in which they are trying to survive. Eventually, many unschooled children would eventually realize finding themselves sidetracked without the resources or skills to escape a life of poverty. Within the United States, President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society produced a flurry of social programs rivaling those of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Some are gone, while others were severely cut or revamped by the Reagan and Bush administrations. The government provides two main types of aid: social insurance and public assistance. Social insurance mainly covers people-or their families-who have worked and paid special taxes in the past, whether or not they are poor. Public assistance provides aid to the needy regardless of their work record (Iceland, 2003). Education is a key element in reversing poverty. For some people in Asia and Africa, education is a means to improve oneself. Education is greatly related to social status because a high degree of education involves money and motivation. Some people insist that the forces that are making the world into a single economy have separated people from longstanding identities and have, at the same time, weakened nation-state. Particularly, McDonaldization of global society has allowed to target highly specific groups wherever they are and so the ethnic bond tails them too (Ritzer, 1996). People in developing countries are starving, purely so that our developed society can be provided with excess food. Chemicals, necessary for the uniformity of its products, are destroying the environment and putting lives at risk due to increased nitrate levels. This way, McDonaldization of society wouldn’t make the world a better place, as it will simply turn into a bigger breeding ground for exploitation, pollution, and economic imbalance around the world furthering global poverty.

Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist Views on Benevolence Essay Example for Free

Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist Views on Benevolence Essay Benevolence can be defined as the moral inclination to be kind and compassionate. If people could control their malicious behaviors and focus on participating in acts that are solely beneficial to humanity, the earth would be much more prosperous. Being kind to others gives us a feeling of contentment that is otherwise unattainable. Receiving compassion and kindness provides us with a sense of gratitude and wellness that many cannot help but share with others. No one enjoys being the subject of someone else’s ill will. This is why moral codes such as (but not limited to) Buddhism, Confucianism/Taoism have emerged. If everyone followed any one of the previously stated practices, it would be much easier for humans to grow and develop as a whole because there would be fewer causes of our discontentment. The Buddhists’ ultimate goal is to end suffering by achieving enlightenment, or nirvana (Kessler, pg. 186). Benevolence is indefinitely required to reach this state. Enlightenment can only be obtained by recognizing the Four Noble Truths. This basically states that life is suffering, which is the result of bad karma caused by malevolent actions that are driven by natural human desires. The end of desire will inevitably be the end of suffering. The only way to end suffering is by following in the footsteps of Siddhartha Gautama’s enlightenment (Kessler, pg. 166). This method of bringing an end to suffering is otherwise known as the Eightfold Path, or the Way of the Buddha. In order to obtain the same enlightenment, Buddhists are required to uphold a strict set of rules regarding the way to behave as a beneficial member of society, including â€Å"right view, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditati on.† (Kessler, pg. 224). The most devout Buddhist possesses immense self-control and discipline in attempt to live the purest, least harmful existence possible. A good example of the ideal Buddhist is the bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas have reached the ultimate level of moral purity, kindness, and compassion toward the world and therefore live to relieve people from suffering (Kessler, pg. 170). Concerning overall kindness and compassion, the fate and preservation of the entire world should be taken into account before performing any act. No living being should ever be harmed or killed. One should never steal from another, but may receive gifts openly. Buddhists should be chaste, truthful, and fair. They are required to keep peace among people if necessary. A devout Buddhist would never speak to someone in a discourteous manner, including sharing erroneous information (Kessler, pg. 185). This moral code practiced by Bodhisattvas is directly concerned with the wellbeing of the world through good deeds, which leads to the end of eternal suffering, according to the previously stated teachings of the Buddha. Another influential teacher of morality and obtaining widespread human prosperity is Confucianism. The Way, or Tao, is the Confucian concept of human nature. The Mandate of Heaven is dictated by the fact that humans, by nature, want to obtain balance and harmony in the world, which is possible beginning with harmony within the self. Harmony within one’s self leads to harmony among other people, which results in the harmony of natural phenomenon, and thus the world is harmonious. This requires that all human emotional conditions be in balance. Although the notion is truly inconceivable, this can be most closely described as the Confucian concept of heaven. People must be understanding and compassionate towards one another, and make sacrifices for the greater good. When this is achieved, human flourishing is then possible. People are either intelligent enough to possess the sincerity of the way, or they can be instructed to do so. Humans are all capable of making a contribution toward achieving the order of the Way, which results in spiritual salvation (Kessler, pg. 242-243). The most important way this goal is to be achieved by the followers of Confucian teachings is through sacrifice. An honorable person intends to sacrifice in order to spread good will to the earth. This helps emphasize the responsibilities all humans have to maintain peace and harmony in the world for the well being of everyone (Kessler, pg. 240). Humans are born into different ranks, which must be taken into consideration, but the overall goal of Confucian teaching is to uphold the moral obligation of goodness. Elders and authority figures are to be respected in accordance to the Confucian way. For example, a child is respectful to a parent because both are needed to maintain balance in the family. This plays a crucial role in the functionality of the family unit. The same notion can be applied to the citizen and his governing body. The citizen is obedient to the government because defiant behavior would lead to chaos (Kessler, pg. 242). The Buddhist and Confucian doctrines are similar in many ways. The ultimate goal of both sets of teachings is the same: human benevolence leads to moral salvation and the well being of humanity. Renunciation plays a major role in the overall intention of both parties. The crucial difference between the two is the source of the regarded texts. Confucians’ fate is subject to the government no matter what. They pay respect to all people, but understand the necessity to respect the upper class because they play a major part in the well being of the whole. The elders and authority figures â€Å"take care† of the younger or less fortunate. Buddhists focus more on solitude and undergoing suffering for the greater good. They go as far as to give up normal eating habits as to refrain from any selfish behavior that may lead to bad karma. Confucians also undergo suffering, but do not give up basic human desires for the benefit of others. They are undeniably considerate. Any feeling that one would not enjoy feeling would never be bestowed upon someone else. No form of extreme asceticism required of Confucians as it is sometimes in Buddhism. Rather, Confucian success is more important to human flourishing. Although true, both moral concepts have the same intended outcome of benevolence toward everyone. Works Cited Kessler, Gary E. Ways of Being Religious. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Pub., 2000. 166+. Print.

Continuous Improvement in Software Development

Continuous Improvement in Software Development The above principle concerns the close, daily collaboration between business people and customers is an important one for Agile as it ensures the usability of the product and consequently quality of work to fulfil the customers requirement in the best way possible (Cohn, 2005). The principle reflects the agile value of customer collaboration over contract negotiation. Schwaber (2004) highlights the importance of this principle as during the last decades with the increasing complexity of IT project, developers and customers have been drifting apart due to unsuitable methodologies that obstruct effective customer collaboration. Requirement collection following this agile principle goes beyond the requirement collection of traditional project management methodologies (Cobb, 2011). Beck (2000) suggests that when using XP, there should always be a customer on site to be able to answer all arising questions instantaneously. Customers often have different or no expectations from a project which emphasizes the need of close collaboration to detect any discrepancies (Cohn, 2005). Cohn (2005) further argues that through daily meetings changing requirements originating in rapidly evolving business environment can be addressed immediately and realignment of the strategy and deliverables is possible. However, the practice of daily customer meetings was not achievable during the wiki project; nonetheless, the team was able to consult with the customer frequently through email and very short response times allowed areas of unclarity to be resolved promptly. This close collaboration was often used to clarify small details in the requirements to increase the customer satisfaction through implementing change request without delay. When this principle is applied cautiously and thoroughly, a high level of trust can be developed between the two parties involved (Schwaber, 2004). Highsmith (2009) further argues that trust is a very important issue to be valued as it enhances the team cohesion and quality of collaborative work. This is supported by the experienced Group Green has made during the wiki project. During iteration 1 and 2, all requirements have been comprehensively discussed and clarified within the team and with the customer during iteration planning and initial customer consultation. After the team has started developing the iterations product, the customer was consulted again to resolve any remaining unclarities. Through this practice of close collaboration the quality of the product was at a very high level which was reflected through the outstanding feedback from the customer. However, during iteration 3 this high level of cooperation with the customer was neglected by the team which was been reflected in the iteration review meeting. The customer was not as satisfied with the product as in the previous two iterations, because the team failed to fulfill the customers requirements and specifications. In the subsequent iteration it was the Scrum Masters top priority to involve the customer again in more detail to enhance communication and idea exchange, removing impediment between the customer and the development team as suggested by Schwaber (2004). To adhere and to apply this principle might be one of the most valuable lessons learned in this project, as the close collaboration ensures a high quality of work and subsequently high customer satisfaction. The principle of sustainable development relates to the aim of developing the product in a constant pace without any perks in development velocity. Sustainability has a great significance, as the whole process of agile development is aimed to be a sustainable approach (Augustine, 2005). Poppendieck and Poppendieck (2003) note that companies which have adopted lean thinking have achieved a significant sustainable performance improvement. Stellman and Greene (2014) highlight that the breaking down of the whole project into smaller more manageable chunks facilitates the process of determining realistic durations of every story point or piece of work that is to be developed. The ability of estimating realistic durations enables the project team to give accurate predictions of the development time of the whole product. This supports a very steady flow of product development and the team can work in a constant and sustainable pace (Cohn, 2005). In software development, this constant flow leads to a higher quality of code and fewer inconsistencies in the source code. In consequence, less time is needed to address bug fixing, which make the whole concept more sustainable and viable (Cohn, 2005). Bug fixing, improving flaws and making corrections often lead to a higher work load for the project team and consequently lowers the motivation and increases the stress the team experiences. The stress primarily results from the still existing deadline at the end of the short iteration which still needs to be met, despite the amount of required re-work. Cohn (2005) further stipulates that over time, the customer realises and acknowledges the high quality, which subsequently enables trust to be developed between the customer and the project team. Cobb (2011) further points out that all team members, not just developers, need to keep pace with each other throughout the whole duration of the project. In agile development, the iterations prevent team members to step in or out of the project in different phases. As a result, the development of the product is much more fluent, as all team member can built up trust and develop a high team cohesion (Cobb, 2011). Cohn (2005) further argues that this can lead to a higher motivation for the project team as they feel empowered and are more willing to achieve better results. Whitworth and Biddle (2007) conclude that agile planning reduces tensions and conflicts and the consecutive development of small tasks promotes motivation in the team, which altogether which leads to an overall quality improvement. In practice, Team Green has experienced the value of this principle, however, not in as much detail as in real-life practice. The project was already divided into weekly iterations, which established the grounds of sustainable development. However, the team experienced the value of dividing the whole project deliverables into smaller parts as this practice greatly improves transparency and clearness of what requirements need to be fulfilled and how this can be achieved. The internally agreed deadlines did not drastically change during the whole project duration. This way the team was able to realise a routine of weekly development, which greatly helped and supported in developing a high-quality product. Trust among the team has been developed at the same time, which facilitated the sustainable development. An important lesson learned in this regard is the necessity of splitting the workload and thoroughly planning durations of the single pieces of work. This greatly benefits a sustainable, constant pace of development and consequently increases the product quality and customer satisfaction. The last agile principle states that the team should regularly reflect on how to become more effective and adopt their work processes accordingly. Through the alignment of the overall approach and the strategy of development, the project team aims to increase the quality baseline of the developed work. Stellman and Greene (2014) note that it is important to include retrospectives to evaluate and assess performance to figure out ways on how to become more effective in future projects. This retrospective should not be limited to one meeting at the end of a project but should be implemented immediately when any possible improvements are recognised. According to Beck (2000) the project team should use daily stand up meetings to get discuss any areas of general development improvement. If this is not possible, the team should try to incorporate a retrospective at least after finishing every iteration (Smith and Upton, 2015). Cobb (2011) elaborates on this in saying that sprints in agile a re generally much shorter than the development duration of traditional approaches, which facilitates the reflecting process. The concept of continuous improvement is linked to lean software development and based on the Kaizen philosophy and re-engineering approach to heighten the standard of status quo to achieve better quality products (Bond, 1999). Kaizen and re-engineering philosophy were originally deduced from operational management in logistics, but can be applied to other improvement processes such as Agile product development. Typically, the improvement process can be divided into four consecutive stages: 1. maintaining process status quo 2. process improvement 3. process re-engineering 4. achieving process stability. Group Green applied this principle during most of the wiki project. In the first two iterations, the team held one retrospective at the end of each iteration to identify areas of improvement and ways to implement more agile principles than the ones that were already used. This practice lead to a high quality of product and customer satisfaction. However, during iteration 3 this principle was neglected and the team did not pursue the strive of further improvement. This was reflected in reduced customer satisfaction in comparison to the previous iterations. In response, the team decided to add an additional retrospective reflect on how to further improve their development process to retrieve the higher quality standard and customer satisfaction of previous iterations. Based on this positive experience of reinforcing this principle it was agreed that an additional retrospective is being held at the end of the wiki project to ensure a high quality of final assignment report. Reflecting t he whole development process, it can be said with certainty that lessons learned includes the necessity of consequently applying this principle. Only by doing so, the prerequisite is fulfilled to continuously deliver high quality products and achiever customer satisfaction.

Same-Sex Marriages Should NOT Be Allowed Essay -- Legal Issues, Same S

Allowing same-sex marriages would change the basic definition of marriage. Marriage is an important commitment of a man and a woman who contribute to civilization. Therefore, the loss of contributions due to someone’s sexual orientation should not be rewarded with a privilege such as marriage. Same-sex marriages affect many factors such as children, the concept of marriage, and humanity. However, it is not a misdemeanor to love somebody of the same gender but it can rigorously damage many aspects of life. In addition, same-sex marriages also can affect those who are raised by them as children. It was exposed that children raised by homosexual couples did worse than the offspring of heterosexual couples in nine of thirteen intellectual and social categories. When children are adopted they do not get a choice in whether their parents are gay or straight. For this reason, their sexual orientation may be distorted due to the parents they are adopted to. Children raised in families led by same-sex parents may choose to become gay or lesbian at a higher rate than thos...

Wilsons Fourteen Points: a Path to Peace or to Renewed Conflict Essay

Wilson's Fourteen Points: a Path to Peace or to Renewed Conflict Wilson's Fourteen Points were a decent attempt at peace and restitution after the Great War; however, there were many inherent problems with the Wilsonian agenda. These problems were caused by many things, including Allied bias, American ambition, and Western European dominance. While trying to fix many problems in Europe, the Fourteen Points mainly concentrated on the things that were important to the Allied powers: France was bent on revenge, Great Britain was looking to further its power over the seas, and America was keen on becoming an even more powerful trade nation. The Allied Powers made it very hard for Germany and Austria and the newly formed countries in Eastern Europe to carry out many of the things set down in the Fourteen points, in particular, the idea of self-determination that is evident in over half of the points. Reading the Fourteen Points might lead a person to believe that the Allies were in favor of all forms of self-determination unconditionally; in fact, just the opposite was true. They used "self-determination as a formula for rearranging the balance of power in their own interests" (Keynes pp. 2). Point Five of the Wilsonian agenda was a testament to this. It called for the "free, open-minded adjustment of all colonial claims." Essentially, what this did was allow countries to practice limited forms of self-determination, mainly by switching European rule from the more obvious direct control method, to indirect European control. Some countries were allowed independence, but those countries that were denied it became mandates; Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon are examples of the ladder. The main thing Point Five accomplished was that i... ...and incomplete" (Keynes pp. 4). Ironically this is just the thing Wilson had set out not to do. In the speech he delivered before he read out the Fourteen Points, Wilson said that there was "no confusion between the Allied powers, no uncertainty of principle and no vagueness of detail." Wilson goes on to say that the "only failure to make definite statement of the objects of the war lies with Germany and her allies," when in fact this failure of definite statement was also true of the Allied Powers. The Fourteen Points did accomplish something in that they set out terms for a treaty, but unfortunately the Points failed because they severely lacked in detail and succinct. Furthermore, if the Points had been written with the sole objective of peace and restitution and not ambition or revenge, the ultimate Treaty of Versailles may have led to a lasting peace in Europe.

History Of Football Essay -- Sports Football Essays History

History Of Football Sometime around 1050, Englishmen dug up a skull of a dane and started to kick it around in frustration toward the dane. It became known as â€Å"Kicking the dane’s head† .The skull began to hurt the boy’s feet, so a boy came up with the idea of using an inflated cow bladder to help their feet(Tuttle, 13).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1189, King Henry banned the game, because people were too involved in the game to practice archery and fighting for war(Tuttle, 13). During the 1500’s the game shifted to Ireland where people invented the Irish rules that made the game tougher. As the game progressed it turned into soccer and rugby(Tuttle, 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On November 6, 1869, Princeton and Rutgers played the first college soccer game(Tuttle, 14). During the spring of 1871 a group of people at Harvard University made a game called the â€Å"Boston Game†, which was similar to rugby rules(Tuttle, 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On May 15, 1874, Harvard played McGill University, which was from Montreal. They played with an egg-shaped ball instead of a round ball(Tuttle, 14). They played with 11 men instead of 15, because 4 could not make the game.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1880, Walter Camp, Yale’s rugby captain, created the line of scrimmage and other modern football attributes to improve the game because it was too low scoring (Tuttle, 13). He also changed the scoring system to: safety-1 point, touchdown-2, Point after touchdown-4, and a field goal-3. He then changed the yards kneeded to gain a first down to 5 and used 3 downs(Tuttle, 16). Later coaches changed Camps’ rules to rules we use now.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1919 the American Professional Football Association was made in Canton, Ohio(Treat, 23). It started out with 5 teams (Akron, Canton, Columbus, Dayton, and Rochester) (Treat, 23). It cost twenty-five dollars to open a franchise(Treat, 23). The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers joined the League in 1921 to make one of football’s greatest rivalries. The American Professional Football Association changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) in 1922(Tuttle, 61). By 1923, there were 20 teams in the NFL(Treat, 34). During the 1920’s, mostly due to the depression, the NFL began to drop to only 12 teams(Treat, 35).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to make the scoring increase, the NFL made it legal to throw a forward pass in 1933(Encarta). The defense rushing the quarterback made it difficult to complete passes... ...ta), where it stopped, but started back up again in 1999.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1992 the National Football League started making major changes toward the future. It created Free Agency, because of a lawsuit(Encarta). Free Agency allows players freedom to move around from teams after their contract. The NFL also invented the Salary Cap, which allowed NFL teams only a certain amount of money to spend on players’ contracts(Encarta). Both Free Agency and the Salary Cap have made it easier for teams to have the same amount of talent, and have made tremendous strides into football’s future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The demand for football has become so popular, that during televised games companies will pay millions of dollars for thirty seconds of commercial advertisement space.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stadiums now hold tens of thousands of people. At the University of Michigan, their stadium seats more than 100,000 people. Stadiums are now built with retractable roofs and instant replay at each seat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Several indoor football leagues have started all over the country, where they play with walls and 50 yards. The owner of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) is expected to open a tough football league in 2001 called the XFL.

Analyzing Internet Sources

The first and more important thing I learned was to look for credible sources. One way to do this is to look for bias and opinion. You should look for sources that are based solely on facts and will not attempt to shape your opinion of the topic when you read it. Another thing is to make sure you find your information in other sources to verify it is true and correct. Remember that it is difficult to spot credible sources online. Another thing to keep on mind are legal issues regarding copyright and plagiarism. Just because something is online does not mean it is unprotected. I will use these practices by making sure that I do more extensive research when I find something online. Just because it is there doesn’t make it true. I want to stay free of any problems of that nature and make my work reflect my abilities as a student. How can you determine if the information on a website is reputable and worthwhile for a research paper? Why is Wikipedia not an acceptable academic source? You can determine if the information is reputable and worthwhile by first looking at the URL. Most of the time if it ends with . edu or . gov it will be a good one. Also, another good thing to do is to research the authors and their credentials. You want to know who is writing this information and how qualified they really are. Another good tip is to look at the date. Let’s say you are writing about something that happened recently. There can be new developments on the story daily and you want all your information to be up to date and correct. Wikipedia is not an acceptable academic source because it is an open source of information. That information is not monitored at any time and can be posted by anybody. Some people even go on Wikipedia and say they are an anonymous writer. How can you know it’s true if you don’t know who wrote it?

Chapter 16 Professor Trelawney’s Prediction

Harry's euphoria at finally winning the Quidditch Cup lasted at least a week. Even the weather seemed to be celebrating; as June approached, the days became cloudless and sultry, and all anybody felt like doing was strolling onto the grounds and flopping down on the grass with several pints of iced pumpkin juice, perhaps playing a casual game of Gobstones or watching the giant squid propel itself dreamily across the surface of the lake. But they couldn't. Exams were nearly upon them, and instead of lazing around outside, the students were forced to remain inside the castle, trying to bully their brains into concentrating while enticing wafts of summer air drifted in through the windows. Even Fred and George Weasley had been spotted working; they were about to take their O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). Percy was getting ready to take his N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests), the highest qualification Hogwarts offered. As Percy hoped to enter the Ministry of Magic, he needed top grades. He was becoming increasingly edgy, and gave very severe punishments to anybody who disturbed the quiet of the common room in the evenings. In fact, the only person who seemed more anxious than Percy was Hermione. Harry and Ron had given up asking her how she was managing to attend several classes at once, but they couldn't restrain themselves when they saw the exam schedule she had drawn up for herself. The first column read: Monday 9 o'clock, Arithmancy 9 o'clock, Transfiguration Lunch 1 o'clock, Charms 1 o'clock, Ancient Runes â€Å"Hermione?† Ron said cautiously, because she was liable to explode when interrupted these days. â€Å"Er — are you sure you've copied down these times right?† â€Å"What?† snapped Hermione, picking up the exam schedule and examining it. â€Å"Yes, of course I have.† â€Å"Is there any point asking how you're going to sit for two exams at once?† said Harry. â€Å"No,† said Hermione shortly. â€Å"Have either of you seen my copy of Numerology and Gramatica?† â€Å"Oh, yeah, I borrowed it for a bit of bedtime reading,† said Ron, but very quietly. Hermione started shifting heaps of parchment. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had plenty of opportunity to speak to Hagrid. â€Å"Beaky's gettin' a bit depressed,† Hagrid told them, bending low on the pretense of checking that Harry's flobberworm was still alive. â€Å"Bin cooped up too long. But still†¦we'll know day after tomorrow — one way or the other –â€Å" They had Potions that afternoon, which was an unqualified disaster. Try as Harry might, he couldn't get his Confusing Concoction to thicken, and Snape, standing watch with an air of vindictive pleasure, scribbled something that looked suspiciously like a zero onto his notes before moving away. Then came Astronomy at midnight, up on the tallest tower; History of Magic on Wednesday morning, in which Harry scribbled everything Florean Fortescue had ever told him about medieval witch-hunts, while wishing he could have had one of Fortescue's choco-nut sundaes with him in the stifling classroom. Wednesday afternoon meant Herbology, in the greenhouses under a baking-hot sun; then back to the common room once more, with sunburnt necks, thinking longingly of this time next day, when it would all be over. Their second to last exam, on Thursday morning, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had compiled the most unusual exam any of them had ever taken; a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a Grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a Hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new Boggart. â€Å"Excellent, Harry,† Lupin muttered as Harry climbed out of the trunk, grinning. â€Å"Full marks.† Flushed with his success, Harry hung around to watch Ron and Hermione. Ron did very well until he reached the Hinkypunk, which successfully confused him into sinking waist-high into the quagmire. Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the Boggart in it. After about a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming. â€Å"Hermione!† said Lupin, startled. â€Å"What's the matter?† â€Å"P-P-Professor McGonagall!† Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. â€Å"Sh-she said I'd failed everything!† It took a little while to calm Hermione down. When at last she had regained a grip on herself, she, Harry, and Ron went back to the castle. Ron was still slightly inclined to laugh at Hermione's Boggart, but an argument was averted by the sight that met them on the top of the steps. Cornelius Fudge, sweating slightly in his pinstriped cloak, was standing there staring out at the grounds. He started at the sight of Harry. â€Å"Hello there, Harry!† he said. â€Å"Just had an exam, I expect? Nearly finished?† â€Å"Yes,† said Harry. Hermione and Ron, not being on speaking terms with the Minister of Magic, hovered awkwardly in the background. â€Å"Lovely day,† said Fudge, casting an eye over the lake. â€Å"Pity†¦pity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He sighed deeply and looked down at Harry. â€Å"I'm here on an unpleasant mission, Harry. The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures required a witness to the execution of a mad Hippogriff. As I needed to visit Hogwarts to check on the Black situation, I was asked to step in.† â€Å"Does that mean the appeal's already happened?† Ron interrupted, stepping forward. â€Å"No, no, it's scheduled for this afternoon,† said Fudge, looking curiously at Ron. â€Å"Then you might not have to witness an execution at all!† said Ron stoutly. â€Å"The Hippogriff might get off!† Before Fudge could answer, two wizards came through the castle doors behind him. One was so ancient he appeared to be withering before their very eyes; the other was tall and strapping, with a thin back mustache. Harry gathered that they were representatives of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, because the very old wizard squinted toward Hagrid's cabin and said in a feeble voice, â€Å"Dear, dear, I'm getting too old for this†¦.Two o'clock, isn't it, Fudge?† The black-mustached man was fingering something in his belt; Harry looked and saw that he was running one broad thumb along the blade of a shining axe. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione nudged him hard in the ribs and jerked her head toward the entrance hall. â€Å"Why'd you stop me?† said Ron angrily as they entered the Great Hall for lunch. â€Å"Did you see them? They've even got the axe ready! This isn't justice!† â€Å"Ron, your dad works for the Ministry, you can't go saying things like that to his boss!† said Hermione, but she too looked very upset. â€Å"As long as Hagrid keeps his head this time, and argues his case properly, they can't possibly execute Buckbeak†¦.† But Harry could tell Hermione didn't really believe what she was saying. All around them, people were talking excitedly as they ate their lunch, happily anticipating the end of the exams that afternoon, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione, lost in worry about Hagrid and Buckbeak, didn't join in. Harry's and Ron's last exam was Divination; Hermione's, Muggle Studies. They walked up the marble staircase together; Hermione left them on the first floor and Harry and Ron proceeded all the way up to the seventh, where many of their class were sitting on the spiral staircase to Professor Trelawney's classroom, trying to cram in a bit of last-minute studying. â€Å"She's seeing us all separately,† Neville informed them as they went to sit down next to him. He had his copy of Unfogging the Future open on his lap at the pages devoted to crystal gazing. â€Å"Have either of you ever seen anything in a crystal ball?† he asked them unhappily. â€Å"Nope,† said Ron in an offhand voice. He kept checking his watch; Harry. knew that he was counting down the time until Buckbeak's appeal started. The line of people outside the classroom shortened very slowly. As each person climbed back down the silver ladder, the rest of the class hissed, â€Å"What did she ask? Was it okay?† But they all refused to say. â€Å"She says the crystal ball's told her that if I tell you, I'll have a horrible accident!† squeaked Neville as he clambered back down the ladder toward Harry and Ron, who had now reached the landing. â€Å"That's convenient,† snorted Ron. â€Å"You know, I'm starting to think Hermione was right about her† — he jabbed his thumb toward the trapdoor overhead — â€Å"she's a right old fraud.† â€Å"Yeah,† said Harry, looking at his own watch. It was now two o'clock. â€Å"Wish she'd hurry up†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Parvati came back down the ladder glowing with pride. â€Å"She says I've got all the makings of a true Seer,† she informed Harry and Ron. â€Å"I saw loads of stuff†¦Well, good luck!† She hurried off down the spiral staircase toward Lavender. â€Å"Ronald Weasley,† said the familiar, misty voice from over their heads. Ron grimaced at Harry and climbed the silver ladder out of sight. Harry was now the only person left to be tested. He settled himself on the floor with his back against the wall, listening to a fly buzzing in the sunny window, his mind across the grounds with Hagrid. Finally, after about twenty minutes, Ron's large feet reappeared on the ladder. â€Å"How'd it go?† Harry asked him, standing up. â€Å"Rubbish,† said Ron. â€Å"Couldn't see a thing, so I made some stuff up. Don't think she was convinced, though†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Meet you in the common room,† Harry muttered as Professor Trelawney's voice called, â€Å"Harry Potter!† The tower room was hotter than ever before; the curtains were closed, the fire was alight, and the usual sickly scent made Harry cough as he stumbled through the clutter of chairs and table to where Professor Trelawney sat waiting for him before a large crystal ball. â€Å"Good day, my dear,† she said softly. â€Å"If you would kindly gaze into the Orb†¦Take your time, now†¦then tell me what you see within it†¦.† Harry bent over the crystal ball and stared, stared as hard as he could, willing it to show him something other than swirling white fog, but nothing happened. â€Å"Well?† Professor Trelawney prompted delicately. â€Å"What do you see?† The heat was overpowering and his nostrils were stinging with the perfumed smoke wafting from the fire beside them. He thought of what Ron had just said, and decided to pretend. â€Å"Er –† said Harry, â€Å"a dark shape†¦um†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"What does it resemble?† whispered Professor Trelawney. â€Å"Think, now†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry cast his mind around and it landed on Buckbeak. â€Å"A Hippogriff,† he said firmly. â€Å"Indeed!† whispered Professor Trelawney, scribbling keenly on the parchment perched upon her knees. â€Å"My boy, you may well be seeing the outcome of poor Hagrid's trouble with the Ministry of Magic! Look closer†¦Does the Hippogriff appear to†¦have its head?† â€Å"Yes,† said Harry firmly. â€Å"Are you sure?† Professor Trelawney urged him. â€Å"Are you quite sure, dear? You don't see it writhing on the ground, perhaps, and a shadowy figure raising an axe behind it?† â€Å"No!† said Harry, starting to feel slightly sick. â€Å"No blood? No weeping Hagrid?† â€Å"No!† said Harry again, wanting more than ever to leave the room and the heat. â€Å"It looks fine, it's — flying away†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Professor Trelawney sighed. â€Å"Well, dear, I think we'll leave it there†¦A little disappointing†¦but I'm sure you did your best.† Relieved, Harry got up, picked up his bag and turned to go, but then a loud, harsh voice spoke behind him. â€Å"IT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT.† Harry wheeled around. Professor Trelawney had gone rigid in her armchair; her eyes were unfocused and her mouth sagging. â€Å"S — sorry?† said Harry. But Professor Trelawney didn't seem to hear him. Her eyes started to roll. Harry sat there in a panic. She looked as though she was about to have some sort of seizure. He hesitated, thinking of running to the hospital wing — and then Professor Trelawney spoke again, in the same harsh voice, quite unlike her own: â€Å"THE DARK LORD LIES ALONE AND FRIENDLESS, ABANDONED BY HIS FOLLOWERS. HIS SERVANT HAS BEEN CHAINED THESE TWELVE YEARS. TONIGHT, BEFORE MIDNIGHT†¦THE SERVANT WILL BREAK FREE AND SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER. THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AGAIN WITH HIS SERVANT'S AID, GREATER AND MORE TERRIBLE THAN EVER HE WAS. TONIGHT†¦BEFORE MIDNIGHT†¦THE SERVANT†¦WILL SET OUT†¦TO REJOIN†¦HIS MASTER†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Professor Trelawney's head fell forward onto her chest. She made a grunting sort of noise. Harry sat there, staring at her. Then, quite suddenly, Professor Trelawney's head snapped up again. â€Å"I'm so sorry, dear boy,† she said dreamily, â€Å"the heat of the day, you know†¦I drifted off for a moment†¦.† Harry sat there, staring at her. â€Å"Is there anything wrong, my dear?† â€Å"You — you just told me that the — the Dark Lord's going to rise again†¦that his servant's going to go back to him.† Professor Trelawney looked thoroughly startled. â€Å"The Dark Lord? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? My dear boy, that's hardly something to joke about†¦Rise again, indeed –â€Å" â€Å"But you just said it! You said the Dark Lord –â€Å" â€Å"I think you must have dozed off too, dear!† said Professor Trelawney. â€Å"I would certainly not presume to predict anything quite as far-fetched as that!† Harry climbed back down the ladder and the spiral staircase, wondering†¦had he just heard Professor Trelawney make a real prediction? Or had that been her idea of an impressive end to the test? Five minutes later he was dashing past the security trolls outside the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, Professor Trelawney's words still resounding in his head. People were striding past him in the opposite direction, laughing and joking, heading for the grounds and a bit of long-awaited freedom; by the time he had reached the portrait hole and entered the common room, it was almost deserted. Over in the corner, however, sat Ron and Hermione. â€Å"Professor Trelawney,† Harry panted, â€Å"just told me –â€Å" But he stopped abruptly at the sight of their faces. â€Å"Buckbeak lost,† said Ron weakly. â€Å"Hagrid's just sent this.† Hagrid's note was dry this time, no tears had splattered it, yet his hand seemed to have shaken so much as he wrote that it was hardly legible. Lost appeal. They're going to execute at sunset. Nothing you can do. Don't come down. I don't want you to see it. Hagrid â€Å"We've got to go,† said Harry at once. â€Å"He can't just sit there on his own, waiting for the executioner!† â€Å"Sunset, though,† said Ron, who was staring out the window ill a glazed sort of way. â€Å"We'd never be allowed †¦'specially you, Harry†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry sank his head into his hands, thinking. â€Å"If we only had the Invisibility Cloak†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Where is it?† said Hermione. Harry told her about leaving it in the passageway under the one-eyed witch. â€Å"†¦ if Snape sees me anywhere near there again, I'm in serious trouble,† he finished. â€Å"That's true,† said Hermione, getting to her feet. â€Å"If he sees you†¦How do you open the witch's hump again?† â€Å"You — you tap it and say, ‘Dissendium,'† said Harry. â€Å"But –â€Å" Hermione didn't wait for the rest of his sentence; she strode across the room, pushed open the Fat Lady's portrait and vanished from sight. â€Å"She hasn't gone to get it?† Ron said, staring after her. She had. Hermione returned a quarter of an hour later with the silvery cloak folded carefully under her robes. â€Å"Hermione, I don't know what's gotten, into you lately!† said Ron, astounded. â€Å"First you hit Malfoy, then you walk out on Professor Trelawney –â€Å" Hermione looked rather flattered. They went down to dinner with everybody else, but did not return to Gryffindor Tower afterward. Harry had the cloak hidden down the front of his robes; he had to keep his arms folded to hide the lump. They skulked in an empty chamber off the entrance hall, listening, until they were sure it was deserted. They heard a last pair of people hurrying across the hall and a door slamming. Hermione poked her head around the door. â€Å"Okay,† she whispered, â€Å"no one there — cloak on –â€Å" Walking very close together so that nobody would see them, they crossed the hall on tiptoe beneath the cloak, then walked down the stone front steps into the grounds. The sun was already sinking behind the Forbidden Forest, gilding the top branches of the trees. They reached Hagrid's cabin and knocked. He was a minute in answering, and when he did, he looked all around for his visitor, pale-faced and trembling. â€Å"It's us,† Harry hissed. â€Å"We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off.† â€Å"Yeh shouldn've come!† Hagrid whispered, but he stood back, and they stepped inside. Hagrid shut the door quickly and Harry pulled off the cloak. Hagrid was not crying, nor did he throw himself upon their necks. He looked like a man who did not know where he was or what to do. This helplessness was worse to watch than tears. â€Å"Wan' some tea?† he said. His great hands were shaking as he reached for the kettle. â€Å"Where's Buckbeak, Hagrid?† said Hermione hesitantly. â€Å"I — I took him outside,† said Hagrid, spilling milk all over the table as he filled up the jug. â€Å"He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he oughta see the trees an' — an' smell fresh air — before –â€Å" Hagrid's hand trembled so violently that the milk jug slipped from his grasp and shattered all over the floor. â€Å"I'll do it, Hagrid,† said Hermione quickly, hurrying over and starting to clean up the mess. â€Å"There's another one in the cupboard,† Hagrid said, sitting down and wiping his forehead on his sleeve. Harry glanced at Ron, who looked back hopelessly. â€Å"Isn't there anything anyone can do, Hagrid?† Harry asked fiercely, sitting down next to him. â€Å"Dumbledore –â€Å" â€Å"He's tried,† said Hagrid. â€Å"He's got no power ter overrule the Committee. He told 'em Buckbeak's all right, but they're scared†¦Yeh know what Lucius Malfoy's like†¦threatened 'em, I expect†¦an' the executioner, Macnair, he's an old pal o' Malfoy's†¦but it'll be quick an' clean†¦an' I'll be beside him†¦.† Hagrid swallowed. His eyes were darting all over the cabin as though looking for some shred of hope or comfort. â€Å"Dumbledore's gonna come down while it — while it happens. Wrote me this mornin'. Said he wants ter — ter be with me. Great man, Dumbledore†¦.† Hermione, who had been rummaging in Hagrid's cupboard for another milk jug, let out a small, quickly stifled sob. She straightened up with the new jug in her hands, fighting back tears. â€Å"We'll stay with you too, Hagrid,† she began, but Hagrid shook his shaggy head. â€Å"Yeh're ter go back up ter the castle. I told yeh, I don' wan' yeh watchin'. An' yeh shouldn' be down here anyway†¦If Fudge an' Dumbledore catch yeh out without permission, Harry, yeh'll be in big trouble.† Silent tears were now streaming down Hermione's face, but she hid them from Hagrid, bustling around making tea. Then, as she picked up the milk bottle to pour some into the jug, she let out a shriek. â€Å"Ron, I don't believe it — it's Scabbers!† Ron gaped at her. â€Å"What are you talking about?† Hermione carried the milk jug over to the table and turned it upside down. With a frantic squeak, and much scrambling to get back inside, Scabbers the rat came sliding out onto the table. â€Å"Scabbers!† said Ron blankly. â€Å"Scabbers, what are you doing here?† He grabbed the struggling rat and held him up to the light. Scabbers looked dreadful. He was thinner than ever, large tufts of hair had fallen out leaving wide bald patches, and he writhed in Ron's hands as though desperate to free himself â€Å"It's okay, Scabbers!† said Ron. â€Å"No cats! There's nothing here to hurt you!† Hagrid suddenly stood up, his eyes fixed on the window. His normally ruddy face had gone the color of parchment. â€Å"They're comin'†¦.† Harry, Ron, and Hermione whipped around. A group of men was walking down the distant castle steps. In front was Albus Dumbledore, his silver beard gleaming in the dying sun. Next to him trotted Cornelius Fudge. Behind them came the feeble old Committee member and the executioner, Macnair. â€Å"Yeh gotta go,† said Hagrid. Every inch of him was trembling. â€Å"They mustn' find yeh here†¦Go now†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Ron stuffed Scabbers into his pocket and Hermione picked up the cloak. â€Å"I'll let yeh out the back way,† said Hagrid. They followed him to the door into his back garden. Harry felt strangely unreal, and even more so when he saw Buckbeak a few yards away, tethered to a tree behind Hagrid's pumpkin patch. Buckbeak seemed to know something was happening. He turned his sharp head from side to side and pawed the ground nervously. â€Å"It's okay, Beaky,† said Hagrid softly. â€Å"It's okay†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. â€Å"Go on,† he said. â€Å"Get goin'.† But they didn't move. â€Å"Hagrid, we can't –â€Å" â€Å"We'll tell them what really happened –â€Å" â€Å"They can't kill him –â€Å" â€Å"Go!† said Hagrid fiercely. â€Å"It's bad enough without you lot in trouble an' all!† They had no choice. As Hermione threw the cloak over Harry and Ron, they heard voices at the front of the cabin. Hagrid looked at the place where they had just vanished from sight. â€Å"Go quick,† he said hoarsely. â€Å"Don' listen†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And he strode back into his cabin as someone knocked at the front door. Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap. â€Å"Please, let's hurry,† Hermione whispered. â€Å"I can't stand it, I can't bear it†¦.† They started up the sloping lawn toward the castle. The sun was sinking fast now; the sky had turned to a clear, purple-tinged gray, but to the west there was a ruby-red glow. Ron stopped dead. â€Å"Oh, please, Ron,† Hermione began. â€Å"It's Scabbers — he won't — stay put –â€Å" Ron was bent over, trying to keep Scabbers in his pocket, but the rat was going berserk; squeaking madly, twisting and flailing, trying to sink his teeth into Ron's hand. â€Å"Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron,† Ron hissed. They heard a door open behind them and men's voices. â€Å"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!† Hermione breathed. â€Å"Okay — Scabbers, stay put –â€Å" They walked forward; Harry, like Hermione, was trying not to listen to the rumble of voices behind them. Ron stopped again. â€Å"I can't hold him — Scabbers, shut up, everyone'll hear us –â€Å" The rat was squealing wildly, but not loudly enough to cover up the sounds drifting from Hagrid's garden. There was a jumble of indistinct male voices, a silence, and then, without warning, the unmistakable swish and thud of an axe. Hermione swayed on the spot. â€Å"They did it!† she whispered to Harry. â€Å"I'd — don't believe it — they did it!†

Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods Essay

The Term â€Å"Genetically Modified (GM) foods† refers to crops produced for human or animal consumption using the recombinant DNA techniques. The world population is growing in a fast pace such that it is expected to double in the next 50 years. Supplying food to this growing population is a major challenge. GM foods can be considered as the major solution for the food security. These foods are produced by the modification of crop plants in the laboratory to enhance desired traits, mainly biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, improved nutritional content, etc. These traits were earlier carried out through conventional plant breeding, but these breeding methods are very time-consuming and often not very accurate. However, with recombinant DNA technology, plants with the desired traits can be produced, very rapidly and with greater accuracy. Process Recombinant DNA technology begins with the identification and isolation of a gene which expresses a desirable trait, with the aid of restriction enzymes. Then a recipient plant or animal is selected, and the gene is inserted and incorporated into its genome through a vector such as agrobacterium, through a gene gun shooting an elemental particle covered in plasmid DNA, electro oration, or a virus. Once part of the recipient, the newly inserted gene becomes part of the genome of the recipient and is regulated in the same way as its other genes. For example, we can isolate a gene responsible for conferring drought tolerance, introduce that gene into a plant, and make it drought tolerant. Crops can also be transformed using non-plant genes such as the use of Bt genes, in cotton and many other crops. Bt, or Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal only to insect larvae. Bt crystal protein genes have been transferred into cotton, soya, corn, brinjal, enabling the plants to produce its own pesticides against insects such as the American bollworm, European corn borer. Bt genes are lethal only in the acidic medium, insect gut environment and do not get activated in an alkaline environment, prevalent in humans and other animals that feed on these plants. BENEFITS OF GM FOODS Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance: As the world population grows and more land is converted for housing instead of food production, farmers need to grow crops in non-arable land, previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salinity in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in large, barren wetlands/dry lands in our country. Pest resistance: Insect Pests are causing devastating financial loss for farmers, sometimes starvation. Indiscriminate use of pesticides is also a potential health hazard, and the run-off of agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers poisons the water supply and harms the environment. Ex: Growing GM foods such as Bt brinjal helps reduce the application of pesticides substantially, as 80 per cent of brinjal crop are infested with pests. Disease resistance: There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases and thereby contribute to yield loss. Plant biologists are working to create genetically engineered plants with resistance to these diseases. Ex: Developing sheath blight resistance in rice. Cold/heat tolerance: Farmers are facing the vagaries of weather, like unexpected frost or excess heat due to climate change. Researchers have identified an antifreeze gene from cold-water fish and introduced it into plants such as tobacco and potato to study the efficacy of the plant to withstand extreme temperatures. Also, research is on to identify plants that can survive excess heat, submergence tolerance etc. Nutrition: People in our country suffer from various nutrient deficiency diseases due to malnutrition. Most of the people rely on rice as a major staple food. But rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary micro and macronutrients. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins, iron and/or minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. For example, MSSRF (M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation) are working on improving the iron content. Phytoremediation: Soil and groundwater pollution continues to be a problem in many parts of the world. Plants such as poplar trees, brassica spp are being genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from soil contaminated with metals like lead, arsenic, and cadmium. Concerns Most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories Environmental hazards: Unintended harm to other organisms; reduced effectiveness of pesticides; gene transfer to non-target species are some of the concerns of the environmental concerns of GM crops. Human health risks: Allergenecity, unknown effects on human health are some of the main health concerns. For example, Pioneer Hi-Bred tested the allergenicity of a transgenic soybean that expressed a Brazil nut seed storage protein in hope that the seeds would have increased levels of the amino acid methionine. The tests (radio allergosorbent testing, immunoblotting, and skin-prick testing) showed that individuals allergic to Brazil nuts were also allergic to the new GM soybean. Economic concerns Environmental activists, religious organizations, non-governmental organizations have criticized agribusiness for concentrating on profits through GM Foods without concern for potential hazards. They also criticized the government for failing to start a regulatory body. All GM crops should be subjected to thorough regulatory processes and toxicology and allergenicity tests data needs to be shared with the regulatory authorities prior to commercialization. Government Role Many new plant genetic engineering technologies and GM plants have been patented, and patent infringement is a big concern of agribusiness. So, bringing GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process. This is a genuine concern and therefore it is important for the government to fund and support public sector research in reputed universities or agriculture institutes to ensure quality research and also keep prices under check. Conclusion Government should check all the hazards, environmental, health and economic concerns and then decisions should be taken to commercialize a GM product. Though ambiguity during the process, once they get regulatory approve, it implies that they have been subjected to stringent scrutiny and are safe for commercial release. So, the governments around the world are hard at work to establish an effective regulatory process to monitor the effects of and approve new varieties of GM plants. According to M S Swaminathan, the chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, GM foods have the potential to solve many of the world’s hunger and malnutrition problems, and can protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides. Yet there are many challenges ahead for governments, especially in the areas of safety testing, regulation, international policy and food labeling.