Policing and Crime Reduction Essay

As the logic would imply, policing and crime rates have been thought to be related in certain ways. The public generally view that police powers depend on the quantitative aspect than on its qualitative characteristics. Comparably to the perspectives of far that perceives quantity reigns victor in the end, the public indeed view that the quality of security depends mainly on the number of police squad patrolling the area. There has been a lot of research that discusses the possible effects of quantity of police powers in reducing the crime rates. Various contributing factors have been considered in these studies in order to justify the rationale of this belief. However, the results still vary according to methodologies used, geographical area and socio-cultural atmosphere. In the course of our discussion, the primary topic shall center on this issue of increasing police officer count that induces reduction of crime rate. Analysis and interpretation of various data obtained through review of literature and records analysis shall be employed in order to validate the said claims. The following queries shall be answered throughout the discussion: a. What are the pros and cons of increasing the quantity of police officers for policing purposes? b. Identify various theories and concepts related to the subject of policing, particularly community policing, hotspot theory & deterrence theory. c. How are the conditions of San Diego, NYPD and Kansas City PD in terms of crime reductions way back in 1990s? d. Discuss and elaborate the study on foot patrol and New Jersey problem-oriented policing The discussion of the over-essay shall focus on the above queries; hence, these statements shall be the functional scopes of the entire study. The increase of police officers in the streets only leads to of the two consequent effects: either decrease of crime rates or even more increase of crime casualties. Essentially speaking, one reason patrol activity may be less effective than desired is the lack of adequate resources to facilitate the proper service. Does adding more police help bring down the crime rate? Discussion: Pros and Cons of Increased Policing In general view the evidences and the studies that pertains to this subject is mixed. According to some reviews, the number of law reinforcement officers in a jurisdiction seems to have probable little effect on area crimes. Comparisons of police expenditures in U.S. cities indicate that cities with the highest crime rates also spend the most on police services. While these results are disappointing, a number of recent studies, using various methodologies, have found that police presence may reduce crime levels and that adding police may bring crime levels down. In addition, increasing the size of the local police force may have other benefits for the overall effectiveness of the justice system (Siegel & Senna, p.182). Whether adding more officers to an already large police force causes crime to decrease; however, is somewhat less clear. Studies of the marginal effect of police and crime suffer from a number of difficulties. First, not only might additional police cause decline in crime, one might expect additional crime to result in the hiring of more police. This simultaneity effect makes it very complicated to sort out what causes what. The second problem is temporal order wherein cities with higher and lower levels of policing possesses indefinite data in terms of the addition of the police in cities with presently huge number of policing system, especially if the data gathered preceded or followed their current crime levels. Lastly, there is a great deal of measurement error in the counts of police officers and in the crime rates (Sherman, 2002 p.303). Pros of Increase Police Powers Evidence shows that cities with larger police departments, which have more officers per capita than the norm, also experience lower levels of violent crimes. Police departments that use a proactive, aggressive law enforcement style may help reduce crime rates. The methodologies of various local or federal policing firms greatly contribute the results of this reduction. As for this research that resulted in possible effects of quantitative policing, the proactive policing and aggressive policing are used, which may have affected the diminished results of violent crimes (Siegel & Senna, 2004 p.181). According to the recent studies, it is possible that the added police will make more arrests, which is another factor that helps lower the crime rate. Traditionally about 20% of all crimes reported to the police is cleared by arrest. Research indicates that if police could make an arrest in at least 30% of all reported crimes, the crime rate would decline significantly. If there were greater police resources, police departments would have the luxury of engaging in aggressive, focused crime fighting initiatives with the result being more arrests and a greater deterrent effect (Siegel, 2004 p.83-84). For example, UCR data show that index crimes are the ones most often cleared by arrest. Due to the visibility of homicide in the media and the importance police agencies place on homicides clearances, homicide detectives work aggressively to clear all homicides regardless of where they occur or the personal characteristics of homicide victims. It is possible that this aggressive approach to solving crime, spurred on by media attention to high-profile cases, has helped lower the homicide rate (Siegel, 2004 p.84). Public pressure for more police contributes to the formation of extremely necessary reforms. Collectively, these reforms provide more resources of labor for public security and focus public attention on real problems. They increase the capacity of the police to respond to crime in timely, fast, appropriate and accurate manner. Increasingly the numbers of police on the street or those deployed to specialized directed units can also have an impact on crime. In the case of open-air drug or gun markets, when police patrol a targeted area around the clock, there is an immediate deterrent effect (Wiatrowski & Pino, p.200). Cons of Increase Police Powers There is no definite evidence that suggests larger police forces reduce crime rates. There is also little evidence that a policy of adding more police will actually reduce crime. In 1968, the Crime Commission found that no direct correlation existed between the number of police per thousand citizens and the crime rate. It has been labeled as â€Å"doubtful† that any police agency can bring about an extend, significant decrease in crime rate (Marion, 1994 p.226). Moreover, it is unlikely that the bottom will fall out of public safety if we reduce the number of police, even quite substantially, and it is equally unlikely that crime will be reduced if we try to spend our way to safety by adding police officers. Changes in the number of police within any practicable range will have no effect on crime (Bayley, 1994 p.5). Summing up all the evidence, the authoritative Audit Commission in Britain wrote: The terms of public debate need to move off the assumption that more police officers and more police expenditures lead to a commensurate increase in the quantity and quality of police outputs (Bayley, 1994 p.5). The number of patrols in an area may be doubled, halved, or even removed altogether without changing crime levels. A review of 36 correlational studies, most of them weak in research design found little evidence that more police reduce crime rates. A recent review; however, of 27 studies of the effect of police numbers on violent crime came to similar conclusions. Criminologists have tried to address this question for over a quarter of a century, with no consistent and evident results (Sherman, 2002 p.303). On the contrary, other researches testify that increasing the police powers of certain areas may even increase the occurrence of crime since the number of arrest is also assumed to increase as this situation occurs. In addition, military or police control may overly occur in the area and may even induce anxiety over the civilians in the area. If the number of arrested individuals increases in an area, chances are the perception of security in the given place is also affected heavily; thus, criminal fear among the civilians is therefore increased (Skogan etal, p.224). According to the studies made, the increase of police powers is not even evident or justified to decrease the criminal rate; hence, such intervention possesses higher risk of possible ineffectiveness. Theories and Concepts Community Oriented Policing Problem solving and community partnership have become valued aspects of police service since the time of the reform era. True police professionalism must therefore incorporate the duty of servicing the community. Community policing can bridge the gap between police and citizens by uniting them in a common effort to prevent and control crime. Community policing is the collaboration between the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems. Ideally, such collaboration helps develop better relatio9nships and mutual understanding between police officers and community members, which in turn help in solving community problems (Glenn, 2003 p.93). It is not military-style policing with a central bureaucracy obedient to directive legislation, which minimizes discretion. It is not policing that is autonomous of policing consent and accountability. It is not policing that is committed primarily to reactive crime-fighting strategies or measured by output in terms of professional efficiency. Community policing is also essential because it is a key component of an export drive from the West in the development of new policing structures in transitional societies. In the United States, community oriented policing represents the dominant ideology of policing as reflected in a myriad of urban schemes, in funding practices, and in research publications (Brognen & Nijhar, 2005 p.1-2). Community policing works only if an area is flooded with police that would require hiring tremendous numbers of officers and huge amounts of spending for salaries other expenses. Critics also argue that community policing simply displaces crime to another area in which there are fewer police. However, community policing makes good political sense on a bipartisan basis and could help end the ideological battles over crime policies (Marion, 1994 p.226). Deterrence Theory Deterrence theorists portray humans as rational, pleasure-seeking, pain-avoiding creatures. This assumption leads to a relatively simple theory of crime: people will engage in criminal behavior when it brings them pleasure and carries little risk of pain. Deterrence theorists point out that punishment is most effective when it is swift, certain, and severe enough to outweigh the potential rewards of criminal behavior. The basis of deterrence theory-that formal punishment reduces criminal behavior-is very straightforward. Testing deterrence theory, however, is more complex. General deterrence is the proposition that increases in the certainty, severity, or swiftness of punishment produce decreases in criminal behavior for the population at large. The severity of punishment is relatively easy to measure. One could look, for example, at the average prison sentence for crimes in different jurisdictions. Studies on capital punishment, though, are by far the most common tests of this aspec t of deterrence theory (Vito etal, 2007 p.57). In some point of view, punishment based on deterrence or incapacitation is wrong because it involves an offender’s future actions, which cannot be accurately predicted. Punishment should be the same for all people who commit the same crime. Criminal sentences based on individual needs or characteristics are inherently unfair because all people are equally blameworthy of their misdeeds. Deterrence theory holds that if criminals are indeed rational, an inverse relationship should exist between punishment and crime. The certainty of punishment seems to deter crime. If people do not believe they will be caught, even harsh punishment may not deter crime. Deterrence theory has been criticized on the grounds that it wrongfully assumes that criminals make a rational choice before committing crimes, that it ignores the intricacies of the criminal justice system, and that it does not take into account the social and psychological factors that may influence criminality. The most evident disappointment for deterrence theory is the fact that the death penalty does not seem to reduce murders. There is little evidence that harsh punishment actually reduces the crime rate (Siegel, 2004 p.84). Hot Spot Theory Hot spot theory argues that predatory crime is associated with certain types of geographical areas, such that relatively few locations or hotspots are associated with a high percentage of crimes. Many of these hotspots exist in urban areas. Crimes against tourists are likely to cluster in these areas involving the concentration of tourism amenities and attractions, and therefore by implication, are likely to be higher in areas hosting special events. A transient population comprising local, domestic and international visitors increases the potential targets for crime and the individual anonymity for offenders. This is combined tendency for some tourists to decrease their safety consciousness on holiday, indulge in risk taking behavior and enter unfamiliar environment, which increases their exposure to criminal activity (Wilks & Page, 2003 p.198). Hot spot theory looks at locations, which provide convergent opportunities in which predatory crimes can possibly happen. These areas are described as crimogenic places where there are lots of bars, nightclubs and strip joints catering to tourists and providing ancillary services such as prostitution and drugs. Some of the crime these areas generate is of course victimless crime since tourists themselves often engage in deviant actions, such as drugs that have criminal consequences (Albuquerque & McElroy, n.d p.3).

How foragers and horticulturalists allocate land and labor Essay

Let’s start with a basic question whose answer may come as a surprise. What is culture and when did it begin? Culture is the multi-generational hard-drive of memory, change, and innovation. Culture transforms a record of the past into a prediction of the future; it transforms memory into tradition—into rules of how to proceed. And culture is profoundly social. It exists not just in one mind, but binds together mobs of minds in a common enterprise. When did culture first appear in this 13.7 billion-year-old universe? The answers are surprising. Most evolutionary experts say that human culture kicked off 45,000 to 35,000 years ago. Paleontologists studying pre-historic Europe call this period The Cultural Explosion. 45,000 to 35,000 years ago, men and women began to perforate, grind, polish, and drill bone, ivory, antler, shell and stone into harpoons, fish hooks, buttons, ornaments, sewing needles, and awls. Frosting the cake, humans invented musical instruments, calendars marked on pieces of antler, and paintings on the walls of caves. Then there’s the un-standard answer about culture’s beginnings, a rebel timeline of human culture that a relatively new pale anthropological school is fighting for. This new scientific movement has made its digs in Africa, not Europe, and has come up with radically different dates. Culture, says this upstart school, started approximately 280,000 years ago when humans invented the makeup industry, then followed that up with the invention of jewelry, beads, and trade. Culture is transmitted from one generation to generation and is learned mainly in childhood and during maturation. We learn not only our behavior but also our attitudes and values. The ability to acquire culture in this way makes humans highly adaptable to different cultural environments. We has humans are born with potential to learn whatever knowledge and skills are practices in are communities. When did another ingredient of culture— social memory, a memory that gives a foundation of knowledge, perception, and direction to an entire society—first arise? A firm answer is more elusive than you might think. Why? For the first 300,000 years after the Big Bang, the cosmos was host to a massive social dance. Particle gangs moved at super speed, colliding with each other like bullets smashing head to head, then bouncing away with ferocious velocity. Astonishingly, the particles involved—particularly the protons—came out of each crash with all their mass and form intact. Was this act of identity-retention a primitive form of memory? Was it tradition arisen before its time? The study examines decision of middle class of U.S. and highland Mayan parents regarding sleeping arrangements during the first two years the infants sleep with their mother up until there a toddler. But in the U.S. infants only sleep in the bed with their mother every now and then. This is how Mayan explains the closeness of their infants. When we put infant in a room by themselves then this making them impendent to be able to sleep on there on. Mayan families use there bedtimes as a routines and objects to facilitate transition to sleep. Rites of passage are a category of rituals that mark the passage of a person through the life cycle, from one stage to another over time, from one role or social position to another, integrating the human and cultural experiences with biological destiny: birth, reproduction, and death. These ceremonies make the basic distinctions, observed in all groups, between young and old, male and female, living and dead. The interplay of biology and culture is at the heart of all rites of passage, and the struggle between these two spheres asserts the essential paradox of our mortal heritage. As humans, we dwell in an equivocal world, for we belong to both nature and Reference page Cultural Anthropology (Bonvillain) Cultural Variation in Infants’ sleeping Arrangements Development Psychology 1992 Vol 4 604-613

A Dirty Job Chapter 2

2 A FINE EDGE There's a fine edge to new grief, it severs nerves, disconnects reality – there's mercy in a sharp blade. Only with time, as the edge wears, does the real ache begin. So Charlie was barely even aware of his own shrieks in Rachel's hospital room, of being sedated, of the filmy electric hysteria that netted everything he did for that first day. After that, it was a memory out of a sleepwalk, scenes filmed from a zombie's eye socket, as he ambled undead through explanations, accusations, preparations, and ceremony. â€Å"It's called a cerebral thromboembolism,† the doctor had said. â€Å"A blood clot forms in the legs or pelvis during labor, then moves to the brain, cutting off the blood supply. It's very rare, but it happens. There was nothing we could do. Even if the crash team had been able to revive her, she'd have had massive brain damage. There was no pain. She probably just felt sleepy and passed.† Charlie whispered to keep from screaming, â€Å"The man in mint green! He did something to her. He injected her with something. He was there and he knew that she was dying. I saw him when I brought her CD back.† They showed him the security tapes – the nurse, the doctor, the hospital's administrators and lawyers – they all watched the black-and-white images of him leaving Rachel's room, of the empty hallway, of his returning to her room. No tall black man dressed in mint green. They didn't even find the CD. Sleep deprivation, they said. Hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Trauma. They gave him drugs to sleep, drugs for anxiety, drugs for depression, and they sent him home with his baby daughter. Charlie's older sister, Jane, held baby Sophie as they spoke over Rachel and buried her on the second day. He didn't remember picking out a casket or making arrangements. It was more of the somnambulant dream: his in-laws moving to and fro in black, like tottering specters, spouting the inadequate clichs of condolence: We're so sorry. She was so young. What a tragedy. If there's anything we can do†¦ Rachel's father and mother held him, their heads pressed together in the apex of a tripod. The slate floor in the funeral-home foyer spotted with their tears. Every time Charlie felt the shoulders of the older man heave with a sob, he felt his own heart break again. Saul took Charlie's face in his hands and said, â€Å"You can't imagine, because I can't imagine.† But Charlie could imagine, because he was a Beta Male, and imagination was his curse; and he could imagine because he had lost Rachel and now he had a daughter, that tiny stranger sleeping in his sister's arms. He could imagine the man in mint green taking her. Charlie looked at the tear-spotted floor and said, â€Å"That's why most funeral homes are carpeted. Someone could slip.† â€Å"Poor boy,† said Rachel's mother. â€Å"We'll sit shivah with you, of course.† Charlie made his way across the room to his sister, Jane, who wore a man's double-breasted suit in charcoal pinstripe gabardine, that along with her severe eighties pop-star hairstyle and the infant in the pink blanket that she held, made her appear not so much androgynous as confused. Charlie thought the suit actually looked better on her than it did on him, but she should have asked him for permission to wear it nonetheless. â€Å"I can't do this,† he said. He let himself fall forward until the receded peninsula of dark hair touched her gelled Flock of Seagulls platinum flip. It seemed like the best posture for sharing grief, this forehead lean, and it reminded him of standing drunkenly at a urinal and falling forward until his head hit the wall. Despair. â€Å"You're doing fine,† Jane said. â€Å"Nobody's good at this.† â€Å"What the fuck's a shivah?† â€Å"I think it's that Hindu god with all the arms.† â€Å"That can't be right. The Goldsteins are going to sit on it with me.† â€Å"Didn't Rachel teach you anything about being Jewish?† â€Å"I wasn't paying attention. I thought we had time.† Jane adjusted baby Sophie into a half-back, one-armed carry and put her free hand on the back of Charlie's neck. â€Å"You'll be okay, kid.† Seven,† said Mrs. Goldstein. â€Å"Shivah means ‘seven.' We used to sit for seven days, grieving for the dead, praying. That's Orthodox, now most people just sit for three.† They sat shivah in Charlie and Rachel's apartment that overlooked the cable-car line at the corner of Mason and Vallejo Streets. The building was a four-story brick Edwardian (architecturally, not quite the grand courtesan couture of the Victorians, but enough tarty trim and trash to toss off a sailor down a side street) built after the earthquake and fire of 1906 had leveled the whole area of what was now North Beach, Russian Hill, and Chinatown. Charlie and Jane had inherited the building, along with the thrift shop that occupied the ground floor, when their father died four years before. Charlie got the business, the large, double apartment they'd grown up in, and the upkeep on the old building, while Jane got half the rental income and one of the apartments on the top floor with a Bay Bridge view. At the instruction of Mrs. Goldstein, all the mirrors in the house were draped with black fabric and a large candle was placed on the coffee table in the center of the living room. They were supposed to sit on low benches or cushions, neither of which Charlie had in the house, so, for the first time since Rachel's death, he went downstairs into the thrift shop looking for something they could use. The back stairs descended from a pantry behind the kitchen into the stockroom, where Charlie kept his office among boxes of merchandise waiting to be sorted, priced, and placed in the store. The shop was dark except for the light that filtered in the front window from the streetlights out on Mason Street. Charlie stood there at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the light switch, just staring. Amid the shelves of knickknacks and books, the piles of old radios, the racks of clothes, all of them dark, just lumpy shapes in the dark, he could see objects glowing a dull red, nearly pulsing, like beating hearts. A sweater in the racks, a porcelain figure of a frog in a curio case, out by the front window an old Coca-Cola tray, a pair of shoes – all glowing red. Charlie flipped the switch, fluorescent tubes fired to life across the ceiling, flickering at first, and the shop lit up. The red glow disappeared. â€Å"Okaaaaaaay,† he said to himself, calmly, like everything was just fine now. He flipped off the lights. Glowing red stuff. On the counter, close to where he stood, there was a brass business-card holder cast in the shape of a whooping crane, glowing dull red. He took a second to study it, just to make sure there wasn't some red light source from outside refracting around the room and making him uneasy for no reason. He stepped into the dark shop, took a closer look, got an angle on the brass cranes. Nope, the brass was definitely pulsing red. He turned and ran back up the steps as fast as he could. He nearly ran over Jane, who stood in the kitchen, rocking Sophie gently in her arms, talking baby talk under her breath. â€Å"What?† Jane said. â€Å"I know you have some big cushions down in the shop somewhere.† â€Å"I can't,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm on drugs.† He backed against the refrigerator, like he was holding it hostage. â€Å"I'll go get them. Here, hold the baby.† â€Å"I can't, I'm on drugs. I'm hallucinating.† Jane cradled the baby in the crook of her right arm and put a free arm around her younger brother. â€Å"Charlie, you are on antidepressants and antianxiety drugs, not acid. Look around this apartment, there's not a person here that's not on something.† Charlie looked through the kitchen pass-through: women in black, most of them middle-aged or older, shaking their heads, men looking stoic, standing around the perimeter of the living room, each holding a stout tumbler of liquor and staring into space. â€Å"See, they're all fucked up.† â€Å"What about Mom?† Charlie nodded to their mother, who stood out among the other gray-haired women in black because she was draped in silver Navaho jewelry and was so darkly tanned that she appeared to be melting into her old-fashioned when she took a sip. â€Å"Especially Mom,† Jane said. â€Å"I'll go look for something to sit shivah on. I don't know why you can't just use the couches. Now take your daughter.† â€Å"I can't. I can't be trusted with her.† â€Å"Take her, bitch!† Jane barked in Charlie's ear – sort of a whisper bark. It had long ago been determined who was the Alpha Male between them and it was not Charlie. She handed off the baby and cut to the stairs. â€Å"Jane,† Charlie called after her. â€Å"Look around before you turn on the lights. See if you see anything weird, okay?† â€Å"Right. Weird.† She left him standing there in the kitchen, studying his daughter, thinking that her head might be a little oblong, but despite that, she looked a little like Rachel. â€Å"Your mommy loved Aunt Jane,† he said. â€Å"They used to gang up on me in Risk – and Monopoly – and arguments – and cooking.† He slid down the fridge door, sat splayed-legged on the floor, and buried his face in Sophie's blanket. In the dark, Jane barked her shin on a wooden box full of old telephones. â€Å"Well, this is just stupid,† she said to herself, and flipped on the lights. Nothing weird. Then, because Charlie was many things, but one of them was not crazy, she turned off the lights again, just to be sure that she hadn't missed something. â€Å"Right. Weird.† There was nothing weird about the store except that she was standing there in the dark rubbing her shin. But then, right before she turned on the light again, she saw someone peering in the front window, making a cup around his eyes to see through the reflection of the streetlights. A homeless guy or drunken tourist, she thought. She moved through the dark shop, between columns of comic books stacked on the floor, to a spot behind a rack of jackets where she could get a clear view of the window, which was filled with cheap cameras, vases, belt buckles, and all manner of objects that Charlie had judged worthy of interest, but obviously not worthy of a smash-and-grab. The guy looked tall, and not homeless, nicely dressed, but all in a single light color, she thought it might be yellow, but it was hard to tell under the streetlights. Could be light green. â€Å"We're closed,† Jane said, loud enough to be heard through the glass. The man outside peered around the shop, but couldn't spot her. He stepped back from the window and she could see that he was, indeed, tall. Very tall. The streetlight caught the line of his cheek as he turned. He was also very thin and very black. â€Å"I was looking for the owner,† the tall man said. â€Å"I have something I need to show him.† â€Å"There's been a death in the family,† Jane said. â€Å"We'll be closed for the week. Can you come back in a week?† The tall man nodded, looking up and down the street as he did. He rocked on one foot like he was about to bolt, but kept stopping himself, like a sprinter straining against the starting blocks. Jane didn't move. There were always people out on the street, and it wasn't even late yet, but this guy was too anxious for the situation. â€Å"Look, if you need to get something appraised – â€Å" â€Å"No,† he cut her off. â€Å"No. Just tell him she's, no – tell him to look for a package in the mail. I'm not sure when.† Jane smiled to herself. This guy had something – a brooch, a coin, a book – something that he thought was worth some money, maybe something he'd found in his grandmother's closet. She'd seen it a dozen times. They acted like they've found the lost city of Eldorado – they'd come in with it tucked in their coats, or wrapped in a thousand layers of tissue paper and tape. (The more tape, generally, the more worthless the item would turn out to be – there was an equation there somewhere.) Nine times out of ten it was crap. She'd watched her father try to finesse their ego and gently lower the owners into disappointment, convince them that the sentimental value made it priceless, and that he, a lowly secondhand-store owner, couldn't presume to put a value on it. Charlie, on the other hand, would just tell them that he didn't know about brooches, or coins, or whatever they had and let someone else bear the bad news. â€Å"Okay, I'll tell him,† Jane said from her cover behind the coats. With that, the tall man was away, taking great praying-mantis strides up the street and out of view. Jane shrugged, went back and turned on the lights, then proceeded to search for cushions among the piles. It was a big store, taking up nearly the whole bottom floor of the building, and not particularly well organized, as each system that Charlie adopted seemed to collapse after a few weeks under its own weight, and the result was not so much a patchwork of organizational systems, but a garden of mismatched piles. Lily, the maroon-haired Goth girl who worked for Charlie three afternoons a week, said that the fact that they ever found anything at all was proof of the chaos theory at work, then she would walk away muttering and go out in the alley to smoke clove cigarettes and stare into the Abyss. (Although Charlie noted that the Abyss looked an awful lot like a Dumpster.) It took Jane ten minutes to navigate the aisles and find three cushions that looked wide enough and thick enough that they might work for sitting shivah, and when she returned to Charlie's apartment she found her brother curled into the fetal position around baby Sophie, asleep on the kitchen floor. The other mourners had completely forgotten about him. â€Å"Hey, doofus.† She nudged his shoulder with her toe and he rolled onto his back, the baby still in his arms. â€Å"These okay?† â€Å"Did you see anything glowing?† Jane dropped the stack of cushions on the floor. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Glowing red. Did you see things in the shop glowing, like pulsating red?† â€Å"No. Did you?† â€Å"Kind of.† â€Å"Give 'em up.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"The drugs. Hand them over. They're obviously much better than you led me to believe.† â€Å"But you said they were just antianxiety.† â€Å"Give up the drugs. I'll watch the kid while you shivah.† â€Å"You can't watch my daughter if you're on drugs.† â€Å"Fine. Surrender the crumb snatcher and go sit.† Charlie handed the baby up to Jane. â€Å"You have to keep Mom out of the way, too.† â€Å"Oh no, not without drugs.† â€Å"They're in the medicine cabinet in the master bath. Bottom shelf.† He was sitting on the floor now, rubbing his forehead as if to stretch the skin out over his pain. She kneed him in the shoulder. â€Å"Hey, kid, I'm sorry, you know that, right? Goes without saying, right?† â€Å"Yeah.† A weak smile. She held the baby up by her face, then looked down in adoration, Mother of Jesus style. â€Å"What do you think? I should get one of these, huh?† â€Å"You can borrow mine whenever you need to.† â€Å"Nah, I should get my own. I already feel bad about borrowing your wife.† â€Å"Jane!† â€Å"Kidding! Jeez. You're such a wuss sometimes. Go sit shivah. Go. Go. Go.† Charlie gathered the cushions and went to the living room to grieve with his in-laws, nervous because the only prayer he knew was â€Å"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,† and he wasn't sure that was going to cut it for three full days. Jane forgot to mention the tall guy from the shop.

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 46

Case study - Essay Example hains under the umbrella of Inditex are involved in various business industries such as manufacturing, textile, real estate, and finance among others (Ghemawat and Nueno 7). Despite being under the same umbrella of Inditex, each chain operates independently, a factor that has contributed to Zara’s massive success in comparison to the other chains. With an expansion strategy from the firm’s founder, Amancio Ortega Ganoa, Zara has been able to open new stores in the past years with the first opened in upmarket shopping street in La Coruna, in 1975, in Spain, Zara’s home base (7). Expansion has however, seen it go international with other store being opened beyond the Spanish boundaries from which it has been able to expand substantively especially in logistics and IT (9). Zara has been able to beat its competitors in the market by making customer preference their priority, enabling for the production of distinctive products that meet the customers’ needs. In a strategy named ‘vertical integration,’ Zara observes the current trends in the fashion industry and works towards production of products that are considered the next trend in the fashion industry. Ideally, this has been the greatest success orientation for Zara. In addition to expansive marketing, Inditex, as an umbrella organization through its supply chains including Zara, has established effective and able management team that run each of the chains with utmost objective in achieving success (6). This aspect has as well contributed immensely towards the overall success of Inditex and its chain units. Despite the success orientation that Inditex has been to experience in the past years, difficult times are looming in the new future for this firm considering that a majority of the stores under it are working on expansive strategies that would see them acquire new market bases. This could be disastrous to Inditex considering that each of the chains operates on an independent basis. Other than the

Power and Knowledge In Edward Said's Orientalism Essay

Power and Knowledge In Edward Said's Orientalism - Essay Example Basically, E. Said proposed to view the western policy towards the East as colonial, imperial discourse created by means of manipulating knowledge - that is why the problem of interrelation between knowledge and power in Said's work is very important. All in all, Edward Said's views may be called unique because he is not only interested in politics from a scientific viewpoint - he, in fact, makes politics use the results of research, that is - scientific knowledge. He clearly shows that he is far from both politicization of thinking and ensuring the "neutrality" of scientists. His intellectual is politicized, yet it happens not because he makes science a servant of politics, but - and this is important for the understanding of the scholar's system of beliefs - because politics for Said is the ally of science as far as the freedom of thinking and autonomy of scientific activity are concerned. The core of E. Said's approach is to de-crown the myth of Orientalism being a homogenous theory based on clearly defined concepts. According to him, Orientalism "is a style of thought based upon ontological and epistemological distinction made between 'the Orient' and (most of the time) 'the Occident'. Thus a very large mass of writers, among who are poet, novelists, philosophers, political theorists, economists, and imperial administrators, have accepted the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, 'mind', destiny, and so on". Said interprets events rather than openly states his opinion, and this certainly correlates with "the death of the author" theory proclaimed by post-modernism. The minimised role of author ensures the collision and interrelation between different, often polar opinions, in E. Said's Orientalism; and it is a great step towards "polylogic" knowledge as opposed to monologic. For Said, monologic knowledge is associated, above all, with the West, but at the same time with the Eastern counter-attack against this monologism using the same monologic principles. That is why, the western expansion towards the East, which is obviously the embodiment of power and domination, is inseparable from knowledge. Said proves that metaphysically, comprehension (the process of intellectual capturing) is related to occupation, and personal enrichment in the form of becoming more open-minded and widening of one's scope - to imperialistic ambitions of the West. My contention is that Orientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine willed over the Orient because the Orient was weaker than the West, which elided the Orient's difference with its weakness. . . . As a cultural apparatus Orientalism is all aggression, activity, judgment, will-to-truth, and knowledge (Said 1995, p. 204) It is not a coincidence that we mentioned Said's idea about the interrelations between science and politics. In his Orientalism, science, and at the first place the science that serves political needs of the country, is associated with the West, same as power. He therefore attempts to discover a complicated system of ties existing between science (knowledge) and power, and to show to what extent power may need knowledge, and at the same time to what extent knowledge may be a form of power. This

Chapter Summaries and case Studies Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chapter Summaries and Studies - Case Study Example This paper will present a summary of chapters 1 to 5 and tackle the case study questions for the Akron Children Hospital. Chapter one is titled Introduction to Business Research, and in this chapter, the authors offer an introduction on the reasons why the business research should be studied. It highlights the relevance of the information and its significance in giving organizations a competitive advantage in the business world. The authors are keen to introduce the role of research in developing a business strategy as well as in making decisions. An intriguing aspect tackled in this chapter is the hierarchy of information followed by many organizations when making decisions. After offering such an informative introduction, the authors proceed to present a preview of the entire research process. From this review, readers get to understand that, research is not always problem solving based. Qualities of good research are also discussed in this introductory chapter. In a bid to place emphasis on different research methodologies, four different research studies are presented in this chapter and the type o f each research discussed in details (Cooper & Schindler, 2013). Chapter two of the book tackles a significant aspect in research which surrounds ethics. Notably, each field of study has a cord of ethics that researchers must adhere to. Such ethical considerations are critical in promoting the integrity of the research as well as in the development of a favorable relationship between the respondents and the researcher. More critically, some business researchers have sponsors who provide the funds for carrying out the research. Therefore, a cord of ethics also governs the relationship between the researcher and the sponsor (p. 39). Moreover, researchers rely on the efforts of the members to collect and analyze data. The relationship between the researchers and the team members should also be governed by a defined cord of ethics. The authors

Consultants Report Telecommuting at IBM Indiana Essay

Consultants Report Telecommuting at IBM Indiana - Essay Example Half of the company’s business volume was spread out worldwide. It was in the mid-1980s, however, that the company started to have problems. The profits of the company had started to plunge down. Analysts concluded that the reasons behind the downfall were not many but were strong enough to shake an established company. They were: the bureaucratic and slow-moving setup of the company, maintenance of old business strategies and reluctance to replace them with newer ones, incorrect assessment of business risks. As said by Ducker (1993), it is a business sin to sacrifice tomorrow’s opportunity on the altar of yesterday. This was precisely the reason why IBM got off-track its road to success. Though IBM did try to cope up with the growing trends of the market by introducing a PC in the market almost overnight after Apple introduced the first PC in the mid-1970s but they could actually never get out of the MAINFRAME mask that they had put on themselves. Then the time came wh en IBM was being administered by JOHN AKERS who was a career IBMer in the ear 1985. Since the downfall of the company had already begun several steps were being taken by the administered in order to downsize the company. A summary of the downsizing of the company can be viewed in the attached table. The administered however resigned in the year when despite all his efforts the company continued to lose stocks and suffered major losses in the year 1992.Louis V. Gerstner then replaced the former head of the company. Further downsizing of employees was then consented upon by the management of the company. The establishment of the company’s office in the state of Indiana was an evident example of the problem the company was facing overall. The Indiana office reduced its number of employees to about 30% in the year 1992. The General Manager Operation s for the State of Indiana was foreseeing another cut in the number of employees.  

CJ403 wk2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CJ403 wk2 - Research Paper Example This is one common characteristic of white collar offenders. They are always affluent people who believe that they will get their way through illegal and fraudulent measures. These people always engage in crime in a bid to maintain their position and outlook in the society (Keel, 2008). This is one scenario that is common in most people who commit white collar crimes, they are in good high paying jobs and most of the time they are least likely to be suspected on any involvement in crimes. Another factor that is common with white collar crime offenders is the fact that on average they are in their forties (Shover and Hochstetler, 2006). This is an age that is slightly older than that of other offenders that carry out the other types of crimes. This may be attributed to the fact that people in this age group are in a rush to make money and may not be patient to follow the proper channels of doing that, thus they resolve to work related crime since they perceive that the possibility of being discovered is low. These offenders are also very highly educated and intelligent (Benson & Simpson, 2009). They are the ones that hold high positions in their places of work. This ability gives them the opportunity to understand various work structures hence using the information to carry out some fraudulent activities within the organization. In addition to this, most white collar offenders do not view themselves as criminals because crime is not their predominant activity. Therefore, they always tend to distance themselves from other groups in the same category such as organized crime offenders (Shover & Hochstetler, 2006). This is despite the fact that most white collar crime is actually planned and involve a number of people who know that what they are doing is illegal and try to cover up for it by other legal activities. Dishonesty and lack

Trend Paper- Current Trend in America to End Capitol Punishment Essay

Trend Paper- Current Trend in America to End Capitol Punishment - Essay Example Since then more than 15,000 American citizens have been executed under the death penalty inscribed in its laws and practices, with the first half of the twentieth century marking the period of time in its history, when there was the most prolific use capital punishment (Dieter, 1). The new Millennium has been marked by a rising trend against the use of capital punishment in the laws and practices of America. Drop in execution rates, unwillingness of some states to use capital punishment, and rising exonerations are clear indications of the growing trend in America against capital punishment. A recent Gallup poll confirms the trend against capital punishment, with support for capital punishment reducing among the general American population to the lowest level in the last thirty years (Sarat & Martschukat, 2). There is a clear rising trend against capital punishment in America. ... nt in the American judicial system, it is necessary to evaluate the trend in the attitude of the States and communities that make up the American nation. New Jersey stands out as being the first jurisdiction to remove capital punishment from its judicial system by means of legislative action, in 2006. A commission was appointed by New Jersey for evaluating its capital punishment system, and the commission by a vast majority recommended the removal of the capital punishment system. In Illinois, in 2000, consequent to a near miscarriage of justice, the Governor banned capital punishment, which still remains in place. Attempts to reinstate death penalty that was overturned in 2004 have been strongly resisted by the New York legislature (Dieter, 3). The scenario across America is almost the same, reflecting a clear indication that the death penalty is no longer popularly acceptable across the country. In twelve states death penalty finds no place in their statutes. Among the other 38 sta tes the application of death penalty is less than more, with probably the State of Texas remaining the sole staunch supporter of the continued use of capital punishment. With such clear evidence of mounting resistance to capital punishment across America, there can be no argument against the rising trend against the use of capital punishment in America (Revenge begins to seem less sweet). Arguments for the Removal of Capital Punishment The lethal injection used for capital punishment may be a benign manner of bringing an end to the life of an individual through the judicial process. Yet, many a botched execution, resulting from its use by unqualified personnel or poor management has roused the empathy of the public to the manner in which a condemned man is put to death (Sarat & Martschukat,

Impressionist Artists Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Impressionist Artists - Essay Example The essay "Impressionist Artists" discovers the artists of impressionism. Their works display the use of short brush strokes and unmixed colors which are commonly observed in impressionist artworks. Compared to the romantic art, the impressionists, as the word implies, used general impressions of their subjects to show their expression of the art as opposed to the traditional, photographic means of painting. One of the works of Camille Pissarro is his painting entitled Church and Farm at Eragny, completed in 1890. This pictures a farm with cattle grazing among the grasses near the trees. There is a couple walking towards the church located behind the trees and bushes, partially shown, with the steeple as the dominant figure that makes it recognizable as a church. Near the church, behind the trees, are houses which suggest the homes of the farm owners. Behind the houses is portrayed a cloudy sky which generally give other colors used in contrast to the dark and gloomy colors used in t he painting. Pissarro used thin, short strokes to give a general impression of the picture of his artwork’s title, the farm and church at Eragny. This consequently gives vague images. The lines are not well defined as to give more details to the images captured in the painting rather just gives an idea of what they really are. For instance, the carabaos and horses do not show details of their horns or other parts so that they may difficult to determine what kind of cattle they are. The short brush strokes used to give the impressions.

War is Ethically Wrong Essay Example for Free

War is Ethically Wrong Essay My thesis is that war is ethically wrong. My main argument goes as follows: Any action that kills an innocent person without their direct consent is ethically wrong; war kills innocent people without their direct consent. Therefore war is ethically wrong. The first premise of my main argument states that any action that kills an innocent person without their direct consent is ethically wrong. On average, many people would agree with this statement. To kill an innocent person for whatever reason would hold up as murder in a court of law. Yet, one might object to the part of the premise that states, direct consent. This leaves room to debate the questionable subject of euthanasia. By one giving direct consent to someone else to terminate their life, would, according to the premise be acceptable. Though euthanasia is not the subject of this paper it is important to understand that direct consent of the individual is essential to establish the unethical grounds of war. If direct consent to die was given by all innocent people in times of war then there would be no moral issue to discuss. Accordingly, imposing ones will, though the intentions may be good, is second-rate to the right of the individual to give direct consent in matters concerning their life. My second premise states that war kills innocent people without their direct consent. History has been a great teacher in proving to us that innocent people die in times of war. Yet, one could even argue that the soldiers in the war are considered innocent people and do not necessarily give their direct consent to be killed. This may sound ludicrous since often times a soldier goes into the military on his or her own free will. Yet, when the soldier signs up he or she never sends a letter or calls the enemy and states that the enemy has their direct consent to kill them. This is absolute nonsense. It is only indirectly that death comes about. It is never by choice or desire. When a soldier enlists he or she signs up to fight for the cause of there country, they did not sign up to be voluntarily slaughtered. This is also helpful to show the innocent nature of a soldier. On average most soldiers join the military because they believe that the cause they are defending is right. This is important to understand seeing that war is hardly ever one sided. Upon examining one can see that when nations are battling rarely does one side feel that they are the big, bad evil enemy. Both sides feel justified in their cause and are willing to fight for their beliefs. Even during World War II, Nazi Germany felt justified to rise from their poverty state and lash out against the nations that had oppressed them. This helps set the stage to understand why war is ethically wrong. If both sides feel that they are right in their cause then it is also easy to state that both sides are wrong. One might give the objection, What if a country invades my homeland, dont I have the right to protect myself by killing them? The answer to this question is an unwavering no. Great men such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have proven that one can throw off the shackles of tyranny without the shedding of blood. If you were to oppose your enemy by taking the life of an innocent person then you would be as guilty as your attacker. My first sub-premise is that everyone has the right to life. Simply by breathing you exercise your right to exist on the earth. From the beginning of civilizations there has always been rules or laws established to protect this right. Whether it has been the simple Mosaic law of thou shall not murder to the complex laws that we have today, the right to life has always been recognized as a universal principle for all people. My second sub-premise for my main argument is that killing an innocent person without their direct consent violates the right to life. A drunken husband comes home and savagely beats and kills his wife. With this example it is easy to see how the wifes right to life is being violated. Did the wife give her husband direct consent to beat and kill her, most likely not. Did the husband rationally think to ask his wife if he could brutally beat and kill her, again probably not. The act of killing an innocent person without their direct consent infringes on the right to life because the intrinsic  value of choice has been stolen away form the individual. This understanding leads to the finally sub-premise that it is ethically wrong to violate ones right to life. According to Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy the term ethical comes from the Greek word ethos, which means custom or usage. Plato used this term to mean a custom or usage to designate the right way of behaving. To violate ones right to life very easily falls under the wrong custom or usage of the right way of behaving or more simply put, it would be unethical. Whether a man beats and kills his innocent wife or nations war against each other there is no difference when it comes to the right to life. Without direct consent it is ethical wrong to violate ones right to life. Throughout this paper I have proven my thesis that war is ethically wrong by stating two main arguments, they were: Any action that kills an innocent person without their direct consent is ethically wrong; war kills innocent people without their direct consent. It is through these premises that one can see that the conclusion that war is ethically wrong, is valid and sound reasoning.

Export Finance in India Essay Example for Free

Export Finance in India Essay Credit and finance is the life and blood of any business whether domestic or international. It is more important in the case of export transactions due to the prevalence of novel non-price competitive techniques encountered by exporters in various nations to enlarge their share of world markets. The selling techniques are no longer confined to mere quality; price or delivery schedules of the products but are extended to payment terms offered by exporters. Liberal payment terms usually score over the competitors not only of capital equipment but also of consumer goods. The payment terms however depend upon the availability of finance to exporters in relation to its quantum, cost and the period at pre-shipment and post-shipment stage. Production and manufacturing for substantial supplies for exports take time, in case finance is not available to exporter for production. They will not be in a position to book large export order if they don’t have sufficient financial funds. Even merchandise exporters require finance for obtaining products from their suppliers. This term paper is an attempt to throw light on the various sources of export finance available to exporters, the schemes implemented by ECGC and EXIM for export promotion and the recent developments in this field. Concept of Export Finance: The exporter may require short term, medium term or long term finance depending upon the types of goods to be exported and the terms of statement offered to overseas buyer. The short-term finance is required to meet â€Å"working capital† needs. The working capital is used to meet regular and recurring needs of a business firm like purchase of raw material, payment of wages and salaries, expenses like payment of rent, advertising etc. The exporter may also require â€Å"term finance† for medium and long term financial needs such as purchase of fixed assets and long term working capital. Export finance is short-term working capital finance allowed to an exporter. Finance and credit are available not only to help export production but also to sell to overseas customers on credit. Objectives of Export Finance: †¢ To cover commercial Non-commercial or political risks attendant on granting credit to a foreign buyer. †¢ To cover natural risks like an earthquake, floods etc. An exporter may avail financial assistance from any bank, which considers the ensuing factors: a) Availability of the funds at the required time to the exporter. b) Affordability of the cost of funds. Appraisal: Appraisal means an approval of an export credit proposal of an exporter. While appraising an export credit proposal as a commercial banker, obligation to the following institutions or regulations needs to be adhered to. Obligations to the RBI under the Exchange Control Regulations are: †¢ Appraise to be the bank’s customer. †¢ Appraise should have the Exim code number allotted by the Director General of Foreign Trade. †¢ Party’s name should not appear under the caution list of the RBI. Obligations to the Trade Control Authority under the EXIM policy are: †¢ Appraise should have IEC number allotted by the DGFT. †¢ Goods must be freely exportable i.e. not falling under the negative list. If it falls under the negative list, then a valid license should be there which allows the goods to be exported. †¢ Country with whom the Appraise wants to trade should not be under trade barrier. Obligations to ECGC are: †¢ Verification that Appraise is not under the Specific Approval list (SAL). †¢ Sanction of Packing Credit Advances. Guidelines for banks dealing in Export Finance: When a commercial bank deals in export finance it is bound by the ensuing guidelines: a) Exchange control regulations. b) Trade control regulations. c) Reserve Bank’s directives issued through IECD. d) Export Credit Guarantee Corporation guidelines. e) Guidelines of Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India. Export-import bank of India (EXIM Bank) The Export-import bank of India (EXIM Bank) was set up in January 1982 as a statutory corporation wholly owned by central government. It is managed by the Board of Directors with repatriation from Government, financial institutions, banks and business community. The main objective of Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) is to provide financial assistance to promote the export production in India. The financial assistance provided by the EXIM Bank widely includes the following: †¢ Direct financial assistance †¢ Foreign investment finance †¢ Term loaning options for export production and export development †¢ Pre-shipping credit †¢ Buyer’s credit †¢ Lines of credit †¢ Re-loaning facility †¢ Export bills rediscounting †¢ Refinance to commercial banks The Export-Import Bank also provides non-funded facility in the form of guarantees to the Indian exporters. †¢ Development of export makers †¢ Expansion of export production capacity †¢ Production for exports †¢ Financing post-shipment activities †¢ Export of manufactured goods †¢ Export of projects †¢ Export of technology and software’s Export financing programmes provided by EXIM Bank India EXIM INDIA offers a range of financing programs that match the menu of Exim Banks of the industrialized countries. The Bank provides competitive finance at various stages of the export cycle covering. EXIM INDIA operates a wide range of financing and promotional programs. The Bank finances exports of Indian machinery, manufactured goods, and consultancy and technology services on deferred payment terms. EXIM INDIA also seeks to co-finance projects with global and regional development agencies to assist Indian exporters in their efforts to participate in such overseas projects. The Bank is involved in promotion of two-way technology transfer through the outward flow of investment in Indian joint ventures overseas and foreign direct investment flow into India. EXIM INDIA is also a Partner Institution with European Union and operates European Community Investment Partners’ Program (ECIP) for facilitating promotion of joint ventures in India through technical and financial collaboration with medium sized firms of the European Union. The Export- Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) provides financial assistance to promote Indian exports through direct financial assistance, overseas investment finance, term finance for export production and export development, pre-shipping credit, buyer’s credit, lines of credit, relending facility, export bills rediscounting, refinance to commercial banks. Loans to Indian Entities: †¢ Deferred payment exports: Term finance is provided to Indian exporters of eligible goods and services, which enables them to offer deferred credit to overseas buyers. Deferred credit can also cover Indian consultancy, technology and other services. Commercial banks participate in this program directly or under risk syndication arrangements. †¢ Pre-shipment credit: finance is available from Exim Bank for companies executing export contracts involving cycle time exceeding six months. The facility also enables provision of rupee mobilization expenses for construction/turnkey project exporters. †¢ Term loans for export production: Exim Bank provides term loans/deferred payment guarantees to 100% export-oriented units, units in free trade zones and computer software exporters. In collaboration with International Finance Corporation. Washington, Exim Bank provides loans to enable small and medium enterprises to upgrade their export production capability. †¢ Overseas Investment finance: Indian companies establishing joint ventures overseas are provided finance towards their equity contribution in the joint venture. †¢ Finance for export marketing: This program, which is a component of a World Bank loan, helps exporters implement their export market development plans. Loans to Commercial Banks in India: †¢ Export Bills Rediscounting: Commercial Banks in India who are authorized to deal in foreign exchange can rediscount their short term export bills with Exim Banks, for an unexpired usage period of not more than 90 days. †¢ Refinance of Export Credit: Authorized dealers in foreign exchange can obtain from Exim Bank 100% refinance of deferred payment loans extended for export of eligible Indian goods. †¢ Guaranteeing of Obligations: Exim Bank participates with commercial banks in India in the issue of guarantees required by Indian companies for the export contracts and for execution of overseas construction and turnkey projects. Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Government of India came forward to set up the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) in July 1948 under a Special Act. The Industrial Development Bank of India, scheduled banks, insurance companies, investment trusts and co-operative banks are the shareholders of IFCI. The Government of India has guaranteed the repayment of capital and the payment of a minimum annual dividend. Since July I, 1993, the corporation has been converted into a company and it has been given the status of a Ltd. Company with the name Industrial Finance Corporations of India Ltd. IFCI has got itself registered with Companies Act, 1956. Before July I, 1993, general public was not permitted to hold shares of IFCI, only Government of India, RBI, Scheduled Banks, Insurance Companies and Co-operative Societies were holding the shares of IFCI. Management of IFCI: The corporation has 13 members Board of Directors, including Chairman. The Chairman is appointed by Government of India after consulting Industrial Development Bank of India. He works on a whole time basis and has tenure of 3 years. Out of the 12 directors, four are nominated by the IDBI, two by scheduled banks, two by co-operative banks and two by other financial institutions like insurance companies, investment trusts, etc. IDBI normally nominates three outside persons as directors who are experts in the fields of industry, labour and economics, the fourth nominee is the Central Manager of IDBI. The Board meets once in a month. It frames policies by keeping in view the interests of industry, commerce and general public. The Board acts as per the instructions received from the government and IDBI. The Central Government reserves the power up to the Board and appoints a new one in its place. IFCI also has Standing Advisory Committees one each for textile, sugar, jute, hotels, engineering and chemical processes and allied industries. The experts in different fields appointed on Advisory Committees. The chairman is the ex-officio member of all Advisory Committees. All applications for assistance are first discussed by Advisory Committees before they go to Central Committees. Financial Resources of IFCI: The financial resources of the corporation consist of share capital bonds and debentures and borrowings. a) Share Capital: The IFCI was set up with an authorized capital of Rs. 10crores consisting of 20,000 shares of Rs. 5,000 each. This capital was later on increased at different times and by March, 2003 it was Rs. 1068 crores. b) Bonds and Debentures: The Corporation is authorized to issue bonds and debentures to supplement its resources but these should not exceed ten times of paid-up capital and reserve fund. The bonds and debentures stood at a figure of Rs.15366.5 crores as on 31st March 2003. c) Borrowings: The Corporation is authorized to borrow from government IDBI and financial institutions. Its borrowings from IDBI and Govt. of India were Rs. 975.6 crore on March 31, 2003. Total assets of IFCI as on March 31, 2003 aggregated Rs. 22866 crore. Functions of IFCI: o Granting loans or advances to or subscribing to debentures of industrial concerns repayable within 25 years. Also it can convert part of such loans or debentures into equity share capital at its option. o Underwriting the issue of industrial securities i.e. shares, stock, bonds, or debentures to be disposed off within 7 years. o Subscribing directly to the shares and debentures of public limited companies. o Guaranteeing of deferred payments for the purchase of capital goods from abroad or within India. o Guaranteeing of loans raised by industrial concerns from scheduled balls or state co-operative banks. †¢ Acting as an agent of the Central Government or the World Bank in respect of loans sanctioned to the industrial concerns. IFCI provides financial assistance to eligible industrial concerns regardless of their size. However, now-a-days, it entertains applications from those industrial concerns whose project cost is about Rs. 2 crores because up to project cost of Rs. 2 crores various state level institutions (such as Financial Corporations, SIDCs and banks) are expected to meet the financial requirements of viable concerns. While approving a loan application, IFCI gives due consideration to the feasibility of the project, its importance to the nation, development of the backward areas, social and economic viability, etc. The most of the assistance sanctioned by IFCI has gone to industries of national priority such as fertilizers, cement, power generation, paper, industrial machinery etc. It has sanctioned nearly 49 per cent of its assistance for projects in backward districts. IFCI introduced a scheme for sick units also. The scheme was for the revival of sick units in the tiny and small scale sectors. Another scheme was framed for the self-employment of unemployed young persons. The corporation has diversified not only merchant banking but also financing of leasing and hire purchase companies, hospitals, equipment leasing etc. were the other new activities of the corporation in the last few years. Promotional Activities: The promotional role of IFCI has been to fill the gaps, either in the institutional infrastructure for the promotion and growth of industries, or in the provision of the much needed guidance in project intensification, formulation, implementation and operation, etc. to the new tiny, small-scale or medium scale entrepreneurs or in the efforts at improving the productivity of human and material resources. (a) Development of Backward Areas: –IFCI introduce a scheme of confessional finance for projects set up in backward areas. The backward-districts were divided into three categories depending upon the state of development there. All these categories were eligible for concessional finance. Nearly 50 per cent of total lending of IFCI has been to develop backward areas. (b) Promotional Schemes:- IFCI has been operating six promotional schemes with the object of helping entrepreneurs to set up new units, broadening the entrepreneurial base, encouraging the adoption of new technology, tackling ‘the problem of sickness and promoting opportunities for self development and Self employment of unemployed persons etc. These schemes are as such: 1. Subsidy for Adopting Indigenous Technology 2. Meeting Cost of Market Studies 3. Meeting Cost of Feasibility Studies 4. Promoting Small Scale and Ancillary Industries 5. Revival of Sick Units 6. Self-development and Self employment Scheme Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) In order to provide export credit and insurance support to Indian exporters, the GOI set up the Export Risks Insurance Corporation (ERIC) in July, 1957. It was transformed into export credit guarantee corporation limited (ECGC) in 1964. Since 1983, it is now know as ECGC of India Ltd. ECGC is a company wholly owned by the Government of India. It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Commerce and is managed by a Board of Directors representing government, Banking, Insurance, Trade and Industry. The ECGC with its headquarters in Bombay and several regional offices is the only institution providing insurance cover to Indian exporters against the risk of non-realization of export payments due to occurrence of the commercial and political risks involved in exports on credit terms and by offering guarantees to commercial banks against losses that the bank may suffer in granting advances to exports, in connection wi th their export transactions. Objectives of ECGC: †¢ To protect the exporters against credit risks, i.e. non-repayment by buyers †¢ To protect the banks against losses due to non-repayment of loans by exporters Covers issued by ECGC: The covers issued by ECGC can be divided broadly into four groups: âž ¢ STANDARD POLICIES: issued to exporters to protect them against payment risks involved in exports on short-term credit. âž ¢ SPECIFIC POLICIES: Designed to protect Indian firms against payment risk involved in (i) exports on deferred terms of payment (ii) service rendered to foreign parties, and (iii) construction works and turnkey projects undertaken abroad. âž ¢ FINANCIAL GUARANTEES: Issued to banks in India to protect them from risk of loss involved in their extending financial support to exporters at pre-shipment and post-shipment stages. âž ¢ SPECIAL SCHEMES: such as Transfer Guarantee meant to protect banks which add confirmation to letters of credit opened by foreign banks, Insurance cover for Buyer’s credit, etc. STANDARD POLICIES ECGC has designed 4 types of standard policies to provide cover for shipments made on short term credit: †¢ Shipments (comprehensive risks) Policy: to cover both political and commercial risks from the date of shipment. †¢ Shipments (political risks) Policy:- to cover only political risks from the date of shipment †¢ Contracts (comprehensive risks) Policy:- to cover both commercial and political risk from the date of contract †¢ Contracts (Political risks) Policy :- to cover only political risks from the date of contract RISKS COVERED UNDER THE STANDARD POLICIES: 1. Commercial Risks a) Insolvency of the buyer b) Buyer’s protracted default to pay for goods accepted by him c) Buyer’s failure to accept goods subject to certain conditions 2. Political risks a) Imposition of restrictions on remittances by the government in the buyer’s country or any government action which may block or delay payment to exporter. b) War, revolution or civil disturbances in the buyer’s country. Cancellation of a valid import license or new import licensing restrictions in the buyer’s country after the date of shipment or contract, as applicable. c) Cancellation of export license or imposition of new export licensing restrictions in India after the date of contract (under contract policy). d) Payment of additional handling, transport or insurance charges occasioned by interruption or diversion of voyage that cannot be recovered from the buyer. e) Any other cause of loss occurring outside India, not normally insured by commercial insurers and beyond the control of the exporter and / or buyer. RISKS NOT COVERED UNDER STANDARD POLICIES: a) Commercial disputes including quality disputes raised by the buyer, unless the exporter obtains a decree from a competent court of law in the buyer’s country in his favour, unless the exporter obtains a decree from a competent court of law in the buyers’ country in his favour b) Causes inherent in the nature of the goods. c) Buyer’s failure to obtain import or exchange authorization from authorities in his county d) Insolvency or default of any agent of the exporter or of the collecting bank. e) loss or damage to goods which can be covered by commerci8al insurers f) Exchange fluctuation g) Discrepancy in documents. SPECIFIC POLICIES The standard policy is a whole turnover policy designed to provide a continuing insurance for the regular flow of exporter’s shipment of raw materials, consumable durable for which credit period does not normally exceed 180 days. Specific policies are issued in respect of Supply Contracts (on deferred payment terms), Services Abroad and Construction Work Abroad. 1) Specific policy for Supply Contracts: Specific policy for Supply contracts is issued in case of export of Capital goods sold on deferred credit. It can be of any of the four forms: a) Specific Shipments (Comprehensive Risks) Policy to cover both commercial and political risks at the Post-shipment stage b) Specific Shipments (Political Risks) Policy to cover only political risks after shipment stage. c) Specific Contracts (Comprehensive Risks) Policy to cover political and commercial risks after contract date. d) Specific Contracts (Political Risks) Policy to cover only political risks after contract date. 2) Service policy: Indian firms provide a wide range of services like technical or professional services, hiring or leasing to foreign parties (private or government). Where Indian firms render such services they would be exposed to payment risks similar to those involved in export of goods. Such risks are covered by ECGC under this policy. The policy covers 90%of the loss suffered. 3) Construction Works Policy: It covers civil construction jobs as well as turnkey projects involving supplies and services of both with private and foreign government. This policy covers 85% of loss suffered on account of contracts with government agencies and 75% of loss suffered on account of construction contracts with private parties. FINANCIAL GUARANTEES Exporters require adequate financial support from banks to carry out their export contracts. ECGC backs the lending programmes of banks by issuing financial guarantees. The guarantees protect the banks from losses on account of their lending to exporters. Six guarantees have been evolved for this purpose:- (i). Packing Credit Guarantee (ii). Export Production Finance Guarantee (iii). Export Finance Guarantee (iv). Post Shipment Export Credit Guarantee (v). Export Performance Guarantee (vi). Export Finance (Overseas Lending) Guarantee. These guarantees give protection to banks against losses due to non-payment by exporters on account of their insolvency or default. The ECGC charges a premium for its services that may vary from 5 paise to 7.5 paise per month for Rs. 100/-. The premium charged depends upon the type of guarantee and it is subject to change, if ECGC so desires.

Food Safety Hazards in Drying and Marinating Food

Food Safety Hazards in Drying and Marinating Food Food Microbiology Assignment topic: You have been approached by a local businesswoman who has developed a dried snack food to sell from her market stall. The product is made from thin strips of steak which are marinated with herbs and spices for 24 hours prior to being dried by gentle heating. The final dried meat product is stored at ambient temperature and intended for consumption without further processing as a snack food. a. What advice would you give the businesswoman regarding the potential food safety hazards that may be present in the snack product? Justify the reason for including each hazard in your advice.(Suggested word limit 500 words; 30% of the marks) b. What additional information would you request from the businesswoman to assist you in determining if the snack product is being prepared safely and consistently? Explain why the information you request would be important in establishing the safety of the food.(Suggested word limit 700 words; 50% of the marks) c. A sample of product is available for laboratory analysis. State which tests would be appropriate for this ready-to-eat product and the microbiological criteria you would apply to determine if the food was fit for human consumption.(Suggested word limit 300 words; 20% of the marks) *delete this after doing* Question (a) What advice would you give the businesswoman regarding the potential food safety hazards that may be present in the snack product? Justify the reason for including each hazard in your advice.(Suggested word limit 500 words; 30% of the marks) Developing the dried snack food requires food processing which includes transforming raw plants and animal materials, such as grains, meat and dairy. It is important that food safety is emphasized when developing food products as this can make them be safer to consume by destroying the toxins and also the elimination or inhibition of pathogens. Refrigerating, freezing, fermenting, drying and adding salt or sugar are techniques that can slow or stop the growth of pathogens. Processes that use heat such as pasteurization and cooking can eliminate pathogens. As this techniques do help to protect consumers, most cases involving foodborne illness include raw animal products, fruits and vegetables that have been contaminated by pathogens. (Hopkins, 2015, p. 9) In regards to the development of the dried snack food, this product is made from thin strips of steak, which is a source of meat, originating from livestock animals and organisms are most likely to be present in raw meats. All animals carry bacteria in their intestine as they were from Farms. The organisms that are likely to be present here are Bacterias, and they are such as E.coli and Salmonella spp. The organism, E.coli, is a common bacteria that lives in the lower gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. It can be isolated from water and soil, and though most strains are harmless, there are some strains of E.coli that are capable of producing powerful toxins that can be causing severe illness. As this organism lives in the gastrointestinal tract of animals, animals to human transmission is possible. Meat can be contaminated during the slaughtering or during processing, and infection can occur from eating contaminated undercooked meat (E.coli, UCSF Medical Center, 2002-2015). In particularly, one E.coli strain called E.coli O157:H7 can cause severe diarrhea and kidney damage (E.coli O157:H7 Infection, New York State, December 2006). E.coli O157 is a lipopolysaccharide 157 strain, and generally E.coli is a gram-negative bacteria, facultative anaerobe and non-sporulating bacteria. In its habitat, E.coli is a commensal bacteria and has rapid colonization. Beef and dairy cattle are known reservoirs for E.coli O157 and for example, the likelihood of consuming food such as beef burgers, human will get infected after consumption. Apart from the gut, E.coli is also found in soil. E.coli O157 may colonize the gastrointestinal tract of cattle, and potentially contaminate beef carcasses during processing. E.coli bacteria are classified by their O and H antigens and broadly categorized as Shiga toxin-producing E.coli O157 or non-O157 STEC. (Marler, Clark, 2005-2015). Another organism that can be present in the meat, is Salmonella. Salmonella, lives in the intestines of humans, animals and birds. Salmonella may be found in the gut of many animals, including wild animals, farm animals and pets. Poultry are especially more likely to carry Salmonella. With proper and adequate cooking of meat and poultry, it usually kills Salmonella bacteria. Humans can become infected if they eat undercooked meat that is contaminated with Salmonella. (Dr Wright, Michelle, 2013) The usage of herbs and spices for the marination of the meat in this snack product brings about additional microbiological hazards, which includes Bacillus and some other spore-forming organisms that are capable of withstanding the drying process and producing toxins. Herbs and spices originate from plants and likelihood of the spore-forming organisms to be present. Bacillus species are endospore-forming aerobic or facultatively anaerobic, Gram-positive bacteria and the spores are resistant to heat, cold, radiation, dessication and disinfectants and it is a frequent cause of contamination. Bacillus species are well known in the food industries as troublesome spoilage organisms (NCBI Bookshelf, 1996). Another sporeforming organism present in the food would be the Clostridium species. Clostridium is spore-forming Gram- Positive anaerobes bacteria. They are known to have produce variety of toxins, of which could be fatal (MicrobeWiki, 2010). Having to state the above microbiological hazards, there are physical and chemical hazards too in regards to the potential food safety hazards in food manufacturing process. In physical hazards, sources for such contaminants include raw materials, badly maintained facilities/equipment and improper production procedures. Processors must have procedures to control physical hazards and also include hazard analysis portion of developing a HACCP plan (Food Safety – Physical Hazards, 2005). Chemical hazards include pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones and antibiotics, and additives. These shall be addressed in steps of the production process, which include the storage, during usage, during processing and prior to shipment of product. For the food safety management system, all chemicals used in manufactured product should have specifications developed, as well as a letter of guarantee from the manufacturer (Food Safety – Chemical Hazards, 2005). b. What additional information would you request from the businesswoman to assist you in determining if the snack product is being prepared safely and consistently? Explain why the information you request would be important in establishing the safety of the food.(Suggested word limit 700 words; 50% of the marks) In regards to the safe and consistent preparation of the snack product, it should include the following additional informations such as the slaughtering process, the heating process, the storage, the hygiene factors and proper preservation process. As the product is made from meat, there has to be proper slaughtering process. In order to ensure that meat supply is safe, it is important that the businesswoman make efforts to keep feces from spreading from the animals’ intestines or hides onto tables and the tools for slaughtering and butchering, or infact onto the meat itself. This is emphasized because in meat preparation, especially during the butchering, contamination does take place especially if the production lines of the processing moved so quickly, leading to likelihood of contamination of bacteria in meat and eventually causing foodborne illnesses (GRACE, Communications Foundation, 2015). In addition, she can also include meat inspection, so that she can ensure that the product for commercial sale is safely produced with the government inspectors present. Such inspection program is based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. This allows removing potentially contaminated meat from the p roduction line during the slaughtering processes. Time and temperatures of marinating It is stated that the strips of the steak are marinated with herbs and spices for 24 hours, prior to being dried by gentle heating. This is seen as marinating outdoor and in room temperature, and bacteria can quickly multiply on raw meat. Marinating at room temperatures causes meat to enter the Danger zone between 40 degrees F. and 140 degrees F., where bacteria multiply rapidly (Stradley, Linda, 2004-2014). Marinating times vary depending on the type of cut and size of the meat. All meats are best refrigerated after marinating http://textbookofbacteriology.net/nutgro_5.html http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/t0279e/t0279e03.htm http://www.maff.go.jp/aqs/hou/require/pdf/17-1095cn.pdf http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3409800375.html http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0562e/t0562e04.htm The second factor would be the heating process. It is stated that the strips of the steak are marinated with herbs and spices for 24 hours and they are dried by gentle heating. In this process, it is important that the businesswoman ensures that the heating of the meat is long enough so that most of the pathogens are killed off. The heating parameters to be applied in meat processing can vary considerably in temperature and duration, depending of the type of product. Heat treatment methods cause various physical and chemical alterations in meat, which also results in the beneficial sensory and hygienic effects on processed products (FAO, United Nations 2013). For processed meat products, the exact temperature control is indispensable as there should be balance found between the two opposite requirements and they are firstly, heat treatments temperatures should be raised high enough to accomplish proper microbial reduction for shelf life extension, and the other, the heat treatment te mperatures should be kept low enough to prevent deterioration of the eating quality. The organisms least affected by the conditions on meat surfaces are Salmonellla and E.coli and are likely to be the main hazards on meat of normal pH held at room temperatures. Mesophilic bacteria are involved in food contamination and degradation such as in meats Times and temperatures of drying The storage In the proper preservation process, it includes the water activity (aw), which is a free water in the food product References: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/non-federally-registered/product-inspection/inspection-manual/eng/1393949957029/1393950086417?chap=3 About E. coli — Copyright  ©. Marler, Clark. (2005-2015). OutBreak, Inc., All Rights Reserved. [Web page]. http://www.about-ecoli.com/non_o157_STEC/#.VU48ZPAf7Ng Clostridium – MicrobeWiki. (26 July 2010). [Web page]. https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Clostridium Dr Wright, Michelle. (2013). Patient: Trusted Medical information and support, Health Information, Salmonella. [Web page]. http://www.patient.co.uk/health/salmonella-leaflet E.coli O157:H7 Infection, New York State. (December 2006). Department of Health, Information for a Healthy New York. [Web page]. https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/e_coli/fact_sheet.htm E.coli, Patient Education, UCSF Medical Center. (2002-2015). University of California San Francisco, UCSF, Patient Education, E.coli. [Web page]. http://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/e_coli/ GRACE, Communications Foundation. (2015). Sustainable Table, Food Processing and Slaughterhouses. Food Safety. [Web page]. http://www.sustainabletable.org/279/food-processing-slaughterhouses FAO, United Nations. (2013). Meat and meat products in human nutrition. Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. [Web page]. http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0562e/t0562e04.htm FAO, United Nations. (2013). Heat treatment of Meat products. Meat processing technology. Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. [Web page]. http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/AI407E08.htm Food safety – Physical Hazards. (2005). University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. [Web page]. http://www.foodsafety.unl.edu/haccp/start/physical.html Food safety – Chemical Hazards. (2005). University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. [Web Page]. http://www.foodsafety.unl.edu/haccp/start/chemical.html Johns, Hopkins. (2015). FOOD PROCESSING, LESSON PLAN. Bloomberg School of Public Health, p 3, 9. [Web page]. http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/teaching-the-food-system/curriculum/_pdf/Food_Processing-Lesson.pdf NCBI Bookshelf. (1996). Bacillus Medical Microbiology. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. [Web page]. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7699/ Stradley, Linda. (2004-2014). What’s Cooking America. Marinating meat Guidelines, Marinating 101, Food safety tips. [Web page]. http://whatscookingamerica.net/MarinatingSafely.htm

Tom Clancys Op Center :: essays research papers

Tom Clancy’s Op-Center Divide and Conquer The nation is about to be in another Middle East war, but they don’t know it yet, even the president doesn’t know it. Will Paul Hood inform the president with the correct information in time? Will war break out in Azerbaijan? In this political thriller you really don’t know what is going on right up until the end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paul Hood is the main character; he is the head of Op-Center, the United States division that deals with information sharing with Allis countries to stop terrorism. He is going through a divorce, and his daughter was just held hostage in an U.S. embassy (I think this happened in the book before the one I read). He had resigned from Op-Center because of all the things happening in his life, but he went back because he couldn’t live without it. Paul Hood would be classified as a workaholic.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Chief of Staff (Red Gable), the Vice President (Charles Cotten) and Secretary of the State (Jack Fenewick), are all in on the conspiracy to start a war in order to secure the U.S. oil supply for the next millennium. The conspiracy will also put Charles Cotten into the presidency, with Michael Lawerence (current president) being forced out of office.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The conspiracy that the â€Å"Eye’s Only Group† (Gable, Cotten and Fenewick) has planned is that of terrorism and treason. The plan is the terrorist known as the Harpooner will blow up an oilrig in Azerbaijan, making them think that the Iranians it. The Iranians will claim they didn’t, but everybody will think they are lying, because the dead bodies found will be that of Iranians, and they will be wearing the uniform of the elite Iranian military force. Tensions will grow, war will break out. The whole time the president will be fed mis-information that he will talk internationally with this mis-information, then have to eat his words, when everybody says â€Å"What!? We didn’t know that†. The public will think the president has lost his sanity, and he will be forced to resign.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paul Hood has to dig deep to find the connection between the â€Å"Eye’s Only Group† and Azerbaijan, and get the information to the president before he decides to go to war.

The Generation of Ozone for Water Purification in Third World Countries

The Generation of Ozone for Water Purification in Third World Countries Ozone is the O3 molecule formed through the combination of molecular and atomic oxygen. It can be used to remove iron, pesticides, detergents, color, ammonia and other nitrogen derivatives from water. Ozonation is a process used worldwide to render water potable. Although using ozone for disinfection can be expensive and inconvenient, it has, among others, the advantages of being widely effective, of adding oxygen to the water, and of being sufficient, even in low concentrations (Evans 140). The ozone used in ozonation can be produced through a variety of methods, the most common of which include the application of ultraviolet light to pure or non-pure oxygen; the silent electric discharge process, in which oxygen passes through a field of high voltage alternating current; and the electrochemical process that occurs when current is passed through water, causing the formation of hydrogen, oxygen, and ozone. (Evans 127). Each of these methods for ozone production has drawbacks. The ultraviolet irradiation technique includes all of the dangers normally associated with exposure to ultraviolet light, and requires expensive equipment. The silent electric discharge process generates so much heat that a method of controlling the temperature is necessary. Also, this process is most efficient with clean, cool, dry air; the available air might not conform to these specifications, requiring further action. The electrochemical process produces tiny quantities of ozone in comparison to molecular oxygen, and is therefore unreliable. (The electrochemical process can also be applied using sulfuric or perchloric acid, but this method is obviously unsuitab... ... acquire. Although the solution to the problem of providing drinkable water in remote and disadvantaged locations is not clear cut, the use of ozone as a disinfectant is a promising and intriguing technique. Works Cited Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water. Alternative Disinfectants and Oxidants Guidance Manual. United States, 1999. Evans, Frances. Ozone in Water and Wastewater Treatment. Ann Arbor: Science Publishers, 1972. â€Å"Make some ozone.† BigClive.Com. 11 Dec. 2006 Rice, Rip G., and Aharan Netzer. Handbook of Ozone Technology and Applications: Volume II: Ozone for Drinking Water Treatment. Boston: Butterworth Publishers, 1984. Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). June 2004. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 11 Dec. 2006 The Generation of Ozone for Water Purification in Third World Countries The Generation of Ozone for Water Purification in Third World Countries Ozone is the O3 molecule formed through the combination of molecular and atomic oxygen. It can be used to remove iron, pesticides, detergents, color, ammonia and other nitrogen derivatives from water. Ozonation is a process used worldwide to render water potable. Although using ozone for disinfection can be expensive and inconvenient, it has, among others, the advantages of being widely effective, of adding oxygen to the water, and of being sufficient, even in low concentrations (Evans 140). The ozone used in ozonation can be produced through a variety of methods, the most common of which include the application of ultraviolet light to pure or non-pure oxygen; the silent electric discharge process, in which oxygen passes through a field of high voltage alternating current; and the electrochemical process that occurs when current is passed through water, causing the formation of hydrogen, oxygen, and ozone. (Evans 127). Each of these methods for ozone production has drawbacks. The ultraviolet irradiation technique includes all of the dangers normally associated with exposure to ultraviolet light, and requires expensive equipment. The silent electric discharge process generates so much heat that a method of controlling the temperature is necessary. Also, this process is most efficient with clean, cool, dry air; the available air might not conform to these specifications, requiring further action. The electrochemical process produces tiny quantities of ozone in comparison to molecular oxygen, and is therefore unreliable. (The electrochemical process can also be applied using sulfuric or perchloric acid, but this method is obviously unsuitab... ... acquire. Although the solution to the problem of providing drinkable water in remote and disadvantaged locations is not clear cut, the use of ozone as a disinfectant is a promising and intriguing technique. Works Cited Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water. Alternative Disinfectants and Oxidants Guidance Manual. United States, 1999. Evans, Frances. Ozone in Water and Wastewater Treatment. Ann Arbor: Science Publishers, 1972. â€Å"Make some ozone.† BigClive.Com. 11 Dec. 2006 Rice, Rip G., and Aharan Netzer. Handbook of Ozone Technology and Applications: Volume II: Ozone for Drinking Water Treatment. Boston: Butterworth Publishers, 1984. Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). June 2004. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 11 Dec. 2006

Second World War Essay -- American History Great Powers Essays

Second World War My generation has already witnessed a day of infamy, less than two short years ago (or so CNN tells us). My grandfather would remember a different day, a morning marked by another surprise attack on America. That ambush, said Japanese General Yamamoto, awakened a â€Å"sleeping giant.† Analysis of American foreign policy begs the question: what if the giant had spurned its peaceful slumber? Instead, the behemoth could have chosen to lumber about. Odds are that the footsteps would not have fallen lightly, the reverberations spreading across the globe- all this, only had Wilsonians been at the helm of American foreign policy. The Jacksonian tradition steered the United States to victory in the Second World War. Once lulled from the comfort of its isolationism, the Americans sealed the fate of the Axis powers. But had the Wilsonian tradition, a formidable current here at Swarthmore and among today’s democrats, directed American foreign policy leading up to and during the war, it seems likely that history would tell a different tale. As it stood in 1941, the United States was undoubtedly entrenched in the Jacksonian camp (here at Swarthmore, I can count their sympathizers on one hand). Jacksonian policies of the United States in the 1930s and 1940s proved decisive for the Allied victory, yet reflection on a reorientation of these policies toward the Wilsonian camp reveals that the Second World War could have been avoided. In this context, German domestic and foreign policy- a brutish, perverted mix of the Jacksonian and Wilsonian traditions- will then be discussed. An understanding of the Jacksonian doctrine clarifies the reasoning of the United States leading up to the war. This tradition was, and remains, stron... ...h: do we really want to provoke the Jacksonians of this world? Works Cited Bell, P.M.H. The Origins of the Second World War in Europe. 2nd edition. NewYork: Longman, 1997. Cà ©saire, Aimà ©. "Discourse on Colonialism." Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory. Ed. Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. New York: Random House,1987. Kindleberger, Charles P. The World in Depression 1929-1939. 1973. Kurth, James. "The American Way of Victory: A Twentieth-Century Trilogy," The National Interest, Summer 2000, pp. 5-16. Kurth, James. â€Å"War, Peace, and the Ideologies of the Twentieth Century,† Current History, January 1999, pp.3-8. Mead, Walter Russell. "The Jacksonian Tradition and American Foreign Policy," The National Interest, Winter 1999/2000, pp. 5-29.