1. Discuss Dr. Faustus as a tragedy Essay

Ans—Understanding of Christopher Marlowe’s Elizabethan tragedy, Dr. Faustus, can be framed in terms of the Renaissance philosophy and the Elizabethan tragedy, which takes a different turn on some points from the Aristotelian tragedy, for instance such as the Elizabethan tragedy’s requisite death of the tragic hero. Dr. Faustus demonstrates the Renaissance philosophy that pits the dichotomy of good, angelic humanity against evil, depraved humanity. Marlowe’s play also is a model of the Elizabethan tragedy. Marlowe constructed the character of Dr. Faustus to represent within himself both characteristics of the Renaissance view of humanity as divinely good and hellishly evil. First, Dr. Faustus is presented as a scholar of all things including divinity, the highest Renaissance scholarly discipline. Then, Faustus is shown as dissatisfied with the limitations of humanity and grasping for unlimited knowledge, which is a Biblical allusion to Adam and Eve who ate of the Tree of Knowledge. Throughout the play, Faustus descends to lower and lower planes of knowledge in his pursuit for the â€Å"power† and â€Å"omnipotence† that comes from knowledge. At the beginning, Mephistopheles answers all Faustus’ questions but draws the line on talk of the universe, which can be seen to stand for astronomical and cosmological studies–the very studies that science is deeply involved in today: CERN; Hubble; SoHo; etc). Faustus must be content with merely mapping the universe instead of understanding it. Marlowe ultimately shows in Dr. Faustus the futility of the quest for ultimate knowledge and the inevitable end result of abandoning moral integrity for omnipotent knowledge. Dr. Faustus also represents a Classic Elizabethan tragedy. First, the tragic hero has a flaw or makes an error in judgment that leads to his own doom. It’s hard to say whether Faustus had a fatal flaw in his character or whether he was doomed by a faulty understanding that lead to a fatally disastrous error in judgment. All along the way, Faustus has doubts and hesitations which speak for an integrity of his moral character. If he has a fatal flaw, it might be that he did not reckon the power of evil highly enough, that he thought that with omnipotent knowledge, he could free himself from the chains of evil he wrapped so blithely around himself. Adam and Eve also fell to the punishment from the lure of knowledge. Of course, quite often Faustus’ fatal flaw is said to be greed and irreverent disregard for goodness. One clue to forming a literary stance on the question lies in examining his hesitations and second thoughts. In addition to this, the questions addressed in Marlowe’s play are nobel universal questions pertaining to the highest order of considerations: the meaning of life and death, the quest for knowledge, the respective power of of good and evil. In further accord with elizabethan tragedy, the play Dr. Faustus employs comedic relief through the presence of clowns that also acts as a means of giving information about the characters and the action of the play. The clowns in Dr. Faustus are Rafe and Robin. In Elizabethan tragedy, the clowns (rural, country simpletons who misuse language accidentally) and fools (urban dwellers who play with language and â€Å"misuse† it intentionally for wit) generally replace the Greek Chorus that carried the task of moving the st ory along with information not performed on stage, but in Dr. Faustus, Marlowe employs both the Greek-style Chorus and Elizabethan clowns. Finally, in keeping with Elizabethan tragic form, Faustus gets himself in so deep, his tragic flaw or error in judgement is so aggregious that it leads ultimately and necessarily to his death, thus fulfilling the fate of an Elizabethan tragic hero. Since Faustus has overestimated what he can attain from an arrangement with Lucifer and since he underestimated the power of Lucifer’s evil, his ultimate end must be and is death even though he recognizes his mistakes and pleads for pardon.

Interpreter of Maladies Essay

Poor communication and unexpressed feelings cause distress for characters in the stories.’ Discus In Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories ‘Interpreter of Maladies’, poor communication and suppressed feelings result in distress for characters. Many protagonists in these stories have all been through some sort of anxiety due to impaired communication with those around them. Mrs Das in ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ seeks consolation for her guilt from Mr Kapasi, whom was having difficulty himself communicating with his wife. In ‘Sexy’, Miranda misinterprets Dav’s meaning of sexy and In ‘A Temporary Matter’, Shoba and Shukumar hardly interacted with each other anymore after their baby died. Mrs In ‘This Blessed House’, newly wed Twinkle and Sanjeev had numerous fights over Christian artefacts found throughout the house. Through these stories, Lahiri is trying to convey that healthy communication is essential to maintain connections with people so that we will not fail in many ways such as failure in romance. Usually in a tragedy, husbands and wives would comfort and assuage one another, try putting the past behind and move forward together. Following the stillbirth, both Shoba and Shukumar grieved separately and ever since then their relationship went downhill. However in ‘A Temporary Matter’ this was not the case for Shoba and Shukumar. â€Å"Instead he thought of how she and Shukumar had become experts at avoiding each other in their three-bedroom house, spending as much time on separate floors as possible.† Lahiri chooses to write from Shukumar’s point of view so that readers would not be expecting Shoba’s ulterior motive for introducing the game, which was in order to gently reveal she was moving out by herself. Furthermore, through Shukumar, we can understand what kind of a person Shoba initially was, â€Å"She wasn’t this way before.† prior to the incident and also see how much she has changed. â€Å"In the beginning he had believed that it would pass, that he and Shoba would get through it all somehow.† Here we can see that Shukumar had hopes that he and Shoba could live normally again, but merely hoping did not solve anything as he clearly did not put effort into making that happen. Instead, the two of them just waited for one another to make a move. Consequently, the stalemate and lack of communication between the two had caused the married couple to be awkward and uncomfortable being around each other, and thus the main cause for the downfall of their marriage. Mr Kapasi and Mrs Das struggle to interpret each other’s maladies.

Night World : Huntress Chapter 12

Jez kept one hand on the kid as they walked up the stairs under the dirty fluorescent bulbs. She could only imagine what Iona must be thinking as they shepherded her to the top. They came out on the roof into slanting afternoon sunlight. Jez gave Iona's shoulder a little squeeze. â€Å"See-there's the garden.† She nodded toward a potted palm and three wooden barrels with miscellaneous wilted leaves in them. Iona glanced that way, then gave Jez a sober look. â€Å"They're not getting enough water,† she said as quietly as she said everything. â€Å"Yeah, well, it didn't rain enough this summer,† Morgead said. â€Å"You want to fix that?† Iona just looked seriously at him. â€Å"Look, what I mean is, you've got the Power, right? So if you just want to show us right now, anything you want, be my guest. It'll make things a lot simpler. Make it rain, why don't you?† Iona looked right at him. â€Å"I don't know what you're talking about.† â€Å"I'm just saying that there's no reason for you to get hurt here. We just want to see you do something like what you did the night of the fire. Anything. Just show us.† Jez watched him. There was something incongruous about the scene: Morgead in his high boots and leather jacket, iron-muscled, sleek, sinewy, on one knee in front of this harmless-looking kid in pink pants. And the kid just looking back at him with her sad and distant eyes. â€Å"I guess you're crazy,† Iona said softly. Her pigtails moved as she shook her head. A pink ribbon fluttered loosely. â€Å"Do you remember the fire?† Jez said from behind her. â€Å"Course.† The kid turned slowly around. â€Å"I was scared.† â€Å"But you didn't get hurt. The fire got close to you and then you did something. And then the fire went away.† â€Å"I was scared, and then the fire went away. But I didn't do anything.† â€Å"Okay,† Morgead said. He stood. â€Å"Maybe if you can't tell us, you can show us.† Before Jez could say anything, he was picking up the little girl up and carrying her. He had to step over a line of debris that stretched like a diagonal wall from one side of the roof to the other. It was composed of telephone books, splintery logs, old clothes, and other odds and ends, and it formed a barrier, blocking off a corner of the roof from the rest. He put Iona in the triangle beyond the debris. Then he stepped back over the wall, leaving her there. Iona didn't say anything, didn't try to follow him back out of the triangle. Jez stood tensely. The kid's a Wild Power, she told herself. She's already survived worse than this. And no matter what happens, she's not going to get hurt. I promised her that. But she would have liked to be telepathic again just for a few minutes, just to tell the kid one more time not to be scared. She especially wanted to as Val and Raven poured gasoline on the wall of debris. Iona watched them do it with huge sober eyes, still not moving. Then Pierce lit a match. . The flames leaped up yellow and blue. Not the bright orange they would have been at night. But hot. They spread fast and Jez could feel the heat from where she was standing, ten feet away. The kid was closer. She still didn't say anything, didn't try to jump over the flames while they were low. In a few moments they were high enough that she couldn't jump through them without setting herself on fire. Okay, Jez thought, knowing the kid couldn't hear her. Now, do it! Come on, Iona. Put the fire out. Iona just looked at it. She was standing absolutely still, with her little hands curled into fists at her sides. A small and lonely figure, with the late afternoon sun making a soft red halo around her head and the hot wind from the fire rippling her pink-trimmed shirt. She faced the flames dead-on, but not aggressively, not as if she were planning to fight them. Damn; this is wrong, Jez thought. Her own hands were clenched into fists so tightly that her nails were biting into her palms. â€Å"You know, I'm concerned,† Pierce said softly from just behind her. â€Å"I have a concern here.† Jez glanced at him quickly. Pierce didn't talk a lot, and he always seemed the coldest of the group-aside from Morgead, of course, who could be colder than anyone. Now Jez wondered. Could he, who never seemed to be moved by pity, actually be the most sensitive? â€Å"I'm worried about this fire. I know nobody can look down on us, but it's making a lot of smoke. What if one of the other tenants comes up to investigate?† Jez almost hit him. This is not my home, she thought, and felt the part of her that had sighed and felt loved and understood wither away. These are not my people. I don't belong with them. And Pierce wasn't worth hitting. She turned her back on him to look at Iona again. She was dimly aware of Morgead telling him to shut up, that other tenants were the least of their worries, but most of her attention was focused on the kid. Come on, kid! she thought. Then she said it out loud. â€Å"Come on, Iona! Put out the fire. You can do it! Just do what you did before!† She tried to catch the child's eye, but Iona was looking at the flames. She seemed to be trembling now. â€Å"Yeah, come on!† Morgead said brusquely. â€Å"Let's get this over with, kid.† Raven leaned forward, her long front hair ruffling in the wind. â€Å"Do you remember what you did that night?† she shouted seriously. â€Å"Think!† Iona looked at her and spoke for the first time. â€Å"I didn't do anything!† Her voice, so composed before, was edging on tears. The fire was full-blown now, loud as a roaring wind, sending little bits of burning debris into the air. One floated down to rest at Iona's foot and she stepped backward. She's got to be scared, Jez told herself. That's the whole point of this test. If she's not scared, she'll never be able to find her Power. And we're talking about saving the world, here. We're not just torturing this kid for fun†¦. It's still wrong. The thought burst out from some deep part of her. Jez had seen a lot of horrible things as a vampire and a vampire hunter, but suddenly she knew she couldn't watch any more of this. I'm going to call it off. She looked at Morgead. He was standing tensely, arms folded over his chest, green eyes fixed on Iona as if he could will her into doing what he wanted. Raven and Val were beside him, Raven expressionless under her fall of dark hair; Val frowning with his big hands on his hips. Thistle was a step or so behind them. â€Å"It's time to stop,† Jez said. Morgead's head whipped around to look at her. â€Å"No. We've gotten this far; it would be stupid to have to start all over again. Would that be any nicer to her?† â€Å"I said, it's time to stop. What do you have to put out the fire-or did you even think of that?† As they were talking, Thistle stepped forward. She moved right up to the flames, staring at Iona. â€Å"You'd better do something fast,† she shouted. â€Å"Or you're going to burn right up.† The childish, taunting tone caught Jez's attention, but Morgead was talking to her. â€Å"She's going to put it out any minute now. She just has to be frightened enough-â€Å" â€Å"Morgead, she's absolutely terrified already! Look at her!† Morgead turned. Iona's clenched fists were now raised to chest-level; her mouth was slightly open as she breathed far too fast. And although she wasn't screaming or crying like a normal kid, Jez could see the tremors running through her little body. She looked like a small trapped animal. â€Å"If she's not doing it now, she's never going to,† Jez told Morgead flatly. â€Å"It was a stupid idea in the first place, and it's over!† She saw the change in his green eyes; the flare of anger and then the sudden darkness of defeat. She realized that he was going to cave. But before he could say anything, Thistle moved forward. â€Å"You're gonna die!† she shrilled. â€Å"You're gonna burn up right now!† And she began kicking flaming debris at Iona. Everything happened very fast after that. The debris came apart in a shower of sparks as it flew toward Iona. Iona's mouth came open in horror as she found fiery garbage swirling around her knees. And then Raven was yelling at Thistle, but Thistle was already kicking more. A second deluge of sparks hit Iona. Jez saw her put up her hands to protect her face, then fling her arms out as a piece of burning cloth settled on her sleeve. She saw the sleeve spurt with a tiny flame. She saw Iona cast a frantic look around, searching for a way to escape. Morgead was dragging Thistle back by her collar. Thistle was still kicking. Sparks were everywhere and Jez felt a hot pain on her cheek. And then Iona's eyes went enormous and blank and fixed and Jez could see that she'd made some decision, she'd found some way to get out of this. Only not the right one. She was going to jump. Jez saw Iona turn toward the edge of the roof, and she knew in that same instant that she couldn't get to the child in time to stop her. So there was only one thing to do. Jez only hoped she would be fast enough. She very nearly wasn't. But there was a two-foot wall at the roof's perimeter, and it delayed Iona for a second as she scrambled onto it. That gave Jez a second to leap through the fire and catch up. And then Iona was on the wall, and then she was launching her small body into empty space. She jumped like a flying squirrel, arms and legs outspread, looking down at the three-story drop. Jez jumped with her. Jez! The telepathic shout followed her, but Jez scarcely heard it. She had no idea who had even said it. Her entire consciousness was focused on Iona. Maybe some part of her was still hoping that the kid had magic and could make the wind hold her up. But it didn't happen and Jez didn't waste time thinking about it. She hit Iona in midair, grabbing the small body and hanging on. It was something no human could have done. Jez's vampire muscles instinctively knew how to handle this, though. They twisted her as she fell, putting her underneath the child in her arms, putting her legs below her like a cat's. But of course Jez didn't have a vampire's resistance to injury. She knew perfectly well that when she hit, the fall would break both her legs. In her weakened state it might well kill her. It should save the kid, though, she thought unemotionally as the ground rushed up to meet her. The extra resiliency of Jez's flesh would act as a cushion. But there was one thing Jez hadn't thought of. The trees. There were discouraged-looking redbud trees planted at regular intervals along the cracked and mossy sidewalk. None of them had too much in the way of foliage even in late summer, but they certainly had a lot of little branches. Jez and the kid crashed right into one of them. Jez felt pain, but scratching, stabbing pain instead of the slamming agony of hitting the sidewalk. Her legs were smashing through things that cracked and snapped and poked her. Twigs and branches. She was being flipped around as some of the twigs caught on her jeans and others snagged her leather jacket. Every branch she hit decreased her velocity. So when she finally crashed out of the tree and hit concrete, it merely knocked the wind out of her. Black dots danced in front of her eyes. Then her vision cleared and she realized that she was lying on her back with Iona clutched to her stomach. Shiny redbud leaves were floating down all around her. Goddess, she thought. We made it. I don't believe it. There was a dark blur and something thudded against the sidewalk beside her. Morgead. He landed like a cat, bending his knees, but nice a big cat. A three-story jump was pretty steep even for a vampire. Jez could see the shock reverberate through him as his legs hit concrete, and then he fell forward. That must hurt, she thought with distant sympathy. But the next instant he was up again, he was by her side and bending over her. â€Å"Are you all right?† He was yelling it both aloud and telepathically. His dark hair was mussed and flying; his green eyes were wild. â€Å"Jez!† Oh. It was you who yelled when I jumped, Jez thought. I should have known. She blinked up at him. â€Å"Of course I'm all right,† she said hazily. She tugged at the kid lying on her. â€Å"Iona! Are you all right?† Iona stirred. Both her hands were clutching Jez's jacket in front, but she sat up a little without letting go. There was a burned patch on her sleeve, but no fire. Her velvety brown eyes were huge-and misty. She looked sad and confused. â€Å"That was really scary,† she said. â€Å"I know.† Jez gulped. She wasn't any good at talking about emotional things, but right now the words spilled out without conscious effort. Tm sorry, Iona; I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. We shouldn't have done that. It was a very bad thing to do, and I'm really sorry, and we're going to take you home now. Nobody's going to hurt you. We're going to take you back to your mom.† The velvety eyes were still unhappy. Tired and unhappy and reproachful. Jez had never felt like more of a monster, not even that night in Muir Woods when she had realized she was hunting her own kind. Iona's gaze remained steady, but her chin quivered. Jez looked at Morgead. â€Å"Can you erase her memory? I can't see any reason why she should have to remember all this.† He was still breathing quickly, his face pale and his pupils dilated. But he looked at Iona and nodded. â€Å"Yeah, I can wipe her.† â€Å"Because she's not the Wild Power, you know,† Jez said levelly, as if making a comment about the weather. Morgead flinched. Then he shoved his hair back with his knuckles, his eyes shutting briefly. â€Å"She's an extraordinary kid, and I don't know exactly what she's going to be-maybe President or some great doctor or botanist or something. Something special, because she's got that inner light- something that keeps her from getting mad or mean or hysterical. But that's got nothing to do with being a Wild Power.† â€Å"All right! I know, already!† Morgead yelled, and Jez realized she was babbling. She shut up. Morgead took a breath and put his hand down. â€Å"She's not it. I was wrong. I made a bad mistake. Okay?† â€Å"Okay.† Jez felt calmer now. â€Å"So can you please wipe her?† â€Å"Yes! I'm doing it!† Morgead put his hands on Iona's slender shoulders. â€Å"Look, kid, I'm-sorry. I never thought you'd-you know, jump like that.† Iona didn't say anything. If he wanted forgiveness, he wasn't getting it. He took a deep breath and went on. â€Å"This has been a pretty rotten day, hasn't it? So why don't you just forget all about it, and before you know it, you'll be home.† Jez could feel him reach out with his mind, touching the child's consciousness with his Power. Iona's eyes shifted, she looked at Jez uncertainly. â€Å"It's okay,† Jez whispered. â€Å"It won't hurt.† She hung on to Iona's gaze, trying to comfort her as Morgead's suggestions took hold. â€Å"You don't ever have to remember this,† Morgead said, his voice soothing now. Gentle. â€Å"So why don't you just go to sleep? You can have a little nap†¦ and when you wake up, you'll be home.† Iona's eyelids were closing. At the last possible second she gave Jez a tiny sleepy smile-just the barest change of expression, but it seemed to ease the tightness in Jez's chest. And then Iona's lashes were lying heavy on her cheeks and her breathing was deep and regular. Jez sat up and gently put the sleeping child on the sidewalk. She smoothed back one stray pigtail and watched the little chest rise and fall a couple of times. Then she looked up at Morgead. â€Å"Thanks.† He shrugged, exhaling sharply. â€Å"It was the least I could do.† Then he gave her an odd glance. Jez thought of it at the same instant. She was the one so concerned about the child-why had she asked Morgead to wipe her memory? Because I can't do it, she thought dryly. Out loud she said, â€Å"I'm really kind of tired, after everything that's happened today. I don't have much Power left.† â€Å"Yeah†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But his green eyes were slightly narrowed, searching. â€Å"Plus, I hurt.† Jez stretched, gingerly testing her muscles, feeling every part of her protest. The searching look vanished instantly. Morgead leaned forward and began to go over her with light, expert fingers, his eyes worried. â€Å"Can you move everything? What about your legs? Do you feel numb anywhere?† â€Å"I can move everything, and I only wish I felt numb somewhere.† â€Å"Jez-I'm sorry.† He blurted it out as awkwardly as he had to the child. ‘I didn't mean †¦ I mean, this just hasn't turned out the way I planned. The kid getting hurt-you getting hurt. It just wasn't what I had in mind.† The kid getting hurt? Jez thought. Don't tell me you care about that. But there was no reason for Morgead to lie. And he did look unhappy-probably more unhappy than Jez had ever seen him. His eyes were still all pupil, as if he were scared. I'm not hurt,† Jez said. It was all she could think of. She felt dizzy suddenly-uncertain and a little giddy, as if she were still tumbling off the roof. â€Å"Yes, you are.† He said it with automatic stubbornness, as if it were one of their arguments. But his hand reached out to touch her cheek. The one that had been hit by burning debris. It hurt, but Morgead was touching so lightly†¦. Coolness seemed to flow from his fingers, seeping into the burn and making it feel better. Jez gasped. â€Å"Morgead-what are you doing?† â€Å"Giving you some Power. You're low and you need it.† Giving her Power? She'd never heard of such a thing. But he was doing it. She could feel her skin healing itself faster, could feel his strength pour into her. It was a strange sensation. It made her shiver inwardly. â€Å"Morgead†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His eyes were fixed on her face. And suddenly they were all Jez could see; the rest of the world was a blur. All she could hear was the soft catch in his breath; all she could feel was the gentleness of his touch. â€Å"Jez†¦Ã¢â‚¬  They were leaning toward each other, or falling. It was that silver thread between them, shortening, pulling. They had nothing to grab on to but each other. And then Morgead's arms were around her and she felt his warm mouth touch hers.

THE AMERICAN AND BITISH RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE EGYPTION PRESDINT GAMAL Dissertation

THE AMERICAN AND BITISH RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE EGYPTION PRESDINT GAMAL ABDEL NASSE 1954-1970 - Dissertation Example Former Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Boutros Boutros-Ghali served as Secretary General of the United Nations from 1991 to 1996. Egypt is a key partner in the search for peace in the Middle East and resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sadat's groundbreaking trip to Israel in 1977, the 1978 Camp David Accords, and the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty represented a fundamental shift in the politics of the region--from a strategy of confrontation to one of peace as a strategic choice. Egypt was subsequently ostracized by other Arab states and ejected from the Arab League from 1979 to 1989. Egypt played an important role in the negotiations leading to the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991, which, under U.S. and Russian sponsorship, brought together all parties in the region to discuss Middle East peace. This support has continued to the present, with President Mubarak often intervening personally to promote peace negotiations. In 1996, he hosted the Sharm El-Sheikh "Summit of the Peacemakers" attended by President Bill Clinton and other world leaders. In 2000, he hosted two summits at Sharm El-Sheikh and one at Taba in an effort to resume the Camp David negotiations suspended in July of 2000, and in June 2003, Mubarak hosted President George W. Bush for another summit on the Middle East peace process. Throughout mid-2004, Egypt worked closely with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to facilitate stability following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, which occurred in August and September of 2005. Prior to this Egypt and Israel reached an agreement that allowed Egypt to deploy additional forces along the Philadelphi Corridor in an attempt to control the border and prevent the smuggling of weapons. Egypt played a key role during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis. President Mubarak helped assemble the international coalition and deployed 35,000 Egyptian troops against Iraq to liberate Kuwait. The Egyptian contingent was the third-largest in the coalition forces, after the U.S. and U.K. In the aftermath of the Gulf war, Egypt signed the Damascus declaration with Syria and the Gulf states to strengthen Gulf security. Egypt continues to contribute regularly to UN peacekeeping missions, most recently in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. In August 2004, Egypt was actively engaged in seeking a solution to the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, including the dispatch of military monitors. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Egypt, which has itself been the target of terrorist attacks, has been a key supporter of U.S. efforts against terrorists and terrorist organizations such as Osama bin Ladin and al-Qaeda, and actively supported the Iraqi Governing Council, as well as the subsequent government of Prime Minister Allawi. In July 2005, terrorists attacked the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh. In the same month, Egypt's envoy to Iraq was assassinated. U.S.-EGYPTIAN RELATIONS The United States and Egypt enjoy a str ong and friendly relationship based on shared mutual interest in Middle East peace and stability, revitalizing the Egyptian economy and strengthening trade relations, and promoting regional security. Over the years, Egypt and the United States have worked together assiduously to expand Middle East peace negotiations, hosting talks, negotiations, and the Middle

SHOULD ETHANOL BE REQUIRED IN GASOLINE Research Paper - 2

SHOULD ETHANOL BE REQUIRED IN GASOLINE - Research Paper Example However, many others argue that ethanol is neither economical nor environmental friendly and it cannot cater the energy needs of America even if the whole lands in America are cultivated with ethanol producing plants. This paper tries to find answers to the question; SHOULD ETHANOL BE REQUIRED IN GASOLINE? Korzeniewski, (2009) argued that ethanol is cheap compared to gasoline and it helps mixers generate higher octane ratings (Korzeniewski, 2009). Oil prices are growing day by day and more over, the oil sources are exhausting every day. Some experts pointed out that the available oil sources may last for only 30-40 years more if the consumptions continue at the present rate. Under such circumstances, it is necessary for us to find an alternate energy source and many people believe that biofuel may replace oil fuels in future. However, Taylor and Van Doren, (2007) have questioned above argument. In their opinion, the perception about ethanol as an economical fuel is only a myth. They have quoted a 2005 report issued by the Agriculture Department, and argued that corn ethanol costs an average of $2.53 to produce, or several times what it costs to produce a gallon of gasoline (Taylor and Van Doren, 2007). In other words, ethanol use cannot be encouraged in America without giving subsidie s. It is difficult for the government to spend huge amounts as subsidies for encouraging ethanol use, especially in the present economic crisis situations. Another major question raised by the critics of ethanol is the feasibility of ethanol fuel in old cars. These people argued that ethanol may create major problems in old car engines and the engine could be damaged if ethanol fuels used for a prolonged period. In their opinion, new engines and new cars compatible with ethanol is required to encourage the ethanol use in America. Korzeniewski, (2009) has pointed out that â€Å"todays cars and trucks are all fully

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Does Health Policy assist in combating some of the health problems in United KINGDOM(DEMENTIA POLICY IN UK) - Essay Example Looking at these alarming statistics, it can be noted that incidences of dementia will only continue to grow. Attention needs to be paid to the ways in which comprehensible plans can be laid out for service development for this illness. In this paper the author attempts to understand dementia and how it affects the UK population. Using statistics from various governmental sources, independent researches and non-governmental sources it charts out the path, people suffering from dementia have had to face. Closely examining the UK government’s latest health plan, â€Å"Living well with Dementia†; the author critically analyzes whether the policy is people friendly and is addressing the right concerns. In conclusion, the author endeavors to point out gaps that have been left out in the policy making process which needs to be filled, for people with dementia to have a better life. Dementia is most commonly found among the elderly population, it is said that, in UK, 1 in 5 people over 80 have some form of dementia while in those over the age of 65, only 1 in 20 seem to be affected (Knapp and Prince, 2007). However, this is not to say that it cannot occur in young people, a growing number of younger populations are showing early signs of dementia within UK. While no, one, clear factor has been identified as a cause of dementia, it is said that genetic background, lifestyle, age and medical history could lead to the initiation of dementia. The way each individual experiences dementia depends a lot on their physical upkeep, emotional quotient and family support. However, being a progressive illness, its symptoms eventually become more rigorous as time passes. Caring for dementia patients, in the context of their deteriorating mental health is a tedious task. In UK, Knapp and Prince (2007) estimate that among persons aged 65 and above, 36.5% live under institutionalized care, while 63.5% people continue to live in their

How old are the rocks of the Lewisian Complex in NW Scotland, and how Essay

How old are the rocks of the Lewisian Complex in NW Scotland, and how do we know - Essay Example This was followed by the new rocks folding and heating, and the intrusion of further magmas during the metamorphism, resulting in almost all the rocks being gneisses (Waters, 2003). The Lewisian Gneiss are a major division of Precambrian rocks (4.6 billion to 542 million years ago) in northwestern Scotland. In the region where the Lewisian rocks are found, they also form the lowermost rocks, also the Outer Hebrides, form the islands of Coll and Tiree, and are exposed along the northwestern coast of Scotland. â€Å"The oldest rocks of the Lewisian have been dated by radiometric technique between 2.4 billion and 2.6 billion years old, whereas the youngest Lewisian rocks have been dated at 1.6 billion years (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010). Further, the Lewisian Complex form the oldest rocks of the British Isles, and are Mid- to Late- Archaen in age (Jones15). Most of these rocks are deformed and metamorphosed igneous rocks or orthogneisses. The types of rocks found in the Lewisian Comples are broadly subdivided into felsic gneisses which have a high content of light coloured minerals, mafic gneisses with a large proportion of dark mafic minerals, and ultramafic gneisses containing purely mafic minerals. Usually, the most highly abundant felsic gneisses develop from acidic igneous rocks, and mafic gneisses from basic igneous rocks. â€Å"Mafic and ultramafic gneisses are generally found together in this part of the Lewisian Complex, and are considered to be metamorphosed varieties of gabbro and peridotite† (Waters, 2003). The Lewisian Complex has been subjected to successive developments in techniques of age determination. There has been progressive tightening of constraints from Rb-Sr (rubidium/ strontium), K-Ar mineral (potassium/ argon) mineral dating, Rb-Sr and Pb-Pb (lead) whole rock studies through U-Pb dating of bulk zircon fractions, Sm-Nd rock and mineral investigation, to the most

Sweetener Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sweetener - Assignment Example In China people derived it from a grassy plant called â€Å"Saccharum†, in Hindustan Peninsula (India) from palm juice, in Canada from maple, in Poland from birch juice. The sugar that we know today came from India. It is believed that Indians some 3000 years ago invented sugar from cane. The Indians collected juice of cane, boiled it until the formation of brown crystalline grains. These grains in Sanskrit were called â€Å"sarkara†. The name sugar in different languages came from the original Sanskrit name. Thus, in Arabic – Sukkar, in Turkish – Seker, in Latin – saccharum, in Italian – zucchero, in German – Zucker, in Russian – Skhar, and in English – Sugar. In 327 B.C. the warriors of Alexander the great entered the Indian land. Their attention was attracted to the strange white colored solid material with a sweet taste. Onisikrit, the Greek historian of that time, who accompanied Alexander the great, wrote about the fact that in India; a cane produces honey without bees. Seventh century Arab expansion revealed Indian recipe of sugar production. Arabs brought the sugar cane from India and began to cultivate in Middle East. Arab established sugar production in North America and Spain as their expansion spread. West Europeans came to know about sugar during 11th century Crusade. Later West European trade with the East introduced sugar to the Europeans. Sugar was an extraordinarily expensive product at that time. For example, in 1319 in London, in today’s currency it cost $ 100 for one kilogram. In the 15th century sugarcane made its voyage to the New world, thus becoming one of few plants that came from Europe to America. It is recorded that in 1493, Columbus took sugar cane plants to grow in the Caribbean, and thus established a whole period of sugarcane plantation network. Caribbean islands became a real paradise for Indian sugarcane. Plantation supporting required a lot of workers. This also established export of 900,000 slaves from Africa during 1701 to 1810 just to support plantations in Jamaican and Barbados. Massive sugarcane plantation resulted power struggle among leading world powers of that time to take control of West Indies. In 1674, the Netherlands surrendered New York (at that time was called New Amsterdam) to England in exchange of sugar plant ownership in Suriname. In a 1673, France was ready to leave Canada to the UK in exchange for the return of Guadeloupe. Necessity is the mother of invention, and it dictated to find an alternative of expensive sugarcane â€Å"sugar† in Western Europe. Way back in 1575, French botanist Oliver de Serres tried to draw attention to the high sugar content in sugar beet, however, only in 1747, German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf managed to extract sugar from sugar beets. He presented a report about this discovery to the Berlin Academy of Science. During the life of Marggraf, his discovery did not get the ne cessary attention. In 1786, Charl Achard, French by birth, one of Marggraf’ student initiated agricultural experimental work of cultivation near Berlin. His goal was to learn how to grow the most sugary beet that could be used for sugar production. In January 1799, Charl Achard presented the first significant sample of sugar beet that weighed about 4 kg to the Prussian king Frederick William III. In his explanatory note to the King, he mentioned that by replacing sugarcane â€Å"sugar† by sugar beet â€Å"sugar† the country would save a considerable amount of foreign currency and create jobs for the locals. In 1802, with help from the government, Charl Achard, built the first plant in the estate of Kunren of Prussia for the production of sugar from sugar

Hand Hygiene Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hand Hygiene - Research Paper Example 98) Recent statistics underscore the seriousness of this practice as about 80,000 people die annually because of infections that result out of poor hand hygiene. (p. 98) Description of Literature on the Subject Hand hygiene is considered part of the fundamental healthcare standards for health care providers. It is expected, hence, that it is sufficiently covered in the corpus of medical literature, particularly in health care service. To verify this, several medical references were exhausted, ranging from medical standards, disease treatment and control, best practices in the industry, to medical guides for professional health care, among other related sources. A special attention was given to those nursing-related references. The investigation of the literature revealed a comprehensive and detailed academic works that have been undertaken according to scientific and medical standards. All in all, the literature is credible, authoritative and complete. Effective Hand Hygiene The book , The Foundation of Nursing (2005), explained that hand hygiene includes â€Å"hand washing (using plain soap and water), antiseptic hand wash (using antimicrobial substances and water), antiseptic hand rub (using alcohol-based hand rub), and surgical hand antisepsis (using antiseptic hand wash or antiseptic hand rub preoperatively by surgical personnel to eliminate transient resident hand flora). (White, p. 527) Numerous sources are one in explaining in detail the procedures by which the previously outlined hand hygiene procedures can be effectively carried out. Gregory and Mursell (2010) summed them into the following guide: 1. All wrist and hand jewelry should be removed prior to hand-cleansing. Cuts and abrasions must be covered with waterproof dressings. Finger nails should be kept short and free from nail polish. 2. Hand washing techniques involve three phases – preparation, washing and rinsing, and drying: a. Wet the hands under running tepid water BEFORE applying cle aning preparations. b. Hand wash solution must come into contact with ALL of the surfaces of the hand. c. The hand must be RUBBED together for between 10 to 15 seconds paying particular attention to the tips of the fingers, the thumb and the areas between the fingers. d. Hands should be rinsed thoroughly before drying. 3. When decontaminating hands using an alcohol hand-rub, hands should be free of dirt and organic material. The hand-rub solution must come into contact with all surfaces of the hand. (p. 231) Current Practice Even though hand hygiene requires very simple procedure and supposedly form part of the standard routines of medical professionals, its compliance rate is as low as 50%. (Creedon 2005, p. 208-216) Mayers’ (2009) work was more detailed and dismal in depicting this statistics. He found that compliance with hand hygiene and proper glove use ranged from 9% to 25%. (p. 1284) Indeed, according to Dixon’s (2008) research, staff members do not wash hands e nough, at the right time to employ optimal technique and that efforts at interventions such as education and training in order to increase compliance are not overly successful. (p. 247) Several reasons are given why medical service providers fail to practice proper hand hygiene besides sheer neglect. Some of these are listed below: 1. dermatitis and skin problems, which affect that frequency of

Problems of Population Census in Africa Essay Example for Free

Problems of Population Census in Africa Essay More explicitly it can be defined as a complete process of collection, reception, assessments, analysis publication and distribution of demographic, economic and social data, which relates at a given moment in time to all the residents of a country or of a well-defined partial geographic area, as reflected in the population and housing censuses handbook of the U. N in 1992. While conducting population census, there are various problems that could be altering the successful completion of the exercise using Africa and some African countries as case study, they include: i. Insufficient funding ii. Manpower ( inadequate skills/ knowledge , availability ) iii. Political influences iv. Inaccuracy in the base maps being used v. Inaccessibility to enumeration areas. Funding has been a major issue in the conduct of population censuses in developing countries especially in Africa. Most countries find the exercise too cumbersome to carry out in respect of monetary times and as such the periodical conduct of censuses under a 10 years plan as practiced by some developed countries in Europe and north America could not be achieved in Africa but some countries like Botswana have been able to achieve a considerable number of censuses up to tune of 15 censuses in their history. Sighting Nigeria as an example, the concluded 2006 national population and housing census was conducted after 15 years of the unsuccessful previous one. Even with respect to that wide gap. The country still had to receive monetary aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The issue of manpower is ravaging cases in conducting population census in Africa, the manpower usually are unskilled or semi-skilled in most cases. By virtue of that, the data they collect might not be correct which gives an in- accurate statistical data when the results of the census is concluded. The 2006 census in Nigeria recorded a huge number of inexperienced work persons who ad no previous knowledge of collecting data before that time. Influences cannot be ruled out mostly in developing countries where the due process agenda is just being proper gated. The stages that have to be passed through are in most cases being skipped or area that area to be paid much emphasises are being streamlined if it will not be of political interest to the people in power. Also there is cases of incompetent official being employed due to their political influences and no experience forehand which would later jeopardise the exercise. Due to a considerable level of backwardness still being experienced in Africa as a continent there are still some loop areas that affect the hitch free process of population census and that the availability of an up to date base maps. Some African countries still fi d it hard to produce an update map of the various regions and areas in their state which gives the workers a [problem when they get to their enumeration area and it still cannot tally with the area indicated on the base map given to them . Only few countries in Africa has been able to overcome this problems, Egypt has passed that level has it has been able to perform successively a 10years interval censuses since 1909 and problems as such has been eradicated over time. But that is not the case with other countries that has just being enlightened to the benefit of population censuses. The problem of harsh terrain has also been a ravaging factors that infers a complete population census to be carried out in some areas. For instance Ethiopia has had just three censuses in history (1984, 1994 and 2007) but in all cases the Somali region and the Afar region were not covered due to the fact that these regions are remote regions that are very hot and arid. While the Somali region hosts a large population and is a conflict area where Ethiopian regular forces are fighting against the Ogaden national liberation areas. These areas are areas of tremendous dangers in which enumerators are scared of going which would eventually have a deficit on the population statistics when it is finally computed. However with all these been said Kenya has been the first African country to be the first to produce a completely processed census within one year after census.

Motivation And Problem Statement Information Technology Essay

Motivation And Problem Statement Information Technology Essay A corridor indoor navigation system is proposed for any kind of visual impaired persons: blind, partially sighted, and people with progressive loss of vision. This system can help the visually impaired individuals to travel through familiar or unfamiliar corridor by using the Kinect sensor that mounted on the head or holding into hand. This chapter consists of five parts. The five parts can be divided into problem statements, project scopes, project objectives, contributions, and background information. 1.1 Motivation and Problem Statement Visually impaired individuals will face many difficulties and one of the common difficulties is when they involve in self-navigating at an environment which is strange for them. In fact, physical movement is one of the biggest challenges for them. Besides that, while they travel around or walking at a crowded corridor, it may pose great difficulty. One of the existing problems for visually impaired individuals to travel in a corridor is that they cannot detect either they need to turn left or turn right when reached to the end of the corridor by using only the walking stick. According to Saaid M.F [7], to walk at the corridor, the visually impaired individuals must find the border of the sidewalk at the corridor and then use their walking stick to define their current location. The reason why the visually impaired individuals do that is because they cannot forecast the obstacle which is far from them while they only can use the walking stick to detect the area around them. 1.2 Project Scope The scope of this project is to develop a system which can help visually impaired individuals to navigate in the corridor and calculate the distance of obstacles. This system used the sensor of the Kinect to detect the obstacles. Kinect is a low-cost 3D sensor developed by Microsoft for the XBOX 360 console which allows the player to use his own body as the game controller. Besides that, it consists of an RGB camera associated with an infrared transmitter and receiver, which permits to estimate the distance of the elements taken from the environment. This system using sensor of the Kinect to building the depth map, which can provides the distance of the obstacles detected in front of the visually impaired individuals. 1.3 Project Objectives In this project, the main objective is to develop a cheaper in price but will still maintain with a good functional system for the visually impaired individuals. This system able to help visually impaired individuals to avoid the obstacles such as people and animal on the corridor same with them; and it also can provides the distance of the obstacles in front of them. The aim of this project is to improve the visually impaired individuals ability in finding the direction at the corridor while they are walking rather than just rely on the walking stick to detect all the obstacles manually and waste their time in finding the exactly direction that they want to heading to. 1.4 Impact, significance and Contribution This system is designed especially for any kind of visual impaired persons: blind, partially sighted, and people with progressive loss of vision. This system will give a lot of benefits to the visually impaired individuals especially for those who have financial problem. According to the researcher Choo, Malaysia has around 60,000 visually impaired individuals and 28,000 of them had registered as a blind and applied to get the help from the welfare provided in Malaysia. This mean that the number of visually impaired individuals that have financial problem had covered more than half in the total number of impaired visually individuals and this is reason why the system provide is cheaper and affordable by most of the impaired visually individuals. More than that, this system able to provide the distance of the obstacles in front of visually impaired individuals by using sensor of the Kinect. It also able delivers the visually impaired individuals the existing direction to help them headed to the right direction. With the system provided, the visually impaired individual able walk at the corridor safety since the system developed is able to guide them along the corridor by providing the information of the surrounding along the corridor. With the system developed the visually impaired individuals also able to improve their own ability or less dependent to the help of other people while walking along the corridor. The reason why the visually impaired individuals can improve themselves into a more independent individual is because the system able to help them in finding the direction while they are walking at the corridor. Hence, the visually impaired person able to more likes a normal person in their daily lifestyle. 1.5 Background Information Nowadays, the tools to assist the visually impaired individuals are become very important because the tools are used to help them to navigate the surrounding in the corridor. According to Casey Helmick [3], those people who are visually impaired individuals often will rely on different tools to help them in travelling around. Dog guide and walking stick are the most common tools to assist visually impaired individuals in daily life. However, not all of them afford to purchase a guide dog, since the guide dog is at a quite expensive price level and will require consuming their time in training with the guide dog and getting the license and only able travelling around with the guide dog. The training cost and the license cost will also become one of the concern which they cannot afford all the cost plus the guide dog cannot available to enter some places such as hotel, apartment and hospital and this restrict them to walk smoother at indoor environment with just an assist from the walk ing stick. Besides that, some of the visually impaired individuals cant be around dogs. [3] Furthermore, the visually impaired individuals only can use the walking sticks to estimate and determine the obstacle on the floor along the corridor and the obstacle must be close with their current location since the length of their walking stick is limited. A walking stick may be harder to carry, since its longer than the actual walking stick and because the blind people use walking stick while walking, so they only have one hand free [6]. Hence, this cause the visually impaired individuals become inconvenience especially when their hands need carry a lot of items and since one of their hand need carry walking stick, so they may not able to carry all of the items. Besides that, the existing walking stick for visually impaired individuals has the range detection problem. The walking stick cannot detect the distance that much more far away from the individual or the moving objects that moving around the corridor. Unlike normal person they cannot sense the all of the objects and movi ng objects since they cannot see, so, this causes them a problem when they walk at the corridor. The existing walking stick also cannot assist and help the visually impaired individuals to detect the possible way whether to turn either left or right when they reached to the end of the corridor. To improve the limitation that do exist on the current visually impaired individuals walking stick, the corridor indoor navigation system has been proposed. Chapter 2 Literature Review Due to the inconvenience of walking stick in the corridor, there are many researchers that have been researching to discover a new way to solve the problem. In this chapter, there are some systems that are reviewed. Some of them are taken from journal or internet. 2.1 Ultrasonic Ranging System A mobile ultrasonic ranging system is the system that used to expand the environmental detection range for visually impaired individuals by using the Sona SwitchTM 1700 (Electronic Design and packing, Livonia, Michigan). This sensor uses a pulse of ultrasonic waves to determine the distance to obstacles. There are several hardware are used to set up the system such as AD654 Monolithic Voltage-to-Frequency Converter, 2 small headphone speakers, helmet, 15 volt power source, 2 plastic experimenter boxes, breadboard, resistors, capacitors, and minor circuitry. This project contains two modes of detections which is analog and digital mode. The analog mode will give the blind a mental picture about the environment based on the different frequencies and patterns of chirps elicited. The digital mode functions for detection a basically served to alert the blind of nearby obstacles [1]. The Ultrasonic Ranging System has less transmission attenuation, strong reflectivity, insensitive to light and electromagnetic. Especially with the appearance of intelligent ranging machines which take micro controller as the core, the ultrasonic detection device has been greatly improved in its detection accuracy, method and application range, and it has become an important part in the intelligent detection field [1]. Ultrasonic wave angular misalignment is one of the weaknesses of the system. In order for ultrasonic waves to propagate correctly during the echo respond phase, they must have a perpendicular surface to reflect from. Angular misalignment between the normal of the transmitting and receiving surfaces may cause the measured distance to differ from the actual distance [1]. Besides that, the hardware use by the system is expensive because mostly the hardware is manufacture and imported from other foreign countries. Other than that, to reduce the problem of ultrasonic angular misalignment, the suggested solution is by using different transmit and receiving ultrasonic transducer pairs. Reducing the size and weight of the ultrasonic sensor would greatly improve the ergonomic capabilities of the system [1]. 2.2 Point Locus Wearable GPS PathFinder system   Point Locus Wearable GPS PathFinder system  is designed specialized as away finding aid for the visually impaired individuals as they travel outdoor. The system communicates in a language of vibrations to the user, so that will be able to guide them. The vibration comes from two vibrating pager motors located on the users triceps. Whenever they need to turn, whichever vibrator is closest to the turn angle will vibrate. Then, the user stops and rotates in that direction, until they feel the vibration from both vibrators. This indicates the user is facing the right direction and should move forward. This signal is repeated every 20 seconds as a reassurance to the user that they are going in the right direction and should continue forward. When a destination is reached, a sustained vibration from both vibrators of 5 seconds indicates this. Point Locus Wearable GPS PathFinder system  will record GPS location data and use the current location of the user, and the desired destination to form a path from one point to the other. This information will be used by a microcontroller to control the vibrator circuits, so they will vibrate at the proper time. [4] This system will serve as important tools as one of the most important senses for  visually impaired  users that are the sense of touch. The purpose of the system is to design a product that will be able to aid visually impaired people in a meaningful way. It needs to be something practical that compliments their natural adaptations to their disability and extends their limitations. It will be a cost effective solution that improves their way finding ability, making them much more independent when travelling. By using the sense of touching, rather than audio, the system does not overload one vital sense that is needed as an adapted way to orient oneself. It also does not require vision to put on and adjust to the right size, because Velcro allows a person to feel out the proper place to attach the straps. This system is to record the GPS location in order to determine the path. The weakness of GPS is ineffective for accurate positioning in indoor environment such as underground, under water, tunnels and so on, because the walls can significantly interfere with GPS transmissions. The lost of signals will make the users feel unsafe because for a visually impaired person they will panic. Furthermore, the visually impaired has lacked the freedom to walk without friend or family member accompany, especially through the unfamiliar environments. 2.3 Corridor Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance using Visual Potential This system is developing a navigation algorithms that using visual potential for corridor navigation and obstacle avoidance. The visual potential is computed from an image sequence and optical flow computed from successive images captured by the camera mounted on the robot. The robot selects a local pathway using the visual potential observed through its vision system. This algorithm enables mobile robots to avoid obstacles without any knowledge of a robot workspace. Using the visual potential field and optical flow, Naoya Ohnishi defines a control flow for corridor navigation and obstacles avoidance of the mobile robot. The path-planning problem of a mobile robot is to determine the trajectory. The trajectory is determined as the path from the start point to the destination point without collision with obstacles in the configuration space. The potential field method [10] yields a path from a start point to a destination point using the gradient field computed from the potential field derived from the map of the configuration of the robot workspace. On the other hand, the navigation problem of a mobile robot is to determine the robot motion at an arbitrary time [9]. In a real environment, the payload of mobile robots is restricted, for example, power supply, capacity of input devices and computing power. Therefore, mobile robots are required to have simple mechanisms and devices [8]. Chapter 3 Methodology, Implementation Issues and Challenge, Timeline 3.1 Methodology The methodology that we will use in this project is Prototyping methodology. The reasons why we use this methodology are because the method is easier to understand, more user friendly and the steps are better structured. The developer will be able to modify the system continuously until meet the objectives. There are five steps in Prototyping methodology; they are planning, analysis, design, implementation, and final system [15]. Planning is the process of understanding of the reason the system will be built and the requirement. Analysis includes the problem identifying, analysis, predicting potential problems, and how the system will be built. System analysis leads to design decision, determines how the system operates in the term of process, data, hardware and other factor. Implementation includes the time when we want to build, tested and also installed. It includes the training and also system maintenance. sdlc_prototype.gif Figure 3.1 Prototyping Methodology: Source: http://www.slepi.net/blog/system-development/system-development-life-cycle-sdlc-methodologies.html, Wiras Adi( February,2008) 3.1.1 Planning Planning is the first stage of the prototyping methodology. A good project planning will increases the success rate of the project. Project planning is about what activity we needed in this project, and how much time allocate to every single activity. The purpose of this project planning is to show us a big picture how the whole programs flow and the total time needed to complete the project. Grantt chart is one of the tools that we used for schedule the activity. It also helps us track back how much we are delayed. 3.1.2 Analysis In this stage, developer need to analyse the application looks like, how it functions, how much it cost to makes a better system. In order to makes a better system, developer need to analyse other existing system to cover their limitation and weaknesses. Developer also needs to analyse the technology involved to make sure the hardware and software are supported. 3.1.3 Design System requirement specifications need to be studied before go to system design. There are many software that can be used for develop the system. This system is developed by using C++ programming languages and Kinect Xbox. 3.1.4 Implementation This is coding stage. After the design stage, this stage make all feature become functional. First of all, start with preparing all the hardware and software requirement. Install the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 software, and connect with Kinect Xbox. After that start coding and test the result. Several algorithms and software will be used to implements the system. All functions will be tested until it reached the project objectives. There are several way of testing can be conduct such as black-box testing, white-box testing, unit testing, system integration testing, and user acceptance testing. 3.1.5 Final System After all the stage has done, this stage will be the delivery stage and maintenance stage. To ensure the visually impaired individuals know how to use it, lesson training will be provided. Whenever the visually impaired individuals find any error, the maintenance service is provided to ensure the system work perfectly. 3.2 Implementation Issues and Challenges In every project, risks will always exist because of the issues and challenges that arise in the process of the project. Without any exception, this project also arise some issues and challenges such as: Time constrain Time is the main problem. We still need to manage our time with other subjects. To handle this problem, there is the reason to have the project planning. Code and software complexity Code complexity is another main problem due to our limited knowledge on the C++ language. Software that used to apply in this system also is the problem for us due to we dont have any knowledge about this area. To handle this problem, we need to make a research and study to increase my knowledge in this program. We have faced other difficulty when get the image pixel. The Kinect depth sensors convert the color to black, grey, and white. Black color is unknown area which mean too far or too near. White and grey is detected area. The difficulty we faced is we unable to let the laptop know which is object, which is wall, and which pixel we want get for calculate the distance. (Figure 3.3) 3.3 Timeline / Project Planning Project planning is very important to limit the time that we will use. So, it is a kind of time management for our project. Below, we will describe our project planning for Project 1. Project I Timeline Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Topic Assigned Identify problem statement, scope, objective, and background information Literature review Methodology and planning Project finalization and proposal submission Proposal Presentation Figure 3.4 Project I Timeline Explanation: Topic assigned The title is assigned by the faculty. Identify problem statement, scope, objectives, and background information Found the reason why we want to do this project, the scope, and found the information that was useful for us to understand more about this project. Literature Review In this step, we make a research to something that is related to this project and this research more to the journal and other official material. Methodology and planning In this step, we planned how we want to do our project; we determined our steps and followed them. Project finalization and proposal submission Make a hardcopy of the things that we have understand and read. Then, pass it up to the supervisor. Proposal presentation Make a presentation to our supervisor and also moderator. And prepare a Microsoft power point slide to them. Project II Timeline Current Week Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Study the C++ language and software Code edition Testing Thesis documentation Figure 3.5 Project II Timeline Chapter 4 Requirement Specification 4.1 User Requirement 4.1.1 Functional Requirement i) Obstacles Avoidance This system able to help user detect the obstacles position. ii) Distance calculation This system will count the distance from user to object detected. iii) Information This system will tell user the objects distance through the earphone. 4.1.2 Non-Functional Requirement i) Reliability Recover from failure. A testing plan shall be developed for this purpose. ii) Usability This system shall be easy to understand, easy to learn, and easy to use. It shall simplify tasks to set up and run it. iii) Portability This system shall be portable between computers. Additionally, the software shall be easy to install and remove. 4.2 System Performance Definition 4.2.1 Hardware Requirements Microsoft Kinect Xbox Laptop 32-bit(x86) or 64-bit(x64) processor Dual-core 2.66 GHz or faster processor Dedicated USB 2.0 bus 2 GB RAM 4.2.2 Software Requirements Windows 7 Operating System Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 .Net Framework 4.0 Microsoft-speech platform SDO v11 Kinect for Windows SDK v1.6 4.2.3 Programming Languages used: C++ 4.3 Design, Analysis, and Verification Plan 4.3.1 Design of Navigation system This navigation system is using Kinect Xbox for developed. Kinect itself contain of 2 3D depth sensors, RGB camera, multi-array microphone, and motorized tilt. Kinects sensor can measure the objects distances from 0.6cm to 4cm. Figure 4.3.1 is Kinect Xbox 360, Figure 4.3.2 is the overall outlook of the system. Figure 4.3.1 Kinect Xbox 360 Figure 4.3.2 Navigation System Outlook 4.3.2 Analysis If the system able to assist the blind people successfully navigates in the corridor, we can consider that our project is successful. Besides the main objectives, there are some sub-objectives we need to focus are: Move freely without collision with human Able to avoid collision with the object while travelling along the corridor Provide information to blind people such as the distance of the object 4.3.3 Verification Plan To verify whether the navigation system is met the objectives or not, we put it into real environment for testing. First, we put some object in the corridor, and covered the users eyes, and then ask the user walk along the corridor for testing the system. When the object is detected, the system will start counting the distance of the object, and tell user the objects distance. Besides that, we also test for human avoidance. Example: when a human suddenly stand in front of the user, is it the system successful to detect the human and tell the user? 4.4 System Overview Chapter 6 Conclusion 6.1 Project Review 5.0 Conclusion In this paper, we proposed a system which is indoor navigation corridor system to improve the limitation of the walking stick. The majority of chapter one is about the problem of the walking stick and its weaknesses. Chapter one also covers the project scope, project objectives, contribution, and also background information. The chapter 2 consists of review of researches that have been done in order to improve the limitation of the walking stick (to extend the range of detection). The chapter 3 consists of methodology, tools and timeline. The methodology used in the proposed system has main level, which is low level stage, intermediate stage, and high level stage. The functionality of each stage will be discussed in chapter 3. The tools we using has 2 parts, which is hardware and software. The objective we implements this system is to help the visually impaired individuals avoid the obstacles such as people and animal on the corridor same with them. The aim of this project is to improve the visually impaired individuals ability in finding the direction at the corridor while they are walking rather than just rely on the walking stick to detect all the obstacles manually and waste their time in finding the exactly direction that they want to heading to.

Recommendations to Change Public Health Priorities

Recommendations to Change Public Health Priorities Changing Public Health Priorities Team Members: Jingxiang Chen Xinyu (Frank) Chen Charles (Chuck) McCall Lisa Smeester Caroline Tapscott Chloe Welch Changing Public Health Priorities: Implementing Socioeconomic Determinants of Health to drive Policy Action The medicalization of public health systems receives the bulk of funding yet socio-economic determinants of health play an equal, if not increased, role in determining population health. How public health agencies use funding to provide public health services is a huge concern not only for every public health practitioner but also for every citizen. The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) 2013 report provides an overview to the recent expenditures of the states’ public health services funding, examining the advantages and disadvantages on such expenditures. The TFAH report gives an overview of how the health services expenditures of both federal and state are distributed (latitudinal direction) and how these amounts changed in the recent years (longitudinal direction). The major findings include both federal and state funding has been cut to inadequate levels in recent years, and there is wide variation in health statistics by state. For example, the amount of federal funding spent to prevent disease and improve health in communities ranged significantly from state to state, with a per capita low of $13.72 in Indiana to a high of $53.07 in Alaska. It is now considered more and more important to create a disease prevention mechanism, for example, the new Prevention and Public Health Fund provides $12.5 billion in mandatory appropriations over 10 years to local communities to improve health and reduce illness rates, which included Community Transformation Grants (CTGs) to allow local communities to tackle their most serious problems, incl uding obesity and tobacco, using evidence-based prevention programs tied to strict performance measures. Much research has been done by local public health agencies revealing the change of expenditures of funds on medical services in recent years. Massachusetts is a prime example, HPC (Health Policy Commission) 2013 and AGO (Office of Attorney General) 2013 showed that high health care costs are driven primarily by provider prices, which vary significantly among providers within individual payer networks as well as across the commercial market overall and there is evidence even showing such increment of price is not predicted by quality of care. Also in CHIA (Center for Health Information and Analysis) 2013 and AGO 2013, the authors argued that market leverage of providers influences health care costs in a cyclical process by determining provider prices, payments, and patient volume. Because of this, policy makers have drawn attention to the trend of provider consolidation and its potential impact on market leverage and health care costs. A shift away from â€Å"Medicalization†: Prioritization of Key Socioeconomic Determinants of Health There are many socio-economic determinants of health, some of which are being addressed and some which could use increased advocacy. Overall, the U.S. performs well in having policies that ensure an equitable right to work for all racial and ethnic groups, regardless of gender, age or disability (Heymann 2004). The U.S. is also one of 117 countries guaranteeing a pay premium for overtime work. However, the U.S. lags behind many other countries in addressing socio-economic gradients of health. For example, the U.S. guarantees neither paid leave for mothers nor paid paternity for fathers in any segment of the work force; moreover, the U.S. does not guarantee the right to breastfeed, even though breastfeeding is proven to reduce infant mortality. The U.S. also lacks a maximum length of the work week, a limit on mandatory overtime per week, and provides only unpaid leave for serious illnesses and family care through the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which does not cover all workers. In order to address health disparities caused by modifiable socioeconomic determinants of health, we prioritize three key issues needing advocacy in the health policy arena: mandatory paid sick leave, minimum (aka â€Å"living†) wage laws, and access to cost effective nutritious foods. Health Impact Assessments: Facilitating an Evidence-based Shift in Public Health Policy In order to change public health priorities there needs to be a political will to act; this is not always the case when dealing with socioeconomic determinants of health as they are often complex, multi-faceted issues whose outcomes may take a lifetime to track (Kelly 2007). Because health policy making can be a rapid action environment driven by competition for usually scarce resources coupled with pressure from the public, there is a need for evidence-based, sustainable strategies. Health impact assessments (HIA) can facilitate the shift to public health policy to help develop a comprehensive action plan addressing social determinants of health. These assessments provide an overarching analysis of the issue in political, social, and community contexts, examines cost/benefits analysis, and lays out options for action. For example, HIAs addressing our three key socioeconomic determinants of health found: Sick leave: Staying at home when infected could reduce by 15–34% the proportion of people impacted by pandemic influenza (HIP 2009). Without preventative strategies, more than 55,000 people in the state could die in a serious pandemic flu outbreak. Minimum wage: A living wage was estimated to result in decreases risk of premature death by 5% for adults and for offspring, a 34% increased odds of high school completion, and a 22% decrease in the risk of early childbirth (Bhatia and Katz 2001). Without a living wage, workers have increased adverse health outcomes contributing to health care burden and are less sell-sufficient requiring public assistance. . Access to healthy food options: Access to affordable, healthy foods help citizens of low income communities to consume a healthful diet and maintain a healthy weight, reducing their risks of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer (PPS). Without access to fresh produce in low-income communities, reduction of nutrition-related heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer will not be adequately addressed. Health impact assessments are a tangible, actionable tool to assist policy makers in shifting their public health policy focus to address socioeconomic determinants of health a top priority. American Public Health Association Public Health ACTion: Advocacy for an Increased Emphasis on Socioeconomic Determinants of Health The American Public Health Association (APHA) enacted the Public Health ACTion campaign (PHACT) in order to generate advocacy groups and actions to reach out and communicate directly with Congress and government officials about public health issues in order to make a difference. The PHACT campaign action kit is designed to be a starting block for anyone who wishes to either make a difference themselves or organize a group to do so together. The thinking is that the more people who commit to these actions and reach out toward members of Congress, the more positive change we may see. The action kit starts out with a timeline for 2014 corresponding to important congressional dates and what actions can be taken at each step of the way. This is a great way to get an overall picture of this year’s campaign and organize what actions need to be accomplished and when. The campaign takes place mostly in the summer and the plan outlines the three areas of focus for 2014: protecting public health funding, protecting public health funding under the ACA, and stopping gun violence. The fact sheet details the reasons why these areas were chosen and goes into what actions correspond to each area of focus. A ten-minute long phone script is provided after each focus so that a single advocate can call Congress to share these issues. Lastly, the campaign action kit outlines various other ways of taking action. These include getting a group of a few people and organizing a meeting with members of Congress to deliver a target message and discuss these issues. Using social media, letters to the editor or an op-ed to deliver messages are also discussed. This action kit provides a well-rounded approach to presenting target public health issues to Congress and to the public so that our voices can be heard. References Bhatia, R., Katz, M. (2001). Estimation of Health Benefits From a Local Living Wage Ordinance. American Journal of Public Health, 1398-1402 Center for Health Information and Analysis. Annual Report on the Massachusetts Health Care Fries JF,Koop CE,Beadle CE,Cooper PP,England MJ,Greaves RF,Sokolov JJ, andWright D., Reducing health care costs by reducing the need and demand for medical services. The Health Project Consortium. N Engl J Med.1993 Jul 29;329(5):321-5. Health Policy Commission. 2013 Cost Trends Report (2013). Available at http://www.mass.gov/anf/docs/hpc/2013-cost-trends-report-final.pdf. Retrieved on March 11, 2014. Heymann, Jody, Jeffrey Heyes, and Alison Earle.The Work, Family, and Equity Index: How Does the United States Measure Up?. McGill University, Institute for Health and Social Policy, 2008. Human Impact Partners (HIP). (2009). A Health Impact Assessment of The Healthy Families Act of 2009 summary of findings. Retrieved from http://www.humanimpact.org/projects/hia-case-stories/paid-sick-days-hias/ Kelly, M.P., et al. The social determinants of health: Developing an evidence base for political action (2007). World Health Organization, Geneva. Market (August 2013). Available at http://www.mass.gov/chia/docs/r/pubs/13/ar-ma-health-caremarket-2013.pdf. Retrieved on March 11, 2014. Office of Attorney General Martha Coakley. Examination of Health Care Cost Trends and Cost Drivers – Report for Annual Public Hearing (April 2013). Available at http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/healthcare/2013-hcctd.pdf. Retrieved on March 11, 2014. Project for Public Spaces (PPS). Farmers Markets as a Strategy to Improve Access to Healthy Food for Low-Income Families and Communities. Available at http://www.pps.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/RWJF-Report.pdf Trust for America’s Health. Investing In America’s Health: A State-by-State Look at Public Health Funding and Key Health Facts. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. April 2013 Extra Credit: Blog letter http://pubhealthinfo.tumblr.com Most people associate public health with health care and medical professions. But public health is a much broader field than that, spanning multiple disciplines. So shouldn’t public health policy reflect this? Much of public health policy is aimed at increasing access to health care for certain populations, providing health screenings, or other medicalized solutions. While these solutions are helpful, perhaps the public would be better served by combing them with policies that target social, economic, or environmental causes that contribute to the health gap that exists in today’s population. The WHO defines social determinants of health as â€Å"the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.† Social determinants of health are influenced by the distribution of wealth, power, and resources and lead to health inequalities between subgroups in a given population. If we want to decrease health inequalities, we need to shift the priorities of public health policies. You might be wondering how you can affect this kind of change. The key is to be vocal, which you can do in several ways. First, and perhaps most simply, you can use social media to get others informed and involved in shifting public health priorities. Like, comment on, or reblog public health blogs that advocate for the adoption of social determinants of health into health policies. Second, you can write op-ed articles, call in to local radio stations, or write letters to the editor to raise the awareness of the importance of social determinants of health and health inequalities. Third, you can send letters to your legislators. There are multiple sites that provide form letters, such as this site, or you can write your own letter. Here is a good reference for actions you can take to reach out to your legislators. Here are some other sites you might find interesting and useful in learning about the importance of social determinants of health and how to influence change in public health priorities: UnnaturalCauses.org Policy guide UnnaturalCauses.org Planning for Media Advocacy WHO How can we get the social determinants of health message on the public policy and public health agenda?†

How a Researchers View on Children Can Influence the Outcome of Resear

Power relations among children and young people may have been neglected in previous research as adults have indeed claimed superiority Understandings of childhood during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries arise towards children and young people actively participate in the process of research. Ethical issues are relevant to all elements of the research process, up to and including dissemination. Research should be managed within an appropriate framework that includes an appropriate consideration of ethics, and when working with children and young people deliberation on their rights and viewpoints. Ethical issues are of the utmost important when researching to ensure the research is carried out in a morally correct way and should be based on values, beliefs and attitudes. The papers I shall be drawing upon are: ‘Negotiating Autonomy: Children’s Use of Time and Space in Rural Bolivia’ – Samantha Punch (2004) ‘Gender Play: Girls and Boys in Schoolà ¢â‚¬â„¢ – Barrie Thorne (2004) Throughout history and in all cultures adults exercise power over children, in all aspects of their lives from parental power, teacher/school regulation through to the passing of laws at national level that affect the lives of all children within that society. S. A. Taylor (2000) cited in Doing Research with Children and Young People Edited by Fraser et al, pointed out that it is adults and not children themselves who write about, debate and decide what rights children should have.. This can be seen as an indication of the power adults exercise over children which confines them to subordinate roles within society. Power means different things to different people, however, it is generally t... ...esearch is not always an easy choice. There is often a fine balance between respecting the information gained from a child which has been freely given on a confidential basis and ensuring adequate protection for the child. Similarly ensuring that informed consent is given may result in some children not taking part in the research, but it also protects children from covert research which may not show them in a true light. As we have seen ethical issues are not always easy to resolve, but it is important to identify potential ethical problems so that ways of addressing them can be determined. Whether or not a piece of research is required to be approved by an ethics committee or not, by raising ethical questions during the planning stage it helps to ensure protection for both children and researchers and ultimately leads to better, well thought out research.

Color of America :: essays research papers

Color of America Essay 1.) During the last few centuries many people have migrated to America. One of the main reasons for that is that they all hear about the American Dream and the Promise of America. The American Dream/Promise of America is pretty much a false idea. People from many different places hear that there is freedom and fairness here in this nation, and they hear that there is opportunity in America for everyone and that everyone had a word in things. This promise wasn’t really a promise though. For Native Americans, African-Americans, and other groups†¦this promise has been broken†¦mostly because the American Dream is obtainable†¦but very difficult to achieve. Let’s take African-Americans for example. African-Americans obviously have a very large difference compared to most others in the world. They are black. People seemed to have a difficult time accepting this and because the farmers and people working on plantations with slaves all got their slaves mainly from Africa and the blacks were chosen to be used by them to do all of their work. This made the blacks immediately a lower class of people and before they knew it they were getting pushed to the back of the bus and not allowed to use the same bathrooms or water fountains as white people. 2,) Today American life is like a tossed salad. When people starting migrating to America many years ago, this country was known as a melting pot. Meaning that everyone just pretty much blended in with each other. This became a problem though. People didn’t always mix very well, as they all had come from different cultures and had many cultural differences and also just many different lifestyles. If this country were a melting pot with immigrants from all over bringing over their culture, this country would be very difficult to live in. You could have people like the bushmen living right next door to upper class Americans that just don’t want people who walk around pretty much nude right next to them. That then has people of different groups striving for their cultural identity to be shown because they aren’t fitting into the Eurocentric ideal of an â€Å"American† culture. Saying that this country is like a tossed salad though is a lot different and a lot more realistic. This is saying that like vegetables in a salad, ethnic groups are being able to maintain their own identities while they can still participate in the culture of Americans.

Research Paper in Society and Culture

Society and Culture Research Paper Marriage and Family: Nature and Scope (Belgium) Submitted by: Kate Danica M. De Jesus Submitted to: Ms. Sherryl Pajulas OUTLINE Topic: Marriage and Family: Nature and Scope (Belgium) Introduction: History Subtopics: a. the nature of marriage b. the selection of marriage mates c. the nature of family d. basic function of the family (Belgium) e. changes in the family f. family organization and disorganization g. culture and custom (Belgium) Conclusion: Acknowledgement I’m not a perfect person for me not to seek a help for others.To do a research paper is not an easy task that’s why I do acknowledge fist, God for never getting tired for giving me His guidance, strength and wisdom while I’m doing this. Second is my family who always there for me and for their support financially and morally. Also because they never stop loving me as what I am and who I am. Third is my friends who never let me down, they never get tired to cheer me u p that I can do this, they make me inspired. Fourth, I acknowledge those who also help me to have reference in this research paper, also because of they give patience to me, because without hem maybe I didn’t finish this research paper. 1 History Belgium According to its history, the name ‘Belgium' is derived from  Gallia Belgica, a  Roman province  in the northern most part of  Gaul  that before Roman invasion in 100  BC, was inhabited by the Belgae, a mix of  Celtic  and  people. A  gradual immigration  by Germanic  Frankish  tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the  Merovingian  kings. A gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire.The  Treaty of Verdunin 843 divided the region into  Middle  and West Francia  and therefore into a set of more or less independent  fiefdoms  which, during the  Middle Ages, were  vassals  either of the  King of France  or of the  Holy Roman Emperor. Many of these fiefdoms  were united in the  Burgundian Netherlands  of the 14th and 15th centuries. [18]  Emperor Charles  V  extended the  personal union  of the  Seventeen Provinces  in the 1540s, making it far more than a personal union by the  Pragmatic Sanction of 1549  and increased his influence over the  Prince-Bishopric of Liege.The  Eighty Years' War  (1568–1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern  United Provinces  (Belgica Foederata  in  Latin, the â€Å"Federated Netherlands†) and the  Southern Netherlands  (Belgica Regia, the â€Å"Royal Netherlands†). The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish  and the  Austrian  Habsburgs  and comprised most of modern Belgium. This was the theatre of most  Franco-Spanish  and Franco-Austrian wars  during the 17th and 18th centuries.Following the  campaigns of 1794 in the French R evolutionary Wars, the Low Countries—including territories that were never nominally under Habsburg rule, such as the Prince-Bishopric of Liege—were annexed by the  French First Republic, ending Austrian rule in the region. The reunification of the Low Countries as the  United Kingdom of the Netherlands  occurred at the dissolution of the  First French Empire  in 1815, after the defeat of Napoleon. And in 1830, the  Belgian Revolution  led to the separation of the Southern Provinces from the Netherlands and to the stablishment of a Catholic and bourgeois, officially French-speaking and neutral, independent Belgium under a  provisional government  and a  national congress. Since the installation of  Leopold  I  as king on  21 July  1831 (which is now celebrated as Belgium's  National Day, Belgium has been a  constitutional monarchy  and  parliamentary democracy, with a  laicist  constitution based on the  Napoleonic code. Alth ough the franchise was initially restricted,  universal suffrage  for men was introduced after the  general strike of 1893  (with  plural voting  until 1919) and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the  Catholic Party  and the  Liberal Party, with the  Belgian Labour Party  emerging towards the end of the 19th century. French was originally the single official language adopted by the  nobility  and the  bourgeoisie. It progressively lost its overall importance as Dutch became recognized as well. This recognition became official in 1898 and in 1967 a Dutch version of the  Constitution  was legally accepted. [23] The  Berlin Conference  of 1885 ceded control of the  Congo Free State  to  King Leopold  II  as his private possession.From around 1900 there was growing international concern for the extreme and savage treatment of the Congolese population under Leopold  II, for whom the Congo was primarily a source of revenue from ivory and rubber production. In 1908 this outcry led the Belgian state to assume responsibility for the government of the colony, henceforth called the  Belgian Congo. [24]  Germany invaded Belgium in 1914 as part of the Schlieffen Plan  to attack France and much of the  Western Front  fighting of World War  I occurred in western parts of the country. The opening months of the war were known as the  Rape of Belgium  due to German excesses.Belgium took over the  German colonies  of  Ruanda-Urundi  (modern day  Rwanda  and  Burundi) during the war, and they were mandated to Belgium in 1924 by the  League of Nations. In the aftermath of the First World War, the  Prussian districts  of  Eupen and Malmedy were annexed by Belgium in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority. The country was again invaded by Germany in 1940  and was occupied until its  liberation by the Allies  in 1944. After World W ar  II,  a general strike  forced king  Leopold  III, who many viewed as collaborating with Germany during the war, to abdicate in 1951. The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 uring the  Congo Crisis; Ruanda-Urundi followed with its independence two years later. Belgium joined  NATO  as a founding member and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Belgium became one of the six founding members of the  European Coal and Steel Community  in 1951 and of the  European Atomic Energy Community  and  European Economic Community, established in 1957. The latter is now the European Union, for which Belgium hosts major administrations and institutions, including the  European Commission, the  Council of the European Union  and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the  European Parliament. Nature of marriage According to the catholic, the true nature of marriage, a husband and wife living in openness to life, is a lso a witness to the precious gift of the child and to the unique and irreplaceable roles of both a mother and a father. In creating new life, the unitive and procreative purposes of marriage come together. Marriage, therefore, is not confined wholly to the loving intimacy of husband and wife but strives in generosity to go beyond this to bring new life into being. This procreative meaning of marriage involves not only the conception of children but also their upbringing and education.The loving communion of marital spouses is the primary context in which children are both conceived and brought up in love. It is true that some marriages will not result in procreation due to infertility, even though the couple is capable of the natural act by which procreation takes place. Indeed, this situation often comes as a surprise and can be a source of deep sadness, disappointment, anxiety, and even great suffering for a husband and wife. When such tragedy affects a marriage, a couple may be tempted to think that their union is not complete or truly blessed.This is not true. The marital union of a man and a woman is a distinctive communion of persons which even infertile couples continue to manifest. 4 Selection of marriage mates According to my research, Selecting a mate is a process that is to a large extent culturally defined. Who is considered as a suitable marriage partner differs across societies. Various criteria can be used in the evaluation of a suitable partner. Some of these are physical beauty, personality, education, wealth, social class, ethnic or racial identity and more.The relative importance of one criterion over another depends on the type of marriage that is being considered – an arranged marriage or one based on the Western concept of romantic love. Arranged marriages have been very popular worldwide and are still being practised today. This is so because an arranged marriage represents more than a union of two individuals; it is in fact the union of two families. It can also be a basis for creating alliances between important families, communities or even countries and nations. Therefore, arranged marriages usually require careful choice and negotiations.Another reason why arranged marriages have been and are still being practised is that young people have sometimes been considered as being too inexperienced to make such a decision as that of selecting a life-long partner. The parents and other older relatives then take the responsibility of finding a suitable mate for the young people. Even though arranged marriages are still being widely practiced, marriages based on romantic love are growing in popularity. This is so because of the influence of the mass media and its effectiveness in spreading the Western image of romantic love across the world.Exclusive emotional attachments are now greatly desirable in a marriage. 5 Basic Function of Family The Belgian standard living is one of the highest in Europe, per capita in come is high increasing, and a large part of economy is directed toward production for the consumer market. Housing is less crowded than in most of Europe. The pace of life in the cities is hectic, yet the Belgians know how to relax, and they do so at side walk cafes and at the restaurants known throughout Europe for the preparation of the Belgians favorite dishes; mussels, deep-fried potatoes, oysters, endive, and Flemish waterzoei (chicken). is an important consideration for anybody to grow up with a  family. Household camping along the Meuse. Although modern informality is making in roads among the students generations, the traditions of the tight family circle and formal relations with others is maintained. The whole is still focus of life. Regionalism is strong, and while they may visit the capital on occasion, many Belgians prefer not to wonder far from their place of birth. 6 Changes in the family Sociologists study society and how it is organized. They study what a society believes and how it is changing.They explain how people behave, but not how they ought to behave. Almost every society is based on the family. Some societies have nuclear families. In the nuclear family, the parents and children live together in one house. Other societies have extended families. In this kind of family, there are grandparents, parents, children, uncles, and other relatives all living together. In some societies, there are tribes. A tribe is a group of extended families that have the same ancestors. Throughout history there have been slow changes in the family and in family life, but today the family is changing quickly.This change causes many problems for the society and the individual. One of the major reasons for this fast change in the family is the change in how people earn their money. Today more and more people work in factories that make automobiles, furniture, clothes, and thousands of other products. Fewer people work on farms or make products at home. Peop le work in industry instead. This change is called industrialization. The ownership of land in an industrial society is not as important as it was when people lived in villages. 7 Family Organization and DisorganizationAccording to my reference, in Belgium, the population can be broadly divided into three linguistic groups. A majority are Flemings of Germanic stock who speaks dialect similar to Dutch. The Walloons, of Celtic antecedents, originally spoke dialect that differed markedly from Parisian French. These dialects have now nearly disappeared and have been replaced by a slightly belgicized version of French. Although in the countryside near mons (Bergen) and liege (luik) they still may be heard occasionally. The German speaking population of Belgium numbers less than 90,000 people.Yet because it is concentrated about Eupen and malmedy and near the boarder with luxem, bourg, it has been able to win language rights in those areas. Also in Belgium, the religion of both Flemish an d Walloons is Roman Catholic, but with markedly different attitudes. Many Walloons give roman doctrine a liberal interpretation and are not strict in their attendance at mass. In the Flemish areas of Belgium the churches are crowded. Roman Doctrine is strictly adhered to and seldom questioned, and the local clergy have considerable influence within their parishes.On a higher level the arch- bishop of Mechelin (Malines) enjoys universal respect and is one of the national leaders a portion of the salaries of the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, and Jewish clergy the protestant denomination in Belgium are not strong, although they have grown since World War II. 8 Culture and Custom The Flemish of Germanic bloods, and the Walloons, with the Latin ties, have been less than odds in cultural endeavors than the linguistic situation would seem to indicate. Belgium’s artistic output has coincided with the years of its greatest economic expansion for example, the Burgundian period. The 15th century was especially rich in painting, music, architecture, and literature. By the end of the 17th century, artistic production was nearly at a stand still. After 1830, with Belgian independence, a rebirth of the arts began and gathered momentum toward the close of the century. The 20th century has witnessed ever-increasing cultural activity. The traditions of Flemish school were carried on into the Italians. In the 17th century Peter Paul Pubens and his baroque school evaded a direct Italian influence. He painted religious and pagan scenes as well as landscapes and portraits. The 18th century showed little interest in painting.Romanticism in the 19th century was represented by Gustav Wappers, Louis Gallait and Hendrick Seys. An impressionist school produced Rik Wouters, who was a sculptor. In the 20th century, James Ensor, the father of Flemish expressionism, was very influential with his experimental forms. While Flanders produced the most outstanding works of painting, it was Walloons territory, Hainaut and Liege that produced the musical genius of the country. The musical contribution of Belgium to European culture is less well known than its painting but no less remarkable. The art of modern music was born on what is now Belgian soil.Because of the linguistic division of the country, Belgium has always possessed two literatures, French and Flemish. The Matter is further complicated by the fact that Flemings have, at times, written their works in French. The literature of this meeting ground of Germanic and Romance civilizations must be considered under its two divisions, French and Flemish 9 Conclusion Belgium is a constitutional monarchy in Western Europe. An independent nation since 1830. The labor there was only about 6 percent of their population is employed in agriculture, and there has been a continuing slow decrease in the number of farmers.Increments in the labor supply have generally occurred in the manufacturing industries. Most farme rs own their own land. Many find it necessary to supplement the income gained from their small acreage by taking part-time jobs in the towns. In the economic expansion of the first half of the 1960’s, employment in manufacturing went up approximately 12 percent, laborers from abroad especially Italy, have been attracted by these conditions, yet unemployment has continued to exist in the Borinage and West Flanders. Also in Belgium, income is also gained from Belgium’s transportation facilities.Although the rail system is the densest in Europe and successfully handles a high- volume freight and passenger service, as much or more freight is transported on the inland waterway system. Belgium’s educational system is highly developed despite the ill of two major controversies. The law established that it is the national government’s responsibility to see that satisfactory schools of all kinds are within reach of all children. 10 Table of contents pageAcknowled gement 1 History 2-3 Nature of marriage 4 Selection of marriage mates 5 Nature of the family 6 Basic function of the family 7 Changes in the family 8 References: http://vcampus. uom. ac. mu/soci1101/571marriage_partner_selection. html http://mycatholicweb. org/marriage/the-true-nature-of-marriage http://www. okanagan. bc. ca/Assets/Departments+(Education)/International+Students/Documents/ESL+Quiz. pdf Belgium Map 11 Belgium places 12 The Belgium Flag 14 13