IUB Natural Disaster Risk Assessments and Risk Management

Risk Identification And Justification The identified disaster risk is tornado, which is defined as â€Å"a violently rotating column in contact with the ground that is usually overhanging from a parent cumulonimbus cloud† (Vinod 2011, par 7).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on IUB Natural Disaster Risk Assessments and Risk Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This disaster brings lots of impacts to the community living in the region. Though most Tornados last for only a few minutes, they have been viewed as being the most destructive meteorological disasters in the world. However, there are those Tornados which might last for several hours, and might even travel for a very long distance apart from being wide. Due to the fact that this risk is prone during storms, heavy rains and bad weather conditions particularly in the evening, Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) will be affected most in ca se Tornado strikes the region. This is because of its location and weather patterns. In addition, since IUB is located within right front Quadrant, it will be affected by tornadoes and heavy rains; which might lead to life and property loss, as well as infrastructure destruction. IUB Vulnerability Due to the fact that Tornado is a natural disaster that locations around IUB need to be prepared of; there are lots of vulnerabilities in the University. There are many facilities in IUB that are being controlled by many people. For instance, in case the disaster happens and affect learning institutions like Universities in the region, the university will incur a lot of losses. For example, the university has buildings being used as classrooms, offices, dining halls, stores, and hostels among other things. In case such buildings are destroyed by Tornado, the university will have to incur lots of expenses to rebuild them. In addition, in case classrooms are destroyed, learning activities wi ll be affected much. This is because before rebuilding, learning process for students within the campus will come to a standstill first. On the other hand, if hostels are destroyed, where will boarding students spend their night? This means that the university will have to either incur other expenses of renting houses for them, or close the university till they rebuild them. Nevertheless, in case dining places are destroyed, it will be very hard for students, lecturers and university workers to have their meals. There are other buildings within the university being used as seminar and meeting rooms. Such buildings might not necessarily be used by student population, but they might be used by lecturers, administrators and even the surrounding communities. In case of destruction, what will happen to them?Advertising Looking for research paper on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Nevertheless, the IUB houses other buildings which are being used as business premises, and a very large percentage of such buildings will be destroyed in case Tornado strikes the area. This will result to a halt of important services offered by this business community. Apart from this stoppage, it will also result to destruction of income sources of such individuals who drives the economy of the country. There are other buildings within IUB that might bring lots of effect to the livelihood of the community leaving in IUB, for instance, the libraries acting as source of information to all people. In addition, the university houses the supercomputing and as well as network equipment which in total costs about 50 million dollars. In case this centre is destroyed, the information technology will incur a very big loss. To protect the centre from Tornado destruction, the university has constructed an â€Å"82,700 square-foot Data Centre is designed to withstand the strongest tornadoes, as well as a host of other po tential disasters† (Indian Red Cross 2008, par 8). On the other hand, structures like roads will be destroyed, and this will lead to a halt in transport within and without IUB. There are chances that communications within and without the region will be cut down, and this will have lots of impacts on the community, government and non government agencies (Vinod 2011, par 3). In general, the university has placed several warnings concerning Tornado occurrences and ways through which people can stay safe. Risk Assessment of the Threat Though Tornados are very destructive in nature, the probability that they will strike India including IUB is very low. It is perceived that, in a year, this disaster might happen only once or twice. Most of these tornados in India have been reported during April and June, which are hot months in India (Indian Red Cross 2008, par 4). The most destructive incidences have been observed in â€Å"northeast India, northwest India, central parts of the Cou ntry and southwest Peninsula. Tornados over eastern and north-eastern parts of the country are more severe in intensity than those of other regions† (Geophys Union 2005, par 5). In 2002, Ellettsville town, which is only a few miles from IUB, experienced an F3 category tornado. This disaster occurred with winds travelling at a speed of 200 miles per hour. This led to a destruction of properties worth $ 10 million. Plan of Action for My Personal Safety My action plan for personal safety entails the following activities:Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on IUB Natural Disaster Risk Assessments and Risk Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Leaving my home immediately the government announces evacuation program. Am always aware of security conditions around the area by listening to news and reading newspapers. I have identified exit routes and emergence telephone numbers. Always avoiding overcrowde d areas as they seem to be more insecure and dangerous. Checking and listening to news updates concerning weather condition. Checking out for special medicines as well as drugs Moving valuables to safer grounds in advance. Staying indoors part away from windows Some of the necessary resources during Tornado include money, boats, axes, food, radio/television, batteries, imperishable foods, spotlight, blankets, phone and very strong houses (Emergency.iub.edu 2011, par 8). Conclusion The occurrence of Tornado around IUB is real. This is as a result of its geographical location as well as historical events. Due to the fact that this area has learning institutions like Indiana University Bloomington and other infrastructures being used by many people from different regions as well as from IUB itself, the impact will be of great loss to the population in case the population is not well prepared. The event will not only affect economic activities, but it will also have lots of effects on peoples social life, and students’ education. However, in case the community around IUB is well educated and prepared, then this risk will be managed. Education can be conducted to ensure that people know what to do to ensure that they are safe, for instance, building windstorm resistant houses. The federal emergency management authorities should also educate people on how to inculcate disaster preparedness culture among the people of IUB. During evacuation, it is good to carry things like blankets, imperishable foods, apart from knowing exit routs and emergency phone numbers. Work Cited Indian Red Cross. Severe Local Storms and Tornadoes. 2008. Web. Vinod, Sharma. Natural Disaster Management in India. 2011. Web. Geophys Union. Extreme Weather Events over India in the last 100 years. 2005. Web.Advertising Looking for research paper on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Emergency.  Preparing Campuses for Protection. 2011. Web. This research paper on IUB Natural Disaster Risk Assessments and Risk Management was written and submitted by user Keith V. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Wars in the Former Yugoslavia

Wars in the Former Yugoslavia In the early 1990s, the Balkan country of Yugoslavia fell apart in a series of wars which saw ethnic cleansing and genocide return to Europe. The driving force was not age-old ethnic tensions (as the Serb side liked to proclaim), but distinctly modern nationalism, fanned by the media and driven by politicians. As Yugoslavia collapsed, majority ethnicities pushed for independence. These nationalist governments ignored their minorities or actively persecuted them, forcing them out of jobs. As propaganda made these minorities paranoid, they  armed themselves and smaller actions degenerated into a bloody set of wars. While the situation was rarely as clear as Serb versus Croat versus Muslim, many small civil wars erupted over decades of rivalry and those key patterns existed. Context: Yugoslavia and the Fall of Communism The Balkans had been the site of conflict between the Austrian and Ottoman Empires for centuries before both collapsed during World War I. The peace conference which redrew the maps of Europe created the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes out of territory in the area, pushing together groups of people who soon quarreled about how they wished to be governed. A strictly centralized state formed, but opposition continued, and in 1929 the king dismissed representative government- after the Croat leader was shot while at parliament- and began to rule as a monarchical dictator. The kingdom was renamed Yugoslavia, and the new government purposefully ignored the existing and traditional regions and peoples. In 1941, as World War II spread over the continent, Axis soldiers invaded. During the course of the war in Yugoslavia- which had turned from a war against the Nazis and their allies to a messy civil war complete with ethnic cleansing- communist partisans rose to prominence. When liberation was achieved it was the communists who took power under their leader, Josip Tito. The old kingdom was now replaced by a federation of supposedly six equal republics, which included Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia, and two autonomous regions, including Kosovo. Tito kept this nation together partly by sheer force of will and a communist party which cut across ethnic boundaries, and, as the USSR broke with Yugoslavia, the latter took its own path. As Tito’s rule continued, ever more power filtered down, leaving just the Communist Party, the army, and Tito to hold it together. However, after Tito died, the different wishes of the six republics began to pull Yugoslavia apart, a situation exacerbated by the collapse of the USSR in the late 1980s, leaving just a Serb-dominated army. Without their old leader, and with the new possibilities of free elections and self-representation, Yugoslavia divided. The Rise of Serbian Nationalism Arguments began over centralism with a strong central government, versus federalism with the six republics having greater powers. Nationalism emerged, with people pushing for splitting Yugoslavia up or forcing it together under Serb domination. In 1986, the Serbian Academy of Sciences issued a Memorandum which became a focal point for Serb nationalism by reviving ideas of a Greater Serbia. The Memorandum claimed Tito, a Croat/Slovene, had deliberately tried to weaken Serb areas, which some people believed, as it explained why they were doing relatively poorly economically compared to the northern regions of Slovenia and Croatia. The Memorandum also claimed Kosovo had to remain Serbian, despite a 90 percent Albanian population, because of the importance to Serbia of a 14th century battle in that region. It was a conspiracy theory that twisted history, given weight by respected authors, and a Serb media which claimed Albanians were trying to rape and kill their way to genocide. They we ren’t. Tensions between Albanians and local Serbs exploded and the region began to fragment. In 1987, Slobodan Milosevic was a low-key but powerful bureaucrat who, thanks to the major support of Ivan Stambolic (who had risen to be Serbia’s Prime Minister) was able to leverage his position into an almost Stalin-like seizure of power in the Serb Communist Party by filling job after job with his own supporters. Until 1987 Milosevic was often portrayed as a dim-witted Stambolic lackey, but that year he was in the right place at the right time in Kosovo to make a televised speech in which he effectively seized control of the Serbian nationalism movement and then consolidated his part by seizing control of the Serbian communist party in a battle waged in the media. Having won and purged the party, Milosevic turned the Serb media into a propaganda machine which brainwashed many into paranoid nationalism. Milosevic than gained Serb ascendance over Kosovo, Montenegro, and Vojvodina, securing nationalist Serb power in four of the region’s units; the Yugoslav government c ould not resist. Slovenia now feared a Greater Serbia and set themselves up as the opposition, so the Serb media turned its attack onto Slovenes. Milosevic then started a boycott of Slovenia. With one eye on Milosevic’s human rights abuses in Kosovo, the Slovenes began to believe the future was out of Yugoslavia and away from Milosevic. In 1990, with Communism collapsing in Russia and across Eastern Europe, the Yugoslavia Communist Congress fragmented along nationalist lines, with Croatia and Slovenia quitting and holding multi-party elections in response to Milosevic trying to use it to centralize Yugoslav’s remaining power in Serb hands. Milosevic was then elected President of Serbia, thanks in part to removing $1.8 billion from the federal bank to use as subsidies. Milosevic now appealed to all Serbs, whether they were in Serbia or not, supported by a new Serb constitution which claimed to represent Serbs in other Yugoslav nations. The Wars for Slovenia and Croatia With the collapse of the communist dictatorships in the late 1980s, the Slovenian and Croatian regions of Yugoslavia held free, multi-party elections. The victor in Croatia was the Croatian Democratic Union, a right-wing party. The fears of the Serb minority were fuelled by claims from within the remainder of Yugoslavia that the CDU planned a return to the anti-Serb hatred of World War II. As the CDU had taken power partly as a nationalistic response to Serbian propaganda and actions, they were easily cast as the Ustasha reborn, especially as they began to force Serbs out of jobs and positions of power. The Serb-dominated region of Knin- vital for the much needed Croatian tourism industry- then declared itself a sovereign nation, and a spiral of terrorism and violence began between Croatian Serbs and Croats. Just as the Croats were accused of being Ustaha, so the Serbs were accused of being Chetniks. Slovenia held a plebiscite for independence, which passed due to large fears over Serb domination and Milosevics actions in Kosovo, and both Slovenia and Croatia began arming local military and paramilitaries. Slovenia declared independence on June 25, 1991, and the JNA (Yugoslavia’s Army, under Serbian control, but concerned whether their pay and benefits would survive the division into smaller states) was ordered in to hold Yugoslavia together. Slovenia’s independence was aimed more at breaking from Milosevic’s Greater Serbia than from the Yugoslav ideal, but once the JNA went in, full independence was the only option. Slovenia had prepared for a short conflict, managing to keep some of their weapons when the JNA had disarmed Slovenia and Croatia,  and hoped that the JNA would soon get distracted by wars elsewhere. In the end, the JNA was defeated in 10 days, partly because there were few Serbs in the region for it to stay and fight to protect. When Croatia also declared independence on June 25, 1991, following a Serb seizure of Yugoslavia’s presidency, clashes between Serbs and Croatians increased. Milosevic and the JNA used this as a reason to invade Croatia to try to protect the Serbs. This action was encouraged by the U.S. Secretary of State who told Milosevic that the U.S. would not recognize Slovenia and Croatia, giving the Serb leader the impression he had a free hand. A short war followed, where around a third of Croatia was occupied. The UN then acted, offering foreign troops to try and halt the warfare (in the form of UNPROFOR) and bring peace and demilitarization to the disputed areas. This was accepted by the Serbs because they’d already conquered what they wanted and forced other ethnicities out, and they wanted to use the peace to focus on other areas. The international community recognized Croatian independence in 1992, but areas remained occupied by the Serbs and protected by the UN. Before these could be reclaimed, the conflict in Yugoslavia spread because both Serbia and Croatia wanted to break up Bosnia between them. In 1995 Croatia’s government won back control of western Slavonia and central Croatia from the Serbs in Operation Storm, thanks in part to U.S. training and U.S. mercenaries; there was counter ethnic cleansing, and the Serb population fled. In 1996 pressure on Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic forced him to surrender eastern Slavonia and pull out his troops, and Croatia finally won back this region in 1998. UN Peacekeepers only left in 2002. The War for Bosnia After WWII, the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of Yugoslavia, populated by a mixture of Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, the latter being recognized in 1971 as a class of ethnic identity. When a census was taken in the aftermath of the collapse of Communism, Muslims comprised 44 percent of the population, with 32 percent Serbs and fewer Croats. The free elections held then produced political parties with corresponding sizes, and a three-way coalition of nationalist parties. However, the Bosnian Serb party- pushed by Milosevic- agitated for more. In 1991 they declared the Serb Autonomous Regions and a national assembly for Bosnian Serbs only, with supplies coming from Serbia and the former Yugoslavian military. The Bosnian Croats responded by declaring their own power blocs. When Croatia was recognized by the international community as independent, Bosnia held its own referendum. Despite Bosnian-Serbian disruptions, a massive majority voted for independence, declared on March 3, 1992. This left a large Serb minority which, fuelled by Milosevic’s propaganda, felt threatened and ignored and wanted to join with Serbia. They had been armed by Milosevic, and would not go quietly. Initiatives by foreign diplomats to peacefully break Bosnia into three areas, defined by the ethnicity of the locals, failed as fighting broke out. War spread throughout Bosnia as Bosnian Serb paramilitaries attacked Muslim towns and executed people en masse to force the populations out, to try and create a united land filled with Serbs. The Bosnian Serbs were led by Radovan Karadzic, but criminals soon formed gangs and took their own bloody routes. The term ethnic cleansing was used to describe their actions. Those who weren’t killed or had not fled were put into detention camps and mistreated further. Shortly after, two-thirds of Bosnia came under the control of forces commanded from Serbia. After setbacks- an international arms embargo which favored the Serbs, a conflict with Croatia which saw them ethnically cleanse too (such as at Ahmici)- the Croats and Muslims agreed  to a federation. They fought the Serbs to a standstill and then took back their  land. During this period, the U.N. refused to play any direct role despite evidence of genocide, preferring to provide humanitarian aid (which undoubtedly saved lives, but did not tackle the cause of the problem), a no-fly  zone, sponsoring safe areas, and promoting discussions such as the Vance-Owen Peace Plan. The latter has been much criticized as pro-Serb  but did involve them handing some conquered land back. It was scuppered by the international community. However, in 1995 NATO attacked Serbian forces after they ignored the U.N. This was thanks in no small part to one man, General Leighton W. Smith Jr., who was in charge in the area, although their effectiveness is debated. Peace talks- previously rejected by the Serbs but now accepted by a Milosevic who was turning against the Bosnian Serbs and their exposed weaknesses- produced the Dayton Agreement after the place of its negotiation in Ohio. This produced The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Croats and Muslims, with 51 percent of the land, and a Bosnian Serb republic with 49 percent of the land. A 60,000 man international peacekeeping force was sent in (IFOR). No one was happy: no Greater Serbia, no Greater Croatia, and a devastated Bosnia-Hercegovina moving towards partition, with huge areas politically dominated by Croatia and Serbia. There had been millions of refugees, perhaps half of the Bosnian population. In Bosnia, elections in 1996 elected another triple government. The War for Kosovo By the end of the 1980s, Kosovo was a supposedly autonomous area within Serbia, with a 90 percent Albanian population. Because of the region’s religion and history- Kosovo was the location of a battle key in Serbian folklore and of some importance to Serbia’s actual history- many nationalist Serbs began to demand, not just control of the region but a resettlement program to oust the Albanians permanently. Slobodan Milosevic canceled Kosovar autonomy in 1988–1989, and Albanians retaliated with strikes and protests. A leadership emerged in the intellectual Democratic League of Kosovo, which aimed at pushing as far as they could towards independence without getting into a war with Serbia. A referendum called for independence, and newly autonomous structures were created within Kosovo itself. Given that Kosovo was poor and unarmed, this stance proved popular, and amazingly the region passed through the bitter Balkan wars of the early 1990s mostly unscathed. With ‘peace’, Kosovo was ignored by the negotiators and found itself still in Serbia. For many, the way the region had been sidelined and lumped into Serbia by the West suggested that peaceful protest wasn’t enough. A militant arm, which had emerged in 1993 and produced the Kosovan Liberation Army (KLA), now grew stronger and was bankrolled by those Kosovars who worked abroad and could provide foreign capital. The KLA committed their first major actions in 1996, and a cycle of terrorism and counter-attack flared up between Kosovars and Serbs. As the situation worsened and Serbia refused diplomatic initiatives from the West, NATO decided it could intervene, especially after Serbs massacred 45 Albanian villagers in a highly publicized incident. A last-ditch attempt at finding peace diplomatically- which has also been accused of simply being a Western sideshow to establish clear good and bad sides- led the Kosovar contingent to accept terms but the Serbs to reject it, thus allowing the West to portray the Serbs as at fault. There thus began on March 24 a very new type of war, one which lasted until June 10 but which was conducted entirely from the NATO end by airpower. Eight hundred thousand people fled their homes, and NATO failed to work with the KLA to coordinate things on the ground. This air war progressed ineffectually for NATO until they finally accepted that they would need ground troops, and went about getting them ready- and until Russia agreed to force Serbia to concede. Quite which one of these was the most important is still up for debate. Serbia was to pull all its troops and police (who were largely Serb) out of Kosovo, and the KLA was to disarm. A force of peacekeepers dubbed KFOR would police the region, which was to have full autonomy inside Serbia. The Myths of Bosnia There is a myth, widely spread during the wars of the former Yugoslavia and still around now, that Bosnia was a modern creation with no history, and that fighting for it was wrong (in as much as the western and international powers did fight for it). Bosnia was a medieval kingdom under a monarchy founded in the 13th century. It survived until the Ottomans conquered it in the 15th century. Its boundaries remained among the most consistent of the Yugoslavian states as administrative regions of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. Bosnia did have a history, but what it lacked was an ethnic or religious majority. Instead, it was a multi-cultural and relatively peaceful state. Bosnia was not torn apart by millennia-old religious or ethnic conflict, but by politics and modern tensions. Western bodies believed the myths (many spread by Serbia) and abandoned many in Bosnia to their fate. Western Lack of Intervention The wars in the former Yugoslavia could have proved even more embarrassing for  NATO, the UN, and the leading western nations like the U.K., U.S., and France, had the media chosen to report it as such. Atrocities were reported in 1992, but peacekeeping forces- which were undersupplied and given no powers- as well as a no-fly zone and an arms embargo which favored the Serbs, did little to stop the war or the genocide. In one dark incident, 7,000 males were killed in Srebrenica as UN Peacekeepers looked on unable to act. Western views on the wars were too often based on misreadings of ethnic tensions and Serbian propaganda. Conclusion The wars in the former Yugoslavia appear to be over for now. Nobody won, as the result was a redrawing of the ethnic map through fear and violence. All peoples- Croat, Muslim, Serb and others- saw centuries-old communities permanently erased through murder and the threat of murder, leading to states which were more ethnically homogenous but tainted by guilt. This may have pleased top players like Croat leader Tudjman, but it destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives. All 161 people charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for  war crimes  have now been arrested.

Alexander The Great Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alexander The Great - Research Paper Example The reason for the choice of Alexander the great is the success that he achieved during his reign which in incomparably to any other king in the ancient history, he is also considered a genius of all the time in military because he was able to conquer the Persian empire which was the strongest empire in both his father’s days and his and his conquer was the fulfillment of his father’s dream who died before accomplishing it. In addition to this attributed Alexander the Great was the inspiration of many other kings who came after him in the entire ancient Greece history and the Roman Empire which was later to be, the kings and emperors include Hannibal the Carthaginian and for the Romans are Napoleon, Caesar and Pompey (Tritle 102). Alexander the great was born in 356BC in Pella the capital Macedonia. His father Philip 11 was then the king of Macedonia; during his early life he witnessed his father accomplishing a strong military power in Macedonia having win victory in m any of the battle fields. His father hired Aristotle one of the great Greek philosophers to be the teacher of the young Alexander, Aristotle for his teachings provided Alexander with extensive knowledge on literature, philosophy, science and medicine developing high interest and Aristotle teachings became important in his future life as the king of Macedonia. At the age of 16 Alexander was delegated the authority to rule Macedonia by his father as he was to war to conquer Thrace, this was an indication of his capabilities of strong leadership at such a younger age. Alexander showed his military capabilities at his younger age when his father away he led an army to counter the Thracian tribe of Maedi and he was able to capture its stronghold and named it Alexandropolis and by 338BC Alexander the Great had risen having a commanding post and also ranked among the senior generals in the Macedonian army (Tritle 102). His father was assassinated in 336BC and Alexander took over the throne from his father. He took over a well established army from his father and he was crown the overall military general in Greece and it was now his time to accomplish his father’s military expansions before he died. Soon after ascending into power Alexander the great fought many battles in which he was able to suppress most of its enemies and finally conquering the Persian Empire (Tritle 102). Accomplishments of Alexander the Great Suppression of the Thracian, Illyrian and the Greek rebellions Alexander once he ascended into power suppressing the Thracian, Illyrian and the Greek rebellions which previously had constantly been a major threat the Greece Macedonian rule. His father had successfully conquered some of these territories but a lot was yet to be conquered to guarantee total control and suppression, all of the domestic enemies were suppressed by way of execution (Heckel 76). These domestic rebellions broke up after Philips death and the Thracians, Illyrians and the Gree ks who were in the northern Greece sought for independence. Alexander responded swiftly by suppressing all of the rebellions and after restoring the Macedonian rule in northern Greece he had the great task ahead in the

How important is it for managers today to have a good understanding of Essay

How important is it for managers today to have a good understanding of cultural diversity in the workplace - Essay Example Organisations are now obliged to address the diversified needs of not only the international customer base but also of its diversified workforce. This project attempts to divulge the significance of understanding the role of cultural diversity by the managers of these multinational concerns. A literature review will be conducted to understand the concept of cultural diversity in a comprehensive manner. The literature related to management skill will be review from the view point of different theories and finding. The influence of diversified workforce on organisational culture will also be discussed. The main motto of literature review will be to develop a knowledge base on the basis of which the research will be conducted. Later on, both primary as well as secondary research will be conducted to verify the research question. The data collected from them will be analysed and finally the finding will be summarised to derive the conclusion of the research. Diversity is defined in dictionary as â€Å"the fact or quality of being diverse; difference. A point or respect in which things differ. Variety† (Hoffman & Summers, 2000, p.178). When a company diversifies its business, it enters different countries and soon it loses the geographical identity to acquire the tag of international or a global organisation. For example, companies like Nike, McDonald and HSBC etc operates in different parts of the world and possess a highly diversified workforce. The term diversified workforce indicates employees that comprise people belonging to different age, gender, culture, ethical values, religion and race (Asante, et al., 2008, p.216). A diversified workforce has people with different needs and requirements, which the organisations are required to cater. The employees’ beliefs, their value system, individual interests and needs are highly influenced by the culture to which they belong. These factors also affect the culture of the

The benefits and harmful of plastic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The benefits and harmful of plastic - Essay Example One of the most effective features of plastic bag is its light weight. It hardly feels on the hands when carried. They in return enable carrying large amount of weight within them. They can also be adjusted and folded into different layers making them adjustable and fixable in the small and compact spaces. The light weight makes the best choice for the domestic appliances and equipments. The lawn chairs is one of the examples in this regard which often find large amount of usage. The usage of plastic is not just limited to the shopping purposes. Plastic is largely used in the different polythene and other related items. For example the recent times have seen the usage of plastic in the manufacturing industry. The aero planes in the recent times have also seen the large amount of usage of plastic. This has been done in contrast of the heavy metal usage. The reason for using plastic is its light weight and enabling the support for high travelling at a lighter weight. Airbus one of the world’s leading planes network has considerable amount of plastic used in it for the purpose of making it more supportive towards flying the heavy and large sized aero planes flying around the world (Rosato, 2004, p. 578). It is being reported that the weight of plastic on average is multiple times smaller and lighter than the ordinary devices and materials that are otherwise used in the different products and manufacturing items. One of the renewable energy sources that are finding large application and attraction in the modern times is directly and largely dependent upon the usage of plastic. It is the solar energy systems and solar panels. The bulk of it is the plastic material used which is not only cheap in price, but light in weight and rightly suited to the usage for solar panels and other material used in the solar energy. Plastic’s another feature is its resistance to the heat and electricity. It is

How Addicted Are Users To Social Networking?

How Addicted Are Users To Social Networking? Social networks have become an essential part of a persons everyday life. The purpose of this study is to explore the preferences of a user on notification settings, addiction rate of a user on social networks, and compare prompt vs. non prompt usage behavior. Semi structured interview was the methodology used in this study. The study was conducted at computer science building of Dalhousie University, Halifax. The interview was conducted with 21 students participation. All the participants were male students pursuing Undergrad/Grad/PhD at Dalhousie University. The participants were of age ranging from 17-30. There was no limitation or criteria to participate in the interview except that the participants must be a member of any social networking site. The interview was conducted by 5 interviewers. The participants were asked to sign a consent form in order to use their data for further analysis. The whole interview was audio recorded with participants knowledge. The duration of interview ranged from 5-20 minutes depending on the users response to specific questions. The questions were framed in a way that useful and relevant data can be collected during the interview session to answer all the research questions. The data collection and analysis will be discussed in detail in the following sections. The participants were not limited to focus on a specific social networking application but allowed to think broadly on their experiences with any social networking media. The participants were allowed to answer beyond the given choices and include their own concerns about their interaction using the social networking media. Data Analysis a) Addiction The word Addiction implies how a person tightly bound with particular action. In this report, addiction refers to a person addicted to any of social networking site. There are enough reasons for a person to become addicted to social networking sites such as: chatting, gaming, status updates, sharing pictures or posts, and keep in touch with their friends. In a simple words social networking sites are just clouding the people with most advanced features as well as cost efficient services. Social networking sites open a door to track people with less effect. Initial findings to support the people addicted with social networking sites were projected below. Success of any social networking site depends on making users to stay connected by offering extraordinary features. There are number of social networking sites out of which only few seems to be interesting or engaging to users. With this initial finding, we analyzed the list of social networking sites that play a major role in the present. Participants have an account with Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ etc., and Facebook plays a major role with 14 participants out of 21 choosing Facebook as their primary social networking site. There are few participants having the account in more than one site, one for the friends and another for their own interest. The previous response makes clear that success of any social networking site is based on how many active users it has. To find how addicted people are with social networking, the survey was included with the research question as how frequently do you use social networking. The response for this question is categorized as people visiting social networking site every hour, few times a day, always and less active (once a day or less than that). 13 out of 21 (62%) participants said they would visit their site account few times a day. Participants visiting their account every hour, less active, and always in social networking are 5, 2, and 1 respectively. This clearly indicates that more addicted people are far less from frequent users. As the response doesnt contain any negative value, it reflects that everyone is bounded with social networking regardless of its service. The following graph implies the response from the participants. Interest of every individual differs depending on the features they like or use and those features makes them addicted with particular social networking sites. Figure 1: Frequency of social networking usage The way participants admired by social networking sites are depends on fun, interaction with friends and family, and games (I dont understand the sentence). Even though every social networking sites offer numerous features, chatting plays a vital role and the communication with family friends through text or video keeps the participants more involved. Other features that the participants were attracted to were games and fun activities. Participants mention fun activities as picture sharing, tagging, news feeds, status updates, tweets, and other activities of their own as well as others. Figure 2: Major role in social interworking b) Prompted Vs. Non-Prompted Users are prompted by means of notifications. Notifications can be through messages, friend requests, news feed etc. If a notification makes a participant to login into the system, the user is considered to be prompted user and vice versa if not. A participant can be prompted by many ways like email notification, push messages. Most of the participants interviewed were prompted. The graph below shows the first login of the day; say morning, afternoon, evening, night, anytime (always) compared with quick response for the notification. A participants first login is considered to know how obsessed he is with the social networking site. Quick response to notification indicates during which part of time the participant were prompted. Nearly 48% (10 out of 21) of the participants were logged-in in the morning and 24% (5 out of 21) of users were logged in always. This tells the participants were prompted as the day starts as shown in blue color bar in the graph (figure 3). About nine participants respond quickly to the notification anytime. Six participants respond to the notifications in the evening more often than any other time. From the red bars, participants were considered as prompted because of the intention to look into the social networking site by the notification. Figure 3: Participant first login VS quick response to notification c) Notification Notification is one of the very important aspects of the social networking sites. Social networking sites notification system intimates the user about any new activity that occurred in users network space on that specific social network. In this semi-structured interview different questions were framed to elicit important information from the user regarding their perspective about different aspects of notification system. In order to determine the users likes and dislikes of notification settings, few questions were asked relating to their preference in notifications and settings management. Users interests or reactions on specific notification settings were also analyzed. Analysis of the collected data uncovered very interesting information about users experience with notification system. The results are represented as graph in the following section: E-mail notification Figure 4: Participants response to e-mail as their mode of notification The study indicated that 86% (18 out of 21) of participants disliked the e-mail notification feature in social networking site. This is because most of participants found e-mail notifications as spam and it required significant time for checking each and every notification whereas few participants said that the push notifications facility provided by smart phones are convenient than e-mail. The result indicates that the e-mail notifications are the Notification Settings Management The study shows that majority of users want to have control over their notification management. The participants were asked if social networking sites can change their settings on their own without prior information, or they should allow customization of settings. Though the result was as expected, few interesting responses were captured during the interview where six participants said that the social networking sites have full rights to change their settings as per their wish since the sites are used at no cost. 71% (15 of 21) participants reported that they would like to customize their settings whereas the remaining 29% participants reported that they have no problem with social networking sites changing their settings without notifying them. Figure 5: Participants response to notification setting management Discussion The study to identify the interests in notification settings, prompted vs. non-prompted usage behaviour, and addiction gave many valuable and interesting results. The analysis of the collected data gave us both expected as well as unexpected results on the usage of social networking media. The voice recordings of the whole interview session helped us to understand the mood of the candidate and also aided in double checking the obtained results. The methodology of semi structured interview gave us a huge amount of data and helped us to understand the activities of users under different categories. It allowed us to make comparisons between the participant data for the same set of questions. It also helped to form a more general and flexible question base to get an overview of the general opinion in great detail. It made the candidate to speak easily on sensitive topics related to social media. On the other side, we as a team encountered some difficulties in adopting this methodology one such is that we were unable to evaluate the participants data in the real world by making them use their favourite social media application and analyse them. The semi structured interview seemed resource intensive in some scenarios while collecting user data. As interviewers we cannot guarantee the honesty of the participants in answering the imposed questions. In some situations the cause and effect of the participants response will be very d ifficult to compare. As an interviewer specific skills are required to obtain a better result. The results obtained from the semi structured interview gave us a comprehensive conclusion on the various activities in a typical social networking application. The usages of social networking have gained widespread importance especially among the teenagers, adolescents and adults. The main reason for such a huge user base is the basic functionality of staying connected with friends, family and acquaintances. The various options of sharing media within a group and communicating with their friends over text, voice and video chats are very prominent in many social networking applications. The three topics of the social networking which the semi structured interview dealt were addiction, prompted versus non-prompted use and notifications. As researchers we were well satisfied with the data collection from these descriptions of use by the participants. We were well convinced to provide conclusive results on the collected information and achieve the goal of this semi-structured interview

The Spider and Soul in Walt Whitmans A Noiseless Patient Spider Essay

The Spider and Soul in Walt Whitman's A Noiseless Patient Spider Works Cited Not Included In â€Å"A Noiseless Patient Spider†, Walt Whitman compares the images of a spider creating a web to catch its prey to his own soul. In the first stanza, he describes the spider creating its web. In the second stanza, he begins to describe his own soul searching for something it needs. Throughout the poem, Whitman is relating the spider to the human soul by showing how both would pursue and capture what they need to continue to exist in this life. In line one, â€Å"A noiseless, patient spider† shows a spider that seems to be waiting for what it is searching for. Perhaps it is waiting for a chance to strike at its prey if it were detected in time. The soul seems to be doing nearly the same thing when Whitman says the soul is â€Å"ceaselessly musing† (line 8). Musing is when someone is pondering about something in silence. Both images are being described as moving in careful silence. The spider seems to be planning to trick the prey into being caught. Perhaps whatever the soul is looking for must be tricked into being caught. If both were to let their presence be known, their elusive prey may disappear. In order for either the spider or the soul to capture its prey, first they both must create a way to trap what they need and trick it into being caught. â€Å"It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them† (lines 4-5). These lines are describing the spider while it makes its web. The poet uses the word â€Å"tirelessly† to show that the spider must complete its task of finding sustenance in order to survive. The repetition of the word â€Å"filament† shows how deliberately t... ...er and the soul are alike in how they search for what will continue their existence. For the spider, it is waiting patiently as he tries to find a way to trap his prey in order to continue its life. As for the soul, it must be patient and hold on to what it knows as religious truth as it waits to be nourished by the one that it truly serves. Both the spider and the soul must hold onto their anchor in order to wait for their prey. Once it is spotted, they must move quickly to it in order to ensure that they catch it. Once it is within their grasp, their existence may continue. But, if they are sidetracked by what goes on in their immediate surroundings instead of concentrating on their prey, then they may lose their opportunity for life. That is why the spider and the soul must be patient, noiseless, and ever ready to obtain what they have hunted for so long.