Industrial ergonomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Industrial ergonomics - Essay Example Task analysis applies the use of ergonomic sciences. Ergonomics is the field of science that aims at creating tasks and tools that suit employees in their respective duties at the workplace. Ergonomics looks at the tasks, tools, machines, workplace layouts, and the entire organisation to determine their suitability for employees rather than employees fitting to these aspects of an organisation. Therefore, a clear understanding of task analysis plays a key role in assisting supervisors and managers in identifying ergonomic health hazards and creating solutions to eliminate such hazards. With proper measures in place, risks of cumulative trauma disorders, back pains and costs related to treatment of such disorders can be significantly reduced at workplaces (Deeb, 2004). According to Jonassen (1999), on the other hand, task analysis refers to systematic assessment of how tasks are accomplished. In task analysis, serious attention is given to task duration, task frequency, task complexity, task allocation, work environment, clothing and equipments, and employee fitness. Information obtained from task analysis is helpful in various areas within an organisation, which include designing of tools and equipments, selection and training of employees, designing of procedures, and automation within an organisation. Task analysis courses are available for managers, supervisors and persons working in ergonomic committees. People who undertake this course acquire training on conducting ergonomic task analysis by looking into how employees perform their duties, as well as formulating measures that adapt employees to their work. Different methods of task analysis exist, but for one to decide the most suitable method, a good understanding of the analysis to perform is required. There are five types of task analyses that are available that include job analysis, learning analysis, cognitive task analysis, content analysis, and activity analysis. Different

First-generation, Second-generation and Third-generation of Currency Essay

First-generation, Second-generation and Third-generation of Currency Crises Models - Essay Example Currency crisis can originate from a financial crisis associated with an actual economic crisis that can cause depletion of valuable reserves. The drastic effects of a changing value of currency can be very brutal to small economies as compared to relatively larger ones. The government or major bodies of authorities should regulate and defend the currency by fulfilling the surplus demand for a given currency using the currency reserves of the country or by using its foreign reserves or by elevating the interest rates. Throughout history we have seen a large number of currency crisis that have affected many economies worldwide leading to recessions like the economic crisis in Mexico in 1994, the Asian crisis in 1997, the case of the Hong Kong dollar in 1998 and Russian crisis in 1998. The rapid increase in the number of currency crises after the Latin American debt crisis in the 1980s was alarming. This resulted in extensive research and in the conception of many theories and models. Thus, the first methodical formation of currency crisis model came in 1979 by Paul Krugman in his extensive research based on Steve Salant and Dale Henderson’s paper published in 1978. This model was based on the study of how efficiently the trade prices of articles of trade could stabilize after concerned authorities had an insight that an investor will hold on to an exhaustible resource if he expects its price to rise quick enough offering him a profitable return rate. This concept is based on Hotelling lemma’s exhaustible resource pricing leading to a choking point when the price has risen to such a height that ultimately there isn’t any more demand left. The... This essay declares that a currency crisis is a catastrophe that takes place when a tentative attack on the exchange value of a currency leads to the devaluation or unexpected depreciation in a country’s currency value. A currency crisis can also lead to a balance-of-payments crisis or a huge exchange rate depreciation or even a massive international reserve loss, or all of the above. Most economists agree that a speculative hit in the foreign exchange market usually affects fixed exchange rate markets rather than floating exchange rate markets. Currency crisis can originate from a financial crisis associated with an actual economic crisis that can cause depletion of valuable reserves. The drastic effects of a changing value of currency can be very brutal to small economies as compared to relatively larger ones. The government or major bodies of authorities should regulate and defend the currency by fulfilling the surplus demand for a given currency using the currency reserves of the country or by using its foreign reserves or by elevating the interest rates. This paper makes a conclusion that the growing trend in the shadow price was provided by supposing that the government issues money to finance the country’s budget deficits, however the central bank is prepared to defend the exchange rate through international reserves. Hence, Salant further worked on a gold price stabilization technique.

How Do Smartphones Affect Secondary Students English Language Essay

How Do Smartphones Affect Secondary Students English Language Essay As technology advances and so does the threats posed to its users increase. However, as technology develops it serves as the backbone of our modern ever-changing world. With the wide availability of the so called SMARTPHONES in the mobile market major concerns have risen to the usage of them by students all over the world and as a result the effects are drastic. The research question that was examined is as following. How do smartphones affect secondary students and what are the impacts they have on education? The scope of the research was based on my school as a core foundation and the world in general as a comparison modem which allowed me to attain the overall view of the effects. I prepared questionnaires which I handed to students at Sandford international school (see appendices) to 20 IB students, and they filled it and gave it back to me. I also interviewed some teachers to get a detailed and specific opinion from their thoughts. The results gave me an idea on how scholars themselves have been affected, and I used the results for my further analysis in the essay. This essay dealt with the problems associated with mobile devices in comparison to education. I analyzed both the advantages and disadvantages before I reached my conclusion. I carried out my secondary research over the internet and textbooks. The essay focused on the problems experienced by many scholars and what are the different ways in which they can avoid this. I have then concluded that smartphones have affected many students including the way they learn at school and I have suggested on how students can help each other overcome the problem. Word count: 284 Introduction [1] Failure amongst secondary school students is a global issue. For the last decade Smartphones have become part of our daily lives. We can use smartphones to read the news through the internet, send music via Bluetooth, stream live videos, access YouTube, communicate with friends and family across the world at any time or even create breath taking effects for both picture and videos. Along with its growing reliance of Mobile phones and technological development, however comes a problem that many students face in Schools. The ease of being able to carry these phones into school students at Sandford international school are finding it very hard to cope with classes without easily being distracted. As a result, the abstract nature of intellectual property with regards to smartphones has become a bigger issue. Usage of mobile phones in schools is a growing concern for many schools across the globe which is easy to dismiss as a trivial issue, but can be considered as a powerful social f orce. [2]Smartphones can be defined as phones that are combined with a computing platform and can perform differently than a normal feature phone would. A major concern amongst teachers and parents is the amount of time spent by students playing with their smartphones while in Sandford international school. Although mobile phones are an epidemic around many schools worldwide, some schools are widely known for being the leading perpetrators on allowing mobile phones to be used in school. This brings up the question: How do smartphones affect secondary students and what are the impacts they have on education at Sandford international school? By examining this question along with, potential solutions can be proposed in order to help cure this problem. IB students have become so reliant on mobile phones that it has created a social cycle that has twisted many of these students. Although progress is being made towards controlling the usage of these smartphones, there is still a long way to go b efore it can be reduced to a controllable level. [3]Smartphones are portable devices that are combined with the functions of a cell phone and that of a computer. Producers say the processor inside a smartphone acts as the devices brain, handling most or all of the devices central processing functions on a single integrated circuit, or chip. In todays ever-changing world everything is being made better. From the first cell phone ever made, to todays apples iPhone 5 the difference is really visible. In a period of 20years, massive changes have taken place in the Smart phone industry from when it was first introduced in 1992. For Sandfords students it has mostly contributed to the major problem that many of them now face, attaining grades [4]. Analysis So what is a so Called SMARTPHONE and why is it popular? A smartphone is a mobile phone built on a special mobile computing platform, with more [7] advanced computing system and connectivity the mobile phone can perform differently from a feature phone would normally operate, an example of a Nokias smartphone can be seen on figure 2. It is merged with computer communication technologies which allow us to take internet calls for instance Skype, Nimbuzz and many others. Figure 2: showing a Nokia type of a [6] Smartphone [8]The popularity of the smartphone grew, in part, because of services like Exchange, and their ActiveSync and Push Email services. People loved the idea of being able to access their email and do business while on the go. With the first smartphones, it was difficult to manage a calendar and contacts because they had to be updated on too many separate devices. Exchange allowed people to update information once and have it show up on all the other devices they used instantly. 3G networks and Wi-Fi data portable devices like smartphones persuade students to spend more time using these highly influential/interactive devices rather than they would spend on studying independently. [9]Students are now much lazier and very dependent on their handheld devices and as a result work is rarely done. An example I picked out at Sandford international school. If Students have school work they do it the night before its due, by simply downloading a PDF file or word document onto their smartphones and accessing it the next day. Social and Ethical impacts/primary research [10]Cell phones purely have a negative effect on the social and ethical behaviour of students. There are many social and ethical impacts concerning mobile phones. As ethics are the ways in which people behave in other words its a system of principles and morals. So how do mobile phones affect how people interact with each other, communicate or at the least live with each other? The ethical and social issues according to my research that may arise as a result of using smartphones in Sandford School are: They reduce the social standard in which people interact amongst each other Change the way people behave Create fights amongst peers affect students regular activities The social impacts are associated with the breed a culture of introverted, isolated people who are unable to deal with real human interaction because they have been trained to communicate with others through their mobile phones. Smartphones can also turn Students into less sociable people whereas instead of talking or communicating with others in real life, they may prefer to communicate online. Privacy, If you dont set a password on your messages or personal information then people can just take it and go through your personal data. Primary Research Analysis According to my research I carried out at Sandford international school, (please see the questionnaires in the appendix), I have concluded that the ethical and social issues that may arise are actually true. My primary research shows that even though the teachers of Sandford International School told students that they couldnt use their mobile phones during class time, students started to use it anyway. It also showed that when Students have their time off class theyd rather spend it on Facebook, twitter and YouTube. The school isnt behind though because they know that these devices uses Wi-Fi and therefore the internet they offer is badly used by students and acts as a distraction therefore the school introduced and Installed the Cyberoam software to block websites like Facebook and others so that students couldnt be distracted, But still students use their own 3G sim cards to do so. Also the school once used to use a rule that you shouldnt have a cell phone because the school has a landline phone that anyone could use. But this was annoying to many students because before you called whoever you wanted to call you had to state your problem to the school secretary before she could allow you to call. Technological advancement has changed many things. Using a landline phone is out dated and students prefer to bring their own smart phones to school because they go through less trouble and save time. Is using a mobile phone become such a necessity that students have to use it? Has it become an obsession or an addiction? I prepared questionnaires focusing on how much of the IB students use their smartphones for school related activities and etc. 70% of IB students in Sandford International School say that they are online almost all day because of their smartphones that are connected to the Internet most of the day. They are constantly receiving notifications and alerts from Facebook, Gmail, and twitter. According to my results most IB students nearly (70%) in Sandford International School use their smartphones for non-educational purposes.20% of other students told me that with the smartphone in French/Spanish class its easy for them to translate words from English to French and vice versa with Google translator as can be seen on figure 2. [5]Figure2: shows a student using Google translator in one of the language classes. And the other 10% of the students that filled out questionnaires say that they just have their smartphones in school in case of an emergency and it serves as no distraction to them whatsoever. I included the question do you consider yourself addicted or obsessed to your smartphone? in the questionnaires I handed out to students. Only 15% said that they were addicted or obsessed. Which I didnt believe because the ones that said arent addicted are the ones that are usually the ones playing with their phones in class. Studies found that high school students who used their smartphones endlessly to check their Facebook account at least once during a 15 minute study period achieved [21]lower grades. Below is a chart showing the percentage in which most IB students at Sandford use their smartphones for (figure 3). [11]Figure 3: shows the percentage in which most students use their smartphones for. The techno centric thing about the device is that students can type their notes using their smartphones and print wirelessly without the need of being connected to a printer via a cable. So how does this technology work? [21] When you first set up a wireless printer, you point it to the wireless network, or plug it into the router via Ethernet. Traditionally, these printers are not discoverable by Wi-Fi sniffers since they do not identify themselves or communicate with anything other than the access point or router. Printer configurations determine who can send it mail. You can tell the printer to accept mail from anyone or from only certain names on a whitelist. It could be one whole domain or just one person. This prevents unauthorized use, should the e-mail address be compromised. Once the sender is authorized and approved, the e-mail file attachment is downloaded to the printer, rendered in the appropriate format (Word, Excel, an image) and then printed. Across my research I was able to come across some advantages and dis advantages that I have outlined below. Advantages of a Smartphone To reduce both the environmental costs of cutting down trees, transporting it, manufacturing it into a final product and other costs, all large books, novels, story books and so on should now be digitized and used as [13]eBooks or PDFS for a simper and faster access by students that have smartphones. The eBook technology is already in place and students with larger screens can now enjoy this technology at hand. A good example of an eBook reader is the Amazon kindle, shown in figure 6. The Amazon Kindle is very good because it helps reduce stock and space of books. The main disadvantage about this eBook reader though, is that it is expensive. Most textbooks have now been digitized. This eBook technology involves the student downloading the book, saves and uses it as a PDF file on the smartphone or PC rather than having a bag full of books which can easily get destroyed, misplaced and lost. I see this as the future of textbooks and exercise books. Everything will be digitized in the ne ar future and students shall have no complains as to why they did or did not do the work at a particular time. [14]Figure 6 shows an amazon kindle which can be used for eBooks as an example. IB Students who are forgetful arent anymore as they can now write and save up reminders with an alarm to alert and remind them to the task at a particular time and day without forgetting or the urge to try and remember. Secondly the smartphone helps the student to always be on time. Hence With the smartphone students can easily listen to music that theyve downloaded onto their mobile phones and wouldnt need to have an iPod because smartphones could hold up memory sticks with different storage capacity from 1Giba Bytes up to 16Giba Bytes, they could send and receive documents from other people, chat with others on [15] apps like mxit, ebuddy and many others. Parents on the other hand dont have to worry only if they have a Smartphone. These days some schools send [16] RSS feeds and emails of upcoming events, meetings, regarding the students and the school directly onto your mobile phone if you are subscribed to be receiving the notifications. Lastly I gathered that IB Students can use their smartphones as seen on figure 5 to type notes as they are being taught as this would save on them using paper and its a faster method. [17]Figure 5: shows a student typing notes while a lecture is being given by a professor The disadvantages of a smartphone Distraction. From my Primary research I gathered that most teachers told me that student get distracted in class by phone calls and messages. Student are usually told at the beginning of class and it also written in their student handbook that mobile phones should be completely switched off in class and when such an incident happens and the whole class is therefore interrupted and almost every student loses attention and starts talking. The impact of such type of distraction is usually big and can cause many students to start talking to the other students in result they all lose focus on what they were meant to be doing at the time. Cheating. These smartphones can also be used by these students to cheat on their exams and tests for example, since students cant call in exam halls, it could be through the use of text exchange with other students. Privacy concerning both teachers and IB students. With technology advancement teachers have slightly started accepting the usage of the device in some areas and particular times of the school day. One of the reason is that, these smartphones are relatively very high in terms of video quality and recording length. For instance, a teacher could be having an argument with a student and student whos connected to the internet would record this and upload it onto YouTube. As a result the video is then shared with other people, and therefore the privacy of the teachers is then ruined. The video can also be used for bullying if the incident was rapid and outrageous. Those students will use the video to ridicule the person through blackmail. Conclusion/evaluation/recommendation Mobile phones are like a plague at Sandford and which is spreading quickly as more students are buying smartphones. Likewise the effort required to reduce such an effect is substantial. From this essay we have assessed the social and ethical impacts of smartphones, advantages and disadvantages, and solutions could be proposed based on the research question. However, some questions arise from the research. Will parents in collaborating with teachers be able to help the students against the smartphone problem? Is there an ultimate solution that addresses Smartphones social issue without requiring a radical reform? [19]Since Smartphones were introduced back in 1992, many problems have risen subjective to this technological advance. More and more people worldwide are now very dependent on their mobile phones than ever before. From office workers to parents, from drivers to students smartphones have caught their attention. smartphones were created to help ease particular tasks that humans encounter daily and dont have the time use other devices just in order to do their work. The impacts of smartphones are many to list but, these devices are part of everybodys day to day life whether we like it or not, including students. Therefore we might as well start using them for a good cause. I personally think that mobile phones will never solve the education crisis all over the world, but these smartphones can be seen as another tool kit that if its properly used by the scholars, it can enable both meaningful experiences and chances for a greater result in their studies. To add, the smartphone if it isnt used without self-awareness, caution and a great care can be the inner core of self-damage, miss management, poor performance, bad and abusive behaviour. IB students need to understand and learn the great responsibility to go with the type of technology at hand. In this era the smart phone doubtless is a tool that has power to make the user his own boss in the digital world, but as it is true, the smartphone has both sides the positive and negatives. When interacting with the device we should consider that it can help its users just as much as it can destroy them so be cautious with technology. Students need to know and understand the concept that in order for them to succeed in their studies all types of distractions need to be kept away, and spent the time wisely, perhaps going over what theyve studied during the day or week. I believe that with proper usage of the smartphone it has the capability and potential to make its users smarter. Addiction is our biggest enemy at the moment and developers are doing that on purpose because they want to sell their devices globally therefore its up to the users to use the devices consciously. Attaining low grades is one of the outcomes associated with smartphones; however its sad to see that students have accepted the consequences with these smartphones. Think before you act.

Type 2 Diabetes Essay -- Health, Diseases

Obesity is rapidly increasing in the United States. According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), obesity is the fasted growing health problem in America1. When looking at the trends in the United States, it is estimated that approximately 33% of the adult population is obese and 15% of children, ages 6 and older, are obese1. Although not falling into the obesity population yet, two-thirds of the adult population may be considered overweight, and making their way into the obesity category soon1. It may be startling to most that current evidence suggests that by the year 2030, approximately 90% of all American adults would have become overweight or obese, and 51.1% of them would be obese1. A disease highly correlated with obesity is type 2 diabetes. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in America has drastically increased in recent years1. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2007, approximately 24 million Americans had diabetes, with one quarter of those (6 million), undiagnosed2. It is estimated that roughly 60 million U.S. residents also have prediabetes2. The superseding issue in diabetes is glucose control1. Type 2 diabetes is a major cause of premature mortality and morbidity related to cardiovascular disease, blindness, kidney and nerve disease, and amputation2. Exercise has been proven to have a positive effect on preventing type 2 diabetes, via its effects on preventing elevations in blood glucose1. The focus of this essay will be to summarize the effects of resistance training on the improvement on individuals with type 2 diabetes. Aerobic endurance training has conventionally been promoted in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, while the likely role of resistance tra... ...n spontaneous physical activity6. With this information, it can be presumed that resistance training can work in addition with standard care in diabetic patients6. This piece of information may be vital to a diabetic patient who is disobedient with medical recommendations that have been provided, as well as, patients who may receive inferior health care6. As expected, resistance training proves to have various health benefits to populations dealing with type 2 diabetes2. As previously stated, the chief concern when dealing with type 2 diabetes is glucose control1. The results of the collective studies being referenced in this essay have confirmed that resistance training leads to a decrease in hemoglobin A1c3,4,5,6. With this evidence, it is clear that resistance training will help to make improvements on patients living with type 2 diabetes3,4,5,6.

Women in Combat Rough Draft

Auriel Payan April 7, 2013 English 2010 Rough Draft Women fighting in combat is a topic that has stirred a lot of controversy in the last few months. This comes about from the uplifting of the ban that did not let women fight in combat. Though the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act in 1948, created a corps for women in every branch of military, it was also the beginning of when women would not be included in combat. (Mackenzie 1,) Whenever the topic of war comes to mind, the one’s usually pictured in war are men. People tend to forget that men are not the only ones involved in war or the military. In January 1994, a memorandum from then Secretary of Defense Les Aspin rescinded the â€Å"risk rule† barring women from any positions that could expose them to direct combat, hostile fire, or capture; the rule was replaced by the â€Å"direct ground combat assignment rule,† which more narrowly tailored the restriction to frontline combat positions. † ( Mackenzie, 1) This would completely change the way women in the military would be. Though not as big in number, women still do have a significant role in the military today. They can join the Military but they can have no part in combat.This limits the kinds of jobs that women can have. Woman in the United States want to feel equal to the man and the stigma that war is a â€Å"man’s thing â€Å" has created a lot of controversy, especially in the society that we live in now. Women in our society are breaking away from the boundaries set from the past generations. Women are now taking and seeking roles that were once considered only for men. Just like in our society, women are trying to advance in the military. Advancing in the military, not only has to be being able to fight in combat, but also reaching some of the highest military rankings.The leap for women being able to fight in combat came this past January, when the United State’s Department of Defense, uplifted the ban on women being able to fight in combat. A woman representing her country by joining the military is something that not only takes great sacrifice, but courage as well, and they deserve the utmost respect. If a woman is willing to risk her life for the sake of her country, just like the men, should be allowed to partake in combat. War is much physical as it is mental. Opponents argue that women are physically not capable to succeed out in the battlefield.If a soldier is not physically capable to perform, they could possibly endanger themselves or their fellow soldiers. Soldiers out on the battle field carry various items like electronic equipment, weapons, ammunition, heavy body armor, and enough water, weighing anywhere between fifty to hundred pounds. There is no denying that women on average do have forty to fifty percent less upper-body strength compared to men, but it is not one hundred percent certain that certain women are not fully capable. The statistic that women a re a lot weaker in their upperbody comes up a lot, but it is stretched from the truth. The physical fitness argument, which tends to focus on differences between average male and female bodies, is also undermined by the fact that women who join the military tend to be more fit than the average American. Additional training and conditioning further decrease the gap between female and male service members, and evidence indicates that women usually benefit substantially from fitness-training programs. † (Mackenzie, 1) To join the military there is this mental and physical toughness that one has to have or has to overcome by the time that they are about to be deployed.Yes, there is some women that are not physically capable to perform in the military, but at the same time, there are many men as well. Needless to say, there is a certain kind of person that is needed when joining the military. This goes beyond male and female. Character has a lot more to do with the success of an in dividual than the sex does. Regardless of this, the opposition still argues that women are still not physically capable and this could seriously put people in jeopardy.Here in the United States, opponents of allowing women fight in combat, strongly believe that women are not physically capable, but in other Countries this has been disproven. â€Å"In the 1970s, the Canadian military conducted trials that tested women's physical, psychological, and social capacity for combat roles. The results informed the final decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to remove Canada's female combat exclusion. After similar tests, Denmark also lifted its combat ban in the late 1980s. (Mackenzie, 1) If other countries have dismantled this theory that women are not physically capable, why has the United State’s not followed? Qualifications for being able to fight on the battle field should be tested on whether or not the individual is physically and mentally fit, the sex of the individu al should not be the determining factor for why they cannot be out in combat. The United States has had a rich history of patriotism. Citizens, for the most part, are proud of the nation that they live in. When one looks outside for the fourth of July, all one sees is red, white and blue.A lot of Americans have a great sense of pride in the nation that they live in. Most Americans have a sense of recognition for the sacrifices that some people have made in order to make this a very prosperous country. Among those that Americans feel that deserve the recognition are ones that serve in the military. There is the upmost respect and pride that comes along when an American sees a soldier that is fighting for their country. According to Pew Research Center for the People and Press, â€Å"Two-thirds (66%) support allowing women in the military to serve in ground units that engage in close combat, while just 26% are opposed. More than half of Americans are in support of the uplift of this ban. As an American, one has the god given right to choose if they want to defend their country. Upon deciding this, a lot of courage and pride has to come for one to say that they want to join the military. Though women only make up fifteen percent of the United State’s military, or roughly two hundred and fifteen thousand women currently serving, they still deserve the same amount of respect given to the men. Women joining the military are aware of the disadvantages that they are going to face just because of the simple fact that they are women.They realize at a very early start that war for men and war for women are two distinct things. It is a given that women are much more susceptible to negative aspects of war like sexual assault and sexual harassment. The fifteen percent of women that make up the military have chosen to overlook these negativities and have chosen to join the military regardless. These women are aware of the risks and dangerous and still have chosen to join the military. The courage, dedication and willingness of women in the military alone, should be the reason for why they should be allowed to fight in combat.The debate on women fighting in combat has a similar history to the debate on the policy â€Å"Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. † In 1950, President Truman signed the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This policy sets up discharge rules for homosexual members or anyone seen acting out in homosexual ways (Cristina Rivero, 1). This was the beginning of disallowing openly gays from joining the military. During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, it was made clear from his staff that â€Å" Homosexuality is incompatible with military service. Those that were believed to act in homosexual ways or were gay were discharged because of the fear that homosexuals would disrupt the order of the military. According to the supporters of this ban, the disruption was going to be so great, that the military as a whole was in jeopa rdy. Many people felt, that this â€Å"would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability. † (Wiki, 1) In essence, military officials were scared that soldiers would end up betraying or not performing to their peak if there were an openly gay member in their unit.This would all change In 1993 when President Clinton, ordered that a bill be passed that military members would not be asked their sexual orientation. This would become to be known as â€Å"Don’t Ask, Don’t tell. † In simple terms, if one was gay and was in the military, one could not openly express themselves as being gay. This stirred a lot of controversy because people believed that one should be able to express their sexual orientation without repo caution or fear of being discriminated against. Even though in 2003, President Clinton would want the â€Å"Don’t ask, don’t tel l† policy removed, it would not come about until years later.In 2011, don’t ask, don’t tell would come to an end. As the end of don’t ask, don’t tell came, a lot of military officials came out. Several high ranking military officials decided it was the appropriate time to finally come out. For years, the fear that openly gay members would be detrimental to the military kept many military men and women from being open about their sexuality. There was such a great fear when in reality there was minimal or even no consequences from openly gay members serving in the military. This is much like the debate on women fighting in combat today.Women have been serving in the military for decades. Hundreds of women have been hurt and even killed while proudly serving their country. With the proper training, any military member should be able to perform at their peak. If someone is not physically, mentally ready to be out on the battlefield, one should not be ou t there. There have been gay members in the military that have had the proper training leading to successful military careers. The fact of their sexual orientation did not limit or hurt them while serving in the military. Like men, women have been serving their country with honor and pride for decades.But unlike men, the women in the military do not tend to receive as much recognition for their service to their country. Women may only make up fifteen percent of the military, but they have been excluded from twenty percent of the jobs in the military. â€Å"According to the Department of Defense, ending the ban will open up 237,000 positions to women. † (Hallman, 1) With the uplift of this ban, more opportunities will be opened for women not only in the types of jobs that they can have, but the rankings that they could possibly reach. Sexual assaults in the military towards women tend to go unreported.By allowing women to reach higher-rankings, there could be the possibility t hat sexual assaults go down or more likely to go reported. â€Å"Recent surveys of female veterans found that close to a third were victims of rape or assault while they were serving, which is double the rate in the civilian population. † (Hallman, 1) More often than not, sexual assaults go unreported in the military. By having women as higher-ranking officials, the sexual assault epidemic in the military may start being addressed properly. The proper steps in reporting sexual assaults may take place.There is always this fear that there will be severe repo cautions if women come forward. Women may feel a lot more comfortable reporting sexual assault to a women high-ranking official. Allowing women to fight in combat will be a positive movement that may even get rid or limit the negative aspect of the military. During war, soldiers encounter a variety of difficult tasks, mishaps and dangerous situations. All of these things are inevitable and are a part of war. Soldiers are pu t through situations that are not only physically but also mentally exhausting. Because of this a lot of soldiers develop PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. † (Mayo Clinic) From 2009, post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses have increased in women from fifteen percent up to twenty-two percent. Men have increased from nine percent to fourteen percent in the diagnosis of PTSD. (Anderson, 1) This alone raises a lot of questions whether women are mentally stable enough to be on the front lines.Though it is true that women are being diagnosed at a much higher rate than men, there are probably a lot of men that are not willing to come forward and admit that they have post-traumatic stress disorder. Men in general tend to not want to come forward because of t he fear that they will be looked as less of a man or less honorable. Women on the other hand are much more likely than men to come forward and because of this, the statistic may not be as accurate and be swayed. Women are traditionally viewed as these caring, emotional, and even soft individuals when compared to men.But realistically, in the military all of these characteristics of traditional women are dropped. It takes a certain kind of individual, man or woman, to join the military. The women that do decide to join the military are not like the traditional women. These women are tough, rigid individuals that are not much different to their male counterparts. The military lifestyle is a lot different than the civilian lifestyle. Yes it is true that women officially may not be allowed to fight on the frontlines, but that does not mean that women are not exposed to the same dangers as the men who are.USA Today States, â€Å"since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 292,0 00 women have served in those combat zones out of a total of almost 2. 5 million, Pentagon records show. In both wars, 152 women have died from combat or noncombat causes, records show, and 958 have been wounded in action. † Much like the men, some women that have served for their country have died. This just goes to show that even though women typically aren’t in the battlefield, the risk of them dying is significant. The military should be black and white not male or female.A lot of people are calling the uplifting of women fighting in combat an â€Å"experiment†. Is it really an experiment or just an official document that allows women to fight in combat? Women in the military are exposed to the same dangers as much as the men are. With the uplifting of this ban, men and women will now receive the same training essential for the front lines. Both men and women should receive this training in order to guarantee that both will be successful. If a soldier is not prepared mentally or physically, they should not be allowed to fight in combat.There should be rigorous testing on each individual soldier determining if they are combat ready. The sex of the soldier should not be the deciding factor whether or not someone is combat ready. There are plenty of men that are physically and mentally ready, but there is also plenty of women as well. Women are becoming more equal in our society vastly due to the fact that they are fully capable of doing any task that men can perform. Citations Mackenzie, M. H. (2012). Let Women Fight. Foreign Affairs, 91(6), 32-42. Tom V. B. and Jim M, (2013, January 23).USA Today http://www. usatoday. com/story/news/nation/2013/01/23/panetta-women-combat-pentagon/1859221/ http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Don't_ask,_don't_tell Mackenzie, M. H. (2013,January 23) http://www. foreignaffairs. com/articles/138200/megan-h-mackenzie/let-women-fight Hallman, L. (2013, March 6) End of Combat Ban Will Give Women Recognition They Dese rvehttp://www. foreignaffairs. com/articles/138200/megan-h-mackenzie/let-women-fight Pew Research (2013, January 29) http://www. people-press. org/2013/01/29/broad-support-for-combat-roles-for-women/1/

Chinese Modernist fiction Essay

Chinese Modernist fiction is very complicated in terms of imagery and literary expression used by the author, as well as in terms of dual or multiple meanings of the works, but in general they express the mood of the epoch. Mu’s stories are to great extent experimental and vary between purely proletarian fiction and ‘dialect’ writings that express really deep thoughts through internal monologues and the use of dialogue as a tool of changing the characters’ self-perception or their impressions about their environment (MacDonald, 2004). Mu Shiying’s prose is often called â€Å"New Sensationist† (Xin ganjuepai) style of writing short stories whose plot often develops rapidly, whereas the picture the author has drawn at first remains unchengeable(MacDonald, 2004). â€Å"The name â€Å"New Sensationist† was derived from the Shinkankahu ha, a group of Japanese avant-garde writers from the 1920s and 1930s. However, the evidence is against the actual existence of a group of writers who called themselves â€Å"New Sensationist† in China† (MacDonald, 2004, p. 797). Nevertheless, Mu’s short story entitled â€Å"Five in a Nightclub† gives a number of sensational experiences, which this essay is designed to discuss. The first scene of the short story describes the intrinsic human need for material resources, the main drive of the business world: â€Å"Men with blood-shot eyes milled about the gold exchange. [†¦] The speculators devolved into brutes. The wind blew the reason from their minds and the steel from their nerves† (Shiying, 1992, p. 5), so that the first perception of Shanghai refers to the psychological tension between the people, who have suffered a lot from the adversities, brought about by life. The first episode represents the pace of Shanghai life: a person can lose their fortune or become rich in one moment, so the description of instability and nervousness refers to the lack of control over the situation, as if the participants were obedient marionettes in the hands of the powerful and malicious force. The second scene, depicting a young man, scornfully rejected by the girl he loves, also refers to the whims of fortune and more precisely –explains the sensation of hope; this feeling appears hovering or hanging over the place where Zheng Ping is waiting for his darling. The words he sent to the girl yesterday are, as he realizes, written to describe his today’s situation: â€Å"Stranger, O stranger! / Yesterday I was your slave. Today you say I’m a stranger†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Shiying, 1992, p. 6). Importantly, there is a notable contrast between the first paragraphs, in which the author describes the character’s romantic thought, his illusionary closeness to the object of his strong feeling, and his disappointment and sorrow at the end, when â€Å"Zheng Ping’s hair turned white† (Shiying, 1992, p. 7). Fragments rapidly change one another. The short passage about a young woman, who has lost her beauty over the recent years, points to the perception of human body as machine that can be used: â€Å"Youth A – â€Å"Isn’t it Daisy Huang? She was the toast of the town five years ago! † Youth B – â€Å"Amen. She was quite a dish! †Ã¢â‚¬  (Shiying, 1992, p. 8). Accordingly, human beings do not belong completely to themselves, as they should always try hard to meet the requirements, imposed by society, especially those related to appearance and beauty. Ji Jie, the character, described in the next episode, is also lost in his self-identity and self-perception, so that he even fails to comprehend his real nature and the sense of his being in this world. Another character, battered cruelly by life, is Miao Zongdan, a clerk, who has been working hard for his career development and who receives a letter of dismissal. This episode is very similar to the first one, in which the sudden turning-point can ultimately change the individual’s life, destroy their desires, aspirations, ambitions – just like a high wave of tsunami that covers the person’s life. The first chapter of the short story therefore provides an overview of the psychological lives of certain dwellers of Shanghai, whereas the other people, surrounding them, remain indifferent, so that the average inhabitant of Shanghai is a ‘small person’, incapable of managing their fate. On the other hand, they should cope with their problems without any support from outside. The second chapter narrates about a typical Saturday night in Shanghai, or the bright underground life, heated by neon, alcohol and cigarettes: â€Å"Red streets, green streets, blue streets, purple streets†¦ City clad in strong colours! Dancing neon light – multi-coloured waves, scintillating waves, colourless waves – a sky filled with colour. The sky now had everything: wine, cigarettes, high-heels, clock-towers†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Shiying, 1992, p. 10). Human mores become increasingly more relaxed at this time, and people are about to do unusual things, as such conducts are not likely to happen in the daylight. In the third chapter, Shanghai is described in merely two colors: black and white, that symbolize purity and dust, but flow together into a single glamour of the night club. In addition, one can note a mixture of different cultures in nightclub settings: the club itself is designed in European style, as the idea of night amusements in such settings derives from this continent, whereas the customers are Chinese; and the dancers who entertain the visitors are â€Å"Russian princesses† (Shiying, 1992, p. 11). This pre-arranged chaos influences the characters almost magically: their dreams seem to come true. The idea of saving night resembles the fairy tale theme: at daytime, the characters remain ugly beasts, whereas at night they turn into young and attractive princes and princesses, who become rich and are as a result surrounded by their admirers. In this sense, night is remedy against all daily troubles, as they all are resolved or fixed very quickly and naturally, as if the natural force that throws the characters into the depth of adversity and misfortune calms down at night – this magic conversion can be compared to black and white colors, which seem to be the major imagery in this place: â€Å"By the white tablecloths sit men dressed in formal evening attire: layers of black and white: black hair, white faces, black eyes, white collars, black ties, white starched shirts, black jackets, white waistcoats, black pants†¦black and white†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Shiying, 1992, p. 10). The author seems to recognize only extremes, rather than the â€Å"golden middle† that balances the positive and negative forces and protects human psyche from excessively strong feelings and emotions. The city, in turn, also experiences a kind of transformation: whereas at daytime it looks like a huge technocratic monster that has only concrete and asphalt inside and is inhabited by people, who hurt each other with their apathy and indifference; at night it alters into a real paradise, filled with the radiance of happiness, kindness and friendliness. Noticeably, the characters in the night club interact with one another very dynamically and seem united by this atmosphere of common joy and relaxation. Nevertheless, this illusion of amusement seems unrealistic after the events, which took place in the afternoon; in spite of the miraculous healing of all human hardships, it contains the after-pains, which give the idea of the possible return of all daily problems once this wonderful night comes to its logical end. The depiction of the common excitement only reinforces the reader’s expectation of the future negative events, which will take place in the following morning or afternoon and shatter this positive emotional atmosphere. As for the characters in the nightclub settings, they are described as fragments, successfully integrated in an entity, as all of them manifest their self-confidence in almost the same way. For instance, Daisy re-gains her youth and beauty, so that nobody recognizes her, except her companion, Junyi, a gold baron: â€Å"†I’ve never been more sane in my life! † said Daisy, who had regained her composure. Suddenly she laughed again: â€Å"I will always be young. Oh, Junyi, let’s make a real night of it! † Daisy pulled Hu Junyi out onto the dance floor† (Shiying, 1992, p. 12). Later, Zheng Ping enters the club, looking drunk and happy because this time he has another girlfriend and therefore seems protected from the negative remembrances, which can be caused by Nina’s presence. Similarly to Daisy’s case, Zheng experiences a very short loss of nerves, but finally retakes self-control and focuses on his new girlfriend. Although Miao’s problem is not solved yet, he also joins the party and soon becomes drunk and happy. Whereas at first, Daisy and Hu’s joy seems natural, later the company is gradually falling into absolutely inhuman and unexplainable ecstasy that can be caused only by the overuse of spirits: â€Å"Everyone laughed with her – open mouths, open mouths, open mouth†¦ gaping holes that with every passing moment seemed less human† ((Shiying, 1992, p. 14). The characters have already joined to the nightclub atmosphere, primarily – because all of them have come with partners, so that they are no loner lonely and miserable. Ji Jie, despite the demonstrative happiness of the other four persons, is slowly sinking in the marsh of his own thoughts, in his hard mental work. Nevertheless, he is no longer depressed, as his visit to the club will probably allows him to find his identity and understand himself better. Moreover, he is described by the customers as a happy person: â€Å"Customer D – â€Å"He who has nothing to do after dinner and who can come here to break matchsticks is a happy man†. Customer C – â€Å" Even the drunkard with him is happy! He’s the guy who spilled the drink after badging in here. A while ago he was picking fights, now he’s telling jokes! † (Shiying, 1992, p. 18). Towards the end of the night the delight of the five characters begins to disappear, and the sensation of this night never seems to come again, as the problems, experienced by the five persons at daytime, are becoming more real. The sixth character, Jonny, later gets to know that her wife and newborn son are dead, but he is not allowed to leave the work and must continue entertaining the visitors with his music. The five personalities, who seemed cheerful to craze in the evening, are now described as â€Å"popped balloons† (Shiying, 1992, p. 20). All the characters later reconcile themselves to the fact that they are losers in this life, only Hu Junyi kills himself. His death is a milestone, after which the other characters open their true faces and confess to their tiredness of living. The night was nothing more than an attempt to repair the shattered lives, whose pieces turned out so small that it was impossible to paste them together. To sum up, the new perception of Shanghai is presented as never-ending rolling down, a journey through the severe daily reality and exaggeratedly euphoric night parties, which, however, quicken human degradation. Whiteness and blackness are never to mix together in Shanghai, so that its dwellers are fated to swinging between the two extremes, which are pain and delight. Either sooner, or later, the life of this small person will be shattered by the large city, as the short story narrates. Works cited MacDonald, S. The Shanghai Foxtrot by: Introduction. Modernism/modernity, Vol. 11 (4): pp. 797-807 Shiying, Mu. Five in a Nightclub, Renditions Spring 1992, pp. 5-22.

Environmental Effect from the Gold Rush Essays

Environmental Effect from the Gold Rush Essays Environmental Effect from the Gold Rush Paper Environmental Effect from the Gold Rush Paper This essay aims to identify the origin of the Gold Rush and identify the techniques used while also noting the ha armful effects caused by each one. The Start Of the Gold Rush all began on January 24, 1848, when a carpenter named James Wilson Marshall picked up a nugget of gold from the river at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Cola, California. Although Marshall and the man he was working for, John Stutter, tried to keep the news of this big discovery from the public, word got out anyway and soon people were swarming toward the western frontier. This was when one of the largest human migration in history began (The California Gold Rush). At first people were not buying the story, but as news spread of the fortunes being made in Californians Gold Rush, the first migrants started showing up. It was not long before the population of the California exploded, from just only 14,000 at the start of year 1 849, to more than 100,000 people by the end of that year. By the year 1852, the population crowded to 220,000 (Cornell 342). This underground well of fortune (which amounted to over $2,000,000,000,000 worth of gold) was so vast, it emended significant amounts of people to harvest it all. Smart individuals looking to make a profit convinced others to dig gold for them and used that money to start business such as hotels, restaurants, banks, saloons, and all kinds of mining industries. Naturally, this brings up the economy of the state even more but it also brought more people to California. At first, people used basic, almost primitive methods of gold mining which did little harm to nature such as the ever popular gold panning technique. In the early days of gold mining, people used gold pans to find gold in the river, although it was actually the most ineffective of all. As time went on, less and less people used gold pan and created more effective ways to extract gold. Another popular tool was the rocker; it had a handle on top to push it back and forth. When the miner put the gravels into the top layer, the thinner and heavier partials would be screened to be separated from the rest. Repeating this a couple of times, and with some luck, miners can find some gold hidden within the heavy minerals. These techniques to find gold usually required the help Of water and gravity, but since not all the gold is in the river, the miner has to get he water to where the gold is to be found, hence some of the mining ditches can still be found even today (Early Gold Mining Methods) . Eventually there would be too many people joining in on the Gold Rush, which in turn made finding gold increasingly more difficult with the current methods of gold mining. Had everyone stuck to these methods, the lands would not have been destroyed, but alas greed triumphs over natural preservation. Soon enough, the gold diggers begin to turn to more powerful ways to obtain the gold such as machines and explosives. These new methods of getting gold ay have helped satisfy the diggers greed, but it also caused irreversible damages to the lands of California. As time went by, the technology of gold mining became more and more sophisticated; this was when the gold fever started to become very harmful to nature. The first way want to get into is the placer mining, which is a way of mining that yielded most gold in the early years. Although panning was one of the ways of placer mining, this method was expanded upon when new techniques were added to it. For example, people started adding large amounts of mercury to their pans to operate the gold from other materials. Mercury has the ability to separate the gold from the extraction of secondary gold after the gravity method. Thanks to its intrinsic properties mercury allow to easily separate gold from other materials. After the separation from the rest of unwanted particles, they simply evaporate the mercury to obtain the gold the want. It is well known that mercury is highly toxic. It can cause damages to the nervous system at even relatively low levels of exposure. Due to the evaporation of the mercury, we subsequently caused the release of mercury into the atmosphere. The water circulation in the atmosphere would bring the mercury back into the ocean and poison animals in the ocean, which in turn would indirectly poison human beings. Perhaps one of the most destructive methods of advanced mining that existed was hydraulic mining. Though this method was extremely effective in extracting gold, it caused so much damage to the lands that Hydraulic mining was prohibited in 1884 when it was discovered that the mining resulted in worsened flood conditions and also destroyed farmland. It wasnt known until much later that Hydraulic mining also left behind a huge amount of arsenic, mercury, cyanide and acid which contaminated the ground-waters, soil, rivers and lakes. (Rare Coins) Hydraulic mining, also called hydraulically is a technique originating from the Roman era involving high pressure jets of water to erode and scrape away dirt and gravel, which is then funneled into a filter that leaves only the rich minerals behind. Hydraulic mining was first used by Edward Matheson near Nevada CCNY, California, in 1853, Xv fashioned a three-foot tapered metal funnel to which they clamped a canvas hose. They pumped water through the hose and pointed it at the hillside from which they were trying to extract gold. The water shot through with surprising force, quickly rendering the hillside into a pile of gravel and providing plenty of pay dirt from which to separate gold. (PBS Gold Rush) The technique caught on fast and soon enough, people were utilizing dams to stock up on enough water to optimize their hydraulic mining operations. As mentioned earlier, hydraulic mining was also the most destructive method, eventually getting banned because of the destruction it caused. One reason for this is because of the unnatural erosion caused by the high pressure jet streams, which led to unexpected floods. An example of this is mentioned in the PBS Gold Rush website, which mentions heavy rain during January 1861 which loosened deep snowdrifts in the Sierras. The result was inundated countryside, thousands of heads of drowned cattle and millions of cubic yards of dirt, mud and silt all residue from upstream hillsides that had been pulverize by hydraulic mining. When the water receded, it left behind eight- foot drifts of silt in Sacramento. Needless to say, Nature inflicted its wrath upon the greedy miners by destroying the farms and lands in the surrounding areas. Countless fields in the Sacramento Valley areas were deeply buried in mining sediment, riverbeds were raised rendering river crossing in certain areas more difficult, and farmers rose up in anger toward the destruction gold mining has caused. These factors were some Of many that eventually led to the banning of hydraulic mining, which passed when farmers sued hydraulic mining operations in the famous Edwards Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company case. Following the case, hydraulic mining was temporarily banned, resurfacing later in 1 893, albeit with much trice regulations in an effort to avoid damage to both farmlands and nature. Gold mining can cause all air, soil, and water pollution. When the mining process works close to the ground surface, the mining sites will generate a large amount of dust which pollutes the air, also the process of refining the ore also pollutes the air. When heating the ore to melt the metal and release it from its surrounding material, the smelter releases large amount of lead, nitrogen, and sulfur, which comes back to earth in the form of acid rain. Extracting a small piece of gold, a large amount of toxic wastes ill be produced and left in the soil. The toxic heavy metal can go into the deeper soil and further pollutes the plants or prevent it from growing. The heavy metal and toxic waste can stay in the soil for years, that makes the area unsuitable for animals and human to live. Lastly, water pollution is through a highly toxic chemical called cyanide. The miners uses the solution of cyanide to dissolves the gold and collect them, but with little protection, the cyanide can easily leak into the soil and goes into local water supplies, lakes, river, and the ocean. The Gold Rush was definitely an era of prosperity, but was all that gold Roth releasing mercury into the atmosphere, flooding and destroying millions of farmland, and leaking dangerous chemicals such as cyanide into our soil and water?