Los Angeles book festival Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Los Angeles book festival - Essay Example One of the most important reasons for the enormous success of Los Angeles was the development of railroads in the city. This was the period of time when railroads from the Eastern part ultimately reached the city of Los Angeles. Another major reason for the exponential growth was the fact that the city’s population doubled during the end of 1800s and tripled during the beginning of 1900s (Schmap, Inc, 2009). Los Angeles is considered to be a good place to hold book festival because the scope and importance of higher education in the city is huge. According to the US census reporting of the year 2000, the number of elderly population during the period grew enormously when there was typically low achievement of education. However, pertaining to this situation, the number of highly educated students gradually enhanced. This is because the elderly population was definitely followed by young students who could be considered to be more educated than the former population. With due passage of time, the diplomas and degrees also got enhanced along with the enhancement of the educated population within the country. The rate of growth was so enormous that it outperformed the growth in the number of overall national population (Census Scope, 2000). Fortunately, during this period, the number of population was enhancing in Los Angeles as also mentioned earlier. The organizers of book festival overv iewed this situation as an opportunity of promoting education. This is the reason as to why Los Angeles is considered as a good place to hold book festivals. Along with book festivals, during the past also, a number of other festivals were organized within the city and the festivals were conducted successively. The list of festivals were inclusive of a number of festivals depicting cultural and ethnic values along with major events of sporting activities and arts, music and entertainment. The book festivals are specifically held in University of Southern

Hitler Invading The Soviet Union History Essay

Hitler Invading The Soviet Union History Essay During the summer day of July 22nd, 1941, Adolf Hitler attacked the largest country, geographically, in the world, Russia (Hitlers Invasion and Russia). The people of Germany thought that Hitler was insane if he wanted to actually invade the Soviet Union (Hitlers Invasion). Three army groups attacked Russia on June 22nd 1941. Army Group North, led by von Leeb, Army Group Centre, commanded by von Bock and Army Group South commanded by von Rundstedt (Trueman, Barbarossa). Russia was defended by four army units. Though Russia had a large army, the purges had wiped out a considerable part of the armys senior commanders (Trueman, Barbarossa). Hitlers forces initially won many battles and had many victories against the Russians (Trueman, Barbarossa). However, these victories soon turned bad due to several crucial mistakes that Hitler let slip. Hitler should not have attacked Russia because of his failure to anticipate the abilities of the Red Army, the weather of Russia, and his faulty lea dership during the operation. The German Armys failure to anticipate the abilities of the Russia Red Army was one of its key reasons for failure. The Red Army was able to mobilize twice as many troops as the Germans had initially estimated (Barbarossa). The Russians were able to replace their fallen armies far quicker than the Fuehrer had expected and therefore the German Army had to halt in order to get more supplies (Barbarossa). This contributed to Germanys encountering of the Russian Winter. Furthermore, the Russians were prepared to lose hundreds of thousands of men and were prepared to sacrifice equipment as shown in their victory at Kursk (Kursk). The Russian Army also proved its ability to replace its soldiers quickly allowed it to repair losses in the Army while the German Army lost people while its resources were lagging behind (Stalingrad). The Soviets also proved very skilled in raising and training many new armies from the different ethnic populations of the far flung republics. (Barbarossa). This al lowed them to survive the critical six months of the battle even if they had poor equipment and training. According to Operation Barbarossa, the German army had problems with their infantry throughout the conflict while Russia had a well numbered force. Though the German army won many victories, this gave the Russians some advantage. With these kinds of crucial underestimations, the Germans became under-supplied and their forces began to progressively weaken. In addition to the tactical failures, the German control also underestimated the leadership of the Soviet Union. The Germans thought that the Soviet government was completely ineffective (Barbarossa). With this belief the Germans hoped that the government would collapse from the attack. This, however, did not happen. This made it harder for the Germans who were anticipating a short battle that was to end by fall of 1941 (Barbarossa). The Germans failure to anticipate the Russian potential was one of their key factors in losing the Russian Invasion. Another crucial factor that became an obstacle for the Germans was the Russian winter. Hitler had prepared for a quick war, in turn; he failed to prepare well to wage battle during the harsh Russian winter (Barbarossa). The temperatures dropped to 50 degrees below the zero (Stalingrad). Entire divisions died from the brutal temperatures (Russian Winter). The equipment and vehicles that they had froze (Barbarossa). This significantly affected Operation Barbarossa due to the large losses. The German offensive was slowed to a crawl because of the numeral failures that were inflicted by the Russian winter (Russian Winter). When winter struck, the German troops lacked the winter equipment needed and the rations that the Army required (Stalingrad). German weapons malfunctioned in the cold. Lubricating oils were unsuitable for these temperatures, leading to engine malfunction and misfiring weapons (Barbarossa). Without the airplanes and weapons, the Germans were virtually defenseless. At th is point, the German army was at an especial disadvantage. According to the article Operation Barbarossa, the soviet soldiers did not have such severe problems. The Russians used insulating blankets to cover their aircrafts so that the engines did not freeze and lighter-weight oil was used. Germans had problems with their fuel due to the lack of anti-freeze (Barbarossa). The Russian winter caused great losses for the German army and after the Battle of Moscow, the Germans had to retreat and revise their war plans regarding Russia. The Russian winter again crippled the Germans, who even after the experience, did not prepare better for the siege of the Crocuses and Stalingrad (Stalingrad). The German haste for victory and battle severely affected them in their preparations regarding Operation Barbarossa and, therefore, the Russian winter took the Germans by surprise. In addition, Hitlers decision to stay even after knowing that a repetition of Napoleons disastrous retreat from Moscow (Barbarossa) was very likely, led to loss of valuable men and resources. With the Russian winter being the most severe that year than any other, the Russians were able to maintain their position. The third reason that Germany should not have attacked Russia was that the plan lacked logistical planning. One example is the winters of 1941 and 1942. Both times the Germans were caught by the horrendous Russian winter unprepared (Barbarossa and Stalingrad). One would think that at least after experiencing the cold winter of 1941 the Germans would have prepared better for the winter of 1942 when they invaded Stalingrad. The German Army command also ignored one crucial warning. The German army could not be continuously supplied to wage long combat (Barbarossa). During the Battle of Stalingrad, the army had to stop several times so that its resources could catch up and usually resources were lagging far behind (Stalingrad). The Nazi command assumed that it would within five weeks; the army would be able to take down the Red Army (Barbarossa). According to Operation Barbarossa, the German infantry rushed ahead about 300 mi. (480Â  km) while the supplies were struggling to barely catc h up. The lack of constant supplies slowed down the blitzkrieg down significantly. The Germans had seriously overestimated the quality and condition of the Russian transportation network. The differences in the railroad configurations and the fact that the Russian people had dismantled the railroads near the border (Barbarossa). In addition to the supply problem, the German army executed certain tactics that made their defeat possible. One of these tactics was sending the bulk of the sixth army in Stalingrad (Trueman). Marshall Zhukov was able to surround the army of Paulus in the city and destroyed virtually the entire army by depriving them of supplies (Stalingrad). Planning errors such as not securing the transportation before proceeding, and sending almost the entire army into a city, caused huge problems and losses for the Germans. Faulty planning was a main problem that Hitler should have considered before attacking Russia. Hitlers decision to attack was supported by Germanys military status at the time, however; due to some serious flaws that could have been prevented before attacking the Soviet Union. Hitlers racial views toward the Russian people blinded him to the real facts that were there (Hitlers Invasion). Hitler should also have analyzed history better because no one has ever conquered Russia completely. Russias large size and horrendous weather were able to protect it even though many loyal Russian soldiers gave up their lives for mother Russia. Also by enraging Russia, Hitler caused his own downfall and the defeat of Germany. Russia destroyed almost three times as many divisions as the Allies during D-Day in Normandy (Hitlers Invasion). The invasion of Russia was a fatal mistake for Hitler and Germany.

Assignment On Organisation Behaviour Course Business Essays

Assignment On Organisation Behaviour Course Business Essays Introduction: Management is process of organise ideas, activities and people. Without organise activities individuals and teams are not involved in successful performance of work organisations. All the managers in organisation perform certain functions to get things done by teams and individuals. Organising is the process of allocating work, arranging team and groups, allocating power and recourses among the members of organisation to achieve goals and objectives of the organisation. Stephen P. Robbins (1997) defines Organisation behaviour as a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving organizations effectiveness. Thus Organisation Behaviour is fundamentally concerned with what people do in organizations. It applies the knowledge gained by individuals, teams and group which makes organisation work more effectively. Organisation behaviour is a very important concept of effective management in modern era of business. Organisation behaviour is the study of peoples behaviour in the organisation because organisation is not known for their buildings and locations but for their human recourses. Now a day Multi National Companies (MNCs) are operating their business globally and they are adopting cross cultural approach to the managing people from different cultures and regions. (Mullins L, 2005) Most Important factors to effective Organisational performance: There are many factors like leadership, organisational culture, motivation and rewards, training, which are most important for the successful performance of work organisations. Leadership is the process in which followers and situations are involves as a process ingredients and catalyst respectively. The Effectiveness of a leader is too important for any organisation, society and country. Effective leaders create results, attain goal, and realize vision and other objectives more quickly and at a higher level of quality than ineffective leaders. (Hughes et al, 2006). There was substantial uncertainty in the integration that was only made poorer by the external environment such as financial markets crisis.   The leadership plays a critical role in the beginning of the integration of the businesses. The leadership is key factor in the effectiveness of the integration and successful performance of the organisation, with social influence theory guiding the argument in the development of trust between the employees and the leaders.   Based on the organisational behaviour theories, it appears the performance going forward to build the organisational commitment for workforce and ensures the effectiveness of the managers.   Organisational Culture: Organisations build up their culture through history, tradition, structure and organisational goals. Organisational Culture gives an idea of organisations mission, organisations leaders, rituals, beliefs, values and normal behaviour pattern. An organisations culture summarized what it has been good at and what has achieved in the past. Types of Organisational culture: A power culture  is one based on the authority of one or a few number of persons within an organisation. They make important decisions for the organisation. A role culture  is present in large hierarchical organisations in which managers have clear roles to complete which are personally specified. Managers tend to work closely to their job description according to rules and regulations of the organisation. A task culture  exists when teams are formed to complete particular tasks. A separate team culture develops, and because the team is empowered to make decisions. A person culture  is the most unique form of culture and exists when persons are fully allowed to express themselves and make decisions for them. Culture change involves moving an organisation on from one form of culture to another, usually through a culture change programme. Motivation and rewards: Motivation is a behaviour that you can influence but not create. Even highly motivated individuals can get frustrated, discouraged, or tired on a project. Team members need to know they are valued, their efforts are noticed, and their good work is appreciated. Managers are usually aware to some extent of the ways in which both intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation affect performance and work satisfaction, but there are many complexities in how these different types of motivations and their relevant rewards affect behaviour. One of the most subtle and demanding complexities has been found to occur when extrinsic rewards are given for performance in a task which would otherwise have been undertaken purely out of interest. But effects of the interaction are not simple and have been a subject of extensive debate in recent years. How extrinsic rewards affect intrinsic motivation obviously has many implications for the management of incentives for work and study where both extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation are very often found together. Extrinsic rewards have been found to reduce intrinsic motivation, but not in all circumstances. The majority of published research has dealt with the effect on motivation rather than performance, but consequent effects can be evident in performance, and there are many theoretical predictions supported at least in part by empirical findings. When people are intrinsically motivated they tend be more aware of a wide range of range of phenomena, while giving careful attention to complexities, inconsistencies, novel events and unexpected possibilities. They need time and freedom to make choices, to gather and process information, and have an appreciation of well finished and integrated products, all of which may lead to a greater depth of learning and more creative output. Extrinsic rewards tend to focus attention more narrowly and to shorten time perspectives, which may result in more efficient production of predefined or standardised products. Job satisfaction and long term commitment t o a task may also be affected. By intrinsic motivation we mean a process of arousal and satisfaction in which the rewards come from carrying out an activity rather from a result of the activity. We speak of the rewards being intrinsic to a task rather than the task being a means to an end that is rewarded or satisfying. By contrast, one might work hard at a task in order to eat or gain social approval. Such work, undertaken as a means to an end, is typically deficit motivated behaviour, in which there is a reward as a consequence of effort to reach a goal where the deficit is reduced. Intrinsic motivation tends more to be appetitive, new information arousing a slight interest leading to an appetite for more. Training: Well-trained employees are the key to your small business success. Studies have shown that the most successful, productive employees are those who have received extensive training. Theyre the cream of the crop, often having the strongest stake in the companys future. Employee training and development initiatives can transform organizations with providing extra skills to your employees to not only increase safety and productivity but training leads to higher job satisfaction, which shows up in better corporate performance.   Valuable training also includes situational training that provides personnel the skill sets that allow them to make timely, knowledgeable decisions that benefit both the customer and the company. The quality of employees and their development through training and education are major factors in determining long-term profitability of a small business. If you hire and keep good employees, it is good policy to invest in the development of their skills, so they can increase their productivity. Benefits of Training and Development   Building a more efficient, effective and highly motivated team, which enhances the companys competitive position and improves employee morale. Ensuring adequate human resources for expansion into new programs. Research has shown specific benefits that a small business receives from training and developing its workers, including: Increased productivity. Reduced employee turnover. Increased efficiency resulting in financial gains. Decreased need for supervision. Employees frequently develop a greater sense of self-worth, dignity and well-being as they become more valuable to the firm and to society. Generally they will receive a greater share of the material gains that result from their increased productivity. These factors give them a sense of satisfaction through the achievement of personal and company goals. Case Study on Business Process Outsourcing Firm Sutherland Sutherland  Global  Services  was  founded  in  1986  as  a  global  BPO  and  Technology   Enabled  services company offering   an   integrated   set   of   backà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ office   and   customer   facing   frontà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ office   services   that support   the  entire  customer   lifecycle.   It is  one  of  the  largest,  independent  global  BPO  companies. It currently has main Headquartered  in  Rochester,  N.Y,  Sutherland  employs  over  26,000  professionals  and  has  25  globaldelivery  centres  in  the  United  States,  Canada,  Mexico,  Nicaragua,  India,  the Philippines,  Bulgaria, and  the  United  Kingdom. Prior to pursuing this course, I had an experience in this BPO at my home country India where I used to work as a Customer Sales Executive. Where, I personally felt the experience of working under good knowledgeable highly skilled leaders who used to keep their team as a strong benchmarking level. The quality of leadership offered was too generous. Every employee used to given a chance or suggestion for exchanging their views and opinions in order to reformulate management or other exhibit activities. However, employee training was beyond the boundary, company mainly puts emphasis on each and individual employee they understands and gives feasible amount of training to respective employee irrespective of level of employees work. Core areas of employee training was to understand and make them confident enough to sustain against every situation come around while employee hits the floor. Furthermore, employee motivation and rewards system was excellent out there. Employee itself works h ard to achieve certain goal which let them feels like special amongst the rest. Moreover, two types of rewards in the form of motivation used to given out to the employees. 1st was the financial Incentive, bonus, Arius and commission was the categories while 2nd was the individual appraisal, promotion and recognition was the formalised rewards system carry out. In a way whole paradigm of organization meant to increase companies revenues. Obstacles affecting Organisation Performance Inner conflicts According to Warren (2003) internal conflicts usually when there is a lack of communication between two departments or say individuals. It can also arise if there is a lack of enthusiasm among the different individuals working in the same company. It also give arise to a conflict if at all there is some deficiency in the vision of seing towards the managing of system. One of the critical obstacles which potentially distracts the overall management of an organisation which leads to conflicts between all the levels of employee such as top middle and low level of management. To avoid this kind of conflicts many firm follows conflict management model where they can change the behaviour and inter-relate difference. An assertive conflict comprises competition, collaboration while a non-assertive conflict comprises avoidance, accommodation in the form of co-operative and non co-operative methods of solving inner conflicts. Furthermore, individual difference such as gender difference or cultural difference may affects the companies inner environment which leads to loss of trust in each other and portray lack of integrity in teams as well as overall moral of team gets down. One more reason of the internal conflicts is the generation gaps among the employees working in the same departments that is the younger generation has got more independent thoughts and also they are more enthusiastic in order of adapting new working patterns, as a result of which the conflicts starts arising between them. According to Daniel (2001) acceptance of change is a sudden change in the working environment or say an up gradation of the system. This would make difficult for the employees working in the organisation to get adapted to the new change. In most of the firms when the system gets upgrade or when there is any new change in the working style most of the employees found a major conflict in adapting it. The reason behind that is most of the employees after a specific pattern; it becomes a tradition of working in that style. Hence after using such a tradition and if suddenly a new pattern is introduced, it becomes very difficult for the employees to adapt the new concept which ultimately gives a raise to conflict. In order to make this concept more clear let us take one case study, when was back in India there was a big issue with one of the most prestigious bank of India that is State Bank of India. As a all the banks going to get upgraded and were going to get computerised the conflicts so arises that most of the employees were working with the traditional system from more than last 30 years and more over none of the employees had any knowledge regarding computers, so when computerised system was introduced it become so hard for them to adapt it. But eventually after giving them lots of trainings it finally came into existences. Thus it is the best example which can explain it more specifically. ii) Changing nature of Modern work organisation: New forms of work organisation have come up in last 25 years which is known as modern work organisation. Many organisations have adopted these new forms and become more successful work organisation. Work has been restructured by new technologies; new looms that attempt to involve staff in improving product quality using less inventories. Employees involvement can provide employees with control over their operational lives or it can provide employees with the opportunity to mention on work organisation but leave the real authority relationships untouched. The work organisation was changed a lot over the time from 19th century (traditional work organisation) to 21st century (modern work organisation). Traditional work organisational structure was layered with functional departments while Modern work organisational structure is more flat containing process teams. Traditional work organisations employees were controlled and did specified task only while modern work organisations employees are empowered and doing multi tasks. Managers and executives were supervisors and scorekeepers in traditional work organisation; they become coaches and leaders in the modern work organisation. Working system value was protective in traditional work organisation which is productive in modern work organisation. New job started with training in traditional organisation but in modern work organisation new job start with learning. Employees promotion was based on performance and activities in traditional work organisation while in modern work oganisation em ployees promotional is based on their ability and outcomes of their their activities. The changing nature of modern work organisation is due to globalisation, more customer focused markets, change in telecommunication, fast spread of Information technology and worldwide competition. The Modern work organisation is like now more flexible and fundamentally changed from generally accepted management theories and techniques. Social, economical and legal factors have changed the concept of corporate social responsibilities (CSR) and business morals. Modern work organisations philosophy is based on trust among employee, teamwork, individual responsibilities and personal development of staff. Management is a cornerstone of organisational effectiveness, and the integrating activity that permeates every facet of the operations of the organisation. I agree with this statement because Management is a vital part of successful organisation. Organisational goals are achieved by employees through managements direction, guidance and integration. Without people there can be no organisation and no productive activity thus managing people effectively is the responsibility of management. Effective management of people in the organisation is very important because physical recourses are owned by organisation but human recourses are not owned by organisation. People have their own feelings, perception, attitude, ideas and working style towards organisation. Thus the role of successful management is to integrate individual and the organisation. The changing nature of modern work organisation is also affect the management but the integrating activity of management which permeates every part of the operations of the organisation. Management as the cornerstone of organisational effectiveness: Management includes a collection of diverse functions undertaken to complete an organisational goal successfully. In the simple word, management is all about getting things done. The term management may be defined recently, but it was present at a time when humankind started learning the art of organising and simply planning. Peter Drucker  (1993) defined management as Supplying knowledge to find out how existing knowledge can best be applied to produce results is, in effect, what we mean by management. But knowledge is now also being applied systematically and purposefully to determine what new knowledge is needed, whether it is feasible, and what has to be done to make knowledge effective. It is being applied, in other word to systematic innovation thus it is clear from definition that management is an innovative as well as a efficient flow of knowledge that can be applied to achieved organisational goals by using people and other recourses in an effective way. Management theories are mainly of two types, one concentrates mainly on efficiency and another concentrates mainly on effectiveness. Efficiency is about doing things the right way and Effectiveness is about doing the right things.  Combination of efficiency and effectiveness is very important for good management style. Organisational effectiveness depends on the organisational structure, operations of organisations, and the process of management and the behaviour of people at work but management is the key factor of organisational effectiveness. Process of management is influenced by legal, social and environmental factors. Managerial roles are mainly five types; organising, commanding, coordinating, controlling and planning. Organising is key role of manager which means being responsible for jobs and tasks being carried out by individuals within organisation. Commanding is important role which means giving orders and instructions to individuals and expecting them to be carried out to achieve organisational goal. Coordinating (Integrating) is essential role of manager which means all activities are arranged, adjusted and integrated in time and situation to ensure smooth running of all organisational operations. Controlling is supervising role of manager which involves directing, inspecting and controlling individuals and teams. Planning is fundamental role of manager which means determines in advance what should be consummated and how it should be consummated. (Bounds G, Yorks L, Adams M, Ranney G, 1994). It is clear from above discussion that management is a cornerstone of organisational effectiveness and without management is not easy to carry out all operations to achieve organisational goals. Management as an integrating activity: Management is heterogeneous and is accepting at all levels of the organisation, as it is an integrating activity. Managers have to manage in order to achieve the organisational goals. Every organisation is seeking effective managers, and the quality of management is a key element of organisational effectiveness. There are mainly four things which influence on organisation behaviour: The Individual, the group, the organisation and the environment. The Individual: Organisations are made up of individual members. Individuals are essential to the study of organisational behaviour. Conflict starts if requirements and demands of the organisation and the individual are mismatched, thus the role of management is to integrate individuals and the organisation as a way to accomplishing organisational goals. The Group: Groups are important to organisational work and performance. Groups are either formal or informal. Groups often build up their own hierarchies and leaders. Groups can influence personality behaviour and performance of the individual, thus managerial understanding is very important for group processes can help the task of integration. The Organisation: Prescribed organisational structure is produced by management. It establishes internal relationships between management and the employees. It provides order and systems among staff and managers. Organisational design can have an impact on the behaviour of people within organisations, thus management helps to direct the organisation towards the achievement of organisational goals through integration of organisational activities. The environment: External environmental factors like technological and scientific development, economic activity, social and cultural influences and the impact of government actions affects the organisation to achieve its goals, thus management needs to integrate the opportunities and risks presented by the external environment to the achievement of goals. Management can integrate the Individual, the group, the organisation and the environment which influence on organisation behaviour. To improving relationship of people and organisation is based on following four points. Organisational processes and execution of work: Management needs to improve organisational processes to help individuals within the operations, who can plan and execute their job effectively to get optimum output using fewer inventories. Coordinating efforts of members of the organisation: Management needs to coordinate efforts of individuals within the organisation, which can create new organisational climate in which they can work more effectively and willingly. Coherent Pattern of activities within total work organisation: Management needs to adapt rational pattern of activities within total work organisation, which can create employee friendly pattern of activities to improve individual speed and style of work. Systems of motivation, job satisfaction and rewards: Management needs to give motivation and rewards to individuals within the organisation, which can satisfy needs of people at work. Job satisfaction and motivation is very important for employee to work hard for attain organisational goals. It is clear from above discussion that management is an integrating activity that permeates every facet of the operations of the organisation. The integrating activity of organisational effectiveness and without management is not easy to carry out all operations to achieve organisational goals. Reference: These changes can have a variety of results. Computers can create new and challenging jobs and they can also be used to make existing jobs more repetitive. There are ongoing debates about how new these new forms of work organization are, how effective they are in making firms more productive, and disagreement on whether they allow workers to work smarter or simply force them to work harder. At the same time many proposals that call for greater worker control are seen as being incompatible with the rights of management. Conclusion This overall study comprises of different aspects mainly which are leads to organizations performance improvement such as employees training, rewards and motivation further how nature of environment remains healthy by excellent leadership where case study of BPO Company highlighted. Lastly, also several points highlighted along with examples and how to overcome from it while the factors described which affects the performance of an organization.

Wind Power :: essays papers

Wind Power The wind turbine, also called a windmill, is a means of harnessing the kinetic energy of the wind and converting it into electrical energy. This is accomplished by turning blades called aerofoils, which drive a shaft, which drive a motor (turbine) and ar e connected to a generator. "It is estimated that the total power capacity of winds surrounding the earth is 1 x 1011 Gigawatts" (Cheremisinoff 6). The total energy of the winds fluctuates from year to year. Windmill expert Richard Hills said that the wind really is a fickle source of power, with wind speeds to low or inconsistent for the windmill to be of practical use. However, that hasn't stopped windmill engineers from trying. Today, there are many kinds of windmills, some of which serve differen t functions. They are a complex alternative energy source. What to consider when building a windmill In choosing where to build a windmill, there are many important factors to consider. First is the location: 1) Available wind energy is usually higher near the seacoast or coasts of very large lakes and offshore islands. 2) Available wind energy is gene rally high in the central plains region of the U.S. because of the wide expanses of level (low surface roughness) terrain. 3) Available wind energy is generally low throughout the Southeastern U.S. except for certain hills in the Appalachian and Blue Rid ge Mountains, the North Carolina coast, and the Southern tip of Florida. This is because of the influence of the "Bermuda high" pressure system, which is a factor especially during the summer. Also important to consider is the wind where you are going to build: 1) the mean wind speed (calculated my cubing the averages and taking the mean of the cubes) and its seasonal variations. 2) The probability distribution of wind speed and of extreme wi nds. The mean wind speed must be high enough, and the distribution must be so that all the data points are very similar. 3) The height variation of wind speed and wind direction. Wind cannot be too high or too low in relation to the ground or it is too difficult to harness. 4) The gustiness of the wind field in both speed and direction. Gusty winds greatly affect the power output of the windmills and are usually harmful. 5) The wind direction distribution and probability of sudden large shifts in di rection. The wind must be unlikely to suddenly shift direction.

The NASA Haughton-Mars Project. :: essays research papers

The NASA Haughton-Mars Project. A thousand miles or so from the Earth's North pole lies our planet's largest uninhabited island, Devon Island. Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island on Earth, with a surface area of approximately 66,800 km2. Its geology presents two major provinces: a thick (presently ~ 1.3 km) subhorizontal sequence of Paleozoic (Cambrian to Devonian) marine sedimentary rocks dominated by carbonates (dolomite and limestone) forming part of the Arctic Platform; and a Precambrian crystalline (gneissic) basement lying unconformably under the stack of marine sediments, forming part of the Canadian Shield. The Paleozoic sediments present a gentle dip of approximately 4Â ° towards the west. The flat-topped plateau characterizing much of Devon Island's surface is an old erosional surface (peneplain) exposing sediments of increasing age towards the east. Devon Island is home to one of the highest-latitude impact structures known on Earth, Haughton Crater. At 20 kilometers in diameter the crater fo rmed 23 million years ago, at the beginning of the Miocene, when an asteroid or a comet collided with our planet. Little imagination is required to believe oneself on Mars when exploring Devon Island. Many features and sites there are strikingly reminiscent of the Martian landscape, from barren rocky blockfields to intricate valley networks, from precipitous winding canyons to recent gully systems on their slopes. We come here to understand whether this resemblance is merely a coincidence or whether there are common underlying causes. Did some of the processes that shaped Devon Island also operate on Mars? The object that struck Devon Island was perhaps 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) in diameter. Coming in at cosmic speeds, the impactor delivered a pulse of energy equivalent to 100 million kilotons of TNT. In so doing, it produced a blinding flash of light followed by a monumental air blast that flattened the surroundings, obliterating almost all life several hundred kilometers around. As the impactor itself blended into the target rocks and vanished as a superheated gas, a colossal shock wave expanded into the subsurface. Rocks were crushed, melted, vaporized, and ejected. Soon, a gaping crater 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) wide and 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) deep appeared, only to shallow out moments later as its unstable walls collapsed inwards. As the dust cleared, a smoldering hole filled with a vast pool of chunky molten carbonates appeared. Haughton Crater was born. Early research efforts at Haughton focused on studies of the crater itself with investigations into a possible Mars analog angle remaining unexplored.

Analysis on “Behind the Veil” Essay

In the short story â€Å"From Behind the Veil,† written by Dhu’l Nun Ayyoub, the author changes how we feel about the main character throughout the sequencing of the plot. We as the readers learn more about how the protagonist really thinks coupled with what her motives are. The author also presents language that clearly expresses how the protagonist feels and uses examples to show an overall theme in the story. In the exposition we meet our protagonist who is a young women of Islam who wears the traditional veil that muslim women are advised to wear under the law of the Quran were it says, â€Å"And tell the believing women to reduce some of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which necessarily appears thereof and to wrap a portion of their head covers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women.(Quran).† Some women are not wearing veils. As readers, we come to the conclusion that the protagonist is a faithful woman of Islam. The veil is a symbol of power to women who wear it because they have the gift of modesty and can show their dedication to Allah. What is interesting is that even though the veil is supposed to cover the body and keep men from giving attention to a woman’s body, men are drawn to the women in veils because they are â€Å"enticing† and have an â€Å"alluring shape, and make the observer yearn to uncover the secrets which lie beneath them (Ayyoub 98).† During the rising action, we continue to have the view about the protagonist that she is a â€Å"good girl† and respectable until she reveals herself to a man she finds enticing and who seems to fancy her. This contradicts what we previously thought about her. We also learn that she wants to have control of their relationship. She won’t allow the man to know her name or have any information that he could use to contact her at any time. This is an interesting exception to the stereotypical and usual relationship between a Muslim man and woman. Usually the man would have the majority of power in the relationship, but the protagonist has made the relationship on her terms  only. We also learn from the narrator that the protagonist has a strong disposition. We can conclude that she seems to exude some power . We also learn that her father thinks highly of her and feels that she is â€Å"intelligent†, â€Å"well brought up†, and â€Å"obviously knows the value of traditions and respects them.† In the climax, we start to have a very different view of our protagonist. We learn that she might not be as genuine as we think she is. The climax is after her father reads the newspaper article a man submitted about a woman who revealed herself to him. She goes to her room and ‘talks’ to her veil stating that she despises the veil, how she uses it only to keep men away from her, she doesn’t care about her veil at all, she feels nothing for it, she defies it, and how she feels that other women say they wear the veil to preserve their virginity, honor, and good morals, but if they were honest about why they wore the veil it would be for no reason but to cover their flaws and scandals. This is extremely surprising to the reader because from what we thought of her before she was a girl who wore the veil as a symbol of good morals when now we learn it isjust a persona that she exudes. This point of view she has toward the veil is very different from what we expect it to be and what most Islamic people’s point of view would be. We as readers now think of her as taking advantage of the veiling tradition for her own purposes instead of for religious ones. It seems as if though she wants everyone to think she wears the veil because she is faithful to Allah, when in all reality it is all staged. The only positive thought she has of her veil is that it creates a sense of anonymity and mystery even though she feels trapped underneath it. The language the author uses to express how the protagonist really feels about the veil give you a sense of the true despise the protagonist has toward it. The author uses words such as â€Å"defy† which mean to challenge the power of, or resist boldly, showing that the protagonist is having an internal conflict with her religion. She also uses the word â€Å"despise† which means disgust. Readers really get the sense now that the protagonist has put on an act to seem like this respectable and honorable Muslim woman when really none of it matters to her. The Theme of the story is that sometimes  we can feel trapped between what we feel and think and what we know is the status-quo or the excepted way of thinking and feeling. This is shown in the example of the protagonist with her father. She acts like she agrees with his thought of the veil because she knows that is what is expected and excepted when really her feelings are that the veil denies her freedom.

Dealing With Physical Abuse

The Struggle Physical Abuse Brings People all around the world have suffered from being abused verbally and physically, causing a struggle because they don’t know how to handle these types of situations. In the short story Runaways by Karen Brennan, the main character Lou is physically abused by her husband, which leads Lou to run away, causing problems between friends and family. What are you without loved ones? When you really care about someone you will give an arm and a leg for him or her but once they cross a line they shouldn’t, it feels like the world is supposed to end.In Lou’s situation this is exactly what happened to her. She gave her entire life to her husband and her children. Unfortunately her husband didn’t care about her feelings and cared more about what he wanted than what would keep her happy. Physical abuse in a relationship is a key factor of failing marriages. Lack of communication can lead to physical abuse. Throughout the time that Lou and her husband have been married, they have been through a lot. One thing that might have started all their arguing besides his drinking problem may be that they â€Å"have difficulty talking to each other†(Brennan,501).Lou states, â€Å"My husband didn’t always beat me. In the beginning he was just irresponsible. I could live with that. He drank too much and in the worst times he drove too fast with the babies in the car†(Brennan,501). Lou’s husband beats her so often, she is afraid to go to sleep. When her husband was drunk he became a whole different person, â€Å"he was a maniac when he was drunk†(Brennan,501). â€Å"Its unfair the advantage that men have†(Brennan,501) because woman should be able to stand up for themselves without worrying about what the guys reaction will be.Lou is a woman who will put others before herself. She is a mother of four children and wants everyone happy. For instance, a lot of mothers’ first rea ction to their children crying is to beat them and tell them to â€Å"stop whining†. Lou has been beaten by someone she truly loves so why would she want to beat four people she loves unconditionally, her children. Lou states, â€Å"I am not one of those mothers who turns around in the car and swats the kids on the legs and tells them to shut up. I have never believed in that. When they whined, I told stories.I told them about a family who sailed away in an orange balloon†(Brennan,501). Lou had hit her breaking point and had to runaway from her problems. But is running away the answer? Often people who are physically abused turn around and abuse others. For Lou, it was a different story. She was not a young adult who abused her children because her husband abused her. Many people take their anger out on others because it is a way to make themselves feel better. Lou possibly could have felt pressure to raise her four children with her husband being involved.Lou was stro ng enough and didn’t stay in an abusive relationship just for the children because she knew leaving was the best decision for her at the time. Through all the ups and downs Lou went through with her husband in the end she felt like she was left with nothing. â€Å"a woman without a husband is like an ocean without a sea†(Brennan,500). Its hard being happy if you don’t have the people you cherish most in your life around you. A person can struggle with a bunch of emotions and if you don’t have the support of people that care about you, the situation gets a lot harder.When you are surrounded with people that want the best for you, then you will get though your struggles with someone by your side, not alone. I personally know someone who went through something very similar from what Lou went through. My cousin who is now 25 years old has been dealing with family problems ever since she was about 10 years old. I have heard all these stories about my cousin an d her family from my parents. I was always curious and wanted to know what was happening but it was not my place to ask questions because it might be a sensitive topic for her.Her father was a heavy drinker which caused him to be very angry not only friend friends but especially with his family. My cousin Kelley was the youngest of the two kids. She has an older sister who was 4 years older than she is. Night after night her father kept drinking excessively. The family knew what was coming along with his drinking, his anger. One night it got really bad, he yelled at Kelley for the littlest things, things that were not even a big deal. One time, she didn’t wash her plate after dinner because she was too tired and wanted to go to bed.He became highly upset and rushed into her bedroom, slapped her, and told her to get up and clean her plate. Each day he got worse and worse. After a couple years went by Kelley, her mom, and he sister could no longer handle him and his drinking pr oblem. They moved out when he was at work so he could not say anything about it. The girls moved far away and did not tell anyone where they were going because they did not want their father to find out. They knew he would make a big deal about it. Three girls living on their own trying to survive must have been hard.Having a main man in their life was their leading factor to surviving. Without her dad paying for everything and supplying for the family, it’s difficult for the girls. Somehow her father found out where they were and made them come back. They decided to give their father one more chance, thinking that things would be different but they only got worse. He thought they would leave him again so he tried to be more protective which only caused his anger to be worse than it already was. As Kelley matured throughout the years she realized she no longer wanted to have her dad in her life at all so she lost all contact with him.She got her own apartment and did almost a ll her daily actives on her own. After everything that happened with her dad, she didn’t want to depend on anyone else but herself. This made it difficult for Kelley to keep close friendships with her girlfriends because after her father, she thought that everyone she truly cared about would let her down like he did. Kelley’s fear of having to abandon ones she love caused her to have little friends. She was afraid to trust anyone at all because she believed that friendships and relationships don’t last forever.Later when Kelley became a young adult she realized that she could not go on any longer not having her father in her life and having little friends that she can count on. Being on your own is tough. So Kelley allowed her father to re enter her life but not fully be involved 100%. She realized although she had been through a lot over the years, having her dad around again was exactly what she needed to be happy again. As the years go on, you find out who yo u need in your life and who you would be okay without. I thought that Lou and my cousin Kelley’s story were similar due to running away from their problems.Although Lou was physically abused and Kelley was verbally abused their problems with the men in their lives bring their two stories together. Not having a close relationship with someone who means the world to you has to be really hard. Especially for Kelley, being so young and thinking you dad would be someone you would look up to as the years went on. Her father ended up being someone she never thought he would be, which had to of been beyond upsetting. As for Lou, the man who has been the love of her life for years now and has children who look up to him is not the type of father they though he was going to be.Its hard putting all your effort into someone and believing they are going to give their best to you and then be let down. Being let down is very hurtful and can cause someone a lot of pain, for instance Lou and Kelley. Although Lou and Kelley did not end with the same feelings at the end of both of their stories they still dealt with the same process. Work Cited Alvarado, Beth, Barbara Cully, and Michael Robinson. â€Å"Runaways. † Writing as Revision. Boston, MA. : Pearson Custom Pub. , 2003. 499-509. Print.