Geographic Situations and Factors for Settlement

In geographic terms, a situation or site refers  to the location of a place based on its relation to other places, such as San Franciscos situation being a port of entry on the Pacific coast, adjacent to Californias productive agricultural lands. Situations are typically defined by the physical elements of a location that helped determine it as good for settlement, which can include factors such as availability of building materials and water supply, the quality of soil, the climate of the region, and opportunities for shelters and defense — for this reason, many coastal cities are formed due to their proximity to both rich agricultural land and trade ports. Of the many factors that help determine if  a location is appropriate  for settling, each can be  divided into one of four  generally accepted categories: climatic, economic, physical and traditional.   Climatic, Economic, Physical, and Traditional Factors In order to better categorize which factors ultimately affect settlement, geographers have generally accepted four umbrella terms to describe these elements: climatic, economic, physical, and traditional. Climatic factors such as wet or dry situations, availability and the  need for shelter and drainage, and the  necessity for warmer or cooler garb can all determine whether or not the situation is appropriate for settlement. Similarly, physical factors like shelter and drainage, as well as soil quality, water supply, ports, and resources, can affect whether or not a location is suitable for building a city. Economic factors such as nearby markets for trade, ports for importing and exporting goods, number of available resources to account for Gross Domestic Product, and commercial routeways also play a large role in this decision, as do traditional factors such as defenses, hills, and local relief for new establishments in the locations region. Changing Situations Throughout history, settlers have had to establish a variety of different ideal factors to determine the best course of action for establishing new settlements, which have changed drastically over time. Whereas most settlements in medieval times were established based on an availability of fresh water and good defenses, there are many more factors that now determine how well a settlement would do given its location. Now, climatic factors and traditional factors play a much larger role in establishing new cities and towns because physical and economic factors are typically worked out based on international or domestic relationships and controls — though elements of these such as availability of resources and proximity to trade ports do still play a major role in the establishment process.

Illegal Immigration Has A Positive Impact On The United...

Bienvenidos a America? â€Å"We didn’t raise the Statue of Liberty with her back to the world, we did it with her light shining as a beacon to the world. And whether we were Irish or Italians or Germans crossing the Atlantic, or Japanese or Chinese crossing the Pacific; whether we crossed the Rio Grande or flew here from all over the world — generations of immigrants have made this country into what it is. It’s what makes us special.† President Obama. November 21, 2014 (White House, 5). Although illegal immigration is often considered negative, recent studies and social trends suggest illegal immigration has had a more positive impact on the United States through observing the cases of modern day life. The number of immigrants to the US†¦show more content†¦The Ellis Island arrivals had to have a sponsor, if not they would not be able to enter the United States (Streissguth, 7). In the 1890’s, the United States experienced an economic depression. Unemployment be came a serious problem in the cities. Some blamed unskilled immigrants, who competed for low-paying jobs in manufacturing industries. Labor unions raised the call for more restrictions on immigration (Streissguth, 7). In conjunction they created stronger immigration laws and all Ellis Island arrivals had to pass a literacy test. President Grover Cleveland vetoed the test. As time continued Immigration laws became looser. Congress approached the issues of illegal immigration in 1986. In that year, the legislature passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The bill granted temporary residency to those living in the United States without permission since 1982. As foreigners became more visible, voters demanded some action from Congress. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, illegal immigration remains a pressing issue. Political leaders were still trying to agree with sound laws and policy. The immigration debate will continue as long as America attracts newcomers from all over the globe with its promises of freedom and opportunity (Streissguth, 7). By the 1990’s, illegal immigration was occurring along every border of the United States and in port cities

The Odyssey Free Essays

In the tenth book of the Odyssey Odysseus and his companions find themselves trapped in the cave if the Cyclops Polyphemos. After their monstrous host has munched his way through several of his guests, the remainder take action. Odysseus makes a sharp, wooden stake, cutting it from the massive cudgel discovered in the cave; then together with four of his men he plunges the stake into the eye of the drunken, sleeping Polyphemos. We will write a custom essay sample on The Odyssey or any similar topic only for you Order Now Snodgrass, however, would dissent. His whole book is devoted to proving that not only did early Greek art rarely illustrate Homer, it was rarely even inspired by it. This theory is not a new one. Many other scholar have thought and pondered the same ideas. Snodgrass meticulously studies examples of scene often thought to be illustrations of Homer. Geometric art, he argues, offers nothing that can be identified as Homeric; indeed, there is only one Trojan war scene and that is Ajax’s rescue of the body of Achilles, a scene which occurs in neither the Odyssey nor the Iliad. One of the more bizarre apparitions of geometric art takes the form of a pair of Siamese twins, warriors with two heads, four legs, four arms and one torso and the subject of some fascinating pages in Snodgrass’s book. They were especially popular in early Greek art, but there is no clear Homeric influence here. Twice does the Iliad does refer to the twins, yet significantly he does not mention their rather striking deformity. It is preferable to understand both the artist and Homer as drawing on the same body of legendary material. By the mid seventh century figures on vases are beginning to be identified by captions. This at least makes it easier to determine whether the scene is from the Trojan war. Instead of two warriors fighting over a body we can be sure that we are looking at Menealos and Hektor fighting over the body of Euphorbos, as found on a famous Rhodian plate of the late seventh century, a picture that makes an impressive and appropriate cover for the book. This could very well be an illustration of the Iliad book where Menealos abandons his attempt to strip the corpse. Evidence for this tradition can be found in the shield of Euphorbos by Menealos himself. This is certainly plausible and helps to show that common subject matter is insufficient to prove influence. On the other hand, where a minor character is names, such as ‘Odios’ in the embassy to Achilles, then we can be more confident that the artist had Homer in mind. This is a book of enormous leaning and subtlety, and it conclusion is surely right, yet at the same time it seems something of a missed opportunity. It is devoted to a negative and tightly-argued thesis, that Homer’s epic poems had only minimal influence on early Greek at. Snodgrass is re-thinking early Greek art as he goes, but he is re-thinking it within the restrictions imposed by the very narrow focus of the book as a whole. Thus, the positive, for instance the illuminating chapter on synoptic narrative and on composition, can be rather swapped in the relentless negative arguments. Other will now need to work through the implications of his thesis, for example the role that must be assigned to oral tradition and all its local variations. Perhaps it is no conscience that his book should appear at a time when the literary culture of the recent past is being eroded by an increasing emphasis on the visual. How to cite The Odyssey, Papers The Odyssey Free Essays The Odyssey In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus does not deserve his reputation as a brave and clever leader because he is very arrogant, conceited, and he only cares about his glories which causes him the life of all his loyal companions. Odysseus makes the mistake of bragging out to the Cyclops about how he conquered stabbing his eye and escaping his cave â€Å"Cyclops if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca! (Book 9, lines 416-420). Odysseus does not think about the consequences he will have now after yelling out his real name, his father’s name, and his home land. We will write a custom essay sample on The Odyssey or any similar topic only for you Order Now His journey home will be much more difficult due to a non-clever decision. The Cyclops tries to trick Odysseus into going back and possibly eat or kill him ‘’Come back Odysseus, and ill treat you well, praying the god of earthquake to befriend you, his son I am †¦ if he will, he may heal me of this black wound †¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Book 9, lines 431-435). Odysseus does not return which does show some cleverness but then again he yells out to the Cyclops â€Å"if I could take your life I would and take your time away, and hurl you down to hell! The god of earthquake could not heal you there! †(Book 9, 437-440). This aggravates the Cyclops and he puts a curse on Odysseus â€Å"†¦grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home †¦let him lose all companions, and return under strange sail to bitter days at home†(Book 9. Lines 445-452). Due to all of his actions, bragging about his glories, Odysseus will face many difficult challenges and may not return home. How to cite The Odyssey, Papers The Odyssey Free Essays string(19) " be meals for him\." For years and years I’ve been roaming around the seas in hope to get back to my homeland Ithaca. I’ve faced many obstacles along my journey but all with great morals. I started off my journey when Menelaus and Agamemnon asked me to go with them to Troy to retrieve Helen. We will write a custom essay sample on The Odyssey or any similar topic only for you Order Now The other islands I visited came along unexpectedly. The decision to leave my homeland Ithaca was the hardest decision a man could make. Leaving behind my wife Penelope and my new born son Telemachus was unbearable but when duty called I had to accept it with courage and bravery. The feeling of loosing such a cherish-able family made me have second thoughts for I don’t know when I’ll be coming back and what would happen to my family and my land Ithaca. I was afraid that by the time I come back someone would have escorted by wife, my mother could be dead and my son could be the wrong man to rule Ithaca if he was influenced too much by the suitors. I once had a vision that great grief and sorrow would come upon my family and my people but I kept it to myself and hoped that it was just an ordinary dream rather than a warning from the gods that it would happen in reality. I knew it was time to sail to troy as soon as the sirens were heard. Their sound echoed in my ears as an admonishment to me that this was the last time I’d see my homeland and family. Penelope knew that it was time for my departure so she was waiting for me with Telemachus by the door. I could see the tears in her eyes and feel the sorrow in her heart, for she knows that she might not see me again. I kissed her and assured her that I would always fight to come back to her and Telemachus. Standing by the other side of the door was Anticleia my mother; she held her head high for she knew that it was an honor for her son, king of Ithaca – son of Laertes to join to in the battle of Troy. I bowed to her in respect, took my stock and walked directly to the ship. After months and years, we finally set foot on Troy. Our plan was to hide in an oversized wooden horse that would be offered to Priam-king of Troy. King Priam accepted the gift and entered the wooden horse in Troy assuming that we surrendered and this was a gift of appreciation. Meanwhile, the soldiers and I were hidden inside the wooden horse waiting for the Trojans to sleep so that we could attack at night. A few hours later in the day, we were instructed that it was time to climb down of the horse and attack. Menelaus gave a concise speech encouraging us and we were off to battle. The Trojans woke up in fright, for they were sleeping and had no sense of what’s going on. Numerous Trojan soldiers were slaughtered and the battle continued for about nine year. Our victory and the end of the war finally appeared in the tenth year. We were able to retrieve Helen, kill all Trojans and enslave the Trojan women. When it was time to depart, I was assigned as the captain of a number of ships. The first land we came upon was Ismarus, city of the Cicones. I advised my men to search for food and stay away from the islands people. However; my advice was far from being heard by anyone. The crew slaughtered the ciconian men and took their women as slaves. The next day we were attacked by a large number of cincones causing us to flee in our ships. Each of my ships lost 6 of its Achaeans men. As a result for all the mischief we caused for the Cincones, Zeus-god of all gods, made a storm that left us nine days in the sea with no land in sight and limited food and water. The vision that I once had before was starting to occur in reality. With hope in our hearts, we came upon another island on the tenth day. The land of the Lotus Eaters lured my men even more. Hunger was our greatest enemy then and so caused us to explore the island in search of food. A few soldiers found some lotus plants and started to devour them. A few minutes later, they were completely brainwashed. Nothing seemed to matter to them other than eating more of it and staying on the island. A sense of fright shivered down my spine, for only considering eating such a plant. The only way to stop them from losing their minds completely was dragging them back to the ships and locking them there till we sail and so we did. The next island to come in sight was the land of one eyed giants called Cyclopes. When we explored their island we came upon a huge cave. Inside the cave were cheese, bread and sheep; basically all what we wanted at that moment. I told my men to take all they wanted and feast in the ship or on the shore but they insisted to feast in the cave and light a fire. I had to admit it was a relief for the days we’ve seen before just to sit and feast in peace and harmony but it wasn’t for long until the peace and harmony were exchanged with fright and grief. Polyphemus- son of Posidon appeared at the door of the cave. He entered and shut the cave’s door with an enormous rock. I tried to persuade Polyphemus that we ate from his food as an act of xenia for any stranger; but he was far from being convinced. We were imprisoned to be meals for him. You read "The Odyssey" in category "Essay examples" I couldn’t stand to see my soldiers being taken one by one as a meal so I came up with a plan to drunken Polyphemus so my men and I could blind him with a stick of fire. Then in the morning we could hide under the sheep and escape when Polyphemus removed the rock that was placed in front of the cave. I also knew that once we blind him he’s going to call on the other Cyclops and tell them Odysseus blinded me, so I came up with the name â€Å"Noman†; so when they ask him who blinded you he’d say â€Å"Noman† and they’d think the pain he’s in is from the gods and leave the cave so that my crew and I could escape. And so exactly what I planned happened and the next day we we’re safely out of the cave and on our way to the ships. It caused us grief to think about the men we lost and left us thinking of what hardships we’ll experience next. With blessings from the goddess Athena, we were able to sail our ships and reach the home of Aeolus- the god of the wind. I decided to go around the island alone without any members of my crew. I was filling my bag with water to take back to the ship when I heard my name being called. I looked up and the god Aeolus was in sight. He called on me and told me this â€Å"Odysseus, the Greek hero who is said to never again reach his homeland. Give me the bag in your hands and ill help you find your way back to Ithaca†. I couldn’t believe my ears, is it another vision or is it reality. Going back home, oh how much I longed to hear such hopeful words. I went straight to Aeolus and gave him the bag, he took it and disappeared. A moment later I heard someone calling me from high up in the mountains, when I looked up it was Aeolus. He said that Posidon was being a bully and a few moments later he transferred the wind that was stopping us from reaching Ithaca into the bag. He instructed me not to open the bag or else I might never reach Ithaca. I thanked him gratefully and set off to tell my crew the pleasant news. When I reached the ships I was too tiered and fell asleep after instructing them to sail away. Because of jealousy and curiosity, my crew wondered what could be in the bag and instead of waiting till I wake up and ask me they decided to open the bag. When they did a storm took place and brought us back to Aeolus when the shore of Ithaca was in sight. When I went to Aeolus again to ask him for wind, he rejected and sent me off his land, saying that I am cursed by the gods. And so we sailed again with no hope in ever reaching Ithaca. Land of the Laestrygonians was the next island we set foot on. The Laestrygonians were a race of powerful giants whose king was Antiphates. This time I went to search for food with a few members of my crew. We met a pretty looking girl who led us to her father king Antiphates. We were horrified once we reached his house, for the second he saw us he and his wife turned my crew into dinner. While we were trying to escape back to the ships, the king’s wife screamed and all the other Laestrygonians appeared and racked all the ships except mine. I instructed the remaining crew to sail the ship away from this land, and so they did. After sailing for some days we reached Aeaea which is the home of Circe the beautiful witch goddess. The first thing I did was dividing the crew into two companies and appointing a leader for each. I was the leader of the first group that would stay and guard the ship. Eurylochus was leader of the second group with twenty-two men. Eurylochus guided his crew through the land towards Circe’s home were smoke was rising. When the crew reached Circe they were all lured in by her singing leaving only their leader behind. Eurylochus saw that Circe drugged his men and turned them into pigs so he hurried back to the ship and told me what happened. I couldn’t believe such nonsense but went to rescue them leaving behind my crew with Eurylochus. While I was on my way to Circe’s home, Hermes-the messenger god appeared. He tells me to eat a herb to protect myself from Circe’s drug and then lunge at her when she tries to strike me with the sword. When I reached Circe’s home she offered me a drink and I drank it to the last sip then I followed Hermes instructions. Circe was astonished for no man has ever surmounted her drug and struck her in force. I forced her to change my men back into humans, and so she did. As days passed, Circe and I fell in love for she offered us food, water, shelter and peace. My men were comfortable and quite relieved. Circe and I stayed together for one whole year living in serene and happiness. One day my men all came up with the decision that it was time to go back to Ithaca, and so I ask Circe for all the help she could give us. She tells me that I must first sail to Hades- god of the dead to speak with the spirit of Tiresias- a blind prophet who will tell me how to get home. But first I must dig a hole and pour in it milk and honey, then sweet wine and the third time with water. Then sprinkle barley and pray to the gods and after that I have to sacrifice gifts to the gods and a great black ram to Tiresias. Afterwards I have to order my men to burn the sheep as a sacrifice to Hades and Persephone. Next morning, I discovered that the youngest man in my crew Elpenor slept on the roof while he was drunk and when he saw my men getting ready to go back to the ship, he fell from the roof dead with a broken neck. Somber expressions appeared upon my crews’ faces as they heard the news. We left Circe’s island and arrived in the land of the Cimmerians where I preformed all the sacrifices to attract the dead souls. The first to appear was Elpenor, who begged me to return to Circe’s land and give his body a proper burial. Then Tiresias appears and reveals to me that Posidon is punishing us Achaeans for blinding his son Polyphemus. He then assures me that I will return home and reclaim my wife and palace from the suitors. His words filled my heart with hope, courage and confidence to continue my journey. In addition he tells me that I will make another trip to a distant land to calm Posidon and satisfy him. He then foretells one of the island we’ll set foot on and warns me not to touch the flocks of the sun when we reach Thrinacia; otherwise I’ll lose all of my crew. I was don’t talking with Tiresias, so I called on other spirits. First I called to my mother Anticleia who updates me on Ithaca and tells me how she died of grief waiting for my return. I then called on the Greek heroes who fell at Troy in Hades. First Agamemnon then Achilles, Heracles, King Minos, Sisyphus then Tantalus in the end. After talking to each I found myself mobbed by souls who want to ask about their relatives in the world above. A sense of fright came upon my soul and caused me to run back to the ship and sail immediately. We went back to Aeaea to burry Elpenor. Circe welcomed us and I told her all what happened. She then told me to beware that my ship will pass by the sirens that would lure us in by their songs. She told me to plug the crews’ ears by wax and as for me she wants me to hear it. But to do that I have to tie myself up and instruct my crew that even when I plead for them to release me they should tie me up even harder. I thanked her gratefully and set my ship to sail along with telling my crew all what Circe warned me about and what they should do till we pass the sirens. Soon enough after a few hours, I heard charming voices calling on me from what seemed to be a short distance. They sang aloud promising me a better future full of hope. I pleaded my crew to release me to go to them but my men were faithful and kept me tied up till we passed the sirens. A sudden terror was felt by the crew when we reached Scylla and Charybids. Six men were devoured by Scylla’s six heads while staring at Charybids. I knew that this incident would happen but I couldn’t tell any of the men because they already were in much grief. The island of the Sun, Thrinacia was the next island we stopped our ship at. I remembered what Circe told me about avoiding it but my crew persuaded me to go to the island in hope of finding something to eat. The crew slaughtered the cattle of the sun which caused grieve consequences. The sun told Zeus to punish my crew and I for committing such an act. And so, Zeus made a thunderstorm that lead us back to the Charybids where the whole crew drowned except me just as Circe warned. I swam for days but there weren’t any islands in sight. Day by day I started to lose hope and my body started weakening. When I was about to give up the thought of leaving my family behind helped me through. The goddess gave me hope that soon I’d reach Ogygia, Calypso’s island. In a few hours the island came in sight and when I reached the shore I was soo tiered and went to sleep under a tree. For years, Calypso forced me to stay on her land persuading me with her luxury and desire. She fell in love with an immortal man and so I had to stay on her land. Every few months I see ships passing by, I would hurry and swim to reach them but her servants would catch up with me and return me to her. I was kept on her land until Athena told Zeus who sent Hermes to Calypso ordering her to release me. I couldn’t be more relieved. I spent some days building a raft then sailed in hope of reaching Ithaca. I spent eighteen days in the sea until I reached Scheria, island of the Phaeacians. Before I reached the islands shore a storm, probably from Posidon, dragged me under the sea. I was on the verge drowning but then the goddess Ino gave me a protective veil that would keep me safe after my raft was wrecked. Athena then led me to the coast of the island safely. Next morning, when I woke up I heard voices of females playing around. I was embarrassed to take a step forward because I had no clothes on. I thought for a while then I decided to go ask them about this land covering myself up with leaves and bushes. When I appeared in sight all the girls and women backed away but only one stayed. I asked her for clothes and shelter and so she ordered what turned out to be her servants to give me oil to wash my body and some clothes to cover myself up. Now I was all clean and Athena made me look younger and stronger. The women couldn’t believe their eyes; it was obvious from their expressions. I then went to lady again and asked her about this land. She told me that her name is Nausicaa princess of this island. I asked her if I could meet her father the king and she directed me to their palace. When I met the king and queen they asked me about my journey and I told them all about it since I left to Troy. Their hospitality was above what I expected. They offered me food and a place to rest in. The next morning they sent me with their ships and I finally reached my homeland Ithaca after all these years. I wanted to go straight to my house and see my son Telemachus and my wife Penelope but I was wise enough not to do so. I made a decision that I won’t tell anyone except Telemachus and the swineherd who I am until the moment I kill the suitors. I revealed my identity to Telemachus and we made a plan to kill all the suitors and all the servants that were unfaithful to our family during my absence. He was on my side and immediately followed all my instructions. What we planned for happened in reality and I was able to rule Ithaca once again. Penelope, Telemachus and all my faithful people were away from the evil hands of the suitors and were finally in peace and harmony for once in many years. How to cite The Odyssey, Essay examples

Bilingual Education and Bilingualism free essay sample

Discusses the spread and decline of various languages. This paper discusses the pros and cons of bilingualism focusing on the homogenizing of the worlds languages and the struggle to keep some languages and cultures alive. It mentions the effects of colonial powers, the necessities of learning other languages for trade purposes and the reluctance of younger members of minority groups to learn their original tongue. Contains information such as the top nine countries language wise contain 3,300 languages. The paper also discusses the gradual process of change in a language. From the paper: ?Bilingualism is a reality today and it will become a greater reality as time goes. The extent to which it is prevalent is evidenced by the presence of bilinguals in every country today, as well as in every social class and every age group. International travel, communication and the mass media, emigration and planetary economics have created a so-called global village whereby inhabitants speak more than their own native language. We will write a custom essay sample on Bilingual Education and Bilingualism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page

Age No Bar For An Adventure Tourism Essay Essays

Age No Bar For An Adventure Tourism Essay Essays Age No Bar For An Adventure Tourism Essay Essay Age No Bar For An Adventure Tourism Essay Essay Each one of us has a desire to make something extreme in our life. When we dream we do non believe of what could be the possible barriers. The world to a great extend does non ever fit with dreams. But there is one topographic point where age is no standard. Where you can simple pin indicate your pick and travel for it. It is adventure athleticss. Although the myth related with escapade athletics make people think otherwise but the world is that Adventure athleticss is a merriment activity. It is risk free and can be done by anyone. If you are 50 old ages old and wish to make a mountain expedition so travel for it. Tough or easy is in the head. If you have the will and excitement half the conflict is won. Adventures can be classified in two parts. One sort is known as Soft escapades and other type is hardcore. Soft escapades are the 1s which do non necessitate any sort of accomplishments. They are more a leisure activity but they besides provide certain degree of challenge that is needed for any escapade to be escapade. Hard nucleus escapade is anything that requires you to contend the nature like trekking, mountain climbing, skiing and H2O rafting. Soft escapades are really popular amongst households. The thought of scuba diving in the bluish Waterss of Andman or Lakshwadeep or hot air ballooning above the desert of Thar is a really appealing thought among all age groups. And the utmost athleticss like bungee jumping or skiing the highest inclines or even trekking the highest mountain base on ballss by and large chosen by experts or risked by childs. The ground why most of the adult ups prefer the safe options of luxury vacations or soft escapades is because the idea forms formed from their immature age is that this is the clip to play and hold merriment because when you have more duties all this wont suit you. Other ground is that people do non take attention of their wellness from start and so do old age an alibi for non being adventuresome. The grounds can be any but the fact remains that if a individual has the will so he can decidedly seek any adventure athleticss and win. A few facts that will do this fact more credible are that most of the trekkers in America are in-between aged work forces. There are even some older than that. They have climbed some of the most feared mountains and performed some of the most electrifying stunts. Most of the individual travellers from abroad are females aged 40 or more. The popularity of escapade athleticss and the safety attached to it has grown so much that even oldies do non mind giving it a shooting. The popularity of escapade athleticss has caught up with everyone. When the media is traveling out of the manner to advance people from all age group are lured by it.

En Fait French Expression Explained

En Fait French Expression Explained The French expression en fait (pronounced [a(n) feht]) is a statement of contradiction, used when you want to set the record straight. Its the equivalent of saying something like in fact, as a matter of fact or actually in English. Its  register  is normal. Examples   Ã‚  -As-tu faim ? -Non, en fait, jai dà ©j mangà ©.-Are you hungry? -No, actually, Ive already eaten.   Ã‚  -Javais pensà © que nous allions le faire ensemble, mais en fait jà ©tais tout seul.-Id thought we were going to do it together, but, in fact, I was by myself. Confusions There are two potential confusions with the expression en fait: Its really only used to contradict something. In English, theres another meaning of in fact, where you agree with what was just said and want to add some more information, as in Yes, in fact, thats a good idea. In this case, a better translation of in fact is en effet, effectivement, or possibly justement.Though it may sound similar, the expression au fait means something very different.

Differences Between Private And Public English Language Schools In Dissertation

Differences Between Private And Public English Language Schools In Northern Cyprus - Dissertation Example In Cyprus, as elsewhere – the ongoing race of education as it keeps pace with technology opens up the potential to establish the fabled global village with respect to the development of human capacities through modern educational institutions now becoming available in North Cyprus. The value of specialized language education programs is recognized throughout Europe and neighboring regions. Across a diverse continent, and nearby islands there is considerable potential for Diversity – but also a similar potential for isolation and prejudice as existed in centuries past. Among one of the central tenets of the European Union is the promotion of mobility and communication within the population of Europe and neighboring regions. The most immediate and practical way to address the need for equality and mobility is through a policy of linguistic equality. The goal of multilingualism is achievable through the promotion and facilitation of a common language or languages among diverse groups in formerly isolated regions to create a broader cultural framework in which populations can move and interact with one another more freely, as well as receive visitors from other countries and more readily accommodate them for educational and economic purposes. With different languages endemic to various regions throughout the greater European sphere, the teaching of English opens up expanded opportunities for communication and concourse both for travelers from their native lands, and to receive visitors for the economic invigoration of islands such as Cyprus. English remains a popular choice, and a useful starting point for an overall goal of multilingual aptitude throughout Europe and the Mediterranean region. Turkish Cyprus boasts a large population of expatriate English speakers, but with less tourism in the Turkish north, demand is somewhat le ss for new English speakers as language instructors than the Greek South. Throughout the island, the state system boasts widespread English instruction, and while there are private English-language academies of various quality and price throughout the country, academies include primary and secondary schools in English. But there are smaller numbers of Russian, French, and Greek academies as well. English-speaking academies tend to be fewer in number in Turkish areas (Global-English.com, 2010). In terms of the political geography of the region, the island is divided into the Turkish north, officially known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus –

Family Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Family Law - Case Study Example (Morley 2005 International Law) At this point I would explain to Dorothy that in order to proceed she would be required to show that the marriage is unsalvageable and the both her and George agree that the marriage should be dissolved. This is not to say that if George does not want a divorce, Dorothy will not be able to file for one. What it means is that George could contest it and if that situation arises she will need support to present to the court to prove that there are grounds and conditions for the divorce. I would also advise Dorothy to talk with George and pursue coming to an agreement prior to filing for the divorce. This is because if the divorce is somewhat amicable and the property and assets have been discussed and there will not be a fight over the divorce will go more smoothly both in court and for them personally. The following law pertains to the circumstances being somewhat amicable: 1.7.1 The decree nisi is the court's decision to grant a divorce provided that nothing comes to light which may alter the Judgement. The certificate given as a result of this decision shows the period of time that is to be allowed for this purpose. If nothing comes to light, the decree absolute is issued at the end of the waiting period. The decree nisi is therefore a temporary document only and the decree absolute must always be seen. (Morley 2005 International Law) I would advise Dorothy that due to the length of her marriage the assets of both her and George would in most circumstances be split down the middle. However if they come to an agreement regarding particular property or assets I would strongly advise Dorothy to talk it out with George and when they reach an agreement on how the property and assets should be divided to contact me, her divorce attorney, so that I can prepare the proper legal document indicating the property and asset agreement. I would also advise Dorothy to include anything personal or sentimental even though she may not think it of value. In order to ensure receipt of items of sentimental or other value she must notify me so that I could include it in the formal legal documents. At this time I would also advise Dorothy that it would not be wise for her to assume any agreements made between George and herself would necessarily be kept and that any agreements made, of any kind for property, assets, sentimental items o r anything else needs to be put into the divorce paperwork. After discussing all of this information with Dorothy I would then go over divorce conditions in detail and strongly advise her that the fact that she wants to make a fresh life for herself while she is still young enough to enjoy it is not a good condition. Divorce conditions include: In England & Wales obtaining a divorce requires a written application (called a petition) to the court by either the husband or the wife. Applications for divorce are dealt with by the County Court and spouses have to apply to that court for their divorce. The applicant has to prove that the marriage has broken down irretrievably and has to provide evidence of one of the five facts listed below: No application for divorce can be made until at least one year after the date of the marriage.

The disrespectfulness of children towards adults compared to 50 years Research Paper

The disrespectfulness of children towards adults compared to 50 years ago - Research Paper Example This essay will compare and contrast the same to reach towards a conclusion. Until the mid of the twentieth century, schools did not have such strict punishments as they have today such as detention, suspension and others. This is because they did not need them. Students were less likely to exhibit intolerable behaviors against their teachers or other adults and even if there were signs that they were about to do the same, one look from the teacher or the parent was enough to force them to forget about every unorthodox act that was in their head. However, today, schools and high schools need special personnel to ensure discipline at all times. Teachers and administration uses all possible threats to keep children under the limits of ethics but the cases where children have gone off limits are increasing rapidly (Rainey, Rainey & Nygren, 2002). The biggest sign of disrespectfulness of children towards adults and especially their parents is evident from the shattering of the nuclear family, where three generations of grand fathers, fathers and children would live together to make up a family structure. The eldest in the family would have the veto right in all matters concerning the family members and he would unquestionable authority. However, this is not true for today (Leach, 2009). Over the past few decades, the extinction of the nuclear family structure has increased at an exponential rate. Children do not feel the fact about their responsibility to take care of their parents and in the same way in which their parents took care of them when they were young. Instead, the children wait for their late teens and run away from their homes to â€Å"start their own lives† leaving their parents behind (Rainey, Rainey & Nygren, 2002). Five decades ago, it was more likely that one could see a child or a teenager sparing his few moments to help any old gentlemen with crossing the road, reading the newspaper, giving him his seat on the bus or giving him a

Contribution Of Positivism To Society Philosophy Essay

Contribution Of Positivism To Society Philosophy Essay Since the invitation of the term of positivism in the late eighteenth century, this concept has been widely used and discussed. This method stresses on the use of quantitative evidence and is mostly used in the study of natural objects. As positivism provides people with a method to avoid speculation but to make scientific and reasonable prediction by the study of hard facts and scientific knowledge, the method is more and more used in the study of human society. The application of positivism in the study of society has brought many benefits and has promoted the development of society study. At the same time, there are some doubts about the ability of positivism to study society efficiently in the same way of studying natural objects. The essay is to critically discuss the contribution of positivism to the study of society. A rejection of speculation Positivism is firstly used in the study of natural science. With the assistance of positivism, the natural sciences have experienced great development and changes. Many new discover and findings have been made. At that time, the study of human society is still at a stage of the study of the abstract ideas and something metaphysical. The development of the society needs a better and deeper understanding about its nature and laws (Althusser. 1970). The study of society needs to be more regulated, systemized and scientific. The introduction of positivism has helped the study of science to get out of the old trap. Personally, the most important contribution of positivism to the study of science is the rejection of speculation. The introduction of positivism in social study leads people to make studies and predictions based on empirical data and hard facts. People make law-like regularities based on the study of the hard facts and generalize the conclusion to a wider scope in society. Comte is the first one to bring up the idea of sociological positivism. Actually, he brought up this concept under the influence of Enlightenment. The introduction and expanding of science have shocked the world. Comte has studied the sciences and the circular dependence of theory, and then he brought up the first sociological version of positivism (Gordon. 1991). He suggested that the society has three stages. The first stage is the theological phrase when people will get the knowledge and belief from God. Human society is governed by God and assessed in association with the divine world. People will take the doc trines and words of the church rather than the rational science. The second stage is called metaphysical stage. In this period, human will be aware of their innate rights and democracy and dictators should appear to defend the humanity rights. The final stage is the scientific one. It can also be called positive one (Craib. 1997). In this stage, the individual right will be most valued than in any other periods. Each one should have the right to get what he or she with his or her free will and ability. The doctrines and thoughts given by Comte are much different from the ones in modern sociological positivism. The theory is not absolutely right. The explanation and use of positivism are not fully developed in his work (Halfpenny. 2001). However, his brought up of positivism has made a great contribution. Personally, the meaningful important contribution of his version of sociological positivism is his appreciation of human right, the respect for objective natural rules and scientific knowledge. Positivism is born with a duty to fight against the past blind faith. It provides people with a new way to get to know the society and the world. At that time, it is a great fight against the dominion of peoples mind by God and the church. He suggests that the effective way to evolutes from the inferior theological stage to the superior positivism stage is through the objective and scientific study of the past of the society and other things. In this way, positivism leads people to give up t he reliance on God and the church for knowledge about humanity and the society and turn to the objective social disciplines. The study of society began a transition from speculation to reason and logic (Pleasants. 1997). The further development of positivism has more and more used hard facts and empirical data to fight against the metaphysics and speculation. The deployment of scientific methods Another great contribution of positivism to the study of society is its supreme valuation of the use of scientific methods like statistic analysis to study the world and the society. In the field of positivism, all the knowledge is generated based on the scientific study of past experience and data got in observation (Rabinow. 2006). Hard facts and empirical data are more powerful than any fancies. The philosophers of positivism try to use the methods which are used to study natural sciences to study the science. They try to make laws for the changes and development in society, conduct experiment to mimic the situation in the real world and try to use different factors as alternatives to make prediction of the outcome. One of the most important meanings of the use of scientific methods in the study of society is that it allows people to search for a reasonable casual explanation for the activities happen in the society. Otherwise, the social phenomena are most usually explained by the reasons of accidence and the will of God or something else (Smart. 2001). Just as has been mentioned, speculation is common in that situation. The use of scientific methods can help people to analysis all the external and internal factors in a scientific manner and to explore the causal relationship between these factors and the arising of a specific outcome. There is one fact has to be aware that though positivism stresses much on the importance on the use of facts and statistics, that does not mean the study of society is the pure study of these things. The ultimate aim of the use of the scientific methods is to conclude laws based on the analysis result of the facts and the empirical data. Another important contribution of positivism in the deployment of the scientific methods to study society is that, it helps to eliminate subjective thinking and opinions which may lead to bias in the outcome. One of the most obvious characteristics of the study of science is the objective attitudes and methods in the study. The application of these scientific methods in the study of social science, in a way, compels people to look directly at all the facts, no matter if the fact is pleasing or disgusting. Any lies which may make one feel better when looking at the facts can not exist in these scientific methods, as they can not be accounted as a statistical parameter (Cohen. 2007). The subjective opinions can not work to distort the outcome, as the objective data can not be influenced. That is why there are so many cruel but true social laws are discovered by positivism philosophers. However, there are also some shortcomings in the use of the scientific methods. In a sense, the study of social science is more complex than the study of science. Most factors in the study of science can be clearly defined and measured. If not all the factors can be defined at present, they can be further completed as science develops. In the study of social science, many factors can not be clearly defined and measured. The factors are too complex to name them all (Ashley. 2005). The function of them is also very complicated. Too much reliance on the use of the scientific methods will lead to an extreme situation for the researchers. After all, social science is much different with natural science. People especially the researchers can not neglect that fact, or they may lose the ability to think about the society in a human way. To work like a machine will be a disaster. The revealing of social law As has been mentioned in the last part, the ultimate aim of the use of the scientific methods are to discover the social laws hidden behind the diverse but similar social activities. Unlike the doctrine given by the church, the social laws given by sociological positivism are based on the numerous facts and data. Theses social laws are concluded not for the aim to guide peoples behavior and life, but just to reveal the objective laws that are working in the society (Rashed. 2007). The revealing of the hardened social laws helps people to get to know about the nature of the society. In this way, the study of human society has get deeper from an abstract but superficial level to a concrete deep level. Durkheim is a great sociological positivism researcher in Europe. He has studied about the laws of social structure which will guide the evaluation of the society and determine the rise or fall of a certain society. Thus with the laws, it is possible to define if a society is healthy or n ot. The laws can also make the researcher to bring up reform or remedy for the society at stake. The laws about the nature of the society are discovered by the researchers by the study of the hard facts and the empirical data. Then theses laws are used in every branches of the human social science. Many reforms about the society and the making of new laws from then on are made under the guide of these social laws. For example, John Austin introduced his utilitarianism theory in his foundation of jurisprudence. He found that the origination of government laws and rules is not the social contract, but the utilitarian thinking of human being. Some pleasing masquerades about the nature of the society have been laid bare. That is no bad. As if the society is to develop, the development can not be made on basis of the lies. The Noble Lies of Plato is not likely to be beneficial in the modern society. There is one thing very troublesome about the conclusion of laws in sociological laws. It is known that along with the development of sociological positivism, there have emerged many branches of this science. Different branches usually have different beliefs and different chosen of study method. The conclusions or the social laws they have made also differ much. It is not justified to say who is right or who is wrong. The social science is more complicated and has many different possibilities. Even with the use of objective scientific methods, it is hardly to reach a single right law. Personally, these laws can not be applied in every situation but should be used in consideration of the different context. 5.0 Conclusions Overall, the introduction of positivism in the study of society is a great development. It has helped the study of social science to break the limit of abstract metaphysical methods. Positivism has provided the social science with a new way to perceive the world. The most important contribution of positivism is that it helps people to break the limit of mind by God and the church. People turn to the study of hard facts and data from past and experiment to get knowledge rather than only from the teaching the church. The use of the scientific methods, people can understand the society in a more reasonable way. The subjective bias is avoided in the study. Sociological positivism researchers have also made many in depth laws based on the scientific study which provide people with more initiative to manage the society. However, there are many problems troubling the use of positivism in the study of society. To study society like a natural science is under great argument. Human society is much more complex and full of changes. Too much reliance on the scientific method but neglect the human thinking will turn to people into machines. The conclusions made will are not be reliable.

The Gulf War: An Abuse of Science :: Science Scientific Papers

The Gulf War: An Abuse of Science I know of a country that tested 250,000 of its citizens with an experimental drug without its citizen's consent. The drug that was given to these citizens was not a new drug, but one that had been tested for this use. This drug, pyridostigmine bromide, or PB as we will continue to refer to it, was given to these people with the idea that some people with far more importance and intelligent on these matters knew what was best for the masses. This attitude of hubris had entered into the daily lives of these citizens. These unfortunate people taking PB were ordered to, and in fact, they were watched to make sure they took the drug. If they refused to take it, they were subject to imprisonment (CNN 1). Remember reading Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein"? A story of how one scientist thought he could achieve sciences' greatest feat, to create a human life. Without any thoughts of consequences this fictional character secured various body parts as if his venture was no greater than finding a new fender for his Chevrolet. As the story continues, Dr. Frankenstein created a life form, only to become appalled by this creature. Dr. Frankenstein thought of his experiment only in the narrow scientific terms without any thoughts of possible repercussions. Is the mentality of the fictional character Dr. Frankenstein alive today? (Shelley) What a horrific story about a drug being given to people without their knowledge of the drug being experimental. Could this take place in today's world of freedom and free will amongst people? I am sorry to say yes, and it happened to the citizens of the United States of America. The drug called PB was given to our soldiers. PB was an FDA approved drug for the use in Myasthenia Gravis disease, a disease that attacks the nerve impulses. The government had tested this drug in laboratory animals as an inhibitor against the effects of some known chemical weapons such as Saren, Soman, Tabun and VX8(The Daily Fed 1). Some of these chemical weapons are known to be in the Iraqi's inventory. John Flanagan's article, "Gulf War Illness and Pyridostigmine Bromide, Neurological Effects and Detoxification" states that "The Iraqi army's use of the nerve agents during the 10 year war with Iran gave Pentagon planners reasonable cause to believe U.S. forces would be exposed to chemical weapons agents if war arose with Iraq.

A Rose for Emily: Demonstrate of Homer as the Victim Essay

Emily is clearly a villain in the short story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily.† Although much of her character came from her father’s abuse, she remains responsible for her actions. In the story, Emily is obsessed with avoiding change. She is a symbol of the old South, and clearly represents the few traditionalists following the Civil War. The traditionalists are clearly the villains in the South, because they will not let go of the negative past of slavery, as Emily is in â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, because she will not let go of her negative past. She refuses to let go of the changes she is faced with, for example the death of her father and the idea of not being with Homer forever bring her to unleash her inner anger. Consequently, due to her lack of allowing change, she develops villain behaviors. Her lack of wanting change does not call for her insane actions, nor make her a victim. Emily knows that Homer will not marry her; therefore she turns to killing him so that she can be with him forever. She refuses to let him go, which makes her only a victim of herself, thus a villain. The murder was undoubtedly premeditated because she planned the death of Homer by going to the store to purchase arsenic. When the pharmacists asked her what it was for, she refused to tell. If she was a victim she would not have a problem explaining the circumstances. Since she did not tell she knew that what she was doing was wrong, which makes her a villain. Emily uses the death of Homer for her own pleasure. She believes that trapping his dead body, as well as her father’s dead body will ease her loneliness. This selfish act shows she has no concern for others. This, again, demonstrates that Homer is the only victim in this story.

Communication And Conflict Example

Communication And Conflict Example Communication And Conflict – Coursework Example Communication and Conflict Frank’s approach toward conflict is very forceful. He tries to force his perspectives on to the other person’s mind, hereReno, and does not want to clarify why he wants something to be done a certain way, e.g. when he says, â€Å"Why can’t he just listen and do what I tell him?† He leaves no room for discussions and clarifications and he does not want to confront resistance. This forcing attitude does not leave any space for communication nor does Frank want to come on a one-to-one confrontation with the other person, which is evident when he says, â€Å"I can’t talk with him†. He believes in wait-and-see policy regarding resolution. Reno, contrarily, though wants to communicate with Frank but wants Frank to start the communication, like when he says, â€Å"I wish he would confront me.† He does not clarify himself when he refuses something Frank says. Also, he thinks he knows everything already, e.g. when he says, â€Å"I know how to be a paralegal†, and needs no lessons. That is why he becomes irritated when Frank tries to explain something to him regarding office work. This conflict is best described by the metaphor â€Å"conflict as competition†. Both the individuals are trying to win the situation, not solve it. This is not a very efficient metaphor. Metaphors can be used to understand conflict since we come to know about what the conflicting parties are trying to come up with (Min, 2005). For instance, the metaphor â€Å"conflict as problem† means that the parties are trying to look out for a solution; while, the metaphor â€Å"conflict as lesson† means that the parties are trying to get a lesson from the conflicting situation (Lenski, 2007). This way, metaphors help us understand conflicts. ReferencesLenski, T. (2007). Three Metaphors for Conflict. Retrieved June 21, 2011, from http://lenski.com/conflictzen/three-metaphors-for-conflict/ Min, X. (2005) . Metaphors. Retrieved June 21, 2011, from beyondintractability.org/essay/metaphors/?nid=6570

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is federally funded - state-administered - financial assistance program for low-income families with dependent children and financial assistance for pregnant women during their last three months of pregnancy. TANF provides temporary financial assistance while also helping recipients find jobs that will allow them to support themselves.In 1996, TANF replaced old welfare programs, including the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Today, TANF provides yearly grants to all U.S. states, territories, and tribal governments. The funds are used to pay for benefits and services distributed by the states to assist needy families. Since replacing AFDC, the TANF program has served as one of the main sources of economic security and stability programs for low-income families with children. Through this government grant program, states, territories, the District of Columbia, and federally-recognized Indian tribes receive about $16.6 billion annually. The TANF recipient jurisdictions use these funds to provide direct income support to qualified low-income families with children. In addition, the funds allow the jurisdictions to assist recipient families with job placement and training, child care, and tax credits. Goals of TANF In order to get their annual TANF grants, the states must show that they are operating their TANF programs in a way that accomplishes the following goals: assisting needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homesreducing the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work, and marriagepreventing out-of-wedlock pregnanciesencouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. While TANF jurisdictions must meet certain work participation and cost-sharing requirements, they have considerable flexibility with TANF funds to implement programs that best serve their distinct communities. Applying for TANF While the overall TANF program is administered by the federal Administration for Children and Families, each state is responsible for setting its own specific financial eligibility requirements, and accepting and considering applications for assistance. General Eligibility TANF is a cash assistance program for families with dependent children and for pregnant women in their last three months of pregnancy. To be eligible, you must be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen and a resident of the state in which you are applying for assistance. Eligibility for TANF depends upon the applicants income, resources and the presence of a dependent child under age 18, or under age 20 if the child is a full-time student in high school or in a high school equivalency program. Specific eligibility requirements vary from state-to-state. Financial Eligibility TANF is for families whose incomes and resources are not enough to meet the basic needs of their children. Each state sets maximum income and resource (cash, bank accounts, etc.) limits above which families will not qualify for TANF. Work and  School Requirements With few exceptions, TANF recipients must work as soon as they are job-ready or no later than two years after beginning to get TANF assistance. Some people, such as the disabled and seniors, are given a participation waiver and do not have to work to qualify. Children and unmarried minor teen parents must meet school attendance requirements established by the state TANF program. To count toward a states work participation rate, single parents must participate in work activities for an average of 30 hours per week, or an average of 20 hours per week if they have a child under age six. Two-parent families must participate in work activities for an average of 35 hours a week or, if they receive Federal child care assistance, 55 hours a week. Failure to participate in work requirements can result in a reduction or termination of a familys benefits.States cannot penalize single parents with a child under six for failing to meet work requirements if they cannot find adequate child care. Qualifying Work  Activities Activities that count toward a states work participation rates include: unsubsidized or subsidized employmentwork experienceon-the-job trainingjob search and job readiness assistance - not to exceed 6 weeks in a 12-month period and no more than 4 consecutive weeks (but up to 12 weeks if a State meets certain conditions)community servicevocational educational training not to exceed 12 monthsjob skills training related to workeducation directly related to employmentsatisfactory secondary school attendanceproviding child care services to individuals who are participating in community service. TANF Benefit Time Limits The TANF program is intended to provide temporary financial assistance while the recipients seek employment that will allow them to fully support themselves and their families. As a result, families with an adult who has received federally-funded assistance for a total of five years (or less at state option) become ineligible for cash aid under the TANF program. States do have the option of extending federal benefits beyond 5 years and may also choose to provide extended assistance to families using state-only funds or other federal Social Services Block Grant funds available to the state. TANF Program Contact Information Mailing Address:Office of Family AssistanceAdministration for Children and Families370 LEnfant Promenade, SWWashington, DC 20447Phone: 202.401.9275FAX: 202.205.5887

Research Challenges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Research Challenges - Essay Example These factors identify my weakness in developing research questions. Data analysis is another key challenge that I would face because of the involved technical approach and tools. Qualitative data analysis’ subjective approach that relies on a researcher’s background knowledge towards rational opinions is particular problem that I would face. I also lack experience in the research method’s application of software for data analysis and this would limit my ability develop my conclusion and recommendations. I would address the challenge of constructing good research questions by researching on strategies for conducting literature reviews and understanding other researchers’ approach to developing problem statements. I would also share my reviewed literature and problem statement with peers and my supervisor for identification and correction of possible mistakes and inconsistencies. I would further review qualitative research articles to understand authors’ approach to subjective data analysis besides consulting with an experienced researcher on the qualitative analysis technique. I would also attend training on software applications for qualitative

The Cost of War How Government Can Strategically Reduce the Cost of Essay

The Cost of War How Government Can Strategically Reduce the Cost of War - Essay Example Now, it has been unanimously concluded that wars do much damages than it do the goods. The huge costs involved in wars put heavy strain on the state’s finances and jeopardize the future prosperity. The only solution to reduce the number of wars, if not stop wars at all, is to create an environment of global peace and tranquility. In this regard, all the parties involved, such as the governments and the global populations have to unitedly play a proactive role to spread the message of peace and universal brotherhood. The history of human civilization is replete with innumerable wars, many of which were indeed colossus in nature and were incredibly costly. Though many wars waged earlier are credited with many remarkable developments for the humankind such as the rise of capitalism, breaking out from the oppressive rulers, creation of administrative state, repossession of own territory, class struggle etc., but at the same time these brutal wars have had imprinted their indelible adverse impact on the mankind also. The huge monetary costs apart, these wars resulted into loss of invaluable human lives, which cannot be measured or consoled through money. Wars also result into inestimable demand on the scarce resources of the country. In modern times, it is believed in some quarters that wars benefit the economies of the first world countries which are rich to begin with, or countries which initiated the war. Again, it is believed in some other quarters that wars do not necessarily benefit the develo ped countries, rather wars can sometimes make these countries worse off. Whatsoever, it is undeniable that wars involve some costs such as the cost of servicing army / military, costs of rebuilding destroyed areas, human costs, environmental costs, etc. It is not easy to quantify these costs involved in wars, but the states can definitely adopt some

Assess Kant's ethics of duty and freedom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assess Kant's ethics of duty and freedom - Essay Example According to Kant, ethics has to be considered from a human perspective. His writings on ethics are marked by an unswerving commitment to human freedom, to the dignity of man, and to the view that moral obligation derives neither from God, nor from human authorities and communities, nor from the preferences or desires of human agents, but from reason. (O’Neill, 1993, p. 175) Kant presented his ethical theory in his Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (1785), Critique of Practical Reason (1787), The Metaphysics of Morals (1797), Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (1793) and many essays on political, historical and religious topics. His ethics belonged to the critical philosophy developed in Kant’s masterpiece, The Critique of Pure Reason (1781). Kant constructed the principles of ethics according to rational procedures. He attempted to answer the question â€Å"What ought I to do?† Hence, he was concerned with the maxims, or fundamental principles which ought to guide our actions. A principle that cannot serve for all cannot be a moral principle, and this idea allows to assess ethically the maxims that agents adopt. Those who reject non-universalizable principles have morally worthy principles, and those who adopt non-universalizable principles have morally unworthy principles. The demand of the rejection of non-universalizable principles is called by Kant the Categorical Imperative, or the Moral Law. The Categorical Imperative is formulated in different versions. The strictest one is the Formula of Universal Law, which claims: â€Å"Act only on the maxim through which you can at the same time will that it be a universal law†. This is considered the keystone of Kant’s ethics (O’Neill, 1993). A maxim of false promising is not universalizable, hence cannot be included among the shared principles of any plurality of beings. The maxim of

What is organizational structures Essay Example for Free

What is organizational structures Essay An organizational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its environment. Organizations are a variant of clustered entities. An organization can be structured in many different ways, depending on their objectives. The structure of an organization will determine the modes in which it operates and performs. Organizational structure allows the expressed allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities such as the branch, department, workgroup and individual. Organizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways. First, it provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest. Second, it determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent their views shape the organization’s actions. Example:- INTRODUCTION TO ICICI BANK ICICI Bank is Indias second-largest bank with total assets of about Rs.1,67,659 crore at March 31, 2005 and profit after tax of Rs. 2,005 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005 (Rs. 1,637 crore in fiscal 2004). ICICI Bank has a network of about 560 branches and extension counters and over 1,900 ATMs. ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialized subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. ICICI Bank set up its international banking group in fiscal 2002 to cater to the cross border needs of clients and leverage on its domestic banking strengths to offer products internationally. ICICI Bank currently has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Canada, branches in Singapore and Bahrain and representative offices in the United States, China, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh and South Africa. ICICI Banks equity shares are listed in India on the Stock Exchange, Mumbai and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). As required by the stock exchanges, ICICI Bank has formulated a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for its directors and employees. At April 4, 2005, ICICI Bank, with free float market capitalization of about Rs. 308.00 billion (US$ 7.00 billion) ranked third amongst all the companies listed on the Indian stock exchanges. ICICI Bank was originally promoted in 1994 by ICICI Limited, an Indian financial institution, and was its wholly-owned subsidiary. ICICIs shareholding in ICICI Bank was reduced to 46% through a public offering of shares in India in fiscal 1998, an equity offering in the form of ADRs listed on the NYSE in fiscal 2000, ICICI Banks acquisition of Bank of Madura Limited in an all-stock amalgamation in fiscal 2001, and secondary market sales by ICICI to institutional investors in fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2002. ICICI was formed in 1955 at the initiative of the World Bank, the Government of India and representatives of Indian industry. The principal objective was to create a development financial institution for providing medium-term and long-term project financing to Indian businesses. In the 1990s, ICICI transformed its business from a development financial institution offering only project finance to a diversified financial services group offering a wide variety of products and services, both directly and through a number of subsidiaries and affiliates like ICICI Bank. In 1999, ICICI become the first Indian company and the first bank or financial institution from non-Japan Asia to be listed on the NYSE. After consideration of various corporate structuring alternatives in the context of the emerging competitive scenario in the Indian banking industry, and the move towards universal banking, the managements of ICICI and ICICI Bank formed the view that the merger of ICICI with ICICI Bank would be the optimal strategic alternative for both entities, and would create the optimal legal structure for the ICICI groups universal banking strategy. The merger would enhance value for ICICI shareholders through the merged entitys access to low-cost deposits, greater opportunities for earning fee-based income and the ability to participate in the payments system and provide transaction-banking services. The merger would enhance value for ICICI Bank shareholders through a large capital base and scale of operations, seamless access to ICICIs strong corporate relationships built up over five decades, entry into new business segments, higher market share in various business segments, particularly fee-based services, and access to the vast talent pool of ICICI and its subsidiaries. In October 2001, the Boards of Directors of ICICI and ICICI Bank approved the merger of ICICI and two of its wholly-owned retail finance subsidiaries, ICICI Personal Financial Services Limited and ICICI Capital Services Limited, with ICICI Bank. The merger was approved by shareholders of ICICI and ICICI Bank in January 2002, by the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad in March 2002, and by the High Court of Judicature at Mumbai and the Reserve Bank of India in April 2002. Consequent to the merger, the ICICI groups financing and banking operations, both wholesale and retail, have been integrated in a single entity. Figure.1 Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational software corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is the worlds largest software maker measured by revenues. It is also one of the worlds most valuable companies. Microsoft was established to  develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. The companys 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, created an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition to date. As of 2013, Microsoft is market dominant in both the PC operating system and office suite markets (the latter with Microsoft Office). The company also produces a wide range of other software for desktops and servers, and is active in areas including internet search (with Bing), the video game industry (with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles, and the upcoming Xbox One console), the digital services market (through MSN), and mobile phones (via the Windows Phone OS). In June 2012, Microsoft announced that it would be entering the PC vendor market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface tablet computer. In the 1990s, critics began to contend that Microsoft used monopolisticbusiness practices and anti-competitive strategies including refusal to deal and tying, put unreasonable restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws. On August 20, 2013, Microsoft announced that its CEO, Steve Ballmer, will retire from the company after a successor is chosen. Microsoft Organizational structure The following is a sample of the Microsoft Executive Organization Chart published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available. Planning and organization are crucial for an organization to achieve maximum effectiveness and success. Microsoft Company, for instance, has an organizational structure consisting of board of directors who include Steve Ballmer as chief executive officer (CEO), senior leaders, executives, and technical leaders. Founded in 1975, Microsoft has grown today into a worldwide leader in software and services (Microsoft, 2009). The organizational structure of Microsoft proves to be efficient and effective. A comparison to other organizations demonstrates the importance of an organizational structure and shows commonalities as well as differences in structure. A further analysis of Microsoft Company explains the impact of organizational functions to the organizational structure. Lastly, the organizational design of Microsoft exhibits the best structure to meet the organizations needs. The organizational structure for Microsoft’s management, functions, and design all play a key role in the success of Microsoft. The organizational function of any company starts with the employees. Employees are grouped based on knowledge and experience into departments such as marketing, finance, human resources, operations, etc†¦ and is referred to as departmentalization. â€Å"Organization structure is comprised of functions, relationships, responsibilities, authorities, and communications of individuals within each department (Sexton, 1970, p. 23) and is depicted in an organizational chart. An organizational chart identifies the business functions and reporting order.

Importance of Listening for Learning a Foreign Language

Importance of Listening for Learning a Foreign Language Listening is normal and frequent in daily life. It is one of the five traditional inborn senses of human being. Listening appears from the very beginning day that we were born to be human and it is the first mode of the four skills that a language learner acquires in learning a certain language since the language written form always develops after the spoken form, not the other way out. . Peoples need to listen is as natural as their need to breathe or eat. Thus, listening happens in all aspects of social life. Actually, we listen everywhere: at home, at work, in community, and for many purposes such as for entertainment, obtaining necessary information or for academic purposes. A vast majority of people in the world spend their communicating time mainly for listening. To be a successful listener, people can uncover the deep layer of meaning of language and communication styles. In addition, people may have a feeling of confidence in communicating with others, and it is more likely for them to gain good impression, trust and respect from the interlocutors. Hence, it is undoubtedly that listening is one of mankinds regular and important activities. To the process of learning foreign language, listening is no less crucial than that in everyday life. The learners cannot develop speaking skill unless they develop listening skill as Nunan (1998, p.1) saying that listening is the basic skill in language learning. Without listening skill, learners will never learn to communicate effectively. This can be understandable with ease that language skills are often integrated with each other in language use. Nevertheless, English language students, in fact, often live in a limited situation where they have few chances to expose to natural spoken English; therefore classroom listening practice is needed for them so that they can have good preparation for their later successful communicative ability. More importantly, listening to spoken English provides the learners with necessary input that serves as the basis for the language acquisition and pave them the way to investigate humans knowledge. Though important as stated, listening skill is commonly described in language literature as neglected, overlooked, or taken for granted skill as some people believe that aural competence comes naturally and develops automatically through exposure to the language and through practice of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. As for that, little attention from teachers, book designers and researchers has been paid to listening so far. With nearly ten year experience in working as a teacher of English at a high school, I myself have found that of the four skills, listening comprehension is the students weakest one. Together, most of my students of all three grades always complain that they find it so hard in learning the skill. They fell frightened when they enter listening lesson. While my students are relatively good at written texts such as reading, writing and able to find their own ways to improve those skills, their listening ability has been left behind. This is simply true since English listening is, in deed, the most complex and challenging competence for English as foreign language learners to develop and because it is a skill which involves a set of different sub-skills. With that in mind, on the one hand I would like to fill a small gap in the field of listening research. On the other hand, being an instructor, it is very essential to help students to solve their problems in the language learning process. Thus, this small research project is conducted as an attempt to discover what factors that strongly affect students listening skill. In other words, it is the cause explaining why the students meet so many difficulties when they implement classroom listening tasks. Then, some possible remedies may be given to help them to overcome the dilemma. Hence, a couple of questions guiding across my study is: What are some of the reasons leading to the students difficulties in listening skill? What should solutions be given to help them to defeat the problems and to get improved with their overall outcome of their listening? LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Hearing vs. Listening If you raise a question to a group of people in your community or to a group of your students What is listening?. Some of them would answer without hesitation hearing. In spite of the fact that in some African languages, hearing and listening have the same meaning. Listening and hearing, indeed, are different terms, mean different things and people often use them interchangeably (there is a similar distinction between seeing and looking). We all know that hearing is one of five inborn senses of human being. Hearing is the process that sound waves enter through our ears. At this sense, hearing is physical. Although hearing is scientifically proved to be a complex process, it is an automatic, passive activity Listening is somewhat dissimilar. It is much more than hearing. There have been so many definitions for this term so far. At its simplest, listening can be defined in some English dictionaries as the act of hearing attentively. This means that the listeners pay attention or concentration on the task in spite of surrounding distractions. In this case, they do not merely hear the sound but a purpose is combined in it. People who listen to music or listen to the news on television can be taken as an example. They consciously and deliberately hear the sound for relaxation or to get necessary information. Writers offer different definitions of listening to fit the purposes of their articles or their research projects. Listening, as Howatt and Dakin (1974) define, is the ability to recognize and comprehend what is being delivered by speakers in terms of their accent, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary as well as the meaning of the message. In this point of view, the act of listening must include both hearing and understanding all aspects of the message delivered. Listening in this definition can be seen as listening comprehension. Forseth Rol, Forseth Carol, Ta Nguyen (1996, p.69) say that listening is decoding sounds and understanding the meaning behind those sound. It is noticeable that there is a similarity in these two definitions in which the authors emphasize listeners comprehension in listening. However, Hasan (2000) differentiates between listening and listening comprehension. He viewed listening as a process where the listeners merely listen to the speech without understanding and responding to it. In contrast, listening comprehension is a process comprising of interactivity and full comprehending of the text. To my perspective, listening in Hasans definition is somewhat similar to hearing. In the view of OMalley Chamot (1990, p.132) listening comprehension entails active and conscious process in which the listener constructs the meaning by using cues from contextual information and from existing knowledge In the opinion of Rubin (1990, p.309), listening consists of processing information which the listener gets from visual and auditory clues in order to define what is going on and what the speakers are trying to express. In fact, listening is a complex skill involving many micro skills; hence Rost (2002) defines listening as a multi-layered process which includes: receiving what that speaker actually says hearing correctly; constructing and representing meaning decoding; creating meaning through involvement and imagination applying prior knowledge of content and community norms, and predicting ahead; negotiating meaning and responding working out an appropriate response. In comparison with all the definitions above, I find the definition given by Rost the most convincing since it covers the nature of listening. 2. Kinds of listening 3. Some learner problems in listening comprehension. Listening comes naturally to human and develop automatically as some people say but it is, actually, not as simple as it seems. Consequently, it causes so many problems for the listeners both in mother tongue and in foreign language. So far, a large number of researches have been done to show common problems in listening. Before discovering various difficulties facing my students in listening comprehension, it is helpful to review the literature relating to this. Cherry (1957) suggest some uncertainties in second and foreign language listening. He uses the term uncertainty in stead to refer to factors leading to difficulty or problem . These uncertainties fall in to several major categories including: firstly, uncertainties in speech sound and patterns; secondly, uncertainties in language and syntax; thirdly, uncertainties in recognition of content; and lastly, uncertainties resulted from environmental noise and disturbance which create gaps in the message. Similarly, Hedge (2000) introduces some uncertainties by subdividing them into seven one. These consist of:1) uncertainties of confidence; 2) uncertainties deriving from the presentation of speech; 3) uncertainties because of gaps in the message; 4)uncertain strategies; 5) uncertainties of language; 6) uncertainties of content; and 7) visual uncertainties. According to Brown and Yule (1983), there are four main groups of factors which strongly prevent leaner from effective listening comprehension. These include 1) the speaker (number of speakers present, how quickly they speak, what kinds of accent they own); 2) the listener (the role of the listener whether they participate in the conversation or they eavesdrop, the level of response required, their interest in the subject); 3) the content ( grammar, vocabulary, information structure, background knowledge assumed); and 4) support (whether there are pictures, diagrams or other visual aids to support the text). Anderson and Lynch (1988) claim that there are a large number of factors leading to the difficulties when student listen and perform the listening tasks. They categorize them into three principal one. These are: 1) the type of language; 2) the purpose in listening; 3) the context in which the listening takes place. The writer also emphasize that we have to consider not only the number of factors involved but also the relationship between them. Anderson and Lynch, by a series of experiment, conclude that the difficulty of listening task is particularly influenced by: the organization of the information: When the information sequence is well and logically organized, it will be easier for the listener. In contrast, it creates so many obstacles for them. the familiarity of the topic: If the topic of the listening passage is familiar to listeners, it will be less harder for them to understand. the explicitness and sufficiency of the information: The information should not only be well organized, but also be clear or unambiguous . Besides, the passage should not contain redundancies. the type of referring expressions used whether the text described static relationships Yayang (1994) indicates that problems in listening resulted from: the message, the speaker, the listener, and physical setting. Problems mentioned above are for both the first language listeners and foreign language listeners in general. In particular, English as foreign language learners have the following problems: Trouble with sound: All the stages in the listening process are likely to take the learners much longer to recognize familiar sound elements as familiar, to see the relationships and transformations among them. The learners themselves fail to identify, discriminate, and understand them correctly. The sounds, stresses, intonations spoken and taught by teachers seem to be different from those said by the native speakers who they are listening to. Have to understand every word: Learners have a tendency to try their best to understand every word from the listening passage, thinking that everything that is said contains equally important information. In fact, there may be a lot of words they fail to recognize from the native speakers speech. If they do not have the ability to select important words from others, they may fail to get anything from it, and then may feel totally disappointed. Unable to understand fast, natural native speech: Most learners of English cannot understand natural spoken language as it seems too fast for them to follow. Normally, learners rarely have a chance to listen to native speech; instead, they only listen to their teachers slow utterances. If they do not understand any sentences from their teacher, they can ask for repeating or clarifying or slowing down. It is not always the case of speakers in listening text. Consequently, the learners are unable to keep up with and store incoming information in natural native speech. Sometime they feel overloaded and scared of it. Need to listen to things more than once: Very few learners can understand the message at the first listening. They often need to listen to it again and again before they can recognize and understand something from it, especially listening to tapes or radio where they do not have a chance of seeing speakers. When the comprehension is not achieved in spite of listener efforts, they will get tired, discouraged and frustrated as a result. In conclusion, there are various certain hindrances for the first language listeners, second language listeners and foreign language listeners. Though factors creating these difficulties might differ from each other in the number of categories divided by the author, they have many things in common and fall into two main group. The first group is internal factors that come from the listeners themselves. The other is external factors which originate from the speakers, the message, the surrounding setting

Wordsworth’s Sonnets and Technology Essay example -- Wordsworth

Wordsworth’s Sonnets and Technology In William Wordsworth’s sonnets "The World Is Too Much With Us" and "London 1802," he describes his society as being too dependent on technology. In Wordsworth’s time, the 1800’s, new phases of technology, such as electricity to run machines, were booming and people were relying more on them. With these new innovations, Wordsworth was convinced that people would stop appreciating nature while allowing technology to run their lives. In "London 1802," Wordsworth describes how people are becoming more dependent on technology and how they have left behind their ancestors' heritage: "England have forfeited their ancient English dower"(5). The "dower" refers to our inheritance from nature that Wordsworth describes as being "forfeited" or cast aside. In our society we hardly even appreciate nature compared to the society Wordsworth lived in. We depend on everyday technology to better ourselves, such as television that keeps us indoors and away from the natural world. Another problem Wordsworth mentions in his society that is releva...

Obama Care

OBAMA CARE Obama Care and health care reform is the same thing. The official name for â€Å"Obama Care† is the Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act, a bill signed into law to reform the health care industry. Some aspects of Obama Care health care reform are already enacted. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law March 23, 2010. Over 100 million Americans have already benefited from the new health care law.The Obama Care insurance requires that all insurance plans cover preventive services and stops insurance companies from dropping you when you are sick, as well as offering a number of other reforms and protections. Obama Care's goal is to provide affordable health insurance for all US citizens and to reduce the growth in health care spending. Obama Care does not replace private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. The Fact is that Obama Care gives 47 million women access to preventive health services and makes it illegal to charge women diff erent rates than men.Obama Care also gives seniors access to cheaper drugs, free preventive care, reforms Medicare Advantage, and closes the Medicare Part D. The AARP agrees, costs won't rise because of Obama Care, if anything, the improvements to the system will decrease the average cost of health care for seniors. Obama Care also states that â€Å"affordable insurance† means that you pay no more than 8% of your annual income on insurance. Obama Care ensures that there are no out-of-pocket costs on patients receiving mammograms and colonoscopies which are two of the most widely used forms of preventive health care.Obama Care's new Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program means hospitals can lose or gain up to 1% of Medicare funding based on a quality v. quantity system. Hospitals are graded on a number of quality measures related to treatment of patients with heart attacks, heart failures, pneumonia, certain surgical issues, re-admittance rate, as well as patient satisfaction . Obama Care Mandates that those who choose not to purchase insurance will have to pay a tax â€Å"penalty† unless they qualify for an exemption. Exemptions from Obama Care's tax â€Å"penalty† mandate are available to a number of Americans.The mandate exemptions cover a variety of people, including: members of certain religious groups and Native American tribes; undocumented immigrants (who are not eligible for health insurance subsidies under the law); incarcerated individuals; people whose incomes are so low they don't have to file taxes (currently $9,500 for individuals and $19,000 for married couples); and people for whom health insurance is considered unaffordable (where insurance premiums after employer contributions and federal subsidies exceed 8% of family income).Starting Oct 1st, 2013 the Obama Care online health insurance exchange is where all Americans can buy affordable quality health insurance. Those under the 400% FPL and employers will be able to use s ubsidies to purchase plans at an average of 60% less than they pay now. The Obama Care Insurance Exchanges Online Market Place are implemented in 2014 health insurance premiums is projected to drop dramatically for many Americans. Low-income Americans will enjoy more Obama Care pros than cons.Since Obama Care works on a sliding scale most low income Americans, especially those without insurance, will see nothing but benefits. Medicaid expansion will cover over 15 million previously uninsured low-income individuals and families below the 133% FPL mark. All Americans (including Congress) will be able to buy their health insurance through the exchange as long as they are above the poverty level (those Americans will be covered under Medicaid expansion).Anyone (except congress) can opt out and keep their current health insurance, pay a tax, purchase private insurance or stay with their private health insurance company. The cons of Obama Care for low-income Americans are that some states will have the option of opting out of coverage for their poorest, despite 100% federal funding for the first year and 90% thereafter. In some cases rejecting Medicaid Expansion isn't just about saving money. It’s actually a politically driven move to â€Å"break† Obama Care.The opt-out is projected to leave 2 to 3 million low-income Americans without coverage. Some State reps are trying to â€Å"break† Obama Care. It's no secret a portion of the GOP wants to repeal Obama Care, they just so happen to have a strategic plan that includes â€Å"breaking† the Exchanges and Medicaid Expansion. Obama Care isn't just going to go away, but while the battle goes on Americans continue to be caught in the crossfire. It's also worth noting that the amount of uninsured Medicaid eligible Americans differs from State to State.Obama Care is projected to cost $1. 1 trillion over the next ten years, and in order for the program to work as intended this is going to include funding from the tax payers and from the States. However, the end result of Obama care spending is a $200 billion dollar reduction of the deficit over the next decade, states also receive between 90 – 100% of funding for most Obama Care related programs they set up. A few states including Nevada and Michigan have done studies that show how the States can save billions with Obama Care.Health Insurance companies stand to make billions, despite a loss on profit per plan, since they will be insuring millions of new Americans. In conclusion the Obama Care health care program will benefit all Americans from the bottom of the barrel to the top dogs in the congress. It will also help the US repair the economic deficit. The states that are trying to opt-out need to see the benefit of this plan. They are putting too much Infosys on money and not enough focus on the well-being of the American people. Clarence Boyd 16 April 2013 Obama Care OBAMA CARE Obama Care and health care reform is the same thing. The official name for â€Å"Obama Care† is the Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act, a bill signed into law to reform the health care industry. Some aspects of Obama Care health care reform are already enacted. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law March 23, 2010. Over 100 million Americans have already benefited from the new health care law.The Obama Care insurance requires that all insurance plans cover preventive services and stops insurance companies from dropping you when you are sick, as well as offering a number of other reforms and protections. Obama Care's goal is to provide affordable health insurance for all US citizens and to reduce the growth in health care spending. Obama Care does not replace private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. The Fact is that Obama Care gives 47 million women access to preventive health services and makes it illegal to charge women diff erent rates than men.Obama Care also gives seniors access to cheaper drugs, free preventive care, reforms Medicare Advantage, and closes the Medicare Part D. The AARP agrees, costs won't rise because of Obama Care, if anything, the improvements to the system will decrease the average cost of health care for seniors. Obama Care also states that â€Å"affordable insurance† means that you pay no more than 8% of your annual income on insurance. Obama Care ensures that there are no out-of-pocket costs on patients receiving mammograms and colonoscopies which are two of the most widely used forms of preventive health care.Obama Care's new Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program means hospitals can lose or gain up to 1% of Medicare funding based on a quality v. quantity system. Hospitals are graded on a number of quality measures related to treatment of patients with heart attacks, heart failures, pneumonia, certain surgical issues, re-admittance rate, as well as patient satisfaction . Obama Care Mandates that those who choose not to purchase insurance will have to pay a tax â€Å"penalty† unless they qualify for an exemption. Exemptions from Obama Care's tax â€Å"penalty† mandate are available to a number of Americans.The mandate exemptions cover a variety of people, including: members of certain religious groups and Native American tribes; undocumented immigrants (who are not eligible for health insurance subsidies under the law); incarcerated individuals; people whose incomes are so low they don't have to file taxes (currently $9,500 for individuals and $19,000 for married couples); and people for whom health insurance is considered unaffordable (where insurance premiums after employer contributions and federal subsidies exceed 8% of family income).Starting Oct 1st, 2013 the Obama Care online health insurance exchange is where all Americans can buy affordable quality health insurance. Those under the 400% FPL and employers will be able to use s ubsidies to purchase plans at an average of 60% less than they pay now. The Obama Care Insurance Exchanges Online Market Place are implemented in 2014 health insurance premiums is projected to drop dramatically for many Americans. Low-income Americans will enjoy more Obama Care pros than cons.Since Obama Care works on a sliding scale most low income Americans, especially those without insurance, will see nothing but benefits. Medicaid expansion will cover over 15 million previously uninsured low-income individuals and families below the 133% FPL mark. All Americans (including Congress) will be able to buy their health insurance through the exchange as long as they are above the poverty level (those Americans will be covered under Medicaid expansion).Anyone (except congress) can opt out and keep their current health insurance, pay a tax, purchase private insurance or stay with their private health insurance company. The cons of Obama Care for low-income Americans are that some states will have the option of opting out of coverage for their poorest, despite 100% federal funding for the first year and 90% thereafter. In some cases rejecting Medicaid Expansion isn't just about saving money. It’s actually a politically driven move to â€Å"break† Obama Care.The opt-out is projected to leave 2 to 3 million low-income Americans without coverage. Some State reps are trying to â€Å"break† Obama Care. It's no secret a portion of the GOP wants to repeal Obama Care, they just so happen to have a strategic plan that includes â€Å"breaking† the Exchanges and Medicaid Expansion. Obama Care isn't just going to go away, but while the battle goes on Americans continue to be caught in the crossfire. It's also worth noting that the amount of uninsured Medicaid eligible Americans differs from State to State.Obama Care is projected to cost $1. 1 trillion over the next ten years, and in order for the program to work as intended this is going to include funding from the tax payers and from the States. However, the end result of Obama care spending is a $200 billion dollar reduction of the deficit over the next decade, states also receive between 90 – 100% of funding for most Obama Care related programs they set up. A few states including Nevada and Michigan have done studies that show how the States can save billions with Obama Care.Health Insurance companies stand to make billions, despite a loss on profit per plan, since they will be insuring millions of new Americans. In conclusion the Obama Care health care program will benefit all Americans from the bottom of the barrel to the top dogs in the congress. It will also help the US repair the economic deficit. The states that are trying to opt-out need to see the benefit of this plan. They are putting too much Infosys on money and not enough focus on the well-being of the American people. Clarence Boyd 16 April 2013