Bill Gates Essay

When I was young, math and science were the easiest subjects for me and I read all the time. In my house, weeknight TV was not allowed but reading, board games, card games and puzzles went on for hours. In sixth grade, I did a project as a young inventor and entrepreneur who manufactured and marketed a new project. I wrote my first computer program when I was 13 years old.To me the computer was a constant challenge to be mastered – I was HOOKED! I noticed In high school that PC's id not exist and businesses and unlettered used computers that were bigger then refrigerators. After high school, I went to Harvard University and that Is where I really started to keep up with the latest developments In computer technology. I dreamed that by creating a PC, business and school tasks would be so much easier. I wanted to solve peoples everyday problems and make money In the process.So I took a leave of absence from Harvard university to start a software company In 1977 and Paul Allen an d I formed Microsoft In New Mexico. I also created the term â€Å"Intellectual property to protect software programs with copyrights. My goal was to put a computer on every desk and in every home In 1978, Microsoft moved to Bellevue, Washington. After my partner left, I focused on individual computer users and our international sales force. Microsoft grew dramatically.Microsoft Windows was created in 1985 and we sold $140 million in products that year. I was working 16 hour days and busy with work until 1 993 when I finally proposed to Melinda French, one of my product managers at Microsoft. Over the last ten years, I have donated millions of dollars to charities focused in the education, health, art and cancer areas. I have also made ere to donate to computer centers at schools, colleges and universities throughout the united States.I am the proud dad of a daughter and a son and even though my work and house has a lot of technology, if you really want to do something good for chil dren the most important thing I can tell you is to read, read, read. Bill Gates Essay By Jake-Lang constant challenge to be mastered – I was HOOKED! I noticed in high school that PC's did not exist and businesses and universities used computers that were bigger then refrigerators. After high school, I went to Harvard University and that is where I really darted to keep up with the latest developments in computer technology.I dreamed solve people's everyday problems and make money in the process. So I took a leave of absence from Harvard University to start a software company in 1977 and Paul Allen and I formed Microsoft in New Mexico. I also created the term â€Å"intellectual property' every desk and in every home! In 1978, Microsoft moved to Bellevue, Washington. Work until 1993 when I finally proposed to Melinda French, one of my product the United States. I am the proud dad of a daughter and a son and even though my

Does Parole Work?

Does parole work? That is an important question as it relates to criminal justice and more specifically community corrections. How do we measure if parole is working? One way is to look at the recidivism rate of parolees. This policy paper will take an in depth look at this question. Also, this paper will study the current parole policy, my policy recommendations, and finally my conclusion of this problem. Parole is a very important tool for criminal justice in the United States of America. But does this tool work in reducing reoffending by released prisoners.Statement of the ProblemDoes parole work? One way to measure this by looking at recidivism rates by paroled prisoners who are released after serving their time. The proper question should be, does parole work in reducing recidivism rates? In the U.S. Justice System, parole is a thoughtfully used community correction option (Walker, 2015, p.288). One way to look at this is politically. The two sides are the right or Republicans and the left or Democrats. The right said that high-risk predators are let go into society and the left stated that release outcomes were based on less than scientific standards (Walker, 2015, p.288). The left's position was formed before sentencing guidelines were established (Walker, 2015, p.288). According to Samuel Walker, parole provided valuable tools to both inmates trying to get out and prison officials trying to get compliance from inmates. Parole was also a way to combat the ever-rising population in correction institutions (Walker, 2015, p.288). According to an Urban Institute study (2009) it queried, does parole work on reducing recidivism rates of released inmates? The answer after studying the statistics is it has little to no effect on re-offending or parole violations committed by former inmates (Walker, 2015, p.289). The Urban Institute study (2009) did not say the practice of releasing prisoners early or the idea of parole was a bad idea. However, they found there is no system of community corrections that performs better than another system (Walker, 2015, p.289). According to Christopher Zoukis (author and contributor for the Huffington Post), examining statistics of greater than 25,400 ex-prisoners released home-free or on community corrections during 2005 revealed 49.3% had been rearrested within eight years of release. The study included arrests for new crimes and for violating their conditions of parole. The ex-inmates that were released in 2005 included 31.7% that were convicted and 24.7% who were incarcerated again (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-zoukis/report-documents-us-recid_b_9542312.html). The re-arrest rates for released ex-inmates (52.5%) was greater than those released on probation (35.1%). According to the study, most released or paroled individuals committed new offenses within two years of their release at an average of 21 months (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-zoukis/report-documents-us-recid_b_9542312.html). Parole was meant to reintegrate prisoners back into society as productive members of society not as an opportunity to reoffend. This creates new victims and cost tax payers millions in the mechanizations of the criminal justice system (Zoukis, 2017).Current PolicyHere is the current United States Parole policy as follows: Federal prisoners serving a sentence of less than thirty years prior to November 1987 can apply for an initial parole hearing within 120 days of being incarcerated. This can happen through an application process for eligible prisoners (https://www.justice.gov/uspc/how-parole-works). According United States Department of Justice, D.C. Code offenders get a parole hearing sometime in the nine months before they become eligible for parole. The date is determined by the Bureau of Prisons. Inmates who get parole are given a date of release based on the parole release guidelines. These guidelines have been developed to make release decisions fair for all inmates giving credence to the system used (https://www.justice.gov/uspc/how-parole-works). Federal prisoners are entitled to interim hearings every eighteen to twenty-four months. The Parole Commission holds these hearings that are dependent upon the length of the prison term. During these hearings the Parole Commission must decide if there are enough positive or negative factors to legitimize changing the original release date (https://www.justice.gov/uspc/how-parole-works). D.C. A review is done before the release date of each inmate. This is done to assess the prisoner's record while incarcerated and they have met conditions of release (https://www.justice.gov/uspc/how-parole-works). Inmates are given a decision of their parole hearings by a Notice of Action. Federal inmates can appeal any parole decision if they feel that they have been treated unfairly by the Parole Commission. This appeal will trigger a subsequent review by the National Appeals Board (https://www.justice.gov/uspc/how-parole-works). According to the United States Department of Justice, prisoners of the federal system let out on parole or through mandatory release must report to their parole officer upon release. Paroled inmates must follow a set of rules set-up to aid in supervision and keep the public safe. D.C. offenders let go are supervised by the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (https://www.justice.gov/uspc/how-parole-works). If the parolee commits a new offense and/or violates the terms of their release, then the Parole Commission is contacted. The Parole Commission then puts out a warrant for the parolee's arrest and the parolee is picked up. Finally, a hearing is called to rule on the allegations and if the parolee is found in violation of their terms of parole, they may be returned to prison to serve out the rest of their prison sentence (https://www.justice.gov/uspc/how-parole-works). Why is the parole policy and procedures not alleviating the recidivism rates of offenders? The main problem is that parole makes certain assumptions or predictions when releasing offenders into community corrections. When it comes to parole, the United States Justice system has been trying to predict who will be successful on parole since the 1920's. Experts have tried out many formulas that attempt to predict what individuals will have success on parole. They hope these predicting formulas show who is ready to re-enter our society. These experts have had little success in predicting who is ready for release. The fact is that they are no closer today then they were in the 1920's (Walker, 2015, p.290). According to Samuel Walker, Martinson and McKenzie stated that only particular programs work for certain inmates. Matching these inmates to the program that works best for them is a shot in the dark. Even using risk prediction instruments, like in California, is no more efficient than other programs (Walker, 2015, p.290).Policy Recommendations/Action PlanMy policy recommendations are three-pronged. First, after the offender is released, the government should aid in employment. This would allow the offender to become a productive member of society and they would be able to earn a living. This would save the taxpayers millions by not having to pay for further incarceration. The next prong would be helping with housing for the first six months after release. Although this would cost the taxpayers, it would still be cheaper than housing them in prisons and the cost of all the procedures in the criminal justice system. Finally, therapy specific to an offender's needs would be beneficial for the offender and basically everyone in our society. This would help provide mental tools to aid in rehabilitation. The biggest hurdle to implementing my recommendations would be how do you pay for it? I believe this would also cause political problems. Providing funding for government programs usually does create political push back. I believe policy makers would be on board for employment and therapy. I do not believe they would support the housing.ConclusionDoes the United States parole policy work? When we release offenders on parole, is there a big difference in the recidivism rates versus that of offenders serving out their full term in prison? The answer is sadly no. The problem with all community corrections is that it creates a prediction problem. As we all know, predicting human behavior is at best fifty/fifty. I do believe the policy recommendations I made would help, but it is not one-hundred percent fool proof. It all comes down to free will and free choice.Works CitedUnited States Department of Justice. (2015). How Parole Works. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/uspc/how-parole- works.Walker, S. (2015). Sense and nonsense about crime, drugs and communities. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.Zoukis, C. (2017, December 6). Report Documents U.S. Recidivism Rates for Federal Prisoners. Huffington Post. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-zoukis/report-documents-us-recid_b_9542312.html.

Business tratments between Isreal and some Arabic countries Research Paper

Business tratments between Isreal and some Arabic countries - Research Paper Example For instance, in the cases of oil exchange between two or more nations, the international trade agreements are mostly set by governments. This sort of trade agreements are considered to be of prime benefits for incumbent nations. These international business treaties also contribute to the international openness factor along with playing a significant role of economic growth variables. For instance, oil trade agreements between Israel and Kuwait or Saudi Arabia or Qatar among other nations can ensure greater benefits in the long run. At the same time, apart from merely oil treaties, multiple import and export businesses also occur between these nations which include exchange of food products, beverages, electronics and heavy machinery among others. The prime focus of this discussion will be regarding the evaluation of various legal aspects related with international trade between two nations. Moreover, this discussion will be taking into consideration three crucial factors namely the international oil agreements, import and export of goods and shared investments and the specific legal aspects associated with these. For this part of the discussion, the instance of Egypt as one of the Arab nations has been highlighted. Multiple reports describe that Egypt has been counted as one of the business partners successfully carrying out business with Israel. The trade relationship between these two nations started with the signing of the peace treaty. This peace treaty can be considered as the first legal agreement meant for bringing these two nations into peaceful business conduct (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2014). Apart from Egypt, other Arab nations such as Algeria, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria cannot be accounted in terms of carrying out any sort of trade relationship with Israel since there seems to be multiple instabilities regarding the relationship between Israel and the Arab nations. The evidence of such

What is the role of the consumer in our culture Essay

What is the role of the consumer in our culture - Essay Example There are times that an individual can go to purchase a certain commodity and probably finds the attendant with very poor moods. In such conditions, the attendant may talk in a wanting manner and at times fail to satisfy the customer. There are times however that an individual may find the attendant in appropriate moods. These are the times that they may even get a bonus or rather receive a special type of treatment from the attendant. This information shows that there does not exist any particular way through which one can identify the treatment accorded to them as a customer since it is unpredictable. The customer has minimal power over the production process of the commodity or the media’s involvement with the product. The media is whole other setting and many times, people say that the media is independent. This in itself alone as a sentence enables an individual to understand that the consumer has no control over the media’s involvement with a certain product. The customer however has an extended involvement in the production of a commodity. The reason is that at times, a group of consumers may have some negative reaction towards a certain commodity and this may make them submit their grievances to the production team (Ewen & Ewen). It is after this that the manager may pass the information to the relevant quality control teams to make amends. It is also vital to grasp and comprehend that the ordinary consumer does not have any control over the ideas that the media may have on a certain product. There are times that a consumer may use a product and have a negative view about it. After this, the consumer may find the media advertising the commodity and giving it fake praises. This normally angers the consumer but the reality is they cannot do anything concerning this. It is the right of the product owner to

Real Estate Price Volatility Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Real Estate Price Volatility - Research Paper Example In this context, the present paper attempts to discuss about one of the early developed models that is still prevalent in the present economic scenario. The model was developed by R. Engle in 1982, which came to be known as Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH). The paper also attempts to through lights on how effective is the model in the present real estate climate in the United States of America with particular reference to California. The paper takes an analytical approach wherein the model is suggested with a brief explanation of its application, merits and demerits. The various stakeholders (participants) in the real estate market comprising of real estate investors, banks, non-bank financial institutions, portfolio managers have always been curious to predict the local housing prices. Naturally, they have always encouraged the attempts to evolve mathematical models that can prevent the losses and chaos from the volatility of real estate prices. Parties who are also interested in housing prices estimating models include managers of banks, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and homebuilding companies. Prior models have tried to incorporate many of the macroeconomic variables including the bubbles and crashes in the stock market. Experts such as Alan Stockman and Tesar Linda, Lane Philip and Girouard N and Bl'ndal have described the housing price behavior from a dynamic general equilibrium point of view (Stockman and Tesar, 1995, Girouard and Bl'ndal, 2001 and Lane, 2001). Studies undertaken by Driffill John and Sola Martin explored the model in the context of market bubbles (Driffill and Sola 1998). Attempts have also been done to evolve a model that incorporate the interaction of an array of variables such as transactions in the real estate sector, changes in the demography of participants, and macro factors comprising of diversity in the income distribution and changes in the economic activity as a whole. For example, Francois Ortalo-Magne and Rady Sven have studied these aspects through a significant research (Ortalo-Magne and Rady 1998, 1999, 2003a and 2003b). Economic Analysis The model developed by R. Engle in 1982 is found relevant in the present scenario where traditional models that describe variables such as location factors, structural variables and floor area and income are no longer valid (Engle 1982). This model was coined as Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH). The basic contention of this model is that housing price prediction should take care of time-varying volatility and studied through time series analysis. The Model The ARCH model was developed using mathematical and statistical notations and theories. For a better understanding of the model, the ARCH process consisting of conditional mean process and a conditional variance process will have to be known. The conditional mean process is developed in conformity to the standard Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) equation (Engle 1982). Where, Rt is the return on average home prices on a monthly basis, e, and s2 are constants. Through this model, Engle try to analyze and incorporate the pricing behavior with two

The topic should be related to the field of quarantine Research Paper

The topic should be related to the field of quarantine - Research Paper Example (DeLisle 2004) Measures corresponding to those employed aligned with the plague have been adopted to fight against the illness termed the Great White Plague, i.e. tuberculosis, and in modern times many countries have set up administrator entities for the classification and control of infections. (Rothstein 2004) This paper will demonstrate the state of quarantine in US and worldwide in terms of ethical perspective and legal regulations. Furthermore, the paper will guide us through the history of quarantine and will offer in depth overview on the subject. This paper will talk about U.S. state government conclusions considering components of quarantine and one-by-one privileges, if and when the government can become engaged, and the stress between state government and government. Background Children and mature individuals often trial to assertion that they are ill in alignment to stay dwelling from school or work for a day. Though, when a individual is authentically ill for any time sp an of time, the respite or even delight of residing dwelling rapidly dissipates, rotating into a yearn for normalcy. (Gerson 2005) What occurs when an individual is forbidden from departing dwelling or another location of confinement, even when that individual conceives that he is no longer ill? In the uncommon example of quarantine, the government can force a individual to stay confined even if the individual yearns to leave. (DeLisle 2004) For the reasons of this paper, quarantine is characterized as when the government or a government entity, a board of wellbeing, policeman head, or the National Guard, constrains a individual to a specific geographic position due to that one-by-one having or being revealed to a contagious disease. Discussion Quarantine is a critical assess that is not to be utilized for every freezing or virus, but rather for farthest outbreaks of particularly contagious infections for example tuberculosis or bioterrorism-related attacks of infections for example smallpox or anthrax. (Gerson 2005) Those quarantined are unable to take part commonly in every day life as they will not depart their quarantined position without permission. (Rothstein, Mark, et al 2003) Bioterrorism is neither a new observable fact neither one that is probable to go away in beside future. Historical administration for quarantine arises from the concept that a public wellbeing agreement, under which individuals acquiesce to decline certain privileges and liberties, if essential, to avert an important risk to other persons. (Sapsin, Jason, et al 2004) This agreement is not only between a one-by-one civilian and the government, but furthermore amidst people to each other. Without defense of wellbeing, security and security, persons will not relish numerous of the individual and financial freedoms that we have arrive to take for granted. In alignment to accomplish these goals, humanity should come to a balance between the extremes of entire defense of public wellbein g without any defense of one-by-one privileges and total defense of one-by-one privileges at the total cost of public health. The equitable circulation of advantages and burdens would illustrate a befitting balance of public wellbeing and one-by-one privileges, a mark of an attractive public wellbeing policy. (Gerson 2005) After investigating the U.S. management of quarantine, Canada's

Student Assessment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Student Assessment - Assignment Example They also fail to measure the need for student growth which is needed to plan future instruction or lecture strategies (Tsagari). This has called for re-examining the traditional or conventional approach to testing qualities, hence a movement of alternative testing (Rachmnn 2005). Wiggins (1998) and Darling-Hammond, Ancess and Falk (1995) also pointed out the problem of deep understanding with conventional testing, emphasizing that deep understanding is robust learning which can be applied to different situations. The criticism pointed out by Wiggins and Darling-Hammond is that conventional forms of testing such as exercises, quizzes and multiple choice questions are not capable of gauging this understanding among students (Williams 2007). Due to these criticisms Wiggins and Darling-Hammond, Ancess and Falk are in favor of performance assessment, in which instead of testing a student using multiple choice questions, they are to work on projects, conduct interviews, and presentations in order to demonstrate their understanding to the reviewers/teachers (Ross 2006) . The basic premise of the vision of authentic achievement as proposed by Newmann, Secada, and Wehlage (1995) outlines the creation of more interesting yet challenging assessment tools for students. Teachers can encourage students to produce more intellectual work in the form of real world applications, and hence increase their performance. Although the basic assumption behind traditional and authentic assessment is common, which is to develop prolific citizens, the former approach tests the students on the possession of certain knowledge while the latter tests the students on the application of knowledge (Mueller 2008). Another difference between the two approaches is that in the traditional approach knowledge is the curriculum determined prior to delivery while in the latter the task to be executed by the students is determined first, which would include the application of knowledge and the curriculum to enable the students to perform the task is determined later (Mueller 2008). Dictionary definition of rubric is "an authoritative rule, especially, a rule for conduct of a liturgical service" (Dictionary 2008). Rubrics basically are assessment tools with the help of which the teacher can predefine what basis the paper or work will be judged on and how scoring will be done on the basis of the predefined criteria (ALTEC 2008). Hence, I agree with the statement that "using rubrics to code student work makes the expectations for success clear, and thereby solves a major problem of traditional assessment, namely, the mystery of marking/evaluating student performance" (Course Resource). If a student does not get a good grade despite knowing the rubrics, the teacher is to a point faultless because the student was informed about the assessment criteria and both students and teacher share with each other the requirements for a particular project (Holbrook 2001). Assessments by rubrics are very detailed and give students a much more clear idea of what they are expected (Walvoord n.d.).It is also very helpful as an assessment tool as it is an ongoing review process where students can also self assess themselves on the basis of preset criteria before submitting their work (Andrade 2001).

Tension Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tension - Essay Example Stressors are the external stimuli that evoke physiological or behavioral change in people.† (Everly and Smith, 80) Coping with anxiety and tension was one of the most essential challenges I faced in my young life and, I swear, it was a meticulous task altogether to control tension and stress in my life. Being a very sensitive gentleman with great potential for personal achievements, I realized the need for making intensive efforts to deal with the issues concerning tension when it began to delay several personal glories. Therefore, I began to learn more about tension, stress and anxiety and the reasons for human tensions. I also made it a point that I practice some of the tension management methods which could be useful in dealing with the issue of tension and stress in personal life, and the ultimate result of all these efforts has been convincing to me as I noticed enormous changes in my attitudes as well as actions. Therefore, I hold the view that tension and stress managem ent is most valuable to human beings who are prone to suffer from the consequences of tension in life. As mentioned before, my first reaction to an understanding of the threats of tension in my life was to recognize or learn the factors which contribute to tension in human life, followed by an intense and determined decision to adopt measures to fight tension in my life. As I started analyzing the theories and literature on tension and stress, I came to realize that negative thoughts as well as undesirable feelings contribute greatly toward the mood of tense-tiredness. It was obvious to me that reducing tension in life was the essential answer to the problems I encountered in my personal achievements and it can also help one in getting away from the negative state of tense-tiredness. From the various case analyses available in the literature on

Capital Asset Pricing Model Essay Example for Free

Capital Asset Pricing Model Essay The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is an important model in finance theory. CAPM is a theory or model use to calculate the risk and expected return rate of an investment portfolio (normally refer to stocks or shares). All stocks have 2 risks: Systematic Risk (also called Market Risk which affect every stocks) and Unsystematic Risk (also called Specific or Unique Risk that only affects individual stocks). To diversify unsystematic risk, we selected and combined different stocks, which are negatively correlated with one another into one portfolio. In this way risk are eliminated greatly. See diagram below. CAPM Equation The general formula used for Capital Asset Pricing Model is: re = rf + [ ß (rm rf) ] where the components are as follows: re = Expected return rate of the investment portfolio rf = Risk free rate of return ß = Beta (correlation between the shares and the market) rm = Expected market return which also means: rm rf = Market risk (systematic risk) ß (rm rf) = Risk premium *Beta is overall risk value for investing in the stock market. The higher the beta, the more the risk. CAPM Example Assume there is two Investment portfolio (stocks) or project A B. With the information given below, we can use CAPM to help us decide which to invest on. risk free rate beta expected market return A 3% 2.5 10% B 3% 1.2 10% From the beta value above, we know A is a more risky portfolio. A is 2.5 times more risky than the overall market and B is 1.5 times less risky. †¢ Expected return produce by A re = rf + [ ß (rm rf) ] re = 3 + [ 2.5 (10 3) ] = 20.5 % †¢ Expected return produce by B re = rf + [ ß (rm rf) ] = 3 + [ 1.2 (10 3) ] = 11.4 % Using CAPM formula, we calculated A produce a 20.5% expected return rate. It is higher than the overall market expected return, which is 10%. Whereas for B, the expected return rate are only 11.2% compare to market return of 10%. Base on result, A is definitely a better but if you don’t feel conformable with A’s risk or think it might not able to produce the expected return rate, then you would probably can choose investing in B. Criticisms of CAPM Although CAPM seems to be one of the most widely used methods to determine the expected return of a investment portfolio, It still have its limitation. Many had criticized on its unrealistic assumptions. †¢ Required a well-diversified portfolio Firstly CAPM works really well with a well-diversified portfolio as it accounted for systematic risk (market risk) but as seen on the graph on page 1, systematic risk is still undiversified. Therefore unsystematic risk is ignore in CAPM calculation. †¢ Beta as it main calculation components As Beta value are computed base on past one year figures so in this case CAPM assume that the future wont change. Also beta may not really reflect the actual performance of different stocks. This was question by professors Eugene Fama and Kenneth French where they looked at share returns on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq between 1963 and 1990, they found that differences in betas over that lengthy period did not explain the performance of different stocks. The linear relationship between beta and individual stock returns also breaks down over shorter periods of time. These findings seem to suggest that CAPM may be wrong. †¢ Risk free rate of return CAPM assumes there is a risk free rate where investors can borrow or lend at this rate but it is not true in the real world. †¢ Perfect capital market exists There is no transaction cost for trading in the market and profit is non-taxable. †¢ All investor are the same CAPM assume all investors have the same expectations on the risk and expected return.

The Social Differences of the Afghanistan People Essay Example for Free

The Social Differences of the Afghanistan People Essay In Afghanistan, there are many ethnic groups among whom segregation exists. Imagine being a part of one that’s really looked down upon. The life of that person would be so cruel that nobody would be able to even imagine the misery and the pain that they have to endure. Afghanistan is a country with immense diversity due to the different ethnic groups that it has had for a very long time. Despite living in the same country for hundreds of years, they have their own ways of living and what’s interesting is that there is discrimination among them due to the social class differences that exits in the Afghanistan society today. In the novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseni shows through the character of Amir, Hassan and Baba that the social differences of the ethnicities (Pashtuns and Hazaras) have made huge differences in their lives and has also led to the fading away of the moral codes that have been honored in their society for a long period of time. A major factor that makes up society is the environment. It contributes a lot to what the society turns out to be and how it’s seen. The Afghan society is a big impact to the way Amir saw the world. As he grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan, he realized that all the people aren’t considered to be the same. At least that’s had the society had him thinking. Having grown up as the son of a highly respected Pashtun is considered a blessing. But Amir who spends time with Hassan who is a Hazara had a huge affect on his life. Pashtuns are socially considered to be nobility whereas Hazaras are like the peasants. For example, Amir’s public behavior and relation with Hassan was unacceptable and that always had him confused. The two of them were very close but there was always something getting in between that. When Amir says, â€Å"Never mind any of those things. Because history isn’t easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was a Sunni and he was a Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing. † (Hossenini 24). Even though Amir had a brotherly relationship with Hassan, it just wasn’t that strong because he was afraid of the way he would be look upon by the others in the community. It becomes a part of his life that he can’t avoid. One of the things that stands in between the unity of all and any kind of people is the discrimination. All it ever does is cause conflicts and makes lives miserable. For example the discrimination of the African-Americans in the 1960’s. Sadly, even today, it is adapted and exists in many regions of the world. Afghanistan happens to be one of them. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini does a good job of strongly showing how a Hazara’s life can be affected in Afghanistan since they are considered to be a low ranking ethnic group. In Afghanistan society, Hazrara’s were not respected. Assef was an example of someone who agreed with this. He represented the evil in the novel, as for Hassan represented loyalty and innocence. However, since Hassan was a Hazara, his whole life wasn’t easy because he always cared so much for Amir, but in return he only got hurt and humiliated. In the novel Assef, Kamal and Wali trapped Hassan in an alley. â€Å"Assef unzipped his jeans. Dropped his underwear and he positioned himself behind Hassan,† (Hosseini 75). This shows that Hassan cared for Amir liked nobody else. He would do anything for him but the fact that he was a Hazara and this incident happened, it changed their lives forever. The lives of these two boys separated because of their social differences. It shows how the social class difference can lead to such horrible things such as separation from the ones they loved. The Afghanistan society’s social class differences really changes the way that some people live their lives because when there are people divided into different levels in a society and it has been a tradition and they are required to follow it. Afghanistan is a good example of this, especially the way Khaled Hosseni portrayed it in the novel. Baba was not just rich, but also a very well known man in Kabul, He was someone strong and truly dedicated to contributing to the good of his society. He was quite known for all the good deeds he did in his life, but the novel also views how he didn’t quite live his life respecting all the moral rules. According to the Pashtunwali, the family unit much be glorified under a sacred conviction of responsibility and duty for respect of all the members (Ronna). This is one of the rules that he does not follow and this is found out when Rahim Khan calls Amir over to Pakistan and says to him, â€Å"Baba and Sanubar had Hassan† (Hossieni 222). Baba had kept his secret his whole life and it hurts him to not call Hassan his son. However, it also affected Amir because he never knew about his own brother and had pushed him away from his life when they were young. In order to keep his dignity, he lived a life of a huge life, which always made him suffer. The fact that he was ashamed of letting everyone know the truth was because she was a Hazara and he was a Pashtun. Being someone from a different ethnicity was the problem and that clung to them for their whole lives. Because of the way that Hazaras are looked upon in the society, Baba was not able to tell anyone the truth about Hassan and it always bothered him. Amir wasn’t able to tell what was right and what was wrong because of what the society had taught him and Hassan was deeply hurt as problems between him and Amir started to rise. All of these conflicts happened due to one reason, the social differences between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras. The way that their society works has completely changed the lives of many people as it shown in The Kite Runner. Works Cited Tourism, SAARC. â€Å"Ethnic Groups of Afghanistan† Afghanistan Ethnic Groups, Tribes of Afghanistan. [emailprotected] SAARC Tourism. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. Ildenfoso, Catia, Psithurism, and Anacl â€Å"For You a Thousand Times Over. † Pashtuns and Hazaras. Blogspot. com, Apr. 2008 Web. 3 Apr. 2012. Ronna, Afghan. â€Å"Pashtunwali† The Codes of Pashtunwali. [emailprotected] Ronna. Web 3 Apr. 2012.

Anti-viral and Anti-cancer Effect of Sea Cucumber Extracts

Anti-viral and Anti-cancer Effect of Sea Cucumber Extracts The Anti-viral and Anti-cancer effect of secondary metabolite extracts from sea cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota) in vitro Abstract Sea cucumber is used as food purposes and traditional medicine in Asia and Middle East society. In this scientific study we try to examine antiviral effect of organic extracts, obtained from sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota species against HIV-1. For this reason, sea cucumber collected from 10-30 meters depths, around Larak Island. In order to extract, were used from methanol and diethyl ether solvents. All obtained extracts concentrated by rotary evaporator in 40  ° C and then changed to lyophilized powder by vacuum freeze dryer. After that, potential antiviral effect of each extracts on HIV-1 was investigated. The results of this experiments showed that all extracts in some concentrations were able to inhibit the replication of HIV-1. IC50 for their was variable between 5.03  ± 1.90  µg/ml until 337.60  ± 1.34  µg/ml . but cytotoxic effect of all extracts in host cell were also many and CC50 for their was variable between 5.11  ± 1.89  µg/ml until 56.27  ± 1.54  µg/ml. results shown detail ether body wall extract have highest antiviral effect and also it was relatively less cytotoxic effect. 2.79 TI for this extract was shown, it has potential to inhibit HIV-1 after identify and extract effective substances. For survey anti-cancer probably effect have used XTT assay. The results of this experiment showed, all different extracts could be able to prevent Human carcinoma oral epidermoid cells (KB) in some concentration. But also, they had strong cytotoxic effect on normal cell line (HEK293T). Totaly between all different extracts, body wall diethyl ether extract had less cytotoxic effect on normal cells and with 2.46 TI index, showed rather anticancer activitythan other extract. Introduction In recent years, many bioactive compounds identify and derived from various marine organisms. Searches for discover new metabolites led to isolated 10,000 new combination from marine animals. Many of these compounds are related to medicine and pharmacy. This compounds and natural products have been source of materials that have medicine effects (Faulkner, 1996). These bioactive compounds isolated from various marine organisms, including Corals, crabs, seaweeds, Echinoderms, fishes, sponges and etc. Sea cucumbers belong to the phylum Echinodermata, meaning that, they are spiny-skinned, under the class Holothuridea. They are found throughout the nearshore coral reef environment and are also found in the deepest parts of the ocean. Sea cucumbers play an important role in reef recycling, gathering organic detritus and bacteria from the water or sand for food. These particles are digested by the animals in order to extract nutrients, a process that helps turn over sediments to maintain an environment that supports other marine life. Other animals, including fish, crustaceans, and molluscs, eat sea cucumber eggs, larvae and juveniles making them an important member of the food web. Many species eject Cuvierian tubules when threatened. These are very sticky and can be toxic or irritating to predators. They are a diverse group of flexible, elongated, worm-like organ- isms, with a leathery skin and gelatinous body, resembling cucumber (Bordbar, Anwar, Saari, 2011) Sea cucumbers are one of the marine animals which are important as human food source, particularly in some parts of Asia . Sea cucumbers, informally named as bà ªche-de-mer, or gamat, have long been used for food and folk medicine in the communities of Asia and Middle East. In Holothuria leucospilota live specimens have reddish-purple until black and their color is converted to brownish-pink in alcohol. they have Cylindrical body and their abdomen is a little flat. The body wall of the sea cucumber lacks the rigidity found in other echinoderms because the calcareous plates (ossicles) that compose the skeletal system are very small and widely isolated. These ossicles are secreted by special cells called sclerocytes and are embedded in the outer layers of the skin. Ossicles are species-specific in structure and complexity, and can be used to identify species ( Lambert., 2005). Many bioactive compounds have been reported from different species of sea cucumber. A number of these compounds possess biological activity (Bryan et al., 1992; Villasin and Pomory, 2000) Some of sea cucumber species in Malaysia water are being used in traditional medicine to treat wound, eczema, arthritis or hypertension (Farouk et al., 2007). Sea cucumbers have been well recognized as a tonic and traditional remedy in Chinese and Malaysian literature for their effectiveness against hypertension, asthma, rheumatism, cuts and burns, impotence and constipation [18–23]. Several unique biological and pharmacological activities namely anti-angiogenic [24], anticancer [25], anticoagulant [26,27], anti-hypertension [28], anti-inflammatory [29–31], antimicrobial [32,33], antioxidant [34], antithrombotic [35,36], antitumor [37,38], and wound healing [39] have been ascribed to chemical compounds extracted from different sea cucumber species (Bordbar et al., 2011). These medicinal benefits and health functions of sea cucumbers can be attributed to the presence of appreciable amounts of bioactive compounds, especially the triterpene glycosides (saponins) [40–42], chondroitin sulfates [43], glycosaminoglycan [26,36], sulfated polysaccharides [44], sterols (glycosides and sulfates) [45], phenolics [46], peptides [47], cerberosides [48] and lectins [49–51]. Unlike bacteria, fungi and parasites, viruses have no cellular structure. when Viruses are outside live cells they behave like organic compounds and they are not able to replicate and clone independently. They do not have inner cytoplasmic organs such as ribosomes, mitochondria and lysosome. HIV-1 virus or human immunodeficiency virus is an RNA virus of the retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency disease (AIDS) in humans. According to the World Health Organization, 60 million people worldwide are infected with HIV and each day 5,700 lose their live because of this disease.( UNAIDS, 2010) HIV tends to infect and kill T lymphocytes that cause reduction and losing host cellular immunity and will make susceptibility to opportunistic infections. The presence of various materials, such as Liouvillosides A and B which are trisulfated triterpene glycosides and fucosylated chondroitin sulfates (FCS), are causing appear anti-viral effects in extracts of these animals. The body is made up of trillions of living cells. Normal body cells grow, divide into new cells, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a persons life, normal cells divide faster to allow the person to grow. After the person becomes an adult, most cells divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells or to repair injuries. Cancer begins when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. There are many kinds of cancer, but they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells. Cancer cell growth is different from normal cell growth. Instead of dying, cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also invade (grow into) other tissues, something that normal cells cannot do. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell. Cells become cancer cells because of damage to DNA. DNA is in every cell and directs all its actions. In a normal cell, when DNA gets damaged the cell either repairs the damage or the cell dies. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired, but the cell doesn’t die like it should. Instead, this cell goes on making new cells that the body does not need. These new cells will all have the same damaged DNA as the first cell does. People can inherit damaged DNA, but most DNA damage is caused by mistakes that happen while the normal cell is reproducing or by something in our environment. Sometimes the cause of the DNA damage is something obvious, like cigarette smoking. But often no clear cause is found. Material and methods Sample collection All samples collected from 10-30 meters depth around Larak Island and they had transferred to shore with ice. Upon reaching the shore, samples were frozen using dry ice and transported to the laboratory. Samples kept in separated labeled plastic bags in frozen at -20 C until extraction. Extraction Sampels thawed with water and then mud, or sand, foreign particles remaining from the body surface and were washed away with tap water. Samples were cuted from both sides of the midline of the body. internal organs separated from body wall and they cleaned with tap water before extraction. Extracts were prepared following Naik et al. at first, fresh holothurians were rinsed and cut into small pieces. Then cut samples moved to Erlenmeyer with 1000 cc diethyl ether solvent. The sample was collected in diethyletter about 24 hours, the semi- polar and non- poplar extraction was produced. After solution filtered and evaporating diethyletter to dryness, at low pressure at 35- 40C by using Rota vapor. Then the sample put in methanol for 72 hours, The polar extraction was produced The polar compounds in the phase of methanol- aqueous extracts were separated. The concentrated methanol extracts was then dried to obtain crude semi-solid extracts. The crude extract was then weighted and percentages of extraction from sea cucumber were calculated. After 72 hours evaporating methanol to dryness, at low pressure at 40-45 C by using Rota vapor and at the end , extract changed to lyophilized powder by vacuum freeze dryer. Production of Pseudotyped Single-Cycle Replicable HIV Virions Single-cycle replicable HIV-1 (SCR HIV-1) virions were constructed by deleting a 2-kb segment within the Pol region of the HIV-1 genome from the pNL4-3 strain (provided by Dr. Navid Madani). Pseudotyped SCR HIV- 1 virions were produced by co-transfection of HEK293T cells with pmzNL4-3 (containing the mutated genome), psPAX2, and pMD2G plasmids obtained from Addgene (www.addgene.org) (10, 11). The pmzNL4-3 plasmid encodes the HIV-1 full-length RNA, with packaging ability containing the above-mentioned deletion in the Pol region; the psPAX2 plasmid encodes HIV Gag and Gag-Pro-Pol polyproteins, in addition to all the viral accessory proteins; and the pMD2G plasmid encodes the vesicular stomatitis virus surface glycoprotein (VSVG), which is necessary for virion assembly and the budding process. These pseudotyped virions are able to infect a broad spectrum of cells, even without the CD4 receptor. After co-transfection of the HEK293T cells with the  above-mentioned plasmids b y using the Polyfect reagent (Qiagen, Germany), supernatant containing the  virions was harvested at 24, 48, and 72 h. Virus stock was concentrated 20 times by ultracentrifugation, p24 load was quantified (HIV p24 ELISA, Biomerieux, France), and the stock was stored at -70 °C (10, 11) Cell lines The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1)–infected cell line Hela and human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T cells and Human carcinoma oral epidermoid cells (KB) (American Type Culture Collection) were cultured at 37 °C with 5% CO2 in RPMI1640 medium (Biosera, England) and DMEM (Biosera, England), respectively. The media were supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Biosera, England), 200 units/mL of penicillin G, and 80 µg/mL of streptomycin (Sigma, USA). XTT-Based Cytotoxicity Assay The cellular toxicity of methanol and diethyl ether extracts in HEK293T, Hela and KB cells were assessed using a cell proliferation XTT kit (Roche Diagnostics, Germany), as described previously (9). Briefly, cells were plated in triplicate in 96-well plates in the presence or absence of various concentrations of methanol and diethyl ether extracts. After incubation at 37 °C with 5% CO2 for 3 days, 50 ÃŽ ¼L of prepared XTT mixture was added to each well. The cells were incubated for an additional 4 h to allow the production of XTT formazan. Absorbance was measured using an ELISA plate reader (BioTek ELx800) at a test wavelength of 450 nm and a reference wavelength of 690 nm. Percent inhibition was calculated using the following formula: Inhibition (%) = [100 – (At/ As)] Ãâ€" 100, where As is the absorbance of the solvent and At, of the test sample, respectively. The cytotoxic concentration that resulted in a reduction of the number of viable cells by 50% (CC50) was calculate d from doseresponse curves. Replication assay Vesicular stomatitis virus glyco ­protein (VSVG)-SCR virions can infect Hela cells and complete their replication cycle by assembling of inactive virions. Hela cells (6Ãâ€"104) were seeded in each well of 24 well plates containing 250 ÃŽ ¼l of complete medium and infected with 400 ng P24 VSVG-SCR virions. Cells and virions were incubated together overnight and cells were then washed two times with pre-warmed 5% FBS supplemented DMEM. Complete medium (400 ÃŽ ¼l) was added into each well and cell supernatants were analyzed for p24 load after 48 hrs (HIV P24 ELISA, BIOMERIEUX). Result Antitumor effect of the sea cucumber extracts Evaluations of sea cucumber H. leucospilota extracts for potential anticancer activity on growth human cancer cell lines, Human carcinoma oral epidermoid cells (KB) and human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293T) were evaluated by XTT assay. Methanol digestive organs extract with 2.46 TI index (table 1), showed better anti-cancer effect than other extracts obtained from sea cucumber. Compared to untreated control was detected. The dose dependent decreasing in the percentage of viability of treated cancer cells comparing to controls was represented in the (Fig. 1A to D). As shown in (Fig. 1B), among the other extracts, only methanol digestive organs exhibited antiproliferative effects against the cancer cells. In addition this extract was rather less cytotoxic against HEK293T compared with other extracts. Bars represent means of triplicate determinations, and error bar indicate SD. Results were accepted to be significant at p Table-1- Inhibitory effects of sea cucumbers extracts on growth growth human cancer cell lines, Human carcinoma oral epidermoid cells (KB) and human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293T) Extracts IC50 CC50 TI (CC50/ IC50) KB HEK Methanol body wall 224.9  ± 1.33 281.0  ± 1.18 1.24 Methanol digestive organs 152.5  ± 1.29 375.4  ± 1.11 2.46 Methanol gonad 500 360.1  ± 1.75 0.72> Diethyl ether body wall 279.0  ± 1.17 284.9  ± 1.19 1.02 Diethyl ether digestive organs ~ 449.4  ± 2.51 444.2  ± 1.55 ~1.01 Diethyl ether gonad 367.1  ± 1.29 302.2  ± 1.12 0.82 The IC50 (inhibition concentration 50% of extract that caused inhibition cancerous KB cell line), CC50 (50% cytotoxic concentration of the extracts on HEK) and TI (therapeutic index) of different extracts of sea cucumber by using XTT assay, mean  ± SD . Comparison of the cytotoxic effects of sea cucumber extracts on cancerous (KB) and normal (HEK293T) cells, was determined using the XTT assay (un- treated control (1  µl DMSO) cells) Effect of sea cucumber H. leucospilota extracts on KB and HEK293T cells. Internal organs extracts (50 mg/ml) highest antiproliferative effects against KB cells and don’t significant cytotoxic effects than other concentration. Values are mean  ± SD of three determinations. Anti-HIV activity of the sea cucumber extracts In this study first we evaluated the cytotoxic activity on hella cells of different concentration of each extracts with XTT assay. XTT assay appeared all extracts have substantial cytotoxic effect on host cell line. The antiviral activities of each extract are summarized in Table 2. We further determined whether the inhibitory effects on HIV-1 replication of these extracts were dose-dependent. We infected hella cells with HIV-1 viruses and then treated the cells with each of the extracts at a concentration of 10  µg/ml to 1000  µg/ml fig 2A to F. None of the extracts showed significant inhibition of HIV-1 replication but the concentration of 100 µ g/ml methanol digestive organs, inhibit HIV-1 replication with less cytotoxic effect compared to other extract fig 2A.in addition body wall extract, with 2.79 TI index has rather better antiviral activity than other extracts(table 2). We also included 0.1% DMSO as a negative control and nevirapine as a positive control in these experi ments. Bars represent means of triplicate determinations, and error bar indicate SD. Results were accepted to be significant at p Table-2- The IC50 (inhibition concentration 50% of extract that caused inhibition of viral replication in HIV-1), CC50 (50% cytotoxic concentration of the extracts on host cells (Hela)) and TI (therapeutic index) of different extracts of sea cucumber Extracts IC50 CC50 TI (CC50/ IC50) Methanol body wall 35.89  ± 1.21 19.15  ± 1.45 0.53 Methanol digestive organs 57.61  ± 3.02 23.79 ± 1.67 0.41 Methanol gonad 337.60  ± 1.34 9.084  ± 1.15 0.02 Diethyl ether body wall 20.14  ± 1.16 56.27  ± 1.54 2.79 Diethyl ether digestive organs 37.01  ± 1.19 49.65  ± 1.53 1.34 Diethyl ether gonad 5.03  ± 1.90 5.11  ± 1.89 1.01 The average percentage of HIV-1 replication with extracts treatments based on three independent experiments. The percentage was considered as 100% when HIV-1 replication of DMSO sample reached to the peak. Instead, the rest of other samples with extracts treatments were calculated and converted into percentages based on DMSO and nevirapine used as a positive control in these experiments. The data were mean  ± SEM of three independent experiments.

Cloning :: essays research papers fc

Cloning, as of recent years, has become a very controversial issue. Society is firmly divided on the uses and ethics of cloning. Cloning can rang from producing copies of plants and animals to clones of humans and human organs. But cloning can have several positive effects for the well being of society. Cloning plants can have positive effects fo humans. Scientist can clone plants and alter them to produce healthier food. For example, oranges which contain an abundance of Vitamin C, can be altered to include Vitamin D and Calcium, which is found amply in milk. Cloning can also improve the status of hunger-stricken Third World nations. Fruits and vegetables can be cloned to produce large amounts of food without have to worry about growing season, climate, or any other environmental factor. They can also be alterd to be able to be grown in different environments or to produce more food and for a longer period of time. Cloning animals can have several ramifications. Foremost, is the be nfit of humans. This can be done in two ways. First, cloning animals can help us understand the way our cellss divide, multiply and operate. We can also learn how to fix ceratin disorders, thus leading to tests and research in similar human disorders. For example, sheep have a disease of the brain, called Scrapie, that causes tremors, loss of motion, and eventually death. This disease is very similar to the human disease called Parkinson’s disease. Scientists can try to stimulate new brain cells to divide and regrow damaged areas in the sheep brain first and then try similar procedures for humans. Animal cloning can also lead to better production of food. Ranchers can take one cow, the best out of the whole stock, and clone it. This would improve his sales and our health because we are given a healthier product. Endangered animals can also benefit from animal cloning. For instance, instead of doing lab monitored pregnancies and artificial inseminations for endangered animals, scientists can clone several embryos for the healthiest animal of that species. Working the way up the evolutionary scale leads eventually to cloning human organs and ultimately humans. This is the most controversial area of cloning, but despite the controversy, cloning of human organs and also humans can have some positive effects. To illustrate, kidney tissue can be used to grow a healthy kidney for patients with frequent kidney failures. Cloning :: essays research papers fc Cloning, as of recent years, has become a very controversial issue. Society is firmly divided on the uses and ethics of cloning. Cloning can rang from producing copies of plants and animals to clones of humans and human organs. But cloning can have several positive effects for the well being of society. Cloning plants can have positive effects fo humans. Scientist can clone plants and alter them to produce healthier food. For example, oranges which contain an abundance of Vitamin C, can be altered to include Vitamin D and Calcium, which is found amply in milk. Cloning can also improve the status of hunger-stricken Third World nations. Fruits and vegetables can be cloned to produce large amounts of food without have to worry about growing season, climate, or any other environmental factor. They can also be alterd to be able to be grown in different environments or to produce more food and for a longer period of time. Cloning animals can have several ramifications. Foremost, is the be nfit of humans. This can be done in two ways. First, cloning animals can help us understand the way our cellss divide, multiply and operate. We can also learn how to fix ceratin disorders, thus leading to tests and research in similar human disorders. For example, sheep have a disease of the brain, called Scrapie, that causes tremors, loss of motion, and eventually death. This disease is very similar to the human disease called Parkinson’s disease. Scientists can try to stimulate new brain cells to divide and regrow damaged areas in the sheep brain first and then try similar procedures for humans. Animal cloning can also lead to better production of food. Ranchers can take one cow, the best out of the whole stock, and clone it. This would improve his sales and our health because we are given a healthier product. Endangered animals can also benefit from animal cloning. For instance, instead of doing lab monitored pregnancies and artificial inseminations for endangered animals, scientists can clone several embryos for the healthiest animal of that species. Working the way up the evolutionary scale leads eventually to cloning human organs and ultimately humans. This is the most controversial area of cloning, but despite the controversy, cloning of human organs and also humans can have some positive effects. To illustrate, kidney tissue can be used to grow a healthy kidney for patients with frequent kidney failures.

Native Americans Essays -- essays research papers fc

People have been living in the Americas for thousands of years. Only fairly recently, the past few hundred years, have foreigners begun to arrive and drastically disrupt the way of life of the aboriginal population. The situation has become so severe that a population that was one believed to be numbered in the millions, was at one point reduced to as few as 220,000 in 1910, and entire tribes have been either irretrievably warped or have disappeared altogether. While Native American Indians have almost completely recovered population-wise, they will never catch up to the rest of the world, and their culture can never fully recuperate. At the time the United States was settled by Europeans, it was abundantly populated by dozens of separate nations with diverse civilizations and cultures. Like other colonized regions, the indigenous people suffered first from the introduction of diseases that were common in the regions that the settlers were from, to which the Indians had no immunity. It is believed that millions died of smallpox, measles, whooping cough, and influenza. Some estimate that such epidemics were responsible for more than 80 million deaths during the early colonial period alone. Although The Indians numbers were never accurately recorded (estimates have ranged from in the low millions to as much as around a hundred million) it is certain that they are far from a complete recovery. For nearly 300 years the population of Native Americans had been declining, since shortly after Columbus arrived in the Western Hemisphere to a while after the civil war. But starting in the beginning of the 20th century the United States census bureau has reported an almost continuous increases in native populations (with some exceptions, notably an influenza epidemic that occurred in 1918). From the 1980’s to the 1990’s there is reported a growth of almost 500,000; from 1,478,523 in 1980 to 1,937,391 in 1990. Despite these promising statistics the population of Native Americans is only a small fraction (0.8 percent) of the hundreds of millions of other inhabitants in the United States. Despite their initial confusion to their situation after the arrival of Europeans, the Native Americans did not take their disenfranchisement from their own land lying down. Native Americans have a long history of "fighting back" against invaders encroaching on the land that ... ... remained of their once vast civilization, Native Americans were beginning to make a recovery. Despite a long history of disease, broken treaties, and constant removal from their own land Native Americans can finally focus within their own society to try to rebuild what they have lost. Although they may never fully recover, Native American Indians are at the best position they have ever been in since their exposure foreign influences. Bibliography Bibliography Zinn, Howard. A Peoples History of The United States. 1980, pp. 124-146. Josephy, Alvin M. The Indian Heritage of America. New York, 1968. Pp. 53, 116. _________. Through Indian Eyes. New York, 1995, Pp. 330-332, 383. Oswalt, Wendell H. This Land Was Theirs: A Study of The North American Indian. 1966, Pp. 399-400. "Indian Images." News report. ________. "First Nations Histories." http://www.tolatsga.org/compacts.html ________. "Top 25 Native American Tribes." US Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/race/indian/ailang1.txt (1995) ________. "The Native American Peoples: A History of Genocide." Boabab Press http://www.africa2000.com/bndx/ba0320.htm (2000)

With Reference to at Least 2-3 of Amichai’s Poems, Identify the Main Stylistic Elements of His Work and Comment on Their Effectiveness.

With reference to at least 2-3 of Amichai’s poems, identify the main stylistic elements of his work and comment on their effectiveness. The main stylistic elements of the work of Yehuda Amichai greatly reflect the time in which he was writing and the place in which he was located whilst writing. Being born in Germany in 1924 and then living in Israel in the 20th century meant that Amichai was exposed to a turbulent stage in world history as Israel had only just been created as a separate state after World War II and Hitler’s persecution of the Jewish race.At this time politics, war and religion were all at the centre of the world’s attention, and particularly for the Jewish people living in Israel as there was the constant threat of violence from the Arab people in neighbouring Palestine. Throughout his work, Amichai is able to effectively convey the disruption and confusion caused by this conflict by using techniques such as scattered imagery and irregular struc ture.To better understand the effectiveness of the stylistic elements used by Amichai, it is important to look at how he uses these techniques in his works. The first area of focus that is important to understand Amichai’s style is to study where and when each poem is set. With contextual background it seems to be that nearly all of his poems are set in Israel or some sort of similar desert-like place. ‘God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children’ is one of Amichai’s earliest works and it gives a good indication as to the importance of place in his poetry.The importance of place is that in many of his works the setting is very much abstract and sense of a place in which the poem is set appears to change constantly, making the poem more universal and often with religious additions to the poems the setting is taken to a metaphysical, God like, all seeing dimension. In ‘God Has pity on Kindergarten Children’, Amichai changes place from a ‘first-a id station’ to a desert like place as he describes ‘sand’ before moving to a ‘public bench’ and lastly a ‘school’.Then the idea of a metaphysical dimension is introduced with the reference to God and religion suggesting that God is all seeing and is watching over the world from the place in which he is located. The idea of there being another dimension from which God can look down on the world is reiterated in the poem, ‘God’s Hand in the World’ where Amichai asks the question, ‘What does God see through the window while his hands reach into the world? ’ These religious images ink to the creation of a metaphysical place within the poems and they provoke the reader to think about how Amichai see’s religion and how he responds to his own thoughts about God and his faith in general. The religious imagery that is recurring in many of his poems leads the reader to a conclusion that this is one of the ma in themes which much of Amichai’s work is centred around. The next key feature is the focus on time and how this affects the subject of his work whether it is a person, object or place.Amichai uses many ellipses in his work which makes the poems very radical which is mirrored in the constant change of place and the progression in time. In the poem, ‘There Are Candles That Remember’ there are three main measures of time given; the first is ‘twenty-four hours’ which is followed by ‘eight hours’ and then there is a reference to candles that are ‘eternal’. In this poem, Amichai appears to be measuring life, and in particular his life, against the age of Israel which is a very new country in this period.The inclusion of ‘antiquities’ shows another dimension in the time references in the poem as it shows the past, but not the recent past as ‘antiquities’ signifies relics that are possibly thousands of yea rs old. In some of Amichai’s poems there is modulation in tense, ‘God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children’ shows modulation between stanza one and the other two stanzas with the shift from present tense to future tense.There is also modulation in ‘There Are Candles That Remember’ however it is internal modulation in the lines, ‘Late in my life I had a daughter who will be twenty-two in the year 2000. Her name is Emanuella†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ In these two lines the tense changes from past to future to present with the words ‘had’ followed by ‘will’ and ‘is’ which is another way in which Amichai shows the radical and unpredictable nature of his work. Prominent in Amichai’s work is the inclusion of fragmented and scattered imagery and structure.The sudden shifts between subject matter in many stanzas are mirrored by the non-clustered imagery within the poems. ‘There Are Candles That Remember’ has an irregular structure with lots of enjambed lines leaving the poem without a strong structure. The imagery within the poem also contains many non-sequential and strange images such as the ‘candles that remember’ where Amichai has personified the candles, this is then followed by the metaphorical reference to a ‘bowl full of precious liquid’. The images that follow are unrelated to the ones already mentioned, like the imile of the diaspora of old people that are said to be ‘scattered about like antiquities’ and then the comparison to how Amichai’s soul is ‘built like mountain terraces’. This style of scattered and mostly unrelated imagery helps to add to the sense of confusion and chaos in the life that he lives especially in the time in which he is living as the creation of the new country of Israel along with the conflict between the world superpowers meant that the 20th century was a time when tension and war were ever p resent threats to peace.Some of Amichai’s imagery that is used in his work is very graphic and the use of the human body no matter how much or little is prominent in many of the poems. One of the best examples of this use of imagery is the poem, ‘A Pity. We Were Such a Good Invention’ which opens with the image of a surgical procedure as the opening line reads, ‘They amputated your thighs from my hips. ’ The body part imagery makes the poem seem more physical and possibly is an attempt by Amichai to highlight the loss of intimacy with someone that he loved. A Dog After Love’ is a good example of the use of body part imagery as well as an example of the indignation felt by Amichai which is expressed through his poetry. His anger and frustration is usually caused by love, politics and religion, and in the case of ‘A Dog After Love’ it is the loss of love that causes the anger expressed by Amichai. This poem probably shows the most v iolent and graphic response to the loss of love as Amichai writes, ‘I hope it will find you and rip your lovers balls to shreds and bite off his cock’.This image effectively conveys the indignation felt by Amichai in a highly graphic way which makes it more impacting on the reader and therefore it has a greater immediate effect. Overall the main stylistic devices used by Amichai are the scattered imagery, irregular structures, often undefined place and changing times in which the poems are set. Furthermore, his work is always very personal with a great use of the words ‘I’ and ‘my’ in almost all of his poetry.All of these elements help to create very unique poetry that often has an impacting effect on the reader as the individual style of Amichai’s writing makes it necessary for the reader to think carefully about what he is writing about and what emotions he is trying to convey. Personally, I feel that Amichai’s work very effecti vely conveys the emotion felt by the events he is writing about and the personal nature of his work sometimes provokes sympathy, sadness, happiness or disdain which is a sign of an effective style of writing.

Masque Of The Red Death English Literature Essay

Death is Inevitable: How â€Å" The Masque of the Red Death † Illustrates the Inevitability of Death. â€Å" The Masque of the Red Death, † written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1845, displays a certain subject about the irrevocability of decease. The narrative follows Prince Prospero as he tries to utilize his wealth and power to evade a deathly pestilence by concealing off in an abbey with a 1000 other invitees ; nevertheless, Death is the vanquisher of this narrative as the narrative concludes with the decease of Prince Prospero and all of the invitees. In â€Å" The Masque of the Red Death, † Poe describes a subject that decease is ineluctable as can be seen in the storyteller, the sarcasm of the secret plan itself, and the huge sum of symbolism in the narrative. The storyteller adds to the subject of the narrative because the storyteller in â€Å" The Masque of the Red Death † is Death itself because of the incompatibilities planted by the writer in individual, tense, and chronology throughout the narrative. The beginning of â€Å" The Masque of the Red Death † is written in 3rd individual ; yet, in three topographic points in the narrative, the narrative is in first-person, proposing that the narrative is really a storyteller, a character in the narrative. The following beginning of grounds is the difference in tense in the narrative. In the narrative, the tense of the narrative displacements from past to show. The significance of the tense displacement suggests non merely that the storyteller was present during the events of the narrative but besides that the storyteller survived the event in order to state the narrative. The 3rd piece of grounds alludes to the thought of Death as the storyteller is in the chronology of the n arrative. The narrative is evidently written during the clip of feudal system and aristocracy ; nevertheless, in the narrative, the storyteller mentions Hernani, a 19th century work by writer Victor Hugo. By utilizing this mention, Poe is stating that the storyteller was non merely present at this event, perchance in the Middle Ages but besides lived through the 19th century. The clip difference placed by Poe spans 100s of old ages, touching to the thought that the storyteller must be person or something that has existed 100s of old ages. Because Poe creates incompatibilities that do non adhere to a individual type of storyteller or narrative, Death itself becomes a really plausible pick for the storyteller. The fact that Death is the storyteller of the narrative merely builds up and intensifies the overall subject of the narrative that decease is ineluctable. Since Death is a plausible the storyteller of the secret plan, the following subscriber to the overall subject of the narrative is the sense of sarcasm found in the secret plan of the narrative. In the narrative, Prospero has a rubric of aristocracy ; nevertheless when word of the Red Death comes, Prospero flees, go forthing the outside universe to â€Å" take attention of itself † ( 231 ) . Prospero is irresponsible in the eyes of the reader, because he does non care about any of the topics underneath him but considers his ain life and the lives of his friends to be indispensable. The sarcasm of the secret plan is seen in the condescension of Prince Prospero because he genuinely believes that his wealth and place in the universe will let to get away decease. The sarcasm of the narrative is rooted in this thought that decease can be cheated because of money and power Throughout the class of the narrative, the Prince holds to this thought that he is above decease ; nevertheless , in the terminal of the narrative, allegorically, Death overcomes. The irresponsibleness of Prospero becomes dry because locking themselves in this monolithic abbey in an effort to get away the disease is what seals their destiny in the terminal of the narrative. The abbey as described by the writer, â€Å" A strong and exalted wall girdled it in. This wall had Gatess of Fe. The courtiers, holding entered, brought furnaces and massy cocks and welded the bolts. They resolved to go forth agencies neither of immersion nor egressaˆÂ ¦ † ( 231 ) . When Death comes for them at the terminal of the narrative, it is by their ain making that they are trapped in this monolithic abbey, their lone pick, to eventually accept the call of Death. While the function of the storyteller and the sarcasm found in the secret plan attention deficit disorder to the subject, the chief subscriber to the subject of â€Å" The Masque of the Red Death † is the multiple histories of symbolism given in the narrative. The symbolism of the narrative is largely seen in two elements of the narrative: the decor of the abbey and the coal black clock. The decor of the abbey is described for the reader in much item, for a ground. The abbey is set up of seven suites from E to West and are arranged in a colour form of blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and the last room is black. The different colourss of the suites are symbolic of the human life rhythm. The colourss can be â€Å" read † from east to west because the E is symbolic of get downing while the West is symbolic of stoping, like the rhythm of the Sun. The bluish represents birth, the beginning. The purple can be viewed as development because the beginning ( bluish ) h as been mixed with life ( ruddy ) . The green suggests life every bit good, but more in the sense of growing or young person. The orange represents the extremum of life, when the Sun is at its highest. The white alludes to the thought of aging. Violet is much darker than the other colourss, because it represents the slow decay of life. Finally, the black room represents decease. Throughout the narrative, the invitees ne'er enter into the black room because they fear decease. The symbolism of the colourss of the room is besides found in the flood tide of the narrative. Prince Prospero chases ruddy decease from the bluish room and stoping with his decease in the black room, stand foring the stoping of a life. The invitees all run into the black room to uncloak ruddy decease, and they all die. Besides in the black room, the large coal black clock is found. The large coal black clock is besides a symbol associated with decease. However, the clock does non intend decease straight. The cl ock represents the thought that even though the invitees are â€Å" rip offing † decease clip still goes on. Time does non halt for the invitees, and the invitees know that they excessively will decease no affair what they do. This idea is represented in the narrative because every clip the coal black clock bells signaling the hr, all the invitees stop their gallivanting and partying and go soundless, as if frozen. The coal black clock is a changeless reminder to the invitees of the Prince that they will non get the better of decease, but merely that their life has one less hr. The symbolism of the coal black clock and the decor of the abbey are a major subscriber to the thought that decease is ineluctable. Edgar Allan Poe uses his command of composing to convey the thought that Death is grim in â€Å" The Masque of the Red Death. † This cardinal overall subject that decease is ineluctable can be seen in the storyteller, Death itself, in the dry nature of the secret plan, and most blatantly in the huge sum of symbolism scattered throughout the narrative. Death is inevitable for everyone: no sum of money or power can change this natural order. Work Cited Poe, Edgar Allan. â€Å" The Masque of the Red Death. † Introduction to Literature. 1st erectile dysfunction. Boston: Pearson, 2011. 231-6. Print.

Allowing Students to Bring Mobile Phones to School Essay

In today’s generation, mobile phones have been a necessity in everyone everyday lives. Many teenagers today describe their mobile phones as their â€Å"life†. Technology nowadays increasingly sophisticated makes all information is just at our fingertips. So, the question arose whether mobile phones should be allowed during school sessions? What are the effects of it? Some people support this proposal because they felt that mobile phones can help students at the school. While some others felt that it will increase social problems among students. As for my opinion, there are two pros allowing students to bring mobile phones to the school, which is act as convenient communication tool and learning aids, and one con which is increasing in criminal cases. With the development of technology, each purpose of usage has its own pros and cons. There are some advantages of allowing students to bring mobile phones to school which is act as convenient communication tool and learning aids. Firstly, as a communication tool, students can use mobile phones to keep in touch with their parents or friends while they are still at school. As a small tool, mobile phones are very convenient to the students to carry it around the school in their pocket or bag. Moreover, students can use mobile phones as an emergency aid. As we know nowadays that there are lots of illegal activities such as bully and theft that has already plagued school. So, by allowing students to bring mobile phones to school, students can use it to contact authorities if they are in danger during school hour. Besides that, mobile phones can also be used as learning aids at school. As stated above, the technology of mobile phones nowadays is very advance and sophisticated. Thus, students can used this technology to aid them and look for information about knowledge in the faster ways. There are lots of functions or application such as calculator, maps, internet, dictionaries, notes, and calendars that can assist students in their learning process at school. That’s why Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said that in 2013, students will be allowed to bring mobile phones and IT gadgets to school after the rules and regulations under the Education Act 1996 are  amended. It is suggested like that because the government has foreseen how mobile phone can aid students to gain more and faster knowledge during school hour. Read more:  Essay on Heavy School Bags However, every development there is also con when bring a mobile phones to school, which is increasing in criminal cases. Some examples of criminal cases that occur in the school are theft, bullying and cheating. First of all is theft cases, there are good chances of phone theft when students bring an expensive and attractive mobile phones to school. In fact, Datin Noor Azimah (The Star Online, 2012) said â€Å"When there is a theft, time would be spent and wasted while trying to look for the culprit and this would likely disrupt classes†. So, it is best to leave them at home to prevent this problem from occur. As well as bullying, this is the form of cyber-bullying that has replaced the physical bullying and makes the school environment unsafe for many students. This is because, mobile phones nowadays have a built-in digital camera, and there is a distinct possibility that some students may take unflattering pictures, send incriminating videos, or utter threatening. Therefore, the use of mobile phones can be quickly turned into tools of corruption. Apart from it there is increasing in cheating cases. Mobile phones that can surf the Web and have application such as advance calculator or camera can facilitate cheating on tests, quizzes, in-class essays and other assignments. For example, an article titled â€Å"Students Called on SMS Cheating† proves that cheating is present inside the classroom, and allowing cell phones inside the classroom puts a teacher’s classroom management at risk. As a result, it will give a lot of trouble to school. To conclude, we can see that allowing students to bring mobile phones to school will be beneficial to them. Even though, mobile phones can be used as a communication tool and learning aids, still the disadvantages such as increase in criminal cases will give more impact to student’s life and that cannot be overlooked. REFERENCE Bernama (2012, July 17). PTA: No mobile phones to school, please! The Star. Retrieved from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/7/17/nation/20120717222415&sec=nation Culture: Education. (2003, January 30). Students called on SMS cheating. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2003/01/57484 Loo T. E. (2012, July 16). Students can take handphones, IT gadgets to school from 2013. The Star. Retrieved from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/7/17/nation/20120717222415&sec=nation

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Application and Human Factor

Unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, is one of the latest aircrafts recently being utilized by the United States Military. Its conception has provided Air Force pilots with assurances of safe return after a combat mission, a feat never before attained in warfare’s history. Since its invention in the 1920’s, several technological advances have been made; extending flight distance and duration capabilities, and pay loading armaments comparable to those of manned fighter jets. Since UAVs are usually controlled by an external pilot on Ground Control Stations, or GCS, it is unavoidable for this system to be faced with human factors, sometimes resulting in mission failures, at times even in aircraft crashes. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Applications and Human Factor Recent technology has introduced to us a new form of aircraft in aviation. Perhaps due to the increasing incidents of aircraft accidents during these past decades, which often resulted in the deaths of even the most experienced pilots, airline conglomerates and military authorities had painstakingly searched for the completion of the invention of Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles, or UAV. In this paper, we shall be witnesses to a technology that has the potential to virtually eliminate pilot casualties, whether in war, espionage missions, or even in commercial flights. We shall also see how human factors affect such technology, in terms of control and manipulation of the aircraft, and the causal possibilities of human error in accidents. Background The United States’ Department of Defense defines the UAV as, â€Å"powered aerial vehicles that do not carry a human operator, use aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, and can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely† (Bone, 2003, p. 2). United States’ war on terrorism has put UAVs missions as important in the gathering of intelligence data. Its unquestionable successes in the wars in Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan had opened the military minds on its advantages during wartime. Missions that used to be reserved for Air force top guns, now the UAVs are slowly taking the front seat. UAVs have two obvious advantages over manned aircrafts: first is, they are found to be cost efficient; and it eliminates the dangers faced by the pilots’ during missions (Bone, 2003, p2). Bone cites a number of reasons on the seeming delay of the technology of UAV. One is because the technology to effectively fly a UAV mission has only recently been made available. Another is due to the Air Force’s slowly fading silk scarf syndrome, which gave preference to manned over unmanned flight missions, thus allowing for the UAV to gain more flight hours. Yet another is due to the earlier absence of a global crisis, which could have allowed for a quicker invention of the UAV due to the extreme shortage in the U. S. military of an espionage aircraft (2003, p. 5). UAVs size varies from a few centimeters in length to that of a 747 jet liner. U. S. Department of Defense currently has in its possession five types of UAVs: The Predator and Global Hawk of the Air Force; the Pioneer by the Navy and the Marines; the Hunter and the Shadow by the Army (Bone, 2003, p2). Despite the notion that UAVs have only recently been developed in the United States, it has been in existence in aviation for almost a century. UAVs were first tested in 1920, during World Wa r 1, but the United States did not put it into combat action. It was Germany who had laid the foundations on this technology during World War 2, with the invention of the V-1 Flying bomb. But it was to be in the Vietnam War that UAVs were first used as an espionage plane, with AQM-34 Firebee. Firebee epitomized what the UAV should be: versatile, easy to operate, transportable to other areas, and can easily be converted to payload missiles. In a speech by former President Bush in December of 2001, he had expressed his belief in the UAVs technology, particularly The Predator, as the future of warfare; as stated in a report to the American Congress in 2003 by Elizabeth Bone: This unmanned aerial vehicle is able to circle our enemy forces, gather intelligence, transmit information instantly back to commanders, then fire on targets with extreme accuracy†¦We’re entering an era where unmanned vehicles of all kinds will take on greater importance† (p. 7). U. S. Military U. A. V. s 1. MQ-1 Predator: It is about half the size of an F-16 fighter jet, a tail shaped like an inverted V, and is 27 feet in length and 7 feet high. It reaches a maximum altitude of 25, 000 feet, but for the fitted video cameras to work at its best, it needs to be at about 10,000 to 15,000 feet in altitude. Its take off and landing capabilities are similar to that of the normal aircraft, with the pilot on ground control. The Predator’s main job is airborne reconnaissance and accurate target pinpointing. It is equipped with a Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR, enabling it to see through bad weather conditions. Newer models also have capabilities to launch smaller UAVs to carry out varying missions. Each Predator unit’s estimated cost is $4. 5 million, and $30 million for the whole system (Bone, 2003, p. 25). 2. RQ-2 Pioneer: This UAV is the only type on the Navy’s and Marine’s arsenal (Bone, 2003, p. 29). It was obtained by the U. S. Navy in 1986 from Israel after proving its worth with their war with Lebanon. RQ-2 Pioneer is about half the size of the Predator, at 14 feet in length, and its maximum attainable altitude is 15,000 feet. It can remain airborne for 5 hours straight, and since its acquisition, it has accumulated over 23,000 flight hours giving suppo rt to the Navy and the Marines. The cost of Pioneer is estimated at $250,000 to $1 million, depending on the payload (Bone, 2003, p. 30). 3. RQ-5 Hunter: The Hunter weighs 1,600 lbs, is capable of flying at 25,000 feet altitude, and can stay airborne for 12 hours straight. It is equipped with E-O/IR sensor which enables it to fly in night missions. Recently, plans have been made to use Hunter to act as a reconnaissance to a squadron of attack helicopters, such as the Apache and RAH-66 Comanche, to maximize the helicopters’ attack zone. In 2002, a successful experiment was made wherein Hunter’s control was linked to the mainframe computers of the Apache’s during flight missions. The success of the experiment greatly maximized Apache’s efficiency during battle conditions. Weapons payload includes the Brilliant Anti-Armor submunition, or BAT, an effective annihilator of tanks and armored personnel carriers. Hunter’s cost with payload is $1. 2 million, ad the whole system at $30 million (Bone, 2003, p. 33). 4. RQ-7 Shadow 200: Shadow 200, a product of AAI Corporation, is 11 feet in length and has a wingspan of 13 feet. It was strategically designed for brigade operations, thus its range is only 30 nm and has a flight duration of 4 hours. And although its maximum attainable altitude is 14,000 feet, it works best at only under 8,000 feet altitude. The Shadow is equipped with an E-O/IR sensor video camera for day or night missions, and has the capability to transmit data to ground control in real-time. The Shadow cost is pegged at $350,000 while the whole system is at $10. 7 million (Bone, 2003, p. 36). 5. FQM-151 Pointer: All the branches of the U. S. military have, in the past, tried to develop their own type of hand-launched Pointer that measures around 6 feet in the last 15 years, and some of them had been on war missions, particularly in gulf War and Dessert Storm. However, the design officially approved by the Military is the AeroVironment’s Pointer UAV, which weighs 10 pounds, and has a wingspan of 9 feet. It can stay afloat for 90 minutes and has an up to 3-mile operational distance from ground control, within altitudes of 100-300 feet. Pointer UAVs have been best-suited for pay loading experimental miniscule sensors and have been a popular choice for Drug Enforcement Agency, National Guard, and Special Operations Forces (Bone, 2003, p. 37). 5. RQ-4 Global Hawk: This UAV is by far the most expensive ever produced, with per unit cost amounting to $75 million (Bone, 2003, p. 39). It specializes in high altitude, long duration flights that provides near real-time videos of large geographical sections. It is also the first ever UAV to make a successful trans-Pacific flight, when it travelled from California to Australia in April 22-23, of 2001 (Bone, 2003, p. 37). Its effectivity was tested in Afghanistan, when it flew more than 50 combat missions accumulating more than 1,000 combat hours, despite still being on its experimental stage. Global hawk is about the size of a corporate jet, measuring 44 feet in length and weighing 26, 750 lbs. Its maximum altitude limit is almost double than that of a commercial liner, at 65,000 feet, and is capable of flying over 35 hours without refueling. However, Global Hawk’s most apparent advantage is its capability of taking off, flying, and landing autonomously in any kind of weather. Commanders in the battle field aptly call this UAV as, â€Å"the theater commander’s around-the-clock, low hanging surveillance satellite† (Bone, 2003, p. 38). Global Hawk’s pay load consists of a 2,000 pound group of sensors, which is much larger than on any of the previous UAVs. it includes an all weather SAR with a Moving Target Indicator capability, E-O digital camera, IR sensor, and a Signals Intelligence Sensor, or SIGINT, making it a virtually multi-intelligence UAV (Bone, 2003, p. 8). As a testament to its technological superiority, Global Hawk’s radar-sensors and IR cameras were able to accurately pinpoint Iraqi targets in March 24-27, of 2002, despite of having a near-zero visibility on the ground due to a relentless sandstorm in Iraq. 6. Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle: UCAV is the first ever unmanned aero-system designed primarily and purely for combat missions. It is similar in size to the Air Force’s Predator, at 27 feet in length and a wingspan of 34 feet. Equal to manned fighter jets in weaponry and stealth capabilities, the U. S. Armed Forces plan on having one-third of its deep-strike fighter jets be unmanned by the year 2010 (Bone, 2003, p. 42). Due to its 1,000 to 3,000 pound-weapons payload, UCAV’s primary combat mission would be SEAD, or Suppression of Enemy Air Defense, to be followed by precision targeting of enemy installations. 7. Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical UAV: Commonly known as VTUAV Fire Scout, it is a helicopter-looking design intended as a replacement for the Pioneer. It is about 23 feet in length, with a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet and maximum flight duration of 6 hours. Its maximum distance of operations is 110 nm from the control ship and has a speed of 115 knots (Bone, 2003, p. 43). UTUAV Fire Scout, unlike the Pioneer which utilizes a net in order to be recovered in a ship, ha the capability of autonomously taking off and landing through the use of sensors. Fire Scout is an unmanned equivalent of the commercial-use Schweitzer helicopter, it ahs an E-O/IR sensor that also serves as a laser targeting designator. It is also capable of mine-detecting, and is equipped with Hellfire missiles. Fire Scouts are being utilized in special operations support and homeland security services (Bone, 2009, p. 4). 8. Dragon Eye: it is the opposite of the Global Hawk in terms of range and size. Being a 5-pounder, with just a 45 inch wingspan UAV, the Dragon Eye can provide marines with over-the-hill surveillance of enemy troops, making it an ideal UAV for urban warfare, chemical, as well as biological-oriented missions. It is portable enough to fit in a backpack and can be launched by hand or with a bungee cord. This UAV can stay aloft for 1 hour, at a height of 300-500 feet, with speeds of up to 40 mph. Because of its small frame, its production cost which includes three planes, is only at $90,000 (Bone, 2003, p. 7). 9. Dragon Warrior: Resembling a small helicopter of about 105 inches long and flight range of 50 miles, and maximum duration of 3 hours, this will be a vertical take off and landing UAV designed for surveillance in urban areas. It will also be equipped with E-O/IR sensor camera and a laser target designator. 10. A-160 Hummingbird: The Hummingbird is also an unmanned helicopter designed to have longer flight duration and distance over the other models, with a range of 2,000 nm and a duration lasting for 48 hours, respectively. With its maximum flight altitude of 30,000 feet and a speed of 130-140kt, it will greatly assist in surveillance, targeting thru laser designation, communications relaying, weapons delivery to infantries, and special operations missions (Bone, 2003, p. 49). 11. Scan Eagle: Boeing’s UAV can be optionally launched from a ship, on land, or even from a submarine. The idea if to have a horde of 4-foot UAVs linked directly on a submarine for reconnaissance purposes. 12. Eagle Eye: This type of UAV takes off like a helicopter, and then flips its rotor blades to fly like an airplane. Its speed is up to 220 knots and has a distance of 300 miles. This type of UAV is suited for patrolling the coastline, locating ships in distress, and also has the capability to transmit videos to command centers. Production cost for the Eagle eye is at $3 million per plane (Bone, 2003, p. 50). 13. Micro Air Vehicle, MAV: unlike the UAVs, MAV is only inches in length, and production costs would be in the thousands and not in millions. As an example, the Organic Air Vehicle, or OAV, measures only 9 inches wide. It has a ducted fan design, and carries an E-O sensor, which comes in infrared or acoustic models. Because of its very small size, MAVs can be programmed for watch-and-stare missions on enemy troops while on air, and also while on land. These MAVs can autonomously lift off and land on itself. Modifications have also been done, resulting in the advent of UCAR, or Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft. These will have the capability as a reconnaissance to ground troops, as well as offensive purposes. It will also be capable of system-linking with other manned and UAVs for performing synchronized attacks (Bone, 2003, p. 51). Human Factor in UAV Flights Since unmanned flights have slowly been gaining popularity in both military and commercial uses, perhaps it will be sooner than we expect for UAVs to replace manned flights permanently. It would be wise for us to give insights on issues concerning cognitive factors affecting the pilots, especially since accident occurrences in UAV flights have been proven to be over thirty times more common than in manned aircraft flights (McCarley & Wickens, 2005, p. 2). It is also possible for UAV pilots to be manning more than one aircraft simultaneously, entailing never-before-encountered workload pressures. Manual v Automated Flights 1. It has been widely accepted that the effect of automation has not resulted in the elimination of human workload but the introduction of new ones, forcing the pilots to develop new strategies (McCarley & Wickens, 2005, p. 4). The changing of strategies is often the result descriptive of an imperfect system, not of the computer software type, but of the factors that even a perfectly-running automation system would not be able to detect, such as the icing of an UAV wing. 2. The present UAV take off and landing automated procedures differ according to the model. Such that the Hunter and the Pioneer require an on-site external pilot; the Predator to be controlled on a separate aircraft within the Ground Control Site; while there are some cases, as in Global Hawk, where full automation is integrated. These differences seem to be significant, take off and landing errors make up for a majority of accidents attributed to human factors; Hunter with 67% and the Pioneer with 78%, both are externally controlled (McCarley & Wickens, 2005, p. ). 3. An external pilot of a UAV basically relies on computer imagery in controlling the aircraft. The visual quality of the imagery, however, has the possibility of being diminished due to factors affecting bandwidth, resulting in poor resolution or a delay in image uploading. Situations such as these may prejudice overall aircraft control and visibility of air traffic. This poses a clear danger in military missions, more so in the planned commercial implementation of autonomic control of commercial flights. 4. On way of solving the problem stated in #3 is by the use of enhanced reality, or synthetic vision (McCarley & Wickens, 2005, p. 7). In this system, images from the actual camera shots of a UAV will be converted to display landmarks on a given terrain, thus creating a virtual reality world that the external pilot can manipulate. The problem with this system is that pilot’s over reliance on synthetic imagery would lead to a possible neglect of some natural landmarks not visible in the imagery system. Thus, using this method would be beneficial for the UAV performance but comes with a potential risk. . One of the resulting effects of separating the pilot from the aircraft is that the pilot would be denied of his real-time sensory reactions otherwise available in a manned aircraft, and that he would have to rely on computer monitors provided for by the cameras onboard the UAV. Hence, we can conclude that the external pilot only functions in a relatively sensory isolation from t he UAV he is controlling. It would be of utmost importance for the developers to design an alarms system to keep the pilots abreast of the real-time environmental situations and probable system failures. . Since UAV pilots are not in danger of injury or death in the event of their aircraft crashing, this could, in theory, prove to be a big difference in the pilot’s risk-taking decisions, such as in going through a flight plan on a bad weather. Sensory isolation factor could be magnified during these situations (McCarley & Wickens, 2005, p. 10). 7. The accepted norm during long endurance UAV flights had been to switch control among different external pilots within a single flight. This process usually takes on three types: First is the transfer of UAV control from one Ground Control Station to another; second is through the transfer of control from one team of operators to another, within the same GCS; and last is through the transfer of control from one pilot to another within the same team. It has been documented that a significant number of UAV accidents happened during the transfer from one pilot to another, because the GCS taking over control of the UAV was not properly briefed beforehand (McCarley & Wickens, 2005, p. 0). 8. Instances of a total failure of the Ground Control Station-UAV communications link would prove to be disastrous. This scenario can be considered as a human factor because of the need for the Automated Traffic Center, or ATM, to be aware of the default programs of the UAV system in order to properly manage air traffic within their area. It would also be of the utmost importance for the external pilots themselves to be aware of the comm unications link failure as quickly as possible. 9. Researches on whether experienced manned pilots are better operators than novice manned pilots have ended in differing conclusions. Although generally, as the experiments revealed, experienced manned pilots reached the desired level of performance in landing and basic maneuvering skills faster than that of the novice’s. Other studies, however, based on the Army’s Job Assessment Software System, or JASS, revealed that piloting skills does not constitute a great deal in UAV operations, thus making the selection of top pilots as UAV operators insignificant (McCarley, & Wickens, 2005, p. 3). 10. Questions on medical qualifications of the UAV operator should also be brought into light. Since physical factors concerning high altitude temporary mental perception failure does not concern AUV pilots, still some type of medical fitness qualifications must be practiced. These must be able to determine if: the said qualifications should be more stringent or less for the UAV pilo ts; and, work duration limits should be established for long endurance missions. 11. Since the pressures and work load of a UAV pilot differs from that of a manned aircraft, and since formal training in flight schools are usually focused on instructing pilots for manned vehicles, which constitute less amount of time on simulations and more on the actual flight, the need arises for a training more attuned to giving more flight simulations to pilots of UAVs. This should be able to determine up to what extent trainee pilots should spend time on simulations in order to obtain a UAV certification. 12. Technological researches must be made to improve on the controls of the external pilot. At present, the controls of the UAV are similar to that of a radio-controlled hobbyist’s plane. This design poses a problem in the directional movement of the UAV with respect to the controller. As such, when the UAV and the pilot differ in position by 180 degrees, a rightward movement on the rudder will result in leftward movement of the UAV, and vice versa. Control rudders must be made to conform to the principle of human motion compatibility as to avoid further confusion for the pilot (McCarley & Wickens, 2005, p. 6).