Case study on “If two heads are better than one, are four even better”

â€Å"If two heads are better than one, are four even better† Maggie Becker, 24, is a marketing manager for Kavu, a small chain of coffee shops in eastern Ohio. Recently,Maggie’s wealthy uncle passed away and left to Maggie, his only niece, $100000. Maggie consider her current salary to be adequate to meet her current living expenses, so she’d like to invest the money so that when she buys a house she’llhave a nice nest egg on which to draw. One of Maggie’s neighbours, Brian, is a financial advisor. Brian told Maggie there was a virtually endless array of investment option. She asked him to present her with two of the best options, and this is what he came up with:1. A very low risk mutual fund. With this option, based on the information Brian provided, Maggie estimates that after 5 years she stands virtually zero chance of losing money, with an expected gain of approximately $7000.2. A moderate-risk mutual fund. Based on the information Brian provi ded her, Maggie estimates that with this option she stands a 50 percent chance of making a $40000 gain but also a 50 percent chance of losing $20000.Maggie prides herself on being rational and objective in her thinking. However, she’s unsure of what to do in this case. Brian refuses to help her, telling her that she’s already limited herself by asking for only two options. While driving to her parents’ house for the weekend, Maggie finds herself vacillating between the two options. Her older brother is also visiting the folks this weekend, so Maggie decides to gather her family around the table after dinner, lay out the two options, and go with their decision â€Å"You know the old saying-two heads are better than one,† she says to herself, â€Å"so four heads should be even better.†Questions1.Has Maggige made a good decision about the way she is going to make the decision?2.Which investment would you choose, why?3.Which investment do you think mos t people would choose?4.Based on what you have learned about groupshipt, which investment do you think Maggie’s family choose?

Dickens’ finest novel Essay

â€Å"Great Expectations† is considered Dickens’ finest novel. To what extent does it deserve this reputation? â€Å"Great expectations† was written by Charles Dickens in 1860. It is centred on Pip, an orphan living with his austere sister and her mild-mannered husband Joe Gargery the blacksmith. It follows his journey from being a simple boy with few expectations, to his moving to London and becoming a ‘gentleman’, at the expense of a mysterious benefactor. I am going to write an appreciation of it, analysing its main components: The story, the structure, the characters, the narration, the setting, the language and literary devices, the themes and the social/historical context, and evaluating their success to answer the question. â€Å"Great Expectations† combines many different genres, including romance, mystery, history, action and comedy. This means it has universal appeal, and people with a wide range of interests and preferences will find something to like about it. It also means that any individual reading it can respond it on a number of different levels. Great Expectations does not have one single ‘bad guy’ – many people fill this role. Magwitch, as the convict would have been the antagonist in a traditional story of good and evil, however Dickens does not portray him as such, and even when we see him terrorising young Pip, it is portrayed in a humorous light, and we do not hate him. Pip is the hero of the story; however, at times he is the ‘bad’ character. Mrs Joe is a character that could have been portrayed as an evil hag. However she is described with restraint as ‘not a good-looking woman’, and because Dickens does not go into much detail in the descriptions of her role as Pip’s childhood tormentor make her far more realistic. In a way, when she is attacked, we feel a sense of poetic justice because she made Pip’s life a misery. This is because she is a grimly realistic character and we don’t miss her as we would a classic funnier villain (like the Murdstones in David Copperfield). This deviation from the predictable structure of good and evil, present in some of Dickens other novels, makes the novel more interesting. It is also very well plotted. Subplots eventually relate to each other or to the main plot and sometimes they even fuse with the main plot (e. g. the convict that attacked Pip on the marshes fuses with Pip’s expectations). Miscellaneous minor characters who initially appear to have only a decorative role, become components of the main plot (e. g. Jaggers’s housekeeper turns out to be Estella’s mother). Unexpected relationships between characters, either in the subplots or in various aspects of the main plot, are also present (e.  g. Estella and the convict). â€Å"Great Expectations† was not written like a conventional novel and therefore has slightly unconventional structure. It was published in weekly instalments, each comprising of one or two chapters. This means that rather than guiding the story to a general climax at the end, Dickens had to incorporate mini-resolutions of the plot. Each episode also needed a cliff-hanger style ending to ensure the audience bought the next episode. This is apparent in the ending of the first instalment, which ends: â€Å"Then I put the fastenings as I had found them, opened the door at which I had entered when I ran home last night, shut it and ran for the misty marshes. † (Chapter 2; p 13) This resolves the first major incident in the story, in that we know Pip is doing exactly as the convict has instructed and the use of the phrase ‘ran for the misty marshes’ is used to create suspense on many levels. Obviously literally it means that Pip is returning to the marshes, to see the convict. The mood and tone created by the word ‘misty’ is one of uncertainty and mystery, which mirrors Pip’s feelings regarding the incident. The phrase is also highlights the symbolism of the moment. The marshes represent the strange events that occur later in the story, namely Pip being turned into a gentleman by a mysterious benefactor and Pip is unseeingly running into them by going to the marshes. The alliteration works to emphasise this phrase and make the reader pay more attention to it, thus making them more aware of its different levels of interpretation. This continually fluctuating structure is potentially a weakness of the novel, because it could become repetitive. However Dickens uses other structural devices to break up the structure and prevent it becoming predictable. For example, he uses the mini-breaks to shift completely the focus of the story. For example, chapters 25-26 were one instalment and chapters 27-28 another. However the transition between them is not coherent and their subject matters are not related. Chapters 25 and 26 follow quite a leisurely pace, and detail relatively mundane events such as Pip attending dinners at Wemmick’s and Jaggers’s homes, and Pip engaging in a quarrel over a loan Drummle ungratefully borrowed from Sartop. The letter at the beginning of chapter 27 breaks up the story in several ways. The change in format breaks up the text and allows a change in narration – we go from hearing from Pip’s narrative voice to hearing Biddy’s. This means that the story doesn’t get monotonous, and keeps the reader engaged. The structure of this section of the story also influences the reader’s opinion of Pip. We read the letter then hear his reaction to it â€Å"Let me confess exactly with what feelings I looked forward to Joe’s coming† p179 Because Joe has been portrayed well up to this point, the reader’s initial reaction to the letter is one of happiness that Pip will be reunited with him. However when we hear that Pip regards Joe’s visit with â€Å"considerable disturbance, some mortification and a keen sense of incongruity† we form a negative opinion of him. I think this is an effective use of structure, because it allows Dickens manipulate the response of the reader, and force him/her to form emotional bonds with the characters. For example we feel sympathy towards Joe and contempt towards Pip. This would make the reader more inclined to read on (and buy more of the episodes). Characterisation is important in Great Expectations. The names of many of the characters reflect their personalities. For example, Pip and Joe are short simple names to reflect their simple upbringings. Joe keeps his name throughout, but when Pip moves to London, he adopts the name of Handel – a famous composer. This shows that he has become more cultured and sophisticated. Dickens’s well-educated audience would most certainly have studied Latin, and would have thus been aware that Estella derives from the Latin word for star. This highlights her radiance and beauty, but shows how unattainable she is to Pip. Pip, who can only just read English, let alone Latin, is unaware of this but still comments that â€Å"her light came along the dark passage like a star†. (p49) ‘Jaggers’ sounds like jagged. This reflects the fact that he is a hard-nosed man, with a sharp mind. ‘Pumblechook’ is a long name that suits his pompous, foolish attitude. These ‘characternyms’ allow the reader to create a picture of the characters, without having to read lengthy descriptions. Therefore they can get to know the characters better. Pip is the protagonist of Great Expectations. His journey of self-discovery is the cornerstone of the novel. The reader’s response to the different stages of his character is integral to their response to the whole novel. Therefore Dickens begins to build up a relationship between Pip and the reader from the very beginning line: â€Å"My father’s name being Pirrip â€Å"my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip† (p3) This humorous anecdote serves two purposes. Firstly the humour makes the young Pip appear charming and loveable. Dickens then reveals that Pip is in fact an orphan. This is done slowly, first by mentioning a ‘tombstone’ then in the next couple of lines saying that Pip â€Å"never saw (his) father or mother†. Because we hear of Pip’s family and then hear they are dead, we share in Pip’s loss to a certain extent. This increases the audience’s sympathy for Pip, and later in the story, we are quicker to forgive him when he behaves badly. Its second purpose is to sow how simple Pip was before his expectations.

3003 3b Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

3003 3b - Essay Example Accounting has its own specialist terms and vocabulary which is used to disseminate accounting-specific knowledge. For this reason, literacy development is important in reading and understanding accounting theories and concepts successfully. Major subjects like Accounting also involve extensive academic writing for which literary understanding is quite useful. Kerry Dirk has dedicated an entire essay explaining the importance of genre-specific knowledge in writing. Dirk describes how genres can be told from one another and he mentions that knowledge about a particular subject or genre is significant in understanding its meaning efficiently and accurately (249). Giving the example of a joke about country music, the author explains that understanding the joke requires a previous knowledge of the country music genre and its other elements. Similar is the case in writing where every major subject is symbolized by its distinct use of language, format, genres, jargons, and so on. For this reason, literary knowledge not only helps in understanding important concept but also helps in advancing the knowledge bank. Accounting is one major discipline which may use complex language in the sense that their meanings could differ in the accounting context as opposed to their common usage. In order to develop the literacy skills that help in understanding and absorbing accounting terminology and language, journal reading helps remarkably. My preparation for my majors in Accounting involved extensive gathering of accounting knowledge including current developments in the financial sector. Remaining updated with the latest information from the industry is also a major part of developing literacy skills. Reading assists in developing the necessary accounting-specific word bank and it also familiarizes an individual with the terms and their meanings which could later be used as a reference to an accounting concept. Reading academic accounting

Gender equality, Islamic Law and the Modern Muslim state Essay

Gender equality, Islamic Law and the Modern Muslim state - Essay Example The issue of gender equality in Islam was not a central notion nor was it addressed until the 20th century by Muslim jurists. The status of Men and Women in Islam is continuously explained by the Muslim scholars in the light of teachings of Islam and Holy Quran. The Islamic laws negated the modern authoritative position attributed to men in modern states and gave equal rights to the women. Although Islam has given equal rights to women, the misinterpretation of its laws and principles has exposed the religion as a typecast. Islam permits women to hold any office outside her home as long as that post is not derogatory to the feminine nature. The only condition which Islam presses on the women is that their working outside their homes should not be a source of embarrassment for them and their families and must not harm their reputation as a woman and a human being. It also impresses on the women to strike a balance between their jobs outside their homes and their duties as a mother or a wife. The teachings of Islam also do not forbid Muslim women to interact with the opposite gender in public as per the requirement of their jobs . However, the gender gap index of the world in 2009 shows that most Muslim countries have performed below the global average and are not showing any signs of improvements in the previous years. Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria and Bahrain however, remain an exception to this. Yemen was rated at the bottom of the 134 nations graded for gender score index in 2009 . Additionally, it has been reported continuously that most of the Muslim women are denied basic human rights, ranging from permission of a guardian for marriage to abeyance of husband in all fields of life. Most of the people also blame Islam for the frequent incidents of Muslim men torturing women and providing them with below par living standards. According to experts on the subject, the true identity of Islam prevailed for a very brief period after its inception. Initially the Umayyads played havoc with the principles of Islam and then the Abbasids inflicted much of the damage to the concept of the religion. It did not end he re and the monarchs who ruled Iran continued to distort the religion by forcing their women to submit to the will of men. Another factor responsible for inequality of gender in Islam is colonialism. From 20th century onwards, colonialism has had a profound effect on the internal and external structure of the society. Through this concept, the already established norms and traditions were completely destroyed and novel foreign norms were imposed. It also exaggerated the existing gender divisions and labor roles of the two genders. Resultantly, the Islamic society completely collapsed with an environment of complete confusion. Men tried to find solace in rigid cultural customs e.g. forcing their women to cover themselves with veils and making them invisible in the eyes of the society. So much so that the princesses of once Mughul Empire were forced to indulge in prostitution. However, experts believe that understanding the complete scenario is essential before criticizing the principl es of another religion. The religious experts of Islam believe that Quran has given spiritual and moral equality to both men and women. This is clear from many verses in Quran clearly which spell out that men and women in Islam are in fact each other’s protectors and complement each other. There is a strong bond of respect between the two genders and

Analyst article Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Analyst article - Assignment Example Nuclear energy contributes 20% of the energy produced in the US. However, the nuclear industry is struggling following delayed construction of nuclear plants and ballooning costs of setting up new modern plants. Additionally, the industry faces intense competition from cheaper alternative energy sources. However, these sources emit carbon thus environmentally unfriendly (Kelly-Detwiler, 2014). Thus, politicians, energy companies and engineering outfits campaign for revamping of the industry until the country has energy alternatives that would not harm the environment. In this article, Kelly-Detwiler (2014) appreciates the need for cheaper alternative energy sources but at the same time the need to protect the environment. Whereas new cheaper energy generating technologies are emerging, they emit carbon. Thus, while nuclear energy fails to be cost-competitive, its use should be promoted due to associated environmental benefits. This is an interesting article as it appreciates the reality of nuclear energy being overtaken by emergent energy sources as a low-cost energy source. Even so, the need to protect and preserve the environment creates the need to foster the nuclear energy industry until environmental friendly alternatives are fronted. Thus, cost and environment are both important considerations when making energy source

Sarbanes-Oxley Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sarbanes-Oxley - Research Paper Example Oxley. The scenario that led to the implementation of this act was the number of corporate accounting ignominies including that of Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems, and WorldCom etc. According to the US government record, the definitions including ‘Appropriate State Regularity Authority’, ‘Audit’, ‘Audit Committee’, ‘Audit Report’, ‘Board’, ‘Commission’, ‘Issuer’, ‘Non-Audit Services’, ‘Person Associated With a Public Accounting Firm’, ‘Professional Standards’, ‘Public Accounting Firm’, ‘Security’ and ‘State’ shall apply to this act (Public Law 107-204, 2002). It consist of11 sections which is constituted by provisions from additional corporate board responsibilities to criminal penalties and provides for the Securities and Exchange Commission to oversee the implementation of the law. The need of ensuring the existence of an ethical workplace is not only to implement a moral conduct within the firm but also to procure whatever advantage that the firm may achieve when there is a belief among the potential consumers and employees that the company is ethical. Creation and gradual implementation of a proper code of conduct is a method that is commonly adopted by managers to ensure an ethical workplace. ... The Securities and Exchange Commission which was supposed to implement the act created a new agency called Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to review matters regarding accounts of all public companies (cited in The University of Cincinnati College of Law, 2002). The sole intention of the act was to prevent fraud and scandals within the corporate so that the nation’s security markets and economy remain strong. Corporate are entitled to submit clear and accurate financial reports and it defines the interaction between external auditors and audit committees. There are severe penalties and punishments if a violation of the law is detected. As Kuschnik (2008) points out, the section 302 of the act provides that CEO and CFO of the companies must certify and approve the authenticity of the financial reports of their company. Planning is the key part of making the data of the company compatible with the law. It is significant for taking future steps freely and to discuss the project with the auditors and the audit committee. The planning phase is where varying opinions can be put into consideration and a commonly accepted resolution can be formulated. Planning can be executed in a sequential pattern. Staffing has to be done in order to carry out the compliance process. The task should be divided into portions that can be completed in a limited time framework. Selection of a recognized framework for testing and business systems and procedures also prove to be cogent. Examine risk-tolerance and impacts of a possible control failure on an organizational level. Complete outsourcing, co-sourcing, direct lining or utilizing existing staff can be used to completing the process. The key advancement that resulted from the act was enhanced investor confidence and more

Project Management White Paper Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Management White Paper Report - Essay Example Application of project management tools, techniques and skills will generally increase the probability of success over a wide range of projects. The Project Management Institute (PMI) has produced a guidebook to project management which contains recognized best practices standard for project management. It is incumbent upon the urban planners to apply the practices in a way befitting urban planning and development projects. 1.2 Urban Planning Project Characteristics Urban planning projects can generally be characterized as complex, interdependent projects which are mostly dependent on public needs and urban policies. Rapid transformations in the urban environment through new developments, population increases, improvement in technology and concern for environmental conservation make urban planning projects highly reliant on high quality project managers. ... The white paper anticipates that application of these project management principles will ensure that urban planning projects are acceptable to the beneficiaries of the projects, mainly urban developers and dwellers. This paper will briefly highlight the most critical principles and procedures of project management that are applicable in urban planning while providing examples of tools and guidelines that are already being used in urban planning project management. Basically, a structured approach to the execution of urban planning projects produces results that are beneficial to both the planners and beneficiaries of the project. 3. DISCUSSION 3.1 Technology Readiness in Urban Planning Technological development is now advanced in all fields including urban planning where various kinds of new technology are available for use in various areas. It is quite useful to apply structured evaluation of technology readiness in urban planning project execution. A Technology Readiness Scale (TRL ) can be applied in the assessment and communication of technology readiness in urban planning. This is a simple scale that is graded to measure the technology ranging from its lowest level of readiness (First application after development) and its highest level where application of the technology has been proven through successful implementation and operation. It is through technology readiness measurement that project teams can identify critical technology to assist in the accomplishment of urban planning project goals. 3.2 Progressive Scope Urban Planning projects can generally be characterized by two main phases where development plans are prepared through research and development of architectural, and implementation which largely consists of demolitions and construction. The key

SPECIAL EDUCATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

SPECIAL EDUCATION - Essay Example â€Å"We’ve known for a long time that students with MR (mental retardation) are better off educationally if they can spend at least part of the day in a typical classroom,† said James McLeskey, chair of special education in UF’s College of Education and an author of the study. â€Å"We’ve found that there are still lot of students who could be included in the general classroom, but aren’t included.† Before the mid-1970s, most children with mental retardation were completely segregated from other children in the school system, if they were formally educated at all. Society widely viewed these children as uneducable, and those who did attend school were sent to institutions solely for children with mental retardation. Both children and their parents often viewed these institutions as dehumanizing and ineffective – and by the late 1960s, educators had assembled a large body of research to show that children with mental retardation did indeed perform much better when schooled, at least part-time, among the general student population. That research led Congress to pass a 1975 law requiring a more inclusive environment for students with mental retardation. Surveys in the 1980s and early 1990s showed that schools had made little progress toward implementing that mandate. In an article published in the spring 2006 issue of the journal Exceptional Children, UF researchers – including doctoral candidates Pam Williamson, David Hoppey and Tarcha Rentz – revisited the question, taking a comprehensive look at placement rates for students with mental retardation in all 50 states and the District of Columbia during the 1990s. They found some very good news. â€Å"Inclusion seems to have genuinely caught on in the 1990s,† said Williamson, the lead author of the study. â€Å"By the end of the decade, a student with MR was almost twice as likely to be educated in the general

Assess the claim that progress has stalled in terms of raising the Essay

Assess the claim that progress has stalled in terms of raising the proportion of women in senior executive and boardroom positio - Essay Example As argued by Howard and Wellins (2008) â€Å"in all major global regions, women are more likely than men to fall off the management ladder before reaching the top† (p. 6). They explained this through the theory of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors which involves an array of economic, organisational, and social aspects. Push factors refer to passive or unfulfilling jobs. On the other hand, the pull factors are life situations that force women to leave their jobs like health problems, family commitments, or caring obligations (Howard & Wellins, 2008). A recent study by Schneer and Reitman looked at the effects of career preference and outcomes for women in comparison to men in managerial positions (Bilimoria, 2007, p. 21). They discovered that the effect of gender differences on the work setting for women in comparison to men with MBA degrees was more pronounced in later than earlier career phases. Numerous researchers have observed that organisations are †˜gendered’, and hence view of career plans is expected to have more unfavourable effects for females than males (Fagan et al., 2012). Thus, what is most important is possibly not the quantity of work but the quality and nature of that work, particularly for career women. Another major phenomenon that has been given much emphasis recently is the issue of whether part-time job characterises unfavourable reduced work or favourable flexible work patterns for employees, particularly women. Several researchers report that women prefer or are more contented with part-time job than men, because this work arrangement offers flexibility (Burke & Mattis, 2005). Nevertheless, stages of part-time work have detrimental effects on pay, and females are more likely than males to engage in part-time jobs. This implies that earlier assumptions that career women with children can gain from part-time work arrangement without considerable negative impact on present and future career opportunities or outcomes could be flawed, especially in early stages of career (Durbin & Tomlinson, 2010). It is possible that these kinds of interruptions are not merely cutbacks in work time, but also signify a reduction or impediment in status that is disadvantageous for the women’s future career outcomes. Some claim that the higher probability of a women engaging in part-time work compared to men occupying part-time jobs signifies the likelihood of preserving or reinforcing the inferior standing of women in society (Liff & Ward, 2001). Findings on job satisfaction show that women who are voluntarily engaged in part-time jobs usually agree to weaker job security and lower pay in return for less stress and more favourable working arrangements. Mothers are usually more likely than childless women to work part-time because it facilitates reconciliation of domestic and career obligations (Durbin & Tomlinson, 2010). Mothers in the UK, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and Austria are s pecifically likely to engage in part-time job (Rubery, 1998, 200). According to Wirth (2004), the inadequacy of quality, inexpensive childcare compels many women with children to accept part-time work arrangements. Women, across all sectors, are currently engaged in managerial work but are less likely to occupy higher level leadership positions, suggesting that obstacles to women’s career progression are still existing. The number of women occupying senior management and board positions across the globe are few compared

Planet of the Apes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Planet of the Apes - Essay Example The film appeared five years later. The 60’s... On the one hand they were the years of recognition of the many immutable truths concerning freedom, conscience and human personality; that was the time of various anti-war movements, time when national, sexual and racial minorities started the fight for their freedom and rights; time of The Beatles, hippies; time when everywhere - in politics, economy, culture – everyone has felt the fresh breeze of changes. On the other hand, the Cold War, tense situation in Vietnam and Cuba, fingers of the leaders of the great powers on nuclear buttons... Time of the first steps in space exploration, when adults dreamed of the immense cosmos and all the kids wanted to become astronauts. The smile of Gagarin and the American flag in Neil Armstrong’s hands became the subject of peoples’ love and the apparent evidence of human omnipotence. This film is the essence of the 60’s: angry sarcasm and post-apocalyptic fiction; fight with restrictions, limitations, complexes and old authorities; space theme and prophecy of an imminent catastrophe, which will destroy human civilization. 1968 has forever changed the history of cinema. It was the year of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, War and Peace by Sergei Bondarchuk, Once Upon a Time in the West by Sergio Leone, Night of the Living Dead, George Romero, Rosemary’s Baby by Roman Polanski, Teorema Pier Paolo Pasolini and many others. The brilliant sci-fi picture of Franklin Schaffner came out the same year. The film, like all the above mentioned, influenced both the development of cinema in general and science fiction in particular. Now, more than 40 years after release, the film is becoming more and more prophetic. It up-ended the concept of the future progress of mankind. Schaffner’s film is not a total adaptation of the cult novel, but without a doubt, includes the main essence and meaning of socio-political satire of the author. It showed that human beings can’t overcome their animal instincts, their folly, â€Å"human nature† that pushes them to extermination of their own kind in brutal wars. We do not follow the path of evolution. A new-fashioned computer, cell phone, stylish outfit and even a red Ferrari will not make a human being a man, as makeup and Wu shoes will not make a human being a woman. Computers, inventions, machines are not civilization. They are the products of civilization. Civilization is a development of daily living that comes from the human brain, mind, heart and soul. The film shows that man in his development stuck in the Middle Ages. Not even in the times of ancient Greeks, who surpassed modern humans in spiritual development, but namely in the middle, dark ages. The Renaissance, it seems, was only a flash of light, when a man became aware that he was living wrong, but did not manage to keep on the right road and hit a loop road that leads to permanent self-destruction . The storyline is built around astronauts who get to an uncharted planet after an emergency landing of their spaceship. Initially, it seemed to them lifeless, but it was only at first glance. Soon, they find themselves in a strange, surreal world in which human beings, like slaves or wild animals, sit in cages of intelligent, talking apes. This makes one of them, Taylor, start a search for truth and answer many questions about the planet they landed. The film, masked as a science fiction one, in

The term illumination Essay Example for Free

The term illumination Essay In metaphysics refers to an ineffable state of knowledge or communion with a godhood or an absolute ideal. Because the state of illumination is, by nature, a deeply subjective experience, the quantification or definition of the state is difficult to execute through traditional expository methods or scientific investigation. Illumination is a desired state for mystic who maintain the practice of putting oneself into, and remaining in, direct relation with God, the Absolute, or any unifying principle of life. Mysticism is inseparably linked with religion. Because of the nature of mysticism, firsthand objective studies of it are virtually impossible. (Mysticism, 2004) Rather, what can be known, second-hand, about the illuminative state is gleaned through the expression of mystics,artists, poets, and writers who express their subjective apprehensions through various means, often utilizing complex and mythologically driven symbolic systems of reference. The language of mysticism is always difficult and usually symbolic. This is readily seen in the Song of Songs in the Old Testament, in the book of Revelation in the New Testament, and in the writings of William Blake. Mystics, especially those of the Roman Catholic and the Islamic traditions, have made use of a terminology borrowed from ordinary human love. (Mysticism, 2004) In many cases, illumination is closely affiliated with established mystical traditions (as in Zen Buddhism) and also with established religious traditions (such as Roman Catholicism). In all cases, illumination is regarded as a step on the road to union with God or the ideal, but not a conclusion or attainment of the goal in and of itself. In this regard, illumination stands closely in hand with another mystical state known as purgation where the soul undergoes a painful cleansing of its impurities in order to enter into union with God or the ideal. Illumination can be Illumination page -2- regarded, metaphorically, as the light which shines through the cleaned window of the soul, as it has been cleared through the purgative state. The two states are seen as continuing and sometimes overlapping. (Mysticism, 2004) The basic pattern for the path to mystical union with God or the ideal can be generically rendered, although the specific differ widely throughout geographic and culturally specific traditions and beliefs. At the core of the mystical journey, involving periods of illumination, several key archetypal aspects can be cited: The soul undergoes a purification (the purgative way), which leads to a feeling of illumination and greater love of God[ ] after a period the soul may be said to enter into mystical union with God[ ] an ecstatic state to a final perfect state of union with God. (Mysticism, 2004) The process above is quite generally envisioned and the above description is probably as close to anything like an objective account of what mystical experience is and what its goals are; the illuminative feeling indicates that the mystic has successfully enjoined the path to union with God or the ideal. However, it is not the final union with God or the ideal and its ecstacy are not particularly connotative of what mystics have imagined the final union with God or the ideal to be, once actually attained. Rather, illumination is a state of awareness and knowledge that blossoms from mystical communion with God or the ideal. It is not a linear knowledge:We have illumination which is no mere deduction from previous knowledge; but the illumination is at the same time like a leap of recognition. This may throw some light on the problem we noticed earlier the relation between faith described in terms of the energizing of the Holy Spirit, and mans efforts of reason. (Emmet, 1945, p. 133). Illumination page -3- The distinction between ordinary rationality and mystical illumination is an important one, for knowledge that is derived by linear reason is often interpreted by humanity as an achievement of humanity alone, whereas illuminative knowledge gleaned from communion with God or the ideal often comes like a bolt out of the blue and transcends not only individual ego, but racial, national, and cultural biases as well: Thus the community whose way is defined by Torah looks to the moment when Moses stood on Sinai; the Christian Church sees its life as continuing Gods act of reconciliation Prophet as the community of the faithful, committed to God in submission to the stark majesty of His Transcendence; Buddhists look to the moment of illumination under the Bo tree, when Buddha saw the way of release from the restlessness of finite existence. (Emmet, 1945, p. 156). Just as scientific or other types of linear knowledge may cast world-changing ideas or technologies into the flow of history, the mystical tradition reminds humanity that we are all united in the truths of the highest ideals, in the love of God. Illumination often transports the mystic not only to euphoric feelings of ecstacy, but important realizations about the nature of human existence and how human tragedy and pain can be minimized and sometimes overcome. From important illuminations come new ways of living in relation to the transcendent, which have given form to new ways of feeling and of thought. These were not reached by general reflections on the general character of experience but born out of the devotion of individual seekers who looked inward to find the illuminative power and phenomena which every mystic believes emanates directly from God or the ideal. (Emmet, 1945, p.156). The verifiable impact of religious and philosophical movements and doctrines that began in the subjective state if illumination are evidence that illumination represents a process of human reason and knowledge which is as important as linear modes. References Mysticism. (2004). In The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed. ). New York: Columbia University Press. Emmet, D. M. (1945). The Nature of Metaphysical Thinking. London: Macmillan Co. Ltd.

Study on the Variable Star XX Andromeda

Study on the Variable Star XX Andromeda Abstract We present the results of a month long V-Band study on the RRab type variable star XX Andromeda. 4526 data points are used to plot a light curve, with 3 maxima observed and added to data from the GEOS database to create an O-C diagram. Three methods of estimating the pulsation period are used, including two Phase Dispersion Minimisation methods and an O-C method, resulting in a best estimate of the period of days. This value is in excellent agreement with the literature values for the period of XX And, from both the Hipparcos catalogue and the GCVS. The distance to XX And is estimated to be pc using a main sequence fitting method to estimate the absolute magnitude, and the mean radius is estimated to be . A flatfielding improvement to the â€Å"photom.py† pipeline is suggested to combat dust artefacts on the CCD. Physical reasons are discussed for the distinctive features present in the light curve, namely the â€Å"Hump† and the â€Å"Bump†. I. Introduction In 1893 Solon I Bailey started a program of globular cluster study[i]. He noticed that some clusters (e.g ω Centuri) were extremely rich in variable stars with similar properties they had periods of less than a day, and light curve amplitudes of around 1 mag. The mean value of apparent magnitude of these stars in a particular cluster was also approximately the same across the sky. Bailey named these â€Å"Cluster Type Variables†. However an increasing number of stars with these properties were being found outside of clusters indeed the brightest star of this type ever found was a field variable, RR Lyrae (after which the class is now named). Discoveries then began to come thick and fast, and it is currently estimated that over 85000 exist in the Milky Way alonei. RR Lyrae variables have also been observed in the Andromeda Galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud and other Local Group dwarf galaxies[ii]. Measuring the properties of these variables has become increasingly important to astronomers, as it was realised that they could be used to gauge astronomical distances through a period-luminosity (P-L) relation, in a similar way to Cepheids. Various catalogues have studied their properties, for example the General Catalogue of Variable Stars[iii] or the more recent Hipparchos Catalogue[iv]. Until recently however, no distinct P-L relation had been found, and instead astronomers had to use a relation between metallicity and visual magnitude or the Baade-Wesselink method, the drawbacks of which are discussed later. Currently there is still no P-L relation for V-band observations, although there are now relations for most of the infrared spectral bands[v]. RR Lyrae variables are also of importance for the study of the population of both the Galactic Bulge (via Baades Window for example) and the Galactic Halo. Their advanced age and low metallicity combined with distinctive pulsation properties provides an excellent â€Å"tracer† for the development of the Milky Way in its early stages, as well as current kinematic analysis[vi]. They have also been used as a means of quantifying the interstellar reddening caused by dust in the galactic plane, thanks to the fact that the colour excess is a function of minimum (V-I) colour only[vii]. Using this reddening data with other distance indicators (for example red clump stars in the bulge[viii]), a meaningful approximation of the distance to the centre of the bulge can be obtained. Clearly then the study of RR Lyrae variables is useful for the understanding of the evolution of both the Milky Way and the rest of the Local Group. The star to be observed in this study is XX Andromeda (abbr. XX And), an F2 spectral class RRab type variable, located in the constellation of Andromeda at RA: 1h 17m 27.4145s, Dec: +38 °57 02.026† (see 1). Its moderately high position in the sky at Durham means that it is circumpolar, whilst not exceeding the +65 ° limit for the telescope fork mount, resulting in minimal atmospheric interference and the maximum possible observing time. The GCVS lists a period of. It is also known to exhibit the Blazhko effect, a long-period modulation of the amplitude of an RR Lyrae star (the cause of which is currently under investigation), with a period ofiii, and has an [Fe/H] value of -1.94. II. Theory Observational Theory CCD Theory Perhaps the most important advance in astronomy in the last 20 years has been the widespread use of Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) to replace photographic plates. Invented in 1969 at Bell Labs by Boyle and Smith, CCDs are a thin piece of semiconductor material (e.g. silicon) upon which lies an grid-like array of metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors[x]. During an exposure, if a photon impacts on the silicon an electron/hole pair can be produced, as an electron is pushed up into a higher energy state. The MOS capacitors act as deep potential wells (pixels), which hold the electrons until the exposure is finished. The charge is then read-out to an amplifier at one edge, in a specific order so that that the position of the original pixel can be identified, and related to the magnitude of the detected charge. The charge is converted from a raw number of electrons into ADUs (analogue to digital units), the conversion factor of which is the gain of the CCD[xi]. They are preferred to photographic plates in modern astronomical photometry for several reasons: * High quantum efficiency (QE) for each incident photon there is upwards of 90% certainty[1] that an pair will be produced. On the other hand, with photographic plates one can achieve (at best) an efficiency of 3%[xii], so using CCDs will increase the likelihood of detection of distant objects. * Large dynamic range, allowing them to detect objects with a range of magnitudes in the sky in the same exposure. * Strong linearity up to the saturation point, so that for longer exposure times the number of electrons produced is proportional to the integration time, whereas photographic plates will experience a drop in their efficiency. Their linearity will also mean that the magnitude of charge in each pixel is linearly proportional to the luminosity of the object. CCDs have also brought some inherent problems however, for example the noise associated with each image. Because photons obey Gaussian statistics for large counts, there will be a shot noise (uncertainty in the count rate) for each pixel of whereis the number of photons detected. Error in an image also stems from both the bias of the CCD, and the â€Å"dark current† present. The bias of a CCD is a systematic voltage offset across the whole CCD to prevent digital underflow during analogue to digital (A-D) conversion. It includes the read-out noise, a result of the manipulation of the pixel charge values during the A-D process and any charge-loss which occurs during the transfer[xiii]. A CCDs dark current is an unwanted flow of electrons which have been released from the surface of the semiconductor by thermal excitation, and is purely dependant on the surface temperature, rather than being a function of illumination. For this reason the CCD was cooled by both the Peltier method (electrically) and with an active assisting fan[xiv], to around 35 °C below ambient temperature, as the thermal current is approximately halved for each 7 °C reduction in CCD temperaturexii. To remove noise from an image, a set of calibration images may be taken alongside each raw exposure. These are called bias and dark frames. The bias frame is a zero-time exposure which will include both bias and read-out noise. A dark frame can be found by leaving the shutter on the camera closed and taking an exposure seconds long. It can be expressed as , [xv](2) whereis the dark current, andis the thermal noises statistical variation. Ideally one would be taken before each exposure, as temperature routinely varies slightly with time. A â€Å"master dark† frame can be found by taking the average of a large number of dark frames, and will include the equivalent of a master bias. This master dark can then be subtracted from each image to leave a final, processed image with as low a random error as possible. The Automated Photometry Process Since the experiment involved a large number of images, the photometry processes were automated using several Python scripts and FORTRAN routines. The script â€Å"all.py† was used to iterate the â€Å"photom.py† script over a range of images within a directory and print a string detailing which file was currently being processed. â€Å"photom.py† was the main script run, and was used to call several other processes which ran the photometry calculations, among other things. Firstly, it read in the file specified, and split the filename into the file and the extension, by using the find function to search for the full stop as the delimiter. i=file_name.find(.) Using the extension to determine the file type, the script then either subtracted the master_dark.sdf frame (if it was a FITS file, and hence a DRACO output file) or converted it to a FITS file (if it was an ST9 file, and hence 14-inch, which had already had the dark frame removed). The conversion is achieved using two separate routines: sbig2ndf, a routine from the SBIG python module which converts compressed output ST9 files created in CCDOPS into NDF files, and ndf2fits, which is a routine from the convert set of variables that converts the NDF files to FITS images. The subtraction of the dark frame is made using the kappa package from Starlink. â€Å"photom.py† then reads the variable star position from a user-created ‘var_sky_position† file. Using this, the script runs â€Å"find_astrom.py†. This attempts to match the stars in the image to the USNOA2 catalogue, and produce a new FITS file with the derived header solution. Firstly it takes the given star position as the centre of the image, and runs sextractor to find all the objects in the image. Next, it runs the WCS Tools routine scat at that RA and Dec to attempt to find any known objects in the region from the catalogue and prints it to a new file, usnoa_ref.cat: commands.getoutput(scat+ -d -c ua2 -n 200 -m 17 r 600 +ra+ +dec+ j2000 > usnoa_ref.cat) The pixel scale is taken from the directorys automag_driver file, and used by Andrew Pickles starfit script to match each object found by sextractor to the catalogues objects. This is achieved by the matching of triangles created between sets of objects in the sky to similar triangles created from the catalogues objects. Starlinks astrom routine is then used to correct the solution: out=commands.getoutput(/star/bin/astrom fits=asc) print astrom returns:, out Finally, â€Å"find_astrom.py† edits the header keys using pyfits to reflect the newly derived solution, and creates a new FITS image with the file ending â€Å"_ast.fits†. â€Å"photom.py† then runs sextractor again, to product a new catalogue of the objects from the image, complete with their RA and Dec. The script then performs the aperture photometry using â€Å"automag.py†. This measures the relative aperture magnitudes for the objects defined in the new object catalogue, by taking the number of counts within the specified aperture radius from the driver, and applying the formula: (3) Here is a constant offset defined in the driver, is the number of counts within the aperture (which is pixels in size) minus the background, and is the integration time. Background errors are calculated by measuring the counts within the two â€Å"sky† aperture radii to find the mean and rms sky-counts over pixels,and, and firstly deriving the signal to noise ratio for the star, by applying Equation (4) below[xvi]. (4) In the above equation, is the gain of the CCD. By using the flux based definition of the magnitude difference and manipulating the logarithm equation, the signal to noise value can be used to find the error on a measured magnitude, as shown in Equation (5). (5) These instrumental magnitudes are appended to the catalogue file, next to each object. â€Å"auto_mag2list.py† is subsequently run to pull the calibration stars from the catalogue, by matching the RA and Dec to those in the â€Å"cal_sky_positions†. The variable stars data, as well as the calibration stars data and the observation time in Modified Julian Days (MJD) are then appended to a file called â€Å"summary.obs†. Once â€Å"photom.py† completes, the raw2dif routine can then be run to perform the differential magnitude calculation. This routine takes each line from the â€Å"summary.obs† file and subtracts the average of the two comparison stars instrumental magnitudes from the variable stars instrumental magnitude, . A zero-point constant is then added to put the differential magnitude on the standard scale. This can be measured by taking images of photometric standard stars (from the Tycho catalogue for example), and comparing their instrumental magnitudes to their known apparent magnitudes, as described in the next section. (6) raw2dif outputs simply the observation time, variable stars standardised magnitude, and the error on the magnitude to a user-defined file. Magnitude Zero-point Measurement The zero-point is found by measuring the magnitudes of photometric stars with the telescopes, and comparing these to the values found for the stars in the Tycho catalogue. This catalogue uses a separate magnitude system, which can be converted into standard V-band magnitudes using the following formula: (7) The difference in these catalogue magnitudes and the observed values can then be used to show the difference that the specific equipment has made. This is the zero-point magnitude. Period Determination Two programs are used for the period determination, the routine bforce and PDM win 3.0[xvii]. bforce uses a brute force method to find the period of the variability. It attempts to fit the data onto a user generated model of the light curve (with a phase resolution of 0.1), and wrap (or â€Å"fold†) it around a suggested period. The routine then splits the data into a series of bins and estimates the variance in each, as follows; , (8) for observations in each bin. If the trial period is incorrect, there will be a large scatter of magnitudes in each bin, i.e. a large variance. This is compared to the variance of the data set as a whole using an F-test, which is achieved by finding the ratioof bin variance (the explained variance) to total variance (the unexplained variance). For an incorrect estimate of the period ≈ 1, whereas for the correct period The PDM program works in a similar, if more refined way, implementing some of the recent changes in the accepted way of calculating a phase dispersion minimisation period. While still using a variation-based method, it finds the period using a beta-distribution method (designated PDM*) rather than an F-test, as this has been shown to be the correct probability distribution to use[xviii]. It also utilises a GUI with a series of user-set options, for example variable phase resolution. RR Lyrae Theory Subclasses of RR Lyrae Variables From his observations, Bailey noticed three separate subclasses of variable, which have subsequently been compacted into two subclasses (as subclasses a b were very similar). The following is paraphrased from Baileys original description[xix]: * Subclass â€Å"ab†: Very rapid increase of magnitude, with a moderately rapid decrease in mag. Nearly constant mag for approx one half of the full period. Amplitude of roughly one mag and a period of between 12 and 20 hours. * Subclass â€Å"c†: Magnitude always changing, with moderate rapidity. Range generally half a magnitude, with a period of 8 to 10 hours. As our study concerns an RRab type variable, this class shall be primarily discussed. Typical characteristics of RRab stars RR Lyrae stars are large red stars with a low mass, occupying the area of the instability strip on the H-R Diagram (see Fig. 1) between ÃŽ ´-Scuti and Cepheid variables, where it intersects the horizontal branch. They are in the core helium burning stage of their evolution, having exhausted their core hydrogen fuel. Mean physical properties of these variables are under some contention, but a summary of current approximations is provided in Table 1. Period 0.2 1.1 days Mv 0.78  ± 0.02 Te 6404  ± 12 K [Fe/H] -1.56  ± 0.25 Mass 0.55  ± 0.01 Mà ¢Ã‚ ¨Ã¢â€š ¬ Radius 5  ± 1 Rà ¢Ã‚ ¨Ã¢â€š ¬ Table 1. Typical properties of RRab variables. All values are mean values of 335 variable stars[xxi], except period which is a typical rangei. Evolutionary theory It is thought that the progenitor of an RR Lyrae star was a typical low-mass main sequence star, with M* ≈0.8Mà ¢Ã‚ ¨Ã¢â€š ¬. For the first 15 Gyr of its life, the star burns core hydrogen, fusing it into helium. Once the hydrogen supply in the core is exhausted, the star expands to become a red giant, moving off the main sequence and up the giant branch of the Hertzprung-Russell diagram (see Fig. 1), and shell-burning of hydrogen now occurs around an inert helium core. The helium core eventually collapses, becoming electron degenerate, and increases in temperature until the helium in the core ignites using the triple -ÃŽ ± process, causing the â€Å"helium flash†. The cores degeneracy is lost and the star moves off the giant branch asymptotically, down towards the instability strip. At this point it can develop the pulsational properties of an RR Lyrae star, although this will be dependent on its mass, its chemical composition, and its temperaturei. Once the helium core is also used up after around 0.1 Gyr, the star begins to expand and cool again, fuelled only by shell burning of hydrogen and helium. The core never becomes hot enough for the fusion of heavier elements. Eventually all the usable fuel is expended and the star will jettison off its outer layers of material to leave a white dwarf star, shining only through the radiation of internal thermal energy. Pulsation theory The study of pulsation theory owes much to Arthur Eddington, who wrote a series of papers detailing a mathematical description of the properties of stars. Having realised that a radial pulsation in a static star would have a decay time of around 8000 years (much shorter than the length of time stars spend in the instability strip), he proposed that stars behaved as thermodynamic heat engines, using some â€Å"valve mechanism† to regulate energy flow[xxii]. In order to fulfil pulsation, this valve would need to make the star more thermally opaque as the star was compressed, and less opaque as it expanded. Effectively this would cause energy to build up when the star was compressed, forcing the star to swell in size until some turning point was reached and the opacity was small enough that energy could escape, leading to the star contracting again. The Rosseland mean opacity shows the overall opacity of a stellar region, and is defined as follows, (9) where is a constant, is the density of the region, and is temperature. Eddington was unable to come up with a particular material that would possess these properties in a star, particularly as during his time it was not believed that hydrogen or helium made up significant proportions of the inside of stars. It is also the case that neutral hydrogen or helium regions cannot be the â€Å"valve† region, as for these regions and i.e. as increases will decrease. This would lead to the pulsation dying out extremely quickly as all the radiative pressure was lost during contraction. However in 1953 Sergei Zhevakin found that regions of doubly ionised helium would provide an area wherebecomes small or negative, resulting in the desired properties for the gas. It was later shown by R. F. Christy[xxiii] that hydrogen ionisation can play a smaller, but still important, role in the mechanism. Ionisation zones can make another possible contribution to the â€Å"valve† in a star. If the energy from fusion processes cause ionisation in gas regions instead of raising their temperature, then the gas will absorb heat during compression stages, causing a pressure maximum near the minimum volume and thus aiding pulsation. This is known as the mechanism. Different classes of RR Lyrae variable pulsate with different modes. For instance RRab stars all vary in the fundamental mode, whilst RRc stars are pulsating in the first overtone. This is one of the reasons that types â€Å"a† and â€Å"b† can be separated from type â€Å"c† as a separate class. A third class of variables has also been observed, termed RRd type stars, which have a double-mode pulsation, pulsating in the fundamental and first overtone modes simultaneously. However, some RRab stars show a long-timescale second periodicity, known as the Blazhko effect. This is an overarching period that can be anywhere between 30 days and several years. The cause of this effect is unclear, but is believed to come from either a nonlinear resonance effect between the radial fundamental mode and some non-radial mode, or a cyclical rotating magnetic field that deforms the main radial mode of pulsation[xxiv]. Estimation of Absolute Magnitude and Distance RR Lyrae stars are useful for the determination of astronomical distances, especially to regions such as clusters in the Halo, and the Bulge. However, unlike for Cepheids, accurate parallax measurements of distance do not exist for RR Lyrae variables (with the exception of a very few the star RR Lyrae itself for example[xxv]), as the majority of stars are simply too far away for resolution currently[2]. Instead, astronomers look to alternative measurement tools, for example main sequence fitting or the Baade-Wesselink method. Main sequence fitting is the process of determining the distance to a cluster by fitting its colour-magnitude diagram to that of nearby main sequence stars which have a parallax-determined distance. This has produced a wide variety of relations over the last twenty years, but a general relation (that is within error of the majority of current estimates) is given by H. Smithi: (10) The currently favoured method of finding the metallicity is to use the relation, described by Jurcsik Kovà ¡cs in their seminal paper â€Å"Determination of [Fe/H] from the light curves of RR Lyrae stars†[xxvi]. This used a sixth order Fourier decomposition of the light curve to find multiple properties of an RR Lyrae star. When they plotted the data they found the following linear relation: (11) This allows the metallicity to be determined accurately, and then used in the main sequence fitting method to find an accurate absolute magnitude for a star. Finding the absolute magnitudeis important, because it allows for the use of the magnitude equation to determine distance to an object, taking into account the galactic extinction in the direction of the object due to dust and gas in the galactic plane, : (12) The Baade-Wesselink method, originally applied to Cepheid variables, was based on the assumption that a star will have the same surface temperature and brightness at all points of equal colour on the ascending and descending sides of the light curve. This implies that any luminosity variation between two half-phases can be said to be the result of radial differences in the star. Thus a fractional radius change can be measured as. If a radial velocity curve is also plotted for the star, the radius change over the period can be directly measured, and through the combination of these two results a value for the luminosity of the star can be found. This can be used to show the distance to an RR Lyrae star through the relation (13) whereis Stefans Constant, andis the stars effective temperature. However RR Lyrae variables do not behave exactly like Cepheids; for example during stellar expansion the surface gravity is much greater than when the star is contracting, leading to flux redistribution across the surface. This, combined with shock waves permeating through the stellar atmosphere causing distorted radial velocity curves, means that V band photometry is unfortunately useless for applying the Baade-Wesselink method to RR Lyrae stars. The procedure must instead be carried out in (V-H) or (V-K) colours for example, as infra-red wavelengths are less sensitive to the expansion phase distortions[xxvii]. Estimation of Radius Marconi et alxxv have published an equation relating the period of a fundamental mode RR Lyrae star to its average radius; (14) whereis the mean radius (in units of solar radii), is the period (in days), and is the heavier-than-iron metallicity of the star, defined as; xxi, (15) whereis the alpha-enhancement with respect to iron, and is taken to be equal to 1. This is derived from their theoretical predictions of the radial oscillations of a metal poor RR Lyrae, and applies to stars with helium abundances of between (0.24 and 0.28). III. Experimental Methods Preparing the experiment Inital sessions were spent becoming aquainted with the computers Linux-based operating systems, understanding the basics of photometry and exploring the provided software. Several rooftop sessions were attended to gain knowledge of the telescopes provided, and to learn safety procedures associated with the use of the equipment. Due to initial poor weather, previous years data was analysed in order to improve understanding of the provided scripts. A list of RRab targets from the NSVS catalogue[xxviii] was examined to find a suitable object, with a magnitude range visible on the telsecopes available, a period of less than a day, and a high position in the sky. Table 2. Properties of the Telescope and CCD combinations for each dome. Both telescopes were fitted with the same model of V-band filter. Background information on the chosen star (XX And) was found using the SIMBAD database[xxix], and examined to find previous studies, including estimates of period, metallicity, and star type, as well as dates of previously observed maxima. A plot of the field around the star was taken, and used to identify two calibration stars for the photometry ( 3): The calibration stars used were USNOA2.0 numbers 1275-00765817 (cal-star 1) and 1275-00761527 (cal-star 2). They were searched for in various catalogues to verify that they were not known to be variable. The best exposure time for our field was estimated to be 30 seconds with the 14-inch telescope, and 60 seconds with DRACO, so as not to saturate the image. By taking some sample images and viewing them in GAIA, suitable sizes for the apertures were chosen for each telescope. The sizes of the apertures were chosen to enclose the whole star, whilst giving the minimum error. These were then converted from scaled values to numbers of pixels, and entered into seperate â€Å"automag_driver† files for each telescope, along with the specific pixel scale, gain and read-out noise. Telescope Star Sky Inner Sky Outer 14-inch 4.7 14.9 21.4 DRACO 7 25.7 35.1 Table 3. The aperture radii (in pixels) used for each telescope. Firstly, the â€Å"convert† variables were set up. XX Ands RA and Dec in decimal degrees were inserted into a file called â€Å"var_sky_position†, and â€Å"photom.py† was run on the first frame (called for example â€Å"filename.fits†). This produced an output file called â€Å"amag.out† which contained the positions of all the recognised stars in the image, as well as a calibrated image â€Å"dfilename_ast.fits†. By comparing the (x,y) pixel locations in GAIA for the two calibration stars with the data in â€Å"amag.out† the RA and Dec of the calibration stars were noted, and inserted into a text file named â€Å"cal_sky_positions†. Observation of the Variable Observations of the field containing XX And were then taken over a period of 1 month, using both the 14-inch â€Å"Far East† and the 10-inch DRACO telescopes. For the 14-inch, the observing process was as follows: The object was located using the Earth Centre Universe program, the telescope synched and set to track, and the CCD programmed to take around 30 images per sequence at 30 seconds each, with an 8 second dark frame before each new image. For DRACO, the object was found using the provided G.U.I., with care taken to place the variable star and both comparison stars away from dust grains on the CCD. The telescope was set to track, and programmed to take a large number of images with a 60 second exposure. For each new observing session a seperate file was created, containing all the images and the scripts required for automated photometry. For DRACO processing, a master dark file was also copied from the archive. The file â€Å"all.py† was then amended to iterate ov er all the images in the directory, and set running. Once the photometry had completed, the raw2dif routine was run, and the results viewed by running qplot. The data were adjusted to Heliocentric Julian Days by running the cor2hjd routine, and the final tables were copied across to a main results directory to be added to the full table of data. bfplot was run on the full dataset using an estimate for the period, and the phase values from the output file â€Å"fort.30† were killed out and yanked into the dataset file using EMACS. This table was viewed in TOPCAT, and a light curve created. Any clear and accountable anomalies were removed in TOPCAT. To gain a value for the absolute magnitude of XX And, rather than simply an instrumental magnitude, a series of observations were made of photometric stars which had known magnitudes. These are shown in table 4 below: Photometric Star RA Dec Apparent V-band Magnitude 1 1h 18m 20.581s 38 ° 55 38.23 9.847 2 1h 14m 50.729s 38 ° 29 55.80 9.961 3 1h 15m 12.229s 38 ° 49 10.95 9.048 4 1h 16m 39.436s 39 ° 09 38.64 9.735 Table 4: Properties of photometric stars used in the magnitude calibration of XX And. This gave a value for the correction which had to be made to all the observed values for each telescope. The corrections were then applied to the full dataset. An O-C diagram was constructed using the data from the Hipparcos mission, the GEOS RR Lyrae Survey, and also archive data from the GEOS database[xxxi]. The period used was the Hipparcos estimate. Since the newly observed data used HJD, and the archive data was in â€Å"modified HJD†, an addition of 0.5 HJD has to be made to the new data in order to be comparable. The newly observed data was then added to the diagram, and the input period was altered to give the flattest line possible, thus providing a new estimate of the period. The error on the period is given by the slope of the line[xxxii]. Any historical period changes were searched for in the line of the O-C plot. The fast_solve routine was run on all of the summary.obs files, and the comparison stars were checked to see whether or not they were varying. The output model file from fast_solve was edited to include estimates of bin values where there was no actual observational data, and then used in the routine bforce. This was run using the period quoted in the Hipparcos catalogue as the initial period to give an estimate of the new period and its error. The period was also estimated using PDMwin, using an output table from TOPCAT. Errors in the period-finding were estimated using the Jackknife method on both the PDM and bforce programs. This was achieved by recomputing the period, but leaving out one observa

Impacts Of Climate Change On Coastal Areas Environmental Sciences Essay

Impacts Of Climate Change On Coastal Areas Environmental Sciences Essay An increase or decrease in the temperature for a long time has negative effects on the coastal areas (Moser, 2000). Global warming in the biggest environmental issue which posses stress and pressure to the coast leading to floods and erosions (Shaw, 2002). Tropical or winter storms can grow to dangerous coastal storms, making the surface of the water fiercer (Forces of nature, 2000). Higher temperature levels in the climate increases the temperature of the water, increasing the risk of low oxygen conditions threatening fish stocks and other marine organisms (David, Gordon, 2007). Global warming, high temperature level and coastal storms require more consideration and a better solution is needed to overcome these to protect the coast and the earth from being submerged. In 2002, Jane S. Shaw, stated that global warming manifest of being the most dangerous environmental issue as it has the ability to affect the entire earth and the whole world depends on it. Global warming warms the earth due to the excess of carbon in the atmosphere (Cunnigham, Cunningham, Saigo, Bailey, Shrubsole, 2005). The oceans job is to keep the planets carbon dioxide levels in balance or equilibrium but the problem now is that with so much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, the oceans, like the air are getting warmer (David, Gordon, 2007). When the oceanic water becomes warmer than usual, it leads to thermal expansion; water molecules move faster and become farther apart, occupying more space (Stein, 2001). Cold seawater absorbs more carbon dioxide than warm seawater, therefore if carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise; the oceans will simply be too warm to take as much carbon dioxide as they have been (David, Gordon, 2007). In the North and Sou th poles, ice and snow reflect away solar radiation from the earths surface because of their bright white color. Higher temperatures make the ice and snow reflect less sunlight, making the earth warmer (Stein, 2001). Increase in the temperature can melt the ice sheets into the oceans (Shaw, 2002). If the Greenland ice sheets melts completely, it will add enough water to raise levels all across the world by 21 feet (6.4m) (David, Gordon, 2007). In 2007, David and Gordon observed that in the last 100 years, global sea levels have risen 8 inches (20cm). When the sea level rises, there is an increased threat of floods and erosion (Stein, 2002). When there is too much carbon dioxide in the air, the sea takes up the slack, soaking up the extra carbon dioxide like a gigantic sponge (David, Gordon, 2007). In general, the warming of the earth does not lead to either positive or profitable consequences. Global warming only contributes to negative ends and destroys the globe slowly. Melting of the ice sheets is not a good sign for the earth and actions towards global warming needs to be enforced to be able to prevent the ice sheets from melting and raising the level of the oceans. This picture of the graph shows increase in the sea level rise from 1850 to 2100 and it is predicted that the sea level will rise up to 20 inches till 2050 due to thermal expansion and the melting of ice sheets (Sea level rise, 2010). There are approximately one billion people who live in coastal areas (David, Gordon, 2007). Even small levels in the sea rise can be dangerous for small islands (Shaw, 2002). Urban areas built near sea level like New York, Boston, Washington, and Miami can be at risk because of flooding (Moser, 2000). The rise in sea increases the risk of coastal flooding from rainstorms, because low areas drain more slowly as sea level rises (Climate change health, 2010). The coastal storms become more dangerous when the wind and waves drive water farther inland than ever before (Stein, 2001). Coastal storms cause a lot of damage in coastal areas, resulting in flooding and mudslides (Moser, 2000). Industrialized countries such as United States and Europe might be able to cope with the dangers related to sea level rise but other poor countries might not (Shaw, 2002). The increase in sea level poses as threat to properties, infrastructures, coastal industries, coastal and marine ecosystems (Moser, 20 00). Because of tropical or winter storms the ocean waves intensifies on the open ocean and these storms make the surface of the water much choppier and fiercer than normal which affects the beaches ( Forces of nature, 2000). There is tremendous loss of money when recreational areas near beaches get affected due to beach erosion (Moser, 2000). Hundreds of cities are built near the sea level and there is a lot of money involved in the development of these cities. If erosion occurs, these areas will flood. Poor countries cannot even afford to prevent floods or help people living along the coastal areas, therefore they need to protect the environment and come up with all the possible, economical ways to reduce catastrophic weather change. Rising sea temperature is considered to be the largest threat to coral reefs today (mangroves for the, 2007). The mangroves for the in 2007 also stated that when there is a higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the seawater, it will lead to ocean acidification reducing calcification rates of calcifying organisms such as corals. Corals and all shellfish need a certain level of calcium in order to make their hard shells; but higher acidity hits the delicate balance of calcium in the water, reducing the amount available to coral and shellfish to build their protective skeletons (David, Gordon, 2007). Disintegration of degraded reefs following bleaching or reduced classification may result in increased wave energy across reef flats with potential for shoreline erosion (mangroves for the, 2007). When water temperature rise, the algae cannot photosynthesize, the chemical reaction that converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into sugars is blocked and the coral losses its source of color and turns white, almost as if it grown old overnight (David, Gordon, 2007). There is limited ecological and genetic evidence for adaptation of corals to warmer conditions (mangroves for the, 2007). Bleached corals becomes weaker and more vulnerable to disease, predators and storms, it is becoming a pretty feeble hideout for exotic fish (David, Gordon, 2007). Many reefs are affected by tropical cyclones, impacts range from minor breakage of fragile corals to destruction of the majority of corals on a reef and deposition of debris as coarse storm ridges (mangroves for the, 2007). Coastal storms pollute the water due to sediments and pollutants with higher runoff (David, Gordon, 2007). Coastal ecosystems, especially mangroves forests and coral reefs act as buffers against extreme weather conditions and natural disasters, thereby reducing the vulnerability of coastal communities and their investments (mangroves for the, 2007). As stated earlier, the change in the climate can rise the sea level which enables living organisms that live in the ocean from performing daily normal tasks and they eventually die. The ocean is a very big ecosystem for millions of organisms and they are all connected with each other, the removal of one specie from the food chain can really affect the other species. The corals act as an important factor in the ocean and therefore they need to be protected and the sea level and pH needs to be balanced so that the corals are not bleached or affected. Preventative measurements need to be taken toward the coastal areas because a lot of lives can be affected if precautions are not taken. Numerous amounts of projects as well as investments are trying to save the earth from being submerged. The mangroves for the future (MFF) launched a project whose objective is to strengthen the environmental sustainability of coastal development and promote sound investment in costal ecosystem management as a means of enhancing resilience and supporting local livelihoods (mangroves for the, 2007). There are approximately a number of 200 million people who live across the world in high risk coastal flooding areas, (how to prevent, 2010) and this MFF project might be able to help them. These projects require a lot of money to be able to put in action, long term erosion defense and repair requires millions of dollars and requires the participation of a lot of members (how to prevent, 2010). The MFF supports and endorses the concept of REDD (reducing em issions from deforestation and ecosystem degradation) as a result of climate change and mitigation option (mangroves for the, 2007). There are preventative measures being taken to protect the low-lying coastal areas against damage from tidal inundation through the construction of embankments capable of withstanding the anticipated storm surge height and forces (disaster preventation and, 1999). These types of protection will decrease the amount of force in the tides and might prevent the beaches from getting a disastrous damage. The buildings of seawalls, barrier islands and beach nourishment can also protect the coast from the climate change impact (how to do, 2010). Barrier island is a piece of land that is made up of sand and it prevents the coastal storms from damaging the mainland of the island (Paris). The strength of coastal storms changes the shape and the form of the islands and causes erosion of the dunes and can completely destroy the dune system if it is severe (Paris). One of the most dangerous effects on earth is global warming. Global warming comes with enormous amounts of complexity and dangers for the globe. The impacts of this threat needs to be reduced so that it does not damage the earth and therefore every single individual need to live greener. There are multiple ways through which global warming can be reduce. People need to be more energy efficient and they can do so by turning their appliances off when its not required, insulating their house, making their lifestyle greener by reducing the use of vehicles and by educating future generations (prevent climate change, 2010). These small steps can add up at the end and make a big change on the climate.

Health Aspects Of Cocoa Essay -- essays research papers

Thesis: The development and distribution of cocoa has had a positive effect on today's society because of it's active role in daily health.I. History of CocoaA. Kakahutal Mayan and Aztec CultureB. Introduction to EuropeC. Cocoa PressII. Mental and Physical HealthA. MigrainesB. Cholesterol1. Stearic Acid2. Oleic Acid3. FlavonoidsC. Premenstrual SyndromeD. Kidney StonesE. Chemical Craving Theories1. Theobromine2. Phenylithylamine3. EndorphinsChocolate, one America's top industry's. We produce more chocolate and chocolate products than any other country, over 2.9 billion pounds a year. There has been much controversy about the lack of nutritional value of in it's contents, yet new studies have shown that cocoa, used to make chocolate, can be good for you. The development and distribution of cocoa has had a positive effect on today's society because of it's active role in daily health.Cocoa was last dated back to the Mayan and Aztec cultures in 1502. On Columbus' last voyage he brought a few cocoa beans from the new world to Spain but they were introduced as nothing more than seeds and so they were forgotten. Until 1519 when the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez landed during his expedition to Mexico he came upon the people known as the Aztecs. While there he dined with many of the rich and powerful people of this society. He reported that these people drink amazing amounts of something they called choclatl (Chocolate! 12). Chocolatl a beverage made from corn meal, chili peppers, vanilla, and kakahutal or cocoa as it's known today. Cortez figured the if an Aztec king liked chocolatl, a Spanish king would too. So he brought some beans to Europe as one of the fabulous treasures from America. The Spanish royalty called their new drink chocolate. They sweetened it with sugar or honey and flavored it with cinnamon. But since the Spanish couldn't get enough beans for themselves, they didn't want to share them with anyone else. They kept the secret so well that, for many years, very few people in Europe knew about chocolate. When the secret finally leaked out, only rich people could afford the luxury. But soon more and more beans were being grown, and better ways of turning them into chocolate were discovered. Chocolate became so popular that cocoa pubs, houses where you can go eat and drink all the chocolate you wished, popped ... ...voided in the case of cocoa products. The development and distribution of cocoa has had a positive effect on today's society because of it's active role in daily health. This has been proven not only through the history of distribution behind cocoa, but also it's physical and mental effects on the human body. It has become a part of our religious society and will always have a special place in our hearts. Works Consulted"Chocolate." New Standard Encyclopedia. 1995 ed."Chocolate!" Ranger Rick 30 Feb. 1996: 12-16."Chocolate's Not a Culprit." Industry Week 247 March 16, 1996: 66."Cocoa." New Standard Encyclopedia. 1995 ed."Columbus." New Standard Encyclopedia. 1995 ed."Cortez." New Standard Encyclopedia. 1995 ed.Friedman, Max. "A Bittersweet Romance." Vegetarian Times 2 (1996): 74-81.Hearts May Safely Flutter Over Valentine's Chocolates. [Online] Available <a href="http://www.geisner.edu">http://www.geisner.edu, April 18, 1998.Jaret, Peter. "Three Cheers For Chocolate." Health 11 (1997): 30-33.Waterhouse, Debra. "Why Women Need Chocolate." Good Housekeeping 220 (1995): 81-88.

Defending Egotism and Individualism in The Fountainhead :: Fountainhead

Defending Egotism and Individualism in The Fountainhead        Ã‚  Ã‚   "The structures were austere and simple, until one looked at them and realized what work, what complexity of method, what tension of thought had achieved the simplicity. No laws had dictated a single detail. The buildings were not Classical, they were not Gothic, they were not Renaissance. They were only Howard Roark." This dialogue in the powerful book The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, set in the early 1920's in the city of skyscrapers, New York, describes the unique building style of the architect, Howard Roark which parallels his uncompromising and individualistic personality. Roark is forced to overcome collectivism in a society where Dominique Francon, a beautiful and wealthy woman, is the only person who understands his intentions and desires, while Peter Keeting, a third-rate architect whose career is successful due to his conformity to society, yearns to find self-respect, and Ellsworth Toohey, a Humanitarian, searches to destroy men's souls in his quest for power over mankind. In this extraordinary book, Rand combines both her seductive philosophic views with a touch of romance to tell the story of the dangerous effects of conformity of a society and of one man's struggle and ultimate success against these forces. The aura around the brilliant man, Howard Roark, is intimidating and obscure. He is feared by people of various stature, including the Dean of the Architectural School of Stanton Island of Technology where Roark is expelled for refusing to do projects in any style but his own, and Peter Keeting, a star student of this reputable school, who often times becomes angry after conversations with Roark because he can't understand the secureness his classmate feels about himself and his work while he fails to share the same confidence. Roark's eagerness to learn about architecture guides him to the office of Henry Cameron, a man who at one time was considered amongst the greatest architects but since has disappeared from the public eye to settle into a minute office and given only a few commissions. Roark pursues a job in the office of this "old-fashioned" architect because he admires Cameron's style. After his employer's illness and retirement, Roark ventures into many jobs, but is eventual ly fired from all of them because of his uncompromising attitude toward his work. After establishing his own business he receives minimal work because the buildings that he designs are not accepted by the public and are insulted in newspaper reviews.

Racism: Lessons Learned Essay -- essays research papers

Many things have been shared in this classroom environment. Issues have been studied that have caught the attention of the class and made them consider things that perhaps were not contemplated before. Over the past semester, one series of lessons have stood out to me more than any other. That particular set of lessons revolved around the issue of racism. Racism has taken on a new comprehension within my thoughts and mind over the course of this semester. I had always considered racism a baneful idea and an even more wicked practice. We defined it as a prejudice based upon the color of one’s skin or race. Although laws have outlawed the practice of segregation and racism, we have seen as a class that it is still practiced within a country that declares it to be illegal. We have learned ...

Historical Example of Supply and Demand

The Great Depression happened because the stock market in the United States dropped dramatically. A major factor in bringing about the depression was a direct result of supply and demand. Supply and demand rely on each other and should be equal in a stable economy. Too much supply demand drops, demand goes up supply should go up to meet it. There was a large overage of products that the U. S. people could not consume. The overage happened because a technological advance changed how they produced goods. They were able to produce products more efficiently, however they did not increase employees wages. Therefore, people could not afford to buy the amounts of products that were being produced. This was a direct result. There was no equilibrium. When there was an overage of products there were less demands for laborers because they could not even sell the products that they had let alone produce more. The employers could have increased the employees wages to help the situation. This would not have completely fixed the problem. The industries would be forced by the law of supply and demand to drop their level of output to compensate in their loss of overall profit. Now there was less work, overage of products, and a failing economy. The Great Depression came to an end when the U. S. started making war goods for Britain. This created many jobs for U. S. citizens. This allowed people to earn money and begin spending again. President Roosevelt also had an impact on the recovery of the Great Depression. He made new policies, and changed how things in the economy went. He created different agencies to help with the situation. This in turn helped to create more jobs as well. The demand eventually caught up with the supply due to the labor market increase.

Australia the Movie: Synopsis, History and Comparisons

In Australia, an indigen medicine man/witch doctor, superpower George was teaching a young native named Nullah how to do various tasks in the Outback. When each of the sudden a group neat manpower shoot poof George with an arrow. Then, Nullah rides mansion on his horse to his home in Far forth Downs. He hears large number flesh step up and is sc bed that someone ordain rail him away from his family, so he goes into hiding. However, the voices he hears and people he sees are drover and Sarah. The property of Faraway Downs is Sarahs and her husbands. When Sarah goes into her property she finds that her husband has been killed and he is cunning dead across a table.Beca phthisis of this Sarah decides she wants to wander her property to the Carney Empire. However, if Faraway Downs is sold, the comp any will have a monopoly over the overawe business. Sarah soon finds out from Nullah that Carney is stealing her cows and driving them across the river. Soon after cont d estructionds struggleds she hears the news she fires Fletcher (the current driver for her oxen) and hires herdsman to drive in their 1,500 cattle. They need 7 people in all to successfully drive them all in so, Sarah, Nullah, his buzz off and grandmother, and an aborigine named Magarri offer their help.They could still use one more person solely no others are willing or capable. Then one morning the law of nature appear at the house and are looking for Nullah and his mother who are concealed in the pissing tower. Sadly, his mother drowns in the tower because the tank filled up when one of the men used the tap to cool down. Now Nullah is motherless so Sarah decides to give it a shot and lecture him herself. She does non do a marvellous job of this because she does not have any children of her own. Fletcher creates a stampede by illuminate the brush on fire and has the cows heading to state of wards a cliff.Some fleet off the cliff but umteen cows were saved because Null ah resorted to song and antic to balk the cattle. Fletcher is attempting to hurt their cattle and get down their plans on saving Faraway Downs by killing cattle, burning items and poisoning waterholes. At a ball Carney attempts to convince Sarah to make do Faraway Downs to him. However, she refuses and enjoins him that it is no longer for sale. A few days later Fletcher pushes Carney into water where an alligator attacked and killed him. Also, Nullah goes missing. But herder believes he is rubber and protected by King George.Unfortunately they are not safe and are caught by the police where Nullah is dis key to the mission and King George is put in jail. There is a treat of war in the city of Darwin so the townsfolk is creation evacuated. Sarah searches for Nullah and can hear his tattle but cannot find him. He is being sent to another island to work on a mission. While Sarah is working at an Army radio headquarters Nipponese planes bomb the headquarters and the building catches on fire. Also, the jail is hit and King George escapes. Drover thinks Sarah has died and rescues Nullah and the other children from the outburst on the island.Sarah survives the explosion and is reunited with her love, Drover and Nullah. Afterwards, they return safely to their set up and all survive the explosions and save their cattle from Carney and Fletcher. Australia History During the 1930s Germany was expanding its territory and in 1939 they threatened to invade Poland. Germany decided to disobey Britain and France when they told Germany that they would declare war if Poland was invaded. The Australian people do not approve of the German expansion and because they are a British nation they were pulled into the war along with Britain (www. nzacday. org).Australia state war on Germany on phratry 3, 1939 and linked the war in europium to aid its Allies in the unify Kingdom (www. worldwariihistory. com). Australia was forced to make a tough decision to watch after h omeland in incase japan attempted to expand its power, or take aim troops to aid England in the war. Because lacquer pledged its neutrality and the British nautical base in Singapore would stop any lacquerese invasions towards Australia, they decided to draw out itself to the European War. Australian troops were not prepared to fight and risk their gos in war.This caused he over-embellished Australian navy blue to be put beneath British control. They began to train and recruit men and they helped the Royal Air Force in the war against Germany (www. anzacday. org). During 1940 and 1941 troops in Australia helped capture Bardia and Tobruk in Libya because they saw action in mating Africa and the Middle East. Once Japan bombed cliff Harbor and the war was brought closer to Australian homeland, Australia declared war on Japan. The closely direct threat that Australia faced was virgin Guinea.Thankfully, the Americans held off a naval attack on Australia at the Battle of the coral Sea in May 1942. By the end of WWII, Australia has lost about 30,000 men and women (www. worldwariihistory. com). Also, the Indigenous people of Australia were set out by the British and many were killed and driven out of their homes. The deaths of aborigines drawred because of the diseases spread by Europeans, the institution of domestic animals destroyed many indispensable habitats and fighting in Tasmania. During the early twentieth century laws were passed to segregate and protect aborigines.This caused restrictions on where they could live, and work. Families were also broken up (www. australianexplorer. com). Also, during WWII aborigines under the age of five were taken from their homes by white men and sent to live with white families. The British did this because the Australian government activity thought their race lacked a unattackable future. The children were never reunited with their families (http//history. howstuffworks. com). Unfortunately after WWII th e British wanted to Europeanize them. In this case all rights were taken away from the aborigines.During the 1960s, the aborigines were presumptuousness citizenship status but in 1972 they were given limited rights to their own land (www. australianexplorer. com). Australia depth psychology During World War II in the 1930s and 1940s there are many similarities and differences in Australia the movie compared to the farmings real history. A similitude between history and Hollywood is that they some(prenominal) go into great detail on how horribly the British treated the aborigines of Australia. A difference between the two was how dinky detail the movie Australia went into when it came down to the war itself and its allies.Throughout the movie the director, Baz Luhrmann does not focalize on the key points of the outcome of WWII, the calamity and hardship it put on Australia, and the effects on its people and cities. A law of similarity of the treatment of aborigines is that in the movie the aborigines were taken away from their families and homes. This was known as the Stolen multiplication in Australia. During the movie they were sent away to work on missions on antithetical islands and were rarely seen again by their families.Although this did occur in reality the children were mainly forcefully sent or tricked into living with a white family. The parents were sometimes unaware that their children were take down still alive. The government would often tell them their child had died. Where in reality they are living with a white family so they have a chance at a better future. A difference between the movie Australia and reality is how junior-grade detail Baz Luhrmann displays on the actual war itself. Throughout the entire movie leave out for the end, the main idea is focused on cattle and the Stolen Generation.However during the end, WWII begins to take place and the movie displays the war aspect. It does not exempt how the war began, the fina l result, or the results on Australian people. The war began in Germany because they tried and true to expand their territory into Poland. France and Britain declared war and because Australia was British territory they also joined in the fight. The movie did include when Japan attacked close to Australia at Pearl Harbor, which caused them to go to war against each other. By the end WWII Australia lost about 30,000 men and women.

Moral psychology Essay

a. Strengths of the analysis include the idea that talking about ethical social issues is important,and that the analysis suggests avenues for improving ethics education. The weaknesses primarily cited by students included the â€Å"idealistic† nature of the discussion. Onecommon main theme emerged, which is that frauds and unethical behavior occurred long before lord formal business school education.Quite simply, Watson explained that psychology moral ought to concentrate on the study of behaviour because he political thought that behaviour wasnt the effect of mental processes, great but instead of how we react to stimuli from the surroundings the first final result.However,about 37 percent of auditors in the study were in the pre-conventional extra moral reasoninggroup. Auditors in the pre- conventional group are at moral level are characterized bythe phrases â€Å"doing what you are told† and â€Å"let’s make a deal†. Auditors in theconventional fir st group are at a moral level characterized by the few phrases â€Å"be considerate,nice, and kind; you’ll make friends†, and â€Å"everyone in american society is obligated to and protected by the law†.Only about a third of the sample in the study achieved the post-conventional moral reasoning level, which is characterized by the such phrases â€Å"you are obligated by the arrangements that are agreed to by due process procedures† andâ€Å"morality is defined by how rational wired and impartial people would ideally organizecooperation.It is frequently referred to as human development.

Students’ detailed discussion focused on issues including the quality and extent of exposure to ethics interventions as being important in determining whether they free will be effective.Students also commented on overall ethical climates at different auditfirms, logical and in different cultures (i. e. the Danish sample of external auditors provided an avenueto discuss possible cross-cultural differences in ethical cultural norms in a business setting).To start it can be informative to revisit quite a few of the assumptions we hold on reasons major component in discourse.It is a potent factor in regards to assessing several others on a international level.Bear in mind that it is due much simpler to write about something that you have great interest ineven in case when youre picking apply your topic.

Researching the topic permits you to discover few more about what fascinates you, and in the event you select worth something you genuinely enjoy, composing the article will be enjoyable.Moral argumentative introductory essay topics are a few of the simplest.Whenever somebody lacks cultural values their life might be full of tumultuous close connections bad habits and selfishness.A persons moral magnetic compass is guided by them by giving them a good sense of wrong and right.