The Principal Crusades

The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars launched by the Christian states of Europe against the Saracens and the rescuing of holy places of Palestine from the hands of the Mohammedans. (Alchin 1) There were eight Crusades in number; the first four were sometimes called the Principal Crusades, and the remaining four were the called the Minor Crusades. (Alchin 1) The Principal Crusades, however, were considered to be the most important. (Alchin 1) The Principal Crusades started because of key people or key events, which led to affect history.Every crusade contained key people, which helped spark the crusades, or contained key leaders that were important in conquering them. The first impulse to the Crusade came from an appeal of the eastern emperor, Michael VII to Pope Gregory VII for aid against the Seljuks. (Walker 2) Alexius I, a stronger ruler tan him immediate predecessors in Constantinople, saw the divisive squabbles among the Seljuk chieftain as an opportunity to take the offensiv e. (Walker 2) He, therefore, appealed to Pope Urban II for assistance in raising a body of western knights to help him recover his lost Asiatic provinces. Walker 2) Urban called on all Christendom to take part in the work, promising a complete remission of sins to those who would take the arduous journey. (Walker 2) The leaders of the first Crusade included some of the most distinguished representatives of European knighthood. (Alchin 2) Count Raymond of Toulouse headed a band of volunteers from a Province in southern France. (Alchin 2) Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin commanded a force of French and Germans from the Rhinelands. (Alchin 2) Normandy sent Robert, William the Conqueror's eldest son. Waring 167) The Normans from Italy and Sicily were led by Bohemond, a son of Robert Guiscard, and his nephew Tancred. (Alchin 2) All of these men were key leaders in the first Crusade. In 1145, Pope Eugenius III proclaimed a new crusade and in 1147 the second crusade set forth, b ut it showed little of the fiery enthusiasm which the first crusade possessed. (Walker 4) The contagion of the holy enthusiasm seized not only barons, knights, and the common people, but kings and emperors were now infected with the sacred frenzy. (Alchin 11) The key leaders of the second crusade were two monarchs, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Alchin 11) Conrad III, emperor of Germany, was persuaded to leave the affairs of his distracted empire in the hands of God, and consecrate himself to the defense of the sepulcher of Christ. (Buddy 11) Louis VII. , king of France, was led to undertake the crusade through remorse for an act of great cruelty that he had perpetrated upon some of his revolted subjects. (Alchin 11) The key men of the third crusade were both distinct leaders. King Richard I of England, who was later given the title the â€Å"Lion-hearted†, was the central figure among the Christians knights of this crusade. Alchin 16) The other was Saladin, c hief of the Mohammedans, who was not lacking in any of those knightly virtues with which the writers of the time invested the character of the English hero. (Alchin 20) At one time, when Richard was sick with a fever, Saladin, knowing that he was poorly supplied with delicacies, sent him a gift of the choicest fruits of the land. (Alchin 20) On another occasion, Richard's horse having been killed in battle, the sultan caused a fine Arabian steed to be led to the Christian camp as a present for his rival. Alchin 20) For two years Richard the Lion-hearted vainly contended in almost daily combat with his generous antagonist for the possession of the tomb of Christ. (Alchin 20) Both of these men contributed to the third crusade. The fourth Crusade was authored by only one person, and that person only had one goal. The young, enthusiastic and ambitious Pope Innocent III sought once more to unite the force of Christendom against Islam. (Cairns 216) No emperor or king answered his summons, but a number of knights took the crusader’s vow. Alchin 24) None of the Crusades, after the Third, effected much in the Holy Land; either their force was spent before reaching it, or they were diverted from their purpose by different objects and ambitions. (Alchin 24) All of these key figures helped spark the Principal Crusades. The results from the key events were the end of the Principal Crusades. These events that follow helped the Christians prevail over the Muslims. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, and Tancred lead an expedition to recapture Jerusalem. (Alchin 5) The expedition numbered about seven hundred thousand men, of which one hundred thousand were called knights. Alchin 5) The crusaders traversed Europe by different routes and reassembled at Constantinople. (Alchin 5) Crossing the Bosphorus, they first captured Nicaea, the Turkish capital, in Bithynia, and then set out across Asia Minor for Syria. (Alchin 5) Arriving at Antioch, the survivors captured that place, and then, after some delays, pushed on towards Jerusalem. (Alchin 5) The Siege of Antioch had lasted from  October 1097 to June 1098. (Alchin 5) Reduced now to perhaps one-fourth of their original numbers, the crusaders advanced slowly to the city which formed the goal of all their efforts, Jerusalem. Alchin 6) When the Crusaders were in full view of the Holy City, a perfect delirium of joy seized the crusaders. (Alchin 6) They embraced one another with tears of joy, and even embraced and kissed the ground on which they stood. (Alchin 6) As they passed on, they took off their shoes, and marched with uncovered heads and bare feet before attacking it. (Alchin 6) Then the grand assault came. The first assault made by the Christians upon the walls of the city was repulsed; but the second was successful, and the city was in the hands of the crusaders by July 1099. Alchin 7) Once inside the city, the crusaders massacred their enemies without mercy. (Alchin 7) The fall and massacr e of the city of Edessa sparked the second crusade. In the year 1146, the city of Edessa, the bulwark of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem on the side towards Mesopotamia, was taken by the Turks, and the entire population was slaughtered, or sold into slavery. (Alchin 9) This disaster threw the entire West into a state of the greatest alarm, lest the little Christian state and all the holy places should again fall into the hands of the infidels. Alchin 9) The second crusade, though begun under the most favorable auspices, had an unhappy ending. (Alchin 12) Of the great host that set out from Europe, only a few thousands escaped annihilation in Asia Minor at the hands of the Turks. (Alchin 12) Louis and Conrad, with the remnants of their armies, made a joint attack on Damascus, but had to raise the siege after a few days. (Alchin 12) This closed the second crusade. The capture of Jerusalem by Saladin stimulated the third crusade. Having made himself sultan of Egypt, Saladin united the M oslems of Syria under his sway and then advanced against the Latin  Kingdom of Jerusalem. Alchin 14) The Christians met him in a great battle near the lake of Galilee. (Alchin 14) It ended in the rout of their army and the capture of their king. (Alchin 14) Saladin quickly reaped the fruits of victory. (Alchin 14) The Christian cities of Syria opened their gates to him, and at last Jerusalem itself surrendered after a short siege. (Alchin 14) The news of the taking of Jerusalem spread consternation throughout western Christendom. (Alchin 15) The cry for another crusade arose on all sides. (Alchin 15) Once more thousands of men sewed the cross in gold, or silk, or cloth upon their garments and set out for the Holy Land. Alchin 15) When the three greatest rulers of Europe, King Philip Augustus of France, King Richard I of England, and the German emperor, Frederick Barbarossa heard about the catastrophe; they set out, each at the head of a large army, for the recovery of the Holy Cit y of Jerusalem. (Walker 5) Thus the third crusade began. The crusaders of the fourth expedition captured Constantinople instead of Jerusalem. The crusaders took Constantinople by storm. (Alchin 26) No infidels could have been treated in a worse fashion than this home of ancient civilization. Alchin 26) They burned down a great part of it; they slaughtered the inhabitants; they wantonly destroyed monuments, statues, paintings, and manuscripts—the accumulation of a thousand years—and carried away much of the movable wealth. (Alchin 26) Never had there been such plunder since the world began. (Alchin 26) The results of these events played important roles in the Principal Crusades. The effect of the Principal Crusades had historical implications on society. At the recapturing of Jerusalem of the first crusade, a terrible slaughter of the infidels took place. Alchin 7) For seven days the carnage went on, at the end of it, scarcely any of the Moslem faith was left alive. (Al chin 7) The Christians took possession of the houses and property of the infidels, each soldier having a right to that which he had first seized and placed his mark upon. (Alchin 7) All of this was the affect of the first crusade. At the retreating from the siege of Damascus of the second crusade, the strength of both the French and the German division of the expedition was wasted in Asia Minor, and the crusade accomplished nothing. (Alchin 12) Thus was the end of the second Crusade.In the third crusade, although Richard was unsuccessful in recapturing Jerusalem, he did get Saladin to agree to give pilgrims free access to the city without paying tribute. (Cairns 214) After the truce, Richard set sail for England, and with his departure from the Holy Land the third crusade came to an end. (Cairns 214) Thus was the end of the third crusade. Although the crusaders of the fourth crusade had plundered from the sack of Constantinople, it had a negative effect. Constantinople declined in s trength and could no longer cope with the barbarians menacing it. (Alchin 28) Two centuries later the city fell easily to the Turks. Alchin 28) Their greed and lust for power turned the fourth crusade into a political adventure. (Alchin 28) Thus was the ending of the fourth crusade. These were the historical affects of the Principal Crusades. The trigger of the Principal Crusades was from the emulation of key leaders and the stimulation of key events, which both had negative and positive effects on history. The crusades were great military expeditions undertaken by the Christian nations of Europe. There purpose, to take back former Christian nations from pagans and to restore Christianity throughout them. Works CitedAlchin, Linda. â€Å"The Crusades. † Middle Ages. N. S. , 16 July 2006. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. < http://www. middle-ages. org. uk/the-crusades. htm> Buddy. â€Å"A Brief History of the Crusades. † My Discipleship Journal (2010). Print. Cairns, Earl. Christianity through the Centuries: a History of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996. Print. Walker. â€Å"The Crusades. † Theology Website. N. S. , 1997. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. < http://theologywebsite. com/ history/crusades. shtml>. Waring, Diana. Romans, Reformers, and Revolutionaries. Petersburg: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc. , 2008. Print.

High School Stabbing Incident Essay

Murrysville, Pennsylvania (CNN) — A teenage boy wielding two kitchen knives went on a stabbing rampage at his high school in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, early Wednesday, before being tackled by an assistant principal, authorities said. Twenty students and a security officer at Franklin Regional Senior High School were either stabbed or slashed in the attack, Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck told reporters. The accused attacker was been identified as 16-year-old Alex Hribal, according to a criminal complaint made public. Hribal, who was arraigned as an adult, faces four counts of attempted homicide, 21 counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a weapon on school grounds, the documents show. â€Å"I’m not sure he knows what he did, quite frankly,† Hribal’s attorney, Patrick Thomassey, said, adding he would file a motion to move the case to juvenile court. â€Å"†¦ We have to make sure that he understands the nature of the charges and what’s going on here. It’s important that he be examined by a psychiatrist and determined where he is mentally. † A doctor who treated six of the victims, primarily teens, said at first they did not know they had been stabbed. â€Å"They just felt pain and noticed they were bleeding,† Dr. Timothy VanFleet, chief of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, told CNN. â€Å"Almost all of them said they didn’t see anyone coming at them. It apparently was a crowded hallway and they were going about their business, and then just felt pain and started bleeding. † Hribal is accused of using two 8-inch stainless-steel knives in the attack, according to the complaint. He is being held without bail at the Westmoreland County Regional Youth Services Center. ‘Don’t know what I got going down’ The carnage began shortly before the start of classes, when an attacker began stabbing students in a crowded hallway and then went from classroom to classroom. Student Matt DeCesare was outside the school when he heard a fire alarm ring and then saw two students come out of the school covered in blood. Then he saw teachers running into the building and pulling â€Å"a couple of more students out,† he told CNN. The students had been stabbed. To stanch the bleeding, the teachers asked the students for their hoodies. â€Å"We all took our hoodies off and handed them to the teachers to use as tourniquets to stop the bleeding,† he said. Recordings of emergency calls released in the wake of the attack provide a soundtrack of sorts to the terror and chaos that played out inside the school. â€Å"I don’t know what I got going down at school here but I need some units here ASAP,† one officer can be heard saying. Minutes later in another call, another official, breathlessly, can be heard detailing casualties: â€Å"About 14 patients right now. † Then another call for help. â€Å"Be advised inside the school we have multiple stab victims,† one of the officers said. â€Å"So bring in EMS from wherever you can get them. ‘Saw the kid who was stabbing people’ Student Mia Meixner was standing at her locker. â€Å"I heard a big commotion like behind my back,† she told CNN. â€Å"And I turned around and I saw two kids on the ground. † She thought a fight had broken out, but then she saw blood. â€Å"I saw the kid who was stabbing people get up and run away,† she said. Then she saw a girl she knew standing by the cafeteria. â€Å"She was gushing blood down her arm. † Meixner dropped her books and went to help the girl. â€Å"I started hearing a stampede of students coming down from the other end of the hall, saying ‘Get out, we need to leave, go, there’s a kid with a knife. ‘ Then a teacher came over to me and the girl I was trying to help. And she said she would handle the girl and that I should run out. So then I just ran out of the school and tried to get out as soon as possible. † Meixner never heard the attacker utter a word. â€Å"He was very quiet. He just was kind of doing it,† she said. â€Å"And he had this, like, look on his face that he was just crazy and he was just running around just stabbing whoever was in his way. † She said she didn’t know the boy, but he had been in a lot of her classes. â€Å"He kept to himself a lot,† she said. â€Å"He didn’t have that many friends that I know of, but I also don’t know of him getting bullied that much. I actually never heard of him getting bullied. He just was kind of shy and didn’t talk to many people. † Hribal’s attorney described him as a â€Å"nice young man,† who has never been in trouble. â€Å"He’s not a loner. He works well with other kids,† he said. â€Å"†¦ He’s scared. He’s a young kid. He’s 16, looks like he’s 12. I mean, he’s a very young kid and he’s never been in trouble so this is all new to him. † Hribal’s family offered their condolences to everyone involved, Thomassey said. â€Å"They’re very upset. They did not foresee this at all,† he said. Stabbing shatters peace in quiet, upscale community Tackled by an assistant principal Assistant Principal Sam King is being credited with bringing the carnage to an end. King tackled the teen, Peck told reporters. A school resource officer was able to handcuff the suspect, Police Chief Thomas Seefeld said. The accused teen was being treated for injuries to his hands, the chief said. Police Officer William â€Å"Buzz† Yakshe, who also serves as a resource officer at the school, helped subdue the suspect, said Dan Stevens, the county deputy emergency management coordinator. Yakshe is â€Å"doing fine,† Stevens said. â€Å"He’s more upset than anything else over what happened, because these are his kids. † Students stabbed at Pennsylvania school A fire alarm that was pulled during the attack probably helped get more people out of the school during an evacuation order, Seefeld said. Students were running everywhere and there was â€Å"chaos and panic. † At one point, a female student applied pressure to the wounds of one of the male victims, possibly helping to save his life, said Dr. Mark Rubino, chief medical officer at Forbes Regional Hospital in nearby Monroeville, Pennsylvania, where seven teens were taken for treatment. The students who were hurt range in age from 14 to 17, Stevens said. All of the injuries are stabbing-related, such as lacerations or punctures, he said. ‘It doesn’t happen here’ The attack in Murrysville is the latest in a string of school violence that has occurred across the nation. But mass stabbings, such as the one at the high school, are rare. The attack has rattled the town, an upper-middle-class enclave with a population of about 20,000. A message on the Franklin Regional School District’s website said all of its elementary schools were closed after the incident, and â€Å"the middle school and high school students are secure. † Franklin Regional Senior High will be closed â€Å"over the next several days,† district school Superintendent Gennaro Piraino said. The district’s middle school and elementary schools will be open Thursday, and counseling will be available for the whole district, he said. Information on what led to the stabbings and the conditions of the injured are still unfolding. Bill Rehkopf, a KDKA radio host and Franklin Regional High School graduate, called the stabbing shocking. He said he kept thinking, â€Å"It doesn’t happen here, it can’t happen here. â€Å"

The life cycle of a star

In this physics coursework, I have been asked to carry out research of my selection and to develop it. I have selected to research the life cycle of a star, and I would conduct this by gathering the necessary information in a form of a report which explains this in detail. I have chosen to explore this particular topic firstly because I am extremely fascinated in space and the universe and secondly because I do not know much about the life cycle of a star and I deem this will help extend my knowledge. Firstly when carrying out this research before describing the life cycle of a star I need to be familiar of what a star is, and how it is formed What is a star, and how does it form? Stars are basically huge balls of hydrogen gas. Hydrogen is by far the most common element in the Universe, and stars form in clusters when large clouds of hydrogen, which naturally forms a hydrogen ‘molecule' (H+H=H2) with another atom, collapse. The hydrogen clouds collapses very slowly, although they can be speeded up by the effects of a passing star, or the shockwave from a distant supernova explosion. As the cloud collapses, it speeds up its rotation, and pulls more material into the centre, where a denser ball of gas, the ‘proto-star' forms. The proto-star collapses under its own weight, and the collisions between hydrogen molecules inside it generate heat. Eventually the star becomes hot enough for the hydrogen molecules to split apart, and form atoms of hydrogen. The star keeps on collapsing under its own weight, and getting even hotter in the core, until finally it is hot enough there (roughly 10 million degrees) for it to start generating energy, by nuclear fusion – combining hydrogen atoms to form a heavier element, helium. Energy is released from the core, and pushes its way out through the rest of the star, creating an outward pressure which stops the star's collapse. When the energy emerges from the star, it is in the form of light, and the star has begun to shine. A Star is formed from a cloud of gas, mostly hydrogen, and the dust that is initially spread over a huge volume, but which is pulled together by its own collective gravity. This gravitational collapse of the cloud creates a body of large density, and the loss of gravitational potential energy in the process is very large indeed. The result is that the original particles acquire high kinetic energy, so that the collisions between them are very violent. Atoms lose their electrons. Not only has that, collisions taken place in which electrical repulsion of nuclei is no longer strong enough to keep them apart. They can become close enough together for the strong nuclear force to take effect, so that they merge. Fusion takes place, with hydrogen as the principal key material. This begins the process of conversion of mass to energy, and much of the released energy takes the form of photons which begins to stream from the new star. Every star then exists in a state of slowly evolving stability. On the one hand there is the trend for the material to continue to collapse under gravity. On the other hand there is a tendency for the violent thermal activity and the emission of radiation resulting from fusion to blow the material apart. The more bigger star in general, the greater is the gravitational pressure and so the higher rate of energy is released by fusion, therefore bigger stars use up their supply of fusing nuclei more quickly than do smaller stars, such that bigger stars have shorter lives. The enormous luminous energy of the stars comes from nuclear fusion processes in their centres. Depending upon the age and mass of a star, the energy may come from proton fusion, helium fusion, or the carbon cycle. For brief periods near the end of the luminous lifetime of stars, heavier elements up to iron may fuse, but since iron is at the peak of the binding energy curve, the fusion of elements more massive than iron would soak up energy rather than deliver it. This links to the below graph: Fusion in stars makes energy available to create radiation, consuming mass at an amazing rate. The sun, for example loses a mass of 4.5 million tonnes every second. Also, heavier nuclei are formed from smaller ones, so that the compression of a star changes. Concluding this, as the star dies the material dependant on its size is scattered in space. The Hertzsprung – Russell Diagram This simple graph shows ways in which to classify stars. Temperature is plotted on the x-axis. This is related to the colour as cooler stars are redder, hotter stars are bluer. Relative luminosity is plotted on the y-axis. Because of the very wide range of temperatures and stellar luminosities, logarithmic scales are used. The location of an individual star on such a graph lets us establish a loose system of classification. This graph aids us to find out what star has what temperature so we can easily classify it using the relative luminosity and temperature. Here is a diagram of the graph which shows the stars in their classified points showing their rough temperature and luminosity. So how do the changes in the stars take place? Very massive stars experience several stages in their cores. o First hydrogen fuses into helium then helium to carbon creating larger nuclei. Such large stars in later life can have shells or layers with heavier nuclei towards their centres. It is not only the life expectancy of a star that depends on its mass, but also the way which it dies. o Older stars have outer layers in which hydrogen is the fuel for fusion, while the inner layers helium is the fuel, and for massive stars there may be further layers beneath. Most stars, including the sun become red giants after the end of their equilibrium phase. o This process is started by cooling in the inner core, resulting in reduced thermal pressure and radiation pressure and so causing gravitational collapse of the hydrogen shell. But the gravitational collapse provides energy for heating the shell, and so the rate of fusion in the shell increases. This makes the shell expand enormously. o The outermost surface of the star becomes cooler, and its light becomes redder, but the larger surface area means that the stars luminosity increases. o Meanwhile the gravitational collapse affects the core as well, and ultimately the process of fusion of helium in the core cause the outer shell to expand further and thin leaving the hot extremely dense core as a white dwarf. o Slowly this cools and becomes a black dwarf. o For the stars that are several times bigger then the sun, death may be even more dramatic. A core of carbon is created by fusion of helium, and once this core is sufficiently compressed then fusion of the carbon itself takes place. The rapid release of energy makes the star briefly as bright as a galaxy, as bright as 10 billion stars. o The star explodes into a supernova and its material spreads back into the space around. In even larger stars, fusion of carbon can continue more steadily, producing still larger nuclides and ultimately creating iron nuclei. The iron nuclei also experience fusion, but these are different as they are energy consuming meaning they keep it in. The central core of the star collapses under gravity. This increases temperature but cannot now greatly increase the rate of fusion, so collapse continues. Outer layers also collapse around the core, compressing it further. It becomes denser then an atomic nucleus, protons and electrons join together to create neutrons. o Meanwhile, the collapse of the outer layers heats these, increasing the rate of fusion so that suddenly the star explodes as a supernova. This spreads the material of these layers into space, leaving a small hot body behind a neutron star. o Furthermore if this supernova is big enough, its gravity continues to pull the matter towards a single point with a huge gravitational field where not even light can escape from is known as the black hole. Star pictures obtained from Internet http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy Here is an illustration of a star life cycle followed by the theory How long a star lives for and how it dies†¦ How long a star lives and how it dies, depends entirely on how massive it is when it begins. A small star can sustain basic nuclear fusion for billions of years. Our sun, for example, probably can sustain reactions for some 10 billion years. Really big stars have to conduct nuclear fusion at an enormous rate to keep in hydrostatic equilibrium and quickly falter, sometimes as fast as 40,000 years. If the star is about the same mass as the Sun, it will turn into a white dwarf star. If it is somewhat more massive, it may undergo a supernova explosion and leave behind a neutron star. But if the collapsing core of the star is very great at least three times the mass of the Sun nothing can stop the collapse. The star implodes to form an infinite gravitational warp in space, a hole. This is exemplified in a very simple diagram highlighting the consequence of each mass of the stars and what they will revolve into. Normal stars such as the Sun are hot balls of gas millions of kilometres in diameter. The visible surfaces of stars are called the photospheres, and have temperatures ranging from a few thousand to a few tens of thousand degrees Celsius. The outermost layer of a star's atmosphere is called the â€Å"corona†, which means â€Å"crown†. The gas in the coronas of stars has been heated to temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius. Most radiation emitted by stellar coronas is in X-rays because of its high temperature. Studies of X-ray emission from the Sun and other stars are therefore primarily studies of the coronas of these stars. Although the X-radiation from the coronas accounts for only a fraction of a percent of the total energy radiated by the stars, stellar coronas provide us with a cosmic laboratory for finding out how hot gases are produced in nature and how magnetic fields interact with hot gases to produce flares, spectacular explosions that release as much energy as a million hydrogen bombs The Orion Trapezium as observed. The colours represent energy; where blue and white indicate very high energies and therefore extreme temperatures. The size of the X-ray source in the image also reflects its brightness, i.e. more bright sources appear larger in size. The Life Cycle of a star: In Large Stars In hot massive stars, the energy flowing out from the centre of the star is so intense that the outer layers are literally being blown away. Unlike a nova, these stars do not shed their outer layers explosively, but in a strong, steady stellar wind. Shock waves in this wind produce X-rays; from the intensity and distribution with energy of these X-rays, astronomers can estimate the temperature, velocity and density of this wind. Medium sized Stars In medium-sized stars, such as the Sun, the outer layers consist of a rolling, boiling disorder called convection. A familiar example of convection is a sea-breeze. The Sun warms the land more quickly than the water and the warm air rises and cools as it expands. It then sinks and pushes the cool air off the ocean inland to replace the air that has risen, producing a sea-breeze. In the same way, hot gas rises from the central regions of the Sun, cools at the surface and descends again. From Red Giant To supernova Once stars that are 5 times or more massive than our Sun reach the red giant phase, their core temperature increases as carbon atoms are formed from the fusion of helium atoms. Gravity continues to pull carbon atoms together as the temperature increases and additional fusion processes proceed, forming oxygen, nitrogen, and eventually iron. As the shock encounters material in the star's outer layers, the material is heated, fusing to form new elements and radioactive isotopes. While many of the more common elements are made through nuclear fusion in the cores of stars, it takes the unstable conditions of the supernova explosion to form many of the heavier elements. The shock wave propels this material out into space. The material that is exploded away from the star is now known as a supernova remnant. The White Dwarf A star experiences an energy crisis and its core collapses when the star's basic, non-renewable energy source, hydrogen which is used up. A shell of hydrogen on the edge of the collapsed core will be compressed and heated. The nuclear fusion of the hydrogen in the shell will produce a new surge of power that will cause the outer layers of the star to expand until it has a diameter a hundred times its present value. This is called the ‘red giant' phase of a star's existence. There are other possible conditions that allow astronomers to observe X-rays from a white dwarf. These opportunities occur when a white dwarf is capturing matter from a nearby companion star. As captured matter falls onto the surface of the white dwarf, it accelerates and gains energy. This energy goes into heating gas on or just above the surface of the white dwarf to temperatures of several million degrees. The hot gas glows brightly in X-rays. A careful analysis of this process can reveal the mass of the white dwarf, its rate of rotation and the rate at which matter is falling onto it. In some cases, the matter that gathers on the surface can become so hot and dense that nuclear reactions occur. When that happens, the white dwarf suddenly becomes 10,000 times brighter as the explosive outer layers are blown away in what is called a nova outburst. After a month or so, the excitement is over and the cycle begins anew. The Supernova Every 50 years or so, a massive star in our galaxy blows itself apart in a supernova explosion. Supernovas are one of the most violent events in the universe, and the force of the explosion generates a blinding flash of radiation, as well as shock waves analogous to sonic booms. There are two types of supernovas: o Type II, where a massive star explodes o Type I, where a white dwarf collapses because it has pulled too much material from a nearby companion star onto itself. The general picture for a Type II supernova is when the nuclear power source at the centre or core of a star is exhausted, the core collapses. In less than a second, a neutron star (or black hole, if the star is extremely massive) is formed. When matter crashes down on the neutron star, temperatures rise to billions of degrees Celsius. Within hours, a disastrous explosion occurs, and all but the central neutron star is blown away at speeds in excess of 50 million kilometres per hour. A thermonuclear shock wave races through the now expanding stellar debris, fusing lighter elements into heavier ones and producing a brilliant visual outburst that can be as intense as the light of ten billion Suns. The matter thrown off by the explosion flows through the surrounding gas producing shock waves that create a shell of multimillion degrees gas and high energy particles called a supernova remnant. The supernova remnant will produce intense radio and X-radiation for thousands of years. In several young supernova remnants the rapidly rotating neutron star at the centre of the explosion gives off pulsed radiation at X-ray and other wavelengths, and creates a magnetized bubble of high-energy particles whose radiation can dominate the appearance of the remnant for a thousand years or more. Eventually, after rumbling across several thousand light years, the supernova remnant will disperse. The Neutron Stars The nucleus contains more than 99.9 percent of the mass of an atom, yet it has a diameter of only 1/100,000 that of the electron cloud. The electrons themselves take up little space, but the pattern of their orbit defines the size of the atom, which is therefore 99.9% open space. What we perceive as solid when we bump against a rock is really a disorder of electrons moving through empty space so fast that we can't see or feel the emptiness. Such extreme forces occur in nature when the central part of a massive star collapses to form a neutron star. The atoms are crushed completely, and the electrons are jammed inside the protons to form a star composed almost entirely of neutrons. The result is a tiny star that is like a gigantic nucleus and has no empty space. Neutron stars are strange and fascinating objects. They represent an extreme state of matter that physicists are eager to know more about. The intense gravitational field would pull your spacecraft to pieces before it reached the surface. The magnetic fields around neutron stars are also extremely strong. Magnetic forces squeeze the atoms into the shape of cigars. Even if a spacecraft carefully stayed a few thousand miles above the surface neutron star so as to avoid the problems of intense gravitational and magnetic fields, you would still face another potentially fatal hazard. If the neutron star is rotating rapidly, as most young neutron stars are, the strong magnetic fields combined with rapid rotation create an amazing generator that can produce electric potential differences of trillions of volts. Such voltages, which are 30 million times greater than those of lightning bolts, create deadly blizzards of high-energy particles. If a neutron star is in a close orbit around a normal companion star, it can capture matter flowing away from that star. This captured matter will form a disk around the neutron star from which it will spiral down and fall, or accrete, onto the neutron star. The in falling matter will gain an enormous amount of energy as it accelerates. Much of this energy will be radiated away at X-ray energies. The magnetic field of the neutron star can funnel the matter toward the magnetic poles, so that the energy release is concentrated in a column, or spot of hot matter. As the neutron star rotates, the hot region moves into and out of view and produces X-ray pulses. Black Holes When a star runs out of nuclear fuel, it will collapse. If the core, or central region, of the star has a mass that is greater than three Suns, no known nuclear forces can prevent the core from forming a deep gravitational damage in space called a black hole. A black hole does not have a surface in the usual sense of the word. There is simply a region, or boundary, in space around a black hole beyond which we cannot see. This boundary is called the event horizon. Anything that passes beyond the event horizon is doomed to be crushed as it descends ever deeper into the gravitational well of the black hole. No visible light, nor X-rays, nor any other form of electromagnetic radiation, or any particle, no matter how energetic, can escape. The radius of the event horizon (proportional to the mass) is very small, only 30 kilometres for a non-spinning black hole with the mass of 10 Suns.

Business Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Business Report - Essay Example Faster or afterwards all society regardless of culture, language or nationality arrives at the final stage of political and social development. This implies the entire society will be unified to co-exist with harmony, though prior to this they ought to undergo fierce engagement in terms good and evil, which aligns with premises put forth by Karl Marx and Chinese whom they proved through applying them in their lives. Second met account contends societies emerge in terms of following a linear progression to result to a singular end. Societies irrespective of culture or creed ought to progress from original structures whereby respective groups comprise the basic units towards modernized societies, hence prompting atomized people turning sovereign units. Consequently, all these are assumed to be cogent besides their intentions being to vote with the objective coming up with concrete decisions. Due to their rationality once they vote, end up ensuring sound governance besides harmony in their full existence. Eventually, electoral democracies will be the only political system for all countries and people with a free market to make them all rich. Those who endorse democracy with the mission of spreading it all around the world are as good and evil for those who do not hold elections. The effects of socialism in China as by the met narrative is that there was wide spread poverty in the country even in the period where Li was growing up. China was a struggling poor agricultural economy and businesses were doing fairly badly. The people were so poor and his family lived on food stamps and rationed portions of meat. The effects of electoral democracy often accompanied by capitalism are dismal performance of elected governments and civil strife especially in developing countries. China’s organizational system serves as a model for Human Resource Management and development as it is unbiased and efficient. It has divisions into state owned

The Idiosyncratic Volatility Anomaly Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Idiosyncratic Volatility Anomaly - Essay Example Investors look to these corporate-level indicators when determining the most viable security purchase that will facilitate effective returns and minimize risk of volatility. The IVOL comes into play when a specific security does not conform to known economic models that illustrate either inverse relationships to tangible corporate level characteristics or direct relationships to known securities in a comparable category. Various factor-model equations have been developed to establish the expected rate of return of a security, utilising complex variables such as known excess stock returns, known sensitivities to volatility risk, and certain conditional market means (averages). Consider the complexity of one such factor-model calculation to determine expected security return: Exhibit 1: Factor-Model Calculation to Determine Expected Aggregate Returns Source: Ang, et al. (2006). The cross-section of volatility and expected returns. The interchangeable variables within similar equation m odelling dictate no elongated explanation of the complexity of this scientific approach to aggregate security returns. However, such models that determine not only future stock returns, but also volatility risk with a specific security or basket of securities in comparable industries, are designed to facilitate more effective and profitable security investment. The idiosyncratic volatility anomaly is an acknowledgement that not all common stock securities will produce returns that follow a logical model of analysis and computation based on known historical patterns of return and volatility. Various models for determining aggregate returns, based on corporate-level dynamics or market risks (among other criteria), should produce consistent stock returns that are in-line with mathematical expectations. The tangible market returns of a security will, at times, illustrate a direct relationship with such modelling that serves to justify these scientific methods of analyses. During other m arket conditions, such returns conflict these models designed to facilitate a more shrewd investment with no legitimate explanation as to why low returns occurred with the security. These are the dynamics of the idiosyncratic volatility anomaly: predictable corporate level characteristics and valuations of a firm, the known statistical significance of the model used to identify expected aggregate returns, and linear examination of historical stock trends should all serve to justify the long-term return of a security. What actually occurs in the stock market is a confliction of these predictive models, often with no concrete explanation for why the security became exposed to higher volatility, price shock, or variable returns. The IVOL is highly pervasive in domestic and global stock markets with many researchers seeking solutions for the recurring prevalence of this anomaly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Eurasian nations (Chen, et al. 2012; Savickas and Zhao, 2012; Be rrada and Hugonnier, 2009; Jiang, et al. 2007). Berrada and Hugonnier (2009) identify this routine irregularity citing disparities between the idiosyncratic volatility factor with a direct relationship to stock returns in the U.S., and Ang, et.al (2006) confirming this factor tends to hold true in other nations. The dynamics of what genuinely causes the IVOL prevalence is uncertain, as no singular method of determining its catalysts has yet been determined. However, there is speculation that it can be related to

Malcolm X Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Malcolm X - Essay Example A. Emotional/mental trauma The film portrays the emotional/mental trauma felt by Malcolm "Detroit Red" Little (later known as Malcolm X) in his personal life. One can easily identify that the grass root level reason behind his earlier life as criminal was the problems in his personal life. One can see that untimely death of his father affected his development as a child. Besides, his mother’s status as a single parent eventually led to metal illness and its after-effects. So, emotional/mental trauma felt by Malcolm is the integral part of the film. B. Crime Crime is not the main theme of the film because the film aims to unveil Malcolm’s transformation from a criminal to a religious reformer and a leader. But Malcolm’s earlier life was interconnected with crime and incarceration. So, the director did not neglect Malcolm’s earlier life as a criminal. Reynolds points out that â€Å"The film moves back and forth in time, showing how the brutality affecting M alcolm’s family history is internalized through his transformation into â€Å"Red† the gangster† (64). To be specific, economic problems forced him to lead the life of a criminal. For instance, in the film, Malcolm and his friend conducted a robbery, which ultimately led them towards incarceration. C. Racism The director makes use of an indirect way to introduce the theme of racism in the film. Malcolm’s life in the prison, especially his friend’s influence, is significant in educating him on racism. But Baines (Malcolm’s friend) utilizes the chance to attract him towards Islamic faith, not to fight against racism and related issues. In the end, Malcolm was ready to change his views on racism because religious conversion did not help him to solve his problems. D. Religious perspective Malcolm’s transformation from a criminal to a religious leader did not help him much to reform his community. To be specific, his transformation as the m ember of the Nation of Islam and the follower of Elijah Muhammad limited his scope as a social reformer. For instance, his views on racism were influenced by Islamic ideology. In the film, his increased influence among the members of the Nation of Islam forced Elijah Muhammad to turn against him in the end. Character sketches Malcolm X, Betty X, Baines and Elijah Muhammad are the most important characters in the film. A. Malcolm X (Denzel Washington): Malcolm X is the protagonist of the film and almost all the characters revolve around this character. Besides, the protagonist’s transformation from a criminal to a religious/ social reformer is the most important factor behind the development of the plot. Lee provides ample importance to the character of Malcolm because this character represents the historical development of religious/ social reformation in the mainstream society. B. Betty X (Angela Bassett  ) In the film, Betty X is Malcolm X’s wife. But she does not have any particular influence upon her husband. Her role in the film is overshadowed by Malcolm’s character. From a different angle of view, Malcolm’s wife is entrapped within her domestic domain. Within this context, her role was to look after her children, not to influence her husband. In some situations, she acted the role of a medium for Malcolm to communicate with his followers. For instance, when he was in Mecca, he used his wife as a

Ebola virus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Ebola virus - Essay Example Nevertheless, the recent outbreaks have involved major towns and rural areas mostly in various parts of West Africa according to CDC (2014). Conversely, the EVD background can be traced back in the 1976 simultaneously in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as an acute and fatal illness if untreated. However, the countries that have been severely affected are those with weak health systems and inadequate human and infrastructural resources according to Feldmann & Feldmann (2013). However, since the Ebola Virus Disease transmission, symptoms and prevention and control is of international public health emergency concern according to the World Health Organization (WHO) community engagement and early supportive care are the most central points of controlling the Ebola outbreaks. It is worth understanding that, no licensed Ebola vaccines have been recently been registered, but potential clinical candidates are undergoing examination and evaluation (Filippone, 2013). Analysis presented in this paper is helpful in understanding the background, the causative agent of classification, structure, replication, as well as transmission. The paper uncovers the epidemiological statistics of Ebola virus diseases in relation to the clinical manifestation, preference and the laboratory strategies used in the disease identification according to Roddy et al. (2012). Similarly, the paper demonstrate realistically the preventive and treatment measures are exploiting the past, current and the future outlook of the Ebola Virus Disease. Lastly a conclusion and recommendation is given illustrating various adaptive mechanisms that can be done to in the epidemic-prone area to be successful prepared in handling the EVD and communication before it can widely spread (Lister, 2014). Ebola virus as the causative agent for the Ebola Virus Disease

Animal Testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Animal Testing - Essay Example Animal testing has also contributed to understanding how to treat malaria, Leukemia, and other major diseases that eliminated a very high number of human populations in the past. The animal is the best research subjects because they share similar characteristics with human beings. For instance, Chimpanzees has 99% DNA similarity with humans (Hayhurst, 2000). In addition, mice are almost genetically similar to human beings. Due to these similarities, they are susceptible to the same diseases that affect human beings. There are very many ethical considerations that might be observed when using human subjects. This is mainly when testing medicines that are of high toxin levels. In such cases, the lives of human beings should not be put in any form of danger (Watson, 2009). Therefore, the test of human beings should be preceded by that of human beings.Animals have also benefited immensely in the testing. Many deadly diseases such as rabies, tetanus, anthrax, etc could not have been contr olled if animal testing was not conducted. Moreover, more animals could have been swept off by the diseases and become extinct. As a result, the testing has major benefits on animal species (Watson, 2009). Animals used for testing have a shorter lifespan than human beings. For instance, a mouse has a lifespan of two to three years (Hayhurst, 2000). Therefore, while testing a medicine that affects a whole lifespan of a human being, it’s easier to get quick results when using animals rather than human beings.

Compare and contrast A Fistful and Dollars(1964) and Shane(1953) in Essay

Compare and contrast A Fistful and Dollars(1964) and Shane(1953) in both stylistic and thematic terms - Essay Example ovie, two rival families, which include the family of Rojo Brothers and the family of John Baxter, battle against each other not only to show superiority but also to express the feelings of pride, greed, and revenge to each other. In this movie, the stranger wants to make both parties fight against each other. The stranger, though comes to the town to earn money by making the two rival families fight against each other, yet he proves himself to be a good man as he frees Marisol from the prison and makes her leave the town along with her husband and her son. He not only provides them with the way to leave the town but also gives some money to them in order to tide them over. â€Å"Clint Eastwood redefined the notion of a hero in this film, a man who seems to operate by a code but doesnt feel the need to explain it† (Fairbanks, 2003). I think that the atmosphere of this movie is much more interesting and attractive as compared to the main story of this movie. The unexpected camera angles and the close-ups add to the great atmosphere of the film. The way the actors performed in this movie is excellent. They never make the audience feel tired of something. The movie keeps the attention of the audience intact and does not make the audience lose their concentration. I think the scenes of this movie have more appeal as compared to the story. Leone’s filmmaking style is a very innovative one and it is really a fun to watch on the screen. Leone is very expert in creating complex characters for his films and the character of the stranger in A Fistful of Dollars is one of them. The sound of gunfights and the suspense in the scenes are two of the basic elements of the film. â€Å"The strengths of A Fistful of Dollars relate to style, not storyline† (Berardinelli, 1999). A Fistful of Dollars is just a 100 minutes film which is a very short duration as compared to Leone’s other films which include The Bad and The Ugly and The Good. In A Fistful of Dollars, a very simple plot

International Tax Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Tax - Assignment Example Since the jurisdiction for tax imposition in many cases is based on the residence status, the residents and non-residents distinction is of much importance (capitaltaxconsulting.com, 2011) 2. It should be noted that OECD model treat Article 4(1) of the OECD, gives a definition of a Contracting State resident as a person who is â€Å"liable to tax therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management, or any other criterion of a similar nature.† Article 4(1) further provides that a resident is not inclusive of any person who has a tax liability only in respect of income from sources in the country. This definition of a resident may seem straightforward; however, it raises a number of difficult issues. What does â€Å"liable to tax† mean? Is a person who is exempt from tax, such as a charity or a government, liable to tax? Is a person who does not pay any tax because of loss carryovers or deductions liable to tax? Are citizenship and place of incorporation cri teria of a similar nature? Liable to tax means the aggregate amount any given person is legally obliged to make payment of to the relevant authority due to a taxable event’s occurrence. Exempt persons may involve in a taxable event and thus at some point may become liable to tax (For instance; an instance where a government institution is supposed to withhold and remit taxes). A person having deductions or losses or may have a tax liability as long as taxable event is the ending result or a net claim on assets, for example net income. (investopedia.com, 2011) What determines whether a citizen is either a resident or a non-resident are the circumstances like domicile while a company’s incorporation makes it automatically a resident in many states (oecd.org, 2003) 3. Assume that Country A and Country B both define a resident as an individual who is present in the country for at least 183 days. Is it possible for an individual to be a resident of both Country A and Countr y B under this test? It is possible in a leap year. The countries are to further find a solution to the issue of residence like nationality to avoid taking the individual as a resident of both nations. (oecd.org, 2003) 4. What are the â€Å"Facts and circumstance† strengths and weaknesses test of residence? Under the test, Is it possible for an individual to be resident in two countries? In more than two countries? The outstanding strength that can be associated with the test of residence on â€Å"facts and circumstances† is that of giving a consistent way of determining whether an individual or a company is to be considered resident or not for the purposes tax imposition. The weaknesses attributable to this method of residence determination is that, given country’s test may be different from another and this kills uniformity in determining tax liabilities. A good example is that of Australia where for a person to be resident, they have to spend above average of their time in the state in the year of income while in Japan, they depend mostly upon the domicile or residence that is maintained for one or more years. (treasury.gov.au, 2011) In rare situations an individual can be resident in two or more countries like where they point out the person should be in the country for 183 days or more and it is in a leap year of income like in Canada and Ireland. (treasury.gov.au, 2011) 5. In a country using facts and circumsta

Liberal Studies Essay Example for Free

Liberal Studies Essay How do economic prosperity and rule of law depend on each other? It is doubtless that economic prosperity and rule of law are indivisible. And to answer how they depend on each other, stating the definition of ‘economic prosperity’ and ‘rule of law’ is inevitable. ‘Economic prosperity’ means that overall, the economy is doing well and most people have sufficient income for essentials and perhaps a little extra. It means that businesses are hiring and jobs are relatively easy to get. However, it does not mean that everyone has a job or that everyone is well off. On the other hand, the ‘rule of law’ means that the law should govern by limiting all conduct and behavior of all people and organizations in the society. Economic prosperity depends on the rule of law. One of the major functions of the rule of law is maintaining social stability. It is a well-known fact that investors and business men tend to invest their money on a stable, peaceful and well-ordered society. The reason is that in a more stable place, with fewer disputes and a well-established legal system, their money will be safer. This enhances economic prosperity. Moreover, in the Basic Law, it is clearly stated that people hold the right of private ownership of property, which means that the efforts of their work and the fruits of production are enjoyed exclusively by themselves. Hence, people are encouraged to work harder for their own benefits and create wealth. This promotes sustained economic growth and long-term prosperity. Also, even before the unification, Hong Kong has always been a famous free port in the world. In accordance to the Basic Law, Hong Kong shall take the low tax policy previously pursued in Hong Kong as reference to enact laws on its own concerning types of taxes, tax rates, tax reductions, allowances and exemptions, and other matters of taxation. Thus, the Hong Kong government does not set trade barriers such as customs tariff and quota on most imported and exported goods. Since no trade barriers are set, more products will flow in Hong Kong and consumers can choose from greater varieties of products. In addition, cons umers can buy products of higher quality but with lower prices. This stimulates consumption, which hopefully leads to an economic growth. In short, the free trade policy has contributed a lot to the overall economic development of Hong Kong. Likewise, the rule of law deals with corruptions. Under the principle of the rule of law, the law is above everything, even the government. Corruption and cronyism discourage domestic and foreign investment. The rule of law eradicates these problems and protects the economy. Simultaneously, the rule of law also depends on economic prosperity. How so? When the economy is prosperous, as stated above, most people have adequate income for daily necessities and perhaps, a little extra. Generally, businesses are hiring and jobs are relatively easy to get. In that case, people have less complains about the government and the society is likely to be more stable. In simpler words, economic prosperity stabilizes the society. Furthermore, when the economy is doing well, hopefully people is going to have more disposable income for consumption, investments etc. So, a prosperous economy will create demand for more protection of property rights, and rule of law. Maintaining the supremacy of the judicial and the rule of law requires resources. A well-doing economy provides more resources for the judiciary to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of legal institutions, including supporting the introduction of modern facilities, case management practices, information sharing, training of judges and other court personnel, and stronger mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability. This further ensures that the court and the law are supreme. The rule of law is secured in consequence. In my opinion, the degree of dependence of economic prosperity on the rule of law is way more than that of the rule of law on economic prosperity. Nevertheless, it is not the main focus of the question, which casts doubt on how the two depend on each other, but not the extent. In conclusion, it is apparent that economic prosperity and rule of law depend on each other a lot. Without the rule of law, firstly, people do not have the right of private ownership of property, which obviously is going to cause many disputes in the community since the result of the hard work of individuals may be taken away from them. Secondly, the free trade policy of Hong Kong since the reign of the British Empire may also lose, which will severely affect the overall economic well-being of Hong Kong consequently. Thirdly, the rule of law eradicates corruptions and relevant activities which deteriorate the economy. From these, we can see how economic prosperity depends on the rule of law. A place could never achieve a prosperous economy if there is no rule of law. In a similar way, without a prosperous economy, the rule of law would definitely not be in good state too. First, the society is going to be more stable as citizens hold less complains about the government. Second, since generally the economy is doing well, it is doubtless that people will have more disposable income thus promote consumption and other business activities, eventually stimulating the economy. Plus, to maintain and secure both judicial supremacy and the rule of law requires resources. Economic prosperity provides those resources to the judiciary. No wonder why people said the rule of law relies on economic prosperity. Last but not least, economic prosperity depends on the rule of law, and vice versa. To have the two is the key to a successful country, where economic development and democracy is balanced.

The Global Hunt for Edward Snowden Essay Example for Free

The Global Hunt for Edward Snowden Essay The wild flight of the fugitive leaker — from Hong Kong to the transit area of Moscow’s Sherymetyvo Airport, and perhaps on to Ecuador — has turned into a public humiliation for the White House. U.S. officials publicly threatened â€Å"consequences† if Snowden wasn’t returned, only to be openly rebuffed by Chinese officials and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. This made embarrassingly clear how little leverage President Obama has in Moscow or Beijing (and how much wiser it would have been to request Snowden’s return in private). Most disturbing, the Snowden affair has enabled some of the world’s worst human rights offenders to portray themselves as champions of freedom by defending Snowden while denouncing America as a massive violator of rights. China’s Xinhua news agency branded the United States as â€Å"the biggest (cyber) villain in our age.† Russian parliamentarians did likewise. You might think that such self-righteous claims would be dismissed as political posturing. Yet in today’s world, with America’s image sullied by Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and by our paralyzed politics, these charges can find a receptive audience, not only abroad but at home. So let’s look at the records of the countries that are offering Snowden the greatest support. For starters, there is something bizarre about the list. While Snowden claims to be defending personal freedoms, he has sought shelter from egregious violators of human rights, including China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Whatever his motives, this lends an air of hypocrisy to his claims. He took refuge in Hong Kong, which is part of China, whose leaders control the country’s Internet portals, block content and monitor individual access. The Chinese censor print and electronic media and have â€Å"the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world,† according to Amnesty International. Chinese government hackers have conducted massive commercial and military espionage in the United States (and presumably elsewhere) and even breached Google’s computers. Beijing is obviously delighted that it can fend off U.S. complaints by claiming America does likewise. Such charges are bogus — and they know it. Whatever your opinion about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, the fact is that Congress OK’d them and set up special courts to monitor them. The U.S. public can debate whether the controls should be tightened, and demand change. In China, no Congress or courts govern surveillance nor can Chinese citizens oppose it. Government hackers break into the software of international companies such as Apple to steal industrial secrets — on a massive scale. As Obama noted, that’s not normal intelligence gathering; â€Å"that’s theft.† Then there’s Russia, where the state controls all major newspapers and national TV networks, which are still the major news source for the bulk of the population. Journalists are beaten up or murdered, and the perpetrators, conveniently, are never found. Political dissenters are cowed, arrested, or driven into exile. So when Putin praises Snowden as a â€Å"human rights activist† who â€Å"struggles for freedom of information,† it’s hard not to gag. Any Russian who did similarly would wind up in the gulag or worse. Snowden’s final destination — possibly Ecuador via Venezuela — is equally odd for a defender of freedom. As pointed out by Bill Sweeney, editorial director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Venezuela has shut down independent broadcasters via a system of politicized regulations. As for Ecuador, its populist president, Rafael Correa, has criminalized reporting that is critical of his government — and prosecuted journalists who attempt it. That brings us to the heart of the matter. Snowden’s saviors have seized a delicious opportunity to deflect U.S. criticism of their own cyberattacks and rights violations by branding the United States as the real sinner. Dogged by images from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, Washington has become an easy target. Even some allies have tired of America’s human rights demands (which are readily ignored when strategic concerns trump them, as in Syria). So, critics of American hubris may cheer when Putin praises Snowden — or when the People’s Daily proclaims that Snowden â€Å"tore off Washington’s sanctimonious mask.† It’s necessary to remind them: The countries helping Snowden aren’t doing so because they dislike spying. On the contrary. They don’t want limits on their own surveillance, just on ours.

Analysis of Section 14, Hindu Succession Act, 1956

Analysis of Section 14, Hindu Succession Act, 1956 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Section 14 talks about property possessed by a Hindu female to be her absolute property, whether acquired before of after the commencement of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. She will hold the property as an absolute, full owner and not as a limited owner. The section empowers the Hindu female to exercise her rights over her property in an absolute manner. Section 14 is the most significant provision in the Hindu Succession Act. METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT The methodology is doctrinal. The sources used in this project are secondary sources in form of books. Primary sources are the case laws. In this project, we have discussed the object and scope of section 14. The position when alienation is done by a woman who is a limited owner and re-conveyance of the property to the limited owner by the alienee of the property alienated by her before the commencement of this Act, have also been discussed. The project is concluded spelling out the impact of section 14 on Stridhana. INTRODUCTION Prior to 1956, two kinds of properties were recognized by Hindu texts and writings with respect to women – Stridhana and non-Stridhana properties. Stridhana Property It occupies a prominent place in the Sanskrit law books that had been written in ancient India. Etymologically, Stridhana means female’s property. It includes gifts given to her at the time of marriage. On the subject of ownership of Sridhana property, a number of views existed. Doctrinal Diversity existed on the subject and these divergent outlooks only added to the difficulties surrounding the meaning of the term. The result was that, a term not difficult to understand in its etymological sense came to be understood in a narrow and limited connotation.[1] Stridhana is the property over which a woman has absolute right. A Stridhana property has two important characteristics- She could dispose it off as per her sweet will in whatsoever manner; Its her exclusive and absolute property and would devolve upon her heir. By virtue of Stridhana she would be a fresh stock of descent and her property will not go back to the reversioners. Non – Stridhana Property The woman at her wish could not dispose off this property. It could not go to her heirs at her death but would go back to the reversioners. This property is called woman’s estate or a widow’s estate. Under the classical law, non-Stridhana property was property acquired by her in any way. But Stridhana property was in form of gifts at the time of her wedding. With respect to woman’s estate, she was not a fresh stock of descent. She had limited interests. Though she could enjoy the property during her lifetime, she had limited rights over it. She could not alienate the property at her own sweet will nor could dispose it off. It is a limited estate. When the woman’s limited estate expires upon her death it would revert back to the reversioners that were the heirs of the last male holder of the property. In her lifetime, she had an ownership, title and interest in the property but it was limited. So, absolute rights lacked. Limited estate entails two limitations: No alienation or disposal of the property at woman’s own discretion; No creation of fresh stock of descent. Under very special circumstances, a woman could alienate her limited estate: Legal necessity (that is, for her own need and for the need of the dependants of the last owner); For the benefit of estate, and; For the discharge of indispensable duties (such as marriage of daughters, funeral rites of her husband, his shradha and gifts to brahmans for the salvation of his soul, etc.) Hindu women have always suffered with respect to property rights. She had an absolute right over the Stridhana but with respect to non-Stridhana property her interests were not absolute in nature. Though she had maintenance rights; recognized by law as moral, spiritual, legal and absolute right, but not beyond that. Section 14 brought about revolutionary changes in the law of succession with regard to Hindu females. Section 14 has converted existing woman’s estates into full estates. SECTION 14 Property of a female Hindu to be her absolute property. Any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be held by her as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner. Explanation: In this sub-section, â€Å"property† includes both movable and immovable property acquired by a female Hindu by inheritance or devise, or at a partition, or in lieu of maintenance or arrears of maintenance, or by gift from any person, whether a relative or not, before, at or after her marriage, or by her own skill or exertion, or by purchase or by prescription, or in any other manner whatsoever, and also any such property held by her as Stridhana immediately before the commencement of this Act. Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall apply to any property acquired by way of gift or under a will or any other instrument or under a decree or order of a civil court or under an award where the terms of the gift, will or other instrument or the decree, order or award prescribe a restricted estate in such property. SCOPE AND AMBIT Section 14(1) is partly prospective and partly retrospective. Prospective operation is that limited interest enlarges only in 1956 and after it. With respect to acquisition of property, there is retrospective operation. â€Å"Any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be held by her as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner.† The rule laid down under section 14(1) has a wide and extensive application and has to be read in a comprehensive manner. If a woman had a limited interest in any estate, as soon as this Act comes into force, the limited estate enlarges to absolute interest. She has full ownership of property acquired before or after 1956. Section 14(1) is an enabling clause; limited estate converts into absolute one. The object of sub-section (2) of section 14 is to make it clear that restricted estate can even after commencement of Act come into existence in case of interest of property given to a female Hindu, by operation of transaction inter vivos, by testamentary disposition, by decree or order of civil court under an award. Any such restricted estate created prior to the commencement of the Act will not be enlarged into full ownership by operation of sub-section (1) if the gift, will, other instrument, decree, order or award had prescribed a restricted estate. It has been held by Supreme Court that this sub-s (2) must be read only as a proviso or exception to sub-s (1).[2] â€Å"POSSESSION† Under Section 14, possession implies a lawful and legal possession or title or ownership. Hence, possession here implies ownership or title. There is the widest possible interpretation to this term. In 1956, this Act came into force and irrespective of whether she had actual possession or not, he rights were absolute. In 1959, in the case Gummalapura Kothuruswami v. Setra Veeravva[3], the word possession was interpreted. Court said here that â€Å"possession in section 14 is used in a broad sense†¦possession may be actual or constructive†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In 2002, in the case Muthuswami v. Angamal, distinction between legal and actual possession was laid down. Under Section 14(1), it is the legal possession that is important. It is not the possession in its narrow sense but the broadest. There must be a legal possession though there is not any actual possession. Under Section 14 (1) possession must be lawful and legal. Where a woman has lost possession of property before commencement of Hindu Succession Act, 1956, she is not entitled to avail benefits of Section 14(1). ALIENATION OF THE LIMITED ESTATE BY THE LIMITED OWNER BEFORE COMMENCEMENT OF ACT Before 1956, A Hindu female had a limited estate. There was no alienation at her sweet will. Where a Hindu woman makes an unauthorized alienation before 1956, she loses possession over that property, she is not entitled to benefits of Section 14(1). The alienee, even he or she cannot avail Section 14(1). Now the possession of property does not allow alienee to avail this subsection. To avail benefits of Section 14(1), the possession must be a legal possession. The alienee here cannot avail provision of Section 14 because it was the widow who made the alienation. Purpose of section 14 is to ameliorate the position of widow and not the alienee. Both the woman and the alienee are devoid of the benefit of s.14 (1) and the third party, i.e. the reversioners will be benefited. Where alienation is unauthorized reversioners can always challenge. There was a prospective abolition of reversioners after 1956. But reversioners do exist after 1956. On the death of the female owner the estate reverts to the heir or the heirs of the last owner as if the latter died when the limited estate ceased. Such heirs may be male or female known as reversioners. So long as the estate endures there are no reversioners though there is always a presumptive reversioner who has only a spes successionis in the lifetime of the widow. It is their vested interest. The property of the female devolves on the reversioners only when her estate terminates on her death. REMEDIES WITH THE REVERSIONERS They can file a suit in the court for a ‘declaratory decree’ under which the reversionary rights are protected. So despite unauthorized alienation, their reversionary rights are secure. They can demand from the court during the lifetime of the widow, that estate of the widow must be protected from damage or waste. But reversioners cannot bring any injunction to refrain a widow from making an unauthorized alienation. When a Hindu widow makes an unauthorized alienation, it is binding upon her and not on the reversioners. Estate is in favour of the widow or the alienor; it is binding upon her. Now alienee is entitled to all the rights which alienor was enjoying by alienation. But alienee gets a limited title. After unauthorized alienation, the limited estate has passed to the alienee – who has a limited interest in it. Because a Hindu woman cannot convey a better title than what she had, the alienee will also have a limited interest in the estate. When the alienor dies, i.e. the widow, the role of reversioners accrues. In the case of Kalawati Bai v. Soirya Bai [4], a Hindu female had inherited property from her husband by way of gift. In 1954, she gifted entire property to one of her two daughters. In 1968, the Hindu widow died and donee daughter, in whose favour the gift was made, took possession of the property. The second daughter objected this possession arguing that alienation was an unauthorized alienation. Since, the alienation itself is unauthorized, donee daughter does not have any right to possess the property. It was held that the other daughter would get half of the share from the entire property. After the death of the widow, the property goes back to reversioners, i.e. the heirs of the last male holder of the property. After widow’s death it will be presumed that her husband had died too. Since in 1968, the Act came into force; the two daughters will get equal half shares. RECONVEYANCE TO THE LIMITED OWNER BY THE ALIENEE OF THE PROPERTY, ALIENATED BY HER BEFORE THE ACT CAME INTO FORCE A rather unusual situation arises where an alienee from a limited owner, for instance a widow, re-conveys the property to the widow in consequence of a challenge by the reversioners or after reversioners obtain the decree declaring that the alienation would not bind the reversioners after the death of the widow.[5] The view has been taken that the widow would become the absolute owner of the property by operation of this section even though re-conveyance might have taken place after the Act came into operation.[6] In the case of Daya Singh v. Dhan kaur [7], A Hindu male died in 1933 and his widow inherited his property as a limited owner. After two months she gifted this limited estate of hers to her daughter Dhan Kaur. Daya singh, who was the brother of the deceased male, objected to the alienation made by the widow and filed a suit in the court. The suit was decreed in his favour. In the mean time, Act of 1956 was passed and the property got re-conveyed back to the widow. She then again made a second gift to Dhan Kaur. The widow died in 1963. The reversioners wanted to exercise their rights and challenged the validity of the second gift. Their contention was that the widow has already lost possession of the limited estate before 1956 while making first gift. But the court rejected the contention. It was held that reversioners in the lifetime of the widow have a mere right to succeed. Post 1956, when same property was re-conveyed back to the widow, it cures the defect in it and she becomes a full and absolute owner of the property. Her limited estate enlarges into a full estate. She then has every right to alienate it. OBSERVATION Absolute power of alienation was not regarded, in case of a female owner, as a necessary association to the right to hold and enjoy property and it was only in case of property acquired by her from particular sources that she had full dominion over it. The restriction imposed upon proprietary rights of a woman by Hindu Law depended on her status as a maiden, as a married woman and as a widow. They also depended on the source and nature of the property. The Act overrides the old law on the subject of Stridhana in respect of all property possessed by a female, whether acquired by her before or after the commencement of the Act and this section declares that all such property shall be held by her as the full owner. The Act confers full heritable capacity on the female heir and this section dispenses with the traditional limitations on the powers of a female Hindu to hold and transmit property. In Erumma v. Veeruppana[8], the Supreme Court examined the ambit and object of this section and observed: â€Å"The property possessed by a female Hindu, as contemplated in the section, is clearly property to which she has acquired some kind of title, whether before or after the commencement of the Act. It may be noticed that the Explanation to s. 14(1) sets outs the various modes of acquisition of the property by a female Hindu and indicates that the section applies only to the property to which female Hindu has acquired some kind of title, however restricted the nature of her interest may be. The words ‘as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner’ in the last portion of sub-section (1) of the section clearly suggest that the legislature intended that the limited ownership. In other words ownership of a Hindu female should be changed into a full ownership. In other words, s. 14(1) of the act contemplates that a Hindu female, who, in the absence of this provision, would have been limited owner of the property, will now become full owner of the same by virtue of this se ction. The object of this section is to extinguish the estate called â€Å"limited estate’ or ‘widow’s estate’ in Hindu Law and to make a Hindu woman, who under the old law would have been only a limited owner, a full owner of the property with all the powers of disposition and to make the estate heritable by her own heirs and not revertible to the heirs of the last male holder†¦. It does not in any way confer a title on the female Hindu where she did not in face possess any vestige or title.† The trend of more recent decisions of the Supreme Court has been to lay stress on the Explanation to sub-section (1). In one such decision, the Supreme Court adopted the approach of giving ‘a most expansive interpretation’ to the sub-section with a view to advance the social purpose of the legislation, which is to bring about a change in the social and economic position of women.[9] CONCLUSION The effect of the rule laid down in this section is to abrogate the rigid provisions against the proprietary rights of females and to recognize her status as the independent and absolute owner of the property. Section 14 is acting as a piece of social legislation promoting gender justice and equality between Hindu males and females. It is a revolutionary provision. Section 14 abolishes various kinds of Stridhana and property of every kind possessed by a Hindu female howsoever acquired and whether once acquired becomes now her absolute property. She will hold the property as an absolute, full owner and not as a limited owner. The section empowers the Hindu female to exercise her rights over her property in an absolute manner. The limited estate has been abolished and has been enlarged into the status of a full estate. Now the estate after a widow’s death goes to her heirs and not to the heirs of the last male holder of the estate. Section 14 is thus the most significant provision in the Hindu Succession Act. REFERENCES Books: Mayne’s Treatise on Hindu Law and Usage, 15th Ed., Bharat Lawhouse, 2006 Mitra, S.K., Mitra on Hindu Law, 2nd Ed., Orient Publishing Company, 2006 Desai, S.A., Mulla’s Hindu Law, Vol. 2, 19th Ed., LexisNexis Butterworths, 2006 Paras Diwan, â€Å"Family Law†, Allahabad Law Agency, Faridabad, (7th Edn., 2005). Mulla, â€Å"Principle of Hindu Law† Vol.II, in S.A. Desai Ed., Lexis Nexis Butterwoths, New Delhi, (19th Edn., 2005). Werner F. Menski, â€Å"Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity†, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2003 Dr U.P.D. Kesari, â€Å"Modern Hindu Law†, Central Law Publications, 5th Edition 2006 Dr. N Maheswara Swamy, Hindu Law, ALT Publications, Hyderabad, 2011 A.C.Gupte, Hindu Law, Premier Publishing Company, Kolkata, 2005 S.A.Kader, Hindu Succession Act 1956, Eastern Law House, new Delhi, 2006 Legislations: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 1 Section 14, Hindu Succession Act, 1956 | [1] Mulla, Hindu Law, Vol.2, 19th Ed., LexisNexis Butterworths, 2005, P.378 [2] Supra 1 [3] AIR 1959 SC 577 [4] AIR 1991 SC 1581 [5] Mulla, Hindu Law, Vol.2, 19th Ed., LexisNexis Butterworths, 2005, P.383 [6] Jagat Singh v. Teja Singh, AIR 1970 PH 309 (FB) [7] AIR 1974 SC 665 [8] AIR 1966 SC 1879 [9] Vaddeboyina Tulsamma v. Seshi Reddy, AIR 1997 SC 1944

Ebonics :: essays research papers fc

EBONICS Ebonics, also known as Black English, is a nonstandard dialect spoken in many homes in the inner cities of America. This nonstandard language is often looked upon as low-class or lazy talk. This is not the case, however. Due to consistencies found in the dialect, there seems to be an order. It has been found that, when learning English, African-Americans adapted the language using some of the structure and rules of their own native tongue. This Black English has carried on through slavery and then freedom for hundreds of years. Although there is a coexistence of more than two dialects in our society, those in power forget the flexibility of our language and see no other way than the use of Standard English. Although many Americans tend to scorn any careless variation of the Standard English, flexibility of the language is, perhaps, a main reason for its survival. In 1905, a Danish scholar and great authority on English, Otto Jespersen, wrote: English is like an English park, which is laid out seemingly without any definite plan, and which you are allowed to walk everywhere according to your own fancy without having a fear a stern keeper enforcing rigorous regulations. (MacNeil 141) This freedom has created the English we speak today. Although a little behind the times, Oxford changes the rules as to what is correct English due to what is being spoken. In English Belongs to Everybody, Robert MacNeil, feels that English has prospered and grown because it was able to accept and absorb change (140). So change in the English language helps it grow, yet the dialect of the inner city blacks in our country is looked upon as a problem. To those in charge, there is no more room for growth. It is apparent that there are many types of dialect within American English. The coexisting of two or more languages, either serving together in the same area or servicing different areas, is as old as language itself (Pei 106). This has happened throughout time and appears to be inevitable. It is impossible to believe an entire country could conform to one language, and then only one dialect of that language. Throughout history societies have survived for some time using different languages until these language barriers tore territories apart. It is apparent how, in America, barriers between dialects separate black men from white men even more than physical conditions.

Gallup Poles :: essays research papers

In 1935 a man named George Gallup of Jefferson, Iowa founded and became director of the American Institute for Public Opinion. He is best know for his Gallup Poles which till this day serve as the most respected public opinion surveys on politics. Before all major elections in this country Gallup Poles are conducted to get a firm sense of who is voting for which candidate and often why. Now with out any question the poles themselves are a great tool for politicians in order to gauge where and how hard they need to campaign. In addition it also provides many Americans with a good perspective of how the nation thinks and where they’re beliefs fall in relation to. Those are too benefits to the Gallup Pole, now the question remains, is the government too responsive to public opinion and do polls drive the agenda? However I think it’s a better question to ask if the government can be â€Å"too responsive† to public opinion and if it is bad if polls drive the agenda? First and foremost I believe that the only possible arguments against poles are that 1) they sometimes discourage voters and 2) they may have a little too much impact on the agenda. I believe one small reason for low voter turnout is because due to polls people feel as though they know who is going to win before the elections and don’t feel as though there vote would make a difference. But for the most part polls help out this country as long as their figures are true. We do live in a country ruled by the people and if the poles reflect the will of the people than I don’t see why politicians shouldn’t refer to them. It also makes politicians and their employees take stock of their stances on issues and their relationship with certain groups. For example if a republican woman running for Senator of New Jersey and she sees a pole stating that the majority of Asians don’t support her, she will try to figure out why that is and she will try to remedy the situ ation. Poles open some politicians eyes to some issues they may not know exist. For example say that woman found out that in past years the New Jersey republican party has not even addressed problems brought up by the Asian society and has totally ignored them.

The Dynamics of U.S. “Indian Policy”: 1830-Today :: Essays Papers

The Dynamics of U.S. â€Å"Indian Policy†: 1830-Today U.S. Indian Policy after 1830 is characterized by the strengthening of governmental paternalism primarily demonstrated by U.S. ideals of expansion and prosperity, and is only checked within the explosive political era of the American Indian movement. As a national ideology that still endures in some states to this day, paternalism assumes that native peoples are uncivilized, backward, and in need of foreign leadership and guidance. Often termed ‘cultural imperialism’, this system is inherent to promoting the economic development of a nation state despite the rights and existence of native peoples. As several paternalistic acts of the late 1800s demonstrate, the U.S. government actively sought to destroy traditional Indian values and life styles in favor of more ‘competent’, European systems of society and economic development. However, in the last 50 years, radical Indian opposition and growing political awareness has transformed U.S. Indian Policy a more eq uitable relationship between veritable governments. Today, U.S. Indian policy must account for Indian rights and sovereignty over their own lands, and maintains a growing record of Indian victories in the struggle for justice and racial equality. The purported ideology of the Removal period, as championed by Jackson and his contemporaries, was the salvation of Indian culture and lifestyle. Indeed, under the approval of the newly formed Bureau of Indian Affairs, aptly subservient to the U.S. Dept. of War, removal was advocated for the recovery of Indian heritage in the face of white culture and demands. Yet the Removal period was not the end all be all of U.S. dominance over Indian land and culture. Rather, this tearful time was merely a government tool used to further break up traditional tribal bonds and sow discord between families through co-optation and favoritism to half-whites. This underlying national intention was revealed in the 1840s period of expansion following the Removals of the 1830s. In subsequent decades, U.S. Indian relations were a product of governmental needs for stability and peace, in the midst of war and organization of this new country. Western expansion saw the conquest of the Sioux in the â€Å"fev er† for California and Oregon, and more guns and cattle poured into the west. With the Election of Polk in 1844 and his victory in the Spanish American War of 1848, the South West became US land. While the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 established more territory for Indian life and preservation, and more land was granted both in Kansas and Nebraska, U.

How Global Warming Impacts the World

Nowadays, we are concerned with the increasing temperature nowadays, which has a great effect on the earth. When it becomes hotter, the most evident change we can see is in sea level. Icebergs all over the world are melting and change from ice to water, which has larger volume. As a result, more space has to be occupied to contain water instead of icebergs, and sea level increases. Many beaches are getting smaller, and some islands are even disappearing. It was also reported that some countries based on the islands of East Asia had to move to Australia because of the increasing sea level. Animals and human are suffering from the process. Not only polar bears, but also penguins and other animals have less space to live on or less food to eat because of the melting icebergs. Meanwhile, they are used to cold weather and are forced by global warming to get used to a higher temperature, which may increase their death rate. Human are also affected. The number of people dying from extreme hot weather is increasing, which makes the others worry al lot. In an addition point, global warming also has impacts on agriculture. Weather conditions and soil change in response to global warming, and as a consequent, places like Russia benefit from global warming for they can grow more kinds of food in a larger area, while places like Africa suffer from the expanding deserts results from global warming. Despite agriculture, there are also other indirectly effects on economy and many other aspects, and people are now finding solutions for them. The first thing to do is giving out less Carbon dioxide or other gases related to global warming. To achieve the goal, less electricity should be used, car should be driven less frequently, and alternative energy resources should partly replace the traditional ones. Greater emphasis has been put on planting trees to absorb Carbon dioxide. In the short term, special zoos can also be set up for animals like polar bear to provide them with enough food and places. As it can be seen, climate change has directly or unconsciously impacts on ecology, agriculture and other aspects. Serious though it seems, it can be solved with technology and everyone's efforts.

Supplier and Partnering Processes Essay

For many businesses, goods and services provided by suppliers or partners account for a significant portion of the cost and value of the final product. Suppliers include not only companies that provide materials and components, but also distributors, transportation companies, and information, healthcare, and education providers. Key suppliers might provide unique design, technology, integration, or marketing capabilities that are not available within the business, and therefore can be critical to achieving such strategic objectives as lower costs, faster time-to-market, and improved quality. Organizational partners might include educational institutions that collaborate on research and training. (Conversely, a company might be viewed as a partner for an educational institution.) Increasingly, suppliers are viewed as partners with customers, because there usually is a co-dependent relationship. A powerful example of supplier partnerships is the response that occurred when a fire destroyed the main source of a crucial $5 brake valve for Toyota.1 Without it, Toyota had to shut down its 20 plants in Japan. Within hours of the disaster, other suppliers began taking blueprints, improvising tooling systems, and setting up makeshift production lines. Within days, the 36 suppliers, aided by more than 150 other subcontractors, had almost 50 production lines making small batches of the valve. Even a sewing-machine company that had never made car parts spent 500 person-hours refitting a milling machine to make just 40 valves a day. Toyota promised the suppliers a bonus of about $100 million â€Å"as a token of our appreciation.† Strong customer/supplier relationships are based on three guiding principles: 1.Recognizing the strategic importance of suppliers in accomplishing business objectives, particularly minimizing the total cost of ownership, 2.Developing win-win relationships through long-term partnerships rather than as adversaries, and 3.Establishing trust through openness and honesty, thus leading to mutual advantages. One example of these principles is the Baldwin Piano & Organ Company, which set up a 10-year agreement with Southland Marketing Inc. for piano plates to get  Ã¢â‚¬Å"higher quality, more consistent supply, and lower cost.†2 Baldwin helped finance the purchase of the equipment needed to finish the plates. The contract is expected to save Baldwin 10 percent a year on its plate costs. Successful suppliers have a culture where employees and managers share in customers’ goals, commitments, and risks to promote such long-term relationships (recall one of Deming’s 14 Points about supplier relationships–not purchasing solely on the basis of price). In many companies, suppliers are treated as if they were actually a part of the organization. For example, functions such as cafeteria service, mailroom operations, and information processing are being performed by suppliers at their customers’ facilities. As more and more of this type of outsourcing is done, the lines between the customer and the supplier become increasingly blurred. Many companies segment suppliers into categories based on their importance to the business and manage them accordingly. For example, at Corning, Level 1 suppliers, who provide raw materials, cases, and hardware, are deemed critical to business success and are managed by teams that include representatives from engineering, materials control, purchasing, and the supplier company. Level 2 suppliers provide specialty materials, equipment, and services, and are managed by internal customers. Level 3 suppliers provide commodity items and are centrally managed by purchasing.3 Measurement plays an important role in supplier management. Texas Instruments measures suppliers’ quality performance by parts per million defective, percentage of on-time deliveries, and cost of ownership.4 An electronic requisitioning system permits a paperless procurement process. More than 800 suppliers are linked to Texas Instruments through an information exchange system. Integrated data systems track the incoming quality and timeliness of deliveries as materials are received. Analytical reports and on-line data are used to identify material defect trends. Performance reports are sent each month to key suppliers. Joint customer-supplier teams are formed to communicate and improve performance. A supplier management task force of top managers directs current and strategic approaches to improving supplier management practices. Finally, communication, feedback, and recognition or awards are important practices in supplier and partnering processes. For instance, the Fastener Supply Corporation, which distributes fasteners, electronic hardware, and other products to over 300 customers makes frequent contact with its 250 suppliers, invites them to company functions and shares such information as customers’ forecasted requirements.5 Feedback should provide timely and actionable information to suppliers to lead to improvement and ensure that suppliers meet the organization’s performance requirements. At Fastener, any potential performance problems are brought to attention with prompt notice and immediate feedback. An annual award dinner recognizes outstanding suppliers for quality and continuous improvement. Many companies such as Bethlehem Steel, Miller Brewing, and Honda, make a point of delivering supplier awards not only to upper management at a fancy banquet, but also to the workers on the shop floor. â€Å"It’s one thing for the boss to say that quality is important, but another thing entirely for the customer to come out and say it,† says Jerry Schiedt, corporate purchasing director for Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee. â€Å"When we actually visit a plant to present an award to the folks who made the award possible, then we build a relationship with the company and the folks on the floor who do the work to ensure the quality of the products we buy.†6 Supplier Certification Many companies use some type of supplier certification systems as the focal point of their supplier management system. These systems rate and certify suppliers who provide quality materials in a cost-effective and timely manner. For example, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association defines a certified supplier as one that, after extensive investigation, is found to supply material of such quality that routine testing on each lot received is unnecessary. Certification provides recognition for high-quality suppliers, which motivates them to improve continuously and attract more business. The details of supplier certification processes vary by company. For instance, Florida Power and Light has a three-tier certification program.7 Vendors (another term for suppliers) can be certified as a â€Å"Quality Vendor,† â€Å"Certified Vendor,† and â€Å"Excellent Vendor.† To become a Quality Vendor, a  supplier’s products or services must meet basic requirements of quality, cost, delivery, and safety. In addition, the supplier must have a quality improvement process in place and be able to demonstrate that this has achieved significant improvements. It must also have an audit system to certify the process and the results. To become a Certified Vendor, the supplier must have demonstrated the use of statistical process control and prove that its processes can meet FPL’s specification requirements. It must also be able to document capability and have a plan for continuous quality improvement. To achieve Excellent Vendor status, suppliers must demonstrate the ability to exceed FPL’s specification requirements, employ reliability assurance techniques, and show that quality improvement is a central part of their management system. At the Gillette Company, the supplier certification program begins with Gillette identifying those suppliers with a proven ability to meet its specifications.8 Once a supplier is selected to participate, Gillette expects them to establish a pre-production planning system to assess the capability of their process to meet Gillette’s specifications. Feedback is offered in the form of recommended changes that will improve quality, reduce cost, or facilitate ease of manufacture. Supplier certification programs can be time-consuming and expensive to administer. One approach to avoiding unnecessary audit costs and helping to assure buyers that specified practices are being followed is to create a uniform set of standards–an independent and transportable supplier qualification system, such as ISO 9000.