Johnny Tremain essays

Johnny Tremain essays In the face of adversity, our character can change extremely. Ester Forbes writes about this example in her book, Johnny Tremain, which takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1773, during the revolutionary war. As we read the book, we see Johnny facing many obstacles and problems causing him to start a different and new life. However, Johnny encounters bad luck, but he learns to understand his problems better and accepts them. Johnny Tremain starts out as a arrogant boy who one day wants to be a silversmith. Unfortunately one day, he was in a silversmiths shop and injures his hand from burning hot silver, which causes him to deeply damage his hand. He no longer could be a silversmith. Of course, Johnny was deeply ashamed of his hand and always hid it from the world. Gradually, he then has the courage to show his hand. Johnny felt no more shame over his burned hand -pg. 254- Later, Johnny comes across the printing press of the Boston Observer while looking for another job. While there, Johnny gets the chance to meet Rab and immediately makes friend with him. Johnny than notice that he enjoyed telling Rab stories about his hand, but with nonce of the belligerent arrogance which he had been answering the questions kind people had put to him. - page 146- This is the first time since the accident he felt able to stand aside from his problems to see himself. - pg. 255- Rab turns his life around and shows him another world that he could and must face. Without Rab, Johnny might not have believed in himself and achieved much. A big influence on Johnnys life were his friends. As previously mentioned, Rab contributed much to Johnnys life. Rab has shown Johnny that he could achieve anything he waned too. Rab taught Johnny how to ride Goblin, gets ...

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North vs South - How the North won the Civil War Essay

North vs South - How the North won the Civil War - Essay Example Further, people wonder why the North failed to allow the Confederacy to secede peacefully. This paper will examine the military strategies and leadership, which facilitated the victory that the North enjoyed and the defeat of the South. There was an increasing discrepancy between the South and the North in terms of economic development, social structures and organizations and political ideologies. However, the two regions were alike during the founding of the new nation. Slavery was in the entire states, and the economic activities of the two regions had strong reinforcements from agricultural prosperity (Steele & Herbert 1996, p. 45)1. The Northern states designed a plan that would end slavery and enhance the emancipation of the slaves to ensure that they fought for their rights, freedom and liberty. Further, the collapse of the party system had remarkable contribution towards the victory of the North; the slavery issue received undue suppression from the laws of this party. The strength of the political parties had a negative influence from massive immigration of foreigners and debates pushing for the prohibition of slavery. There existed a deficiency in the governance of the states; the strong parties suffered from utter blows that weakened the running of the parties. The confederacy and the union had confidence that they would win the war with a lot of ease (Hattaway & Jones 1991, p. 63).2The two regions believed that their outstanding advantages over the other side would bring ultimate victory to them. On the side of the confederacy, they believed that they had a better position to win the war because the Generals from South had advanced training, and most of the whites on that side were conversant with firearms and horses. Further, the South had plans of fighting a defensive war against the Northern region, and enjoy foreign economies, which meant that the economic might of the south

Computer Graphics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Computer Graphics - Essay Example [Wallace, 2001. pp3-6] The JPEG compression algorithm involves three stages - Colour Space Conversion (Red-Green-Blue triplets mapped to Luminance-Chrominance Blue-Chrominance Red triplets), Segmentation into 8x8 pixel blocks, and Discrete Cosine Transformation (image transformation from spatial domain to frequency domain representation) encoding stage that includes Quantization (sorting the output waveform of DCT), Zigzag Scan (sorting the frequency coefficients from low to high), and Entropy Coding (Huffman Coding and Arithmetic Coding). The encoding and decoding algorithms for JPEG images are shown in figures 1 and 2 respectively. Compression is used to reduce the file sizes such that they can be used on web pages or documentation or any other light weight graphics applications. The 8x8 blocks of source images are first shifted from unsigned integers to signed integers and then are applied to the Forward Discrete Cosine Transformer (FDCT). To decode the compressed image to achieve the 8x8 blocks again, they are applied to the entropy decoder whereby the output is taken out from Inverse Discrete Cosine Transformer (IDCT). The final processing step of DCT encoder is the entropy coding that achieves additional compression by encoding the quantized DCT coefficients based on statistical characteristics. There are two types of Entropy Coding methods - Huffman coding and Arithmetic coding. Huffman coding requires one or more sets of Huffman code tables whereas Arithmetic coding doesn't require any external tables (althoug h statistical conditioning tables as inputs can improve coding efficiency). The quantization stage of JPEG algorithm results in loss of information, thus making JPEG standard a lossy compression technique. [Wallace, 2001. pp3-6] Compression Ratios and JPEG image formats: Compression is specified in terms of bits per pixel including the chrominance and luminance components) called the compression bit rate. Higher the value of bits per pixel, better would be the image quality. The JPEG standard recommends the following mapping of image quality with bit rates in colored images having moderately complex scenes: 0.25 to 0.5 bits per pixel: The output image shall possess moderate to good quality 0.5 to 0.75 bits per pixel: The output image shall possess good to very good quality 0.75 to 1.5 bits per pixel: The output image shall possess excellent quality 1.5 to 2.0 bits per pixel: The output image shall be practically non-distinguishable from the original image The improved version of original JPEG technology is JPEG 2000 that provides better rate

Police Corruption Essay Example for Free

Police Corruption Essay Every police agency throughout the United States has its own patrol division. The patrol division is often over looked and underrated. In almost every agency, this division is the face of the Police Department. Despite the important role that patrol officer’s play, the role often may be viewed as a low-status area of policing. It is usually the largest section of an agency; however, it receives the most agency funds. The patrol division responds to calls, provides services to the community, and helps to prevent crime. It is a physically and mentally demanding job, in which involves all facets of the policing role (Grant and Terry, 2011). Due to its demanding attention, Patrol Officers respond to a numerous of variety calls. These calls include homicides, rapes, and domestic disputes. An officer may at times be plagued with quick judgment calls, which may affect him in the long run. Community patrolling addresses the community concerns at the grassroots patrol level. As departments grow, they set realistic goals and continue to develop community partnerships. Unfortunately, one will often see patrol officers make bad judgment calls, in which can lead to misconduct issues. Criminal acts under color of law include acts within the bounds or limits of lawful authority. This includes acts beyond the bounds of lawful authority. There has been an increase in police corruption issues, misconduct, and brutality incidents within the last year. Everything from the range of using technology for bad selection in newly hired officers has led to this problem. Off-duty conduct may also be covered under color of law only if the perpetrator asserted official status in some manner. Due to these types of issues, one will sometimes hear the Police Department needs to be policed. A number of researchers have examined the use of force. For example, there are debates for the usefulness of force continuums among law enforcement agencies. As a police officer, I have encountered calls, in which witnesses have question my actions and even accused me of police brutality. I once responded to a call of a possible burglary in progress. Upon my arrival, I located a Hispanic male, in his late twenties, attempting to remove a window screen. When he observed my uniform and noticed who I was, he ran away from me while holding a sharp flat headed screw driver in his right hand. As he climbed over a brick wall, separating the building, I observed he tossed the screw driver and he appeared to reach for a second unknown object. As I climbed over the wall myself, I reached for my taser gun and deployed it. I struck him along the side of his torso and he went down like rain drops on cement. As I subdued him and placed handcuffs on him, I could hear people gathering around saying, â€Å"that Officer did not need to taser him, and this is police brutality. † I knew that because of the wall blocking the civilians view, most of the witnesses had not seen what had occurred on the other side of the wall. Using quick judgment and proper use of force will always be questioned by the community. Unfortunately, not all patrol officers practice good judgment as you may have heard about the Fullerton Police Department relating to the incident with Kelly Thomas. Kelly Thomas, born on April 5, 1974 and died on July 10, 2011, was a homeless man diagnosed with schizophrenia. He lived on the streets of Fullerton, California where Thomas died five days after an altercation with members of the Fullerton Police Department on July 5, 2011. After paramedics treated the officers first for their minor injuries, Thomas was taken to St. Jude Medical Center before being transferred to the UC Irvine Medical Center, where he was comatose on arrival and not expected to recover. Medical records show that bones in his face were broken and he had choked on his own blood (Sewell and Winton, 2011). A judge declined to dismiss the charges against the officers in January 2013, finding that â€Å"a reasonable person could infer that the use of force was excessive and unreasonable. An appeals court judge also denied a request to overturn the lower courts decision. Manuel Ramos, one of the Fullerton Police Officers, was charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter. Corporal Jay Cicinelli and Officer Joseph Wolfe were also each charged with one count of felony involuntary manslaughter and one count of excessive force. I was not at the incident; therefore, I cannot judge my colleagues in the act ions that were taken on their behalf. However, it is difficult for me to think that any human being deserved this type of force used against him. When dealing with a combative subject I use the only the amount of force needed to make the subject comply. I do not feel that when dealing with a mentally ill transient, the use of strikes to the head and face are needed. As much as I hate to see my colleagues in this position, I feel that this is the closest we will get to justice. Thomas will not return from the dead and someone needs to be punished for the mistakes made that day. Another case I would like to discuss is the Huntington Beach Police Detective, who was accused of corruption. A veteran Huntington Beach police officer was once assigned to a federal anti-drug task force. He was arrested on charges that he conspired with others to distribute large quantities of cocaine and marijuana. Sergeant Alvaro Murillo, who was also known as The Godfather by his cohorts, was accused of using his job as a police officer to recruit informants in the drug world. After this, he would then use them to help him steal narcotics from dealers (Glover, 2008). Unfortunately, we are going to have officers who abuse their authority. It kind of makes me embarrassed to be associated with this type of behavior. As a rookie officer, I was employed by the City of Huntington Beach. I patrolled the streets of Huntington Beach with my Field Training Officer (FTO) where I remembered one incident when he drove me to a house, which had been raided on a drug related warrant search. I observed evidence, which included United States currency, guns, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and other drug relating to paraphernalia lying on the living room floor. It is disgusting to see a man fall to temptation, even worse, to see a fellow officer taint our profession by performing such a disgusting act. However, this profession, just like all other professions, is conducted by human beings and human beings make mistakes. A key factor in being a good police officer is using good discretion and having integrity. Sergeant Murillo was sentenced to prison to do time for his action. I agree with this punishment, no matter how bad temptation is. As Police Officers, we are held to a higher expectation. If one is tempted by the minor temptations in life and needs to corrupt one’s police department to reach financial gain, then the individual has no business in this profession. As a rookie officer, I remember an old Sergeant briefing the patrol division at 0500 hours. The last words of his briefing were, â€Å"be safe and do the lords work. † By being associated with police corruption, misconduct, and excessive force, one is working with the evil forces of nature in which where one swore to protect against the negative influences. By staying away from those immature acts, it has made me a better officer and an overall better human being.

Perspectives on Fear :: Personal Narrative Writing

â€Å"At the University of California at Irvine, experiments in rats indicate that the brain’s hormonal reaction to fear can be inhibited, softening the formation of memories and the emotions they evoke† (Baard). Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. I lie in bed for hours while my mind churns through endless streams of fragmented thoughts and memories, bits of brain matter that I do not have time for in my waking life. I have tried the homeopathic remedies. I drink â€Å"calming† teas, take showers, and inhale scents advertised to promote sleep and relaxation. I even have a lavender neck pillow. Nevertheless, when I am inflicted with a bout of sleeplessness, there is usually very little I can do but wait it out. I stay away from sleep drugs. The streetlamp outside paints shapes across the wall next to my bed. I can see them in the darkness, dull orange lines that have become familiar in my many restless nights. At the heart of their canvas, they intersect to form a rectangle. A rectangle? For months I believed in this reality of form with the inborn certainty that accompanies that which is obvious. I didn’t have to think about it. Nightly, I would study the shape in a sleep haze, unconsciously harboring knowledge of its regularity. Except that it is not a rectangle. Two forty seven. Nearly three hours after my first attempt at sleep, I stared up at the wall and realized for the first time the distortion within the orange light. Where the lines connected to form the shape, the rectangle, were angles. Obtuse and acute, they had none of the symmetrical regularity that geometry dictates of a true rectangle. The outline on the wall was crooked, skewed, an imperfect representation of the form. I tend to think of my memories as shoeboxes, precise, neatly uniform components that stack tidily in the mind. Somehow I have trained myself to believe that in regularity and order I will uncover the diagram of my true self, a clear-cut explanation for all that I think, say, and do. But in sleepless nights I realize that even old recurring thoughts can be strangely misshapen, and I am thrown into a tailspin. My memories of experiencing fear seem contorted. Among the most vivid of my recollections, they stand out with their potent doses of color, emotion, and experience. They have been with me so long that I rarely question the nature of their composition.

Powdered Coconut Husk, Okra Mucilage, Water Hyacinth and Starch as Alternative Plastic Composites Essay

The present condition of our country regarding the use of plastics demands that people explore other means whereby proportionate products can be produced out of raw materials which are commonly disregarded. One of these is the utilization of solid wastes which could yield excellent useful results. Largely an agricultural country, Philippines provides various local raw materials, the utilization of which may lead to the country’s industrialization. Philippines provide ample farm products having great possibilities for some purposes. An example of which is the coconut husk fiber or cocos nucifera. Although some use this for making native products, this study used this for an alternative bioplastic product making it more different than the usual ones. Water hyacinth, which is commonly found almost in some rivers and considered as another solid waste is to be used also in this project study. Although it has the same function as the coconut husk fiber, this is used to lessen the number or amount of water hyacinth in our environment because of its abundance and bad effects. To improve the quality of the bioplastic product,the researchers used okra wherein mucilage can be found which lessens the brittleness of the said product because of the so called, glycirin. Another concerned material in the study is cornstarch. It is the source of polymer which is said to be the building blocks of the eco-friendly plastic product. What makes this study different is that the researchers used raw materials which are seldomly used in a more different way and utilize it to make a new product which could yield useful results. Moreover, the main purpose of this study, is to make plastic that can be decomposed easily since it uses raw materials, to use starch instead of chemicals and to utilize some of the solid wastes in our society. Plastic is a versatile and potentially indestructible material, which makes it ideal for a number of commercial and household uses. Indeed, plastic has become a substitute for many items which used to be made from other substances, such as plastic bottles for drinks, condiments and many other more. In many cases, this is extremely useful and convenient. However, usage of plastic has caused many environmental downsides. This is because, plastic is so resilient that even burying it deep within the Earth doesn’t keep it from impacting the environment. Although plastics can be recycled, many people still burn them and we all know that it is harmful to the environment. It may also affect people’s health because plastics contain many chemical additives which causes illnesses like endocrine disruption which can lead to cancers, birth defects, immune system suppression and developmental problems in children. And worse it can also lead to toxicity of living organisms and marine animals. This ecological problem impelled the development of new materials that can be substitutes in producing biodegradable plastic which led us to think the utilization of eco- friendly materials that can be an alternative in making bioplastic. Scopes and Limitations The research study was concerned with utilizing coconut husk fibers or cocus nucifera and water hyacinth in producing a bioplastic product. The research focused not only on the simple production but also the quality of the said product in terms of brittleness and flexibility. Mucilage was obtained from okra where glycirin is found and improves the brittleness of the product. Furthermore, this study is also concerned in using cornstarch as the source of polymer considered as the building blocks of the product. Statement of the Problem The purpose of this study is to produce an alternative plastic made up of organic materials. Another purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: 1. What will be the organic material used in making the plastic? 2. What content(s) is/are most effective in making the bioplastic more efficient than than Plastics- any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids that are moldable. Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass, but they often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, but many are partially natural. Biodegradable Plastics- plastics that will decompose in natural aerobic (composting) and anaerobic (landfill) environments. Biodegradation of plastics occurs when microorganisms metabolize the plastics to either ssimilable compounds or to humus-like materials that are less harmful to the environment. They may be composed of either bioplastics, which are plastics whose components are derived from renewable raw materials, or petroleum-based plastics which contain additives. Glycerol- (or glycerine, glycerin) is a simple polyol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is widely used in pharmaceutical formulations. Glycerol has three hydroxyl groups that are responsible for its solubility in water and its hygroscopic nature. The glycerol backbone is central to all lipids known as triglycerides. Glycerol is sweet-tasting and of low toxicity. Polymer- is the main building block of all plastics. It is a large molecule (macromolecule) composed of repeating structural units. These sub-units are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. Although the term polymer is sometimes taken to refer to plastics, it actually encompasses a large class of compounds comprising both natural and synthetic materials with a wide variety of properties. Mucilage- a thick, gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. It is a polar glycoprotein and an exopolysaccharide. Mucilage in plants plays a role in the storage of water and food, seed germination, and thickening membranes. Starch- or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store. It is the most common carbohydrate in the human diet and is contained in large amounts in such staple foods as potatoes, wheat, maize (corn), rice, and cassava. Starch is made of two basic components: amylose and amylopectin. Amylose- is a very long and straight polymer like we want to have in our study. Amylopectin- on the other hand is a branched and short polymer meaning it will yield brittle and weak plastic which is not good. Vinegar- a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid (CH3CO2H) and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. By adding a small amount of vinegar to the plastic, we can break up some of the branches of the amylopectin which otherwise would make it brittle. Water hyacinth- is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in height. The leaves are 10–20 cm across, and float above the water surface. They have long, spongy and bulbous stalks. The feathery, freely hanging roots are purple-black. An erect stalk supports a single spike of 8-15 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour with six petals.

The Council of Trent

The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum) was the 15th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important[1] councils. It convened in Trent (then capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent, inside the Holy Roman Empire, now in modern Italy) between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods. Council fathers met for the first through eighth sessions in Trent (1545-1547), and for the ninth through eleventh sessions in Bologna (1547) during the pontificate of Pope Paul III. 2] Under Pope Julius III, the council met in Trent (1551-1552) for the twelfth through sixteenth sessions. Under Pope Pius IV the seventeenth through twenty-fifth sessions took place in Trent (1559-1563). The council issued condemnations on what it defined as Protestant heresies and defined Church teachings in the areas of Scripture and Tradition, Original Sin, Justification, Sacraments, the Eucharist in Hol y Mass and the veneration of saints. It issued numerous reform decrees. 3] By specifying Catholic doctrine on salvation, the sacraments, and the Biblical canon, the Council was answering Protestant disputes. [1] The Council entrusted to the Pope the implementation of its work; as a result, Pope Pius V issued in 1566 the Roman Catechism, in 1568 a revised Roman Breviary, and in 1570 a revised Roman Missal, thus initiating what since the twentieth century has been called the Tridentine Mass (from the city's Latin name Tridentum), and Pope Clement VIII issued in 1592 a revised edition of the Vulgate. 4] The Council of Trent, delayed and interrupted several times because of political or religious disagreements, was a major reform council and the most impressive embodiment of the ideals of the Counter-Reformation. [4] It would be over 300 years until the next Ecumenical Council. When announcing Vatican II, Pope John XXIII stated that the precepts of the Council of Trent continue to the m odern day, a position that was reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI. [5] The Council of Trent The Council of Trent was an ecumenical council convoked by the Church in 1545 and ran until 1563. It was convoked by Pope Paull III but continued by Popes Julius III and Pius IV. The purpose of the council was to address the grwonig threat presented by the rising Protestant movement which was rapidly spreading all over Europe, winning believers to their side and threatening the very existence of the Catohlic Church and faith.It was convoked when the Church realized that the Reformation was a serious threat as it involved several secular leaders whom Martin Luther had won over to his side and it was no longer a mere theological debate but had social and political implications at this point in time. In a way, the Council had somehow succeeded in getting the Church from its â€Å"medieval† image and bring it into the modern times which would be followed up by subsequenct councils, the First and Second Vatican Councils (McNally 36). The Council addressed the issues that spurred th e Protestants into action.One particular issue that the Council did address was the apparent corruption in the Church as an institution including the sale of indulgences which triggered Luther's â€Å"rebellion† (Mendham 317). The Council abolished several of these illegal practices and introduced or recommended disciplinary reforms providing a provision governing the conduct of the religious, particularly those belonging to monastic and mendicant orders where they â€Å"shall order their lives in accordance to what is prescribed by the rule which they have professed.† The result of this was it checked corruption in the Church and helped restore â€Å"back to basics† policies where the religious were reminded to uphold the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience that they took upon entering the orders after years of strife affected the Church leading it to be infiltrated and influenced by political figures which changed its direction and led to the near-loss of its credibility. In addition, it also led to further education of the clergy and the codfication of religious orders (Roman Catholic Church, Session 25; Fisher 402).But this was the only â€Å"correction† the Church made. The rest were reaffirmations of other church traditions that hardly changed at all. These were considered part of Church traditions which Protestants opposed, believing that they were â€Å"invented† by Catholics as Protestants subscribed to â€Å"sol scriptura,† relying on the Bible as their source of â€Å"tradition. † Among them were the sacraments where Protestants found most of them â€Å"unecessary† yet the Church upheld it.They clarified the issue on the saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary by stating that they are only to be â€Å"venerated,† not â€Å"worshipped,† something Protestants accused Catholics, charging that this was bordering on idolatry or paganism, as well as stressing the necessity of good works to go with one's faith rather than relying on faith alone. They made use of the Bible in defending the practice of the sacraments, stating they were not inventions and were stated in Scripture though implicit (Madrid 111).Another issue that was upheld was the infalliability of the Pope. Notwithstanding the scandals that undermined the image of the papacy, the Council upheld the Pope's place as the Vicar of Christ and the head of all Christendom. It can be inferred here that there was still the need of a leader who could transcend spiritual and secular realms, especially during this time when Reformation brought more upheavals and instability (Luebke 45, Madrid 44-53).As an epliogue, this was addressed once again in the Second Vatican Council in 1963 and the infallibility issue was resolved once and for all here. In conclusion, the Council of Trent cannot be entirely credited in ensuring the survival and continued existence of the Catholic faith but was rather part of the Counter-Ref ormation that had somewhat checked the spread of Protestantism.It was able to uphold and defend the traditions the Church regard as part of professing one's faith, thereby throwing back the accusations Protestants hurled at it for being on the wrong side of faith. As a parting shot, Catholic apologists in the Council of Trent and beyond, have riposted Protestant arguments by stating (ironically) that there existence was because of the Church and had there been no Church, they never would have existed at all. Works Cited Fisher, George P.The Reformation. Bibliobazaar, 2009. Madrid, Patrick. Where Is That in Tradition? Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2002. McNally, Robert E. , SJ. â€Å"The Council of Trent, The Spiritual Exercises and Catholic Reform. † Church History 34. 1 (1965): 36-49. Medham, Joseph. Memoirs of the Council of Trent. London: James Duncan, 1834. Roman Catholic Church. The Council of Trent. 1545. Hanover College. 14 Aug. 2010 .

The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico essayEssay Writing Service

The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico essayEssay Writing Service The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico essay The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico essayExecutive SummaryThis report discusses the issue of concern because an oil spill is considered to be a disaster for both for human beings and the environment. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is no exception. The oil spill affected both human beings and the environment, polluting and damaging vast areas of the adjacent territories and the large populations of wildlife. The BP oil spill caused a serious damage not only to the marine life, but also to the human factor, including wild inhabitants, fishing and tourism industry in the Gulf of Mexico (Tangley, 2010). A large number of factors, including Petroleum toxicity, Corexit dispersant usage and oxygen depletion can be viewed as the major causes of the disaster which led to the negative impact on ecological system (Smithsona Venette, 2013).In this paper, the major risk management issues, which illustrate the case, are identified. Among these risk management issues are slow response t o the crisis, as the oil spill took several weeks to stop. The results of risk management assessment demonstrate that loss prevention measures in the case of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 were in place to prevent the oil spillage starting and the proper cost containment steps were taken to manage the cost of the required clean-up operations, recovery procedures to promote business continuation, many days had been lost. Second, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrated poor governance of organization as the company lacked the effective crisis plan.Thus, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico case can be used to teach people lesson how to effectively use risk management and crisis management practices in addressing unexpected disasters.   To manage the crisis, a special plan should be developed and tested. Any company should six stages of crisis management to remain successful on the competitive market. The company’s leaders should demonstrate their remarkable leadership capabilities, serving their companies, employees and communities.Introduction and AimsThe Gulf of Mexico is one of the most valuable territories because of the availability of the great variety of marine life, including fish, shrimp and other species. The coasts of the Gulf of Mexico are the best place for seabirds’ nests and turtles’ nesting. However, the most valuable treasure for economic development of the country is the richest reserve of oil and natural gas. In general, there are more than 4,000 offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico designed for drilling gas and oil (Chiang et al., 2010). According to researchers, â€Å"many people who live in the five U.S. states that border the Gulf of Mexico (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida) depend on the Gulf for jobs and survival†(Chiang et al., 2010, p. 5). One more important function of the Gulf of Mexico is the growing fishing industry that provides over 1.3 pounds of fish an d shellfish each year. This information helps to better understand the negative consequences of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred on April 20, 2010.   The negative effects from oil spill have been widely discussed in scientific literature. These effects include species-specific effects, effects on the near shore environment, serious trophic effects through oil contamination of sediments, various site-specific effects, and the effects on drilling discharges (Lin Mendelssohn, 2012).   Based on recent research findings, â€Å"the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that followed the explosion of the exploration platform Deepwater Horizon on 20 April 2010 was the largest accidental oil spill† in America that requires finding the proper solutions to develop effective risk management practices. It is very important to find out â€Å"if an accident of this size could have been expected† (Acton, 2013, p. 501).The general aims of the analysis presented in this paper include:providing an overview of the key facts surrounding the caseidentification of the major risk management issues identified in the caseComparing and contrast the way in which these three risk management issues were dealt with by the firm(s) involved with material presented in the course or other reference material dealing with the concepts or issues that the case illustratesAssessment of the effectiveness with which the crisis, created as a result of the failures in risk management evident in the case, were managedIdentification of the lessons that can be learned from the case, providing conclusions and the nature of any control procedures and/or risk treatment systems that should have been implemented or where failures occurred.This report is significant for assessment of the key risk management issues that are associated with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The BP’s handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in 2010 teaches people some i mportant crisis management lessons. Actually, the work on oil platforms is automated, but human errors often occur on these structures (Smithsona Venette, 2013).   According to researchers, these oil drilling rigs are considered to be the largest movable human-made structures in the world, as such â€Å"they have become virtual cities afloat that will always have minor equipment failure and human error, not to mention working in hurricane-prone environments† (Ostrom Wilhelmsen, 2012, p. 23). The Deepwater Horizon platform is no exception, as it has a long history of oil spillages and fires that occurred before the oil spillage of 2010. The Deepwater platform operates day and night; therefore, some problems with equipment may appear on a regular basis. This report is aimed at giving explanation of some important risk management practices that should be taken into consideration by other companies to avoid negative consequences, similar to the Deepwater Horizon platform†™s disaster.Case StudyDescription of the key facts surrounding the caseThe BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is considered to be the â€Å"largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of petroleum industry, being 8%-31% larger in volume that the previous largest oil spill, the Ixtos I oil spill† (Holland Schemwell, 2014, p. 23). The BP oil disaster is often called the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It occurred on 20 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. Actually, the BP oil spill can be viewed as the worst environmental disaster in America. The BP oil spill occurred near Mississippi River Delta, as a result of a deep-sea floor oil gusher, which was made by the massive explosion of the Deepwater Horizon platform, one of the most efficient and effective semi-submersible drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been found that oil slick coverage was approximately 2,500 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico region. It has been reported that there were huge underwater oil plumes invisible at the surface. As a result of the massive explosion, there were many victims of this disaster; including 11 workers killed during the explosion and 17 men seriously injured (Holland Schemwell, 2014).  On the 15th of July, 2010, the gushing wellhead was capped, but the Deepwater Horizon platform released over 4.9 million barrels or 780,000 m3 of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (Griggs, 2011). This fact means that as a result of the explosion, over 53,000 barrels of oil were spilled each day of the accident (from July 10 till July 15) before the workers could cap the well. The experts state that for 87 days, the oil continued to flow to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, causing serious damage to the environment and local economy. In other words, crude oil was flowing into the estuaries, marshes and beaches of three states affected by the spillage Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi (Griggs, 2011). The U.S. government declared that the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico can be regarded as a national disaster.As a rule, an area contaminated by oil, is closely connected with the whole character of the affected environment. The free spilling of oil leads to a wide range of negative consequences, including â€Å"the spread by wind and wave† (Bai Bai, 2014, p. 363). The oil spillage from the Deepwater Horizon platform floating on the surface could evaporate through air and sun, spreading over the water surface. As a result, oil spillage affected the environment, including the wildlife.Identification of three major risk management issues illustrated by the caseThe BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred in 2010 gives an opportunity to identify three major risk management issues, which can be assessed by experts as significant risk management lessons. One of the key risk management issues is that â€Å"the oil spill took some weeks to stop† (Hopkin, 2012, p. 175). Although the results of risk management assessment show that loss prevention measures in the case of the BP oil spill were in place to prevent the oil spillage starting and the proper cost containment steps were taken to manage the cost of the required clean-up operations, recovery procedures to promote business continuation, much time had been lost. According to Paul Hopkin (2012), â€Å"it is, perhaps, the case that the damage limitation measures were not as robust as may have been required†(p. 175).Besides, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has raised serious risk management issues regarding the governance of organization involved in the case. Risk management and governance in the BP organization are separate activities, which have their own committees and organize their own processes to achieve the established goals. According to researchers, â€Å"the BP oil spill disaster has clearly shown that the board has to own both the general governance of the organization and its many and varied risk activities† (Wright et al., 2013, p. 16). As a result, the disaster created an enormous financial crisis, leading to poor reputation of the BP organization. According to Otto Lerbinger (2012), â€Å"its image as a leader in deep sea technology was shattered, as well as its professed dedication to corporate social responsibility and the environment†(p. 24).   Now the organization needs to use the proper strategies aimed at restoring its reputation in order to successfully operate in the Gulf of Mexico.Based on the US federal government report that was issued in 2011 after investigation of the key causes of the disaster, the following failures were identified:Poor risk management practicesLast-minute changes in decision making (Anastas et al., 2010)Failure to adequately observe and effectively respond to critical indicators that were identified on the platformInadequate and insufficient well control responseâ€Å"Insufficient emergency bridge response training by emplo yees responsible† (Guinness Walpole, 2012, p. 227).Comparing and contrast the way in which these three risk management issues were dealt with by the firm(s) involved with material presented in the course or other reference material dealing with the concepts or issues that the case illustratesIn the case discussed in this paper, the BP failed to avoid certain management errors that led to massive damage to the environment and caused considerable harm to people. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon platform rig can be viewed as an example of â€Å"a designation that is a prevailing contention of government and other reports on the disaster† (Lerbinger, 2012, p. 24). The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred in 2010 was caused by certain management failures both by the organization (the BP Company) and its contractors (Transocean and Halliburton). Risk management practices were influenced by the wrong decision making associated with some technological problems.Ac cording to the material presented in the course lectures, the risk management cycle involves several stages, which help an organization to manage risks: Identification, Quantification, Risk assessment, Risk treatment, Monitoring, Risk context. These stages are interrelated (Business Risk Management Week 2, 2014, p. 2). Based on the established components of risk management process, it is possible to avoid negative consequences of disasters in all spheres of human activity, including oil and gas industry. In the Deepwater Horizon platform, many events led to the disaster because inadequate risk management practices were ineffective in that situation.In the case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, â€Å"the behaviors and attitudes of leaders have been disappointing at best and irresponsible at worst† (Corkindale, 2010, p.1).   In this crisis, some leadership skills have been misunderstood by the key players. The BP are responsible for the environmental disaster, but the BP CE O Tony Hayward demonstrated some failures in leadership practices, providing control over the â€Å"organizational culture that sanctioned extreme risk-taking, ignored expert advice, overlooked warnings about safety issues and hid facts† (Corkindale, 2010, p.1). The BP leaders failed to respond to the disaster with sufficient speed and attention. Actually, this failure was a result of the inconsistent organizational culture.Assessment of the effectiveness with which the crisis, created as a result of the failures in risk management evident in the case, was managedThe effectiveness with which the crisis of the Deepwater Horizon platform, created as a result of the failures in risk management is evident in this case. There are six stages of crisis management, including â€Å"avoiding the crisis, preparing to manage the crisis, recognizing the crisis, containing the crisis, resolving the crisis and profiting from the crisis† (Business Risk Management Week 3, 2014, p. 1). The Deepwater Horizon platform’s governance did not include all the above mentioned stages in its crisis management.In the Deepwater Horizon platform, there were serious problems with governance as the Company failed to examine all possible scenarios, assess all possible consequences and identify the cost of prevention of these negative consequences. The response to the crisis was not planned in a proper way. This fact means the BP Company failed to use the appropriate strategies to avoid the crisis. Because of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform, over 5 million barrels of oil were sent into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.   This fact proves that the company failed to avoid the crisis. According to researchers, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an example of a â€Å"company without crisis planning† (Cox, 2012, p. 87). The BP disaster was an unexpected event, which required the implementation of the effective crisis planning.   According to Charles E. Cox (2012), â€Å"BP’s advantage was that, even without a crisis plan, the company had billions of dollars in the bank and enough cash reserves to manage its way through the crisis and take steps to rebuild its reputation† (p. 88). Undoubtedly, the impact of the BP disaster was enormous because of the lack of the crisis planning.Nevertheless, the BP governance managed to take some reasonably decisive action, using the media and public relations to address the issue of concern and demonstrate the company’s response to the disaster. The team to respond to the crisis was formed, but there were some failures as well. Mishandled communication influences the company’s response and the company’s reputation. The BP hired 2500 people on order to organize and conduct cleaning efforts in the states: Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida (Anastas et al., 2010).   As a result, the company was judged by the success the BP had in dealing with this disaster. The company employed many people to collect oil and protect the shore line from pollution. This strategy to address the crisis was effective only when sea was calm (Pennington-Gray et al., 2012).ConclusionThus, it is necessary to conclude that pollution from the activities of offshore companies leads to degradation of the marine environment. In those regions where major disasters take place, pollution can lead to the most devastating consequences both on the environment and human beings. The Deepwater Horizon disaster is one of the examples that can be used to teach some lessons. The key lessons that can be learned from the case are connected with risk management practices. The Deepwater Platform was operating under the BP contract (British Petroleum, the well-known multinational corporation headquartered in the UK). The discharge of oil had negative impact on the region, caused serious damage to fisheries and marine habitants, bringing to light the risk s of deep water oil and gas drilling.The lessons that can be learned from the case give an opportunity to other companies to avoid negative consequences of the crisis and develop, maintain and implement effective crisis management practices. One of the most important strategies to manage crisis is to implement a well-developed crisis plan, provide effective control procedures and risk treatment systems that must be developed and implemented in the areas, where failures occur frequently. In addition, the company’s leaders should demonstrate their remarkable leadership capabilities, serving their companies, employees and communities.

Understanding String Literals in Ruby

Understanding String Literals in Ruby String objects hold ordered sequences of bytes, typically characters, usually to form pieces of human-readable text. Theyre a very common object type in all programming languages, and Ruby has a number of high-level and a few low-level ways to create, access and manipulate String objects. Strings are most often created with a String literal. A literal is a special syntax in the Ruby language that creates an object of a specific type. For example, 23 is a literal that creates a ​Fixnum object. As for String literals, there are several forms. Single-Quotes and Double-Quoted Strings Most languages have a String literal similar to this, so this may be familiar. The types of quotes, (single quote, apostrophe or hard quote) and (double quote or soft quote) are used to enclose string literals, anything between them will be turned into String objects. The following example demonstrates this. But there are some differences between single and double quotes. Double quotes  or soft quotes enable some magic to happen behind the scenes. Most useful is interpolation inside strings, useful for inserting the value of a variable into the middle of a string. This is achieved by using the #{ †¦ } sequence. The following example will ask you for your name and greet you, using interpolation to insert your name into the string literal thats printed. Note that any code can go inside the braces, not just variable names. Ruby will evaluate that code and whatever is returned it will attempt to insert it into the string. So you could just as easily say Hello, #{gets.chomp} and forget about the name variable. However, its good practice not to put long expressions inside the braces. Single quotes, apostrophes, or hard quotes are much more restrictive. Inside of the single quotes, Ruby will perform no interpolation or escape sequences other than escaping the single quote character and backslash itself (\ and \\ respectively). If you dont intend to use interpolation, its recommended to use single quotes more often than not. The following example will attempt to interpolate a variable inside of single quotes. If you run this youll get no error, but what will be printed? The interpolation sequence was passed through uninterpreted. When Should I Use Single and Double Quotes This is a matter of style. Some prefer to use double quotes all of the time unless they become inconvenient. Others would rather use single quotes unless the interpolation behavior is intended. Theres nothing inherently dangerous about using double quotes all of the time, but it does make some code easier to read. You dont need to read a string when reading through code if you know there are no interpolations in it  because you know the string itself wont have any side effects. So which string literal form you use is up to you, there is no real right and wrong way here. Escape Sequences What if, in a string literal, you want to include a quote character? For instance, the string Steve said Moo!  wont work. And neither will Cant touch this!. Both of these strings include the quote character inside of the string, effectively ending the string literal and causing a syntax error. You could switch quote characters, like Steve said Moo!, but that doesnt really solve the problem. Instead, you can escape any quote character inside the string, and it will lose its special meaning (in this case, the special meaning is to close the string). To escape a character, prepend it with the backslash character. The backslash character tells Ruby to ignore any special meaning the next character may have. If its a matching quote character, dont end the string. If its a hash sign, dont start an interpolation block. The following example demonstrates this use of backslash to escape special characters. The backslash character can be used to remove any special meaning from the following character but, confusingly, it can also be used to denote special behavior in double-quoted strings. Most of these special behaviors have to do with inserting characters and byte sequences that cannot be typed or represented visually. Not all Strings are character strings  or may contain control sequences intended for the terminal, and not the user. Ruby gives you the ability to insert these types of strings using the backslash escape character. \n - A newline character. The puts method does this automatically, but if you wish to insert one in the middle of a string, or the string is destined for something other than the puts method, you can use this to insert a newline in a string.\t - A tab character. The tab character moves the cursor over (on most terminals) to a multiple of 8, so this is very useful for display tabular data. However, there are better ways of doing this, and using the tab character is considered a bit archaic or hackish.\nnn - A backslash followed by 3 numbers will denote an ASCII character represented by 3 octal digits. Why octal? Mostly for historical reasons.\xnn - A backslash, an x, and 2 hex digits. The same as the octal version, only with hex digits. Youll probably never use most of these, but know that they exist. And also remember that they only work in double-quoted strings. The next page discusses multi-line strings and an alternate syntax for string literals. Multi-Line Strings Most languages dont allow multi-line string literals, but Ruby does. Theres no need to end your strings and append more strings for the next line, Ruby handles multi-line string literals just fine with the default  syntax. Alternate Syntax As with most other literals, Ruby provides an alternate syntax for string literals. If youre using a lot of quote characters inside your literals, for example, you may want to use this syntax. When you use this syntax is a matter of style, theyre usually not needed for strings. To use the alternate syntax, use the following sequence for single-quoted strings  %q{ †¦ }. Similarly, use the following syntax for double-quoted strings  %Q{ †¦ }. This alternate syntax follows all the same rules as their normal cousins.  Also,  note that you can use any characters you wish instead of braces. If you use a brace, square bracket, angle bracket or parenthesis, then the matching character will end the literal. If you dont want to use matching characters, you can use any other symbol (anything not a letter or number). The literal will be closed with another of the same symbol. The following example shows you several ways to use this syntax. The alternate syntax also works as a multi-line string.

The Major Factors of the Credit Agricole Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

The Major Factors of the Credit Agricole - Essay Example Credit Agricole is one of the largest retail banking groups in the world and is the largest banking group in France. The overall structure of the firm is such that it is owned by many smaller retail banks in France and is offering retail banking services not only in France but at international level also. Primarily focusing on the rural areas as its target market, the bank has also the presence in the cities and is now operating in more than 60 countries of the world. Such huge international presence, therefore, outlines a very significant expansion of the firm in the international market. The overall strategy of the firm in terms of international expansion has largely been focused on the acquisition of smaller banks in different European countries as well as countries from other parts of the world. Such expansion strategy outlines that the firm has taken an aggressive approach to extend its presence in the international market. Credit Agricole is considered as the green bank of France because of its support and stronger roots in the agriculture sector of the country. It is also because of its overall business philosophy that the firm mostly operated in the rural areas of the country with little presence in the urban areas. Credit Agricole is unique in the sense that its ownership structure is really different and its owned by many smaller banks. Bank’s historical roots are relatively richer given the fact that it was established in order to allow the extension of credit to the farmers so that they can boost their productivity. One of the reasons as to why the agriculture was lacking in productivity in France was the lack of credit to the farmers and as such, they were unable to purchase better seeds and other tools in order to better cultivate and increase their productivity.  Ã‚  

Diaspora Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Diaspora Assignment - Essay Example Croatian people have been dominant in many fields in the Australian society, especially in the sporting arena where they have made such a great impact by comprising the majority players in most Australian football clubs. This paper provides a critical analysis of the Croatian diaspora in Australia, development of media in the Croatian diaspora community in Australia, and examples of how media compares and contrasts to mainstream media on same key issues in the community, among other things. History of the Diaspora The concept of the diaspora grew out of the historic experience of scattering Jews outside their native lands and it implies that a whole community, usually a nation inhabiting a compact territory, underwent a forced dispersion. This concept was made popular in the sociology of migration in the 1990s and the relationship between the scattered communities and the homeland is crucial in defining the diaspora (Raggazi, 2009, p. 1). The homeland for immigrants is a source of id entity, in addition to being their source of values and loyalty; it can be generally understood that every diaspora is a migrant community because of the consciousness of belonging to a common nation and/or a distant homeland and acting upon this consciousness that eventually defines the diaspora. Diasporas are normally connotations of historically enduring strong emotional ties to the homeland, usually concerning some historical injustice that needs redress (Colic-Peisker, 2008, p. 158); the Croatian Diaspora in Australia was in response to the Yugoslav crisis of the 1980s and the war for independence and its aftermaths. The typical feeling of a lost homeland and tragic exile among the immigrants and the need to redress the historic grievances felt by a majority of the Croatian emigres led to the rise of diasporic transnationalism (Colic-Peisker, 2008, p.158). The emigres assumed leadership of Croatian communities outside Croatia and focused on the fight for Croatian independence f rom the communist Yugoslavia, and by 1991 when Croatian independence was confirmed by the failure of communism, Croatian emigres all over the world were known as an intensely politicized diaspora dominated by nationalist leaders. The most vocal part of the Croatian Diaspora in Australia had intensely emotional and political connection to the homeland, and its pronouncement of anti-communism and separationist agenda made it a clear-cut case of long-distance nationalism. The Croatian diasporic nationalism had two peaks: the 1970s after the Croatian Spring, Yugoslav Communist authorities had suppressed a Croatian nationalist movement in 1971, and during the war for Yugoslav succession in 1991–1995, which politically mobilised a large number of Croats in Australia. Development of Media Media development in the Croatian Diaspora in Australia has been stifled by lack of freedom of the press and the successive ongoing media manipulation that seeks to limit the influence of media bot h in the diaspora and in the homeland. In the old Yugoslavia, the Communist government controlled media and the Croatians knew only a limited range of information, and up to date, the Croatian media is not yet free and impartial. For instance, Karolina Vidovic, a Croatian journalist whose programme has been