The Crude Art of Policy Making

Lessons: The Crude Art of Policy Making All over the world, the price of crude oil experiences wide price swings in times of shortage or oversupply just like other commodities. The crude oil cycle may extend over several years responding to changes in demand and supply. In this paper, we intend to discuss the dynamics and impact in the economy, and how the central banks respond to a rise in oil price. To be able to understand the dynamics of adjustment of oil price, we use the economic diagram of aggregate demand and supply given by D1 and S1 respectively in the left hand graph, where the points they intersect signify that the economy is in equilibrium. In the graph, Q1 is the output at the natural level of output and implies the price, P1. Based on the graph, the shift on aggregate supply curve to the left, to S2 is caused by the firm who imports crude Graph1. The impact of higher oil prices. oil. If the price of importing crude oil is high, then the firm’s production costs will also increase. As a result, it reduces profit so they supply fewer goods and services. This can also relate according to Blanchard, using the equation: P = Pe (1+?) F(1- u,z) where, u = unemployment rate ? = mark up of the price over nominal wage Pe = expected price level In this equation, given the Pe, the increase in the price of oil shows an increase in the mark up, ?. The increase in the mark up will lead the firms to increase their prices, leading to an increase in the price level, P, at any level of output, Q. Then, the aggregate supply curve shifts up or move to the left. In addition, the aggregate demand curve also moves left, to D2. The increase in the price of oil leads the firms to increase their price which decrease the demand and output. As a result, the consumers would be resulted in lower rates of consumption due to increase in the price level. Thus, economy suffers both a negative supply shock and negative demand shock. Over time, output decreases further and the price level increase further. Now we know the impact of the increase of price of oil in the economy. Second we want to know is how the central bank responds in this issue. According to the article, higher oil prices are neither inflationary nor deflationary in themselves. It depends upon how the monetary policy reacts. Based on the right-hand graph, it shows how policy responded after the 1973-74 oil price shock. This will attempt to prevent output falling. For example, based on the article, America’s Federal funds rate was cut from 11% in mid 1974 to less than 6% in 1975, resulting in sharply negative real interest rates. In effect, this shifts the demand curve to the right, to D3, with same output at Q1. But still, the price tends to increase to P3. To hold the inflation down, central banks must increase interest rates. On the left hand graph, this implies a further leftward shift in the demand curve and shows a larger decrease of output. Take note an increase in interest rates does not necessary imply a tightening of policy of inflation which caused by higher oil prices. According to the article, central banks need to raise interest rates to simply keep real interest rates stable. To be able to increase interest rates, there should be a sign of a rise in the core of inflation, excluding the energy prices. In Europe, the increase in inflation tends to spill over into wages compare in America because of less flexible labour markets. So the European Central Bank (ECB) will be more cautious when the oil prices increase. In addition, central banks must know the recurring position of the economy to know if they need to increase interest rates. If the economy is slack, the bigger the risk that increase in crude oil will quickly affect the wages and that firms will be able to pass on higher costs. In contrast, when economy is weak and the oil price decrease then it tends to risks of deflation, the central bank will cut the rates.

Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature Sample

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES FOREIGN STUDIES In its broadest sense, impeachment is the process by which public officials may be removed from office on the basis of their conduct. Strictly speaking, it is the decision by a legislature to accuse an official of one or more offenses that warrant removal according to constitutional standards. A vote to impeach then triggers a trial based on those charges. The most famous impeachment proceedings have involved presidents, but every state has its own procedures. Most follow the federal model in general, but vary widely in their specifics.At the federal level, impeachment starts in the House of Representatives, where members may initiate resolutions to impeach a sitting president. The House Judiciary Committee decides if a resolution merits a formal impeachment inquiry. A simple majority vote in the full House can launch a formal inquiry. The House Judiciary Committee conducts an investigation to determine if allegations against a president warrant charges, or articles of impeachment. If a simple majority of the full House votes to charge a president with at least one article of impeachment, that indictment will move to the Senate for trial.At that point, the president has been â€Å"impeached† by the House. House members act as or appoint congressional prosecutors. The chief justice of the Supreme Court presides over the trial in the Senate chamber. A two-thirds vote is required to convict and remove from office. The U. S. Constitution states that, â€Å"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanours. † (Article II, Section  ). The House of Representatives has impeached two Presidents: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.Johnson was charged in 1868 with eight articles of impeachment, but was acquitted by a single vote in the Senate tri al (depicted in the above engraving). Bill Clinton was charged with four articles of impeachment by the House in 1998, but was acquitted by the Senate early the next year. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before a final vote in the full House could send him to trial on three articles of impeachment. Each state constitution outlines a unique impeachment procedure, including variations on the list of impeachable offenses, protocol for an impeachment trial and the body responsible for an initial investigation.According to the Associated Press, seven governors in U. S. history have been removed from office following impeachment proceedings. The National Conference of State Legislatures said that a longer list would include states that have investigated governors for alleged offenses, voted to impeach a governor ahead of a trial, or held trials that resulted in acquittal. The only governor to be removed from office in the last 80 years was Gov.Evan Mecham of Arizona, who was convicted in 1 988 of obstructing justice and misusing $80,000 in state money that he was charged with funnelling to his car dealership to keep it afloat. In January 2008, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 114-1 to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich for abuse of power in connection with the federal investigation that had led to his arrest the month before. Mr. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama and with seeking to extort campaign contributions in return for official actions, including providing reimbursement to a hospital.Following the process that has been generally adopted by state legislatures in recent decades, the Illinois House created a special investigative committee, which made a recommendation in favor of impeachment to the entire body. In all states except Alaska, Nebraska and Oregon, the House votes on articles of impeachment ahead of a trial. In Alaska, the process is reversed, according to The Book of States. That state's Senate mu st impeach a governor by voting on impeachment articles in order to initiate a trial in the House. Nebraska is the only state with a unicameral legislature.Without a state House, the Nebraska Senate votes to impeach before passing articles on to the state Supreme Court for a trial. Oregon is the only state without constitutional provisions for impeachment of a governor or other executive and judicial officers, according to the NCSL. Those officials may be removed from office, but not by the state's legislature. State courts in Oregon may try public officials for criminal offenses, but the procedure depends upon the jurisdiction of a crime. LOCAL STUDIES Section 1, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution declares that â€Å"Public office is a public trust.Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and  lead modest lives. â€Å"   These words echo loud and clear today as our country’s leaders find themselves at the brink of conducting this constitutional process. Impeachment has been defined as a national inquest into the conduct of public men. It is a necessary safeguard to ensure that public officers have the moral fitness and integrity to fulfil their mandate.The provisions on impeachment are enshrined in Article XI of the 1987 Constitution. Under the Constitution only the following public officers may be impeached: The President, Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and the Ombudsman. This list of officers is exclusive. All other public officers and employees may be removed from office as provided by law, but not by impeachment. The grounds for impeachment are: culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust.These grounds are exclusive and offenses not falling within these parameters shall not be sufficient for impeachment purposes. The process begins at the House of Representatives, which has the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment. A verified complaint must be filed by either a Member of the House of Representatives or by any citizen upon a resolution of endorsement by any Member thereof. Once the verified complaint has been filed it shall be included in the Order of Business within ten session days, and referred to the proper Committee within three session days thereafter.The Committee, after hearing, and by a majority vote of all its Members, shall submit its report to the House within sixty session days from such referral, together with the corresponding resolution. The resolution shall be calendared for consideration by the House within ten session days from receipt thereof. In the committee hearings, a vote of at least one-third of all the Members of the House shall be necessary either to affirm a favourable resolution with th e Articles of Impeachment of the Committee, or override its contrary resolution.The vote of each Member shall be recorded. If however, the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least one-third of all the Members of the House, the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed. The Senate has the sole power of sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. When sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the Philippines is on trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside, but shall not vote.No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate. The person impeached shall be  removed from office  and shall be  disqualified to hold any office under the Republic of the Philippines, but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to prosecution, trial, and punishment accord ing to law. It is clear that the liability does not end at the Senate, the person impeached shall also be held for appropriate action as a result of his illegal and improper acts.

System Ergonomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

System Ergonomics - Essay Example The goal in ergonomics is to identify aspects of the job that are hazardous and to redesign these aspects so that they are safer (Owen, 2000). This paper examines how ergonomics can be used to train workers to cope with a disastrous situation. Hillsborough disaster occurred on April 15, 1989, at Hillsborough football stadium in Sheffield, England. It has been the worst-ever sporting disaster, resulting in 96 deaths and 766 injuries during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool (BBC News, 1989). The Hillsborough stadium was segregated between the opposing fans, with the Liverpool fans being assigned to the Leppings Lane End of the stadium with the capacity of 14,600 people, while the Forest fans were given the Spion End of the ground which held 21,000 (Mirron Football, 2010). Half an hour before the kickoff, the crowd started getting bigger outside the Leppings Lane because the turnstiles were not able to let enough fans in fast enough to ease the pressure (BBC News, 1989). The match was scheduled for 3.00 pm but by that time, more than 5000 fans were still outside the stadium. As the match began, orders were given to open the gates to stand, which did not have turnstiles, to ease the pressure of fans outside the ground to avoid deaths there (BBC News, 1989). This caused a rush of fans through the gate into the stadium, pushing the ones who were already there forward and crushing them against the high, wired-topped safety fences. The people who were entering were unaware of the pressure they were causing at the fences and there were no police or stewards standing at the entrance to direct these fans. An estimated 2,000 fans entered the ground through the exit gate and a large number of them went down the tunnel which led straight in to pens 3 and 4, in the centre of the terrace (Wade, 2010). Since there were no policemen or stewards present at the terrace, no one was able to direct the crowd to the side and the pressure started building up

Country Comparisons Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Country Comparisons - Assignment Example Japan has been experiencing declining birth rates together with low immigration rates over the last few years which have greatly contributed to the low population growth rate. Japan’s population is estimated to decline over the next coming years by about one million people each year (Connelly, 2008). United States has the best performing economy in the world with an annual average Gross Domestic Product of US$ 5337.70 billion. According to CIA World Fact book, United States GDP for the year ended 2011 was estimated at 17720 billion US dollars. This GDP has an annual average estimate growth rate of 3.25% with a 1.6% growth recorded in the year 2011 over 2010. Japan on the other side, has an annual Gross Domestic Product of US$ 2266.10 billion with an annual average growth of 2.15%. According to the CIA World Fact book, Japan’s 2011 GDP was reported to be US$ 5855billion with a growth of 0.6 percent over 2010. This shows that both countries have a high GDP as well as high growth rates (survey 2003), (CIA). Japan was reported to have a high per capita income of $39310 in December 2010. The average per capita income over the last few years has been $26593.62. United States on the other hand has an average per capita income of $25892.70 with $37,527 recorded for 2010 which is slightly below the Japan’s (Greenaway, 2012). United States has had an average inflation rate of 3.38% while Japan has had inflation rate of 2.97%. Japan recorded 0.3% inflation in February 2012 whereas United States recorded a 2.7% in March 2012 (CIA). Due to the adoption of China’s one-child policy, the population is reported to have a low population growth rate of 0.47 percent. This policy is the reason why the population consists majorly the aged. China is the most populous country in the world 1,226,718,015 people. This consists 20% of the world’s population.

Whats Eating Gilbert Grape Based on the movie, for mental illness Term Paper

Whats Eating Gilbert Grape Based on the movie, for mental illness - Term Paper Example In the movie, Arnie is faced with a very difficult life considering the tough situations that are affecting their family’s life and the developmental disability that has made his life more of a burden to his brother who seems to be the only person in a position to care for the entire family. Developmental disorder is simply a term that is commonly used in the United States and Canada in an effort to bring to light disabilities that are life long. The disabilities that are described as being developmental are inclusive of all the mental and physical impairments that tend to be observed in children before they reach the age of 18 years. The development disability is usually as a consequence of trauma or even illness that is temporary during childhood. In the case of the movie What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, it can be said that the developmental disorder that seems to put on hold Arnie’s life is as a consequence of mental impairment. As it can be clearly seen in Arnie, the developmental disability makes it very difficult for the character to live an independent life because it reduces the capacity of an individual to have an independent living; it disables ones ability to have self direction and the inability of an individual to learn (Habib, 49). ... As it is also expressed in the movie, developmental disability has no treatment against. The helpful thing that could be done for an individual that is suffering from developmental disorder is to have them receive optimal support right from their families. As it is evident in the movie, Gilbert has been busy all through trying his best to take care of his brother by supporting him in his daily activities. This is also extended with the mother who is also extremely obese hence can not do anything for herself. Although according to the standards that are known internationally, developmental disorders ought to be countered using education and training; community and at-home support; residential accommodation; employment support; advocacy and day services (Habib, 50). Due to the fact that they are surrounded by poverty, Arnie’s family is not in a position to offer the many kinds of support that could benefit and even better his life. In regard to this, Gilbert is acting in a very responsible manner as he is only capable of offering the at-home support to Arnie and does it to his level best considering the fact that he is also caring for the entire family since the death of his father and the fact that their mother is severely obese hence can not also support herself. Review of "What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?" It is in the small town of Endora in Iowa that Gilbert is having his busy life taking care of his brother Arnie. Being the only brother and only remaining male figure that his was left with in the house after his father committed suicide, Gilbert has developed a very strong relationship with his brother. The relationship is mainly of protection and care as it is a very clear scenario that the only parent that they are left with

Comprehensive Performance Evaluation Process Research Paper

Comprehensive Performance Evaluation Process - Research Paper Example With this concern, this paper intends to describe a comprehensive performance evaluation process that would result in performance change of the faculty as well as the staff members at a particular educational institution. Discussion Critical Analysis of the Comprehensive Performance Evaluation Process After acquiring a brief idea about the procedure of comprehensive performance evaluation, it can be affirmed that it is the teachers and the students belonging to a particular educational institution who are mainly assessed in a comprehensive evaluation procedure within the background of educational settings. According to Verma (2013), it can be observed in this similar concern that there are certain major factors that underline the effectiveness of certain goal settings such as performance-enhancement objectives especially in the field of education. As noted by Verma (2013), the factors comprise assisting the educational instructors or the teachers in their career planning along with p rofessional advancement, supporting those individuals who are involved in making effective decisions concerning the management of teachers and enhancing the quality of the teachers. Furthermore, Verma (2013) also recognized certain other significant factors that largely emphasize the effectiveness of certain goal settings such as performance-enhancement objectives in educational settings. In this regard, as highlighted by Verma (2013), these factors entail identifying proper programs associated with staff development, validating selection procedures of the teachers, evaluating introduced staff advancement programs and creating along with developing a database particularly for educational institutions. On the other hand, it can be argued that there are certain crucial factors that have been apparently observed, affecting the effectiveness of certain goal settings such as performance-enhancement objectives related to education field by a certain extent. In this regard, Beletskiy (2011 ) identified these factors to comprise deterring the responsibilities that are ought to be performed by both the students and the educational instructors for the students as well as deficiency in the capability towards supporting a favorable initiative and adoption along with execution of ineffective management related techniques. According to Verma (2013), the above discussed crucial factors might be duly considered as the readiness of the educational institutions for change. Beletskiy (2011) argues in this similar concern that the urgency or the keenness towards making effectual changes throughout the educational institutions is essential for such changes to become much effective (Beletskiy, 2011). Thus, it can be affirmed that the identification of the aforesaid factors would eventually ensure moderate growth or change in the performance-improvement objectives of the educational institutions by a considerable level.

Animal Rights Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Animal Rights Analysis - Essay Example Within the animal rights movement, every animal, from conception to natural death, has a certain value given by God. The second strand employs the arguments from the field of legal philosophy, specifically natural law, claiming that the right-to-life is a fundamental right which should be protected by law. On the other hand, if an animal and its existence threaten human life, it is morally permissible to kill this animal: for instance, outcasts with rabies, extreme aggressiveness of an animal or invasion of animals such as wild foxes or wolves. Also, gene engineering and cloning need sacrifices in order to protect human life and find treatment for incurable diseases. Also, all medicines and treatment methods are tested on animals to be sure that they are safe for human beings. In this case, it is morally permissible to do these things to non-human animals. This balance is an expression, then, of core values, of basic societal choices. This is the point where the distinction between r ights and boundaries collapses since Moral rights- beyond the core-become an expression of the kind of particularized societal choice of which fundamental boundaries are an expression. Moral boundaries are designed, thus, to allow communities to make and live by those differing balances which they deem fundamental.  Ã‚   The main similarity is in perspectives they are written from. Both web sites UUFETA   (Unitarian Universalists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and Animal Freedom are based on religious perspectives incorporating moral and ethical point of view. Both web sites state that the community should always seek to adopt the highest standard of animal rights around. Both sites agree that the voice of one indi ­vidual in a modern society will normally carry little weight unless the demands which that individual articulates come from within the central elite and its decision-making body until those concerned get together with others who share a common interest and aggregate their demands into a program for action.

Oral history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Oral history - Essay Example demned Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait describing it in terms of â€Å"good and evil† where he consistently compared Saddam Hussein, the Iraq president during that time to Adolf Hitler. Bush advocated for clear and unequivocal withdrawal of military forces from Iraq from Kuwait as the only possible resolution to solve the â€Å"act of naked aggression† portrayed by Iraq (Rosenau 48). Deliberations of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, the U.S and here allies reached a conclusion where a timeline was issued to Iraq to withdraw her forces in Kuwait of face the full combat of the allies led by the U.S. My grandfather who hails from Pittsburg was presents a good account of the occurrences during that period serving as a medical personnel in the desert region where the war took place. His position in the forces made him become directly involved with the Gulf War and therefore an interview with him presents a good account of the factors that led to the war, the occurr ences during the war as well as the aftermath o-f the war. The Persian Gulf War resulted with an aim of rolling back the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq that not only served as a threat to the world economy, but also a disruption of the international system. My grandfather describes the occurrences that transpired during the Persian Gulf War as the trigger to the as a result of failure by Iraq to adhere to the warnings given. He describes Hussein’s action on 17th July, 1990 as one that triggered tension between Iran and Kuwait after Hussein accused the UAE and Kuwait as disrupting the world oil market through flooding the market with oil. Specifically, Hussein blamed Kuwait for stealing oil in the Rumaila oil field, an oil source that run beneath the two nations and as a result serving as a sign of economic war against Iraq. In reaction to the economic war that Hussein assumed Iraq presented, Hussein reacted by sending his military forces to Kuwait on 2nd August the same year and the forces invaded and

Managing the difference between individuals is more relevant to Essay

Managing the difference between individuals is more relevant to today's organisations than ever before - Essay Example This essay analyses the necessity of managing the differences between individuals in the current scenario to meet the targets of the organisation, by aligning individuals to organisation goals and effectively making them work as a team and meeting increasing productivity and efficiency goals. A growing economy challenges everyone with problems of finding and retaining the best in the industry. When the multi faceted team comes together, harmonizing the work place and managing the differences between individuals becomes necessary to attain organisational goals. A motivated and contented individual performs better and contributes towards reaching organisational goals. Today, the customer is given a lot of priority and the emphasis is on customer service. It order to meet these expectations, dependence on the human workforce has increased tremendously. In the past organisations often had the upper hand. The organisation culture was more conservative and traditional. The hierarchy was adhered to and the lower attrition rates often contributed to a sense of complacency on the part of the management in making efforts to retain the workforce. Today's organisations boast of "shorter chains of command." Unnecessary levels of management have been done away with. Organisations in the past operated on the basis of "Unity in command " principle. It meant that one employee only reported to one supervisor. This was supposed to avoid the potential confusion when an employee gets directions from more than one source. Today, organisations are using more cross-functional teams, task forces and horizontal structures that cater to customers more than before. Employees often find themselves working for more than one" boss". Past organisations had a narrower span of control meaning lower number of people reporting to one single person. Smaller spans of control require more managers and are more costly, while larger spans are less expensive due to the requirement of a reduced number of managers and also are more efficient because of the reduced levels in the management. Organisations today opt for a wider span of control as chains of command are shortened and there is more trust in "empowerment", individual managers are taking on a larger number of subordinates who act with lesser direct supervision. Organisations today have understood the need to delegate more and empower the employees by giving them sufficient authority to make relevant decisions when required. Unlike in the past, this saves the managers from micro managing and also helps the employee own the responsibility for his own decisions. This has also led to the decentralisation of authority to a certain extent, while centralising the information with the help of the technological advances. Reducing the number of staff by using specialised staff increases the operating efficiency of the organisations today. Also, in the past subtly manipulating the workforce was slightly easier due to lack of myriad opportunities. Today, employees know they have many options. They have the upper hand. If the company needs them, it has to work hard to keep them. They need to have a unique

What Does the Fence Represent in Frences Essay Example for Free

What Does the Fence Represent in Frences Essay In reality, people have certain things that they carry around or have in their homes that will give them what they need to be in a comforting state of mind. In the play Fences by August Wilson, this item happens to literally be a partially built fence around a dirt yard with a raggedy looking house in the center of it. Each family member sees the fence a little differently and provides a certain symbolic perspective on what it has to do with their family. Cory, who is Troy and Rose’s son, sees this fence as just another chore that his mom and dad are constantly making him go out of his way to help build and complete this fence. He doesn’t necessarily have much meaning behind how he sees it, but just gets annoyed when his parents ask him to help build it. In connection to this, Troy states to Cory, â€Å"Your first chore is to help me with this fence on Saturday. Everything else comes after that† (Wilson 31). Instead of going to football practice, Troy is making Cory help him build this fence. Troy wants Cory to work hard and have a good future, and by not letting him play football, he’ll have a better sense on knowledge in the real world. On the other hand, Cory’s mom Rose has a different perspective on it. She states, â€Å"Jesus, be a fence around me every day. Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way† (Wilson 21). Rose sees the fence as a holy protective shield amongst herself, her house, and her family. She will feel safe when she sees the fence being built and protecting her from this. Finally, Troy takes much pride in this fence, which is why he always is working on it or having Cory help him with it. Since the fence takes ultimately ten years to finally be completed, it symbolizes the partially built factor. The fence represents a wall that hold it’s the family and keeps unwanted things out. However since it is only partially built, problems are still probable to come in and invade their family.

Image Quality Assessment Techniques Using Gabor Filters

Image Quality Assessment Techniques Using Gabor Filters A SURVEY ON IMAGE QUALITY ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES USING GABOR FILTERS Deepa Maria Thomas, S. John Livingson (DEEPA MARIA THOMAS, ROOM NO 303, DMR RESIDENCE, KARUNYA LADIES HOSTEL, KARUNYA UNIVERSITY, COIMBATORE-641114) Abstract-Image quality assessment has a very important role, especially because the impact that the quality of images have on a viewer is significant. This makes it important that visual information is assessed for quality every now and then. Images can be distorted with different types of irregularities like noise, blur etc. No- reference image quality assessment methods does not need a reference image for assessment, this is particularly helpful when there is no reference image available. Gabor filters are efficient is assessing image quality because their frequency and orientation representations is very similar to the human visual system. This is why Gabor filters are used in feature extraction , target detection as well as texture segmentation. This paper is a survey of some of the no- reference image quality assessment methods that make use of Gabor filters in their quality assessment methodology wither for feature extraction or texture analysis. Key wordsimage quality assessment, Gabor filter, no reference quality assessment. INTRODUCTION Images of good quality have come to be of great importance in our day to day life. Statistics suggest that an average person comes across 400 to 600 advertisements in a day. Pictures form a major portion of advertisements. Advertisement is just one area that makes use of images. There are a lot of image quality assessment techniques available today. No-reference image quality assessment (NR-IQA) is one of the types in which the quality is estimated without the use of any reference image, whereas full reference image quality assessment (FR-IQA) make use of a reference image for quality assessment. Gabor filter is generally used for edge detection and it has the advantage that the frequency and orientation representations are very similar to the human visual system. Or in other words, the image analysis by Gabor functions is similar to the human perception. A set of Gabor filters with different frequencies and orientations are also useful for extracting useful features from an image. GABOR FILTERS IN FEATURE EXTRACTION Use of Gabor filter is motivated by the fact that they are optimal in time and frequency. In addition these filters can approximate the visual cortex of some mammals as described in [1]. This is why Gabor filters are used in many applications like target detection, image segmentation etc.. Figure 1: Two dimensional Gabor filter Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabor_filter NR-IQA USING GABOR FILTERS No-reference image quality assessment is one of the types in which the quality is estimated without the use of any reference image, whereas full- reference techniques make use of a reference image for quality assessment. Described below are two no- reference image quality assessment techniques using Gabor filters. NR-IQA USING VISUAL CODEBOOK (CBIQ) The first step of this method [2] is codebook construction. It is built by dividing an image into BxB patches. All the constant patches are removed, for the rest of the patches Gabor feature vectors are computed. This is repeated for all the training images. Using this set, with a clustering algorithm the codebook is created. The input image is represented by the distribution of codewords from the codebook. The number of times the codeword is found and each time a nearest neighbor is found, the count is increased by one. If the distance between the vector of the feature and the nearest neighbor is larger than a predefined threshold, then it is considered as an outlier. In a case where a large number of outliers are encountered, then there might be some type of distortion which was not encountered in the training set. This image quality assessment technique is represented as CBIQ (Codebook Image Quality).The quality metric is Qm(I) and is given by, Qm(I)= where, H1(i) is the probability of the occurrence of the code words DMOS(C(i)) is the Differential Mean Opinion Scores of the codewords. NR-IQA BASED ON VISUAL SALIENCY GUIDED SAMPLING (IQVG) This method [3] is a no-reference image quality assessment method based on visual saliency. Visual saliency is what grabs our attention and it makes some parts of the image stand out from the rest. In this method firstly, a sufficient number of patches are sampled for which the mean saliency is greater than the threshold. Next, feature extraction is done by convolving each patch with Gabor filters. Using histograms the features are encoded, this gives an image representation. Using regression methods such as SVR the model can be trained. Finally, the quality of the test image is predicted automatically with a trained model. FR-IQA USING GABOR FILTERS The full reference method of image quality assessment is different from the no reference methods in that it does not make use of a reference image for quality assessment. Described below are two full reference image quality assessment techniques using Gabor filters. FR-IQA USING FEATURE SIMILARITY INDEX (FSIM) In this method [4] firstly, two image extractions are made namely, phase congruence (PC) and gradient magnitude (GM). PC is contrast invariant, this implies that the variations in quality due to contrast differences are not identified by PC. As a result of this, the GM needs to be extracted using gradient operators like Prewitt operator, Sobel operator and Scharr operator. Once the PC and GM are extracted for the reference image and the distorted image, FSIM can be computed to measure the similarity between the two images. The FSM can be calculated by combining similarity measure between images for both PC and GM given by where, is the similarity measurement of PC is the similarity measurement of GM and are positive real numbers The combined similarity is given by = . where, ÃŽ ± and ÃŽ ² are parameters to adjust their relative weightage or importance. Finally, the FSIM measure is given as below FSIM= where, FR-IQA USING PERCEPTUAL METHOD (MIGF) One of the features necessary for good IQA is that it should be consistent with the subjective judgment of humans on the image. In this method [5] first, the features are extracted using a two dimensional Gabor filter which acts as a local band-pass filter with optimal localization properties. Next, divisive normalization transform (DNTF) is performed where the linear transform coefficient is normalized by the energy of a cluster of neighboring coefficients. This reduces the higher order dependencies in the extracted Gabor features. Next, the visual energy information (VEI) for each scale and orientation is given by where, ÃŽ » is the scale, ÃŽ ¸ is the orientation is real part of DNTF is the imaginary part of DNTF Once the VEI is calculated, the mutual information (MI) can be calculated as the difference between the VEI obtained from the reference image and distorted image. MI can be calculated using marginal probability distribution and joint probability distribution. The quality score is as described below Score= where, and denote the VEI of the reference image and distorted image respectively at scale i and orientation ÃŽ ¸. COMPARISON OF IQA TECHNIQUES: The table below shows a comparison between the four techniques described above. It describes the merits and demerits of the four IQA methods. TABLE – 1 COMPARISON TABLE CONCLUSIONS This work provides the comparative study of some of the IQA methods in image processing. The algorithms that were considered were both no – reference and full reference algorithms. All the IQA methods discussed here make use of Gabor filters in one way or another. This paper highlights importance of Gabor Filters in image quality assessment. REFERENCES: [1] Anjali G. (2012), â€Å"For image enhancement and segmentation by using evaluation of Gabor filter parameters.† IJATER, 2, 46-56. [2] Peng Y. and David D. (2014), â€Å"No- reference image quality assessment based on visual codebook.† Feature Similarity Index for Image Quality Assessment.† IEEE Trans. IP, 21, 3129-3138. [3] Zhongyi G., Lin Z. and Hongyu L., (2013),â€Å"Learning a bling image quality index based on visual saliency guided sampling and Gabor filtering.† ICIP, 186-190. [4] Lin Z. and Xuanqin M., (2011), â€Å"FSIM: Feature Similarity Index for Image Quality Assessment .† IEEE Trans. IP, 20, 2378-2386 [5] Ding Y., Zhang Y., Wang X., Yan X. and Krylov A.S. (2014), â€Å"Perceptual image quality metric using mutual information of Gabor features.† Science China Information Sciences, 57,032111:1-032111:9.

Political Spectrum Project Essay -- Politics Magazine Articles Essays

Political Spectrum Project Introduction I have gathered four articles from the New York Times newspaper, which is a Liberal newspaper, and broken them down into a summary and a short understanding of what makes the article Liberal. The four articles include a political cartoon, an editorial piece, a national article, and an additional article. Gun Battle Halts Mideast Cease-fire International / additional article. During the daylight hours of October 2, the cease-fire between Israel and Palestinians came to a sudden and violent standstill. The Gaza Strip and several Arab towns inside of Israel was the scene for this horrible event. Gunfire sent hundreds of Palestinians civilians running off the streets and seeking shelter and safety from guns and other arms fire. Israeli military officers began firing their yesterday. This event was triggered by Arab protesters who claimed that the Israelis had provoked the by failing to pull back there armored vehicles and riot officers from key junctions in the Gaza Strip. By the evening, three more Arabs had been killed bringing the total death count to fifty-four people. In this article as you read, you can start to get the since there are two sides to the conflict. One the Palestinians and Israeli. The article gives a bias to favor the Palestinians people over the Israeli government. The Palestinians were marching against the Israeli police who were supposed to pull back from the Arab community last week. Armed military tanks and helicopters met the protesters. Most of the protesters on had only had rocks and small arms to protect themselves. This article is a wonderful example of Liberalism. The utter disdain, which the article shows for the Israelis, is evident, â€Å"After failing to secure concessions from us at the peace table, Barak has decided to negotiate with bullets† says the article. The pursuit of happiness, this is a common liberal view. The Palestinians were only pursuing happiness and freedom from the Israelis military when they fired upon them. The Arab people are persecuted in the Israeli run Gaza Strip for their religion. Th is pursuit for happiness is a fundamental part of Liberalism. Gore Vs. Bush. Round 1 Editorial / Opinion piece This opinion piece about how Gore and Bush are perceived after last Tuesdays debate. A writer explains why Gore won round one of the debates. The... ...to look like night and day against each other. Of all the contentious issues in their debate Tuesday night, none underscored the differences between Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush more than taxes. Repeating himself relentlessly, Gore asserted that the Texas governor's proposed tax cuts would award more money to the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers than the amounts Bush would set aside for education, health and defense combined. Bushes tax cut looks like something a monarch would give to his nobles. This overwhelmingly show Bush as a conservative Bush accused the vice president of using "fuzzy numbers," but never refuted the basic charge. In fact, â€Å"Gore's formula was on target, illustrating a stark choice between the two candidates' approaches on the tax issue.† Supporting Gore and showing the fact the Bush has a very high tax cut of the wealthy is would show the liberal thinking for the writer. Gore the understood liberal was praised for pointing that figure out. Politics have not changed very much since the 19th century but the faces of opinion have changed, now liberal and conservative try to convince the people that they are working in your best interest.

The New Beetle Case Study Essay -- essays research papers

1.) What made the â€Å"Drivers Wanted† campaign so successful? What did the campaign try to motivate the consumer to do? What measures prove that the campaign was successful? What did it do to the consumer’s perception of the brand? Looking back, Volkswagen’s decision to switch advertising agencies—from DDB Needham to Arnold Communications (AC)—was a critical step in the company’s comeback bid. After all, AC was the one who came up with the â€Å"Drivers Wanted† campaign. As stated in the case study, after AC won the Volkswagen account, they did some in-depth research on consumer and dealer perceptions of Volkswagen. They discovered that—Volkswagen consumers are younger, slightly more affluent, and more educated than the average car purchaser; Volkswagen owners are creative/confident/adventurous individuals who enjoy a more active role in driving; and Volkswagen was perceived as its namesake, the â€Å"people’s car.† Other important information was also taken into consideration, including—the rational benefit of Volkswagen was that it was the only brand that offered German engineering at an affordable price. The emotional benefit of Volkswagen was that it represented a different way of driving (more connected to the road) and living (more connected to the world). With this information, AC began to craft an ad campaign that played to these strengths (consumer influences). The â€Å"Drivers Wanted† campaign was success ful because its message—which was based on AC’s in-depth research—clearly ta...

Blood Promise Chapter Five

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully. Sydney never entirely lost that discomfort she seemed to have around me, but sometimes, while I was trying to figure out Russian television, she'd take the time to explain what was going on. There were some cultural differences between these shows and the ones we'd both grown up with, so we had that in common. Every once in a while, she'd crack a smile over something we both found funny, and I'd sense there was someone in there I could possibly be friends with. I knew there was no way I'd ever find a replacement for Lissa, but I think some part of me still longed to fill the void of friendship that had been opened up when I left her behind. Sydney napped throughout the day, and I began to think she was just an insomniac with bizarre sleep patterns. She also continued her equally odd treatment of food, hardly touching her meals. She always let me have the leftovers and was a bit more adventurous with Russian cuisine. I'd had to experiment when I first arrived, and it was nice to have the guidance of someone who, though not a local, knew a lot more about this country than me. On the third day of our trip, we arrived in Omsk. Omsk was a larger and prettier city than I'd expected of Siberia. Dimitri had always teased me that my images of Siberia looking like Antarctica were wrong, and I could tell that he was right-at least as far as the southern part of the region was concerned. The weather wasn't much different from what I'd have found in Montana this time of year, cool spring air occasionally warmed by sunshine. Sydney had told me when we got there, she'd get us a ride from some Moroi she knew. Several lived in the city, blending in with the large population. Yet as the day went on, we discovered a problem. No Moroi would take us to the village. Apparently, the road was dangerous. Strigoi often hung out near it at night, hoping to catch traveling Moroi or dhampirs. The more Sydney explained it, the more worried I became about my plan. Apparently, there weren't many Strigoi in Dimitri's town itself. According to her, they lurked on the town's periphery, but few lived out there permanently. If that was the case, my odds of finding Dimitri had dropped. Things got even worse as Sydney continued describing the situation. â€Å"A lot of Strigoi travel the country looking for victims, and the village is just an area they pass through,† she explained. â€Å"The road is kind of remote, so some Strigoi will stay for a while and try to get easy prey. Then they move on.† â€Å"In the U.S., Strigoi often hide in large cities,† I said uneasily. â€Å"They do that here too. It's easier for them to take victims without being noticed.† Yes, this definitely threw a wrench into my plans. If Dimitri wasn't residing in this town, I was going to have some serious problems. I'd known Strigoi liked big cities, but somehow, I'd convinced myself Dimitri would return to the place where he grew up. But if Dimitri wasn't there†¦ well, suddenly, the enormity of Siberia hit me. I'd learned Omsk wasn't even the biggest city in the region, and finding even one Strigoi here could be hard. Looking for him in any number of cities that might be larger? Things could get very, very ugly if my hunch proved wrong. Since setting out to find Dimitri, I'd occasionally had weak moments in which I half-hoped I'd never find him. The idea of him as a Strigoi still tormented me. I was also visited by other images†¦ images of the way he'd been and memories of the time we'd spent together. I think my most precious memory was of just before he was turned. It was one of those times when I'd sucked up a lot of the spirit-induced darkness from Lissa. I'd been out of control, unable to get a grip. I was afraid of becoming a monster, afraid of killing myself like another shadow kissed guardian had. Dimitri had brought me back to myself, lending me his strength. I'd realized then just how strong our connection was, how perfectly we understood each other. I'd been skeptical about people being soul mates in the past, but at that moment, I knew it was true. And with that emotional connection had come a physical one. Dimitri and I had finally given in to the attraction. We'd sworn we never would, but†¦ well, our feelings were just too strong. Staying away from each other had turned out to be impossible. We'd had sex, and it had been my first time ever. Sometimes I felt certain it would be my only time. The act itself had been amazing, and I'd been unable to separate the physical joy from the emotional. Afterward, we'd lain together in that small cabin for as long as we dared, and that had been amazing too. It had been one of the few moments where I'd felt he was truly mine. â€Å"Do you remember Victor's lust charm?† I had asked, snuggling closer against him. Dimitri looked at me like I was crazy. â€Å"Of course.† Victor Dashkov was a royal Moroi, one who had been friends with Lissa and her family. Little did we know that he'd secretly studied spirit for years and had identified Lissa as a spirit user before she even knew. He'd tortured her with all sorts of mind games that truly made her think she was going crazy. His schemes had fully culminated in his kidnapping and torturing her until she healed the disease that was killing him. Victor was now in prison for life, both for what he'd done to Lissa and because of his treasonous plans for rebellion against the Moroi government. He had been one of the few to know about my relationship with Dimitri, something that had worried me to no end. He'd even furthered our relationship by creating a lust charm-a necklace infused with earth and compulsion. The charm was full of dangerous magic that had made Dimitri and me give into our most basic instincts. We had pulled back at the last moment, and until our night in the cabin, I had believed our charm induced encounter to be the ultimate physical high. â€Å"I didn't realize it could get better,† I had told Dimitri after we'd actually slept together. I felt a little shy talking about it. â€Å"I thought about it all the time†¦ what happened between us.† He turned to me, tugging the covers up. The cabin was cold, but its bed had warm blankets. I suppose we could have put clothes on, but that was the last thing I wanted to do. Being pressed skin-to-skin felt too good. â€Å"I did too.† â€Å"You did?† I asked, surprised. â€Å"I thought†¦ I don't know. I thought you were too disciplined for that. I thought you'd try to forget it.† Dimitri laughed and kissed my neck. â€Å"Rose, how could I forget being naked with someone as beautiful as you? I stayed awake so many nights, replaying every detail. I told myself over and over that it was wrong, but you're impossible to forget.† His lips moved to my collarbone, and his hand stroked my hip. â€Å"You're burned into my mind forever. There is nothing, nothing in this world that will ever change that.† And it was memories like that that made it so hard to comprehend this quest to kill him, even if he was a Strigoi. Yet†¦ at the same time, it was exactly because of memories like that that I had to destroy him. I needed to remember him as the man who'd loved me and held me in bed. I needed to remember that that man would not want to stay a monster. I wasn't very excited when Sydney showed me the car she'd bought, particularly since I'd given her the money for it. â€Å"We're going in that?† I exclaimed. â€Å"Can it even make it that far?† The trip was apparently seven hours. She gave me a shocked look. â€Å"Are you serious? Do you know what this is? It's a 1972 Citroen. These things are amazing. Do you have any idea how hard it would have been to get this into the country back in the Soviet days? I can't believe that guy actually sold it. He's clueless.† I knew little about the Soviet era and even less about classic cars, but Sydney stroked the shiny red hood like she was in love. Who would have guessed? She was a car geek. Maybe it was valuable, and I just couldn't appreciate it. I was more into sleek, brand-new sports cars. To be fair, this car didn't have any dents or rust, and aside from an outdated look, it appeared clean and well cared for. â€Å"Will it run?† I asked. If possible, her expression grew even more incredulous. â€Å"Of course!† And it did. The engine sprang to life with a steady hum, and with the way it accelerated, I started to understand her fascination. She wanted to drive, and I was about to argue that it had been my money that bought it. Seeing the adoring look on her face, though, I finally decided not to come between her and the car. I was just glad we were leaving right away. It was already late afternoon. If the road was as dangerous as everyone claimed, we wouldn't want to be out there while it was dark. Sydney agreed but said we could get most of the trip in before sundown and then stay overnight at a place she knew. We'd arrive at our destination in the morning. The farther we drove from Omsk, the more remote the terrain became. As I studied it, I began to understand Dimitri's love of this land. It had a scrubby, barren look, true, but spring was turning the plains green, and there was something hauntingly beautiful about seeing all this untouched wilderness. It reminded me of Montana in some ways yet had a certain quality that was all its own. I couldn't help but use Sydney's crush on the car as a means of conversation. â€Å"Do you know a lot about cars?† I asked. â€Å"Some,† she said. â€Å"My dad's the Alchemist in our family, but my mom's a mechanic.† â€Å"Really?† I asked, surprised. â€Å"That's kind of†¦ unusual.† Of course, I was hardly one to talk about gender roles. Considering my life was dedicated to fighting and killing, I couldn't really claim to have a traditionally feminine job either. â€Å"She's really good and taught me a lot. I wouldn't have minded doing that for a living. Wouldn't have minded going to college, either.† There was a bitter note in her voice. â€Å"I guess there are a lot of other things I wish I could do.† â€Å"Why can't you?† â€Å"I had to be the next family Alchemist. My sister†¦ well, she's older, and usually it's the oldest kid who has to do the job. But, she's kind of†¦ worthless.† â€Å"That's harsh.† â€Å"Yeah, maybe. But she just couldn't handle this kind of thing. When it comes to organizing her lip gloss collection, she's unstoppable. But managing the kinds of networks and people we do? No, she'd never be able to do it. Dad said I was the only one capable of it.† â€Å"That's a compliment, at least.† â€Å"I guess.† Sydney looked so sad now that I felt bad for bringing it up. â€Å"If you could go to college, what would you study?† â€Å"Greek and Roman architecture.† I decided then it was a good thing I wasn't behind the wheel, because I probably would have driven off the road. â€Å"Seriously?† â€Å"You know anything about it?† â€Å"Um, no.† â€Å"It's amazing.† The sad expression was replaced by one of wonder-she looked nearly as enamored as she'd been of the car. I understood then why she'd liked the train station. â€Å"The ingenuity it took for some of that†¦ well, it's just unreal. If the Alchemists won't send me back to the U.S. after this, I'm hoping I'll get assigned to Greece or Italy.† â€Å"That would be cool.† â€Å"Yeah.† Her smile faded. â€Å"But there are no guarantees you'll get what you want with this job.† She fell silent after that, and I decided that coaxing her into this small conversation had been victory enough. I left her to her own thoughts of classic cars and architecture while my mind wandered to topics of my own. Strigoi. Duty. Dimitri. Always Dimitri†¦ Well, Dimitri and Lissa. It was always a toss-up over who would cause me more pain. Today, as the car lulled me into a daze, it was Lissa I went to, thanks largely to Adrian's recent visit in my dream. Early evening in Russia meant early morning in Montana. Of course, since the school ran on a nocturnal schedule, it was technically night for them too in spite of the sunshine. It was nearly curfew, and everyone would have to return to their own dorms soon. Lissa was with Adrian, over in his room in guest housing. Adrian, like Avery, had graduated, but as the only other known spirit user, he'd come to stay indefinitely at the school and work with Lissa. They'd just spent a long, exhausting evening working on dream walking and sat on the floor facing each other. With a sigh, Lissa collapsed back and lay down, stretching her arms over her head. â€Å"This is useless,† she groaned. â€Å"I'm never going to learn it.† â€Å"Never took you for a quitter, cousin.† Adrian's voice was as flippant as usual, but I could tell he was weary too. They weren't really cousins; that was just a term royals sometimes used with each other. â€Å"I just don't understand how you do it.† â€Å"I don't know how to explain it. I just think about it, and†¦ well, it happens.† He shrugged and pulled out the cigarettes he always carried. â€Å"Do you mind?† â€Å"Yes,† she said. To my surprise, he put them away. What the hell? He'd never asked me if I minded if he smoked-which I did. In fact, half the time, I swore he did it to annoy me, which made no sense. Adrian was way past the age when guys tried to attract girls they liked by picking on them. He tried to explain the process. â€Å"I just think about who I want and sort of†¦ I don't know. Expand my mind toward them.† Lissa sat up and crossed her legs. â€Å"Sounds a lot like how Rose described reading me.† â€Å"Probably the same principle. Look, it took you a while to learn auras. This is no different. And you're not the only one with a learning curve. I'm only now finally moving past healing scratches, and you can bring back the dead, which-call me crazy-is kind of hard-core.† He paused. â€Å"Of course, some would argue that I am actually crazy.† At the mention of auras, she studied him and summoned the ability to see the field of light that shone around every living thing. His aura came into focus, surrounding him in a golden glow. According to Adrian, her aura was the same. No other Moroi had that kind of pure gold. Lissa and Adrian figured it was unique to spirit users. He smiled, guessing what she was doing. â€Å"How's it look?† â€Å"The same.† â€Å"See how good you are at it now? Just be patient with the dreams.† Lissa wanted so badly to walk dreams the same way he could. Despite her disappointment, I was glad she couldn't. Adrian's dream visits were hard enough on me. Seeing her would†¦ well, I wasn't entirely sure, but it would make this cool, hard attitude I was trying to maintain in Russia a lot harder. â€Å"I just want to know how she is,† said Lissa in a small voice. â€Å"I can't stand not knowing.† It was the conversation with Christian all over again. â€Å"I saw her the other day. She's fine. And I'll go again soon.† Lissa nodded. â€Å"Do you think she'll do it? Do you think she can kill Dimitri?† Adrian took a long time in answering. â€Å"I think she can. The question will be if it kills her in the process.† Lissa flinched, and I was a bit surprised. The answer was as blunt as one Christian might give. â€Å"God, I wish she hadn't decided to go after him.† â€Å"Wishing's useless now. Rose has got to do this. It's the only way we can get her back.† He paused. â€Å"It's the only way she'll be able to move on.† Adrian surprised me sometimes, but this took the prize. Lissa thought it was foolish and suicidal to go after Dimitri. I knew Sydney would agree if I told her the truth about this trip. But Adrian†¦ silly, shallow, party-boy Adrian understood? Studying him through Lissa's eyes, I realized he actually did. He didn't like it, and I could hear the hurt in his words. He cared about me. My having such strong feelings for someone else caused him pain. And yet†¦ he truly believed that I was doing the right thing-the only thing I could do. Lissa looked at the clock. â€Å"I've got to go before curfew. I should probably study for my history test, too.† Adrian grinned. â€Å"Studying's overrated. Just find someone smart to copy off.† She stood up. â€Å"Are you saying I'm not smart?† â€Å"Hell no.† He rose also and went to pour himself a drink from the fully stocked bar he kept on hand. Self-medicating was his irresponsible way of keeping spirit's effects at bay, and if he'd been using spirit all night, he would want the numbness of his vices. â€Å"You're the smartest person I know. But that doesn't mean you have to do unnecessary work.† â€Å"You can't succeed in life if you don't work. Copying from others won't get you anywhere.† â€Å"Whatever,† he said with a grin. â€Å"I copied all through school, and look how well I'm doing today.† With an eye roll, Lissa gave him a quick hug goodbye and left. Once out of his sight, her smile faded a bit. In fact, her thoughts took a decidedly dark turn. Mentioning me had stirred up all sorts of feelings within. She was worried about me-desperately worried. She'd told Christian that she felt bad about what had happened between us, but the full force of that didn't hit me until now. She was racked by guilt and confusion, continually berating herself for what she should have done. And above all, she missed me. She had that same feeling I did-like a part of her had been cut out. Adrian lived on the fourth floor, and Lissa opted for the stairs rather than the elevator. All the while, her mind spun with worry. Worries about whether she'd ever master spirit. Worry for me. Worry that she wasn't currently feeling spirit's dark side effects, which made her wonder if I was absorbing them, just as a guardian named Anna had. She'd lived centuries ago and was bonded to St. Vladimir, the school's namesake. She'd absorbed spirit's nasty effects from him-and had been driven insane. On the second floor, Lissa could make out the sounds of shouting, even through the door that separated the stairwell from the hallway. Despite knowing it had nothing to do with her, she hesitated, curiosity getting the best of her. A moment later, she quietly pushed the door open and stepped into the hall. The voices were coming from around the corner. She carefully peered around it-not that she needed to. She recognized the voices. Avery Lazar stood in the hallway, hands on her hips as she stared at her father. He stood in the doorway to what must have been his suite. Their stances were rigid and hostile, and anger crackled between them. â€Å"I'll do what I want,† she yelled. â€Å"I'm not your slave.† â€Å"You're my daughter,† he said in a voice both calm and condescending. â€Å"Though at times I wish you weren't.† Ouch. Both Lissa and I were shocked. â€Å"Then why are you making me stay in this hellhole? Let me go back to Court!† â€Å"And embarrass me further? We barely got out without damaging this family's reputation-much. No way am I going to send you there alone and let you do God knows what.† â€Å"Then send me to Mom! Switzerland's got to be better than this place.† There was a pause. â€Å"Your mother is†¦ busy.† â€Å"Oh, nice,† said Avery, voice heavy with sarcasm. â€Å"That's a polite way of saying she doesn't want me. No surprise. I'd just interfere with her and that guy she's sleeping with.† â€Å"Avery!† His voice rang out loud and angry. Lissa flinched and stepped back. â€Å"This conversation is done. Get back to your room and sober up before someone sees you. I expect you at breakfast tomorrow, and I expect you to be respectable. We have some important visitors.† â€Å"Yeah, and God knows we've got to keep up appearances.† â€Å"Go to your room,† he repeated. â€Å"Before I call Simon and make him drag you there.† â€Å"Yes, sir,† she simpered. â€Å"Right away, sir. Anything you say, sir.† And with that, he slammed the door. Lissa, ducking back behind the corner, could hardly believe he'd said those things to his own daughter. For a few moments, there was silence. Then, Lissa heard the sound of footsteps-coming toward her. Avery suddenly rounded the corner and stopped in front of Lissa, giving us our first good look of her. Avery was wearing a tight, short dress made of some kind of blue fabric that shone silvery in the light. Her hair hung long and wild, and the tears pouring from her blue-gray eyes had destroyed the heavy makeup she wore. The scent of alcohol came through loud and clear. She hastily ran a hand over her eyes, obviously embarrassed at being seen like this. â€Å"Well,† she said flatly. â€Å"I guess you overheard our family drama.† Lissa felt equally embarrassed at being caught spying. â€Å"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I was just passing by†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Avery gave a harsh laugh. â€Å"Well, I don't think it matters. Probably everyone in the building heard us.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† Lissa repeated. â€Å"Don't be. You didn't do anything wrong.† â€Å"No†¦ I mean, I'm sorry he†¦ you know, said those things to you.† â€Å"It's part of being a ? ®good' family. Everyone's got skeletons in their closet.† Avery crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. Even upset and messy, she was beautiful. â€Å"God, I hate him sometimes. No offense, but this place is so fucking boring. I found some sophomore guys to hang with tonight, but†¦ they were pretty boring too. The only thing they had going for them was their beer.† â€Å"Why†¦ why did your dad bring you here?† Lissa asked. â€Å"Why aren't you†¦ I don't know, in college?† Avery gave a harsh laugh. â€Å"He doesn't trust me enough. When we were at Court, I got involved with this cute guy who worked there-total nonroyal, of course. Dad freaked out and was afraid people would find out. So when he got the job here, he brought me along to keep an eye on me and torture me. I think he's afraid I'll run off with a human if I go to college.† She sighed. â€Å"I swear to God, if Reed wasn't here, I'd just run away, period.† Lissa didn't say anything for a long time. She'd gone out of her way to avoid Avery diligently. With all the orders the queen was giving Lissa lately, this seemed the only way Lissa could fight back and stop herself from being controlled. But now, she wondered if she'd been wrong about Avery. Avery didn't seem like a spy for Tatiana. She didn't seem like someone who wanted to mold Lissa into a perfect royal. Mostly, Avery seemed like a sad, hurting girl, whose life was spinning out of control. Someone who was being ordered around as much as Lissa was lately. With a deep breath, Lissa rushed forward with her next words. â€Å"Do you want to eat lunch with Christian and me tomorrow? No one would mind if you came to our lunch period. I can't promise it'll be, um, as exciting as you want.† Avery smiled again, but this time, it was less bitter. â€Å"Well, my other plans were to get drunk by myself in my room.† She lifted a bottle of what looked like whiskey out of her purse. â€Å"Scored some stuff of my own.† Lissa wasn't entirely sure what kind of an answer that was. â€Å"So†¦ I'll see you at lunch?† Now Avery hesitated. But slowly, a faint gleam of hope and interest appeared on her face. Concentrating, Lissa tried to bring up her aura. She had a little difficulty at first, probably worn out from all the practice with Adrian tonight. But when she was finally able to get a grip on Avery's aura, she saw it was a mix of colors: green, blue, and gold. Not uncommon. It was currently ringed in red, as often happened when people were upset. But right before Lissa's eyes, that redness faded. â€Å"Yeah,† Avery said at last. â€Å"That would be great.† â€Å"I think this is as far as we can go today.† On the other side of the world, Sydney's voice startled me out of Lissa's thoughts. I didn't know how long I'd been daydreaming, but Sydney had turned off the main highway and was driving us into a small town that fit perfectly with my backwoods images of Siberia. In fact, â€Å"town† was a total exaggeration. There were a few scattered houses, a store, and a gas station. Farmland stretched beyond the buildings, and I saw more horses than cars. The few people who were out stared at our car in amazement. The sky had turned deep orange, and the sun was sinking farther and farther into the horizon. Sydney was right. It was nearly nightfall, and we needed to be off the road. â€Å"We're only a couple hours away at most,† she continued. â€Å"We made really good time and should get there pretty quickly in the morning.† She drove to the other side of the village-which took, like, a minute-and pulled up in front of a plain white house with a barn beside it. â€Å"Here's where we're staying.† We got out of the car and approached the house. â€Å"Are these friends of yours?† â€Å"Nope. Never met them. But they're expecting us.† More mysterious Alchemist connections. The door was answered by a friendly looking human in her twenties who urged us to come inside. She only spoke a few words of English, but Sydney's translation skills carried us through. Sydney was more outgoing and charming than I'd seen her thus far, probably because our hosts weren't despicable vampiric offspring. You wouldn't think riding in a car all day would be tiring, but I felt exhausted and was anxious to get an early start in the morning. So after dinner and a little TV, Sydney and I went to the room that had been prepared for us. It was small and plain but had two twin beds covered in thick, fluffy blankets. I snuggled into mine, grateful for the softness and the warmth, and wondered if I'd dream of Lissa or Adrian. I didn't. I did, however, wake up to a slight wave of nausea rolling through me-the nausea that told me there was a Strigoi nearby.

Mongol Ger

Mongol ger With a history of over a thousand years, this portative tabernacle made of wood meshed together with leather thongs and covered with felt is the home of the Mongolian nomads. Easy to build and dismantle, the ger, its furnishings, and the stove inside can be carried by just three camels, or wagons pulled by oxes. The average ger is small but spacious enough to provide enough living space for a family, is wind resistant, and has good ventilation. Gers are constructed of a latticed wood structure covered with layers of felt and canvas (ger's coverings). A lattice (section of ger lattice wall) frame of narrow birch and willow laths is held together by leather strips. The sections are about 2 meters long and are bound together to form a large circular structure. This collapsible lattice is called khana. The average ger uses four to eight khana, with five being the most popular size. The door-frame is a separate unit, as is the ceiling formed from an umbrella-like frame-work of slender poles called uni (caber, poles or a ger which make up roof), which are meshed to the khana on one end and slotted into the toono smoke hole (the opening and frame on top of a ger), a circular frame, at the top. Traditionally, the door was a felt flap attached to the door-frame, but most nomads now use a carved or painted wooden door. In the center of the toono is a small hole which allows smoke to escape and fresh air and light to enter. Each ger is heated by a small metal stove (tripod, trivet fireplace) fueled with dried cow dung (dry droppings of cattle for fuel) or wood. The entrance of the ger always faces southwards. Once the wooden framework khana is meshed together, it is covered with layers of felt and canvas. The felt helps the ger retain heat and the canvas over it sheds rain. Busluur ropes (rope which encircles the ger) made of hair (from five kinds of livestock) and wool hold the thick layer of felt in place. During the summer, one layer of felt is used, but during the winter, two or three layers are needful. Travelers to Mongolia will have the opportunity to sleep in traditional gers while staying with nomadic families or at ger camps. The Mongolian ger has customs attached to it that are unique do's and don'ts inside a ger.

Project Proposal for a Student Record Database Management System

Project Proposal for a Student Record Database Management System for Microtech Institute of Multimedia & Technology (MIMUT) TitleStudent Record Database Management System Centre Name:West African Chartered College Student Name:Malamin Gassama IMIS Membership Number:344029 Supervisor Name:Mr. Mike Topic Area: Records Management Project Title:Student Record Database Management System to keep track of student’s enrolment process, course, class dates and tuition fees.Introduction:This project is undertaken as a result of the Management team of Microtech Institute of Multimedia & Technology though it is necessary to develop a system that can keep track of their students enrolment processes, class start dates, courses chosen and tuition fee payment. With the above aim they should be able to have access to the information mention in real time. This will help the management to take decisions and also will make the record and finance staff work more organized.Database Management System and DataThe institution is experiencing a lot of student turn out to their various courses. Some do apply for multiple courses at the same time. Some times files are being missing, which makes it very difficult to access a particular student’s record in regarding to personal information, class start dates and tuition fee payment. Justifications: For the company: Microtech Institute of Multimedia and Technology wishes to have a student record management system to keep record of the student’s enrolment process, course, class dates and tuition feesMicrotech Institute of Multimedia and Technology is please about the system (Database application) is to develop or implement and this will give me the opportunity to choose Microsoft Access 2007 as the database back end. For the student: It will provide me with the opportunity for the first-time to design and develop a rich database management system for use by the Institute in real-time. Designing and implementation of the da tabase system will be challenging and will also provide me with what it’s like in a real production environment to design and develop such type of system for business use or purpose.Objectives: A minimum of four Objective: Activities: 1. Analyse the works and duties of the Institute admission process. Deliverables: Works with the members of staff in the admission department for few days to observers the way they carry out student enrolment as well as the finance department in tuition collection Summary of report explaining the function of the admission department. Who will use them and why: The reports will help me through the development phase of the database model and schema. Objective: Activities: Deliverables: Who will use them and why . Improve the work of the Institute admission Department. Creating of forms and queries and database model. User friendly Graphic User Interface with input, which the help the user to easily interact with the database. And input the correct data types in their respective fields. This will reduce the tendency of inputting the wrong figures. It will help the admission department to easily find and track student’s who did not complete their tuition fee, and whether if they are doing the right courses they apply for. Objective: Activities: Deliverable:Who will use them and why 3. System testing. Allowing the Institute’s admission Department staff and other members of staff as well to test the database application using dummy and live data. The data will include normal, valid and invalid data, and quantity. Come up with a ready and normal database management system ready for use. To ensure that the proposed database management application meets the user’s requirement and delivers their needs. Objective: Activities: Deliverable: Who will use them and why4. User and Technical documentation.Produce a well explain user and technical documentation. Working copies of the user and technical documentations. Co mplete signing off of the proposed project. Resources Needed for Carrying out the Project: Microsoft corporation to help me with the documentation of Microsoft Access database application license, features and technical requirement. Hardware:A personal computer (PC) or a Laptop at least Pentium 3 processor, RAM size of at least 128 MB, Hard drive size of at least 40GB, Internal or external Network Interface Card of 10/100 mbps.Software:Windows Operating System (Window XP or later), Microsoft Office Access application (ms access 2007 or later), Antivirus software, Microsoft Office picture manager, Literature sources:Microsoft TechNet website, IMIS website, wikipedia and IT journals and library resources. Risks: Type: Gathering of required information from end users, to know what they want the application to do and functions. I. e. application requirements. Action to be taken if arise:Failure in gathering sufficient information for the start of the proposed project. Type:Emerging of n ew technologies. Action to be taken if arise:With new technologies comes up that I need to learn for the successful completion of the proposed project then I might need to have extra lectures after college hours, do research on the internet, self study and professional help if possible. Type:Political risk e. g. changes of top management of the institution. Action to be taken if arise:The new management will be updated about the project, so that they can know exactly the overall development process and benefits to the institution. Investigation Plan:Steps to be taken:†¢Gathering of required materials like articles, books and published papers in student record management. †¢Search on the internet for readymade student record management system application packages on the market (Trials Versions) and review their features. This can help me through be project development phase. †¢Also journals and magazines on the use of software for student record management and how this can boost business productivity if it is automated. Books/Articles read: †¢ CADLE, J & YATES, D (2001), ‘Project Management For Information System’, Third Edition.Pearson Education. †¢ LAUDON, KC & LAUDON, JP (2004), ‘Management Information Systems-managing the digital firm’, Eighth Edition. Pearson Education. †¢ WARD, J & PEPPARD, J (2002), ‘Strategic Planning For Information Systems’, Third Edition. John Wiley & Sons. †¢ THOMAS CONNOLLY, CARLYN ‘Database systems’-A practical approach to Design, Implementation, and Management. Forth Edition. Addision Wasley. Internet sites include: †¢ http://www. google. com †¢ http://www. wikipedia. com Project Development Plan: Giant chart with milestones CHART FOR STUDENT RECORD MANAGEMENT DATABASE APPLICATION FOR MIMUT:WBS WBS DESCRIPTION START END DURATION 1 Project Management 10/08/2011 12/12/2011 22 Weeks 2 Investigations 10/08/2011 24/08/2011 2 Weeks 3Systems Requirements 17/08/2011 21/09/2011 5 Weeks 4 Design 21/09/2011 06/12/2011 11Weeks 5Implementation And Evaluation 06/10/2011 27/12/2011 3 Weeks 6 Testing 19/10/2011 27/12/2011 10 Weeks 7 Documentation 25/08/2010 12/01/2012 20 Weeks Supervisor’s Comments:Supervisors must make comments about what was discussed with the student. How would the project be tackled/completed? What problems may they anticipate? What additional training is required?Also what are the student’s weak areas, and what they have to do to overcome them? Finally is the project fit for purpose? The following are not acceptable: 1) a good project, 2) I am of the impression that it is suitable, 3) good, etc. Reasons for comments: Areas of concern: Additional support required: General guidance/comments: Letter of Agreement A letter of agreement from the employer must be attached for all projects containing work-based material. Signature of Student: Signature of Supervisor: Date of Agreement: NB Electronic signatures will be accepted.

The Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition was a controversial time primarily during the 15th century. However, it kept reoccurring during other parts of history rather than only in the 15th century. There were many different methods used in which non-Christians would be tortured. Sometimes, the wrong people would be tortured if they believed that the person they were torturing really wasn’t Christian. The torturing of people because of their religion is what makes the Spanish Inquisition such a disturbing and dark part of history. The reason for the Spanish Inquisition was because the Christians conquered Spain again, which led to the Christians forcing non-Christian people, such as Jews, to convert to Christianity. Any non-Christian who refused to convert to Christianity would be prosecuted and tortured using different methods such as starvation, strappado, racking and many other forms of torture. In 1478, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabelle of Castile established the Spanish Inquisition. The reason the inquisition was established was because Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabelle of Castile wanted to unite Spain. The Spanish Inquisition could help economically because money could be made by stealing property from accused heretics. Another reason for the Spanish Inquisition is because Ferdinand and Isabelle believed that Spain could be united under Christianity. Also, Ferdinand and Isabelle discriminated against Jews simply because they were anti-Semites. The first Inquisitors arrived in Seville in 1480 to abolish heresy. Heresy is a belief or opinion that is contrary to an orthodox religious doctrine (especially Christianity). Many Spanish Jews were forced to convert to Christianity and some of them converted by choice. There were different sentences for those found guilty of heresy. If you were found guilty of heresy, then your property would be confiscated and you would be burned to death. There would be public humiliation for those found guilty at the auto da fe, which is the ceremony where the heretic would be burned to death. The time of the greatest influence during the Spanish Inquisition was under the reigns of Philip II and Philip III. This time period occurred in 1569-1621. The Inquisition had suffered previous to this time period because of a lack of direction under Charles V, who ruled from 1517-1556. But, during the reign of Philip II, there eventually became 16 tribunals in Spain, two tribunals in Italy and three in the New World. The Inquisition greatly expanded its prosecution of many different religious crimes. Ordinary Spaniards were drawn into the tribunals as well as Protestants, conversos, Moriscos and foreigners. There was detailed questioning even to people who most likely didn’t commit heresy. These people would be fined one or two ducats, which was considered a very heavy fine. The tribunals relied on unpaid officials. First, there were the two networks of familiars and camisarios. The familiars were laymen charged with carrying messages, arresting suspects and delivering them to the Inquisition. The comisarios were priests who assisted in the gathering of evidence at the local level. Calificadores would advise the inquisitors about the accusations to whether someone was a heretic or not. There was a cruel way in which the Inquisition functioned. Possible heretics weren’t treated like in today’s standards mostly because the phrase â€Å"innocent until proven guilty† wasn’t followed. First, there was the accusation. When the Inquisition arrived in a city, the first step was known as the Edict of Grace. It was called this because a period of grace was offered to the people accused of a crime to bring the accused person to the church without severe punishment. Next, there was the detention. The case would be examined by the calificadores would determine if there was heresy involved. Many cases lasted up to two years before the calificadores examined the case. The property of the prisoner would be taken during detention. This property would be used to pay for expenses and the own costs and maintenance of the person being accused. The entire process was done with much secrecy. The trial process is after the detention process. The trial consisted of a series of hearings. The denouncers and defendants both gave their testimonies. Torture was used until the defendant would confess. The torture used was very unsystematic. It was applied mainly to those suspected of Judaism and Protestantism. Torture would even be applied regardless of a person’s age. Basically even children and elderly people would be tortured. Torture played a major role in the Spanish Inquisition. There were many different methods of torture. One method of torture was strappado. Strappado was when the victims would be suspended from the ceiling by their wrists. The victim would fall from a height and be stopped by an abrupt jerk right before they reach the ground. Another method of torture was starvation in which the person accused of heresy would be starved. Racking was also used. A rack was an instrument of torture consisting of a frame on which the victim was stretched by turning rollers to which the wrists and ankles were tied. Toca was a method of making the victim believe they were drowning by putting a cloth in their mouth and pouring a jar of water in their mouth.

Eschatology: The Destiny of the Unsaved Essay

In answering Steve’s comment about the destiny of the unsaved certain definitions need to be dealt with along with reference made available to us and I have just what we need. Steve I understand what you have read and the comment was made from the standpoint of the author â€Å"Clark Pinnock. † However, if you will allow me to answer your questions in defining words such as; â€Å"Hades, Gehenna, Sheol, Eternal punishment, Annihilationism, Universalism, Hell and Apokatastasis. You also asked the difference between Hades and Sheol. Since we are dealing with Sotereology, Eschatology and Ecclesiology it is only fair that we reference the Word of God. Our definitions will come from Elwell Evangelical Dictionary of Theology and some citing from Towns, Theology for Today. In defining Sheol, Elwell (2001, 1099) notes,† A place where men experience rewards, or punishments that will come to them in final judgment and a place whose power cannot withstand the church. † Hades is noted as; â€Å"A grave or the place of bodily decay; a place of punishment for the wicked,† (p. 1099). Gehenna,† according to Elwell (2001, 480), is defined in this manner; â€Å"A place that shares some common ground with Hades/Sheol; however, both good and bad souls after death prior to judgment, while Gehenna is the final and everlasting place of punishment for the wicked following the last judgment. † In answering Steve’s question of the difference, if any, among Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna and the concepts that best corresponds to the traditional understanding of the eternal abode of the Wicked? Sheol and Hades best corresponds to the traditional understanding of the eternal abode of the wicked. Contrary to popular belief hell is explained in the Bible as a final place for the wicked, this will be brought out further in our discussion. As we continue on in our definitions, Elwell (2001, 395 Eternal punishment as; â€Å"One being cast into a lake of fire where the fire never goes out. † (Mark 9:43; cf. Luke 3:17). â€Å"He referred to ‘†hell,’† where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. ’† Elwell (2001, 64), further defines Annihilationism as â€Å"expressing the position of those that hold that some, if not all, human souls will cease to exist after death. Our next word is Universalism, Elwell (2001, 1232), defines the word as; â€Å"That doctrine which asserts that all men will eventually be reconciled to God. Universalist believes that the efficiency of the Atonement is not limited and therefore extends to all. † Furthermore, Elwell, (p. 548) states Universalist also believe that all will eventually go to heaven. † Elwell, (2001, 547) further defines Hell in a general sense, he notes; â€Å"Hell is used in Scripture to [describe] or refer to a place of future punishment for the wicked. As we have elaborated on the more detrimental states of eschatology there is another state that is quite attractive to the theologian and media evangelist. This state is better known as the Intermediate State, Elwell, (2001, 608 – 609), defines this as; â€Å"The period between death as an individual phenomenon and the final judgment and consummation. If Christian thought held to not final state of affairs for all creation, then perhaps ones final situation could be conceived as being settled at death. Elwell further include the theory of Purgatory; you will not be lost, yet God will be just. At the present time, with much awareness of life as a process or evolution, purgatory has also allowed for speculation about continued development of the soul. As such, it continues to be attractive for some in a greatly modified form. † Lastly, Elwell, (2001, 81), defines the Apokatastasis, he state that; â€Å"Jesus must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through his holy prophets. Further, Elwell states that most evangelicals, while insisting on an eschatological restoration by Christ, deny the corollary assertion of the ultimate salvation of all humans. Now that we have defined the terms necessary, let me give you my understanding of the destiny of the unsaved from a biblical stand point as well. My understanding is that â€Å"Gehenna† or the â€Å"Lake of Fire† is prepared for the Devil and his angels, consequently the â€Å"Wicked,† or â€Å"Unsaved† after the â€Å"Great White Throne Judgment† will be cast into hell where they will spend â€Å"eternal punishment. † (Matthew 25:41, 46; Revelation 20:12-15). Towns (2008, 795) notes; â€Å"All those who are judged at the Great White Throne are consigned to hell because they have rejected God. Hence], The Great White Throne Judgment will determine the degree of punishment the rejecters will endure, based upon the nature of their evil work. † Furthermore, in my research the most common objection comes from many sources, however the objections used for an our example is that of the Universalist. Elwell (2001, 1232), notes; â€Å"Universalism is that doctrine which asserts that all men will eventually be reconciled to God. A Universalist believes that the efficiency of the Atoneme nt is not limited and therefore extends to all. † Furthermore, Elwell, (p. 548) notes, â€Å"Universalist also believe that all will eventually go to heaven. [The Scriptures biases for this belief are as follows]: (1 John 2:2; Philippians 2:10-13; 2 Peter 3:9; Romans 11:32; 2 Timothy 2:4). † Now Steve, there are many that may not share my point of view and that’s common in religious society. However, In responding to objections one has to point out that when Christ returns it will be for a â€Å"church without a spot or a wrinkle,† (Holy Bible, Ephesians 5:27). This does not mean that God does not love everyone, it simply means that He will save those who have answered his call to salvation (Holy Bible, John 3:16-21). All of this can be summed up in one word â€Å"Atonement. Elwell notes (2001, 114), â€Å"This truth is repeated, and enlarged upon in the NT, where it is made clear that all are sinners (Romans 3:23) and that hell awaits them (Mark 9:43; Luke 12:5). But it is just as clear that God wills to bring salvation and that He has brought it in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of His Son. The love of God is the mainspring (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). We are not to think of a loving Son wringing salvation from a just but stern Father. It is the will of the Father that all be saved, and salvation is accomplished – not with a wave of the hand, so to speak – but by what God has done in Christ. In reconciling the idea of hell and eternal punishment one has to understand the offer that Christ made to all mankind, (Holy Bible, John 3:16; Romans 10:9-17; Ephesians 2:1-22). Not only did God make the offer, but he also gave the consequence if one did not except Christ. God does not make our decisions for us; however, He has made a way of escape from sin to eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. What is the impact that my view of hell has on evangelism/missions? The impact that my view has on hell and getting the word out to all that will hear is to know that we all have a decision to make as for as our eternal destination. We can choose heaven or hell the choice is ours as individuals. The impact that I would like to make from this point on is to paint a picture such as explained in Towns, Theology for Today (2008, 802), â€Å"The Millennium will fulfill all the biblical desires that have been expressed towards it (Hebrew 11:10). That which brings joy and fulfillment to life will be included in the kingdom. Those things which produce sorrow or discomfort in life will be excluded from the kingdom of God. †

Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society Research Paper

Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society - Research Paper Example People of the yesteryears believed in completing their high school and attaining a mediocre degree to enter within the business and work domains. They did not focus much on gaining higher education which essentially meant that they missed out on exploring their strengths (Emiliani 2004). Since they did not quite know what they were good at, they felt they were behind the ones who had achieved success by being a part of the higher education settings. Thus the race set in for achieving better grades within the professional realms by taking admission in colleges and universities which imparted higher education to the students and professionals alike (Maletz 2012). As higher education became more and more developed with the passage of time, people started to realize that this was something that they should have discerned in the past. The ones who had missed out earlier came back to the universities and colleges, and restarted their journey to attain higher education. This was a positive move all the same and the ones who took higher education within their stride must be credited with sincere efforts on their part. Needless to suggest, the differences amongst middle management and specialists within any industry of the world is in terms of their higher education. This implies for the specialists to comprehend their work regimes better than the average middle manager within an organization, to quote as an example. It is correct that the specialists of today attain middle management roles yet remain just that – specialists. They are respected more for the uniqueness that they bring towards their professional domains, and are hailed openly by the people both in and out of an organizational environment. It is correct to say here that the specialists have that... This paper talks that it would be fair to suggest that higher education is a subject which must be analyzed upon in detail by the people. The role of the scholars, researchers and educationists is of utmost significance here, as they are the ones who mold people into having fair opinions regarding higher education. If these people dictate the essential role of higher education within the lives of the people, the individuals of the society would realize what they need to do and how to do it will be suggested by these learned men alone. People attaining higher education will multiply and thus exponentially increase, whereby new students would also get encouraged and go out there to attain higher education as well. The cost will therefore become a kind of revenue which will mean immense satisfaction for the people that live within any society of the world. This essay amkes a conclusion that the need of the hour is to bring about a collective good for the sake of the society and the individuals who live within it. It will take care of the gross irregularities that exist within this world and bring about a sense of sanity within the differing ranks that men and women undertake on a consistent basis. All said and done, this discussion has centered on the premise of bringing about wellness for the sake of the society by imparting higher education to its citizens. If these efforts continue, there will be avenues through which men and women shall achieve even more success in the coming times. The need is to understand how the initial step has to be taken, and then all other remaining ones would be crossed easily.