Investigation of Process Parameter Optimization of High Speed CNC Research Paper

Investigation of Process Parameter Optimization of High Speed CNC Milling for Composite Materials using Combined Genetic Algorit - Research Paper Example Machinability in terms of quality and productivity is of great concern in a competitive market. CNC milling performance is evaluated in terms of surface roughness, material removal rate, taper and facing. CNC machining is done initially in a number of passes an final end milling is done in a single pass. The most common machining parameters are cutting speed, feed, depth of cut. To have a balance between productivity and quality, the machining parameters need to be optimised. High speed CNC milling process needs to balance between productivity and quality of the end product. While quality is measured in terms of surface finish, the productivity is measured in terms of material removal rate. Good machinable materials acquire a smooth finish as they can be easily cut with less power. They also cause minimum damage to the tool. If the material has improved material properties then it’s machinablity becomes difficult. Hence improving machinability without sacrificing performance is a challenge. Predicting the optimal parameters for CNC milling is difficult as the milling process depends on several factors. The important factors relative to the material include the thermal conductivity, toughness, chemical properties and the microstructure of the material. The other important factors are the geometry of the cutting tool and the parameters of CNC milling process. Objectives : The aim of this research work is to †¢Find the important factors that characterise the best performance of the high speed CNC milling process. †¢Using combined Genetic Algorithm and Artificial neutral networks techniques to optimise these high speed CNC milling parameters by identifying the correlation between the factors like feed, depth of cutting and cutting speed. Based on the correlation of these parameters, the optimal set is to be determined for perfect output parameters like surface roughness and material removal rate. (4) High speed CNC Milling : CNC milling is the most fundamental operation in industrial machining. According to Mike S. Lou et al (1999 ) â€Å"The quality of the surface plays a very important role in the performance of milling as a good-quality milled surface significantly improves fatigue strength, corrosion resistance, or creep life. Surface roughness also affects several functional attributes of parts, such as contact causing surface friction, wearing, light reflection, heat transmission, ability of distributing and holding a lubricant, coating, or resisting fatigue†. Speed of the milling depends on the tool size used. If the tool size is smaller, then to avoid breakage of the tool the spindle speed required will be more. For milling with using micro tools the speed range of the spindles may be up to 60,000 rpm ( Datron white paper, 2005). Thus high speed milling involves higher RPM rates with more feed rates and small step overs. The advantage of this high speed is that there is less heating of the parts because of less time for the heat to feedback. The generated heat is 40% due to the friction and 20% due to deformation. For better quality in machining, the low milling force and cooler tools can be used so that the vibration is less. A white paper of DATRON (2005) states that â€Å"The high spindle speed reduces the chip load to less than 0.005†. Such a low chip load significantly reduces the forces between the tool and the material. High-speed/low-force machining yields less heat, reduces tool deflection, and allows machining of thinner walled work pieces. This all results in cooler machining, superior surface and edge quality, better accuracy and, as a

Cultural Ethnography, Scheins Model Essay Example for Free

Cultural Ethnography, Scheins Model Essay Introduction: Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless company in the United States. The company boasts the largest voice and data network and over 58 million customers. In 2004, Cingular generated over $32 billion in revenue. Cingular is owned by ATT Inc. and Bell South. Cingular‟s vision is, â€Å"To be the most highly regarded wireless company in the world, with a driving focus around best-in-class sales and service† (Cingular, 2006, p.1). The corporation values customers, integrity, performance, teamwork, and its employees The goal of this study was to reveal the organizational culture of Cingular Wireless at a retail sales location. To help determine the culture, this study focused on what is the nature of work for Cingular Wireless sales consultants, and how do employees identify themselves within the corporation according to Edgar Schein‟s models of organizational culture. To guide this study, several aspects of employment at Cingular were studied including employee daily routines, flexibility, expectations, and the relationships between managers, sales representatives, and customers. To analyze Cingular, this study will be utilizing Edgar Schein‟s model of organizational cultures. â€Å"Edgar Schein is a management scholar and consultant interested in the role of leaders in the development and maintenance of organizational culture† (Miller, 2006, p. 105). Schein (1992) believes that culture can be studied in levels, which are the degrees to which the culture is visible to observers. His three levels include artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions. According to Miller, artifacts are the most obvious in Schein‟s model which consist of the architecture, furniture, technology, dress, written documents, art, forms of address, communication during meets and decision-making styles. (Miller, 2006, p. 107108). â€Å"The problem with artifacts is that they are palpable but hard to decipher accurately. We know how we react to them, but that is not a reliable indicator of how members of the organization react† (Schein, 1990, p. 111-112). The second level of culture Schein recognizes is that of espoused values. Schein‟s espoused values are, â€Å"the articulated, publicly announced principles and values that the group claims to be trying to achieve† (Schein, 1992, p. 9). Schein (1990) believes that the values, ideologies, and norms can be found using interviews, questionnaires, and surveys. Schein believes that, â€Å"Open-ended interviews can be very useful in getting at this level of how people feel and think† (Schein, 1990, p. 112). The third and most difficult level of culture for observers to witness is that of basic assumptions. Miller (2006) believes that members of the group can rarely articulate these basic values since they are a natural part of their daily lives, making the basic assumptions even more difficult for observers to see. From Schein‟s models and definitions it is apparent that the Schein views, â€Å"culture as a complex pattern of assumptions, values, behaviors, and artifacts† (Miller, 2006, p. 111). Schein (1990) believes that through intense observation and the involvement of motivated employees usually unconscious assumptions and perceptions can be discovered about the organizations culture. Schein states, â€Å"Working with motivated insiders is essential because only they can bring to the surface their own underlying assumptions and articulate how they basically perceive the world around them† (Schein, 1990, p. 112). In addition to these three basic levels this study will also utilize the ten major categories Schein uses to help define an organization‟s culture. These will include (Schein, 1992).: 1. Observed behavioral regularities when people interact 2. Group Norms 3. Espoused values 4. Formal philosophy 5. Rules of the Game 6. Climate 7. Embedded skills 8. Habits of thinking, mental models, and/or linguistic paradigms 9. Shared meanings 10. â€Å"Root metaphors† or integrating symbols Although Schein‟s models are widely applied and studied, areas of disagreement with his methods include how much time is actually required to reveal the levels of an organization‟s culture. How many participants are needed to properly assess the culture, and if bias affects the review of an organization also can all hinder the accuracy of a study based off of Schein‟s model. To conduct this study eight of Schein‟s ten major categories were incorporated. The first, observed behavioral regularities are the languages, rituals, traditions and routines of employees. The second category is espoused values which are publicly known goals of the group. The third category is the formal philosophy which is company policies and interactions with customers. The fourth category will be the rules of the game which are the things new employees must learn to fit in. Embedded skills and shared meanings will be the fifth and sixth categories incorporated into this study. These are the necessary skills to do the job and how the employees have similar meanings for certain things. Finally, the basic assumptions will be the eighth category incorporated into the study of the organizational culture of Cingular Wireless. (Schein, 1992) Methodology: To discover how Cingular fits into Schein‟s categories of organizational culture a method f participant observation will be used including observing daily routines, employee interactions amongst themselves and customers, and participating as a member of the Cingular staff at a retail store location. This ethnographic approach is influenced by an article Esteban, Hirt and McGuire. The article incorporated Schein‟s model in a study on â€Å"The Work Life of Student Service Professionals at Rural Community Colleges. The article was helpful in the organization of this study as well as an example of different methods of conducting the study itself. (Esteban, 2003). Applying Schein‟s Model To Cingular Wireless-7 For this study, information from Cingular Wireless was collected including orientation information, employee handbooks, daily forms and corporate publications. In addition, the company owned retail store at Marley Station Mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland was extensively observed and studied. The store has a manager, three full-time employees, and one part-time employee that were interviewed as well. These methods are being used because they will provide a window for gaining insight into the culture of Cingular Wireless. These methods will reveal the way the organizational culture is shaped by the management, employees, and corporate headquarters. The methods are better than others in this situation because it will allow the study to examine a variety of aspects rather than only one or two. Participants: Jason Celani, 34, has been the manager of the Marley Station store since its opening in the fall of 2005. Celani was a former ATT employee and has been in the wireless industry for about 8 years. His job consists of scheduling staff, ordering products, conducting inventory checks, reporting to a regional manager, conducting weekly meetings, and attending training sessions. Jason loves technology and enjoys reading about new products in his spare time. (J. Celani, Personal Communication, 11/06/2006). Tracy Corcoran, 39, is a full-time employee that has been in the wireless industry for 6 years. Previously Corcoran was also an ATT employee. He is the senior sales representative at the Marley Station store and is not very interested in new technology. Tracy is hoping to get out of the wireless industry within the next few years. (T. Corcoran, Personal Communcation, 10/28/2006). Is a part-time college student that has been working at the Marley Station store since March 2006. She enjoys having the newest phone on the market and loves being able to get her email wherever she goes. She has no previous experience in the wireless industry. (L. Andes-Miller, Personal Communication, 10/27/2006). Chuck Payne is the newest full-time employee at the store. Payne is 20 years old and a former radio broadcaster for a gospel station in the Washington D.C. area. Payne has never worked in the wireless industry but also enjoys getting new phones when they come out. Payne began his employment in late July of 2006. (C. Payne, Personal Communication, 11/01/2006). Alejandro Quant is the only part-time employee observed and interviewed at the Marley Station store. Quant, 21, is a full-time student at the University of Maryland. Quant is valuable to the location because of previous job experience with T Mobile, another wireless provider and also because he is bilingual. He speaks both Spanish and English. (A. Quant, Personal Communication, 11/05/2006). The participants were all observed and interviewed and the way in which they interacted was noted. They were asked about likes and dislikes, daily operations, and if they saw a future within the company. This study was conducted at the Cingular Wireless at Marley Station by a parttime employee that has been with the company since June 2006. As an embedded observer internal access to the organizational culture of the Cingular store was gained. The research for this ethnography also benefited because as an employee the basic workings of the company was easily accessible, the other employees are not uncomfortable interacting with me, and access to internal documents and meetings was possible. The goals of this ethnography are to gain a better understanding of the basic assumptions of the organization. The representatives studied work long hours and they have a good grasp on the organizational culture of Cingular. To bracket avoid bias in this study observations and interviews were conducted off the clock. Time was spent observing the employees out on the sales floor and also via the security cameras located in the office. Also to avoid bias, interviews were conducted outside of the work environment at local restaurants. They were not conducted during or after scheduled shifts. Materials: A variety of materials and sources will be used to support this study. This will include orientation and training documents, internal employee handbooks, external documents, interviews with employees, and on site observations. Analysis of Data: To analyze the data collected in the study of Cingular Wireless at Marley Station Mall this portion will be organized according to eight of Schein‟s categories utilized for this study. They will be supported using internal and external documents, observations, and employee interviews. Artifacts: The Marley Station Cingular store had a plethora of easily observable artifacts. The most apparent was the colors and logo of Cingular all over the store. There was no furniture and a very linear floor pan. In general all of the staff members said that they disliked the floor plan because standing all day got tiring and it was hard to maneuver around the store when it got crowded because it was small and the counter‟s linear design made it impossible to get around each other. The colors of orange and blue were on most signs and popular slogans such as â€Å"raising the bar,† â€Å"roll over minutes,† and â€Å"All over network† were visible all over the store. The floor plan pushed what Cingular refers to as its advantages over other wireless carriers. Cingular shirts and name tags were the next most obvious artifact. All of the employees wear Cingular branded shirts and a name tag on the right hand side. Cingular has a contract with Lands End clothing company to customize what the company refers to as its â€Å"Team Colors.† (See Appendix A) Each employee is allowed $125 for their spring wardrobe and $175 for their fall and winter uniforms. Specific vocabulary and language is very obvious at the store. Celani often sends text-messages to all of his employees at the end of the business day and he refers to them collectively as â€Å"team.† When a representative has customers come in, they are referred to as an â€Å"opportunity,† and extras that can be added onto a calling plan are referred to as a â€Å"bolt-on† (J. Celani, Personal Communication, 11/01/2006). Cingular boasts that it has the largest product variety in the wireless industry. The store itself has a large amount of products on the wall which are referred to as „live.‟ This means that the phones are in working condition and the customers can try them out in the stores. â€Å"At de alers the phones on the walls are dummies, customers can‟t try them out† said Andes-Miller (L. Andes-Miller, Personal Communication, 10/27/2006). There is a large amount of documentation conducted at Cingular Wireless stores. Every morning a form titled â€Å"Non-Negotiable Standards† is filled out by employees. (See Appendix B) This is a check list of standards such as cleanliness, work attire, and merchandise that is to be completed before the store opens. â€Å"The non-negotiables are like getting a cup of coffee in the morning, we all are used to doing them,† said Corcoran (T.Corcoran, Personal Communication, (10/28/2006). Every time a representative makes a sale or adds on to a customers account they are also required to mark it on the â€Å"Daily Sales Record† sheet. (See Appendix C) Observed Behavioral Regularities: Cingular has what they refer to as a six step sales process. (See Appendix D) Each employee is introduced to this on their first day of new-hire training, which is a program that introduces new employees to the Cingular way of selling. According to this process each customer is to be greeted within 10 feet/10 seconds of entering the store. The representatives at the Marley Station store do this without thinking. Also included in this process is building value for the customer, offering solutions, asking for the sale, educating the customer, and thanking the customer. In addition to a set sales process each representative knows to sell what is referred to as â€Å"The Cingular Advantage.† (See Appendix D) All of the representatives are required to have skills on a computer system called Opus. This is the computer system which allows the representatives access, create, and change accounts. â€Å"Opus is much easier to use than past systems,† said veteran employee Corcoran, â€Å"It freezes but we all know how to deal with it. Each of us uses the same system and procedures every day to work on and verify accounts† (T. Corcoran, Personal Communication, 10/28/2006). Every employee realizes that they must attend a meeting every Friday morning before the store opens. At this meeting the floor plan is discussed, scheduling is worked out, and any other issues are brought up. The communication between the employees and the managers is very informal. Everyone has a chance to speak and the staff knows that once all business is completed they will go out to breakfast. It is very obvious that Cingular‟s first level of organizational culture, the artifacts, is prevalent through out the store. Employees have a common vocabulary specific to their work, they have uniforms, a system for selling and a store that advertises what the company is all about, being the best wireless provider. Espoused Values: The team at the Marley Station Cingular store is constantly striving to achieve goals which are advertised by the wireless company. While working with customers the sales representatives know that they need to promote the Cingular Advantages. The Cingular Advantages include the best technology, great value, best products and services, newest handsets, and the most convenient services. (See Appendix D) â€Å"Orientation and training pounds these ideas into our heads from the first day we have our jobs,† said Quant. â€Å"Cingular has high standards that we all must uphold† (A. Quant, Personal Communication, 11/05/2006). To ensure that the representatives uphold the values of the company Cingular sends out mystery shoppers to each store at least once a month to make sure that the representatives are selling in accordance to Cingular policy. The mystery shoppers have a checklist and grade the representatives. (See Appendix E) The company also makes what it values available to the general public. On its website Cingular lists its goals and core values, as well as their definitions and what the values mean to the company. (See Appendix F) Basic Assumptions: The basic assumptions and values of Cingular wireless are hard to observe as both an outsider and as an employee initially. After extensive observation, job experience, and interviews there are some basic assumptions that surface. The first is that the organization values employees that are „hungry.‟ If it is a slow day at the store employees print out flyers and distribute them to local business or make calls to customers asking how their service is going in hopes of adding onto their plans. These behaviors are highly praised by the manager of the store for being innovative and going above and beyond the job description. An example of this is employees distributing flyers outside of their scheduled hours for events such as â€Å"Friends and Family Day,† which gives customers extra discounts for coming in on designated dates. (See Appendix G) Unlike many full-time workers that have benefits the employees of the Marley Station store expect to work nights and weekends. If an employee begins to gripe about working these hours the other employees tend to remind them that that is just the way things are. Finally, all employees seem to understand that they are expendable by the company and do not question quotas, paperwork, or seemingly superfluous procedures that waste time and do not make sense. New employees tend to learn quickly the way are and solutions that have been turned into operational policies. All staff members know to let a customer know that not all phone numbers may be successfully transferred when they upgrade their phone but they will do their best. Very rarely are numbers unable to be transferred but employees know the steps necessary to cover themselves in case rare things actually happen. â€Å"I didn‟t understand half the stuff when I started working here, I thought that Friday morning meetings were stupid, and I did not want to be here at 9am on Saturdays. Now I just how things are, I didn‟t realize that those things were a part of Cingular‟s culture. I didn‟t even know Cingular had a culture, but I guess that makes sense,† said Payne (C. Payne, Personal Communication, 11/01/2006). Conclusion: This study tried to examine the organizational culture of Cingular Wireless in relation to Schein‟s model and his levels of artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions. The study would have been improved if there was an employee in the process of leaving the company that an exit interview could have been conducted on. This would have benefited the study because it would probably have uncovered some downfalls of the culture of Cingular. The next step and question in this study would have been to compare the employee experiences at the Marley Station Mall store to employees at a stand-alone store or at a kiosk to see if their experiences were any different. Finally, the implication of this study on later discussions of the corporation is that this study provides a solid base for a person trying to research this wireless provider in the Washington D.C./Baltimore market. References Cingular Wireless. (2006). About us- Cingular at a glance. Atlanta, GA: Retrieved on †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.November 8, 2006 from http://cingular.com/about/ Cingular Wireless. (Spring 2006). 2006 COR team colors program guide. Atlanta, GA. Cingular Wireless. (2005). Expectations: Selling the Cingular advantage. (Cingular †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦publication, CGL-PT-PG-050605). Atlanta, GA. Esteban, R., Hirt, J., McGuire, L.(2003). Editor’s choice: The worklife of student service †¦ professionals at rural community colleges [Electronic version]. Community College †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Review. Retrieved November 8, 2006 from †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0hcz/is_1_31/ai_107200755. Johnson, D. (2000) The Corporate Culture Survival Guide. (Review). In Journal of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Leadership Studies, 7, p111. Retrieved November 8, 2006, from Academic Onefile †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦via Thompson Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?contentSet=IAC.Documentstype=retrievetablD=T002prodld=AONEdcld+a65538125source. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦=galeusergroupname=aacc. Miller, K. (2006). Organizational communication: Approaches and processes (4th ed.) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Schein, E. (1993). On Dialogue, culture, and organizational learn ing. (Special issue on †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦the Learning Organization). In Organizational Dynamics, 22, p40 (12). Retrieved †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.November 8, 2006, from via Thomson Gale: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?contentSet=IAC- Applying Schein‟s Model To Cingular Wireless-16 .Documentstype=retrievetablD=T002prodld=AONEdcld+a14606098source. =galeusergroupname=aacc Schein, E. (1990). Organizational Culture. American Psychologist, Vol. 45 (No.2), p. ,,,,,,,,,,111-113). Schein, E. (1992). Organizational culture and leadership (2nd ed.) San Francisco, Ca: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Josey-Bass Publishers.

Coffee Essay -- Essays Papers

Coffee It is 9:00 A.M. on a Monday morning. By this time, many people are out and about, fully charged. I am still snug in bed, sleeping like a log. The alarm begins to beep. I press the snooze button. Nine minutes later, it beeps again. I press the snooze. One more time. Beep. Snooze. Finally, pressing the button has drained my energy and the next time it begins to beep, it goes on for a good five minutes. The incessant beeping pounds on my brain so I get up, unplug my alarm, crawl out of bed, and to my closet. Thus, the struggle through the day begins. Yet, this morning picture isn't the same picture of happiness and energy that I usually am at about 11:30 A.M. This drastic change is due to one word. This one word brings light to the eyes of non-morning people. This word means hope. This word is coffee. I've become addicted to the frothy warm drink. Five minutes late to class, I still have to stop by the cafeteria to fill up a 16 oz. Styrofoam cup. Without it, my day is incomplete. It gives me the energy I need to get through the day. It told me to try and climb that tree. It gave me my jump. It gives me the bright outlook that I have on life. It tells me that everything will be just fine, even if I haven't studied for that exam that I will be taking in the next hour. I would be a walking zombie without my French Vanilla cappuccino. I would be lying on a bench, asleep, without my French Vanilla cappuccino. It's my one true love. When I smell its sweet perfume, m...

Edgar Allen Poe Essay

Five Paragraph Essay Have you ever wondered about Edgar Allen Poe’s literary elements or themes? Read the stories called † The Tell-Tale Heart † , † The Cask of Amontillado â€Å", † Annabell Lee†, and † The Bells â€Å". Poe’s desired effects was to scare the audience from the story, Poe used a writing style called gothic horror. The first literary element seen by Poe was death. In the story of † The Cask Of Amontillado † the Fortunado suffocates . Another death occurs in the story of † The Tell-Tale Heart â€Å", when the narrator kills the old man in the middle of the night. The story called † The Bells† the mother died of a disease. Poe creates horror because the deaths in the stories are unexpected. The second literary element seen by Poe was obsession. † The Cask of Amontillado † the Montresor is obsessed with getting his revenge. In † The Tell-Tale Heart † the narrator is obsessed over the old man’s eye. The story of † Annabell Lee † he was obsessed with his wife. This creates horror because obsession is not a usual thing seen in other stories. The third literary element seen by Poe was insanity. The Tell-Tale Heart † the narrator goes insane over the old man’s eye. The story † The Bells â€Å", the people in the town grow insanity from bells chiming.

Jung: Psychology and Religion Essay

Jung is accurate in his assessment that religion, to many, is a very personal thing. Despite the fact religious organization comprise of many millions of people, a religious experience in not exclusively a collective experience. To most people, religion remains a personal experience that is encoded and decoded in the psyche as well as the spirit. From this, derives the numerous interpretations of what should be an exclusive singular item: the bible. After all, if something is the word of God, then there should only be one religion that derives from it. The notion of taking bits and pieces from the bible, accepting what is acceptable, disregarding what are not acceptable or re-inventing variants of interpretation is absurd on a number of levels. Yet, this is commonplace when it comes to the numerous religions that exist. What occurs, essentially, is that a leader of a religion develops what he or she feels is the truth (often this notion of what is true is arrived at, at the exclusion of any other interpretation of truth) and presented to a collective whole that constitutes the remaining followers of that particular branch of religion. In speaking of religion, I must make it clear from the start what I mean by the term†¦Religion is a careful and scrupulous observation of†¦a dynamic effect†¦not caused by an act of will. (Jung 8) In other words, there is a great deal of assimilation involved with an individual’s being drawn into the world of organized and institutional religion. Since religion exists, oftentimes, as a large omnipresent shadow that envelopes people and, in short order, Jung: Psychology and Religion Pg 2 indoctrinates them. To that regard, there is no true act of will present in terms of the actual acceptance. Yes, there may appear to be an appearance of an act of will, a conscious decision, but the reality is that the true act of will designed to accept the tenants or lifestyle of a religion are in fact, manufactured by external forces. This is about as far from an actual act of will as possible, although it has the perception of being a legitimate, personal act of will. Jung outlines this in his assessment that many time people will cling to a religion as a means of escaping what is some sort of neurosis, also known as psychic forces that seek to harm or undermine the free will (thought) of an individual. Jung goes to show that people are subject to a wide variety of neurotic repressions of varying degrees of severity. While people accept these neurotic feelings as something that is part of them, they feel that the root of all neurosis come from an external source and therefore require another external source in order to alleviate the neurotic feelings that they may be experiencing. The existence of such cases does something to explain why people are afraid of becoming conscious of themselves. There really is something behind the screen. (one never knows) so people are content to consider the external factors outside their very consciousness (Jung 17) This is where the tragic irony of accepting religion as a substitute for therapy. In other words, people seem to be drawn to a source of knowledge in the form of a status quo conclusion. In order to reach the enlightenment they feel will alleviate all their Jung: Psychology and Religion Pg 3 problems in life, they become willing to accept an external force that will provide them with the security they seek. Many times, this security comes in the form of an organized religion, a commonly popular and safe method that they may be able to accept along with so many other people. This is not to say there is something inherently wrong with religion as much as it is an observation of the fact people will accept the role of organized religion as a means of providing the elements that are missing in their life as well as providing an established security from an external force. The notion of external force is highly important here. People have a tendency not to look inward for support. They are always looking for an external source and, many times, that external source is the world of organized religion. While religions have been the source of great good in the world, there is not the omnipresent solution to people’s problems. To a great degree, Jung’s criticism hedges on the fact that people have a tendency to overreach in their expectations of what religion can offer them. This is outlined extensively through Jung’s work in order to drive such a point home. This does not mean, however, that there will always be an open ended commitment to religion and faith in terms of organized religion’s ability to grasp a hold on the psyche of an individual nor does it mean the individual will forever hold on to the religious institution as a crutch. Protestantism, having pulled down so many walls carefully erected by the Church immediately began to experience the disintegrating and schismatic effect of individual revelation. As soon as the dogmatic fence was broken down and ritual lost its authority, nab had to face his inner experience without the protection and guidance of dogma and ritual. (Jung 21) Jung: Psychology and Religion Pg 4 To that regard, there will be an eventually fusion (on some people’s part) to where rational intellect may take over if religion is not able to overtake the deficiencies of institutional religion when it comes to saving people from neurosis or problems of the psyches. Of course, not everything is the proverbial â€Å"one hundred percent† and rational intellect does not automatically provide a cure for any deficiencies. To leave one form of bondage for another is not freedom. Jung contends this in his discourse on rationality. Jung addressed this problem as well and extrapolates on the limits of rationality in the following: It is a psychological rule that when an archetype has lost its metaphysical boundaries, it becomes identified with the conscious mind of the individual, which it influences and refashions in its own form. And since an archetype always possesses certain numinosity, the integration of the numen generally produces an inflation of the subject. (Jung 315) What Jung states here is significant in the manner in which he points out the fact that when what is metaphysical or supernatural loses its significance to its competition: rational reason.

The Date Palms Industry in UAE Essay Sample

The Date Palms Industry in UAE Essay Sample The Date Palms Industry in UAE Analysis Essay The Date Palms Industry in UAE Analysis Essay The date palms industry in UAE is a vast industry that generates a significant amount of revenue and employment for people. The industry had been in existence for several thousand years and was the main source of income before oil was discovered in the region. As an agricultural industry, date palms offer a large compensation for the Sahara region because it provides work and sustenance for over 60% of the population. Basically, date palms are an agricultural relief for an area with very extreme temperatures like the UAE among other countries. The date palms are found in areas that are arid or semi arid, but with a water supply either as an oasis, a river like the Nile for Egypt, or an irrigation system as used in other parts of the desert nations. Aside from the fruits that are considered an Arabic delicacy all over the world, date palms are also useful in the making of confectionery and sweets, as well as baking products among other things. In addition, the industry not only provid es labor in the production department, but also in marketing, processing, packaging and exporting as well as local supply and vending. Thus, it can be considered as a very lucrative industry in the UAE and beyond. Considering how vast and extensive the date industry is in the UAE, this research proposal is aimed at examining the details of the industry with regards to the culture, history, benefits, and types of date palms cultivated in the UAE. The study involves examining companies that deal in the date palm industry to establish how they operate, and the driving force behind them in a bid to establish just how beneficial date palms are to the social and economic well being of the UAE. Date Palms In their analysis, Alhudaib, Arocha, Wilson and Jones (2007) established that date palms belong to the Palmae family, and their scientific name is Phoenix dactylifera. Just like other palms, they are tall with a great capacity to survive in high saline conditions and water scarcity. As a fruit tree, the date palm outdoes all other fruit trees with regards to tolerance and value considering it can be replaced in a very short time and can be used continuously under good conditions without being completely depleted of its resources. In more ways, the date palm can be considered as an exotic fruit that is tied to the heavenly religions and with the most emphasis in Islam considering even mentioning in the Koran and thus takes on a central position in the meals especially during Ramadan and other religious festivities (Al-Maary, 1995). Date palms are also a great part of the socio economic structure in many nations, most Arabic including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Pa kistan, Algeria, Sudan, Oman, Libya, and Tunisia (Oxford Business Group, 2009). This plant does especially well in areas otherwise considered to be barren and beat up by the sun and other degrading forces of nature. Furthermore, it can be stated that date palms are not as demanding as many other fruit trees, and thus they are able to do well in some of the harshest conditions known to plant life. Also, considering that the fruits do not all ripen at the same time, these plants provide the farmer with sufficient harvesting work in the ripening season as they have to be waited before they can be harvested. Also, the fruits are consumed worldwide and thus have quite a large market for the large volumes produced in the Sahara region and beyond. In their research, Oxford Business Group (2009) establishes that date palm is a highly tolerant plant and its fruit is a drupe with one seed which shape and size depends on the variety. The tree is propagated from either the seeds or the offshoots which only grow in the first four to five years after planting and have to be removed carefully to avoid damaging the entire plant. The fruits also do not ripen at the same time and thus harvesting is occurring later and not at once as in the case with other fruits. Various varieties produce different fruits with some being soft, others semi dry and others simply dry. They all however have a pleasant taste and are healthy, complete and with a very high energy content. The date palms are best suited for desert regions of the Arabic Peninsula, Sahara and Sabel (Oxford Business Group, 2009). In the UAE, the date palms are largely grown in three main regions which include the Western and Eastern Coastal areas as well as the Inland areas and Oases (Noack, 2007). The country has dedicated itself to cultivating date palms in all regions in which the trees can grow as it is considered not only as an agricultural oil well, but also as an enabler of agriculture owing to the shielding properties of the tall trees and deep roots. Moreover, they are believed to protect the shorter trees and annual crops from harsh weather conditions like excessive heat from direct sunlight, and the strong desert winds. The fruits are also highly nutritious and have both a cultural and religious value to people of the UAE. Unlike other regions which devote their date palms plantations only to areas with a natural water supply, UAE uses underground water supply in some of its date palms plantations to increase the amount of land that is viable for its cultivation. It is for this specific reason, along with the fact that the UAE is a geographically endowed nation with vast expanses of land at its disposal that have propagated the nation to the status of world’s highest producer of date palms. The History of Date Palms The history of date palms, along with the history of many other crops, has been hard to trace accurately. However, studies place the date palms as far back as 4000 BC with appearances in many historic writings and geological findings that include the Egyptian civilization, Syria and larger Mesopotamia. The fruit is also extensively mentioned in Islamic writings and it must have existed well before the religion has been founded. Currently, the cultivation of these date palms is largely limited to the Arabic countries in the Arabian Peninsula and the Sahara region stretching from Egypt all the way to Nigeria. All these countries draw their inspiration from the fruit’s global consumers who are attracted by its exotic nature besides the nutritional values. The date palms are largely considered as a natural part of the ecosystem in the Gulf region. Most of the population cannot imagine a land without date palms as they have grown to see them as a part of the environment (UN Press Release, 2004). Even in ancient stories that are passed down from generation to generation, date palms are frequently mentioned implying they have always existed. While these fruits may not have originally come from the UAE, they are an irreplaceable part of its historical heritage and now even more as a part of its socio economic construct. In the UAE, date palms were just another fruit trees and were largely produced for local consumption and for the tourism industry. However, under the leadership of the President, the crop began receiving much more consideration as an opportunity to build a civilized society that can sustain itself through agriculture and not just depending on the oil industry. As a result of this opinion and vision, the UAE increased its production of date palms by more than 4000% in a span of about 10 years. Date Palms in the Culture of UAE As a largely desert country, the UAE does not have many crops to boast about. However, the country has very deep attachments to the date palms. Historically, these fruit trees were considered heavenly by the ancient religions and they also were symbols of God’s mercy with regards to its ability to withstand the scorching desert sun and severe water scarcity and provide fruits for people to live on (UN Press Release, 2004). The UAE is largely Islamic, in that Islam is not only the state religion, but also largely the only religion that can and should be practiced within state borders. This means that every citizen has a tie to the date palms considering it has religious roots. Moreover, the fruits are offered as gifts and blessings, and make up a large part of the menu during religious festivities that include the Holy Month of Ramadan. In this sense, the entire population of the UAE recognizes these fruit trees and acknowledges their centrality in the religious practices and festivities. Also, there are quite a number of tourists who visit the UAE and are taken through the date palms culture and history thus increasing their interest in the fruit. Most of the produce, before exportation picked up, was actually meant for tourists and local consumption. To this day, the country has a date palms festival during which visitors are encouraged to buy various types of date palms at very competitive prices from different producers and marketers available. Generally, the nation’s leadership has a lot of faith in the country’s agricultural potential with special regard for the date palm and this faith has played a great role in pushing the UAE to its current status away from oil dependence. As a visionary leader, the President continues to lead the nation into an era of abundant wealth and prosperity that is not dependent on the oil resources of the Gulf region, and agriculture is at the center of this plan with date palms playing the leading role. The Socio Economic Aspect of Date Palms in UAE The UAE is a country with well developed economy, largely hinged on oil exports and tourism. There are numerous economic activities, however, currently agriculture has been given a top priority as well. Given the instability in the global oil market, the UAE government has sought to create an economy that can sustain itself even without its oil resources. To realize this vision, agriculture has been emphasized and the country is now very successful in producing its own dates as opposed to importing it from other Arabic countries in North Africa and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. This was of course achieved through a series of policies and incentives that were formulated and enforced by the government of the day. As more people became interested in the agricultural industry, the country’s sustainability also increased and currently it is largely independent of the oil industry given its agricultural potential. Initially, most of people in the UAE were living in poor conditions given that not everyone could get work in the oil industry. Also, there wasn’t much to do in an economy that largely depended on oil. With the introduction and emphasis of agriculture and especially date palm trees, there has been a drastic change in the living conditions of a vast majority of people in the UAE. The industry currently employs a sizeable portion of the population in cultivars, and packaging companies as well as the exporting industry. In the global front, date palms employ over 60% of the Saharan population by providing income generating opportunities as farmers, local vendors, exporters and middlemen. Numerous members of the UAE community have managed to amerce vast wealth from the date palm industry through cultivars, exporting companies, local supplies, and packaging companies. The date palms have not only improved the lives of people in the UAE, but also greatly grown the country’s economy and pulled it out of its previous dependence on oil as its major economic resource. The industry has also saved the country from having to import dates from other countries for its largely Islamic population given its importance to them. International Perception of the Date Palms For many years, date palms have been an exotic fruit to people outside the Arab world. The concept of the date palm remains a fascinating one in which most foreigners are curious about. As a fruit, it is considered rare and luxurious, often associated with royalty and power. The fact that the fruit is also mainly cultivated in Arabic countries also adds on to their fascination as they associate it with Arabic culture and heritage. Therefore, the international community largely perceives date palms as an Arabic staple delicacy which is highly valued and appreciated in numerous other cultures as well. Considering that the fruit has religious connections in Islam, the global community also perceives it as a religious symbol especially during the Holy Month of Ramadan. The main reason behind this association is that many Islamic families stock their fridges with these fruits during the holy month and give them away as gifts to their friends and relatives. This is how most foreigners get to experience date palms for the first time, although others have to visit an Arabic country for their first encounter with date palms. The Date Industry Globally and UAE Nowadays, there are ten major date palms producing countries in the world. These include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Tunisia, Pakistan, Sudan, Algeria, Iran, Yemen and Oman. Out of these countries comes a total of about 10 million tons of date palms distributed across the world for consumption. A majority of these date palms end up in the hands of Muslim believers while the rest is consumed by people from other religions with a love for the fruit or a curiosity based on what they may have read or heard of it. Egypt, with its dependence on the Nile for water, boasts of the highest volumes of date palms produced. The nation has date palms planted all over in areas that are accessible to water. Its date palms are also high yielding varieties owing to the fact that they have an all year round access to the Nile’s waters. The country has also largely invested in irrigation as a way of sustaining its agricultural sector and thus they have the best chance of leading the pack in production and export of dates. However, they do not have sufficient capacity to package and export all of their date palms given the industrial limitations in the country. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia elevated date palms as the most important cash crop with a representation of vitality and growth in its national emblem. With its vast land under date palm plantations, this country commands a market share of up to 18% worldwide with a production that is approximately 10% of the world’s total date palm production. In essence, Saudi Arabia has given the date palms industry the priority it deserves and thus they are reaping the benefits of their focus. Tunisia also boasts of a great amount of date palms production coming in with over 120,000 tons annually. This nation has dedicated over 60% of its land to cultivating date palm plantations and they supply more than half of Europe’s date fruits demand. However, Algeria produces 500,000 tons and competes with Tunisia for the Europe confectioneries market, and has dedicated over 80% of its land to date palms given their pivotal position in the desert’s ecosystem. These countries, however, do not only use the fruits off the trees. They also use the other non fruit components for various things like feeding the livestock, building fences, mulching, weaving baskets, making textiles, and roofing among other things. They have also established new ways to use the fruit tree’s fruit and non fruit parts as raw materials for industries, such as sweet making, confectioneries and baking products among others. Of all the date palm producing countries in the world, the UAE has the largest amount of land dedicated to the crop and this is estimated to be about 220,000 hectares with a potential production of over 800,000 tons of date fruits annually. The world’s date palm industries largely produce for export into the European market, but the local markets also play a big role in the industry. For example, Egypt is unable to process all of its date fruits for export despite the high amount of produce realized annually and thus it largely produces for the local market and its immediate neighbors. Growth of the Date Palms Industry Initially, dates were a local delicacy. A fruit considered to be wild and only palatable to the desert dwellers. With the spread of Islam, this perception changed and more people began to identify with the fruit. A further spread of civilization then opened the date fruits market up for exploitation by creating markets for the fruit both far and wide. As the demand grew, the enterprising nations gained interest in the industry to a point that some economies are currently hinged on the date palms production for sustenance. In the beginning, the industry was all about producing the fruits and packaging them for export. However, there have come many more uses for the produce as opposed to being consumed as a fruit. Sweets and confectioneries, as well as baking products and even health supplements are being made from the date palm fruits. In this sense, the market is not restricted to the end consumers, but to sweet factories and bakeries which use them fruits as ingredients in their recipes. Also, the industry largely had to suffer destruction and degradation by pests and diseases. With revolutionary studies and discoveries in the field of disease and pest control in agriculture, the problem is in control and probably on its way to elimination. While there still are few reports of pests and diseases, the damage is no longer as crippling to the industry as it used to be in the past. The industry now stands among the most successful in agriculture and possibly the second best industry after oil in the Arabic countries. In some of these countries, dates production and export as a source of revenue is only rivaled by tourism in second place after oil production. Considering how many people have been employed in the date palms industry, it is not exactly determined, but in the Sahara region alone over 60% of people directly depends on the date palm plantations for their livelihoods (Bashah, 1999). Thus, this means that the industry has the potential of sustaining a very large percentage of the populace in terms of work and sustainable income. This in turn means that the world’s population is less likely to have as high levels of poverty as it has been without the date palm plantations. Benefits of the Date Palms Industry in UAE Date palms have a wide variety of benefits to the populations as a fruit, a tree, a cash crop, a symbol in the national emblem and even a cultural and religious delicacy. The date palms have been cherished throughout history for a number of reasons some of which are known to us and proven by science, while others remain mystical and mythical to the present generations (Ferry Gomez, 2002). Some of the known benefits are discussed below with a special focus of the agricultural, nutritional and medicinal, socio economic and religious values of the date palms. Agricultural Values Date palms are mainly planted in desert regions with high temperatures, high salinity and low humidity, but with an access to water. These areas are often around oases or just in the desert where irrigation has been factored in as an aid to agriculture. In such areas, there is very high sunlight intensity, strong winds and often extreme temperatures both cold and hot alternating. Date palms are often tall trees with deep and strong roots (Saudi Press Agency, 2009). Their leaves are long and provide a shade as well. Using the principles of soil conservation, trees help to break strong winds and thus protect the soil from being eroded. In an agricultural setting, these trees not only prevent soil erosion, but also protect the smaller trees and plants from being broken or uprooted by the strong desert winds. Thus, this means that the farmer can easily indulge in the cultivation of other smaller fruit trees as well as annual crops within the date palms plantations. Additionally, the date palms have both fruit and non fruit components that are useful to the farmer. The low quality fruits can be used to feed livestock. The leaves are also often used for fencing and mulching in horticulture to protect the fragile plants from harsh environmental and climatic conditions. Basically, it can be said that the cultivation of date palms in the desert regions enables the farmers to engage in other farming activities thus boosting sustainable food production along the economic benefits of exporting this exotic fruit that is a secondary oil well in the Arabic world. Nutritional and Medicinal Values The date fruit is a drupe, with one seed per fruit. The fruit has numerous nutritional attributes aside from the pleasant taste and high energy content. The fruit is largely valued for its high fiber content as well. Other than its sophisticated categorization, date fruits are a real asset when eaten on a regular basis as they have numerous significant benefits to the body. With regards to its medicinal values, there are a large number of ailments and physical troubles that the fruit and other tree components are said to handle successfully. While there may not be sufficient scientific proof to strengthen or eliminate these claims, some of them have scientific explanations while others are left to speculation from stories passed on from previous generations. Some of the problems said to be solved through the use of parts of the date fruits and trees are ulcers, halitosis, sore throats, colds, fevers, toothaches, diarrhea, cystitis, edema, kidney and liver problems, as well as ague, alcohol induced hangovers, and gonorrhea. All these problems are delegated to various parts of the date palm tree including fruit seeds, roots, bark, flower and even leaves. Socio Economic Values The date palm tree, due to its majestic height is considered to be a beauty in the desert. For this reason, it is often grown in residential settings as a method of landscaping vast lands. The trees are also used to as land marks and for boundaries in cases of vast land ownership. Another major use of the date palms is that they provide food not only for people, but for animals as well. Over the years, desert populations have depended on the date fruits to feed themselves and their livestock too. As a cash crop, date palms provide an alternative source of sustainable income that pulls countries away from their dependence on oil as an economic driver. As an agricultural produce, date palms give countries a sustainable source of income that is not only dependable and sustainable but also environment friendly. The industry employs a significant number of individuals in production, processing, curing, packaging, marketing and exporting. Also, there are a number of other industries, such as confectionery and sweets that depend on the date palms industry, thus more jobs and more revenue. Another significant socio economic value of the date palms industry is that it has encouraged desert dwellers to settle down and practice agriculture as opposed to moving around and engaging in clashes and livestock rustling. Previously, desert communities were considered hostile and insecure, but currently they are settled and producing over 10 million tones of the precious fruit annually. In these countries, date palm production has boosted national income thus improving the living conditions of the general population. As countries grow richer on agricultural production, more people are likely to benefit as compared to oil production which often benefits the wealthy few who have land titles and money to buy oil rigs. Religious Values The highest amount of date fruits is often consumed during the Holy Month of Ramadan globally. The fruit is mentioned in the Koran and thus the Islamic community has a religious connection to it. Also, during the fasting period it is considered an asset due to its high energy content. The date fruits have a capacity of up to 3000 calories per kilogram and this is among the highest in all foods (Greiner, 1998). Otherwise, it was historically lauded by the ancient religions that considered it symbolic in their communion with heavenly powers. Challenges of the Date Palms Industry In all the ten top producers of date palms in the world, three challenges stand out significantly. These are pests and diseases, inadequate skilled labor and insufficient capacity for processing the fruits in readiness for exporting. Other major constraints are lack of research, climate changes, and market limitations. While these countries have all prioritized date palms production and exportation, they are yet to deal effectively with these problems as discussed below. Pests and Diseases Just like the rest of the agricultural industry, the date palms industry is heavily riddled with problems of pest and disease control (Mahmoudi et el., 2008). The farmers sometimes are exposed and experience severe losses due to pests and diseases and especially the Red Palm Weevil that causes extensive damage to palm groves. This results in significant damage to the crop and thus extremely low yields if any at all. As scientists try to come up with ways to eliminate this menace, farmers remain at risk of experiencing tremendous losses in the industry. Inadequate Skilled Labor Date palms take a relatively long time to grow and mature into a productive plant with a full capacity to be fruitful for years on end. Before they mature, however, they need a lot of care including cutting the offshoots for planting. If this is not done well and carefully then the trees are at risk of not being as fruitful as they should be. Another challenge in managing date palms is in caring for them and protecting them against pests and diseases. This also needs some amount of skill that is often lacking as most plantations are run locally by untrained personnel and farmhands. Insufficient Processing Capacity Some of the date palms producing countries have such high yields that they are unable to process all of it for exportation (Sawaya, 2000). This leaves the farmers with most of their produce to sell cheaply to the local market or export illegally to their neighboring states for processing and exportation. It is for a reason that the countries do not have the commitment to expand their processing industries or build more to satisfy the large date palms production that they have. Lack Of Research Agriculture requires constant research to come up with more productive and more resistant strains of crop. While there are several agricultural research facilities worldwide, none of them has focused its attention to this very important cash crop. The date palms have been left to adapt to the environment and suffer their fate of pests and diseases without trying to modify them and make them stronger and with a better chance of survival (University of Delaware, 2004). Also, research would have been able to create strains of the crop that do not need such extreme climatic conditions and can thus be grown in the tropics as well. This would further enlarge the industry and create more produce for the market. Climate Change Date palms are very specific in their required conditions for growth. The trees need to be able to access water regularly so that the roots can soak it up for the rest of the plant (Zohary Hopf, 2000). Also, the fruits need a prolonged summer heat with very low humidity in order to ripen well. With the changes in climate, however, these conditions are being threatened and thus the trees may not be able to yield good fruit in the same high quality and quantity as before (United Nations Development Program, 2004). Market Limitations Some people grow the date palms, but are unable to sell it due to the fact that most local markets are already flooded with the product. The cost of processing and packaging for exportation on the other hand is also seemingly too steep for some small scale farmers and thus they are unable to sell their produce at all. live CHAT Methodology The research will involve interviews with stakeholders in the date palms industry in the UAE. First, we will need to collect information on how much date fruits are being exported annually and to which specific destinations. Also, we will need information on how many date palm trees are there in the country and possibly find out how expensive or cheap it is to run these plantations as well as the average realized profit margins. Another important information will be which industries the data palm industry is partnering with locally in terms of product modification and manufacture of sweets, confectioneries, baking products and any other items from date palm derivatives. Considering how large the country is and how wide spread the date palm plantations are, it would be much easier to conduct the research through the use of secondary resources with regards to information about the cultivars (Williams, 2008). All the major ones are well established and thus information on them can be easily found online and in business publications. Thus, this part of the research will involve the business websites and online journals as well as publications. The information required from the government can also be found online in the economic journals as released by the government annually. This is where we will get information on how many tones of date fruits are being exported on an annual basis and to which countries do they go. The local industries can also be contacted through their websites to provide information on what business is like for them and which local industries they are partnering with to improve the date palm industry. This will also involve primary research as the required information may not be readily available on the company websites and online journals or articles. Lastly, the study will obtain primary research by interviewing the local citizens in order to find out just what they think about the date palms industry in the UAE and what should be done to improve the situation and prevent it from deteriorating as it supports a large portion of the population as well boosts some aspects of the tourism industry as the staple exotic fruit of the Arabic world that is sought after by foreigners. The collected information will then be analyzed and represented in the form of charts and graphs as it will be comparing the date palms industry’s performance and growth potential in the UAE with the rest of the world to establish the industry is doing in a global scale. Considering that this country is just one out of the top ten date palm producers in the world, detail is a key component of the study as the minor details may be the distinguishing factors between good performance and better performance.

The railroad in the United States Essay Example

The railroad in the United States Essay Example The railroad in the United States Essay The railroad in the United States Essay In the simplest manner: the railroad changed the face of a nation. The railroad in the United States changed how people traveled, did business, and how Washington governed people. The railroad created new standards and new laws that still affect the way we live today. It helped create a new type of wealth that had never been seen before and became the first big business in the United States. Without the railroads impact, it would be difficult to fathom where the United States and the world would be today.The golden age of the railroad is considered to be by many the period that stretched between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the First World War.1 Railroading from 1865 to 1929 covers the great expansion, the golden age and the beginning decline of the railroad. The emergence of the modern America, and the beginning of the Great Depression of the United States also can be seen within these dates; this emphasizes the large role that the railroads had in the industrializa tion of the America. It is clear that the history of the United States coincides with the history of the railroad; during these times the railroad played a vital a vital role in thebuilding of the United States. But, the relationship was symbiotic, because it is also possible to see that the direction in which the country was going played a role in how the railroad was formed, controlled, and regulated. Truly, the railroad is a form of transportation that helped make the United States what it is today.The year 1865 finally brought an end to war that had sliced a nation in half. The war, however, was not a destructive force to the railroads. With the exception of the southern lines, American railroads were generally in excellent shape in 1865.2 The Civil War brought new strength to the American railroads. The need to provide for the war had caused the railroads of the United States to expand by as much as 35,500 miles at the end of the war.3 The War had brought new strength to the ra ilroads and the railroads were now standing before their golden age. This golden age began with a big bang: the completion of the transcontinental railway.The story of the transcontinental railway could very well be suited for a Hollywood movie. It involves corruption, greed, great visions, and great strength. Public demand for a transcontinental railway was originally inspired by a proposal made in 1836 by the American statesmen John Plumbe and Robert John Walker.4 The demand for therailway was later increased with the arrival of the gold rush in 1849. In 1861, the Pacific Railway Bill was passed, this bill called for the building of the transcontinental line to be done by two companies, Union Pacific Company and the Central Pacific Company. The job of the Union Pacific Company was to build west from Omaha, while the job of the Central Pacific Company was to build east from Sacramento5. The bill also called for the companies to receive a right-of-way strip for their line (and whate ver they needed for rail yards, sidings, and other facilities), as well as five alternate land sections on each side of the track.6 The companies were also offered loans that went from $16,000 per mile of track in the lowlands to as much as $48,000 a mile in the mountainous regions.7The Union Pacific got of to slow start until they acquired a good engineer by thename of General Dodge, who was one of Shermans Civil War railroad men. UnderGeneral Dodges direction the work on the Union Pacific soon took on a furious pace and a military atmosphere; military preparedness and quickness were exactly what was needed to deal with the hostile Indians.Life on the Central Pacific was by no means pleasant, but they did not have much a problem with the Indians.8 However, one thing that was a problem on the Central Pacific was the lack of labor. California, being largely uninhabited at the time, did not provide a large labor resource; and so the managers of the Central Pacific had to look elsewher e for their labor needs. One of the places they looked for new labor was China. The Chinese turned out to be well suited for the job, and at one point nine-tenths of the labor force of the Central Pacific was Chinese.Eventually the two the companies came within sight of each other, and a meeting place for the two rails was designated. The meeting place chosen was a waterless basin of sagebrush just north of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. This place was called Promontory Point. It was decided that the two companies would meet and there would be a greatceremony to connect the railways. The ceremony was planned, and all of the railroad officials and dignitaries came to drive in the final spike. On May 10, 1869, this event finally took place. The driving in of the final spike came with a little embarrassment: First, one of the leaders of Central Pacific went up to drive in the golden spike and missed; next, the leader of the Union Pacific stepped up to drive in the golden spike and he too missed.9 Eventually, the final spike was driven in: though it is not clear who actually did it. Despite all this, the nation celebrated for the Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast had at last become connected by rail; and the railroad now stood on threshold of its golden age.The years following the completion of the transcontinental line brought an abundance of new railways. The rail network in the United States went from 35,000 miles in 1865 to 164,000 miles in 1890. This building was brought to an all-time high, when in 1916 the total length of the rail network in the United States reached 254,000 miles.10With such a rapid pace of construction, the building in the half-century after the Civil War led to an average annual construction, of over 4,000 miles a year. Even though this rapid construction was not equally spread throughout the country, every area did see some expansion.The transcontinental rail also led to great expansion in the West. The transcontinental railway, and th e railways following, brought eastern markets within a few days of western grain and cattle lands, and eventually helped create great cities in the West itself.11 The new railways of the West also brought about the virtual extermination of the buffalo. The new rails cut the herds in half and destroyed their natural habitat. It also became a game for people heading west on the railway to shoot the animal from their train window.12Now that the railroad spanned across the continent, the railroad was becoming a major player in the expansion of industry. The industry of the United States was rapidly expanding, and the railroad was becoming more than just a small factor in a great group of expanding industries. Railroads encouraged growth not only through the offering of their transport services, but also through the transportation need, of other industries. Railroads were not only the biggest shippers of industrial products; they were also American industrys best customers.13 The railroa ds became a huge buyer of steel, coal, lumber, and oil. To say that the railroad was an important factor in the industrialization of America is a huge understatement. The railroad became the pulse of industry and was considered by many the leading factor in the expansion of industry in the United States.While the network of rails was spreading, great financial networks were also developing. Groups of once independent railroad companies were grabbed up and consolidated to form large railroad systems.14 One prime example of this was The New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, which were formed by the consolidation of about 200 originally independent lines.The large consolidation brought about the need for new standards and new technology that would help the railroad continue to grow and operate more efficiently. One of the new standards that was needed was a standard gauge for the railroads to operate on. This was needed because the expansion of the rails had now brought the need to move the freight from one line to another. This was not possible because throughout the country there were different gauges. For example in the south the popular gauge was five feet, but on other railroads like the Erie the gauge was six feet. It was decided amongst railroads that a standard must decided on, and that standard became four feet, eight and one half inches.15Another standard that was created and is still used today is standardized time. Until the movement for Standard Time, each town had its own time. There were, for example, thirty-eight different times in the state of Wisconsin alone. Given the amount of different times, the speed of trains, and the distance these trains traveled. This spelled one thing: complete chaos. Eventually the problem was solved in 1883, when the General Time Convention was held by the railroads. At this convention it was decided that the continental United States would be broken up into four standard time zones. People soon found it easy t o set their clocks by railroad time, and thus the railroad standard became a national standard.Other technological innovations that were created to aid the expansion and consolidation of the railways were: the use of steel rails, the automatic coupler, and the air brake. The automatic coupler allowed a coupler to close on impact, but still be able to open from the side of the car. The air brake, invented by George Westinghouse, allowed trains to stop much quicker than they had been able to in the past.Besides bringing about new technology, the consolidation of the railways also brought about the great railroad barons. The railroad had become a likely stop for the strong businessmen interested in making millions by manipulating the rail system. But in gaining such immense power, many railroad builders and consolidators became unethical and ruthless in their business practices. Watered stock, stock market rigging, corrupt rate wars, rebating and labor violence all became part of the n ew railroad picture. 16Railroad barons like Jay Gould James Fisk were masters at these tricks. One example of how money was made was by stock watering, which was the process of increasing the number of shares of a company without adding to the companys assets.17Perhaps one of the greatest of the great railroad barons was Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. Originally from the steamboat business, Vanderbilt gained control of such railroads as the New York Central and the Erie through ruthless business practices. A prime example of Vanderbilts ruthless practices is how he obtained control over the New York Central Railroad. Vanderbilt was frustrated with the current managers of the New York Central because they often bypassed his railroad when sending freight into New York City. So, Vanderbilt simply stopped shipping their freight and passengers one day. The New York Central stock rapidly began to drop on Wall Street because of Vanderbilts actions. Seeing that the stock was now cheap, Van derbilt began buy up the stock while it was cheap, and the company eventually fell into his hands.18 But practices like this could only go on for so long.The railroads activities had become too corrupt for most people and were beginning to become a financial burden for many farmers and business owners. Business owners and farmers began to resent the railroad and decided that something must be done. Taking the initiative was a group called the Patrons of Husbandry, popularly known as the Grange. The Grange was originally formed as a social group to bring farmers out of the isolation of their farmhouses.19 They had picnics, suppers, and other events, that well frequently held at the local Grange Hall. However, as railroad abuse increased the group shifted from entertainment purposes to more political purposes.The Grangers bonded together to establish many things that helped farmers, but their primary purpose eventually became to bring reform to the railroads.20 The Grangers quickly gr ew in size and gained enough power to elect people free of railroad influence, in the state legislatures. They pushed for new laws that would regulate the railroads monopolies, and eventually succeeded. But the Grangers success only came at the state level through what were called Granger laws. Even though these laws were aimed to regulate monopolies, though such things as freight and passenger rates, they were easily evaded by the railroads. However, some progress had been won. The nation was beginning to shift from an attitude of laissez-faire capitalism to a more progressive state of mind.One of the biggest things people learned from the Granger laws was that reform of the railroads was going to have to take place on a national level. In 1885, a Senate committee conducted an investigation of railroad business practices. The final report from the committee listed the familiar abuses of the railroads, such as watered stock and unreasonably high rates. This investigation made it cle ar that Federal Government must do something and in 1887 it did. The Interstate Commerce Act, in language that was perhaps deliberately vague, required that all interstate rates be reasonable and just and prohibited the familiar competitive practices of rebates, drawbacks, and pools.21 The act also required that the railroad publish their rate schedules and file them with the government. An Interstate Commerce Commission was created to administer the act and enforce it. The success of the Interstate Commerce Act was short lived and was easily evaded because of its loose wording.22 In 1890 the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed, but it too failed in regulating the railroads because of loose wording.23The move for railroad regulation was ultimately lost until the arrival of Theodore Roosevelt and a strong Progressive movement. Roosevelt considered railroad regulation to be a major issue and strongly moved for the greater empowerment of the Interstate Commerce Commission. His wish was gr anted in 1906 when the Hepburn Act was passed. The Hepburn Act greatly extended the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission. It also abolished the granting of passes and made the laws against rebates stronger.24 Following the Hepburn Act, were more and more laws aimed at regulating therailroads. As the new regulations went into effect, the railroad slowly began to slip down hill. But concern with the regulations was turned away from with the arrival of the First World War.Many problems faced the railroads as America entered World War I in 1917. One was the increase of rail traffic caused by the war. The railroads became very busy and subsequently operating cost rose. The railroads began to lose money due to the Interstate Commerce Commissions hold on the rates.25 Another problem that faced the railroads during World War I was that of management. Railroad executives found it very difficult to operate their rail lines together during the war. The creation of a railroad War Board w as an attempt to help the situation, but it did not work very well. Eventually it was decided by the government that they must take over, so an act was passed that allowed the Interstate Commerce Commission to control the movement, distribution, and exchange of railroad cars. This too failed because the commission was inept in exercising its authority. Given all the failed attempts, the government decided in 1918 to take complete control of the railroad.26 The government remained in charge of the railroad until the Transportation Act of 1920, which called for their return to private management.The future was not bright for the railroads: ever since the arrival of the First World War the railroads had experienced a general decline. This was due mostly to the development of new types of transportation. Millions now owned Henry Fords model T automobile, and various other cars.27 The twenties brought the arrival of motorbuses, which also took away from the railroads business. Other new forms of transportation, such as trucks and airplanes, also took their toll on the business of the railway. So, as the nation was roaring through the Twenties and heading for the Great Depression, the railroad was becoming ever increasingly a thing of the past.If there is to be an a lasting lesson from the history of the railroads from 1865-1929 it is that major industrial innovations can only live an unregulated life for so long. The United Stated was a booming country experiencing wide spread industrialization. The railroad was an essential part of this boom, but railroads had to change just as the to country had to change. The free going attitude of laissez-faire can only last so long in a country where equality and fairness before the law are valued. The railroads fully rode the first wave of industrialization and faded into the background when their time had come. The significance of the railroad will probably never be fully realized, but their impact will always be felt.

About the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

About the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court The FISA court is a highly secretive panel of 11 federal judges whose primary responsibility is to decide whether the U.S. government has enough evidence against foreign powers or individuals believed to be foreign agents to allow for their surveillance by the intelligence community. FISA is an acronym for the  Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The court is also referred to as the  Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISC. The federal government cannot use the FISA court to  intentionally target any U.S. citizen, or any other U.S. person, or to intentionally target any person known to be in the United States, though the  National Security Agency has acknowledged  it inadvertently collects information on some Americans without a warrant in the name of national security. FISA, in other words, is not a tool for combating domestic terrorism but it has been used in the post-September 11th era to gather data on Americans. The FISA court adjourns in a bunker-like complex operated by the U.S. District Court on Constitution Avenue, near the  White House and Capitol. The courtroom is said to be  soundproof to prevent eavesdropping and the judges do not speak publicly about the cases because of the sensitive nature of national security. In addition to the FISA court, there is a second secret judicial panel called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review  whose responsibility to oversee and review the decisions made by the FISA court. The Court of Review, like the FISA court, is seated in Washington, D.C. But it is made up of only three judges from the federal district court or appeals court. Functions of the FISA Court   The FISA court’s role is to rule on applications and evidence submitted by the federal government and to grant or deny warrants for  Ã¢â‚¬Å"electronic surveillance, physical search, and other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes.† The court is the only one in the land that has the authority to allow federal agents to conduct â€Å"electronic surveillance of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power for the purpose of obtaining foreign intelligence information,† according to the Federal Judicial Center. The FISA court requires the federal government to provide substantial evidence before it grants surveillance warrants, but the judges rarely ever turn down applications. If the FISA court grants an application for government surveillance, it also limits the scope of the intelligence gathering to a specific location, telephone line or email account, according to published reports.   FISA has since its enactment been a bold and productive tool in this country’s fight against the efforts of foreign governments and their agents to engage in intelligence-gathering aimed at the U.S. government, either to ascertain its future policy or to effect its current policy, to acquire proprietary information not publicly available, or to engage in disinformation efforts, wrote James G. McAdams III, a former Justice Department official and senior legal instructor with the Department of Homeland Securitys  Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers. Origins of the FISA Court The FISA court was established in 1978 when Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. President Jimmy Carter signed the act on Oct. 25, 1978. It was originally intended to allow for electronic surveillance but has seen been expanded to include physical searches and other data-collection techniques. FISA was signed into law amid  the Cold War and a period of deep skepticism of the president after the Watergate scandal and disclosures that the federal government used electronic surveillance and physical searches of citizens, a member of Congress, congressional staffers, anti-war protesters and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. without warrants. The act helps to solidify the relationship of trust between the American people and their government, Carter said in signing the bill into law. It provides a basis for the trust of the American people in the fact that the activities of their intelligence agencies are both effective and lawful. It provides enough secrecy to ensure that intelligence relating to national security can be securely acquired, while permitting review by the courts and Congress to  safeguard the rights of Americans and others. Expansion of FISA Powers The  Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has been expanded beyond its original scope several times since Carter placed his signature on the law in 1978. In 1994, for example, the act was amended to allow the court to grant warrants for the use of  pen registers, trap and trace devices and business records. Many of the most substantive expansions were put in place after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. At the time, Americans indicated a willingness to trade some measures of freedom in the name of national security. Those expansions include: The passage of the USA Patriot Act in October 2001. The acronym stands for  Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. The Patriot Act broadened the scope of the governments use of surveillance and allowed the intelligence community to act more quickly in wiretapping. Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union, however, pointed out the allowed the government to obtain the personal records of ordinary Americans from libraries and Internet Service Providers even without probable cause.The passage of the  Protect America Act on August 5, 2007. The law allowed the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance without a warrant or approval from the FISA court on American soil if the target was believed to be a foreign agent. In effect, wrote the ACLU, the government may now scoop up all communications coming into or out of the United States, as long as it is targeting no one American in particular and the program is â€Å"directed at† the foreign end of the communication.  Whether the target or not, American phone calls, emails and internet use will be recorded by our government, and without any suspicion of wrongdoing.   The passage of the FISA Amendments Act in 2008, which granted the government the authority to access communication data from Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. Like to Protect America Act of 2007, the FISA Amendments Act targeted non-citizens outside of the United States but concerned privacy advocates because of the likelihood average citizens were being watched without their knowledge or a warrant from the FISA court. Members of the FISA Court Eleven federal judges are assigned to the FISA court. They are appointed by the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and serve seven-year terms, which are nonrenewable and staggered to ensure continuity. FISA Court judges are not subject to confirmation hearings such as those required for Supreme Court nominees. The statute that authorized the creation of the FISA court mandates the judges represent at least seven of the U.S. judicial circuits and that three of judges live within 20 miles of Washington, D.C., where the court sits. The judges adjourn for one week at a time on a rotating basis The current FISA Court judges are: Rosemary M. Collyer: She is the presiding judge on the FISA court and has been a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia since being nominated to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in 2002. Her term on the FISA court began May 19, 2009, and expires March 7, 2020.James E. Boasberg: He has been a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia since being nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2011. His term on the FISA court began May 19, 2014, and expires March 18, 2021.Rudolph Contreras: He has been a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia since being nominated to the federal bench by Obama in 2011. His term on the FISA court began May 19, 2016, and expires May 18, 2023.Anne C. Conway: She has been a U.S. District Court judge for the Middle District of Florida since being nominated to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. Her term on the FISA court began May 19, 2016, and expires May 18, 2023.Ra ymond J. Dearie: He has been a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of New York since being nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. His term on the FISA court began July 2, 2012, and ends July 1, 2019. Claire V. Eagan: She has been a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma since being nominated to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in 2001. Her term on the FISA court began Feb. 13, 2013, and ends May 18, 2019.James P. Jones: He has served as a U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Virginia since being nominated for the federal bench by President William J. Clinton in 1995. His term on the FISA court began on May 19, 2015, and ends May 18, 2022.Robert B. Kugler: He has served as a U.S. District Court judge for the District of New Jersey since being nominated for the federal bench by George W. Bush in 2002. His term on the FISA court began May 19, 2017, and ends May 18, 2024.Michael W. Mosman: He has served as a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Oregon since being nominated for the federal bench by President George W. Bush in 2003. His term on the FISA court began May 04, 2013, and ends May 03, 2020.Thomas B. Russell: He has served as a U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Kentucky since being nominated for the federal bench by Clinton in 1994. His term on the FISA court began May 19, 2015, and ends May 18, 2022. John Joseph Tharp Jr.: He has served as a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois since being appointed by Obama in 2011. His term on the FISA court began May 19, 2018, and ends May 18, 2025. Key Takeaways: The FISA Court FISA stands for the  Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The act was established during the Cold War.The 11 members of the FISA court decide whether the U.S. government can spy on foreign powers or individuals believed to be foreign agents.The FISA court is not supposed to allow the U.S. to spy on Americans or others living in the county, even though the governments powers have expanded under the act.

Answering the questionaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answering the questionaries - Essay Example Similarly, I am very altruistic, which often seems like a weakness in this rational and materialistic world. However, all these strengths and weaknesses have made me a stable and realistic person, who can bring some change in this globe. As earlier mentioned in my personal statement, I have always been curious to know the reason of my existence, and this curiosity brought me closer to underprivileged and stressed people. My intellectual competence has allowed me to analyze the change that can be brought by dentists around the globe. My concern for others, and intellectual curiosity has prompted me to pursue dentistry. During the last couple of years, I got the opportunity to work with different people from diverse backgrounds, and it helped me understand the way people work and communicate with each other. Effective articulation of language and academic understanding are some of the imperative factors that helped me in working effectively with colleagues during my individual research at Madison, Wisconsin, as well as, during other associations at UW-Madison Pre-Dental Society. Self-esteem and a desire to learn are some of the factors that stand me out from rest of the applicants. It is very important that an individual should be able to incorporate her academic ability with stability, which is one of the important requirements for being a competitive applicant. During the learning process, individuals have to work under different supervisions, as well as, work according to the instructions, and therefore, a person should be emotional matured enough to learn and work, in order to become one of the successful individuals in this globe. Our globe is a practical world that respects people with rationale, and therefore, it is imperative that individuals should set and organize realistic goals, in order to prolong learning process and achieve the

Database Applications Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Database Applications - Research Paper Example It mainly focuses on the safe management and maintenance of data, and providing access to multiple applications and users simultaneously. Despite its complexity as compared to flat text files and spreadsheets, it actually makes things easier considering the weaknesses of the latter (i.e. redundant information, outdated data, file size, complex protection of data from unauthorized use and from becoming corrupt), particularly when working with large-scale applications. These issues aforementioned are taken cared of Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), such that the flexibility and security of data outweighs the complexity of the system. Codd's idea was to break down a long row of data fields into smaller tables describing specific subsets of the data collected, ultimately reducing the data footprint and cost. Furthermore, it enforces data integrity by ensuring data type correctness (by using strong data types), eliminating redundant data (by saving data entities in just one p lace), disallowing harmful deletes (by using key constraints), and guarantees efficient retrieval and manipulation of data (by splitting up data into chunks). With SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, you get the advantages of RDBMS.

Science Education and Public Understanding Essay

Science Education and Public Understanding - Essay Example According to the report findings in Colloquial Use, Law in Science are a simple generalisation about how certain things in this natural world behave under certain conditions. In addition, the term is used to denote an existing experimental relationship between two or more parameters. In this case, it can be explained that Laws are commonly created after a lot of study and experiments have been conducted and hence a connected between two scientific quantities established. A good example of scientific the Laws include the thermodynamics, which explains the relationship between a given quantity of heat and the amount of kinetic energy that can be produced. In this case, the law shows how a quantity behaves rather than giving the explanation on why it behaves certain way. Another illustration of a scientific law is the famous Newton's  Law of Gravity. The law gives a prediction on the behaviour of an objected when dropped from a certain height. However, the law does not give an explana tion on why the object behaves in that particular manner.This essay declares that  a hypothesis is a critical part to a theory. This is because the hypothesis predicts the outcome of a theory that will either be proven to be authentic or void. It is created when it has survived all challenges of falsifying the theory. Most scientists show demonstrate a large number of experiments that are enough for them to only give details of all the tests that it carries out.

Traditional Roman Republic Virtues versus Christian Virtues Essay

Traditional Roman Republic Virtues versus Christian Virtues - Essay Example Perpetua and Lucretia depict different virtues as women, wherein Perpetua is shown as virtuous because she willingly accepted suffering for her faith, while Lucretia took suffering in her own hands and asked others to avenge her marred integrity because she and her society assigned ultimate virtue on her sexual purity. Perpetua is different from Lucretia because she lived by the Christian virtue of suffering for her faith rather than renouncing it. She shows courage in accepting her suffering. Her punishment was to face gladiators, and, before they killed her, she told her brother and others: â€Å"You must all stand fast in the faith and love one another, and do not be weakened by what we have gone through.† She embraced her suffering with pride and love. Lucretia did not die for her religious beliefs, but because of her soiled sexuality. She did not even wait for others to punish her for being impure. She said this before committing suicide: â€Å"I will absolve myself of b lame, and I will not free myself from punishment. No woman shall use Lucretia as her example in dishonor.† She could not accept living anymore after being raped because she and her society believed that women must be sexually pure (i.e. have sexual relations only with their husbands). Lucretia killed herself because of her shame, while Perpetua sacrificed her life for her Christian faith.The male interlocutors in these women’s lives lived according to their cultural virtues, wherein Christian males in Perpetua’s life suffered with her.