Biography Of Jacob Rall s Father Of Ashley Essay

Letters, photographs, biographical information, maps, and other primary source documents are influential and meaningful to today’s people. In 1927, letters were the primary way of communication between friends and loved ones. Jacob Rall, Stanley Rall’s father of Ashley, ND, received an unexpected letter dated January 27, 1927 from Eugen Karl Bachmann, a theological student from St. Petersburg, Russia. Stanley Rall donated this letter and is now housed at NDSU’s Germans from Russia Heritage Collection in the Stanley Rall Collection. In the letter, Eugen Karl Bachmann explained his background, his goals, and his financial need to his family members who had not known who he was prior to the letter, which shows the importance of distant family in times of crisis. In a letter to Jacob Rall, dated January 27, 1927, Eugen Bachmann began with his background, informing Jacob Rall that his parents are Johann Bachmann, a teacher and sexton in the Colony Trechgrad with a ver y low income, and Fredericka Arnold. Next, he talked about his goals in that he was studying to become a pastor in Petersburg. Other than his free living quarters, he explained that he was in a bad situation because he didn’t have much money, which meant he was going down the same path as his father. He brings about the importance of this letter by adding the fact that he no longer hears from his parents. Finally, Eugen asked Jacob Rall and his family to send money to him. He states that no matter how much or how

Strategic Human Resource Management Approaches - 1318 Words

Strategic Human Resource Management is the joining of human resource activities and policies with strategic organisational goals for the benefit of achieving and maintaining quality performance of the organisation. The aim of SHRM is to effectively create strategic quality by ensuring that the organisation possess the committed, skilled, productive and motivated employees it needs in order to achieve sustained competitive advantage. In this essay I will critically evaluate different Strategic Human Resource Management approaches, and finally reveal the one that I find the most convincing and the reasons why, by examining the four models and their implications on a firm’s performance. There are four major approaches that need to be analysed†¦show more content†¦This approach is regarded as the simplest approach in analysing different SHRM. best practice is all about utilising certain approaches to not only deliver superior results but to also consider sustainability and ongoing development of the approach that has been used. Using the best practices approach makes it easier for organisation s to recognise bad practices. They are Best Practices, because the implementation of this approach aims at improving the performance of the organisation through additional, accountability, compliance, transparency and risk control. The exact meaning of best practices have become so diverse that organisations often move away from the uniformity of the meaning. It is easy for employees to lose their voice within the organisation using this model, and also changes made may not be appropriate from one department of the organisation to another. Very few businesses adopt the best practice model because it is difficult and also takes too long to implement. There are limitations to this approach, like the fact that it is unitarist and does not take employee perspective into account, they ignore national and organizational contexts. This approach is crisis driven and actually has a poor track record. This approach has been

Dana-Hall free essay sample

Dana-Hall, is a well known and respected all-girl boarding and day school (6-12 grade) competing in a time period in which social attitudes towards single sex education is shrinking. Measures of demographics and social trends indicate a clear shift towards a co-educational school environment. This new reality, where demand is decreasing faster than supply, results in declining numbers of potential female applicants over which the last four all-girl boarding and day schools are aggressively competing to maintain continues enrolment figures. Other former all-girl schools have either moved to admit boys or merged with better-funded boys schools to avoid bankruptcy. On top of these constraints, and in direct relation, Dana-Hall is also encountering financial challenges to the extent that the current tuition revenues are not sufficient to cover operating expenses. Alternative sources of revenue to make ends meet include: annual giving, investment income, rental of property, property sales and the introduction of a sixth-grade program. We will write a custom essay sample on Dana-Hall or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Cutting expenses is difficult, since excellent academic programs and an enjoyable living environment are essential factors to attracting the quantity and quality students. Obviously, falling enrolment and strained finances should be the basis for a mission review and change in strategy. The question is weather Dana-Hall should follow the stream into a gender-integrated classroom or perhaps continue to operate within its current market. We can all agree that the model under which Dana-Hall is currently operating is insufficient and will eventually lead to the institutes bankruptcy when its alternative financial resources dry out (as would be the case for example when there is no more property to sell). Therefore, there are two alternatives: 1. Going against the deeply-held mission by making the school co-educational either through the acceptance of male applicants or through a merger agreement. 2. Trying to fix the existing model to improve future performance. Let’s tackle the first alternative: To make it short, if applicants and donors were predominantly looking for co-education, it would be very wise of Dana-Hall to adjust accordingly in order to maintain its financial health and competitive presence. Full enrolment implied a student body of approximately 450; however, Dana-Hall didn’t experience such a case since the 1980s (numbers reaching not more than 374). Opening the doors to male applicants would fill the empty/missing positions and push financial performance to full capacity. Dana-Hall could also consider a merger with a boy’s school. However, it is unlikely that the institute will find a partnership as merger opportunities dried up since 1971, when many single-sex schools were moving towards co-education. Today only two all-boys institutes remain in the area but if one of them would be interested, a merger providing financial and operational synergies would definitely help Dana-Hall out of its crisis. Following this strategy, Dana-Hall not only opens the door for male applicants but also for female applicants who prefer gender integrated schools, thereby securing the likelihood of full enrolment at all times. However, going against its sole mission could be a slap in the face for some stakeholders, especially to those who believe that a single-sex environment works well for their daughters. This could hurt Dana-Halls’ performance and reputation in away that some parents would move their daughters to the other competing all-girl institutes. In such a case Dana-Hall would have to make sure that also those seats are filled up by other applicants. Now let’s talk about the second alternative: The writer doesn’t support this solution and I can understand him. But here are some possible arguments and adjustments the institute could follow. First, before Dana-Hall decides to integrate co-education it should engage in some market research to learn what the other 4 remaining all-girl schools are planning to do. If the institute finds out that say two out of four are already in developing negotiations to open their doors to male applicants or enter into a merger agreement, Dana-Halls commitment to all-girls education may be needed more than ever. An event such as this would increase the pool of female applicants by at least 50%, enabling Dana-Hall to increase performance dramatically. Even if only one out of the four other schools changes direction it would be something to think about. Secondly, although a campus of 55 acres of prime land in an upper-class suburb, plus a number of fine buildings attracts the quality female students, it could be beneficial to sell the entire property and move into a cheaper and smaller location. Though, the new location must still be by all means at a comparable value to the others schools to avoid withdrawals. This move could have potential expense cuts, especially if the complex includes fewer rooms and unusable space. But Dana-Hall must not forget to maintain the same excellent academic programs and provide and enjoyable living environment that still is a key factor when it comes to recruiting applicants. Thirdly, assuming Dana-Hall is the cheapest all-girl school among its competitors in the area, it could raise its tuition fee after consolidating with the students parents. Balancing the tuition fees to market levels will not necessarily result in the withdrawal of students. Finally, Dana-Hall could engage in aggressive persuasive-advertising campaigns with the objective to strengthen public opinion about single-sex education and thereby increase the pool of potential applicants. My personal suggestion: If I would be the director of Dana-Hall I would most probably stick to the present model and hope for the tight market competition to weaken. Further, by strengthening and stabilizing the internal management and the various institutes’ operations, additional expense cuts could be realized. If Dana-Hall manages to stay a respectful competitor during tough times, it would prosper significantly when the market turns to its advantage. I believe that if Dana-Hall would fight for its original reputation and mission supporting an all-girl environment, it would have a positive double-scale affect on the future performance during prosperous times. As long as the institute does not near bankruptcy, the mission should be maintained.

Mass Extinctions On The Earth Essays - Climate History,

Mass Extinctions On The Earth Mass Extinctions on the Earth Intro: Sixty-five million years ago, some phenomenon triggered mass extinctions on the lands and in the oceans so profound that they define the geological boundary between the older Mesozoic Era, often called the Age of Reptiles, and the modern Cenozoic Era, the Age of Mammals. On a finer scale, the extinctions define the boundary between the Cretaceous (geological symbol, K), and Tertiary (T) periods. This mass extinction is usually referred to as the K-T extinctions. The dinosaurs became extinct during the K-T mass extinction. To examine how the K-T extinctions fit into a broader perspective, please see the The cause of the K-T extinctions is one of the great mysteries in science, and many scientists have proposed theories to account for it. Theories span a vast spectrum of causes including: sea level change, supernova explosions, climate change, and on and on. Beginning in the 1980s, two new theories became the topic of an intense scientific debate. They are the K-T impact extinction theory originated by the Nobelist physicist, Luis Alvarez, and his team, and the K-T Deccan Traps extinction theory, which, for short, is called volcano-greenhouse theory. Details of the Impact Theory In the mid-late 1970s, Luis Alvarez and his impact team began searching for the cause of the K-T extinctions. His evidence of impact was enrichment of the chemical, iridium, in a thin layer of clay a few centimenters thick at the K-T boundary. His original theory held that a giant asteroid struck earth 65 million years ago, blasting so much dust into the atmosphere that it blocked out sunlight, and plunged earth into the blackness and cold of a sudden, short-duration, impact winter. According to Alvarez theory, the global blackout triggered extinctions among the plant kingdom, and then among herbivores that depended upon plants for food, and then among the carnivores that ate the herbivores. Those smaller animals that could hide and hibernate until the sun came out again must have sruvived and formed the animals that there are today. There is other evidence for this theory : there is a layer of iridium found on top of the fossils which can be found all over the world. this is important becouse there is a lot of iridium on asteroids while on earth it is only deep down inside the crater. Details of the Volcano Theory: Another less popular theory to explain the disappearance of the dinosaurs suggests that a drop in the oxygen levels in the lower atmosphere led to the gradual death of all kinds of species. Robert Barner and Gary Landis of the U.S. Geological survey determined that the air that the dinosaurs consumed contained 50% more oxygen than the air today. This can be the same for us as trying to breathe to the same air found at the sea level as compared to air at 3500 m. There was a lot of volcanoe eruptions at the same time (and since they took up soo much air it was hard for the dinosaurs to breathe , so they fianlly died. The evidence is that the fossils found in the ground contain traces of lager traces of Oxygen. How can humans stop this? Since mankind is much smarter than the reptiles it is obvious that we can stop these asteroids from colliding with the earth. The only question is how. Now we have nuclear devices which can be put on these asteroids so that they can explode just in time before it's course is doomed towards earth. Science

Operations Management Essays

Operations Management Essays Operations Management Essay Operations Management Essay Sunderland Business School Level: MModule: Operations Management Module Code: PGBM03Module Leader: Tom Cuthbertson Issue Date: 26th July 2011Return Date: 16th August 2011 Contribution to Module Assessment 100% This is an individual assignment. Work submitted must adhere to the University policy on Cheating, Collusion and Plagiarism. Introduction If Marketings function is to identify the needs of customers, then it is Operations Management which has the role of providing the required products or services in a way that satisfies the criteria imposed by the market. Efficient operation of this function is therefore important if the organisation is to be successful. An understanding of the main operational tasks is an essential starting point in this process. Assignment Select an organisation, or a department of an organisation, of which you have experience and critically assess the operational methods and strategies adopted to provide the product(s) in a way that give(s) maximum satisfaction to the customers or clients. A good answer will identify the criteria applied by the customer in assessing satisfaction i. e. the order-winning and order-qualifying criteria. You should a)define the principal operations tasks to satisfy these criteria b)analyse the process strategies and procedures employed to ensure that these tasks are carried out as effectively as possible. The organisation may not have an operations/production department defined in such terms, but it will still produce something for the use of somebody. The report, excluding appendices, should be not more than 3000 words in length. For your guidance, it will consist of: a)an introduction in which you say who the organisation is and what your and your department’ s contribution is to the organisation. )An accurate description of who the customers are they may be external or internal and what they expect from the output in terms of the broad market criteria discussed in the recommended text (Slack). From this, using the models in the text, you should be able to identify what the operations objectives are. This should then suggest the sort of process that ought to be operating. (The different process types and their ability to meet the range of operations objectives are explained at length in the module material). )You should then describe the process in these terms and explain how and why it helps or hinders in the achievement of the operations objectives i. e. its ability to supply a product which meets the customer’s needs. This is the essential analysis that shows your ability to apply the module content to your experience. d)Having analysed the process, describe what changes you feel ought to be made – if any – and explain why these are necessary in terms of improving the ability to meet the operations objectives. You may like to give some guidance on the feasibility of the changes, how they ought to be implemented, a cost benefit etc. etc. , where these are possible. Assessment Your work will be assessed against the following criteria: 1. Knowledge – Your work should show a knowledge of the module content. 2. Understanding – Your report should demonstrate an understanding of operations management. 3. Insight – Your report should show an ability to analyse the operation in the light of the module content and your own reading. 4. Clarity – Your report should be well structured and clearly presented. You should include a short list of references to support your observations and assertions. This assignment is intended to give you an opportunity to show that you are apable of applying your knowledge of operations management, not only in describing the issues faced by the organisation, but also in explaining them and justifying your proposed actions to improve them. You are invited to review all the models and concepts that we have discussed. Tom CuthbertsonModerated by Dr Tie Xu Module Leader PGBM03 Operations Management – Assignment Business Report Structure – 3000 words +/- 10% Size 12 font, spacing 1. 5, include word count. Report Presentation Front Sheet – Nam e / Student Number / Programme / Module / Date Table of Contents Introduction Main Body of Report – Analysis of theory and practice related to this organisation or company Conclusion and Recommendations References 10 to 20 Appendix – not included in word count Use Turnitin and submit Turnitin report with your hard copy of assignment. Typical distribution of word count could be; 500 words Introduction 2000 Main body analysis 500 Conclusion and Recommendations PGBM 03 Module Assessment Grading Criteria First Class (70 – 100%) A creative and original response to the assignment brief. Critically reflecting on perceived theory and experiences. Wide and appropriate use of sources (theory and practice) based on reading and experiences. Report written fluently, with evidence of a highly developed capacity to structure work systematically and argue logically. Merit (60 – 69%) Comprehensive knowledge of concepts and theories. Appropriate application of theory and experience to the assignment brief. Ability to inter-relate concepts and ideas. Some originality in approach and awareness of scope and limitations. Report systematically structured and coherent. (50-59%) Evidence of knowledge of concepts and theories. Attempts to relate and balance theory and practice. Main issues addressed appropriately. Mainstream texts and lecture notes used. Work presented in a structured form but arguments weak in places. (40-49%) Evidence of uncritical knowledge of main concepts and theories. Limited attempts to relate theory and practice relaying on personal opinion or assertions. Limited evidence of reading. Presentation and structure weak in several places. Fail (0 – 39%) Some knowledge of main concepts and theory but major omissions and / or misunderstandings. Style and structure weak and overly descriptive. Considerable limitations in ability to perceive the relationship of theory and practice. Limited reading.

Understanding Equivalent Equations in Algebra

Understanding Equivalent Equations in Algebra Equivalent equations are systems of equations that have the same solutions. Identifying and solving equivalent equations is a valuable skill, not only in algebra class, but also in everyday life. Take a look at examples of equivalent equations, how to solve them for one or more variables, and how you might use this skill outside a classroom. Key Takeaways Equivalent equations are algebraic equations that have identical solutions or roots.Adding or subtracting the same number or expression to both sides of an equation produces an equivalent equation.Multiplying or dividing both sides of an equation by the same non-zero number produces an equivalent equation. Linear Equations With One Variable The simplest examples of equivalent equations dont have any variables. For example, these three equations are equivalent to each other: 3 2 54 1 55 0 5 Recognizing these equations are equivalent is great, but not particularly useful. Usually an equivalent equation problem asks you to solve for a variable to see if it is the same (the same root) as the one in another equation. For example, the following equations are equivalent: x 5-2x -10 In both cases, x 5. How do we know this? How do you solve this for the -2x -10 equation? The first step is to know the rules of equivalent equations: Adding or subtracting the same number or expression to both sides of an equation produces an equivalent equation.Multiplying or dividing both sides of an equation by the same non-zero number produces an equivalent equation.Raising both sides of the equation to the same odd power or taking the same odd root will produce an equivalent equation.If both sides of an equation are non-negative, raising both sides of an equation to the same even power or taking the same even root will give an equivalent equation. Example Putting these rules into practice, determine whether these two equations are equivalent: x 2 72x 1 11 To solve this, you need to find x for each equation. If x is the same for both equations, then they are equivalent. If x is different (i.e., the equations have different roots), then the equations are not equivalent. For the first equation: x 2 7x 2 - 2 7 - 2 (subtracting both sides by same number)x 5 For the second equation: 2x 1 112x 1 - 1 11 - 1 (subtracting both sides by the same number)2x 102x/2   10/2 (dividing both sides of the equation by the same number)x 5 So, yes, the two equations are equivalent because x 5 in each case. Practical Equivalent Equations You can use equivalent equations in daily life. Its particularly helpful when shopping. For example, you like a particular shirt. One company offers the shirt for $6 and has $12 shipping, while another company offers the shirt for $7.50 and has $9 shipping. Which shirt has the best price? How many shirts (maybe you want to get them for friends) would you have to buy for the price to be the same for both companies? To solve this problem, let x be the number of shirts. To start with, set x 1 for the purchase of one shirt. For company #1: Price 6x 12 (6)(1) 12 6 12 $18 For company #2: Price 7.5x 9 (1)(7.5) 9 7.5 9 $16.50 So, if youre buying one shirt, the second company offers a better deal. To find the point where prices are equal, let x remain the number of shirts, but set the two equations equal to each other. Solve for x to find how many shirts youd have to buy: 6x 12 7.5x 96x - 7.5x 9 - 12 (subtracting the same numbers or expressions from each side)-1.5x -31.5x 3 (dividing both sides by the same number, -1)x 3/1.5 (dividing both sides by 1.5)x 2 If you buy two shirts, the price is the same, no matter where you get it. You can use the same math to determine which company gives you a better deal with larger orders and also to calculate how much youll save using one company over the other. See, algebra is useful! Equivalent Equations With Two Variables If you have two equations and two unknowns (x and y), you can determine whether two sets of linear equations are equivalent. For example, if youre given the equations: -3x 12y 157x - 10y -2 You can determine whether the following system is equivalent: -x 4y 57x -10y -2 To solve this problem, find x and y for each system of equations. If the values are the same, then the systems of equations are equivalent. Start with the first set. To solve two equations with two variables, isolate one variable and plug its solution into the other equation. To isolate the y variable: -3x 12y 15-3x 15 - 12yx -(15 - 12y)/3 -5 4y (plug in for x in the second equation)7x - 10y -27(-5 4y) - 10y -2-35 28y - 10y -218y 33y 33/18 11/6 Now, plug y back into either equation to solve for x: 7x - 10y -27x -2 10(11/6) Working through this, youll eventually  get x 7/3. To answer the question,  you could apply the same principles to the second set of equations to solve for x and y to find that yes, they are indeed equivalent. Its easy to get bogged down in the algebra, so its a good idea to check your work using an online equation solver. However, the clever student will notice the two sets of equations are equivalent without doing any difficult calculations at all. The only difference between the first equation in each set is that the first one is three times the second one (equivalent). The second equation is exactly the same.

Ressource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ressource Management - Essay Example This paper aims at discussing strategies that are involved in sourcing, budgeting processes as well as financial reporting requirements adopted by Tesco PLC, a UK based supermarket that deals with various kinds of products. Sourcing Apart from dealing with food products and Tesco mobile among other brands, Tesco PLC deals with selling and distribution of safety equipments such as gumboots, oil resistant boots, helmets, ear plugs, overalls and dust coats among others. Majority of our customers are entities dealing with manufacturing of all kinds of products as well as flower farms. Based on the need to maintain safety in all work places and be in line with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety requirements, majority of firms offering products as well as services have continued to order from us thus increasing our sales. Tesco PLC has outsourced the process of manufacturing most of our products to a neighboring firm. Outsourcing refers to the contracting of a firm ’s business activity to a third party. ... The second advantage is that the company is able to share the risks arising. Another advantage of outsourcing is that the company does not incur the costs of hiring production machine or purchasing them. Likewise, we are able to concentrate with our core business of selling and marketing of our products making the relationship with our client’s stronger. Disadvantages of outsourcing our services Although Tesco PLC emulates outsourcing, the company is faced with some disadvantages. First is lack of customer focus by the company we have outsourced to. Based on the fact that the company manufacturers products for various companies dealing with safety gadgets, it may lack complete focus on the quality of our brands2. Additionally, sometimes there is a delay in the delivery of the final products to Tesco PLC premises an issue that has caused us to lose some loyal customers3. Despite the disadvantages, our organizations objective is to outsource its production process for the next 3 years after which it will establish its own production department. Budgeting processes Tesco PLC.has established accounting department that undertakes the budgeting process under the leadership of a senior accountant. The company maintains a cash budget. The cash budget entails an expansive plan of future cash flows. In order to ensure that the company liquidity is maintained at a recommendable state, four items are covered by the cash budgets. These includes cash receipts, cash disbursements, net change in cash for a particular period of time as well as new financing needs. The accounting department undertakes six processes in its annual budget preparation. Automating: This department uses excel spreadsheets with formulas that are used to compute

Network Design for non-adjacent Floors Assignment

Network Design for non-adjacent Floors - Assignment Example Each department is in the connection to a central switch on that floor before connecting to the router in the field level. The router is in the context of the external wide area network via a firewall. The firewall will be vital in filtering traffic from outside. The information technology department will host the six servers namely: file server, mail server, print server, web server, DHCP server and the DNS servers. The design has a number of security challenges posed by the non-adjacent floors. Employees will be organized according to the four departments namely: Information technology department, sales, accounting, finance, and human resource department. Different departments will be on virtual local area networks to beef up the security of individual unit’s data. The general design will consider factors such as the scalability of the network to accommodate increasing numbers of staff. Further, security and means of recovering from a disaster in case one occurs are of utmos t concern. The greatest challenges in networking non-adjacent levels include cabling between the two floors. To run a cable from the third floor to the fifth floor will either involve running the cable outside the walls or inside the room. It will, therefore, call upon the management to request the tenant on the fourth floor to allow the running of cables through their floor. However, this comes with many challenges. First, the tenant may decline which means that the management may incur more to run the cables outside and ensure that it is secure. Accepting to run the cables through the floor poses a greater challenge. It leaves a vast security loophole. The concerned person may tap directly into our network thus giving them access to our network. Depending on whom they are, the organization's data is at risk of being exposed to third parties who may end up using it for their reasons.  

Planning and Measuring Performance Essay Example for Free

Planning and Measuring Performance Essay Planning and Measuring Performance Planning and Measuring Performance This paper will discuss Hospital Corporation of America’s (HCA) goals of achieving industry-leading performance in clinical and satisfaction measures and recruiting and employing physicians to meet the need for high quality health services (University of Oregon Investment Group, 2011). This paper will also discuss which tools would be most effective in measuring the organization’s performance against the determined standards. The actual standards that HCA would use to measure the first goal of achieving industry-leading performance in clinical and satisfaction measures are set by The Joint Commission. According to Kicab Casta eda-Mendez (1999), achieving improved clinical performance and satisfaction measures requires performance measures in three areas: * To lead the entire organization in a particular direction. * To manage the resources needed to travel in this direction. * To operate the processes that make the organization work. According to Kicab Casta eda-Mendez (1999), these measures are: * Strategicto drive strategies into action and change the organizational culture. * Diagnosticto evaluate the effectiveness of these actions and the extent of change. * Operationalto improve continuously. The most effective tool to measure these improvements is benchmarking. Benchmarking against the top healthcare companies will determine if HCA is achieving industry-leading performance in clinical and satisfaction measures. Without benchmarking HCA could not determine if the company was leading the industry or if they were at the bottom of organizational ladder. HCA’s goal of hiring physicians to meet the need for high quality health services can be measured by determining the number of physicians need to accommodate the number of patients, determining the specialties/ sub-specialties the physicians are needed in, as well as measuring the retention rate of the physicians. The Balanced Scorecard would best fit this goal. The Balanced Scorecard allows the company to see the projected percentages and the actual percentages of the measurements. It also helps the company see what needs to be changed and gives direction for those changes. HCA can use benchmarking and the Balanced Scorecard to measure the different aspects of their goals. HCA will also be able to see the areas that need improvement and have some guidance into making these changes. With these tools HCA will be able to make an effective go at achieving their goals. References University of Oregon Investment Group (May 6, 2011). Hospital Corporation of America. Retrieved from http://uoinvestmentgroup. org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/HCA. pdf Casta eda-Mendez (1999). Performance Measurement in Healthcare. Retrieved from http://www. qualitydigest. com/may99/html/body_health. html

Death Penalty Essay -- essays research papers

Death Penalty; For or Opposed Capital punishment is the execution of a perpetrator for committing a heinous crime (homicide), and it is a hotly debated topic in our society. It has always been a belief for some that if another person wrongs them, they should have the right to take revenge against that person. In the present day, this view still remains, but has been toned down by laws that state the rights of the accused and have developed punishments for offenders. Many, me included, still believe that those punishments are not harsh enough and allow criminals to take advantage of them, knowing that if caught, the punishment is not near enough to make it wise to simply avoid the risk. I believe that capital punishment is an effective way of dealing with people who have committed heinous crimes. For example, there is a middle-aged man. This man rapes and kills a little girl and is given life in prison. Unfortunately, after a mere 30 years in prison he is up for parole and receives it. After being back on the stre ets he commits and is convicted of another murder. Did that second person really need to die? Could it have been prevented? Absolutely. That second victim would still be enjoying holidays with their family and vacations with their friends. That’s why we have the death penalty. The Death Penalty is nothing new to our society. It has been in effect throughout the world for ages. As far back as the Eighteenth Century, B.C., a king of Babylon codified 25 crimes that were punishable by the death penalty. {In the Draconian code of Athens, it was the only punishment for all crimes.} This debate is especially strong within the Christian religion, due to the fact that Jesus himself was sentenced to the death penalty. Skipping ahead to more modern times, the death penalty in America was influenced more by Great Britain than any other country. The first record of execution in America is that of Captain George Kendall in Jamestown, Virginia. He was accused of espionage for Spain. A few years later, Virginia governor Sir Thomas Dale enacted the Divine, Moral and Marital Laws that provided for the death penalty in even the most minor offenses. Along with the enactment of capital punishment came the abolitionist movement, which still exists today. One of the major activists was Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and founder of the Pen... ...ently sentenced Horton to two consecutive life terms refused to extradite him to Massachusetts. "I'm not prepared to take the chance that Mr. Horton might again be furloughed . . . This man should never draw a breath of free air again," said the judge. The scandal heated to a rolling boil. In April of 1988, embattled Massachusetts legislators finally killed the 16-year-old program -- without further resistance from Dukakis. Thank God! This is why for people who truly value public safety, there is no substitute for the best in its defense which is capital punishment. It not only forever bars the murderer from killing again, it also prevents parole boards and criminal rights activists from giving him the chance to repeat his crime. (Lowe) As you can clearly see this information is clear and convincing evidence of why the death penalty should be in affect. Something else that was mentioned; parole, yes people can get out on a parole and commit murder. Our parole system definitely needs to be retooled. This is another cause of crime. 85% of offenders go back into the system. What does that say about justice? Can we honestly say we are cutting the crime rate down? I ask you?

Slave Trade Simulation

Slave Trade Simulation Paper 26 February 2013 Modern World ONL Trading slaves, a practice that has been described as inhumane, evil, or even blasphemous, left little room for sensitivity for those making the decisions of the trade. Often people wonder how such evil could continue in the world for as long as it did. â€Å"The rewards of the slave trade overwhelmed any religious inhibitions that some of the traders and other beneficiaries might have had. 1 [Islam’s Black Slaves, p. 159] I will explain the delicacies of the trade agreements of the Yao, Kilwa-based Swahili Trade Lineage, and of the Zanzibari Indian Trading Lineage. After taking control of Kilwa in the mid-1780s, Oman transferred the bulk of the slave and ivory trade there. 2 [Islam’s Black Slaves, p. 146] The Swahili Trading Lineage of Kilwa were pleased, as it leveled the playing field and enabled trade to be profitable for everyone of the area.If you are wondering how these slaves could have put up with such harsh conditions, keep in mind that, though the traders poorly treated slaves, the slave-owners often treated them more humanely. The ones who were not killed in the travel of the trade were lucky to be alive and thus weakened at the thought of revolt. As for the traders, many of their negotiations were so binding that they could not go back on an agreement at any cost. Trading elite were normally more concerned with upholding status as businessmen and thus, carried out any horror in the name of honor.The politics of the slave trade were very much like those of the 21st century, in the sense that some were at the tip of the pyramid, with those who were the middle and finally its base. Yao elite kept their honor and held their position on the ground level by providing for their people through trade. Their mercantile success also determined their power locally, as they were a matrilineal society. The Swahili Trading Lineage (A. K. A. the next level of the pyramid), who acquired t heir slaves from the Yao, were facing pressures from the Zanzibari Indian Traders, who were controlling more and more of their territory.These Zanzibari, who were actually Bhattians based in Oman, were looking to prove their worth with the Omani by influencing more trade in the Kilwa region, thus moving up a notch on the pyramid. The Omani (the eye of the pyramid) had recently forced the Portuguese out of power over their area, allowing for more even trade for the Swahili Trading Lineage. All were trying to hold their ground against the exerting power of the Omani while remaining in good relations with those who benefited them.The Yao headmen, who were having trouble keeping their slaves alive prior to the trade, had to make a decision as to where 50 additional slaves to be given to the Swahili Lineage would come from. They could have chosen to attack a neighboring village, which might have had devastating consequences. Second, they could have offered up criminals of local villages. This would run them the risk of upsetting powerful families and causing half of the headmen’s lives if expected profits were not realized.Third, they had the option of sending Yao traders to the Portuguese for the extra slaves. This would have caused prices to increase by 50%, which would have affected their probability of providing the right amount of slaves. For the Kilwa-based Swahili Trading Lineage, their main concern was conducting an effective and honorable business transaction in order to promote a marriage alliance with the Zanzibari Indian Trading Lineage. This would counter the growing authority the Zanzibari had over the Kilwas and protect their status as elites.In order to do so, they had to fairly treat the Yao traders while ensuring a profit of at least 10 slaves and a gift for the Zanzibari of at least 10 slaves as well. Possibly the most influential of the transaction were the Zanzibari Indian traders. They set the market prices and held the fate of the Kilw a-based lineage in their hands. For the trade, wealth was just as important as power for the few who conducted the human trade. Profits were estimated to be over 60 percent, substantially higher for anyone who simultaneously traded ivory. Traders were not inclined to let go of their influence at any cost. Those who stood in the way of a successful trade were eradicated or assimilated. Bibliography Ronald Segal,  Ã‚  Islam's Black Slaves: The Other Black Diaspora  ( New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002) Robert E. Strayer,  Ã‚  Ways of the World: A Brief Global History,  Volume II,  Since 1500  (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012) ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Ronald Segal,  Ã‚  Islam's Black Slaves: The Other Black Diaspora  ( New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002)

Obesity: Nutrition and Fast Food Essay

Throughout the past ten years, childhood obesity rates have skyrocketed in the United States. Many experts and studies claim that parents are the ones to blame for their children’s unhealthy eating habits. However, today kids live in a world where marketing innovations have made eating fast food the norm, so how much influence do parents really have on their children? In my view, America’s childhood obesity epidemic is a direct result of fast-food marketing techniques that expand advertisements throughout schools, promote junk food on television, and increase portion sizes in restaurants. Schools are powerful marketing sites of fast food, seeing as they provide students the option of eating from outlets such as McDonald’s and Pizza Hut on a daily basis. Writer, David Barboza claims how numerous schools have special agreements with fast-food chains to sell their products. For example, he mentions how, â€Å"Vending machines now dominate school corridors. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have pouring rights contracts in hundreds of schools nationwide,† (2). By offering sugary beverages and other snacks all over campuses, schools are advocating unhealthy eating habits that in turn lead to obesity. When educators make fast food available at their schools, they are increasing funding yet they are providing students with meals that contain hundreds of calories. Although many schools do not have contracts with fast food companies, they still make junk food accessible by having special days dedicated to fast food. For example, writer Barboza describes how a school in Garden City, Kansas has â€Å"Pizza Hut Days,† (2). Ultimately, by virtue of scheduling days where fast food is often the only lunch option, schools are forcing students to decide between preparing their own meals or simply consuming the junk food that they offer. Since many students are not able to prepare their own meals, they end up consuming an incredible amount of calories from the fast food offered at the school that eventually leads to obesity. All over the United States, schools advertise fast food in order to make profits and do not pay attention to how they are influencing  childhood obesity rates. Apart from schools, television is one of the most influential marketing mediums for the selling of fast food to children because advertisements are constantly impacting kids via children’s networks such as Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. Barboza claims that fast food advertisements using program characters as pitchmen are taking over television channels. For instance, he describes how â€Å"SpongeBob SquarePants has his own show, but also sells Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Popsicles, Kleenex, etc,† (2). Barboza then discusses how Nicky Greenberg who is six years old knows the SpongeBob SquarePants song and eats Kellog’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch because she loves the commercials that feature SpongeBob (2-3). Through the use of a Nickelodeon characters such as SpongeBob, television is influencing young kids to develop unhealthy eating habits that can lend to obesity or Type 2 Diabetes. Fast food companies take advantage of these well-known television characters and use them as pitchmen to increase their profits, without caring that by promoting their high calorie foods they are in turn expanding waistlines. All in all persuasive fast-food advertisements on television are making kids believe a lie: that the consumption of junk food does not lead to obesity. Another significant advertising technique that contributes to childhood obesity is the increase of portion sizes. Writer David Zinczenko describes how fast food companies add on various ingredients and sugary beverages that make even a healthy meal unhealthy. For example, he describes a chicken salad that initially contains 150 calories, but turns out to be more than 1,040 calories with the additional almonds, noodles, dressing, and Coke (10). Not only are portions increased in fast food restaurants by adding more ingredients to the meal, but also by super-sizing foods. For instance, writer Susan Brownlee communicates how McDonald’s supersized its products when they introduced the 32 ounce â€Å"super size† soda and â€Å"super size† fries (5). Whether fast-food restaurants add more items to the overall meal or make food bigger, kids essentially end up consuming unnecessary calories and this gives rise to obesity at an early age. As soon as fast food restaurants change their portion sizes, childhood obesity rates will begin to decrease because kids will consume fewer calories. Although an increased portion  sizes bring in high profits now, this process will deteriorate when consumers see how the extra calories are affecting their lives. Overall dozens of fast-food marketing techniques are at fault for the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. Yet the most influential of these techniques are the advertisements in schools and on television, as well as the increase of servings at chain restaurants. Critics might say, that parents must take the personal responsibility to prohibit children from watching certain channels or going to certain places. However, what happens when children are at their friend’s house where there are no restrictions on T.V., or out and about with their friends at the mall’s food court, who protects them then? One way to resolve increasing childhood obesity rates due to persuasive fast food promotions is to inform kids how to prepare healthier meals. Unless people take action against fast food marketing, childhood obesity will remain a problem across the United States.

Arsenal Football Club Essays

Arsenal Football Club Essays Arsenal Football Club Essay Arsenal Football Club Essay Singled out is Martina Navratilova, who had twenty-two advisers on board at one point, look where see got. This though a freak occasion, or pure talent, or a valuable well-organised team effort through her entourage?  Glenn Hoddle and his England team have a whole host of coaches making up their team, a nutritionist, fitness instructors, doctors, the works, it seems to work for them too, though these are clearly at the higher end of the scale somewhat. Alma Thomas, a sports psychologist by trade, says, that her role is not to interfere but to aid and support and try not to be seen as an intruder in the coach/athlete relationship. (adapted from Coaching Focus 35 p12) She also explains how she should fit in with the athletes programme, not the other way round.  There have been alternatives suggestions to what we should do to progress. But the way forward seems to indicate a handful in particular. Train the coaches, educate the coaches, set standards, (so that external team coaches are unnecessary). With the range of abilities across the coaching spectrum varying, it would seem wise that a programme of coaching education is the key step forward in order to achieve this kind of set standard. This then should provide all coaches with relevant knowledge, it will educate them, and they will get to learn of the latest developments, which may be of use to them. Also they will learn to recognise, they will learn to know if or when they need outside help, when they feel its necessary.  Many believe and J.S. Clavert writes, there should be a move in order to provide more full-time courses, leading to sports coaching qualifications across the country. Arsene Wenger, the current Arsenal Football Club manager, is an example of how coaches can be educated, he is knowledgeable in the field of nutrition and exercise physiology, via his knowledge and experience has many clear changes to some of the Arsenal regime.  With regards to education, Claverts has identified one such institution who does just this, The Dumfermline College of Physical Education, in Scotland, they offer courses which,  prepares coaches for high-level coaching and positions of responsibility within coaching, by providing them with the necessary knowledge, skills and professional expertise. This is just one example, more institutions, courses, such as this will be crucial in the role of education.  Many of our present coaches are either ex- or even current school teachers, or former players, athletes themselves. Many dont have the relevant skills required to guide performers to the very top, thats why Geoff Cooke, suggests a multi-discipline of team coaches, but with a coach education programme, this would reduce the need for such an approach somewhat.  Sue Campbell puts forward that, in the future most countries will have a national education system for coaches, this hopefully will ensure coaches obtain a required standard of competence. It must be noted that coaching education doesnt stop once youve graduated as such, but should be a continuing on going process, where the coach would go back for refreshers and new news.  Ideas for plans for a National, British Academy of Sport, to follow suit of that of the Australians are in developments, and is a long over due welcomed move.  Though in theory its sound, to suggest that coaches should or would be coaches, should attend relevant full-time courses, time is crucial to all of us, anyone who is willing to put the effort and time in, in order to be the best that they can will be looking for some kind of return, this return may well and is likely to be a career in the coaching field. How many coaches are full-time coaching professional presently? This then is yet another stepping stone which must be addressed, the coach as a professional. With the ever increasing change from amateurism to professionalism in our former amateur sports, this emphasises the way in which these sports are trying to raise their profile and performance. Nowadays with more and more professional performers in the so-called or former amateur sports for example athletics, surely then there is a need for more professional coaches as well, to work in turn with these people. Though Peter Treadwell (Senior Lecturer at S Glamorgan I of HE for PE), says, there is a danger as we strive for greater professionalism, that we run the risk of brutalising and demeaning athletes. So we must be cautious, and not try to run before we can walk.  John Lyle backs up the idea of education and professionalism when he says, we should clear the way for improved coach education, and professional development. He feels that these are the best options to move forwards. Another way forward as discussed is to have these partnerships between the coach and other specialised disciplines, though this is more practical at the elite end of the scale as previously mentioned, it must be managed effectively to work beneficially, (But with more highly qualified coaches through an education programme, it may not be so necessary.)  The feeling is that it is not realistic to believe that the coach will be educated competently enough in all the disciplines to be able to do without external help at times, one day, once weve got these highly qualified well educated, professionals with the national standard of coaching, would it almost eradicate the need for these helpers, but as mentioned the individual disciplines are branching out so fast it might be considered impossible then for just one coach to keep up especially in the pursuit of excellence. The practical way forward seems to suggest a combination of ingredients, add in some coaching education, and add with it a national standard, this can be done via courses, seminars etc. after this has settled down, add in a little bit of professionalism, (so coaches can dedicate all their time and focus on the one thing entirely), then if needed sprinkle together some partnerships with these specialised, knowledgeable experts in their separate disciplines. The evidence from the information Ive looked at seems to indicate that the way forwards in the development of excellence and for higher success rates and better performances in games medal tables etc.., as I would have to agree with Geoff Cooke, is the, team approach, partnerships are the key steps forwards in order to achieve excellence, but better still is the combination of the lot, (professionalism, education programmes, national standards) if and only if managed competently.

Conjugating the Verb Désobéir (to Disobey) in French

Conjugating the Verb Dà ©sobà ©ir (to Disobey) in French The verb  dà ©sobà ©ir  means to disobey in French. To transform it into the past tense disobeyed or the present tense disobeying, the verb needs to be conjugated. This is a relatively simple French lesson that will show you how to do that. Conjugating the French Verb  Dà ©sobà ©ir French students are often frustrated by verb conjugations because there are so many verb forms to remember. The nice thing about a verb like  dà ©sobà ©ir  is that its a  regular -IR verb. This means that it follows a common conjugation pattern. If you learn this one, verbs like  convertir  (to convert) and  chà ©rir  (to cherish) will be a little easier because the same rules apply. French verb conjugations take into account both the subject pronoun  and  the present, future, or past tense. As you study the chart, notice how the endings attached to the verb stem  dà ©sobà ©-  change. For instance, I disobey is je dà ©sobà ©is and we will disobey is nous dà ©sobà ©irons. Subject Present Future Imperfect je dà ©sobà ©is dà ©sobà ©irai dà ©sobà ©issais tu dà ©sobà ©is dà ©sobà ©iras dà ©sobà ©issais il dà ©sobà ©it dà ©sobà ©ira dà ©sobà ©issait nous dà ©sobà ©issons dà ©sobà ©irons dà ©sobà ©issions vous dà ©sobà ©issez dà ©sobà ©irez dà ©sobà ©issiez ils dà ©sobà ©issent dà ©sobà ©iront dà ©sobà ©issaient The Present Participle of  Dà ©sobà ©ir The  present participle  of dà ©sobà ©ir  is  dà ©sobà ©issant.  This is as simple as adding -ant  to the verb stem. Not only is this a verb, but it also acts as an adjective, gerund, or noun in some circumstances. Another Common Past Tense Form   A  common form of the past tense disobeyed in French is the  passà © composà ©. To form this, begin by conjugating the  auxiliary, or helping verb  avoir, then add the  past participle  dà ©sobà ©i. As an example, I disobeyed is jai dà ©sobà ©i and we disobeyed is nous avons dà ©sobà ©i. More Simple  Dà ©sobà ©ir  Conjugations The following verb forms of  dà ©sobà ©ir  are less common, though you may run into them as you speak and read more French. While you may never use them yourself, its a good idea to be able to recognize them as a form of to disobey. The subjunctive and conditional imply some level of uncertainty or dependency to the verbs action. The passà © simple and imperfect subjunctive are primarily found in French writing. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je dà ©sobà ©isse dà ©sobà ©irais dà ©sobà ©is dà ©sobà ©isse tu dà ©sobà ©isses dà ©sobà ©irais dà ©sobà ©is dà ©sobà ©isses il dà ©sobà ©isse dà ©sobà ©irais dà ©sobà ©it dà ©sobà ©Ãƒ ®t nous dà ©sobà ©issions dà ©sobà ©irions dà ©sobà ©Ãƒ ®mes dà ©sobà ©issions vous dà ©sobà ©issiez dà ©sobà ©iriez dà ©sobà ©Ãƒ ®tes dà ©sobà ©issiez ils dà ©sobà ©issent dà ©sobà ©iraient dà ©sobà ©irent dà ©sobà ©issent The imperative verb form is often used for short and direct commands and requests. This is a simplified conjugation as you can skip the subject pronoun. Rather than saying tu dà ©sobà ©is,  you can use dà ©sobà ©is alone. Imperative (tu) dà ©sobà ©is (nous) dà ©sobà ©issons (vous) dà ©sobà ©issez

What's good Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

What's good - Essay Example These were the years of violation and neglect. Martin Luther states that everyone has to gain the rightful place in the world of God. He calls people to stay together, to unite and fight the injustice of the surrounding world. The reaction of the audience (the numerous ovations) persuades us that that the speech of Martin Luther gained great success and appreciation. Among the list of speeches, there was also one, which was worse than all the other ones. It was the discourse of Malcolm X about the rights of voting and black nationalism. Unlike Martin Luther he does not connect his religious views with the political events so tightly. However, he uses the same methods to attract the attention of the auditory. For example, the constant rise and fall of the intonation. The negative side is that he uses the complex sentences, which are sometimes meaningless. Anyway, he presents the strong arguments in order to support his position. He unites people by the definition â€Å"black community† and states that they need to understand its political ideas. Though Malcolm X definitely attracted the attention of the audience, his speech needs correction. In conclusion it is important to state that political speeches are used in order to influence the cognition of the population. The science of their creation requires great experience and pure vision of the world situation and moods of the

John Cooper and Human Resources Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

John Cooper and Human Resources - Case Study Example The study presents John Cooper as a person who has over the past five years and looking at Standard Holdings, the early phases of business improvement and own value arm of Standard Group. This was a bit challenging because the work was one he took quickly after Business College and became the Business Analyst, which was further challenging. In fact, the idea of having met or being offered the opportunity to work with Alan Kirkpatrick was one of the best experiences to Cooper. Kirkpatrick was experienced and regarded business person and founder of the standard. According to the research Cooper increased certainty to use their potential ultimately, and after that, he was welcomed to partake in numerous experiences and created a good relationship with every principal partner at Standard. Cooper really wanted to feel that he was prepared for the senior administration much sooner than anticipated. In the wake of accepting an intriguing telephone call, Cooper thought about how to accomplish one’s vocation objectives, and he began thinking about different choices accessible to him within the standard. He was able to cooperate with those who he found there was able to learn numerous things, which later made him succeed.  This is an inspirational story of a person determined to succeed; however, he is faced with numerous challenges. One of the recommendations is that, when one is confronted with various challenges in a new working environment, it is usually significant to have focus.  Ã‚  

The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal - Essay Example The author made references to similar instances which apparently happened and documented through the experiment conducted by Philip G. Zimbardo, a psychology professor at Stanford University. Likewise, the reasons for the change in behavior were likewise supported through another set of experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram, which were discussed extensively in the article entitled â€Å"Perils of Obedience† published in Harper’s in 1973. Using these resources, the current discourse hereby asserts that the behavior of the American guards could be explained from the findings of experiments espoused by Zimbardo and Milgram. Analysis of the Situation To enable one to effectively respond to the question, there is a need to establish an examination of the situation that led these American soldiers to act viciously. As noted by Szegedy-Maszak (2004), â€Å"while many theories have been advanced about the forces that tragically came together at Abu Ghraib--inadequate traini ng, overzealous intelligence gathering, failure of leadership--none can adequately account for the hardening of heart necessary for such sadism† (p. 174). The article written by Jehl and Schmitt (2004) and published in The New York Times provided a more vivid scenario that presented conditions that set the stage for the apparent sadistic behavior. According to the authors, the members of the military police battalion who were sent to Iraq to serve as prison guards were untrained, unprepared, and completely inexperienced in this particular endeavor. Likewise, the Abu Ghraib prison was described as to detain as much as 7,000 prisoners, from an initial capacity of 2,000; which contributed to increasingly chaotic conditions, difficulties in overseeing, and effecively controlling security conditions. It was revealed that â€Å"in Abu Ghraib the soldiers suddenly found themselves under attack virtually every night from insurgents outside the prison† (Jehl & Schmitt: A trouble d unit, 2004, par. 19). The threat was reported to necessitate the infusion of military intelligence officers. These officers were noted to be the ultimate source of abuse. Factors that Explain the Behavior of American Guards In Zimbardo’s experiments, it was explicitly noted that abuses and atrocities actually ensued from the very power that was accorded to the students, enacting the security guards’ roles. As emphasized, from initially starting as ensuring that â€Å"they must maintain ‘law and order’ in this prison, that they were responsible for handling any trouble that might break out, and they were cautioned about the seriousness and potential dangers of the situation they were about to enter† (Zimbardo, 1973, p. 41), the presence of the following factors were actually evident and similar to the Abu Ghraib prison: (1) power to maintain law and order; (2) imminent threats from prisoners or from external sources of chaos that could endanger the ir lives; (3) the apparent need to conform to the norms of society in terms of responding to the social pressures of the prison environment; and, likewise, (4) the natural response for the application of forms of sadism, to purportedly control prisoners or make them submit to the orders given, with or without justifiable rationales. Using the experiment conducted by Milgram (1973), one could evaluate that the power of obedience was expected to have been ingrained in every individual’s being; and thereby, prison guards who are expected to be followed with regards to orders being directed to prisoners, resort to the authority and powers vested in them, to inflict whatever action is deemed necessary to enable their subjects to react and respond, as directed. As

Authenticated Color Extended Visual Cryptography

Authenticated Color Extended Visual Cryptography Authenticated Color Extended Visual Cryptography with Perfect Reconstruction R. Sathishkumar, Gnanou Florence Sudha Abstract Visual Cryptography Scheme (VCS) is an image safeguarding scheme which encrypts the secret text based image into multiple binary images called shares, which are then transmitted to participants. These shares are then stacked over by the participants to decrypt the secret image, however with reduced quality. In Extended Visual Cryptography Scheme (EVCS), these binary shares are encoded with cover images to generate meaningful shares. In order to enhance the decoded EVCS secret image quality, Two in One Image Secret Sharing Scheme (TiOISSS) was implemented, which offers perfect retrieval of the secret image. In this proposed scheme, the TiOISSS implemented for color secret image with meaningful color shares with perfect reconstruction is proposed. This scheme uses Adaptive Halftoning technique to improve the EVCS image quality. Further, a color authenticated image and a text message are encoded in the meaningful color shares to suppress any fake shares from the intruders, thu s improving the security of the proposed scheme. Experimental results depict that the improvement in quality and security of the scheme. Index Terms Image Security, Visual Cryptography Scheme, Adaptive Halftone, Polynomial Image Secret Sharing, I. Introduction With the swift development in the networking technologies, digital data are transmitted across the world over internet. Thus, security has become a vital issue in both communication and the complex encryption gives ways to secure the information from the intruders. Image encryption has a vital role in variety of applications like telemedicine, medical image processing, military applications, etc. In the traditional way of encryption, the data will be encrypted with a security key and the decryption must be done with the same key. Hence, the security key is essential for proper decoding of the secret data. VCS is one such encryption method proposed by Naor and Shamir [1-2] to hide a secret image in the form of n noisy pictures called shares such that the secret data is retrieved by Human Visual System (HVS) by stacking the n shares. The traditional VCS is relaxed for threshold VCS in which at least any k number of shares are sufficient to decode the secret image [3-4]. The VCS has been proposed to hide the gray images by suitably halftoning it to binary images [5-7]. These schemes were proposed with noisy shares, that may invite intruders attention. R. Sathishkumar is with Department of Electronics Communication Engineering, Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Institute of Engineering and Technology (PKIET), Karaikal, India. ([emailprotected]) Gnanou Florence Sudha is with Department of Electronics Communication Engineering, Pondicherry Engineering College, Puducherry, India. ([emailprotected]) By suppressing this weakness, VCS were implemented with meaningful shares from the cover images, and is referred as Extended Visual Cryptography Scheme (EVCS) [8-9]. The VCS has further been extended for natural color images. Rijmen et al [10] proposed a VCS for color secret image with pixel expansion, in which each secret color pixel is expanded into a block of 22 color sub-pixels to generate two color shares. Huo et al [11] proposed the VCS for gray-level and color images using color decomposition and halftone technology, while retaining the advantage of traditional monochrome visual cryptography. Huo et al [12-13] proposed an improved model by using binary encoding to represent the sub-pixel blocks. In [14], Huo et al adjusted the contrast to reveal the secret image with better quality, but the noisy shares reveal the secrecy of the image. Der et al [15] proposed a color VCS with an additional authentic image, but the scheme suffers from the visual quality. Polynomial image secret sharing (PISS) was implemented with perfect decoding of secret image [16]. In [17], Sian et al implemented a Two in One Image Secret Sharing Scheme (TiOISSS) wherein the vague secret image is decoded using VCS in the 1st decoding stage and the better quality secret image is decoded using PISS using computations. Peng et al [18] improved the TiOISSS using GVCS with gray PISS values in the shares. Srividhya et al [19] improved the TiOISSS image quality by applying adaptive halftoning. However, the scheme is implemented for gray images with noisy shares. In [20], TiOISSS was implemented for meaningful shares, but the lossless recovery of the decoded image was not achieved. The existing model of TiOISSS are implemented for gray images and generates noisy shares and that may invite the intruders to insert the fake shares. In this proposed scheme, existing TiOISSS [20] is extended for natural color image with RGB color decomposition method. Further, before applying PISS algorithm, the color secret image is permuted at bit level, block level and pixel level to improve the security. This scheme generates meaningful shares based on the color cover images. Additionally, a color authentication image and a textual secret message are shared to validate the authenticity of the decoded secret image. Experimental results of the proposed scheme show that the weaknesses of the existing TiOISSS schemes are attempted, color TiOISSS are implemented with the enhanced quality and improved security. This paper is organized as follows. The VCS for gray scale and color images, TiOISSS and its related works are discussed in section II. The proposed Authenticated Color VCS is discussed in section III. The experimental results are discussed in section IV. The Quality analysis and Security analysis are discussed in section V and section VI. The conclusion is presented in section VII. II. Related Works The objective of the proposed scheme is to extend the TiOISSS for color images, with improved quality and perfect reconstruction. This section discusses the related works pertaining to existing TiOISSS and its limitations. Visual Cryptography Scheme Moni Noar and Adi Shamir implemented the visual secret sharing scheme in 1994 [1], which requires computations only in the encryption stage. The decoding of secret image is done by human visual system (HVS). In (k, n) threshold visual secret sharing scheme, n noise like shares are generated. Any k or more number of shares are required to decode the secret image. With (k-1) or lesser shares, the secret cannot be reconstructed. In basic (2, 2) VCS, every binary secret image pixel is expanded into 22 sub-pixels in the 2 number of noisy shares, as per the sub-pixel coding table shown in Fig. 1. For every white pixelof the secret image, any one out of the six sub-pixels are randomly selected for both the shares. Similarly, for every black pixel of the secret image, any one out of the six sub-pixels are randomly selected for share 1, and its compliment sub-pixels for share 2. Thus, by stacking the two shares, the white pixels are decoded with 50% gray level. However, the black pixels are reconstructed with full black sub-pixels. With the individual shares which has equal percentage of white and black pixels, the secret image information is not revealed. The share size and therefore the reconstructed image are doubled due to pixel expansion. Fig. 1 Sub-pixel coding table Adaptive Halftoning Halftoning technique is a process of converting the continuous tone image to monochrome image or binary image. The VCS is generally suited for monochrome images. Many techniques like AM halftoning, FM halftoning, etc. are available for converting the gray scale image to binary image. In [16-18], Error diffusion based on FM halftoning with is implemented. But, this results in scattered white pixels in the place of darker areas of gray image. The proposed work utilizes the Adaptive Halftoning [19] where in the dynamically determined threshold for halftoning, results in better contrast for both constantly varying images and sharp transition images. The human eye perceives the tiny dots as white and denser dots as black, in the halftoned image. A gray scale image and its halftoned image is shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 a) Continous tone b) Halftone Extended Visual Cryptography Scheme (EVCS) The shares generated in the VCS bears a noise like image. Though, it may reveal no clue about the secret image, it may however raise suspicions about the secret. In order to overcome the weakness of noise like VCS shares, they are embedded with the individual cover images, thus generating the meaningful shares. The VCS with meaningful shares are referred as Extended Visual Cryptography Scheme (EVCS). The meaningful shares depict the cover image and not the secret image. However, on overlapping the meaningful shares, the secret image is decoded. Color Visual Cryptography Scheme Conventional VCS is applicable only for binary images. For grayscale image, it is to be halftoned to binary image as discussed in section II-B. In the proposed scheme, adaptive halftoning is implemented. The color image is generally constituted by either subtractive or additive models as in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 a) Subtractive model, and b) Additive model In the subtractive model, with primary color components as cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y), the other colors can be obtained with proper mixing of CMY components. The color printer is based on subtractive model. In additive model, the desired color is achieved from proper mixing different Red (R), Green (G) and Blue (B) color components. By mixing the RGB components of equal intensity, white color can be obtained. Computer monitor is based on additive model. The secret color image can be decomposed into Red, Green and Blue frames. The individual frames will then be a gray pattern of the corresponding color components. These frames are adaptive halftoned to obtain the binary images which can be used for generation of shares in Red, Green and Blue components. By concatenating these RGB components of each shares, the corresponding color shares are obtained. Overlapping the color shares, the color secret image is decoded. Polynomial Image Secret Sharing Scheme (PISSS) PISS scheme was first implemented [16] to hide a secret image. Though, it contradicts the advantage of VCS, by involving mathematical calculations in both encrypting and decrypting stages, it offers perfect retrieval of the secret image pixels. The PISS is implemented for TiOISSS with perfect reconstruction [20]. The polynomial in equation 1, encodes the image pixels to cipher data, which is then embedded in GVCS shares. in which are the sequential k pixels of the image and P is the prime number. In the decoding phase, the Lagrange interpolation formula in equation (2) is used to derive the polynomial coefficients, By substituting the pixel position for , where, , keeping as the variable, the polynomial coefficients is derived, Further, the decoding polynomial equation can be derived by from the polynomial coefficient and the encoded image pixels in equation (3). The original secret pixel value can be retrieved from the equation (3), by substituting the image pixel position ,. A large prime number of 251, which is within the gray pixel range, can be considered for encrypting the grayscale image. TiOISSS Two in One Image Secret Sharing Scheme (TiOISSS) [18] combines the merits of both PISS to achieve perfect reconstruction VCS to decode the vague secret image by HVS. Hence, it involves two levels of encoding and decoding phases. The encoding phase starts with generating n VCS shares and n PISS shares from the same secret image, followed by replacing the black pixels of VCS shares by the gray-valued pixels of PISS shares to generate GVCS shares, which are transmitted through n users. In the decoding phase, the GVCS shares from the users are overlapped to reconstruct the vague secret image, in the 1st stage level with just HVS. This process does not require any mathematical computations. Further, Inverse PISS is applied to the gray pixels of GVCS shares to perfectly retrieve the secret image, in the 2nd stage level of decoding. III. Proposed scheme In existing TiOISSS [19], the noisy shares were generated, which make attract the intruders to create a fake shares to forge the legitimate user. In the proposed scheme, the existing TiOISSS is modified for color images. The meaningful color EVCS shares are generated by embedding a color authentication image. The RGB components of color secret image and the cover images are extracted as in Fig. 4. The modified TiOISSS is applied for each color components to generate the corresponding the color components of GVCS shares. By concatenating the RGB components, color GVCS shares are obtained. The vague color secret image and the authentication image can be decoded, in the first decoding phase. Additionally, to provide additional authenticity, a 216 bits of textual message is embedded in the two LSBs of white pixels of all GVCS shares, which are then decoded in the 2nd phase. The RGB components of color secret image and the authentication image are then retrieved by applying Inverse PISS. The stages involved in the proposed modified color TiOISSS with the generation of meaningful EVCS shares and including an authentication image are discussed in the following sections. EVCS Share generation EVCS shares are generated from the individual RGB components of the secret color image, authentication image and the cover image. The Left half of the secret image is considered for generating the left half of VCS shares (LS1 and LS2) as in Fig. 5. By considering the authentication image, the right half of VCS shares (RS1 and RS2) are generated. For each RGB components of the secret image, the following steps are followed to generate the corresponding RGB components of the VCS shares. 1.From the left half of secret image (LS), the left half of share1 (LS1) and the left half of share2 (LS2) are generated. 2.For every black pixel of the halftoned authentication image, corresponding subpixels of left half of share 2 (LS2) with one pixel modified from white to black is placed in the corresponding subpixel location of right half of share 1 (RS1). Thus, the RS1 and LS2 will decode the vague authentication image. 3.For each black pixels of RS, the corresponding sub-pixels of the right half of share 1 (RS1) with modified location of black pixels is placed in the corresponding subpixel location of right half of share 2 (RS2). 4.VCS shares are obtained by combining the left half and the right half of each shares. To overcome the weakness of noisy shares, cover images are embedded to generate the meaningful shares. Each RGB components of the VCS shares are processed as shown in Fig. 5, with the corresponding RGB components of the cover images. For every black pixel in each cover image component, the corresponding sub-pixel location of the respective VCS share component is modified such that one white pixel converted to black. The location of the converted black pixel depends on the pixel value of the secret image in the corresponding location. Thus, the EVCS shares components are generated from the VCS shares and the cover images. GEVCS Share generation The color secret image is first decomposed into RGB components and the pixels of each component are permuted in three levels to improve the security. In the proposed scheme, the 128 bit of encryption key is used as formatted in Fig. 6 is used to perform the permutation in bit level, block level and pixel level with respective 32-bit keys. The permutation order key defines the order of permutation performed which is required in reverse permutation operation. The GVCS share order defines the share order to be processed to retrieve the embedded key from the GVCS shares. The size of the textual secret message embedded in the GVCS shares is defined in the 16-bit Secret Message length. The PISS shares are generated from the permuted color secret image as detailed in section II-E. The resultant PISS values and the authentication color image pixels are embedded into the black sub-pixels are the EVCS shares. Prior to embedding these PISS values, it is truncated by a factor ÃŽÂ ±, (ÃŽÂ ± = 1, 2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 16). This truncated value along with its remainder in GEVCS shares will be darker near to black, providing better visual quality. Thus, the truncated permuted PISS values, the color authenticated image and the textual secret message are embedded into EVCS shares to generate the GEVCS shares as detailed in the Fig.7. Decryption of the Secret image The decoding of the secret image is done in two phases. In the first phase, the two GEVCS shares are overlapped to decode the vague color secret image. To verify its authenticity, RS1 and LS2 of the GEVCS shares are superimposed to decode the authentication image. In the second phase of decoding, the encryption keys and the secret messages are extracted from the white pixels of each GEVCS shares. The PISS values are retrieved from the GEVCS shares. Inverse PISS is applied to reconstruct the secret image and the authentication image are perfectly. The process is explained in Fig.8. IV. Experimental Results The experimental results of the proposed Authenticated Color Extended TiOISSS with perfect reconstruction are discussed in this section. This scheme is implemented for truncation factor, ÃŽÂ ± = 7 and adaptive halftoning technique is applied for VCS share generation. The 256256 sized color secret image and the 256128 sized color authentication image are considered as shown in Fig. 9(a) 9(b). The color cover images of 256256 size are shown in Fig. 9(c) 9(d). The Adaptive halftoning version of the secret image and cover images are shown in Fig. 9 (e), 9(f) 9 (g). Applying VCS over the halftoned authentication and the secret image with pixel expansion, m = 4, two VCS shares of 512512 are generated and is shown in Fig. 9 (h) 9 (i). The GVCS shares generated from VCS shares by embedding PISS values as detailed in section III-B are shown in Fig. 9 (j) 9 (k). In the first level of decoding, the two GEVCS shares are overlapped to decode the vague color secret image. To verify the authenticity, LS2 and RS1 are overlapped to reveal the vague authentication image. They are shown in Fig. 9 (l) 9 (m). In the 2nd decoding phase, by applying Inverse PISS and reverse permutation over the extracted gray pixels of the GEVCS shares, the perfect reconstruction of both the color authentication image and the color secret image is decoded as shown in Fig. 9 (n) 9 (o). V. Quality Analysis The parameters like Contrast, Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) of the Authenticated Color Extended TiOISSS are analysed. Contrast Contrast which represents the visual quality of the image, is given by the normalized difference between the mean grayness of the white secret pixels and the mean grayness of black secret pixels in the decoded image. In this scheme, contrast [20] is calculated among the group of decoded pixels valued more than the threshold, (C0) and the group of decoded pixels valued lesser than the threshold, (C1) and is given by, Contrast between the color secret image and its 1st decoded secret image for adaptive halftoning technique and between the authentication image and its 1st decoded output has been tabled in Table I for various truncation factor, ÃŽÂ ±. The contrast is improved SSIM It is a measure of resemblance between two images and it is calculated for two common sized (NÃÆ'-N) windows x and yof the two images. SSIM is given by where and are the average of y and x. and are the variance of x and y, is the covariance of x and y and are two variables to stabilize the division, L is the dynamic range of the pixel values and and by default. The SSIM between the color secret image and its 1st decoded secret image for adaptive halftoning technique and between the authentication image and its 1st decoded output has been tabled in Table I for various truncation factor, ÃŽÂ ±. The SSIM is improved resulting in increased similarity between the secret image and the decoded secret image. PSNR The Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) is a measure to estimate the image quality between two images. Based on the pixel difference between the reconstructed image and the original image, PSNR is defined as where MSE denotes Mean Squared Error and s = 255, the maximum pixel value of the image. The PSNR between the color secret image and its 1st decoded secret image for adaptive halftoning technique and between the authentication image and its 1st decoded output has been tabled in Table I for various truncation factor, ÃŽÂ ±. The PSNR is higher for lesser value of the truncation factor. TABLE I Comparison of Secret Image and 1ST PHASE DECODED Secret Image Secret image vs Decoded Secret image (1st phase) Auth image vs Decoded Auth image (1st phase) ÃŽÂ ± Contrast SSIM PSNR Contrast SSIM PSNR 1 Not possible, No Truncation Not possible, No Truncation 2 0.1324 0.2556 3 0.1314 0.2446 6.7766 0.1720 0.1260 4.3907 4 0.1330 0.2452 6.5423 0.1708 0.1498 4.1201 5 0.1322 0.2380 6.5246 0.1762 0.1769 4.1499 6 0.1319 0.2352 6.4209 0.1752 0.1950 4.0422 7 0.1318 0.2328 6.3584 0.1753 0.2082 3.9912 8 0.1325 0.2348 6.3265 0.1746 0.2217 3.9447 9 0.1320 0.2322 6.3640 0.1772 0.2277 4.0184 10 0.1317 0.2316 6.3082 0.1771 0.2351 3.9738 11 0.1313 0.2292 6.3050 0.1761 0.2378 3.9582 12 0.1312 0.2291 6.2671 0.1768 0.2444 3.9383 13 0.1311 0.2307 6.2571 0.1765 0.2476 3.9250 14 0.1307 0.2286 6.2791 0.1750 0.2436 3.9232 15 0.1302 0.2280 6.2373 0.1760 0.2510 3.8964 16 0.1312 0.2322 6.2348 0.1751 0.2528 3.8830 Table II shows the comparison of meaningful shares with the corresponding cover images, which depicts that meaningful shares offers better visual quality. TABLE II Parameter Comparison for GVCS Shares vs Cover Images, for ÃŽÂ ± = 7 Proposed Scheme GEVCS 1 GEVCS 2 Contrast 0.1239 0.1746 SSIM 0.2803 0.1807 PSNR (dB) 6.1746 6.2839 Table III shows the comparison of different halftoning techniques, which shows that the adaptive halftoning offers better visual quality. TABLE III Parameter Comparison between the Secret Image and 1st decoded Secret Image, for Different Halftoning, for ÃŽÂ ± = 7 Halftoning Technique AM Halftoning FM Halftoning Adaptive Halftoning % Improvement FM vs Adaptive Contrast 0.0947 0.0988 0.1318 33.40 SSIM 0.0755 0.1823 0.2328 27.70 PSNR (dB) 6.1453 6.2268 6.3265 1.60 VI. Security Analysis The security of the proposed scheme is discussed here with the following security aspects. Authentication image for additional security With any one of the GEVCS color shares, the hackers may generate the other counterfeit shares, such that the legitimate receiver may get a bogus secret image instead of the original secret image. To overcome this weakness, a color authentication image is encoded into the GEVCS shares. In the 1st level of decoding, the vague authentication image is reconstructed and is used to validate the genuineness of the secret image, thus enhancing the security of the scheme. Further, the perfect retrieval of the authentication image is achieved by computations, in the 2nd decoding phase. Histogram of Shares Fig. 10 shows the histogram pattern of the color GEVCS share 1, for truncation factor ÃŽÂ ± = 7. It can be observed that the pixels occupy value up to 36 (i.e. 28/ÃŽÂ ±) and at 255. By choosing different values of ÃŽÂ ±, the pixel distribution of GEVCS shares can be limited accordingly. Unlike the original secret image, where pixels are distributed over the entire range, GEVCS shares are secured with limited pixel distribution, thus enhancin

A Turning Point Essay -- Personal Narrative Essay

A Turning Point A melting pot of Asian and European culture, a land of scientific growth and opportunity, and a place grown rich with custom and tradition, Singapore is a country unlike any other. Traveling to Singapore for the Second APEC Youth Science Festival, I encountered an environment where people of different backgrounds come together, a fusion of ideas and insight, and a piece of artwork painted rich with the colors of each individual culture. Upon my return to the United States, I brought with me an enhanced cultural awareness, a greater understanding of the international scientific community, a wealth of knowledge, as well as numerous life-long friendships. The cultural benefits of the APEC Youth Science Festival are innumerable. Having virtually no previous understanding of Asian customs and traditions, I found the various cultural performances educational and truly amazing. A breathtaking musical presentation by Korean drummers and a colorful parade of traditional Indonesian costumes were two of the more memorable performances. Throughout the cultural presentations, I was in awe of the distinct differences that became increasingly apparent between each of the individual Asian cultures. My favorite part of the trip was my overnight stay with a Sri Lankan family. With my family I visited Little India, one of the liveliest districts in Singapore where traditional Indian culture is ... ... New Zealand, I have developed a vast network in just two weeks. Sharing ideas and insight, culture, and new experiences has brought us all together despite our differences. Together we did everything including riding "The Venturer" at the Singapore Science Center, researching Nepal Virus, and traveling on a Night Safari. I am amazed at how much I have learned in two weeks, and I know I will cherish this experience for a lifetime. In the future I hope only to enhance my cultural awareness, work to promote international scientific collaboration, express my appreciation for the vital work done by organizations such as APEC, and stay in close contact with the wonderful friends I made in two amazing weeks overseas.

Compare and Contrast the Roles of Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff Essay

In the play ‘Macbeth’ we notice that the roles of Lady Macbeth and Macduff are very different. In the one scene that Lady Macduff is in we see that she is portrayed as a stereotypical woman of the Jacobean era. She was defined principally as a mother, was reliant on her husband and helpless when he is absent. At the beginning of the play we see these properties in Lady Macbeth. However she specifically called on the ‘spirits’ to repress her femininity thus taking away these properties to make her ruthless enough to kill Duncan. I feel that both of the characters seem quite strong but in different ways. Lady Macduff copes fine without her husband but Lady Macbeth is strong in different way. In Act 1 Scene 5 we see the relationship that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth had. It is noticeable that their relationship in this scene is much like that of what we would expect a couple of their era to be like. Lady Macbeth stays at home while the husband is out at work. We Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth we see the how strong their relationship is. I think is mainly because Lady Macbeth immediately understands the full implications of what was written in the letter and in a way her response is uncompromising. She will not let anything get in their way; her husband must get what he has been promised. It is also interesting that the letter written by Macbeth would mean he would have had complete trust in his wife. If the letter was shown to anybody else it interpreted as treasonous. It also suggests their affection and love for each other: â€Å"my dearest partner of greatness†.

Mesoamerican civilization

In the civilization of the North and South America people, farming started later than the Afroeurasian. But the American civilization started on its own as opposed to the dependence of lending and borrowing of ideas from one community as was witnessed in the Afroeurasian civilization.The argument about the Mesoamerican civilization has been as a result of single culture (known as ‘mother culture’), while others claim that it was through learning and copying from others that the civilization developed, i.e. ‘sister culture’. The civilization arguments has to a larger extend been linked to the Olmec influence.   This is because the Olmec has been considered as the earliest civilization groups in the Mesoamerica.Hence some of its earliest civilization practices can only be found within the heartland of Olmec while others are beyond the heartland of Olmec. Some of the artifacts that are only found in the heartland of Olmec include colosal heads, earthen platfo rm and monolith alters.   There have also been cases where other Olmec style artifacts have been found in other different areas.There are objects that have been considered to be of Olmec – traditions in areas that are out side the heartland of Olmec appearing together with the traditional objects of that place.   For instance, at Las Socas, objects created in local tradition contain Olmec iconography (Reilly, p 371).This indicates that the traditional of Olmec was flowing from the Olmec heartland towards other areas and not vice versa.   In this case the argument of Olmec to be of the â€Å"mother culture† arises.   Michael D Doe is one of the proponents who argue that the Olmecs had a mother culture. â€Å"There is now little doubt that all later civilization †¦ whether Mexican or Maya, ultimately rest on an Olmec base,† (Coe, 2002, pp 62).Those advocating for ‘sister culture’ feel that the Olmec civilization took place simultaneously with the other places.   The argument is based on the fact that Olmec was only among the earliest equal civilizers.   Flannery and Marcus have agued that it is only through competitive interactive that civilization can take place.   â€Å"It is adoptive autonomy and frequ3ent competitive interaction of such chiefdoms that speed up evolution and eventually make useful technologies and sociopolitical strategic available to all regions†, (Flannery & Marcus, 2000. pp. 33).Therefore, looking at both the arguments of the mother culture and sister culture, it is not right to agree that the Olmecs civilization was a mother culture.   For instance, according to Pool (N.d),The Olmecs of San Lorenzo were only a handful of societies in the Americas that had achieved comparable degree of social and political integration by the end of the second millennium B.C. On the other hand, sociopolitical complexity varied among Olmec societies within the Gulf coast region, the intensity and effects of interaction with the Olmecs varied across Mesoamerica, and other Formative societies made significant contribution to the developemtn of a distinctively Mesoamerica civilization tradition, (Pp 2).The use of the term formative (preclassic) was developed by Gordon Wiley and & Philip Philips (1955, 1958), â€Å"Where it indicated the village agricultural threshold and/or sedentary life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Pool, Pp.8).The formative period has various prehispanic historical changes taking place.   Before 200 B.C. most of the inhabitants lived in small bands that were characterized by several mobility and their main activity being hunting and gathering.   Then came the development of a lot of urban centers by 300 A.D.   These urban centers came about because with time, the mobility was reduced and the group settled into larger groups and thus staying at one place for longer period than before.The increased settlement was influenced by the fact that people have increased domes tication of crops and had also indicated the storage facilities.   â€Å"In the initial formative period (2000-2500 B.C.)†¦The processes of domestication and sedentarization combined to foster the spread of settled farming villages over much of the area that was becoming Mesoamerica,† (Pool, pp.8).The early societies of America shared the hunting and gathering activities with the other societies across the boarders.   These behaviors changed among the communities, as they become more settled and avoided movements.   This lead to the emergence of social hierarchies, centralized governments, and various religious concepts.   Their neighbours adopted the practices that emerged from one culture to another, including the OlmecsLike all other complex societies of the America, the Olmecs also depended on this hunting & gathering, domestication of food and animal as well as fishing for their daily needs.   These activities enabled them to build strong social and politi cal hierarchies that integrated many other small communities.Mesoamerican ReligionIn pre classical periods of the Mesoamerican people religion developed due to the influence of the seasonal cycles, â€Å"In their world –view, the development of the corn plant was one of the principle archetypes.   Another intrinsically tied to the former was the archetype of the alternating powers of fire and water, derived from the division of the year into two seasons, then dry and rainy seasons†, (Obafemi & Olupona, 2004, Pp 199).The Mayan community of the Mesoamerica developed their religion because of the belief that there was a relationship that existed between the human being and the supernatural power.   They nurtured and developed this belief to the extend of giving human sacrifices to the gods.   High priests of the Mayan religion performed the human sacrifices.   The key aspect of this religion was the great importance it gave to the agriculture and the time timeless of the harvests. â€Å"The Mayan religious calendar Ezolkin comprised of only 200 days and two cycles each comprises of weeks spanning 30 days and 20 days.   Another calendar called tun comprised of 360 days and five added unlucky days†The Mayan believed in the cycles of rails and to the harvest of the produce.   They considered the agriculture product to be a gift from God.   To the Mayans, human beings were supposed to be attuned to the cyclical changes so that they can obtain more benefits from them.The offering of sacrifices, of both human and animal was meant to appease the gods.   Songs and dances as well as competitions accompanied the sacrifices.   There was no separation of civil and religious life. Therefore, the kings acted as both rulers and principal intermediaries between human beings and gods. The other reason that was behind sacrifices was that, many gods needed human support which if was not forthcoming; they may weaken and eventually die.Life afte r death was determined by the position that a person held before the demise. Therefore if a person held a high status position on earth, that position will still be held even after death. While those with lower positions held again the same positions.About the universe, the Mayas believed that the universe would continue to be created and destroyed continuously.   The cycle for the destruction would be taking place after a period of about 5000 years.   The destruction and creation would be the exact duplicate of the previous one.   They perceived the earth to be the back of the giant caiman that was floating in the pool, with the exposed part being flat with four comers.   Above the earth, was the human with 13 levels (7 going up, and 6 going down), (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580499_2/Pre-Columbian_Religions.html). This was of the same oscillation as the rising setting of the sun.The Maya gods and goddesses formed a family (pantheon), each having four color aspe cts.   The religious followers believed in deities in heaven, but also having counterparts on earth and vice versa.   The deities also comprised of counterparts of the opposite sex.   â€Å"For example the supreme celestial god Itzama, the aged patron of culture and learning.   Kinich Ahau, the sun god, may have been a youthful aspect of Itzama in addition to being his son†, (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580499_2/Pre-Columbian_Religions.html).Like the Mayan, the Aztec believed in the destruction and creation of the universe, but that had multiple differences. They believed to be living in the fifth and final universe, which they considered to be the fifth sun. In this case, they believed that there would be no sixth universe after the fifth destruction, and that there was escape or avoiding of this destruction but it could only have been delayed. The sun was considered to be a warrior that fought a continuous unending war against darkness. Therefore, as long as the sun was still fighting, the fifth universe could not be destroyed. To make sure that the sun continued with the fights, they offered blood it through sacrifices. The sacrifices were especially of human who were war captives.Befitting their central role as allies of the sun, the Aztecs thought they lived at the center of the universe. Their earth was divided into four quadrants, each with typical Mesoamerica color-direction symbolism, though the specific pairings of colors and directions were different from those of the Mayas. The four quarters met at the main temple (Templo Mayor) of Tenochtitlan the Aztec capital. This temple was also the point where supernatural forces from the heavens and the underworld came together. The heavens were composed of 13 ascending levels. The sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars traveled through the lower levels. The upper levels were the homes of winds, storms, colors, and remote gods. The underworld contained 9 levels, all descending, u npleasant, and dangerous, (http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/nativeamericans/precolumbionrel4.htm).The pantheon of the gods and goddesses of the Aztec were more complex and performing different overlapping functions at different ceremonial functions. The gods were related to different practices. For instance, the Tlaloc was the rain god. There were also the gods that were related to the agricultural produce and deities related to fertility.BibliographyCoe, M.D (2002): Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs, London, Thames and Hudson.Flannery, K. & Marcus, J. (2000); A Formative Mexico Chiefdoms and the myth of theMother culture; a Journal of Anthropological Archeology, Vols. 19. Issues 1.History of Religion Manna Religion Retrieved on 2nd Nov. 2007 fromhttp://www.clearleadinc.com/site/religion.htmlObafemi J. & Olupona K. (2004):   Beyond Primitivism Indigenous Religious Traditions andModernity, Routledge, ISBN 041527 320X.Pool A. Christopher (N.d):   Olmec Archeology and Earl y Mesoamerica, Retrieved on 2nd Nov2007 from  http://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/88823/excerpt/9780521788823_excerpt.pdfReilly III, F. Kent, (N.d) â€Å"Art, Cultures and Relationship in the Olmec world in AmericansCivilization of Mesoamerican: A Recorder, Blackwell publishing Ltd..