5 Interesting Facts About Slavery in the Americas

5 Interesting Facts About Slavery in the Americas Slavery is a topic that never leaves the public consciousness; films, books, art, and theater have all been created about the institution. Yet, many Americans still know far too little about the transatlantic slave trade. They cant say when it began or ended or how many Africans were kidnapped and enslaved against their will. Its difficult to discuss current issues related to slavery, such as reparations, without first understanding how the slave trade left its imprint on Africa, the Americas, and the world. Millions Shipped to the Americas While it’s common knowledge that six million Jews died during the Holocaust, the number of West Africans shipped to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade from 1525 to 1866 remains a mystery to much of the public. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 12.5 million Africans were loaded up like human cargo and forever separated from their homes and families. Of those Africans, 10.7 million managed to live through the horrific journey known as the Middle Passage. Brazil: Slaverys Epicenter Slave traders shipped Africans all over the Americas, but far more of the enslaved population ended up in South America than any other region. Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, ​estimates that a single South American country- Brazil- received 4.86 million, or about half of all slaves who survived the trip to the New World. The United States, on the other hand, received 450,000 Africans. According to a 2016 U.S. Census Bureau report, roughly 45 million blacks live in the United States, and most of them are descendants of the Africans forced into the country during the slave trade. Slavery in the North Initially, slavery wasn’t just practiced in the Southern states of the United States, but in the North as well. Vermont stands out as the first state to abolish slavery, a move it made in 1777 after the U.S. liberated itself from Britain. Twenty-seven years later, all of the Northern states vowed to outlaw slavery, but it continued to be practiced in the North for years. That’s because the Northern states implemented legislation that made slavery’s abolition gradual rather than immediate. PBS points out that Pennsylvania passed its Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1780, but gradual turned out to be an understatement. In 1850, hundreds of Pennsylvania blacks continued to live in bondage. Just more than a decade before the Civil War kicked off in 1861, slavery continued to be practiced in the North. Banning the Slave Trade The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1807 to ban the importation of enslaved Africans, and similar legislation took effect in Great Britain the same year. (The U.S. law went into effect on Jan. 1, 1808.) Given that South Carolina was the only state at this time that hadn’t outlawed the importation of slaves, Congress’ move wasn’t exactly groundbreaking. What’s more, by the time Congress decided to ban the importation of slaves, more than four million enslaved blacks already lived in the United States, according to the book Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves. Since the children of those enslaved people would be born into slavery, and it wasn’t illegal for American slaveholders to trade those individuals domestically, the congressional act did not have a marked impact on slavery in the U.S. Elsewhere, Africans were still being shipped to Latin America and South America as late as the 1860s. Africans in the U.S. Today During the slave trade, about 30,000 enslaved Africans entered the U.S. yearly. Fast forward to 2005, and 50,000 Africans annually were entering the U.S. on their own volition. It marked a historic shift. â€Å"For the first time, more blacks are coming to the United States from Africa than during the slave trade,† The New York Times reported. The Times estimated that more than 600,000 Africans lived in the U.S. in 2005, about 1.7 percent of the African-American population. The actual number of Africans living in the United States might be even higher if the number of undocumented African immigrants was tallied.

The History and Evolution of Suburbs

The History and Evolution of Suburbs Suburbs are generally spread out over greater distances than other types of living environments. For instance, people may live in the suburb in order to avoid the density and untidiness of the city. Since people have to get around these vast stretches of land automobiles are common sights in suburbs. Transportation (including, to a limited extent, trains and buses) plays an important role in the life of a suburban resident who generally commutes to work. People also like to decide for themselves how to live and what rules to live by. Suburbs offer them this independence. Local governance is common here in the form of community councils, forums, and elected officials. A good example of this is a Home Owners Association, a group common to many suburban neighborhoods that determines specific rules for the type, appearance, and size of homes in a community. People living in the same suburb usually share similar backgrounds with regard to race, socioeconomic status, and age. Often, the houses that make up the area are similar in appearance, size, and blueprint, a layout design referred to as tract housing, or cookie-cutter housing. History of Suburbs Suburbs are not a modern concept, as this 539 BCE clay tablet letter from an early suburbanite to the king of Persia makes clear: Our property seems to me the most beautiful in the world. It is so close to Babylon that we enjoy all the advantages of the city, and yet when we come home we stay away from all the noise and dust. Other early examples of suburbs include areas created for lower class citizens outside of Rome, Italy during the 1920s, streetcar suburbs in Montreal, Canada created during the late 1800s, and the picturesque Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, created in 1853. Henry Ford was a big reason why suburbs caught on the way they did. His innovative ideas for making cars cut manufacturing costs, reducing the retail price for customers. Now that an average family could afford a car, more people could go to and from home and work everyday. Additionally, the development of the Interstate Highway System further encouraged suburban growth. The government was another player that encouraged movement out of the city. Federal legislation made it cheaper for someone to construct a new home outside of the city than to improve upon a preexisting structure in the city. Loans and subsidies were also provided to those willing to move to new planned suburbs (usually wealthier white families). In 1934 the United States Congress created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), an organization intended to provide programs to insure mortgages. Poverty struck everyones life during the Great Depression (beginning in 1929) and organizations like the FHA helped to ease the burden and stimulate growth. Rapid growth of suburbia characterized the post-World War II era for three chief reasons: The economic boom following World War IIThe need for housing returning veterans and baby boomers relatively cheaplyWhites fleeing the desegregation of urban cities brought on by the civil rights movement (the White Flight) Some of the first and most famous suburbs in the post-war era were the Levittown developments in the Megalopolis. Current Trends In other parts of the world suburbs do not resemble the affluence of their American counterparts. Due to extreme poverty, crime, and lack of infrastructure suburbs in developing parts of the world are characterized by higher density and lower standards of living. One issue arising from suburban growth is the disorganized, reckless manner in which neighborhoods are built, called sprawl. Because of the desire for larger plots of land and the rural feel of the countryside, new developments are infringing upon more and more of the natural, uninhabited land. The unprecedented growth of population in the past century will continue to fuel the expansion of suburbs in the coming years.

Cause and effect - Smoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cause and effect - Smoking - Essay Example Currently, most of the smoked substances contain nicotine, which has medically been proved to have a poisonous alkaloid with inclusion of other harmful substances such as ammonia and carbon dioxide, thus giving prove to a serious health hazard association. In this regard, smoking causes a higher chance of contracting lung cancer depending on the number of cigarettes that the smoker uses on a daily basis. Similarly, the type of substance used and the period of time the smokers have practiced this behavior has an impact (Eysenck 20). According to Eysenck (33), smoking of various automatically affects different body parts and their roles. Firstly, smoking has an adverse effect on the fertility of both men and women especially when it comes to sexual performance. Consequently, most smokers are perceived to be generally unhealthy since the smoking substances such as cigar, cigarettes and pipes result to bad skin, and bad breath, which further leads to halitosis and chronic health issues. In addition, such people are known to have smelly hair and clothes as a result of consuming too much cigarettes, cigar and pipes. Additionally, smoking is that it is primarily leads to chest diseases such as pulmonary disease, stroke and heart diseases that have serious complications. As such, inhalation and exhaling of these substances directly affects chest operations. Furthermore, smoking among men has continually posed a threat to male potency as a result of the components that are found in the smoking substances (Eysenck 21). Similarly, smokers are said to be at a higher risk of experiencing low immunity levels, which is evident through frequent attacks of pneumonia, bronchitis, colds among other diseases. In general sense, the effect of smoking revolves around the brain, heart, lungs and mouth. Although most body parts are affected by smoking; the most vital part is the heart which is affected to the extent that the inhalation of the carbon

Introduction to Web and Multimedia Quiz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Introduction to Web and Multimedia Quiz - Essay Example Choose one answer. D a. HTML b. CSS c. DOM d. NET e. JAVA 10 Marks: 1 In AJAX terms, what is the DOM Choose one answer. A a. Document Object Model b. Distributed Object Model c. Documented Object Method d. Disseminated Objects Method e. Delineated Object Methodology 11 Marks: 1 The Internet started as: Choose one answer. A a. An American military research project b. A commercial venture by Microsoft and IBM c. A student project d. A way to make use of personal computers e. A joint project by television companies 12 Marks: 1 POP3 is an Internet protocol for Choose one answer. B a. Composing songs b. Collecting E-Mail from servers c. Sending E-Mail to servers d. Uploading web pages e. Gaining remote access to computers 13 Marks: 1 The location of a resource, such as a web page, is given by a URL. URL stands for: Choose one answer. C a. Universal Road Language b. Unidentified Record Label c. Uniform Resource Locator d. Understandable Route List e. Unreasonable Response Link 14 Marks: 1 The use of tags is DEPRECATED by style sheets. In this context DEPRECATED means Choose one answer. D a. added to b. totally replaced by c. usually replaced with the current standard d. made redundant e. interpreted 15 Marks: 1 The following tag and attribute are usually used to: Choose one answer. C a. Produce a blank background in a table b. produce a phantom table c. remove the outer border of a table d. set the border colour to black e. position the text in the table 16 Marks: 1 By default, when a web browser comes across unknown tags, Choose...The salesmen were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of data nets danced in their heads. And I with my datascope tracings and dumps prepared for some pretty bad bruises and lumps. When out in the hall there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter." What service of the Internet translates domain names (computer hostnames) to IP addresses. and also lists mail exchange servers accepting e-mail for each domain. In other words it provides a worldwide keyword-based redirection service

Prison Policy Recommendation Essay Example for Free

Prison Policy Recommendation Essay There is currently a bill in the legislature that would double the maximum prison term for anyone convicted of armed robbery. As a criminologist advisor to a state legislator, I have been tasked with proposing a recommendation on whether or not the current bill on the table will be good for the government and the communities it represents or detrimental. The proposed bill would double the current maximum prison term for any individual convicted of armed robbery. The thought behind such a bill is that a longer prison term will deter people from even attempting, or committing a crime in the first place. This bill would also, in hopes, keep offenders from re-offending for the same crime. As a result of these hopes, the bill has gained much popularity within the legislature. As appealing as the possible resulting lower crime rates sound, there are certain costs that must be considered. The bill proposes longer prison terms for offenders. These longer terms will also come with a higher price tag. The cost of keeping inmates for a longer period will rise exponentially. Another cost, though not monetary, should also be considered; that is the risk of even more violent crimes being committed. If the prison terms for armed robbery were to be doubled and is close to that of the crime of attempted murder, what’s to say an offender would not go all the way if the sentence would be virtually the same? There may be possible solutions for the bill that can be appealing to both the government and the community. The first would be to increase the maximum term served before parole could be offered. For example, instead of a ten-year sentence, with parole after three years; increase it to six or seven years before parole can even be considered. Another option would be to put in place a work program within the prison system. This will be somewhat similar to the outside world, in that if the prisoner does not work, they will not eat or receive rec time. We do not get handed a meal simply because it is supper time. If we don’t work, we don’t eat. Same premise for prisoners. It is my recommendation that the bill not  be approved as it stands but that it is rewritten to reflect changes to the current prison terms. The prison term does not need to be lengthened, but the offenders do need to be made to serve more of their current term before coming up for parole. It is my opinion, and based on crime rates that offenders are often not rehabilitated in such a short period, time, term in prison, and often get paroled and re-offend. This is an endless cycle. If terms were lengthened, it would cost more to house and feed a prisoner, but the costs would outweigh that of releasing them, having them reoffend, costs of trial and a second prison term. Also, the implementation of the work program would help them to realize that prison is not just a free ride, with meals and rec time without hard work and consequences. The parole system must also be overhauled. Parole officers often cannot keep good track of their parolees, and offenders receive too many chances. Perhaps, requiring prisoners to learn a trade would be equally helpful to them outside of prison. The proposed bill for doubling the maximum prison term should not be approved. It cannot succeed as it is. Simply doubling a prison term without further consequences will be a hindrance to the justice system as a whole. A crime is a crime, and an offenders background should not be taken into account. Instead of threatening offenders with a longer possible sentence, change the current rules and statutes for prison terms. Make them serve the majority of their sentence, make them work for basic needs in prison, and educate them. Give them a skill, so that the possibility of reoffending goes down. As popular as the bill may seem, it does not mean that it is the right choice for the government or the communities it represents. All of the options must be considered and weighed carefully before a decision can be made. Instead of creating new laws, perhaps we should first look at ways to enhance and make the current ones better. Only then, can we hope to move forward and create a better nation. References South, T. (2010, June 8). Bill would keep armed robbers in prison longer. Retrieved from timesfreepress.com: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/jun/08/bill-would-keep-armed-robbers-in-prison-longer/ What are positives negatives to maximum prison sentences? (2011). Retrieved from Yahoo Answers: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index Would doubling the maximum prison term for anyone convicted of armed robbery be a good idea or a bad one, why? (2007). Retrieved from Yahoo Answers: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index

Giotto :: Essays Papers

Giotto The artist I chose for my work was Giotto and his artwork The Epiphany. Giotto was one of the great artists during the period of Renaissance. The painting of the Giotto The Epiphany is about the birth of Jesus. The material used in this painting is tempera on wood. It is painted on to wooden panel with gold ground. Tempera is an egg-based paint, which help the painting look shinier and long lasting. There were many things, which I learned about Giotto, which I was unaware during my research. I found out when Giotto was born and when he die where was he born. I found out that Giotto talent was discovered by Cimabue and he was the teacher of Giotto and how Cimabue supposedly saw the 12- year-old boy sketching one of his father’s sheep on a flat rock and was so impressed with his talent that he persuaded the father to let Giotto become his pupil. I learned that Giotto first being freed from the shackle of medieval restraint. Giotto was mainly known for his religious artwork which help me in coming t conclusion that he was dealt largely in the religious subjects, but he also gave these subject an earthly, full-blooded life and forces. I found out that in 1334 the city of Florence honored Giotto with the title of Magnus Magister (Great Master) and appointed him city architect and superintendent of public works. In this capacity he designed the famous campanile (bell t ower). During my research I was able to find out about Giotto’s family that he was married and left six children at his death. There was one really interest thing about Giotto was the work of designing Campanile was left unfinished by Giotto this was because he died at the time he was doing this work. He also left his impact of artwork on high renaissance artist like Michelangelo that this artist used Giotto’s idea of painting. During my research of Giotto and his artwork The Epiphany there were lots of question in my mind of which some were answered and some were not answered and they still trouble me.

Rfid in Walmart Essay

In June 2003 Wal-Mart first announced its plan to implement RFID technology in its supply chain by January 2005; this caught many of the suppliers unawares. Though the plans envisaged compliance from the top 100 suppliers, around 129 suppliers jumped into the fray, afraid of being left behind in the race. RFID technology was invented in 1969 and patented in 1973; after thirty long years WalMart has demanded its implementation. Expectations are high, unfortunately RFID technology is still in its infant stage. In November 2003, Wal-Mart once again asserted its requirements. The following were explicitly spelt out: 1. What the EPC (Electronic Product Code) would be, 2. What class of chips they would accept, and 3. Which distribution centres would start accepting RFID deliveries. Much has happened since then. To its suppliers, Wal-Mart has spelt the requirement of 96-bit EPC with a Global Trade Identification number, which is an international standard. The tags are expected to operate in UHF spectrum (868 MHz to 956 MHz). The plan is to standardize the Class 1 Version 2 of the EPC specification [RFIDJournal. Com]. The EPC global, a joint venture between Uniform Code Council and EAN (European Article Number) International, is developing this particular standard. This tag will carry the 96-bit serial number and will be field-programmable. This will enable the suppliers to write serial numbers to the tags, when they apply the tags to the products. The EPC-compliant tags in UHF band consists of 1. EPC data format on 2. One of the existing communication protocols, Class1 or Class0 two main the parts: chip Note: Class0 and Class1 specifications differ. Class0 is a factory programmable tag while Class1 permits the end users to write a serial number on it. They are not interoperable. A multi-protocol reader is required to read both tags. The Class1 Version2 that is being pursued is expected to incorporate both specifications of Class0 and Class1. This Version2 will be a globally accepted protocol. As of now Wal-Mart is already tracking pallets and cases from suppliers coming to one distribution centre. The plan is to expand to other suppliers soon and roll out the technology regionally across the US . By the end of this year, the intention is to track all pallets, and cases of all products from the top 100 US suppliers, and by late 2006, from all US suppliers. Wal-Mart will then begin rolling the technology out internationally. The increased demand has already set Manhattan Associates working on new software that will allow companies to plug RFID technology to warehouse management system, on all platforms. Wal-Mart dreams of achieving a great RFID enabled, fool proof, error free, transparent supply chain. To this end, RFID readers are being installed at distribution centres and stores and buying equipment for printing tags. The expense of investments in new technology every year will be covered in the normal capital budget Why WalMart is adopting RFID? The application of RFID deeper into retail operations than case or pallet-level tracking is not really an Asset Protection driven proposal. The ability to better track SKU level items, smooth out merchandise flow, and prevent out-of-stocks while eliminating non-productive, profit-draining overstock situations is a main tenant of retail. The better Walmart, or anyone can get at doing that, the more control they have in their merchandise investment and the more profit can be squeezed from each dollar invested. With improved profit to investment ratios along with cost-controlling measures such as improved productivity for store level associates, a company can use the gain to pass on in savings to their customers, which is the real secret to success. Asset protection will benefit from the improved operations as well. Shrink is unaccounted for invested dollars. A retailer invests in merchandise to sell and somewhere along the trail from factory to store it is lost, sometimes physically, sometimes in the handling and accounting process. The ability to quickly verify actual quantities of items in a store not only enables the retailer to replenish the stock at the right rate of sale, it also eliminates countless hours of searching for the products in backrooms, overstock boxes, risers and any number of other places merchandise finds to hide in a store. When the count is exact as the product is received, matches the invoice with precision, and is then accurately tracked until it is sold, shrink can theoretically become just a bad memory. There is still theft to consider, however RFID offers some improvements in that respect as well. The key is real-time knowledge of the status of key merchandise. Associates can react to missing one item, instead of hundreds or thousands of dollars worth, before they know there is a problem. Concerns have been expressed over privacy and tags could be used to identify concealed items, but that is not the path to success. If you wait to react to a theft, you still must deal with the situation and there are several pitfalls in apprehending shoplifters and processing internal theft situations. So the bottom line is that it is about immediately identifying loss and taking active measures to prevent further loss. To those expressing concern over the proliferation of technology like RFID in retail, the challenge is to keep the concerns on a productive level. Retailers are not motivated by big brother-like intentions. They are striving to become as efficient as possible in their operation to shave off every non-productive penny invested. It is how they can beat their competition in pricing giving the consumer the benefit of lower prices and the shareholders the benefit of improved profits. There are real concerns relative to unintended consequences of the misuse of technology. Creating a â€Å"personalized customer profile† is a tempting marketing strategy. Imagine knowing exactly what every customer who comes in the doors wants to buy, maybe even before they do. Questions of privacy must be addressed openly and a retailer must make efforts to prevent the misuse of data. This new era is where the professional retail LP leader can make a significant contribution. One day, cash registers may be obsolete. Currency could be exchanged virtually and attached directly to people through some kind of biometric authorization. The role of the LP professional will look much different when that day arrives. Getting from where we are to that point will be an interesting ride. WalMart and RFID: The Test Phase From initial experiences of roll out of EPC in select distribution warehouses and stores, there is confidence that the concept will be a long-term success. Experiments with various tag types and tag placements are underway to see how they impact readability on various products in a non-laboratory environment. Goods shipped to the stores with RFID tags are recorded once at their arrival . By simply waving the scanner at the boxes they are able to know what is inside without having to open anything. Even before the arrival it is possible to know where everything is, which helps to reduce loss during shipment. The tags are read again before they are brought to the sales floor , no reader is installed at the sales point, though. They are read finally at a box crusher after all the items in the case have been put on the store shelves. Their software monitors the different items sold to the customers and the number of cases brought to the sales floor. This generates the information – which items will soon be depleted from the shelves? Automatically, almost instantly, a list is generated of items that need to be picked from the backroom to replenish the store shelves. To reduce the amount of time spent at the backroom Wal-Mart has developed a handheld RFID reader. This acts as a kind of Geiger counter that beeps when a worker gets close to the item he or she needs to pick. It is intended to initially provide this in the original seven stores and then deploy them in rest of the 140 stores in a phased manner during the year. Wal-Mart has also established a retail link extranet with all its suppliers. This enables them to share data from all RFID read points with their suppliers. When a case is brought out to the sales floor, the status reads ~Q being put on the shelves’ , when at the trash compactor the status changes to ~Q on shelf’ . Thus within 30 minutes the suppliers get updated on the movement and location of their goods. Suppliers are also learning how to match tags with products and where to place tags for optimum readability. This initial experience will keep them ahead of their competitors.

Economic problems in the USSR after the Second World War Essay

â€Å"Neither Stalin, Khrushchev or Brezhnev successfully addressed fundamental economic problems which increasingly dogged the USSR after the Second World War† How far do you agree with this statement? After the war, the USSR was destroyed both physically and economically. The challenge for Stalin therefore was to attempt to rebuild the USSR, particularly focusing on industry and the economy in order to ensure that Russia would remain a world superpower. By the end of Brezhnev’s era however, the situation was very different. The country had undergone a period of stagnation whereby the economy had failed to improve and grow over his period in power. This was due to his lack of willingness to implement new policies in preference of a â€Å"period of stability†. I would suggest that although Brezhnev achieved very little, changes were implemented under both Stalin and Khrushchev. However, these changes were often not always overly successful. Stalin did attempt to address the economic damage that the war had caused and therefore try to rebuild the economy. One way in which he did this was to alter the systems in place already in order to tackle the new problems faced. For example, he addressed the growing complexity of the economy by creating more economic ministries. Further than this at the end of 1947, he adapted Gosplan in order to make it more focused on the economy and therefore limited the State Planning Commission to only planning (therefore transferring its previous responsibilities to arrange the necessary supplies elsewhere). He also adapted where investment was distributed to after the war such as early investment after the war went to regions which had been occupied by the Germans (for example, Donets Region). Stalin also created new policies in order to boost the economy and increase production, in the form of the fourth year plan. This was successful in the way that it effectively produced large amounts of raw materials such as coal (149 million tons in 1945 to 261 million tons in 1950) and oil (19 million tons in 1945 to 40 million tons in 1950). He used shorter term targets for individual enterprises to meet. P Kenez said â€Å"even if we take into consideration the exaggerations built into soviet statistics, it is still indisputable that the Stalinist methods worked, and that the speed of reconstruction was impressive†. Overall the USSR managed to produce a 75% increase on the production of 1940 which shows its extensive success and therefore disagrees with the statement that as a leader he failed to address the economic problems faced. Although it can be suggested that Khrushchev faced less of challenge than Stalin, he still introduced new economic policies which had wide spreading effects. An example of this is introducing the minimum wage in 1956 which guaranteed the workers an increased standard of living and prevented exploitation. Foreign trade hugely increased under Khrushchev due to his extended relationship with the west. Two thirds of the foreign trade was with Comecon countries in Eastern Europe which was also beneficial for communist relationships. Unlike under Stalin, Khrushchev successfully addressed the poor living standards and increased these considerably. Although they were still backwards in comparison to other western countries, for example in 1964, only 5 in 1,000 citizens owned a car; his policies combined with the recovery of the USSR since 1945 did mean improvements were made. Working conditions also improved with shorter working hours, more holidays, better pensions and other social benefits. Khrushchev is often blamed for his failings in agriculture (as addressed below) but John Keep suggests that he at least â€Å"kept peasant affairs at the centre of attention for an entire decade. No other ruler had ever done so, or would do so†. This is evidence that Khrushchev did address some of the problems that the USSR were facing at the time. Filtzer also stated that that these reforms were based on the assumption that agriculture would receive many more resources than he would obtain due to them being diverted to other sectors of the economy. Arguably then Khrushchev did attempt to address these issues. Brezhnev’s time in power is often described as an â€Å"economic stagnation† due to the failure in economic growth at this time. However, he did introduce a limited number of new policies which had equally limited successes. He successfully addressed that Khrushchev’s destructive agricultural policies should be reversed, for example in September 1965 Khrushchev’s sovnarkhoz reforms of 1957 were ended. He did successfully increase foreign trade though, for example exporting oil and gold natural resources from Siberia and the period of dà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tente led to the high priority of western technologies being imported. Although the Stalinist economic reforms successfully improved output there are also criticisms that can be raised as evidence that Stalin failed to address the economic problems. The fourth year plan is accused to have been inflexible as it focused on heavy industry rather than light consumer goods. These items were what the country really needed after it had been damaged by the war but instead industry was based on government priorities. Further than this, the emphasis was put on quantity rather than quality and therefore many of the goods produced were not of the highest quality. For example, in order for factory workers to reach their targets, they would produce more pairs of shoes of small sizes as this was quicker and had smaller production costs. Stalin also introduced a currency reform which was generally unsuccessful. It made life difficult for the workers as it reduced how much money was in circulation and therefore consumer products such as clothes and shoes were even scarcer than during the war. Due to the reform the black market became more active which increased corruption and crime. It is also suggested that Stalin’s economic policy was less successful towards the end of his time in power. The fifth five year plan should have begun in 1951, yet it was not drafted and approved until October 1952. Perhaps Stalin’s significant failure within economic policy was in agriculture. Despite the huge interruption of the war in production, Stalin did not focus on this policy area. Instead the peasants were treated badly and the amount of state procured grain increased to 60-70% of the harvested grain produced. Investment into agriculture also failed to be addressed. These problems lead to food shortages which further increased the problems of the black markets. Alex Nove suggests that Stalin’s final years were â€Å"ill judged interventions of authority, excessive centralisation of decisions, insufficient investment and lack of adequate incentives†. Khrushchev introduced many new reforms to try to improve industry which were fairly unsuccessful. The Sovnarkhoz reforms ended up causing another layer of bureaucracy and just formed an alternative competition (between regions rather that industry). The black market also grew under Khrushchev as it intervened to satisfy repressed demand. Arguably Khrushchev’s biggest failures were within agriculture however. He insisted upon forming his own policies without any experts advice and then pushed them through bureaucracy rather than trialling them out to see if they would be successful. An obvious example of this is the Virgin Lands Campaign whereby land that was not suitable for crop growth was used for extra agricultural land. Although it did enjoy initial success the weather conditions soon destroyed any crops that had grown and the campaign had to be abandoned. Many of Khrushchev’s failures are attributed to him personally, especially the lack of effective planning of the reforms and the confusion which sometimes arose. Therefore he can be partly personally blamed for the failures to address the economic problems faced by the USSR. The failures seen within Brezhnev’s era are not so much destructive but rather a period of stagnation whereby the economy failed to improve. Evidence of this is found in the NMP (net material product) fell from 10.2% in 1950 to 3.6% in the 1980s. It has been suggested that the leadership didn’t have an accurate view of economic performance as they were not educated well in economics and GOSPLAN was inefficient at reporting findings. An example is one of the â€Å"top† producing factories did not in fact exist when GOSPLAN attempted to give them an award for production. In fact the â€Å"factory† was run on the black market. Brezhnev’s defence costs also affected the economy adversely. By 1980 the USSR was spending more on defence than the USA even though their economy was about one third of the size! Perhaps his largest failure was not to address the problems with the centralised planning system where many of the economic problems initially sprung from. Under Stalin this was successful but by this time the economy had become far too complex to be centralised. Industry also failed to modernise. For example, using the policy of â€Å"storming† was used whereby old equipment was run non-stop until the end of the plan which damaged equipment and wasted resources. Thompson suggests that â€Å"in structural terms, soviet planners by 1980 had arguably created the world’s largest and most advanced nineteenth-century economy†. In conclusion, the extent to the leaders successfully addressed the economic problems in Russia was variable under the different personalities. Stalin arguably faced the biggest challenge and due to the fact he did manage to increase production to such a large extent suggests he was the most successful. Although Khrushchev did not solve all of the problems faced, and his agricultural policies caused more harm than good, he did attempt to address the problems that the USSR were facing. On the other hand, Brezhnev’s rule did not show any improvement, and further than this he did not show any attempts to improve the problems. For this reason Brezhnev can be suggested to be the least successful.

Food Insecurity Essays

Food Insecurity Essays Food Insecurity Essay Food Insecurity Essay Food Insecurity Currently millions of people are suffering from the problem of hunger and under nutrition around the world. The main cause of the problem is food insecurity. Food insecurity is the condition where a group of people lacks a sustainable source or access to enough, hygienically safe and nutritious food that can sustain a healthy, good and productive life. Food insecurity can be termed as seasonal, temporary or chronic, depending on how serious it might be. It may occur in different levels including the national, regional or household levels. Its opposite, food security, is defined as the situation where all the people have both economic and physical access to basic food at all times. This security is not guaranteed for about two million people in the world today. : Food insecurity arises mostly from several reasons. These reasons include climatic changes. Climatic changes are unavoidable though they are predictable. The climatic changes can be caused by several reasons, which include natural calamities like tsunamis or earthquakes. These causes, without a proper economic base to support one, might be very hard to come up from and quite unavoidable. Urban development is another reason that causes food insecurity. Urban development causes food insecurity by the depletion of important lands used for agriculture and by raising the standards of living. The raising of standards of living leads to an increase in the prices of necessary and basic foodstuffs. This in turn leads to the creation of a group of people who cannot manage the life. This group becomes insecure in terms of food and other basic wants (Babu Sanyal, 2009). Population growth is also another cause of food insecurity especially in developing countries. This is the issue since the budgets of most developing countries are not fit enough to be able to support the rising populations that are mostly encountered in them. Population growth works hand-in-hand with the growth of urban centers and these lead to marginalization of other areas leading to creation of slums and these marginalized groups experience food insecurity. Oil price shifts can be said to be the most significant cause of food insecurity. Oil is used in almost all if not all industries. This makes it a very important commodity in the production of all necessary items and especially foodstuffs. Therefore, being a raw material in all crucial industries, the fluctuation in its prices has to be reflected in all products. The rise in the oil prices therefore is reflected in the basic food products in the market. The major problem here is the recent increase in the oil prices that has made the situation even worse. Another problem is that the oil prices are not necessarily confined by borders, thus the effect is felt worldwide. Other causes of food insecurity, especially in underdeveloped countries include war, poverty, civil unrest and conflicts, poor national policies and corruption. These reasons do not promote the equitable and fair distribution and access of food for all. Others include barriers to trade, environmental degradation, poor agricultural development, low educational levels, gender inequality, poor health and cultural insensitivity (Babu Sanyal, 2009). The United Nations has given an estimate of about 840 million people worldwide who are faced with food insecurity. Majority of this number resides in developing countries and most of these countries are in the continents of Africa and Asia. To solve the problem, governments should ensure that food is not only available but also accessible to all. The governments should also ensure that food prices are subsidized in order to cater for the poor and that food is equally distributed in all parts of their countries. Food should also be properly utilized. This means that food should be stored properly for it to be guarded against spoilage, proper handling to guard against diseases and proper preparation to ensure proper nutrition and balanced diets. The balanced meals include a variety of safe and quality foods the proper nourishment. It also includes the proper appropriation of different food groups. With these policies and recommendations followed, the problem of food insecurity shall be solved in time. References Babu, S.C. Sanyal, P. (2009). Food security, poverty, and nutrition policy analysis: statistical methods and policy applications. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Correlation Analysis in Sociological Research

Correlation Analysis in Sociological Research Correlation is a term that refers to the strength of a relationship between two variables where a strong, or high, correlation means that two or more variables have a strong relationship with each other while a weak or low correlation means that the variables are hardly related. Correlation analysis is the process of studying the strength of that relationship with available statistical data. Sociologists can use statistical software like SPSS to determine whether a relationship between two variables is present, and how strong it might be, and the statistical process will produce a correlation coefficient that tells you this information. The most widely used type of  correlation coefficient  is the Pearson r. This analysis assumes that the two variables being analyzed are measured on at least  interval scales, meaning they are measured on a range of increasing value. The coefficient is calculated by taking the  covariance  of the two variables and dividing it by the product of their  standard deviations. Understanding the Strength of Correlation Analysis Correlation coefficients can range from -1.00 to 1.00 where a value of -1.00 represents a perfect negative correlation, which means that as the value of one variable increases, the other decreases while a value of 1.00 represents a perfect positive relationship, meaning that as one variable increases in value, so does the other. Values like these signal a perfectly linear relationship between the two variables, so that if you plot the results on a graph it would make a straight line, but a value of 0.00 means that there is no relationship between the variables being tested and would be graphed as separate lines entirely. Take for example the case of the relationship between education and income, which is demonstrated in the accompanying image. This shows that the more education one has, the more money they will earn in their job. Put another way, these data show that education and income are correlated  and that there is a strong positive correlation between the two- as education rises, so too does income, and the same kind of correlation relationship is found between education and wealth as well. The Utility of Statistical Correlation Analyses Statistical analyses like these are useful because they can show us how different trends or patterns within society might be connected, like unemployment and crime, for example; and they can shed light on how experiences and social characteristics shape what happens in a persons life. Correlation analysis lets us say with confidence that a relationship does or does not exist between two different patterns or variables, which allows us to predict the probability of an outcome among the population studied. A recent study of marriage and education found a strong negative correlation between the level  of education and the divorce rate. Data from the National Survey of Family Growth show that  as education level increases among women, the divorce rate for first marriages decreases. Its important to keep in mind, though, that correlation is not the same as causation, so while there exists a strong correlation between education and divorce rate, that does not necessarily mean the decrease in divorce among women is caused by the amount of education received.

An Experiential Anthropology Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

An Experiential Anthropology - Dissertation Example Cultural anthropology or socio-cultural anthropology is the study of culture (Delaney, 2004). Cultural anthropology centers on ethnography, which refers to either the methodology or the product of research i.e. a book or monograph. Ethnography is largely inductive, relying on participant observation. Under cultural anthropology lies the ethnology technique that focuses on the systematic comparison of various cultures. Ethnography utilizes the process of participant-observation. Cultural anthropology focuses on the study of kinship and covers other areas such as political and economic organization, conflict resolution and law, consumption patterns, technology, material culture, infrastructure, ethnicity, gender relations, religion, myth, socialization, values, etiquette, language, festivals, recreation, and sports among others. Biological or physical anthropology, on the other hand, refers to anthropological research centered on the examination of human and non-human primates within t heir evolutionary, demographic, and biological dimensions. In essence, biological anthropology examines the social and biological influencers of the evolution of mankind and primates which create, sustain, or alter physiological and genetic variations. Biological anthropology involves the study of primatology, which involves the examination of non-humans within their geographical environments to learn about the abilities and behavioral patterns of primates (Delaney, 2004). Biological anthropology also involves the study of human biology, which involves examining human diversity, non-cultural adaptations with regard to environmental elements, and genetic inheritance patterns. Archaeological anthropology refers to the examination of human records by examining its artifacts. This study involves the examination of material remains of human beings to discover how people lived. For instance, pieces of artifacts like tools and pottery provide evidence of cultural and social lives of past s ocieties. Archaeological anthropologists are typically detectives who uncover evidence through excavating, dating and analyzing material remains of past societies. This means archaeologists have a deep comprehension of the expansion of human civilizations and societies by analyzing human ancestors. Linguistic anthropology or anthropological linguistics aims at understanding the development of human communication, language variations through space and time, verbal and non-verbal communication, social functions of language, and the link between culture and language. Linguistic anthropology links linguistic analysis and methods to the interpretation of sociocultural processes. In order to do this, linguistic anthropologists draw on fields such as cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, semiotics, narrative analysis, and pragmatics.  

The effects to the white star line company because of the titanic Research Paper

The effects to the white star line company because of the titanic sinking - Research Paper Example The world has always fixed all attention on identifying the cause of the tragedy, while little effort has been shifted towards identifying the effect of the Titanic tragedy on the White Star Lines Company, the Liverpool-based company that owned the mega ship. The following report analyzes how the sinking of the Titanic impacted on the White Star Line company. The company prided itself with being the maker of the most luxurious ship at the time. The name of this wonder ship was Titanic. So much was the hype behind Titanic that it was commonly regarded as the unsinkable ship (Ziakas 109). By building the ship, the company had made set the benchmark for the trend in luxurious ships. The massive size of Titanic also increased the pride that came along with the ship since it was the biggest at the time. This intense over confidence in the success of the ship contributed majorly to the disaster, since adequate preventive measures were not put in place. The sinking of the ship had massive impact on the parent company, White Star Line, as illustrated in this report. The White Star Line refers to a ship building company which originally made traditional sailing ships that travelled from UK to Australia in the 1860s. The company majored on this route due to gold in Australia. This venture turned out to be very competitive hence it merged with other rival companies. The company merged with other companies such as The Black Ball and The Eagle Lines of ship (Butler 104). Under this partnership, the first White Star Line ship was launched in August 1870. The ship, known as Oceanic, was a break from the norm with its size, appearance and a host of other innovations. It was to be the world’s first true super liner and it gained popularity from all corners of the world. Later that year, the company launched three other identical ships, known as Atlantic, Republic and Baltic. In the following year, the company launched another ship, slightly larger than