Life is a Gift Essay

Life is a gift. It is an honor; a spark; an excitement. We all have a world of our own. A wise author, Albert Camus, once stated, â€Å"you will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life† (Albert Camus). Life is about living to your fullest abilities; why waste our time looking for the meaning of each breath we take? Each person is a part of life. Each life has a world of its own. I believe that the meaning of life, defined by Victor E. Frankl, is to find meaning in our own life. Each and every person on this planet has a meaning to his own life, and is a unique and independent individual. And so, the question comes along, â€Å"Who am I? † The answer is I. I am who I am, and not one person can ever change that. My life is exceedingly meaningful, and is made up of a series of rituals, experiences, a plentiful amount of mistakes, and many various emotions. According to the article, The Rite of Passage, a ritual â€Å"help[s] us understand the changes in our lives and give meaning to experiences† we undergo. Rituals express who we are today, as well as the sum total of our actions, feelings, and thoughts that makes each person in this world, a single, individual person. An example of a major ritual and life-changing event in the Odyssey is the trial of the bow. During this scene, a disguised Odysseus surpassed a difficult task, as he without effort strung the challenging bow. Odysseus, after laying the arrow on the arch, shot the mighty bow â€Å"with careful aim, not miss[ing] an axe’s ring from first to last† (Homer 2011). This scene makes a change in not only Odysseus’s life, but also his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope. The trial of the bow is an important Rite of Passage, offering significance to each one of their lives. Just like Odysseus, I have progressed through a numerous amount of rituals, along with experiences, mistakes, truths and actions, all leading up to the fourteen year old girl I am today. Although each person has a different opinion on what surrounds us, I believe the nature of the universe is full of the unknown. The world is a scary place to be in, it encloses us in, with nothing but mystery. It is a frightening thing, to move on with your life not knowing what will happen in the next few moments, but that is what life is all about; the unknown. We surround ourselves with questions that can never be answered; yet we need to learn to live life in the present, not thinking about the future with every step we take. No one in this world is fearless, in fact, according to H. L. Mencken, â€Å"The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear – fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety† (H.L. Mencken). In agreement to Mencken, nothing in this world is safe; we waste seconds; minutes; hours; even days worrying about our fears. Worrying about our fears of the unknown. I believe we can’t relate to this unknown universe, however, we can live with it. Instead of waking up each day wondering what the unknown is, we need to wake up everyday focusing on what we do know, and interpreting that information into what we understand. In order to find the meaning in our lives, we each need control over our lives. I control my life one hundred percent. I make me own decisions, choose my individual actions, and control my responses. We have complete control over our own lives. However, the one think we do not have control over is other people’s actions and decisions. Although we have the power in our individual lives, others may influence our judgments, choices, and conclusions. All of these factors affect whom we are, along with the fact that we can’t control others reactions, which may cause poor influence on us. For example, in the novel, The Odyssey, Odysseus sails a long journey home, facing many distractions, challenges, and adventures. He encounters many different monsters that stop him in his path, including Cyclops, The Sirens, and Poseidon. Although Odysseus can control his actions, and the way he fights, he has a weakness when it comes to his opponents. Just like Odysseus, we can control our actions and responses, but when it comes to having others involves, we have no control over how they can act and make their choices. Living life freely, with no regrets, and accomplishing all of our goals. That is a satisfying life. Taking risks, without worrying, loving ourselves, being happy with our achievements, and experiencing all different emotions is what life is all about. A variety of different feelings occur throughout our lives; we need happiness, excitement, fears, anger, and even tears to lead a fulfilling life. In the independent reading novel, entitled Speak; Melinda Sordino writes about emotions and feelings, â€Å"When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time† (Anderson 58). Melinda believes the reasons people need to express themselves is because everyone needs to experience all kinds of emotions in order to interact and stay alive. In the Odyssey, Both Odysseus and Telemachus are involved by an overwhelming amount of emotions. Without the emphasis of their feelings without the novel, the story would have much less meaning and would not be as dramatic. Emotions add to our everyday conversations and feelings towards each other. We need them to live a satisfying, enjoyable life. I believe, in order to find the meaning of my life, I need to sit back, relax, and let the question answer itself. In order to survive, and live for as long as possible, I have to enjoy my life in the present. Not be thinking about the future, and where life is going to take me; but live life as it is brought to me, rather then bringing myself to my life. By being patient and letting my life come to me as time goes on, I am sure to survive for a longer, happier, and more exciting period of time. Yet, at the conclusion to each person’s life, the certainty of death must strike. Getting ourselves ready for this unpredictable day is very easy, as long as we’ve accomplished everything that we have set out to achieve, death may appear whenever it feels the need to. It is a misfortunate thing, though, as some deaths develop so quickly and suddenly, we do not have time to say our goodbyes. Nor do the victims have time to achieve their goals, and pass on wishes. An example of a sudden death is in the novel entitles Lost for Words, by Alice Kuipers. In the story, Sophie’s older sister died traumatically in a sudden train bombing. Due to the death, it ripped Sophie’s family apart. They stopped talking to each other, and everything became awkward between her and her mother. Because of the unpredictable death at such a young age, her sister was, sorrowfully, not ready for her time to come. She may have not achieved her goals in life, and got to take as many risks as life leads her too, making it an even bigger tragedy for Sophie and her family. There were a number of dreadful deaths in the Odyssey as well. These included Odysseus’ crew, Odysseus’ mother, and many suitors. From reading all of these disastrous scenes and stories about death, I have learned that in order to reconcile myself for the inevitability of death, I need to start living my life with many risks, and no regrets. By living my life without any doubts, and enjoying my life in the present, I can be sure to live a long, satisfying life, ready for the fate of death for whenever it decides to doom on me. I believe the meaning of life, is to find meaning in our own, individual lives. By waiting for life to come to me, and enjoying the present in a way of happiness, enjoyment, and risks, I can be sure to eventually come to a full understanding of why I am here, living today. Each life has a world of its own, and each person his own life. Each person in this world will have a different story to share, and a different meaning and impact on our world today.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay

Hamlet is a story by William Shakespeare written in 1599. This story is about Prince Hamlet’s struggles after his father’s death. Hamlet seeks revenge from his uncle for his father’s death. His uncle, Claudius sees Hamlet as a threat to his power, so he attempts to get rid of him. Unfortunately, his plan backfires, and the whole royal family dies, including Hamlet. An animated children’s Disney movie, The Lion King created in 1994, reflects Hamlet. The Lion King starts with a lion cub, Simba, who is learning the responsibilities of a king. Scar, Simba’s uncle has the desire to become the king. In order, to fulfill his dream, Scar kills king Mufasa and blames Simba. Scared and guilty Simba runs away, but returns soon after to take over his responsibility and become king. The Lion King is like a reproduction of the play Hamlet. The stories are similar and different in many ways. Here I have listed a few of many. The Hamlet and The Lion King have a lot in similar. In both of the stories, the uncle is the villain who seeks power. Simba and Hamlet both lose their fathers to what they believe is an unfortunate accident. Both of the main characters seek revenge for their father’s death and eventually kill their uncles. They are both from a royal family and the rightful heir to the throne. The characters are very similar and so is the plot. The queens, Sarabi and Gertrude have little to no power in the kingdom. Scar and Claudius are portrayed as cold and evil. Simba and Hamlet are presented as thoughtful, intelligent and emotional. Although the stories are known to have similarities, they have a lot of differences too. The most prominent difference is that Hamlet dies at the end of Hamlet, whereas the Lion King has a happy ending. Simba marries Nala and has a baby. In the Lion King, Simba is framed for Mufasa’s death so he chooses to run away, however, in Hamlet, Claudius orders Hamlet to go to England. Claudius rules pretty well, he does not ruin the kingdom like Scar. After his father’s death, Simba lives a carefree life for some years, whereas Hamlet is depressed, and on the verge of madness. Also, in Hamlet Polonius is Ophelia’s father, however in the Lion King, Zazu is not related to Nala. The differences are what make the stories unique. Disney recreated Shakespeare’s Hamlet into an animated children’s movie to make it suitable for children. They could have copied all of it, but then kids would not have liked it. The language of Hamlet is difficult to understand, whereas the Lion King uses modern words. Lion King creators did not kill Simba in the end because kids like to see happy endings. Movies created for kids should not be depressing. They put a family feeling in the movie, so more people would watch it and they would make more profit. The Lion King had a moral, like other Disney movies. Here the moral was, you have to learn to step up and keep moving forward, instead of running from your past. In my opinion, both of the stories were quite entertaining and well thought of. Disney did a great job with changing the story. They kept the major similarities but changed Shakespeare’s work into their own words. Hamlet’s tragic ending and The Lion King’s delightful ending make them remarkable. They are stories worth knowing.

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Corporate finance - Essay Example For banks, on the other hand, it was a bitter-sweet experience. Before the euro, they easily handled 15 different west European currencies and interest rates, and made good money out f trading cash, securities and derivatives for customers and for their own book. On January 1st 1999, when 11 currencies were irrevocably fixed against each other (the 12th, the Greek drachma, joined the euro two years later), ten out f 15 currencies vanished from traders' screens. Many European banks lost a chunk f their income. The consolation was that, at a stroke, wholesale financial markets in Europe became much more integrated and more interesting for non-European investors. This caused much rebalancing f investment portfolios, because shares, bonds, loans and derivatives could be bought across the euro zone without additional currency or interest-rate risk. On the wholesale side, the integration f European financial markets has been a resounding success. But on the retail side--bank accounts, payments, mortgages, insurance policies and personal investments--the process has hardly begun. One strong sign that there is little convergence is the scarcity f cross-border banking mergers. So far there has been only one significant one, the purchase f Abbey National, Britain's sixth-biggest bank, by Banco Santander Central Hispano f Spain. One medium-sized French bank, Crdit Commercial de France, was bought by Britain's HSBC in 2000, and in the same year Germany's HypoVereinsbank bought Bank Austria. In Italy, another Spanish bank, BBVA, looks likely to succeed in its bid for Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, and ABN Amro f the Netherlands has been battling to take over Banca Antonveneta. Apart from some cross-border bank consolidation in the Benelux and Scandinavian countries, that is as far as integration in western Europe has got. In central and eastern Europe, it is a different story. Since the early 1990s, large swathes f the banking sector there have been privatised and ended up in foreign hands. That has brought immediate benefits in terms f safety and soundness, fresh capital, innovation and integrity, although some economists are alarmed by the long-term implications. Why the east-west split Ask the head f a big west European bank why he has not bought up a rival in, say, France, Germany or Italy, and he will give two reasons. First, political and legal barriers to entry act as a disincentive. About half f the French banking system is still in public hands, and a foreigner would find it politically tricky to buy one f the three biggest banks, Crdit Agricole Lyonnais, Socit Gnrale or BNP Paribas. In Germany, an even higher proportion f banks are in public or mutual hands, which means they are simply not for sale. There is a handful f private banks, but their share f the banking market is too small to give a foreign buyer critical mass. In Italy, several f the big banks are theoretically open to takeover, but real or perceived political barriers have discouraged foreign bids until recently. The second reason for not buying is that, in contrast to domestic mergers, the expected cost savings and economies f scale are rather modest. Domestic mergers benefit from the closure f branches and cuts in the number f employees and other fixed costs. Cross-border mergers are likely to bring only a few savings from the eventual integration f IT systems, back offices and perhaps the

Unit Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Unit Journal - Essay Example Indeed, the economic integration through liberalization of trade and de-regulation by the states has redefined global economy in terms of inter-dependency of resources. Most importantly, it is designed towards more equitable distribution of resources vis-Ã  -vis goods and human capital across the geographical boundaries. Role of non state actors is emphasized in conflict resolution, negotiation process and raising issues that influence common interests like international peace, environment and sustainable development, human rights, financial aid etc. The barriers in cooperation develop due to exigencies and political dichotomy within the states and nexus between goals of non state actors and international trade (Gourevitch, 2002). The external factors like socio-economic, political and environment have huge impact on trade. They create a nexus between the non state actors and issues that considerably impact civil society. Stiglitz (2007) says that interests of nations are compromised by the American hegemony in the international financial institutes like World Bank and IMF. NGOs mostly use social concerns to influence international trade policies and methods of operations. As such, major barrier to cooperation occurs when the wider interests of the society are threatened by the vested interests of the few like TNCs and international agencies and financial institutions which are influenced by powerful nations like America. (words: 302) Within the broader precinct of security, the national and international policies that address the factors which are threat to people and climate, have emerged as vital issues in international relations. Climate security is intrinsically linked to human security (ipcc, 2008). The limited natural resources like water, land and fresh air are being taken for granted with scarce regard for

Governance of international football Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Governance of international football - Essay Example To logically comprehend the gist of the topic, it is mandatory to understand the concept of governance, a word quite in vogue in the contemporary world. One of the reasons behind the adoption of governance through different fields like international relations, politics and sports is because of the space of authority and need of monitory force in every aspect of human life. Stated differently, no field in the scene of human existence is devoid of the need for controlling and managing forces. The concept of governance has gone through a constant phase of transition through the passage of time. Previously reckoned as the responsibility of a solitary authoritative body, governance today stands for a collaborative work of local authorities, public departments and voluntary organizations. This changing concept of governance is based on the notion of governance as a steering force which means that the responsibilities of governing bodies keep changing and the modern way of governing is by the delegation of responsibilities rather than the concentration of the duties in a single authoritative body. The second approach of governance that focuses governance as networks also opposes the concentration of power to a single entity and favours the positive relationships among organizations (Heacademy: 2007). Governance of Sports: Background: The emergence of governance concept in sports is followed by a number of factors. It was necessarily because of certain flaws witnessed in the governance of sports at different times that led to the attention drawn towards increasing importance of governance of international sports including football. Some of the noticeable flaws of governance in past include the continued confusion is coming up to any decision for the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium. Similarly, the world of football is not devoid of such shortcomings of governing bodies in the recent past as it is clear by the failed bid for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals (Heacademy: 2007, p.2) Introduction to Governance of Sports: Aart Kraay elucidates the concept of governance in different scenarios. If applied to the world of sports, governance means the set up by which the authority in any sport is exercised. The process involves the recruitment and monitoring of governing bodies, ability of the authority to implement the policies made for the concerned sport and the respect of members from different countries participating in the sport (2006, p.1). Since the world of sports is wide ranged, different organizational bodies assigned to different sports are designed to govern a specific sport or group of sports. FIFA and UEFA: Since the topic delves into the workings of FIFA and UEFA in terms of governance, it is essential to build a basic

Drugs and the effect it has on people in the U.S. And how it plays out Essay

Drugs and the effect it has on people in the U.S. And how it plays out in the media - Essay Example the check of drugs and their illegal use, there are many people who are either associated with the business of illegal drug trading, or are directly indulged in the bad habit of taking drugs. There have been many attempts to check the illegal trading and use of drugs, but the problem still persists due to some complex reasons. In today’s modern societies like that of America, people are facing various social and psychological problems. In such situation there is a higher risk of depressed people, getting involved in such devastating habits. According to the government’s â€Å"2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health†, over 22 million people, in America (about 9% of the total American population) is addicted to drugs. (Cooper) And the most bothering aspect of the issue is that the numbers are increasing day by day. With an exception of last one or two years (drug abuse Rate for 2010 was slightly higher than that of 2009 and a percentage point one higher than that of 2008) there has been a noticeable increase in the number of drug addicts in America. With the increase in this number, more part of society is being disabled and paralyzed. This has caused lot damage to economy and society. According to some old surveys, â€Å"in 1999, Americans spent $63.2 billion on illicit drugs: $37 billion on cocaine, $12 billion on heroin, $10.2 billion on marijuana, and $4 billion on other drugs.† (â€Å"Who are American’s drug users?†) The amount of such data in statics of drug users is rising continuously. The most harassing aspect of the issue is that the increasing numbers of drug addicts not only cause economical loss to U. S., but also causes social problems in the community. Today, more and more part of the community is being completely paralyzed by the promotion of drugs and their abuse. With the increase in number of drug addicts, there is a need of more funds and budget, that can be spend on controlling drug abuse. The American government has to concentrate on

A first draft of the story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A first draft of the story - Essay Example Despite her circumstances, Constance brought her children up with the strong determination to make them get better lives. The children in turn worked hard. Being used to difficulties, they were able to help their mother as they went to school. They helped her until they were able to find their wings. Now, they are all successful. Her first daughter became a doctor and married a British doctor and they decided to raise their family in Europe. Another went to California to be raise her own family and the last son chose the easy and lazy life. she knows that her son is just around the corner but she seldom sees him. Her strength is drained. Her feet cannot carry her anymore to places she would want to go in search of her son. All she can do now is drag herself to the welfare building when winter arrives so that she would be sure to have something to eat. A lot of things changed in her seventy years of existence but she thinks nothing has changed at

Discuss the use of errors in The Brothers Menaechmus to produce Essay

Discuss the use of errors in The Brothers Menaechmus to produce comedy. Do you agree with Plautus that Mistakes are funny - Essay Example Comedy in The Brothers Menaechmus The comedy that is a part of The Brothers Menaechmus has as its principal source, the errors that the characters that are a part of the play commit. The play revolves around a case of mistaken identity, where identical looks are mistaken for the same identity. The play, through comedy and laughter, forces the readers to rethink their ideas about appearance and reality and the fragile nature of an identity that is based solely on appearances. Plautus tries to redefine the limits that were traditionally assigned to comedy as merely a means of eliciting laughter and tries to take it beyond. However, the play tends to mostly do so through a derisive treatment of the women characters. There is also a subversive element in the play; one that is brought about by the resourcefulness that the slave displays, something that wins him his freedom. The principal error in the play leads to a lot of complications within the plot. It however, allows for the producti on of comedy, as the trope of the mistaken identity creates a lot of situations where the audience shares a certain piece of knowledge with the playwright that the other characters do not. This leads to a situation where the errors are funny. If a situation had to arise where the audience too was in the dark regarding the action in the play, then the play would create situations of suspense.

An Article on Facebook from the Times of India Essay Example for Free

An Article on Facebook from the Times of India Essay For once, I was ahead of the curve, and, having rarely been in this exalted place, I can tell you it feels good. The backlash against Facebook, the social networking site, has begun, with rumblings of discontent being heard from distant corners of the globe. Word is going round that it is time-wasting, trivial, and a pathetic substitute for meeting friends in person. This is precisely what I have been saying to my friends all along but they used to recoil in horror as though declining to open a Facebook account was like refusing to bathe. They muttered darkly about certain people being pig-headed. I was reated like a Luddite, vainly holding out against penicillin or the electric kettle. Every time i asked them what exactly was so wonderful about this site, they gave the same feeble answers. Oh, its a great way to keep in touch. You can post your photos on it. Through the links to other peoples pages, you can see what your ex-boyfriends or ex-husbands are up to. Well, according to me, this is a waste of time. I can barely keep in touch with the friends who really matter to me four to five at the most, at any given stage in my life much less maintain an online relationship with old college friends or colleagues from years ago. If one has never bothered to make contact with them in all these years, its because one has never needed or particularly wanted to. It means that they dont matter hugely to me now. They did then, but now im in touch with another set of friends. My life is full enough with them. If one has a spare few hours, one would rather meet a friend over coffee or wine. That real-time, face-to-face conversation is contact, not exchanging trivia online. Why would i want to see a friends holiday snaps when i can barely summon up enough interest in my own to get them developed? Few things, bar waiting for milk to boil, are as boring as other peoples holiday pictures. Much as i love my friends in various parts of the world, im perfectly content with a broad brush update. An occasional e-mail telling me they are fine, their teenage son hasnt become a drug dealer and their dogs arthritis is better is fine with me. Any more detail is redundant. I assume they are equally uninterested in the daily mundaneness of my life and that is exactly as it should be. Even assuming i wanted to sign up, i would never have the time. If i, blessed with two maids and only one child to look after, cannot find the time to go on this site, how do millions of others, particularly those in the West who have many household chores, do so? hurry! No wonder companies are banning this site. God knows what it is doing to global productivity. But even outside work, dont people have to walk the dog? Check up on an elderly aunt? File their tax returns? The Facebook phenomenon has confirmed yet again what we have always known that human beings are sheep. They see someone going off in one direction and they follow blindly for no apparent reason beyond the comfort of numbers. All my efforts at persuading my 12-year-old son not to get onto Facebook failed. I spoke cogently about the charm of being different, of having the moral strength to resist peer pressure, of the infinitely greater pleasures of reading, but my efforts failed. His school friends looked at him as though he had gone soft in the brain. As for twitter, dont even get me started. The very name cutesy and twee irritates the hell out of me. Facebook and twitter are fads. Like all fads, theyll end up in the dustbin, not of history, but of historys footnotes.

Early Western Philosophy of Religion Essay Example for Free

Early Western Philosophy of Religion Essay of the classical three laws of rational thinking. Claiming that every proposition is either true or not true, the first law summarily excludes the possibility of a middle-of-the-road alternative between two extremes. The second law states that it is not possible for something to be both true and not true at once and in the same contextual framework. The third law ascribes specific traits to everything. In other words, no two things are similar to each other (De Riemer, 2009). Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the torchbearers of the Gregorian mission, challenged the validity of the law of the excluded middle by raising questions about the moment of death, when a person is alive and yet to die. Such a brief transition, according to him, does not conform to the basic assumption stated in the law of the excluded middle, for the dying instance falls in a temporal void where this law is nonfunctional (Stump Kretzmann, 2001, p. 112). He, however, supported the law of noncontradiction on the basis of having certitude of knowledge about a given statement. Thus, he argued that â€Å"If there is one sun, there are not two† (Ibid, p. 163). In a way, Augustine endorsed inductive reasoning to substantiate his viewpoints on the foundational laws of thought. However, when it came to analyzing the law of identity, he discarded epistemological reasoning and embraced the core of Christian worldviews. The law of intrinsic essence of every being was, according to his opinion, a hypothesis that is relative to the monistic identity of the highest form of Being, e. g. God Himself. In other words, it is possible to develop collective identity given that it finds a stake similar to God’s image (Ibid, p. 87). Cosmological accounts of creation have been put forward by many of the early as well as modern thinkers. Various scientific theories have proved beyond doubt that our universe is not infinite. This proposition is tempting enough to ask what lies beyond the periphery. St. Thomas Aquinas, the medieval theologian and one of the seminal thinkers of his time, argued vociferously in favor of God’s existence on a cosmic level. His magnum opus Summa Theologiae is considered to be one of the treasure troves of philosophical treatises on creationism. Aquinas takes natural theology as the starting point of his argument. For nature, laws of existence are not rigid. It is possible for natural things to be born and destroyed, implying that everything is and is not at the same time. But it is truly impossible for anything to outlast its own expiration. What this means is that any form of existence is preceded by another form and that this chain continues backward till the creation of something that served independent of its own necessity for the sake of its succeeding creations. That something is nothing but what we believe as God (Meister, 2009, p. 67). I, despite being an atheist, strongly endorse the line of reasoning Aquinas used to prove God’s existence. He arrived at his intended position by means of teleological assumptions and subsequent cancellations – if A is true, A cannot be not true. This method of double negation, I believe, holds the secret to success of his originative theological account. References De Reimer, H. T. (2009). Infallible Logic, A Visible and Automatic System of Reasoning. Charleston, South Carolina: BiblioBazaar, LLC. Meister, C. (2009). Introducing Philosophy of Religion. New York: Taylor Francis. Stump, E. , Kretzmann, N. (2001). The Cambridge companion to Augustine. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Environmental Impact of Fossil Fuels

Environmental Impact of Fossil Fuels The pollution of large combustion plants comes from fossil fuel such as: coal, oil (petroleum) and natural gas Fossil fuel: have been formed from the remains of organisms which lived hundred of millions of years a go. There are three main types of fossil fuel: Coil, oil (petroleum) and natural gas. Coil was formed from the remains of tree and plants which grew in swamps. Oil it is formed from the sea, the sea contains many tiny animals and plants called plankton, they get their energy to live and multiply from sunlight. When they die they sink to the bottom of the sea. Those that died millions of years ago, form oil and gas which are the main sources of fuel. Natural gas is mainly made up of methane, which is given off by anaerobic bacteria breaking down some of the organic matter which formed oil and coal. Fossil fuels are burned to producing energy, Pollution is defined as the contamination of air, water or soil by materials that interfere with human health, the quality of life, or the natural functioning of ecosystems. Air pollution is the pollution of the atmosphere by emissions from industrial plants, incinerators, internal combustion engines and other sources. Pollutants can be classified as either primary or secondary. Primary pollutants are substances directly produced by a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption or the carbon monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust. Secondary pollutants are not emitted. Rather, they form in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. An important example of a secondary pollutant is ozone-one of the many secondary pollutants that make up photochemical smog. (Pepper, I.L C.P Gerba M. L Brusseau. 1996) Source Large combustion Plants refers to the coal power station, Oil refinery, natural gas processing plant and others Coal power plant Coal is composed of carbon, sulphur, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. In a coal power station pollutants are formed by the burning of the fossil fuel coal. Burning coal at high temperature will produce oxides of nitrogen. Inside the coal are compounds of sulphur and nitrogen. These originate from the dead organisms that make up the coal. When the coal is burnt the Sulphur and Nitrogen is oxidised producing SOX and NOX, which are released into the atmosphere as primary pollutants. The NOX produced from combusting the Nitrogen in the coal is called fuel NOX. There is also NOX produced by the combustion of Oxygen and Nitrogen in the air. This is known as thermal NOX.  (Peirce, J.F R.F.Weiner P.A. Vesilind.1998) When a fuel burns, it reacts with oxygen to form oxides.   If the fuel burns completely, then all the carbon in it is turned into carbon dioxide which is slightly acidic.   If there is not much air available, the carbon may be turned into carbon monoxide, which is a very poisonous gas. The main primary pollutants created by a coal fired power station are NOx, SOx and VOCs. Sulphur oxides are created from the burning of the coal. Coal naturally contains sulphur, the amount of which varies depending on which organisms created the coal. When the coal is burnt, so also is the sulphur. When a fuel burns, it reacts with oxygen to form oxides.  If the fuel burns completely, then all the carbon in it is turned into carbon dioxide which is slightly acidic.   If there is not much air available, the carbon may be turned into carbon monoxide, which is a very poisonous gas. The carbon dioxide released by the coal power plant causes climate change and global warming, coal fire power plants are the main contributor to co2 in the air. Proteins in living organisms contain nitrogen. When coal burns, Nox is formed in the following ways: When nitrogen bound in the coal is released and combines with oxygen to form fuel Nox.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  When high combustion temperatures break apart stable nitrogen molecules in the air which then recombine with oxygen to form thermal NOx.    Primary pollutants formed in a coal fired power plants are: Nox formed at high temperature and pressure of the combustion causes the atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen to react. VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) produced when unburnt hydrocarbons are released through the chimney of the furnace. Carbon monoxide is a gas formed as a by-product during the incomplete combustion of all fossil fuels. Exposure to carbon monoxide can cause headaches and place additional stress on people with heart disease.   Sulphur dioxide mostly comes from the burning of coal or oil in power plants. Sulphur dioxide reacts in the atmosphere to form acid rain and particles.  And is also a major contributor to photochemical smog. Nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides are important constituents of acid rain. These gases combine with water vapour in clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids, which become part of rain and snow. As the acids accumulate, lakes and rivers become too acidic for plant and animal life. (Peirce, J.F R.F.Weiner P.A. Vesilind.1998)             Impact Coal Fired Power Stations Coal-fired power stations are major sources of pollution. The extensive use of coal is because there is a lot of it around. Although it produces pollutants coal is an important fuel for some considerable time to come.   A coal-fired power station has three main inputs: coal, cooling water pure water to use in steam turbines. The main outputs are electricity, waste heat, CO2, SOx, NOx and ash. Fossil fuels are also linked to the decrease of air quality. Clean air is essential to life and good health. Several important pollutants are produced by fossil fuel combustion: carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, and hydrocarbons. In addition, total suspended particulates contribute to air pollution, and nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons can combine in the atmosphere to form tropospheric ozone, the major constituent of smog. Coal-fired power stations are responsible for the diffusion of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere must be carefully balanced to maintain the greenhouse effect, which is what keeps the surface of the earth warm enough to support life. Like all things in nature a change in one part of the environment can result in changes in another.    The effect of increased greenhouse gases in the environment is that the temperature of the atmosphere is expected to increase. It is predicted by some scientists that this temperature increase could result in the following: The destruction of ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef. A change in the worlds weather patterns, resulting in an increase in both intensity and frequency of storms, cyclones, floods and droughts. The melting of glaciers and polar ice. Rising sea levels resulting in the permanent flooding of vast areas. Economies may be affected by the destruction of crops and industry.   The effect of releasing gaseous acids into the atmosphere, as a result of modern lifestyles, results in Acid Rain and more serious Global Warming. The effects of global warming is of such great concern that many nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.   Mining the coal that is to be used in the generation of electricity results in the destruction of the environment. Water systems can be threatened from the run-off as a result of the washing of coal. The pollution that is caused by the means of acid rain can have a variety of effects on the environment that are mostly negative such as; acid rain being a form of chemical weathering on buildings that are constructed from limestone or marble.   Acid rain can also contaminate water supplies by dissolving the lead and copper pipes which transport the water to houses and other buildings. Another effect of acid rain is the pollution that is caused on lakes and reservoirs killing most of the wildlife, this includes trees plants and animal habitats    Acid rain also affects rivers and lakes, as the acidity levels go up, the pH level falls. With the pH of water below 4.5 most fish will die, this will have a detrimental effect on wildlife as if the fish die the birds that feed on the fish will also die. SOx emissions All living organisms contain compounds of sulphur which are the origin of the sulphur found in coal. When coal burns, the sulphur compounds are converted to oxides of sulphur. Sulphur Dioxide exposure can affect people who suffer from asthma or emphysema by making it more difficult to breathe. It can also irritate peoples eyes, noses, and throats. Sulphur dioxide can harm trees and crops, damage buildings, and make it harder for people to see long distance. NOx Emissions The flue gases in the power station contain oxides of nitrogen (NOx). This is because fuels contain compounds of nitrogen formed from the proteins contained in organisms. When the fuel is burnt, these nitrogen compounds are oxidised to form fuel NOx .At the high temperature of combustion, atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen combine to form thermal   NOx High levels of nitrogen dioxide exposure can give people cough and can make them fell short of breath. People who are exposed to nitrogen dioxide for long time have a higher chance of getting respiration infection. Acid rain can hurt plants and animals, and can make lakes dangerous to swim or fish in Nitrogen dioxide also reacts with the oxygen or hydrocarbons in the presence of sunlight to form an irritating photochemical. Carbon monoxide carbon monoxide makes it hard for body parts to get the oxygen they need to run correctly. Exposure to carbon monoxide makes people fell dizzy and tired and gives them headaches. Ozone near the ground can cause a number of health problems. Ozone can lead to more frequent asthma attacks in people who have asthma and can cause sore throats, cough breathing difficult. It may even lead to premature death. Ozone can also hurt plants and crops. When the ozone in the stratosphere is destroyed, people are exposed to more radiation from the sun (ultraviolet radiation). This can lead to skin cancer and eye problems. Higher ultraviolet radiation can also harm plants and animals    Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): causes eye irritation, respiratory irritation, some are carcinogenic, and decreased visibility due to blue-brown haze Advantages Very large amounts of electricity can be generated in one place using coal, fairly cheaply. Transporting oil and gas to the power stations is easy. Gas-fired power stations are very efficient. A fossil-fuelled power station can be built almost anywhere, so long as you can get large quantities of fuel to it. Didcot power station, in Oxfordshire, has its own rail link to supply the coal. Disadvantages Coal is not a renewable resource. Coal-fire power stations create pollution. Mining coal damages the environment. During the production of electricity carbon dioxide is released, increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The main drawback of fossil fuel is pollution. Burning any fossil fuel produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to the greenhouse effect warming the Earth. Burning coal produces more carbon dioxide than burning oil or gas. It also produces sulphur dioxide, a gas that contributes to acid rain. this can be reduced before releasing the waste gases into atmosphere. Mining coal can be difficult and dangerous. Strip mining destroy large areas of the landscape. Coal-power stations need huge amounts of fuel, which means train-loads of coal almost constantly. In order to cope with changing demands for power, the station needs reserves. This means covering a large area of countryside next to the power station with piles of coal Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide are also produced in these emissions and can produce acid rain. (Peirce, J.F R.F.Weiner P.A. Vesilind.1998) Monitoring Pollution Pollution is measured to ensure that the air quality are not exceeded Monitoring air pollution When monitoring air pollution it is important to know or decide what pollutants are to be monitored, where they should be monitored, what instruments are to be used for that purpose and what kind of weather base needs to be collected, and it is also important to figure out how many stations are necessary to meet this goal. Carbon monoxide is typically measured by using an infrared gas analyzer. With this instrument the absorption of infrared radiation by carbon monoxide in the sample air stream is compared with absorption in a reference gas of known carbon monoxide concentration. This method allows continuous non-destructive measurement of carbon monoxide in the sampled air Sulphur dioxide is generally measured by ultraviolet emission spectrometers. This approach is based on the principle that sulphur dioxide emits a measurable flux of radiation when irradiated with intense UV from a light source in the spectrometer. Nitrogen oxides are measured by chemiluminescence. Tow sequential chemical reactions involving ozone are used. First, NO is measured, then NO2. Infrared radiation is emitted during oxidation of NO to NO2 by ozone introduced into the instrument. The amount of radiation produced is proportional to the NO concentration in the air stream. To measure NO2, a catalyst is used to reduce all NO2 in the air stream to NO, whose subsequence reaction with ozone permits the indirect determination of NO2 Ozone concentration are generally measured by using a UV absorption spectrophotometer, although chemiluminescent-type instruments are also used. Various no-methane hydrocarbons are measured using such instruments as a gas chromatograph. Hydrocarbons are generally more difficult to measure than most other pollutants, and often require greater operator involvement in the measurement process (Pepper, I.L C.P Gerba M. L Brusseau. 1996) Monitoring of air quality has been undertaken by scientists for several years. The air taken into the sampler is drawn first through a white filter paper, on which any smoke present leaves a deposit as a stain a; greater or lesser blackness. It then passes through a reagent solution which traps any sulphur dioxide present and converts it to sulphuric acid. After a weeks sampling the seven sets of smoke stain and reagent bottle are brought to the laboratory for analysis. The smoke is determined by measuring instrumentally the loss of reflectance of the once-white filter papers, the reflectance values being convened into equivalent smoke concentrations from a standard calibration graph. The sulphur dioxide is measured by careful titration of the very weak acid solutions, followed by calculation of the results. They also monitor air quality throughout the district, using diffusion tubes and the air quality monitoring station. Contaminated land is a key project for the service, with the production of a contaminated land strategy. Monitoring gaseous emissions from soil and land fill Soils play an important role in controlling back ground concentrations of most air pollutants. Soil can either emit or take up from the atmosphere many trace gases, including NOx, N2O, CO2, and CH4. In general there are three different approaches to measure gas fluxes between soil, and the atmosphere and these are: Chamber approaches, micrometeorological approaches, and soil profile approaches. Monitoring of tropospheric pollutants    When monitoring tropospheric pollutants, an important step is to know which pollutants are present in the troposphere and how their concentrations vary. Chemists monitor the concentrations of tropospheric pollutants, to study patterns and learn about the rate at which certain reactions will take place in certain conditions    Studying individual reactions in the laboratory   To make predictions about pollution, chemists need to know what reactions take place and how quickly they occur. Many of these reactions involve broken down fragments of molecules called radicals. Reactions with radicals happen very quickly but other reactions happen very slowly. Chemists measure the length of time of these reactions to predict the rate at which a reaction will proceed for any set of conditions.    Modelling Studies      The information on rates of reactions is used in computer simulation studies to reproduce and predict the behaviour of pollutants during a smog episode. The more accurate the information used, the more closely the model simulates the observed behaviour.    Smog Chamber Solutions   These are laboratory experiments on a large scale. Primary pollutants are mixed in a huge clear plastic bag called a smog chamber and exposed to sunlight under carefully controlled conditions. Probes monitor the concentrations of various species as the photochemical smog builds up. The chamber has to be big to minimise any surface effects where the reactions take place on the walls of the container instead of the gas phase. Chemists monitor pollutants to find out exactly what pollutants are involved in smog formation, and how they vary in concentration. These changes in concentration can show changes in the atmosphere, for example the presence of sunlight.    Chemists study reactions to see which pollutants react with which. Most importantly, to see which radicals are formed where, because they are very reactive, and cause a lot of atmospheric reactions. The speed of these reactions needs to be measured to understand how fast substances are being made and destroyed.    Chemists can makes models of situations, to predict what will happen in the future. One such model is smog chamber simulations. These are huge plastic bags which are exposed to sunlight under controlled conditions. Analytical probes monitor the concentrations of different gases as the photochemical smog forms. Control One of the Methods for controlling air pollution include removing the hazardous material before it is used, removing the pollutant after it is formed, or altering the process so that the pollutant is not formed or occurs only at very low levels. Industrially emitted particulates may be trapped in cyclones, electrostatic precipitators, and filters. Pollutant gases can be collected in liquids or on solids, or incinerated into harmless substances.   The best way to control pollution is to control level of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere Using coal with low sulphur content    Power plants can use coal with low sulphur content.   As a result, less sulphur dioxide will be produced and the amount of sulphur dioxide in the flue gas will be significantly reduced.    Install scrubbers in power plants   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Power plants can install scrubbers to reduce the amount of sulphur dioxide in the flue gas.   The principle of how scrubbers can remove sulphur dioxide are given below:       Dry Scrubber   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Calcium oxide reacts with sulphur dioxide in the flue gas, forming insoluble calcium sulphite which is then filtered out in the flue gas.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚     Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   CaO(s) + SO2(g)   CaSO3(s)       Wet Scrubber   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Calcium oxide is first allowed to react with water, forming calcium hydroxide.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   CaO(s) + H2O(1)   Ca(OH)2(aq)   Calcium hydroxide then reacts with sulphur dioxide in the flue gas, forming water and calcium sulphite.   Calcium sulphite is then filtered out.      Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Ca(OH)2(aq) + SO2(g)   CaSO3(s) + H2O(1) (  Barret.R and F. Feates. 1994) Install electrostatic precipitator in power plants: Power plants can install electrostatic precipitator to reduce the amount of particulates in the flue gas.   Flue gas passes through the electrostatic precipitator.   The particulates in the flue gas are attracted by the electric field and then removed from the electrode.    Control the temperature in the combustion chamber: The amount of nitrogen oxides released can be reduced by reducing flame temperature and availability of oxygen in the combustion zone.   But the flame temperature cannot be too low, which would cause incomplete combustion and produce carbon monoxide.    The limestone process The other main way of reducing SOx emissions is to react them with calcium carbonate to produce gypsum for the building trade. This is a hassle as it has to compete with other brands, and be marketed. NOx emissions Coal fired power stations used to get the flames as hot as possible to increase the yield, but as the rate of reaction increases as temperature increases, the amount of thermal NOx (produced from the nitrogen and oxygen combining), increases to get the flames hottest the coal was powdered and mixed with an excess of air. Low NOx burners There is this type of burner, where the injection of air is controlled, so the flames are not as hot. This significantly lowers the production of NOx. Gas reburns The injection of ethane and methane (natural gas) reacts with NOx to produce nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapour. CH4 (g) + 4NO2 (g) à   2N2 (g) + CO2 (g) + 2H2O(g) Some of the alkanes will not react, and carbon monoxide is produced as a result of incomplete combustion. CH4 à   CO + H2O The alkanes and CO are then reacted with air to combust them completely. This oxidation is exothermic and so produces heat that contributes to the generation of electricity. (Barret.R and F. Feates. 1994) Conclusion Fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and natural gas, provide the energy that powers our lifestyles and our economy. One of the main uses of fossil fuels is: to generate electricity, fuel cars, and to heat or cool buildings Fossil fuel is one of humanitys most important sources of energy. Fossil fuel plays a major role in our economy and many of our current technology have been developed with fossil fuel in mind. However burning fossil fuel is damaging the Earths environment with the release of pollution to the atmosphere. In addition ecosystems are becoming damaged by the extraction of fossil fuel. Fossil fuels impact the environment greatly; carbon dioxide emissions contribute to harmful global warming and climate change. Inefficient burning of fossil fuels results in the production of carbon monoxide, which is a very harmful and poisonous gas.   Inhalation of this gas is likely to cause death as it interferes with the transport of oxygen in the blood stream Combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas produces gases such as nitrogen oxides, which cause acid rain.

The Triumph of Les Misérables Essay -- Les Misérables Miserables Essay

The Triumph of Les Misà ©rables    Les Misà ©rables (1862), a novel set in early nineteenth century France, presents a story of obsessions in honor, love, and duty, and through it redemption and salvation. It is the story of the poor Jean Valjean, condemned to an unfair amount of time in prison and a life on the run for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family. The kind act of forgiveness from a Bishop with whom Jean Valjean stays one night, changes the course in which he chooses to live his life. Under a different identity, he becomes wealthy from a business he starts and later is elected mayor of the small town of Montreuil. He falls madly in love with Fantine, one of the workers in his factory. Because Fantine, one of the very poorest and most pitiful residents of Montreuil, has a child born out of wedlock, Jean Valjean as the respected mayor must keep his love for her a secret. When Fantine dies unexpectedly, Jean Valjean vows he will raise her daughter Cosette, and shield her from all the evils in the wo rld. Through all of this, Jean Valjean is being pursued by Javert, a policeman whose entire life has been dedicated to finding Jean Valjean. While running from Javert, Jean Valjean and Cosette find themselves in Paris in the middle of the 1832 Revolution. As Cosette matures, she falls in love with Marius, a young revolutionist. Despite the objections of Jean Valjean, Cosette continues to secretly visit Marius at night. During the revolution, Marius is injured badly and Jean Valjean, after finding a love note from Marius to Cosette, quickly comes to the rescue of the wounded gentleman. Eventually Jean Valjean and Marius' Grandfather consent to the wedding of Cosette and Marius. In this novel, "there is a point at which... ...'s anguishes with obsession, help him to more effectively relate his novel, Les Misà ©rables, to the reader. In the book's ending, Jean Valjean dies knowing he is happy, content and prepared for his death. His adoration for Cosette has left her loving him and satisfied with the life he has helped her create. Before Jean Valjean dies, he says to Cosette and Marius, "I die happy. Let me put my hands upon you dear beloved heads" (399). Like Jean Valjean, Javert's obsessions rule his life, but with negative intentions rather than positive ones. Once Javert realizes his obsessions are nothing but empty promises, he too is empty and chooses to end his life. Three of the main characters of the story, find that their perseverance and obsession to have the life they wish for ends triumphantly. Bibliography Hugo, Victor. Les Misà ©rables. New York: Fawcett Premier. 1997.

Emerson’s Models of Nature Essay example -- Writing Literature Papers

Emerson’s Models of Nature The main concept which permeates the writing of Ralph Waldo Emerson is that â€Å"the fundamental context of our lives is nature† (Richardson, Jr., Emerson and Nature 97). Emerson presents his theory of nature and its relation to man in three essays spanning almost a decade: Nature (1836), â€Å"The Method of Nature† (1841) and â€Å"Nature† (1844). There are many common threads connecting these works. One of the most notable is Emerson’s belief in the interconnection between all things – between all natural phenomena as well as between nature and the soul. Also, there exists behind and beyond Nature a Spirit from which all things originate. It is the invisible which gives rise to the visible and embodies truth and beauty. Bringing these two ideas together, Emerson shows how it is possible for man to access this unseen world through nature by using the faculties Nature has bestowed upon him. However, during the years spanning the production of these works, Emerson’s conception of nature changes. The result is three distinctive theories of nature which shift in tone from Nature’s idealism, to the disillusionment of â€Å"The Method of Nature†, to the pragmatism of â€Å"Nature†. With each piece, Emerson is asking different questions which illustrate the fundamental ways in which his characterizations of nature have been altered. In Nature, his most thorough and concise treatise on the subject, he asks, â€Å"To what end is nature?† (1) In the very asking of the question, Emerson is stating his belief that Nature is ultimately knowable and its ends are many – it supplies humanity with what he calls commodity (â€Å"all those advantages which our senses owe to nature† (3)), beauty, language, discipline, spirit and prosp... ...do Emerson, Vol. I: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures. Alfred R. Ferguson and Robert E. Spiller, eds. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971. 117-137. Richardson, Jr., Robert D. â€Å"Emerson and Nature†. The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Joel Porte and Saundra Morris, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 97-105. Richardson, Jr., Robert D. Emerson: The Mind on Fire. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995. Tanner, Tony. â€Å"Emerson: The Unconquered Eye and the Enchanted Circle†. Critical Essays on Ralph Waldo Emerson. Robert E. Burkholder and Joel Myerson, eds. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co, 1983. 310-326. Yoder, R. A. â€Å"Emerson’s Dialectic†. Critical Essays on Ralph Waldo Emerson. Robert E. Burkholder and Joel Myerson, eds. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co, 1983. 354-367.

Features of bluetooth technology Essay

The logo for Bluetooth is based on Runes surrounding the legend of Harald Bluetooth. Bluetooth the technology is based on communications central to man’s own personal space. Fundamentally Bluetooth operates within the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band at 2. 4 GHz. It is a short-range wireless communication standard defined as cable replacement for a Personal Area Network (PAN) (see â€Å"Bluetooth†. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge, pp. 87-94). Figure 1 is the Bluetooth Logo. A cable replacement standard has been defined because cables limit mobility of the consumer; they are cumbersome to carry around, are easily lost or broken. Often connectors are prone to difficult to diagnose failures; or are proprietary. To counteract these limitations Bluetooth is designed to be light and portable. It can be embedded to take the riggers of physical knocks and shocks. It includes standards and protocols to make it mobile, robust, reliable and not limited to one manufacturer (see â€Å"Bluetooth†. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge, pp. 87-94). The operating band also fits the goals of Bluetooth, imposing requirements as a cable replacement. The cost needs to be comparable with cable. Reductions can be achieved by operating in the licence free 2. 4 GHz ISM band, keeping backward compatibility wherever possible lowers the cost of ownership by avoiding upgrades and having a relaxed radio specification enables single chip integrated circuit solutions. It also needs to be as reliable and resilient as cable and cope with errors and degradation caused by interference. For mobile devices it must be compact, lightweight, low power and easy to use (see â€Å"Bluetooth†. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge, pp. 87-94). A. 1 Frequency Hopping We have addressed the reasons for the Bluetooth without delving into the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the technology to discover how it operates. For the majority of countries the ISM band used by Bluetooth is available from 2. 40-2. 4835 GHz, although some countries impose restrictions. In this band Bluetooth uses Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) techniques in order to improve its immunity from interference (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). In unrestricted countries the radios hop in pseudo random sequences around all available channels, this equates to 79 RF channels with a channel spacing of 1 MHz. Starting at a base frequency of 2402 MHz then the frequency of the channels, f, can be expressed as: f =2402 + n MHz where, n, is the channel number with an integer value in the range of 0 to 78. In restricted countries a limited frequency hopping schemes with just 23 channels is used and is catered for in the Bluetooth specification. Both hopping schemes have a 1 MHz channel spacing making it possible to design a simple radio interface whereby the baseband only has to specify a channel number and the radio multiplies this up to the appropriate frequency offset (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). In this FHSS scheme there are 1600 hops per second, which is a hop every 625  µs. Part of this hop timing is taken up by the guard time of 220  µs allowing the synthesizer time to settle. The frequency hopping implements time division multiplexing as shown in Figure 2. The basis of the scheme has the Master device transmitting in the first 625 us slot, k, and here the Slave receives. In the next slot k = 1 the Slave is permitted to transmit and the master listens (see J.Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). Figure 2: Frequency Hopping, master and slave interact on corresponding slots The radio must be able to retune and stabilise on a new frequency within tight time constraints. This is pushed further when establishing a connection; the hop rate can be shortened to every 312. 5 us. As the radios are constantly hopping to different radio channels, this ensures that packets affected by interference on one channel can be retransmitted on a different frequency channel. To further enhance resilience both ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) and FEC (Forward Error Correction) form part of the specification (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). One drawback with the normal hop sequence is the time taken for production testing. Bluetooth ensures adequate frequency coverage with a test sequence allowing the radios to be tested at a faster rate (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall).

A Critique of “Who Needs College?” Essay

Meaghan O’Hare Professor Haytham Mahfoud LIBS-3003-02 September 22, 2013 A Critique of â€Å"Who Needs College?† In her essay â€Å"Who Needs College?† Linda Lee addresses the issue of whether or not a college education is necessary in order to have a successful life. Lee believes that too much importance is placed on going away to school and getting a degree when it is very possible to find a job and learn valuable life lessons without it. While many would strongly oppose her position on this topic, it has been proven time and time again by numerous individuals that a bright future is well within reach without having to obtain a degree. Going to college is considered to be one of the most important parts of a person’s adult life. Lee focuses on this unnecessary pedestal that the college experience is put on. Kids treat it as an excuse to party and do not place the same level of importance on it as their parents do. Lee had this realization with her own son when she thought about how she was â€Å"paying $1,000 a week for this pleasure cruise† (52). This lead her to pull her son out of school until he was ready to go back and be serious or find a job to occupy his time more efficiently. Her son went on to have many different jobs. They were not the most glamorous, but taught him independence and how to be responsible with his own money. Lee argues that this life path got her son to a fulfilling place where he was enjoying what he was doing and had found a good job where a promotion was in his near future (2). This end result is typically why students go through college in the first place. Throughout the essay, Lee uses multiple statistics in order to back up her position. This is useful because it helps the reader understand that the point being made is a valid one. Lee goes on to make references to people ranging from her hair colorist all the way to Bill Gates to prove that a degree is not necessary to go places in life (52). It is helpful that she also has the advantage of being able to say her son benefited from this way of living. This broadens the audience immensely because the varying age  groups can relate to the different examples and statistics used throughout. Lee makes a very refreshing point and is correct when asking the question of why so many people feel it is necessary to go to college. It is always assumed that after graduating high school, college is the only acceptable step a young person should be taking. These are very high expectations that put a lot of pressure on the ones who might not be ready yet. It is much more practical to focus on what you are passionate about first and then going back to school instead of the other way around. Lee states that â€Å"†¦most kids today view college as a way to get a good job† (52). This only sets graduates up for disaster when they go out into the real world and find out that they cannot find a job as easily as they thought they would. Making it seem like getting a degree is the only way to get places in life is entirely the wrong impression to be giving. Furthermore, while the notion of bypassing a college education is unheard of for most people, it is very possible to be successful without one. Lee thoroughly believes that going to college should not have to be expected from everyone. Referencing the experience she went through with her own son and how he left school opened her eyes and lead her to ask the title question of â€Å"Who Needs College?† Earning a degree may be essential for those who wish to pursue a career in medicine or law, but is not always helpful to those who do not have similar goals. Multiple statistics are used throughout in order to validate this. Lee opens the door for many who might not have thought skipping out on college at first or altogether was an option. It is more then possible to learn the same important lessons and find a good career and now, thanks to Lee, awareness can be raised. Works Cited Lee, Linda. â€Å"Who Needs College?† Perspectives on Contemporary Issues: Readings Across the Disciplines. 4th ed. Ed. Katherine Anne Ackley, Boston: Wadsworth/ Gengage Learning, 2005. 51-52. Print.

Computer education Essay

Computer education is two sides of a coin, there are several advantages and disadvantages which are listed below: Advantages: 1. Information is available at the click of a button, the internet is very useful and gives a huge support to the teacher to enhance her curriculum 2. The students themselves can learn a lot about the topics taught in class through the internet 3. Children find the lessons interesting since teachers have access to a vast pool of information. 4. Children can submit homework etc via computer, thus saving of time 5. Saves a lot of stationery, paper wastage is minimal since students can submit their projects via computer. 6. Also, today everywhere a computer is used children become computer savvy and better prepared to face the world. Disadvantages: 1. Computer tends to make the children lazy, reason being that a computer is a one stop shop. Everything is available at a click of a button, they do not have to strive to collect information. 2. Children lose their power the think since just by putting in one word on the search engine a whole treasure of information opens up, everything is available without trying very hard, children lose their imagination power and ingenuity. 3. Children do not have to learn spellings, calculation, tables they become totally dependant on computers and their skills for memorising, application, quick thinking are not developed. 4. A computer is a very cold way of teaching, earlier live examples and objects were used which were far more exciting, we could touch, smell objects like earlier if a teacher wanted to teach about an orange a live orange was brought and shown, today everything is shown via power point presentations on screen which does not have the same effect on children, since a live thing is so much more exciting. 5. Children lose touch with the real world and live in a virtual world which is not good. 6. Children become loners, lose friends, since all the time they are stuck to the computers 7. They do not sleep on time since chatting, emailing,

Night World : Soulmate Chapter 3

I he sleek white limousine raced through the night like a dolphin underwater, carrying Thierry Des-couedres away from the airport. It was taking him to hisLas Vegas mansion, white walls and palm trees, limpid blue fountains and tiled terraces. Rooms full of artwork and museum-quality furniture. Everything anyone could ask for. He shut his eyes and leaned back against the crimson cushions, wishing he were somewhere else. â€Å"How wasHawaii , sir?† The driver's voice came from the front seat. Thierry opened his eyes. Nilsson was a good driver. He seemed to be about Thierry's own age, around nineteen, with a neat ponytail, dark glasses despite the fact that it was nighttime, and a discreet expression. â€Å"Wet, Nilsson,† Thierry said softly. He stared out the window. â€Å"Hawaiiwas very†¦ wet.† â€Å"But you didn't find what you were looking for.† â€Å"No. I didn't find what I was looking for †¦ again.† â€Å"I'm sorry, sir.† â€Å"Thank you, Nilsson.† Thierry tried to look past his own reflection in the window. It was disturbing, seeing that young man with the white-blond hair and the old, old eyes looking back at him. He had such a pensive expression †¦ so lost and so sad. Like somebody always looking for something he can't find, Thierry thought. He turned away from the window in determination. â€Å"Everything been going all right while I've been gone?† he asked, picking up his cellular phone. Work. Work always helped. Kept you busy, kept your mind off things, kept you away from yourself, basically. â€Å"Fine, I think, sir. Mr. James and Miss Poppy are back.† â€Å"That's good. They'll make thenext Circle Daybreak meeting.† Thierry's finger hovered over a button on the phone, considering whom to call. Whose need might be the most urgent. But before he could touch it, the phone buzzed. Thierry pressed send and held it to his ear. â€Å"Thierry.† â€Å"Sir? It's me, Lupe. Can you hear me?† The voice was faint and broken by static, but distant as it was, Thierry could hear that the caller sounded weak. â€Å"Lupe? Are you all right?† â€Å"I got in a fight, sir. I'm a little torn up.† She gave a gasping chuckle. â€Å"But you should see the other wolf.† Thierry reached for a leather-bound address book and a goldMont Blanc pen. â€Å"That's not funny, Lupe. You shouldn't be fighting.† â€Å"I know, sir, but-â€Å" â€Å"You've really got to restrain yourself.† â€Å"Yes, sir, but-â€Å" â€Å"Tell me where you are, and I'll have somebody pick you up. Get you to a doctor.† Thierry made a practice mark with the pen. No ink came out. He stared at the nib of it in mild disbelief. â€Å"You buy an eight-hundred-dollar pen and then it doesn't write,† he murmured. â€Å"Sir, you're not listening to me. You don't understand. I've found her.† Thierry stopped trying to make the pen write. He stared at it, at his own long fingers holding the chunky, textured gold barrel, knowing that this sight would be impressed on his memory as if burned in with a torch. â€Å"Did you hear me, sir? I've found her.† When his voice came out at last, it was strangely distant. â€Å"Are you sure?† â€Å"Yes. Yes, sir, I'm sure. She's got the mark and everything. Her name is Hannah Snow.† Thierry reached over the front seat and grabbed the astonished Nilsson with a hand like iron. He said very quietly in the driver's ear, â€Å"Do you have a pencil?† â€Å"A pencil?† â€Å"Something that writes, Nilsson. An instrument to make marks on paper. Do you have one? Quick, because if I lose this connection, you're fired.† â€Å"I've got a pen, sir.† One-handed, Nilsson fished in his pocket and produced a Bic. â€Å"Your salary just doubled.† Thierry took the pen and sat back. â€Å"Where are you, Lupe?† â€Å"The Badlands of Montana, sir. Near a town called Medicine Rock. But there's something else, sir.† Lupe's voice seemed less steady all of a sudden. â€Å"The other wolf that fought me-he saw her, too. And he got away.† Thierry's breath caught. â€Å"I see.† â€Å"I'm sorry.† Lupe was suddenly talking quickly, in a burst of emotion. â€Å"Oh, Thierry, I'm sorry. I tried to stop him. But he got away-and now I'm afraid he's off telling†¦ her.† â€Å"You couldn't help it, Lupe. And I'll be there myself, soon. I'll be there to take care of-everything.† Thierry looked at the driver. â€Å"We've got to make some stops, Nilsson. First, the Harman store.† â€Å"The witch place?† â€Å"Exactly. You can triple your salary if you get there fast.† When Hannah got to Paul Winfield's house the next afternoon, the sheriff was there. Chris Grady was an honest-to-goodness Western sheriff, complete with boots, broad-brimmed hat, and vest. The only thing missing, Hannah thought as she walked around to the back of the house where Paul was hammering boards across the broken windows, was a horse. â€Å"Hi, Chris,† she said. The sheriff nodded, sun-weathered skin crinkling at the corners of her eyes. She took off her hat and ran a hand through shoulder-length auburn hair. â€Å"I see you found yourself a couple of giant timber wolves, Hannah. You're not hurt, are you?† Hannah shook her head no. She tried to summon up a smile but failed. â€Å"I think they were maybe wolf-dogs or something. Pure-bred wolves aren't so aggressive.† â€Å"That print wasn't made by any wolf-dog,† Chris said. On the concrete flagstones outside the window there was a paw print made in blood. It was similar to a dog's footprint, with four pads plus claw marks showing. But it was more than six inches long by just over five inches wide. â€Å"Judging from that, it's the biggest wolf ever heard of around here, bigger than the White Wolf of the Judith.† The sheriff's eyes drifted to the empty rectangles of the broken windows. â€Å"Big and mean. You people be careful. Something's going on here that I don't like. I'll let you know if we catch your wolves.† She nodded to Paul, who was sucking his finger after banging it with the hammer. Then she set her hat back on her head and strode off to her car. Hannah stared at the paw print silently. Everyone else thought there was something going on. Everyone but her. Because there can't be, she thought. Because it has to all be in my head. It has to be something I can figure out and fix quick†¦ something I can control. â€Å"Thanks for seeing me again so soon,† she said to Paul. â€Å"Oh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He gestured, tucking the hammer under his arm. â€Å"It's no trouble. I want to get to the bottom of what's upsetting you as much as you do. And,† he admitted under his breath as he let them in the house, â€Å"I don't actually have any other patients.† Hannah followed him down a hallway and into his office. It was dim inside, the boards across the windows reducing the late afternoon sunlight to separate oddly-angled shafts. She sat in the contoured chair. â€Å"The only thing is, how can we get to the bottom of it? I don't understand what's upsetting me, either. It's all too strange. I mean, on the one hand, I'm clearly insane.† She spoke flatly as Paul took his seat on the opposite side of the desk. â€Å"I have crazy dreams, I think the world is going to end, I have the feeling I'm being followed, and yesterday I started hearing voices in my head. On the other hand, me being insane doesn't explain wolves jumping through the windows.† â€Å"Voices?† Paul murmured, looking around for a pencil. Then he gave up and faced her. â€Å"Yeah, I know. I understand the temptation. Last night after having those wolves stare at me, I was about ready to believe that there had to be something†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He trailed off and shook his head, lifting papers on his desk to glance under them. â€Å"Something†¦ really strange going on. But now it's daytime, and we're all rational people, and we realize that we have to deal with things rationally. And, actually, you know, I think I may have come up with a rational explanation.† He found a pencil and with an expression of vast relief began to waggle it between his fingers. Hope stirred inside Hannah. â€Å"An explanation?† â€Å"Yeah. I mean, first of all, it's possible that your premonitions and things are entirely unconnected with the wolves. People never want to believe in coincidence, but it happens. But even if the two things are connected-well, I don't think that means that anybody's after you. It could be that there's some sort of disturbance in this area-something that's stirring up the whole ecosystem, making wolves crazy, doing who knows what to other animals†¦ and that you're somehow sensing this. You're attuned to it somehow. Maybe it's earthquake weather or-or sunspots or negative ions in the air. But whatever it is, it's causing you to think that some terrible disaster is coming. That the world is ending or that you're about to be killed.† Hannah felt the hope sink inside her, and it was more painful than not having had it at all. â€Å"I suppose that could happen,† she said. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. â€Å"But how does it explain this?† She reached into the canvas bag she carried instead of a purse and pulled out a folded slip of paper. Paul took the paper and read it. † ‘They've seen you. They're going to tell him. This is your last chance to get away.' † He stuck the pencil in his mouth. â€Å"Hmmm †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I found it this morning wrapped around my toothbrush,† Hannah said quietly. â€Å"And it's your handwriting?† She shut her eyes and nodded. â€Å"And you don't remember writing it.† â€Å"I didn't write it. I know I didn't.† She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. â€Å"The notes scare me. Everything that's happening scares me. I don't understand any of it, and I don't see how I'm supposed to fix it if I don't understand it.† Paul considered, chewing on the pencil gently. â€Å"Look-whatever's happening, whoever's writing the notes, I think your subconscious mind is trying to tell you something. The dreams are evidence of that. But it's not telling you enough. There's something I was going to suggest, something I don't exactly believe in, but that we can try anyway. Something to get to your subconscious directly so we can ask it what's going on.† Get to her subconscious directly†¦. Hannah held her breath. â€Å"Hypnosis?† Paul nodded. â€Å"I'm not a big hypnosis fan. It's not some magical trance like TV and the movies want you to believe. It's just a state of mind where you're a little more relaxed, a little more likely to be able to remember threatening things without choking up. But it's nothing you can't achieve yourself by doing breathing exercises at home.† Hannah wasn't happy. Hypnosis still seemed to mean giving up control. If not to Paul, then to her own subconscious. But what else am I supposed to do? She sat and listened to the quiet helplessness in her mind for a moment. Not a peep from the cool wind voice or the crystal voice-and that was good, as far as she was concerned. Still, it pointed up the fact that she didn't have an alternative. She looked at Paul. â€Å"Okay. Let's do it.† â€Å"Great.† He stood, then reached for a book on the corner of his desk. â€Å"Always assuming I remember how†¦. Okay, why don't you lie down on the couch?† Hannah hesitated, then shrugged. If I'm going to do it, I might as well do it right. She lay down and stared at the dark beams in the ceiling. In spite of how miserable she was feeling, she had an almost irresistible impulse to giggle. Here she was on a real psychologist's couch, waiting to be hypnotized. Her friends at school would never consider even going to a shrink-out here inMontana craziness was okay. After all, you had to be a little eccentric to be living in this hard land in the first place. What wasn't okay was admitting you couldn't deal with it on your own, paying too much attention to it, asking for help. And allowing yourself to be hypnotized was even worse. They all think I'm the most independent and together of any of them. If they could see me now. â€Å"Okay, I want you to get comfortable and shut your eyes,† Paul said. He was perched with one hip on the edge of his desk, leg swinging, book in hand. His voice was quiet and soothing-the professional voice. Hannah shut her eyes. â€Å"Now I want you to imagine yourself floating. Just floating and feeling very relaxed. There's nothing you need to think about and nowhere you need to go. And now you're seeing yourself enveloped by a beautiful violet light. It's bathing your entire body and it's making you more and more relaxed †¦Ã¢â‚¬  The couch was surprisingly comfortable. Its curves fit under her, supporting her without being intrusive. It was easy to imagine that she was floating, easy to imagine the light around her. â€Å"And now you feel yourself floating down deeper†¦ into a deeper state of relaxation†¦ and you're surrounded by a deep blue light. The blue light is all around you, shining through you, and it's making you more comfortable, more relaxed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The soft soothing voice went on, and at its direction Hannah imagined waves of colored light bathing her body. Deep blue, emerald green, golden yellow, glowing orange. Hannah saw it all. It was amazing and effortless; her mind just showed her the pictures. And as the colors came and went she felt herself becoming more and more relaxed, warm and almost weightless. She couldn't feel the couch underneath her any longer. She was floating on light. â€Å"And now you're seeing a ruby red light, very deep, very relaxing. You're so relaxed; you're calm and comfortable, and everything feels safe. Nothing will upset you; you can answer all my questions without ever feeling distressed. Do you understand me?† â€Å"Yes,† Hannah said. She was aware of saying it, but it wasn't exactly as if she had said it. She wasn't aware of planning to say it. Something within her seemed to be answering Paul using her voice. But it wasn't frightening. She still felt relaxed, floating in the ruby light. â€Å"All right. I'm now speaking to Hannah's subconscious. You will be able to remember things that Hannah's waking mind isn't aware of-even things that have been repressed. Do you understand?† â€Å"Yes.† Again, the voice seemed to come before Hannah decided to speak. â€Å"Good. Now, I've got this last note here, the one you found wrapped around your toothbrush this morning. Do you remember this note?† â€Å"Yes.† Of course. â€Å"Okay, that's good. And now I want you to go back in your mind, back to the time that this note was written.† This time Hannah was aware of a need to speak. â€Å"But how can I do that? I don't know when it was written. I didn't write-â€Å" â€Å"Just-just-just let go, Hannah,† Paul said, overriding her. His voice soothing again, he added, â€Å"Feel relaxed, feel yourself becoming very relaxed, and let your conscious mind go. Just tell yourself to go back to the time this note was written. Don't worry about how. See the ruby light and think 1 will go back.' Are you doing that?† â€Å"Yes,† Hannah said. Go back, she told herself gamely. Just relax and go back, okay? â€Å"And now, a picture is beginning to form in your mind. You are seeing something. What are you seeing?† Hannah felt something inside her give way. She seemed to be falling into the ruby right. Her ordinary mind was suspended; it seemed to have been shuttled off to the side somewhere. In this odd dreamlike state, nothing could surprise her. Paul's voice was gently insistent. â€Å"What are you seeing?† Hannah saw it. A tiny picture that seemed to open up, unfold as she stared at it. â€Å"I see myself,† she whispered. â€Å"Where are you?† â€Å"I don't know. Wait, maybe I'm in my room.† She could see herself, wearing something long and white-a nightgown. No, she was that self, she was in her bedroom, wearing her nightgown. She was in Paul's office, lying on the couch, but she was in her bedroom at the same time. How strange, she thought dimly. â€Å"All right, now the picture will get clearer. You'll begin to see things around you. Just relax and you'll begin to see them. Now, what are you doing?† Without feeling anything-except a kind of distant amusement and resignation-Hannah said, â€Å"Writing a note.† Paul muttered something that sounded like, â€Å"Aha.† But it might have been, â€Å"XJh-huh.† Then he said softly, â€Å"And why are you writing it?† â€Å"I don't know-to warn myself. I have to warn myself.† â€Å"About what?† Hannah felt herself shake her own head helplessly. â€Å"Okay†¦ what are you feeling as you write it?† â€Å"Oh †¦Ã¢â‚¬  That was easy. Paul was undoubtedly expecting her to say something like â€Å"fear† or â€Å"anxiety.† But that wasn't the strongest thing she was feeling. Not the strongest at all. â€Å"Longing,† Hannah whispered. She moved her head restlessly on the couch. â€Å"Just-longing.† â€Å"I beg your pardon?† â€Å"I want-so much †¦ I want†¦Ã¢â‚¬  . â€Å"What do you want?† â€Å"Him.† It came out as a sob. Hannah's ordinary mind watched somewhere in amazement, but Hannah's body was entirely taken over by the feeling, racked with it. â€Å"I know it's impossible. It's danger and death to me. But I don't care. I can't help it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I mean, you're feeling very relaxed. You're very calm and you can answer my questions. Who is this person that you're longing for?† â€Å"The one who comes,† Hannah said softly and hopelessly. â€Å"He's wicked and evil †¦ I know that. She explained it all to me. And I know he'll kill me. The way he always has. But I want him.† She was trembling. She could feel her own body radiating heat-and she could hear Paul swallow. Somehow in this expanded state of consciousness she seemed to be able to see him, as if she could be everywhere at once. She knew he was sitting there on the edge of the desk, looking at her dazedly, bewildered by the transformation in the young woman on his couch. She knew he could see her, her face pale and glowing from inner heat, her breath coming quickly, her body gripped by a fine muscular tremor. And she knew he was stirred-and frightened. â€Å"Oh, boy.† Paul's breath came out and he shifted on the desk. He bowed his head, then lifted it, looking for a pencil. â€Å"Okay, I have to admit, I'm lost. Let's just go back to the beginning here. You feel that somebody is after you, and that he's tried to kill you before? Some old boyfriend who's stalking you, maybe?† â€Å"No. He hasn't tried to kill me. He has killed me.† â€Å"He has killed you.† Paul bit his pencil. He muttered, â€Å"I should have known better than to have started this. I don't believe in hypnosis anyway.† â€Å"And he's going to do it again. I'll die before my seventeenth birthday. It's my punishment for loving him. It always happens that way.† â€Å"Right. Okay. Okay, let's try something really basic here†¦. Does this mystery guy have a name?† Hannah lifted a hand and let it drop. â€Å"When?† she whispered. â€Å"What?† â€Å"When?† â€Å"When what? What?† Paul shook his head. â€Å"Oh, hell-â€Å" Hannah spoke precisely. â€Å"He's used different names at different times. He's had-hundreds, I guess. But I think of him as Thierry. Thierry Descouedres. Because that's the one he's used for the last couple of lifetimes.† There was a long silence. Then Paul said, â€Å"The last couple of †¦ ?† â€Å"Lifetimes. It may still be his name now. The last time I saw him he said he wouldn't bother to change it anymore. He wouldn't bother to hide any longer.† Paul said, â€Å"Oh, God.† He stood, walked to the window, and put his head in his hands. Then he turned back to Hannah. â€Å"Are we talking about †¦ I mean, tell me we're not talking about†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He paused and then his voice came out soft and boneless. â€Å"The Big R? You know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He winced. â€Å"Reincarnation?† A long silence. Then Hannah heard her own voice say flatly, â€Å"He hasn't been reincarnated.† â€Å"Oh.† Paul's breath came out in relief. â€Å"Well, thank God. You had me scared there for a minute.† â€Å"He's been alive all this time,† Hannah said. â€Å"He isn't human, you know.†

Breach of Covenant That Was Present †Free Samples for Students

In the present case, the facts given in this question revealed the presence of the issue if puters Pty Ltd can successfully sue Systems Pty Ltd for the breach of covenant that was present in the employment contract of Chu with puters Pty Ltd. This issue has arisen as a result of the fact that after his retirement, a pany, Systems Pty Ltd was incorporated by Chu's wife. This pany has been taking on Business Law from the clients of puters Pty Ltd. in NSW while restrictive covenant present in the employment contract of Chu provides that he cannot join any business that petes with the pany for 2 years in NSW. Therefore, it needs to be seen in this case if puters Pty Ltd can take action against Systems Pty Ltd for the breach of this covenant. 1. It appears that in the present case, as soon as Chu took retirement from the pany, he had decided to start a business that was going to pete with puters Pty Ltd. However, in order to fulfill this objective, a pany under the name of Systems Pty Ltd had been formed by Chu's wife. She is the sole director of the pany and also holds all the issues the capital in the pany. This pany is taking the business of puters in New South Wales. The legal principle was provided in Salomon v Salomon according to which it was affirmed that after it's incorporated, generally panies considered as a separate legal entity that is distinct from its shareholders. In this way, the principle of separate legal identity of the corporation has been followed in Anglo Australian panies’ law for more than 100 years. Therefore, when a pany acts, it acts on its own and not simply as alias for the persons controlling the pany (Clarke and Clarke, 2016). In the same way, the shareholders of the corporations cannot be held labor regarding the debts of the corporation beyond the initial capital investment. Similarly, they do not have any proprietary interest in the assets of the pany. In Jones v Lipman (1962), the defendant had entered into a contract for selling his land. However, later on he changed his mind. Therefore, the defendant found the pany and he was the owner/director of this pany. The land was transferred to this corporation and the defendant declined to perform the transaction. As a result, the relief was sought by the plaintiff. In this case, the court stated that the remedy of specific performance can be granted against the contracting vendor, because it was in his authority to force the other person to convey the property in question. Therefore, specific performance was ordered against the director and the pany. The court held that the pany cannot escape or divest itself from the knowledge that has been gained by it through the director. The court stated that the pany was a creature of the controlling director or a device or a mask that the director holds before his face for the purpose of avoiding recognition by equity. However, there are certain circumstances where the court may arrive at the conclusion that the corporate veil needs to be pierced in a particular case. Therefore, while basic principle provides that under the corporation’s law, a pany is treated by the law as having its own separate legal identity. And as a result, it is considered to be distinct from its members. But as time passed by, the courts have e up with several exceptions to the application of this general rule. As a result, now under some circumstances, it is available to the court to set aside the fact that the pany enjoys a separate personality and concludes that the members of the pany can be held responsible for its actions. When such a decision is made by the court, it is said that the court had decided to lift the corporate veil (Khoury and   Yamouni, 2010). The facts of Gilford Motor pany Ltd v Horne (1933) are somewhat similar to the problem given in the present case. In this case, Mr. Horne was working as the managing director of the Gilford Motor pany. After he left the pany, he decided to incorporated his own pany. Therefore, after the entire production of his pany, he started to solicit the clients of Gilford Motor Co. on the other hand, there was a non petition covenant present in his employment contract. Therefore, the issue was if the actions of Mr. Horne's pany can be considered as a breach of the non petition covenant present in his employment contract. However, the court decided that this amounted to the breach of covenant and granting an injunction against Mr. Horne and his pany. In support of its decision, the court stated that the pany incorporated by Horne was merely a cloak that had been used by Horne for the purpose of breaching the non petition covenant. A somewhat similar decision has also been given by the court in J ones v Lipman (1962). Therefore in Gilford Motor Co v Horne, the defendant was the ex-MD of the plaintiff. However, there was a restrictive covenant present in his employment contract. In view of this clause present in the employment contract, he was refrained from joining a business in petition with his former employer. Therefore in order to avoid this covenant, the defendant formed a pany and he tried to transact his business through this pany. Therefore, at the first instance, the court held that this pany has been formed for the purpose of allowing the business to be carried on under the control of the defendant but without injuring the liability for the breach of the covenant. That was present in his employment contract. In this way, the court noted, the reality that this pany was being used by the defendant as a channel through which he was performing his business in breach of the covenant. In such a case, it can be said that the pany has been formed only as a cloak or sham due to the reason that in reality the business was being carried on by Chu. Due to the reason that the restrictive covenant prevented Chu from peting with the business of puters Pty Ltd. whether as principal or, while acting as an agent for another party, it was not relevant if the business belonged to him or the belonged to his wife, provided that the business was being carried on by Chu. The only significance of the interposition of the corporation was to maintain the pretense that the business was being continued by other person. Therefore, in such a case it can be said that there is no doubt on the basis of the present facts that the pany formed by Chu's wife was created for the purpose of acting as a channel through which Chu was going to carry on his business that will pete with the business of puter Pty Ltd. Although under the corporations law , it has been provided that a pany has to be considered as a separate legal entity that is distinct from those who manage the affairs of the pany, but in the present case, it can be said that it was one of the reasons behind the creation of the pany by Chu's wife was the fear that Chu may be held responsible for the breach of the covenant and with the help of the formation of this pany, he may be able to avoid liability if he acted through the pany. On these grounds, it can be said that this pany has been formed merely as a device or a stratagem for the purpose of acting as a mask to effectively carry on the business of Chu. In the present case also, puters Pty Ltd is required to establish in the court that the new pany, Systems Pty Ltd had been formed only with a view to evade the application of the restrictive covenant present in the employment contract of Chu according to which he cannot pete with puters Pty Ltd for a period of two years in New South Wales. Hence the court may decide that the corporate veil should be lifted in this case and the restrictive covenant in the employment contract of Chu needs to be enforced against the pany created by Chu’s wife, Systems Pty Ltd. At the same time, as puters had created a subsidiary pany and the benefit of the restrictive covenant can also be provided to this pany. C Kidd, (1985) ‘Partial Performance o Lump Sum Contracts: Proposals for Reform’, 59 Australian Law Journal 96   Daniel Khoury, Yvonne Yamouni, 2010, Understanding Contract Law, 8 th Edition, LexisNexis Butterworths Jane Swanston, (1981) ‘Discharge of Contracts for Breach’, 13(1) Melbourne University Law Review 69 M Dockray, (2001) ‘Cutter v Powell: A Trip Outside the Text’, 117Law Quarterly Review664; P Clarke, J. Clarke, 2016, Contract Law, mentaries, Cases and Perspectives, 3 rd Edition, Oxford University Press