Saturday, November 30, 2019

Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo Essay Example

Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo Essay Mr. Mark Diaz Bravo was on his normal duties as a nurse at the metropolitan State hospital in Los Angeles on 20 February, 1990, when a long time patient in the hospital informed a guard that she had been raped. The lady gave out some names of the people she deemed suspects during an interview with the hospital authorities. She included Bravo’s name as one of the most suspected people behind the attack. The following morning Bravo was arrested and charged with rape. He maintained that he was not involved in the crime since he left the hospital at around 11;00 am that morning and he had returned later in that afternoon after attending several meetings till 3:00 pm. He went ahead to assert that he even went home after that day’s work without knowledge of what had taken place that day. Although the defense attorney had asked for DNA testing to be carried out by the district attorney’s office on the items that were in the scene of the crime before the trial, the prosecution during the trial argued that there was no request for DNA testing before trial and he therefore asked the court to continue without the DNA tests. Eventually, the court convicted Bravo and subsequently sentenced him to eight years in prison. The only evidence brought forward by the prosecution was a blanket that was in the crime scene. It had some traces of male biological deposits with the blood found in only 3% of the people suspected, with Bravo included. False testifies by the analysis indicated that only 1.5 % of the male people possessed that blood type. This resulted to the jurors believing that there was double statistic probability than it was really thought to be initially. This piece of evidence was strengthened by the identification of the victim. The prosecution of the Bravo case based its argument on several issue; Bravo had been named by the victim as her assailant as well as the identification she made in the court during the trial; Mark Diaz bravo had made some misrepresentation of himself in his previous job applications as well as business cards; Bravo’s blood type was consistent to the blood tests that were performed on a blanket near the scene of crime We will write a custom essay sample on Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Bravo’s efforts to make appeal all the way to the California Supreme Court were disaccorded. Later, the State Supreme Court denied chance of examining new evidence and subsequently upheld Bravo’s conviction. On October 1993, the case was sent back to the Los Angeles Supreme Court.   Post conviction motions were allowed and DNA testing was conducted. The testing was done on a blanket, sheet and a pair of panties which were taken from the scene of crime. On December 24, 1993, the results were released indicating that none of the stains were matching with the DNA profile of Bravo as well as the rape victim. Bravo’s advocate filed a writ of habeas corpus on January 4, 1994.Consequently Bravo’s conviction as the perpetrator was withdrawn followed by an order by the Supreme Court Judge on January 6, 1994 to have bravo released immediately. The judge stated that Mr. Bravo did not get a fair trail, that the victim had recanted her testimony and that the DNA test had proved irrefutable. The charges against Bravo were dropped consequently on January 7, 1994 and Bravo was released from prison after spending three years there of his sentence (James, 1996, p.564). This case of rape was certainly horrible for the victim and her family, but arresting and convicting the wrong person for the crime he did not commit makes him a victim too while the actual perpetuator is still walking free in the streets and perhaps continuing to terrorize other people with the same acts or more violent and serious crimes. The law enforcement   Ã‚  officers ought to have considered what the victim of the crime has to say, the events that happened to her, the approach made to the victim, what the perpetrator said, what weapons he had if any as well as the demeanor of the victim as she was talking about the crime; she was in shock state, or if she was cooking up the evidence. They ought to consider that the said perpetrator would spend his time in prison by their words. The law enforcement officers together with the prosecutors also have to understand that there are challenges as well as problems that usually prevail in the criminal justice system prior to fixing an ything (Cassell, 2004, p. 657). There are more than hundreds innocent defendants already serving their jail terms. Some reports have indicated that about 25 per cent of the innocent defendants in jail were convicted wrongly even prior to availability of forensic DNA typing. It is the obligation of the court and the entire criminal justice system to decide whether these people should continue being incarcerated or order the testing of DNA. If they are found innocent, then they should be set free and the actual perpetrators traced, prosecuted and hanged! To accomplish this law, there is the needs to cater for the law suits that are filed upon the criminal justice system for wrongful imprisonment and the establishment of law to cater for millions of dollars that are needed for DNA testing. This DNA technology can be utilized within the current legal framework in undoing previous injustices. This can be worked together to avoid wrongful conviction of the past as well as creating a new possible better system of convicti ng the current and future perpetrators of the crimes. Through out the Criminal justice system there are several cases of wrongful conviction just like Bravo’s with some convicts being exonerated from death row. Some jurors feel quite sure of guilt of they have declared the convict should be in prison. The lack of sufficient evidence, the misconduct as well as the illogical theory brought by the prosecution are suspicious of wrongful conviction and needs appellate intervention to throw out such kind of flawed conviction. The Criminal justice system is best perceived as an approach to search for fair justice. Its ruling posses direct impacts to the concerned as well as the trust of the public to the system. To make improvement on the efficiency of the system; the forensic utilization of DNA would become crucial in the search for such justice. DNA technology development assists prosecutors as well as the police in the war against crime. It helps prosecutors to conclusively find the defendant’s guilt. Just like figure prints, DNA evidence provides the prosecutors with crucial tools in identifying and apprehending some violent crime perpetrators especially in sexual assault cases. DNA assists in searching for facts by exonerating the innocent suspect. Some times the criminal justice system happens to be less infallible, with some cases in search for the truth taking a tortuous way. Some people who don’t plead guilty are convicted and subsequently sentenced to long term prison terms. The same people later on challenges their convictions by use of DNA tests on the prevailing evidence and end up gaining their freedom after serving some years in prison (Choo, 1993, p. 75). DNA profiling introduction has made some significant revolution in the criminal justice system. It has granted the police and courts a way of finding crime perpetrators with degree of confidence. Initially the only methods utilized analyzing genetic marker of the blood and other body fluids included the absorption-elution test, the lattes test and the absorption-inhibition test. ABO blood group substances and ABO iosantibidies were the only ones that could be detected in biological stain evidence. With time the system adopted the electrophoretic approach for typing polymorphic proteins that included esterase D, glyoxalase, phosphoglucomutase and hemoglobin. Although these methods had the capability of narrowing down the possible source of biological stain evidence, they usually did not give the result due to deterioration of the genetic marker and ended producing erroneous results. DNA have been used significantly to advance the biological stain evidence analysis including for some reasons such as; its molecule has more stability than polymorphic   proteins, it has more chances of exonerating wrongly accused suspects and that microbial degradation never results to wrong results. DNA profiling has even led to reopening and examining the old cases. Using this new technology, people convicted of murder as well as rape have had the chance to have their cases reopened and reexamined. A research study carried out by the institute of Law and Justice identified 28 cases where DNA testing resulted to exoneration of individuals initially convicted of rape as well as murder. DNA profiling has also been crucial in correcting injustice where the information initially was anecdotal. The DNA profiling research results ought to give strong arguments in assisting law enforcement agencies in creating DNA laboratories for testing. DNA profiling advent would go a long way in cubing miscarriages of justice. Mary suspects who are wrongly accused would be exonerated in the first stages of testing of physical evidence even before considering prosecution. In addition to all of these, DNA would require adequate legal counsel to make consultations with competent scientific experts. The DNA profiling should not be used selectively. There should be sufficient time to carry out the testing as well as dealing with the challenge of the cost of carrying out the test. It is important for the law enforcement agencies to see to it that all possibilities have the support of DNA testimony and jurors need being conscious of the information before making crucial decisions like guilty verdict (Pattenden, 1996, p. 98). There is also the need to allow relevant, reliable and qualitative expert opinion. The random match probability in DNA testing is quit remote if a reliable mutinous match is provided. The experts need to testify from their pervious experience if they have awareness of the random matches and if the if a certain sample of evidence matches another to a certain logical degree of scientific certainty. Since the DNA have more degree of certainty, it should be treated differently fro other modes such as fingerprints, hair and fiber samples, ballistics and shoe prints.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Why Renting a Flat in Germany Is Totally Common

Why Renting a Flat in Germany Is Totally Common Although Germany has got the most successful economy in Europe and is basically a wealthy country, it has also got one of the lowest homeownership rates on the continent and is also way behind the US. But why do Germans rent flats instead of buying them or even build or buy a house? Buying their own accommodation is the goal of many people and especially families all around the world. For Germans, it might seem that there are things way more important than being a homeowner. Not even 50 percent of the Germans are homeowners, whereas over 80 percent of the Spanish are, only the Swiss are even renting more than their northern neighbors. Lets try to track the reasons for this German attitude. Influence of World War II Like many things in Germany, the tracking of the attitude to rent reaches back to the Second World War. As the war ended and Germany signed the unconditional surrender, the whole country was rubble. Almost every bigger city was destroyed by the British and American Air Raids and even the smaller village had suffered from the war. Cities like Hamburg, Berlin or Cologne where nothing but a big pile of ashes. Many civilians became homeless because their houses were bombed or collapsed after the fights in their cities, over 20 percent of all housing in Germany was destroyed. That was why it was one of the first priorities of the new built West-German government in 1949 to prove every German a safe place to stay and live. Therefore, big housing programs were started to rebuild the country. Because the economy was also laying on the ground, there was no other opportunity than having the government put in charge of new housings. For the newborn Bundesrepublik, it was also very important to give the people a new home to face the opportunities communism promised just on the other side of the country in the Soviet zone. But there was, of course, another opportunity coming with a public housing program: Those Germans who hadnt been killed or captured during the war were mostly unemployed. Building new flats for over two million families could create jobs that were urgently needed. All this lead to success, the lack of housings could be reduced during the first years of new Germany. Renting Can Just Be a Good Deal in Germany This leads to the fact that Germans today just as their parents and grandparents have reasonable experiences with renting a flat, not only from a public housing company. In the major cities of Germany like Berlin or Hamburg, most of the flats available are in public hand or at least managed by a public housing company. But besides the big cities, Germany has also given the private investors the opportunity to own properties and rent them out. There are many restrictions and laws for the landlords and tenants they have to follow which proves that their flats are in a good condition. In other countries, rental flats have the stigma of being run down and mainly for poor people who cant afford to own an accommodation. In Germany, there are none of those stigmas. Renting seems just as good as buying - both with advantages and disadvantages. The Laws and Regulations Made for Renters Talking about the laws and regulations, Germany has got some specials that make a difference. For instance, there is the so-called Mietpreisbremse, which passed the Parliament. In areas with a strained housing market the landlord is only permitted to increase the rent up to ten percent above the local average. There are a lot of other laws and regulations which lead to the fact that the rents in Germany - compared to those of other developed countries - are affordable. On the other side, German banks have high preconditions for getting a mortgage or a loan to buy or build a house. You just wont get one if you dont have the right sureties. For long term, renting a flat in a city can therefore be a better opportunity. But there are of course some negative sides of this development. Like in most other western countries, the so called gentrification can also be found in Germanys major cities. The good balance of public housing and private investment seemed to tip over more and more. Private investors buy old houses in the cities, renovate them and sell or rent them out for high prices only wealthy persons can afford. This leads to the fact that normal people can no longer afford living inside the big cities and especially young people and students are stressed to find a proper and affordable housing. But thats another story because they couldnt afford buying a house either.

Friday, November 22, 2019

How to Improve Your Vocabulary Steadily

How to Improve Your Vocabulary Steadily How to Improve Your Vocabulary Steadily How to Improve Your Vocabulary Steadily By Michael Sylvia Grappone says, An article on how to improve vocabulary would be helpful. Im in my late 30s and noticed that I can no longer remember things as easily as I did when I was a teen, and with a hubby and kids have no time to really focus on studying. I do read in my leisure time but at the moment only technical books. Would reading novels help my vocabulary? Any shortcuts or techniques? Sylvia, the more you read, the more words youll see, and the more youll understand. Even in the Oxford English Dictionary, the final authority for the meaning of a word is how the word has actually been used in print. But since your family limits your time, let me suggest some ways to improve your vocabulary that are more efficient than reading every book in the library. Make it a priority to learn new words. If you want to improve your vocabulary more quickly, you have to make at least a small commitment. Decide to learn one new word every day or two. Visit Daily Writing Tips for our Word of the Day. Or subscribe to a Word of the Day email list, install a Word of the Day tool on your computer desktop, or buy a Word of the Day calendar. Make your vocabulary practical. Start by learning the words that can express whats most important to you. For example, learn more of your trade language the words that are commonly used in your business or hobby or vocation. Go beyond the jargon and cliches. Find better, fresher, clearer words to express what your peers are talking about. Find the right word for you and use it. When youre writing something, use a thesaurus frequently. That will help you express yourself better. And every time you do that, youll learn a new word and youll use that new word. Start learning where you are. As you read, if you come across an interesting word that you dont understand, dont just bleep over it. See item number 1. Take the time to look it up in a dictionary. Write it down and use it later. Learn roots. Most English words are built from common roots, prefixes and suffixes, often with Greek or Latin origins. Theyre highly reusable. When you learn one root, youll start to understand the many other words that use that root. When you learn a word, use it immediately and frequently. Make it a game. Slip your new word into conversation with as many different people as you can. Repeat it to yourself. Use it in sentences. Write it on a flashcard and practice it while waiting for red lights. The key to a better vocabulary is regular practice and progress. Maybe you cant learn a hundred new words a day, but you can learn one or two a day, totaling thousands of new words over the years. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Creative Writing 101What to Do When Words Appear Twice in a Row50 Synonyms for â€Å"Villain†

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Financial measures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Financial measures - Essay Example Financial measures are the traditional ones for evaluating operating performance, benchmarking competitors, and comparing industry results. To determine whether a company is profitable, profitability ratios like return on equity, return on assets and net profit margin may be used. Other companies or competitors normally use the same ratios also so that comparison and benchmarking are possible among companies (Meigs, Meigs & Meigs, 1995). However, it does not mean that non-financial measures are not useful since normally they are the underlying explanations of the difference in performance measures. To illustrate in the case of two similar companies in the industry, it is possible that one has more revenues or higher profitability than the other does. What could explain the difference between the two companies may be in the more loyal and active sales force of one company over the other. Upon investigation, it can be found that personal objectives of the workforce or people of the mor e profitable company are tied with the corporate financial objectives. The human resource contribution, which is basically non-financial, is normally not emphasized in the financial statements but they could constitute the competitive advantage on one company over the other company. After knowing that a company has more loyal and hard working sales force, the same company could sustain profitability or further the advantage and that makes the non-financial measure very useful. Of course they are other non-financial measures such as better customer service, better attendance of employees in meeting, zero absences in important activities, timely submissions of reports by concerned employees or departments (Streetdirectory, 2010). The advantage and disadvantage of each measure can be drawn from the example given. Financial measures are readily measurable and are closer to measuring attainment of measurable financial objectives. It is easier to

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Egoism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Egoism - Essay Example It sometimes refers to psychological egoism. It provides a description of the human nature as self-motived and self-centered (Welsh 62). Psychological egoism points that individuals usually act in their interests; however, they may conceal their motivation regarding their duty or help for others. Diverse individuals portray this kind of egoism differently. Opponents argue that it renders useless ethics. However, proponents refute this claim and assert that the opponents need to exploit counterfactual evidence while criticizing psychological egoism. It is the second variant of egoism, and it specifies the agent, which ought to promote the self above other values. The theory of normative egoism does not provide the description of human nature in a direct way. However, it points out how individuals ought to behave. Two forms of normative egoism exist, which include ethical and rational. Rational egoism argues that the promotion of one’s interest is usually in accordance with reason. Proponents argue that selfishness is a virtue that human beings need to pursue (Welsh 81). Therefore, ethical selfishness encompasses a commitment to reason rather than emotions. On the contrary, opponents posit that the reason dictates an individual’s interest and does not govern one’s actions. Ethical egoism argues that the promotion of an individual’s good is in accordance with morality. Ethical egoism, thus, highlights that it is usually moral to promote an individual’s good and it is immoral not to promote it. An example of psychological egoism is when a person gives something, which he or she owns to another individual. Here, the intention of giving is good to himself or herself. A free-rider scenario provides an example of rational egoism, which is a form normative egoism. A teacher may argue, while marking students’ papers that her life can be easier is she offers inflated grades, hence, it is in her self-interest. Marking otherwise may attract

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Hazardous Waste and Clean-up Costs Essay Example for Free

Hazardous Waste and Clean-up Costs Essay CERCLA was enacted, along with its sister law RCRA which came before it, to deal with the environmental damage that was being caused by improper waste disposal. CERCLA’s goals are to clean up old dump sites and discourage future illegal dumping. CERCLA imposes few direct regulatory obligations and is designed to force cleanups and allocate the cost of cleaning up via its liability and cleanup provisions. The basic principle is that the potentially responsible parties such as waste generators, transporters, and/or owners operators of facilities that are responsible for hazardous waste pollution should pay for its cleanup. Through CERCLA’s strict liability scheme any company that illegally spills or dumps hazardous substances is liable for the clean-up whether or not the action was negligent. Also, through joint and several liability, each party that contributed waste to a site is responsible for its cleanup. So if Joe Blow is found liable for the clean-up of a site and happens to find any evidence that another company may have contributed as well, Joe Blow can legally pursue them to pay their â€Å"fair share† of the clean-up costs. A perfect example of this was the Girl Scout story told in our environmental law class where a Girl Scout cookie box was found in a site by a company that was fingered for clean-up. The company then tried to accuse the Girl Scouts organization of having to pay the cost of clean-up as well. Furthermore, through retroactive liability, all responsible parties have to clean-up the site even if the damage was done before the law was enacted. CERCLA has criteria for its two types of clean-up procedures which are removal and remedial. Removal actions are generally short term actions such as fencing off an area, studying the soil and removing the hazardous substances to remove the immediate threat from the site. Remedial actions are generally long term actions necessary to clean-up sites to meet final clean-up standards which may include removal or incineration of the contaminated soil to reduce the threat from the site. Through these liability clean-up provisions CERCLA strives to achieve its purpose. CERCLA was later amended in 1980 by SARA (Superfund Amendment Reauthorization Act), enacted to strengthen CERCLA by requiring that site cleanups be permanent and that they use treatments that significantly reduce the volume, toxicity, or mobility of hazardous pollutants. SARA not only increased the size of the Superfund but imposed more stringent requirements when it established more detailed clean-up standards, added new settlement procedures, established mandatory schedules for federal facility compliance, and added provisions to expand the involvement of states and citizen groups in the decision making process. Some major criticisms of CERCLA are that it has been ineffective in cleaning up the nation’s hazardous waste sites, that it has wasted more money on transaction and litigation costs than on clean-up, and that it is unfair to parties that contribute minimally but are liable for the total cost of the clean-up of a site. As for it being ineffective, my opinion is that it is effective because it could be much worse. Craig Collins, a professor of environmental law and the author of â€Å"Toxic Loopholes: Failures and Future Prospects for Environmental Law† points out that â€Å"the dramatic decline in ‘midnight dumping’ since CERCLA became law reveals how effective this liability threat can be† (p. 88). He also has shared within his classroom that mismanaged hazardous waste spills and dumps which used to be commonplace before CERCLA are rare these days. Has the Superfund been wasteful? Clearly you would think this if you’re looking at the percentage of money that has gone into legal fees and litigation costs alone but according to Collins, Superfund has also funded aid for â€Å"toxic terrorism and natural disasters such as the World Trade Center collapse and the devastating Midwest floods of 1993† (p. 99). When looking at it from that lens I can see that it has been just as helpful in many areas as it may have been considered wasteful in others. Regarding unfairness to those who minimally contribute but face the total cost of clean-up, a provision of CERCLA, as addressed by SARA, swiftly settles the liability of those parties through de minimis settlements. Don’t think I don’t understand that just as CERCLA could be worse it could also be better. First of all, it could work a lot better if the people creating laws, such as CERCLA, were actually more concerned about the environment than their powerful colleagues and certain incentives. More specifically, if we continued to allow corporate taxes which supplied money for Superfund clean-ups (which Bush allowed to expire in 1995) we would have money to clean-up many of the orphaned sites that now go uncleaned. Furthermore, if CERCLA forced all companies to use and help promote the â€Å"zero waste† approach, we could then prove that experiences such as the Love Canals, Times Beach Missouri, and Grand Bois actually did mean enough to all of us to do something more unified and serious about it.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Driving A Cab :: Expository Cause Effect Essays

Driving A Cab The effects of driving a cab can vary greatly. Meeting different kinds of people is a major factor when driving a cab. Being confined as a driver of a can effect health conditions. Car trouble can be a problem if the car is not taken care of properly. Violence can be the consequence of picking up the wrong kind of person. Lucky Miller is a 24 years old, part-time cab driver who explains how driving a cab has many different effects his life and health. "Interesting, live and colorful people," as Lucky would say, ride in his cab; as a result Lucky meets many of them. One woman he picked up claimed her countrymen were being held captive on the O'Hare landing strip, and she would like to go there. He thought she was sort of wacky and knew she wouldn't stay in the cab. He told her he could only take her as far as the terminal gate. "That's not good enough," she told Lucky as she hoped out. Lucky often drives businessman to work, he discovered that they do not like to talk that much, it disturbs them. They are usually involved with their policies or whatever they are trying to work on or sell. Younger females do not like to engage in talk either. Lucky thinks they have a fear, which is not talking to strange men. As a result of this, Lucky does not start conversations very often, he waits for his passengers to initiate anything. Violence is a problem that always lurks in the back of a cab driver's mind. Since a driver can not fully tell if a person is good or bad, they are never quite sure whom to pick up. One time Lucky picked up a man, who was wearing a nice shirt and slacks, who did not look like a threat at all. They had an amiable conversation the whole trip. The man started talking to Lucky, therefore he did not think anything of the conversation. When they reached their destination, the man pulled a gun on Lucky, and said "give me your money or I'll kill you." This was an eye opener for Lucky, which changed his attitude about whom he would or would not pick up.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Cisneros’ House on the Mango Street: Beauty Comes from Within

Sometimes it is difficult to live through the travails of what life has to offer for all of us. For some who are unlucky, they have to go through numerous trials and tribulations in order to survive the rigors of poverty, dysfunctional families and societal problems. However, when we learn to see the bright side of everything, we will realize that all these bitter and difficult experiences in life can be beautiful and meaningful for us. Without these, we would not attain success or learn about our mistakes that make all of us better and stronger people. As a quote from Sandra Cisneros’ The House on the Mango Street (1989) goes — â€Å"Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful. Still, we take what we can get and make the best of it†, this means that we can all live through seeing things as beautiful and essential. What is important is that we value the things that we have and it is up to us to make our lives better than what we deserve. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on the Mango Street weaves a thought-provoking, coming-of-age tale of a young girl. She is not only struggling to grow up to become a fine lady like usual American girls, but she is faced with shame, guilt and disappointment as her family is embarking on to acquire a new home in America. As the story comes to a full circle, the readers would inevitably commiserate with how the girl dealt with the scenarios she had faced. She did not only have to go through the complicated journey with her family to their new home, but she has to deal with the big disappointment that their new house is not what she hoped for. These difficulties definitely fanned some fire inside her – to become more determined and strive harder in the future. In the end, readers could predict her utter frustration why things are always tough for immigrant people like them in America. In the story, Esperanza’s family has to undergo an awkward transition of looking for a permanent place to live. Readers will immediately infer that the young girl’s family has Chicano roots because the girl enumerated the members of the family in beginning her story — Papa, Mama, Carlos, Kiki and Nenny. What’s admirable about Cisnero’s conversational style of story-writing is that everyone can relate to their experiences. At one point in anyone’s life, we all can identify with the travails of going through a house transfer. Anyone’s initial reaction will be to feel excited of how our new house will look like or who our new neighbors will be. Unfortunately, for the young girl, she is bound to be betrayed by her own expectations. When Esperanza’s father announced that they are getting a new house in Mango Street, she expected that it will be in the usual American neighborhood with homes that have freshly-mown lawns and white picket fences. For the Esperanza, Mango Street is more than street sign — it is her marker that circumscribes the dream that she and her family had brought with them. This new house will simply be one aspect of attaining their dream — to have a more comfortable life in this new place, in this new country. However, when she saw the house in Mango Street, she was disappointed. She becomes aware of her own subjective perceptions as she begins to differentiate her family’s wonderful dreams and society’s ugly realities. Thus, she becomes conscious of her parents’ inability to fulfill their promises of the perfect house. She thought that â€Å"They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house† (p. 223). However, the â€Å"real house† the narrator expected would be â€Å"like the houses on TV† Apparently, when the narrator saw the house on Mango Street, it transformed from being a symbol of hope to become a symbol of poverty. The narrator associates this realization with the humiliation she has felt in the past, when her family lived in similar places. However, Esperanza realized that she can go beyond her expectations and she could make herself a better person, despite her roots and the community she’s living in. Esperanza began seeing all the positive things around her to make her a stronger person. You can be poor but you still can do good in your studies and excel to become a successful lawyer. You can be a Latina and not get pregnant to become a young mother, but you can strive to achieve your dreams of becoming a great artist someday. Thus, in the story, we can learn that there is beauty in everything that we have. It is just up to us to use these things wisely to make the best out of it. Works Cited Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, Inc. 1989.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Utilization of Wind Energy

Energy is essential in all aspects of human life, this is the main reason why scientific inventions on energy are more recognized that inventions in other spheres. Upon discovery, there must be regular innovations to spice up the invention so that it does not run out market or become inefficient. This is what has led to major improvements on development of wind energy all over the world. This has been catalyzed by global efforts to reduce emission of green house gases; a vision 2030 project that is to be implemented throughout the world. Wind energy has come in the limelight after researches noted that it is most underutilized type of energy (Henderson-2003). This is because the developers have been focusing on the wrong directives; their focus was mainly on the demand and not the supply side. Even with innovations, investors have been reluctant to in funding of wind energy researches as there are many laws and policies around this sphere that can turn the venture unproductive economically. Wind energy is one of the renewable sources of energy that is currently in practical use in the developed countries; developing countries are also picking up the momentum. Just like the hydroelectric generation of power, where enormous water currents are used to rotate the large turbines that convert potential energy to kinetic energy, strong wind currents mostly found in the deserts, along coastlines and open plain areas are used to rotate the turbines suspended in open areas. This generates electricity by converting potential energy into kinetic energy. I decided to carry out a research on wind type of energy; this was in a bid to learn the steps that have been made so far, the loopholes in the steps and factors that are impeding the implementation of the wind energy across the world. The resources I used were mainly academic journals that talk about the whole process of setting up wind energy plants, the policies around the activity and also the steps most of the developing counties are taking towards achievement of their wind energy plans. The journals and articles I used were ones written from 1988 during a United Nations Environmental meeting; Paris COP21 to the ones written in 2018 when President Donald Trump reduced the chains on Environmental Policy Act in 2017. By learning these policies and logistics around them I was able to draw my own map to the road of reliance on wind energy to help ease the stress on the hydro-electric grids we have in the country. The policies that will help in implementation of my plans were also found in the journals, the appropriate modes of transmission and the stakeholders that play a critical role in the sector. The problems I faced when finding inference to the research is that most of them either lacked proper guidelines or lacked good recommendations hence could not be so useful. The reasons behind the researches and geographical areas they were taken in rendered some of the researches impractical. The questions that guided me through that whole process are; who are the stakeholders to team up? What are the policies for the transmission? When will the implementation begin? What is the timeline for setting up and maintaining of the whole transmission process?Goals and objectivesGoalsReduce green house emission from manufacturing companies by 16%Lower the cost of power supply Make wind energy a common preferenceRemedy power interruptions in manufacturing industries. The vision 2030 states that all countries should cut their carbon emissions by 30%. In my research I realized that it's the manufacturing companies that produce a large amount of this gas. Most of these companies are directed by the federal environmental protection agency to fit sieves that will filter carbon from their chimneys; lack of proper follow up by the agency has made them relax and I discovered that most of them have diesel powered generators to supplement the power interruptions they face. My wind energy is mainly customized to target manufacturing companies as primary consumers thus hasten the achievement of vision 2030.There has overreliance on the hydroelectric plants because there is a high demand of the end product in homes. This has led to public outcry due to regular interruptions and inconsistent supply. This projects aims to fit customized turbines for specific regions and hence give them a reliable option.ObjectivesImprove the current design of wind turbinesCarry out campaigns to sensitize the public on the use of wind energyDevelop an overlapping cycle of turbines that will maximize wind farms across the countryInduce the federal government to reduce the laws on implementation of wind projectsThe major improvement I want to put on the current turbines is to reduce their mass and size but affect their performance. The reason behind this is so that they can be able to fit on rooftops or even suspended at different heights on skyscrapers. The campaigns are aimed at sensitizing the masses about the projects benefits and educating them on the importance of it. Through that we will be lowering risks that come about when the turbines fall or even vandalism. The current turbine sizes are large hence occupy lot space during installation. I have developed turbine stand that can 3 turbines of different sizes to be fitted at different heights of the towers. This state of art of art innovation will help reduce overlapping that leads underperformance and underutilization of wind farms. There so many regulations and policies for stakeholders to pass through before initiating wind projects. The many agencies that overlook all the regulations require fees; this is one issue that has scared investors away. We plan to involve the government and make it reduce the regulations, the bodies that oversee it or the fees charged for turbine set up and maintenance. Policies and Problems in the wind energy sectorMotor noise; there has been an environmental concern that the turbines produce a lot of noise thus leading to severe headaches and sometimes depression in the residents around the farm. We plan to curb this by using the latest turbine models that are noise free.Destruction of the ecology system; this is attributed to the number of birds that are chopped by the blades. Most affected birds are bats, owls and eagles. This will be combated by making the edges of the blades blunt.Congestion on wind line; this is a problem I had touched on earlier and stated that our state of equipment will be used to counter it.Policies around this project are; state permitting, this is the first step that has to be met before setting of the off shore and in land turbines. This is one of the policies we plan to counter after starting as the permitting discrepancies between organizations leads to delay of the projects. Federal permitting; this will oversee the setting up and maintenance of inland turbines to make sure they are in line with the environmental laws.We see a positive impact in the society despite the inevitable changes. There will be satisfaction as the customers will be able to get electricity when they need it most. If the implementation takes place as planned then there will be lesser electricity interruptions as time goes by. There will be lesser diseases in the community; water borne and air borne diseases caused by harmful industry emissions and disposal.Strategies and resourcesAnalytical researches have claimed that installation and maintenance of wind energy power plants is expensive than all other types of energy. This claim forgot to mention that the benefits are perpetual as wind never expires. The high cost is not only attributed to set up capital but also the high fees charged by federal agencies if the turbines underperform. The design of our turbines is expected to be so efficient that our transmission company won't have to be subjected to the underperformance fees. Only the human and financial resources are fundamental in the set up stage of the project. Due to its huge implementation budget; I plan to call on board different stakeholders after proposing a comprehensive compensation plan for the funds they are going to pour on the project. Manufacturing companies are my main investor target as the plan will mainly benefit them, reaching out will be an easy task as I will use emails as my main communication mode. Having different stakeholders with different set of contacts will help us get federal environmental permits faster than if we were to do it alone. Collective bargaining of our force will make the state see the urgency and importance of the project. This whole project will be initiated by getting the state permits and environmental agency permits before reaching out to the investors. This is a plan to keep everything in check and reduce delay once the permitting process is done. We plan to carry out a site study to know the precise location of our times and the accurate number of turbines needed per site; this will reduce excess set up costs. Off shore and on shore sites will be studied concurrently. The original plan is that we set up a collection plant for our electricity before adding it to the national grid. This will help us in the maintenance and billing process, we hope to achieve more profits from this. Buying of all the essential equipments will follow the turbines, electricity transmission cables and storage devices. My team plans to use two manufacturers for the whole process, they will partly invest in us using seed money (manwell-2010). This is a good investment plan as it has reliable end users; we hope to bring the desired people on board. Benefits of this step are stretched towards fostering partnerships towards the attainment of sustainable development goals that are envisioned in the vision 2030 blueprint.Every business has a number of risks attached to it; the risks on our court are, theft of equipment at the installation site, pulling out of partners due to uncertainty and getting under qualified stuff to install the equipments. The plans we have to counter these are; hiring of professional security services to safeguard our equipment until the installation process is done. We plan to acquire a loan to supplement the money lost if an investor pulls out in the initial stages, this plan will help motivate the remaining members and thus reduce the risk of more pulling out after the project stalls abruptly. We will be deploying the services of a hiring farm to help us get professionals that will act as the human resource. We will be sure to seal and counter all seen and unseen risks to avoid disappointments and loses.Decision making process of this whole plan factored in the time, scope and cost. I knew that by bringing in different stakeholders to partner on it will reduce the implementation timeline and the cost that will arise from it. It would be easier convincing different stakeholders to channel in small amounts than getting to convince one investor to fund the whole project. The few limitations and lack of innovation also led me to choose now as the specific time to start. There are less wind energy transmission companies than there are hydroelectric transmission plants. I will stress on the societal management level as it is through it that we can bring on board more investors, shareholders and donors. I decided on this because our expansion plan will touch on civilian lives; we plan to convince farmers with large tracts of land to allow us install the turbine towers on their properties at a fee. Incentives we plan to use to effect this are providing electricity for them at lower rates and equipping if not build social libraries as our cooperate social responsibility.Environmental protection agency will oversee all our stages of the project to make sure we comply with all the regulations. We hope to not get interferences as wind energy posses' minor and controllable risks to the environment unlike other types of energy production. Our future goal will be increasing the number of turbines across all geographical areas so as to meet the ever rising demand of electricity. I will motivate my team to come up with other innovations to boost performance and not stick our turbines along congested coastal lines and rural areas alone. This will be in a bid to lower the greenhouse emissions from companies and later reduce the electricity cost.ReferencesAR Henderson 2003Offshore wind energy in Europe; a review of the state of artJF Manwell 2010Wind energy explained; theory, design and application

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Psychological Criticism Of The Misfit In Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find is about a family that gets lost while driving through Georgia and runs across a man known as The Misfit. The Misfit is widely known as a dangerous man and a serial killer to say the least. The Misfit proves to be a true psychological case, and with the help of some Freudian concepts, The Misfit can be deconstructed. The ultimate question when looking at The Misfit is of course, why is The Misfit a killer? In this paper I intend to use Freudian ideas to discover why The Misfit poses to be such a dangerous person. When trying to discover why The Misfit has become the murderer that we find in A Good Man Is Hard to Find, we can first look at some Freudian theories. The Misfit was dealing with some sort of anxiety, and we know this because of his use of several ego defense mechanisms. Ego defense mechanisms, according to Sigmund Freud, are certain techniques that the mind uses when overwhelmed with anxiety, which unconsciously blocks impulses, or distorts them into a more acceptable, less threatening form (Boeree). The first, and possibly the most apparent defense mechanism that The Misfit uses is denial. The Misfit has quite possibly had a rough childhood, and thus, we can assume that his parents weren’t the â€Å"finest people in the world (354).† In letting himself believe that his parents are such good people, he has been denying the opposite, in that he was not treated fairly as a child. Another mechanism that is closely related to denial is repression. Repression has been defined as motivated forgetting, and happens when someone is not able to recall a threatening situation, person, or event (Boeree). There is some event that The Misfit happens to be forgetting. The Misfit had done something earlier in his life that landed him in the penitentiary. At the penitentiary, a psychiatrist told him that he had killed his father and that is why he was being locked up, but, a... Free Essays on Psychological Criticism Of The Misfit In Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard To Find Free Essays on Psychological Criticism Of The Misfit In Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard To Find Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find is about a family that gets lost while driving through Georgia and runs across a man known as The Misfit. The Misfit is widely known as a dangerous man and a serial killer to say the least. The Misfit proves to be a true psychological case, and with the help of some Freudian concepts, The Misfit can be deconstructed. The ultimate question when looking at The Misfit is of course, why is The Misfit a killer? In this paper I intend to use Freudian ideas to discover why The Misfit poses to be such a dangerous person. When trying to discover why The Misfit has become the murderer that we find in A Good Man Is Hard to Find, we can first look at some Freudian theories. The Misfit was dealing with some sort of anxiety, and we know this because of his use of several ego defense mechanisms. Ego defense mechanisms, according to Sigmund Freud, are certain techniques that the mind uses when overwhelmed with anxiety, which unconsciously blocks impulses, or distorts them into a more acceptable, less threatening form (Boeree). The first, and possibly the most apparent defense mechanism that The Misfit uses is denial. The Misfit has quite possibly had a rough childhood, and thus, we can assume that his parents weren’t the â€Å"finest people in the world (354).† In letting himself believe that his parents are such good people, he has been denying the opposite, in that he was not treated fairly as a child. Another mechanism that is closely related to denial is repression. Repression has been defined as motivated forgetting, and happens when someone is not able to recall a threatening situation, person, or event (Boeree). There is some event that The Misfit happens to be forgetting. The Misfit had done something earlier in his life that landed him in the penitentiary. At the penitentiary, a psychiatrist told him that he had killed his father and that is why he was being locked up, but, a...

Monday, November 4, 2019

A Nation of Idiots Analysis

What evidence does Moore offer to support his contention that America is a nation of idiots? Is calling us all a nation of idiots an effective way to get our attention and sympathies? Moore shares a number of personal experiences in this selection to dramatize his disgust with formal education. Overall, how would you characterize his attitude toward school and schooling? What textual evidence leads you to make those conclusions?What are the potential problems with using this kind of rhetorical or argumentative strategy in his writing? Moore offers evidence of public ignorance to support that America is a nation of idiots. He does this by stating, â€Å"Only 11 percent of the American public bothers to read a daily newspaper, beyond the funny pages or the used car ads† (Idiot Nation excerpt, Colombo, Cullen, Lisle, 129).This example is a good reflection of Moore’s attitude and style of grabbing the reader’s attention. He relates to the readers in simple terms, but always with a hint of sarcasm. I believe that calling America a â€Å"nation of idiots† is an effective way of getting us to listen. The way Moore sees it, schools have used various tactics to educate its students and politicians have used different forms of engaging the public, but the public is not interested.Moore states, â€Å"A nation that not only churns out illiterate students but goes out of its way to remain ignorant and stupid is a nation that should not be running this world – at least not until a majority of its citizens can locate Kosovo (or any other country it has bombed) on the map† (Idiot Nation excerpt, Colombo, Cullen, Lisle, 129). The potential problem with using this kind of rhetorical strategy in his writing is that the readers probably do not think of themselves as â€Å"idiots† and therefore will assume that Moore’s words do not apply to them and readers will tune out.Another problem is Moore will offend some of his audience and naturally these audience members will become defensive and disregard Moore’s current and future work. Moore does not see schooling in America as an effective way of educating the nation. He also views it as a very harmful environment that teaches children not to question authority and not to think, but rather do as they are told. â€Å"They learn that to rock the boat could get them rocked right out of school† (Idiot Nation excerpt, Colombo, Cullen, Lisle, 143).

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Master dissertation proposal (outline)of about 600 words Essay

Master dissertation proposal (outline)of about 600 words - Essay Example The purpose of introducing ICT in education is to enhance the language learning and educational activities of students and support the teaching process by means of computers, internet and the latest technologies. ICT has already become a part and parcel of young kids’ lives. The research will focus on questions like: has introducing ICT concepts at so young an age helped children discover, examine, explain and solve problems, foresee, argue and judge? For primary school children, that is, key stage 1 and 2, do teachers feel their responsibility where to make use of ICT tools to support language learning of the students? Is ICT also helping children with special needs or not? There are a lot of ICT tools available that help children with special needs adapt to their new learning environment which is more efficient and more helpful to them. Do these tools help children who find difficulties such as language hurdles, cultural hurdles, writing trouble (dysgraphia), reading difficu lties (dyslexia), math difficulties (dyscalculia), memorizing difficulties and environmental disadvantages? These issues have inspired me to conduct a research about ICT in CALL for young children. Harriet, Price. The Really Useful Book of ICT in the Early Years. United Kingdom, UK: Routledge, 2008. (This book helps explain the role of ICT in young children’s education especially their language learning process.) Siraj-Blatchford, Irum., & John Siraj-Blatchford. A Guide to Developing the ICT Curriculum for Early Childhood Education. United Kingdom, UK: Trentham Books, 2006. (This book is also a great help in understanding the importance of ICT in CALL in early childhood phases.) Questionnaires and personal interviews with teachers, parents and children will be conducted. I shall visit parents at homes and teachers and children at school. I shall conduct a comparative research based on results received from children