Benefits Of Getting A College Education - 1303 Words

As the price to attend college increases throughout the years many young adults are experiencing increasing difficulty in being able to pay for such an endeavor and many more are beginning to question whether or not it’s worth the price due to the faltering of the economy. The price tag may be the most common concern about getting a college education but another important factor that many students consider when applying for college is how much time they will need to devote to school. Many prospective students think that the time spent in a college math class is a waste when they are majoring in the arts. This results in many students deciding against getting a college education in favor for finding a source of income to support themselves and due to the lack of employment opportunities available today the decision to choose an income over an education is really a matter of survival. However, this is the beginning of a slippery slope that can easily lead to a population that is severely lacking in education which can lead to a disaster in a country where the nations populace are the ones making decisions with their vote. I believe it is time to make education not only cheaper, but more accessible to more people across the country by eliminating course requirements and majors in order to allow students to seek out an education that is tailored to the subject they are seeking to pursue. Doing so will not only result in a lower cost of college by eliminating useless andShow MoreRelatedCollege Is It Worth It?1317 Words   |  6 PagesCollege, is it Worth it? Is college really worth the time and money? This is the question I am going to be exploring. While many people may have an idea that college is just an abundance of debt, other students argue that most of the information they learn doesn’t provide them with the value they thought it would (Adams 1). Many college students who grow up with the opportunity to go to college usually don’t stress the idea of going to school, but most students who don’t have the opportunity toRead MoreValue Of College Education837 Words   |  4 PagesIn recent years, the rising costs of college education made many high school graduates question whether getting a degree is worth the price. However, there are several reasons why going to college is still a beneficial investment. A college education has value; it makes you more well-rounded, it increases your chance of success, and it makes you more prepared for adult life. A college education is a four-year bachelor’s degree re ceived by living on a college campus. While there are other ways toRead MoreBenefits of a College Degree Essay1411 Words   |  6 Pageswhether to go to college or not. There are many factors that go into one’s decision. There are pros and cons to going to college and also there are pros and cons for not going to college. But the decision that will give someone the better opportunity to have a more successful life is to go to college. The money that one will earn after getting a college degree will be more than the money a person will make without getting a college degree. As our society has continued to evolve, education has become theRead MoreIs College Education Necessary For College?1509 Words   |  7 PagesI really need to go to college?† In my case, the answer was yes, I need to go to college. Each year high schoolers have to make the decision to go to college or not. This is a decision people have been making since college has existed. Almost everyone has to m ake this decision at some point in their life. Some chose to go to college for two years, four years or however longer to get their desired degree. Then, there are people who make the decision to not pursue a college degree. There are variousRead MoreShould College Athletes Be Paid?1578 Words   |  7 PagesAshay Mehta Nou Per 8 Should College Athletes Be Paid? One of the hottest debates in the sports industry is if college athletes should be paid. If you want to pay these athletes, how would the college determine the dollar amount that should be paid? Should the basketball team make more than the football team? Should the the soccer team be paid as well? Cheerleading? Chess team? Should everyone on the team get a salary? What if your college is good at football and your basketball team is awfulRead MoreBenefits Of College Education1462 Words   |  6 Pagesfuture to support their family and have a brighter future. Some students question whether attending college is worth their time, but research suggests that students who study at postsecondary institutions will benefit in the long run. If students want to have a successful future, to be able to support their family, and have a higher income, they will need some sort of higher level education. Going to college can help with unemployment rates and increase the chances of attaining a stabl e career. PeopleRead MoreIs A College Education Worth It?1018 Words   |  5 PagesIn today’s society, the idea of receiving a college education has been pondered quite a bit as to whether or not it is actually worth it. According to Michelle Adam, many people â€Å"†¦today believe that getting a good education is key to success in our society, this revealed surprising issues that challenge the notion of higher education being worth its price tag† (59). Naturally, many high school graduates apply for college right before or after graduation. Others decide to go into the work force, armedRead MoreWhy College Is Becoming More Expensive938 Words   |  4 Pagesattend college for a higher education and to find a career within their interest. Despite the fact that college is becoming more expensive and many people are not on a full ride scholarship have student loan debt, a college education is necessary. College has the ability to help build skills for a specific ca reer or job. It also teaches students how to get involved with other students and to network. College can open doors for a poorer family. Many jobs today that don t require any college experienceRead MoreWhy College Education Is Important to Me839 Words   |  4 PagesWhy College Education is Important to Me Patty Murray said â€Å"A good education means learning to read, write and most importantly learn how to learn so that you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up.† Getting a college education will help open so many doors and give me opportunities to better myself, and provide me with a more successful life that I can be proud of. In today’s society it is hard to get a good job or have a stable career without first getting a college degree. A college educationRead MoreEssay Is College Worth It682 Words   |  3 PagesIs college worth it? Ask yourself a question, is college worth it to you? If you answered no then in this case it will be beneficial for you to read this. When thinking about college you have to think more about what you want out of it rather than what you have to do to get through it. The skills that you get while attending college can be very beneficial to you. Having the critical thinking and advanced communication skills that you acquire in college. Getting a college degree and bringing what

Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming Free Essays

Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming? A REVIEW OF THE FACTS APRIL 2007 AUTHORS James Wang, Ph. D. Bill Chameides, Ph. We will write a custom essay sample on Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming? or any similar topic only for you Order Now D. Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming? The case for attributing the recent global warming to human activities rests on the following undisputed scientific facts: †¢ Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas that warms the atmosphere. †¢ Since pre-industrial times, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased from about 280 parts per million (ppm) to over 380 ppm. Current concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are unprecedented in at least the last 650,000 years, based on records from gas bubbles trapped in polar ice. †¢ Independent measurements demonstrate that the increased CO2 in the atmosphere comes from burning fossil fuels and forests. The isotopic composition of carbon from these sources contains a unique â€Å"fingerprint. † †¢ Since pre-industrial times, global average temperatures have increased by about 0. 7? C, with about half of the warming occurring over the past few decades. The only quantitative and internally consistent explanation for the recent global warming includes the intensified greenhouse effect caused by the increase in CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The U. S. National Academy of Sciences—the independent organization of the country’s most renowned scientists established by Congress to advise the nation on scientific and technical issues—has concluded: â€Å"The scienti fic understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. Some argue that the recent global warming is due to natural fluctuations and not to human activities. This argument and its fallacies are discussed below. Argument 1: CO2 is not coming from human activities CO2 has natural sources: volcanoes for example. All animals exhale it. How can human activities be affecting the concentration of CO2 on a global scale? The Facts Natural processes emit large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, but they also remove it—at nearly identical rates. This balance maintained the concentration of CO2 at a stable level for thousands of years prior to the Industrial Revolution. In the case of global warming, the question is: What is causing the increase in CO2 concentrations? The answer turns out to be incontrovertible. The isotopic composition of carbon in atmospheric CO2 provides a unique â€Å"fingerprint† that tells scientists that the lion’s share of the additional CO2 accumulating in the atmosphere is from the burning of fossil fuels. Argument 2: No one really knows why the climate varies The global climate has fluctuated considerably over the Earth’s history, either for unknown reasons or because of â€Å"internal variability† in the climate system. We do not know enough about the climate system to attribute the present global warming to any specific cause. The Facts It is true that the Earth’s climate has exhibited wide swings over geologic time due to natural processes. However, scientists have reasonable qualitative explanations for most of the significant variations in 2 limate over geologic time;1 they can be largely attributed to specific processes, not to unknown internal oscillations. Many of the major climatic changes can be traced to changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun (Hays et al. Science, 194, 1976, pg. 1121). Others can be linked to specific events (such as the impact of a comet or meteorite or the assembly or breakup of supercontinents) that led to large changes in the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases. For more recent times (the past millennium), scientists have been able to quantitatively attribute the major temperature fluctuations to changes in solar activity, volcanic eruptions, and human-produced greenhouse gases and particulate pollution. These natural processes can not explain the current warming. Argument 3: The Medieval Warm Period disproves global warming The current warming trend is analogous to the Medieval Warming Period (MWP). Since the MWP was obviously a natural event, the current warming is also likely caused by natural processes. The Facts The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) refers to a relatively warm period lasting from about the 10th to the 14th century. 2 However, the initial evidence for the MWP was largely based on data3 gathered from Europe, and more recent analyses indicate that the MWP was not a global phenomenon. A number of reconstructions of millennium-scale global temperatures have indicated that the maximum globally averaged temperature during the MWP was not as extreme as present-day temperatures and that the warming was regional rather than global. Perhaps the most well-known of these is that of Michael Mann and colleagues (Nature, 392, 1998, pg. 779). Their reconstruction produced the so-called â€Å"hockey stick† graphic that contributed to this conclusion in the 2001 assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: â€Å"The†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Medieval Warm Period’ appear(s) to have limited utility in describing trends in hemispheric or global mean temperature changes in past centuries. † The accuracy of the â€Å"hockey stick† graphic was widely discussed in the press when the Mann et al. methodology was criticized by McIntyre and McKitrick (Geophys. Res. Lettr, 32, 2005, pg. L03710). Less attention was given to subsequent studies, such as that of Moberg and colleagues (Nature, 433, 2005, pg. 13) and Osborn and Briffa (Science, 311, 2006, pg. 841) that were based on different, independent methodologies but reached conclusions similar to Mann. Observations of melting high altitude glaciers are perhaps even more telling. Andean glaciers that have been intact for more than 5,000 years are now rap idly melting (Thompson et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. , 103, 2006, pg. 10536). If the MWP was truly global, these glaciers would not have survived. More generally, it is a logical fallacy to argue that because the climate has changed in the past due to natural causes, the current warming trend must also be due to natural causes. The debate over the magnitude and causes of earlier climate change such as the MWP is of scientific interest, but it does not invalidate the considerable direct scientific evidence that human-produced greenhouse gases have been causing the Earth to warm recently. Argument 4: Recent predictions of a new ice age disprove global warming In the 1970s climate scientists were saying an ice age was imminent. Now they say the Earth is warming. They don’t know what they are talking about. The Facts The Earth’s climate for the past 2 million years has been characterized by ice ages lasting close to 100,000 years, punctuated by relatively short (10,000- to 30,000-year) warm periods or â€Å"interglacials. † The swing from glacial to interglacial is caused by changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun amplified by natural feedbacks involving greenhouse gases (Hays et al. Science, 194, 1976, pg. 1121). The Earth entered the present interglacial about 10,000 years ago. All things being equal (i. e. , in the absence of a large human-produced source of CO2) it is highly likely that the Earth will swing back into a glacial period or ice age. But this will not occur for thousands of years. 3 As early as the 19th century, scientists recognized that greenhouse gases warm the planet, and that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide could lead to global warming on time scales of decades to centuries—much shorter than the fluctuations related to ice ages and interglacials. Around the same time, global temperatures began to increase and scientists became increasingly concerned that humans were interfering with the climate. In the 1950s the upward trend in global temperatures unexpectedly halted and temperatures declined somewhat. This led some scientists to become concerned about global cooling and, in turn, to headlines in the popular press about an imminent ice age. What the skeptics fail to admit is that within the scientific literature—as opposed to the popular press—global warming remained a serious concern. Many scientists of the time argued that whatever the cause of the cooling, natural or otherwise, it would be eventually overshadowed by the warming effect of carbon dioxide. In 1979, the National Academy of Sciences warned that a doubling of carbon dioxide would increase global temperatures by 1. 5 to 4. oC (Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment, NAS Press, 1979) and shortly thereafter a resumption of the upward trend in temperatures was detected. Over the past quarter century, scientific research on global climate change has intensified, and programs on an international scale have been organized. More and more data are included in computer models that are capable of recre ating past trends and more precisely predicting future scenarios. We now know that the mid-20th century pause in global warming was caused by pollution from burning coal, which produced tiny particles or aerosols that blocked the energy from the sun. As aerosol emissions were controlled but greenhouse gas pollution continued to increase, the cooling effect of the aerosols was overwhelmed by the greenhouse gases, and global warming resumed. Argument 5: Scientists cannot â€Å"prove† current warming is not natural Climate scientists can not prove that the current warming is not due to natural processes and therefore can not claim with certainty that the warming is due to human interference. The Facts It is of course true that, in a complex system like climate, it is virtually impossible to prove a negative; i. e. that natural processes are not causing the current warming. What we can do is eliminate every possible natural explanation that can be posited. Thermodynamics tells us that the warming of the Earth’s lower atmosphere must arise from one or more processes that supply excess heat to the lower atmosphere. Besides the greenhouse effect, the viable processes are (1) increased output from the sun; (2) increased abs orption of heat from the sun due to a change in the Earth’s planetary reflectivity or â€Å"albedo†; and (3) an internal variation in the climate system that transfers heat from one part of the Earth to the atmosphere. Direct observations confirm that none of these explains the observed warming over the latter half of the 20th century. For example there has been no appreciable change in solar output over the past two decades (see Figure 1). Figure 1. Change in solar output from 1980 to 2005. Figure 1 shows the relative change in solar output determined from two of satellite measurements over a two-decade period. The data show variability in solar output corresponding to the 11-year sunspot cycle, but no secular trend. Source: After Lean and Froelich, 2006. 4 Satellite data reveal that the Earth’s reflectivity increased (causing cooling instead of warming) in the ’60’s, ‘70s, and early ‘80s and has decreased modestly since. 4 The overall warming from the recent decrease in reflectivity is also small compared to the greenhouse warming. In the case of internal variations, the ocean is the only viable reservoir of internal heat that could have caused the atmosphere to warm on decadal time-scales. However, observations show that the heat content of the ocean has increased instead of decreased over the past few decades (See Figure 2). This indicates that the atmosphere has been a source of heat to the ocean rather than vice versa. Moreover, the amount of heat increase in the ocean is consistent with what is needed to balance the Earth’s energy budget given the excess heating from the enhanced greenhouse effect and the amount of excess heat observed to be stored in the atmosphere (Hansen et al. Science, 308, 2005, pg. 1431). In other words, the amount of heat stored in the ocean over recent years matches the amount of heat that models predict should be trapped on Earth due to the increase in greenhouse gases. Figure 2. Change in heat content of ocean 1955 to 2005 Source: After Levitus et al. 2005. FIGURE 2 SHOWS THE RELATIVE CHANGE IN THE HEAT COTENT OF THE OCEAN FROM 1955 TO 2005 BASED ON A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF OCEAN TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS. THE DATA SHOW SHORT TERM VARIABILITY BUT A CLEAR UPWARD TREND ON DECADAL TIME-SCALES. Conclusion †¢ The Medieval Warm Period does not represent an analogy to the warming of the late 20th century, for which scientists have independent evidence of human causation, and the evidence strongly suggests that the MWP was a regional, rather than a global phenomenon. Our understanding of the climate system is sufficient to provide qualitative models for most global or hemispheric climatic variations over geologic history and quantitative models for variations over the past millennium. †¢ The Earth’s climate may return to ice age conditions in thousands of years, but this does not preclude devastating effects from global warming over the next few c enturies. 5 †¢ All known natural explanations for the current global warming trend have been eliminated by direct observations. The human-intensified greenhouse effect provides the only quantitative explanation for the current warming trend. About the authors Dr. Wang received his doctorate from Harvard University and works as a climate scientist at Environmental Defense. He has published several peer-reviewed papers on the global methane budget and was the author of â€Å"The Latest Myths and Facts on Global Warming,† which was read into the congressional record by Senator John McCain in 2005. The report is available at http://www. undoit. org/pdfs/mythsvfacts. pdf. Dr. Chameides, chief scientist at Environmental Defense, is a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and has been named a National Associate of the National Academies. He is also an American Geophysical Union Fellow, and has received the American Geophysical Union’s Macelwane Award. Dr. Chameides has served as editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research and is the author or coauthor of more than 120 scientific publications and five books. He received his doctorate from Yale University. The explanations are qualitative instead of quantitative because we do not have quantitative data from these events in the distant past to construct their exact histories. It has been suggested based on temperature reconstructions and model simulations that the MWP may have been caused by increased solar activity or a dearth of volcanic activity. 3 th Because worldwide temperature measurements do not exist before the 19 century, temperature records before th the 19 century are based on reconstructions of the temperature from the variations in temperature-sensit ive proxies (e. g. , tree rings, isotopes in ice cores). 4 These variations are possibly due to changes in the concentrations of atmospheric aerosols produced from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass. 1 6 How to cite Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming?, Papers Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming Free Essays Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming? A REVIEW OF THE FACTS APRIL 2007 AUTHORS James Wang, Ph. D. Bill Chameides, Ph. We will write a custom essay sample on Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming? or any similar topic only for you Order Now D. Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming? The case for attributing the recent global warming to human activities rests on the following undisputed scientific facts: †¢ Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas that warms the atmosphere. †¢ Since pre-industrial times, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased from about 280 parts per million (ppm) to over 380 ppm. Current concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are unprecedented in at least the last 650,000 years, based on records from gas bubbles trapped in polar ice. †¢ Independent measurements demonstrate that the increased CO2 in the atmosphere comes from burning fossil fuels and forests. The isotopic composition of carbon from these sources contains a unique â€Å"fingerprint. † †¢ Since pre-industrial times, global average temperatures have increased by about 0. 7? C, with about half of the warming occurring over the past few decades. The only quantitative and internally consistent explanation for the recent global warming includes the intensified greenhouse effect caused by the increase in CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The U. S. National Academy of Sciences—the independent organization of the country’s most renowned scientists established by Congress to advise the nation on scientific and technical issues—has concluded: â€Å"The scienti fic understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. Some argue that the recent global warming is due to natural fluctuations and not to human activities. This argument and its fallacies are discussed below. Argument 1: CO2 is not coming from human activities CO2 has natural sources: volcanoes for example. All animals exhale it. How can human activities be affecting the concentration of CO2 on a global scale? The Facts Natural processes emit large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, but they also remove it—at nearly identical rates. This balance maintained the concentration of CO2 at a stable level for thousands of years prior to the Industrial Revolution. In the case of global warming, the question is: What is causing the increase in CO2 concentrations? The answer turns out to be incontrovertible. The isotopic composition of carbon in atmospheric CO2 provides a unique â€Å"fingerprint† that tells scientists that the lion’s share of the additional CO2 accumulating in the atmosphere is from the burning of fossil fuels. Argument 2: No one really knows why the climate varies The global climate has fluctuated considerably over the Earth’s history, either for unknown reasons or because of â€Å"internal variability† in the climate system. We do not know enough about the climate system to attribute the present global warming to any specific cause. The Facts It is true that the Earth’s climate has exhibited wide swings over geologic time due to natural processes. However, scientists have reasonable qualitative explanations for most of the significant variations in 2 limate over geologic time;1 they can be largely attributed to specific processes, not to unknown internal oscillations. Many of the major climatic changes can be traced to changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun (Hays et al. Science, 194, 1976, pg. 1121). Others can be linked to specific events (such as the impact of a comet or meteorite or the assembly or breakup of supercontinents) that led to large changes in the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases. For more recent times (the past millennium), scientists have been able to quantitatively attribute the major temperature fluctuations to changes in solar activity, volcanic eruptions, and human-produced greenhouse gases and particulate pollution. These natural processes can not explain the current warming. Argument 3: The Medieval Warm Period disproves global warming The current warming trend is analogous to the Medieval Warming Period (MWP). Since the MWP was obviously a natural event, the current warming is also likely caused by natural processes. The Facts The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) refers to a relatively warm period lasting from about the 10th to the 14th century. 2 However, the initial evidence for the MWP was largely based on data3 gathered from Europe, and more recent analyses indicate that the MWP was not a global phenomenon. A number of reconstructions of millennium-scale global temperatures have indicated that the maximum globally averaged temperature during the MWP was not as extreme as present-day temperatures and that the warming was regional rather than global. Perhaps the most well-known of these is that of Michael Mann and colleagues (Nature, 392, 1998, pg. 779). Their reconstruction produced the so-called â€Å"hockey stick† graphic that contributed to this conclusion in the 2001 assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: â€Å"The†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Medieval Warm Period’ appear(s) to have limited utility in describing trends in hemispheric or global mean temperature changes in past centuries. † The accuracy of the â€Å"hockey stick† graphic was widely discussed in the press when the Mann et al. methodology was criticized by McIntyre and McKitrick (Geophys. Res. Lettr, 32, 2005, pg. L03710). Less attention was given to subsequent studies, such as that of Moberg and colleagues (Nature, 433, 2005, pg. 13) and Osborn and Briffa (Science, 311, 2006, pg. 841) that were based on different, independent methodologies but reached conclusions similar to Mann. Observations of melting high altitude glaciers are perhaps even more telling. Andean glaciers that have been intact for more than 5,000 years are now rap idly melting (Thompson et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. , 103, 2006, pg. 10536). If the MWP was truly global, these glaciers would not have survived. More generally, it is a logical fallacy to argue that because the climate has changed in the past due to natural causes, the current warming trend must also be due to natural causes. The debate over the magnitude and causes of earlier climate change such as the MWP is of scientific interest, but it does not invalidate the considerable direct scientific evidence that human-produced greenhouse gases have been causing the Earth to warm recently. Argument 4: Recent predictions of a new ice age disprove global warming In the 1970s climate scientists were saying an ice age was imminent. Now they say the Earth is warming. They don’t know what they are talking about. The Facts The Earth’s climate for the past 2 million years has been characterized by ice ages lasting close to 100,000 years, punctuated by relatively short (10,000- to 30,000-year) warm periods or â€Å"interglacials. † The swing from glacial to interglacial is caused by changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun amplified by natural feedbacks involving greenhouse gases (Hays et al. Science, 194, 1976, pg. 1121). The Earth entered the present interglacial about 10,000 years ago. All things being equal (i. e. , in the absence of a large human-produced source of CO2) it is highly likely that the Earth will swing back into a glacial period or ice age. But this will not occur for thousands of years. 3 As early as the 19th century, scientists recognized that greenhouse gases warm the planet, and that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide could lead to global warming on time scales of decades to centuries—much shorter than the fluctuations related to ice ages and interglacials. Around the same time, global temperatures began to increase and scientists became increasingly concerned that humans were interfering with the climate. In the 1950s the upward trend in global temperatures unexpectedly halted and temperatures declined somewhat. This led some scientists to become concerned about global cooling and, in turn, to headlines in the popular press about an imminent ice age. What the skeptics fail to admit is that within the scientific literature—as opposed to the popular press—global warming remained a serious concern. Many scientists of the time argued that whatever the cause of the cooling, natural or otherwise, it would be eventually overshadowed by the warming effect of carbon dioxide. In 1979, the National Academy of Sciences warned that a doubling of carbon dioxide would increase global temperatures by 1. 5 to 4. oC (Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment, NAS Press, 1979) and shortly thereafter a resumption of the upward trend in temperatures was detected. Over the past quarter century, scientific research on global climate change has intensified, and programs on an international scale have been organized. More and more data are included in computer models that are capable of recre ating past trends and more precisely predicting future scenarios. We now know that the mid-20th century pause in global warming was caused by pollution from burning coal, which produced tiny particles or aerosols that blocked the energy from the sun. As aerosol emissions were controlled but greenhouse gas pollution continued to increase, the cooling effect of the aerosols was overwhelmed by the greenhouse gases, and global warming resumed. Argument 5: Scientists cannot â€Å"prove† current warming is not natural Climate scientists can not prove that the current warming is not due to natural processes and therefore can not claim with certainty that the warming is due to human interference. The Facts It is of course true that, in a complex system like climate, it is virtually impossible to prove a negative; i. e. that natural processes are not causing the current warming. What we can do is eliminate every possible natural explanation that can be posited. Thermodynamics tells us that the warming of the Earth’s lower atmosphere must arise from one or more processes that supply excess heat to the lower atmosphere. Besides the greenhouse effect, the viable processes are (1) increased output from the sun; (2) increased abs orption of heat from the sun due to a change in the Earth’s planetary reflectivity or â€Å"albedo†; and (3) an internal variation in the climate system that transfers heat from one part of the Earth to the atmosphere. Direct observations confirm that none of these explains the observed warming over the latter half of the 20th century. For example there has been no appreciable change in solar output over the past two decades (see Figure 1). Figure 1. Change in solar output from 1980 to 2005. Figure 1 shows the relative change in solar output determined from two of satellite measurements over a two-decade period. The data show variability in solar output corresponding to the 11-year sunspot cycle, but no secular trend. Source: After Lean and Froelich, 2006. 4 Satellite data reveal that the Earth’s reflectivity increased (causing cooling instead of warming) in the ’60’s, ‘70s, and early ‘80s and has decreased modestly since. 4 The overall warming from the recent decrease in reflectivity is also small compared to the greenhouse warming. In the case of internal variations, the ocean is the only viable reservoir of internal heat that could have caused the atmosphere to warm on decadal time-scales. However, observations show that the heat content of the ocean has increased instead of decreased over the past few decades (See Figure 2). This indicates that the atmosphere has been a source of heat to the ocean rather than vice versa. Moreover, the amount of heat increase in the ocean is consistent with what is needed to balance the Earth’s energy budget given the excess heating from the enhanced greenhouse effect and the amount of excess heat observed to be stored in the atmosphere (Hansen et al. Science, 308, 2005, pg. 1431). In other words, the amount of heat stored in the ocean over recent years matches the amount of heat that models predict should be trapped on Earth due to the increase in greenhouse gases. Figure 2. Change in heat content of ocean 1955 to 2005 Source: After Levitus et al. 2005. FIGURE 2 SHOWS THE RELATIVE CHANGE IN THE HEAT COTENT OF THE OCEAN FROM 1955 TO 2005 BASED ON A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF OCEAN TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS. THE DATA SHOW SHORT TERM VARIABILITY BUT A CLEAR UPWARD TREND ON DECADAL TIME-SCALES. Conclusion †¢ The Medieval Warm Period does not represent an analogy to the warming of the late 20th century, for which scientists have independent evidence of human causation, and the evidence strongly suggests that the MWP was a regional, rather than a global phenomenon. Our understanding of the climate system is sufficient to provide qualitative models for most global or hemispheric climatic variations over geologic history and quantitative models for variations over the past millennium. †¢ The Earth’s climate may return to ice age conditions in thousands of years, but this does not preclude devastating effects from global warming over the next few c enturies. 5 †¢ All known natural explanations for the current global warming trend have been eliminated by direct observations. The human-intensified greenhouse effect provides the only quantitative explanation for the current warming trend. About the authors Dr. Wang received his doctorate from Harvard University and works as a climate scientist at Environmental Defense. He has published several peer-reviewed papers on the global methane budget and was the author of â€Å"The Latest Myths and Facts on Global Warming,† which was read into the congressional record by Senator John McCain in 2005. The report is available at http://www. undoit. org/pdfs/mythsvfacts. pdf. Dr. Chameides, chief scientist at Environmental Defense, is a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and has been named a National Associate of the National Academies. He is also an American Geophysical Union Fellow, and has received the American Geophysical Union’s Macelwane Award. Dr. Chameides has served as editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research and is the author or coauthor of more than 120 scientific publications and five books. He received his doctorate from Yale University. The explanations are qualitative instead of quantitative because we do not have quantitative data from these events in the distant past to construct their exact histories. It has been suggested based on temperature reconstructions and model simulations that the MWP may have been caused by increased solar activity or a dearth of volcanic activity. 3 th Because worldwide temperature measurements do not exist before the 19 century, temperature records before th the 19 century are based on reconstructions of the temperature from the variations in temperature-sensit ive proxies (e. g. , tree rings, isotopes in ice cores). 4 These variations are possibly due to changes in the concentrations of atmospheric aerosols produced from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass. 1 6 How to cite Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming?, Essay examples

A Handbook of Employee Reward and Practice

Questions: Task 1: Broadening diversity policy, show how the relationship between BQs structure and culture has impacted on its performance?Task 2: Effectiveness of the leadership and management style at BQ?Task 3: Theories of motivation at BQ?Task 4: Using theories about the nature of groups and group behaviour in organisations, independently evaluate the factors that could help or hinder effective teamwork in BQ? Answers: Introduction The company had huge concerns with the numerous populations and there is huge competition with respect to young employees. This way, it recruited the major staff and as per the report, the employees were loyal and dedicated in their work at BQ. Youth were highly motivated for the work and they were high performers when compared with the older employees because they were poor and bad performers with high number of absenteeism and higher level of turnover. The company managed to increase the diversity policy and it had focused on the staff members that encourages and motivates the skills of language for the customers. The company widely relied upon the training and opportunities to meet with the goals and success. It also focused on the video presentations and other activities to meet the success in the organization. (Quinn, 2006) Task 1: Broadening diversity policy, show how the relationship between BQs structure and culture hasimpacted on its performance BQ was founded in the year 1969 and it brings value and longer opening hours with high amount of products to everyone. With the focus of improvement stores called BQ, it was the importance of the major expansion that developed the Europes biggest and broadest retail conglomerates. It expanded its presence to remain the leading home improvement retailer. BQ took the decisions to deal with the diversity of business reasons and the company gained the edge of competitiveness with added human resource values and customer services. The support of senior management is important in the belief that deals with age discrimination and rules as well as regulations. To remain successful, it is important to deal with the workforce and the BQ management believed in the policies of diversity. Its main approach was to lead an essential action that was of top level and strong outcomes. (Tushman, 2012) The organization has high desires to meet the position and to deliver the high amount of growth as well as success. It deals with the business transformation at the center of the organization and supports business transformation. Proper commitment was provided with active support and significant personal involvement. Business also followed the movement of culture during this process and considered the major ways of thinking. With sustainable development strategies, the corporate social responsibility helps in achieving sustainability. It helps to improve the quality of the life of the people in the business. (Slater, 2005) Diversity policies The diversity policy is the business strategy that commits to the value of the respect for people and the company manages diversity at BQ and sets the proper standard and behavior to treat the customers and employees successfully with trust, dignity and respect. For managing equality and diversity, it will add high values and bring the differences among people in the business. Initially the company worked with the suppliers to improve and enhance the integrity of the environment of its supply chains and the program is known as QUEST. It had now revised to incorporate the issues of sustainable growth and development. The principle of QUEST and the suppliers are rewarded as a grade from A-E grade and with this approach, the A is known as leadership, commitment and innovation and E grade has the challenge in the environmental policies of BQ. New suppliers do not lead to the relevant approach. The program has been expanded and applied to the impact of the stores and it identifies the challenges as well as community interactions. (Westphal, 2012) In case of employment, the BQ supports the WORKSTEP program of the government and it also provides opportunity to work to disabled person along with the non-disabled person to motivate them to meet the strong potential with the goal of person to involve in the employment. The recruitment process of BQ with respect to the automated telephone screening interviews is a structured process of interview that implements talent and meet the demands along with the culture. (Robert, 2014) BQ focuses on performance appraisal system over a decade that helps to review the performance to identify the performance needs and to meet the performance for the rise of quality. It was very subjective and the appraisal system lacked the support of other methods of evaluation to the rigorous process to assure the improvements of performance. (Fiona, 2009) The company introduced the PMS over eighteen months ago and the PMS was launched for management population in the last six months. The initial focus on the system to the different ranks was based on the strategy of Aisle ownership and this concept defines that each customer advisor in 343 stores are accountable and responsible for their own aisle in the outlet. The important ownership is the support of the PMS that helps to reach the organization goals. Other policies and practices of HR are integrated into the strategy are job autonomy, talent management and decision making. Managers focus on performance expectations and objectives and feedback of the performance. (Lori, 2013) The performance expectations were developed for each team member based on their levels of skills and learning and development framework. Task 2: Effectiveness of the leadership and management style at BQ The company has more than three million customers at every week and the BQ has extensive base of customers which is the major strength in terms of sales and profits. Thus, BQ retains the customer by offering the opportunity to develop and design the own products with respect to the taste and preferences. BQ focuses on opportunity and it is rewarded as the work place award. It is also recognized as the constant phase of employee training in terms of customer satisfaction. It has experienced the work force that meets the organization with knowledge and expertise. Thus, BQ concentrates on the soft side human resource management and spends in strong communications and training. (Goodstein, 2009) The participative styles of management deals with the organization structure that reflects the culture and employees are focused on new ideas and innovations. Therefore, it unlocks the potential of the employees. This way, it motivates the culture of empowerment and entrepreneurship. There is a belief of senior management that there are benefits with the diversity strategy and BQ has good image of doing the things in the right manner. It leads to recruitment and rules and regulations properly. To remain successful, the diversity strategy must be driven and the company and its management believe that there is a difficult trading environment. Thus, he was appointed as the senior individual with the roles and personalities for the implementation of diversity policies. It helps the managers to remain aware of major considerations on customers and employees. (Holbeche, 2015) The consistent factor of research concerns with the effectiveness of social and environmental strategies within companies is the major importance of supportive leadership. At BQ, the company focuses on great managers and they made a difference. They successfully identify the situations and deals with engagement. The managers from high engagement stores are shifted to new stores and BQ also involves in training and shares information to work and to boost the engagement and this way, they makes a difference and determines their ideas and practices. (Gallup.com, 2003) The leaders are effective and supportive with the principles of integrated sustainability into the culture. BQ has strong and inspirational leaders with the response of leadership into the sustainability. The management of the company focuses on important requirements to deal with the employees at BQ and they realize the importance of relationship at BQ. The management at BQ develops high awareness of the brand of the company and modifies the negative misconceptions and image of the company as the employer. They successfully generate awareness and positive attributes of employment to meet the internal as well as external needs. Thus, it is important and they can select the right kind of people to meet the effective services. The value proposition of employment is the name offered to the approach of BQ and it is the major way to identify the people and to join the company. It is important to meet the people and to motivate the high level of performance. BQ formulates the strategy and plans to compel the environment that would generate a confident and a strong brand image. This creates awareness and enhances the overall spending and profits. (Armstrong, 2015) Compare this with leadership and management styles in other organisations In other organizations, the company also possess the leadership styles called as participative and authoritative styles. For example, in case of Microsoft, Gates possessed the decision making styles that were good at delegation and he is called as the flexible person and is recognized for better management and is also known as the strong and energizing person. The company provided special attraction and recruitment as well as retention for the best skills and talents. It also possessed the autocratic style of leadership to generate high amount of performance. (Ibscdc.org, 2015) BQ on the other hand, developed the strategy and structured their online business with the sales platform for companies but their management styles are incompatible and no business process manages the inventory. The structure of the company is the major function of the company and the leadership deals with the financial focused ways. (Headsailbooks.com, 2015) Explain how the leadership and management style at BQ is supported by organisational theory Organization theory is known as the ways of doing things and it has shared goals and values with respect to the beliefs and expectations. It has its own defined values and culture. At BQ, the Diversity Theory incorporates trust and respect. It offers appreciation and it is associated with the terminologies called as race, gender, physical abilities and beliefs. This enables the individual to perform the best to meet the organizational goals with respect to the age, race and other skills as well as abilities. To reach the major potential in the organization, the major dimensions of self-concept are called as the dimensions of diversity. The theory needs to be designed with the maximum potential and it employs three dimensions of diversity and it involves the perspectives of life as well as the skills. (Kotter, 2005) BQ recognizes the importance and requirement of young work force and competition. There was a cultural shift due to the negative impacts on expansion strategy at BQ. Thus, it was appropriate that there is always a requirement of cultural change. These theories can help the organization in redesigning the organization. Team effectiveness and leaders has clear associations of diversity and it helps to develop the effective ways of workers difference. BQ created the active interest in the diversity strategy. It also comes up with the ways of employing workforce and the company is able to deal with the integral work force. (Opentechnologyuk.com, 2015) Use a range of theories and other sources of information to evaluate different approaches in otherorganisations. The analysis on theories of management and leadership has the same qualities and leadership is about standing out and management is strongly bureaucratic in nature. These requirements are exclusive and the manager is not a leader but possess the strong association of bureaucratic authority. Behavioral theory: The behavioral theory of the organization determines the management with leadership and leaders are made, not born. This kind of leadership is important as it educates the people willing to follow the ways. Transactional theory: The transactional approach of management is to define the ways of rewards for motivation. This is the simple but the bureaucratic approach to management. Transformational theory: This theory creates true leadership and it does not rely on the bureaucracy and it seeks to motivate people under authority. (Diy.com, 2015) Charismatic theory: This approach leads the most powerful approach of leadership and people follow the love or respect of the leader. It also motivates for great work. (Pavey, 2015) Task 3: Theories of motivation at BQ Every individual helps to increase the commitment from staff and staffs are motivated through different tools and techniques such as staff values and rewards, encouragement for every member of the team. These tools and techniques generate an increase in the commitment of an individual. The concept of mentoring is important to deal with the schemes and offers of the recruitment and mentoring. (Cyert James, 2012) The communication is important for the strategic implementation and it is difficult to deal with the motivation with strong communication sources that is difficult to monitor the strategic systems as well as processes. BQ has adopted the multiple sources and networks for the flow of information and launched the various checks as well as balances that is managed and implemented as per the goals and objectives. Employees are motivated to take active part and involvement in the growth as well as the development of BQ. (Juran Godfrey, 2009) Team performances are also evaluated with the help of 360 degree feedbacks and by the help of Demings approach. Employee motivation through financial goals is a major factor that generates better outcome and the involvement of motivation tools and techniques influence the dynamics of the team. (Johnson, 2015) Different motivational theories at work place are as follows: At BQ, the focus is based on the learning and development and the major tools of motivation are called as performance related pay. The solutions of reward are important for the theories of motivation. The single most major thing for BQ is to manage the career of the people at BQ. The learning and development could be anything from the regular feedback to deal with the training and development. This could be anything from the regular feedback to construct the training as well as coaching. Employees are assessed under a performance review system and managers at this level avails bonus. Staffs who receive the goals, they also experience the wages. (Taylor, 2006) Evaluate the extent to which motivation theories can be useful to managers and with the theory, develop your analysis of the possible effects of different motivational strategies on theworkforce, and make recommendations for the most appropriate The uses of motivation theories are useful for managers as this theory develops the major advantages in the work force. BQ management focuses on the combination of Taylorism as well as Maslows theory that enriches and encourages the level of satisfaction with the involvement of staff into the decision making with respect to the organization. This is a proven part to increase the commitments of staff and to achieve the targets. BQ employs over 39000 in staff sessions and it enables the company to manage the valuable feedback about the situations of work. This is a 360 degree framework that offers not only the feedback but also exchange the experiences and views to serve the customers in a better way. (Child, 2001) Staff training and development is the other tool that is used by BQ to involve in the staff and to meet their experiences and views. The application of personal development plan is strongly effective in terms of staff retention and staff retention as well as loyalty is the trademark of the business for success. (Likert, 2015) BQ motivates and encourages its staff with profit sharing and ownership with the offers and schemes for employees and BQ motivates the staff to remain the loyal employee. The motivation theorists such as Herzberg and Maslow are important for the motivation and the pay is a strong motivator. In BQ, the organization focuses on the strong benefits and it is a major way of dealing with the individual factors in the organization for the influence of the motivation. Another motivation theory is XY theory that impacts the strategy of human resources and as per Douglas McGregors, XY theory has been proposed in the year 1960 and it is called as the human side of the organization. This theory brings approaches to motivate people and to manage them where Theory X denotes the participative style and Theory Y accepts huge responsibilities. Thus, in case of BQ, Theory X managers are demanding and Theory Y managers are the best with effective styles of management. (Taylor, 2006) Critically evaluate the extent to which the application of motivation theories might be helpful to managers, and also their limitations Both the theories are important for the process of production. The Theory X and Y are helpful to managers as it aims to provide harmony at work and Theory X managers do not offer complete support to their staff which is the major limitation. In case of Theory Y, the creativity, innovation is at the huge extent that helps to resolve the issues of employees. This requires high amount, time and effort and it is time consuming. (Root, 2015) Task 4: Using theories about the nature of groups and group behaviour in organisations, independentlyevaluate the factors that could help or hinder effective teamwork in BQ. An effective team needs cohesion and it is important to deal with the productivity for the team. Team work and its factors at BQ help to lead the effectiveness at BQ with: Communication: Communication is effective that happens at two level communications and it motivates open communication from the management to the team. It helps to motivate with the communication and managers possess regular updates of important information to offer the training. This way, it is effective. This way, it could possess positive outcomes. Motivation: The team generates motivation that helps to reach the goals successfully. It also helps in meeting the strong and positive outcomes at BQ. The factors that hinder effectiveness at BQ are: Lack of goals: The improper goals hinder the effectiveness of the team. This also creates conflict at BQ. Impact of change: The change also impacted the stability as well as the sustainability at BQ. (MacDonald, 2015) Evaluate the possible impact of technology on team functioning at BQ The learning techniques such as learning and development programs at BQ help to deal with the encouragement of the talent and to meet the goals successfully. Technology supported the talent and skills for the development and flexibility in the business. It also helped to create opportunities and develop major roles. Examine the technologies being developed at BQ The technologies developed at BQ was the Ligo system that was completely focused on control by the management of competitiveness. The use of intelligent control system was helpful for the company BQ to increase the energy uses. Use lateral and creative thinking to suggest how such technologies could further promote team functioning at BQ. (Piercy, 2002) To promote the team functioning at BQ, the company can develop the brilliant and original solutions to deal with the challenges and problems. Lateral thinking will generate better techniques to create the improvements. This will also promote the team functioning. With creativity, it will focus on increasing productivity. (Chandler, 2012) References Armstrong, M. 2015. A handbook of employee reward and practice: Kogan page. Cyert, R. and James G. (2012). A Behavioral Theory of the Firm( Englewood Cliffs, N.J) Child, J. (2001). Organizational Structure, Environment and Performance. The Role of Strategic Choice. Sociology. Vol. 6 Chandler, A. (2012). Strategy and Structure. Garden City. Doubleday Diy.com. 2015. Company information: About BQ. Diy.com. 2015. Life at BQ: Learning and development. BQ. Fiona, G. (2010). Strategic management Leadership. Distributed control. Instrumentalism Organizational change Gallup.com. 2003. B Q boosts employee engagement and profits: Business journal. Goodstein, J. (2009). The effects of board size and diversity on strategic change Goodstein. Strategic Management Journal Headsailbooks.com. 2015. BQ: When the operating model fails. Blog articles. Holbeche, L. 2015. The high performance organization: Creating dynamic stability and sustainable success. Ibscdc.org. 2015. Competition and strategy, core competency and competitive advantage: Case study Johnson, W. 2015. Theories on leadership management: Small business. Juran, J. M., Godfrey, A. B. 2009. Quality handbook (8th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Opentechnologyuk.com. 2015. Case studies: Open technology. Kotter, P. (2005). Leading Change. Organizational behavior Likert, R. 2015. Human relations contributors: Douglas McGregor. Lori, . S. (2013). Using real time. Strategic change for strategy Implementation Macdonald, L. 2015. What hinders team effectiveness: Effective team communication. Pavey, S. 2015. Understanding creativity: Mind tools. Piercy, N. (2002). Understanding the Critical Management elements that Lead to Success Dr. Beitler'sbook,Strategic Organizational Change Robert, O. (2014). Corporate Restructuring and Strategic Change. The effect on Hoskisson. Strategic Management Journal. Quinn, R. (2006). Deep change. Discovering the leader within. Jossey Bass. San Francisco Root, G. 2015. Factors affecting effective teamwork: Small business. Slater, S. (2005). Learning to Change. Business Horizons. Vol. 38 Taylor, V. 2006. Academic motivation theories in practice: Employee benefits. Tushman, M., Anderson, P. (2012). Technology Cycles. Innovation streams Wankel, C. 2015. 21st century management: A reference handbook. Westphal, J. (2012). Who directs strategic change. Director Experience the selection of new CEOs. Fredickson Strategic Management Journal.

The Genius Of Shakespeare Essays - British Poetry,

The Genius Of Shakespeare Past, Present, and Future: Finding Life Through Nature William Wordsworth poem ?Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey? was included as the last item in his Lyrical Ballads. The general meaning of the poem relates to his having lost the inspiration nature provided him in childhood. Nature seems to have made Wordsworth human.The significance of the abbey is Wordsworth's love of nature. Tintern Abbey representes a safe haven for Wordsworth that perhaps symbolizes a everlasting connection that man will share with it's surroundings. Wordsworth would also remember it for bringing out the part of him that makes him a ?A worshipper of Nature? (Line 153). Five different situations are suggested in Lines each divided into separate sections. The first section details the landscape around the abbey, as Wordsworth remembers it from five years ago. The second section describes the five-year lapse between visits to the abbey, during which he has thought often of his experience there. The t hird section specifies Wordsworth's attempt to use nature to see inside his inner self. The fourth section shows Wordsworth exerting his efforts from the preceding stanza to the landscape, discovering and remembering the refined state of mind the abbey provided him with. In the final section, Wordsworth searches for a means by which he can carry the experiences with him and maintain himself and his love for nature. . Diamantis 2 In the first stanza, Wordsworth lets you know he is seeing the abbey for a second time by using phrases such as again I hear, again do I behold, and again I see. He describes the natural landscape as unchanged and he describes it in descending order of importance beginning with with the ?lofty cliffs? (Line 5) dominantly overlooking the abbey. After the cliffs comes the river, , then the forests, and hedgerows of the cottages that once surrounded the abbey but have since been abandoned. After the cottages, is the vagrant hermit who sits alone in his cave, pe rhaps symbolizing the effects being away from the abbey has had on Wordsworth. Wordsworth professes to sensations sweet / Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart (lines 28-29) which the memories of nature can inspire when he is lonely, just as the hermit is lonely. Wordsworth desires nature only because of his separateness, and the more isolated he feels the more he desires it. This is described in ?Lines? : As that blessed mood, In which the burthen of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world Is lightened:- that serene and blessed mood, In which the affections gently lead us on, Until, the breath of this corporeal frame And even the motion of our human blood Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul. (Lines38-47) In the second stanza, Wordsworth parallels his experience upon returning to Tintern Abbey five years later to his previous visit. He has changed from thinking of the present to the past. He descr ibes using the abbey as a consolation whenever he felt overrun by the dismal, uniform, urban landscapes he had become accustomed to. However, after his first visit he began to forget the details of the abbey and what it meant to him: as gleams of half-extinguished thought, with many recollections dim and faint, and somewhat of a sad perplexity (Line 57-60) Diamantis 3 In the third stanza, Wordsworth begins a transition back to the present moment. He enjoys the pleasure of this time and also anticipates that he will enjoy it again in future memories. In the fourth stanza, however, he starts to recapitulate his life as a series of stages in the development of a relationship with nature. At first he roamed as freely as an animal, but as he grew he felt joy and rapture and passionate involvement with his own youth. Now he is involved with human concerns. He has become more thoughtful and sees nature in the light of those thoughts. He still loves nature, but in a more mature and more emo tionally subdued way. Can he salvage the meaning of the abbey and take it with him as an inspiration? In the second

Battle of Oriskany in the American Revolution

Battle of Oriskany in the American Revolution The Battle of Oriskany was fought August 6, 1777, during the American Revolution (1775-1783).  In early 1777, Major General John Burgoyne proposed a plan for defeating the Americans. Believing that New England was the seat of the rebellion, he proposed severing the region from the other colonies by marching down the Lake Champlain-Hudson River corridor while a second force, led by Colonel Barry St. Leger, advanced east from Lake Ontario and through the Mohawk Valley. Rendezvousing at Albany, Burgoyne, and St. Leger would advance down the Hudson, while General Sir William Howes army advanced north from New York City. Though approved by Colonial Secretary Lord George Germain, Howes role in the plan was never clearly defined and issues of his seniority precluded Burgoyne from issuing him orders. Assembling a force of around 800 British and Hessians, as well as 800 Native American allies in Canada, St. Leger began moving up the St. Lawrence River and into Lake Ontario. Ascending the Oswego River, his men reached the Oneida Carry in early August. On August 2, St. Legers advance forces arrived at nearby Fort Stanwix. Garrisoned by American troops under Colonel Peter Gansevoort, the fort guarded the approaches to the Mohawk. Outnumbering Gansevoorts 750-man garrison, St. Leger surrounded the post and demanded its surrender. This was promptly refused by Gansevoort. As he lacked sufficient artillery for battering down the forts walls, St. Leger elected to lay siege (Map). American Commander Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimerapprox. 800 men British Commander Sir John Johnsonapprox. 500-700 men American Response In mid-July, American leaders in Western New York first learned of a possible British attack into the region. Responding, the leader of Tryon Countys Committee of Safety, Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer, issued a warning that the militia may be needed to block the enemy. On July 30, Herkimer received reports from friendly Oneidas that St. Legers column was within a few days march of Fort Stanwix. Upon receipt of this information, he immediately called out the countys militia. Gathering at Fort Dayton on the Mohawk River, the militia mustered around 800 men. This force included a group of Oneidas led by Han Yerry and Colonel Louis. Departing, Herkimers column reached the Oneida village of Oriska on August 5. Pausing for the night, Herkimer dispatched three messengers to Fort Stanwix. These were to inform Gansevoort of the militias approach and asked that receipt of the message be acknowledged by firing three cannons. Herkimer also requested that part of the forts garrison sortie to meet his command. It was his intention to remain in place until the signal was heard. As the next morning progressed, no signal was heard from the fort. Though Herkimer wished to remain at Oriska, his officers argued for resuming the advance. The discussions became increasingly heated and Herkimer was accused of being a coward and having Loyalist sympathies. Angered, and against his better judgment, Herkimer ordered the column to resume its march. Due to difficulty in penetrating the British lines, the messengers sent on the night of August 5 did not arrive until later the next day. The British Trap At Fort Stanwix, St. Leger learned of Herkimers approach on August 5. In an effort to prevent the Americans from relieving the fort, he ordered Sir John Johnson to take part of his Kings Royal Regiment of New York along with a force of rangers and 500 Seneca and Mohawks to attack the American column. Moving east, Johnson selected a deep ravine approximately six miles from the fort for an ambush. Deploying his Royal Regiment troops along the western exit, he placed the Rangers and Native Americans down the ravines sides. Once the Americans had entered the ravine, Johnsons men would attack while a Mohawk force, led by Joseph Brant, would circle around and strike the enemys rear. A Bloody Day Around 10:00 AM, Herkimers force descended into the ravine. Though under orders to wait until the entire American column was in the ravine, a party of Native Americans attacked early. Catching the Americans by surprise, they killed Colonel Ebenezer Cox and wounded Herkimer in the leg with their opening volleys. Refusing to be taken to the rear, Herkimer was propped up under a tree and continued to direct his men. While the main body of the militia was in the ravine, those troops at the rear had not yet entered. These came under attack from Brant and many panicked and fled, though some did fight their way forward to join their comrades. Assailed on all sides, the militia took heavy losses and the battle soon degenerated into numerous small unit actions. Slowly regaining control of his forces, Herkimer began pulling back to the edge of the ravine and American resistance began to stiffen. Concerned about this, Johnson requested reinforcements from St. Leger. As the battle became a pitched affair, a heavy thunderstorm erupted which caused a one-hour break in the fighting. Taking advantage of the lull, Herkimer tightened his lines and directed his men to fire in pairs with one firing and one loading. This was to ensure that a loaded weapon was always available should a Native American charge forward with a tomahawk or spear. As the weather cleared, Johnson resumed his attacks and, at the suggestion of Ranger leader John Butler, had some of his men reverse their jackets in an effort to make the Americans think a relief column was arriving from the fort. This bit of trickery failed as the Americans recognized their Loyalist neighbors in the ranks. Despite this, British forces were able to exert heavy pressure on Herkimers men until their Native American allies began to leave the field. This was largely due to both the unusually heavy losses sustained in their ranks as well as word arriving that American troops were looting their camp near the fort. Having received Herkimers message around 11:00 AM, Gansevoort had organized a force under Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett to sortie from the fort. Marching out, Willetts men attacked the Native American camps south of the fort and carried off plenty of supplies and personal belongings. They also raided Johnsons camp nearby and captured his correspondence. Abandoned at the ravine, Johnson found himself outnumbered and was forced to withdraw back to the siege lines at Fort Stanwix. Though Herkimers command was left in possession of the battlefield, it was too badly damaged to advance and retreated back to Fort Dayton. Aftermath of the Battle In the wake of the Battle of Oriskany, both sides claimed victory. In the American camp, this was justified by the British retreat and Willetts looting of the enemy camps. For the British, they claimed success as the American column failed to reach Fort Stanwix. Casualties for the Battle of Oriskany are not known with certainty, though it is estimated that American forces may have sustained as many as 500 killed, wounded, and captured. Among the American losses was Herkimer who died on August 16 after having his leg amputated. Native American losses were approximately 60-70 killed and wounded, while British casualties numbered around 7 killed and 21 wounded or captured. Though traditionally seen as a clear American defeat, the Battle of Oriskany marked a turning point in St. Legers campaign in western New York. Angered by the losses taken at Oriskany, his Native American allies became increasingly disgruntled as they had not anticipated in taking part in large, pitched battles. Sensing their unhappiness, St. Leger demanded Gansevoorts surrender and stated that he could not guarantee the garrisons safety from being massacred by the Native Americans following a defeat in battle. This demand was immediately rejected by the American commander. In the wake of Herkimers defeat, Major General Philip Schuyler, commanding the main American army on the Hudson, dispatched Major General Benedict Arnold with around 900 men to Fort Stanwix. Reaching Fort Dayton, Arnold sent forward scouts to spread misinformation regarding the size of his force. Believing that a large American army was approaching, the bulk of St. Legers Native Americans departed and began fighting a civil war with the American-allied Oneidas. Unable to maintain the siege with his depleted forces, St. Leger was forced to begin retreating towards Lake Ontario on August 22. With the western advance checked, Burgoynes main thrust down the Hudson was defeated that fall at the Battle of Saratoga. Selected Sources National Park Service: Battle of OriskanyFort Stanwix National Monument: Battle of OriskanyBattle of Oriskany

Vought F4U Corsair in World War II

Vought F4U Corsair in World War II The Chance Vought F4U Corsair was a noted American fighter that debuted during World War II. Though intended for use aboard aircraft carriers, the F4U experienced early landing issues that initially prevented its deployment to the fleet. As a result, it first entered combat in large numbers with the U.S. Marine Corps. A highly-effective fighter, the F4U posted an impressive kill ratio against Japanese aircraft and also fulfilled a ground-attack role. The Corsair was retained after the conflict and saw extensive service during the Korean War. Though retired from American service in the 1950s, the aircraft remained in use around the world until the late 1960s. Design Development In February 1938, the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics began seeking proposals for new carrier-based fighter aircraft. Issuing requests for proposals for both single-engine and twin-engine aircraft, they required the former be capable of a high top speed, but have a stall speed of 70 mph. Among those who entered the competition was Chance Vought. Led by Rex Beisel and Igor Sikorsky, the design team at Chance Vought created an aircraft centered on the Pratt Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine. To maximize the power of the engine, they selected the large (13 ft. 4 in.) Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller. While this significantly enhanced performance, it presented problems in designing other elements of the aircraft such as the landing gear. Due to the propellers size, the landing gear struts were unusually long which required the aircrafts wings to be redesigned. In seeking a solution, the designers ultimately settled on utilizing an inverted gull wing. Though this type of structure was more difficult to construct, it minimized drag and allowed for air intakes to be installed on the leading edges of the wings. Pleased with Chance Voughts progress, the U.S. Navy signed a contract for a prototype in June 1938. Chance Vought XF4U-1 Corsair prototype during tests at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), Langley Research Center at Hampton, VA, in 1940-41.   NASA Langley Research Center Designated the XF4U-1 Corsair, the new aircraft quickly moved forward with the Navy approving the mock-up in February 1939, and the first prototype took flight on May 29, 1940. On October 1, the XF4U-1 made a trial flight from Stratford, CT to Hartford, CT averaging 405 mph and becoming the first US fighter to break the 400 mph barrier. While the Navy and the design team at Chance Vought were pleased with the planes performance, control issues persisted. Many of these were dealt with by the addition of a small spoiler on the leading edge of the starboard wing. With the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the Navy altered its requirements and asked that the aircrafts armament be enhanced. Chance Vought complied by equipping the XF4U-1 with six .50 cal. machine guns mounted in the wings. This addition forced the removal of fuel tanks from the wings and an expansion of the fuselage tank. As a result, the XF4U-1s cockpit was moved 36 inches aft. The movement of the cockpit, coupled with the aircrafts long nose, made it difficult to land for inexperienced pilots. With many of the Corsairs problems eliminated, the aircraft moved into production in mid-1942. Chance Vought F4U Corsair GeneralLength: 33 ft. 4 in.Wingspan: 41 ft.Height: 16 ft. 1 in.Wing Area: 314 sq. ft.Empty Weight: 8,982 lbs.Loaded Weight: 14,669 lbs.Crew: 1PerformancePower Plant: 1 Ãâ€" Pratt Whitney R-2800-8W radial engine, 2,250 hpRange: 1,015 milesMax Speed: 425 mphCeiling: 36,900 ft.ArmamentGuns: 6 Ãâ€" 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gunsRockets: 4Ãâ€" 5 in High Velocity Aircraft Rockets orBombs: 2,000 lbs. Operational History In September 1942, new issues arose with the Corsair when it underwent carrier qualification trials. Already a difficult aircraft to land, numerous problems were found with its main landing gear, tail wheel, and tailhook. As the Navy also had the F6F Hellcat coming into service, the decision was made to release the Corsair to the U.S. Marine Corps until the deck landing problems could be resolved. First arriving in the Southwest Pacific in late 1942, the Corsair appeared in larger numbers over the Solomons in early 1943. Marine pilots quickly took to the new aircraft as its speed and power gave it a decisive advantage over the Japanese A6M Zero. Made famous by pilots such as Major Gregory Pappy Boyington (VMF-214), the F4U soon began to rack up impressive kill numbers against the Japanese. The fighter was largely restricted to the Marines until September 1943, when the Navy began flying it in larger numbers. It was not until April 1944, that the F4U was fully certified for carrier operations. As Allied forces pushed through the Pacific the Corsair joined the Hellcat in protecting US ships from kamikaze attacks. F4U Corsair attacks Japanese ground targets on Okinawa, 1945. National Archives and Records Administration In addition to service as a fighter, the F4U saw extensive use as a fighter-bomber providing vital ground support to Allied troops. Capable of carrying bombs, rockets, and glide bombs, the Corsair earned the name Whistling Death from the Japanese due to sound it made when diving to attack ground targets. By the end of the war, Corsairs were credited with 2,140 Japanese aircraft against losses of 189 F4Us for an impressive kill ratio of 11:1. During the conflict F4Us flew 64,051 sorties of which only 15% were from carriers. The aircraft also saw service with other Allied air arms. Later Use Retained after the war, the Corsair returned to combat in 1950, with the outbreak of fighting in Korea. During the early days of the conflict, the Corsair engaged North Korean Yak-9 fighters, however with the introduction of the jet-powered MiG-15, the F4U was shifted to a purely ground support role. Flown throughout the war, special purpose-built AU-1 Corsairs were constructed for use by the Marines. Retired after the Korean War, the Corsair remained in service with other countries for several years. The last known combat missions flown by the aircraft were during the 1969 El Salvador-Honduras Football War.

The Prince by Nicollo Machiavelli Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

The Prince by Nicollo Machiavelli - Essay Example I would not like to be ruled by a person who always thinks the worst of me. Another feature of Machiavelli’s world view that impacts upon the ordinary person is the fact that he thinks it is better for a prince to rely on fear than to rely on love. This implies that the rules of society in such a kingdom would be based on threats and punishments rather than on a relationship of affection between the people and the ruler. Fear is not a good basis for any human relationship because it distorts the way people behave and makes them want to avoid punishment as their first objective, rather than consider what the most proper or moral course of action would be. Machiavelli maintains that â€Å"a wise prince should rely on what he controls, and not on what he cannot control† (Machiavelli 56) and this shows that he does not believe in letting people use their free will. Rules would want robot-like obedience in their courtiers, and this would make it hard for ordinary people to e xpress any opinions that are different from the prevailing views. I think this is dangerous, because rulers who use power in this way are too distant from everyday life, and they cannot always know what is best. I think any country, or even any group or family, need to allow different opinions to be expressed so that fuller understanding can be gained and better decisions can be made. There is no reason why the prince’s view should always be the right one. I believe that living in this kingdom would have made the ordinary people cynical about power, and suspicious of anyone who was in a high position in society. The real problem with Machiavelli’s view of power is that he seems to think that military strength and power is enough on its own to guarantee stability: â€Å"If a despot could bring all of Italy under his rule, he believed, the country would benefit from effective government the same way that individual states had done† (Lewis 265). This may indeed be true in the short term, but later examples of history such as the rise of Hitler and Stalin show what happens when a despotic leader becomes too strong. Millions of people are murdered and the will of the ordinary person is crushed. This is no way to run a state and that is why I would not like to live under a prince who follows Machiavelli’s advice. 2. The Black Death The spread of plague across Europe in the middle of the fourteenth century affected every aspect of life. It must have been a terrible experience for ordinary families to see it coming closer and gradually taking the lives of men, women, and children in an arbitrary manner. In those times medical knowledge was inexact, and people were not sure what caused it and had no way of curing it.  

Alejo Carpentier's A Kingdom of this World Essay

Alejo Carpentier's A Kingdom of this World - Essay Example By virtue of its difference from Europe, "lo real maravilloso" provides the promise of escape from the grip of colonialism. As his commentary about regionalist prose reveals, despite the distance he wishes to create between his work of the sixties and that of the thirties and forties, Carpentier did not abandon the aspiration that literature might somehow reach the transcendental essence of things. The difference in his later novels, beginning with The Kingdom of this World, and more emphatically apparent in Explosion in a Cathedral, is that Carpentier acknowledges and exploits the baroque ironies that result from the writer's repeated failures to identify unambiguously the parameters of marvelous reality. The snail [caracol] was the mediator between evanescent, fugitive, lawless, measureless fluidity, and the land, with its crystallisations, its structures, its morphology, where everything could be grasped and weighed.... Esteban reflected on how, for millenium upon millenium, the spiral had been present to the everyday gaze of maritime races, who were still uncapable of understanding it, or of even grasping the reality of its presence. He was astonished by this science of form which had been exhibited for so long to humanity that still lacked eyes to appreciate it [sin ojos para pensarla].

Ellasaurus Product Essay Example for Free

Ellasaurus Product Essay Ellen will use some copyrighted illustrations from her books on the Website. She will also include themes from the story lines of her books in some of the games that will be available (free) on the site to registered visitors. What are at least two intellectual property issues that might arise in the operation of the website? The first intellectual issue in the operation of the website will be in relation to the copyrighted illustration and contents which will be used on the website. Ellen will need to ensure that such use of copyrighted content does not violate intellectual property laws and due permission and authorization is taken from the owners of such copyrighted content, ie, the publisher of the books. Secondly, the games used on the website should be proprietary and if such games are taken from another website, permission from the owner of such content should be taken in advance. Ellen cannot display any proprietary or copyrighted content from another website or from any other source. Permission should be taken in advance and legal formalities should be completed before using any such material. What are some of the potential ethical issues that Ellen faces because of the ages of her intended audience? The primary ethical issue, due to the age of the target audience, is that the content of the website should be carefully developed so as to ensure that it is fully appropriate for the children and kids visiting the website. The owner of the websites should be ethically conscious in creating content that does not impart any wrong message to small kids and should enhance their knowledge and does not result in any harm. For example, the site should not display pornographic content. What are some of the laws with which the site must comply with when it registers site visitors under the age of 13? What are some recommendations regarding how Ellen can best comply with those laws? One of the laws is that the site does not knowingly collect or solicit Personally Identifiable Information from or about children under 13 except as permitted by law. Another one is that Company will not disclose information collected from children under the age of thirteen (13) (or from adults for that matter) to third parties unless indicated otherwise or in special cases where Company has reason to believe that disclosure is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference (whether intentionally or unintentionally) with Companys rights or property or anyone else who may be harmed by such actions or if required by law Ellen can best comply with such laws by hiring the services of a lawyer or legal professional who has significant expertise with cyber laws.

Suicide Protests :: Suicidal Drugs Pills Papers

Suicide Protests An eager young activist with a thick cinnamon beard shouted at his fellow Brown students who whisked hurriedly past his table and into the post office in the spring of 1984. Few, if any, had time to listen to a lunatic raging about the end of the world and nuclear disarmament. An older woman stopped to listen to his angry litany "Do you know that the government expects you to survive a nuclear war in your dorm basement?" he asked. The woman paused, contemplating. Finally, she answered, "Why don't you start a club, Students for Suicide Pills?" since, she said, suicide pills seem a better option than any fallout shelter. Jason Salzman did not take the proposal as a joke as it was intended. Instead, he immediately visualized Students for Suicide Tablets (SST). Justifying the existence of such an odd, morbid group of students caused a major logistical problem: how to find members who would consider joining. Salzman had a group of activist friends, but he was tired of long meetings and the apathy of his peers about the seriousness of nuclear war. Many were diligent in 1981 and 1982 about circulating anti-nuclear weapons petitions around campus and attending in 1982 the nation's largest peaceful protest in New York City to support a nuclear freeze. The idea seemed to have lost its novelty, however, and instead was replaced by a pervasive Reagan-esque attitude that nuclear war was an inevitable and winnable showdown. The decade of the 1980s was filled with patriotic rhetoric about staying ahead in the nuclear arms race, with the heads of both superpowers insistent on playing a game of nuclear chess, instead of engaging in earnest discussion about disarmament. The US was both on the offensive and defensive, demonstrated by Reagan's paranoid, expensive and useless "Star Wars" defense system in 1983. Around the world, protestors in Rome, Bonn, and London demanded Soviet-American negotiations, yet Reagan de-prioritized arms reductions talks during the early 1980s. In the midst of the largest peacetime arms buildup, military spending was upwards of $28 million an hour while Reagan spewed forth his "devil theory" about the Soviet Union being an "evil empire" willing to "lie and cheat" to struggle for a communist world. Indeed, the idea of nuclear war became so commonplace that comments about the frivolity of credit cards and the high desirability of the common shovel after a nuclear attack became the stale jokes of a cynical conversation.

Kudler Fine Food †Marketing Essay

With the marketing focus review, this paper will discuss the potential technology solutions for customer contests, loyalty points programs, purchase tracking, benchmarking of internal versus external service processes, and the management of inventory and related costs. Also concepts such as consumer databases and customer relationship management systems (CRM) will be elaborated upon. A potential technology solution to support customer contests can be achieved through a simple manner of employing an online survey that can be held daily. A winner would be selected each day. The winner would enjoy the prize of being in the presence of Kathy Kudler in being taught how to prepare specialty foods in a cooking class. Another suggestion for a prize would be to provide tickets to special and private events that are held by Kudler Fine Foods. On the technology end of this solution, the customer would fill out the online survey and the information would be stored in a database. At the end of the month, a winner would be randomly selected from the database for the contest. The cost of the implementing and maintaining a program and the database would be affordable for Kudler Fine Foods. Essentially, the time and cost would be made up by the targeted customer’s desire to enter said contests to fully enjoy the Kudler Fine Foods executive experience. Also another option for a prize is to have cooking classes that are presented by cooking professionals, celebrities, or food experts rather than just the owner, Kathy Kudler. The Loyalty Points Program, also known as â€Å"frequent shopper program†, is a program that would allow the customer to accumulate points that can be used within the Kudler Fine Foods stores. With this program, customers shopping and purchasing habits can also be tracked. With the points that have been accumulated by the customer, the points can be exchanged for high-end items within the stores. By employing this program, Kudler Fine Foods will be more familiar with their customers as well as their spending habits. In addition to, this program will allow Kudler Fine Foods to keep track of each and every customer on the frequency of their visits to the stores and keep having them come back to accumulate more points. On the technology side of this programs, a data management system would be need to be constructed and maintained in order to keep track of the multitude of customers and their accumulation of â€Å"loyalty† points. This data management system would service all of the Kudler Fine Foods stores in ensuring that the all of the data is integrated for new customers, customer information is updated, and that duplicates are prevented. To allow customers to redeem their accumulated â€Å"loyalty† points, web servers would need to be set up to assist with the vast amount of data. Also, redundancy of the said servers would need to be implemented in case there is a hardware or software failure. The most important piece of the â€Å"loyalty† program is the card itself. It is a card that the customer would carry and has a unique identifier dedicated to that customer. With these cards, the customer can view online their accumulated points and purchases at Kudler Fine Foods. Kudler Fine Foods utilizes purchase tracking to follow profit, profit margin, and transactions that have taken place over a period of time. With the large amounts of data, Kudler Fine Foods will need an effective, efficient, and accurate means of capturing and storing this information. In stating that, the main server will need to be located at the main store so as to be a focal point for all communications that happen between all stores. Benchmarking can be described as the most effective method in relation to both products and processes. Other successful business entities that are similar to Kudler Fine Foods can be viewed as a model such as Wal-mart. Being able to view Wal-mart as a model for the processes, Kudler Fine Foods is able to meet benchmarking, if not higher, and continuously improve on it products and processes. On the technology side of benchmarking, online web based training courses can be created to teach and inform employees on the new products and services. An important part of Kudler Fine Foods is inventory management since Kudler Fine Foods is a store that sells a large amount of fine foods. Not knowing what is in stock can lead to an overstock or a shortage of merchandise. Having an overstock simply spells wasted money that could have been spent elsewhere. Having a shortage of product would lead to dissatisfied customers. On the technology side of inventory management, IT is a huge factor in tracking, recording, and warning about inventory. A main server would be connected to the point-of-sales machines and continuously keep track of all of the inventory from each and every store. The inventory management system would always be updated from when a new inventory is placed into stock and when an item is taken out of inventory. In conclusion, Kudler Fine Foods currently has a strong foothold in its marketing abilities. Employing the suggested potential technology solutions would not only promote efficient and effective processes but would also allow for room potential growth and increased revenue. With this vision in mind, this mission statement of Kudler Fine Foods will be met successfully as well as all of the standards that Kathy Kudler is counting on. References https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/internet/index. asp

Critique: Effects of Class Size and Instruction on Kindergarten Achievement Essay

Introduction This article discusses some very important points that will affect many children as they begin the first steps of their education. It is fairly clear that the authors have done quite a bit of research on the effects of the classroom size and the achievement of kindergarten students. Both authors are affiliated with the same school, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In reviewing the article, the authors point out some important details pertaining to the quality of the teacher as well as their method of teaching in an effort to keep in line with the NCLB Act(No Child Left  Behind Act). The main aim of the authors is to prove that the size of the class may affect a student’s academic progress because there have been mixed findings in the past as to the validity of this issue. Literature Review One of the main sources used by the authors in their review of literature was an experiment done by students in Tennessee in the 1980’s called STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio). â€Å"Researchers have referred to STAR as: â€Å"one of the great experiments in education in U. S. history (Mostellar, Light, & Sachs, 1996). † The variables are mainly the  Kindergarten class size and the teacher’s instruction methods which are well defined throughout the article. Statement of Problem This research study was conducted to determine whether teacher quality is more important than class size for achievement. The hypothesis is explicitly stated in this article and gave sufficient understanding of the specific variables that were to be studied in the article. An example of the hypothesis would be â€Å"teachers may teach differently in larger and smaller classes, Experimental Design 3 some instructional practices may be more effective than others in a smaller class, students may  behave differently in larger and smaller classes†. (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 291-293) The authors have made a very convincing argument concerning the stated hypothesis because they used reading and math data collected from children’s classroom experience, classroom size and their teacher’s instructional methods to come up with their definitive conclusion. Methodology The kindergarten class size was measured from a sample of 21,260 children that were enrolled in approximately 1,000 kindergarten programs. It also consisted of children from various racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as socio-economic backgrounds. Some of the children studied were from private kindergartens and others were from public school kindergartens (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 293-294). Data was collected twice throughout the year, during the spring and the fall. Most of the authors mentioned used data that was supplied at the beginning and at the end of the student’s kindergarten year. The parents were asked questions concerning their socio-economic background. In determining the student’s cognitive achievement, information was gathered from the children using a one-on-one computer assisted interview. Data in the areas of reading, math and general knowledge was used to assess the students. In evaluating the teachers, they were interviewed in the fall and in the spring of a particular kindergarten year (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 291-293). There was some concern about the validity of the study because there were some limitations on how the data was gathered from the teachers. There were questions as well as interviews which investigated the teacher’s instructional methods because it captured more of what a teacher’s intentions were as opposed to the teacher’s accomplishments through the year. Experimental Design 4 The authors had a few limitations but if they wanted to use the descriptive method to demonstrate whether or not the quality of a teachers’ instructional method versus the size of the class played a larger part in a kindergartner’s achievement, it was a necessary step (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 296-297). Results The researchers presented very descriptive statistics for all the student levels and class level variables that were used in the analysis. There were descriptive statistics presented for large and small classes. The researchers weighed the statistics at the student level but not at the class levels but they used descriptive statistics for both the original and the mean-imputed variable (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 299-306). Discussion The researchers have offered no evidence that the class size affects reading or math achievements for kindergarten. The major findings were that class size does not affect the achievement of kindergarteners on an average nor does it affect any particular group of students. The researcher’s findings for the class size differ from those of Project STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio). It was not determined whether the same teachers use different instructional methods in classes of different sizes (Milesi & Gamoran, 2006, pp. 299-309). Experimental Design 5 References Mosteller, F. , Light, R. J. & Sachs. J. A. (1996). Sustained injury in education: Lesson from skilled grouping and class size. Harvard Educational Review, 66, 797-842. Retrieved on February 17, 2011 from ERIC. Milesi, C. , Gamoran, A (2006). Effects of Class Size and Instruction on Kindergarten Achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28:4, 287-313. Retrieved on March 17, 2010 from http://eepa. aera. net.