The Lottery Essay Example for Free

The Lottery Essay The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a small town and their unique summer tradition. This stories thematic element is conformity and rebellion, showing a clash between two well-articulated positions in which a rebel, on principle, confronts and struggles with established authority (Abacarian and Klotz, 289). Jacksons short story caught my attention through her suspenseful structural technique, and incorporation of a serious, seemingly absurd, event in a nonchalant manner. Mr. Summers, who devotes his time to running civic activities, runs this event very year on June 27th. The children are always the first to assemble, innocent to the severity of the event that is about to occur. The head of the household each picks a piece of paper out of a black box, and keeps it sealed until everyone has picked. At the same time all of the men open their papers, and whoevers family has the paper with the black dot has been selected. This year, it was the Hutchinson family. Now, the paper with the dot is placed back in the box along with more blank slips to equal the amount of people in the family. They each pick, and the person who picks the lack dot is the winner, who then gets stoned by the town. Until the very end of the short story the reader is very much unaware of the situation and why this lottery is taking place, which is one reason I picked this story. Suspense in a story is one of my favorite elements and always keeps me wanting to read in order to find out what happens. Through most of the story Jackson shows the town quite cheerful and happy, but she begins to hint towards a dramatic event with statements such as a sudden hush fell on the crowd Oackson,342), l wish theyd hurry. I wish theyd hurry Oackson, 343), and a long pause, a breathless pause Oackson, 343). Once I realized what the point of the lottery is, I quickly thought back through the story and realized how apathetic she was towards this event. Throughout the course of the story, Jackson showed many of the characters acting very casual and carefree, even though one of their towns members was about to be stoned. I liked the way Jackson incorporated the idea of stones with the children in the beginning of the story. This makes the reader originally question its relevance and shows the innocence of youth. She then follows later with the elderly man stating that he had been at these lotteries for seventy-seven years, which showed the town being used to the tradition and show normal it was to the society, and how it only negatively affects the person who won and their family. The characters discuss how many towns have gotten rid of this tradition, and Old Man Warner states Nothing but trouble in that,, Old Man Warner said stoutly. Pack of young fools0ackson, 342). This displays the theme of conformity and rebellion, since the younger generations want to get rid of the tradition, and the older enerations with more power over the society believe it is for the best. Even the death of an individual in their town they say is necessary and tradition, which I found astonishing. oliday atmosphere, which concludes with a horrific event. The holiday atmosphere is used to diminish the immortality of the event, but the author successfully uses the happiness to add suspense to the tradition and add a dark twist to the severity of it all. Overall, the suspense positively adds to the structure of the story and the casual aspect of the stoning and death of a citizen follows the theme of conformity and rebellion.

Effects of Psychological Contract on the Work-Life Balance

Effects of Psychological Contract on the Work-Life Balance A contemporary analysis of the concept of work life balance and the effects of the psychological contract within the business Aimed towards Retail Terms of Reference To define, explore and critically analyse the extent to which contracted work in the retail business is affected by psychological contract theory Establish from primary and secondary sources the factors which impact on the work life balance for employees, and if any policies and practices are effective. Examine the various ideas from the literature around organisational culture and the psychological contract, in order to determine how Toys R Us fits with these definitions. To draw conclusions around the extent to which Toys R Us has managed to achieve a suitable work life balance for all of their employees without the use of a psychological contract; and to examine possible future changes/ recommendations which could be implemented to create said contract. Literature Review The journal Management Research News (2007) provides a useful starting point, as it looks to review the literature around the psychological contract in order to help develop an understanding around the various unique agreements and the work environment that underlies modern working. As such, the paper is a conceptual paper, and its main aim is to categorise the existing knowledge around the psychological contract in the workplace, as well as to provide practical direction for future research. The results of this investigation indicated that the context of the psychological contract must be reconsidered, due to the nature of the flexible modern working environment where jobs are not always seen as being long term commitments. As such, it is important to consider the impact of organisational justice, rather than looking at potential relationship development (Management Research News, 2007). This is particularly relevant for retail organisations such as Toys R Us, where a large number o f their staff may be students or other short term casual workers. Unfortunately, there has been little research into the levels of job security felt by temporary employees and contract employees, and how this impacts on any psychological contract which may exist. This is addressed to some extent by De Cuyper and De Witte (2006), who examined how perceptions of job security, as well as job satisfaction and organisational commitment, varied from permanent employees to temporary ones. This research was based on the claims of psychological contract theory, which holds that a lack of job security only arises if the psychological contract is violated, and that permanent employees tend to feel stronger psychological contracts that temporary and contracted workers. Their results support this argument, showing that the temporary staff tended not to create strong psychological contracts with their employers, and hence their perceptions of job security did not impact on their overall performance. In contrast, for permanent employees job security was a key pre dictor of both job satisfaction and organisational commitment, indicating that the psychological contract is of greater concern for permanent staff (De Cuyper and De Witte, 2006). Indeed, George (2003) found that the use of temporary and contract workers in an organisation could actually harm the psychological contract which existed between the permanent workforce and the organisation. These finding are based on a detailed study of 256 permanent employees across three organisations, and showed that the extent to which contracting and temporary workers were used, combined with the duration of their use, had negative impacts on permanent employees’ trust in the organisation, as well as the psychological contract with the organisation. These results are explained by the fact that permanent workers see the increased use of temporary and contract staff as indicating that their organisations do not have a strong commitment to their permanent employees. As such, permanent employees begin to see themselves as being less attached to the organisation. The grounded theory approach taken by George (2003) indicates that this is consistent with theoretical prediction s that the use of contract staff acts as a violation of the psychological contract for permanent staff, since contracting makes it harder to permanent workers to advance in the organisation. As such, when attempting to manage this, organisations should look to show strong levels of commitment towards their permanent employees, as this will help counter the perceived violations from the use of contracted staff. Whilst George (2003) claims that this can be achieved through making permanent employees supervisors and trainers of other employees, there is little empirical data to support this, hence it is not clear if this would be a valid method for countering the negative impacts of contracting. Another useful empirical study in this area comes from Ellis (2007) who used the theory of psychological contracting to develop a framework exploring employee reactions to the various promises and contract violations they received from their employer. This is based on the hypothesis that an employee’s status within the organisation may affect their perceptions of promises and contract violations, but this will depend on what the promise is about. This hypothesis was tested using a survey of 163 full time employees working for 25 different organizations. The results supported the hypothesis, showing that supervisory and managerial employees placed more value on promises and violations that their manual labouring counterparts. This indicates that, not only will contracted employees have a less significant psychological contract but, in industries where contracted workers are often used for manual labour, this effect will be pronounced by the lower value manual workers assign to organisational promises and violations (Ellis, 2007). When considering the work life balance, Watson (2001) discusses a lecture given by Ewart Wooldridge, the director of the Civil Service College, who claims that many employees are now moving towards a more flexible approach to work. This is in contrast to prior situations, in which work tended to be the dominant feature in many workers’ lives. This is claimed to be largely due to factors such as recession; the reduction in the power of the trade unions; and the rise of a new psychological contract, which is focused on individual employees more than on organisations. As such, Watson (2001) claims that employees will tend to offer less loyalty to their existing employer, whilst attempting to improve their overall employability in an attempt to find a better job with another employer. Whilst they will continue provide their current employer with effective results during this period, they will be less likely to fully commit themselves to their employer. As such, unless their employ er promotes the work life balance they require, there is a chance that the employee will lose faith in the organisation, reducing their effort and hastening their departure (Watson, 2001). However, it should be noted that Watson’s (2001) article is entirely based on theoretical arguments, with not empirical backing. This may reduce its relevance and validity to all situations. In contrast, Conway and Monks (2008) exploration of the relationship between HR practices and employee commitment is based on a case study analysis of three health service organisations in the Republic of Ireland. This research examines how employees perceive HR practices such as work life balance, and how these perceptions affect employee level commitment and perceptions of the psychological contract. These findings indicate that there is a disparity between the HR practices which are valued most highly by employees, and the practices detailed in the HR literature and those which are practiced by organisations. This indicates that organisations need to consider the basic factors underlying the employment relationship and the psychological contract, rather than simply introducing the latest HR practices (Conway and Monks, 2008). However, this research is somewhat limited by the fact that it is only based on one industry, and includes just three organisations. Sturges and Guest (2004) conducted a much larger survey into the factors which affected the perceptions of the work life balance amongst new graduates who had recently started working. They found that the main factors affecting perceptions were conflicts between work and non-work priorities; the number of hours worked; and the degree of organisational and personal commitment shown by the graduates. As such, whilst most graduates tended to look for a good work life balance, their desire for long term career progression tended to lead them to work increasingly long hours in an effort to progress earlier. However, this tendency led to a worsening relationship between the graduates’ perceptions of work, which ultimately acted to harm the psychological contract. As such, Sturges and Guest (2004) argue that organisations need to introduce policies and practices designed to promote a healthy work life balance, showing support for their employees’ lives outside of the workplace , in order to avoid any negative impacts on performance. In addition to this, Sutton and Griffin (2004) argued that the degree to which employees’ expectations prior to starting work were supported by their experiences in the job had a significant impact on their perceptions of their work life balance and the psychological contract. This argument was assessed through a longitudinal study of 235 occupational therapy students who were about to start work, and compared with their views 14 months later. The results showed that if their experiences of work after entering a job were not consistent with their expectations, the employees were more likely to perceive psychological contract violations, and hence lower job satisfaction. In particular, the expectations around work life balance were found to be driven by the recruitment and selection process (Sutton and Griffin, 2004). This indicates that policies aimed at improving work life balance need to take account of, and control, employee expectations at the recruitment stage in order to be effective. Unfortunately, as before, the narrow nature of this study, which only examines one occupation, makes it of limited relevance to the case of Toys R Us. Another factor found to be relevant to the psychological contract, and violations of the contract, is employee personality. Raja et al (2004) carried out a survey of personality types and responses to the psychological contract, finding that personality characteristics such as extraversion, neuroticism and self-esteem were all related to employee perceptions of the psychological contract. In addition, personality characteristics tended to predict employee perceptions of breaches of the contract, as well as when these breaches were perceived as violations. This indicates that, when designing policies, organisations need to pay attention to employee personality characteristics, and their potential impact on the psychological contract. In addition, when considering the nature of the psychological contract, it is important to realise that the contract is a dynamic thing, which can grow and develop over time. As such, organisations need to consider the need to display a level of commitment to shared values, as well as the welfare of their employees, if they are to develop the contract and the level of organisational commitment shown by the employees. Indeed, Barnett and Schubert (2002) claim that a developing psychological contract and employment relationship can have significant benefits for employees and employers alike. Their survey of 194 employees working in a large retail organisation showed that employees valued their employers having strong principles, and showing concern around their employees’ welfare. This indicates that these are key factors to be considered when developing policies and practices aimed at strengthening the psychological contract. Further research in the retail sector comes from DAnnunzio-Green and Francis (2005), who examined how managers’ view of an emotion management leadership programme acted on their perceptions of the psychological contract. The results of this study indicated that the programme led to a shift in perceptions away from a transactional psychological contract, and towards a relational one. This in turn influenced managers’ perceptions around what the organisation’s expectations of them were, as well as what the organisation offered them in return. This effectively led to the construction of a new, ‘trial’ psychological contract, where managers agreed to believe that the leadership programme would create a more favourable work environment, both for the managers and their subordinates. The managers then internalised and tested the contract to determine whether the organisation’s actions lived up to the promises contained in said contract. This indicate s that organisations need to be sure that any new policies enacted do not create unrealistic expectations, as then any benefits from the policies will be undone by the resulting breaches of the trial psychological contract created by the policies (DAnnunzio-Green and Francis, 2005). Finally, Porter et al (1998) carried out a significant study into the extent to which these perceptual gaps between the promises of the contract and the actual behaviour of the organisation had significant explanatory power over and above measures such as employee satisfaction. This was based on a study of 48 executives and 339 employees over four organisations, in an attempt to determine the promises made to the employees, the employees’ perceptions of these promises, and the employee’s perceptions of the actual benefits provided. This showed that the larger the gap between the perceptions of the promises and the perceptions of the actual benefits, the lower the level of employees’ overall satisfaction with the organisation. This effect was found to be significant even after considering factors such as employee satisfaction with their job and their performance. As such, it appears that employee perceptions of organisational promises can have a more significant e ffect than many other factors, including the nature of the employee’s role and their performance within the organisation (Porter et al, 1998). References Barnett, T. and Schubert, E. (2002) Perceptions of the Ethical Work Climate and Covenantal Relationships. Journal of Business Ethics; Vol. 36, Issue 3, p. 279-290. Conway, E. and Monks, K. (2008) HR practices and commitment to change: an employee-level analysis. Human Resource Management Journal; Vol. 18, Issue 1, p. 72-89. DAnnunzio-Green, N. and Francis, H. (2005) Human Resource Development and the Psychological Contract: Great Expectations or False Hopes? Human Resource Development International; Vol. 8, Issue 3, p. 327-344. De Cuyper, N. and De Witte, H. (2006) The impact of job insecurity and contract type on attitudes, well-being and behavioural reports: A psychological contract perspective. Journal of Occupational Organizational Psychology; Vol. 79, Issue 3, p. 395-409. Ellis, J. B. (2007) Psychological Contracts Does Work Status Affect Perceptions of Making and Keeping Promises? Management Communication Quarterly; Vol. 20, Issue 4, p. 335-362. George, E. (2003) External Solutions and Internal Problems: The Effects of Employment Externalization on Internal Workers Attitudes. Organization Science; Vol. 14, Issue 4, p. 386-402. Management Research News (2007) Understanding the psychological contract: a direction for the future. Management Research News; Vol. 30, Issue 6, p. 432-440. Porter, L. W. Pearce, J. L. Tripoli, A. M. and Lewis, K. M. (1998) Differential perceptions of employers inducements: implications for psychological contracts. Journal of Organizational Behavior; Vol. 19, p. 769-782. Raja, U. Johns, G. and Ntalianis, F. (2004) The Impact Of Personality On Psychological Contracts. Academy of Management Journal; Vol. 47, Issue 3, p. 350-367. Sturges, J. and Guest, D. (2008) Working to live or living to work? Work/life balance early in the career. Human Resource Management Journal; 2004, Vol. 14 Issue 4, p5-20. Sutton, G. and Griffin, M. A. (2004) Integrating expectations, experiences, and psychological contract violations: A longitudinal study of new professionals. Journal of Occupational Organizational Psychology; Vol. 77, Issue 4, p. 493-514. Watson, B. (2001) Report: A New Deal? Understanding the Psychological Contract. Public Money Management; Vol. 21, Issue 3, p. 57.

Supraglacial Environment Analysis

Supraglacial Environment Analysis Some places on Earth are so cold that water is a solid—ice or snow [1]. These frozen places of our planet are called the Cryosphere by our Scientists.The term â€Å"Cryosphere† comes from the Greek word â€Å"kryos† which means cold, frost or ice and â€Å"sphaira† which means globe. Those regions of the Earth’s surface where water is in the solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets and frozen grounds (which includes permafrost) are referred to as cryosphere. The cryosphere is an integral part of the global climate system with important linkages and feedbacks generated through its influence on surface energy and moisture fluxes, clouds, precipitation, hydrology, atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Through these feedback processes, the cryosphere plays a significant role in theglobal climateand inclimate modelresponse to global changes [2]. Cryosphere is believed to be at the top and bottom of our planet, in the Polar Regions by most of the people. The area around the North Pole is the Arctic region and the area around the South Pole is the Antarctic region. Snow and ice are also found at many other locations on Earth, other than these two Polar Regions [1]. Located at the Earths South Pole, Antarctica is an icy continent. A huge ice sheet covers the land mass of Antarctica and, in some places, shelves of floating ice extend into the ocean. The outer sections of ice break off or calve from these shelves and form icebergs. The icebergs float in the oceans, melting and falling apart as they drift into warmer waters [1]. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest mass of ice on Earth. Supraglacial Environment Literally, supraglacial means of, relating to, or situated or occurring at the surface of a glacier. Supraglacial environment consists of Supraglacial lakes and ponds, supraglacial streams and, supraglacial dust and debris. Supraglacial Lakes and Ponds Any pond of liquid water on the top of aglacier is called a supraglacial lake. Although these pools aretransient, they may reach kilometers in diameter and could be several meters deep. They usually last for months or even decades at a time, but can vacant in the course of hours. The lakes usually emerge from the assembly of summer meltwater in catchment basins. Supraglacial Streams A stream that flows over the surface of a glacier is called supraglacial streams. Most supraglacial streams descend viaMoulin into the depths or base of a glacier or originate from melting snow, ice fields and glacial ice. Supraglacial Dust and Debris Debris that is carried on the surface of a glacier is called supraglacial debris. It is also known as supraglacial moraines. It is normally derived from weathering processes that occur during seasonal precipitation, melt/ refreeze cycles or supraglacial activity (i.e. transport) rates and tends to be blocky angular boulders and sediments in character.Heavy volcanic supraglacial debris is composed of fine grained volcanic ash, tephra or large ballistics that is ejected during eruptions. The Polar Regions, are remote and often inaccessible, in terms of their location. Investigations based on field of the entire Polar Region are very strenuous, and rarely possible. Satellite remote sensing is a low cost solution to obtain excellent coverage of the Polar Regions from a view point in space. By using remote sensing data and techniques it is now possible to investigate the high latitude regions in a way that was unimaginable even a few decades ago. Over the past two decades, the Polar Regions have homogenously shown the first distinctive evidence of human industrial activity on Earth’s atmosphere and climate (Luban and Massom, 2007) [5]. The first was the 1985 discovery of the ozone â€Å"hole,† an annual disappearance of most of the ozone layer over Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, whose cause was quickly identified as an interaction between industrial chlorofluorocarbon pollutants and unique ice clouds that form in the extremely cold Antarctic stratosphere. More recently, both satellite data and submarine research cruises have documented the dramatic decrease in both geographic extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice, such that if no action is taken to curb industrial greenhouse gas emissions, Arctic sea ice could disappear altogether in the summer season by the end of this century. In 1981, India undertook its National Antarctic Program within the aegis of Department of Ocean Development (DOD) of the Government of India. ACentre dedicated to Antarctic Expeditions, named as ‘Antarctic Study Centre (ASC)’ was established at Goa in 1988.The ASC was eventually upgraded into an autonomous institute ‘National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) under DOD (now known as Ministry of Earth Sciences). Maitri station was built in 1989 on the Schirmacher Oasis in Queen Maud Land. India previously operated the station Dakshin Gangotri from 1983 – 1989 which was abandoned after being buried in ice. Around 3,000 kilometers from Maitri station, India extended its Antarctic presence by building a new station named Bharati in the Larsemann Hills region.The Bharati station has been operational since 18th March 2012. Ordinarily, resolution is thought to be as the ability to separate and differentiate adjacent objects or items in a scene, be it in a photo, an image or real life. Frequently resolution is specified in terms of the linear size of the smallest features we can discriminate (often expressed in meters). But contrast impacts our ability to resolve between objects: if two items are the same color, they may be tough to separate, but if they are sharply different in color, tone, or brightness we can recognize them more clearly. Remote sensors estimate differences and variations of objects that are often reported in terms of four main resolutions, each of which affect the accuracy and functionality of remote sensors to habitat mapping. The details noticeable in an image are dependent on the spatial resolution of the sensor and refer to the size of the smallest possible feature that can be identified. Spatial resolution of passive sensors depends essentially on their Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV). The IFOV is the angular cone of visibility of the sensor (A) and determines the area on the Earths surface which is seen from a given altitude at one particular moment in time (B). The size of the area viewed is determined by multiplying the IFOV by the distance from the ground to the sensor (C). This area on the ground is called the resolution cell and decides a sensors greatest spatial resolution. For an analogous feature to be detected, its size generally has to be equal to or larger than the resolution cell. If the feature is smaller than this, it may not be detectable as the average brightness of all features in that resolution cell will be recorded. However, smaller features may sometimes be detectable if their reflectance influences within a particular resolution cell allowing sub-pixel or resolution cell recognition. Images where only large features are visible are said to have coarse or low resolution. In fine or high resolution images, small objects can be identified. Military sensors for example, are designed to for detailed view, and so have very fine resolution. Commercial satellites provide imagery with resolutions differing from a few meters to several kilometers. Usually finer the resolution, the less whole ground area would be visible. The ratio of distance on an image or map, to actual ground distance is called scale. If a map is with scale of 1:100,000, an object of 1cm length on the map would really be an object 100,000cm (1km) long on the ground. Maps or images with small map-to-ground ratios are referred to as small scale (e.g. 1:100,000), and those with larger ratios (e.g. 1:5,000) are called large scale. Spectral response and spectral emissivity curves specifies the reflectance and/or emittance of a feature or target across a range of wavelengths. Dissimilar classes of features and details in an image can frequently be distinguished by contrasting their responses over distinct ranges of wavelength. Extensive classes such as water and vegetation can generally be separated using very broad ranges of wavelength (the visible and near infrared). More specific classes like rock types may not be easily distinguishable using only these broad ranges of wavelength and require comparison at much finer ranges of wavelengths to separate them. Hence we require a sensor with higher spectral resolution for such specific classification. Spectral resolution describes the ability of a sensor to define fine intervals of wavelength. Finer is the spectral resolution, narrower will be the ranges of wavelength for a particular channel or band. As the spatial structure of an image is described by the arrangement of pixels, the actual information content in an image is described by the radiometric characteristics. The sensitivity of the image to the magnitude of the electromagnetic energy is determined by the radiometric resolution, whenever an image is captured on film or by a sensor. The radiometric resolution of an imaging system describes its ability to differentiate very slight contrast in energy. Finer the radiometric resolution of a sensor, more sensitive it is to detecting small differences in reflected or emitted energy. When a 2-bit image is compared with an 8-bit image, there is a large difference in the level of details observable depending on their radiometric resolutions. The concept of temporal resolution is also important to consider in a remote sensing system, in addition to spatial, spectral, and radiometric resolution. It is the concept of revisit period, which refers to the length of time it requires for a satellite to finish one complete orbit cycle. The revisit period is usually several days for a satellite sensor. Thus the absolute temporal resolution of a remote sensing system to image the exact same area at the same viewing angle a second time is equal to this period. Still some areas of the Earth tend to be re-imaged more frequently because of some degree of overlap in the imaging swaths of adjacent orbits for most satellites and the increase in this overlap with increasing latitude. Also, some satellite systems are able to point their sensors to image the same area between different satellite passes parted by periods from one to five days. So, the actual temporal resolution of a sensor depends on a variety of factors, including the satell ite/sensor capabilities, the swath overlap, and latitude. WorldView-2 is the first high-resolution 8-band multispectral commercial satellite launched in October 2009. It operates at an altitude of 770 km and provides 50 cm panchromatic resolution and 2 m multispectral resolution. The average revisit time of World View-2 is of 1.1 days and it is also capable of collecting up to 1 million km2 of 8-band imagery per day. Every sensor is narrowly concentrated on a specific range of the electromagnetic spectrum that is sensitive to a particular feature on the ground, or a property of the atmosphere. They are designed together to improve the segmentation and classification of land and aquatic features beyond any other space-based remote sensing platform. The agricultural growth, increased urbanization and natural processes all contribute towards the reshaping nature of land use and land cover around the globe. Remote sensing is recognized as an essential tool for understanding the changes over a large and small scale. Presently various satellites are being engaged to observe and study the globe. WV-2 brings out a high degree of detail to classification processes, with 8 strictly focused spectral sensors ranging from visible to near infrared, combined with 2 meter spatial resolution, enabling a finer level of intolerance and improving decision-making in both the public and private sector. The table given below explains the various characteristics of the important high resolution satellites. The World Viiew-2 is the satellite, which is having 0.5 m spatial resolution which has been used for this particular study. Features of World View-2 satellite are: Very high resolution The most spectral diversity commercially available 4 standard colors: Blue, Green, Red, NIR-1 4 new colors: Coastal, Yellow, Red Edge, NIR-2 Bi- directional scanning Orbit altitude: 770 km, sun-synchronous Dynamic range: 11-bits per pixel Swath width: 16.4 km at nadir Benefits of World View-2 satellite are: Provides highly detailed imagery for precise map creation, change detection, and in-depth image analysis. Geo-locate features to less than 5 m to create maps in remote areas, maximizing the utility of available resources. Collects, stores, and downlinks a greater supply of frequent update global imagery products than competitive systems. Stereoscopic collection on a single pass ensures image continuity and consistency of quality. Provides the ability to perform precise change detection, mapping and analysis at unprecedented resolutions in 8-band multispectral imagery. In addition to dedicated satellite instruments and programs that have monitored critical manifestations of climate and atmospheric change, such as the retreat of Arctic Sea Ice, the motion of the Antarctica Ice Sheets and the evolution of the ozone ‘hole’ in both polar regions, many serendipitous applications of satellite remote sensing have come forward for polar research. A survey of polar remote sensing accomplishments is particularly useful at this point in time, as the earth science community is experiencing a transition to a new generation of satellite remote sensing instruments with an order of magnitude greater capability than their predecessors. The Antarctica ice sheet alone covers an area of ~12.4Ãâ€"106 km2, and averages ~2.4 km in thickness, with a maximum of ~4.7 km (in the Wilkes sub-glacial basin between Casey and Vostok) and a volume of ~25.7Ãâ€"106 km3. It stores ~90% of the world’s ice, equivalent to ~70% of its freshwater or an approx. 65 m rise in global sea level was it to melt. This Antarctica Ice sheet play a central role in the global climate system, interacting in a complex fashion with the atmosphere and ocean, acting as major hemispheric heat sinks as a result of the radiatively induced Equator to pole temperature difference, and dominating the high-latitude radiation balance by virtue of their high albedo. Ice sheets have profound direct and indirect impacts on patterns of oceanic and atmospheric temperature and circulation and also biogeochemical cycles [11]. Studying and analyzing Antarctica using satellite remote sensing is not an old practice. It started way back in 1972 with the launch of Landsat-1(formerly ERTS-1). It kept on growing since then with the use of microwave and thermal remote sensing datasets. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) datasets have played a vital role in understanding this remote continent. In this research we have applied a combination of existing image processing methods and a novel feature extraction workflow to DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 (WV-2) satellite imagery, in order to study Antarctica at maximum achievable spatial resolution. Our protocol also compares widely used image fusion algorithms all over the researcher’s community. During the past 30-40 years, satellite and other remote sensing methods have provided a massive wealth of new data to transform understanding of the Antarctic. While important, field measurements are logistically demanding, expensive, and scanty. Satellites can measure and monitor remote and vast areas in a sustained, consistent, systematic, repetitive, and cost-effective fashion and on a variety of scales alone. Using high-spatial resolution data is the only practical approach for generating detailed and accurate information on the landscape and land cover in the Antarctic, where field measurements are laborious. The capabilities of these state-of-the-art satellites have not been thoroughly explored for mapping land cover in cryospheric regions. Widely, sea-ice spectral reflectance (ratio of radiant energy reflected by a body to that incident upon it) depends upon its age and thickness, and the presence/absence of a snow cover. Snow reflectance depends on the refractive index of ice, grain-size distribution, density, depth, and liquid-water content. Maps of surface albedo (the ratio of upwelling to down welling radiative flux at the surface) can be retrieved from satellite radiance data after accurately masking cloud, correcting atmospheric effects, and converting angular measurements to the ‘‘full hemisphere’’ angular distribution of the surface (the bidirectional reflectance distribution function [BRDF]). While the broadband albedo of ice-free ocean is ~0.05-0.1 that of sea ice ranges from ~0.1 to ~0.9 enabling ice-ocean discrimination and ice type classification. The strong sensitivity of NIR radiation to snow grain-size growth with melting further enables the detection/monitoring of seasonal mel t/refreeze. Ice-sheet surface grain size is itself retrievable from 1.6 mm data (e.g., from the Global Imager [GLI] aboard ADEOS-II [operational from 2002–2003]). High and very high resolution sensors acquire data over a narrow swath (

Essay --

Mekanism is a San francisco-based creative digital agency that is founded in 2000 by Tommy Means. Mekanism is derived from a company named Complete Pandemonium. Means saw a big opportunity of the internet for a great media platform that was not being deployed and understood by people and company back in 2000. Means started to grow his view to an independent integrated creative production studio to develop the branded content outside traditional marketing communication channels. Means aimed the mission to place the web media at the center of all advertising, and to make marketing more effective among all the other platforms. Immediately the agency was founded as an independent entity, he added three partners. Pete Caban as a head of digital, Ian Kovalic as an executive creative director, and Jason Harris as an executive producer. Pete Caban leads technology development, new media initiatives and business operations. Focusing mainly on projects surrounding emerging content platforms, Caban directs the technical development of Mekanism’s client campaigns by leveraging the industry’s latest innovations to deliver targeted content to the widest base. Ian Kovalic brings an artistic and creative background in design, interactive and animated storytelling. As executive creative director, he oversees most of the design execution across commercial, web and branded entertainment. Jason Harris leads the strategy and production of branded entertainment campaigns. His core focus is fostering Mekanism’s position as the premiere storyteller for emerging media. Harris represents a unique mix of strategy, management and production expertise. He works attentively with brands to help make hit content, develop community platforms, and enhance reach a... ...Super bowl, Mekanism continued engagement with the audience, with the contests where hundreds of thousands additional fans came to watch the spot frame by frame and hunt for planted easter eggs. Average times on Pepsi.com was unbelievable, 4 minutes and 35 seconds. The program garnered press eventually every outlet from USATODAY, to the New York Times to the Today Show. Through paid, owned , and earned media, it received over 5.5 billion impressions. In the end, Mekanism created a Fan-made film that looked stunning, and delivered on the creativity and passion of its audience which generated buzz long before and after the Super Bowl. But most importantly, Makanism amplified the voice of the now generation, and Pepsi put its marketing focus on the people who really matter, its consumers. http://youtu.be/a6YjAWU6_Qw>

Essay --

King Lear was one of Shakespeare’s lifetime popular work, and one of his most powerful works. Many people believe it was Shakespeare’s best tragedies ever committed. In this paper I will be giving a brief summary of the story as it unfolds; and a character analysis from the main characters are going to be presented as well. King Lear of Britain decided to step down from his throne, leaving his kingdom to his three daughters. Before the king divides his kingdom the king tests. The three daughters had to express their love for the king; his two oldest daughters Goneril and Regan sweet talk the king for a part of the kingdom. Cordelia the youngest and Lear’s favorite remained silent and told the king that no word can express her love for the king. King Lear became furious for not hearing the sweet words he was expecting and disowns Cordelia. She then leaves the country to marry the king of France. (Mabillard) Lear’s most trusted counselor Earl of Kent is also banished for defending Cordelia. Kent seeing danger in the Kings oldest daughters leads him to put himself in disguise as a servant. He remains close to King Lear to protect him from Goneril and Regan who decides to usurp their father’s kingdom. Meanwhile the Earl of Gloucester is also dismayed by the events happening in his household. Edmund his illegitimate son told Gloucester that Edgar his legitimate son is trying to kill him. This being a lie by Edmund to obtain his brothers birthright. (Mabillard) When Gloucester realizes that Lear’s daughter have turned against him he decides to help him. Regan and her husband Cornwall discover Gloucester helping Lear and accuse him of treason, bling him and turns him to wonder the countryside. He later is found by his disguised son ... ...r father and turned against him. They plotted their father’s death with Edmund. He was the son of Gloucester; he was evil and wicked. Not only does he plot the king’s death but his own father’s death too blaming it on his brother. Edgar was the opposite of his brother Edmund. He is similar to Cordelia; both suffer very much thought out the story. Unlike Cordelia, Edgar does remain alive at the end, and ends up being the King of Britain with Kent and Albany. Kent was King Lear’s loyal companion and counselor. He remains incognito to stay with the king. Kent remained loyal to his king after he realized the king’s daughter’s heartless actions. These were the conflicts King Lear faced throughout the story. Many of the conflicts being from love, power, loyalty, and family. At the end of it all the king died of grief that he could have prevented from the beginning.

God silences and comforts Essay

Milton wrote â€Å"When I consider how my light is spent† when he was rapidly losing his eyesight. He contemplates on his life prior to blindness (â€Å"light†) and on his life after –â€Å"dark world and wide. † As a Christian, he questions the current state of his being and laments at how it has rendered him inadequate in serving his Maker. He feels that he now cannot serve God as best as he can due to his handicap. Understandably so, he is bitter, frustrated, and in despair. Often in our lives, we are faced with difficulties of all kinds. We do not like it so we get angry, but we cannot change it so we get cynical. We lash out on God by constantly asking â€Å"Why,† and wallow in self-pity in believing ourselves to be useless. But see, in the poem, this is where God shows Milton that he’s wrong. First and foremost, God in Himself is complete (â€Å"God who doth not need/Either man’s work or His own gifts†). For God, who needs neither man nor man’s abilities to define Him, Milton simply needs to bear his situation and trust in God wholeheartedly. All God requires is for man to serve him as best as he can to the extent that his circumstances allow him to. In Milton’s case, he need not be up to par with the most able and talented people to serve God; His service in light of his condition may in itself, be sufficient. With this, God silences and comforts Milton’s distrusting heart, and Milton yields to Him in unquestioning compliance. Your last name, 2 Reality confronts me with a world where circumstances don’t always go my way. In fact, things can even go so horribly wrong as to leave me feeling completely lost. Like Milton, it takes time for me to fully accept an unfavorable situation beyond my control. I question it, I curse it, and I tell myself that I can be and do better otherwise. In short, I use a bad situation as a convenient excuse to justify my failures and shortcomings. Like many others, I am guilty of humanity’s problem of wanting to control every aspect in life. However, problems constantly remind me that I will always be subject to the unforeseeable and the inevitable. I cannot be so arrogant in that I must always be in control of every situation, but neither can I just let circumstances prevent me from doing my best. Like Milton, I realize that the true test of character is how I act in the most trying times. The best of my ability is seen in how I am able to make the most of what I have. I know that when I do my best, my talents and abilities are never wasted in the eyes of God. Of course, there are still days when I feel that all elements are against my attempts to accomplish something, but that’s all right; I can let go with faith in the fact that I have done my very best. That, perhaps, is all that is really required of me. â€Å"Who best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best† –Milton, in referring to his troubles as mild, gave me something more to think about: How often have I thought of my problems as unsurpassable? How often have I believed myself to be the unluckiest of the unlucky? Quite often, I’m afraid. But as I look beyond myself and at the problems of people around me, I shamefully realize how my troubles pale in comparison. There is a whole world of people around me who suffer in ways I cannot even comprehend. Compared to them, my problems are small Your last name, 3 and trivial. If they, in their state, can bear and go on with their lives to the best of their abilities, how much more can I? In fact, history tells us that Milton’s best works were written after he became blind! Truly, I have no excuse to validate a contemptuous disposition. So with an acquired sense of humility, I admit that the only real limit to my abilities is myself. Nowadays, I confess that problems still get to me. As much as I tell myself to â€Å"just grin and bear it,† I still find it hard to do so unquestioningly. But as I think of Milton’s poem, I see things clearly and more rationally. Essentially, God’s message to Milton is that it is not the situation that makes a man, rather, it is what man makes of the situation. For as long as I live out my life as best as I can, I define who I am and what I do. And circumstances, no matter how difficult or shattering, will never defeat me. Works cited: 1.

Fur Trade Solution Essay

The business of fur trade and the harsh practices of this business have been global issues for many decades. They have ruthless ways of killing animals like mink, foxes, and especially wild yak. It is estimated that the population of the wild yak in Qinghai, China has dropped from one 1 million to 75,000 in the past decade (Fang 38-39). This problem has been going on for too long and despite the laws and restrictions that most governments have set, still poachers hunt and kill animals illegally. There are many possible solutions to this problem that would help, but the most effective way would be to get donations and funding for non-profit organizations that can help make a difference. Funding organizations like the Friends of Nature and The Wild Yak Brigade is the best solution because the government has already tried to make changes and the laws are not being enforced. Another reason is because the organizations would use the money effectively and there would be no need for a law. The last reason this solution would be better is that these organizations are trying to stop the fur trade by cutting off the demand. Many other countries around the world have the same problem of fur trade. Some of them have passed laws and restrictions to stop this, but they have not been very effective. The Coalition to Abolish Fur Trade is trying to help stop this problem in an effort to hold elections for animal rights, but even that has not had much effect (Stallwood 22-27). In Qinghai, China the population of Wild Yaks is drastically going down and even thought their police for has tried to stop this from happening their efforts still have not made a difference (Fang 38-39). In Tibet, their government launched Operation No. 1 which is a $60,000 campaign for anti poaching. On the highway of the Tibetan capital the government set up a tent and asked if they had any illegal weapons or skins. This campaign had almost no effect on the poaching in Tibet and the poor efforts of the government angered the people of Tibet. â€Å"All they did was set up a tent on the road into the reserve,† said a professor from Provincial University (Fang 38-39). Since 1990 the government of Qinghai has caught only 500 poachers even hough there is about 5-6,000 poachers who hunt all over Qinghai (Jiunnu 9). Even thought the government is making an effort, there is still a lot of illegal poachers that need to be stopped. The government has more money to stop this awful practice but yet nonprofit organizations like the Wild Yak Brigade make more of an effort and a difference. The Wild Yak Brigade is a group of activists who are Tibetan warriors armed with guns and roam an 18,000 square foot radius ready to fend off any poachers who hunt Tibetan antelope (Fang 38-39). They are not funded by the government and they get their money from anyone who will donate to them and use it all on fending off these poachers. They have received two jeeps from a Chinese group called Friends of Nature and $10,000 dollars from the United States (Fang 38-39). The group Friends of Nature’s squad of 17 rangers regularly patrolled Hoh Xil, a nature reserve of more than 100,000 square kilometers in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, home to the antelope. Friends of Nature have also recently launched a campaign to save the Tibetan antelope. Friends of Nature have gained the support of many people including British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He told Friends of Nature that he â€Å"would be contacting British and European Union environmental authorities about the illegal trade, in the hope that it could be ended. † (Jiunnu 9). Their approach is not to chase poachers on the plateau, but to draw international attention to the bloody slaughter of the antelope. These organizations have only money they get from donations, but yet they use every bit of it effectively and help make a difference. These organizations have discovered that even with their efforts and the government’s laws the fur trade will not stop until they try and cut off the demand for this fur. They’ve realized that this is a very profitable industry so no matter how illegal or cruel it is, poachers will still try and make money. Therefore, if there is no demand and if they can make people realize that they do not need fur then the poachers will be forced to stop. The European Union and the United States have banned trade in seal fur products but yet those seals continue on the verge of extinction (â€Å"American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals†). Factory farming has also been banned in Austria, Croatia and the United Kingdom but in Austria there are still very high rates of illegal fur trading (Owen). Friends of Nature and other organizations have realized that these laws do not make a difference, so their efforts have been put towards stopping the demand. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a very popular group that has gotten celebrities to do a campaign â€Å"I’d rather go naked than wear fur†. This campaign is trying to help tell people they do not need fur and they show how cruel the fur trade farms are. Organizations like these make a huge difference in people’s opinions and their efforts are on the path to stopping the demand for fur. The practices of poaching and fur trade are major issues that need to be stopped immediately. The poor efforts of the governments have not gone unnoticed and organizations like Friends of Nature and CAFT have stepped up to help this problem. Even though they have no direct or constant funding they work with as much money as they can get and put it all into helping this problem be solved. Since the government’s laws are not being enforced, supporting the efforts of these organizations will be more effective. Not only would these organizations use this money effectively but they are approaching the problem in a different way by trying to cut off the demand. These methods and solutions would be the most effective way to stop the awful problem of trading fur.