Death of a Salesman Comparisson

Death of a Salesman After reading and watching Arthur Miller’s â€Å"Death of a Salesman†, it was clear that there were many similarities and differences between the film and the text. Many of the actors chosen for roles in the movie seemed to have fit Miller's portrayal of the characters. Between Willy feeling confused and lost to Linda’s vivid concern for Willy they all were presented very well. However, in the play, Willy Loman is portrayed as a man of considerable size while in the film he is much smaller.Although Dustin Hoffman depicts the character of Willy Loman well, he gets so enthralled in the heat of the scene that it sometimes makes the audience wonder if Miller intended for Willy to be so dramatic and emotional. At times it's overwhelming and even difficult to understand what Hoffman is saying. A problem with converting plays or books to motion picture is one can't see pictures that go along with text. The mind must create its own pictures of what is being described.The portrayal of Linda Loman on screen was completely different than what I had imagined her to be as while I was reading. I envisioned her to be a little younger and a lot more run-down and tired from dealing with not only Willy and his lost life but to her two sons and the social issues they have as well. I saw her to be more distressed. As far as plot goes, the storyline was almost exactly the same in the movie and the play. Some scenes were interchanged, but not so much as to disrupt the development or structure of the story.It also looks as though the director of the film purposely made it appear like the movie was taking place on a stage, probably to stay true to the fact that above all, Death of a Salesman is a play. I felt like the flashbacks were complete and in the film it visually helped the audience to understand what was going on. In the text on the other hand, it was up to the reader to understand when they happened and who all were part of them. I thi nk the movie adaption of this was done very well showing how Ben wasn’t â€Å"really there† and it was just Willy’s imagination when it came time for a flashback.The writers of the film script did a very good job with keeping specific lines clear and understandable, keeping in mind that they had to most likely change small things here and there. Overall I found most of the movie compared to the play a success. Between choosing actors who fit their parts as though they actually were Willy Loman, Biff Loman, Bernard and so forth, to being spot on with the plot for the most part they were both very similar. Some failures in my opinion existed in the movie when comparing to the text as well. Read also: â€Å"Realism and Expressionism in Death of a Salesman†When reading the play I didn’t see Willy and Linda being so touchy feely, as in the kissing and hugging that went on. Also the woman that Willy cheats on Linda with is much younger than I imagined. She is much more annoying especially with her laughing than as I saw her to be in the play itself. Lastly, toward the end, Biff seemed in my eyes much more emotional than I saw him to be through the text. I saw more anger and distress instead of caring about willy and crying that happened in the movie. Overall, yes there were successes and failures when comparing the film to the actual play, but I must say both were quite similar.

Conventional Morality Essay

Lawrence Kohlberg: â€Å"Physical consequences of an action determine its goodness or badness regardless of the human meaning or value of these consequences. Avoidance of punishment and unquestioning deference to power are valued in their own right, not in terms of respect for an underlying moral order supported by punishment and authority. † (Duska, R. and Whelan, M. , 1975) Summary: The concern is for self – â€Å"Will I get into trouble for doing (or not doing) it? † Good behaviour is associated with avoiding punishment. Inadequacy of Stage 1 reasoning: Avoidance of punishment regardless of the ethical value of the actions is unhealthy especially under â€Å"bad† authorities such as Adolf Hitler. * Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation Lawrence Kohlberg: Right action is â€Å"that which instrumentally satisfies one’s own needs and occasionally the needs of others. † â€Å"Human relations are viewed in terms like those of the marketplace; elements of fairness, reciprocity and equal sharing are present, but they are always interpreted in a physical or pragmatic way. Reciprocity is a matter of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,’ not of loyalty, gratitude or justice. † (Duska, R. and Whelan, M. , 1975) Summary: The concern is â€Å"What’s in it for me? † It is still egocentric in outlook but with a growing ability to see things from another person’s perspective. Action is judged right if it helps in satisfying one’s needs or involves a fair exchange. Inadequacy of Stage 2 reasoning: Where the needs of different individuals conflict, can there ever be a fair exchange? Doesn’t this conflict call for sacrifice from one of the parties? Level 2 – Conventional Morality People at this stage conform to the conventions / rules of a society. * Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation Lawrence Kohlberg: â€Å"Good behavior is that which pleases or helps others and is approved by them. There is much conformity to stereotypical images of what is majority or ‘natural’ behaviour. Behavior is frequently judged by intention. ‘He means well’ becomes important for the first time. One earns approval by being ‘nice. ‘† (Duska, R. and Whelan, M. , 1975) Summary: The concern is â€Å"What will people think of me? † and the desire is for group approval. Right action is one that would please or impress others. This often involves self-sacrifice but it provides the psychological pleasure of ‘approval of others. ‘ Actions are also judged in relation to their intention. Inadequacy of Stage 3 reasoning: * Same person, different roles OR Different groups, different expectations * Different people, different roles * People not living up to their duties or roles * Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation Lawrence Kohlberg: â€Å"Right behavior consists in doing one’s duty, showing respect for authority and maintaining the given social order for its own sake. † A person in this stage â€Å"orients to society as a system of fixed rule, law and authority with the prospect of any deviation from rules as leading to social chaos. † (Duska, R. and Whelan, M. , 1975) Summary: The concern now goes beyond one’s immediate group(s) to the larger society †¦ to the maintenance of law and order. One’s obligation to the law overrides one’s obligations of loyalty to one’s family, friends and groups. To put it simply, no one or group is above the law. Inadequacy of Stage 4 reasoning: * Unquestioning obedience toward authority is unhealthy. * Accepted social order may not be the best possible order. The laws of society may even be bad. Level 3 – POSTConventional Morality The moral principles that underline the conventions of a society in this level are understood. * Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation Lawrence Kohlberg: â€Å"Generally with utilitarian overtones. Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and in terms of standards which have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society †¦ with an emphasis upon the possibility of changing law in terms of rational consideration of social utility (rather than rigidly maintaining it in terms of Stage 4 law and order). † (Duska, R. and Whelan, M. , 1975) Summary: The concern is social utility or public interest. While rules are needed to maintain social order, they should not be blindly obeyed but should be set up (even changed) by social contract for the greater good of society. Right action is one that protects the rights of the individual according to rules agreed upon by the whole society. Inadequacy of Stage 5 reasoning: How do we arrive at a consensus on the rules that are good for society? Should a majority group impose their preferences on a minority group? What if you disagree with the decision of the majority? * Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle Orientation Lawrence Kohlberg: â€Å"Right is defined by the decision of conscience in accord with self-chosen ethical principles appealing to logical comprehensiveness, universality and consistency. These principles are abstract and ethical (the golden rule, the categorical imperative) and are not concrete moral rules like the Ten Commandments. At heart, these are universal principles of justice, of the reciprocity and equality of human rights, and of respect for the dignity of human beings as individual persons. † (Duska, R. and Whelan, M. , 1975) Summary: The concern is for moral principles †¦ an action is judged right if it is consistent with self-chosen ethical principles. These principles are not concrete moral rules but are universal principles of justice, reciprocity, equality and human dignity. Inadequacy of Stage 6 reasoning: Our conscience is not an infallible guide to behaviour because it works according to the principles we have adopted. Moreover, who or what determines these universal principles? Although moral reasoning does not necessarily lead to moral action, the latter is based in part on one’s capacity to reason about moral choices. Kohlberg was more concerned with the reasoning of the action than the action itself. And that reasoning when acted upon becomes our motivation. II – ETHICAL RELATIVISM * Cultural Relativism (sociological relativism): The descriptive view that different groups of people have different moral standards for evaluating acts as right or wrong. A. Hence, it is not an ethical doctrine–it’s a sociological or observational conclusion–even so; the view is somewhat ambiguous. B. For example, different groups might have the same basic moral principle, but apply the principle in radically different situations. 1. A second sense of cultural relativism is less obvious. I. e. , that different cultures differ on basic moral principles. 2. A possible reason for the observation of cultural relativism is shown by the example of basic moral principles which could be said to support different moral rules according to the interpretations of different cultures. In the following diagrams, there are two vastly different interpretations listed for each moral principle. * Ethical Relativism: the prescriptive view that (1) different groups of people ought to have different ethical standards for evaluating acts as right or wrong, (2) these different beliefs are true in their respective societies, and (3) these different beliefs are not instances of a basic moral principle. A. The ethical relativist often derives support for his position by two basic mistakes: 1. The relativist confuses cultural (or sociological) relativism with ethical relativism, but cultural relativism is a descriptive view and ethical relativism is a prescriptive view. (E. g. , cultural relativismdescribes the way the way people actually behave, and ethical relativism prescribes the way people ought to behave. 2. The ethical relativist often argues as follows: â€Å"An absolute ethical standard has never been proved beyond doubt in the history of thought. Thus, an absolute ethical standard does not exist. † This argument is an instance ad ignorantiam fallacy. p is unproved; not-p is true. From the fact that a statement has not been proved, we can logically draw no conclusion. B. Objections to ethical relativism. 1. The Differing Ideals Objection (or, as it is sometimes called, the linguistic objection): it is inconsistent to say that the same practice is considered right in one society and considered wrong in another. (If â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† are to have consistent meaning, then the terms must be used in the same manner. ) Possible counter-objections (by the ethical relativist): a. The relativist sometimes states that â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† have no consistent meaning. These words reflect only emotion or perhaps the ceremonial use of language. In other words, this defense shades into ethical subjectivism. Counter-counter-objection (by ethical absolutist): The problem with believing that â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† have no consistent meaning is the ordinary use of words in this case results in meaninglessness. What would happen if people used the same word in different situations to refer to different things? Communication would not take place. b. Some ethical relativists believe ethical words are reducible to non-ethical values; e. g. , these words have to do with recommendations for survival or well-being. Counter-counter-objection (by ethical absolutist): the problem here is just the difficulty of understanding the nature of a non-ethical value. Would a non-ethical value be an aesthetic value? c. Some relativists believe we can justify relativism by intuition, revelation, authority, etc. Counter-counter-objection (by ethical absolutist): these attempts are subjectively based; they differ from time to time and place to place. 2. Mental Health Objection to ethical relativism (from the definition or criterion of a group): If â€Å"what is right in one group is wrong in another,† where exactly does one group end and another begin? Counter-objections to the Mental Health Objection (by the relativist): * Right and wrong are to be determined in the situation. * Right and wrong are to be determined by what the majority determine at the time and place. * Right and wrong are ultimately established by power or authority. 3. Ad Populum Objection to the relativist’s belief that ethics is established by what most people believe: Simply because most people think something is right does not thereby make it right. Simply because most people think a statement is true does notmake that statement true Counter-objections to the ad populum objection (by the relativist): a. The same difficulty of establishing the meaning of â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† exits for the absolutist, pari passu. The absolutist has been unable to state a universally agreed upon meaning to the terms. (Notice that this response is a variant of the ad hominem—tu quoque.) b. Other solutions to the questions of the meaning of key ethical terms according to the relativist are possible by appealing to survival value, consensus gentium, and so on 4. Moral Progress Objection: If ethical relativism were correct, there could be no such thing as moral improvement or purpose in cultures or a person’s life. To have improvement, we must have a standard by which to judge the difference in moral values. Counter-objections (by the relativist): a. That’s correct–we can make no such judgment that one society is better than another. We could only judge by our own values. b. If something like â€Å"survival value† is used to ground moral beliefs, then moral improvement might be identified with â€Å"increased knowledge concerning survival of the society. † * Ethical Absolutism: the prescriptive view that there are basic or fundamental ethical principles which are true without qualification or exception as to time, condition, or circumstance. * Ethical Nihilism: the view that ethical terms such as â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† have no meaning or are nonsense. A. Objection: but something is meant when we say, â€Å"X is wrong. † Counter-objections (by the nihilist): 1. If there is no empirical meaning to the terms, they have no â€Å"cash value. † (Q. v. , positivism. ) 2. â€Å"Whatever can be said, can be said clearly. † The burden of proof that the terms have meaning is on the non-nihilist. * Ethical Skepticism: the view that ethical terms such as â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† might have meaning but their meaning cannot be established. A. Objection to skepticism at this point is methodological. Ethical skepticism should not be held a priori at the beginning of an investigation but should only be a possible outcome after a thorough study.

Era of the Disposable Worker Essay

Today we find ourselves in a world of turmoil where employment is concerned. Many people find themselves forced to take part time positions at multiple establishments to â€Å"make ends meet†. In years past, loyalty and respect led the decisions of organizations and corporations. Today stock prices, profits and competition are the main consideration when managers and leaders make changes within a company. Is this the best way to guide the decision making process? What affects do small decisions have on a company as a whole? Individual Business Decisions In a weak economy many businesses find themselves struggling to stay competitively priced and still make a profit. In order to â€Å"keep the doors open† managers are faced with many tough decisions that sometimes lead to deterioration in working conditions for many employees. Managers must then implement planning, â€Å"a process that includes defining goals, establishing strategies, and developing plans to coordinate activities† (Robbins & Judge, 2013, p. 6). Many decisions they make affect conditions and attitudes of the employees of the organization. Reduction of work force causes employees to be on edge and many times make poor decisions for fear of losing their job. This can cause conflicts among workers and lead to less production for the company. Often times the business will choose to cut hours, making full time employees lose benefit eligibility. These decisions made by management can cause working conditions to deteriorate very quickly. Lack of hours, benefits, and conflict among workers causes stress and disturbances in the work place, leading to less than favorable conditions. Responsibility Based Decisions Organizations have a responsibility not only to employees but also to shareholders to be as profitable as possible in all economic conditions. These organizations are responsible for ensuring a safe work place for all employees. According to OSHA regulation a general business is responsible for maintaining conditions and implementing actions that are necessary to  produce a safe working environment for workers (Education Portal, 2003). The organization is not responsible for ensuring job security, full time hours or working conditions although these are considered ethical concerns for a company. The responsibility of an organization is to its shareholders, creditors and customers to offer the best price possible while still making an acceptable profit margin. Managers must ensure the ability to repay its debts as well as the ability to pay the employees to â€Å"keep the doors open† and the organization growing. This is why managements decisions are so prone to conflict and deteroration of working conditions. Alternate Decision Basis There are other factors that drive the decision making process of management other than stock price. The reputation of an organization and the foundational concept on which the business was built can affect the business decisions of a company and its management team. According to (Robbins & Judge) 2013, evidence-based management make managerial decisions based on the most current scientific evidence available. In a particular situation where a manager is faced with a decision, said manager would then research to find relavent evidence and apply that knowledge to make a decision. Intuition, or â€Å"a gut feeling not necessarily supported by research† (Robbins & Judge, 2013) is also a factor that drives the decisions made by organizational managers. Many times intuition is used to make decisions when time is a factor or when faced with an immediate need. Decision Impacts All decisions have an impact whether they be small or large depends on the situation. The economical slump or individual decision to increase the number of temporary employees rather than full time loyal employees has its affects. These temporary employees have no loyalty to the organization because they have no guarantee that they will continue to have a position. The concept of being loyal to your employer and taking pride in your job is being pushed farther into the distance with the new heavy usage of temporary workers. The work environment and profitabilty of many companies suffer due to the lack of concern and permanancy felt by the employees. â€Å"An organization’s employees can be the impetus for innovation and change, or they can be a major stumbling block† (Robbins & Judge, 2013). The ability  to measure this change in attitude and impact on employees from corporate decisions to downsize, impliment temporary workers, and make changes can be difficult. Managers and field supervisors should be aware of employee behavior and sudden changes in atmosphere during and after these changes have been made. Noticable changes or gaps in production, customer satisfaction and profits should also be a â€Å"red flag† to management that employees are being affected by recent decisions. Organizations must be aware of the decisions and the impacts that â€Å"the era of the disposable worker† can have on profits, work conditions, share prices, and employees. References Education Portal. (2003). Ensuring Workplace Safety. Retrieved from http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/osha-ensuring-workplace-safety.html#lesson Robbins, S., & Judge, T. (2013). Organizational behavior. (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Publishing.

Process Analysis Essay on The Paperwork Approach versus HR Functions A

Process Analysis on The Paperwork Approach versus HR Functions Automation - Essay Example The organization adopts the null hypothesis that it is policies rather than approaches which determine organizations productivity. As such, the essay develops a critical analysis through which to evaluate the individual theory against the organizational null hypothesis.Currently, the organization applies the null hypothesis that there exists no productivity impact based on the management approach used. Therefore, the hypothesis is established on the assumption that an organization’s policy influences its productivity and future market success. The global market system is changing with increasing global competitions from both local and international organizations. There is a need to develop systems and practices to increase global market presence and competitiveness. To this end, the organization argued that one of the strategic approaches through which to achieve increased competition was through the reduction of the overall costs of production in the organization. Also, the o rganization adopted the need to reduce infrastructure development and installation costs required in the development and adoption of modern technology. As Heineman and Greenberger (85) stated, although this approach reduces organizational management costs in the short run period, this hypothesis can be disapproved in the future. For instance, the application of an automated HR system would reduce the overall errors and mistakes encountered when calculating and evaluating restive employee rewards and financial amounts owed by the venture. Thus, this reduces the error costs incurred by organizations in the industry.

Reaction paper (Greg Stahly) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reaction paper (Greg Stahly) - Essay Example He identified himself as a ceramic artist, a term that I had never heard of, and even though many of his products are displayed in museums, I still hold the opinion that his works are not artistic. Greg’s products however exhibit some elements of art. I consider his soda vapor glazing, a work that involved pottery, as his artistically richest work. Even though the product involved handwork creativity skills, its artistic elements are realized in its design process rather than implementation of the design to develop the product. Greg also associates himself more with creation of products for use. He for example creates bowls from which people can eat, watering ports for watering flowers and develop color schemes to capture people’s attention. His soda vapor without glazing was particularly outstanding and neat. It only applied a particular type of firewood with diversified natural colors that were derived from flames, parts of the wood and ash. Even though a distant glan ce of the work would not captivate, a closer approach to understanding the coloration identifies the quality in the product. Mixing of colors is the basis of this particular piece of work. Another identifiable feature of Greg’s work is that his products offer tangible utility. They are not merely commodities to be seen but are things that are applicable in daily life processes. His works therefore puts me in a dilemma as I fail to understand the precise difference between a person who makes products and a person who invent products towards development and sale. The concept of ceramic art also confuses me because even though I can comprehend aspect of art as implied in the works, I do not understand how the works can be generally considered art. This is because Greg develops his products without outlined motive. Examples involve his development of inflatable shapes and suspending them in a museum without a clear intent. Even though he later developed an understanding from his Cadaver bags that he tried to lift but fell down to six feet, such a theme of communicating aspects of death was not in his intentions at the time of developing the bags. I therefore hold the opinion that Greg is just an explorer who delights himself in making funny items and observing how his made items operate. This, in my opinion, is a development of products for physical utility and not art. ‘50 ways in’ is another of Greg’s works that appears to be controversial to me with respect to artistic consideration. The work only exhibits a few elements of artistic development and induces the dilemma of whether to consider it artistic or not. It was developed from ceramic, latex tubing, case rubber, aluminum, and 120 tubes and is identifiable with 50 eyeballs with tails that converge to a focal point on a wall. The work’s theme was to illustrate 50 of ways locating a particular point and even though the work’s title was captivating, the theory behind it , and the way in which Greg explained it is not. Greg for instance explained that every eye was the size of a grape fruit or one of the larger groups of fruits, a statement that identifies ambiguity. His other presumed art regarded construction of pipelines and aerial view of the city. He demonstrated diagrams of both pipelines and electrical line from an aerial view. The aim of such a development was to illustrate underground installations and even though he demonstrated an understanding of involved appliances, this work closely identifies with construction than it does with art.

Ryanair customers service problems in 2013 Assignment

Ryanair customers service problems in 2013 - Assignment Example In the next step, the airline raised the weight limit for carry-on bags while also hiking fees for overweight checked baggage. In addition, there were hidden credit card charges, ?100 for amending a passenger name, taxes and fees to be paid with frequent delays and overall poor customer service (Hickman, 2009). Ryanair CEO is also known to call his passengers â€Å"stupid† and â€Å"idiot† if they do not print the boarding passes ahead of the flight (Independent Traveller, 2011). Apparently such remarks were prompted by a customer who complained of being charged 60 Euros for not having the boarding pass printed. The shareholders complained against the tarnished reputation of the airline after Ryanair refused to refund the fare of a dead passenger and after the CEO’s comments that he was not interested in â€Å"sob stories† when no refund came through (Bennett, 2013). The arrogance of executives is another factor that has affected service. Ineffective commu nication and poor marketing by Ryanair further aggravates the situation. Thus the issues that have severely affected customer service include hidden costs, low knowledge of the service staff, inadequate staff, and the rude and arrogant attitude of the executives. The factors that have driven the airline to undertake strategic restructuring include a warning that its profits could be lower than the lower end of its guidance. The biggest blow came when the brand was voted the worst of the 100 biggest brands in the UK (Eleftheriou-Smith, 2013). Restructuring has become essential as the airline envisages growth in its customer base from 80m to 110m over the next five years (Ryanair News, October 25, 2013). The methodology used for this report would be content analysis based on a qualitative approach which is a text analysis approach to analyse the data collected from the company website. This would enable to explore how the company intends to improve its relationship with customers. In 2013, Ryanair has decided to take certain steps towards better customer service including being â€Å"nice to customers† (Bennett, 2013). The CEO has decided to end the â€Å"macho† culture and accept the blame or responsibility for the abrupt culture in the organization that has affected customer service. These steps are geared to change the reputation of the airlines and retain customers. One of the first initiatives that Ryanair has taken is to introduce digital marketing strategy which it announced at its AGM. The airline is investing significantly in improving the website, the mobile platform and interaction with passengers using the social media (Ryanair News, September 20, 2013). Website Website would allow customers to enter their details and save them, thereby reducing booking time for all future bookings. This service known as â€Å"My Ryanair† would help them store their information and data securely on the Ryanair website for future ease of booking ( Ryanair News, October 30, 2013). However, this is expected to go live by December end. The recaptcha security feature was quite annoying which has been removed for individual customers starting October 1, 2013 (Ryanair News, September 20, 2013). It would continue to remain in place for high volume bookers, travel agents and screenscrapers. Removal of recaptcha will speed and simplify the booking process. This is aimed at deterring travel agents and other

Business Communications Trends Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Communications Trends Paper - Essay Example Visual-aid is just but a form of business communication by a company to the stakeholders. It only presents a type of the numerous approaches to business communication applied recently. This study is going to have a comprehensive look at this issue of trends in business communication. As technology takes steps forward, the business communication factor follows suit. The olden days were signified by people writing letters. Meetings were usually one on one and were mostly concluded with a handshake. Business communication has undergone a series of changes, though. A major illustration of this fact’s support is the electronic tools’ innovation for utilization in the communication of business issues. There are brand new devices and software programs entering the market as days go by. Despite the fact that the changes in business communication may sound a simple occurrence, the implementation of the new systems and also helping employees in their taking up of the new functions is no walk in the park. It involves complexities and huge investments of capital. The devices coming up may include PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), wikis, as well as teleconference. These are set to upgrade the levels of productivity and communication to clients alike. E-mails have been taken up as one of the major approaches to business communication to clients and workers as well. As many as 84 million of business e-mails are sent per day according to the 2008 estimate by IDC- a consultancy firm for research. Information overload is a major setback brought about by this type of communication, however. Most of the players in the corporate world are continuously assimilating information with regards to clients by sending them to make use of company websites. These websites usually contain the company’s information in one common place. Telecommunicating is also another type of business communication which though

The future of medical care in the united states Essay

The future of medical care in the united states - Essay Example In this paper, the history of the healthcare law will be recalled, the changes brought to its benefactors, and the worthy Americans to receive such assistance. Also, a comparison will be made between ACA and the health reform offered by the Congressional Republicans and how suitable the democratic-socialist approach to the current health care act. An efficient health care system has long been a need of the people, as they become more aware of diseases which can harm their livelihood and health. The face of the medical care in the 1920’s is far too different from what most communities have today. Doctor’s knowledge about certain diseases was limited and therefore, charging their clients with a low cost (â€Å"How did the Health†). Most patients were treated at home with liniments and other traditional medicine. Blumberg & Davidson argue that the medical care in that era was â€Å"basically medieval,† until technology has changed the course of health care practice. Through technology, the doctors were able to acquire much information about illnesses and medications were made available for its treatment. This is good news for health clients and at the same time an additional burden in their budget management; higher efficiency means higher cost. The beginning of the twentieth century marked the blossoming of health care industry. The continuous expansion of medical, nursing and other health practitioner’s schools and the number of hospital beds served as the proof of this growth. However, the Great Depression of the 1930’s stopped this medical improvement. As a solution, Baylor Hospital in Dallas formulated a system where financial aid was available, which eventually became the Blue Cross, where the goal was to assist people in paying their hospital bills. This went hand in hand with the Blue Shield, where the interest and payment for the Doctors were safeguarded. Having known to the insurers that majority of the people back then

Discuss in detail the components of the Balance of payments account Essay

Discuss in detail the components of the Balance of payments account - Essay Example The BOP is the country’s way of monitoring the international trading of its product and service offerings, and financial assets (Melvin and Norrbin, 2013, p.59; Cool and Goddard, 2006, p.92, Stovel, 1959, p.21). When a country receives money, it is automatically credited to its account, and it is debited from its account once it has paid or given money. BOP is therefore the inflows and outflows of cash. Inflows are credit and outflows are debit. The work at hand establishes the discussion of the three essential components of the BOP and the issues pertaining to its equilibrium. The current account consists of merchandise exports and imports and invisible exports and imports (OECD, 2000, p.151; Rana and Alburo, 1987, p.50). It is technically the flow of product and service offerings into a country. This also includes revenue on investments done publicly or privately. Generally, the current account consists of three essential components too. The first component is the net export. This is the biggest part of the current account, because it is around 80 to 90 percent. The next component is the net foreign income. This may be the income payment on stocks and bonds. Thus, at some point the net foreign income may be the interest payment on the bond or the dividend payment. Aside from the two components mentioned so far, the other part of current account is the foreign aid (Gaspar et al., 2013, p.93; Eicher et al., 2009, p.352; Clarida, 2007, p.38). Foreign aids are amount of money that the other economies may have directly transferred to a certain economy for the purpose of providing aid. This can also take place when a worker sends money home. Financial account is the next relevant component of BOP. It is the International transfer of capital, and attainment and clearance of assets that are non-financial and non-produced (OECD, 2005, p.45; International Monetary Fund, 2000, p.50). The financial account consists of real assets and financial assets. The real asset

Economic and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economic and Society - Essay Example There are two different issues regarding the role of globalization as many argue that the governments, due to globalization, have lost their control over their own sovereignty. On the other hand, it is said that the due to globalization, the world as a whole, benefit from the globalization. It is often argued that with the increased globalization, governments often lose control over their own economic affairs and as such many developing countries consider globalization as a force which is in direct contravention of their sovereignty and control over their own domestic affairs. Due to globalization, domestic institutions gradually lose control over the economic policy making as global organizations largely influence their decision making process and the resulting changes would bring in more economic hardship rather than economic affluence for the country. Many developing countries also fear that the resulting changes would create such socio-cultural changes that the society will no longer remain within it traditional attire and foreign ideas and values will start to dominate the society. However, on the other hand, results also indicate that third world countries often benefit from globalization due to sheer transfer of technology, capital as well as knowledge. The resulting changes not only bring prosperity but also economic growth as well as a more secure future of the nation. It is truly difficult to define what globalization is and under what conditions it can provide desired benefits. Over the period of time, the discipline has evolved into a position where it has integrated many different disciplines and emerged as one of the most talked after multi-disciplinary concept. As such the current state of the concept inculcates into it various theoretical approaches, different disciplines as well as theoretical foundations, which are currently behind the emergence of the modern definition of globalization. Globalization has

Dramatic tension for the audience Essay Example for Free

Dramatic tension for the audience Essay In the play, A View From The Bridge, Arthur Miller gave the audience an impression that the Italian immigrants werent welcome to the USA. The scene is set in New York and it relates to six main characters, who are all individuals and play unique roles. Arthur Miller was born on October 17th in 1915 in New York City. He was a prominent figure in American literature and his career as a writer spanned over seven decades. He is considered by audiences as one of Americas greatest play writers, and his plays are widely recognised throughout the world. The play is set in Red Hook. The main focus and stage is the Carbones living and dining room. Alfieri thinks that the public do not appreciate lawyers or priests because he says You see how uneasily they nod to me? Thats because I am a lawyer. In this neighbourhood to meet a lawyer or a priest on the street is unlucky. Were only thought of in connection with disasters, and theyd rather not get too close. A slight of distrust lies in the neighbourhood because he can sense that the law wasnt an amicable idea since the Greeks were beaten. People have told him that the neighbourhood lack an element of elegance and glamour. The neighbourhood consisted of longshoremen and their wives and fathers and grandfathers and poor people. Red Hook was considered quite a dangerous place but now its quite civilized, quite American. Alfieri can foretell the rest of story as he tells the audience that they should watch the situation run its bloody course, and followed that by introducing Eddie Carbone by saying this ones name was Eddie Carbone. The way Arthur Miller uses Alfieri to say this ones, shows that Alfieri has seen this many times before and is giving us a hint that the play is not going to end well. Eddie is introduced on stage by pitching coins with the men, in which he highlighted from them, He is forty-a husky, slightly overweight longshoreman. When Eddie enters his apartment and meets Catherine, there is quite a friendly atmosphere but this changes quickly when Eddie criticizes the way Catherine walks and her appearance. The conversation ends when Eddie says that Beatrices cousins are coming. Here we can get the feeling that Eddie has undiscovered sexual feelings and is very possessive over Catherine. While the family were waiting for Beatrices cousins, Eddie is telling the story of Vinny Bolzano. The story has a significant importance because this play also has a similar story as Bolzano. Miller uses Eddie as the person who informs the immigration about Beatrices cousins (just like the young boy did to his uncle in Bolzanos story). Marco appears to be suspicious initially. He is quite stiff towards Eddie and gives him control of when he requires them to leave. There is an instant reaction where Rodolfo is introduced, we can see Catherine is attracted by his appearance, she asked him many questions like How come hes so dark and youre so light, Rodolfo (you can see how she just addressed the question directly to Rodolfo). Catherine also is astonished, as she said to Beatrice Hes practically blond! . Eddie however assumes that he is homosexual because he has blond hair and sings the song Paper Doll. Eddie doesnt understand the law because he doesnt see the need of obtaining evidence to prove Rodolfo guilty. He just assumes that Rodolfo wants to marry Catherine for the right to stay and become an American citizen. It is difficult for Eddie to express his emotions because he has intimate feelings towards Catherine. Alfieris advice to Eddie was to inform the immigration as to how Beatrices cousins entered the country illegally. Initially Eddie is shocked at the advice and says Oh, Jesus, no, I wouldnt do nothin about that. Alfieri also advised Eddie to learn to let Catherine go. He says The child has to grow up and go away, and the man has to learn to forget. Eddie does not want to let Catherine go. This could result in two endings, either Eddie snitches on Rodolfo and Marco or lets his niece live her life the way she wants to. Catherine starts off a conversation about the places where Marco and Rodolfo have been to. Eddie doesnt seem too convinced when Catherine says theyve been to Africa, and says its true Eddie. Miller uses his stage directions to show that Eddie is only asking Marco about the places they have visited. Then the conversation diverts to Catherine asking Eddie about oranges and lemons growing on trees. Eddie replies directly to Marco. He becomes very aggressive and rude when Rodolfo intervenes. Eddie gets very hostile and snaps back at Rodolfo by saying I know lemons are green, for Christs sake, you see them in the store theyre green sometimes. I said oranges they paint, I didnt say nothin about lemons. . Another incident rises when Eddie has a conversation about how he can teach boxing to Rodolfo. Eddie picks on Rodolfo and tries to intimidate and patronise him. They both throw in some light punches but Eddie gets carried away and grazes Rodolfo. Catherine is astonished and Eddie replies Why? I didnt hurt him. Did I hurt you kid? . Marco had realised that Eddie was bothered by Rodolfo. Marco showed his strength towards Eddie by raising the chair over his head. He does this to make Eddie aware that if anything happens to Rodolfo, Eddie will have to pay the consequences. Arthur Miller shows that Marco has had enough and understands whats going on, the stage directions describes Marco with a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, he also used a simile the chair raised like a weapon over Eddies head. Eddie then realises what Marco meant, his grin vanishes as he absorbs his looks. . This shows us that Marcos hamartia is Rodolfo.

Metaphysics Essay 3 Essay Example for Free

Metaphysics Essay 3 Essay PLEASE WRITE A 1250-1500 WORD ESSAY IN RESPONSE TO THE PROMPT STATED BELOW. IN WRITING THIS ESSAY, YOU SHOULD USE THE TEXTBOOK AND CLASSROOM DISCUSSION AS YOUR FOUNDATION. YOU SHOULD NOT TRY TO SUMMARIZE THE READING ASSIGNMENTS IN TURN, BUT ONLY THOSE PARTS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO DEALING WITH THE PROMPT AND FOR SETTING UP AND HELPING TO EXPLAIN THE CRITICAL REMARKS IN YOUR PAPER. IN THIS PAPER YOU SHOULD HAVE YOUR OWN THESIS TO DEFEND ABOUT THE QUESTION IDENTIFIED IN THE PROMPT. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO USE ANY SOURCES OTHER THAN THE ONES FOR THIS UNIT AND YOUR OWN MIND. HOWEVER, YOU ARE PERMITTED TO USE SUCH ADDITIONAL SOURCES. FOR ANY SOURCES YOU USE, EXCEPT YOUR OWN MIND, YOU SHOULD PROVIDE DOCUMENTATION IN ONE OF THE USUAL WAYS. THIS INCLUDES THIS COURSE=S TEXTBOOK, AND APPLIES BOTH TO SUMMARIZED AND PARAPHRASED MATERIAL DRAWN FROM ANY OF THESE SOURCES. THE PAPER SHOULD BE WORD PROCESSED AND PRESENTED IN THE FORM OF A PAPER, NOT OF AN EXAM. IN OTHER WORDS, THERE SHOULD BE A TITLE AND INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH WHERE YOUR THESIS IS CLEARLY STATED AND THE PLAN OF YOUR DISCUSSION EXPLAINED. THIS IS LIKE A UNIT EXAM, BUT I WISH TO MAKE THIS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO PRACTICE THE MECHANICS OF PAPER WRITING. Prompt BEGIN BY EXPLAINING WHY THE QUESTION OF WHY THERE IS SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING CAN REASONABLY BECOME THE QUESTION OF WHETHER THERE ARE ANY NECESSARY BEINGS. NEXT DESCRIBE TWO WAYS OF ARGUING FOR THE EXISTENCE OF A NECESSARY BEING. (THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY IN EACH OF THE CHAPTERS. ) COMPARE AND CONTRAST YOUR SELECTED TWO WAYS AND DEFEND A THESIS ABOUT WHICH OF THE TWO SEEMS A BETTER (OR LESS WORSE) WAY TO ARGUE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF A NECESSARY BEING.

The Execution Of Maintenance Work Construction Essay

The Execution Of Maintenance Work Construction Essay Building maintenance is synonym with the building. Building maintenance will be start after the construction of the building is fully completed. After the completion, most of the building need to be maintained because that will be use the building for the long term and maintenance also is implement is to provide and ensure the condition of the building is in a good condition and give comfortable to the users of the building. The building condition in terms of the design, materials, facilities, painting, cleaning and so on in the future either in a good condition, maintain without any changes or the building become worse or not well maintain will depend on the maintenance management. In order to ensure the building in a good maintenance, the organizing maintenance work is an important part in the maintenance of the building. The purpose of the organizing maintenance work is to examine how the maintenance works are organizes in order to maintain the building in a good organizing mainte nance. Therefore, these study presents the results of the ways in organizing maintenance work. INTRODUCTION Building maintenance normally regarded as the Cinderella of the building industry. The maintenance of the built environment affects everyone continually, for it is on the state of our homes, offices and factories that we depend not only for our comfort but also for our economic survival. Maintenance of the building will start from the day the builders and contractors leaves the site of the construction or after the construction is fully completed. Normally, all the building owners wants their building will keep the maintenance to a minimum cost and need the maintenance in a good and effective maintenance. In order to get the effectiveness of the maintenance, organizing maintenance work is required for the maintenance. Organizing is the managerial function of arranging people and resources to work toward a goal. The purposes of organizing include but are not limited to determining the tasks to perform in order to achieve objectives, dividing tasks into specific jobs, grouping job into departments, specifying reporting and authority relationships, delegating the authority necessary for task accomplishment, and allocating and deploying resources in a coordinated fashion (Anton, 2010). As a word, organization can mean an organization that is the process of getting something organized. Different organization will organize building maintenance differently. For example, two different local authorities will not organize their building maintenance work in the same way unless two different organization of the building maintenance will organized the building maintenance work in the same way is if they outsourced the provision of the service to the same company of the outsource contractors (Wood, 2009). British Standard Institution (1964) defines maintenance as work undertaken in order to keep or restore every facility such as every part of a site, building and contents, to an acceptable standard. The British Standard further explain that where there are statutory requirements for maintenance, the acceptable standard must be no less than that necessary to meet the statutory requirements (Seeley, 1976). Maintenance is also defined as any activity such as cleaning, painting and minor repair carried out systematically, on a planned cycle and based on regular inspection (Dann Timothy, 2007). It can conclude that organizing maintenance work is to examine how work will organized to best effect. Consideration will give particularly to the place of statutory control and guidance and the involvement of contractors. The value of the supervision and inspection will explore. The overall aim is to expose methods that are most likely to achieve the desired end-result of satisfactory buildings in which to live, work and play. ORGANIZING MAINTENANCE WORK MAINTENANCE PLANNING The Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines a plan as a method or procedure for doing something on the design, scheme, or intention. In term of building maintenance management, maintenance planning has both a narrow and wide definition. The narrow definition relate to preventive maintenance in the form of planned maintenance programmed. While, wide definition maintenance planning as an essential management tool for controlling all aspects of a building maintenance management operation and will include planned preventive maintenance programmed, planned levels of expenditure on day-to-day and reactive maintenance, disaster planning, and planned strategies of asset management in conjunction with a business plan or corporate plan (Wordsworth, Planned Inspections, 2001). The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyorsà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Guidance Note on Planned Building Maintenance defines the maintenance planning under five categories that are determining the policy for maintenance, deciding and preparing maintenance programmes and obtaining funds for them, getting the work done, controlling progress of work and budget expenditure, and monitoring the effectiveness of the programme (Wordsworth, Planned Inspections, 2001). The nature of the maintenance planning in the building maintenance involves determining systems and sequences of operation. This noted that maintenance planning must necessarily involve a level of prediction. The prediction is not only focus on the building stock and the deterioration, but also focus on the future policy of the owners or users of the buildings. The maintenance manager or maintenance department can deal with these uncertainties with a twofold oncoming, which are by collecting and analyzing sufficient information to place as much degree of certainty on the variables as possible and by recognizing that a level of uncertainty will remain and introducing flexibility and review options within the plan (Wordsworth, Planned Inspections, 2001). The collection of the information is to assist the maintenance manager to predict with some degree of confidence will be in the form of condition surveys of the property, details of costs and cost trends in building, and information re lated to the wider policies of the owners and users of the building. Care in such information gathering will enable the maintenance manager or the person who responsible for the maintenance of the building to reduce the uncertainty and permit effective planning to proceed (Wordsworth, Planned Inspections, 2001). In planning maintenance, an aim of the maintenance manager is to match the available resources with the workload. The effectiveness planning is difficult with this category of work because of the large number of uncertain factors involved. In view of the uncertainties, maintenance planning must be formulated at different levels and constantly revised according to the new information that is put into the system. Long-term programmes medium-term programmes and the short-term programmes were identified as a level of the maintenance planning (Seeley, 1976). SUPERVISION OF MAINTENANCE WORK Supervision is a management activity carried out to ensure that the work as in a plan will carry out correctly and expeditiously as what in the maintenance planning (Wood, 2009). Furthermore, the supervision of maintenance work was executed is to ensure that is of a satisfactory standard and in accordance with the drawings and specification. With the larger contracts, it is customary to employ a clerk of work who is constantly in touch with the job in order to supervise the maintenance work. Besides that, the clerk of work also is responsible to ensure that the maintenance is work as a planning. However, with the smaller contracts or smaller jobs periodic supervision only can be obtained often through the medium of architects, surveyors, inspectors or other supervisory staff (Seeley, 1976). Clerk of work must have an extensive practical knowledge of building materials, principles of construction and the execution of techniques in all trades. As a supervisor in the maintenance work, they need to ensure that all the materials and workmanship are in accordance with the drawings, specification and any other relevant documents. Furthermore, the clerk of work must to avoid their self from making any exorbitant demands or altering details or materials without getting the approval from the architect, surveyor or maintenance manager to whom he is responsible (Seeley, 1976). Besides that, the clerk of work will also responsible to prepare reports for consideration by the architect, surveyor, or maintenance manager. The preparation of the reports might be in the term of weekly, periodic or special reports (Seeley, 1976). Site meeting is also one of the supervision of maintenance work. This is one of the way to organizing maintenance work. Site meetings will hold regularly on larger jobs and are generally convened by the architect, surveyor, maintenance manager or any person who responsible for the supervision of maintenance work. The main objective of the site meetings is to ensure that satisfactory progress is maintained and to provide the opportunity for clearing outstanding points. Supervision of maintenance work is important for the all parties to get involves in the site meeting including subcontractors (Seeley, 1976). Adequate supervision of work to the new construction and of alteration and repair work need as one of the way in the organizing maintenance to ensure that the materials and workmanship comply with the contract particulars and relevant statutory requirements. In the absence of such strict supervision in the maintenance progress, inferior materials, poor workmanship and the omission of important details can occur resulting in subsequent trouble and expense to the building owner (Seeley, 1976). PLANNED INSPECTIONS A planned inspection is a formal systematic check carried out at predefined regular intervals against a detailed list of plant, equipment and activities. According to the Baiche, Walliman and Ogden (2006) work needs to check regularly to ensure compliance with legislative requirements (Wood, 2009). The purpose of the planned inspections is been carried out is to ensure the systematic examinations of all locations, facilities, tools, plants, materials and to observe how these are used by employees and contractors. By carrying out the planned inspections and through taking follow up action on any defects or unsafe working practices noted the maintenance manager or the person who responsible to maintain the building. Critically, planned inspections can effectively contribute to the provision of the safe working environment and reduce the risk of injury to persons, damage to equipment, buildings and to the environment. Furthermore, planned inspections are carrying out for a variety purpo ses including preparation a schedule of the facilities that need to maintain and their present condition, detecting misappropriation from predetermined standards and incipient faults that may result in such deviations developing before the next inspections. Other purposes are ascertaining the cause of the misappropriations, the extent of the remedial work necessary to restore to the required standard and prevent a recurrence of the defect, and the relative urgency of the work. Checking that previous work was done in accordance with the instructions and that the work specified was adequate also is a purposes and the reason why the planned inspections is required to carrying out in the organizing maintenance work (Wordsworth, 2001). The complicated design of the buildings and the great variety of the possible defects makes it necessary fully preplan the inspections and to provide comprehensive checklists to ensure that no part of the building is missed from the inspections. Appropriate criteria also should be laid down for each element, components, or equipments and the types of the inspections needed fully defined and documented. Planned inspections also include details of the form of the inspections (Wordsworth, 2001). For a greater consistency in organizing the maintenance work, special program macros should be prepared for each element and sub element, setting down the essential information required by the inspector with space to record the result and the recommendation of the inspections. For the later processing, a location code is required to assists and gives some information. To facilitate retrieval and computer processing of inspections, the facilities and elements should be grouped according to the lo cation and the periodicity of the inspections (Wordsworth, 2001). EXECUTION OF MAINTENANCE WORK Building maintenance is not a single industry and it can undertake by the outsource labor such as contractors, direct labor that is the in-house maintenance department of the building or combination of direct and outsource labor will maintain the building by own. The decision in choosing the labor either direct or outsource of the maintenance labor will depends on the number of criteria. The criteria is might be in terms of the design of the building, materials of the equipment, size of the building, number of the staff and so on. The structures of the maintenance organizations will examine together with programming and operational activities. Finally, the training of maintenance staff and the operation of incentive schemes are considered. Direct, outsource or contract, or combination of the both labor of the maintenance also one of the way in organizing maintenance work. The decision in choosing the type of the execution of maintenance work should compare the costs and services provided by contractors with the own directly employed labor forced, taking into account the availability of labor and the type and the location of the buildings that need to maintain (Seeley, 1976). Direct Labor Most public bodies have directly employed staff of their own specifically available to undertake building maintenance work compared to the private organizations. These may range from general, multi-skilled, or unskilled, handyman or repair person to a team of operatives with a range of skills. Direct labor usually provide a 24/7 service, or maybe the work from Monday to Friday (Wood, 2009). These individual normally known as a direct labor because the staff employed to execute the maintenance work directly employed as part of the client organization (Wood, 2009). The advantages of direct labor in organizing maintenance work are direct labor allows full control of activities of the maintenance. This type of the execution also should ensure good standard of workmanship by craft operatives who enjoy continuity of employment but recruitment may be a problem. Maintenance manager also can introduce and operate incentives scheme by using the direct labor in their organizing maintenance work. Last but not least, the advantages of the direct labor is particularly well situated for execution of emergency repairs as labor force is familiar with location of switches, manholes, operational services and services requiring particular or unusual skills for which employees can be trained (Seeley, 1976). On the other hand, the establishment of the direct labor maintenance force will require the provision and administration of supporting facilities such as stores, workshops, and transport. Besides that, a high standard supervision also required in order to ensure the quality of the maintenance services and the productivity of the services. Then, the experienced and efficient management also required in order providing effective labor relations and communications. Accounting procedures of direct labor organizations vary considerably and some rationalization would facilitate statistical analysis to general advantage. Nevertheless, direct labor has no debts, no costs of tendering in competition. However, on the other hand, often has a high rate of sickness and its higher ratio of staffs to operatives may exceed the contractorà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s profit element (Seeley, 1976). Outsource or Contract Labor Outsource or contract labor play an important role in maintenance work for keep the building in repair and maintain, and for the larger periodic works. Maintenance of lifts, swimming pools, fire extinguisher and other sophisticated plant mostly required special outsource or contract labor to execute the maintenance work (Seeley, 1976). Outsource or contracts labor will engage and employ when the maintenance work requires a particular skill, experience, or qualification. Furthermore, outsource or contract labors are contracted when the maintenance work cannot be entrusted to an unskilled person as the job or its outcome would be dangerous, potentially destructive or otherwise unacceptable, if not done correctly (Wood, 2009). Most of the construction work including repair and refurbishment will carry out by outsource or contract labor either as small firms or self-employed individuals (Wood, 2009). The advantages by employ outsource or contract labors are they are more professional in the attitude and skills due to expert in the field. Besides that, contract labor also more expose to the new technology skills and knowledge. Contract labor will equip with computer hardware and software packages. Furthermore, reduce the work on the maintenance work. This is because, by employ the contract labor, maintenance manager will not force to the staff and materials to be used in the maintenance work. Finally, it can conclude that it may preferable to confine direct labor to little more than emergency and schedules maintenance, and to use contractors for the seasonal, major and specialist work, although many efficient direct labor organizations would quarrel with this approach. Contractors need long term contracts to give the employer good service on advantageous term. CONCLUSION Building maintenance work is most important thing after the builders leave the site of the construction. The maintenance work is required to keep and maintain the building in a good condition, under control and supervision. The maintenance is not only for the users and for owner comfort but it is also for the economic survival. However, the effectiveness and the quality of the maintenance is depends on the organization of the maintenance in the building to organize the maintenance to best effect. Different organization will organize maintenance work differently unless the different organization will transfer the responsibility of the maintaining the building to the same contract labor of maintenance. Maintenance manager is the person who responsible in organizing maintenance works to best effect to ensure that the building is under the effective maintenance. Maintenance manager also must consider and implement the best way and approach in organizing the maintenance work. This study shows that maintenance planning, supervision maintenance work, planned inspections and execution maintenance work is a best approach to be used in organizing maintenance work by the maintenance manager. It can conclude that, organizing maintenance work will best effect by organize with the maintenance planning, supervision maintenance work, planned inspections and execution maintenance work. Organizing maintenance work will more proper, well organized and more effective and efficient by having the maintenance planning that is the maintenance manager can prepare the plan in long-term, medium-term and short-term levels of planning. Furthermore, supervision also can supervise the maintenance work during the progress. Then, the planned inspections can assist the maintenance manager to recognize the problems on that building. Lastly, execution maintenance work can assists the organization of maintenance building in order to keep and maintain the building more effective and organize by separated and grouping the tasks between direct and contract labor of maintenance.

The Spanish American War :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most may think that the Spanish-American War was a war between the Americans and the Spanish. Most are right, but only to a point, because the Spanish-American War also included wars between the Americans and the Filipinos, as well as between the Americans and Puerto-Ricans. Reasons for these wars occurring are obvious to the history connoisseur, but to the normal individual, they may not be so distinct.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  America has been a country of great power for years, and that power has come not only from years of hard work and fighting, but also from years of audacity. About one hundred fifty years ago, the United States began sending armed forces to foreign countries in an effort to attain each individual country’s opulent resources. This commanding attitude taken by the United States government spread into the American people as well, with corporate giants such as Rockefeller and Morgan, who controlled large parts of American business with monopolies over the railroads and oil industry. Events such as the Spanish﷓American War and interference in the Philippines marked the indisputable beginning of American imperialism. Invasions such as these propelled United States capitalist expansion and produced the ideas of economic expansion in government as well as in homes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Philippines played a larger part in the Spanish-American War than most may like to believe. The Philippine-American War as it could be called is forgotten to most everyone in all of United States Military history. The events that occurred in the Philippines could be mildly compared to the events that occurred nearly seventy years later in Vietnam. The reasons for the war occurring at all are directly related to the Filipino’s attempts to gain independence from Spain. Lead by Emilio Aguinaldo, the Filipino people fought for one year for independence from Spain with a shortage of weapons, ammunition and food. A treaty with the Spanish Authorities was forced in 1897, and Aguinaldo and his government were forced into exile with payment of four hundred thousand pesos. American Consuls residing in many Asian countries, as well as Hong Kong, where Aguinaldo was exiled to, agreed with Aguinaldo to give the Philippines independence, as long as they helped the Un ited States defeat the Spanish. Commodore George Dewey of the United States Navy was to lead Aguinaldo back to the Philippines. He only brought Aguinaldo back to Luzon, the northern-most island of the Philippines. Dewey continued to refuse to support Aguinaldo now though, and Aguinaldo once again controlled the Philippines, which was still under attack by Spanish forces.

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Justice is seen as a concept that is balanced between law and morality. The laws that support social harmony are considered just. Rawls states that justice is the first virtue of social institutions; this means that a good society is one structured according to principles of justice. The significance of principles of justice is to provide a way of assigning rights and duties in the basic institutions of the society and defining the appropriate distribution of the benefits and burdens of the society. According to Rawls, justice is best understood by a grasp of the principles of justice (Rawls, 1971). The principles are expected to represent the moral basis of political government. These principles indicate that humankind needs liberty and freedom so long as they do harm others. Rawls states that justice is significant to human development and prosperity. According to Rawls, the challenge of justice is to ensure a just distribution of primary goods that include powers and opportunities, rights and liberties, means of self-respect, income and wealth among others (Rawls, 2001). Rawls disputes the earlier predominant common source of injustice, the utilitarianism theory, which states that justice is best defined by that which provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The theory of utilitarianism ignores the moral worth of an individual. This theory does not take into consideration the minority. An example is the mistreatment of the Jews by the Nazi Germans (Rawls, 2001). Rawls states that you cannot reimburse for the sufferings of the distressed by enhancing the joys of the successful. Fairness according to him occurs when the society makes sure that every individual is treated equally before the law and given a c... ...gations that the individuals in the society have towards each other. Rawls indicates that there are public institutions that are present in a just and fair society. He considers the following types of systems that include Laissez-faire capitalism, welfare-state capitalism, property-owning democracy and liberal democratic socialism. Although he indicates that only property owning, democracy and liberal socialism are the ideal systems that satisfy the principles of justice. With reference to the twentieth century, Rawls says that institutions within the United States society play a major role in causing injustices. For example, the extremely expensive campaign systems alienate every individual who is not very rich from running for public office. In addition, the expensive health care policy issue restricts the best care to those who can only afford it. (Rawls, 2001).

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Georgia Phinn Tommie Byrd ENG 101 November 23, 2013 Domestic Violence Against Children What is domestic violence? According to the Minnesota Statue 5181B.01, Domestic Abuse Act, defines domestic violence as willfully causing physical and bodily harm, assault and infliction of fear against a family member or partner within a household (Jau, Lina, 1998). Domestic violence is a serious societal issue and it does not matter the age, the ethnic background, or economic status of that family. This paper will explore the causes and effects of domestic violence against children and the impact on a child’s development through to adulthood and what can be done to rectify this societal issue. There are numerous causes of domestic violence against children. One of a main cause is excessive consumption of alcohol or illegal drugs by an adult within the family as a factor in provoking violent and aggressive behavior towards children. A terrifying case and point is the trial of Eric Pratt. According to â€Å"Lasting Wounds For Everyone But The Batterer† (2000), Eric Pratt was sentenced 10 to 30 years for throwing his 2 year old daughter in a brick wall, knocking her unconscious and using his fist to knock out his daughter’s mother due to drug and alcohol induced fit of rage. One of the saddest part of this case is he was in complete denial at his arraignment. After investigations, it was discovered that Eric Pratt had a drug problem and the mother was aware of this problem and refused to leave the relationship. Another major cause of domestic violence against children is the high risk violent environment in which a child resides. For example in Eric Pratt’s trial case, his wife Massie was aware of Pratt abusing alcohol and ... ... to domestic violence. The abusers need to be held accountable to the full extent of the law for their actions. Library Database Jau, Lina. "What is Domestic Violence?" Asian Pages: 11. Nov 14 1998. ProQuest. Web. 22 Nov. 2013 . Milloy, Courtland. "Lasting Wounds for Everyone but the Batterer." The Washington Post: 0. Mar 22 2000. ProQuest. Web. 23 Nov. 2013 . Shah, Nirvi. "Childhood Violence; 'National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence'." Education Week 22 May 2013: 5. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. McCarthy, John, and Angela Alsobrooks. "The Invisible Victims of Domestic Violence." The Washington PostFeb 17 2013. ProQuest. Web. 16 Nov. 2013 . Glazer, Sarah. "Violence Against Women." CQ Researcher 26 Feb. 1993: 169-92. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. Mantel, Barbara. "Domestic Violence." CQ Researcher 15 Nov. 2013: 981-1004. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Motivation and Hygiene as Issues of Control Essay

Economics is usually considered a basically quantitative affair: numbers, charts graphs. It is rare that professional economists remember that there are real people under those pompous numbers, real communities and families who suffer if times get bad. Frederick Herzberg’s (1959) two level theory on worker satisfaction, while not specifically from the field of economics, is important in rectifying this imbalance: in general, Herzberg’s theory of motivation and hygiene is a qualitative set of ideas that speak not merely of numbers, efficiency and production, but also the qualitative nature of worker satisfaction and reward which is far more important than anything the numbers suggest. This paper will deal with a few ideas related to employee control and ownership over business and its relation to Herzberg’s variables in terms of worker satisfaction. First, the nature of the theory itself. Herzberg deals with the concepts of worker satisfaction through both motivation and hygiene. The former deals primarily with questions of satisfaction through what is to come: promotion, recognition, rewards, increases in pay. The latter is more quantitative, but still of immense qualitative importance: basic job security, good work environment and the expectation of future satisfaction (Herzberg, 1959). Herzberg’s findings show, insofar as immediate causality is concerned, that the former are key to satisfaction on the job. The latter are important, but only indirectly, they do not (in themselves) lead to any sense of job satisfaction, but any qualitative lowering of these variables can lead to substantial dissatisfaction. However this is stated, they are both of immense importance. Second, this paper must deal with the present economic crisis. The issues here involve the increasing debt of the American economy, as well as the American state. The present economic crisis can be summarized by the extension of credit far beyond the economy’s ability to repay. But this extension of credit came into existence in order to absorb excess production, as well as maintain America’s central role in the global economy as the â€Å"world’s marketplace.† All of this has led to an explosion of public and private debt, massive foreclosures, bankruptcy and, most important, a major threat to the integrity of the American dollar and America’s role in the world economy. As of 2009, this has meant that the US economy is in a period of contraction, as firms no longer have the ability to extend credit with any sense of the possibility of being repaid. Once the banks got the jitters over this, they sent signals throughout the economy that confirmed the contraction of credit: the lifeblood the modern economy for better or for worse, especially in the real estate market. Debt artificially inflated prices (including stocks), leading to an overvaluation far beyond the actual value of the commodities.   But, since the US market is the world’s largest and the savings rate the lowest, there is little to cushion such a accumulation of debt, and hence, it affected America’s major trading partners as well, leading to a global recession and indeed, depression. Now, third, the remainder of this paper will deal with the relation between Herzberg’s two level theory and the present depression. Unfortunately, this is where things get depressing, and the economists obsession with numbers that don’t have personalities start to make sense. Let us begin with the first level, that of motivators: Since, in general, this depression is based on the massive and irrational expansion of credit (and hence, debt), debt must be the first issue in dealing with motivators. If one has run up credit card debt and has seen the interest rate shoot up as banks seek to make up lost ground, the issue of default is a real one. This develops as a negative motivating factor that will not be made up anytime soon. One sees himself as laboring harder and harder while unable to keep up even with the interest in various debts: credit cards, homes, cars and luxuries such as entertainment systems. But just as important, if one is working just to finance debt, one can not also help but notice the fact that class differences in the western world are getting sharper and sharper. The wealthy classes can weather such storms, and in fact, may benefit from them, seeing their smaller competitors go into receivership. Hence, the first positive motivating factor is for class divisions to be reduced: the wealthy, whose practices helped bring the current crisis about, need to begin assisting labor in the payment of debts. While high profile cases such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett giving billions to their own charities that reflect their personal and corporate ideological positions, none of this high profile giving assists the rank and file laborer. It is possible that substantial profit sharing and employee ownership of businesses should be mandatory and guaranteed by the state in exchange for worker loyalty. The question of employee ownership (hence, disenfranchising the major stock holders) is an important one given the confines of Herzberg’s theory of motivators, since such an approach will provide a certain emotional boost, as well as solve the problem of employee recognition and promotion. Employee ownership and employee direction of business is essential to assist workers in paying debts and increasing job satisfaction, since they will be working for themselves. Jobs should become careers rather than merely slaving for a living. Giving workers a say in the day to day running of business and a financial stake in the firm itself is essential for increasing productivity. It will certainly come at the expense of the upper classes, but it is these classes that have benefitted from the long standing extension of credit that has fueled the western economic bubble.

Imperialism Within the Heart of Darkness Essay

A phenomenon, The Heart of Darkness, is a classic novel by Joseph Conrad, who reward individuals with their dark nature. The darkness that the characters face within themselves is the anchor towards the main theme of imperialism. Native Africans, around the early 1900s, were victims of imperialism in the novel. The Europeans saw themselves as prodigies and felt everyone redundant wanted to be like them for they perceived themselves as extraordinary. The Europeans thought so highly of themselves that they wanted to civilize what they perceived the Native Africans to be—savages. Ironically, the process of civilization became imperialism, and the Europeans were the definition of savage while the Native Africans perceived themselves as civilized. Conrad strategically evolved this theme with the narrative of his novel and the various tones and symbols he used revolving around imperialism. These literary strategies and devices led readers to understand the secret of the darkness in the European heart, which was European imperialism. Entering the novel, Conrad has the narrator explain: â€Å"It was difficult to realize that his (the Director of Companies) work was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind him within the brooding gloom† (Conrad 1). Here, Conrad’s use of pathetic fallacy forewarns his audience from the very beginning that the European companies are working in an unlawful matter (Shmoop.com). The Europeans are vague, and the fact they are working within the dark makes them more malicious. This behaviour leads to having an imperialistic nature because in order to have the desire to take over a race, in this case the Native Africans, one needs to already be in tuned with their dark nature. Conrad includes a second narrator, the protagonist to The Heart of Darkness, who makes a remark to the beautiful sunset over the Thames river in London saying: â€Å"‘And this also,’ said Marlow suddenly, ‘has been one of the dark places of the earth’† (1). For Marlow to reveal a beautiful image of England as being â€Å"one of the dark places of the earth† (1), tells individuals that the Europeans are morally corrupt (Shmoop.com). For the Europeans to do the morally bankrupt task of ‘civilizing’ the Native Africans, whom they acclaimed them to be the morally corrupt, only infers that the Europeans committed an offence to be proven guilty of the false accusation. The offence being imperialism; to be remarked as morally corrupt suggests that they encountered savage-like behaviours against the Native Africans. Therefore, through the narrative at the very beginning of the novel, one can infer that imperialism evolves as the Europeans are justified to have the dark nature to civilize a nation. Conrad sets the tone by casting a â€Å"mournful gloom† (Conrad 1) atop London. â€Å"The air was dark above Gravesend and farther back still seems condensed into a mournful gloom†¦over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth† (1). This infers that darkness is bestowed on the purity of the â€Å"greatest town on earth† (1). Conrad decides to incorporate a mood-shifter to infer that the Europeans are victims to a form of darkness and that negative events will follow. Since their goal in the novel is to civilize the Native Africans, it is forewarned that they will try to civilize them with dark power leading to imperialism. Another area where Conrad sets a dark, gloomy mood would be when Marlow talks about humans being drawn to their madness hidden within their darkest self. â€Å"The fascination of the abomination—you know. Imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate† (1). Marlow’s words bring out the theme of curiosity; the curiosity of what lies within the darkest areas of an individual. This quote states that humans are fascinated with their abomination because they have not yet experienced it; but once they have, they feel powerless and yearn to escape, but the abomination overtakes them. This certain curiosity of evil and darkness is what reigns over Europe. They are so curious of their own darkness that they themselves get lost within it and become the culprits of imperialism. Thus, through the moods and tones Conrad implants at the very beginning of his novel, he brings forth the coming of events which evolve into the realization of imperialism. Conrad uses symbolism in The Heart of Darkness to heighten the approach towards imperialism. For example, the reader’s encounter with the Accountant of the ivory trading Company in the outer region of Africa. Marlow describes him as an elegant dresser: â€Å"†¦I met a white man, in such an unexpected elegance of get-up that in the first moment I took him for a sort of vision† (16). Here, Marlow enters the beginning of his journey to the heart of Africa, and seeing the Accountant dress beautifully makes him seem like some kind of â€Å"miracle† (16) since their setting at the particular moment is in contrast. The Accountant symbolizes the Company and its excellence, professionalism, and perfection. Despite the blazing heat and his surroundings of poverty, he always dresses well. This is the professionalism of the Company. The fact he immerses himself within his accounting books represents the Company’s excellence and perfection. But although he is a man of perfection, the fact that the sight of suffering Native Africans distracts him and causes mistakes in his work, this symbolizes the room for error in the Company. This is an approach towards imperialism because wrong and unjust actions are seen as ‘errors’ in which the Company is a culprit of. Also, the symbolization of flies and its representation of death heighten the approach to imperialism as well. Ever since the devil is nicknamed, the Lord of the Flies, flies have represented death (Shmoop.com). Flies are seen in parts one and three when slaves, as well as a man named Kurtz, have their life taken away. Since the flies are associated with the devil, this implies that the devil, or the darkness that overcomes Europeans, have a connection with the deaths of human lives. Therefore, Conrad uses different symbols such as the spotless attire of the Accountant and the devil’s flies to inform readers about the imperialistic actions of Europeans. Joseph Conrad uses narrative schemes, sets moods and tones, as well as involves symbolism to approach his major theme of imperialism. He takes readers to the darkness of the human soul, a space which reigns in every single human being. This allows the individuals to take note that they can be greatly influenced by their darkness: creating the ability to carry out unjust behaviours, such as committing imperialistic actions. Therefore, this novel is a great commentary to human error, such as being past culprits of imperialism, and brings awareness to human morality. Works Cited: â€Å"Heart of Darkness.† Shmoop. Shmoop University, n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013. .

Meteors Case Study Essay

Meteorites are rocks from space, which land on Earth, attracted by her gravity. The shooting stars that you see at night, are actually burning meteors that fall on Earth from outer space! This is the first of many interesting facts that are going to follow. Why do meteorites fall? For the same reason why anything falls on Earth – ‘Gravity’. Very few can escape it! Meteorites have their origin in outer space. They are relatively small pieces of dust and debris, usually left behind in the wake of a comet. Meteorites, that are huge in size, have their origin in space, as asteroids. They are left over pieces of matter from formation of the solar system, which could not clump together to form a planet like our Earth. There is a dense belt of such asteroids outside the orbit of the planet Mars, called the ‘Asteroid Belt’. Asteroids are huge in size and their lengths can number to kilometers! Once in a while, small pieces of rock or dust, come into range of Earth’s gravitational pull and fall on Earth as shooting stars. An asteroid dislodged from its trajectory and falling on Earth is also called a meteorite. However, an asteroid being huge in size, causes a cataclysmic explosion on Earth on impact. Origin ‘Meteor’ and ‘Meteorite’ facts are interchangeable terms and we shall see why they are so. When these rocks and pieces of dust are floating in space, they are called ‘Meteoroids’. When they make a blazing entry into Earth’s atmosphere, they are called ‘Meteors’. Finally, if they survive the burning entry into Earth’s atmosphere and fall on Earth, they are called ‘Meteorites’. So a meteorite could originate from comet debris called meteoroids or larger objects called asteroids! Here are some basic facts about meteorites, meteors and meteoroids. Comets leave tons of dust and debris in their trail as they travel along long orbits round the Sun. When Earth, while revolving around the Sun, passes through some patches of this comet debris, it enters the Earth’s atmosphere causing meteor showers. Meteor showers are periodic events. One can see thousands of meteors or shooting stars, as they are called, during such a shower. The most popular meteor showers are ‘Perseids’ (which peak around August 12) and Leonids (which peak around 17 November). During these showers, you can observe a shooting star at the rate of 1 meteor per minute on an average. A falling meteor can travel at speed of as much as 44 miles per second ! One of the facts is that they have some of the oldest rocks in the solar system among them. They could be older than the Earth and date from the period when Sun was forming! Every day, about 4 billion meteoroids fall on Earth! Majority of them are very tiny and therefore do not cause much harm. If a meteorite is observed while falling and recovered from the place of fall, it’s called a ‘fall’ meteorite. If a meteorite is not observed while falling, but found from any location, it’s called a ‘find.’ Till 2006, there have been roughly 1,050 witnessed falls while there are about 30,000 documented ‘Finds’. Falling meteors which are large in size, can create an intense electromagnetic pulse, which temporarily disrupt radio communication in the region of fall! With a properly designed radio antenna, you can actually ‘hear’ meteorites falling as radio noise. Types and Composition Here are some facts about their types and composition, that you should know about. Recovered meteorites are classified into three main categories which are ‘Chondrites’ (Make about 86% of all recovered meteorites), ‘Achondrites’ (8%) and ‘Iron’ meteorites (6 %). The name ‘Chondrites’ comes from features called ‘Chrondules’, which are melted silicate materials from their past. Chondrites are about 4.55 billion years old and are the types of rocks from which our own planet formed! Certain chondrite meteorites fallen from outer space contain traces of amino acids and organic matter, bolstering the theory that life may have been planted on Earth! This is one of the most astounding facts. Achronidtes are relatively younger meteorites of the igneous rock type and are pieces of asteroids, the Moon and Mars! Iron meteorites are composed of iron-nickel alloys and silicate materials. They are also thought to be pieces of asteroid s! Every one of these meteor facts are intriguing. Earth has been pounded by the impact of many meteorites, ranging from the very tiny to gigantic meteorites. The meteorites impact craters that are found on earth are testimony to this. It is time for the last of our facts. One gigantic meteorite impact occurred millions of years ago on Earth which brought on the extinction of dinosaurs! One question that may come to your mind is, ‘Where do meteorites fall?’. They could fall anywhere on Earth. Meteors have been found all over the world. The recent findings have been mostly in Africa and accessible parts of Antarctica. If you could find one, you are bound to be rich as private collectors and museums pay millions of dollars for them! The reason is that they are very rare and are made up of minerals, which are never found on Earth! So keep looking! You may never know, when one might pop out of the sky, making you rich. So it’s actually profitable to know some meteor fact s. Originating in the outer space, an object reaches Earth and gets a place in the list of meteorites. There have been many instances of extraterrestrial bodies impacting the Earth’s surface while some have only passed through the Earth’s atmosphere before they were destroyed. Meteorites have been arousing interest of the masses as there is an element of mystery that surrounds them. Where do they originate? What makes some of them enter the Earth’s atmosphere? How dangerous can they get? Space research and astronomy have revealed some interesting information about some of these questions and researched thoroughly on the different types of meteorites. Most of the meteorites disintegrate before reaching Earth while some reach the planet’s surface. Huge meteorites form craters on Earth while the smaller ones involve less danger. Meteorites containing small round particles are known as chondrites and form about 86% of those falling on Earth. Those similar in appearance to small igneous rocks are called achondrites and believed as being the crustal material of a steroids. Meteorites originating from the core of asteroids are known as iron meteorites and form about 5% of the meteorites, which fall. History has recorded a number of instances of meteorites impacting the Earth. ALH 84001: It was found in the Allan Hills, Antarctica in December 1984. Meteorite hunters of the United States working on ASMNET project discovered this meteorite. When discovered, its mass was 1.93 kilograms and its rock was reportedly one of the oldest forms. This meteorite was supposed to have come from Mars. Later it was believed to consist of some traces of the life on Mars and this made ALH 84001 more famous than ever. Hoba: This meteorite lies on the farm Hoba West in Namibia and has never been moved elsewhere because of its exceptionally greater mass. With a mass of about 60 tons, it is the largest meteorite known to mankind. It is tabloid in shape and composed of metal. It is believed to have landed on Earth about 80,000 years ago. In 1955, it was declared as a national monument and has since then been attracting visitors from different parts of the world. Tunguska Event: The Tunguska explosion took place in June 1908 near Tunguska River, now a part of Russia. Most probably, the air burst of a large meteorite caused this explosion. The energy emitted from this explosion was about 1000 times greater than that of the bomb blast of Hiroshima. According to the eyewitnesses of this explosion, the event started with a flash of bright blue light and a sound originating from east and moving northward. Later the sound was accompanied by shock waves that broke windows miles away. This was one of the famous disintegrating meteorites that remain in the list of world’s most famous meteorites. Willamette Meteorite: This is an iron-nickel meteorite that was discovered in the United States near Oregon. It is the largest of the meteorites found in the United Sates as also the sixth largest in the world. Probably the meteorite had landed in the region, which is now known as Canada. This meteorite weighing about 15.5 tons is one of the very large meteorites of the world. Orgueil: This meteorite fell in France in 1864 and is a relatively older meteorite. The fall of this meteorite consisted of small stones that covered a massive area. This is one of those eight meteorites that belong to the CL chondrite group. A striking feature of this type of meteorite it that its composition is similar to that of the Sun. This meteorite is one of the most researched ones. For purposes of deeper study of the composition of this meteorite, it was split into pieces. Currently, it exists in the form of pieces kept in different museums in Europe and the United States. These were some of the famous meteorites of the world. They have always been a subject of interest for researchers around the world. Meteor showers A meteor shower is a celestial event wherein it is observed that a group of meteors radiate from anyone point in the sky. This phenomenon is also known as ‘Meteor Storm’ or ‘Meteor Outburst’. The meteors that are present in the showers are actually cosmic debris that enter the Earth atmosphere at very high speed and vaporize very quickly due to friction leaving behind a streak of light which is known as the meteor shower. An identified meteor shower is usually an annual affair as the Earth will encounter the same meteors at approximately the same time and same speed every year. Causes Meteor showers are a result of interaction that takes place between the planet Earth and a comet. Comets consist of ice and rocks (often termed dirty ice balls) that orbit around the sun like planets. Every time the comet gets close to the sun, some of the ice present in the comet melts which produces a large amount of debris. This debris moves away from the comet and becomes a part of its tail which is visible part of the comet. The solid parts of the tail are the meteoroids and they spread along the entire orbit of the comet which is termed as a meteoroid stream. As the Earth orbits around the sun, its path may cross the meteoroid stream and a meteor shower follows. When the meteoroid stream is particularly dense, then we get to witness the meteor storm and having witnessed one myself, I can guarantee that the sight is truly spectacular. People Behind the Concept It is believed that Irish astronomer George Johnstone Clooney collaborating with the British astronomer Arthur Matthew Weld Downing and Adolf Berberich belonging to the Royal Astronomical Computation Institute in Berlin, Germany offered the very first idea of the meteoroid stream in the 1890. They were able to calculate as to how the meteoroids once freed from the comet would travel at low speeds when compared to the comet itself would start drifting after completing one orbit. This effect was attributed to simple orbital wherein the materials drift laterally away from the comet as some particles make a wider orbit when compared to other particles. The gravitational pull of the Earth’s atmosphere would decide where the dust trails would pass the Earth’s atmosphere. It is a fair possibility that some years, the dust particles can completely miss the Earth’s orbit. Major Meteor Showers If you want to watch meteor showers then the best time of the year is the night of January 3. The shower has been named Quadrantids and this particular shower can produce over a close to 140 meteors per hour. The source of this shower is not a comet but a minor planet, 2003 EH1 which suffered a catastrophic breakup in 1490. However, the showers are very faint and the peak hours last only for a few hours. Hence, you will have to be in a good spot and at an ideal point to watch the shower in all its glory and the best place to watch this particular shower is from the Northern Hemisphere. But people in Southern Hemisphere need not be disappointed. As a matter of fact, they get to witness a meteor shower termed Eta Aquarids which consists of debris from the famous Halley’s Comet. This shower peaks on the night of May 5 and the rate of meteors is about 30 per hour. The meteor shower ‘Geminids’ is considered to be the best annual shower. It peaks around the night of December 13 and the rate of meteor is around 70 per hour. The source of this shower is also a minor planet, 3200 Phaethon. It is best visible from the Northern Hemisphere and it is believed that due to the extreme cold conditions, the air tends to be more transparent and this is the reason as to why this particular shower is spectacular. Sporadic Meteor Showers When the meteoroids collide with each other and can become a part of the sporadic meteors background. They form isolated meteors and are not a part of any shower. Asteroids Asteroids are considered to be remnants of an early broken planet of the solar system. Asteroids have no fixed shape and are too small to be spherical in shape. They are ellipsoids (two dimensional figure), dumbbell or irregularly shaped. As they have different shapes, they also vary in their size. The first asteroid Ceres, discovered in January 1801 by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, is the largest known asteroid and is 940 km in diameter. Some of the smallest asteroids are just 6 meters in diameter. The mass of all the asteroids added together, is believed to lesser than the mass of the Moon. Only 200,000 asteroids have been discovered so far, but billion more undiscovered asteroids still exit in our solar system. Asteroid Belt Most asteroids lie in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, however there are more belts in the solar system, namely the ones beyond Neptune’s orbit. The belt itself has interesting origination theories. Most astronomers believe that the belt is a broken planet, while some say that the belt is primordial material that never coalesced into a planet because of Jupiter’s gravitational pull. The asteroid belt lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and contains more than 200 asteroids larger than 100 km in diameter, and more than 750,000 asteroids with diameters larger than 1 km. Most asteroids are found in this belt because of the gravitational interaction between the solar system and the celestial bodies in it. As opposed to the fiction made popular by various depictions of the asteroid belt, it is not at all dense. The region is so vast that asteroids are hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from their closest neighbor. The asteroids are so small and far away from each other that they appear as faint stars, and except for Ceres, are not bright enough to be seen without some telescopic aid. Only the asteroid Vesta, on rare occasions of an extremely clear dark sky can become visible to the naked eye. What are Asteroids Composed Of? Asteroids are made of different minerals and substances. This depends on the planet they broke away from in a collision, as well as the chemical reactions they might have experienced while orbiting in the solar system. The asteroids closest to the Sun are mostly carbonaceous and the ones further away are composed of silicate rock. The metallic asteroids are made of 70-80% iron and the remaining is nickel with many other metals such as iridium mixed in. Some are also made of half silicate and half metallic. The asteroid Ceres is composed of a rocky core covered by an icy mantle, whereas Vesta has a nickel-iron core, basaltic crust and a covering of magnesium iron silicate (olivine mantle). Asteroids composition has been classified as the following: C class asteroids: They are found in the Earth’s outer belt and are darker and more carbonaceous than the ones found in the S class. D class asteroids: They are also known as Trojan asteroids of Jupiter and are dark and carbonaceous in composition. S class asteroids: They are found in the Earth’s inner belt, closer to Mars and are composed of mostly stone and iron. V class asteroids: They are a far-out group of asteroids that follow a path between the orbits of Jupiter and Uranus, and are made of igneous, eruptive materials. A near-Earth asteroid collided with the Earth about 65 million years ago, which triggered environmental changes, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This asteroid created a huge circular depression called the Chicxulub Basin and is centered in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a major tourist attraction. Though the chances of asteroid collision with the Earth is very rare, they do come very close to our planet due to collisions and gravitational tugs on the highly elliptical Sun’s orbit. Most asteroids burn up in the atmosphere and never reach the Earth. NASA projects, such as the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) and the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) main objectives are to detect and intercept asteroids or other celestial bodies coming close to the Earth before they cause untold damage to our planet. Asteroids are small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal, that revolve around the Sun. Their size can vary: some asteroids are large and roughly spherical in shape, due to which they appear like miniature planets; while the others are small and irregularly shaped. The matter of these celestial bodies also differs. The asteroid ‘Vesta’, is believed to have a nickel-iron core, olivine mantle and basaltic crust, while the asteroid ’10 Hygiea’ is composed of carbonaceous chondrite. Most of the small asteroids are piles of rubble held together by gravity. Some asteroids supposedly have traces of amino-acids and other organic compounds, and it is assumed that the impact of asteroids on the Earth could have initiated life on the planet by seeding it with the necessary chemical substances. Although, it is believed that the asteroids may have planted life on the Earth, they are capable of having catastrophic effect on the planet as well. Asteroids with a diameter of 5 to 10 meters, and energy equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, enter into the Earth’s atmosphere approximately once every year; while, those with a diameter of over 50 meters enter the Earth’s atmosphere approximately once in a thousand years. Their impact can be devastating if they hit the Earth, but they disintegrate in the upper atmosphere and most of the particles are vaporized, thus rendering them harmless. In the distant past, our planet has experienced a massive climate change and large-scale extinction of animal and plant species, ascribed to the impact of some large asteroids on the planet. The exogenesis theory suggests that origin of life on the Earth must have been triggered by the impact of some asteroid, carrying organic chemicals needed to initiate life form. The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, which led to the end of dinosaurs and the Permian-Triassic extinction event that led to the end of the Permian period finishing off 90% of the species on the planet, are believed to be the result of an asteroid impact on the Earth. The craters on the solid bodies in the solar system, which were attributed to volcanic activities till 1960s, were actually formed due to the impact of celestial bodies. Researchers have determined that in the last 600 million years, 60 objects with a diameter of five km or more, have struck the Earth. Even the smallest of these object possessed energy of ten million megatons of TNT, and would have formed a crater, approximately 95 km in diameter, on the surface of our planet. The Rio Cuarto craters in Argentina are believed to have formed due to the impact of asteroids that struck this area around 10,000 years ago. In 1490, ten thousand people reportedly lost their lives due to a hail of stones from the sky. This hail of stones is assumed to be result of the disintegration of a large asteroid, after it entered the Earth’s atmosphere. In 1908, a mid-air explosion of an asteroid destroyed 80 million trees, within an area of 830 miles, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, in Si beria. In many cases, the sighting of a foreign body, such as an asteroid or a meteoroids is reported as a fireball in the sky. Millions of asteroids will pass by the Earth in the years to come. Though, they are unknown now, they are detectable as they come closer to the planet. The Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) and the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) are projects initiated by NASA to detect asteroids or other such foreign bodies coming close to the Earth. The need of the hour is to develop an intercept system in space, to destroy or deflect foreign objects heading towards our planet, before they prove catastrophic. Asteroids are celestial bodies consisting of rocks and metals. They are mainly concentrated in the region known as the asteroid belt which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids can be as big as Ceres, which is close to 1000 kilometers in diameter, or can be just a few feet in diameter. Whatever the size, asteroids are neither big enough to be called planets nor are they as small as comets. They are classified as minor planets that include the Kuiper Belt Objects. Discovery On January 1, 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the first asteroid which he initially thought to be a comet. He named this asteroid Ceres, after the Sicilian Goddess of grain. Ceres is also the largest asteroid to have been discovered so far. Soon, other large asteroids like Pallas, Juno and Vista were discovered. By the end of the 19th century, several hundred asteroids were discovered. Formation of Asteroids It was once believed that asteroids were formed by the explosion of a planet orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. However, according to present day astronomers, asteroids are debris left behind by the Big Bang that could not come together to form a tenth planet because of the effect of Jupiter’s gravitational pull. Asteroid Hits Asteroids have been hitting the Earth since millions of years. However, due to the friction with Earth’s atmosphere most of the asteroids get burnt. The asteroids that enter the Earth’ s atmosphere are called meteors while the ones that get burnt and appear as shooting stars are called meteorites. According to the Giant Impact Theory, the Moon was created when Theia, an asteroid of the size of Mars, collided with the Earth in the early days of the solar system. However, some consider Theia to be more of a planetoid than an asteroid. The largest crater caused by an asteroid hit is the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico that is 180 km in diameter. The asteroid that formed the crater had a diameter of 10 km. This collision is supposed to be responsible for the extinction of a large number of flora and fauna including the dinosaur. However, the evidence of the largest asteroid hit is in the Vredefort crater in South Africa that is 300 km in diameter. Impacts of Asteroid Hits The damage that an asteroid’s impact can cause depends mainly upon its mass and velocity, as these are the two factors that determine the energy that is released when an asteroid hits the Earth. While some asteroids are capable of sending thermal waves that can incinerate most flora and fauna within a few hundred kilometers, some larger asteroids can create huge impacts causing magma to cover areas as big as continents. The worst effect of an asteroid hit is the blocking out of sunlight for months together due to formation of dust clouds and soot in the upper atmosphere. This would hamper the green plants’ ability to prepare food through the process of photosynthesis and the food chain would be disrupted. Near-Earth Asteroids Near-Earth asteroids are those that have moved closer to the Earth’s orbit as they have been knocked out of the asteroid belt due to collision with other asteroids or comets, or due to the gravitational forces of Jupiter. They are classified into the following three groups: The Amors: These are near-Earth asteroids that cross the orbit of Mars but do not go out of the Earth’s orbit. The Apollos: The orbits of these near-Earth asteroids cross the Earth’s orbit but have an orbital period of greater than one year. The Atens: These near-Earth asteroids have orbits that cross the Earth’s orbit but have an orbital period of less than one year. Asteroids are currently being monitored for their probability of colliding with the Earth. Such studies have predicted that asteroids may hit the Earth on February 1, 2019 and March 16, 2880. The probability of the 2880 collision is as high as 1 in 300. A number of projects in the field of astronomy, like Spacewatch, Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking and Catalina Sky Survey are being carried out to detect any threat of such catastrophes. Comets A comet is a small body in space. It was matter of great interest to astronomers like Sir Edmond Halley. Many decades later, comets still remain a challenging mystery for the field of astronomy. Space research institutes around the world have reported the existence of 3628 comets that are known and studied. Annually, an average of one comet is sighted by the naked eye from the surface of the Earth. According to the definitions given by the various space research organizations, a comet can be defined as a space body that travels in an elliptical orbit around the sun. Most of the comets travel in elliptical orbits. When the comet comes in the vicinity of the star it is orbiting around, its comma-like tail gets illuminated. A majority of comets are visible only through telescopes and other aids. There are however, some comets which are also visible to the naked eye. What is a Comet Made Up of? A comet is principally made up of ice, dust and different forms of gases. The nature of the components differs from comet to comet. The central part of a comet that looks like a ball is termed as the nucleus. The nucleus is principally made up of ice and frozen gases. The frozen components also include many other compounds like ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide. Rocks are another component of the nucleus. Due to such composition, the nucleus of the comet often resembles a huge ball of dirt and snow. It is also believed by some astronomers, that the nucleus of a comet is rather fragile because several comets have split into parts without any explainable reason except immense velocity. The huge elliptical orbit takes the comet in the range of heat of the star around which it is orbiting. When the comet enters the inner parts of the solar system, the frozen content of the nucleus starts melting. The gases and water within the nucleus vaporize as a result of radiation from the star and the solar wind. The immense velocity of the comet and the solar wind, push the vaporized matter away from the nucleus. This gives the comet it’s distinct tail and the comma-like appearance. The high amount of heat and the ions (charged particles that are formed due to the heat of the sun) cause the tail of the comet to glow. How are Comets Formed? According to their formation or birth, the comets can be classified into two types. The first type is short-term comets which originate in the Kuiper belt as space bodies beyond the orbit of Pluto. The gravitational pull of the planets in the solar system, causes the origin of short term comets. These comets enter the solar system and take the form of active and glowing comets. Long term comets originate as traveling bodies in the Oort cloud (located around 50,000 light years away from the sun). The gravitational attraction of the planets in the solar system and other gravitational forces cause these comets to form elliptical orbits. Death of a Comet The study of comets has revealed that they have a fragile structure. Sometimes, comets split into parts due to sheer velocity. The entry and exit of comets in the solar system in course of its orbit, reduces the amount of matter (ice and frozen gases) in it. Due to this reduction in matter, the comets break-up and disperse into clouds. A dead comet is nothing but an asteroid or a similar form of a space body. Sometimes the comets also crash in other planets when their orbits cross each other. The most famous example of such a comet is the Shoemaker Levy 9, that crashed into Jupiter. For astronomers who have spent their lives studying comets, it a very heart-breaking moment to gaze at a dying comet. The Halley’s Comet is said to be one of the most beautiful comets. Another very beautiful comet is the Hale-Bopp, that was discovered in the year 1995, on 23rd July. It was predicted by astronomers that the Halley’s Comet would be sighted in the November of 1835. Mark Twain, the famous writer, was born just two weeks after the sighting. He developed a very special liking towards the Halley’s Comet. In his biography he comments,†I came in with the Halley’s Comet, and expect to go with it. The Almighty has said no doubt, Now here are two unaccountable freaks; they came in together; they must go out together.† Halley’s Comet was next sighted on 20th April, 1910. Twain ended the journey of his life the very next day. The journey of any comet is indeed like that of Mark Twain. It is remarkably long, fast, adventurous as it streaks across the dark sky. Haley’s comet Historical Spottings British scientist, Edmond Halley who observed the comet in 1682, was the first person to establish its periodic reappearance after every 75-76 years. He studied the comet and quite accurately predicted that it had earlier appeared in 1531 and in 1607. It was named ‘Halley’ in his honor and was observed again in 1758 as stated by him. It was last seen in February 1986. However, this was not the first time the comet was in focus. The first sighting recorded, was way back in 240 BC, by the Chinese and was mentioned in a chronicle, ‘Records of the Great Historian’. The comet also finds a mention in a Babylonian clay inscription of 164 BC. It has always been a subject of great interest, since it was believed to have an influence on the contemporary events. Armenian king Tigranes II, had its image printed on the coins issued in his regime after it was sighted in 87 BC. Therefore, even though the recurrence of the comet was an unknown fact, people were fascinated b y its appearance. The bright star that appeared in the night sky in 12 BC, coinciding with the birth of Jesus, is widely believed to be the Halley’s comet. Giotto Di Bondone, the famous Italian painter, who lived before the renaissance era, painted it in his work ‘The Star of Bethlehem’ in the Nativity, in 1305. He had seen the comet appear in 1301 and was impressed by the spectacle. In the middle ages, the appearance of a comet was considered to be a warning sign of a forthcoming danger. The most famous incident of spotting a comet during this period, was in 1066, before the Battle of Hastings. King Harold who had lost the battle, was believed to have seen the comet due to which he was cursed. In fact, the Bayeux Tapestry in Normandy, France, signifies the Norman victory in this battle with an image of King Harold looking at the comet in the sky. In 1456, Pope Calixtus III had condemned its appearance considering it to be an evil omen. Three years prior to this, Europe was defeated by the Ottoman Empire. Human beings have always blamed celestial phenomena, whenever they have not been able to explain the causes of certain unfavorable events. Historically, the presence of a comet in the night sky was commonly cited as the reason behind difficult situations that were beyond the reasoning of common man. A French physician, Ambroise, had described the pitiful conditions of middle ages, when a comet was seen just before the spread of a big epidemic. According to him, some people were scared to death while others fell sick on seeing the comet. It was believed to be some ‘evil form’ leaving behind a trail of blood, believed to be a sign of misery. Recent Spottings In the 16th and the 17th century, scientists learned to calculate the speed and distance at which comets travel around the Sun. Once, Edmond Halley had established the year of its reappearance, Halley’s comet became a matter of great interest. Although, he didn’t live to see his prediction coming true, his observation had a significant impact on the way society perceived comets. The sighting of a comet, especially Halley’s comet became less of a concern and more of a curiosity among people. Once people realized that comets are orbiting bodies just like planets, they became less apprehensive on the arrival of a comet in the Earth’s visibility zone. The change in the attitude of the people was seen in the depiction of the comet in the contemporary pictures. Halley’s comet was a subject of scientific study and was depicted as a beautiful heavenly body in the sky. Famous American writer Mark Twain was born in 1835, the year when Halley’s comet ha d appeared. He predicted in 1909 that since he had ‘come’ with the comet he will ‘go out’ with it. Sure enough, he passed away a year after the comet reappeared in 1910. In the 1900s, it had appeared twice; once in 1910 and then in 1986. Further studies gave us a deep insight into the structure, composition and orbital journey of many different comets. Halley’s comet has one of the shortest orbital paths. It is classified as a short period comet, i.e. comets having an orbit period of 200 years or less. Once upon a time, it belonged to the long period class, but due to the gravitational force of planets, its orbit shortened over a period of time. Today, it is known that comets like ‘Hale Bopp’ which appeared in 1997, will reappear after 4200 years! Thus, Halley’s comet is the most frequently spotted one. Recently, it was seen in February 1986. During this visit, it was subjected to its biggest scrutiny ever. Five spacecrafts from The European Space Agency, Japan and the USSR were launched to study its surface. Structure and Composition of Halley’s Comet Halley’s comet is a big mass of ice and dust, having an elliptical orbit and shaped like a peanut. It has a highly elongated orbit, taking it very close to the Sun. It flings off far in the outer solar system, similar to a slingshot motion. The composition is mainly of water, sodium monoxide, methane, ammonia, hydrocarbons, iron and sodium. Its closest distance from the Sun was found to be just 0.6 AU (astronomical unit) and the farthest distance was calculated to be 35 AU, roughly the same distance as that of Pluto. It orbits the Sun in a retrograde or in the direction opposite to that of the planets’ revolution. The speed with respect to the Earth is quite high, since it is highly eccentric and inclined. The day time is relatively more on its surface and its maximum temperature rises up to 77 degrees celsius. Due to its large size and a well-defined and regular orbit, it was easy for the probe missions photograph it closely and study its surface. The mass of the comet is 1.7Ãâ€"1015 kilograms and the size of the nucleus has been estimated to be 15 km Ãâ€" 7 km Ãâ€" 7 km. Winds blowing near its surface are so strong that 1 gram particle of dust which hit the Giotto space probe, briefly destabilized it. Halley’s comet will next appear in 2062. Comets have always been a fascination for human beings and will continue to mesmerize generations to come, as we discover more interesting facts about these spectacular fireballs, the comets. Comet lullin Comet Lulin was discovered on July 11, 2007, by the duo of Ye Quanzhi and Lin Chi-Sheng. A non-periodic comet, Lulin appears to be greenish in color. This green color is attributed to the presence of gases such as cyanogen and diatomic carbon, which produce a green glow when illuminated by sunlight in the vacuum of the space. Officially designated as C/2007 N3 (Lulin), it is also known as the ‘Comet of Cooperation’ in China and Taiwan, as the two individuals involved in its discovery, were from these two countries. This comet was first photographed by Taiwanese astronomer Lin Chi-Sheng on July 11, 2007, while he was working on the Lulin Sky Survey Project (LUSS) at the Lulin observatory in Nantou, Taiwan. The Lulin Sky Survey Project aims to identify the numerous small objects in the solar system, particularly those that pose possible hazards to our planet. Lin used a 16-inch telescope to photograph this comet, which was initially assumed to be an asteroid. A few days later, Ye Quanzhi, a 19-year old student of meteorology from Sun Yat-Sen University, China, recognized this comet while going through Lin’s photographs. Its status of being a comet was confirmed after the presence of coma, the nebulous envelope around the nucleus of the comet, was noticed. Both, Lin and Quanzhi were accredited with the discovery of this new comet. As it was first noticed from the Lulin Observatory, it was named as Comet Lulin. Comet Lulin was seen in the Libra constellation from January to March 2009. In January, it was getting brighter and could be seen just before dawn; while in February, the brightness reached its peak. Eventually, in March, it started to fade as it went farther away from the Earth. While it was approaching the Earth, it had a typical tail pointing away from the Sun, as well as an ‘anti-tail’ which was directly pointing towards the sun. Although, it was assumed that this anti-tail was observed only in photographs, so me observers reported that it was visible even from a telescope in February 2009. According to Brian Marsden, an astronomer at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Massachusetts, this comet’s closest approach to the sun was on January 10, 2009 when it reached a distance of 113 million miles from the sun. He noticed that the comet was moving in a retrograde orbit that is near-parabolic. On February 24, Comet Lulin came the closest to the Earth, at a distance of 0.41 AU or 38 million miles to be precise. On February 4, 2009, a team of Italian astronomers, under the leadership of Ernesto Guido, witnessed a strange phenomenon taking place in comet Lulin. While photographing the comet with a remotely controlled telescope in New Mexico, they saw that its tail suddenly disconnected. Ernesto attributed this odd phenomenon to magnetic disturbance of the solar wind hitting the comet. Earlier, this had been observed with Comet Encke too, when coronal mass ejection occurred, due to such magnetic storms. Photographs taken by NASA’s Swift Gamma-ray Explorer satellite in ultra-violet and X-rays show that Lulin is shedding 800 gallons of water every second. Observations by NASA also revealed that the surface material of the comet was burning away due to sun’s heat. This sighting of Comet Lulin was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the whole world, as there is no possibility of this comet returning to the inner solar system, at least not for the next thousand years. Human kind has always looked to the heavens in awe and wonder, and sometimes in fear. Perhaps no other astronomical phenomenon except a total solar eclipse has historically evoked as much fear as comets. When the specter of fear is removed, however, they emerge as strikingly beautiful objects in the sky. It was once believed that if earth passed through a tail of a comet, its inhabitants would die; this theory has been discredited. Comets are messengers from a time long past. Most are chunks of dirty ice, locked away in the Oort cloud for billions of years. (Oort cloud: – It is the source for long period comets, with orbital periods of greater than two hundred years.) Comets are familiar to nearly everyone as striking star like objects with long tails stretching across a wide band of the sky. The most famous comet, Halley’s comet makes its return to the skies every seventy-five years. The word â€Å"comet† is derived from a Greek word meaning â€Å"long haired† Comets were greatly feared before the twentieth century as bad omens. Since then, they have been identified and cataloged as objects that come from deep space. Most of them occupy orbits that carry them far outside the solar system. Many of them make only a single approach to the sun and never return again, while others exist in stable, but highly elliptical orbits that allow them to return after an extended period of time, such as the Halley’s comet. In 1986, the European space probe Giotto passed about 600 kilometers from the Comet Halley as it made its close approach to the sun. The probe verified existing theories that comets are made up of ices covered by black dust or soil. The spacecraft confirmed a theory that had been advanced prior to the reconnaissance that described comets as â€Å"dirty snowballs.† Using data taken by the spacecraft, scientists determined that the dust is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Other metals have also been discovered in comets, such as iron, calcium, nickel, potassium, copper and silicon. Halley’s comet was one of the darkest objects ever seen in the solar system; it was basically flat black. Comets are composed of a mixture of ices and dust. As a comet approaches the sun, it absorbs the suns energy and warms up. The main body of the comet is called the nucleus. As the nucleus warms, the ice beneath the comets soil evaporates. Because the comet has no atmosphere, the evaporated substance (also called a volatile) escapes into the vacuum of space as a gaseous envelope that surrounds the comet called â€Å"coma.† As the coma grows, it forms a plume of vapor that carries away some of the comets surface as well. This mixture of evaporated volatile particles and dust is carried away from the comet by solar wind, is ionized by high-energy particles, and creates the spectacular tail of the comet. The comet’s tail, glowing in the solar wind, can stream behind the comet for millions of kilometers. The nucleus of the comet consists of mostly volatile ices and dust. The ice is nearly all water ice, but there is also evidence of ices composed of carbon dioxide and methane. More elementary compounds of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon monoxide may exist as volatile ices. Comets are typically small bodies (comparatively!!). Halley’s comet is a potato shaped object, 14 by 17 kilometers. The largest known comet is Chiron, which is estimated to be approximately 200 kilometers in diameter. Comets are thought to have formed as the solar system evolved. The material of which comets are composed was constructed by accretion at the outer edge of the disk of material that ultimately became the sun and planets. Because the comet material was fashioned at the outer edge of the solar system, the sun did not evaporate the volatiles in the cometary material. At the same time, the giant planets of the solar system formed at what would become the outer orbits of the solar system. These massive planets encountered the newly formed comets, and the ones that were not engulfed by the giant planets were, over the first billion years, catapulted into interstellar space by the planets massive gravitational fields. Not all comets met that fate, however. Some were gently nudged into stable orbits closer to the sun. Others were flung into the inner solar system and impacted the inner planets. Relevance: – The study of comets involves detailed knowledge of its composition of the outer regions of the solar system and the space between the last planet and 100,000 astronomical units onwards. Cometary study also seeks to understand complex gravitational interactions between bodies separated by wide distances and even gravitational interactions between tiny comets, their behavior when approaching the sun, and something of the makeup and evolution of the early solar system. New comets approaching the sun for the first time have been held in deep freeze in the Oort cloud and are thought to be composed of primordial material of the newly forming solar system. They have been tied up in the Oort cloud for billions of years at temperatures slightly above absolute zero. As they approach the sun, their internal gases begin to steam away. A detailed study of an approaching comet may tell cosmologists about the composition of the early solar systems. Comets and their approach have also hinted at the existence of the elusive brown dwarf, thought to be one of the most common bodies of interstellar space. Because they are so dim, they are all but invisible from Earth. On the other hand, because brown dwarfs are thought to be so plentiful, the study of comets and their orbits may give the first real clues to the former’s reality and abundance. In the early 1980s the existence of the galactic tidal action was merely speculation. Since then, careful study of cometary orbits and approaches has favorable supported the theory of galactic tides. In the close approach of Halley’s comet by an unmanned spacecraft in 1986, a wealth of information was recovered on the shape, behavior, and composition of comets. The existence of the Oort cloud and the concept gravitational interactions by passing objects in space have led to the theory of periodic comet showers. Such comet showers, separated by periods of tens of millions of years, may be responsible for the mass extinction on Earth. There is a wide speculation that Earth was struck by one or more comets 70 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs. Some scientists have speculated that this extinction was the result of a shower of comets from the Oort cloud, sent on their close approach to the sun by a passing star or brown dwarf through the Oort cloud. Comets have been used to judge vast distances, evaluate the composition of the solar system as it was being born, and even test the idea that the gravity of the entire galaxy can make a difference to the smallest objects in space. Comets have been used as yardsticks to evaluate what may be the most type of star in the galaxy-the brown dwarf-which ironically is one that may never be seen. They have also been called dirty snowballs. Halley’s comet was so black that it was the darkest object ever seen in space. Yet, from these dirty specks of ice, cosmologists have witnessed some of the most spectacular light shows. Ultimately comets may also generate clues to some of the most fundamental secrets about the solar system and planets. From these tiny messengers, cosmologists may unlock and examine pristine elements from creation itself.