The History of Skyscrapers

The History of Skyscrapers The first skyscrapers- tall commercial buildings with  iron or steel frameworks- came about in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Chicago Home Insurance Building, completed in 1885, is generally considered the first modern skyscraper, although it was only 10 stories high. Later, taller and taller buildings were made possible through a series of architectural and engineering innovations, including the invention of the first process to mass-produce steel. Today, the tallest skyscrapers in the world approach and even exceed heights of 2,000 feet. Skyscraper History A skyscraper is a tall commercial building with an iron or steel framework.  They were made possible as a result of the Bessemer process of mass production of steel beams.  The first modern skyscraper was created in 1885, the 10-story Chicago Home Insurance Building.Early extant skyscrapers include the 1891 Wainwright Building in St. Louis and the 1902 Flatiron Building in New York City.   First Skyscraper: Chicago Home Insurance Building The first tall building supported by structural steel was the Chicago Home Insurance Building, which was finished in 1885. The building was 10 stories tall and reached a height of 138 feet. Two additional stories were added in 1891, bringing the height to 180 feet. The building was demolished in 1931 and replaced with the Field Building, an even taller skyscraper with 45 stories. Early Skyscrapers The Flat Iron Building, NYC. Barry Neal/Getty Images Although the first skyscrapers were relatively small by todays standards, they marked an important turn in urban construction and development. Some of the most notable early skyscrapers were: Tacoma Building (Chicago): Constructed using a riveted iron and steel frame, the Tacoma Building was designed by the major architectural firm Holabird Root.Rand McNally Building (Chicago): The Rand McNally Building, completed in 1889, was the first skyscraper built with an all-steel frame.The Masonic Temple Building (Chicago): Featuring commercial, office, and meeting space, the Masonic Temple was completed in 1892. For a time it was the tallest building in Chicago.Tower Building (New York City): The Tower Building, completed in 1889, was the first skyscraper in New York City.American Surety Building (New York City): At 300 feet tall, this 20-story building broke Chicagos height record when it was completed in 1896.New York World Building (New York City): This building was home to the New York World newspaper.Wainwright Building (St. Louis): This skyscraper, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, is famous for its terracotta facade and ornamentation.Flatiron Building (New Yor k City): The Flatiron Building is a triangular, steel-frame marvel that still stands in Manhattan today. In 1989, it was made a National Historic Landmark. Mass Produced Steel Allows Construction of Skyscrapers Henry Bessemer. clu/Getty Images Construction of skyscrapers was made possible thanks to Henry Bessemer, who invented the first process to mass-produce steel inexpensively. An American, William Kelly, had held a patent for a system of air blowing the carbon out of pig iron, but bankruptcy forced Kelly to sell his patent to Bessemer, who had been working on a similar process for making steel. In 1855, Bessemer patented his own decarbonization process, utilizing a blast of air. This breakthrough opened the door for builders to start making taller and taller structures. Modern steel today is still made using technology based on Bessemers process. While â€Å"the Bessemer process† kept Bessemer’s name well-known long after his death, lesser known today is the man who actually employed that process to innovate the first skyscraper: George A. Fuller.  In the 19th century, construction techniques called for outside walls to carry the load of a building’s weight. Fuller, however, had a different idea. He realized that buildings could bear more weight- and therefore soar higher- if he used Bessemer steel beams to give buildings a load-bearing skeleton on the inside of the building. In 1889, Fuller erected the Tacoma Building, a successor to the Home Insurance Building that became the first structure ever built where the outside walls did not carry the weight of the building. Using Bessemer steel beams, Fuller developed a technique for creating steel cages that would be used in subsequent skyscrapers. The Flatiron Building  was one of New York Citys first skyscrapers, built in 1902 by Fullers building company. Daniel H. Burnham was the chief architect. Taller buildings were also made possible by the invention of the electric elevator in 1883, which reduced the amount of time it took to travel between floors, and the invention of electric lighting, which made it easier to illuminate larger spaces. Chicago School of Architecture Many of the earliest skyscrapers were built in an architectural style that came be known as the Chicago School. These steel-frame structures often featured terra cotta exteriors, plate glass windows, and detailed cornices. Architects associated with the Chicago School include Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan (who designed the Old Chicago Stock Exchange Building), Henry Hobson Richardson, and John Wellborn Root. Buildings in the Chicago style were built in places as far away as Florida, Canada, and New Zealand.

SAT Critical Reading -PrepScholar 2016 Students Encyclopedia

SAT Critical Reading -PrepScholar 2016 Students' Encyclopedia SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The Critical Reading section of the SAT tests students' literacy skills, in particulartheir reading comprehension and understanding of vocabulary. It is meant to measure students' ability to understand written English on the level neededfor success in college courses. Top scorers on thissection tend to use methods of speed reading and skimming for importantdetails to their advantage, as Critical Readingquestions simultaneously requireclose reading and efficiency. Studies have also shown that maintaining a mindset of interest in the passages aidsa reader's retention of facts and details. Note: this article is a series in the PrepScholar2016 Students' Encyclopedia, a free students' and parents' SAT / ACT guide that provides encyclopedic knowledge. Read all the articles here! While studentsmay be accustomed to debatingvarious points of view within their English classrooms, they will not find room for subjective opinion on the SAT Critical Reading. Instead, each question has only one, unambiguously correct answer, even questions that ask for inference or interpretation. Preparation with SAT materialscan help students applytheir skills of reading comprehension to SATCritical Reading questions that maydiffer from traditional classroom approaches. Critical Reading sections are interspersed throughout the test with Mathematics and Writing sections. There aretwo 25 minute sections and one 20 minute section for a total of 70 minutes. The Critical Reading section asks a total of 67 questions, all of which are multiple choice. If students encounter three25 minute Critical Reading sections on the SAT, then one of them is experimental and will not be scored. On recently administered tests, students have reported encountering unexpectedCritical Reading questions that involved a "base question," followed by several "evidence questions" that referred back to it. For instance, an evidence question might take the form of, "Which of the following provides the best evidence for the previous question?" Since this format is not characteristic of questions onthe Critical Reading section, it is likely that these questions appeared on the experimental, or variable, section in order to test out new material for the redesigned SAT starting in Marchof 2016. Apart from these unconfirmed clues, students have no way of knowing exactly which SAT section is experimental and benefit from treating allsections as important fortheir overall score. There are two main types of questions within Critical Reading: passage-based questions and sentence completions. Passage-based questions test students' reading comprehensionand analysis, while sentence completionsask students to choose one or two vocabulary words that best fit the meaning of a given sentence.Across all Critical Readingsections, there are 19 sentence completions and 48 passage-based questions. Passage-based questions ask about a short passage of 100 to 200 words, a long passage of 400 to 800 words, or paired passages of 250 to 600 words. Paired passages usually address the same topic or theme, and students are asked to compare and contrast the excerpts or the perspectives of the authors. Passages alwaysconsist of prose and may be taken from longer works in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, literary fiction, or personal narrative. At the beginning of each passage is a blurb stating its source and author, whichmay help deepen students' comprehension by groundingthe passage in its historical context. Many SAT experts agree that passage-based questions fall into five general types. SAT teachers and tutors instruct students to use these soft categorizations in order to understand eachquestion's intent and to focus their attention on the relevant information within the passage(s). These question types may be identified asbig picture, little picture, inference, vocabulary in context, and author's perspective. The first Critical Reading question type asks for the "big picture," or main purpose, of a passage. Big picture questions tend toask fora passage's theme or its overall purpose, including whether it ismeant to inform, review, contradict, persuade, parody, or hypothesize. For instance, this official sample SAT question falls into the big picture category. Sample SAT Question The second question type asks for "little picture," or refers the reader to a specific detail within a passage and cites its location, as lines are numbered by multiples of five. This type of Critical Readingquestion may ask how a line functions within a paragraph, or what a paragraph accomplishes within theentire passage. While it is taken out of context, thisSAT sample question is an example of a little picture passage-based question. Sample SAT Question The third passage-based question type asks for an inference based on a line, paragraph, or passage in its entirety. These questions may differ from the inference skills students apply within their English classrooms, as they are not subjective and will only have one unambiguously correct answer choice. This sample question, while taken out of context, falls into this category of inference Critical Reading questions. Sample SAT Question Fourth, some questions ask about vocabulary in context. Unlike sentence completions, these questions generally refer to easy or medium-range vocabulary words that arebeing used in an unusual way within the context of the passage. Students must use context clues to glean the meaning or function of the word as it is being used. Often, the answer choices will contain higher level vocabulary words than the one under question. Sample SAT Question Finally, the fifth categorization refers to the author's technique, tone, or style. To prepare themselves for these kinds of questions, students are likely to benefit from studyingcommon tone classifications like somber, ambivalent, vindictive, sarcastic, earnest, and pragmatic. Sample SAT Question While Critical Reading questions may not all fall neatly within these domains, as they are based on analysis rather than on official College Board policy, most SAT tutors and teachers agree that the majority can bethus described. Taken together, passage-based questions test students' reading skills, including their ability to make inferences, to understand words and phrases in context, to apply literary terms like tone, theme, and symbol, and to evaluate an author's logic, argument, techniques, and purpose. While these question types may appear in any order, they are arranged chronologically to coincide withthe relevant passage(s). A question about the first paragraph in a passage, for instance, will appear near the beginning of agroup of questions, while a question about the passage's conclusion will be asked near the end of thatgroup. The remaining 19 questions in the Critical Reading section are sentence completions that test vocabulary. Allof these questions are independent from one another. They have one or two blanks and ask students to choose the word(s) that "best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole." These questions test knowledge of the meaning of high level words. Commonly tested SAT vocabulary words include acrimonious, anachronistic, draconian, ephemeral, laconic, and ostracize. Students may prepare for these questions with the use of SAT vocabulary lists and flash cards. Along with an understanding of vocabulary, these sentences also test an awarenessof how a sentence fits together logically.Students benefit from seeing therelationships among words in a sentence. For instance, a conjunctiveadverb like "however" may indicatethat part of the sentence contrasts with another part, like in the following SAT sample question. Sample SAT Question Answer: B Each Critical Reading section starts out with 5 to 8 sentence completions, with the remainder of the questions being passage-based. Students who perform best on the Critical Reading section of the SAT have a strong working knowledge of SAT vocabulary words, as well as an ability to comprehend and analyze prose with efficiency. Students also benefit from taking a strategic approach to time management, some choosing to read the pertinent passage-based questions before reading the passage, along with using skimming and speed-reading techniques. Redesign Alert The new SAT, starting in Marchof 2016, eliminates sentence completion questions. Vocabulary questions will focus on medium-level, multiple-meaning words within the context of longer passages. Read more from the SAT Encyclopedia! Further Reading The Best Way to Read the Passage in SAT Reading The Best SAT Vocabulary Lists on the Web How to Get an 800 on SAT Reading

Electron Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Electron - Essay Example In this case, the government took responsibility of oversight, first through the ministry of finance (Thai 12). The ministry possesses the overall responsibility for procurement systems in the public sector, including the responsibility for monitoring the policy’s implementation, particularly regarding public expenditure and facilitation of a proper understanding of the governing documentation service-wide. In discharging its responsibilities, the finance ministry carries out routine investigation of operations or activities of various departments and institutions, as well as maintains a reporting system that contains information relating to contract awards and the governing documentation. Additionally, the government monitored and, when necessary, investigated at its discretion the awards and the implementation of all government contracts to ensure that they are impartially awarded (Thai 12). The government also ensures that the contract was awarded on a basis of merit and that its awarding or termination does not involve irregularity or impropriety. It further ensures that the contract’s implementation conforms to the conditions and terms set out. The contracting officer is charged with advising the awarding of the contract and, where applicable, a variation of government contracts. He also has access to records, books, property and stores belonging to the government. This is true for all premises and property where a government contract is either being executed or in the process of execution. If the contract had been awarded via a sealed bid process, the answer would have been different. This is because the process would have been more competitive and, consequently, the best bid would have won. Sealed bidding is fairer since the providers are not given a chance to appear more efficient or smarter than their competition. This could have happened during the tendering

Is Large-Scale Biomass Combustion a sustainable Option for Energy Essay

Is Large-Scale Biomass Combustion a sustainable Option for Energy Generation - Essay Example It also encompasses the dead remains of biological species that can be utilized further as a fuel or chemical product (Basu, 2010). In this similar concern, energy is fundamentally described as the ability or the capacity of an individual or a person to perform a particular task. It possesses a significant need in everyday life. For instance, energy is being used for various activities that include the execution of cars for moving one place to another and televisions for the purpose of entertainment among others. Moreover, energy is also used for producing electricity and heat for different purposes. It has been apparently observed that a large percentage of energy is obtained from the combustion of biomass (Need, 2012). In this paper, a critical discussion about the use of sustainable energy will be taken into concern. Moreover, the determination of large-scale business combustion as one of the sustainable options for energy generation will also be discussed in this paper. Large Sca le Biomass Combustion as a Sustainable Option for Energy Biomass Combustion is principally described as the method of burning through which 90% of the world’s energy is released to supply heat and energy services like material processing that includes food preparation, electricity and transportation. It has been viewed as the process through which fuels are burnt with the help of oxygen (Overend, 2004). Biomass Combustion Biomass combustion is considered as the oldest type of combustion that largely exploited by human beings. It is also regarded as one of the most complicated forms of combustion system. This process of combustion entails the use of solid fuels in a multi-phase reaction system interacting with different mass fluxes. The prime understanding of the solid fuel combustion system reveals with reference to the fact that only fuel can burn and release heat. It has also been viewed that solids and liquids do not burn by themselves but consume heat in the process of dr ying which are required to be chemically transformed into fuel gas. There are several different materials that can be considered as biomass. These materials include solid wood, fats and proteins (Overend, 2004). The process of biomass combustion fundamentally takes place in 6 phases that comprise drying, coke combustion, volatile ignition as well as emission, volatile flame burning along with volatile flame extinction. It has been apparently observed that the process of biomass combustion initially takes place in the homogenous stage and later in the heterogeneous stage. The procedure of the biomass combustion can be better understood with the help of the following illustration. Fig.1: Process of Biomass Combustion Source: (NEST, n.d.) The deliverance of sustainable energy has been noted to be one of the critical issues in recent times linked with the procedure of biomass combustion. In this similar context, it can be stated that human beings might face a tough challenge in the upco ming years about accessing different energy sources. According to various researches, biomass combustion is regarded as an important source that might make a greater contribution towards the fulfilment of the demand for energy in future. Presently, it has been viewed that biomass is one

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act Essay Example for Free

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act Essay In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act establishing gaming on Indian reservations as a means of helping tribes become self-sufficient and less dependent on government dole-outs. Donald Bartlett and James B. Steele co-wrote an article which appeared in Time magazine on December 16, 2002 entitled â€Å"Wheel of Misfortune† negatively criticizing the consequences of instituting the said Act. A day later, the Native American Times published an editorial which contains dissenting arguments against the first article. According to Bartlett and Steele, the major defect of the Act is the unequal redistribution of profits derived from gaming in the reserves: â€Å"It gives billions of dollars to the white backers of Indian businesses and nothing to hundred of Native Americans living in poverty†¦hundreds of millions of dollars to one Indian tribe with a few dozen numbers—and not a penny to a tribe with hundreds of thousands of members†¦(78)† The bulk of the essay expounds and provides evidence to these assertions. It also points to the fact that while these tribes earn tax-free revenues, they continue to collect millions in government aid. The Native American Times editorial, meanwhile, accuses the Time magazine article as simply a piece that â€Å"fan the flames of racism with lies (â€Å"Indian Gaming† 84)† and proceeds to either refute or justify the points raised of the latter. Bartlett and Steele claim that only a few Indians are benefiting financially from the Native-American gaming industry thus defeating the purpose of the act, which is to raise the average Native American out of poverty. At the same time, a high percentage of the profits from these lucrative casinos go to the wealthy leaders of tribes. The editorial counters this argument by stating that there are varied reasons why some tribes do well than others. It cites the case of Oklahoma, home to more Native Americans than any other state. The state prohibits Class III gambling thus preventing an opportunity for the Native Americans in Oklahoma from realizing the Congressional Act. Today tribes continue to â€Å"fight with every resource available to them to hold off those who would send them back to the metaphoric reservation (â€Å"Indian Gaming 85). † The editorial also praises the success story of the Shakopee tribe which the Time magazine article derides. The success is well-deserved, according to the editorial, since this group has experienced one of the most harrowing histories of violence inflicted against Native Americans. For all its passionate defense and criticism of the Time magazine article, the editorial of the Native American Times does not touch on the other issues raised by the former like cronyism among the tribal leaders, the involvement of white Americans behind the casino operations, and the applications for recognition by extinct tribes that suddenly resurrects because of the business opportunity. Then again, the former is a lengthier and more detailed presentation complete with figures and facts, in keeping also with its being an investigative article. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the editorial does not need to refute the Time magazine article point by point and that its entire argument is summed up when the editorial writer states that the reason why people like Bartlett and Steele are being too critical about the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is because â€Å"the thought of rich Indians is against nature we can only assume (85). Inequality, anomalies, and other issues about the Native American and their casinos may exist but they are no different to those in regular gaming industries. Despite some wealthy members, Native Americans are still the poorest and most victimized people in America.

The Pain of Growing Up Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about myself

My family and I all stood in a circle on the second story of a parking garage, dreading the moment that was to come, but hiding our true feelings for the time. It was time for us to leave my brother by himself at college, and let him begin his individual adult life. We had known about this day for weeks. I often joked with my brother about it, telling him how great it would be to finally get him out of the house so I could take his room. Sometimes, we would start to grow sad about his leaving, but then reassure ourselves that we would still see plenty of each other, if not too much. That superficial thought had remained in my mind all the way until that tearful moment when it was finally time to say goodbye. As I stood in that cold parking lot, staring at my sibling, all my previous notions of college were smashed. I had always viewed it as a sort of extended summer camp. You go there for a while and you have fun doing whatever you do at college and when you come back at the end, it is great to see your family again, and you say goodbye to all your camp friends and h...

Atheism vs Theism Essay

The problem Atheists have with Theists and the premise of God, a Being who is all good, omniscient, omnipotent and eternal, is that they believe that since science and the world cannot prove that such a being exists and since life seems to sustain itself without any external help, then this Being probably does not exists nor can this Being ever be proven to exist. This method of thinking stems directly from a belief, not that science is god, but more that mankind is a self-sufficient, self-reliant being along with the philosophy of materialism and evolution which denies the possibility of soul or the immaterial. This resulted in the hijacking of science to prove what materialists already believed, that everything is relative and truth exists only if it can be proven by science. This is, as a materialist already knows, an issue that can only relate to the corporeal. The conflict that occurs is many theists belief that there is a truth and it can be known by reason which includes science but also can be discovered using every aspect of the human person. This includes the spiritual, corporeal, and even the emotive aspect of the man. The another debate in this issue pits the clinging to classical thought by the theists against claim that classical thought is unsubstantiated, old fashioned and that only modern thought is relevant because it is the most progressive. So there seems to be an intrinsic impossibility for a materialist atheist to believe in God because it is diametrically opposed to the dogmatic belief in science, materialism, and man as a creature of nature not of the immaterial. The Atheists’ beliefs The atheists’ core beliefs have already been brought to attention but in order for a complete argument to take place, a simple overview is not sufficient, so a more in depth analysis is needed to better understand this ideological battle. To be fair to atheists, there is a diversity of ideas and beliefs why God cannot exist. Some of these reasons behind this belief can be simple and unfounded arguments or elaborate systems which argue God out of the picture. While it would be easy to discredit and disprove the simple arguments, such as â€Å"I don’t see God’s involvement in the world and it seems like the world functions on its own, therefore, God doesn’t exist,† there are plenty of arguments that have shown this type of thinking as shallow and wrong. The more significant arguments are the views of atheism include a mechanistic view of the world along with a materialist understanding of the operations of the world. This is the view, according to Edward Feser, that most serious atheists hold and is responsible for the understanding that God does not exist in the world, that the world is self sufficient and that man is simple a creature of evolution. Of course what follows from this belief is the understanding that man is not bound to anything spiritual or moral since there is no such thing as morals since that entails something immaterial. They believe instead that morality is either a construct of the mind, which is influenced by Kant, or that morality is the conditioning of the culture to make man feel guilty, which is influenced by Nietzsche. Feser points to the origin of this mode of thinking, explaining that it stems from the removal of the formal and final cause of things of Aristotle’s natural science in which all things have a material, efficient, formal and final cause. When the formal and final cause is removed then people don’t have a final end other than survival nor does anything have a nature or is there a correct form. What this does is it removes the importance of religion. When there is no afterlife or purpose of a person to be moral then there is no need for God or religion. Feser also claims that once formal and final causes were removed, and then it paved the way to materialism, which, if there is a formal or final cause of things, is the only reasonable understanding of the world. Materialism is the belief that everything can be reduced to their material function and there is nothing outside of empirical evidence. There means there is no soul or spiritual aspect of a human person. People are given the impression that science can explain everything, but Feser explains that â€Å"For the reason science has â€Å"explained† almost everything other than the mind is precisely because everything that doesn’t fit the mechanistic model has been swept under the rug of the mind, treated as a mere projection. † The very essence of today’s atheism is that the world can be explained and if there is something that cannot be explained then they say that science will explain it after we have a better understanding of the object in question. This belief that science can and will explain everything is held so strongly that atheists become as Feser describes them, â€Å"the very thing they argue against† namely, dogmatic and irrational. This is a result of the belief that there is no truth. Science, although it has improved the quality of life and has led to many discoveries, is to blame for a particular mentality that is felt all over the world, that of progress. Along with thinkers like Hegel, who believe that all of history is progress and that everything has been leading up to our point in time today, the mentality within science is that progress is always good. This is another assumption held by atheists in that they believe that science is progress and if there is progress then the time this progress was a lesser time and held views that were lesser and imperfect. So from this understanding, Christianity and religion in general is old fashioned and wrong, while science is right and the only truth that is, if there can even be truth. It is science that focuses on the efficient and material causes of things. In other words, it is science that ignores formal or final causes. Because of this belief it makes the place of religion irrelevant. Materialist atheists use science, the study of material objects with their molecular makeup and the like and use what we have discovered by means of science to explain questions of metaphysical nature. Feser explains that â€Å"empirical science of its very nature cannot give us the full story about these matters; but metaphysics just is the rational investigation if them. † Also on the same topic of the separation between religion and science, Stephen Jay Gould explains that â€Å"the net of science covers the empirical realm: what he universe is made of and why does it work this way. The net of religion extends over question of moral meaning and value. † (Gould p. 522) A conflict has occurred however because as was mentioned previously, when the final and formal cause is removed, then the nature’s of things don’t exist but so does purpose and without purpose then going beyond the what is impossible. Atheists hold central to their beliefs that there is nothing beyond this world and that all operations of the world are contained within it. Richard Dawkins believes rather that our â€Å"morality† has been changing and that the Old Testament God is â€Å"will not be adopted as a literal role model by anybody you or I would wish to know. † He means that social norms have been changing and that our morality can be explained through science of culture and society, not dependent on God or scripture. Dawkins continues saying that other aspects of the Christian religion are in conflict with science. He claims that the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven is false and assumes that heaven is a â€Å"physical reality – how else could the physical body of a woman go there? Dawkins brings this up to make the point that everything is under the realm of science; he even goes as far as to say that the â€Å"sudden injection if an immortal soul in the time-line is an anti-evolutionary intrusion into the domain of science. Dawkins’ point is that there is not a separation of religion and science; metaphysical claims are even under the claims of science. In the case of the mind, Dawkins and others believe it can be explained. And even though there is religion, it is a simple social construct to control the ignorant. Their truth is that science can explain everything even prove that a metaphysical world cannot exist. The Theist’s Side The theists fall back on something a little different, tradition. Now contrary to atheist’s beliefs, theism does use reason to justify keep God in the discussion but also to keep other metaphysical claims. Christianity has an understanding that the world is a transitory with God as its creator. From an understanding that God is creator, it is reasonable to expect everything in nature to abide by a law, to be ordered and have the ability to be understood. Also from the tradition of the philosophers of history, this belief has been thought over and many rational arguments have been made in favor of theism. These arguments even came from antiquity. Plato and Aristotle gave many arguments defending the immaterial. Both philosophers believed that the soul was immaterial and that all life had a soul or rather, the soul was the life giving principle. Now along with the idea of the soul, Aristotle provides an in depth account of the four causes mentioned earlier, namely material, efficient, formal, and final. This encompasses all aspects of substances. This provided a very thorough description of life. From the four causes, it gave reason to the nature of things and that there is a definite correct way of acting for any particular thing. So with the four causes, especially the formal and final cause, man now has a purpose and a proper way of acting. In other words, man then must have a morality it must adhere to. This morality has been lived out by people before philosophy influenced people; it is pre-science and therefore more â€Å"natural† to man. The fact that it is backed up by metaphysical observations only strengthens the argument for theists. Natural science, the understanding of the natural world is something lost upon atheists. It is essential to the proper understanding of this life to understand that there are, in fact, natures. As Feser puts it, â€Å"admit formal and final causes into the world and at once you are stuck –with God, the soul, and natural law. † This natural law is also vital to an understanding of life on earth as well as an understanding of the human person. While atheists struggle with an understanding of how the mind works (not the brain), have a very weak argument for morality, and have no argument for why anyone should have rights or respect shown to anyone, the theists however, have strong, well founded arguments for these very things which come natural to everyone. A theist understands natural law as participating in eternal law, this gives natural law authority. It is something which all men must abide by. Natural law is the respect and dignity which all men are due. It is what assures man that he shouldn’t kill one another. Robert Adams even uses this principle of the morality from natural law as a proof of God’s existence; he claims that â€Å"the moral rightness and wrongness consist in agreement and disagreement, respectively, with the will or commands of a loving God. † There are many laws within natural law that when broken are recognized as going against natural order, granting men the authority under God to rebel against whomever or whatever threatens to take away the privileges given by natural law. It is how we understand concepts of justice. This follows from the fact that God is just and any disobedience of this law is seen as unjust. God is the foundation of morality; natural law is the foundation of morality. Along with natural law, the theists also are able to give a better account of the mind. It is held that the mind is immaterial; it is directly tied to the soul. When the body dies, the soul continues on and we retain our â€Å"mind† because we retain rationality in the afterlife. In the same way Aristotle believed that the soul is the life giving aspect to all creatures and plants, so the human soul is also responsible for the mind and the intellect. Otherwise if the materialist view was to be accepted, we would have a similar thought process to any other intelligent creature without rationality. The mind is also responsible for the specific function of contemplation. No animal, even with a larger, more advanced brain would ever be able to understand concepts such as justice, peace, and generosity, it must be related to the form that humans have and the soul which humans have been given. This goes so beyond any physical aspect of our bodies that to confine the mind to ability within the brain seems foolish. Even the ability to learn concepts is a mystery. J. J. Haldane provides an analysis of the topic and explains that some concepts, especially early on, must be taught. Someone must have taught concepts to people. The example he gives is the example of a cat. One might see a cat and understand the concept of cat, but what if one had never seen a cat? It would be necessary to explain the concept of cat to that person, after which the person would be able to recognize a cat if he saw one. The same applies to all concepts. Now the tricky part is, if evolution is taken back to the origin of man or even if God created man, then how did man learn all of these concepts? Haldane’s solution to the question is that God must have been responsible, regardless of whether evolution is responsible for man or not. The reasoning behind this is that God must have taught the 1st man all these concepts which he could then pass down to his children. While this explanation requires an open mindedness of the listener, it is very plausible and would account for many of the questions that atheists still deal with today. So Who’s Right? So while some might claim that there isn’t even a right answer and that choosing to be an atheist or theist is just personal preference. However, according to the theists, there is truth and there is a right answer. As for atheists, while some of their positions were explained, they still have gaps within their arguments. When confronted with these gaps, it seems that atheists are unable to provide an answer other than resorting to science which asks how and why, but not â€Å"that† something is. As mentioned earlier, there is the question of morality and why people act as they do. Even Atheists believe in some sort of morality even they do not wish to call it by its name. Feser cleverly points out that â€Å"An atheist or naturalist can believe in morality – that is a psychological fact – but he cannot have a rational justification for his belief – that is a philosophical fact. † It is impossible to limit the natural drive for morality in people. Again, â€Å"where morality was concerned, Kant’s aim was to show that there is just something in the nature of reason itself that requires that we be moral. † This seems oolish to believe that something material explains something as complicated as human emotions and the free will to do good or bad and the consequences it has on the person itself. Feser points out that the understanding of modern atheists of morality is a conditioning itself, all of modern philosophy tries to prove that everything can be contained by science, even the topic of morality. He is convinced that this is due to a rejection of formal and final causes. He explains that â€Å"the bottom line is that by abandoning formal and final causes, modern philosophy necessarily denied itself any objective basis for morality. This points to how modern philosophy has gotten to this point and it is simply that modern philosophers have ignored the question of whether there are formal and final causes and have considered the topic as irrelevant. What this means however that â€Å"First, the modern â€Å"mechanistic understanding of the natural world has led to problems, paradoxes, and absurdities that are far more egregious than anything the scholastics were ever accused of. Second, Aristotelian formal and final causes are simply unavoidable if we are to make sense of modern science and reason themselves. Now as has been shown, theists hold on the Aristotelian views of formal and final causes not only does it make sense, but it provides a foundation for a host of other arguments. These arguments cannot be explained away by science, Feser points out why, which is because â€Å"empirical science of its very nature cannot give us the full story about these matters; but metaphysics just is the rational investigation of them. † to make a further point, as has been suggested, it seems that an atheist’s account of the mind is also insufficient as it is a series of poor and confusing arguments which try to prove the existence of mind within a person. Feser claims that the reason for the misunderstanding of the mind by atheists is that it is â€Å"the denial of final causes that most clearly poses an absolutely insurmountable obstacle to any attempt to explain the mind in purely material terms. † What this means is that with this understanding of purpose for the human person beyond survival, then there is new meaning to a person’s life and that each person should and ought to work to fulfill this purpose. If not, then it is impossible to explain the mind sufficiently. The reason for intellect, the purpose of the mind, is contemplation but also to use reason to become virtuous. Once morality is believed to exist, then it follows that morality should be followed but the only way to do that is to form habits of virtue, which is only possible through the mind. It also hints at the soul, which is also taken to exist in that it is the principle of life but more specifically, nothing corporeal could be the principle of life or â€Å"every body would be a living thing. † More specifically, Aquinas explains that since the intellect has an operation apart from the body â€Å"per se† then we must conclude, therefore, that the  human soul, which is called the  intellect  or the  mind, is something incorporeal and subsistent. So according to Feser, the only way to solve this problem that the atheist’s have of the mind, is to â€Å"return to the Aristotelian –Thomistic conception of the soul as the form of the body, having certain immaterial operations but nevertheless â€Å"interacting with the material world as formal rather than efficient cause. † Feser also hints at there being a need to be intellectually honest about some of these arguments. Since many Atheists have ignored the arguments or Aristotle and Aquinas, Feser has been calling for them to actually refute them and that instead of wanting something to be true and trying to argue for it, to instead accept truth as an objective reality and something to be sought after. The point that Feser wants to make is not to â€Å"determine whether this project was good or bad, but rather to emphasize that to a very great extent it was a desire to further the project, and not an actual refutation of Aristotle, that moved modern thinkers away from his metaphysics. The agenda determined the arguments rather than the other way around. This is ultimately the solution to the question to atheism because it seems as though Atheism is artificial, Denys Turner implies that atheism has to be ‘worked at or practiced in his article â€Å"How to be an Atheist. † It is the mentality of trying to convince others that your reality is truth instead of being receptive to truth as the classical and medieval philosophers were.

Ethical review form

1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What are the objectives of the research project?The object of the research project is to study the implications on the implementation of the various requirements of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) by the developing countries who are members of the World TradeOrganisation (WTO)2.   Does the research involve NHS patients, resources or staff? If so, it is likely that full ethical review must be obtained from the NHS process before the research can start. NO 3. Do you intend to collect primary data from human subjects or data that are identifiable with individuals? (This includes, for example, questionnaires and interviews.)NOIf you do not intend to collect such primary data then please go to question 14.  If you do intend to collect such primary data then please respond to ALL the questions 4 through 13. If you feel a question does not apply then please respond with n/a (for not applicable).4. What is the purpose of the primary da ta in the dissertation / research project? n/a 5. What is/are the survey population(s)? n/a 6. How big is the sample for each of the survey populations and how was this sample arrived at? n/a7. How will respondents be selected and recruited? n/a8. What steps are proposed to ensure that the requirements of informed consent will be met for those taking part in the research? If an Information Sheet for participants is to be used, please attach it to this form. If not, please explain how you will be able to demonstrate that informed consent has been gained from participants.n/a 9. How will data be collected from each of the sample groups? n/a 10. How will data be stored and what will happen to the data at the end of the research? n/a11. How will confidentiality be assured for respondents? n/a 12. What steps are proposed to safeguard the anonymity of the respondents? n/a 13. Are there any risks (physical or other, including reputational) to respondents that may result from taking part in this research? If so, please specify and state what measures are proposed to deal with these risks. n/a 14. Will any data be obtained from a company or other organisation. YES / NO (please circle) For example, information provided by an employer or its employees. What steps are proposed to ensure that the requirements of informed consent will be met for that organisation? How will confidentiality be assured for the organisation?No data will be obtained from a company or other organization. 15. Are there any risks (physical or other, including reputational) to the researcher or to the University that may result from conducting this research? If so, please specify and state what measures are proposed to manage these risks. No risks (physical or other, including reputational) to the researcher or to the University will result from conducting this research. 16. Will the proposed research involve any of the following (please put a √ next to ‘yes’ or ‘no’; consult your supervisor if you are unsure): †¢ Vulnerable groups (e.g. children)?   NO †¢ Particularly sensitive topics?   NO †¢ Access to respondents via ‘gatekeepers’? NO †¢ Use of deception?   NO †¢ Access to confidential personal data?   NO †¢ Psychological stress, anxiety etc?   NO †¢ Intrusive interventions?   NO17. Are there any other ethical issues that may arise from the proposed research? NO

Pinters The Birthday Party essays

Pinter's The Birthday Party essays One recurring motif in Harold Pinters work is the image of the single room. Pinter himself spoke of this form as being one of the most pure for the theater. For Pinter, one room, a few characters, and a door, and the fear of what will come through the door next is all that is necessary for a good play: Two people in a room- I am dealing a great deal of the time with this image of two people in a room. The curtain goes up on the stage, and I see it as a very potent question: What is going to happen to these two people in the room? Is someone going to open the door and come in? (Esslin 235) Pinters first full-length play, The Birthday Party, perfectly embodies this single room purity. The play takes place in a single room, whose occupants are threatened by forces or people whose precise intentions neither the characters nor the audience can define. The Birthday Party, was produced in 1958 at the Arts Theater in Cambridge. The play centers around Stanley, an apathetic man in his thirties who has found refuge in a dingy seaside boarding house which has apparently had no other visitors for years. Meg, one of the owners, cares for Stanley in a very motherly fashion that at times appears to border on incest. Petey, her husband, is a kind old man who rarely speaks and is employed as a deck chair attendant. Little is revealed about Stanleys past besides the fact that he was once a piano player and may or may not have once had a concert. This ambiguity becomes the driving force of the entire play. In the middle of the first act, the comic duo of Goldberg and McCann arrives, and it soon becomes clear that they are after Stanley. Like Samuel Beckett, Pinter refuses to provide rational explanations for the actions of his characters. Are the two emissaries of some secret organization Stanley has betrayed? Are they male nurses sent from an asylum from which Stanley has escaped? This question is never answer...

3 Types of Accidental Writing to Avoid

3 Types of Accidental Writing to Avoid 3 Types of Accidental Writing to Avoid 3 Types of Accidental Writing to Avoid By Mark Nichol Alliteration, punning, and rhyming are a trio of tried-and-true techniques for letting your prose out of the pen, introducing levity (perhaps at the expense of brevity). When inadvertently applied, however, they can distract readers because their use is inconsistent with a writer’s tone, or because the application is excessive. Here are some comments about proper and improper use of these writers’ tools. 1. Alliteration I enjoy reading and writing alliterative prose. When overused, alliteration can backfire, because it might lead readers to focus on the messenger rather than on the message. In moderation, however, it is a proven strategy for entertaining while informing. But it is rarely appropriate for formal writing or when a serious tone is required, so be careful not to introduce it on purpose or by accident in such contexts, such as in the statement â€Å"There are multiple methods for maintaining mortality records.† 2. Pun Away from the keyboard, I’m an unrepentant punster, but because punning is the most intrusive of these three techniques, I generally avoid it in writing; even in light-hearted content, it can be obtrusive. Beware unintended punning in such remarks as â€Å"If we were in his shoes, we’d sell our souls for the opportunity,† where readers might read souls as soles. A related, and more fraught, problem is carelessness about accidental double entendres. I’ll leave specifics to your imagination, but any review of one’s writing should include vigilant attention to the possible presence of words or phrases with risquà © connotations. 3. Rhyming Deliberate rhyming in prose is less common than employing alliteration or puns, though it’s appropriate in specialized cases such as mimicking Dr. Seuss in order to emphasize the absurdity of a phenomenon. But take care not to release sober but accidentally silly written remarks like â€Å"In the weeks before the election, pundits had a predilection for overemphasizing the offhand remark. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help†40 Synonyms for â€Å"Lie†10 Humorous, Derisive, or Slang Synonyms for â€Å"Leader† or â€Å"Official†

Politics of the Contemporary Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Politics of the Contemporary Middle East - Essay Example According to the research findings it can therefore be said that amongst the most important elements relative to international relations in the Middle East region following the Gulf War of 1991 was the peace process between the Arabs and Israel that was sponsored by America. The two main parties in the Arab Israeli conflict were Israel and Palestine. The main developments of the peace process were the Oslo Peace Accord, its implementation, the summit at Camp David and the re-escalation of violence. It is evident that the Oslo Peace Process was slated to fail from the beginning because under Likud’s leadership, Israel went back on its words relative to implementing its own obligations emanating from the deal. Upon reading the details of the accord it becomes clear that the Oslo Declarations of Principles never represented a strong foundation for peace between Israel and the PLO. It is widely believed that this happened because preferential treatment was given to Israel in the t reaty. The US is said to have avoided playing an effective and impartial role in brokering the peace agreements. The Soviet Union was an ally of the Palestinians but it was a declining power during the period. The enormous support provided to Israel by the US makes it clearly evident that there was an imbalance of power that served as an obstacle in making the treaty and agreements successful. The paper also presents the main theoretical assumptions of neorealism.... optimize security by maximizing their own military, diplomatic and economic capabilities Peace and order is achieved after states are able to achieve balance of power by effecting deterrence and stable alliances The presence of a dominating state can lead to stability if that state is hegemonic in terms of identifying its self interests with the interests of the larger region or global system The modernization theory originated through the concept of functionalist sociology. It holds that all societies developed from traditional to modern conditions, in terms of transforming from simplistic, narrow and theocratic circumstances to complicated, public and secular forms of organization. It is known that societies undergo different stages of socio economic transformation whereby some manage to modernize faster in view of their interactions and association with modern societies of the west. The theory is applicable to the Middle East region in the context of some states being in a transit ional stage towards modernism. The Postcolonial criticism approach is recent in having its origin in cultural studies. In fact it grew from analysis of the Middle East region as carried out by Edward Said (1978) through his influential work Orientalism, which related to the ways in which a distorted image was created about the Arabs by Europeans in justifying their colonial occupation in the region. This theory holds that politics in the Middle East Region was first characterized by struggle for power control by colonists, then by the super powers during the Cold War and subsequent to 1989, by the US alone. The arguments are based on the belief that nations in the Middle East are dependent or client states that act as agents of Western hegemony or national liberation groups striving to