The Civil Rights Movement Essay -- Black struggle for civil rights in

In a Democracy the majority does not need any protection, because it is the majority which has control. However, as seen through history, even majorities can be tyrannical, and the minority needs protection from them. â€Å"Civil rights† is the term used when speaking of the privileges, immunities, and practices of freedom which are protected from violation by other citizens. That is the definition of civil rights, although when most people think of civil rights they instantly think it means black civil rights. This is understandable since blacks, more than any other minority group in America, have had the toughest and therefore the best known struggle for equal rights. This is due to the fact that most of the majority believed that when the people in the minority group are of another color, they are also different in other ways, and therefore, not entitled to quite the same rights and privileges. This belief was not limited to just the South. Discrimination has always been pervasive throughout all of Western civilization. This racist ideology has held the African Americans down in America for many years. It was not more than 150 years ago that Blacks were considered so inferior that they were held as slaves. African Americans have fought hard against the overwhelming racist powers to earn the rights that they have now. To say it has been a battle for civil rights is an understatement. It has been a hard fought war. A battle implies one fight, one clash. But it has taken fight after fight for African Americans to earn their freedom and equal rights. After earning freedom from slavery, Blacks fought for more than one hundred years to be considered equals in society. That struggle reached its climax during the1960s, when the biggest gains in the area of civil rights were made. Up to that time blacks and whites remained separate and blacks were still treated as inferiors. Everything from water fountains to city parks was segregated. Signs that read, â€Å"whites only, no coloreds† were all too commonplace on the doors of stores and restaurants throughout the southern states. Blacks and whites went to different schools where black children would have classes in shabby classrooms with poor, secondhand supplies. These are just a few examples of some of the many racial discriminations which blacks once had to face in America prior to the 1960s. ... ...is , 1990 This was also a pretty decent book. It was also not very substantive and is young adult/moron reading level. Although it is a simple, easy read, it did have some very interesting anecdotes which provide very good insight into King’s life which is not available anywhere else I looked Lewis, David L.- King:Critical Biography: Praeger Publishers: New York/Washington 1970- This was a very useful book. It provided some very good information on King. Although it is an extremely hard read it was very, very helpful. Current, Williams, Freidel, Brinkley. American History A Survey New York: Alfred A. Knopf inc, 1983-Used the textbook for info on the civil rights and King Haskins, James The Life and Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York:, Beach Tree Books 1977- This was a fair book. Has a nice biography but lacks anything real original. It was really just another bland King Biography that is just the facts and no real opinions or insight. Paris,Peter,. Black Religious Leaders New York: Westminster John Knox inc, 1991 –good book for my comparative analysis of King and X. Really provided insight into Malcolm’s beliefs and how they contrasted with King’s. The Civil Rights Movement Essay -- Black struggle for civil rights in In a Democracy the majority does not need any protection, because it is the majority which has control. However, as seen through history, even majorities can be tyrannical, and the minority needs protection from them. â€Å"Civil rights† is the term used when speaking of the privileges, immunities, and practices of freedom which are protected from violation by other citizens. That is the definition of civil rights, although when most people think of civil rights they instantly think it means black civil rights. This is understandable since blacks, more than any other minority group in America, have had the toughest and therefore the best known struggle for equal rights. This is due to the fact that most of the majority believed that when the people in the minority group are of another color, they are also different in other ways, and therefore, not entitled to quite the same rights and privileges. This belief was not limited to just the South. Discrimination has always been pervasive throughout all of Western civilization. This racist ideology has held the African Americans down in America for many years. It was not more than 150 years ago that Blacks were considered so inferior that they were held as slaves. African Americans have fought hard against the overwhelming racist powers to earn the rights that they have now. To say it has been a battle for civil rights is an understatement. It has been a hard fought war. A battle implies one fight, one clash. But it has taken fight after fight for African Americans to earn their freedom and equal rights. After earning freedom from slavery, Blacks fought for more than one hundred years to be considered equals in society. That struggle reached its climax during the1960s, when the biggest gains in the area of civil rights were made. Up to that time blacks and whites remained separate and blacks were still treated as inferiors. Everything from water fountains to city parks was segregated. Signs that read, â€Å"whites only, no coloreds† were all too commonplace on the doors of stores and restaurants throughout the southern states. Blacks and whites went to different schools where black children would have classes in shabby classrooms with poor, secondhand supplies. These are just a few examples of some of the many racial discriminations which blacks once had to face in America prior to the 1960s. ... ...is , 1990 This was also a pretty decent book. It was also not very substantive and is young adult/moron reading level. Although it is a simple, easy read, it did have some very interesting anecdotes which provide very good insight into King’s life which is not available anywhere else I looked Lewis, David L.- King:Critical Biography: Praeger Publishers: New York/Washington 1970- This was a very useful book. It provided some very good information on King. Although it is an extremely hard read it was very, very helpful. Current, Williams, Freidel, Brinkley. American History A Survey New York: Alfred A. Knopf inc, 1983-Used the textbook for info on the civil rights and King Haskins, James The Life and Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York:, Beach Tree Books 1977- This was a fair book. Has a nice biography but lacks anything real original. It was really just another bland King Biography that is just the facts and no real opinions or insight. Paris,Peter,. Black Religious Leaders New York: Westminster John Knox inc, 1991 –good book for my comparative analysis of King and X. Really provided insight into Malcolm’s beliefs and how they contrasted with King’s.

Free Essays - Catcher in the Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

J.D Salinger gives his personal vision of the world successfully through his persona Holden Caulfield in the ‘Catcher in the Rye’.   Caulfield struggles with the background of New York to portray Salinger’s theme – you must live the world as it is, not as you would like it to be.   There by exposing Salinger’s vision on the world. Salinger went through many of the experiences Holden went though.   Salinger much like Holden had a sister that he loved very much, in the novel Phoebe is the only person that Holden speaks highly of; both men also spent time in a mental institution; Holden is telling the story from inside a institution; they were both kicked out of prep school and most importantly they were both a recluse from society.   This is why Salinger uses Holden as his persona all though out the book.   The ‘catcher in they Rye’ is almost like an autobiography for Salinger. He is using Holden as his persona to let us, the reader, dive into his thought pattern and find out some of the thoughts that he kept locked up in there. Salinger’s view of the world is lived out thought Holden – his persona. The novel is Holden’s steam of conscience as he is talking to a psychoanalyst â€Å"what would an psychoanalyst do†¦gets you to talk†¦for one thing he’d help you to recognise the patterns of your mind†. At the start of the novel it is addressed directly to us â€Å"if you really want to hear about it†. This gives us a sense of reality as though it is us that is the psychiatrist. We see the random thought patterns of Holden’s mind as he starts to feel more comfortable, Holden goes off on to many different tangents while he is talking. Salinger is using Holden as a type of easy way out to confess his view of the world.   This view is portrayed though two main aspects of the novel.   Firstly theme - you must live in a world as it is, not as you would like it to be.   Holden can’t seem to accept the world as it is and finds New York extremely â€Å"phoney†.   Holden has a great disliking for the movies, he finds them the phoniest of them all â€Å"I hate the movies like poison† and he cant believe that people actually make time to go to the there.

Ebonics and Education Essay

A Persuasive Research Paper on the Why Education Should Pave Way for Ebonics All a person needs to do is turn on the television or browse the Internet to see the proof that there are very important changes in the society. Among those changes is how the use of language increased and how its forms have greatly grown. With much slang, dialects and language transformation and combinations, the number of languages all over the world and not just in the United States, have significantly grown larger and bigger. However, the question of whether this continuous dynamic change in languages is for the better remains to be seen. This is because, though languages have changed and grown, problems caused by miscommunication and misunderstandings are still rampant and present. Although language and all its combinations with other languages aimed to bridge the gap between nations and cultures, different people with different origins and speech are still unable to bridge that gap. There are still many issues concerning the cropping up and usage of new languages. Most common among those is the problem that languages which are combined or which undergo a linguistic blend tends to be disruptive of formal, correct and grammatical language. A simple example would be those music videos which feature artists that combine and contract structure of words to make the song more likeable or even more attuned to the rhythm of the song. However, this has a negative effect as people, most especially young adults and children, become familiar with such language usage to the point that they begin to emulate them. Such debate has long been the topic in educational boards and institutions of whether they should correct and put stop to such language usage or encourage such exchange of words since clearly, the young are affected. In fact, Ebonics or Black English or African American English has become such a heated topic when it was quite obvious that there is a problem among the academics of African American students because they have such low grades and low performance levels that could be attributed to the usage of Ebonics. Many people sided against and for the encouragement of Ebonics. Study after study ensued to prove that Ebonics was an important and integral part of the many pupils and students since that is the language they actually use while others also discouraged its usage. Through this paper, it can be argued that Ebonics is not a mere slang which African American students can do without and that it is not something which should be corrected just because it is seen as ungrammatical. Instead, what the educational boards and institutions should do is cater to their learners and use Ebonics to implement knowledge transfer among their pupils and students and eventually make them learn and use Standard English. Ebonics is formally known as African American English or AAE according to the Center for Applied Linguistics (n. p. ). It is a kind of sociolect or social dialect where it is often used by people who are of African American origins in particular surroundings or situations. The difference of Ebonics with American English is its structure wherein African dialects and sounds are combined, blended, mixed with American English. American English is also sometimes contracted with African dialects or sounds to be inserted within the contractions. Such example is presented by John R. Rickford in his discussion of Ebonics as presented in the Website of the Stanford University. In the example, Rickford uses a simple sentence which is grammatically correct: â€Å"I asked Alvin if he could go† (n. p. ). He then conveys the example to a student known to use Ebonics and the student gives his own version of the sentence: â€Å"I as’ Alvin could he–could he go† (Rickford, n. p. ). Ebonics is not the mere transformation of structure of words to ungrammatically correct versions. In fact, though not completely grammatically acceptable, Ebonics is still considered a structured and coherent dialect. As what the Center for Applied Linguistics or CAL states, â€Å"AAE (or Ebonics) is a regular, systematic language variety that contrasts with other dialects in terms of its grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary† (n. p. ). Thus, Ebonics is not wrong or incorrect, it is merely different and a contradiction with other languages, in this case, the language of American English or Standard English. The origin of Ebonics is unclear but the origins of why it became a topic of heated arguments and debate is quite known. Because nations cater to other nations, and migration and immigration (and even simple leisure travel) are inevitable, it is also natural that the language which people of different cultures use would also be transferred and assimilated by other people with other languages. According to Ladonna Lewis Rush’s argumentative paper on the Ebonics debate titled The Ebonics Debate, the origins of Ebonics can be explained by Smitherman who wrote in Talking and Testifyin: Black English and the Black Experience that: Black English contains elements of Standard English, elements of West African languages, and elements unique to African-Americans. The structure of speech in Ebonics can be analyzed and related to African language structures as well as to the black experience in America. (as cited by Rush, n. p. ) Thus, Ebonic came about because the African Americans needed the language which they could adapt to and use while in America who used American English for their communication. Like what the CAL stated, Smitherman and Rush also believe that Ebonics is not mere slang which is featured and used by African American music artists but it is considered as a distinct dialect all on its own. The concept of Ebonics must have been unknown to most people before the year 1996 but because of a certain state in America, Ebonics and everything related to the dialect and term suddenly exploded to the point that it became a topic of debate. According to Tracey L. Weldon in her write up titled Reflections on the Ebonics Controversy which appeared in American Speech, the Oakland Unified School District in California passed a resolution on the month of December year 2006 that â€Å"recognized the legitimacy of Ebonics† and it called â€Å"for teachers in the district to be better educated about the rules governing the variety (Ebonics)† with the aim that the teachers would be able to improve â€Å"the teaching of standard English to Ebonics speakers† (275). The issue sparked up debate after debate because linguists approved the resolution stating it was correct and adequate while Ebonics speakers and family members of African American origins complained that it was an obvious tactic of discrimination and identification of who were the students that does not have the ability to speak the â€Å"proper English† (Weldon 276). Ebonics and the usage of the dialect is quite obvious in the society as it can be heard from people in most social gatherings, informal meetings and even in the media. According to Rickford, many terms and structures in Ebonics are used by common people because of what they have learned from â€Å"rap, hip hop† and other means of â€Å"popular Black culture† (n. p. ). As what Rickford uses to describe this massive usage of Ebonics in popular Black culture, it becomes â€Å"an icon of youth culture itself† wherein young African Americans are immediately identified as being users of Ebonics. Since Ebonics is a mere means of communication among African Americans, then it should not be a great deal of a problem. However, unfortunately, the usage of the sociolect has become increasingly an issue most especially in educational institutions wherein grammatically correct and linguistically sound structure and vocabulary should be used and encouraged. Rush points out the case why Ebonics has become a problem among pupils and students in schools and this is because they manage to have poor academic standing and it was revealed that because of this dialect that the students have such appalling results. Rush writes in her paper that â€Å"language skills are directly related to success in academics† (n. p. ). This is obviously true since language is used to communicate and interact with other people. Poor language skills or inability to produce and understand the language would make it for one’s self and for other people to have a clear conversation and communication. It is also Rush who pointed out that African American students have a high rate of being suspended (around 80%) and that the students are â€Å"lagging behind in measures of academic success† (n. p. ). There was also an article which appeared on NEA Today that interviewed Lisa Delpit who is a professor an author that focused on Ebonics. In the interview, Delpit mentioned the reason why Ebonics is important and why the resolution passed by the school district was commendable: Most of the African-American children in Oakland were performing miserably. But one school, the Prescott School, consistently performed near the top of the district. Its students were all low-income African-American children. And it adopted a program called the Standard English Proficiency, which uses the children’s home language and culture to teach them Standard English. (17). If Ebonics will be used to relate to the students and slowly pave their learning for Standard English, then there is a high possibility that African Americans’ percentage of academically challenged students would significantly decrease. The question then is how does one go on solving such problem to ensure a fool proof way of solving the issue? This of course lies with the educational board and teachers. Teachers in formal schools teach Standard English because it something which society and the rest of the English speakers use. There is no problem with using Ebonics if it is outside professional and academic grounds; it is after all part of the African American culture. However, Standard English should be the language that is encouraged by the teachers to be used by their students because it would help them in the long run. Based on different discussions on the resolution passed by the school district of Oakland, the debate on whether Ebonics should be studied by the district’s teachers and used to pave the way to teach Standard English should not even be a topic of debate. This is because the debate started because of a mere misunderstanding about the resolution, another proof that language does not only bridge gaps it also creates them, when people saw Standard English as the only form of English that linguists identified as â€Å"proper English†. Linguistically speaking, there is indeed a Standard English as what Weldon has stated but the term â€Å"proper English† is incorrect since there is no wrong or right English. If it can be remembered, Ebonics is even identified as being a dialect that is structured thus, it is very much acceptable. In conclusion, the issue that Ebonics be used to gap and slowly push the learners toward Standard English (as aimed by the resolution) is created by the definition and need of the Standard English. Standard English is not the only English nor is it the only form of the language which is encouraged to be used; instead, Standard English is something which is needed to make all forms of English languages coherent and uniform in the sense that there would be no linguistically and communicatively wrongly structured words. It is the same case of having a one school uniform designated to students of a school to identify who are the members of that school or the generally approved legal age for drinking or voting or driving. There is a common factor which envelopes the entities of a school, a state or a nation. Standard English therefore is needed by the Ebonics speakers if they are desirous of being successful in society which is also the language used by the many. Ebonics is not slang, wrong nor should it be discouraged. However, the Ebonics speakers should be able to understand that learning the Standard English is important since it would make them socially adept at communicating with other people. With all the turmoil and misunderstandings that society is currently under, it needs all the unity and harmony it can get—even if it just comes from having a language they can all understand and speak. Works Cited â€Å"A New Take on Ebonics and Teaching. † NEA Today 17. 2 (1998): 17. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 July 2010. Center for Applied Linguistics. 2010. â€Å"Dialects – African American English†. Cal. org. Web. 26 July 2010. Rickford, John R. 1996. â€Å"Ebonics Notes and Discussion†. Stanford. edu. Web. 26 July 2010. Rush, Ladonna Lewis. â€Å"The Ebonics Debate†. Princeton. edu. College of Wooster. 1997. Web. 26 July 2010. Weldon, Tracey L. â€Å"Reflections on the Ebonics Controversy†. American Speech 75. 3 ( 2000): 275-277. Project MUSE. Web. 26 July 2010.

How People Handle Grief Essay

Grief can be elucidated as a natural human reaction to loss. People in different stages of their life span undergo with grief when there is a major loss (Linda, 2000). People usually assume of grief as happening in the perspective of bereavement, death of a loved one, a close relationship ends through separation, or when a person is enforced to give up some facet of life that was imperative. This paper focuses on grief, which entails an entire range of emotions and experiences and various ways to deal with grief. Introduction Grief is a general attribute of human existence. It is not related to specific culture, though it is experienced by humans in varied form and intensity. Robert Burton described grief as a ‘cruel torment’. Scientifically, it is first described as people who had suffered sadness under traumatic circumstances, or who had looked for psychiatric assistance to overcome troubles linked with grief. Grief can be experienced under two broad circumstances, one, when a sudden and traumatic death of a dependent relationship, it involved strong and prolonged mournful and the other, related with the repression of throbbing thoughts or with an bitter relationship, involved deferred grief. When grief is experienced under traumatic circumstances it is labeled as a post-traumatic stress disorder. It exhibits severe and exaggerated types of grief responses such as severe depression or pronounced panic or anxiety, can lead to a psychiatric diagnosis (Kim and Jacobs, 1993; Prigerson, 1994). Robert Burton highlighted that grief can have adverse effect on health, and gave reference to examples of historical figures who lost their life because of grief, such as the Roman Emperor Severus (Archer, pg-3). Dealing with grief The concept of grief is usually understood when it is triggered by a specific loss that is why resolution can only be attained through a long and intricate process of face up to thoughts of the loss, and that there are no easy ways to come up from grieving state. Grieving people mull over their loss in thought, and since its cause is a specific event, therefore it subsides over a period of time. Cobb and Lindemann (1943) wrote, â€Å"It seems that the grieving person can delay his grieving period but not avoid it† (Archer, pg: 108). There are individual differences, so each person grieves in his own manner and take his own time to overcome. Grief period can be for one year, two years or still longer. During that period, person may be passing through a wave of grief. There are numerous ways to deal with grief. To deal with grief initially is to share one’s happening with others. It is important to express feelings through communication. A close friend or family member is ideal with whom the person can speak out his intense inner feelings and allow the tears to flow out. Tears can washout sadness along with anger, guilt, loneliness and exhaustion. Another influential way to deal with grief is to write a diary of event. For example, writing letters to deceased loved one, sharing regrets, things which could not be conveyed, feelings and what is missed. When it is difficult to live under grief due to great loss, person may join a support group. Loneliness may enhance bitter feelings and it takes time to come out from grief period. When a person adheres to some social group, he gets a chance to talk with others who understand and share the experience of grief and it will work as an effective medicine in healing grief. It is well understood that grief affects one’s mind, body and soul. To come out from grief situation, person must care for himself with a healthy diet, exercise and adequate sleep. If possible he may look for professional help. If the grief lasts longer than two months, one must talk to a doctor. Best way to cope up with grief situation is to pass time in useful manner such as reading literary or religious books, go to recovery programs, and enter therapy. Conclusion To sum up, Grief is a usual but sometimes a puzzling and irrepressible sentiment. To cope up with grief is a long, aching process. Grief is lessening when we give vent to it. Good cry always help to reduce sore feelings. In grief, source of the emotional feeling is clearly perceived as being external and not due to personal inadequacies so person can again enjoy living and loving, having good appetite back, the pain will weaken, and one will be able to have sound sleep. It is a universal truth that everybody experiences loss in his life and needs to find ways and means to deal with these feelings with a healthy approach. Work cited 1) Linda Goldman; Life & Loss: A guide to help grieving children. Philadelphia: Accelerated Development Inc. Year:2000. 2) John Archer; The Nature of Grief: The Evolution and Psychology of Reactions to Loss. Publisher: Routledge. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year: 1999. Page Number: 3.

Birmingham as the second largest city in England

A hypothesis is a theory or idea, which is then examined and tested. Sometimes you will agree with it, and sometimes you will disagree with it. Quality of life is what makes a persons life better or easier. Different people have different needs and so what makes their quality of life better is also different. I am a teenager and my needs are very different to my grandmothers for example. I would prefer to live in the Inner City Zone or Inner Suburb Zone. This is because I would have easy access to shops, restaurants, clubs, cinemas, heath clubs and other amenities that young people prefer. Living in the CBD would not be appropriate for me however as there tends to be fewer parks and open spaces. I do not want to have to travel for hours to get to and from school every day, so a good local school would help improve my quality of life immensely. My grandmother is 69. She has a quieter life than me and only goes into the city centre when is most necessary. For the majority of things like food, daily paper and toiletries she can shop at her local independent shops. The makes her quality of life better. Low crime rate also improves her quality of life as she is more venerable than me. However because of her physical condition a large garden is not very practical as she could not be able to look after it. She does love being outside however and so to improve her quality of life she would need parks and public open areas near to her. She would also prefer quieter neighbours and few incidents of graffiti and vandalism. Her breathing is not ‘what it was' due to smoking for many years and so low pollutions levels would help her general health levels too. Because she lives on her own, it would not be very easy for her to get someone to come and repair walls or roofs, so good housing conditions would also be a necessity. My grandmother is also quite religious and likes to attend church every weeks or so, so for her it would be very important that there was a church very close by, or on a major bus route, as she would not be able to afford a taxi every week. As she lives alone, it would also be good for her if her family and friends lived near buy too. She could catch a bus to get there, but not of a great distance as it would be inconvenient for her because of medical conditions. You can read also Classifications of Restaurants There are some factors that would improve both hers and my quality of life however. For example, good public transport. This would benefit both of us as neither has a car or licence. For this reason also, being near to a hospital, doctor or dentist would improve the quality of both our lives. CBD stands for Central Business District. This area is in the centre of towns and is usually one of the oldest parts. There tends to be Victorian buildings which may have been modernised as well as modern buildings. The main land use tends to be commercial, with lots of shops, banks and restaurants. In some CBDs as a result of new developments there are sometimes new houses or apartments. The general sky-line tends to be higher towards the CBD as there are generally more high-rise buildings as land is more expensive. Moving away from the CBD, the next major zone is the Inner City. This zone is just outside the CBD, and old industry. In the last century factories have been built but the majority of these factories have been closed down as industry moved away from the CBD. The small terraced houses that were originally built for the factory workers are, in most cities and Birmingham still there. At this time however, land was expensive and so gardens and houses were small. Some of these houses have been knocked down and made into apartments or high-rise flats. This has helped encourage business workers to move to the CBS. The majority of these workers have large amounts of money, no children and that enjoy a good night life! This has encouraged bars, restaurants and clubs to open in the centre of most major cities. However it has also encouraged drug use and high crime rates. Moving outward from the CBD, the next zone is the Inner City. In the last century this land would also be used for factory building, however with modernisation, of these cities, industry has moved away and the old buildings converted. The majority of land is used as residential and most houses are terraced. Like the CBD, land was, and is, quite expensive in these areas and so most of the houses and gardens were small. The next major zone is the Inner Suburbs. This land is almost all residential. The majority of houses built here are from the 1920s and 1930s. The houses tend to be bigger as there is more land, and so it is cheaper to build on it. The general crime rate tends to be lower in these areas. These qualities attract families and so there also tends to be a lot more primary and secondary schools. After this zone, the next is the Outer Suburbs. The main land use is residential and there tends to be more large modern houses. Councils have also bought this land and many council estates are built here too. Because of the distance from these areas to the CBD, land is cheaper here. Recently small modern industries and large shops have developed here. Birmingham is the second largest city in England. It has a population of 965,928 in city and 2,555,596 in the West Midlands. Despite its' current size, Birmingham grew late in relation to other British cities and was a market town right up until the Industrial Revolution. At this time, luminaries such as Matthew Bolton ; James Watt (inventors of the steam engine), William Murdock (inventor of gas lighting) and Joseph Priestley (who discovered oxygen) put Birmingham on the map. A massive system of canals was built to cope with the influx of traffic, so that Birmingham now has a more extensive canal network than Venice. World War II saw heavy damage inflicted upon the city, and an equally brutal reconstruction program that earned Birmingham's inner ring road the nickname ‘the concrete collar'. However, Birmingham's relationship with the car goes deeper than this; it saw the building of the first four-wheeled petrol driven car by F W Lancaster in 1895, and now acts as the UK's motor-manufacturing hub (earning it the nickname Brum). Birmingham has since been reborn as a business and conference centre, and is busy rebuilding itself into the sub-capital it always should have been. Burgess model In 1925, E.W. Burgess presented an urban land use model, which divided cities in a set of concentric circles expanding from the CBD to the suburbs. This representation was built from Burgess's observations of a number of American cities, particularly Chicago. According to this model, a large city is divided in concentric zones with a tendency of each inner zone to expand in the other zone. Urban growth is there for a process of expansion of land uses. For this study I am going to be following a transect along the Alcester Road, A435. This road is an A type road and runs from the centre of town to the outskirts in a southern direction. Because of the size pf Birmingham, if the hypotenuse is correct it will most likely apply to the majority of large towns and cities in England. My chosen areas of study are: * Balsall Heath * Kings Heath * Alcester Lanes End * Druids Heath Balsall Heath Balsall Heath is situated in the Inner city zone of Birmingham. From the centre of the CBD it is 2.75 kilometres. It has been calculated that 4,000 people out of Balsall Heath's population of 12,000 regularly participate in a caring activity designed to improve the quality of life of the neighbourhood. Kings Heath Kings Heath is in the Inner suburb zone of Birmingham. From the centre of the CBD, Kings Heath is 5.5kilometres. According to the 2001 Population Census there were 24,273 people resident in Kings Heath. Alcester Lanes End Alcester Lanes End is situated in the Outer suburb zone of Birmingham. From the CBD, Alcester Lances End is 6.25 kilometres. Druids Heath Druids Heath is an area situated on an Outer City Council Estate. From the CBD, Druids Heath is 8 kilometres away. This is the area furthest away form the CBD that I will be studying.

Computers and How They Impact Our Lives Essay

Have you ever thought about how much computers have been integrated into our lives? Personally speaking there is not a day that goes by that I don’t sit down in front of a computer for something. Computers play a large role in the way that businesses are run, the days of type writers and filing cabinets are a thing of the past. We can access information about almost anything on the internet, such as banking records, insurance information, shopping, technical assistance the possibilities are almost limitless. Looking at the history of computers they really haven’t been around that long. Frederic Golden writer for Time magazine tells us this on the history of computers If you look at most history books, they’ll tell you ENIAC (for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first true all-purpose electronic computer. Unveiled in 1946 in a blaze of publicity, it was a monstrous 30-ton machine, as big as two semis and filled with enough vacuum tubes (19,000), switches (6,000) and blinking lights to require an army of attendants. Capable of adding 5,000 numbers in a second, a then unheard of feat, it could compute the trajectory of an artillery shell well before it landed. This machine was a remarkable achievement for its time but it doses not even begin to compare to the average personal computer that people have in their homes today. In its short 57 year span of history computer technology has increased at an unprecedented rate. Businesses are very dependant on computers, email, printing, data storage, internet access, data analyst are just a few of the thing that people take for granted in everyday business. Email has revolutionized the way we communicate and has become one of the most critical systems in business today. Servers are the back bone of almost every business. They handle many of the things that are essential for people to do their jobs. From email to file storage, printing and databases, these are just a few of the jobs that they perform. The complexity of what is going on behind the seen is unimaginable to the common person doing their job. Your basic end users have  no idea about how much work that is involved to maintain the systems that they use every day. Computer networking is an area that I find to be very interesting. The ability to access information on a server thousands of miles from where you are amazes me. For instance, Joe Smith is traveling to England and he wants to access his work email while he is there. He arrives at his hotel, turns on his notebook and plugs it into a phone line, signs on to the internet and gets his mail. To the user this seems like something simple but what is going on in the back ground is far more complex than he can ever imagine. I was watching the news a few months ago, and there was a doctor that could control a robotic device and perform surgery on a patient, via a high speed connection thousands of miles away. We have gone from a machine that performs simple calculations to a machine that enables a doctor to perform surgery on patient thousands of miles away in 57 years. Where will we be heading in the next 50 years? What you would think to be science fiction is becoming reality, Ascribe Higher Education News Service, Oct 8, 2003 wrote this article on DNA research at Purdue University â€Å"They have precisely placed strands of DNA on a silicon chip and then stretched out the strands so that their encoded information might be read more clearly, two steps critical to possibly using DNA for future electronic devices and computers.† The possibilities for the future are exciting when you reflect on how far we have come already. We are just beginning to scratch the surface of our potential with computers. Computers play an important part in our society; from our personal life to large corporations they are integrated into our lives. Some of the most basic and common tasks that we perform today such as driving cars or even turning on a light is made possible by computers. The advancements we’ve made over the last 57 years have been substantial, but what we will accomplish in the future will be even more amazing. References Ascribe Higher Education News Service, Oct 8, 2003 Purdue Researchers Stretch DNA on Chip, Lay Track for Future from the InfoTrac database Time, March 29, 1999 Title: Who Built The First Computer? (TIME 100)(Brief Article) from the InfoTrac database

Is Policy Modeling an Art or a Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Is Policy Modeling an Art or a Science - Essay Example According to Clausewitz and Graham Scientific discoveries came from Art therefore, there is no Science without the mixture of Art (2008 pg. 82). Policy modeling can either be an art or science. Policy Modeling according to Estrada is an experimental research work supported by use of different qualitative models techniques and hypothesis to assess the cause of the past policy implications and the effect of the same to the society globally in the future (2010). The policy modeling can be further classified into several categories; communications, infrastructure and transportation policy modeling; energy; the domestic and international trade policy modeling; miscellaneous policy modeling; environmental and natural resources management policy modeling; fiscal and government spending policy modeling; labor, employment and population policy modeling; institutional, regulation and negotiation policy modeling; production and consumption policy modeling; monetary, banking and investment polic y modeling; welfare and social policy modeling; technological and R&D policy modeling; economic growth and development policy modeling. It is complex to understand the socio-economic of world’s environment, for example, the different behavior of subsystems, sectors, and regions within different time zones.