Battle of Ia Drang in the Vietnam War

The Battle of Ia Drang was fought November 14-18, 1965, during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and was the first major engagement between the US Army and the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN). After a North Vietnamese strike against the Special Forces camp at Plei Me, American forces deployed in an effort to destroy the attackers. This saw elements of the air mobile 1st Cavalry Division move into South Vietnams Central Highlands. Encountering the enemy, the battle was primarily fought at two separate landing zones. While the Americans won a tactical victory at one, they took heavy losses at the other. The fighting in the Ia Drang Valley sent the tone for much of the conflict to come with the Americans relying on air mobility, air power, and artillery while the North Vietnamese sought to fight at close quarters to negate these advantages. Fast Facts: Battle of Ia Drang Conflict: Vietnam War (1955-1975)Dates: November 14-18, 1965Armies Commanders:United StatesColonel Thomas BrownLieutenant Colonel Harold G. MooreLieutenant Colonel Robert McDadeapprox. 1,000 menNorth VietnamLieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Anapprox. 2,000 menCasualties:United States: 96 killed and 121 wounded at X-Ray and 155 killed and 124 wounded at AlbanyNorth Vietnam: Approximately 800 killed at X-Ray and minimum of 403 killed at Albany Background In 1965, General William Westmoreland, commander of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, began utilizing American troops for combat operations in Vietnam rather than solely relying on the forces of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. With National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) and Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces operating in the Central Highlands northeast of Saigon, Westmoreland elected to debut the new air mobile 1st Cavalry Division as he believed its helicopters would allow it to overcome the regions rugged terrain. Ia Drang - Vietnam. US Department of Defense Following a failed North Vietnamese attack on the Special Forces camp at Plei Me in October, the commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Colonel Thomas Brown, was instructed to move from Pleiku to seek and destroy the enemy. Arriving in the area, the 3rd Brigade was unable to find the attackers. Encouraged by Westmoreland to press towards the Cambodian border, Brown soon learned of an enemy concentration near Chu Pong Mountain. Acting on this intelligence, he directed the 1st Battalion/7th Cavalry, led by Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, to conduct a reconnaissance in force in the area of Chu Pong. Arriving at X-Ray Assessing several landing zones, Moore chose LZ X-Ray near the base of the Chu Pong Massif. Roughly the size of a football field, X-Ray was surrounded by low trees and bordered by a dry creek bed to the west. Due to the relatively small size of the LZ, the transport of the 1st/7ths four companies would have to be conducted in several lifts. The first of these touched down at 10:48 AM on November 14 and consisted of Captain John Herrens Bravo Company and Moores command group. Departing, the helicopters began shuttling the rest of the battalion to X-Ray with each trip taking around 30 minutes. Soldiers of the U.S. Amry 1/7th Cavalry disembark from a Bell UH-1D Huey at LZ X-Ray during the battle of Ia Drang. US Army Day 1 Initially holding his forces in the LZ, Moore soon began sending out patrols while waiting for more men to arrive. At 12:15 PM, the enemy was first encountered northwest of the creek bed. Shortly thereafter, Herren ordered his 1st and 2nd Platoons to advance in that direction. Encountering heavy enemy resistance, the 1st was halted though the 2nd pushed on and pursued an enemy squad. In the process, the platoon, led by Lieutenant Henry Herrick, became separated and was soon surrounded by North Vietnamese forces. In the firefight that ensued, Herrick was killed and effective command devolved to Sergeant Ernie Savage. As the day progressed, Moores men successfully defended the creek bed as well as repelled assaults from the south while awaiting the arrival of the remainder of the battalion. By 3:20 PM, the last of the battalion arrived and Moore established a 360-degree perimeter around X-Ray. Eager to rescue the lost platoon, Moore sent forward Alpha and Bravo Companies at 3:45 PM. This effort succeeded in advancing around 75 yards from the creek bed before enemy fire brought it to a halt. In the attack, Lieutenant Walter Marm earned the Medal of Honor when he single-handedly captured an enemy machine gun position (Map). Day 2 Around 5:00 PM, Moore was reinforced by the lead elements of Bravo Company/2nd/7th. While the Americans dug in for the night, the North Vietnamese probed their lines and conducted three assaults against the lost platoon. Though under heavy pressure, Savages men turned these back. At 6:20 AM on November 15, the North Vietnamese mounted a major attack against Charlie Companys section of the perimeter. Calling in fire support, the hard-pressed Americans turned back the attack but took significant losses in the process. At 7:45 AM, the enemy began a three-pronged assault on Moores position. With the fighting intensifying and Charlie Companys line wavering, heavy air support was called in to halt the North Vietnamese advance. As it arrived over the field, it inflicted major losses on the enemy, though a friendly fire incident led to some napalm striking the American lines. At 9:10 AM, additional reinforcements arrived from the 2nd/7th and began reinforcing Charlie Companys lines. By 10:00 AM the North Vietnamese began withdrawing. With fighting raging at X-Ray, Brown dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Bob Tullys 2nd/5th to LZ Victor approximately 2.2 miles east-southeast. Moving overland, they reached X-Ray at 12:05 PM, augmenting Moores force. Pushing out of the perimeter, Moore and Tully succeeded in rescuing the lost platoon that afternoon. That night North Vietnamese forces harassed the American lines and then launched a major assault around 4:00 AM. With the aid of well-directed artillery, four assaults were repelled as the morning progressed. By mid-morning, the remainder of the 2nd/7th and 2nd/5th arrived at X-Ray. With the Americans on the field in strength and having taken massive losses, the North Vietnamese began withdrawing. Ambush at Albany That afternoon Moores command departed the field. Hearing reports of enemy units moving into the area and seeing that little more could be done at X-Ray, Brown wished to withdraw the remainder of his men. This was vetoed by Westmoreland who wished to avoid the appearance of a retreat. As a result, Tully was instructed to march the 2nd/5th northeast to LZ Columbus while Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDade was to take the 2nd/7th north-northeast to LZ Albany. As they departed, a flight of B-52 Stratofortresses was assigned to strike the Chu Pong Massif. While Tullys men had an uneventful march to Columbus, McDades troops began encountering elements of the 33rd and 66th PAVN Regiments. These actions culminated with a devastating ambush in the vicinity of Albany which saw PAVN troops attack and split McDades men into smaller groups. Under heavy pressure and taking major losses, McDades command was soon aided by air support and elements of the 2nd/5th which marched in from Columbus. Beginning late that afternoon, additional reinforcements were flown in and the American position was appearance during the night. The next morning, the enemy had largely pulled back. After policing the area for casualties and dead, the Americans departed for LZ Crooks the next day. Aftermath The first major battle that involved US ground forces, Ia Drang saw them suffer 96 killed and 121 wounded at X-Ray and 155 killed and 124 wounded at Albany. Estimates for North Vietnamese losses are around 800 killed at X-Ray and minimum of 403 killed at Albany. For his actions in leading the defense of X-Ray, Moore was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Pilots Major Bruce Crandall and Captain Ed Freeman were later (2007) awarded the Medal of Honor for making volunteer flights under heavy fire to and from X-Ray. During these flights, they delivered much-needed supplies while evacuating wounded soldiers. The fighting at Ia Drang set the tone for the conflict as American forces continued to rely on air mobility and heavy fire support to achieve victory. Conversely, the North Vietnamese learned that the latter could be neutralized by quickly closing with the enemy and fighting at close range.

Unifferentiated Cells - 915 Words

In the Nature paper â€Å"Bidirectional developmental potential in reprogrammed cells with acquired pluripotency†, published in 2014 and now retracted, Haruko Obokata et al. described a new methodology for the conversion of somatic cells into pluripotent cells, without genetic manipulation or DNA transfer. Somatic cells were subjected to sublethal stimuli and, therefore, named â€Å"stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency† (STAP). The research consisted in introducing mouse somatic cells into a very acidic solution (low pH) or subjecting the external cell membranes to pressure. These stressful environmental stimuli led the somatic cells to a cell reprogramming. Obokata and colleagues, therefore, presented a fast, simple and cheap method of†¦show more content†¦On June 4, 2014, Obakata accepted the retraction of her 2 publications and Nature retracted the papers on July, 2014. After the great disappointment, the journal Nature investigated in depth its system of review and publication of articles. They found some inconsistencies in their system, which the worst consequence could be the loss of confidence in science by the citizens. Furthermore, the RIKEN centre also became the target of criticism, which focused on the lack of ethics and the decline of the institution in recent years. Yoshiki Sasai (co-author of the articles and Obakata’s supervisor), committed suicide in August, 2014 after months of criticism and accusations of fraud which led him to suffer of depression. He was not found guilty of misconduct, but he was seriously responsible for the incorrect verification of the data. In the suicide note that he addressed to Obokata, Sasai asked her to demonstrate the existence of somatic cells that could be easily transformed into stem cells. Obokata and the other authors recognized the existence of wide errors. However, Obokata continues claiming the existence of STAP. C) In 500 words maximum, write a summary of your views on the ethics and the personal motivation/psychology that drove Obokata to this level of misconduct. Additionally, what is your opinion on the institutional/scientific journal/media handling of this case? Haruko Obokata completed her masters degree in

Web Analytics Free Essays

string(48) " so the users can find our website more easily\." The explosive growth in the amount of smartness and tablets marked we have fully entered the RA of mobile computing. There are more and more people prefer to buy the products or services they desired online. The company who can success overnight must be the one who can better understand the demands of customers. We will write a custom essay sample on Web Analytics or any similar topic only for you Order Now For those who have no Idea of the power of Internet marketing, Axiom Technology can be a good example. It has been established since August 2010 and there are no any offline franchised stores ever opened. The only channel for customers to get their products is ordering from their online store. This is totally an Internet marketing model and no one knows what will happen to this company in the future. Now only four years have passed Axiom Technology has overtaken Samsung to become the biggest seller of smartness in China and the company valuations has approaching 40 billions dollars (BBC, http://www. BBC. Com/news/business-28684581). The success of Axiom is not accidental but using tons of techniques to analyses customers and trying to understand their needs. Behind this web analytics is the most important tool to achieve this in Internet marketing. What web analytics does Is the study of visitor, navigation, and traffic patterns to determine the success of a given web site then through the objective tracking, collection, measurement, porting, and analysis of quantitative Internet data to optimism websites and Internet marketing initiatives (Web Analytics Association, http:. ‘/ indicators could tell us the operation performance of a website. Such as the sources of the visitors (where our visitors come from), the conversion rates of the visitors (includes the registration rates, opportunities to sale and other conversion rates we setup to monitor). Knowing these indicators is the basis of Internet marketing initiatives. In short, web analytics is a tool to help us optimism our website and align our resources to fit the Internet marketing strategies. This could be divided into several aspects. I will explain them one by one in this article. Monitoring the Operation Status of the Website This is the most basic function of web analytics. Web analytics tool like Google Analytics can collect the data which provided by the website such as slipstream data, user experience data and operational data then generate different kinds of statements through analyses the collected data. These statements can give a overview of the website and tell us whether it is healthy or not. The variation trend of clicks, umber of visits, number of users and other data like this can help marketers maintain the website from different aspects. However, for those non-technical specialist stakeholders web analytics tool can be an important tool to translate the professional terms such as page views, average time per visit and conversion rates to readable information. Monthly summary is one of the most common reports that web analytics tool can generate for a company to monitor its website. The information contained in the summary is of a relatively basic level. The monthly summary shows page views, visits ND visitors, as well as average time per visit and average page views per visit. The main purpose of the monthly summary is to inform key stakeholders about the level of activity on the website throughout each month (A. Phone, et al. , 2004). Figure 1 is a typical monthly summary. There are also other reports such as monthly dashboard which allow users to compare the activity on the website over a year, because of the limited words it is not possible to detail here. Figure 1. A Typical Monthly Summary The operators of the website will be panic without the support of different kinds of data. Because it means they have lost the perception to the status of the website. They have no idea how many visits today, thousands or none, will be a mystery. Without the direction of data, the operators will lost their target and path for Internet marketing. Evaluate the Efficiency of the Promotion Campaigns Like offline business processes, Internet marketing also needs promotion campaigns to acquire customers, improve brand image and customer perception. However, without web analytics we can not measure the help that the promotions bring to our websites Kips and we even can not know whether the growing Kips are profit from With web analytics we can track the sources of our visits then identify whether they are visiting through our promotions such as pay-per-click ads or banner ads. Moreover, we can further analyses the conversion rates relate to registration and order placing then find out the efficiency of our promotions and to what extent they can improve our Kips. Finally, according to the analysis we can adjust the Internet marketing strategies about the promotions. For example, to measure the efficiency of a banner ads we can easily calculate cost per acquisition to find out that: Cost per acquisition = Advertising and promotional cost/Number of click-troughs. Promote the Website Effectively Search Engine Optimization (SEE) and Search Engine Marketing (SEEM) SEE and SEEM are two vital parts in web analytics because they are the most important way for a website to fetch visits. Search engines are a key part of any company’s acquisition portfolio. For good reason, citizens of the Internet use search to find everything they are looking for. The business impact of this customer behavior is that we all pour a lot of resources into optimizing our websites to show up optimally in search engines for relevant queries (Vanish Sushi, 2010). There are several indexes for us to analyses SEE such as related keywords ranking, the click through rate (CTR) of the search terms and the number of invalid pages of the website in the search results. The traffic level is the foundation of a website. So it is necessary for us to know how good our website performing on SEE and SEEM clearly (Eric Eng, et al. , 2012). Precision Marketing SEE and SEEM can improve the web exposure of the website so the users can find our website more easily. You read "Web Analytics" in category "Papers" But sometimes it is also necessary to push our website to some specific users directly so called online promotions. Online promotion included customer segmentation, source segmentation and target market segmentation. Customer segmentation which based on customer behaviors can reveal the customer types our website attracts. The search terms based on source and affiliated websites analysis can let us know which parts on our website were cared about by our users and how our users found us. This analysis could direct us for our online promotion. We will know which groups of users we should send them e-mails. Moreover, web analytics can also help us find suitable places to do the online promotions. For example, the most related website we should put the advertisements on if we want to issue a product or organize an activity or the frequently searched keywords to do the sponsored links and SEE. So it can help us avoid the inefficiency promotions which will waste our operating costs. Through eliminating low efficiency costs and increase the ratio of high efficiency costs we could keep the budgets constant but have a better publicity. In the meantime, we can also find out which websites have more relevance with us then we can improve our how to organize the contents we want to promote. Optimizing the Customer Experience of the Website Simple and Effective Interactive Process The simple and easy-to-use interactive process will help the users achieve their targets and operations better. And the users are tend to visit the website which have more friendly interface that can let them surf on it without any troubles. Help the Users to Find What They Interested Recommend the contents which the users may interested are far more better than let themselves find what they want. Many websites like Amazon, eBay now have recommendation function based on the analysis of users behaviors, this function will elf on keep customers and let them browse more contents or use the services provided by the websites. Listen to the Users Web analytics is more than tons of daily statements of the websites. Actually, survey, lab usability testing and site visits are all belong to web analytics. Vanish Sushi were sorted them as the qualitative analysis in web analytics. These methods can let us listen to our users’ heart. With the results of these surveys we can do better on our website includes the design of function, interactive and navigation. All of these are aimed at enhancing the user experience of the website. In a word, the websites are living for traffic level, all what we do above can be concluded as three stages: monitoring the traffic, attract the traffic and keep the traffic. The traffic level can be easily translated to users, and the users are the only core for the websites. Part 2: http://www. Activation. Co. UK/ is a local company. You are required to: Identify its main line of business and its online marketing strategy, Critically evaluate its website designing and its online marketing strategy, and Make recommendations for improving the effectiveness of its website and online marketing strategy. Main Line of Business Active Alton is a local company operating a variety of sports and leisure facilities in Alton and it claimed itself as a non-profit organization. It currently operates 7 leisure and activity centers including Dell Farm, Inspire: Alton Sports Village, Lessee Sports Park, Highpoint Community Sports Arts Centre, Lea Manor Recreation Centre, Stockroom Park Golf Centre and Stockroom Park Athletics Centre Health Club. The main business that Active Alton run are the fitness and leisure events. Rely on the activity centers Active Alton provides its own brands covered a wide range of ports and services such as Profiles Health Fitness, Hydra Swim, Active Golf, Kid Around, Active Education, Active Communities, Active Training Development and people will enjoy a discount price to access the facilities through Join the membership and this is also the main sources of income to the organization. Online Marketing Strategy As a local organization who have held so many sports centers and leisure facilities, Active Alton seems has no intention to invest vast amount of time and money in online marketing because people are ultimately prefer to choose a fitness centre by sitting it not by Just browsing it online. The website of Active Alton are more like a exhibition not an online franchise store. I have drawn a structure chart of the website below and will analyses the online market strategy by using it. Through the structure chart we can have a general understanding of the whole website of Active Alton. As I state before, the website is consist by the introduction of the sports centers and leisure facilities. The only entrance for customers to checkout is in the membership page and will be shown after click ‘sign up online’. And there is o any online customer service but only two forms in the feedback and contact us pages. Because the organization possesses venues and stadiums and only provide very limited online transactions channel and customer service (the digital channels complementary is relatively low), the e-commerce business mode could be defined as between ‘Bricks and mortar’ and ‘Bricks and clicks’ refer to Figure 2. Figure 2. Three Business Modes in E-commerce In conclusion, the online marketing strategy should have objectives for online contribution in percent which means sales, service, profitability should drive the strategy. From the structure of the website I did not see much of elements which can bring extra incomes for the organization. Because of the products the organization provides is fitness and leisure services it is not possible to exploit new geographic markets. So the website has communicate benefits of existing products to existing penetration strategy (H. Igor Anions, 2007). Figure 3. Nations Product-Market Growth Matrix Website Designing There are eight most important factors in successful e-commerce site design (Lauded and Travel, 2009), in this part I will use this figure to evaluate the designing of the Bessie. Figure 4. The Eight Most Important Factors in Successful E-commerce Site Design All functions of the website are working normally during my test but it has no obvious funnel which can guide visitors to the checkout system and finally become customers. In general, there must be a button or link to purchase the product when we click into the introduction page of a product but for this website there is not. What instead of is a sign up online button which is in membership page so we can not see it directly. This will largely reduce the conversion rates and lower the functionality of the website. The information provided by the website are quite rich, from the introduction of the organization to the details of every venues and brands. And they have been placed in landing page so they are full accessible. But the customer service is a short slab of the website. There are only two forms provided in the contact us and feedback pages. According to Lauded and Tracer’s research it will annoy 75. 1% visitors if a website has no contact information available. Figure 5. E-commerce Website Features that Annoy Customers For other aspects in the figure 4, the layout and design of Active Lotto’s website are happily integrated style, both aesthetically and functionally. It has a dominant hue which is blue and the color is not been abused everywhere. The text are legible enough and the graphics are simple therefore the visitors will not be distracted. To sum up, the website is easy to use but lack of functionality and it need to be improved. Recommendations For the Web Designing To improve the effectiveness of the website can be translate to improve the user experience of it. First and the most important thing is to add a purchase button with the corresponding price table in every introduction page of the stadiums, this will increase the conversion rates and lead to a higher incomes which is the fundamental goals of e-commerce. And for the customer service, add at least one contact information (landlines, e-mail or both) to contact us page that visitors can use it to contact the organization actively. If the visitors are confused about some descriptions the conversion rates indirectly because people will not purchase anything if they are confusing about it. For the Online Marketing Strategy According to the organization’s conditions I did a SOOT analysis for it. Active Alton Strengths – S 1. Well-known brand 2. Abundant Resources 3. Extensive Services Weaknesses – W 1. Internet channel using 2. Web technologies 3. Online customer service Opportunities – O 1 . New customer segment 2. Co-branding promotion 3. Cross-selling SO strategies Integrate the services and trying to attract new customers through cross-selling and co-branding promotion WOW strategies Improve the user experience of the website and introduce new services to attract new customers Threats – T 1 . Other competitors who have advanced technologies 2. Customer choice 3. New entrants SST strategies Attract competitor’s customers by provide better services and hardware WET strategies Improve the user experience of the website and build a thorough customer relationship management system Figure 6. A Internet-specific SOOT Analysis for Active Alton Active Alton is an organization who has possessed a lot of resources including stadiums and parks. So the products and services it can provide can be varied if introduce cross-selling method. The growth point of the business is to attract new customers through new products and services and better user experience of the website. In this circumstance I would like to recommend WOW strategies for the organization. This kind of online marketing strategy is focused on improving the effectiveness of the website and develop new products that fit the e- commerce business such as special offers which people can only get from the online store. How to cite Web Analytics, Papers

Analysis on Accounting Theory and Using Them for Practical Cases

Question: How To Using the Accounting Theory Practical Cases? Answer: Introducation This is on the article Costs blow out for Suncorps natural hazard allowance to $350m, 4th period in row for over-size claims. Suncorp being a financial institution with the main business of Banking and insurance had faced a lot of claims in the near past and also in the period in the current topic. The article describes that fact why the same happened with the company which had over crossed their budget for the consecutive four times. This mainly happened because of two big events that took place which was Wild storms and earthquake in New Zealand which had mainly increased the claims and thus leading to negative cash flows for the company. This is somewhere effected by aggressive approach and some incorrect decisions and planning that the team is making up. Accounting Theory TheAccounting theory selected is Legitimacy Theory. This theory generally implies that what is the generalized assumption to prove that the actions of an entity are desirable, appropriate and in the interest of socially constructed norms, beliefs and definitions. The more an organization is legitimate the higher are the chances of survival in the current market situation. The entity respecting the social values finally tend to benefit from the organization activities at large.(Aldrich, 1994) The social and moral values that tend to help an entity to grow are the ones which are socially accepted and helps the management to take correction steps at the necessary time to stand up in the environment.(Hybels, 1995) Analysis In the given article for Suncorp the issue in question was the increase in the costs of claims which the company is incurring in the times and how the same is being faced by the various stakeholders of the company as well. The article describes the reason of the problem to be highly aggressive and not thinking in a legitimate manner in taking any such important decisions. The company is continuously crossing the budget allowances and still the attitude to plan and covers its liabilities is not taking place. The legitimacy theory clearly points out how the entities should think before framing any such policies and this theory integrates with the problem where the company should focus on the plans by using past trends of data and helping to have a better position in the social and required values of the organization.(RAMALLAH, 2013) The company should neither go too conservative by tucking up too much money for claims nor should they be too much aggressive with the budget that it makes for the disasters as budgets are the picture of actuals and hence the team should focus on the same before proper decisions might be taken by the company as a whole. The company and its planning might not help the investors to reach to their objective to invest in the company and should focus on the correct estimation of the losses that happened in the future along with a better disaster budget which will help to plan the things and profitability in a much better way. Hence the problem statement in the article lies in the estimation error any further values added to the same through legitimacy would add value to the situation and develop more ecofriendly situation for the company on an overall level. These theories focusing on the external environment speaks a lot about the success factors of many organizations and thus helps to take decisions in a better way and develop better market superiority.(Reuters, 2012) Conclusion The overall understanding of the case here is that sustainable thinking is very important for an organization and there are lot of factors that the companies should focus upon before giving the final outcome of a particular solution. These theories help to understand the correct way and regain the market position at difficult times. References Aldrich. (1994). Fools rush in? Academy of Accounting Management Review,, 645-670. Hybels. (1995). A critical review and integrative theoretical model. Academy of Management Journal, Best Conference Proceedings, 241-245. RAMALLAH. (2013). Abbas seeks legitimacy in Palestinian strategy splurge. Chicago Times, 1-1. Reuters. (2012). Communique To Recognise Legitimacy Of Steps Taken. Chicago Tribune, 1-1.

Velazquezs The Toilet of Venus Essay Example

Velazquezs The Toilet of Venus Paper One of the most stunning paintings in the National Gallery is The Toilet of Venus, which is also known as The Rokeby Venus because it was part of the Morritt Collection in Rokeby Hall in Yorkshire before being added to the Gallerys permanent collection. There are many spectacular things to note about this painting, beginning with its creator.Painted by Diego Vel;zquez, it is one of the most note-worthy of his works. Vel;zquez was the leading painter of the Spanish school. Born in Seville in 1599 his works fall into the Baroque period of art.From the young age of 11, Vel;zquez acted an apprentice. His earliest teachings were from Francisco de Herrera the elder, whom he soon left for the studio of Pacheco, where he remained for five years. This training is reflected in his works, especially early on, where there is a strong naturalistic quality. After marrying Pachecos daughter, he moved to Madrid.He remained there under the protection of the cond; de Olivares. He soon became a court p ainter.When famous baroque painter Rubens visited the Spanish court near the end of 1629, Vel;zquez was influenced to travel to Italy to observe and work. He returned to the Spanish court two years later, and entered into what is considered the second stage of his professional artistic life. Over the next two decades his work was a tribute to the Spanish school. He traveled to Italy for the King, of whom he was a personal friend, purchasing works for the royal collection. He is credited with significantly enriching the collection.This second trip to Italy led to his painting of The Rokeby Venus, his only surviving nude. The Rokeby Venusisfirst recorded in June 1651 as part of the collection of the Marqu;s del Carpio, son of the First Minister of Spain.Most likely, the painting was commissioned by the Marqu;s, and then displayed privately. That fact saved Vel;zquez from being targe

How the Treaty of Versailles Effected Germany Essays - Free Essays

How the Treaty of Versailles Effected Germany Essays - Free Essays How the Treaty of Versailles Effected Germany History How the Treaty of Versailles Effected Germany Wen World War I ended on November 11, 1918, peace talks went on for months due to the Allied leaders wanting to punish the enemy and dividing the spoils of war. A formal agreement to end the war was made and called the Treaty of Versailles. The issue that took the most time were the territorial issues because the empires of Russia, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman, and Germany had collapsed. These fallen empires had to be divided up and Americas President Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau of France, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, and David Lloyd George of Great Britain, were the main deciders of this deal. During 1918, Russia was knocked out of the war due to military defeats and the Bolshevik Revolution. Even though Russia had not been part of the Central Powers, Germany seized much of western Russia. After many months of arguing, the four men had made western Russia into the nations of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. The Treaty of Versailles was either a treaty of peace or a vengeance for the Germans. In April of 1919, Germany was previously captured and made to wait in a small house that was surrounded with barbed wire. The Allied, who captured Germany, wanted to make a peace treaty to end the fighting. The Germans agreed, but they wanted a treaty that was based on the Fourteen Points but obviously they were not going to get it because of the way they were treated; the barbed wire was unnecessary and should have tipped them off to what lay ahead. When the treaty was first introduced to the Germans, they declined to sign it. It forced the Germans to accept full responsibility for the war and strip themselves of its colonies, coal fields, and the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. It also made them pay outrageous reparations to the Allies. Nevertheless, on June 28, 1919, the Germans reluctantly signed the treaty because the Allies refused to change one word. Out of the $33 billion dollars the Germans had to pay for damages, the country was only able to pay $4.5 billion of it. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles helped set the stage for another world war less than 20 years later because the Allied wanted to stop Germany from ever becoming imperialistic again and still have them pay the war reparations. Germany opposed these actions and was the most effected by the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Germany got the blunt end of the war and was desperate to find a new leader to get out of their depression. That leader was Adolf Hitler. World War I was won by the Allied in which a formal agreement was made called the Versailles Treaty. It both brought peace and war in the coming years. Due to the harsh life styles it forced Germany to live, World War II broke out within twenty years time from the treaty.

Globalization Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Globalization - Coursework Example Additionally, its E-commerce website caters to over 10 countries, employs 2.2 million workers, caters to over 245 million customers on a weekly basis, its sales amount is close to $450 billion annually and is now ranked by the Fortune 500, as the best in the retail chain sector. Callahan argues that, its global outlook and its unrivaled pursuit of low prices for their products, have led to its management adopting information systems that have made it a leading innovator. Its innovations include TPS and DSS systems that aid in tracking products, restocking the inventory that cut costs that are passed as savings to the customers. This has enabled Walmart to be considered successful in the concept of supply chain management. Recently, Walmart began embarking on establishing a global information technology system that will lead to the elimination of conventional reliance on local IT which curtails the growth of firms in the US (Callahan, 2011). According to Kizza, some of the obstacles curtailing the full implementation of a global information system include, shifting to an external software package, since most organizations have an in-house IT departments to spearhead such developments. Some of the solutions to this problem include the RFID wireless solution and the development of a global E-commerce platform that connects all the systems used in recent online operations in Europe and the US (Kizza,

Politica Science - society and state in contemporary russia Essay

Politica Science - society and state in contemporary russia - Essay Example A democracy can broadly be defined as a government that has been set up by the people which essentially means that all people living under that government should be entitled to have their opinion considered in everything that affects their lives. Furthermore, democracy can also be exercised directly or indirectly through which people elect their representatives. In light of this, it is absurd that two decades down the line despite the dissolution of USSR president Yeltsin failed to horn our promise to better democracy and improve the lives of Russian citizens. This just proves that Russia is still categorized as one of the authoritarian states in Europe. As much as most of the leaders have improved the country’s economic status both domestic and international policies it is believed that from the essays â€Å"not free† a lot of factors have hindered Russia’s democracy development (Motyl 2005). For the first time power within Kremlin changed through the 2000, elec tion this process not only took place but was conducted according to the constitution more than two thirds of the eligible voters participated. They appeared to be well informed of choices to make. However, up to now Russian political conditions do not meet the criteria of democracy; a political framework must be adopted to understand democracy adequately (Chomsky, et al 2003). Some political analysts such as Joseph Schumpeter describes democracy as an institutional arrangement for arriving at a political decision that help politicians in the acquisition of the power necessary for them to decide by way of their struggling to obtain votes from the citizens (Josephi 2010). Basically his definition may suggest that countries only differ in the degree to which institutional conditions are satisfied. Perhaps that is the reason why president Yeltsin ascended to power and failed to live up to his promises. Most Russians still point out that with the rioting on October 2nd the liberal regim e suppressed the angry communists. After a time period of approximately ten years since 23 Russian citizens lost their lives, the Russian government is still expounding on the myth that the crackdown was just to topple Mr. Yeltsin political opponents (Lucas 2009). This left many with the view that Mr. Yeltsin is a democratic hypocrite who never had the people’s interests at heart. All he had was his own vested interests. From that moment, descending from power without going to prison for him was inevitable; perhaps that is why he saw in an inherited presidency system as a scapegoat; perhaps that is why he ensured Mr. Vladimir Putin came to power (Marot 2012). When United Russia party chanced to win a working majority in the 2003 Russian Parliamentary elections, the Russian president Putin was seen to set out and attempt to critically undercut most of the opposition parties that were active in the country. He instigated changes in various electoral policies that allowed the go vernment to effectively manage to shut out a variety of the smaller political parties focusing mainly on those that had been perceived as being key advocates of liberal democracy. Other changes that were made caused it to become extremely difficult for parties to manage to field presidential candidates in a presidential ballot (Ethridge and Handelman 2012). Following the unexpected resignation of President Boris Yeltsin in 2000 Vladimir was assigned to

Human rights and civil liberties - Choose one of the rights listed Essay

Human rights and civil liberties - Choose one of the rights listed below. Explain how the European Convention on Human Rights seeks to uphold that right, highli - Essay Example Under the Treaty, inhuman and degrading punishment would violate the rights of an individual, or even a child, to freedom from arbitrary treatment - such as excessive punishment or torture under imprisonment. There have been allegations of inhuman and degrading treatment in prisons and the provisions of the Geneva Convention have been found inadequate in this regard. However, Article 3 of the European Convention addresses all such violations of the right to freedom from discriminatory treatment. Article 3 has been primarily applied in respect to international victims of torture and cruel, arbitrary treatment while imprisoned. However corporal punishment of children is also emerging as an area where the provisions of Article 3 would apply. Such punishment would be equivalent to mental and physical torture which is deemed to be unacceptable under the Convention. Yet traditional belief has held that corporal punishment is an essential part of discipline and this conflict between punishm ent and freedom from torture has generated controversy within the European Union. In view of the fact that â€Å"we live in a society in which violence is spreading like a plague†4 and incidents of terrorist violence and destruction are soaring, the provisions of Article 3 of the Convention help to protect individuals from violence. When the violence or torture is perpetrated on children through corporal punishment, there is a special cause of action that arises for the exercise of Article 3, since children are in a weaker position as compared to adults. Corporal punishment can sometimes be excessive and thereby constitute degrading treatment that harms the child physically, emotionally and mentally. Legal reforms have been undertaken in several countries to declare corporal punishment of children unlawful - a violation of the protection against torture and inhuman treatment guaranteed under Article

Effects of Social Class Identification on Government

Effects of Social Class Identification on Government Walsh, K. C., Jennings, M., Stoker, L. (2004). The Effects of Social Class Identification on Participatory Orientations Towards Government.  British Journal of Political Science,Vol.34, No.03, pp.469-495. Brief Summary There is common claim that class identity does not matter for American political behaviour. The researchers tried to find out the influence of social class identification on participatory orientations towards government. The researchers focus on class identity perspective which people use to interpret and interact with the political world. The researchers used panel-study data spanning thirty-two years and two generations. Research Description This study’s independent variable is social class identification. There are two approaches, the first respondents subjectively identified themselves, and the second one is objective assessment. The researchers distinguish two classes (working-class and middle-class) by levels of income, education, union membership, and occupation. This study’s dependent variable is participatory orientations towards government. The researchers employed four measures. All of these measures concern political involvement and engagement (political interest, political efficacy, conception of good citizen, and political participation). Because there were many variables in this research, the researchers used multivariate analysis. Two variables are control variables, they are gender and race. â€Å"In a multivariate analysis, a variable is said to controlled when its influence is removed. We control variable by holding its value constant† (Agresti, 1999, p.305). The methodology in that research was a quantitative approach. Creswell (2003, p.18) explained quantitative as â€Å"an approach which the investigator primarily uses post positivist claims for developing knowledge, employs strategies of inquiry such as experiments and survey, and collects data on predetermined instruments that yield statistical data†. Because the purpose of this research is to make predictions about relation or effects of social class on political world, researchers used inferential statistics. â€Å"Inferential statistical analysis can predict characteristics of entire populations quite well by selecting samples that are small relative to the population size. In the past quarter-century, social scientists have increasingly recognized the power of inferential statistical methods†, (Agresti, 1999, p.5). This research used longitudinal research, from 1965-1997 with panel-study type. The sampling technique is proportionate stratified random sampling. The sample is 1,669 seniors from 97 secondary high schools in America in 1965 and also their parents. Furthermore, the instrument which researchers used is a questionnaire. Research Critique Clarity This research methods use inferential statistics to predict population characteristics by using sample, so the concept of population and sample must be clear. According to Babbie (1990, p.72), researchers must begin with a careful specification of population and should not mislead or deceive the readers. He gave example â€Å"Adult New Yorkers† is clearer than â€Å"American† because there is specification of the age and boundaries. In this study, the population all senior high school students in USA, and the unit analysis is an individual senior high school student in 1965. The sample is 1,669 students in 1965 and their parents. The researchers describe the different attitude between two generations. Besides that, the researchers also show the trend or the changing of respondents attitude using four wave panels for student generation in 1965 (G2) and three waves panel for their parents (G1). This article published in July 2004 and at the beginning of the article (p.469) clearly stated that it is about American political behavior. In addition, the brief result or answer for research question is â€Å"class may be particularly important in the present political context†. However the researchers used data survey in 1965, 1973, 1982, and 1997. The focus of research is one of issues here. Longitudinal research usually compares the changing of the subject time after time. One of types of longitudinal research is panel-study. â€Å"Panel studies involve the collection of data over time from the same sample respondents. The sample for such a study is called the panel†(Babbie, 1990, p.58). Researchers make claim the result particularly important for present political context instead of stated trend of last five decades or comparison of two generations. 2.2 Theory and Hypotheses â€Å"Theory has an important role in research and is an essential ally for the researcher. Researchers interweave a story about the operation of the social world (the theory) with what they observe when examine it systematically† (Neuman, 2007, p.24). Dennis Gilbert (2010, p.11) define social classes as â€Å"groups of families, more or less equal in rank and differentiated from other families above or below them with regard to characteristics such as occupation, income, wealth, and prestige†. Furthermore he figure out American social class structure become six parts: underclass (12%), working poor (13%), working class (30%), middle class (30%), upper-middle class (14%), and capitalist class (1%). Each of class has characteristics in terms of typical occupation and education. In this research, researchers just use two social classes. Justification to do that because based on previous research by Jackman and Jackman in 1975, the vast majority respondents identified as working-class (37 %) or middle-class (44 %). In subjective social class identification, respondents have to choose two options. As a result there are several respondents did not give answer. Instead of beginning with theories and concepts related to engagement in governmental affairs such as political participation and civic engagement, the researchers directly gave their measurement. They used four measurements to measure participatory orientations toward government (political interest, active citizen, political efficacy, and political participation). Based on the purpose of research to get to know relationship social class identification toward participatory orientations toward government, the simply hypothesis would be: H0 = There is no significant correlation/effects between social class identification and participatory orientations towards government. Ha= There is significant correlation/effects between social class identification and participatory orientations towards government. In analytical surveys usually are driven by theoretical questions. The purpose is to collect evidence which supports or contradict some hypothesis about the cause of people’s behavior. Buckingham and Saunders (2004, p.14) define hypotheses as â€Å"statements about what our theoretical propositions lead us to expect to find. They enable theories to be tested by predicting patterns of observations that should occur. Hypotheses therefore predict patterns of association in observed data as a means for testing causal theories†. 2.3 Research Design and Methodology â€Å"Research design is a strategy for collecting and analyzing data. It must be appropriate for answering the questions which the project is seeking to address, and it must take into account the practical constraints which the project is likely to encounter† (Buckingham and Saunders, 2004, p.294). The strategy which researchers used to collect data here is a survey. Sampling In order to get the view and attitude of population, the researchers used random sampling. This is the selection of a sample that should be representative of the population. The researchers choose from sampling frame available, and each individual has same opportunity. In this study, type of probability sampling which researchers used is proportionate stratified random sampling. The researchers said (p.473) â€Å"the students were distributed across a stratified sample of ninety-seven secondary schools, with the probability of schools selection being proportionate to size†. As described above, the sample took in 1965 from 97 schools with target subjects 1,669 students and one of their parents as well. We can ask questions, why the researchers used stratified random sampling? Why make a senior high school student as a unit analysis? Why there are four wave panels? Actually it is a series of data survey about political attitudes and behaviors by obtaining data on the same individuals as they aged from approximately 18 years of age in 1965 to 50 years of age in 1997. Based on that series of data survey, in 2004 the researchers make study about the effects of social identification on participatory towards government affairs. According to this information, we can assume the stratum here is the generation (G1 and G2). These four wave panels yielded 935 respondents for G2 (students) and 898 respondents for three wave panels G1 (parents). However, the surveys in 1973 and 1982 did not include social class questions. Because of geographical problem to make personal interview, the base panel survey in 1973 and 1982 are 728 for G1 and 659 for G2. One problem here, can we compare every wave panel, if the sample compositions are different? Instrumentation â€Å"A research instrument is a survey questionnaire or interview schedule that researcher uses to measure variables† (Neuman, 2007, p.168). The researchers used a questionnaire which conducted by several ways (face-to-face interview, computer-assisted personal interview, computer-assisted telephone interview, and self-enumerated questionnaire). This research used Logistic regression model for binary response variables which only has two possible outcomes. Education level: This index was scaled from 0 (less than high school) to 1 (PhD). Union Member: 0 = no; 1 = yes. Income: all of responses about household income were coded to the midpoint of the category and then rescaled within each wave and each generation from 0 (least) to 1 (highest). Occupation Skill Level Self-Employment and Homemaker For the better education level, income, and participate in union member would take into account in middle class status. However, for occupation indicators, the researchers just gave information about the consideration without description where those characteristics were placed. There are several questions in the questionnaire which measure political attitudes of American people. Researchers employed four measures, and it is categorized as a dichotomous dependent dummy variable. The value is most often a representation for a measured variable (Hagle, 2004). Political interest, 0 = hardly at all, 1 = most of the time Being an active citizen, 0 = if they did not volunteer such a response, 1 = respondents volunteered a response of this nature in any one of the responses. Political Efficacy, 0 = least efficacy, 1 = most efficacy Political participation, 0 = least active, 1 = most active The measurement scale which researchers used is an ordinal scale. Neuman (2007, p.375) defines ordinal level measurement as â€Å"a level of measurement that identifies a difference among categories of a variable and allows the categories to be rank order†. Even though just there are two categories (0 and 1), we can order it, which is 1 is more active than 0 in terms of political participation variable for example. Ordinal scale can have more than two options, for example (very interested, interested, uninterested, very uninterested). 2.4. Analysis of Data and Findings The researchers provide regression tables to describe their research result. In this study, researchers stated (p.479) that they used bivariate (type I) and multivariate regression models (type II). Bivariate analysis is an analysis of association between two variables. On the other hand, â€Å"multivariate analysis is statistical procedures which attempt to distinguish and measure the relative strength or significance of association between several independent variables and a dependent variables† (Buckingham and Sunders, p.292). The regression model formula: y= a + b1x1 + b2x2 + †¦ + e. Relationship between Class Identity and Political Interest The positive and significant coefficients on class identity in the bivariate models (I) indicate that middle-class identifiers display higher levels of interest. Generally, the stable middle-class identifiers are consistently and statistically significantly more interested in politics than are the stable working-class identifiers with p-value Relationship between Class Identity and Conception of Good Citizen as an Active Political Participant Middle-class identifiers are significantly more likely to emphasize the importance of being an active player in politics. In generation 2, the working-class mean drops from 0.53 to 0.41, whereas middle-class mean stays at 0.62. In model II, stable middle-class always more likely to mention active engagement than were stable working-class, 0.10 more in 1965 and 0.20 more in 1997. Relationship between Class Identity and Political Efficacy The bivariate models show the gaps between middle-class and working-class identifiers range from 0.14 to 0.21 for G1, and from 0.16 to 0.23 for G2 on the 0-1 efficacy scale. The dramatic decline of political efficacy happened from 1973 to 1992 (0.61 to 0.49) for G1 middle-class. On the other hand, for G2 slightly increase from 0.65 in 1982 become 0.67 in 1997. Relationship between Class Identity and Political Participation The constants and coefficients in the type I models demonstrate the expected life cycle: decreasing participation among parents as they become older and increasing participation among the offspring generation as they middle age. The type II models show that subjective identification becomes a less impressive predictor for G1 members as the coefficients on stable middle-class identity changed from 0.15 in 1965 to 0.09 in 1982. At confidence interval 95% and p-value (*p Limitation and Recommendation 3.1 Reliability and Outdated Neuman (2007, p.115) explain reliability as â€Å"dependability or consistency. It suggests that the same thing is repeated or recurs under the identical or very similar conditions†. This research seems like not reliable enough due to limited information given by the researchers. It may be difficult for the other researchers to conduct similar type of research in the future. The data which the researchers used derived from 1965-1997. Meanwhile, the research launched in 2004, and now 2014. Thus, this research could be less important to be used because the condition and preferences of people to participate on governmental affairs might be has been changed. 3.2 Sampling The representativeness is one of issues here. The researchers use data from their previous research. We can question, whether 1,669 students (with his parent) at 97 schools are representative? How about the distribution? Response rate from this study is just slightly more than a half of the total respondents, 935 of 1,669 or 56%. Then from 935 the researchers could only processed 728 data. Some of the reasons data not completed is because some respondents refuse to state their social class identity and geographical factor. It is easier for the researchers to focus on particular area or state. Besides that, the researchers can make shorter the range of research duration, only one decade for example. It is because not easy to keep the same and large respondents in long time period. 3.3 Data Analyzing The researchers not much explain about dependent variables in type II model, but from four those regression tables we know that, education and income are outstanding variables who make significant differences between working-class and middle-class. Research Good Practice and Contribution This study not only including subjective claim but also use objective indicator to determine of the social class of the respondents. Researchers effort to use panel study spanning two generations G1 and G2 for thirty-two years, allows the reader to check the trend of participation. The researcher concluded there is relevance of social class identification and participatory toward government affairs. It showed middle class with better income, education level, and occupation more contributive and active in political activity and civic engagement than working class. This research could be consideration for government to make strategies how to increase political participation like to vote in general election. Besides that, media, academician, and politicians could make effort to raise public awareness about how relevance and important of politics in their life. Conclusion To conclude this study, I would like to highlight back some points. Overall, it is a good research and useful in social political discipline. The researchers offered something new from previous research about social class and political participation. They used longitudinal research, compare two generations, and used objective measurement to determine social class. However, there are still few things need to be improved towards achieve a better result. Bibliography Agresti, A., Finlay, B. (1999) Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Babbie, E. (1990). Survey research methods . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Buckingham, A., Saunders, P. (2004)The survey methods workbook: From design to analysis. Cambridge: Polity Press Creswell, J.W. (2009) Research Design – Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches 3rd edition, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Hagle, T. M. (2004) Dichotomous Variablesin The Sage Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Ed. Michael Lewis-Beck, Alan Bryman and Tim Futing Liao. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Jackman, M. R., and Jackman R. W. (1983) Class Awareness in the United States. Barkeley: University of California Press. Neuman, W. L. (2007) Basic of Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. 2nd ed. Boston: Pearson Education. Walsh, K. C., Jennings, M., Stoker, L. (2004). The Effects of Social Class Identification on Participatory Orientations Towards Government.British Journal of Political Science,Vol.34, No.03, pp.469-495.

Christopher Columbus :: Christopher Columbus Essays

Christopher Columbus is the most well known explorer by most school age children. When children are young, teachers tell them that Columbus was a very good person, a hero even. To be politically correct though, Christopher Columbus brought death and destruction with him to the Americas. He stole, killed, and tortured the natives. Christopher Columbus was not a true explorer, but he was a conqueror of people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Christopher Columbus set out on his voyage (August 3rd, 1492) to find a new route to the Indies there was no way that he could know that it would turn out the way it did. When he landed at the Caribbean Islands (October 12th, 1492), the people there were scared, but still friendly toward him. This next quote is from Columbus’ journal: â€Å"As I saw that they were very friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force, Weapons they have none, nor are acquainted with them, for I showed them swords which they grasped by the blades, and cut themselves through ignorance, But they seemed on the whole to me, to be a very poor people. They all go completely naked, even the women. I was very attentive to them, and strove to learn if they had any gold. Seeing some of them with little bits of this metal hanging at their noses† As you can see it was very easy for Columbus to take the m over and treat them badly because they had no protection. That is a good example to show how cruel Columbus could act toward people he knew couldn’t fight back. This is one proof of Christopher Columbus being a conqueror.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the movie we watched in class, it told us how Columbus was just out to get gold and riches. He ordered the natives to proclaim him governor of the lands. Since he was governor he made a law that said the natives had to bring him one bag of gold dust every three months. If they did not give him this gold (simply because their wasn’t that much gold on the islands) he would order to have their hands cut off, and they would bleed to death. If they escaped, then he would hunt them down with dogs. Christopher Columbus also ordered his men to hang and burn some natives that wouldn’t do exactly as he told them.