The Homeless Problem in America Essay -- Government

The Homeless Problem in America In Charles E. King’s â€Å"Homelessness in America†, he expounds on the number of inhabitants in vagrants in America and the way that youngsters are a piece of the developing populace of the destitute in America. Additionally, in â€Å"My Anger and Sadness Over Pesticides†, Cesar Chavez composes that pesticides have jeopardized the lives of homestead laborers and their families. Also, in â€Å"The Gulf War is Still Being Fought†, Joelle Foshee composes that despite the fact that the bay war has finished, another war is as yet being battled and this new war is known as the â€Å"Gulf War Syndrome†. These are on the whole shameful acts in America today. Be that as it may, vagrancy in America is the unfairness I have decided to address in light of the fact that the number of inhabitants in vagrants has become higher because of lacking assistance from the gove...

Harry Potter Essay Example For Students

Harry Potter Essay 1. Harrys guardians are slaughtered, however the individual that murdered them couldnt execute harry2. Harry lives with his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin; belives an untruth that his folks were executed in a vehicle crashi simply need I simply need to get a paperto get an I simply need to get a paperjust need to gei simply need to get a paperii simply need to get a paper simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a papert a paperpaperi I simply need to get a paperjust wanti simply need to get a paper to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get an I simply need to get a paperpaperi I simply need to get a paper simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply wanti I simply need to get a paper simply need to get a paper to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paper paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi simply need to get a paperi

[Guest Post] How to Revise a Paper in 5 Easy Steps

[Guest Post] How to Revise a Paper in 5 Easy Steps This is a post by my good friend Claire, shes an insanely amazing human being who has dreamt of being an admissions blogger since August 2016. Today Claire has achieved her dream and is goin to share this accomplishment with everyone she knows, her mom in particular. Check out her paper-writing, published-researcher becoming saga below: As a general disclaimer, I don’t think paper revisions should be like this. In fact, it should probably not be like this. But when you combine a major revision deadline of 4 weeks and an MIT undergrad in the midst of classes, clubs, internships, and a generally messy existence, then things go haywire and unpredictable, as things usually tend to do here. Here’s the unfolding of my research, from an organized beginning to a furious blur at the end. Step 1: Avoid rejection! It had been around two months since my supervisor and I submitted my manuscript [1]   related to our project on protein structure prediction when I got an email. I remember sitting at my desk in the Google Cambridge office in the late afternoon almost everyone except my host and me had left the office, so I was sitting back in my chair, scrolling through my email when I saw the subject line “Decision made for ….’ flash in my notifications. “Nope,” I thought to myself as I flicked it away â€" I had been rejected for a number of opportunities earlier that week, so I wasn’t in the mood for another set of bad news. “No rejection today,” I thought. “We reject rejection.” 1 hour later, I got two more emails from my supervisor’s OneDrive account with the manuscript document she submitted, along with a forwarded email with some comments. “Not a rejection!” quickly became my life motto as we hit step 2 addressing the peer reviewers. Step 2 â€" Address the reviewers: approach with time management in mind. Journals (or at least this one) always want you to resubmit within four weeks after addressing peer reviewer[2] comments, so things really moved quickly. Within two days, I found myself in a conference room at the office on the phone with my supervisor, staring at the 20 points that the reviewers brought up on my screen. Some were easy typos to resolve, but some of them were more involved one comment in particular called one of my figures “an overload of information that makes my brain hurt when trying to interpret them.” My supervisor chuckled when she read that, and I nodded in agreement. Unfortunately, this round of revisions also hit during a very inconvenient time in my life I was right in the last week of my internship, which was me scrambling to finish my summer project and making slides it at midnight, right after which, I had planned for two weeks to visit family in Asia, where I’d have limited Internet connectivity. The fourth week of the revision period would coincide with the first week of classes, which is always filled with thousands of meetings, hours of unpacking, and general chaos. The first week of this four week period I had spent finishing up internship stuff and packing and moving from summer housing in Random to fall housing in McCormick (a sweat-driven Tuesday morning haul), so my grind didn’t start until week 2, where I started off with a 14 hour sprint on an international flight to finish as much as I could without Internet. I wouldn’t have been surprised if after the tenth hour, where everyone was passed out and the lights were out, that the flight attendants were concerned about me. Regardless, by the end of it when the lights came back on, I must’ve looked like one of those people who wander out of the stud at 6am after pulling an all nighter during finals week. [have been there, have done that] I finished up the first draft of revisions by the end of Week 2 in Taiwan, powered by my parents’ mobile hotspot while seeking solace from the summer heat. By the time my supervisor got back to me, it was nearing the middle of Week 3, and I was on my way to Japan to relax for a few days before returning to campus. I briefly looked at the changes and made a few notes to myself before shutting my laptop and boarding the flight. Step 3: Remain calm when things go wrong. This is where tragedy strikes. The part in the story where everything suddenly unfolds and the main character finds themselves in an unpredictable predicament. The incoming tsunami over the horizon.  The point where the reader feels that pit of dread drop in their stomach as things get worse and worse and worse, but also that comforting cloud of relief as they emerge back into reality thinking, “Wow, thank GOD that’s not me.” I was on my way back to the States near the end of week 3 after a few days in Japan, feeling refreshed and ready for the semester. The night before my flight, I flipped open my laptop to work for an hour or so. I watched the power button flicker on and off. Funny, I thought, as I tried it again. My fan ran intensely for five seconds before the light flickered off again. I started to panic. I tried turning my laptop on another ten times, each resulting in the power button lighting up for a few seconds and dimming again. I ran to the outlet, thinking maybe my laptop had drained its power while on sleep the past few days, but nothing helped. I sat and stared at the wall. My mom asked quietly if I was ok. I nodded slowly, in a silent, but furious panic. All my data, figures, and code were stuck on my laptop that refused to turn on, and I had a week left to make the revisions happen. My Google search did nothing to dissuade my increasing heart rate as phrases like “fried motherboard” and “major hardware problem” flashed on my phone screen. A bead of sweat dripped down the side of my face as I formulated a desperate plan. Step 4: Send some emails. Make some calls. Hack some computers (not really). The day I arrived back in the US, I sent an email to IST requesting an emergency loaner laptop, which I wouldn’t receive until three days later because of Labor Day weekend. I prayed that Crashplan was magically backing up my computer even though I hadn’t opened it or updated it in nearly two years. I read online that it was now called Code42, which a) I hadn’t even known was a thing, b) might not necessarily be compatible with older versions of Crashplan, and c) might not even have been accessible because I didn’t remember making an account. My stress level increased, ever so slightly. My existence depended on my code still being retrievable from my very, very dead laptop. After sending the email, I searched on Yelp for emergency PC services to revive my old laptop. A few places in Boston popped up, but none had stellar reviews the one that had five stars on Yelp was all the way out in Brookline. (Out further than Fenway?? UNIMAGINABLE) How desperate was I? Desperate enough to call the owner and ask for a Saturday appointment, and then trek out on the Green Line far enough that I started seeing more trees than buildings. I dropped off my laptop and explained what was wrong with it, trying to convey my college student level panic in my voice. The owner quickly took the computer in, wrote a few notes on a post-it, and sent me off.[3] Adding to the running around, in order to retrieve the simulation trajectories that we had to rerun for a few additional experiments, I had to go into my group’s lab on Labor Day and find the workstation that had the simulation trajectory files. The workstation IP address had changed since the last time I had accessed it, so I couldn’t ssh[4] into it. Walking into the lab, I desperately hoped that the workstation was still where it was when I had last physically worked in the lab (more than nine months ago). It luckily was I quickly typed in the username and password and hit “Log in”. “Password incorrect”, the screen read. I tried again and got the same screen. I cursed silently and looked around, hoping no one was there to witness me guessing random permutations of the old password. Finally on my sixteenth guess, the screen unlocked. The new UROP’s directory from the summer was still open on the workstation, so I minimized the window and opened my own folder. The files were still where I expected them to be, and I uploaded everything to Dropbox so I could access them on my loaner laptop. I exhaled, relieved I was able to guess my way into the system. After writing down the new login info, I left, shooting my supervisor a quick email: At exactly 9am the first day of Week 4, I dashed into IST and claimed my loaner laptop, a Dell, much like the one that crashed on me. I spent hours redownloading software, all my simulations from Dropbox, and most of my code from the cloud. (thank GOD for Crashplan. I owe my life to them). My supervisor had just emailed me asking to meet over Skype so we could coordinate a final document of revisions for approval from the PI, which gave me around 48 hours to accumulate all the new figures and revisions. But after coming this far, I was delirious with blind confidence that I would be able to finish everything by her deadline, which was 4pm Thursday of the first week of classes, right before her flight. Sitting in the EECS lounge, making sure everything was perfect, I made it by the skin of my teeth and sent my supervisor the final changes at 3:53pm. “Right on time!” she replied. Step 5: Hope for the best!  After our PI approved the changes, we sent back the final manuscript to the journal and hoped for the best. My senior year started, and I got back into the groove of classes and began working in my new group at CSAIL for my SuperUROP. I had in the back of my mind, a reminder to make the poster for my upcoming conference poster presentation related to the project, but I was mostly done, for now. A few lessons from this story: sometimes shit hits the fan. Sometimes shit really hits the fan and it’s kind of unavoidable, but you have to learn to stay calm and adjust. Lots of things at MIT work out like this â€" people figure out majors aren’t right for them a year in; you have four exams in four days and crawl into S^3 on three hours of sleep; maybe you get pneumonia and have to drop some classes. But the thing about this place is that we’re always learning to be flexible and to keep moving forward (in whichever direction that may be), no matter what the circumstances. Also back up your computer. That’s also a really big lesson. Lastly, after all that, there are few things better in this life than knowing a project you worked your ass off on for nearly two years and gone through four weeks of sheer chaos has finally come to fruition â€" just presented a poster on it and yes, the paper was accepted :D [1] We submitted the paper written about our results and experiments from my UROP to a peer-reviewed journal, which is a collection of a lot of scientific experiments and results and discussion from a variety of fields. [2] Peer reviewers are usually scientists within your field of study that can comment and criticize the work you submitted. They send back a round of comments that you should address when resubmitting to the journal. [3] What ultimately was wrong with my computer was a broken heat sink and a virus that was affecting my computer’s bootup (basically hogging all the CPU such that my computer would overheat all the time on startup). [4] Ssh means to remotely access a computer (so you can access another computer’s files from your own computer)

The House on Mango Street Reflection Paper - 1408 Words

February 6, 2013 Cynthia Cotto Cc606738@sju.edu Response Paper In the very first vignette Esperanza discusses how her family moved around a lot and even though the house on Mango Street was not the house of their dreams, it was a great achievement to own it. Although Esperanza knew they were not moving anytime soon, she recognized one advantage; her family was free of landlord management. In my community home ownership is a constant battle and for many simply a dream. I learn the value of home ownership in a similar sequence as Esperanza. My little sister and I were moved to and from apartment to family member’s houses until our first small home. A home with no back yard and only four stairs and side walk out front. None the†¦show more content†¦Even though leaving Philadelphia is a dream of mine, I know there is no other place in the world I would rather be from; it has prepared me to be brave and define what I desire for my life and what is undesired for my life. Self-exploration is hindered in this book and my life. I can very much identify with Esperanza perspectives on societal issues that Latin women face. A society dominated by men and women relying on them, whether it is a father, spouse or friend. Men are considered the strong reasonable as where women are weak and emotional, in turn women need men for protection. A young girl may have two story paths, one where she relies on the protection of her father while she watches her mother cater to him or two, witnesses the struggles of a single young woman and absence for a father. This book describes marriage as priority for every girl or else how could she survive; appearances and physical features are highly valued traits. This attitude is not one that Esperanza agrees with, nor do I. For example, Marin she is the girl standing on the street just â€Å"waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life.† This character implies that she does not dream of active ly setting life goals for herself and working to earn them, instead she will wait until a man makes it happen for her. The ideology behind this thought being that as a woman she must thrive to be as attractive as possible to heighten her chances of marriage and acquireShow MoreRelatedEssay on The House on Mango Street and the Style of Sandra Cisneros1669 Words   |  7 PagesThe House on Mango Street and the Style of Sandra Cisneros Clearly, Sandra Cisneros writing style is one representative of a minority voice. Her amazing style allows her readers to take an active part in the minority experience. For this reason, I believe Cisneros has had a lot of influence and success in the status of minority writers, especially in the canon of what is read and taught in schools today. 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Henrik Ibsen s A Doll s House - 1231 Words

A Doll’s House is a play by Henrik Ibsen about the liberation of the protagonist, Nora, from a toxic and oppressive relationship in the Victorian Era. Based on a real friend of Ibsen, Nora portrays a seemingly childish and bubbly persona, caged by noble sacrifices and a web of innocent lies. Manipulative and careful, she works furtively to solve all of her problems independently. This contrasts the view her husband has of her as his little doll. He suppresses her freedom of speech, thought, and even the freedom to eat what she pleases. While readers may get the impression that Nora is immature, she is slowly but surely revealed as an independent and responsible woman. At the beginning of Act One, Nora acts like a child, dancing around†¦show more content†¦While it is apparent Torvald loves Nora deeply, he treats her like an object he is free to and control and play withm hence the name A Doll’s House, which refers to Nora. Nora lives her life to please her husb and due to a childhood of doing the same for her father â€Å"‘I should not think of going against your wishes’†(6) she proclaims, as she wipes the remnants of a macaron off of her face so she would not be found in violation of the strict rules that prohibit the consumption of desserts, â€Å"‘Hasn t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? [†¦] taken a bite at a macaroon or two?’ ‘No, Torvald’†(6). He dictates the conversation by establishing himself as dominant, using belittling pet names and making his supposed subordinate feel unnecessary guilt for going against his arbitrary demands. She feels the need to lie about something as simple as eating a macaron. Torvald brings out the doll-like, childish tendencies in Nora by inflicting these irrelevant rules and restrictions upon who he imagines to be his thoughtless, innocent, and weak-willed housewife. When Nora is interacting with other characters, these tendenci es are not apparent, because they speak to her as an equal and don’t have the power a husband held over his wife in the Victorian Era. Their relationship is similar to that of a parent and child, which Nora comes to terms with before the end of the play. She

Henrik Ibsen s A Doll s House - 1231 Words

A Doll’s House is a play by Henrik Ibsen about the liberation of the protagonist, Nora, from a toxic and oppressive relationship in the Victorian Era. Based on a real friend of Ibsen, Nora portrays a seemingly childish and bubbly persona, caged by noble sacrifices and a web of innocent lies. Manipulative and careful, she works furtively to solve all of her problems independently. This contrasts the view her husband has of her as his little doll. He suppresses her freedom of speech, thought, and even the freedom to eat what she pleases. While readers may get the impression that Nora is immature, she is slowly but surely revealed as an independent and responsible woman. At the beginning of Act One, Nora acts like a child, dancing around†¦show more content†¦While it is apparent Torvald loves Nora deeply, he treats her like an object he is free to and control and play withm hence the name A Doll’s House, which refers to Nora. Nora lives her life to please her husb and due to a childhood of doing the same for her father â€Å"‘I should not think of going against your wishes’†(6) she proclaims, as she wipes the remnants of a macaron off of her face so she would not be found in violation of the strict rules that prohibit the consumption of desserts, â€Å"‘Hasn t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? [†¦] taken a bite at a macaroon or two?’ ‘No, Torvald’†(6). He dictates the conversation by establishing himself as dominant, using belittling pet names and making his supposed subordinate feel unnecessary guilt for going against his arbitrary demands. She feels the need to lie about something as simple as eating a macaron. Torvald brings out the doll-like, childish tendencies in Nora by inflicting these irrelevant rules and restrictions upon who he imagines to be his thoughtless, innocent, and weak-willed housewife. When Nora is interacting with other characters, these tendenci es are not apparent, because they speak to her as an equal and don’t have the power a husband held over his wife in the Victorian Era. Their relationship is similar to that of a parent and child, which Nora comes to terms with before the end of the play. She

Henrik Ibsen s A Doll s House - 1231 Words

A Doll’s House is a play by Henrik Ibsen about the liberation of the protagonist, Nora, from a toxic and oppressive relationship in the Victorian Era. Based on a real friend of Ibsen, Nora portrays a seemingly childish and bubbly persona, caged by noble sacrifices and a web of innocent lies. Manipulative and careful, she works furtively to solve all of her problems independently. This contrasts the view her husband has of her as his little doll. He suppresses her freedom of speech, thought, and even the freedom to eat what she pleases. While readers may get the impression that Nora is immature, she is slowly but surely revealed as an independent and responsible woman. At the beginning of Act One, Nora acts like a child, dancing around†¦show more content†¦While it is apparent Torvald loves Nora deeply, he treats her like an object he is free to and control and play withm hence the name A Doll’s House, which refers to Nora. Nora lives her life to please her husb and due to a childhood of doing the same for her father â€Å"‘I should not think of going against your wishes’†(6) she proclaims, as she wipes the remnants of a macaron off of her face so she would not be found in violation of the strict rules that prohibit the consumption of desserts, â€Å"‘Hasn t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? [†¦] taken a bite at a macaroon or two?’ ‘No, Torvald’†(6). He dictates the conversation by establishing himself as dominant, using belittling pet names and making his supposed subordinate feel unnecessary guilt for going against his arbitrary demands. She feels the need to lie about something as simple as eating a macaron. Torvald brings out the doll-like, childish tendencies in Nora by inflicting these irrelevant rules and restrictions upon who he imagines to be his thoughtless, innocent, and weak-willed housewife. When Nora is interacting with other characters, these tendenci es are not apparent, because they speak to her as an equal and don’t have the power a husband held over his wife in the Victorian Era. Their relationship is similar to that of a parent and child, which Nora comes to terms with before the end of the play. She

Henrik Ibsen s A Doll s House - 1231 Words

A Doll’s House is a play by Henrik Ibsen about the liberation of the protagonist, Nora, from a toxic and oppressive relationship in the Victorian Era. Based on a real friend of Ibsen, Nora portrays a seemingly childish and bubbly persona, caged by noble sacrifices and a web of innocent lies. Manipulative and careful, she works furtively to solve all of her problems independently. This contrasts the view her husband has of her as his little doll. He suppresses her freedom of speech, thought, and even the freedom to eat what she pleases. While readers may get the impression that Nora is immature, she is slowly but surely revealed as an independent and responsible woman. At the beginning of Act One, Nora acts like a child, dancing around†¦show more content†¦While it is apparent Torvald loves Nora deeply, he treats her like an object he is free to and control and play withm hence the name A Doll’s House, which refers to Nora. Nora lives her life to please her husb and due to a childhood of doing the same for her father â€Å"‘I should not think of going against your wishes’†(6) she proclaims, as she wipes the remnants of a macaron off of her face so she would not be found in violation of the strict rules that prohibit the consumption of desserts, â€Å"‘Hasn t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? [†¦] taken a bite at a macaroon or two?’ ‘No, Torvald’†(6). He dictates the conversation by establishing himself as dominant, using belittling pet names and making his supposed subordinate feel unnecessary guilt for going against his arbitrary demands. She feels the need to lie about something as simple as eating a macaron. Torvald brings out the doll-like, childish tendencies in Nora by inflicting these irrelevant rules and restrictions upon who he imagines to be his thoughtless, innocent, and weak-willed housewife. When Nora is interacting with other characters, these tendenci es are not apparent, because they speak to her as an equal and don’t have the power a husband held over his wife in the Victorian Era. Their relationship is similar to that of a parent and child, which Nora comes to terms with before the end of the play. She

The Return Midnight Chapter 3 Free Essays

string(188) " wel that in a couple of days we could even be tossing around the old pigskin,†he added, sarcasm edging his voice, â€Å"if everybody in town would just stop being crazy possessed\." Damon leaped. Somewhere in the middle of the leap Elena felt herself left to the whims of gravity. She tried to curl into a bal to take the impact on one buttock. We will write a custom essay sample on The Return: Midnight Chapter 3 or any similar topic only for you Order Now What happened was strange – almost miraculous. She came down, right side up, on the opposite side of the couch from the plate of steak tartar. The plate did a little leap of its own, three or four inches, perhaps, and then settled back where it had been. Elena was also lucky enough to get a perfect view of the end of the heroic rescue – which involved Damon diving for the floor and grabbing the bottle of precious Black Magic wine just before it hit the ground and smashed. He might not have the kind of lightning-fast reflexes he had when he was a vampire, but he was stil far, far faster than an ordinary human. Leap holding girl, drop girl onto something soft, turn leap into dive, and at last instant grab bottle, just before it would hit. Amazing. But there was another way that Damon wasn’t like a vampire anymore – he wasn’t invincible to fal ing onto hard surfaces. Elena only realized this when she heard him gasp, trying to breathe and not being able to. She scrambled wildly in her mind for al the accidents she could remember with jocks, and – yes, recal ed one when Matt had had the wind completely knocked out of him. The coach had seized him by the col ar and thumped him on the back. Elena ran to Damon and grabbed him under the arms, rol ing him onto his back. She put al her strength into hauling him into a sitting position. Then she made a club of her hands. Pretending she was Meredith, who had been on the basebal team at Robert E. Lee High and had a .225 ERA, she swung as hard as she could at Damon, slamming her fists into his back. And it worked! Suddenly Damon was wheezing, and then breathing again. A born straightener of ties, Elena knelt and tried to rearrange his clothes. As soon as he could breathe properly, his limbs stopped being pliant under her fingers. He gently curled her hands into each other. Elena wondered if possibly they’d gone so far beyond words that they would never find them again. How had it al happened? Damon had picked her up perhaps because her leg was burned, or perhaps because he had decided Mrs. Flowers was the one with the star bal . She herself had said, â€Å"Damon, what are you doing?†Perfectly straightforward. And then halfway through the sentence she had heard for herself the â€Å"darling†and – but who would ever believe her? – it hadn’t been connected with anything they had been doing earlier at al . It had been an accident, a slip of the tongue. But she’d said it in front of Bonnie, the one person most likely to take it seriously and personal y. And then Bonnie had been gone before she could even explain. Darling! When they had just started fighting again. It real y was a joke. Because he had been serious about just taking the star bal . She had seen it in his eyes. To cal Damon â€Å"darling†seriously, you would have to be – have to be†¦hopelessly†¦helplessly†¦desperately in†¦ Oh, God†¦ Tears began to run down Elena’s cheeks. But these were tears of revelation. Elena knew she wasn’t in her best form today. No real sleep for going on three days – too many conflicting emotions – too much genuine terror right now. Stil, she was terrified to find that something fundamental had changed inside her. It wasn’t anything she had asked for. Al she had asked was that the two brothers stop feuding. And she had been born to love Stefan; she knew that! Once, he’d been wil ing to marry her. Wel , since then she’d been a vampire, a spirit, and a new incarnation dropped from the sky, and she could hope that one day he would be wil ing to marry the new Elena, too. But the new Elena was bewildered, what with her strange new blood that to vampires was like rocket fuel compared to the gasoline most girls carried about in their veins. With her Wings Powers, such as Wings of Redemption, most of which she didn’t understand and none of which she could control. Although lately she had seen the beginning of a stance, and she knew it was for Wings of Destruction. That, she thought grimly, might be quite useful someday. Of course a number of them had already been helpful to Damon, who was no longer simply an al y, but an enemy-al y again. Who wanted to steal something that her whole town needed. Elena hadn’t asked to fal in love with Damon – but, oh God, what if she already had? What if she couldn’t make the feelings stop? What could she do? Silently, she sat crying, knowing that she could never say any of these things to Damon. He had a gift of farseeing and a level head in times of emotion, but not, as she knew al too wel , about this particular issue. If she told him what was in her heart, before she knew it, he would kidnap her. He would believe she had forgotten Stefan for good, as she had forgotten him briefly tonight. â€Å"Stefan,†she whispered. â€Å"I’m sorry†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She could never let Stefan know about it either – and Stefan was her heart. â€Å"We’ve got to get rid of Shinichi and Misao fast,†Matt was saying moodily. â€Å"I mean, I real y need to get into condition soon or Kent State’s gonna send me back stamped ‘Reject.'†He and Meredith were sitting in Mrs. Flowers’s warm kitchen nibbling on gingersnap cookies and watching her as she diligently worked at making beef carpaccio – the second of the two raw beef recipes in the antique cookbook she owned. â€Å"Stefan’s doing so wel that in a couple of days we could even be tossing around the old pigskin,†he added, sarcasm edging his voice, â€Å"if everybody in town would just stop being crazy possessed. You read "The Return: Midnight Chapter 3" in category "Essay examples" Oh, yeah, and if the cops would stop coming after me for assaulting Caroline.† At the mention of Stefan’s name, Mrs. Flowers peeked into a cauldron that had been bubbling away on the stove for so long, and was now emitting such a fearsome odor that Matt didn’t know who to pity more: the guy getting the huge pile of raw meat or the one who’d soon be trying to choke down whatever was in that cooking pot. â€Å"So – assuming you’re alive – you’re going to be glad to leave Fel ‘s Church when the time comes?†Meredith asked him quietly. Matt felt as if she had just slapped him. â€Å"You’re joking, right?†he said, petting Saber with one tanned, bare foot. The huge beast was making a sort of growly purring sound. â€Å"I mean, before that, it’s going to be great to throw a couple of passes to Stefan again – he’s the best tight end I’ve ever seen – â€Å" â€Å"Or ever wil see,†Meredith reminded him. â€Å"I don’t think many vampires go in for footbal , Matt, so don’t even think of suggesting that he and Elena fol ow you to Kent State. Besides, I’l be right beside you, trying to get them to come to Harvard with me. And worse, we’re both checkmated by Bonnie, because that junior col ege – whatever – is much closer to Fel ‘s Church and al the things around here they love.† â€Å"Al the things around here Elena loves,†Matt couldn’t help correcting. â€Å"Al Stefan wants is to be with Elena.† â€Å"Now, now,†Mrs. Flowers said. â€Å"Let’s just take things as they come, shal we, my dears? Ma ma says that we need to keep up our strength. She sounds worried to me – you know, she can’t foresee everything that happens.† Matt nodded, but he had to swal ow hard before saying to Meredith, â€Å"So, you’re eager to be off for the Ivied Wal s, I’m sure?† â€Å"If it wasn’t Harvard – if I could just put it off for a year and keep my scholarship†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Meredith’s voice trailed off, but the yearning in it was unmistakable. Mrs. Flowers patted Meredith’s shoulder, and then said, â€Å"I wonder about dear Stefan and Elena. After al , with everyone thinking that she’s dead, Elena can’t live here and be seen.† â€Å"I think they’ve given up on the idea of going somewhere far, far away,†Matt said. â€Å"I’l bet that now they think of themselves as Fel ‘s Church’s guardians. They’l get by somehow. Elena can shave her head.†Matt was trying for a light tone, but the words sank like lead bal oons as they left his mouth. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers was talking about college,†Meredith said in a tone just as heavy. â€Å"Are they going to be super-heroes at night and just veg out the rest of the time? If they want to go somewhere even next year, they need to be thinking about it now.† â€Å"Oh†¦wel , I guess there’s Dalcrest.† â€Å"Where?† â€Å"You know, that little campus in Dyer. It’s smal but the footbal team there is real y – wel , I guess Stefan wouldn’t care how good they are. But it’s only half an hour away.† â€Å"Oh, that place. Wel , the sports may be fantastic but it’s sure not an Ivy, much less Harvard.†Meredith – unsentimental, enigmatic Meredith – sounded as if she had a stuffed-up nose. â€Å"Yeah,†Matt said – and just for a second took Meredith’s slim, cold hand and squeezed it. He was even more surprised when she linked her chil ed fingers up with his, holding his hand. â€Å"Ma ma says whatever is fated to happen wil happen soon,†Mrs. Flowers said serenely. â€Å"The main thing, as I see it, is to save the dear, dear old town. As wel as the people.† â€Å"Of course it is,†Matt said. â€Å"We’re going to do our best. Thank God we have somebody in town who understands Japanese demons.† â€Å"Orime Saitou,†Mrs. Flowers said with a little smile. â€Å"Bless her for her amulets.† â€Å"Yeah, both of them,†Matt said, thinking of the grandmother and mother who shared the name. â€Å"I think we’re going to need a lot of those amulets they make,†he added grimly. Mrs. Flowers opened her mouth, but Meredith spoke, stil focused on thoughts of her own. â€Å"You know, Stefan and Elena may not have given up on their far, far away thing after al ,†she said sadly. â€Å"And since at this point none of us may even live to make it to our own col eges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ She shrugged. Matt was stil squeezing her hand when Bonnie dashed in the front door, keening. She tried to speed through the foyer toward the stairs, avoiding the kitchen, but Matt released Meredith and they both dashed up to block her. Instantly, everyone was in combat mode. Meredith grasped Bonnie’s arm tightly. Mrs. Flowers came into the foyer, wiping her hands on a dish towel. â€Å"Bonnie, what happened? Is it Shinichi and Misao? Are we being attacked?†Meredith asked quietly but with the intensity to cut through hysteria. Something shot like a bolt of ice through Matt’s body. No one real y knew where Shinichi and Misao were right now. Perhaps in the thicket that was al that was left of the Old Woods – perhaps right here at the boardinghouse. â€Å"Elena!†he shouted. â€Å"Oh, God, she and Damon are both out there! Are they hurt? Did Shinichi get them?† Bonnie shut her eyes and shook her head. â€Å"Bonnie, stay with me. Stay calm. Is it Shinichi? Is it the police?†Meredith asked. And to Matt: â€Å"You’d better check through the curtains there.†But Bonnie was stil shaking her head. Matt saw no police lights through the curtains. Nor did he see any sign of Shinichi and Misao attacking. â€Å"If we’re not being attacked,†Matt could hear Meredith saying to Bonnie, â€Å"then what is happening?† Maddeningly, Bonnie just shook her head. Matt and Meredith looked at each other over Bonnie’s strawberry curls. â€Å"The star bal ,†Meredith said softly, just as Matt growled, â€Å"That bastard.† â€Å"Elena won’t tel him anything but the story,†Meredith said. And Matt nodded, trying to keep from his mind a picture of Damon casual y waving and Elena convulsing in agony. â€Å"Maybe it’s the possessed kids – the ones who walk around hurting themselves or acting insane,†Meredith said, with a side glance at Bonnie, and squeezing Matt’s hand very hard. Matt was bewildered and fumbled the cue. He said, â€Å"If that S.O.B. is trying to get the star bal , Bonnie wouldn’t have run away. She’s bravest when she’s scared. And unless he’s kil ed Elena she shouldn’t be like this – â€Å" Which left Meredith the grim job of saying, â€Å"Talk to us, Bonnie,†in her most comforting big-sister voice. â€Å"Something must have happened to get you in this state. Just breathe slowly and tel me what you saw.† And then, in a torrent, words began to spil from Bonnie’s lips. â€Å"She – she was cal ing him darling,†Bonnie said, gripping Meredith’s other hand with both of hers. â€Å"And there was blood smeared al around on her neck. And – oh, I dropped it! The bottle of Black Magic!† â€Å"Oh, wel ,†Mrs. Flowers said gently. â€Å"No use crying over spil ed wine. We’l just have to – â€Å" â€Å"No, you don’t understand,†Bonnie gasped. â€Å"I heard them talking as I came up – I had to go slow because it’s so hard not to trip. They were talking about the star bal ! At first I thought they were arguing, but – she had her arms around Damon’s neck. And al that stuff about him not being a vampire anymore? She had blood al over her throat and he had it on his mouth! As soon as I got there he picked her up and threw her so I couldn’t see but he wasn’t fast enough. She must have given the star bal to him! And she still was calling him ‘darling’!† Matt’s eyes met Meredith’s and they both flushed and looked away quickly. If Damon was a vampire again – if he had somehow gotten the star bal from its hiding place – and if Elena had been â€Å"taking food†to him just to give him blood†¦ Meredith was stil looking for a way out. â€Å"Bonnie – aren’t you making too much of this? Anyway, what happened to Mrs. Flowers’s tray of food?† â€Å"It was – al over the place. They’d just tossed it away! But he was was holding her with one hand under her knees and one under her neck, and her head was way back so that her hair was fal ing al over his shoulder!† There was a silence as everyone tried to imagine various positions that might correspond to Bonnie’s last words. â€Å"You mean he was holding her up to steady her?†Meredith asked, her voice suddenly almost a whisper. Matt caught her meaning. Stefan was probably asleep upstairs, and Meredith wanted to keep it that way. â€Å"No! They – they were looking at each other,†Bonnie cried. â€Å"Looking. Into each other’s eyes.† Mrs. Flowers spoke mildly. â€Å"But dear Bonnie – maybe Elena fel down and Damon had to just scoop her up.† Now Bonnie was speaking remorselessly and fluently. â€Å"Only if that’s what’s just happened to al those women on the covers of those romance books – what-d’you-cal -’ems?† â€Å"Bodice-rippers?†Meredith suggested unhappily when no one else spoke. â€Å"That’s right! Bodice-rippers. That’s how he was holding her! I mean, we al knew that something was going on with the two of them in the Dark Dimension, but I thought al that would stop when we found Stefan. But it hasn’t!† Matt felt sick in the pit of his stomach. â€Å"You mean right now Elena and Damon are in there†¦kissing and stuff?† â€Å"I don’t know what I mean!†Bonnie exclaimed. â€Å"They were talking about the star ball! He was holding her like a bride! And she wasn’t fighting it!† With a chil of horror, Matt could see trouble, and he could see that Meredith could see it too. Even worse, they were looking in two different directions. Matt was looking upstairs, at the staircase, where Stefan had just appeared. Meredith was looking at the kitchen door, one glance at which showed Matt that Damon was entering the foyer. What was Damon doing in the kitchen? Matt wondered. We were there until a minute ago. And he was, what, eavesdropping from the den side? Matt gave the situation his best shot, anyway. â€Å"Stefan!†he said in a hearty voice that made him wince inwardly. â€Å"You ready for a little athlete’s-blood nightcap?† A tiny part of Matt’s mind thought: But just look at him. Only three days out of prison and he already looks like himself again. Three nights ago he was a skeleton. Today he just looks – thin. He’s even handsome enough to make the girls al go crazy over him again. Stefan smiled faintly at him, leaning on the banister. In his pale face, his eyes were remarkably alive, a vibrant green that made them actual y shine like jewels. He didn’t look upset, and that made Matt’s heart twist for him. How could they tel him? â€Å"Elena is hurt,†Stefan said, and suddenly there was a pause – an utter silence – as every person froze in place. â€Å"But Damon couldn’t help her, so he brought her to Mrs. Flowers.† â€Å"True,†Damon said coldly from behind Matt. â€Å"I couldn’t help her. If I were stil a vampire†¦but I’m not. Elena has burns, mainly. Al I could think of was an ice pack or some kind of poultice. Sorry to disprove al your clever theories.† â€Å"Oh my heavens!†cried Mrs. Flowers. â€Å"You mean dear Elena’s waiting right now in the kitchen for a poultice?†She hurried out of the foyer toward the kitchen. Stefan was stil coming down the stairs, cal ing, â€Å"Mrs. Flowers, she scalded her arm and leg – she says because Damon didn’t recognize her in the dark and jostled her. And that he thought it was an intruder in his room, and nicked her throat with a knife. The rest of us wil be in the parlor if you need help.† Bonnie cried, â€Å"Stefan, maybe she’s innocent – but he isn’t! Even according to you, he burned her – that’s torture – and he put a knife to her throat! Maybe he threatened her to make her tel us what we wanted to hear. Maybe she’s stil a hostage right now and we don’t know it!† Stefan flushed. â€Å"It’s so hard to explain,†he said very softly. â€Å"And I keep trying to tune it out. But so far – some of my Powers have been growing†¦faster than my ability to control them. Most of the time I’m asleep, so it doesn’t matter. I was asleep until a few minutes ago. But I woke up and Elena was tel ing Damon that Mrs. Flowers doesn’t have the star bal . She was upset, and injured – and I could feel where she’d been injured. And then suddenly I heard you, Bonnie. You’re a very strong telepath. Then I heard the rest of you talking about Elena†¦.† Oh my God. How insane, Matt was thinking. His mouth was babbling some â€Å"Sure, sure, our mistake†gibberish, and his feet fol owed Meredith’s to the parlor as if they were attached to her Italian sandals. But the blood on Damon’s mouth†¦ There had to be some mundane reason for the blood, too. Stefan had said that Damon had nicked Elena with a knife. As to how the blood got smeared around; wel , that actual y didn’t sound like vampirism to Matt. He’d been a donor for Stefan at least a dozen times in the last days and the process was always very neat. It was strange, too, he thought, that it had never occurred to any of them that, even from the top of the house, Stefan might be able to hear their thoughts directly. Could he always do that? Matt thought, wondering at the same time whether Stefan was doing it right now. â€Å"I try not to listen to thoughts, unless I’m invited or I have a good reason,†Stefan said. â€Å"But when anybody mentions Elena, especial y if they sound upset – that I can’t help. It’s like when you’re in a noisy place and you can barely hear, but when somebody says your name you hear it instantly.† â€Å"It’s cal ed the Cocktail Party Phenomenon,†Meredith said. Her voice was quiet and remorseful as she was trying to calm the mortified Bonnie. Matt felt another tug at his heart. â€Å"Wel , you can cal it whatever you want,†he said, â€Å"but what it means is that you can listen in on our minds any time you like.† â€Å"Not any time,†Stefan said, wincing. â€Å"When I was drinking animal blood I wasn’t strong enough unless I real y worked at it. By the way, it may please my friends to know that I’m going back to hunting animals by tomorrow or the next day, depending on what Mrs. Flowers says,†he added with a significant glance around the room. His eyes lingered on Damon, who was lounging against the wal by the window, looking disheveled and very, very dangerous. â€Å"But that doesn’t mean I’l forget who saved my life when I was dying. For that I honor and thank them – and, wel , we’l have a party sometime.†He blinked hard and turned away. The two girls melted at once – even Meredith sniffled. Damon heaved an exaggerated sigh. â€Å"Animal blood? Oh, bril iant. Make yourself as weak as you can, little brother, even with three or four wil ing donors around you. Then, when it comes to the final showdown with Shinichi and Misao, you’l be about as effective as a piece of damp tissue paper.† Bonnie started. â€Å"Is there going to be a showdown†¦soon?† â€Å"As soon as Shinichi and Misao can manage it,†Stefan said quietly. â€Å"I think they’d rather not give me time to get wel . The whole town is supposed to go up in fire and ashes, you know. But I can’t keep asking you and Meredith and Matt – and Elena – to donate blood. You’ve already kept me alive the last few days, and I don’t know how to repay you for it.† â€Å"Repay us by getting as strong as you can,†Meredith said in her quiet, level voice. â€Å"But, Stefan, can I ask a few questions?† â€Å"Of course,†Stefan said, standing by a chair. He didn’t sit himself until Meredith, with Bonnie almost in her lap, had sunk down on the love seat. Then he said, â€Å"Fire.† How to cite The Return: Midnight Chapter 3, Essay examples

Making Sense of Information National Broadband Network

Question: Discuss about theMaking Sense of Informationfor National Broadband Network. Answer: Introduction The National Broadband Network (NBN) has issued some of the public policy and few of them were subject to very complex nature and confounding. However, to understand the viewpoint from which this issue evolved it is necessary to have a look at the historical framework of the country. It first started with the creation of the idea of high speed internet that was first came into the picture on 2007 before the election (Beltrn 2013). It was considered that the project will cost around $15 billion and less than one third of the total projected cost will come from the government. There were six bidders who expressed their interest in building up the network and put forward their proposals as well. However, the government rejected the proposal of Telstra and later cancelled the request for proposal process entirely. After certain time in the year 2009 the government of Australia decided to build this high speed internet network on its own and thereby abandon the traditional copper internet network (Costa and Miller 2013). The new network will be built base on the optical fibre technologies. In has also been projected that more than 90 percent of the houses and business buildings will have these fibres to the premises cables (FTTP) which will be directly connected to their home. The implementation of fibre to the premises cables will allow the users to use internet with speed up to 100 Mbps. At this point of time a government based corporation was set up that is the NBN Co and by the end of the year the estimated cost of the cable was $43 billion (Daly 2016). The construction of the national broadband network at the national level and the project can be scaled as a project of freeways and railways. As the government initially stated that most of the homes will have the fibres to the premises network however after election this plan just changed and the new coalition government planned to establish a new fibre network that will be cheaper and can be built more rapidly and also be able to provide high speed internet with the existing framework (Darling et al. 2013) The coalitional plan as implemented by the government of Australia, stipulates that it will establish a fibre to node in most of the regions of the country while also use the copper telephone cables as ADSL is being used nowadays or to use TV hybrid coaxial cables for connecting internet to the houses (Dias et al. 2014). Here arises a political issue that is the course of Malcolm Turnbull that uses a perfect combination of technologies that will help the economy as well as the government to save costs although this plan has been criticized on various grounds, such as it may provide inferior results and it has also been observed that the plan is very short sighted (Iannone et al. 2013). On the other hand, if the labour wins the government they have promised that they will definitely revert back to the original model as it was proposed originally by the party. The original model was based on the principle that it will connect houses and businesses to the internet by running fibre optic cables to them (Madden and Ahmad 2015). The plan as proposed by the labour was though will provide higher bandwidth with higher speed it is extremely labour intensive and at the same time it is quite expensive as well. However, the party of Mr Shorten has proposed to provide optical fibre connection to more than two million extra houses at the same cost in the coalitions network. The labour party first came into the scene in the year 2009, then the party proposed to implement fibre to the premises framework to 93 percent of the houses and businesses in Australia and the party hoped that this will provide the country with a strong technological support. It has been observed that the fibre to the premises framework provides download speed of 100 megabites per second and it can reach up to 1 gigabyte per second. However, the average speed of internet in Australia in 43 megabites per second and it has lead the country to rank 56th in the world in the context of internet speed. Kevin Rudd came up with the proposal to implement this plan to the NBN and the proposed price of the project was 19 billion dollar (Middleton and Park 2014). However, for such a project this price tag was quite surprising and at the end costs increased and the price tag ballooned to 43 billion dollars. Coalition won in the election of 2013 as a communication minister. After coming to power Malcolm Turnbull promised to complete this project as soon as possible and that too at the cost 15 billion lower than the price projected (Morsillo and Barr 2013). Now, the new government compelled the National Broadband Network to withdraw the fibre to the premises network and instead they used a cheaper multi technology mix. This framework was more dependent over the hybrid fibre coaxial and copper networks, this was owned by Telstra and Optus. These companies were ordered to make connection to the home finally (Park et al. 2015). The coalition was aimed at providing broadband internet to the houses and the businesses at a lower cost such as at the price of telephone. The main difference between the plan of Colaition and the Labor is that the Labors plan was more expensive. These costs will be accrued from the users and this in turn will raise the price of internet (Ranaweera et al. 2013). Under the plan of Coalition the more efficient and effective investments will keep the prices always at a lower level and it also ensures that the regular users will definitely be able to save nearly 300 dollars in a year by the year 2021 on their bill for broadband when compared with the plan proposed by Labor (Tucker 2013). In the Coalition plan there will be no rental for the line of National Broadband Network irrespective of the type of connection. It may be fibres to the node or fibres to the premises in all the cases there will be no rental (Watkins and Lillingstone-Hall 2014). However, there was a rumour that Australians will have to pay 5000 dollars for the internet connection, but this was another lie told by the Labor about the broadband in the claim the Labor claimed that connecting to the Labor NBN is completely free (Wilken et al. 2015). The basic fact is that whether it is a Labor NBN or a more effectively and efficiently managed and more sophisticatedly designed Coalition NBN, in both the cases the consumers will have to pay a rental to the service provider, in order to have an active connection to the National Broadband Network (Wilken et al. 2013). As per the Coalition NBN, it ensures that the residents of Australia will be provided with a high speed internet by the year 2016 and everybody will be able to access at least 25 megabites per second. The 25 megabites per second will be the fixed speed for satellite and the static wireless services, it will serve as the floor speed for the Coalitions plan and then most people will be able to access speed of 50 megabites per second or more (Wilken et al. 2015). This decision taken by the party and the National Broadband Network is termed as the colossal mistake. The copper network in action comes out to be a far worse network than it was predicted to be and there were certain need to upgrade this framework. The fibres to the node model (FTTN) that connects the copper wires with the fibres at the boxes which are positioned at the street corners were also criticized. Now in order to summarize the discussion it can be said that the debate between the Coalition and the Labor is a legitimate one. However, the fibre to the premises framework is far more better that that of the fibre to the node framework (Wilson 2014). The FTTP network though expensive it will provide a very high speed and this will ensure that the schools, educational institutions, hospitals and other business houses along with the residential buildings will be able to access high speed internet. On the other hand, the paying for a connection as pointed out by the Labor party is a classic spin. When it is anticipated that the areas in the country which will be served by FTTN the speed of internet on those areas will be more than adequate. However, there is a possibility to run the fibre networks in the areas where there are connections served by node technology. However, the framework proposed by Coalition is more users friendly as it will cost lower and the cost associated with thi s network will also be lower. Hence the proposals put forward by the Coalition is somehow seem to be more acceptable to the users and the speed provided by this network can also expected to improve in near future. Speech: I have been quite humbled to receive this particular responsibility of writing a brief, albeit important report regarding the Fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) policy of government. I have been designated to detail the challenges as well as benefits of the current policy through the respective report. I have been focused on finding out the necessary evidence for the effectiveness of this particular agenda. In the context of approaching this particular issue, I have acquired basic idea of FTTP technology as well as its various applications. Next, I have been focused on defining the exact nature of government policy along with its expectations. This way I have been able to identify the exact expectation from me and eventually attempted to analysis the policy with critical precision. In the beginning, I have been highly uncertain if I would be able to provide the report within the time. I also started to doubt my ability to produce the report effectively that will suffice governments expectation. The sheer responsibility began to stress me, as the effectiveness of the report would define the future of the entire policy. In this context, I contemplated whether I could find out the most important benefits and specifically the challenges so that the coalition party would be able to properly design the policy. However, in order to start the report I started to study the technological function of the FTTP so that I can identify the intricate benefits and challenges. This studying helped to overcome my confusion and doubt regarding my abilities. With the increasing understanding, I started to gain greater confidence and pathway to complete the report impressively. During the study, I came to know that major framework for analyzing any policies is narrative model. This framework consisted of several steps, which are collecting the information of FTTP, reviewing the application of the FTTP from the past, discussing with the knowledgeable person effectively assisted me to identify the major benefits as well as challenges of the policy. I have extensively collected the information from various published literature on the topic of FTTP. The information has been highly helpful as it provided a greater knowledge and skills for analyzing the policies with a greater efficiency. Moreover, I have been able to review the application of FTTP from the past and their results. The past experience effectively point out various effective FTTP activities and major strong points of the policy. I have also consulted with various knowledgeable people in order to crosscheck my understanding regarding the benefits and challenges regarding the FTTP policies. The project has been highly significant for my career as I have been able to learn a lot from this particular report construction. This particular project has been able to provide an evaluated understanding regarding the FTTP policy. In addition to that, the project has been able to provide a clear depth in my ability to use various tools in policy analysis properly. In this context, my confidence as well as communication skills have been significantly improved that would immensely help me in the future. Reference List: Beltrn, F., 2013. Effectiveness and efficiency in the build-up of high-speed broadband platforms in Australia and New Zealand.Communications Strategies, (91), pp.35-55. Costa, J. and Miller, M., 2013. Another great wonder of the world? Early experience with high speed broadband.Telecommunications Journal of Australia,63(1). Daly, A., 2016. Net Neutrality in Australia: The Debate Continues, But No Policy in Sight. InNet Neutrality Compendium(pp. 141-155). Springer International Publishing. Darling, P., An, N.B.N., Newell, C. and Tasmania's, N.B.N., 2013. A flexible upgrade path for the Australian National Broadband Network.NSW,2013, pp.10-23. Dias, M.P., Arnold, M., Gibbs, M., Nansen, B. and Wilken, R., 2014. Asynchronous Speeds: Disentangling the Discourse of High-Speed Broadbandin Relation to Australia's National Broadband Network.Media International Australia,151(1), pp.117-126. Iannone, P., Reichmann, K.C., Ranaweera, C. and Resende, M., 2013, March. A small cell augmentation to a wireless network leveraging fiber-to-the-node access infrastructure for backhaul and power. InOptical Fiber Communication Conference(pp. OTu2E-2). Optical Society of America. Madden, G. and Ahmad, H., 2015. 14. The Australian digital market: opportunities and challenges.The Smart Revolution Towards the Sustainable Digital Society: Beyond the Era of Convergence, p.285. Middleton, C. and Park, S., 2014. Waiting for the national broadband network: Challenges of connectivity in regional Australia. In20th ITS Biennial Conference, Rio de Janeiro 2014: The Net and the Internet-Emerging Markets and Policies(No. 106893). International Telecommunications Society (ITS). Morsillo, R. and Barr, T., 2013. Innovation or disruption? The National Broadband Network comes to Australian TV.International Journal of Digital Television,4(3), pp.239-260. Park, S., Freeman, J., Middleton, C., Allen, M., Eckermann, R. and Everson, R., 2015, January. The multi-layers of digital exclusion in rural Australia. InSystem Sciences (HICSS), 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on(pp. 3631-3640). IEEE. Ranaweera, C., Resende, M.G., Reichmann, K., Iannone, P., Henry, P., Kim, B.J., Magill, P., Oikonomou, K.N., Sinha, R.K. and Woodward, S., 2013. Design and optimization of fiber optic small-cell backhaul based on an existing fiber-to-the-node residential access network.IEEE Communications Magazine,51(9), pp.62-69. Tucker, R.S., 2013. Australia's (less super) superhighway.IEEE Spectrum,50(12), pp.46-52. Watkins, C. and Lillingstone-Hall, K., 2014. Technology Considerations for the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN)'. Wilken, R., Kennedy, J., Arnold, M., Gibbs, M. and Nansen, B., 2015. Framing the NBN: An analysis of newspaper representations.Communication, Politics Culture,47(3), p.55. Wilken, R., Nansen, B., Arnold, M., Kennedy, J. and Gibbs, M., 2013. National, local and household media ecologies: The case of Australia's National Broadband Network.Communication, Politics Culture,46(2), p.136. Wilson, N., 2014. Australia's National Broadband NetworkA cybersecure critical infrastructure?.Computer Law Security Review,30(6), pp.699-709

The Price Of Vengeance Essays - Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible

The Price Of Vengeance Authority. Can it be abused? Abagail and the other girls in the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, strongly abused their position of power. Through the authority of the girls in the court, the Witch Hysteria came about in Salem. Because of the Witch Hysteria, false accusations of witchcraft were placed on members of the community in a form of vengeance from previous misunderstandings. Vengeance was seeking itself in Salem. ?Mary, why do you send your spirit on me The Witch Hysteria in The Crucible was the cause of all the problems, which will be further examined in the very near future. Abagail and the girls began to cry ?Witch? after Reverend Parris discovered them dancing in the woods early one morning with a fire and a kettle full of some sort of brew. As dancing was strictly forbidden, especially around a fire, a subtle thought of witchcraft was aroused in Salem. Reverend Parris was ecstatic about losing his ministry because he believed he was not well liked by the town's people. Parris was enraged at Abagail for her and the girls' actions in the woods as his daughter Betty lay in bed, so called ?witched?. Abagail and the girls dancing is discovered (Abagail is a servant who is in love with her former employer, John Proctor, who is married to Elizabeth. John Proctor committed adultery with Abagail. She was released from the Proctor home soon after). False accusations all begin at that point, a critical point in the play. As Abagail accuses Tituba of making her dance and drink blood, and revealing whom Parris and Hale think is the link to the Devil in Salem, Abagail is given a very extreme power, a power that will be greatly abused. Abagail and the girls begin accusing innocent people of witchery for their own personal gains. Vengeance and desire, not witchcraft, are the causes of these false accusations. Reverend Hale and John Proctor state this throughout the play, numerous times. Men and women of the town such as Ann and Thomas Putnam are seeking vengeance through the Trials, Goody Putnam for her lost children and Thomas for the children and his land disputes with Giles Corey. The girls are in love men and boys of the town, and that is what they are trying to gain from these inaccurate accusations. As these false accusations are made, Dansforth and Parris believe the girls, despite Reverend Hale and John Proctor's objections, but Dansforth does not want to reverse his previous guilty verdicts, because it could tarnish his name as a court judge in a sense. As a result, Proctor is accused of witchcraft, and is sentenced to hang unless he confesses. He refuses to confess to lies. As a result of the hysteria of a town, false accusations came about, vengeance was carried out and 19 people were hanged, all because power was put into the wrong hands. John Proctor and 18 other people lost their lives, their freedom, the common rights of man because authority refused to believe the truth and was caught up in the hype.

The Ballot or the bullet and its meaning Essays - Free Essays

The Ballot or the bullet and its meaning Essays - Free Essays The Ballot or the bullet and its meaning The Ballot or the bullet and its meaning University of Phoenix ENG/496 Angela Mullennix All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man. (Malcom X, 1964) That is the line that stuck out at the beginning of the speech. Malcom X seemed to be tired of everything that was going on including the bad justice system with the false arrest, the dogs and firehoses, and also the religious aspect being brought into a complex situation that in moments he didnt feel was necessary to bring up. He said in the speech Although I'm still a Muslim, I'm not here tonight to discuss my religion. I'm not here to try and change your religion. I'm not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it's time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem, a problem that will make you catch hell whether you're a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Mu slim, or a nationalist. Whether you're educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're going to catch hell just like I am. We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man. All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man. (Malcom X, 1964) This is a profound speech not only for the content in it but the fact that he seemed to touch on the point of acceptance from everyone. Equal opportunity to be treated as a human. He says Now in speaking like this, it doesn't mean that we're anti-white, but it does mean we're anti-exploitation, we're anti-degradation, and were anti-oppression. And if the white man doesn't want us to be anti-him let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us. He wasnt a racist, but he wanted equality and thats probably the best part I can relate to. From experience it is irritating watching a person walk across the street because they assume I am a criminal, and while some statistics back that fact up it is irritating when I am a educated African American that served my country, so that people can continue to have the freedoms they poses today. I loved this speech, not for its anti-Semitism but for the purpose of it. Work Cited X, M. (1963, April 3). Malcolm X: The Ballot or the Bullet. Retrieved July 27, 2015, from edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/malcolm_x_ballot.html Dixon, E. (2011, January 4). Realism and Modernism, the Black Arts Movement, and Contemporary Literature. Retrieved July 27, 2015, from https://eng351wi2011finalproject.wordpress.com/about/education-and-literacy/realism-and-modernism/

Security consultant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Security consultant - Essay Example Secondly, this assessment forms the basis upon which these risks, threats, and vulnerabilities are prioritized in accordance with criticality. Remediation of the identified risks and vulnerabilities can then be effectively budgeted. Also, it is from this risk assessment that compliancy with new IT security laws and regulations can be achieved to avoid legal issues. Essentially, a properly conducted risk assessment offers a basis through which the company may roll out a set of procedures aimed at protecting company’s assets, which for this case include hardware, software, and critical information. The scope describes what is covered and what is not covered in the assessment by identification of the needs to be protected, sensitivity of the information protected, and the extent of the protection. Defining the scope of network security assessment is important as it forms the basis of understanding the budget and level of security defined by the policies of the company. Understandably, the scope is a factor of criticality of information that a company has or seeks to protect from damage, manipulation, or malicious disclosure to the public. Areas covered include type of operating systems in used in the computers, access control permissions, port scanning, wireless leakage, firewall testing, intrusion detection testing, and service pack levels. A thorough assessment of these areas identifies the loopholes through which company’s critical information may be compromised. The aim is to proactively protect these areas from malicious attacks or access. OCTAVE (Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation) is a commonly used methodology for strategic assessment and planning of network security risks. The OCTAVE methodology is a technique used to analyze a company’s information security requirements. OCTAVE Allegro is the latest development and is widely used by the CERT Division. While older versions, which are

Graduate Schools Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Graduate Schools - Research Paper Example This essay stresses that graduate schools equip students to think with a high degree of open-mindedness. Graduates are not fixed in their thinking. They are open to debates and are quite flexible with respect to decision making. They are able to recognize and assess situations critically, make assumptions, implications and practical consequences of their actions. Accordingly, they act after assessing situations with sharp and open minds. This paper makes a conclusion that graduates also master great communication, human relations and communication skills. They go through intensive theoretical and practical learning that transforms them into useful assets in the society. They are relied upon to figure out solutions to complex problems at individual, group and societal levels. This is because the graduate schools have equipped them with knowledge and skills to solve such complex problems. Think tanks in virtually all fields of knowledge come from graduate schools. Whether in the field of medicine, technology, religion, humanities and social sciences, the leading brains are produced from the graduate schools. Strategic global thinkers with diversified knowledge and skills come from these graduate schools. From the foregoing, graduate schools play very significant roles towards the growth and development of the society. They contribute to research and development in economics, politics, social sciences, cultural aspects and religion. The society needs graduate schools to do research, enhance global competition and build a very vibrant economy

Analysis of Mittal’s Acquisition of Arcelor

Analysis of Mittal’s Acquisition of Arcelor 1.0 Executive Summary This examination of the merger of Arcelor and Mittal in the steel industry will examine the success and or shortcomings of this major deal that has created an industry leader that is considerably larger that its nearest competitor. In examination the merger, this study looks at the steel industry from the perspectives of historical underpinnings and ramifications, pricing, laws, monopolies, emerging markets, mature markets, new areas for exploration, as well as the resulting post merger effects of this union. To achieve the foregoing, this study has organised the foregoing into a comprehensive literature review that will delve into the indicated areas, following this with a findings and analysis section to equate the preceding. The organisational method has been selected to inform as well as guide one through the industry and the merger process to result in a clear understanding of the important and salient points that impacted the merger process, and its resultant effects on the industry. The conclusion brings forth the summary of all of the sections that preceded it to equate the results and potential areas for additional study owing to the newness of this union. The bold move by Mittal in acquiring a company if its same size and then moving forward as a unified new entity marks a new period in the steel industry worthy of examination as an history making event. 2.0 Introduction The purpose of this investigation is to delve into an understanding of the steel industry as the means to reach a determination as to the potential benefits and ramifications of the ArcelorMittal merger that is just about a year old. As such there is little in the way of case studies, and or historical data to equate the effect of the merger, this examination shall utilise historical as well as current information to understand the steel sector and thus draw deductions on the effectiveness of the merger in terms of competition, the industry and economic ramifications. The research question thus stems from the examination of the Mittal Steel and Arcelor merger, and how it developed, along with the advantages as well as disadvantages of the process in terms of the two companies. The Research Objective is to determine if the merger made ArcelorMittal a market leader in a highly competitive market, and the manner via which this was accomplished as well as if the foregoing brought about new opportunities, and or projects in terms of real ones, and or potentials for the future. The research hypothesis represents equating the impact of the Arcelor Mittal merger in terms of the industry dynamics in pricing, market positioning, competitive advantages, or other areas as uncovered by research to prove or disprove the basis for the merger as a sound proposition in the face of the preceding. To achieve the foregoing, this study shall look at the steel industry objectively through extensive research into its importance with regard to economics, trade, pricing within the industry, applicable laws, monopolies, the importance of emerging markets that might have weighed on the decision to seek a merger, the importance and or considerations of mature markets, and new locations of exploration and or supply. The approach to equating the foregoing was to conduct and extensive review of literature on the aforementioned points to provide a comprehensive view of the steel industry, where is has been, presently is, and is going. The preceding will provide a reference point to try to determine what the executives of Mittal saw in reaching the decision to attempt the Arcelor acquisition. That insight, their decision process to seek the acquisition of Arcelor, was based upon the company’s intimate knowledge and understanding of the steel sector, and a plan to capitalise on those developments based upon the projected future occurrences in the market. Donaldson and Lorsch (1983, p. 112) tell us that in strategic decision making executives must consider that: â€Å"Under certain circumstances, the firms real economic and financial constraints perpetuate stability in the financial goals system that is central to corporate strategy. The first such circumstance occurs when the composition and objectives of managements three primary constituencies remain constant over time. If the existing financial goals system truly represents a balanced response to each constituencys minimum acceptable requirements for continued participation in the enterprise, then external pressure for change is not likely to develop in the absence of some fundamental change in the constituencies themselves.† The decision to seek an acquisition as a means to growth represents a process that a company decided upon long before taking such an action. Wall and Wall (2000, p. 39) observe that â€Å"Companies that are using acquisitions as a strategic lever are rarely making only a single deal; acquisitions are ongoing and often overlapping, with several happening at once and more to come†. Mueller (2000, p. 57) states that most acquired companies were and are usually healthy strong firms in their own right that add some underlying competitive advantage in the face of market realities. He goes on to add that the rationales can be economies of scale, to obtain a more dominant market position, to gain access to markets, to stave off competition, to limit merger options of rival firms as well as a strategy for growth. Mueller (2003, p. 82) adds: â€Å"A company faced with a slow-growing or declining market has two choices for avoiding stagnation and decline: it can expand its share of this market, or diversify into new ones. Growth can be sustained indefinitely only through diversification. Thus, we expect the maturing company to resort to internal diversification by developing new products and/or external diversification through mergers. Even in a steady-state world, a company must (continually) diversify to sustain a growth rate above that of its company’s market.† Wall and Wall (20000, p. 39) add â€Å"†¦he most successful acquirers have developed a clear, logical, and replicable approach that they use to manage the entire process from initiation of the deal to the ongoing and longer-term development of the new organization post integration†. There is an integration process that accompanies every merger, where the rationales for preceding are thus put to the realities of the finalised merger process. This is where the decision to merge answers the questions, and or solves the issues that brought about the process in the first place. This study shall seek to equate the foregoing in the case of ArcelorMittal. 3.0 Literature Review This review of literature shall examine what has been written about the topical areas that are covered herein to gain a picture of the overall steel industry, the merger of ArcelorMittal, and the market factors inherent in the sector. The preceding shall seek to uncover the questions as posed the research objectives and find the answers to the research hypothesis 3.1 The Steel Industry Steel is the material that is the economic backbone of global economies, representing the prime material in building, infrastructure projects, refineries, vehicles, industrial as well as consumer goods. The recent emergence of new global players that have significantly increased their production and export capacities and thus has harkened a change in the international structuring of the industry whereby consolidation has become a critical component in competitiveness (D’Costa, 1999, pp. 11-12). China’s application and accession to the World Trade Organization has had major implications in terms of the global market as a result of the country’s modernisation programmes, cheap labour supply and interest in becoming a significant part of global production and export (ChinaDaily.com, 2007). The foregoing only adds to the rounds of consolidation in an industry where economies of scale in terms of raw materials as well as production are key foundational factors in a hi ghly competitive sector (Mangum et al, 1996, pp. 2-6). The above factors are important background aspects in the context of this study in that it is providing insight as to the status of the market. The aforementioned consolidation has been basically built upon the rounds of joint ventures that the industry seriously embarked upon during the mid 1980s in response to the need to tap emerging markets as well as areas of exploration for raw materials (Mangum et al, 1996, pp. 11-14). Steel, along with oil and uranium and a few other raw materials, represent concerted efforts and concerns by national governments and their important industry producers to ensure domestic strength in these sectors is maintained, owing to their importance in their economies (Visclosky, 1999). Restructuring within the steel industry is described by D’Costa (1999, p. 11) as â€Å"†¦an organizing concept to analyze capitalist development in general and reorganization of industrial capacity in particular†. He adds that (D’Costa, 1999, p. 11-12): â€Å"Restructuring also refers to the various ways by which a national industry adjusts to the capitalist imperatives of competition, profitability, market control, and national development (D’Costa 1989). More specifically, restructuring is viewed as a complex process by which the steel industry is evolving as a result of technological developments, corporate strategy, and government policies. With innovations and the diffusion of technology at the core of capitalist industrialization, restructuring of the steel industry globally can be conceptualised in terms of different national technological trajectories. By juxtaposing the factors that lead innovating countries like the US to fall behind technologically with the mechanisms by which late industrializing countries acquire technologies we can establish the uneven diffusion of technology and the process of restructuring.† The preceding represents an important understanding in this examination, as the traditional powers in the steel sector have been either challenged and or replaced by other companies / countries in the global sphere. Anwar (2006) presents an important summary overview of the steel industry that includes some of the foregoing factors, as well as providing additional insight areas: The increasing ramifications of industry volatility has been and is related to the levels of consolidation, the cyclical nature of the industry, along with the emergence of China as an important and critical player in the market. The importance of tapping into emerging growth markets has helped to fuel industry consolidation. China’s emergence as a consuming nation as well as producer  ¡, and its huge international market has caused a shifting in the strategic focus of the industry, and thus its companies. The heightened competition and cost variables of the industry help to explain the increased rounds of consolidation that in the interests of cost efficiencies utilises more supply chaining to set up production facilities in important developing countries, as well as close to natural steel resources. The consolidation as well as fragmentation of the global steel industry is amply illustrated in the following Chart: Chart 1 – Global Steel Industry (Anwar, 2006) The cyclical nature of the industry is caused by price significant drops due to the selling of steel at bargain prices as companies keep their production facilities running when industry sectors in certain countries are working off their own inventories (Matthews, 2007). It may sound illogical, but it is actually more cost effective to keep plants running as opposed to temporarily shutting them down and restarting again, even at the cost of dramatic price drops that occur in the process (Matthews, 2007). Consolidation has enabled important companies in the market to fend off competitors in their areas, and leverage their positions (Matthews, 2007). The rapid growth of China’s internal market, as well as upgrading of its steel production capabilities has significantly added to global tonnage output (Anwar, 2006). The heavy rounds of consolidation is in keeping with the regionalization of the international market as The North American Free Trade Agreement, that entails the United States, Canada and Mexico, competes with the European Union’s 25 countries, Mercosur that includes Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, and of course China, whose domestic market and size provides a market that is larger than almost all of these combined (UC Atlas, 2006). The significance of the foregoing is that these trade blocs represent associations that have been formed by the attending governments to aid in the management as well as trade promotion activities for their regions, and countries within these blocs (UC Atlas, 2006). The foregoing dynamics of globalisation thus helps to explain the consolidation that has been and is taking place in the industry. Figure 1 – Regional Trade Blocs / European Union (Europa, 2008) Figure 2 – Regional Trade Blocs / NAFTA (UC Atlas, 2006) Figure 3 – Regional Trade Blocs / MERCOSUR (UC Atlas, 2006) 3.2 ArcelorMittal In 2006 Arcelor one of the world’s biggest steel producers as represented by turnover and output, was acquired by Mittal for $31.9 billion USD in a deal that ended over five months of a hard fought takeover battle (White, 2006). Born out of a prior merger of Spain’s Aceralia, France’s Usinor, and Arbed of Luxembourg in 2002 (Reed, 2006), the acquisition by Mittal of Arcelor that was formed out of the preceding triumvirate is a further example of industry consolidation. The company, that consisted of in excess of 94,000 people in excess of 60 countries, was a major company in supplying the automotive, metal processing, construction, household appliance as well as general industry segments (wcbstv, 2006). Mittal Steel, which is based in Rotterdam, was the world’s largest steep producer in terms of volume prior to the merger, and still retains that title post merger, is a family controlled company by Chief Executive Officer Lakeshmi Mittal (ArcelorMittal, 2008a). The resulting company after the merger, ArcelorMittal, represents a concern that has â€Å"†¦ 310,000 employees in more than 60 countries† (ArcelorMittal, 2008b). The new company become the overall global leader in the automotive sector, construction industry, household appliance as well as packaging industries, along with becoming the leader player in technology as well as volume of steel produced (ArcelorMittal, 2008b). In terms of size, the new union creates a company that dwarfs the competition: Table 1 Largest Steel Companies (editgrid.com, 2007) Metal Bulletin’s top steelmakers of 2006 Millions of Tonnes Company Country 2006 2005 1Mittal Steel1 Netherlands 63.66 49.89 2Arcelor Luxembourg 54.32 46.65 3Nippon Steel Japan 33.7 32.91 4JFE Steel Japan 32.02 29.57 5Posco South Korea 31.2 31.42 6Shanghai BaosteelChina 22.53 22.73 7US Steel USA 21.25 19.26 8Nucor USA 20.31 18.45 9Tangshan China 19.06 16.08 10Corus UK 18.3 18.18 11Riva Italy 18.19 17.53 12Severstal Russia 17.6 15.16 13ThyssenKrupp Germany 16.8 16.55 14Evraz Russia 16.1 13.85 15Gerdau Group Brazil 15.57 13.7 16Anshan China 15 11.9 17Jiangsu ShagangChina 14.63 12.02 18Wuhan China 13.76 13.05 19Sumitomo Metal IndJapan 13.58 13.48 20Sail India 13.5 12.22 21Techint Argentina 12.83 11.42 22China Steel Corp Taiwan 12.48 11.65 23Magnitogorsk Russia 12.45 11.38 24Jinan China 11.24 10.43 25Maanshan China 10.91 9.65 26Laiwu China 10.79 10.34 27Shougang China 10.55 10.44 28Hunan Valin GroupChina 9.91 8.45 29Imidro Iran 9.79 9.41 30Ind Union/DonbassUkraine 9.52 8.55 The preceding Table has been utilised here to indicate that out of the top 30 steel companies globally, nine are located in China, with one in India and just three others coming from the European Union. The highlighted companies in colour have relevance in other sections of this study. The importance of the merger, as brought forth by the preceding discussion of the significance of regional trade blocs and national interests, is illustrated by the fact that at the time, then French President Jacques Chirac endorsed the union after the merger talks eased from being unfriendly to friendly in the face of certain guarantees concerning jobs as well as research operations (Noon, 2006). The new company represents 10% of the global market in steel and becomes a highly significant company for the European Union in the face of competition from and in China, as well as India, providing it with the resources and economies of scale to wrest deals from its rivals. 3.3 Pricing In terms of pricing, the steel industry is cyclical running through periods whereby supply exceeds demand, and then when demand exceeds supply. The recent trends has seen demand exceeding supply as steel prices have been inching upward since 2003 as China’s economy has begun to heat up, along with India taking steps to increase the demand in its economy for more products and production (domain-b.com, 2004). Table 2 – World Carbon Steel Transaction Prices (Steelonthenet.com, 2008) The preceding Table shows that upward movement that has and is making a new trend for the long embattled steel sector that had gone through heavy dumping in the 1990s as markets and the global recession dried up demand. But, that scenario seemingly looks like a thing of the long gone past, with China’s appetite just getting started, and India beginning its sit at the steel table. Prices are on the way up, as production capacity has remained relatively static with 1999 levels (DiCianni, 2007): Chart 2 – Steel Production Capacity (DiCianni, 2007) The upward trending in steel prices as a result of production capacity is reflected in the following Chart: Chart 3 – Steel Price Comparisons in Key Regions (DiCianni, 2007) The foregoing rise in steel prices is reflective of increased global demands as illustrated by the following: Table 3 – Global Steel Demand (DiCianni, 2007) The prognosis for increased prices is forecast by a broad consensus of industry analysts as caused by heightened production costs, and increased consumer demand as a result of growth markets (rediff news, 2007). Spot prices for ore are a prime contributor to the foregoing as prices have been on the increase since 2003: Chart 4 – Iron Ore Spot Prices (DiCianni, 2007) The preceding trend is highly different from the one facing the steel industry during the mid and late 1990s when too much capacity was the problem and steel prices dropped (Denoel et al, 2002). 3.4 Laws The rules governing trade laws is overseen by the World Trade Organization that also oversees the varied treaties its member nations make (WTO, 2008a). The principle tactic and the one that is subject to attention in terms of laws has been anti-dumping policies utilised by Japan as well as Russia and recently China in the early 1980s and 1990s to gain a footing in supplying steel when prices were depressed as a means to enter and secure contracts (WTO, 2008b). Dumping represents the selling of steel in foreign markets below what is charged in home markets in order to secure a foothold, and or longer term supply contracts to keep factories running (Scheurman, 1986). The anti-dumping provision has long been a measure whereby countries seek to prevent lower priced steel from competing with domestic producers and thus threatening their home markets (WTO, 2008b). An example of the foregoing is provided by Jones (2004, p. 23) in his book â€Å"Who’s Afraid of the WTO?†: â€Å"When steel imports from Japan and other countries surged in the United States in the wake of the crisis, however, it became a â€Å"trade problem, † and WTO rules prohibiting unilateral trade restraints as a stabilization tool by governments shifted blame over to the system of trade rules itself.† The laws on steel stem from this foundation, contained within World Trade Organization rules, thus it represents a confusing as well as under most circumstances self-servicing provision enacted frequently by the target country. The following provide illumination on the foregoing (Tarullo, 2002): â€Å"While not specifically proscribed by international agreements, dumping has been internationally identified as deserving of condemnation if it causes injury to an industry in the importing country. (2) U.S. law, since emulated by other countries, added to the definition sales below fully allocated cost of production, even where the price charged for the merchandise was the same as that in the importing country. Anti-dumping law generally provides for imposition of an additional import duty to equalize the price of the imported goods with the normal value, as calculated from foreign sales or from the cost of production. Most economists find the entire premise of anti-dumping law misguidedat least where there is no predatory intent or effectbecause it discourages some forms of price competition in some circumstances. Certain domestic interestsparticularly those in industries with high fixed costsare equally insistent that anti-dumping laws are necessary to protect them from forei gn producers suppressing prices by flooding domestic markets. The laws and regulations enacted by countries, which can be very complex, reinforce the suspicion of liberal traders that the laws are rigid, biased implementations of a misguided premise. Not surprisingly, disputes over imposition of dumping duties have been frequent. Exporting countries have often complained that, quite apart from the principle that dumping is bad, importing countries misuse their anti-dumping laws. The first code negotiated in the GATT to supplement the rules of the original GATT agreement was one that limited the use of anti-dumping measures. (3) New, more detailed agreements to limit national anti-dumping measures were included in both the Tokyo Round and Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. Meanwhile, use of anti-dumping measures had spread from the United States, European Union, and other industrialized countries to developing countries as well. (4) Thus, while international disagreements over dumping continue to pit some industrialized countries against Japan and many developing countries, the lines are not as clearly drawn as they were twenty years ago.† The fray over anti-dumping continues to dominate the steel sector, but the recent surge in demand is lessening such occurrences and companies scramble to ramp up production and meet increasing demand. This has been a significant tactic used in the market that could very well continue after the shakeout over which companies dominate in China as well as India settles in. 3.5 Monopolies Steel represents an important component in the health of national economies by virtue of the broad range of industries it supplies. Automotive, construction, appliances, equipment, industries machinery, pipes, plumbing and a host of other areas that underpin production are all industries that need steel. As such national interests step in, as indicated under regional trade blocks, whereby steel is akin to a national resource, in the securing of raw materials and finished output, thus the strengthening of company positions in the sector is a priority that regional and national governments seek and endorse, as evidenced by former French President Jacques Chirac’s positive comments on the Arcelor Mittal merger. From this stance, having too many producers, steel companies, weakens their position in the global market, and size enables them to introduce economies of scale in production and sales. Thus, monopolies simply are not a term that applies in this sector as a result of inten se global competition and national interests. In steel, bigger is better! Better for the steel company, national interests, domestic market supplies, and in terms of strength against their rivals. In the European Union, monopoly like status is not punishable as it is in the United States, as long as such does not harm the consumer or restrict competition (European Union, 2002). In the European Union a Monopoly is defined as (Europa, 2008): â€Å"Market situation with a single supplier (monopolist) who due to the absence of competition holds an extreme form of market power. It is tantamount to the existence of a dominant position. Under monopoly, output is normally lower and price higher than under competitive conditions. A monopolist may also be deemed to earn supra-normal profits (i.e. profits that exceed the normal remuneration of the capital). A similar situation on the demand side of the market, that is with a single buyer only, is called monopsony.† In other words, if the status of an extremely large company is not harming consumer markets and or increasing prices that are out of line with the normal costs of production, then, it is basically non actionable. The European Union’s actions against Microsoft were of a different nature in that Microsoft’s actions were restricting competition in the entire industry sector, and the company was convicted of unfair tactics (European Union, 2004). 3.6 Emerging Markets The merger of Arcelor and Mittal provided the new company with the size as well as clout to make a significant difference in emerging markets such as China due to its enhanced capabilities across all market and industry sectors (ArcelorMittal, 2008b). The foregoing increased size as well as capabilities also provides the new company with advantages in the high growth Indian market (ArcelorMittal, 2008b). The company announced immediately after its bid for Arcelor was accepted that the new plans call for boosting its presence in both the Chinese as well as Indian markets (EarthTimes, 2007). Lakshmi Mittal is of Indian decent, thus this new and larger company will provide him with increased presence in that market as a result of long standing contacts and the company’s enhanced capabilities (Forbes.com, 2007). As the world’s fifth richest person whose wealth is estimated as $32.0 billion that influence helps his aims in many areas (Forbes.com, 2007). Of particular interest is the discussion of the formation of a new regional trading block in Asia consisting of China, Japan, South Korea and India, a union that along with other countries would account for 20 percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product, that would relegate the other major trading blocs and lesser players (Bergsten and Scollay (2001). The potential for such an arrangement has gained in strength since 2001, with increasing talks being held between China, South Korea and Japan (Asia Times, 2003). Increasing ties between China and India, as a result of the proposed cross border trade route would open up trading in the region and serve as the foundation for a new trading bloc (Hasan, 2006). The present trading Bloc, ASEAN, which was formed in 1967, consists of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, that represents a combined population of approximately 560 million (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 2008). China, with its population of 1,321,851,888 (Rosenberg, 2007), along with India’s 1,027,015,247 people (indianchild.com, 2007), and Japan’s 127,288,419 (CIA World Factbook, 2007), would result in a combined trading bloc population of 2,476,155,554, or slightly more than one-third of the world’s total population of 6,602,224,175 (World Factbook, 2007a). That would dwar f the population counts of the European Union, 490,426,060 (World Factbook, 2007b), as well as NAFTA (446,078,489), with its U.S