Triceratops, Sabor Tooth Tiger, Homosapiens, and the Quagga Essay

Triceratops, Sabor Tooth Tiger, Homosapiens, and the Quagga - Essay Example Although it was believed to have existed for more than 10.000 years ago, its fossils were only found in 1841. Sabertooth tigers were carnivorous animals as explained by Michael Henderson, paleontologist and curator of earth sciences at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford. These animals were efficient-killing machines and preyed on deer, bison, ground sloths, mastodon and even small mammoths. Their 7 inch-long teeth proved helpful in their hunt for bigger animals. In fact: "Saber-toothed cats came up with an efficient way to dispatch their prey by evolving enlarged canines. Big cats, such as lions and tigers, often kill their prey by suffocating it. They bite down on the neck of their prey and cut off its air supply. ( qtd. from â€Å"Oversized Teeth Helped Saber† 1). The La Brea Tar Pits in California is a testimony of how smilodons were trapped while feeding on mammoths. The extinction of the saber tooth has been a puzzle to many scientists up to now. One hypothesis for its extinction is the end of Ice Age. According to Anton ( 2002 ) â€Å"Pliocene also brought a significant decline among the machairodont cats. From the variety of genera existing during the late Miocene (Machairodus, Paramachairodus, Metailurus), only the large metailurine Dinofelis persisted In their turn, the group of modern felids with conical canines increased their diversity with the appearance of the first members of the Lynx group ( p.213). In short, the saber-tooth cannot adapt anymore to its environment that is why other feline species replaced it. Humans, that’s what homo sapiens are. Bipedal primates that belong to Hominidae, the great ape family. Homo sapiens were known as hunter gatherers before the introduction of domestic farming came about. They were nomads who travelled from one place to another in search for food. Homo sapiens know how to use tools to defend themselves or to stage an attack on a prey which is usually an animal. The vegetation of

Is Washington Irving an Anti-Feminist Research Paper

Is Washington Irving an Anti-Feminist - Research Paper Example Irving thus became reputable not only in England and America but also internationally. Although criticized by his contemporaries as mere imitator and recycler of antiquated British styles and German tales rather than a creative genius, his innovative style of writing, remarkable use of literary techniques and vivid description of his fictitious characters, notably Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane, in the backdrop of rural America made his short stories leave a deep impression on his readers’ imagination until today. In fact, his famous immemorial short story Rip Van Winkle had become instrumental in the development of modern short story as a distinct American literary art form. (Andrà ©s and Requena 27; Oates 17) He was also ascribed the status of a classic American writer decades before his death. More remarkably, Irving achieved his renown as a writer at a time when literature was perceived in America to be a dangerous profession due to the racial prejudice of the superior British literary establishment; literature in America then was all imported. (Andrà ©s and Requena 26) â€Å"The real risk,† Rubin-Dorsky commented, â€Å"involved in the response of the British literary establishment, which had been merciless in its criticism of American writers, chastising them for their defective taste and brutish manners† (507). In fact, Irving achieved his reputable literary status because he was able to successfully secure the approval of European readers without having to renounce his American identity (Cunliffe 85). Seeing his English readers greatly admiring his works, Irving realized he could boast his American identity through his pen. So, he used his flair in writing to make kn own the American West to the rest of the world, and to pay homage to one of the Founding Fathers and the First President of the United States of America, his namesake, George Washington. (Elliot 171) The above descriptions evidently show how highly

Triceratops, Sabor Tooth Tiger, Homosapiens, and the Quagga Essay

Triceratops, Sabor Tooth Tiger, Homosapiens, and the Quagga - Essay Example Although it was believed to have existed for more than 10.000 years ago, its fossils were only found in 1841. Sabertooth tigers were carnivorous animals as explained by Michael Henderson, paleontologist and curator of earth sciences at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford. These animals were efficient-killing machines and preyed on deer, bison, ground sloths, mastodon and even small mammoths. Their 7 inch-long teeth proved helpful in their hunt for bigger animals. In fact: "Saber-toothed cats came up with an efficient way to dispatch their prey by evolving enlarged canines. Big cats, such as lions and tigers, often kill their prey by suffocating it. They bite down on the neck of their prey and cut off its air supply. ( qtd. from â€Å"Oversized Teeth Helped Saber† 1). The La Brea Tar Pits in California is a testimony of how smilodons were trapped while feeding on mammoths. The extinction of the saber tooth has been a puzzle to many scientists up to now. One hypothesis for its extinction is the end of Ice Age. According to Anton ( 2002 ) â€Å"Pliocene also brought a significant decline among the machairodont cats. From the variety of genera existing during the late Miocene (Machairodus, Paramachairodus, Metailurus), only the large metailurine Dinofelis persisted In their turn, the group of modern felids with conical canines increased their diversity with the appearance of the first members of the Lynx group ( p.213). In short, the saber-tooth cannot adapt anymore to its environment that is why other feline species replaced it. Humans, that’s what homo sapiens are. Bipedal primates that belong to Hominidae, the great ape family. Homo sapiens were known as hunter gatherers before the introduction of domestic farming came about. They were nomads who travelled from one place to another in search for food. Homo sapiens know how to use tools to defend themselves or to stage an attack on a prey which is usually an animal. The vegetation of

Market Structure Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Market Structure - Research Paper Example any new firm can enter the market because of no restrictions such as high setup cost, legal barriers or any other. All the firms are earning normal profit as there is strong competition within the industry. Secondly, homogenous products are produced, i.e. all products are identical or standardized and are substitutes of each other, thus sharing the same price as well (â€Å"Dewett, 1983†). An imperfect competition is where there are not many producers in the market and there is less competition as buyers and sellers are not fully aware of the prices so different prices exist for same product in the market (â€Å"Dewett, 1983†). There are three forms of an imperfect market: Monopolistic Competition: Under this structure, there are few sellers as comparedwith perfect competition and the products produced are differentiated due to branding, which gives the producer a way to have his own pricing policy and thus can earn more than normal profits (â€Å"Dewett, 1983†). Oligopoly: there are a few suppliers in the market in this structure, and every supplier has a substantial control over the prices, and output produced because few suppliers control the entire supply in the market. There is strong rival consciousness because of the interdependence of suppliers. There is a possibility of product differentiation as well as substitute products, and the price-output policy of each supplier depends upon the degree of homogeneity or heterogeneity (â€Å"Dewett, 1983†). Monopoly: There is a single seller or producer who controls the entire market. As he controls the whole supply, he can fix the price and earn abnormal profits. There are high barriers to entry and exit from this industry, which prevents competitors from entering into it (â€Å"Dewett, 1983†). It’s a one firm industry in which there is no need for differentiation because no substitutes are available. There is a single product completely under the control of a monopolist who is the price maker(â€Å"Dewett, 1983†). 2. Identify one real-life example of a market structure in your local city and relate your example to each of the characteristics of the market. There are different industries or markets operating in a city, with each of them following a different market structure according to the nature of the business there. One such dominant industry is the women’s clothing, which is operating in the monopolistic competition market structure. It is a real-life example of this structure, and one can clearly categorize its features as those present in this market structure. There is a high number of sellers in the market with each producing a differentiated product and heavily advertising and promoting its brand name to create customer awareness. The aim of firms is to crate brand loyalty, which allows them to charge a higher price than their competitor, meaning that sellers have some control over price but not full control because of thei r interdependency. In long-run, firm with effective advertising and innovation will only earn normal profits because of the competition as it will not be able to charge too high a price. However, in short run, some firms can earn abnormal profits with their non-price competition, quality, design or attractive advertising, just like in women’s clothing. The products are produced almost same style except some variation in the designs, quality and a strong brand name associated with it. There is

Timing of the Emancipation Proclamation Essay Example for Free

Timing of the Emancipation Proclamation Essay Abraham Lincoln is considered today, to be one of the best presidents of the United States. However he was despised by many at the time of his election. When he was elected a number of states in the south insisted that they would not be governed by him and wanted to secede. By the time he of his inauguration seven states had already seceded with four more following shortly after. The Confederates seceded because they feared that slavery would be ended, and they felt it was too important to their economy. Their actions are still considered to be too severe because although Lincoln was against slavery, he was not prepared to take any direct action to stop it. He believed that if he stopped to spread of slavery then it would die out in the far future. He also believed the slaves did not believe to become American citizen and should be shipped back to Africa after they gained freedom. Abraham Lincoln said he only cared about preserving the United States of America and joining the Confederacy back to the Union. Lincoln saw Fort Sumter as the perfect opportunity to bait the Confederates into war. Fort Sumter was a Union fort in South Carolina, and President Lincoln decided to send supplies there, knowing it would upset the Confederates because it shows that the union had no plans of giving it up. The Confederates respond by firing on the fort for thirty-three hours and completely destroyed it, but not killing anyone. This is considered the first battle in the Civil War and what started the fighting. The Union people thought that it would be an easy win for them but the Confederates comes strong out of the gate. The Union was struggling with finding a general that could create the winning formula. The Union lost some key battles early on; however it filled them with passion and made them hungry for victory. Eventually Ulysses S. Grant took the reins and the Union wen t on to victory. Abraham Lincoln started his presidency with no plans to directly end slavery, and the war started with the sole intention of restoring the Union. He stated â€Å"My paramount objective is to save the union†¦ and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that† (Roark 369). However as the war went on it evolved and became a fight for the freedom of the slaves. Lincoln wanted to free the slaves immediately, but there were still slave states left in the Union and if he had done anything like that they might secede too, and if he lost them he knew he could lose the war. Therefore he had to wait for the right time to declare any end of slavery. On January 1st of 1863 he decided that time was right and issued The Emancipation Proclamation which gave freedom to all the slaves in the rebelling states. Also to help keep the slave states in the Union he exempted that from the proclamation. Since the Confederation did not fall under the Union, the proclamation depended on victory for the Union. The Times in London was quoted saying â€Å"Where he has no power Mr. Lincoln will set the negroes free, where retains power he will consider them as slaves† (Roark 370). While it may appear as if they are right the thought was that as they passed invaded confederate lands and captured them they slaves would gain freedom. Lincoln waited before proclaiming emancipation this because he needed to prove his worth to the Upper South. Had he passed it earlier they would have seceded and it would have been a major loss to the Union army.

Bottom Up Approach Of Urban Planning

Bottom Up Approach Of Urban Planning Some developing countries like India and China have adopted the bottom-up approach in urban planning, solving the urban problems faced by their cities. The reason of the emergence of this phenomenon was obvious that the central governments of the developing states need to pay more attention to boost the nations economy while cities of the states are still facing a lot of urban problems like poor living environment, poor public infrastructure, lack of housing, over-crowding, pollutions or even widespread poverty. Bottom-up approach of urban planning generally means that local governments or committees formed by local citizens are responsible for urban planning of their own districts, solving the urban problems and planning their future development, and thus the districts link together to make the whole nation or region become more developed. In this paper, advantages and disadvantages of the approach will be covered and examples of cities in developing countries like China and India will be cited before having the final conclusion. It cannot be denied that the bottom-up approach is more man-centered than the classic Top-down approach which means the districts need to follow the guidelines and instructions of the central government to develop. Also, the voices of the citizens can be listened during the policy making and planning of the future development of the districts. Decision making is faster and desperate and serious problems of districts could be alleviated or solved in a shorter time. AR.UTTAM K.ROY (2009) had a research on West Bengal in India and wrote a report called Integration of Top down and Bottom up approach in Urban and Regional Planning: West Bengal Experience of Draft Development Plans (DDP) and beyond. According to the report, West Bengal enacted the West Bengal Municipal Act in 1993 to decentralize spatial and socio-economic planning of different districts. Municipalities and municipal corporations are required to prepare the Draft Development Plans of five years. AR.UTTAM K.ROY (2009) found that DDP could really involve people in the problem identification, prioritization and validation of the plan and desperate and serious urban problems faced by the people were alleviated. Besides, Bottom-up approach could reduce the burden of the central government and more central resources could be used for macro-economic development. As mentioned by P.K. Mohanty(1999),the Director of Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment of New Delhi in India, in a book chapter, Decentralization Reforms and Innovations in Municipal Management in India, Decentralization, if pursued properly, is likely to yield various benefits, including:..freeing of central resources for macroeconomic concerns such as stabilization, structural adjustment ,and poverty alleviation. On the district level, local resources could be exploited and allocated better. Thus, the efficiency of service delivery could be improved. Also, as citizens have a greater chance to involve in urban planning and decision of policies, grass-root democracy could be promoted. As their opinions could be listened and accepted and social problems could be solved, social stability can also be raised. Stable and peaceful society benefits the development of local economy. However, such planning approach also has some disadvantages. Firstly, some long-term planning cannot be drawn up sometimes. When local people can get involved in urban policy making, they may only focus on the issues related to the immediate needs of citizens. According to the book Planning from the bottom up written by professor Anirban Pal(2008)of Delft University of Technology and the repor by AR.UTTAM K.ROY(2009)cities which used the bottom-up approach, the local planning organizations or committees like the districts in West Bengal in India can seldom come up with the development projects for future residential growth or future spatial land use plans. And small scale projects like opening up of green space, creation of health centers, beautification of parks remain the majority of the work of the local committees and organizations. Therefore, some professionals doubt that whether the bottom-up approach is a good urban planning method for cities sustainable development or not. In fact, the lack of long-term plan of the development of the city and spatial land use plans would make the land use pattern of the cities become chaotic, raising other kinds of social problems and hindering the long-term development of the cities. Secondly, the bottom-up approach can lead to competitions between different districts within cities which can result in social instability. Professor Anirban Pal (2008) used Beijing, the capital of China, as an example in his book Planning from the bottom up. Different districts in Beijing are now trying to carry out different policies to raise their own attractiveness for foreign investments. The district level governments compete in carrying out widespread redevelopment and forced evictions. This has led to social unrest in Beijing. Therefore, it can be seen that bottom-up approach may lead to social instability if district level governments are too ambitious. Thirdly, the process of planning would not be truly bottom-up if the local district power is concentrated in the hands of one political organization and there are few channels for the local citizens to get involved in the planning process. Such problem can be found in Kolkata according to V.Ramaswamy. The ruling party in Kolkata has great power and high social status and thus there is no effective opposition to it. And the ruling party control the urban policy making and planning and local citizens do not have so much chance to get involved in the planning process .In this case, the process of planning is not really bottom-up to a large extent. This also shows that the planning organizations should be independent of the ruling parties. If not, the bottom-up approach can never be really effective. Moreover, there is a problem of lack of expertise in LDCs. It is not uncommon that citizens of LDCs do not hold a high education level. Although local citizens have the rights in planning the development and the land uses of the cities, most of them do not have the professional knowledge in the area of urban planning and urban policy. Just like in India the education level is low, more than 140,000,000 people do not have primary educational level and only about 400,000 people have received tertiary education level. Therefore , it is very difficult to guarantee the plans drawn up by the local organizations without expertise are long-term plans which can benefit the growth and development of the cities. The local groups may only concern about the immediate needs of the local people, neglecting environmental conservation and long-term socio-economic development. From the above, it can be seen that the bottom-up approach also has certain limitations and such approach may even harms the long-term development of the cities in LDCs. However, it is very obvious that the urban problems faced by citizens in LDCs cannot be solved easily by the traditional Top-down approach as the central government may focus on the development of whole country rather than district issues and it is very hard for the central government to recognize every district issues. Thus, it seems the bottom-up approach is the most effective method to solve the immediate issues in the districts and satisfy the needs of the local people. Furthermore, if the local immediate problems like poverty, poor living environment could not be solved, the development of whole country would be hindered. To put it simply, the bottom-up approach is a good urban planning method for LDCs when tackling the urban problems in the districts but not so beneficial for further development. In order to achieve sustainable development, cities of LDCs should adopt an approach which consists the elements of Top-down approach and bottom-up approach .This means the government can set up general guidelines and instructions for the districts to follow while granting them enough freedom and resources in tackling local affairs and drawing up plans of future development. Also, Kurian Joseph, R. Nagendran (2007) and Kumar. SA jay (2007) recommended in their papers, Top-Down And Bottom-Up Approach For Sustainability Of Waste Management In Developing Countries and Participatory Spatial Planning A Model from Kollam District, espectively that groups of multi skill professional should engage in the process of planning and tackling urban problems. In fact, tackling issues like environmental problems especially needs the engagement of the professionals. Whats more, in order to facilitate the urban planning process, the central government should enact laws to restrict the participation of politicians like members of ruling parties and government officials in local urban planning, educate the public and raise their awareness on the urban problems around them and start introduce the concept of sustainable development to the communities. For the general development of whole country, central government should monitor the development of different districts and avoid vicious competition between the districts which may lead to social unrest. When vicious competition emerges, central government should intervene in order to make the political scene and society stable. However, it should be noted that the state government should not intervene so much if there is no vicious competition between cities. According to the paper which is called Vision 2021: Urban Governance in India by Dinesh Mehta(1999),the state government should intervene as little as possible if the cities develop in a right way. All in all, the bottom-up approach is a good urban planning method which can really address the problems faced by the local citizens of LDCs. But the classic Top-down approach still cannot be forgotten as it is good for cities further development. Therefore, an approach which integrates both approaches would be a suitable way for cities of LCDs to achieve sustainable development.

Andrew Carnegie :: essays research papers

Andrew Carnegie was not only an outstanding industrialist, but also a great philanthropist. In the excerpt from page 105, Carnegie is stating that an end to Individualism would result in a revolution not an evolution because it is changing human nature itself, and there would be no way to know if it would even be a change for the better. This excerpt was one trying to convey a communist utopia; a policy of working for the better of each other, not just for the individual alone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This concept of ending Individualism and beginning one class of people, is one that arises with each leader (especially communist) trying to change a society during this period of history. I don’t believe, however, that Andrew Carnegie was trying to become a leader or begin a revolution. He was strictly stating his opinions on wealth and in turn giving that wealth away. Carnegie was a man of many contradictions. He was the wealthiest human being of all time, and he was convinced of the value of poverty in developing character.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Carnegie’s later life, I believe he had realized his selfishness with his wealth and felt the need to give it away. In the excerpt, I feel he was assessing his own situation of wealth and was trying to encourage the rest of mankind to not live the type of life he had experienced. He stated, â€Å"it is a nobler ideal that man should labor, not for himself alone, but in and for a brotherhood of his fellows, and share with them all in common†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I sense that the reason he made this statement was to encourage mankind to give away their wealth and not hold it for their own possession. Carnegie felt that society should work together instead of individually.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In many ways I agree with his statement, but I don’t feel that this is a feasible concept. Individualism is something I wouldn’t want taken away from me because I wouldn’t be able to have that constant desire to better myself.