Homeland Security - Capstone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Homeland Security - Capstone - Essay Example Ten years later, we are still looking for answers although much speculation and some verified facts have come out for public viewing since then. There are things we know for sure now – and then things we can only wonder about because there is no one available to answer the questions that only the dead know. But we have been able to piece some pieces of information together, only to come up with more questions, some of which we really dont want to ask because the answer could mean we were betrayed by our own government who did not heed the warning signals. For instance, Phillipine intelligence had indicated to the United States that there was an attack being planned to hit the Twin Towers and other well-known sites. The plot, Project Bojinka, was known about as early as 1995. â€Å"Project Bojinka was known by the CIA, and the FBI. It was described in court documents in the trial in New York of Ramzi Yousef, and Abdul Murad for their participation in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993† (Ahmed, 2002). Additionally, FBI agents were aware of suspicious Arab-Americans learning how to fly planes in certain parts of the country. Special Agent Robert G. Wright Jr. said the Offices of the Directors of the FBI threated Wright with criminal prosecution if he said anything to the media about the prior knowledge the FBI had of the attacks against the United States, (Vernon, 2002). Special Agent Wright was demoted to doing paperwork at a desk in the office, and was scheduled to testify against the FBI for not saving thousands of innocent people of September 11, 2001, (Vernon, 2002). The purpose of this study has been to determine if there were any precautions we could have taken ahead of the event that would have prevented such an occurrence. We then look at what we have done since the attack to prevent further occurrences of terrorism

Biodiversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biodiversity - Essay Example The biological wealth has been threatened by the need for development leading to the interference with the ecosystem. The process of conservation takes the form of in situ and ex situ. The ex situ approach is the one in which the threatened species are conserved by being removed from their natural habitat. In situ approach entails saving the entire ecosystem to ensure all levels of biodiversity are protected (Andre?e 29). Special settings are established where special care is given. Biodiversity goes beyond political boundaries (Pearson 17). Therefore, nations are expected to cooperate in the biodiversity conservation. The operationalization of biodiversity by definition refers to the need to have the diversity of biodiversities (Pearson 17). Biodiversity is a humongous concept whose success is dependent on a pluralistic approach. Governments are turning to the use of technology to enhance agricultural productivity. Food production demands a conclusive commitment to biodiversity thro ugh addressing climatic change, genetically modified interventions and their impact and the role of bio-fuel in dealing with sustainability. Effective governance and research is expected to ensure soil and competencies of a farmer are properly utilized in the process. Biodiversity is vital for human survival and offers both direct and indirect benefits (Alkemade, Shrestha, and Trisurat 13). ... The diversity of biodiversities can be illustrated through the multiple endangered species in the aquatic habitat, land and even air. This demands cooperation among multiple stakeholders in conserving biodiversity and ensuring that effectiveness (Alkemade, Shrestha, and Trisurat 13). Conserving biodiversity calls for international commitment in terms of taxation, controlling poaching and sale of illegal animal products (Pearson 17). This can only happen through protection of some areas, regular environmental assessments and stakeholder participation. Biodiversity is related to global food production. The concept of food production is related to the weather patterns, global warming and its effect on ecosystem and biodiversity. Some of the inherent difficulties of dealing with biodiversity include the role played by international stakeholders in enhancing developmental prosperity. Biodiversity is eliminated when food production is low. Some of the solutions involve dealing with climati c changes which are affecting food production (Pearson 17). In order to ensure is adequate food production, there is an urgent need to have increased stewardship on the current natural resources. In includes protecting wetlands and cropping intensity (Alkemade, Shrestha, and Trisurat 13). The potential for food production is expected to growing in the developing countries that invest in political stability and economic growth. This includes agricultural research that shall lead to a better understanding of biodiversity ad productivity. Intense agricultural research is being cited as a major cause for consideration of genetically engineered organisms (Pearson 17). This can be referred to the artificial transfer of genetic material

Supermarket Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Supermarket Industry - Essay Example With the increased competition, many people in the supermarket industry have realized the importance of offering a wide range of products from groceries, electronic items, and clothing among other items which will ensure that their shops have a competitive edge over the rest of their rival supermarkets. The supermarket industry has therefore played a significant role in the growth of the economy in terms of creating employment, provision of vital goods to customers among other roles and most of the supermarkets have undeniably adapted it. Nevertheless, most of the international supermarkets such as wal-mart have been able to survive and they have been able to reinvent themselves over a period of time so as they can be able to attract and maintain a wide base of loyal customer and increasing their sales volume (Robert, S. 2003). Most of them have come up with new concepts and innovation and hence they have been able to succeed in their endeavors. In this world where competition is thrive, it seems as everybody is following the same line where most of the supermarkets have become a one stop shopping p... On the other hand, the supermarket industry is currently faced with some challenges of trying to maintain a market share and profits while attempting some of the new concepts in order they would be able to differentiate themselves from other types of retailers (Carmen, M. 1994). It has been shown that there has been some major demographic and consumer lifestyles which have changed the shopping behavior of consumers and that are why consumers choose where to shop and the products they require (Robert, S. 2003). On the other hand, most of the traditional supermarkets have witnessed a decline in how much shoppers spend and how frequently they shop in a particular store and hence the importance of the changes that have been witnessed in most of these supermarkets (Narasimhan, S. 2006). While there have been some supermarket operators whom have attempted to reduce the operational cost and slashing the prices of the products they stock, they find this to be a tough approach when competing with low cost operators like Wal-Mart and Costco and hence there is a need of re-evaluating their strategies (Kahn, B. 1997). Literature review Majority of supermarkets are essentially devising various strategies of increasing their sales volume and maintaining customer loyalty over the years, and some of the strategies used is diversifying in their products and reducing the prices of their products. However, in our increasingly busy lives, consumers are relying on supermarkets for all their shopping needs due to the fact that it is a one shopping place (Kaufmann P.J. 1994). It has been shown in various instances that customers know what to expect and want and whenever they walk into

New Program Proposal for policy makers Research

New Program for policy makers - Research Proposal Example Again, please consider the merit of this evaluation proposal. Sincerely, Aubrey Mongal Evaluation Design Author Evaluation Design for the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Program† I. Introduction This evaluation design proposes to evaluate in the State of New York the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Program† which was crafted about ten years ago. In the management profession, program evaluation is an important tool for reviewing plans, revising/improving plans, or adopting a new set of plans or programs (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001). Teams and organization engage in evaluation â€Å"to foster goal accomplishment (Morgeson et al, 2010, p. 7). In other words, while a program may be reviewed, revised, changed, affirm, or adjusted, the accomplishment of goals remain as the more important reason for conducting an evaluation so long as the goals continue to be relevant or appropriate. Similarly, evaluation is an important tool in public administration. Program evaluation is ev en a basic methodology for public administration research (Perry and Kraemer, 1986). Public administrators use evaluation for developing â€Å"alternative policies and programs† (Perry and Kraemer, 1986, p. 216). ... In the United States of America, the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Program† that was developed in 2001 represents a major public policy that needs to be evaluated consistent with the utility of evaluations for both managers and public administrators as per the articulation of the U.S. General Accounting Office (2001), Morgeson et al. (2010), and Perry and Kraemer (1986). Within the UNESCO’s (2006) strategic planning framework for the education sector, evaluation can be seen as the first stage in the three stages of strategic planning in the educational sector. II. The Program to be Evaluated: The â€Å"No Child Left Behind Program† The No Child Left Behind Policy is the result of Public Law 107-110 of the 107th U.S. Congress that was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush in 8 January 2002. The law is known as the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.† Based on a pdf document copy of the law that is available in the internet (http://www2.ed.gov/po licy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf), the law is at least several hundred pages if not over a thousand pages and the number of pages is indicative of the comprehensiveness of the law with regard to the education sector. For example, the law covers the following: Improving the academic achievement of the disadvantage (Section 101, Public Law 107-110); Teacher and principal training and recruitment fund (Section 202, Public Law 107-110); Continuation of awards (Section 202, Public Law 107-110); Language Instruction for limited English proficient children and immigrant children and youth (Section 301, Public Law 107-110); Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native Education (Title VII, Public Law 107-110); and Payments

Supermarket Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Supermarket Industry - Essay Example With the increased competition, many people in the supermarket industry have realized the importance of offering a wide range of products from groceries, electronic items, and clothing among other items which will ensure that their shops have a competitive edge over the rest of their rival supermarkets. The supermarket industry has therefore played a significant role in the growth of the economy in terms of creating employment, provision of vital goods to customers among other roles and most of the supermarkets have undeniably adapted it. Nevertheless, most of the international supermarkets such as wal-mart have been able to survive and they have been able to reinvent themselves over a period of time so as they can be able to attract and maintain a wide base of loyal customer and increasing their sales volume (Robert, S. 2003). Most of them have come up with new concepts and innovation and hence they have been able to succeed in their endeavors. In this world where competition is thrive, it seems as everybody is following the same line where most of the supermarkets have become a one stop shopping p... On the other hand, the supermarket industry is currently faced with some challenges of trying to maintain a market share and profits while attempting some of the new concepts in order they would be able to differentiate themselves from other types of retailers (Carmen, M. 1994). It has been shown that there has been some major demographic and consumer lifestyles which have changed the shopping behavior of consumers and that are why consumers choose where to shop and the products they require (Robert, S. 2003). On the other hand, most of the traditional supermarkets have witnessed a decline in how much shoppers spend and how frequently they shop in a particular store and hence the importance of the changes that have been witnessed in most of these supermarkets (Narasimhan, S. 2006). While there have been some supermarket operators whom have attempted to reduce the operational cost and slashing the prices of the products they stock, they find this to be a tough approach when competing with low cost operators like Wal-Mart and Costco and hence there is a need of re-evaluating their strategies (Kahn, B. 1997). Literature review Majority of supermarkets are essentially devising various strategies of increasing their sales volume and maintaining customer loyalty over the years, and some of the strategies used is diversifying in their products and reducing the prices of their products. However, in our increasingly busy lives, consumers are relying on supermarkets for all their shopping needs due to the fact that it is a one shopping place (Kaufmann P.J. 1994). It has been shown in various instances that customers know what to expect and want and whenever they walk into

Concepts of truth and reality in photography Research Paper

Concepts of truth and reality in photography - Research Paper Example The China state has covered the events that took place, thus leading to the massacre. It covered the events that occurred. On June, 3-4 tanks and heavily armed troops moved towards the square crushing those who tried to stop them. The few Protestants who had remained at the plaza choose to leave rather than face the wrath of the troops. The soldiers shot throughout the day, even though, no Protestants had remained out at that time. Yong Xu, a Chinese writer who is supposedly said to have published a controversial book that fully contained photos of the famous killings that had happened at the Tiananmen Square. The book has full images of young idealists who clamored for democracy while denouncing the communist party. Yong Xu on his part insists that his works were not by any chance political driven even after keeping hiding them for more than two decades. Yong Xu insists that his works are genuinely an art book; Yong also has other 20 photography books to his name that can be used to justify his intentions for putting the photos together. His art book, on the contrary, is more likely to be viewed as a provocation by hardliners by the current rulers of China. It is because they have tried so much to cover been up this particular event by providing scanty information on it. The Chinese official have imposed a collective amnesia on the nation by censoring photos and even news that are part of the historical records in the world at large. Yong’s book can be viewed as a brave as he had defied the potential risk. Yong puts himself given that all those who had tried taken this path had been imprisoned including his close friends who had simply shared the events photos online. One of China’s best-known civil rights lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang, is said to have been in police custody since last spring for joining a private gathering at his friend’s apartment

New Media Technology Essay Example for Free

New Media Technology Essay Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the worldwide web, initially intended his invention to be a haven of collaboration where people could share their knowledge (Gauntlett 2009:39). Although the prospect of such public journalism corresponded with democratic and egalitarian principles, journalists took this idea with a pinch of salt. This was almost 20 years ago, before the information highway had, for better or for worse, stretched its limbs across the globe. Today, the new media has redefined both journalism and self expression in conflicting ways that leave an individual wondering at the veracity of digital information. In the last decade, internet has gone through an explosive growth and diversification. No one could have foreseen how the internet would pervade our lives and transform the very notion of being part of a society. It has provided the ultimate freedom of the new age: a single blogger can speak to the entire world, a concept virtually impossible two decades ago. However, with this flourishing and unbound growth, the internet brings a unique set of predicaments and dilemmas. The most profound and relevant of such problems is the age-old clash of a person’s right of self-expression with the hazards of misinformation of the whole society. Whether this deceit comes about due to ignorance or design is irrelevant; in a society that promotes freedom of speech, misinformation is bound to occur on both grounds. While conferring infinite freedom to the common person, this means of self-expression comes with the acrid realization that words from a layman, presented as the predominating views of his community, are not necessarily a blessing. The news on the new media of today is more about gossip and entertainment then first-rate journalism. Since when did journalism begin to cater to the ever-growing need of the populace to be entertained? In an interview to BBC World News America, Ted Koppel, former Nightline presenter, criticized the digital journalist of today for being a mere supplier for consumers (Whitlock 2010). The commercial expansion of new media and ever-growing competition in the free market means that journalists have to write what sells; or rather, gets the most â€Å"hits† on a website. How did we come to a situation where the populace demands not to be informed, but to be perpetually entertained? Discussing news on the television, Daya Kishan Thussu (2007: 9) states: â€Å"There is a concern that too much news is creating an information overload, contributing to a structural erosion of the public sphere in the Habermasian sense, where the viewer, bombarded with visuals, is unable to differentiate between public information and corporate propaganda. † If that is true regarding television news, it most definitely holds water concerning internet news. The gargantuan flow of information, most of which lacks in credibility, is bombarded on any user who wades through the mire of pop up advertisements, banners, and mass e-mailing. Although, these devices are some of the tools used in the race to get more traffic on ones website, the capitalist agenda is far from being the most unfavorable feature of journalism. It is the ubiquitous use of new media, especially by the youth that yields the most detrimental effects. The frivolous writing that is spilt across the new media today may be the first literature some of us encounter, and draw heavily from. However, there have been examples of the internet doing its job where other media have failed. Earlier this year, on January 12th, an earthquake hit the Caribbean island of Haiti. All landlines and mobile connections were suspended. The production team of the news program Sunrise at Sky News, London, was finding it difficult to channel in the first reports from the disaster-struck area. It was to be a young member of their team, Emily Purser, who used Twitter and instant messaging via Google and Skype, to secure the first reports of the incident (Elward 2010). Another, much publicized affair was the use of Twitter by the political opposition in Iran to protest the presidential elections. The protestants took to all sorts of media, but the loudest dissent was voiced, surprisingly, through microblogging. This medium proved to be fast, portable, and most importantly very difficult to contain. Ironically, this very accessibility makes the medium too erratic, unreliable, and mundane to be of any journalistic value (Grossman 2009). An obvious embodiment of the debate between free speech and quality journalism is Wikipedia. This resource epitomizes the â€Å"by the people, for the people† ideology, but this trait alone does not give it any credibility whatsoever, at least not in academic circles. A former editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia Britannica compared Wikipedia to a â€Å"public toilet†, accusing it of delivering information that has no authenticity (Shirky 2006). On the other hand, notions that anything that appears in print media will always be more accurate than digital information are absurd. What Wikipedia envisions is the process through which one can witness the knowledge of its users evolving and perfecting itself through countless revisions (Shirky 2006). The trump card in the argument for Wikipedia comes from a comparison of veracity of data between itself and Britannica; the scientific journal Nature declares them to be of similar accuracy (Giles 2005:900). This collaboration is a sign for those who think people are becoming ever more antisocial and misanthropic, for this is a global effort in creating something for the benefit of all and no monetary gain (Gauntlett 2009:42) . Patricia Wallace, in her book, The Psychology of the Internet writes about how free flow of information can be used to cultivate critical and analytical thinking amongst students who access it (1999:245). Nevertheless, the fact remains that the new media is losing credibility day by day. Although, the global sharing of information and its revision by collaboration is a noble idea, public journalism makes it exceedingly difficult to acquire accurate information; and to accept the new media as a genuine journalistic medium. BIBLIOGRAPHY Gauntlet, David. (2009). Case Study: Wikipedia. Eds. Creeber, G Martin, R. Digital Cultures. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. Thussu, Daya Kishan. (2007). News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment. London: SAGE Publications. Wallace, Patricia. (1999). The Psychology of The Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Shirky, Clay. Interviewed on Imagine, BBC1, UK (aired 5th December 2006) Giles, Jim. (2005). Internet encyclopedias go head to head, Nature, 438:900. www. nature. com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a. html (5th May, 2010) Grossman, Lev. (2009). Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement. Time. http://www. time. com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905125,00. html (5th May, 2010) Whitlock, Scott. (2010). Ted Koppel Slams Undisciplined Internet Journalism. NewsBusters. http://newsbusters. org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2010/04/13/ted-koppel-slams-undisciplined-internet-journalism-longs-good-old-da (5th May, 2010) Elward, David. (2010) Work of a trainee newspaper journalist. (5th May, 2010) http://davidelward. com/2010/03/09/the-digital-revolution-need-not-sound-the-death-knell-for-good-journalism/