Multivitamin

In my house I have two types of multivitamins on hand. I have Marvel’s, The Amazing Spider-man complete multiple Vitamin and Mineral Supplement with DHA. I also have Equate Woman’s One Daily with calcium, Iron, and Zinc multivitamin and Mineral Supplement. My son, although an adult, prefers the taste of a chewable, which is why I have Spider-man vitamins on hand for a 20 year old. The benefit of taking either of these vitamins every day is that no matter what you eat each day, since a daily diet usually varies, your body is guaranteed to receive at least the minimum amount of essential vitamins and minerals a body needs to perform at its best. Almost every person has a day where they didn’t eat breakfast, or maybe they skipped lunch, the vitamin, helps to replace what they missed in getting from the nutrients given to a body through food. For instance, I do not drink a lot of milk. Therefore, unless I am eating a larger amount of other dairy products to compensate, I need a vitamin that contains calcium to support my bone growth, structure, and to prevent osteoporosis since I am in my 40’s. While not having enough vitamins and minerals in your body can cause many health related problems, over taking them can also cause health problems. They fact is that most vitamins and minerals are absorbed into the body, and eating a healthy diet with only one supplement can keep a person healthy and balanced. However, most people do not eat a healthy diet, therefore the supplements can help keep them on track. One must keep in mind as well though that some people over use supplements thinking they are increasing their health when the reality is they may be causing the very problems they are trying to prevent. The textbook relates to a study showing that too much pyridoxine caused people to lose the ability to walk (Chapter 8: The Vitamins, n.d.), whereas not enough was thought to cause anxiety and depression. The text also explains how sailors did not get scurvy when they took vitamin C. Too much vitamin C causes stomach ailments. Based on the guidelines, in my home, vitamins are needed. We do not eat a proper healthy diet that would contain all the correct amounts of vitamins and minerals our bodies need to support good health. Taking a vitamin everyday, which we do, makes me feel a little bit better about the state of our health and daily diet.

Dpe Paper

DPE and Goal Instruction If teaching were as simple as using the one best way to teach everything, it would be considered a science. However, there isn’t just one correct method to teach everything. That is the reason teaching is an art. If teaching meant to follow a text book and a â€Å"one size fits all† approach, then anyone would be a master teacher. That is why teachers and especially special educators unique and special.That is why teachers know that individual needs, strengths and weaknesses must be considered to make the instructional process successful and geared to equip the student to achieve his optimum skills and abilities to meet the challenges of daily living. Students come with their own individual packages and no two of them are alike. Even though the curriculum is the same, no two students learn the same way. Teachers are challenged to meet the students’ â€Å"package† and to create an approach at instruction that take into consideration the students’ differing abilities, strengths and needs are satisfied.To compound the challenges of instruction, the intellectually disabled (ID) student presents additional dynamics that impact the art of teaching. This paper presents the diagnostic/prescriptive/evaluation (DPE) strategy of instruction for ID students. The DPE is not a concept. Educators have been using it for decades (Mann and Phillips, 1967). During the past 40 years it has been improved and refined (Ewing & Brecht). The paper examines each of the components of DPE: diagnosis, prescription, and evaluation (Thomas, 1996). In conclusion it presents two applications of implementing the DPE with two students diagnosed with ID.The diagnostic process requires great skill and effort from the teacher. Alone the special educator cannot perform all the necessary functions of diagnosis. With the assistance of the other members of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) and other service personnel, they are able to determine the needs of individual learners and to specify instructional objectives that will help the student satisfy his educational needs (Eisele, 1967). During this phase the teacher is to determine the most demanding needs of the student. The entire diagnostic process depends upon the ccurate identification of these needs. The specialists on the MDT provide the teacher with the data, or means of acquiring the data, about the student that are necessary for determining the student’s needs. This takes the form of providing formal and informal testing services for testing students, supplying the data that has been acquired from the testing, and providing the testing batteries that could be used for this purpose (Eisele, 1967). This becomes the Present Levels of Performance (PLOP) of the Individualized Education Program (IEP).When the MDT has collected all of the significant data and determined the demanding needs of the student, then the teacher and the specialists develop the instruc tional goals and objectives appropriate for specific needs. These goals are selected from curriculum domains and the objectives can be selected from curriculum guides and resource units. Also the teacher and specialist can generate their own objectives. When talking to the teacher and specialists, I asked what type of instructional activities and materials they use for students with ID?The teacher and specialists stated that they prescribe instructional activities and materials suitable for the student to master his objectives. This constitutes the second step in the DPE process. Prescribed learning is based on short- and long-term goals that are established for the individual student and are based on the skills needed to be mastered. Within these goals are markers to establish where there are gaps in the learning process. Instruction that follows will teach only to what the student still needs to master to be successful. It capitalizes on the strength of the student to fill in the learning gaps.The prescriptive process can be applied to almost any subject area, academic and behavioral (Deschel, Susan, 2012). Three important teaching strategies for students diagnosed with ID: 1) tasks should be broken down into small component steps and learned in sequence, 2) teaching techniques should be experiential, concrete, visual and hands-on rather than cognitive, abstract and verbally delivered in lecture form, and 3) feedback should be immediate for the student to make a connection between his answer, behavior, or question and the teacher’s response.The third phase is the evaluation process. This is a two-pronged process for the teacher. First, evaluation is necessary to assess needs and, second, to evaluate the student’s progress toward achieving his objectives. Through the evaluation process teacher monitors the understanding and performance of students before teaching the lesson, while teaching, and after teaching the lesson. The evaluation process c an inform the teacher of the effectiveness of his lessons with individuals, small groups of students, or whole classes, depending on the instruments used (Guskey, 2003).Instruction and evaluation are interactive. The teacher may evaluate student learning on the spot, or collect data at different points in time and compare progress over units of instruction. Moment-by-moment assessments allow the teacher to tap into student’s developing understandings about the objective and to enable the teacher to correct misconceptions immediately. Observations recorded over time allow the teacher to identify patterns of development and document learning gains (Guskey, 2003). This can be accomplished in many ways.Devices appropriate for the evaluating progress are data keeping, checklists, logs, standardized tests, and paper and pencil tests. Now we consider the practical applications of DPE in a classroom. Antoine is a 12 year old, sixth grader, who is diagnosed with ID and is in a special education classroom. His MDT has completed their assessments and has developed his IEP. One of his goals includes math readiness. His objective is to be able to match manipulatives to numbers expressed on cards with verbal prompting.The teacher has developed prescriptive lesson plans to enable Antoine develop the needed skills to match the manipulatives to the numbers. His first lesson is to match manipulatives to the number expressed on a picture communication symbol (PCS). He encounters difficulty in matching the manipulatives to the number on the PCS. His teacher notes the difficulty evaluating Antoine’s learning skill gap. She introduces PCS with a number of manipulatives on it equal to a number on the top of the PCS. Antoine begins to associate the manipulative with the number on the card.As he experiences success in matching the manipulatives to the number, the teacher replaces the PCS with two cards, one with the number and the other with the manipulatives. After coll ecting data indicating Antoine’s progress, the teacher removes the manipulative card. Antoine now begins to match the manipulatives to the number on the PCS. For the second example we meet John. John is a 15 year old with a diagnosis of ID and behavioral issues. He has recently developed the habit, when he becomes frustrated, of head butting objects and individuals.His MTD has met and analyzed the situation and has developed a plan to extinguish this behavior and have John express his frustration in positive behaviors. They have listed the times when John has become frustrated, the antecedent(s), and indicators that precede his head butting. The prescriptive element is to develop initially plans for John to identify his feeling of frustration and to express his emotion to the teacher. As the staff observes John during class times, they begin to note those antecedents that indicate John is becoming frustrated. They plan interventions with John to alleviate his build up of frus tration.There is the constant interplay of the diagnostic, prescriptive and evaluation processes until John is able to identify the cause of his frustration and release it with positive behaviors. There are many specific techniques that can assist in teaching students with ID. They can be summarized into three, more, general strategies. First is to allow more time and practice for the students to successfully master the objective. Second is to embed the activities into daily living or functioning as much as possible. Third is to include the student both in the social and academic activities.Diagnostic/prescriptive/evaluation strategies have been employed in the classroom as an educational strategy to remedy learning deficits (Ewing & Brecht, 1977). After speaking with a teacher about the roles and procedures that plays in the daily class, she shared with me that the diagnostic process helps the educational team define the student’s abilities and deficits. The prescriptive pro cess provides a means to plan and teach the skills and concepts a student needs most. The evaluation process measures the learning increments of any magnitude. It enables the team to redefine the diagnostic and prescriptive as needed.The DPE strategy emphasizes and identifies a prioritized life goal curriculum planning approach to identify functional skills and concepts need by a student with ID to become as successful as possible in adult life. The DPE approach assesses each student’s abilities and progress toward those individual life goals (Thomas, 1996). References Dreschel, Susan. (2012). Prescriptive Learning. http://www. ehow. com. Eisele, James E. (1967). Diagnostic Teaching: Can the Curriculum Specialist Help? Educational Leadership, January 1967. Washington, DC. Ewing, Norma & Brecht, Richard. (1977).Diagnostic/Prescriptive Instruction: A Reconsideration of Some Issues. Journal of Special Education, vol. 11. Los Angeles CA: Sage Publications. Guskey, T. R. (2003). U sing Data to Improve Student Achievement. Educational Leadership. Kauffman, James M. & Hung, Li-Yu. (2009). Special Education for Intellectual Disability: Current Trends and Perspectives. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Inc. Thomas, Glen E. (1996) Teaching Students with Mental Retardation: A Life Goal Curriculum Planning Approach. Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Receiver Paper -- Ted Youth Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Receiver Paper -- Ted Youth Speech - Essay Example â€Å"Leading Miami† was formed with the main objective of teaching the local youths in Miami about the values of leaderships, empathy, and self realization. According to Koenig, active leadership presents the best solution towards changing the way young people engage in civic activities in the city. He said that he believed leadership is the best avenue to changing the state of low civic activities not only in Miami but across the world as well. Koenig’s speech was a rallying call to the youths in Miami to take action towards changing Miami for better. The greatest lesson that the speech carried was on leadership and how it can be used to drive personal and communities ambitions to higher levels of achievement. Philip Koenig was very articulate about the subject of leadership. He said that teaching about leadership was a great opportunity for the youths in Miami to â€Å"create change within a broad spectrum on all sides.† He further gave examples of some of the world’s greatest leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi who took active role in civic activities. He said that empathy was the greatest personal value behind the passions of Mandela and Gandhi in leading to change the world for better place. Koenig was speaking to a group of mostly the youths that had assembled for the TEDx speech presentation in Miami in November 2013. Members of the auditorium had assembled to exchange experiences and also learn from others, what it would mean to change Miami to statuses of cities like Minneapolis a very active civic life. Speaker after speaker was a youth perhaps to authentic the fact that the speech presentations on the day was as forum for the youths of Miami. The audience was also representative of the American multiracial diversities. Speakers were also from different racial backgrounds. Philip entered the stage just moments after an African-American youth had just finished making his presentation. The occasion was specificall y dedicated to youths of Miami to learn about what they could do to change their city for a better place. The rallying call that Philip made was for the youth to rise above the below average ratings of their city and compete with the likes of Minneapolis where civic engagement by the populace was way above. The audience applauded the speaker in appreciation after he finished his presentation. Koenig was an effective speaker and being a member of the audience, I found him very articulate in presenting his views. His major objectives were to call upon the youth to take an active role in engaging in civic activities. He also wanted to tell the youths to inculcate the spirit of empathy in them as they learn of leadership skills and self development. On the other hand, the speaker wanted the audience to know of various ways through which they could engage actively in civic activities in the city. The speaker created an impression that he is an authority worth listening to early in the sp eech. He stated that he has been running â€Å"Leading Miami†, an organization that has been in the forefront of educating and inculcating leadership values in the youths of Miami. He thus came forth as someone that has been in the fore when it comes to civic activities in the city of Miami. The speaker also employed the use of emotional appeal to capture the audience’s emotions. He said that taking part in civic activiti

Business Resources Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Business Resources - Assignment Example In corporate and large organizations, well defined resource management teams are appointed to ensure optimum allocation of all resources and to avoid over or under allocation of same resources in multiple projects at a time. In this paper, allocation and management of human, technical, physical and financial resources will be evaluated. For the purpose of the study, the resource management techniques of Waitrose will be analysed for getting an insight of the company’s resource management. Waitrose is a UK based supermarket chain and retail division of Britain’s largest employee owned retailer John Lewis Partnership with headquarter in Berkshire. As per the reports of 2014, Waitrose currently has 317 stores across the UK including 30 Little Waitrose, making the retail based grocery superstore the sixth largest in the United Kingdom. The company also have the warrant of supplying groceries, wine and spirits to the royal family of Queen Elizabeth (Waitrose.com, 2015). Duri ng the course of study, how Waitrose has been successful in identifying and managing its critical resources to ascertain smooth running of such well expanded business will be examined in details. Recruitment documentation may be defined as the system of filling up information related to personal, educational and working qualifications, required at the time of applying for a job. The process consists of collecting copies of application forms and all supporting document of the information provided from all individuals present in the panel and interested in applying for the particular job opening. Recruitment documentation ensures consistency, standardization and streamlining the recruitment process for the HR and administrative personnel of a company (Armstrong, 2006). Requirement for recruitment documentation varies according to companies and job profiles. For instance, for a job profile of Supermarket Assistance in Waitrose, the requirements specified by the company show

Social DQ 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Social DQ 2 - Essay Example People who are dealing with drug addictions can become irritable at work, and could even make mad decisions at work if they were acting under the influence. This is not productive under any working conditions, and cause an almost unthinkable number of problems at your work place. A person bringing illegal drugs to the work place could bring unwanted legal action against your business, and everything economically would just snowball from there, and ultimately cause even more problems than one could originally expect. If an employer is thinking a person may be taking drugs, the easiest and safest way to be sure is to simply confront the person about it. Sneaking around and trying to find out isn’t going to help the problem, you need to be up front and direct. If that doesn’t work, that you can ask them to submit to a drug test, but only if you are certain they are under the influence and are using drugs. Drug abuse also does not just affect the person taking the drugs, it tends to have a ripple effect that can spread beyond a person’s work or family life. Everyone person a drug user is it contact with can be affected by them using drugs, and it can cause of nasty chain of events that nobody wants to see happen. Drugs can change who a person is, and can make them interact harshly towards people. People can loose friends, relationships, or even loved ones or family members if they are abusing drugs and not taking care of themselves as they should be. Drugs can come between people, and they tend not to improve any situation as much as people sometimes claim they might. Drugs can ruin a person’s life from top to bottom. Not only can drug abuse cost a person their job, and possibly time in jail, it can also cost them all their friends and family that surround them. Drugs could in the end take away everything that means anything to you in life, and therefore are not something that should be

A marketing plan to regenerate the area around Aberdeen Beach Essay

A marketing plan to regenerate the area around Aberdeen Beach - Essay Example Internal marketing audit, external marketing audit, competitor analysis as well as marketing review of the beach has been done in order to make the area attractive for the locals as well as visitors. Mission Statement The purpose of the tourist beach will be to provide an everlasting experience for the visitors of the beach by exposing them with clean and calm environment, latest adventure sports and activities, leisure areas, top class restaurants and nice places to hangout. The beach will be serving all demographic categories starting from kids, teenagers, youngsters as well as adults, professionals, middle aged and senior citizens. There will not be any gender bias and equal opportunities will be provided to men and women in terms of activities and events (Nimwegen, et al., 2008). The beach will be established keeping in mind the environment and local surroundings. The beach will also use latest technologies to keep the pollution and wastages at bay and will make sure that least a mount of wastes are dispersed in the surroundings (Fuchs and Diamantopoulos, 2010). Corporate objective The major corporate objectives of the beach authorities are as follows; 1. Tighten the security of the beach and its surrounding areas so that the trust of visitors and tourists on the beach safety is re-established. 2. Re-position the beach and its surrounding areas as a favourite destination for serene and pollution free holiday. 3. Increasing profitability and return on investment of the marketing and advertising strategies by ensuring proper monitoring and strategic implementation. 4. The corporate vision for the beach will be to provide their customers with the best holiday destination experience from beginning to end, with attractive environmental sites and engaging activities. Internal marketing audit Current situation At present, Aberdeen beach is going through a difficult situation. There has been a decline in number of visitors, especially the locals. Off late, the beach authorities have been criticised for growing unhealthy environment. The area surrounding the beach is not cleaned properly, leading to a garbage land. This has accelerated the growth of mosquitoes and other flies in the corners of the beach. Also, people have started complaining about the pungent smells because of the growing wastes. Another blow to the safety of the beach was done when a dead body was found inside the beach complex. The flow of visitors reduced drastically after the incident. Usage and facilities Currently, the beach is primarily used for walking, surfing and windsurfing. The beach is actually an array of many attached beaches, each having specific qualities and attractions. Thus, while few beaches are mostly used for walking and sigh-seeing, others famous for their high tides and surfing. The beach also has a popular amusement area. Apart from this, the beach is also surrounded by restaurants, cinemas, condones and parks. The Aberdeen beach is actually a part of the Queens Link which is famous for various other attractions such as amusement park, cinemas, restaurants, shopping centres and more. External analysis In order to do a macro and micro environmental analysis a PESTLE analysis of the Scotland tourism is done here. Political Scotland falls in the category of developed economies. Political situation is stable in Scotland. The major

Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Final - Essay Example Mothers have always been perceived as the ones responsible in the raising of children but as researches are conducted on children; their need for fathers stands out. Father involvement then is a goal that social welfare is trying to work on. Bunting and McAuley wrote in their article the results of their research that, fathers often point to financial problems as the reason for their little or non-involvement in child raising. Money is indeed an important matter to consider and even though modern families now accept mothers working and earning money for the family instead of fathers, the males often feel they are supposed to be the ones providing the needs of the family and not their spouses. Their research shows that there seems to be some misconceptions of some fathers about their responsibilities. In addition, these misconceptions are coupled by conflicts inside the family. Whether is a problem on communication with the wife or the wife’s parents, the problem poses as a bar rier that distances the father from his child. Bunting and McAuley focused on familial relationships that could be deterrent or beneficial to fatherhood. If the wife’s parents can sometimes get in between father and child relationships, the husband’s parent can do otherwise. The article mentions that â€Å"Miller’s review of the literature on adolescent fathers indicate that as with teenage mothers, paternal grandparents, in particular grandmothers, are an important source of support for young men. This information could be valuable to social workers who can encourage paternal grandparents’ involvement in child-rearing if they are able to. This will not only boost the father’s morale but will also give him the time to work and the chance to see more of his child/children. With the increase of young men fathering children without even having any idea about their responsibilities, guidance should be available from social workers. For this reason, so cial workers should be well-informed with similar information that will guide them on how to help the fathers. Huebner et al. on the other hand gave the result of their interviews and surveys about the reactions of fathers towards social services. From the results, it is shown that 8.3% of the 185 participants gave positive reactions while 48.3% were neutral or have given suggestions and 43,3% gave disappointed comments. This reflects that services for fathers either are not performing well, badly designed or are simply available or known to a few. Some fathers shared their grievances and it is indeed heartbreaking that even in such matters, the problem on prejudice still exists. As one father said, â€Å"The system is biased against fathers and favors mothers.† This is in response to his claim that â€Å"the worker never calls me directly nor tells me what is happening in the case.† Another says that he pays child support and therefore should have the chance to be a f ather. Knowing about these, it should be noted well by social workers to set aside perceiving fathers collectively as bad or unable to competently perform their duties to children like their mothers can. This writer agrees to the idea that mediators should be trained to work with the parents to resolve their differences and not make the situation worse, to guide them in focusing on the needs of

Look at Your Fish/ Building Arguments- Word Assignment

Look at Your Fish - Assignment Example The professor was also trying to teach Scudder to refer to the facts because whatever he/she would say, he would still tell him/her to look at the fish as a point of reference. At first, Scudder took a very short time to look at the fish and with an idea of a fish at the back of the mind, concluded that he/she had seen everything that was required of him/her. This was from the general knowledge he/she had about a fish and with that, he/she thought it was all about a fish. Scudder again after lunch came and when he/she tried out drawing the fish, it dawned on him/her that there were new features that he/she was discovered then. After another serious look in the afternoon, he/she even noticed how shallow he/she had been with his/her previous observations. The following morning, he/she was even able to explain what he/she had seen but in a new way, which was actually what the professor was trying to teach him/her. As time passed by with constant observation and of course with concentration, Scudder learned more and more. We can conclude that he/she actually would learn everything about the fish if he/she were given more time. Scudder changed from just seeing what the ordinary eye could see now seeing beyond and even be able to explain the observations. He/she also changed and learned to be patient and persistent in his/her learning. Scudder also changed from just being a mere learner into an expert in the field of study. Scudder developed a lot of interest and gained a lot of knowledge in that field of study, something he/she could not do before and would now do more than what was expected of a learner. Professor Agassiz’s method of teaching was very effective from my point of view. This is due to the positive effects it has caused to Scudder as a leaner. Firstly, it gives the learner an ample time to be able to learn from them.

Caring in a technological world Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Caring in a technological world - Assignment Example Accurate documentation and integration of medical treatments and confidentiality is a pre requisite for the nursing staff as it endeavors to promote effective communication. Informatics plays a major role in communication in health care today. Use of cell phones and internet as tools for communication between physicians and patients is useful. It makes the patients to make informed decisions and focus on questions that they seek to ask their physicians because they provide written texts. They are also efficient because they provide a mode of communication though both parties may not be present at the same time (Ball, 2000). Research in the last decade showed that nearly 100,000 people die annually in the U.S.A due to medical errors (Ball, 2000). The introduction of medical informatics has led to the steep decline of these numbers. The technology can be used in diagnoses and treatments of patients. The invention of the COSTAR (Computer Stored Ambulatory Record) shows improvement in cases of misdiagnosis as this application software has an electronic patient that reminds clinicians and physicians about the guidelines of medical practice (Ball, 2000). There are also computerized programs that assist the physicians on the line of proper antibiotics to be prescribed. Processing prescriptions through this system ensure that the possibility of errors is reduced by over 45% (Ball, 2000). Managing knowledge involves proper dissemination of intrinsic and valued information after its acquisition. This information can be patient specific or evidence based. Examples of such information include electronic medical records and administrative (Ball, 2000). The ability to put into use the knowledge derived from informatics is the determinant of success of these systems. Health care information should be managed to promote confidentiality and the integrity of such data. These data should only be accessible to the appropriate individuals.

Radioactivity experiment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Radioactivity experiment - Essay Example This also goes to the extent of explaining the practical sense involving radioactivity in the conclusions and recommendation segment. It clearly brings out the sense of radioactive decay in that, it ascertains on the fact that it indeed has to do with spontaneous disintegration of atomic nucleus that leads to release of matter and energy from the entire nucleus. This form of radioactivity experiment might seem simple but the logic behind it is very critical. The main objective behind the lab experiment was the aspect whereby I was investigating the radioactive decay concept by use of coins to simulate the decaying nuclei. Here, tossed coins were taken to have decayed when they came up as tails. The other objective and conclusion that was arrived at was on the importance of using coins in such an experiment, as well as the aspect of coin variations in terms of numbers with regards to both experiments. Radioactivity generally refers to the emission of particles or substances from the nuclei mainly due to nuclear instability. On the other hand, radioactive decay  refers to spontaneous disintegration of atomic nucleus that leads to release of matter and energy from the entire nucleus. Radioisotope has got unstable nuclei with little binding energy for holding the nucleus collectively (EDUCATION RESOURCES, 2014). Radioisotopes often experience constant motions with the ultimate verge of trying to gain stability. That kind of process often leads to release of matter and energy, hence leading to a sort of transformation into a new substance. This entire process is known as  transmutation, and has to do with the aspect of transformation of one element to another due to nucleus change. The transmutation process and radioactive decay will persist until new elements with more stable nucleus are formed. This process can either occur naturally or artificially. There exist three main categories of

The ways to reduce crime in the worlds most violent cities Essay Example for Free

The ways to reduce crime in the worlds most violent cities Essay Crime has long been considered to be a serious issue of many countries, both developed and developing, in the contemporary society. In particular, the crime rate increases annually in degree in some sectors worldwide. In this speech, I would like to show my concern about the causes of the problem and the solutions to it. There are subjective as well as objective factors that lead to the escalation of this adverse circumstance. The first and also the principal cause of this problem is poverty, or we can say, economic deprivation. People are often driven to great lengths of desperation by poverty and this is a major cause of crime all around the world. The fact that such frustration is created is in itself a very dangerous thing for society on the whole as global inflation has risen significantly over the last few years. It does seem that in our world today, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That is to say, these destitute people do not have enough money to buy food and other necessities. Thus, their last resort to maintain their lives is to rob or steal, which leads to crime. More to the point, violence from mainstream media can also contribute substantially to the increase of crime. There are many films and plays containing violent or sensitive contents, which have a profound influence on the viewers. Some people want to emulate the heroes, as they see them, in the movies without knowing that the behaviour in reality can be seen as illegal in the eyes of the law. Teenagers are especially prone to this kind of factor without the supervision of older adults. There are also many social issues bringing about this unfavorable circumstance. Overpopulation, racism, regionalism, family conditions, and often political power are some factors that lay the foundation of serious crimes. Besides, there are other subjective factors. In other words, the reason for his crime-committing is partially not from the pressure of the society or social illnesses as mentioned above, and really difficult to control. Illustriously, mental disorders are a major cause of crime of this type. Other than depression, people with grave mental disorders also end up committing crimes. Such people should be treated before their tendencies and ailments get out of hand. A person with depression or some other serious mental disorder can also easily cause harm to themselves. Moreover, we have drugs, which are a bane [a cause of trouble], no matter how we look at them. A person addicted to drugs is unable to support their addiction and more often than not they end up in a life of crime to fuel their habits. It is not unknown anywhere in the world that a drug addict ends up committing crimes to raise money for their habits. Besides that, there are also a large number of people that are involved in the drug trade. Though these people may not really be drug-users themselves, they often lure others into drugs and crimes. So, what should we, people in the society, do to help tackle such a problem? Government, I’d like to say, need to come up with some policy that helps narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. Television and film rating system need to be strictly implemented. Parents should thoroughly supervise their children, so as not for them to be stuck into drug-relating problems, and make their children lead the most fulfilled life as possible .

Japanese Industrialization and Economic Growth Essay Example for Free

Japanese Industrialization and Economic Growth Essay Japan achieved sustained growth in per capita income between the 1880s and 1970 through industrialization. Moving along an income growth trajectory through expansion of manufacturing is hardly unique. Indeed Western Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States all attained high levels of income per capita by shifting from agrarian-based production to manufacturing and technologically sophisticated service sector activity. Still, there are four distinctive features of Japans development through industrialization that merit discussion: The proto-industrial base Japans agricultural productivity was high enough to sustain substantial craft (proto-industrial) production in both rural and urban areas of the country prior to industrialization. Investment-led growth Domestic investment in industry and infrastructure was the driving force behind growth in Japanese output. Both private and public sectors invested in infrastructure, national and local governments serving as coordinating agents for infrastructure build-up. * Investment in manufacturing capacity was largely left to the private sector. * Rising domestic savings made increasing capital accumulation possible. * Japanese growth was investment-led, not export-led. Total factor productivity growth achieving more output per unit of input was rapid. On the supply side, total factor productivity growth was extremely important. Scale economies the reduction in per unit costs due to increased levels of output contributed to total factor productivity growth. Scale economies existed due to geographic concentration, to growth of the national economy, and to growth in the output of individual companies. In addition, companies moved down the learning curve, reducing unit costs as their cumulative output rose and demand for their product soared. The social capacity for importing and adapting foreign technology improved and this contributed to total factor productivity growth: * At the household level, investing in education of children improved social capability. * At the firm level, creating internalized labor markets that bound firms to workers and workers to firms, thereby giving workers a strong incentive to flexibly adapt to new technology, improved social capability. * At the government level, industrial policy that reduced the cost to private firms of securing foreign technology enhanced social capacity. Shifting out of low-productivity agriculture into high productivity manufacturing, mining, and construction contributed to total factor productivity growth. Dualism Sharply segmented labor and capital markets emerged in Japan after the 1910s. The capital intensive sector enjoying high ratios of capital to labor paid relatively high wages, and the labor intensive sector paid relatively low wages. Dualism contributed to income inequality and therefore to domestic social unrest. After 1945 a series of public policy reforms addressed inequality and erased much of the social bitterness around dualism that ravaged Japan prior to World War II. The remainder of this article will expand on a number of the themes mentioned above. The appendix reviews quantitative evidence concerning these points. The conclusion of the article lists references that provide a wealth of detailed evidence supporting the points above, which this article can only begin to explore. The Legacy of Autarky and the Proto-Industrial Economy: Achievements of Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868) Why Japan? Given the relatively poor record of countries outside the European cultural area few achieving the kind of catch-up growth Japan managed between 1880 and 1970 the question naturally arises: why Japan? After all, when the United States forcibly opened Japan in the 1850s and Japan was forced to cede extra-territorial rights to a number of Western nations as had China earlier in the 1840s, many Westerners and Japanese alike thought Japans prospects seemed dim indeed. Tokugawa achievements: urbanization, road networks, rice cultivation, craft production In answering this question, Mosk (2001), Minami (1994) and Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) emphasize the achievements of Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868) during a long period of closed country autarky between the mid-seventeenth century and the 1850s: a high level of urbanization; well developed road networks; the channeling of river water flow with embankments and the extensive elaboration of irrigation ditches that supported and encouraged the refinement of rice cultivation based upon improving seed varieties, fertilizers and planting methods especially in the Southwest with its relatively long growing season; the development of proto-industrial (craft) production by merchant houses in the major cities like Osaka and Edo (now called Tokyo) and its diffusion to rural areas after 1700; and the promotion of education and population control among both the military elite (the samurai) and the well-to-do peasantr y in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Tokugawa political economy: daimyo and shogun These developments were inseparable from the political economy of Japan. The system of confederation government introduced at the end of the fifteenth century placed certain powers in the hands of feudal warlords, daimyo, and certain powers in the hands of the shogun, the most powerful of the warlords. Each daimyo and the shogun was assigned a geographic region, a domain, being given taxation authority over the peasants residing in the villages of the domain. Intercourse with foreign powers was monopolized by the shogun, thereby preventing daimyo from cementing alliances with other countries in an effort to overthrow the central government. The samurai military retainers of thedaimyo were forced to abandon rice farming and reside in the castle town headquarters of their daimyo overlord. In exchange, samurai received rice stipends from the rice taxes collected from the villages of their domain. By removingsamurai from the countryside by demilitarizing rural areas conflicts over local water rights were largely made a thing of the past. As a result irrigation ditches were extended throughout the valleys, and riverbanks were shored up with stone embankments, facilitating transport and preventing flooding. The sustained growth of proto-industrialization in urban Japan, and its widespread diffusion to villages after 1700 was also inseparable from the productivity growth in paddy rice production and the growing of industrial crops like tea, fruit, mulberry plant growing (that sustained the raising of silk cocoons) and cotton. Indeed, Smith (1988) has given pride of place to these domestic sources of Japans future industrial success. Readiness to emulate the West As a result of these domestic advances, Japan was well positioned to take up the Western challenge. It harnessed its infrastructure, its high level of literacy, and its proto-industrial distribution networks to the task of emulating Western organizational forms and Western techniques in energy production, first and foremost enlisting inorganic energy sources like coal and the other fossil fuels to generate steam power. Having intensively developed the organic economy depending upon natural energy flows like wind, water and fire, Japanese were quite prepared to master inorganic production after the Black Ships of the Americans forced Japan to jettison its long-standing autarky. From Balanced to Dualistic Growth, 1887-1938: Infrastructure and Manufacturing Expand Fukoku Kyohei After the Tokugawa government collapsed in 1868, a new Meiji government committed to the twin policies of fukoku kyohei (wealthy country/strong military) took up the challenge of renegotiating its treaties with the Western powers. It created infrastructure that facilitated industrialization. It built a modern navy and army that could keep the Western powers at bay and establish a protective buffer zone in North East Asia that eventually formed the basis for a burgeoning Japanese empire in Asia and the Pacific. Central government reforms in education, finance and transportation Jettisoning the confederation style government of the Tokugawa era, the new leaders of the new Meiji government fashioned a unitary state with powerful ministries consolidating authority in the capital, Tokyo. The freshly minted Ministry of Education promoted compulsory primary schooling for the masses and elite university education aimed at deepening engineering and scientific knowledge. The Ministry of Finance created the Bank of Japan in 1882, laying the foundations for a private banking system backed up a lender of last resort. The government began building a steam railroad trunk line girding the four major islands, encouraging private companies to participate in the project. In particular, the national government committed itself to constructing a Tokaido line connecting the Tokyo/Yokohama region to the Osaka/Kobe conurbation along the Pacific coastline of the main island of Honshu, and to creating deepwater harbors at Yokohama and Kobe that could accommodate deep-hulled steamships. Not surprisingly, the merchants in Osaka, the merchant capital of Tokugawa Japan, already well versed in proto-industrial production, turned to harnessing steam and coal, investing heavily in integrated sp inning and weaving steam-driven textile mills during the 1880s. Diffusion of best-practice agriculture At the same time, the abolition of the three hundred or so feudal fiefs that were the backbone of confederation style-Tokugawa rule and their consolidation into politically weak prefectures, under a strong national government that virtually monopolized taxation authority, gave a strong push to the diffusion of best practice agricultural technique. The nationwide diffusion of seed varieties developed in the Southwest fiefs of Tokugawa Japan spearheaded a substantial improvement in agricultural productivity especially in the Northeast. Simultaneously, expansion of agriculture using traditional Japanese technology agriculture and manufacturing using imported Western technology resulted. Balanced growth Growth at the close of the nineteenth century was balanced in the sense that traditional and modern technology using sectors grew at roughly equal rates, and labor especially young girls recruited out of farm households to labor in the steam using textile mills flowed back and forth between rural and urban Japan at wages that were roughly equal in industrial and agricultural pursuits. Geographic economies of scale in the Tokaido belt Concentration of industrial production first in Osaka and subsequently throughout the Tokaido belt fostered powerful geographic scale economies (the ability to reduce per unit costs as output levels increase), reducing the costs of securing energy, raw materials and access to global markets for enterprises located in the great harbor metropolises stretching from the massive Osaka/Kobe complex northward to the teeming Tokyo/Yokohama conurbation. Between 1904 and 1911, electrification mainly due to the proliferation of intercity electrical railroads created economies of scale in the nascent industrial belt facing outward onto the Pacific. The consolidation of two huge hydroelectric power grids during the 1920s one servicing Tokyo/Yokohama, the other Osaka and Kobe further solidified the comparative advantage of the Tokaido industrial belt in factory production. Finally, the widening and paving during the 1920s of roads that could handle buses and trucks was also pioneered by the grea t metropolises of the Tokaido, which further bolstered their relative advantage in per capita infrastructure. Organizational economies of scale zaibatsu In addition to geographic scale economies, organizational scale economies also became increasingly important in the late nineteenth centuries. The formation of the zaibatsu (financial cliques), which gradually evolved into diversified industrial combines tied together through central holding companies, is a case in point. By the 1910s these had evolved into highly diversified combines, binding together enterprises in banking and insurance, trading companies, mining concerns, textiles, iron and steel plants, and machinery manufactures. By channeling profits from older industries into new lines of activity like electrical machinery manufacturing, the zaibatsu form of organization generated scale economies in finance, trade and manufacturing, drastically reducing information-gathering and transactions costs. By attracting relatively scare managerial and entrepreneurial talent, the zaibatsu format economized on human resources. Electrification The push into electrical machinery production during the 1920s had a revolutionary impact on manufacturing. Effective exploitation of steam power required the use of large central steam engines simultaneously driving a large number of machines power looms and mules in a spinning/weaving plant for instance throughout a factory. Small enterprises did not mechanize in the steam era. But with electrification the unit drive system of mechanization spread. Each machine could be powered up independently of one another. Mechanization spread rapidly to the smallest factory. Emergence of the dualistic economy With the drive into heavy industries chemicals, iron and steel, machinery the demand for skilled labor that would flexibly respond to rapid changes in technique soared. Large firms in these industries began offering premium wages and guarantees of employment in good times and bad as a way of motivating and holding onto valuable workers. A dualistic economy emerged during the 1910s. Small firms, light industry and agriculture offered relatively low wages. Large enterprises in the heavy industries offered much more favorable remuneration, extending paternalistic benefits like company housing and company welfare programs to their internal labor markets. As a result a widening gulf opened up between the great metropolitan centers of the Tokaido and rural Japan. Income per head was far higher in the great industrial centers than in the hinterland. Clashing urban/rural and landlord/tenant interests The economic strains of emergent dualism were amplified by the slowing down of technological progress in the agricultural sector, which had exhaustively reaped the benefits due to regional diffusion from the Southwest to the Northeast of best practice Tokugawa rice cultivation. Landlords around 45% of the cultivable rice paddy land in Japan was held in some form of tenancy at the beginning of the twentieth century who had played a crucial role in promoting the diffusion of traditional best practice techniques now lost interest in rural affairs and turned their attention to industrial activities. Tenants also found their interests disregarded by the national authorities in Tokyo, who were increasingly focused on supplying cheap foodstuffs to the burgeoning industrial belt by promoting agricultural production within the empire that it was assembling through military victories. Japan secured Taiwan from China in 1895, and formally brought Korea under its imperial rule in 1910 upon the heels of its successful war against Russia in 1904-05. Tenant unions reacted to this callous disrespect of their needs through violence. Landlord/tenant disputes broke out in the early 1920s, and continued to plague Japan politically throughout the 1930s, calls for land reform and bureaucratic proposals for reform being rejected by a Diet (Japans legislature) politically dominated by landlords. Japans military expansion Japans thrust to imperial expansion was inflamed by the growing instability of the geopolitical and international trade regime of the later 1920s and early 1930s. The relative decline of the United Kingdom as an economic power doomed a gold standard regime tied to the British pound. The United States was becoming a potential contender to the United Kingdom as the backer of a gold standard regime but its long history of high tariffs and isolationism deterred it from taking over leadership in promoting global trade openness. Germany and the Soviet Union were increasingly becoming industrial and military giants on the Eurasian land mass committed to ideologies hostile to the liberal democracy championed by the United Kingdom and the United States. It was against this international backdrop that Japan began aggressively staking out its claim to being the dominant military power in East Asia and the Pacific, thereby bringing it into conflict with the United States and the United Kingdom i n the Asian and Pacific theaters after the world slipped into global warfare in 1939. Reform and Reconstruction in a New International Economic Order, Japan after World War II Postwar occupation: economic and institutional restructuring Surrendering to the United States and its allies in 1945, Japans economy and infrastructure was revamped under the S.C.A.P (Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers) Occupation lasting through 1951. As Nakamura (1995) points out, a variety of Occupation-sponsored reforms transformed the institutional environment conditioning economic performance in Japan. The major zaibatsu were liquidated by the Holding Company Liquidation Commission set up under the Occupation (they were revamped as keiretsu corporate groups mainly tied together through cross-shareholding of stock in the aftermath of the Occupation); land reform wiped out landlordism and gave a strong push to agricultural productivity through mechanization of rice cultivation; and collective bargaining, largely illegal under the Peace Preservation Act that was used to suppress union organizing during the interwar period, was given the imprimatur of constitutional legality. Finally, education was opened up, partly through making middle school compulsory, partly through the creation of national universities in each of Japans forty-six prefectures. Improvement in the social capability for economic growth In short, from a domestic point of view, the social capability for importing and adapting foreign technology was improved with the reforms in education and the fillip to competition given by the dissolution of the zaibatsu. Resolving tension between rural and urban Japan through land reform and the establishment of a rice price support program that guaranteed farmers incomes comparable to blue collar industrial workers also contributed to the social capacity to absorb foreign technology by suppressing the political divisions between metropolitan and hinterland Japan that plagued the nation during the interwar years. Japan and the postwar international order The revamped international economic order contributed to the social capability of importing and adapting foreign technology. The instability of the 1920s and 1930s was replaced with replaced with a relatively predictable bipolar world in which the United States and the Soviet Union opposed each other in both geopolitical and ideological arenas. The United States became an architect of multilateral architecture designed to encourage trade through its sponsorship of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the predecessor to the World Trade Organization). Under the logic of building military alliances to contain Eurasian Communism, the United States brought Japan under its nuclear umbrella with a bilateral security treaty. American companies were encouraged to license technology to Japanese companies in the new international environment. Japan redirected its trade away from the areas that had been incorporated i nto the Japanese Empire before 1945, and towards the huge and expanding American market. Miracle Growth: Soaring Domestic Investment and Export Growth, 1953-1970 Its infrastructure revitalized through the Occupation period reforms, its capacity to import and export enhanced by the new international economic order, and its access to American technology bolstered through its security pact with the United States, Japan experienced the dramatic Miracle Growth between 1953 and the early 1970s whose sources have been cogently analyzed by Denison and Chung (1976). Especially striking in the Miracle Growth period was the remarkable increase in the rate of domestic fixed capital formation, the rise in the investment proportion being matched by a rising savings rate whose secular increase especially that of private household savings has been well documented and analyzed by Horioka (1991). While Japan continued to close the gap in income per capita between itself and the United States after the early 1970s, most scholars believe that large Japanese manufacturing enterprises had b y and large become internationally competitive by the early 1970s. In this sense it can be said that Japan had completed its nine decade long convergence to international competitiveness through industrialization by the early 1970s. MITI There is little doubt that the social capacity to import and adapt foreign technology was vastly improved in the aftermath of the Pacific War. Creating social consensus with Land Reform and agricultural subsidies reduced political divisiveness, extending compulsory education and breaking up the zaibatsu had a positive impact. Fashioning the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (M.I.T.I.) that took responsibility for overseeing industrial policy is also viewed as facilitating Japans social capability. There is no doubt that M.I.T.I. drove down the cost of securing foreign technology. By intervening between Japanese firms and foreign companies, it acted as a single buyer of technology, playing off competing American and European enterprises in order to reduce the royalties Japanese concerns had to pay on technology licenses. By keeping domestic patent periods short, M.I.T.I. encouraged rapid diffusion of technology. And in some cases the experience of International Business Machines (I.B.M.), enjoying a virtual monopoly in global mainframe computer markets during the 1950s and early 1960s, is a classical case M.I.T.I. made it a condition of entry into the Japanese market (through the creation of a subsidiary Japan I.B.M. in the case of I.B.M.) that foreign companies share many of their technological secrets with potential Japanese competitors. How important industrial policy was for Miracle Growth remains controversial, however. The view of Johnson (1982), who hails industrial policy as a pillar of the Japanese Development State (government promoting economic growth through state policies) has been criticized and revised by subsequent scholars. The book by Uriu (1996) is a case in point. Internal labor markets, just-in-time inventory and quality control circles Furthering the internalization of labor markets the premium wages and long-term employment guarantees largely restricted to white col lar workers were extended to blue collar workers with the legalization of unions and collective bargaining after 1945 also raised the social capability of adapting foreign technology. Internalizing labor created a highly flexible labor force in post-1950 Japan. As a result, Japanese workers embraced many of the key ideas of Just-in-Time inventory control and Quality Control circles in assembly industries, learning how to do rapid machine setups as part and parcel of an effort to produce components just-in-time and without defect. Ironically, the concepts of just-in-time and quality control were originally developed in the United States, just-in-time methods being pioneered by supermarkets and quality control by efficiency experts like W. Edwards Deming. Yet it was in Japan that these concepts were relentlessly pursued to revolutionize assembly line industries during the 1950s and 1960s. Ultimate causes of the Japanese economic miracle Miracle Growth was the completion of a protracted historical process involving enhancing human capital, massive accumulation of physical capital including infrastructure and private manufacturing capacity, the importation and adaptation of foreign technology, and the creation of scale economies, which took decades and decades to realize. Dubbed a miracle, it is best seen as the reaping of a bountiful harvest whose seeds were painstakingly planted in the six decades between 1880 and 1938. In the course of the nine decades between the 1880s and 1970, Japan amassed and lost a sprawling empire, reorienting its trade and geopolitical stance through the twists and turns of history. While the ultimate sources of growth can be ferreted out through some form of statistical accounting, the specific way these sources were marshaled in practice is inseparable from the history of Japan itself and of the global environment within which it has realized its industrial destiny. Appendix: Sources of Growth Accounting and Quantitative Aspects of Japans Modern Economic Development One of the attractions of studying Japans post-1880 economic development is the abundance of quantitative data documenting Japans growth. Estimates of Japanese income and output by sector, capital stock and labor force extend back to the 1880s, a period when Japanese income per capita was low. Consequently statistical probing of Japans long-run growth from relative poverty to abundance is possible. The remainder of this appendix is devoted to introducing the reader to the vast literature on quantitative analysis of Japans economic development from the 1880s until 1970, a nine decade period during which Japanese income per capita converged towards income per capita levels in Western Europe. As the reader will see, this discussion confirms the importance of factors discussed at the outset of this article. Our initial touchstone is the excellent sources of growth accounting analysis carried out by Denison and Chung (1976) on Japans growth between 1953 and 1971. Attributing growth in national income in growth of inputs, the factors of production capital and labor and growth in output per unit of the two inputs combined (total factor productivity) along the following lines: G(Y) = { a G(K) + [1-a] G(L) } + G (A) where G(Y) is the (annual) growth of national output, g(K) is the growth rate of capital services, G(L) is the growth rate of labor services, a is capitals share in national income (the share of income accruing to owners of capital), and G(A) is the growth of total factor productivity, is a standard approach used to approximate the sources of growth of income. Using a variant of this type of decomposition that takes into account improvements in the quality of capital and labor, estimates of scale economies and adjustments for structural change (shifting labor out of agriculture helps explain why total factor productivity grows), Denison and Chung (1976) generate a useful set of estimates for Japans Miracle Growth era. Operating with this sources of growth approach and proceeding under a variety of plausible assumptions, Denison and Chung (1976) estimate that of Japans average annual real national income growth of 8.77 % over 1953-71, input growth accounted for 3.95% (accounting for 45% of total growth) and growth in output per unit of input contributed 4.82% (accounting for 55% of total growth). To be sure, the precise assumptions and techniques they use can be criticized. The precise numerical results they arrive at can be argued over. Still, their general point that Japans growth was the result of improvements in the quality of factor inputs health and education for workers, for instance and improvements in the way these inputs are utilized in production due to technological and organizational change, reallocation of resources from agriculture to non-agriculture, and scale economies, is defensible. Notes: [a] Maddison (2000) provides estimates of real income that take into account the purchasing power of national currencies. [b] Ohkawa (1979) gives estimates for the N sector that is defined as manufacturing and mining (Ma) plus construction plus facilitating industry (transport, communications and utilities). It should be noted that the concept of an N sector is not standard in the field of economics. [c] The estimates of trade are obtained by adding merchandise imports to merchandise exports. Trade openness is estimated by taking the ratio of total (merchandise) trade to national output, the latter defined as Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.). The trade figures include trade with Japans empire (Korea, Taiwan, Manchuria, etc.); the income figures for Japan exclude income generated in the empire. [d] The Human Development Index is a composite variable formed by adding together indices for educational attainment, for health (using life expectancy that is inversely related to the level of the infant mortality rate, the IMR), and for real per capita income. For a detailed discussion of this index see United Nations Development Programme (2000). [e] Electrical generation is measured in million kilowatts generated and supplied. For 1970, the figures on NHK subscribers are for television subscribers. The symbol n.a. = not available. Sources: The figures in this table are taken from various pages and tables in Japan Statistical Association (1987), Maddison (2000), Minami (1994), and Ohkawa (1979). Flowing from this table are a number of points that bear lessons of the Denison and Chung (1976) decomposition. One cluster of points bears upon the timing of Japans income per capita growth and the relationship of manufacturing expansion to income growth. Another highlights improvements in the quality of the labor input. Yet another points to the overriding importance of domestic investment in manufacturing and the lesser significance of trade demand. A fourth group suggests that infrastructure has been important to economic growth and industrial expansion in Japan, as exemplified by the figures on electricity generating capacity and the mass diffusion of communications in the form of radio and television broadcasting. Several parts of Table 1 point to industrialization, defined as an increase in the proportion of output (and labor force) attributable to manufacturing and mining, as the driving force in explaining Japans income per capita growth. Notable in Panels A and B of the tab le is that the gap between Japanese and American income per capita closed most decisively during the 1910s, the 1930s, and the 1960s, precisely the periods when manufacturing expansion was the most vigorous. Equally noteworthy of the spurts of the 1910s, 1930s and the 1960s is the overriding importance of gross domestic fixed capital formation, that is investment, for growth in demand. By contrast, trade seems much less important to growth in demand during these critical decades, a point emphasized by both Minami (1994) and by Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973). The notion that Japanese growth was export led during the nine decades between 1880 and 1970 when Japan caught up technologically with the leading Western nations is not defensible. Rather, domestic capital investment seems to be the driving force behind aggregate demand expansion. The periods of especially intense capital formation were also the periods when manufacturing production soared. Capital formation in manufacturing, or in infrastructure supporting manufacturing expansion, is the main agent pushing long-run income per capita growth. Why? As Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) argue, spurts in manufacturing capital formation were associated with the import and adaptation of foreign technology, especially from the United States These investment spurts were also associated with shifts of labor force out of agriculture and into manufacturing, construction and facilitating sectors where labor productivity was far higher than it was in labor-intensive farming centered around labor-intensive rice cultivation. The logic of productivity gain due to more efficient allocation of labor resources is apparent from the right hand column of Panel A in Table 1. Finally, Panel C of Table 1 suggests that infrastructure investment that facilitated health and educational attainment (combined public and private expenditure on sanitation, schools and research laboratories), and public/private investment in physical infrastructure including dams and hydroelectric power grids helped fuel the expansion of manufacturing by improving human capital and by reducing the costs of transportation, communications and energy supply faced by private factories. Mosk (2001) argues that investments in human-capital-enhancing (medicine, public health and education), financial (banking) and physical infrastructure (harbors, roads, power grids, railroads and communications) laid the groundwork for industrial expansions. Indeed, the social capability for importing and adapting foreign technology emphasized by Ohkawa and Rosovsky (1973) can be largely explained by an infrastructure-driven growth hypothesis like that given by Mosk (2001). In sum, Denison and Chung (1976) argue that a combination of input factor improvement and growth in output per combined factor inputs account for Japans most rapid spurt of economic growth. Table 1 suggests that labor quality improved because health was enhanced and educational attainment increased; that investment in manufacturing was important not only because it increased capital stock itself but also because it reduced dependence on agriculture and went hand in glove with improvements in knowledge; and that th e social capacity to absorb and adapt Western technology that fueled improvements in knowledge was associated with infrastructure investment. References Denison, Edward and William Chung. Economic Growth and Its Sources. In Asias Next Giant: How the Japanese Economy Works, edited by Hugh Patrick and Henry Rosovsky, 63-151. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1976. Horioka, Charles Y. Future Trends in Japans Savings Rate and the Implications Thereof for Japans External Imbalance.Japan and the World Economy 3 (1991): 307-330. Japan Statistical Association. Historical Statistics of Japan [Five Volumes]. Tokyo: Japan Statistical Association, 1987. Johnson, Chalmers. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982. Maddison, Angus. Monitoring the World Economy, 1820-1992. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2000. Minami, Ryoshin. Economic Development of Japan: A Quantitative Study. [Second edition]. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press, 1994. Mitchell, Brian. International Historical Statistics: Africa and Asia. New York: New York University Press, 1982. Mosk, Carl. Japanese Industrial History: Technology, Urbanization, and Economic Growth. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2001. Nakamura, Takafusa. The Postwar Japanese Economy: Its Development and Structure, 1937-1994. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1995. Ohkawa, Kazushi. Production Structure. In Patterns of Japanese Economic Development: A Quantitative Appraisal, edited by Kazushi Ohkawa and Miyohei Shinohara with Larry Meissner, 34-58. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. Ohkawa, Kazushi and Henry Rosovsky. Japanese Economic Growth: Trend Acceleration in the Twentieth Century. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1973. Smith, Thomas. Native Sources of Japanese Industrialization, 1750-1920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Uriu, Robert. Troubled Industries: Confronting Economic Challenge in Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996. United Nations Development Programme. Human Development Report, 2000. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Citation: Mosk, Carl. Japan, Industrialization and Economic Growth. EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. January 18, 2004. URL http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/mosk.japan.final

Violation Of Code Of Ethics Construction Essay

Violation Of Code Of Ethics Construction Essay Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 route 28 was built by Malaysian Public Works Department to connect neighborhoods near the boundary of Kuala Lumpur. The entire highway system consists of Federal Route 28, from Sri Damansara to Sunway Interchange and from Sunway Interchange to Sri Petaling Interchange. MRR2 is generally referred to Route 28 since Route 28 occupies about two-thirds of the system. Construction on this ring road would divided on 3 phase. These sections include Kepong-Gombak, Gombak-Ampang and Ampang-Sri Petaling. The contract period is 36 months and was completed in 34 months (May 1999 to March 2002). CONTROVERSAL ISSUE First closure The Kepong Flyover was reported to be faulty because 31 of 33 pillars supporting the flyover were reported to have obvious cracks. Public concern about the safety issues at Kepong Flyover was due to the risks faced by at least 4,300 motorists using the flyover at a time. Investigations were held by the government and as a result, Kepong Flyover was closed to traffic and then Initial findings by PWD suggested that the temporary hoisting crane mounted on the permanent RC structural piers to launch the precast beams to the bridge decks could have exerted pressure on the concrete crossbeams and caused the cracks. It is found that the structure at the 11th package of the MRR II was found to be unstable because of the strain and caused the beams to split at three sections. The PWD, which carried out its own probe, revealed that the MRR IIs Kepong Bridge, was not stable due to internal redistribution of forces and alternative load paths due to yielding of reinforcement caused by excessive hot temperature there was no homogenous drying, externally and internally, because of differential (uneven) drying of concrete. British Halcrow Consultancy Ltd said the cracks that have appeared on 31 of the 32 crossbeams since 2000 nothing to do with the design. Halcrow has found a rare phenomenonthe expansion of a chemical compound, ettringite, had caused serious cracks. The compound contains calcium, aluminium, oxygen, sulphate, and water. Halcrow recommended to JKR to waterproof the bridge immediately, so that the delayed ettringite formation (DEF) would not result in further cracks. Ettringite is found in cement. Usually, it does no harm. But, under rare conditions such as during concrete hardening, temperature reaching over 70 degree Centigrade in the presence of sulphate and plenty of water, ettringite is formed, expanding dangerously. If all the cracks are not waterproofed, more water seeps into them, aggravating the situation. The Sun Daily  reported that the MRR2 cracks due to design flaw and improper anchorage of crossbeams that was supposed to be the verdict of Halcrow. The design also did not indicate the proper anchorage of the beams and the columns. Halcrows report was prepared by its bridge engineering director Roger J.Buckby and submitted to the Works Ministry. The main cause of excessive cracking in the crosshead to the T-shaped pier is a deficiency in the design and the anchorage of the columns reinforced into the crosshead. There is also a deficiency in the design of the transverse reinforcement in the top of the crossheads to resist splitting forces between bearings. The horizontal cracking in the crosshead directly above the columns is a direct result of the inadequate anchorage of the column bars into the crosshead. Second closure On 4 February 2006, the Kepong Flyover was closed to traffic from 10:30 a.m. after serious damages on the flyover was confirmed. Traffic jam also has rose due to the incompletion of the MRR2 on 8 December 2006; the Kepong Flyover was reopened to all traffic. Third closure On 3 August 2008, Kepong flyover was closed to all traffic after three of the eighteen carbon fibre panels on pillar 28 had peeled off. Pillar 28 is where the German consultant Leonhardt Andrà ¤ und Partner (LAP) did the repair works as a sample for Malaysian contractor to follow. ACCIDENT ANALYSIS Violation of Code of Ethics Section II (2)(a) Engineers shall undertake assignments only when qualified by education or experience in the specific technical fields involved. The Kepong Flyover was reported to be faulty because 31 of 33 pillars supporting the flyover were reported to have obvious cracks. The engineers and contractors were responsible in this case. The main cause of excessive cracking in the crosshead to the T-shaped pier is a deficiency in the design and the anchorage of the columns reinforced in the crosshead. There is also a deficiency in the design of the transverse reinforcement in the top of the crosshead to resist splitting forces between bearings. The horizontal cracking in the crosshead directly above the columns is a direct result of the inadequate anchorage of the column bars into the crosshead. Section II(1)(a)- If engineers judgment is overruled under circumstances that endanger life or property, they shall notify their employer or client and such other authority as may be appropriate. In this case, public concern about the safety issues at Kepong flyover was due to the risks faced by at least 4,300 motorists using the flyover at a time. Despite numerous repairs and much of taxpayers money spent, people are questioning the safety and condition of the bridge despite the assurances by the relevant authorities. Users or clients were deprived of usage of the bridge causing them to use other congested roads, waking up early to travel and returning home late, using more petrol and diesel, more time wasted on roads and making users more tired. The cost here is political cost. Section II (3)(b) Engineers may express publicly technical opinions that are founded upon knowledge of the facts and competence in the subject matter. According to British Halcrow Consultancy Ltd that has sought the service of Glascow University, ettringite is found in cement. Usually, it does not harm. But, under rare conditions such as during concrete hardening, temperature reaching over 70 degree Centigrade in the presence of sulphate and plenty of water, ettringite is formed, expanding dangerously. If all the cracks are not waterproofed, more water seeps into them, aggravating the situation. Section II (3)(a) Engineers shall be objective and truthful in professional reports, statements, or testimony. They shall include all relevant and pertinent information in such reports, statements or testimony which should bear the date indicating when it was current. Works Minister Datuk S.Samy Vellu imposed a gag order on his officers saying that he alone will handle any queries on the Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2) Kepong flyover repairs. But he was reluctant to answer question on the flyover which had been closed for repairs to cracks on 30 pillars which had attracted the Anti-Corruption Agencys attention. Prevention Safety Guidance The engineering society codes of ethics, NSPE (National Society of Professional Engineers) has provided guidance in handling or preventing the event from happening, as discussed below. Section III (9)(e) Engineers shall continue their professional development throughout their careers and should keep current in their specialty fields by engaging in professional practice, participating in continuing education courses, reading in the technical literature and attending meeting and seminars. Based on a statement by the Public Work Departments consultant, Kohler Seitz, they have indicated that faulty design had caused the pillars of MRR2 flyover to crack. This means that the crack might be caused by faulty design by the engineers. Referring to the code of ethic above, the MRR2 engineers should be up to dated towards the latest design. The word of faulty design should have not occurred at all because the MRR2 is cost up to RM 238.8 million. So, the MRR2 design engineers should improve their design skill so that their design will not have serious problem in the future. Section III (1)(a) Engineers shall acknowledge their errors and shall not distort or alter the facts. The engineers shall accept the truth regarding their faulty work on the MRR2. Consultant Company, Kohler Seitz have indicated that faulty design had caused the pillars of MRR2 flyover to crack. In this case, they with the help of government were denying that statement. Then, government had to appoint British Halcrow Consultancy Ltd to study the cracks that have appeared on 31 of the 32 crossbeams since 2000. This was a huge waste of money and times. They should be responsible if the cracks occurred is because of their mistakes. Section II (1) Engineer shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. In designing and construction process of MRR2, the engineers should hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. They must obey the standard approved by the authorities in choosing the material used. This is because, if they use cheap and low quality materials to gain maximum profit, they might endanger public that will use the highway in the future. Section III (1) (f) Engineers having knowledge of any alleged violation of this Code shall report thereon to appropriate professional bodies and, when relevant, also to public authorities, and cooperate with the proper authorities in furnishing such information or assistance as may be required. For the sake of publics safety, health and welfare, engineers should do whistle blowing. Whistle blowing is an act by an employee of informing the public or higher management of unethical or illegal behavior by an employer or supervisor. In MRR2 case, if they have qualified all the 4 conditions to do whistle blowing, they are obligated to do this. It is acceptable to blow the whistle to protect the public interest. ETHICAL THEORIES PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUE Utilitarianism Definition of utilitarianism is balance between good and bad consequences of an action The good thing is MRR2 brought travel within easy reach The bad thing is the controversial Issues. Right Ethics Definition of right ethics is the people have the fundamental rights that other people have a duty to respect The right to use the flyover safely Do not want to keep stuck in traffic jam as a result from the closure of the MRR2 Do not want to see the few well-connected companies or individuals profit at the public expense Duty Ethics Definition of duty ethics is people have duties to protect the rights of others Fidelity : the duty to keep promises Contractors and engineers have failed to design and build the flyover in compliance with the contract Justice : the duty to recognize merit work minister does not take any action against the irresponsible contractors and consultant Beneficence : the duty to improve the conditions Repairs cost RM40 mil to RM70mil Cause by improper planning and poor cost estimation and poor administrative of the Work Minister This expenses could be reduced if he appointed a reliable contractor to build the flyover Virtue Ethics Irresponsibility Engineers did not fully supervise the project Minister did not give explanation of the RM70 million bill No actions taken towards original contractors Dishonestly Denied cracks were due to design flaw Did not build according to right specifications and designs Case Analysis Problem Solving Factual issue: For the first closure, 31 of 33 pillars supporting the flyover were reported to have obvious cracks. At some pillars and tiers, there were more than 7000 cracks detected Investigations were carried out by 4 different parties, namely Maunsell, Sharma Zakaria (the designer), Kà ¶hler Seitz Engineering Services (appointed by the contractor), Halcrow Consultants Ltd. (appointed by JKR) and  Leondhardt Andrà ¤ und Partner (LAP) Kepong Flyover was closed to traffic and then reopened with only 4 out of 6 lanes Works Minister reminded the public that the cracks were not due to design flaw Halcrow Consultants Ltd. suggested the design did not comply with the requirement of BS5400, the improper anchoring of the column rebar to the crossbeams and the formation of ettringite  (Delayed Ettringite Formation were responsible for the cracks Ettringite is found in cement, the expansion of a chemical compound, had caused serious cracks For the second closure 4 February 2006, the Kepong Flyover was closed to traffic from 10:30 am after serious damages on the flyover  and reopened on December 8, 2006. For the third closure, on 3 August 2008, Kepong flyover was closed to all traffic after three of the eighteen carbon fibre panels on pillar 28 had peeled off Pillar 28 is where the German consultant Leonhardt Andrà © und Partner (LAP) did the repair works as a sample for Malaysian contractor to follow. Conceptual issue: The crack on the pillars that support the flyover resulting the MRR2 cannot be opened for traffic and huge jam was occurred. Although investigation had been carried out, the crack on the pillar still occur. Based on the investigation, main problem is because of the MRR2 design did not follow the BS5400 requirement. Moral issue: The accident make us to be more aware of the safety of people that used the flyover Designer of the MRR2 unable to make a design that follow the specification of flyover that leads to crack on the pillars. The lack of communication skills between the team makes the accident repeated and cannot be fixed faster. Government should find the company that are capable enough to build the bridge and make troubleshooting properly. To find a solution for the case, the flow charting technique is used because it is easy to understand and it is able to show the chain of event happens by following the step-by-step approach. Fig. 2 Flowchart for MRR2 accident From the flowchart drawn, it is obvious that problem occurs because of the design and material used did not follow the specification. Although there were teams that assemble to investigate the problem, they cannot find the exact solution on how the problem occurs. Different teams come out with different problem and solution. To prevent it from happening again, designer should follow the rules and make sure material used are correctly picked What Should Have Done by People Involved? All the people involved in the accident should have done differently in avoiding the accident from happen to the flyover, as described below: Engineers Design Engineer should have designed the flyover intelligently and professionally to avoid design flaws. Besides, the engineers should have tested the flyover for its lifespan and capability to support the busy traffic so that the flyover can function without cracking. Management Should have monitored the whole project by itself to ensure everything is done accordingly and no design flaws should occur. The quality of the flyover should have been examined by the management team. Government Should have assigned the construction project to reliable constructor so that the extra millions of ringgit will not be spent to repair the flyover. After the incident happened, the Ministry should inform the public about the causes of the cracked pillars and admit the mistakes done by the ministry. Local authority should put more concern on the project by monitoring the construction and getting report of the construction progress from time to time. In addition, local government/authority should have evaluated the whole project and the contractors capability before approving the project. IV.CONCLUSION All in all, huge sum of public tax-payers money, amounting to a few hundred million ringgit, were used to carry out all these repairs. There were talks of litigation, but somehow, as time went by, things just fizzled out. Even though this major bridge was closed to the public three times, and millions of public ringgit had been spent on repair work, yet there was no public enquiry in order to find out as to what had actually gone wrong, so that everyone including civil and structural engineers could learn from the mistakes. In closing, this bridge is still being carefully monitored by the Malaysian government. V.REFERENCES Maverick, SM., Project Report Middle Ring Road 2, February 2006 Maverick, SM., Risk, Health Safety, February 2006 Charles B. Fleddermann., Engineering Ethics (3rd Edition), Pearson Practice Hall , University of New Mexico, 2008 Main Portal for Kementerian Kerja Raya Fuel prices likely to drop The Star Online August 4, 2008 Monday New Straits Times,2006,MRR2 Cracks, 3rd Jan, Malaysia Berita Harian,2006,PM: MRR2 ditutup lindungi keselamtan pengguna, 5th Mac, Malaysia Ismail E,2006.Seminar Paper: Industrialization of Malaysian Construction

Immortality and Myth in The Age of Innocence Essay -- essays papers

Immortality and Myth in The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton’s books are considered, by some, merely popular fiction of her time. But we must be careful not to equate popularity with the value of the fiction; i.e., we must not assume that if her books are popular, they are also primitive. Compared to the works of her contemporary and friend, Henry James, whose books may seem complex and sometimes bewildering; Wharton’s The Age of Innocence appears to be a simplistic, gossipy commentary of New York society during the last decade of the 19th century*. Instead, it is one man’s struggle with the questions of mortality and immortality. Wharton’s characters, settings and the minutiae of social rituals, manners, speech habits, dress and even flowers help her expose the mortal and immortal. But her adroit contrasts and comparisons with mythology elevate her fiction to the heights of sophistication. It is Newland Archer who is caught in the struggle man feels between living an ordinary and mortal life; or what his society consider an extraordinary and immortal life. It is he who is tested, who is tried and convicted by his society. It is he who gives in to the immortal manipulations of his wife, family and friends. It is he who gives up his chance for freedom, for love, and to be mortal. Wharton’s skill raises her characters to the level of myth for they, like the Greeks, are unforgettable and hence immortal. Looking at the book as a whole, Edith Wharton’s New York society of the late 19th century can be weighed against the society of Greek (and Roman) mythology. They are both mortal and immortal. She utilizes mythology to present us with a sophisticated comparison of New York society and the pantheon of t... ...nd his own mortality. Yet as the anti-hero, he is a coward; he denies his mortality and accepts immortality. He lives within the pantheon of the gods yet by rejecting their societal rules, he is a thinking human mortal being. But as a mortal being he lacks the strength to change and recreate the New York pantheon. He is forever trapped within the walls of its mausoleum. *One story about Wharton and James goes like this: Wharton drove up to James’ house one day in a brand new, beautifully large car. She got out and said that she had purchased the car with the proceeds of her last book. James pointed to a wheelbarrow and replied that that was what he purchased with the proceeds of his last book and with the sale of his next book, he would paint it. I think this is an appropriate story about popularity and fiction and the perceived value of that fiction.

John von Neumann :: Computer Science

John von Neumann ---------------- Von Neumann, a mathematician designed the architecture model for a CPU. This model was a single storage structure to hold both the set of instructions on how to perform the computation and the data required or generated by the computation. He designed it by treating the instructions in the same way as the data, a stored-program machine can easily change the instructions. In other words the machine is reprogrammable. Von Neumann’s archtectre is still used it todays modern CPU’S. The CPU ------- This diagram represents the structure of the Central Processing System. Arithmetic Logic Unit --------------------- The ALU performs addition and subtraction, logic operations, masking, and shifting (multiplication and division). Control Unit ------------ The Control Unit is the heart of the computer. It controls and co-ordinates the systems operations. This contains the system clock, program counter and the instruction register. It also manages the signals from the control bus. Registers --------- This is a form of high-speed memory which is contained inside of the CPU. All data must be represented in a register before it can be processed. Information is stored temporarily in the registers in which text or buffer positions or rectangles can be saved for later use. Buses ----- A bus is a channel or path between the components in a computer. Having a high-speed bus is important. A bus lets you connect computers components to the processor. The advantage of a bus is that it makes parts more interchangeable. If you want to get a better graphics card, you simply unplug the old card from the bus and plug in a new one. If you want two monitors on your computer, you plug two graphics cards into the bus. And so on. A PC usually has two buses. The first connects the CPU and the system memory. This is the fastest bus in the system. The second bus is the slower and it connects other devices, like the hard disk, CD drive,

George Washington Essay -- American History America

George Washington - The Father of Our Country Why has George Washington earned the title "Father of our Country"? He was a great military leader and served as a general in the Revolutionary War. Washington was very involved in setting up the government of the United States and served as the first President. He is the most honored of any President and there are many things that help us remember him often. With all he has contributed to the success of our country, he certainly deserves this title. George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland, Virginia. He belonged to an old colonial family that believed in hard work, public service, and in worshipping God (Ashworth and Carroll). As far as formal education George only had the elementary years. His favorite subject was arithmetic. But he was ambitious and self taught. At the age of eleven, his father died and this put great responsibility on his young shoulders (Milton 12). His older half-brother Lawrence became a substitute father and helped to raise him (Flexner 5). At the age of seventeen, Washington was appointed surveyor for Culpeper county. At the age of twenty, with no training or experience as a soldier, George applied to the governor of Virginia for a commission in the militia (Alden 8). He was fascinated with the war stories Lawrence told him and developed a keen interest in military affairs (Flexner 5). In February of 1753, he was commissioned as a major and put in charge of training militia in southern Virginia. Washington started reading and studying about military tactics and affairs. At the age of twenty-three he was promoted to Colonel and appointed commander and chief of the Virginia Militia. This was where George Washington learned how ... ...row economically and established a sound federal government. He has been honored and revered more than any other president in history. His legacy is still remembered and celebrated. We should never forget this great man and all he did to make America the greatest country in the world. George Washington should always be remembered as the Father of our Country. Works Cited Alden, John R. George Washington a Biography. Baton Rouge: Lousianna State University Press, _ _ 1984. Ashworth, Mary Wells and Carroll, John Alexander. "George Washington." World Book _ _ Encyclopedia. 1969. Flexner, James Thomas. Washington the Indispensable Man. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1974. Milton, Joyce. The Story of George Washington, Quiet Hero.Milwaukee: Garth Stevens Publishing, 1988. Twohig, Dorthy. "George Washington." Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia. 1995.

Chapter 14 The Unforgivable Curses

The next two days passed without great incident, unless you counted Neville melting his sixth cauldron in Potions. Professor Snape, who seemed to have attained new levels of vindictiveness over the summer, gave Neville detention, and Neville returned from it in a state of nervous collapse, having been made to disembowel a barrel full of horned toads. â€Å"You know why Snape's in such a foul mood, don't you?† said Ron to Harry as they watched Hermione teaching Neville a Scouring Charm to remove the frog guts from under his fingernails. â€Å"Yeah,† said Harry. â€Å"Moody.† It was common knowledge that Snape really wanted the Dark Arts job, and he had now failed to get it for the fourth year running. Snape had disliked all of their previous Dark Arts teachers, and shown it – but he seemed strangely wary of displaying overt animosity to Mad-Eye Moody. Indeed, whenever Harry saw the two of them together – at mealtimes, or when they passed in the corridors – he had the distinct impression that Snape was avoiding Moody's eye, whether magical or normal. â€Å"I reckon Snape's a bit scared of him, you know,† Harry said thoughtfully. â€Å"Imagine if Moody turned Snape into a horned toad,† said Ron, his eyes misting over, â€Å"and bounced him all around his dungeon†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The Gryffindor fourth years were looking forward to Moody's first lesson so much that they arrived early on Thursday lunchtime and queued up outside his classroom before the bell had even rung. The only person missing was Hermione, who turned up just in time for the lesson. â€Å"Been in the -â€Å" â€Å"Library.† Harry finished her sentence for her. â€Å"C'mon, quick, or we won't get decent seats.† They hurried into three chairs right in front of the teacher's desk, took out their copies of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, and waited, unusually quiet. Soon they heard Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps coming down the corridor, and he entered the room, looking as strange and frightening as ever. They could just see his clawed, wooden foot protruding from underneath his robes. â€Å"You can put those away,† he growled, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, â€Å"those books. You won't need them.† They returned the books to their bags, Ron looking excited. Moody took out a register, shook his long mane of grizzled gray hair out of his twisted and scarred face, and began to call out names, his normal eye moving steadily down the list while his magical eye swiveled around, fixing upon each student as he or she answered. â€Å"Right then,† he said, when the last person had declared themselves present, â€Å"I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures – you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?† There was a general murmur of assent. â€Å"But you're behind – very behind – on dealing with curses,† said Moody. â€Å"So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark -â€Å" â€Å"What, aren't you staying?† Ron blurted out. Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at Ron; Ron looked extremely apprehensive, but after a moment Moody smiled – the first time Harry had seen him do so. The effect was to make his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever, but it was nevertheless good to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile. Ron looked deeply relieved. â€Å"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?† Moody said. â€Å"Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago†¦.Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledor†¦.One year, and then back to my quiet retirement.† He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped his gnarled hands together. â€Å"So – straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking.† Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati her completed horoscope under the desk. Apparently Moody's magical eye could see through solid wood, as well as out of the back of his head. â€Å"So†¦do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?† Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron's and Hermione's. Moody pointed at Ron, though his magical eye was still fixed on Lavender. â€Å"Er,† said Ron tentatively, â€Å"my dad told me about one†¦.Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?† â€Å"Ah, yes,† said Moody appreciatively. â€Å"Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse.† Moody got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. Harry felt Ron recoil slightly next to him – Ron hated spiders. Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, â€Å"Imperio!† The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a back flip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance. Everyone was laughing – everyone except Moody. â€Å"Think it's funny, do you?† he growled. â€Å"You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?† The laughter died away almost instantly. â€Å"Total control,† said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. â€Å"I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Ron gave an involuntary shudder. â€Å"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse,† said Moody, and Harry knew he was talking about the days in which Voldemort had been all-powerful. â€Å"Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. â€Å"The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!† he barked, and everyone jumped. Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. â€Å"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?† Hermione's hand flew into the air again and so, to Harry's slight surprise, did Neville's. The only class in which Neville usually volunteered information was Herbology which was easily his best subject. Neville looked surprised at his own daring. â€Å"Yes?† said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville. â€Å"There's one – the Cruciatus Curse,† said Neville in a small but distinct voice. Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes. â€Å"Your name's Longbottom?† he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again. Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move. â€Å"The Cruciatus Curse,† said Moody. â€Å"Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea,† he said, pointing his wand at the spider. â€Å"Engorgio!† The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula. Abandoning all pretense, Ron pushed his chair backward, as far away from Moody's desk as possible. Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, â€Å"Crucio!† At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but Harry was sure that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently – â€Å"Stop it!† Hermione said shrilly.† Harry looked around at her. She was looking, not at the spider, but at Neville, and Harry, following her gaze, saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified. Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch. â€Å"Reducio,† Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar. â€Å"Pain,† said Moody softly. â€Å"You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse†¦.That one was very popular once too. â€Å"Right†¦anyone know any others?† Harry looked around. From the looks on everyone's faces, he guessed they were all wondering what was going to happen to the last spider. Hermione's hand shook slightly as, for the third time, she raised it into the air. â€Å"Yes?† said Moody, looking at her. â€Å"Avada Kedavra,† Hermione whispered. Several people looked uneasily around at her, including Ron. â€Å"Ah,† said Moody, another slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth. â€Å"Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra†¦.the Killing Curse.† He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface. Moody raised his wand, and Harry felt a sudden thrill of foreboding. â€Å"Avada Kedavra!† Moody roared. There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air – instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. Several of the students stifled cries; Ron had thrown himself backward and almost toppled off his seat as the spider skidded toward him. Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. â€Å"Not nice,† he said calmly. â€Å"Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me.† Harry felt his face redden as Moody's eyes (both of them) looked into his own. He could feel everyone else looking around at him too. Harry stared at the blank blackboard as though fascinated by it, but not really seeing it at all†¦. So that was how his parents had died†¦exactly like that spider. Had they been unblemished and unmarked too? Had they simply seen the flash of green light and heard the rush of speeding death, before life was wiped from their bodies? Harry had been picturing his parents' deaths over and over again for three years now, ever since he'd found out they had been murdered, ever since he'd found out what had happened that night: Wormtail had betrayed his parents' whereabouts to Voldemort, who had come to find them at their cottage. How Voldemort had killed Harry's father first. How James Potter had tried to hold him off, while he shouted at his wife to take Harry and run†¦Voldemort had advanced on Lily Potter, told her to move aside so that he could kill Harry†¦how she had begged him to kill her instead, refused to stop shielding her son†¦and so Voldemort had murdered her too, before turning his wand on Harry†¦. Harry knew these details because he had heard his parents' voices when he had fought the dementors last year – for that was the terrible power of the dementors: to force their victims to relive the worst memories of their lives, and drown, powerless, in their own despair†¦. Moody was speaking again, from a great distance, it seemed to Harry. With a massive effort, he pulled himself back to the present and listened to what Moody was saying. â€Å"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it – you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it. â€Å"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!† he roared, and the whole class jumped again. â€Å"Now†¦those three curses – Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus – are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills†¦copy this down†¦.† They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang – but when Moody had dismissed them and they had left the classroom, a torrent of talk burst forth. Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices – â€Å"Did you see it twitch?† â€Å"- and when he killed it – just like that!† They were talking about the lesson, Harry thought, as though it had been some sort of spectacular show, but he hadn't found it very entertaining – and nor, it seemed, had Hermione. â€Å"Hurry up,† she said tensely to Harry and Ron. â€Å"Not the ruddy library again?† said Ron. â€Å"No,† said Hermione curtly, pointing up a side passage. â€Å"Neville.† Neville was standing alone, halfway up the passage, staring at the stone wall opposite him with the same horrified, wide-eyed look he had worn when Moody had demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse. â€Å"Neville?† Hermione said gently. Neville looked around. â€Å"Oh hello,† he said, his voice much higher than usual. â€Å"Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm – I'm starving, aren't you?† â€Å"Neville, are you all right?† said Hermione. â€Å"Oh yes, I'm fine,† Neville gabbled in the same unnaturally high voice. â€Å"Very interesting dinner – I mean lesson – what's for eating?† Ron gave Harry a startled look. â€Å"Neville, what -?† But an odd clunking noise sounded behind them, and they turned to see Professor Moody limping toward them. All four of them fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard. â€Å"It's all right, sonny,† he said to Neville. â€Å"Why don't you come up to my office? Come on†¦we can have a cup of tea†¦.† Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke. Moody turned his magical eye upon Harry. â€Å"You all right, are you, Potter?† â€Å"Yes,† said Harry, almost defiantly. Moody's blue eye quivered slightly in its socket as it surveyed Harry. Then he said, â€Å"You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending†¦well†¦come on, Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you.† Neville looked pleadingly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but they didn't say anything, so Neville had no choice but to allow himself to be steered away, one of Moody's gnarled hands on his shoulder. â€Å"What was that about?† said Ron, watching Neville and Moody turn the corner. â€Å"I don't know,† said Hermione, looking pensive. â€Å"Some lesson, though, eh?† said Ron to Harry as they set off for the Great Hall. â€Å"Fred and George were right, weren't they? He really knows his stuff, Moody, doesn't he? When he did Avada Kedavra, the way that spider just died, just snuffed it right -â€Å" But Ron fell suddenly silent at the look on Harry's face and didn't speak again until they reached the Great Hall, when he said he supposed they had better make a start on Professor Trelawney's predictions tonight, since they would take hours. Hermione did not join in with Harry and Ron's conversation during dinner, but ate furiously fast, and then left for the library again. Harry and Ron walked back to Gryffindor Tower, and Harry, who had been thinking of nothing else all through dinner, now raised the subject of the Unforgivable Curses himself. â€Å"Wouldn't Moody and Dumbledore be in trouble with the Ministry if they knew we'd seen the curses?† Harry asked as they approached the Fat Lady. â€Å"Yeah, probably,† said Ron. â€Å"But Dumbledore's always done things his way, hasn't he, and Moody's been getting in trouble for years, I reckon. Attacks first and asks questions later – look at his dustbins. Balderdash.† The Fat Lady swung forward to reveal the entrance hole, and they climbed into the Gryffindor common room, which was crowded and noisy. â€Å"Shall we get our Divination stuff, then?† said Harry. â€Å"I s'pose,† Ron groaned. They went up to the dormitory to fetch their books and charts, to find Neville there alone, sitting on his bed, reading. He looked a good deal calmer than at the end of Moody's lesson, though still not entirely normal. His eyes were rather red. â€Å"You all right, Neville?† Harry asked him. â€Å"Oh yes,† said Neville, â€Å"I'm fine, thanks. Just reading this book Professor Moody lent me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He held up the book: Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean. â€Å"Apparently, Professor Sprout told Professor Moody I'm really good at Herbology,† Neville said. There was a faint note of pride in his voice that Harry had rarely heard there before. â€Å"He thought I'd like this.† Telling Neville what Professor Sprout had said, Harry thought, had been a very tactful way of cheering Neville up, for Neville very rarely heard that he was good at anything. It was the sort of thing Professor Lupin would have done. Harry and Ron took their copies of Unfogging the Future back down to the common room, found a table, and set to work on their predictions for the coming month. An hour later, they had made very little progress, though their table was littered with bits of parchment bearing sums and symbols, and Harry's brain was as fogged as though it had been filled with the fumes from Professor Trelawney's fire. â€Å"I haven't got a clue what this lot's supposed to mean,† he said, staring down at a long list of calculations. â€Å"You know,† said Ron, whose hair was on end because of all the times he had run his fingers through it in frustration, â€Å"I think it's back to the old Divination standby.† â€Å"What – make it up?† â€Å"Yeah,† said Ron, sweeping the jumble of scrawled notes off the table, dipping his pen into some ink, and starting to write. â€Å"Next Monday,† he said as he scribbled, â€Å"I am likely to develop a cough, owing to the unlucky conjunction of Mars and Jupiter.† He looked up at Harry. â€Å"You know her – just put in loads of misery, she'll lap it up.† â€Å"Right,† said Harry, crumpling up his first attempt and lobbing it over the heads of a group of chattering first years into the fire. â€Å"Okay†¦on Monday, I will be in danger of – er – burns.† â€Å"Yeah, you will be,† said Ron darkly, â€Å"we're seeing the skrewts again on Monday. Okay, Tuesday, I'll†¦erm†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Lose a treasured possession,† said Harry, who was flicking through Unfogging the Future for ideas. â€Å"Good one,† said Ron, copying it down. â€Å"Because of†¦erm†¦Mercury. Why don't you get stabbed in the back by someone you thought was a friend?† â€Å"Yeah†¦cool†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said Harry, scribbling it down, â€Å"because†¦Venus is in the twelfth house.† â€Å"And on Wednesday, I think I'll come off worst in a fight.† â€Å"Aaah, I was going to have a fight. Okay, I'll lose a bet.† â€Å"Yeah, you'll be betting I'll win my fight†¦.† They continued to make up predictions (which grew steadily more tragic) for another hour, while the common room around them slowly emptied as people went up to bed. Crookshanks wandered over to them, leapt lightly into an empty chair, and stared inscrutably at Harry, rather as Hermione might look if she knew they weren't doing their homework properly. Staring around the room, trying to think of a kind of misfortune he hadn't yet used, Harry saw Fred and George sitting together against the opposite wall, heads together, quills out, poring over a single piece of parchment. It was most unusual to see Fred and George hidden away in a corner and working silently; they usually liked to be in the thick of things and the noisy center of attention. There was something secretive about the way they were working on the piece of parchment, and Harry was reminded of how they had sat together writing something back at the Burrow. He had thought then that it was another order form for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, but it didn't look like that this time; if it had been, they would surely have let Lee Jordan in on the joke. He wondered whether it had anything to do with entering the Triwizard Tournament. As Harry watched, George shook his head at Fred, scratched out something with his quill, and said, in a very quiet voice that nevertheless carried across the almost deserted room, â€Å"No – that sounds like we're accusing him. Got to be careful†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Then George looked over and saw Harry watching him. Harry grinned and quickly returned to his predictions – he didn't want George to think he was eavesdropping. Shortly after that, the twins rolled up their parchment, said good night, and went off to bed. Fred and George had been gone ten minutes or so when the portrait hole opened and Hermione climbed into the common room carrying a sheaf of parchment in one hand and a box whose contents rattled as she walked in the other. Crookshanks arched his back, purring. â€Å"Hello,† she said, â€Å"I've just finished!† â€Å"So have I!† said Ron triumphantly, throwing down his quill. Hermione sat down, laid the things she was carrying in an empty armchair, and pulled Ron's predictions toward her. â€Å"Not going to have a very good month, are you?† she said sardonically as Crookshanks curled up in her lap. â€Å"Ah well, at least I'm forewarned,† Ron yawned. â€Å"You seem to be drowning twice,† said Hermione. â€Å"Oh am I?† said Ron, peering down at his predictions. â€Å"I'd better change one of them to getting trampled by a rampaging hippogriff.† â€Å"Don't you think it's a bit obvious you've made these up?† said Hermione. â€Å"How dare you!† said Ron, in mock outrage. â€Å"We've been working like house-elves here!† Hermione raised her eyebrows. â€Å"It's just an expression,† said Ron hastily. Harry laid down his quill too, having just finished predicting his own death by decapitation. â€Å"What's in the box?† he asked, pointing at it. â€Å"Funny you should ask,† said Hermione, with a nasty look at Ron. She took off the lid and showed them the contents. Inside were about fifty badges, all of different colors, but all bearing the same letters: S. P. E .W. â€Å"Spew?† said Harry, picking up a badge and looking at it. â€Å"What's this about?† â€Å"Not spew,† said Hermione impatiently. â€Å"It's S-P-E-W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.† â€Å"Never heard of it,† said Ron. â€Å"Well, of course you haven't,† said Hermione briskly, â€Å"I've only just started it.† â€Å"Yeah?† said Ron in mild surprise. â€Å"How many members have you got?† â€Å"Well – if you two join – three,† said Hermione. â€Å"And you think we want to walk around wearing badges saying ‘spew,' do you?† said Ron. â€Å"S-P-E-W!† said Hermione hotly. â€Å"I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status – but it wouldn't fit. So that's the heading of our manifesto.† She brandished the sheaf of parchment at them. â€Å"I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now.† â€Å"Hermione – open your ears,† said Ron loudly. â€Å"They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!† â€Å"Our short-term aims,† said Hermione, speaking even more loudly than Ron, and acting as though she hadn't heard a word, â€Å"are to secure house-elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the law about non-wand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented.† â€Å"And how do we do all this?† Harry asked. â€Å"We start by recruiting members,† said Hermione happily. â€Å"I thought two Sickles to join – that buys a badge – and the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign. You're treasurer, Ron – I've got you a collecting tin upstairs – and Harry, you're secretary, so you might want to write down everything I'm saying now, as a record of our first meeting.† There was a pause in which Hermione beamed at the pair of them, and Harry sat, torn between exasperation at Hermione and amusement at the look on Ron's face. The silence was broken, not by Ron, who in any case looked as though he was temporarily dumbstruck, but by a soft tap, tap on the window. Harry looked across the now empty common room and saw, illuminated by the moonlight, a snowy owl perched on the windowsill. â€Å"Hedwig!† he shouted, and he launched himself out of his chair and across the room to pull open the window. Hedwig flew inside, soared across the room, and landed on the table on top of Harry's predictions. â€Å"About time!† said Harry, hurrying after her. â€Å"She's got an answer!† said Ron excitedly, pointing at the grubby piece of parchment tied to Hedwig's leg. Harry hastily untied it and sat down to read, whereupon Hedwig fluttered onto his knee, hooting softly. â€Å"What does it say?† Hermione asked breathlessly. The letter was very short, and looked as though it had been scrawled in a great hurry. Harry read it aloud: Harry – I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore – they're saying he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is. I'll be in touch soon. My best to Ron and Hermione. Keep your eyes open, Harry. Sirius Harry looked up at Ron and Hermione, who stared back at him. â€Å"He's flying north?† Hermione whispered. â€Å"He's coming back?† â€Å"Dumbledore's reading what signs?† said Ron, looking perplexed. â€Å"Harry – what's up?† For Harry had just hit himself in the forehead with his fist, jolting Hedwig out of his lap. â€Å"I shouldn't've told him!† Harry said furiously. â€Å"What are you on about?† said Ron in surprise. â€Å"It's made him think he's got to come back!† said Harry, now slamming his fist on the table so that Hedwig landed on the back of Ron's chair, hooting indignantly. â€Å"Coming back, because he thinks I'm in trouble! And there's nothing wrong with me! And I haven't got anything for you,† Harry snapped at Hedwig, who was clicking her beak expectantly, â€Å"you'll have to go up to the Owlery if you want food.† Hedwig gave him an extremely offended look and took off for the open window, cuffing him around the head with her outstretched wing as she went. â€Å"Harry,† Hermione began, in a pacifying sort of voice. â€Å"I'm going to bed,† said Harry shortly. â€Å"See you in the morning.† Upstairs in the dormitory he pulled on his pajamas and got into his four-poster, but he didn't feel remotely tired. If Sirius came back and got caught, it would be his, Harry's, fault. Why hadn't he kept his mouth shut? A few seconds' pain and he'd had to blab†¦.If he'd just had the sense to keep it to himself†¦. He heard Ron come up into the dormitory a short while later, but did not speak to him. For a long time, Harry lay staring up at the dark canopy of his bed. The dormitory was completely silent, and, had he been less preoccupied, Harry would have realized that the absence of Neville's usual snores meant that he was not the only one lying awake.