Ecologically and Climatically Appropriate Building Design

Questions: 1. What is the impact of solar characteristics on the design of the buildings in the city Menindee?2.How atmospheric conditions such as mist and rain affect the building design of Menindee? Answers: 1. Menindee is a small city in South Wales Australia with a desert type climatic condition. The temperatures in summer rise above 40 degree at times however, average temperature ranges between 32-36 degrees. The structures of the buildings can be prone to climatic changes that might increase the risk of collapsing. Currently the buildings has to be constructed keeping in mind to reduce global warming and carbon footprint. In order to withstand the heat in Menindee, the buildings are using latest technologies of cooling their house and internal environment. As mentioned by Soares et al., (2013, p.82), excessive heat can severely affect the construction of buildings as the material used can unable to withstand the extreme the heat. Therefore, with due time the material might degrade resulting in collapsing of the building eventually. Menindee is a small town in New South Wales, Australia on the bank of river Darling with a few populations. The climate of Menindee is very dry and typically desert type. The solar characteristics such as solar path and intensity are very high thereby, resulting in higher dry and temperature. Menindee has an average rainfall of only 245.8 mm that is considered to be significantly low annually. As the rainfall is very low, the temperature of the region is always higher. At certain instances, Menindee has received considerably higher amount of rainfall. The summer prevails in Menindee from January to May and from October to December. During these months, the temperatures generally range between 41-49 degree Celsius. Therefore, the houses built in these areas needs to provide an overall cooling effect for the residents. In order to save economy and environment, traditional methods of building houses can be opted by the people of Menindee. Dallol in Ethiopia has an extreme desert type of climate. Reports suggest Dallol has the highest temperature for an inhibited location on Earth (All That Is Interesting, 2017). The temperature throughout the year in this place ranges between 36-49 degree Celsius that is considerably high. Moreover, the climate in this place is very dry and arid and the average rainfall received in this area is very less. Such a dry and hot climate in this area is supposedly due to the Red Sea and the proximity with the equator. This place also lacks the effect of nigh time cooling thereby, making the climate very hot. In order to cope up with such dry and hot climate, traditional methods of construction are used in order to save economy and environment. Dallol in Ethiopia uses earth clay as their construction material. On the contrary, only clay is not considered strong enough to withstand adverse climates. Therefore, cob is used as an alternative construction material to ensure safety and cooling of the house. Therefore, traditional methods of construction having similar weather conditions as Menindee can act as an initiative in reducing the carbon footprint. As mentioned by Madurwar et al., (2013, p.872), traditionally earth clay was used for as material for construction of buildings as it was easily accessible and increased the ability of the houses to withstand heat. However, as argued by Hejazi et al., (2012, p.100), constructing only with natural earth minimizes the strength of the building. In order to make the construction materials stronger, cob was suggested as an alternative construction material. As mentioned by Keefe (2012, p.56), cob is a mixture of straw, sand and clay soil. Constructing the buildings with cob and natural earth will make the internal environment of the house much cooler. This natural way of cooling the houses in Menindee can be considered as an initiative towards reducing the carbon footprint. The presence of buildings constructed by cob materials dates back centuries ago (Slocombe, 2012). Another significant way of withstanding the extreme heat is the use of straw bale. As asserted by Bhatttarai et al., (2012, p.422), straw bales are type of timbers that acts as natural insulators with high performance. This traditional method of construction was used as the building material in Africa. The use of straw bales acts as natural insulators thereby, preventing the entry of heat within the house. The solar radiation directly falls on the roofs of the house thereby, making the roofs more vulnerable to heat of the sun. As commented by Arnaud and Gourlay (2012, p.50), hempcrete is a mixture of water, hemp and lime can be used as a construction material and beneficial for cooling the house. This acts as insulating materials for the roofs thereby, preventing the entry of solar heat and radiation. In order to provide cooling effect on an entire locality, large wind towers can be installed in the grounds that will eventually transform the warm air into cold air thereby, providing a cooling effect on the entire locality. Use of traditional method of construction provides added advantages to both economy and the environment. Natural resources are easily available resources that are also cost effective. Moreover, when required the natural resources used for construction can be modified without much hassle. In case of electronic and technological forms of keeping the house, cool by installing cooling machineries, such machines can break down any time giving them uncertainty. Moreover, having natural forms of cooling also saves the electricity bill of the household. 2. Menindee is a city in Australia whose climatic condition resembles the climatic condition of desert. As per the weather reports of Menindee, the city receives an average of 242 mm of rainfall annually that is considered significantly low. Therefore, receiving such low amount of rainfall signifies desert type climatic conditions in Menindee (Finlayson et al., 2013, p.73). Receiving less rainfall highlights the severely high temperatures in Menindee thereby, the construction of buildings have to be conducted in such a way that it promotes cool environment within the buildings. As asserted by Shillington (2012, p.23), previously, the Africans used to narrow down the streets in order to accelerate the flow of air. Therefore, while undertaking the construction, the pathways are cut at specific angles to save the people from the heat of the summer. In modern construction, the walls of the buildings generally constructed with single layer of brick thereby, making the penetration of heat easy. Therefore, constructing the houses thick-layered walls can compensate the heat due to less rain received by Menindee. The city can harvest the rainwater received during the rainy season for future use. This will decrease the water scarcity within the city thereby, providing an opportunity to use the stored water for other purposes. The rainwater harvesting system can be constructed within the houses, as this requires less space. Moreover, flowing of water throughout the house to reach the harvesting chamber keeps the overall house much cooler. Harvesting of rainwater is extensively beneficial for areas that receive less rainfall throughout the year. This provides them an opportunity of storing water and using it in future use. While constructing the houses in areas with less rainfall, the walls can contain water bags that will enable a cooling effect on the entire house. Use of water bags is a traditional way of constructing buildings used before 1900s. Therefore, incorporation of water bags within the walls of the houses is beneficial due to the extreme weather conditions. This will act as insulators and prevent the heat from outside to enter the house. While constructing the houses, provision for planting trees can also be beneficial. As mentioned by Chan (2012, p.516), having trees planted in the surrounding of the house will provide an overall cooling effect in the house. These natural ways for cooling is a huge initiative towards promoting a healthy and pollution free environment. This provides an opportunity of using the naturally available resources thereby, minimizing the use of technology that increases the carbon footprint. According to Pacheco-Torgal and Jalali (2012, p.512), rammed earth comprises of clay, sand and gravel along with a stabilizer and put into moulds to undertake the specific shape. Traditionally additives were also added in order to stabilize the moulds. The walls of the houses can also have water bags that will provide cooling impact on the entire house. Therefore, different forms of natural earth such as cob, rammed earth for construction. Furthermore, water can also be added in the cob mixture and be mo lded into structures of bricks for construction. This strengthens the structure of the building while construction. Use of the natural resources for construction of buildings is a huge initiative for reducing the impacts of global warming and carbon footprint. The climatic condition of Menindee is dry and desert thereby, resulting in less rainfall. In order to cope up with the impact of less rainfall, the houses in Menindee are built using traditional methods in order to save the environment. As Menindee receives very less annual rainfall, amount of precipitation is also comparatively less. Therefore, the atmospheric condition of Menindee is dry and dusty. Straw bales can also be used on the roof top in order to provide an overall cooling effect as they act as natural insulators. This will provide an overall cooling effect on the entire house. Dallol in Ethiopia has similar climatic conditions as Menindee, that is, dry and desert type. One of the traditional methods of construction in Dallol is by using hempcrete, a composition of hemp hurds and lime. This acts as natural insulators for the houses of Dallol thereby, acting as an initiative towards reducing the carbon footprint and saving the environment. References All That Is Interesting. (2017). Welcome To Dallol, Ethiopia: The Hottest Place On Earth. [online] Available at: https://all-that-is-interesting.com/hottest-place-on-earth [Accessed 1 May 2017]. Arnaud, L. and Gourlay, E., 2012. Experimental study of parameters influencing mechanical properties of hemp concretes. Construction and building materials, 28(1), pp.50-56. Bhattarai, P., Dhakal, D.R., Neupane, K. and Chamberlin, K.S., 2012. Straw bale in construction of building and its future in India. Internal Journal of Modern Engi ? neering Research, 2(2), pp.422-426. Chan, A.L.S., 2012. Effect of adjacent shading on the thermal performance of residential buildings in a subtropical region. Applied energy, 92, pp.516-522. Finlayson, C.M., Davis, J.A., Gell, P.A., Kingsford, R.T. and Parton, K.A., 2013. The status of wetlands and the predicted effects of global climate change: the situation in Australia. Aquatic Sciences, 75(1), pp.73-93. Hejazi, S.M., Sheikhzadeh, M., Abtahi, S.M. and Zadhoush, A., 2012. A simple review of soil reinforcement by using natural and synthetic fibers. Construction and building materials, 30, pp.100-116. Keefe, L., 2012. Earth building: methods and materials, repair and conservation. Routledge. Madurwar, M.V., Ralegaonkar, R.V. and Mandavgane, S.A., 2013. Application of agro-waste for sustainable construction materials: A review. Construction and Building Materials, 38, pp.872-878. Pacheco-Torgal, F. and Jalali, S., 2012. Earth construction: Lessons from the past for future eco-efficient construction. Construction and building materials, 29, pp.512-519. Shillington, K., 2012. History of Africa. Palgrave Macmillan. Slocombe, M., 2012. Traditional Building Materials. Bloomsbury Publishing. Soares, N., Costa, J.J., Gaspar, A.R. and Santos, P., 2013. Review of passive PCM latent heat thermal energy storage systems towards buildings energy efficiency. Energy and buildings, 59, pp.82-103.

The Novel Native Son Was Published By Richard Wright Essays

The novel Native Son was published by Richard Wright in 1940. The book represents the tragedy of Bigger Thomas, a black boy raised in the Chicago slums during the great depression. Wright uses symbolism extensively in the novel. There is even symbolic meaning behind the titles of each of the three parts of the novel. It is symbolism that allows Wright to explain the entire novel in the first few pages. Even though symbols are widely used in the novel, there are only three that are very important. The three most important symbols are the black rat, blindness, and the kitchenette. One of the major symbols in Native Son is the black rat in the first chapter of the novel. The rat symbolizes the fate, feelings, and actions of the main character. The parallels between the rat and Bigger Thomas are unmistakable. The black rat is seen as an invader and is killed. The same eventually happens to Bigger later in the novel (Lee 50). Robert Lee argues that the black rat is symbolic of several things. According to Lee, one symbolic function of the black rat is that it sets up a motif that resonates throughout the novel. The rat points forward to the figure Bigger himself will become, the part-real, part-fantasy denizen of a grotesque counter Darwinian world in which human life-his own, Mary's, Bessie's-seems to evolve backward into rodent predation and death. Whether in pursuit or the pursued, Bigger becomes damned either way, just as he victimizes others while doubling as both his own and society's victim. These inner meanings of the novel also lie behind Wright's three-part partition of fear, flight, and fate (Lee 51). Secondly, the rat is symbolic of the terrified helplessness of the Thomas family and Bigger's response to it: "The rat's belly pulsed with fear. Bigger advanced a step and the rat emitted a long thin song of defiance." Bigger crushes the rat utterly and, in triumphant bravado, flaunts the bloody corpse in his sister's face, enjoying her terror. Lee recognizes the significance of this episode of fear, rage, and violent action. He states that the entire novel is an extension, with the roles inverted of this chilling metaphor (Lee 58). Finally, the killing of the rat is symbolic of Bigger's attempt to assert himself as someone important. Lee argues that Bigger actually hated his family. He hated them because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help or protect them. The killing of the rat represents, perhaps, Bigger's one chance to protect his mother and younger siblings as the patriarch of the Thomas family (Lee 68). Edward Margolies views blindness, which affects everyone throughout the novel, as the most important symbol. He believes that Wright uses blindness to illustrate the relationship between the races. His symbolic use of blindness illustrates how blind whites are to the humanity and existence of black people. Whites prefer to think of blacks in easily stereotypical images-in images of brute beast, or happy minstrel. They are incapable of viewing blacks as having sensitivity and intelligence. Even well meaning people like the Daltons are blind to the suffering of blacks. The Daltons lavish millions of dollars on black colleges and welfare organizations-while at the same time they continue to support a rigid caste system that is responsible for black degradation in the first place (Margolies 45). To support his belief, Margolies illustrates how this symbolic blindness affects all of the characters. Bigger is blind to the realities of black life as well as to the humanity of whites. Bigger vaguely discerns the white enemy as white tides, icy white walls, and looming white mountains. He is therefore unable to accept Jan's offer of friendship, because he blindly regards all whites as symbols of oppression. Mary, Jan, and Max are just as blind to the humanity of blacks as the others-even though they presumably want to enlist blacks as equals in their cause. For Mary and Jan, Bigger is an abstraction- a symbol of exploitation rather than someone whose feelings they have ever tried to understand. Mrs. Dalton's blindness is symbolic of the blindness of the white liberal philanthropic community (Margolies 50). Margolies believes that in all cases but Mrs. Daltons, blindness is psychosomatic. Like others, however, Mrs. Dalton has a spiritual handicap as well as a physical one. She and her husband, as Max points out, cannot see the malevolent condition, which they serve and perpetuate. Similarly, Mary and Jan cannot see the emptiness of their charity. At different points in the novel Bessie is blinded by tears and fright, while Bigger is blinded by snow, light and rage. In the presence of Jan and Max he feels transparent and invisible.

Review of the corporate social responsibility for Siemens Company

Table of Contents Introduction The case against Siemens The case for Siemens Conclusion Recommendation Reference List Introduction â€Å"Corporate social responsibility or CSR in short is also referred to as sustainable business relationship and is an integral integration into a business model to function as a self-regulation mechanism where the business monitors and ensures that it complies with the laws, standards of ethics and norms – both national and international.† (D Wood, Younger).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Review of the corporate social responsibility for Siemens Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For a multi-national corporation like Siemens, the approach of corporate social responsibility is a very important part of their business philosophy. Siemens always has an active participation approach to all their corporate social responsibility activities. Their employees are alw ays willing to give a helping and caring hand to those people who are in one way or another disadvantaged apart from the mere action of giving a fat cheque to cover expenses and serve as funding to the projects. Foote 1999 says â€Å"For Siemens, devoting their time and expertise to assist the needy – children, the youth and the elderly is a part of their identity.† It is what differentiates them from other corporate. Ranging from giving hope to the challenged or caring for the environment, Siemens has always participated in initiatives that require responsibility to be served to the society. Siemens always makes sure to satisfy all their stakeholders. The following are termed as the stakeholders: employees, suppliers, customers, investors, policy makers and the society at large. Brown, Dillard and Russer, Marshall say that, â€Å"To employees, the company â€Å"invests considerable resources in training them, upgrading their professional qualifications, safeguarding their health and assuring their welfare.† To supplier, the company aims to â€Å"promote sustainability by generating long-term value with the help of excellent and innovative suppliers – with a strong focus on economic, ecological and socially responsible operation.† â€Å"To customers, Siemens aims at aligning their business strategies, goals and objectives with the demands of customers as well as with what the customers expect,†(Correst, Nathan Bedford). To investors, the company aims at giving the best return on investments that pleases the investors as well as to maintain a good corporate image. To policy makers, Siemens makes their business decisions based on political decisions and public policy debates. â€Å"In addition to maintaining business relationships with government institutions and agencies which are customers for our products, solutions and services, we also openly contribute to the shaping of public opinion through various means in our capacity as a corporate citizen,† (Davis, Kirk Blomstrom and Dawart, Crowther).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The case against Siemens Despite Siemens terming themselves as being a â€Å"global powerhouse in the electronics and electrical engineering†, Siemens AG has been curbed by some corruption cases. The company was fined 1.6 billion US dollars. This was the largest fine for corruption in the history of the Anti-corruption cases and also in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) history. Evidence was sought signifying that the company was involved in bribing all over the world in several different business sectors. â€Å"The company (Siemens AG) and its subsidiaries in Venezuela, Argentina and Bangladesh were fined $450 million for allegations concerning corruption as per the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).† Dawart (20). Foote adds. Siemens which is listed in the New York Stock Exchange is regulated by the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) despite it being a German company. Siemens further agreed to top up with $350 million to cover charges incurred by SEC. Wills a renown researcher says that, â€Å"The company (Siemens AG) also paid $569 million to Munich Office of the Prosecutor General to whom the company had in October 2007 paid $285 in fines.† The evidence against Siemens revealed that the company bribed public officials in many business sectors and in many countries in order to be awarded large public contracts. Corruption within the company was so rampant and despite the company’s senior officials having this knowledge, they turned blind eye to the corrupt deals and did not do anything to attempt to stop them. Bribery almost became a part of the checklist in all of Siemens’ operations across the world. The agreement also made it that Sie mens had to be checked for a period of four years by an independent compliance monitory and also agreed to co-operate with the Department of Justice in further investigations of corruption within the company by agent and employees. If we examine Siemens’ corporate social responsibility in this case, the company did not stick to their own code of ethics and business conduct. The company also broke one of its core values which are to be responsible. Their value of responsibility states that â€Å"We are determined to meet – and wherever possible, exceed – all legal and ethical requirements. â€Å"Our responsibility is to conduct all business according to the highest professional and ethical standards and practices: There must be no tolerance for non-compliant behavior† (Habisch, Andre and Jan, Jonker. Schmidpeter), †This principle of responsibility is meant to act as a crucial guideline to the making of business decisions so by breaking this value an d encouraging corruption by not stopping it despite being aware of it, Siemens did not meet its ethical obligations here.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Review of the corporate social responsibility for Siemens Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is no doubt on this. By breaking this principle, the stakeholders were negatively impacted.† The case for Siemens Despite the court cases and fines concerning Siemens and alleging corruption, the company has however learnt its lesson and there have not been any reports of corruption in its operations. At least by correcting where they had gone wrong, the company still showed that they were willing to be responsible by both handling the situation to curb corruption and agreeing to be accountable and responsible and paying fines. Siemens AG also launched a $100 million Integrity Initiative. This initiative has been argued by many to be as a result of the court cases concerning corruption since the initiative was started in 2009 after the huge fines that the company had to pay for corrupt deals. According to Wills, â€Å"The Siemens Integrity Initiative aims to fight corruption and fraud through activities such as education and training.† The company also has a large corporate social responsibility portfolio from all over the globe. They have some corporate citizenship programs in several countries. In South Africa, the company is well known for its AIDS program known as REACH. Siemens collaborates with several partners to support HIV victims by providing cheap health care and providing support to HIV positive employees. The patients receive their medications and/or vaccines and are given counseling and ongoing personal and group support. Grace, Darmoth and Habisch, Andre says that in Egypt, as part of the Siemens Generation 21 education program, the company supports university education with several projects. Some of the pro jects include contest to design energy saving systems and idea workshops on energy conservation and reducing carbon footprints. In Brazil, the company built a high-voltage line round the Brazilian rainforest. The line is 14km long with the aim of keeping to a minimum the project’s footprint and to reduce to the most possible minimum, the impact that the project would have on one of the world’s richest fauna and flora habitats. The project did not involve any heavy machine work. â€Å"Rather, they used laborers to excavate, pneumatic jack hammers and installed cables by hand or if needed, by helicopter.† Wills says. All waste was cleverly handled and no waste was left unprocessed or unmoved.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Donations, employee volunteer work and partnerships 2008, â€Å"Siemens is an equal opportunity employer for the ‘different label’, when it comes to employment. Siemens has always given the challenged people a level playing ground in conjunction with the Ability Foundation, the physically challenged or those with other disabilities to interviews† (Jastram, Sarah and Paluszek, John). These interviewees are given aptitude tests like the others and are not given any special attention or consideration. The development of corporate social responsibility programs demonstrates that Siemens is fulfilling their obligation to the society and to the environment by developing sustainable development. Conclusion Siemens as a company has been involved in both the positive and negative influences in relation to their stakeholders that is the employees, society, suppliers, customers, investors, policy makers and the society at large. On the positive side, Siemens ha d engaged in positive environmental impacts and corporate citizenship roles that have empowered the stakeholders and made Siemens a company that all are ready and willing to be associated with. On the negative side, Siemens showed a lack of care for their core values and their delayed response in finding and handling the situation had a great negative impact to the stakeholders and in the way our society is wired, despite how much the company attempts to make up for the wrongs, it will be the most difficult thing that the company has done since people will always focus on the negatives more than the positives. In terms of its core business, through the rampant corruption within the organization, Siemens demonstrated that in order to please their stakeholders, they were willing to do this by any means be they clean or dirty. This is not a good business approach since it usually destroys businesses especially as seen in the huge fines paid to the courts. Recommendation I would recomme nd that Siemens AG stick to its core value of â€Å"exceeding all legal and ethical requirements and conducting business in the highest professional and ethical standards and having no tolerance for non-compliant behavior† (Habisch, Andre and Jan, Jonker Schmidpeter). In this way, Siemens will be able to give full value to all stakeholders in an honest way without jeopardizing anything. I would also recommend that Siemens AG should continue in its corporate citizenship and in the other good corporate social responsibility initiatives that it has in the past been involved with. Reference List Brown, Dillard and Russer, Marshall. Triple Bottom Line: A business metaphor for a social construct. Portland State University, School of Business Administration. Correst, Nathan Bedford. Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical Careers. University of Edinburgh Careers Service. 2008. Davis, Kirk Blomstrom Business and Society: Environment and Responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill. 19 75. Dawart, Crowther, Social and Environmental Accounting. London: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2000, p. 20. Donations, employee volunteer work and partnerships. 2008 Web. D Wood, Younger. Corporate Social Performance Revisited. (1991) 16(4) The Academy of Management: Review 2005. Foote, Shelby. The Civil War in Corperate Accounting, a Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage, 1986. Grace, Darmoth and Sorroni, Cohen. Business Ethics: Australian Problems and Cases. Oxford University Press. 2005. Habisch, Andre and Jan, Jonker. Schmidpeter (eds.) Corporate Social Responsibility across the Europe. Heidelberg: Springer. 2005. Jastram, Sarah. The Link between Corporate Social Responsibility and Strategic Management. CIS Papers No.17. Centre of International Studies, Hamburg. 2007. Paluszek, John. Ethics and Brand Value: Strategic Differentiation. (PowerPoint). Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership Meeting. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University . April 6–7, 2005. Web. R Freeman, Strategic management  :a stakeholder approach. Pitman ISBN: 780273019138. 1984. Rowe, James. Corporate Social Responsibility as Business Strategy. CGIRS-Reprint-2005-08. Center for Global, International, and Regional Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. 2005. Web. Saether, Kim and Ruth, Aguilera. Corporate Social Responsibility in a Comparative Perspective. In Crane, A., et al. (PDF). The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN  0199211590. Wheeler, David and Maria, Sillanpaa. The Stakeholder Corporation: a blueprint for maximizing stakeholder value. London: Pitman 1997. Wills, Brian Steel. A Battle from the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. This essay on Review of the corporate social responsibility for Siemens Company was written and submitted by user Travis Bennett to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns in Spanish

Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns in Spanish I hit myself. Bill hurt himself. They saw themselves. Did you find yourself? What do the above sentences have in common? Obviously, they all have pronouns that end in -self or -selves. Less obviously, but as a corollary, they all use pronouns that stand for the subject of the sentence. In other words, the subjects and objects of the verbs in the above sentences refer to the same person. Another way of putting this might be that the subject of each sentence is engaging in some action that affects the same person or persons. If you can comprehend that, you understand the basic concept behind the grammar of reflexive pronouns and verbs in Spanish. Reflexive pronouns in Spanish are closely related to direct and indirect-object pronouns, following the same rules of word order and using most of the same pronouns. The Reflexive Pronouns of Spanish Here are the reflexive pronouns in Spanish with a simple example of each and a translation: First-person singular: me - myself - Me oà ­. I heard myself.Second-person singular familiar: te - yourself - Te oiste. You heard yourself.Second-person singular formal, third-person singular: se - yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself - Ella se oyà ³. She heard herself. Èl se oyà ³. He heard himself.  ¿Se oye usted? Do you hear yourself?First-person plural: nos - ourselves - Nos oà ­mos. We heard ourselves.Second-person plural familiar: os - yourselves - Os oà ­steis. You heard yourselves.Second-person plural formal, third-person plural: se - yourselves, themselves - Se oyeron. They heard themselves. Verbs Used Primarily or Only in the Reflexive One major difference between Spanish and English in this matter is that in Spanish many verbs exist only or primarily in the reflexive form. There is only one common English verb that shares this characteristic: to perjure oneself. Examples of verbs that exist primarily or frequently in the reflexive form are acostarse (to go to bed), divertirse (to have a good time), ducharse (to take a shower), enamorarse (to fall in love), enojarse (to get angry), levantarse (to get up), sentarse (to sit down), sentirse (to feel), and vestirse (to get dressed). It is also common to use the reflexive form when performing some action on a part of the body. Examples include secarse el cabello (to dry ones hair) and lavarse las manos (to wash ones hands). Note that the infinitive form of reflexive verbs is usually stated by placing -se at the end of the infinitive. Translating Reflexive Verbs Note that for many of these verbs it is not necessary to translate the reflexive pronoun into English. Se acostà ³ a las nueve, she went to bed at 9. Me siento triste, I feel sad. But with many verbs, especially those that are less frequently used in the reflexive, the pronoun must be translated.  ¿Te ves en el espejo? Do you see yourself in the mirror? And in still other cases, you can translate with or without translating the pronoun. Se vistià ³ en su coche, he got dressed in his car, or he dressed himself in his car. Sometimes, the reflexive can be translated using each other when in the plural form. Nos miramos, we looked at each other. Se escucharon, they listened to each other (or to themselves, depending on the context). Romeo y Julieta se amaron, Romeo and Juliet loved each other. As usual, context should be a key guide when translating to English. In some cases, putting a verb in the reflexive form can make it more intense, as we do sometimes in English by adding a particle. For example, ir means to go, but irse is usually translated to go away. Similarly, comer means to eat, but comerse might be translated as to eat up, as in se comià ³ cinco tacos, he ate up five tacos. Often in Spanish the reflexive form is used where in English we would use a passive form of a verb. Se cerrà ³ la puerta. The door was closed (a literal translation would be the door closed itself). Se perdieron los boletos, the tickets got lost. Translating "-self" to Spanish Sometimes in English we use the reflexive pronouns as a means of emphasizing the subject rather than as a true reflexive, as in the sentence, I myself performed the task or I performed the task myself. In such cases, the reflexive form should not be used in the Spanish translation. The first sentence would typically be translated using mismo: Yo mismo hice la tarea. The second sentence also could be translated by paraphrasing its meaning: Hice la tarea sin ayuda (literally, I did the task without help). Key Takeaways In reflexive sentences, the direct object pronoun of a verb represents the same person or thing as the subject.Spanish reflexive pronouns are used much like English -self words such as myself or ourselves when those words are used reflexively.Many Spanish verbs are used only or mostly in the reflexive form.

Economic Impact of the U.S. Fast Food Industry on the Global Economy Research Paper

Economic Impact of the U.S. Fast Food Industry on the Global Economy - Research Paper Example Fast foods contain a lot of fats and oils, which when accumulated in the body lead to related diseases like Obesity and diabetes. A research conducted by Currie Janet et al. of the National Bureau of Economic Research (Currie, 2009), on the effects of fast food restaurants on obesity and weight gain show that, the establishment of fast food restaurants has a diverse effect on the rise in obesity cases in the U.S. The research focused on 3 million children to compare school children who are 0.1 mile away from a location of a fast food restaurant, and others who are at 0.25 miles. The researchers put the children under observation for a period to compare on the rate of obesity cases. The researchers also conducted research on 3 million pregnant mothers observed to gauge their weight gain over a period (Currie, 2009). It showed that the growth in weight gain among pregnant mothers increased according to the distance form the fast food restaurant that is the weight gain was more to mothe rs who were near the restaurants as compared to those a bit far (Currie, 2009). The obesity rates observed were almost the same to the school children. The research shows that the availability of fast food restaurants affects the rate of obesity because of the low price on the foods which leads to high consumption. The varying distance between the school children bring almost the same effect on obesity because, the children who are a bit far from the restaurants are constraint to budget hence consume less compared to those near (Currie, 2009). The availability of the fast food restaurants has adverse effects on the health sector in U. S. as the state has to intervene on prevention. This affects the economy of the country as the government increases taxes to cater for... This paper stresses that the high growth in economic standards over the world calls for any possible means of easing life. The fast food industry has developed due to the ease of production of its products and its cheap price. The commitments that people have do not allow them to spend much of their time because they want to beat some deadlines. They do not have time to examine how healthy the food they eat is, and its consequences. The fast food industries started in the U. S according to Schlosser, but after the gradual growth, spread to other countries where they have too established a number of branches, for example, the McDonald’s. This report makes a conclusion that the effects these companies have on the economy of U. S occur in the other countries which have started these industries. Most contents of these foods are unhealthy, and have highly contributed to the rise in obesity and overweight problems which relate other diseases like diabetes which are expensive to treat. Treatment of these diseases becomes a burden to the economy of the world. Diseases like these affect the labor input of a country and this acts as a drawback to the economy. Although the establishment of fast food industries affected the economy of the world through the health sector, it has also positively affected the global economy through the provision of labor to employees, which is a boost to the tax department.

Domestic violence and human rights reserch Research Paper

Domestic violence and human rights reserch - Research Paper Example Children are likewise thought to be mishandled about as frequently as spouses. The elderly also compose an identifiable group of abuse victims whose rights are violated and neglected. Often they are targets of the frustrations of family members who are presumed to care for them. In this regard, the essay is written with the objective of presenting relevant issues about domestic abuse as a human rights violation. Likewise, the discourse would discuss proposed ways to address and possible prevent this dilemma. Definition of Terms According to UNICEF (2000), â€Å"The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life† (UNICEF, 2). The same source defines dom estic violence as â€Å"violence perpetrated by intimate partners and other family members, and manifested through: physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, economic abuse and acts of omission† (ibid.). ... ed, fear of and control over female sexuality, belief in the inherent superiority of males, and legislation and cultural sanctions that have traditionally denied women and children an independent legal and social status† (UNICEF, 7). Situations where imposition of inequality of power towards another person deemed to possess weakness either in physical strength, educational achievement, economic status, or perceived demographic factors (age, race, culture) have increased tendencies for domestic violence. Consequences The most crucial effect of domestic violence as revealed by various studies is the denial of human rights (UNICEF, 8). Further, domestic violence creates damaging repercussions to victims in the form of physical health injuries, mental health dilemmas and even fatal outcomes, such as death or contracting HIV/AIDS. There are also socio-economic cost identified to be associated with domestic violence, such as medical costs for treatment, law enforcement costs, lower l abor productivity, and decreased quality of life (ibid, 13). Prevention Strategies Due to the delicate nature and scope of the dilemma, domestic violence should be addressed with stringent vigilance and immediate action. The hesitation to report domestic violence due to fear, lack of resources or support systems, or ignorance exacerbate the ability of community workers and government institutions to apply the necessary strategies and interventions to prevent these abusive incidences. The Study Coordinator for WHO, Dr. Claudio Garcia Moreno averred that "domestic violence can be prevented and governments and communities need to mobilize to fight this widespread public health problem" (WHO, par. 10). The fact remains that women, children and the elderly have kept their silence about domestic

Week 2 Discussion Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Week 2 Discussion Questions - Essay Example The teams are defined in order to support the business processes which are of significance as concerns to the relevance of the scope of the project that they are under. The resource pool structure is based on the construction of teams from similar kinds of resource. The elements that are different within these team structures are that two of them are people-centric while the last one depends heavily on the availability of resources. The project team structure is related with the project manager’s authority since he will then be able to have a better idea as to how things will be conducted within the domain that he is working under. The boundary of the project upon which the project manager has completed hold upon is indeed the project scope. It is a fact that there are some outputs of project scope as well, which are indeed the time and costs associated. Therefore project scope takes into consideration what will be included and what must remain excluded from the domains of the project. Scope changes with the passage of time. The components of the project scope include the justification for the project, the specification and description of the product that is sought, the project deliverables and indeed the objectives of the project. These components define the real essence of a project and hence the project scope is closely linked with it as well. The components will eventually define the basis of project scope which is important. 3. What does each of the letters in the SMART acronym stand for? In your own words, describe what each piece of the SMART acronym means? Why is the SMART acronym an important part of developing requirements for the project? SMART is an acronym used for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound activities within the project management domains. By specific, one means that the project objectives need to be significant, simple and stretching all at the same time. The