Invasive Species

Abstract Some pests and weeds are considered by the Australian government to be of national significance. Most of these species were introduced from other countries and continents. Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the Alligator Weed (Alternanthera Philoxeroides) are some of the invasive species which threaten the ecology and several sectors of the Australian economy.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Invasive Species specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This document discusses why and how these species were introduced in Australia, factors which ensured their successful establishment in the country, as well as, their ecological and economic impacts. Finally, it examines the advantages and disadvantages of the control methods used to manage them. Introduction Numerous invasive species have been introduced in Australia over the years. These species are considered pests and have become a serious threat to biodiversity as well as agriculture in the country. Generally, pests have a direct effect on the environment/ecosystem as well as on human life wherever they exist. Their rate of reproduction is high making it difficult to control them. Most of them were introduced either deliberately or by accident, including some brought in to assist with the control of other nuisance species. Among the animal pests in Australia is red fox (Vulpes vulpes) also known as the European red fox was introduced in Australia in 1855 from Europe (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Communities 2010). Since its introduction in Australia, it has spread across most parts of the country, although it is no longer found in the tropical north as well as some off-shore islands (Tasmanian Department of Primary industries, Parks, Water and Environment, 2010). Vulpes vulpes is classified as a serious invader to native animals as it kills them. On the other hand, one of the weed species which has invaded the ecological s ystem of Australia is the Alligator Weed (Alternanthera Philoxeroides). It was also introduced from Parana River region, South America (Everitt, Little Lonard, 2007, 55).Advertising Looking for report on biology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They have spread in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Tasmania and South Australia. According to Bonila and Gunasekera (2001, 17) Alternanthera Philoxeroides is among the top 20 weeds posing serious threats and therefore causes significant concern in Australia. How and why the species were introduced in Australia According to Cuthbertson and Parsons (1992, 155) Alternanthera Philoxeroides was first introduced in Newcastle, New South Wales from South America and has since spread to all states in Australia. It has viable seed which aids its dispersal. As a result it spread from South America through pieces of mud which it used to attach itself to ships which sailed from South America. It was first introduced in this region during in 1946 when ship ballast was abandoned near New Castle (Cuthbertson and Parsons 1992, 155). According to the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (2011) Alternanthera Philoxeroides was introduced to Newcastle, New South Wales as a culinary herb. Red fox which has also greatly contributed to serious breakdown of Australian ecology was first introduced in the country from 1855 (Cowan Tyndale-Biscoe 1997, 31). They were first released in Melbourne, Victoria. They were deliberately introduced to the country for recreational hunting. European red fox was hunted by humans beginning 1865. Hunting had started back in 1839 in Australia as people sought after kangaroos, rabbits and dingoes. Factors which contributed to their successful establishment The weed has the ability to survive in terrestrial, Aquatic as well as semi-aquatic habitats in temperate, tropical plus in sub-tropical reg ions. All the regions in Australia where the weed has spread all have the characteristics of these climatic regions. The existence of rivers, wetlands and river tributaries provided the optimum condition for their survival. Red fox can survive in various habitats which include alpine, urban, as well as, arid areas (Pearson Pyres 1998, 87). It can also live in lightly wooded regions, and grasslands. Australia has wooded areas which are found in the country’s agricultural landscapes. This offers a wide range of food and shelter for the fox. The fox can also survive in a cleared farming land which has some livestock such as lambs which it can prey on.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Invasive Species specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Besides, the fox can eat almost anything including small animals, insects and fruit (Larivià ¨re Pasitschniak-Arts 1996, 6). In each environment, red fox is at the apex of the food chain. This enables it to survive even when its preferred prey, small animals, is less available during the summer seasons. Australia has all types climates which the fox can survive in, and due to this, red fox has established itself firmly across the country. On the contrary, native animals of Australia have not yet evolved to protect themselves against the fox because of the circumstances in which red fox was introduced. The fox was introduced so suddenly that the native animals were killed to feed the young foxes. This helped sustain the population of the red fox, which has since become the head of the food chain. Ecological effects Red foxes have had several long-term effects on the Australian environment. One major effect is the decline of biodiversity. Predation by red fox has contributed significantly to the decline of native species in the country and still continues to undermine the efforts of the Australian community to conserve the threatened species which includes the night parrot, malleefowl, as well as, the bridled nail-tail wallaby. The fox has greatly contributed to the reduction in populations of ground-nesting birds, reptiles like the green turtle, as well as, small-to-medium sized mammals like the greater bilby. The fox often loots loggerhead turtle nets. Furthermore, it eats eggs in nests found on the beach. Loggerhead turtles are protected at Mon Repos Conservation Park in Queensland since they are endangered. If these foxes are allowed to continue to breeding, as well as remain among the wild animals for much longer period, the fragile ecology of Australia will be destroyed. This means that it will be difficult to recover this unique environment. In addition, they are carriers of rabies. The spread of rabies could destroy the fragile Australian ecosystem. The disease affects both human beings and animals. Thus eradicating it would be very difficult.Advertising Looking for report on biology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Red foxes normally eat berries in summer seasons when their favourable food resources are not available. In addition, the fox competes alongside native predators which include eagles. In the past, the fox has competed against Tasmania Devils which were once abundant across the mainland; however, it is now found in Tasmania only. Others included Tasmania Tiger, Thylacine, and Tasmania Wolf which are now extinct in the country. Even though the red fox endangers the existence of many native animals, it is itself endangered by some animals. These animals include the Western Quoll, Red-Tailed Phascogale, Numbat, as well as, Brush-Tailed Bettong which are majorly found in South-Western Australia. These animals are poisonous to the red fox since they eat Gastrolobium, as well as, Oxylobium plants, which are poisonous to animals especially the red fox (Cowan Tyndale-Biscoe 1997, 31). These plant species have flouroacetate which is the chemical used to make the poison baits used in 1080 (Co wan Tyndale-Biscoe 1997, 31). On the contrary, these animals considered to be dangerous to the fox have developed immunity to the chemical, and therefore they store the poison in their flesh. When the red fox eats the animal, it dies. Alligator weed disrupts the aquatic environment by covering the surface and therefore hindering penetration of light into the water or soil (Groves, Richardson Shepard 1995, 07). This adversely distresses aquatic fauna as well as flora. Economic impacts Economic Impacts Alligator weed has impacts on several sectors of the economy. The plant has increased the would-be costs to irrigation farming (Groves, Richardson Shepard 1995, 10). It is expected that should the alligator weed not be controlled, then, the Barren Box Swamp infestation will cost about $250 million annually (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Communities 2010). It is also threatening the sustainability of the turf industry in the Sydney Basin. The vegetable industry in the Hawkesbury-Nepan region is also threatened; the industry is estimated to be worth $150 million a year (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Communities 2010). Other than the vegetable industry, there is the extraction industry in the same region, which also under threat. Should these resources be contaminated with the alligator weed, then the resources will have to be restricted. Moreover, it also threatens soy bean as well as sugar cane industries in the Richmond region (Groves, Richardson Shepard 1995, 11). Alligator weed also interferes with livestock farming. The plant contaminates grazing pastures and causes cancerous lesions in cattle. At some point, they become so dense that they deny livestock access to drinking water. This also implies that it limits access to, as well as, use of water. It can also block and damage pumps. In Warragamba Dam in Sydney, the weed causes sedimentation and therefore its major water supply, as well as, storage system (Depar tment of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Communities 2010). It obstructs stream flow of water and as a result leads to sedimentation. This contributes to flooding of the region, and structural damage to infrastructure. Red foxes have significant impacts on the Australian economy. It threatens the existence of native species as well as ecological communities. This impacts on the national heritage as it reduces species population (wildlife resources) in the country. The night parrot, malleefowl, as well as, the bridled nail-tail wallaby are some of the species which have been identified as threatened by red fox (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Communities 2010). Red fox also causes losses to farmers especially those who keep livestock. The fox preys on the kid goats, poultry, as well as, newborn lambs. Moreover, they can also pass rabies on to livestock as well as native mammals. This costs the Australia economy millions of dollars per year since they kill livestock as well as by being a pest to farmers. Advantages of the methods used to control red fox Among the methods the government and the Australian community has employed is the prevention of the spread of red foxes to new regions which includes islands. Protection of the islands has been major priority in controlling red fox population. Islands have often been used as refugee habitats for species which are not available on the mainland any more. This has been effective in eradicating red fox from high-conservation-value islands. Adoption of poison baits on fences has also been successful in reducing the population of red foxes. This has been applied in south-west Western Australia and Eastern Australia. It has enabled native mammals to start to recover, and as a result, return to their former habitats. This method has also reduced the pressure on native species threatened by the red fox. It helps promote the maintenance, as well as, recovery of native animals together with the e cological communities which have been affected by red fox predation. Demerits of the methods used to control red fox Although the Australian community has adopted payment of bounties to encourage people to remove red foxes from among the wild animals, reduction of damages from the fox has not been effective (Tasmanian Department of Primary industries, Parks, Water and Environment, 2010). Again, hunting has not been able to achieve significant or long-term impact red fox population as well as the damage they cause. The application of poison baits in controlling red fox could have effects on other animals which are the target for elimination. Poison baits may also have similar effects on other animals, and therefore lead to their decline in areas where they are used. Besides, poison baits are very expensive and requires much resources to maintain them indefinitely. In south-west Western Australia, a large scale 1080-poison baits is used to control red fox. Advantages of the methods us ed to control alligator weed There are several methods which have been applied in Australia to control alligator weed. These control methods include physical, chemical and biological controls, and through legislation. Physical control method which involves the manual digging and burying of the alligator weed after having applied herbicides which kills any above-underground plant growth. This ensures immediate eradication of the alligator plant (NSW Department of Primary Industries 2008). It has successfully reduced floating mats which grow in Georges River as well as parts of Hawkesbury-Nepean region. Disadvantages of the methods used to control alligator weed One of the methods which have been applied in managing alligator weed is the adoption of alternative vegetable as part of the eradication program. The most notable alternative vegetable that has been adopted is the lesser joy weed which is scientifically known as Alternanthera denticulata (Bonila and Gunasekera 2001, 19). Howe ver, this does not help eliminate alligator weed as most of it grows wildly. Wetlands and river habitat where the weed grows is not affected by this program. Chemical control method applied in Australia is not effective as it takes long to eradicate the weed. Alligator weed can tolerate most herbicides. This means that application of these herbicides may only suppress the weed. Consequently, this method may take as a long as 6 years to completely eradicate the weed since in some cases, the herbicides are applied annually. Again, since the alligator weed is tolerant to most of these herbicides (NSW Department of Primary Industries 2008), it implies that large quantities are used in process. This can be dangerous to other plant species and could lead to their death. This means that chemical control method may lead to further loss of biodiversity. Application of chemicals could also lead to the death of soil micro-organisms which play key role in breaking and enriching the soil. Physic al control on the other hand, cannot be adopted in large and extensive alligator coverage areas. It is difficult to carry out deep manual digging for burying the weed that covers a wide area. Besides, applying herbicides to prevent above-underground plant growth could affect many plant and animal species which were not intended. Conclusion Red fox and alligator weed are among the invasive species which are of great significance to Australia. Both of them cause great damage to the environment, which in turn affects the country’s economy. If they are not carefully controlled, then they may cause reduction of population of various species and even lead to their extinction. Thus, it is important to devise better and more environmentally friendly ways of managing them and their impacts. This means that more research has to be done to enable the Australian community understand their impacts and develop more advanced ways of controlling their population and impacts on the ecology, o ther species and human life. It is also important to understand that these species also play vital roles in the ecosystem, and therefore the control measures adopted should not aim at eliminating them, but also protecting them. Finally, the local community should be involved in controlling these pests and weeds in order to achieve sustainable environmental management. Reference List Bonila, J., Gunasekera, L., 2001, Alligator weed: Tasty vegetable in Australian backyard. Journal of Aquatic Plant Management, 39: 17-20. Burgman, M., Lindenmayer, D., 1998, Conservation biology for the Australian Environment. Sydney: Surrey Beatty Sons. p. 83. Cowan, P. E., Tyndale-Biscoe, C. H., 1997, Reproduction, fertility development: Australia and New Zealand mammal species considered to be pests or problems. CSIRO, 9: 27-35. Cuthbertson, E., Parsons W., 1992, Noxious weeds of Australia. Plant Protection Quartely, 3: 154–157. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water and Communi ties, 2010, European red fox (vulpes vulpes). Canberra ACT: Commonwealth of Australia. Everitt, J. H., Little, C. R., Lonard, R. L., 2007, Weeds in South Texas and Northern Mexico. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press. pp. 55. Groves, R., Richardson, R., Shepard, R. 1995, Biology of Australian weeds, Vol. 1. Taipei City: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 1–12. Larivià ¨re, S., Pasitschniak-Arts, M., 1996, Vulpes vulpes. Mamallian Species, 537: pp. 1-11. National Land Water Resources Audit, 2008, Assessing invasive animals in Australia 2008, NLWRA, Canberra./SEWPaC (2010). Web. NSW Department of Primary Industries, 2008, Alligator weed control manual: Eradication and suppression of alligator weed in Australia. Orange: NSW Department of Primary Industries. Pearson, J., Pyres, G., 1998, Ecosystem of Australia: Deserts. Port Melbourne: Heinemann Library. p. 87. Tasmanian Department of Primary industries, Parks, Water and Environment, 2010, Locations of fox activity inTasmania . Web. This report on Invasive Species was written and submitted by user Kamille Riley 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.

Present Perfect Tense in Spanish

Present Perfect Tense in Spanish Despite its name, the present perfect tense in Spanish (and English as well) is used to refer to events that happened in the past. Its use in Spanish can be tricky, however, because its usage varies with region and it sometimes is used in slightly different ways than it is in English. In Spanish, the present perfect tense is formed by the present tense of haber followed by the past participle. (In English its the present tense of to have followed by the past participle.) It generally indicates that an action has been completed that has some bearing on the present. Forms of Present Perfect Tense Here are the forms in which the present perfect would be stated. Pronouns are included here for clarity but often arent necessary: yo he past participle (I have ...)tà º has past participle (you have ...)usted/à ©l/ella ha past participle (you have, he/she has ...)nosotros/nosotras hemos past participle (we have ...)vosotros/vosotras habà ©is past participle (you have ...)ustedes/ellos/ellas han past participle (you have, they have ...) Note that while in English, as in some of the examples above, it is possible to separate the have from the past participle, in Spanish you normally dont separate  haber  from participles. However, if haber applies to two participles, the second haber can be omitted, as in the second sample sentence below. Sample Sentences Here are some examples of sentences using the present perfect tense along with the way theyd most commonly be translated: Me he comprado una esponja rosa. (I have bought a pink sponge.) ¡Es lo mejor que he visto y escuchado en mi vida! (Its the best thing I have seen and heard in my life!) ¿Alguna vez has hablado con las ranas a medianoche? (Have you talked with the frogs at midnight?)Todos lo hemos pensado. (All of us have thought it.)Minerva ha conocido ya a los padres de su novio. (Minerva has already met her boyfriends parents.)Siempre he anhelado tener un metabolismo con el cual pueda comer lo que quiera. (I have always wanted to have a metabolism that would let me eat whatever I want.)Hay videojuegos que han hecho historia. (There are video games that have made history.)He leà ­do y acepto la polà ­tica de privacidad. (I have read and I accept the privacy policy.) Subjunctive Use The subjunctive present perfect functions in much the same way: Mi amiga niega que su madre haya comprado un regalo para el perro. (My friend denies that her mother has bought a gift for the dog.)Titular: 14 piscinas que no se parecen a nada que hayas visto antes. (Headline: 14 swimming pools that dont seem like anything you have seen before.)Es probable que hayan escondido micrà ³fonos en la casa y està ©n escuchando nuestras conversaciones. (It is likely that they have hidden microphones in the house and are listening to our conversations.)El la eleccià ³n ms sucia que hayamos conocido en los à ºltimos tiempos. (It is the dirtiest election that we have known in recent times.) Present Perfect With Meaning of the Preterite You should be aware, however, that the Spanish present perfect tense should not always be thought of as the equivalent of the English present perfect tense. In many regions, it can be used as the equivalent of the English simple past tense. Sometimes the context will make this clear: Ha llegado hace un rato. (She arrived a little bit ago.)Cuando lo he visto no he podido creerlo. (When I saw it I couldnt believe it.)Leo la carta que me han escrito esta maà ±ana. (I am reading the letter they wrote to me this morning.)Esta maà ±ana he estado en Madrid. (This morning I was in Madrid.) But even where the context doesnt dictate so, the present perfect can be the equivalent of the English preterite, also known as the simple past. This is especially true for events that occurred very recently. Youre also more likely to hear the present perfect used in this way in Spain than in most of Latin America, where the preterite may be preferred (e.g., llegà ³ hace un rato). Key Takeaways The present perfect tense is formed by following the present tense of haber with a past participle.No words should intervene between haber and the participle.The Spanish present perfect sometimes is used to indicate than an action recently took place rather than merely that it has occurred.

Homework3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homework3 - Assignment Example The two factors or characteristic of power are highly conspicuous in the film. James sharper uses his political position (power) to influence people’s way of thinking. Ideally, the character influences people’s thinking and decisions through voting and rigging of elections. According to the film, Sharpe has been in office for four consecutive terms. His political success can be traced back to a network of corrupt city workers who protects his interests in Newark streets. Ideally, Sharpe threatened city workers with demotions and false accusations. In addition, traders who did not concur with his political ambitions were either accused of being terrorists or criminals. Consequently, their businesses were denied mayor’s protection and, hence subjected to sabotage. Although power is instrumental in social development, power can be applied in a negative sense, as depicted in the film. James Sharpe uses power for his own interests without considering people’s n eeds. Power gives authority to leaders and, therefore essential in leadership. However, power does not determine the quality of a leader. If it did then Sharpe would have been a better leader than his opponent was. Although the film does not reveal most of Booker leadership qualities, he seems a credible leader. His profile and academic qualifications makes him an outstanding leader compared to his political rival. Power is exercised through influence. In this context, leaders can also influenced by the very power they owe the people. It is unclear whether Booker can sustain his credibility if elected the mayor of the city. The first election illustrates the relationship between power and leadership. Ideally, candidates who had most power won the elections. Although James and Booker were both African-Americans, James had more political power than Booker did. Despite Booker having the best manifestos and visions for Newark and NJ, James had better chances of

Credit Cards - Phase 2 - ip Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Credit Cards - Phase 2 - ip - Essay Example While we know that you have now become a responsible adult, I would nevertheless, like to tell you something about the most crucial factor of one’s life. The management of money, especially the use of credit card is an important aspect of life and becomes all the more critical for the freshman because they not only need to know the advantages of the credit cards but also the pitfalls of its mismanagement. This is the one type of paper currency that gives you instant access to goods and services without actually having it in hard cash so it is easy to forget the value of money. Judicious use of money and credit cards shows responsible behavior and inculcates habits that would never let you fail in life. As you know, the credit cards have great advantages. One of the most important is that it helps you to meet emergency situations with ease and confidence. You do not have to carry large amount of cash while on traveling or shopping. They make it easy to buy goods and protect your purchases in case of theft or loss thus considerably increasing your purchasing power. Sometimes, credit card purchases may also give additional benefits of extra discounts. But the most important advantage of credit card is that they help you to establish credibility in the market which you would be a huge help when you require money for important matters of your life. Good credit card credibility is a great asset for securing loans from financial institutes, facilitates rental application and sometimes even jobs. You can acquire good credit history by making prompt payments of all your bills without resorting to part or installment based scheme of payment schedules. The biggest pitfall of credit cards is that it gives you indiscriminate power of spending and encourages people to spend money that one does not possess! This often leads to debts that keep accruing because as a

Church Reformation in the 16th and 17th century Research Paper

Church Reformation in the 16th and 17th century - Research Paper Example This group rejected to live the previous ways; thus believed that the Judgment Day was near. They formed new societies and much confusion in the social order. The reformation contributed to issues such as the dead of the blacks, western rupture and eroding faith of people in the catholic churches. The fall of the Roman Emperor contributed to the reformation and circulation of protestant churches. Under the Roman Emperor Christianity spread and many churches evolved. The Roman Catholic Church, which became one of the most prominent churches to the councils evolved. It organized in Trent, which is an education centre for church teachings especially in the tradition and scripture issues. Council of the Trent is a convention of cathedral councils or theological professionals whose purpose is to resolve church policy matters or practices. The councils provide teaching programs for the community priests in order to augment pastoral care. This was initiated by the Roman Catholic Church unde r Pope Paul 1112 (Becchio and Johannes 98). The council of the Tent provided teachings, reasserted traditional practices and articulated dogmatic of the Catholic Church doctrines. These doctrines include the seven sacraments, celibacy, belief of taking wine and bread during the mass services, which they translated as the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Other doctrines included worship of remnants and saints whom they referred as the Holy Virgin Mary. Others included the significant of having faith and working towards achieving salvation. Moreover, the ecumenical councils of the Roman Catholic Church made a significant reform on dogmatic issues in the 16th and 17th century. The transformation known as the catholic reformation was the restoration era for the Catholics and it began with the Council of Trent. Some scholars consider the council of Trent as being responsible for Protestant Reformation. They laid strict issues, which the protestant minster nearly disputed. Pope Paul 111 re formed the Roman Catholicism in many European areas. In the first period of the Roman Catholicism, they church accepted the 3Nicene Creed as the basis for the catholic conviction (Queen, Prothero and Shattuck 76). They set the old and New Testament canons and fixed seven sacraments. However, this dogmatic ruled out the doctrines of Martin Luther’s beliefs of faith jurisdiction. The general council established the transubstantiation of doctrines and offered Episcopal authority verdict and other doctrine issues. However, many issues that contributed to protestant reformation started disappearing, and the church began to reclaim many of its followers by the end of the 16th century. The council of the Trent focused so much on education of the clergy because of varied reasons. First, they wanted to eradicate the mistreatments of the 4Catholic cathedral such as alms treats in order to advance the superiority of bishops. This was seen essential to the Catholics because they protesta nt churches criticized their teachings. Hence, they emphasized on the importance of the church teachings and created new rules that clergies were to follow. They followed the teachings of Martin Luther and Calvin and rejected any other reformation leaders. The council of Trent played considerable roles in renewing the catholic cathedral5 of Europe

Obfuscated Data Storage For Cloud Environment

Obfuscated Data Storage For Cloud Environment Ravi Pandey, and Kamlesh Chandra Purohit Abstract. Data storage service is one of the most attractive services provided by the cloud service provider. Despite the benefits of cloud computing threat to data confidentiality, integrity and availability may stop the data owner from switching to a cloud environment. Handing over the data to a third party to store and manage may generate data security issues as owner of the data cannot deploy its own security policies in storage service provider’s premises. A storage service provider may misuse the client’s data. In a cloud environment data is stored in the service provider’s premises so there should be a mechanism which hides meaning of the data from the service provider or any other unauthorized entity. In this paper, we propose a mechanism which utilizes some existing schemes like erasure correcting code, AES, SHA256 and some new techniques to achieve data security guarantees against any unauthorized entity. Keywords: Data storage service, cloud computing, erasure correcting code, AES, SHA256. 1. Introduction Cloud computing technology, which is popular for its pay as you go model attracts enterprises and individuals to host their data in a cloud environment. Based on results from IDCs 2012 North American CloudTrack Survey â€Å"more than 30% of organizations expect that within five years, the majority of their IT capability will be delivered through public cloud services and that within three years, they will access 45.5% of IT resources through some form of cloud — public, private, or hybrid†. As Cloud Computing has advantages for both providers and users, it is developing in an amazing pace and predicted to grow and be adopted by a large amount of users in the near future [1]. Cloud storage is an important service of cloud computing, which allows data owners (owners) to move data from their local computing systems to the cloud [2]. The storage space requirement is increasing every day as rate of data generation is very high. According to IDC Digital Universe Study, June 2011, â€Å"In 2011, the amount of information created and replicated will surpass 1.8 zettabytes (1.8 trillion gigabytes), growing by a factor of nine in just five years. That’s nearly as many bits of information in the digital universe as stars in the physical universe†. Various surveys show that the issue of data security is highest among clients who wish to switch their data in the cloud. Existing encryption schemes assure security guarantee for data while traversing in the network, where data resides for very short time. In case of data stored in a cloud environment, data resides for a long time in the service provider’s storage premises, so the service provider or its any employee can attempt brute force attack to get information from the client’s stored data. In a cloud environment there can be some internal attackers like employee of service provider who can behave dishonestly. Some applications stored by other client on the same server may be malicious which try to access data of other clients. Although it becomes difficult for an external attacker to attack intended data as in cloud where data is stored is not known to attacker but they can try to attack any random data. Therefore, client expects a secure network in which client can upload data, an honest service provider and a third party auditor who can take responsibility to check integrity of data stored in cloud server. This paper is extension of our previous paper []. Here we will explain proposed scheme in more detail and we will analyze the complexity of our algorithm. 2. System Model Cloud storage auditing system consists of three entities client, cloud server and third Party auditor. Client is the owner of data to be stored in cloud. Client generates the data to be hosted in cloud and can access, modify or delete the data to be hosted. Cloud storage server stores the data and provides mechanisms to access, modifying or deleting the data. Fig. 1. Cloud data storage architecture. Storage servers are geographically distant located, data is redundantly stored in multiple servers for security reasons. Third party auditor is an authorised system to check integrity of data storage. Data flow in between any pair of entity happens in encrypted form. We know that system is prone to internal and external attacks; other issues like hardware failure, software bugs, networking may also impact the system. We believe that, the third party auditing scheme, proposed by many researcher with some modification can make the whole cloud storage environment more reliable and secure. 3. Design Goal In Existing scheme key problem is that data stored in cloud data storage server is in meaningful manner. Our design goal is to obfuscate data before uploading it to the cloud server. After that we utilize existing data encryption techniques and hashing algorithm for providing user authentication and ensuring data integrity. 4. Proposed Work 4.1. Data Obfuscation Algorithm Let F be the private file, which is to be uploaded in the cloud environment. (we can see file F as an array of bytes from 0 to Flength.) Select a key K, an array of 10 digits from 0 to 9 without any repetition. Initialize 10 files f0,f1,f2,f3,†¦f9., we call them file components. For each byte F[i] of file F, calculate j= i %10; For each j, look for K[j] and append F[i] byte on fK[j] component. Figure 1. Demonstration of the file F, which is to be uploaded in the cloud environment. Figure 2. Demonstration of the key K. Figure 3. Demonstration of the file component fj. 4.2. Program Code for data obfuscation algorithm Program code in python for splitting file in components. count=0 n=0 path=I:\abcd; khol = open(path,rb) clone1=open(I:\115,wb) clone2=open(I:\116,wb) clone3=open(I:\117,wb) clone4=open(I:\120,wb) clone5=open(I:\121,wb) clone6=open(I:\123,wb) clone7=open(I:\124,wb) clone8=open(I:\125,wb) clone9=open(I:\126,wb) myL=[clone3,clone5,clone2,clone7,clone1,clone9,clone4,clone8,clone6] byte=start while byte!=: byte = khol.read(1) n=count%9 count=count+1 if byte: if n==0: clone=myL[0] clone.write(byte) elif n==1: clone=myL[1] clone.write(byte) elif n==2: clone=myL[2] clone.write(byte) elif n==3: clone=myL[3] clone.write(byte) elif n==4: clone=myL[4] clone.write(byte) elif n==5: clone=myL[5] clone.write(byte) elif n==6: clone=myL[6] clone.write(byte) elif n==7: clone=myL[7] clone.write(byte) elif n==8: clone=myL[8] clone.write(byte) else: break khol.close() clone1.close() clone2.close() clone3.close() clone4.close() clone5.close() clone6.close() clone7.close() clone8.close() clone9.close() Program code in python for regenerating main file from components. clone1=open(I:\115,rb) clone2=open(I:\116,rb) clone3=open(I:\117,rb) clone4=open(I:\120,rb) clone5=open(I:\121,rb) clone6=open(I:\123,rb) clone7=open(I:\124,rb) clone8=open(I:\125,rb) clone9=open(I:\126,rb) recover=open(I:\abcd,wb) myL=[clone3,clone5,clone2,clone7,clone1,clone9,clone4,clone8,clone6] byte=start while byte!=: if byte: for x in myL: byte=x.read(1) recover.write(byte) else: break clone1.close() clone2.close() clone3.close() clone4.close() clone5.close() clone6.close() clone7.close() clone8.close() clone9.close() recover.close() 4.3. Erasure Correcting Code After division of File F in 10 components, we use erasure correcting code [] to achieve data availability against byzantine failure. Erasure coding (EC) is a method of data protection in which data is broken into fragments, expanded and encoded withredundantdata pieces and stored across a set of different locations or storage media. Erasure coding creates a mathematicalfunctionto describe asetof numbers so they can be checked for accuracy and recovered if one is lost. Referred to aspolynomial interpolationor oversampling, this is the key concept behind erasure codes. In mathematical terms, the protection offered by erasure coding can be represented in simple form by the following equation: n = k + m. The variable â€Å"k† is the original amount of data or symbols. The variable â€Å"m† stands for the extra or redundant symbols that are added to provide protection from failures. The variable â€Å"n† is the total number of symbols created after the erasure coding process. For instance, in a [10:16] method six extra symbols (m) would be added to the 10 base symbols (k). The 16 data fragments (n) would be spread across 16 drives, nodes or geographic locations. The original file could be reconstructed from 10 verified fragments. 4.4. Component Encryption (AES) Now we can encrypt each file component with AES using 128 bit, 192 bit, or 256 bit key for encryption. 4.5. Token Generation(SHA256) We calculate hash function SHA256 for every data component H(fi)=xi. TheSHA algorithm is a cryptographic hash functionwhich produces a 64 digithash value. We use this token as a challenge token for auditing the storage server. Third party auditor keeps token value of each encrypted file component. File components are identified by a random_number generated by the client. Size of random_number depends on the requirement of the storage space by the client. 4.6. Database description After uploading files in the data storage server the client can delete the files in its local machine. Client keeps database of each file which contains file name, AES encryption password , file distribution password. Besides this for each file client keeps database for file component of that file. It contains random_number associated with each file component. Third party auditor keeps clients id, random_number associated with file components and challenge token corresponding to each component. Storage server stores client id and file component named with random_number generated by the client. 5. Third Party auditing TPA sends random_number to the cloud storage server. On receiving this random_number, cloud storage server calculates hash function of corresponding file component. Storage server encrypts this hash value with a shared key among TPA and storage server and sends encrypted hash value to TPA. TPA matches this received value with its database. If the stored hash value of a file and received hash value are same then file component is stored correctly, otherwise TPA sends alert message to the corresponding client of that file. 6. Algorithm Analysis In this section, we evaluate the complexity of the proposed scheme under the section 4.1. We took files of size 10 kb, 100 kb, 1000 kb and 10,000 kb for analyzing time complexity of the algorithm. Using time function of python we majored repeatedly the time of execution of proposed algorithm. We found that time of execution linearly (O(n)) depends on the size of file. Similarly, we majored time of execution at the time of regeneration of file from its components, and we found that time of regeneration of file is also linearly (O(n)) depends on file size. After execution of algorithm we found that total size of file components generated from the file to be uploaded is equal to the size of original file. In this way proposed scheme do not impose any extra storage burden. 7. Conclusion To ensure cloud data storage security, it is essential to hide meaning of data from all the third party entities like storage service provider and third party auditor. This is only possible when owner of data obfuscate the file to be uploaded in its own machine before uploading. The scheme which we have proposed ensures that information stored in the file cannot be interpreted by the third party auditor and storage service provider. Hence, client’s file is safe from both internal and external attackers. Utilization of existing scheme erasure correcting code ensures security against byzantine failure and use of random_number associated with file components together with secure hash algorithm allows third party auditor to audit file components without sharing any information which can help storage service provider to interpret the meaning of stored file. References Agrawal, R., Srikant, R.: Fast Algorithms for Mining Association Rules. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Very Large Databases. Morgan Kaufmann, Santiago, Chile, 487-499. (1994) Garcia-Molina, H., Ullman, D. J., Widom, J.: Database Systems: The Complete Book. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA. (2002) Wang, X., Bettini, C., Brodsky, A., Jajoida, S.: Logical Design for Temporal Databases with Multiple Granularities. ACM Transactions on Database Systems, Vol. 22, No. 2, 115-170. (1997) Bruce, K. B., Cardelli, L., Pierce, B. C.: Comparing Object Encodings. In: Abadi, M., Ito, T. (eds.): Theoretical Aspects of Computer Software. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1281. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York, 415–438. (1997) van Leeuwen, J. (ed.): Computer Science Today. Recent Trends and Developments. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1000. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York (1995) Ribià ¨re, M., Charlton, P.: Ontology Overview. Motorola Labs, Paris (2002). [Online]. Available: http://www.fipa.org/docs/input/f-in-00045/f-in-00045.pdf (current October 2003)

Struggle between Romantic and Enlightened Thought Essay -- Enlightened

We are often presented with potential explanations or answers to current philosophical dilemmas through temporally relevant works of literature. The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, or the Romantic Era, is characterized as a time in history in which aristocratic social and political norms of the Enlightened Era were radically questioned and investigated. For Enlightened thinkers, the idea of â€Å"being† was composed of three essential parts, the true, the beautiful, and the good. Isaac Newton’s contributions to scientific method were fascinating in the respect that they seemed to provide truths regarding quantitative matter. Yet his science failed to provide us with knowledge of all qualitative matters, such as morals and aesthetics. With Newton’s laws held in such high regard, the model of being was decomposed to simply the â€Å"true,† or scientific knowledge which is recognized and confirmed through his laws of motion, proceeding to exclud e all matters which Newton’s lens could not be pointed. It is apparent that problems would arise as a result. Qualitative matters could not be explained through Newton’s science, which created a sense of bewilderment. People began to question whether certain quantitative matters actually pertained to all aspects of life. Rousseau, whose writings contributed immensely to Romanticism, proposes a new model of â€Å"being,† which is later confirmed by Kant and Schiller. His new model strengthens the enlightened ideas of being, and allows for the application of â€Å"being† to both the quantitative and qualitative. Mary Shelley’s â€Å"Frankenstein† provides an explanation to the struggle dealing with â€Å"true being† between Enlightened and Romantic thinkers while exemplifying Romantic thought on happiness. ... ...nize the monster as more then a hideous being. Instead Walton understands the morals and ethics that lie beneath the monsters flesh, eventually appreciating his true goodness, in a similar fashion that Schiller and Kant propose. The significance of the philosophical dilemma between Enlightened and Romantic thinkers is exemplified through Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This symbolic literary work provides readers with insight to the problem philosophers of the time faced when dealing with the idea of true being. Through the monster, the townspeople and Walton, we are able to gain a complete understanding of the situation Rousseau, Kant, and Schiller dealt with. In the end, it is clear that in order to experience true being and beauty one must not rely solely on Newton’s scientific lens, but must also understand the quantitative matters such as morals and ethics.

Civil War in Sierra Leone

I. IntroductionBetween 1991 and 2002, Sierra Leone was heavily damaged by a tremendously violent civil war. This civil war erupted because of the mounting dissatisfaction of the people, especially the youth that were engrossed by the rebellious Revolutionary United Front (RUF), towards the politics of the country that was set apart by its corruption, negligence and electoral violence. It took the lives of over 50,000 individuals, displaced over two million inhabitants and also heavily ruined their national economy.According to Paul Collier and Marguerite Duponchel (2010), Sierra Leone was at the lowest level of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) after the civil war came to an end. The aim of this paper is to draw attention on how this civil war was carried out, the efforts made to resolve the conflict as well as the effects the war brought on its economy and civilians.Therefore, section one of this paper will examine how the resourc es of Sierra Leone contributed to the civil war. Section two will demonstrate the demographics of the parties involved in the war. Section three will focus on the repercussions that the civil war brought on Sierra Leone and the final section will show the efforts made to bring peace into Sierra Leone.II. Section one: How have Sierra Leone’s natural resources contributed to the war?Let’s begin with a background history of the political situations that mainly caused the civil war in Sierra Leone. In the years after the death of Sierra Leone’s first Prime Minister Sir Milton Margai in 1964, the politics of the country was progressively distinguished by several negative factors, such as corruption and mismanagement, that led to the weakening of the civil society resulting in the frustration of a large amount of the youth who engrossed themselves in the unruly message of the RUF. This was because of leaders, such as Albert Mergai, who used Sierra Leone for their own selfish interests rather than in the people’s interest.Mergai, unlike his brother Milton Margai, used the country for his own personal gain by even using the  military to curb multi-party elections which threatened to end his rule. When Siaka Stevens succeeded, there was continued destruction of state institutions.His rule was characterized by corruption and pet projects financed by the treasury, which eventually became bankrupt, only benefiting those closest to him. After turning Sierra Leone into a one-party state, Stevens finally stepped down in 1985. Major General Joseph Momoh received the position of Prime Minister and followed in the footsteps of Stevens by welcoming corruption resulting in complete economic disintegration.The fact that the leaders used the abundant resources of Sierra Leone for their own self-aggrandizement made the country one of the poorest countries in the world by the time the civil war took place in 1991. (Gberie, 1998)The Sierra Leone war began on March 23rd, 1991, when the student-led RUF began its revolt against the Serra Leone government, which commenced in Liberia and spread to the border regions of Kailahun and Pijehun. Several members of this insurgent group were jobless dissatisfied young men who were motivated by Charles Taylor’s rebel National Patriotic Front invasion in Liberia.With the backing of Lybia and Charles Taylor, RUF’s goal was to remove from power the government of the All People’s Congress (APC) that was run by the presidencies of Siaka Stevens and Joseph Momoh which prolonged corruption, among other things. (Humphreys and Weinstein, 2008)Several researches indicate that the presence of alluvial diamonds, found in regions such as Kono and Kenema, ushered in a civil war in many ways. Firstly, during the presidency of Stevens, the highly uneven benefits of the diamond mining frustrated everyday Sierra Leoneans.Profits from the National Diamond Mining Corporation (DIMCO) only enrich ed Stevens, government members, and influential business people that were close with Stevens. Subsequently, the government lost direct control of the diamond mining areas when DeBeers, one of the world’s leading diamond companies, ceased doing business with the Sierra Leonean government in 1984.As a result, there was illegal smuggling and trading of Sierra Leone’s diamonds with the proceeds going into the private investor’s pockets. Although the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) seized power in 1992, with the goal of diminishing corruption and restoring the revenues of the diamonds  back to the state, the RUF acquired control of these abundant alluvial diamond areas to finance the purchase of weapons and ammunition obtained from countries like Liberia and Guinea. The simple availability of these diamonds was an incentive for violence. (Harsch, 2007) Although diamonds were a noteworthy commodity, other ways to fund the Sierra Leone Civil war were also present.A mixture of iron, bauxite, coffee and cocoa were in abundance in the country. There was gold mining in some areas of Sierra Leone as well as cash crop farming which were even more common through forced labor. Along with the high demand of diamonds, several of these minerals financed the fighting in Sierra Leone with exports revenues as high as USD 25 million and USD 125 million a year.Sierra Leoneans who joined the rebel group RUF also ransacked cars, livestock and money which helped them in gaining more energy and force. (Lujala, 2005)III. Section two: The demographics of the parties involved in the warWhen the RUF was first founded by Foday Sankoh, it was popular among several Sierra Leoneans because of the resentment they felt towards the corrupt Freetown elites.It had a slogan that read â€Å"No More Slaves, No more Masters. Power and Wealth to the People† that pledged free education, health care and a fair sharing of the diamond proceeds to the people. It did no t claim to fight for a particular ethnic group or district and did not support any Marxist, Socialist or Communist way of thinking. Its only goal was to remove the corrupt government from power although they provided little insight on what kind of government would follow it. (Denov, 2010) However, as time passed, the RUF developed a reputation for being a massively brutal rebel group during its ten year war.Although there is no precise data to verify the number of children that were involved in the war, it has been found that the RUF were the first to recruit children as soldiers. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), over 10,000 children of both sexes were involved in the fighting in one way or another. They were kidnapped in their villages and towns during attacks executed by the RUF.With their allies, the African Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), girls and boys were organized in separate units such as the Small Boys Units (SBUs) and Smal l Girl’s Unit (SGUs) which were commanded by several officers. The difference between how girls and boys were used is that, in addition to being used as fighters, girls were also sex slaves. Younger  girls were primarily used for domestic labor, since they could not properly fight yet, and then became sex slaves as they grew older.The brutality of the war had frozen their senses, which were also damaged by drug abuse. In order to stay alive, they had to frequently become merciless. Most of these children had to either amputate or kill their loved ones to show that they were loyal. (Denov, 2010)An additional feature of the mobilization of children against their will was the â€Å"re-enlistment† of children after the disarmament process took place in 1998. Several children were re-enlisted back into the armed groups. This especially concerned children who did not have families to go back to even before the war started. Children who were let go from centers like the Int erim Care Centre, which was a center created to help displaced children, had no other place to go after demobilization.They eventually got captured by the rebels and were forced to tell them if they had any brothers or sisters that ran away. (Jow, 2004) The Sierra Leone government also followed in enlisting children under Momoh’s rule. Momoh’s government encouraged chiefs and district leaders to arrange civilians into local unofficial groups to add soldiers into the Sierra Leone Army (SLA).When Momoh fled to Guinea, the NPRC government of Valentine Strasser was mainly responsible for the highest recruitment of children into the army to boost the amount of soldiers they previously had. There was an illicit enlistment of children while the income and benefits of the deceased soldiers was stolen by senior officers for whom this war had become a money-making business. (Jow, 2004)When the war was over, many children did not return to their existing families. This was mainly because some of them were abducted so young that they did not even have any recollection of their families. Some were so afraid of being rejected by their families like others have been that they refused to go back home.Girls were especially afraid of rejection for being sex slaves to the rebels especially if they had babies from them. Rather than face shame, a number of these people ended up on the streets with significant health problems since most of them were addicted to the drugs that were initially forcibly administered by the rebels during the civil war. (Kamara, 2004)IV. Section three: Efforts made to stop the civil warIn March 1995, a few years after the war started, a military group known as  Executive Outcomes (EO) entered Sierra Leone. Its mission was to return the diamonds and mineral mines back to the government, obliterate the command centers of the RUF and to organize a program that would persuade ordinary Sierra Leoneans to encourage the Sierra Leone government. EO was a military group that hired Angolans and Namibians that were considerably skillful in operating counter attacks against the RUF.EO joined forced with the Kamajors, another paramilitary group that surfaced against RUF, and the SLA to force the RUF rebels out of the diamonds centers they firmly controlled for several years. After EO took over RUF’s centers of operation near a town called Bo, the RUF had to own up to their losses and sign the Abidjan Peace Accord. This accord, however, demanded that the EO leave the country. EO was told to leave by the Sierra Leone government even before the arrival of another peacekeeping force. (Bellows and Miguel, 2005)The AFRC, supported by members of the RUF, took power after Executive Outcomes left the country causing President Kabbah to flee to Guinea in exile. The AFRC partnered with the RUF rebels naming Foday Sankoh the deputy Chairman of the AFRC. The â€Å"Operation Pay Yourself† introduced a whole new level of violence against the innocent inhabitants who had their limbs chopped off.As a result, many were against the AFRC because their actions violated the civil rights of the people. The AFRC coup of the presiding government was also condemned by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Diplomats were sent back to their countries, missions were cancelled, and the country’s membership in the Commonwealth was put on hold. (Olonisakin, 2008)In October 2007, the involvement of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) brought the AFRC and RUF insurgents to the negotiating table. The rebels agreed to a ceasefire by signing the Conakry Peace Plan. The fighting, however, still continued. Although ECOMOG forces were able to restore the Kabbah government, they had poor training in counter-insurgency attacks from the RUF.Therefore, the rebels went to Freetown to loot neighborhoods and rape ci tizens without discrimination. This battering of citizens is known as â€Å"Operation No Living Thing†. This  led the Kabbah government consider making considerable compromises in the Lome Peace Agreement. (Wright et al., 2010)The conditions of the Lome Peace Accord, signed on July 7th, 1999, were that Sakoh would be allowed to go unpunished. He would also be appointed as Vice-president of the committee that supervised the diamond mines of the country. In return, the RUF agreed to demobilize and disarm its rebels under the custody of peace keeping forces led by ECOMOG and the United Nations.This agreement led to many Sierra Leonean protests along with other human rights activist because of the fact that Sankoh, the leader of the RUF responsible for unspeakable atrocities, got away scot-free and was also given control over Sierra Leone’s diamond mines.However, this accord was very crucial for the government to regain peace through a process known as Disarmament, Demob ilization and Reintegration (DDR). During this disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process, ex-soldiers were trained to use their skills for a peaceful line of work for six weeks. (Williams and Alfred, 1999)The United Nations Mission to Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) also joined to disarm and implement the conditions that were set up by the Lome Peace Agreement and brought along military personnel, who increased over time, to supervise the diamond mines and the RUF who were still undermining their authority.By March 2001, the number of soldiers present through the UN was up to 17,500. In May 2000, RUF detained UNAMSIL peacekeepers to use their weapons and gain control of Freetown once again which made UNAMSIL avoid getting involved in diamond mining areas controlled by the rebels.This re-armament of the RUF by UNAMSIL called for another military involvement that was made to rescue the peacekeepers and the Sierra Leone government known as Operation Palliser. This operation, which c onsisted of British Royal Marines, helped in stabilizing the country. These marines evacuated foreign citizens out of the country and saved UNAMSIL from collapsing. The rebel forces were repelled from regions further than Freetown, under the command of General David Richards, and power was given back to the government. (Anon, 2000)As awareness spread about the diamonds of Sierra Leone, the Kimberly Process  met to assemble in Kimberly, South Africa. The United Nation took notice of the diamonds, also known as conflict diamonds, and its implications. The United States government followed, under the command of President Bill Clinton, by devising a plan to keep the conflict diamonds out of the market legally.With 49 members representing 75 countries, the Kimberly Process has made diamond industries stop exportations to Liberia, Canada and other leaders in the business. Although there are no diamond-fueled wars any longer, the Kimberly Process is still playing an important role by mai ntaining stability.It helps in developing improved trading centers that are licensed as conflict-free and provides ways to promote legal legislative structures that lead to peace treaties helping those in poverty. (Anon, 1998) V. Section four: The aftermath of the civil war on the economy and the Sierra Leonean peopleThe civil war has had devastating effects on the socio-economic order of Sierra Leone. Agriculture was greatly damaged causing high inflation of goods and unemployment. Sierra Leone’s infrastructure was also heavily destroyed. Roads were ruined and the power supply system depreciated due to lack of maintenance. The public health division was also in a terrible condition because of the looting of the hospitals and clinics during the war.The civil war caused a lot of health professionals to leave the country out of fear instigating an acute shortage of qualified staff members present in hospitals. As living standards fell to the ground, hitting the poorest even har der, many citizens moved from rural areas to the cities and towns hoping for better living conditions. However, access to health services depended on how much one could pay. Others were forced to seek refugee status in other countries while they lived in deplorable conditions moving from one area to another. (Kargbo, 2002)As years went by, several Non Governmental Agencies and the Sierra Leonean government have tracked Sierra Leone’s recovery. The country is recovering well from it civil war scars with the help of the international community and its partners. According to the data collected by the government of Sierra Leone Institutional Reform and Capacity Building (IRCBP) in 2004 and 2005, districts that experienced greater violence have had slightly better  results.To some extent, they seemed to be more politically organized then other areas that were less affected by the violence of the civil war. Voter registration was notably higher in these areas. Community meetings were also considerably elevated statistically. When an IRCBP survey asked people how the war affected their ability to work together, 60% of people declared that it had a positive impact to their society. Theoretically, these changes could have improved the public of Sierra Leone. (Mutwol, 2009)Peace remained in the country with the help of the United Nations peace missions. Four years after the war was over, in 2006, the last group of the 17,500 soldiers flew out of Freetown and left the newly trained police in charge. Nowadays, the country is advertised as a tourist attraction with the help of British travel companies. They want sophisticated and adventurous travelers, who usually visit other more established tourist destinations, to come to Sierra Leone and have cocktails by their beautiful beaches.One example is Lakka beach, which was a luxury destination before the war. It is trying to attract tourists by running several restaurants and organizing fishing excursions for Europea ns tourists. Sierra Leone’s goal is to be recognized for its chocolate coconut bars rather than by the awful civil war that occurred. (Desai, 2010)Although there has been considerable progress over the last ten years, there are still plenty of challenges that Sierra Leone must face. Most of the former child soldiers have returned to their former lives without any education or jobs. Children are still found working in the diamond mines. Work still remains in providing jobs for the massively unemployed youths, shelter for the orphans and rehabilitation for children who were forced to commit a number of crimes along with women of all ages who were also abused in many different ways.Since these women have been ostracized by members of their own community for being sex slaves, there is a need for more counseling and support services to help them get back to their communities. The predicaments of these people can also be decreased by increasing the amount of educational and profess ional training. This country also faces great challenges in restructuring its judicial institutions to fairly bring perpetrators of the war to justice. (Collier and Duponchel, 2010) VI.ConclusionThere are many misconceptions as to why the civil war in Sierra Leone occurred. What needs to be understood about the civil war is that it was not based on economic benefits acquired by the alluvial diamond mines. Although these diamonds have significantly contributed to the war, there was more than twenty years of poor governance, poverty, corruption and oppression that helped in forming the RUF as frustrations against the government increased over the years. This civil war has crippled many people for life, in one way or another.Sierra Leone is still sustaining itself through the help of donors although it is very rich in natural resources. Much work needs to be done to further improve the lives of the people in Sierra Leone who are still living in poverty. It is yet to been seen if peace will remain in the country with the amount of unemployed young people wandering in the streets. Any threat to the stability of the country should be dealt with peacefully as soon as possible.

Free Essays on The Influence Of Elizabethan Values On Shakespeares “The Taming Of The Shrew“

The reign or Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most fruitful and prosperous times in European history. The legacy of all that was achieved during her time still lives on today. Some of the greatest examples of these achievements are William Shakespeare’s many works of literature. The clothing, relationships between men and women, and the music of the Elizabethan times are portrayed several times throughout William Shakespeare’s â€Å"The Taming of the Shrew†. One of the most influential times in European history was when Queen Elizabeth I was ruling. Elizabeth reigned for about forty-four years, ending in 1603 (Olsen 74). Elizabeth came into the crown when her father, King Henry, decided to break away from the Roman Catholic Church, and named himself the head of the new Protestant Church of England. He was succeeded first be his son Edward, and then by his elder daughter Mary. Both claimed the crown, but met early s. Elizabeth inherited the crown after â€Å"Bloody Mary† passed away (75). Elizabeth’s court was one marked by constant growth and achievement, principally in the areas of music, literature, and the arts. Queen Elizabeth was considered to be a large â€Å"consumer† of the arts, undoubtedly acting as a catalyst to the ever-growing air of artistic renaissance (74). She believed that music should not only be secular, but enjoyed by the masses as a leisure activity as well (Editors 73). Among oth er changes during her reign, Elizabeth’s court valued clothing very highly, as the Queen herself proved to spend an innumerable amount of money on clothing and jewels. The Queen was also an enthusiast of theatre, and a large aficionada of William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare is one of the most famous play writes of all time. His works are known all over the world, and are used in English curriculums of the greater part of schools. William Shakespeare wrote such classics as â€Å"Romeo and Juliet†, â€Å"Love’... Free Essays on The Influence Of Elizabethan Values On Shakespeares â€Å"The Taming Of The Shrewâ€Å" Free Essays on The Influence Of Elizabethan Values On Shakespeares â€Å"The Taming Of The Shrewâ€Å" The reign or Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most fruitful and prosperous times in European history. The legacy of all that was achieved during her time still lives on today. Some of the greatest examples of these achievements are William Shakespeare’s many works of literature. The clothing, relationships between men and women, and the music of the Elizabethan times are portrayed several times throughout William Shakespeare’s â€Å"The Taming of the Shrew†. One of the most influential times in European history was when Queen Elizabeth I was ruling. Elizabeth reigned for about forty-four years, ending in 1603 (Olsen 74). Elizabeth came into the crown when her father, King Henry, decided to break away from the Roman Catholic Church, and named himself the head of the new Protestant Church of England. He was succeeded first be his son Edward, and then by his elder daughter Mary. Both claimed the crown, but met early s. Elizabeth inherited the crown after â€Å"Bloody Mary† passed away (75). Elizabeth’s court was one marked by constant growth and achievement, principally in the areas of music, literature, and the arts. Queen Elizabeth was considered to be a large â€Å"consumer† of the arts, undoubtedly acting as a catalyst to the ever-growing air of artistic renaissance (74). She believed that music should not only be secular, but enjoyed by the masses as a leisure activity as well (Editors 73). Among oth er changes during her reign, Elizabeth’s court valued clothing very highly, as the Queen herself proved to spend an innumerable amount of money on clothing and jewels. The Queen was also an enthusiast of theatre, and a large aficionada of William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare is one of the most famous play writes of all time. His works are known all over the world, and are used in English curriculums of the greater part of schools. William Shakespeare wrote such classics as â€Å"Romeo and Juliet†, â€Å"Love’...

Does the Poetry of the First World War reflect the changing attitudes to War Essays

Does the Poetry of the First World War reflect the changing attitudes to War Essays Does the Poetry of the First World War reflect the changing attitudes to War Paper Does the Poetry of the First World War reflect the changing attitudes to War Paper Essay Topic: Jessie Pope War Poetry Poetry Poems in the early part of the First World War were pro war which means that they were saying that the war was good fun with women and uniforms. The main aims of the poems were to get men to join the army and fight the Germans. After two years of the war in July 1916 the battle of the Somme took place, 60,000 English soldiers died each day. Anti war poems started to be written about how bad war really was, but these poems were hardly ever published in newspapers or magazines, as they still wanted men to join up to fight. The two pro war poems that I have chosen are Fall In by Harold Begbie and Whos for the Game by Jessie Pope. The Recruiting poems of 1914 were required because, unlike most European countries, we did not have conscription and therefore did not have a large army. They saw the war was going to be long and hard and recruiting poems and posters made people volunteer for the army until conscription was introduced in 1916. Fall In by Harold Begbie does exactly what it is meant to do. It makes people feel ashamed about not going and fighting for your country. The title Fall In is like a command, which they use in the army saying you must fall in, group together and fight. It also has another meaning say you are going to fall in to the army. You do not have a choice but you will fall in. Begbie says: What will you lack, sonny, what will you lack. When the girls line up on the street, shouting their love to the lads come back These are the first three lines and are saying that when the other men who joined up for the army come back, you will be left on your own with all the girls wanting the army men. And grin till your cheeks are red? Here the man Begbie is talking about his embarrassment about not being in the war and his face is going red. When your children yet to be clamour to learn of the part you played Begbie is saying that if you have children who are yet to be born and they want to know about what you did in the war, what will you do when you cannot answer them? You will miss out on your children looking up to you; this is what Begbie is saying. When you sit by the fire in an old mans chair and your neighbours talk of the fight Again Begbie is telling you when your friends will talk about the war for years to come they will not respect you when you answer that you did not go. Begbie is saying that you will miss the respect from friends. Your head shamed and bent? Or say I was not the first to go. But I went, thank God, I went Begbie is saying this to make people who have not gone to war yet feel that it does not matter that you have not gone yet, but there is still time to join to get all the things I just said you will miss. In the last stanza Begbie is saying if you do not join up and the war was lost it will be your fault that we lost. Begbie is trying to make the shirkers feel ashamed for not volunteering by telling them of the things they will miss out on. Things like, the women when you return from war, by your children looking up to you and the respect of your friends and neighbours when they talk about the war in years to come. Then towards the end of the poem he says that you can join up now, you were not the first to go but you went. The second pro war poem I will look at is Whos for the Game? by Jessie Pope. The great soldier poet, Wilfred Owen, particularly detested her. In this poem she tries to make war sound like a game. The poem is based on the game rugby. Pope says: Whos for the game, the biggest thats played? She is saying who wants to join the army, come on, its just a game come and play. Who would much rather come back with a crutch, Than lie low and be out of the fun? Pope is saying that it is better if you go to war and get injured than just having to lie low, rather than people talking about you not going to war and missing out on all the fun of war. Throughout the poem Jessie Pope uses slang, sit tight and up to her neck. She does this because it will be young men joining the army and they do not want to be sitting in the pub reading a formal poem, which they will not understand and just read the first line and put it down. They want to read in the way most of these men would talk. Rupert Brooke was a highly popular pro war poet. He was unaware of the conditions in the trenches which motivated by poets such as Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg and Siegfried Sesson on the front line. The two anti war poems I have chosen are Dulce et Decorum Est and Disabled. I felt that of the poems that I was given to choose from, these two told a tragic story of what war was really like. Wilfred Owen at the time seemed to be bitter. His reason for being bitter is that he read the pro war poetry by writers such as Jessie Pope, who was writing about the joys of war, how fun it was and how the ladies will love you. I have chosen Dulce Est because the poem describes the hardships for a group of soldiers who have to struggle through the life of war in the trenches. I have chosen Disabled because it shows the struggle of one man who has lost his legs and his arms at the elbow. All he has are the memories and they seem to become more distant as the days go on. Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patri Moria translated into English means It Is Sweet And Honourable To Die For Ones Country. If someone is reading the poem for the first time and learns of the English meaning of the title before reading the poem they may feel it is a poem that makes you think of the army in a good way. After reading the poem a number of times I have come to a conclusion that Owen named the poem this because of the strong statement that he makes in the poem. In a way I get the feeling that Owen was mocking the saying but I dont think he was mocking the army as a whole. The first stanza is not like how a pro war poem starts they are not all having a laugh wearing nice uniform, being cheered at by the ladies, they are staggering through mud, tired bleeding, and this is was Owen wanted you to think what war was really like. Owen says Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags Own is trying to say that these men came into the army as fit young men and now war has turned them into old hags, bent over and staggering. Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs The soldiers are fed up. They are so tired that even when the flares go off behind them they dont have the energy or even feel like turning around to see them. And towards our distant rest The reader and the men are lured into a false sense of security as we think they are safe from bombs. Blood shod Owen says this because they have been walking for a long time and is like they are wearing shoes of blood but what he is really saying is they have been treated like animals because Horses hoofs are shod. The men have been treated in an inhumane way, like they are worthless. Drunk with fatigue Owen is saying that the soldiers are so tired that it is as though they are drunk. Owen is trying too saying that the soldiers are as though they dont know entirely what they are doing. They are just being led along like zombies. Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind them Fine-Nines are gas bombs that the Germans used in the war. Owen is saying that the men are so tired that they are just blanking out the sounds of these gas bombs, as they are behind the lines and think they are not in range. The bombs are personified as is they are moving slowly and are weary. The pace of the poem quickens in the 2nd stanza. The soldiers are woken by a gas attack. This effectively shatters the mood that Owen has told of us in the opening stanza. The soldiers are now woken by the fact that their lives are in danger and they now have to be fully aware of all their surroundings. Owen says Gas! GAS! Quick boys! The men have just woken up they are still half-asleep the first sign of Gas is in lower case as they have just seen what going on. The second GAS is the man shouting for their lives as they try to find their gas masks. Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning The green light Owen talks about is the gas falling down on them. Owen uses a simile saying that the man is drowning in a green sea, which he means by the colour of the gas looking like the sea. The reality is that the man is drowning, when a gas attack takes place, the lungs fill up with fluid and drown on your own bodily fluids. The ecstasy of fumbling Owen does not mean that there is an adrenaline rush. But medically it means a morbid state of nerves, which means that your nerves are making you think of one thing to do, which in this case, is to put your gas masks on. Fitting the clumsy helmets Owen is either saying that the men are clumsy in putting the helmets on or the helmets clumsy by letting the gas in. Owen tells us how this memory has stayed with him. The sight of a dying man lunging at him in a plea for his life. In the short 3rd stanza, Owen seems to have a great fear of the gas attacks when he talks of them. Owen talks of all of the nightmares he has had because of the war and this event. Owen says In all my dreams before my helpless sight Owen is dreaming about that man, which was dying before him Owen dreams about it because there was no way in which he could help him. The 4th stanza is back to the slow pace of the 1st stanza. In this stanza Owen is accusing the pro war poets of doing this, making young men to join the army and just to go to their deaths. He was addressing mainly Jessie Pope because on the original draft he writes under the title, To Jessie Pope He describes how the man was taken away and then Owen walked behind and saw his face. Owen is still haunted by the nightmare. If in some smothering dream Owen describes his dreams as smothering because when he sleeps that is all he can think of the man dying. We flung him in The dead bodies are treated like meat there are so many deaths it becomes like a routine thing. In the first stanza he say blood shod like animals are shod once again here is another reference to them being treated like animals. My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children or ardent for some desperate glory. Owen is saying that if you could see the things he had seen then you would not believe the lies that the pro war poets tell you. By saying this he is expressing the bitterness he has not only for the army but the situation as a whole. Owen adds more examples of this throughout the last stanza. Owens main question to the reader in the last stanza is before going into the army think carefully of what you are doing as you might get and see something in great contrast to what you may have imagined. The poem is describing a terrible shocking death by gas, how can it be sweet and honourable to die for ones country if you die like this. This is the country that sold him the old lie. Dulce ET decorum est. pro patria moria. In Disabled Owen is describing a man who has no legs and his arms have been amputated at the elbow. He is in an institute, a nursing home of some sought. This poem is an angry response to the type of patriotic poetry with made light of disability and which glorified death. Instead of writing and millions of dead or injured, he focuses on one person. Disability is not on the battlefield with bombs going off and people being blown up, it is at home, after the war, after the glory of winning. People will only think about the men who died in the war, not the people how have been, dehumanised and will have to sit in some home for the rest of the their lives. This is why the poem comes across as so shocking because in the days of the war people didnt know about the disabled people just about the people who died. Till gathering sleep The man is waiting for the night to come for him to sleep, as he hates to die, as he cannot do anything. I think the man sees sleeping as an alternative to death and he wants to end his life. Owen tell us about how he used to be, before he became injured, he used to like going out to have fun on the town at night, but now he just wants to go to bed and forget about the memories At the start of the 4th stanza it says, One time hed liked a blood-smear down his leg, This is ironic as he liked getting injured and bleeding and it is as if he enjoyed it now it has got it a millions time worse. It was after football, when hed drunk a peg. Hes thought hed better join He had drunk a peg of beer so he was probably not in the right frame of mind when he decided to join the army. It also says Someone had said hed look a god in kilts, Thats why; and may be, too, to please his Meg He is saying that he joined the army because he would look good in a uniform. I many of the pro war poems say that is one of the good things about war the uniform. He also joined because of a girl called Meg, who he was trying to impress, which it also says in pro war poems that when you join the army you get all the women wanting to be with you. The young man had lied to get in to the army Smiling they wroth his lie; aged nineteen years The men who were recruiting even knew that he was lying but they still wrote his name down. Germans he scarcely thought of he join the war note knowing about what was going on he had never thought about the Germans before. He talks about the evenings. He says that at this time the towns atmosphere was fun and happy everyone is dancing having fun. Owen makes the town sound romantic so that would feel for the man more. He says the girls look upon like he has some kind of disease. He talks of how he will never again feel the waist of a woman. He also talks about how he threw away his knees in the war. His was once a lovely face which now he looks old. His back is now in a brace and this was the back that was not so long ago was a strong as anything. He has lost his colour just like losing blood. He feels as though he has poured his life away down endless shell holes; he wonders what he has been given for this. Nothing. And leap of purple spurted from his thigh. Owen says And no fears of fear have come yet He had thoughts of all the swords and other weaponry that he would receive in the army. He had great thoughts of wearing the smart uniform. He thought that playing football was great, the buzz he got from the cheering. People thought of him as hero. He thought that people would cheer for him in the army; he wanted to be a hero in the army. He thinks of the army spirit, the pride in his unit. He tells about how he was given cheers and the noise of the drums as he leaves. He is so very optimistic. When he is brought back the cheers were not like the ones before the cheers are in contrast to what he imagined. This is ironic to him. Only a few people cheered when he came back only one man inquired this man was the priest. He will spend the next few years doing as the rules say. People will just take pity on him. He talks of how the women ignore him for the strong people. People with all their body. His final thoughts of the poem are one of total depression. He thinks that life is pointless. He is so helpless he cant go to bed without someone being there to help him. He feels as though he only has a few years left. He wants to be put to death as he feels like he has nothing to offer or that his life tolerable and he feels as though nothing that he does or feels will make him feel his life is worth it. As you can see from both poems they are very powerful. Each of the two poems makes a statement. One difference between the poems is that Dulce Est is a view on the army that concerns a whole array of the army. With Disabled it is just a description of the pain of one person. One thing that I feel both poems have in common is that they both talk about how they were lied to and how they were sold a lie. This is true, If a person wanted an example of army life at its worst then I would show them Dulce ET Decorum. However if I was asked about a poem that describes a poem where a person can see how the war affected people. II would recommend the latter Disabled is in my opinion the most moving of the stories as it represents a mans struggle for his life. This man can offer nothing to his country now. He cant even offer himself something that he feels will make his staying alive worth it. Whilst the majority of the people in Dulce Et are still alive this mans soul, has in effect died. He has lost his colour and cant get used to the fact that he is unpopular. I find Dulce Et Decorum to be the more shocking of the two poems. My reasons are as follows, although Disabled is a very moving and powerful poem in its own right, it only describes the view of one person in the army. I think that what makes Dulce Et so powerful is that Owen speaks for the masses in the army when he talks of the daily horrifying sights and regular attempts by the Germans to gas them. Reading these poems can enlighten a person. Many people say that they live stressful lives and are under extreme pressure. If you think of what these young men must have gone through it can put a lot of things in to perspective. Day in day out these men had to have the weight of a nation on their shoulders this is before they have to dodge land mines and gas attacks.

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