Essay on Human Nature and The Canterbury Tales -- Canterbury Tales Ess

Human Nature and The Canterbury Tales  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   When Geoffrey Chaucer undertook the writing of The Canterbury Tales, he had a long road ahead of him. He intended to tell two stories from each of thirty pilgrims on the way to Canterbury, and then two more from each pilgrim on the way back from Canterbury. Of these, he completed only twenty-four. However, in these tales, Chaucer depicts both the pilgrims and their stories with striking realism. In "The Nun's Priest's Tale," "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale," "The Friar's Tale," "The Reeve's Tale," and "The Cleric's Tale," Chaucer demonstrates his remarkable insight into human nature. By comparing and contrasting these tales, one can see the universality of human nature as shown by Chaucer. One human trait apparent in these selections is greed. Avarice drives the hearts of many men, whether they may be a common miller or a summoner or a supposedly religious canon, and Chaucer was aware of this. In the tales which contain these three characters, Chaucer depicts the greed of these characters. The Reeve tells his fellow pilgrims in his tale of a miller who "was a thief ... of corn and meal, and sly at that; his habit was to steal" (Chaucer 125). The summoner in "The Friar's Tale" "drew large profits to himself thereby," and as the devil observes of him in this tale, "You're out for wealth, acquired no matter how" (Chaucer 312, 315). The canon in Part 1 of "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale," as well as the Yeoman himself, had been driven by the goal of converting base metals into gold, and "though we never realized the wished conclusion we still went on raving in our illusion" (Chaucer 478). The second canon of which the Yeoman speaks is many times worse than his own canon and mas ter, using h... .... Works Cited Balliet, Gay L. "The Wife in Chaucer's Reeves's Tale: Siren of Sweet Vengeance." English Language Notes 28.1 (1990): 1-5. Baylor, Jeffrey. "The Failure of the Intellect in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale." English Language Notes 28.1 (1990): 17-19. Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Nevill Coghill. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1960. Dictionary of Literary Biography: Old and Middle English. Ed. Jeffrey Helteman and Jerome Mitchell. Detroit: Sale Research, Inc., 1994. Edden, Valerie. "Sacred and Secular in the Clerk's Tale." The Chaucer Review 26.4 (1992): 369-376. Fehrenbacher, Richard W. "'A Yeerd Enclosed Al About': Literature and History in the Nun's Priest's Tale." The Chaucer Review 29.2 (1994): 134-148. Whittock, Trevor. A Reading of The Canterbury Tales. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1970.      

Public Key Cryptography

Abstract- Public-key cryptography is a key technology for e-commerce, intranets, extranets and other web-enabled applications. However, to garner the benefits of public-key cryptography, a supporting infrastructure is needed. The Microsoft ® Windows ® 2000 operating system includes a native public-key infrastructure (PKI) that is designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the Windows 2000 security architecture.This paper describes the fundamentals of public-key security systems, including what benefits they offer and what components are required to implement them. It also describes how the Windows 2000 PKI components deliver the needed services while providing interoperability, security, flexibility, and ease of use. I. Overview Public-key cryptography offers significant security benefits when it's properly implemented. Like other enabling technologies, public-key cryptography requires an infrastructure to deliver its benefits.However, the public-key infrastructure, or PKI, isn't a physical object or software process; instead, it's a set of useful services provided by a collection of interconnected components These components work together to provide public-key-based security services to applications and users. This white paper has two goals: to explain public-key technology and its uses, and to describe the features and benefits provided by the native PKI in the Microsoft ® Windows ® 2000 operating system.Understanding both of these topics will help you to decide where you can use PKI technology to improve your business processes and increase your ability to securely handle transactions with others. In this paper, you'll learn what a public key infrastructure is, what desirable benefits it can offer your operations, and how the Windows 2000 PKI delivers interoperability, security, flexibility, and ease of use. II. History During the early history of cryptography, two parties would agree upon a key using a secure, but non-cryptographic, metho d; for example, a face-to-face meeting or an exchange via a trusted courier.This key, which both parties kept absolutely secret, could then be used to exchange encrypted messages. A number of significant practical difficulties arise in this approach to distributing keys. Public-key cryptography addresses these drawbacks so that users can communicate securely over a public channel without having to agree upon a shared key beforehand. In 1874, a book by William Stanley Jevons[1] described the relationship of one-way functions to cryptography and went on to discuss specifically the factorization problem used to create the trapdoor function in theRSA system.Since the 1970s, a large number and variety of encryption, digital signature, key agreement, and other techniques have been developed in the field of public-key cryptography. The ElGamal cryptosystem (invented by Taher ElGamal) relies on the (similar, and related) difficulty of the discrete logarithm problem, as does the closely rela ted DSA developed at the US National Security Agency (NSA) and published by NIST as a proposed standard. The introduction of elliptic curve cryptography by Neal Koblitz and Victor Miller independently and simultaneously in the mid-1980s has yielded new public-key algorithms based on the discrete logarithm problem.Although mathematically more complex, elliptic curves provide smaller key sizes and faster operations for equivalent estimated security. III. What is public key cryptography? When most people hear the words encrypt or cryptography, they immediately think of secret-key cryptography, wherein two parties share a single secret key that's used both to encrypt and decrypt data. Loss or compromise of the secret key makes the data it encrypts vulnerable. By contrast, public-key systems use two keys: a public key, designed to be shared, and a private key, which must be closely held.These keys are complementary: if you encrypt something with the public key, it can only be decrypted w ith the corresponding private key, and vice versa. Public-key systems depend on the mathematical relationship between the public and private keys. It's not feasible to derive one from the other. There are two fundamental operations associated with public key cryptography: encryption and signing. The goal of encryption is to obscure data in such a way that it can only be read by the intended party. In public-key cryptography, if Bob wants to send Alice some private data, he uses her public key to encrypt it, then sends it to her.Upon receiving the encrypted data, Alice uses her private key to decrypt it. The important concept here is that Alice can freely distribute her public key in order to allow anyone in the world to encrypt data that only she can decrypt. If Bob and Chuck both have copies of her public key, and Chuck intercepts an encrypted message from Bob to Alice, he will not be able to decrypt it; only Alice's private key can do that, and she is the only person who holds it. These two operations can be used to provide three capabilities A PrivacyPrivacy is a necessity for businesses of all kinds, but it's of vital importance for ones that use the Internet. The Internet allows anyone in the world to communicate with anyone else, but it doesn't provide security. Even within your company's internal network, if someone can gain physical access to your network media, they can eavesdrop on any data that traverses it. Public-key cryptography provides privacy via data encryption, whether the data is in the form of e-mail messages, credit card numbers sent over the Internet, or network traffic.Because public keys can be posted freely, complete strangers can establish private communications simply by retrieving each other's public keys and encrypting the data. B. Authentication Any transaction involves two parties, whether they're a client and a server or a customer and a vendor. For many transactions, it's desirable for one or both sides to be able to authentic ate, or verify the identity of, the other. For instance, before a customer provides their credit card number to an e-commerce web site, they will want to know that they are not talking to an imposter.One way that a customer can do this is by making the web site prove that it holds the right private key. For example, a web browser might encrypt a piece of information using the site's public key and ask the web server to decrypt it, thereby demonstrating that the server has the right private key, and proving its identity. Authentication can also take the form of assuring your customers that you produced a particular piece of data and that it has not been tampered with. Public-key cryptography enables you to do this by means of a digital signature, a concept which is an extension of the public-key signing operation discussed above.If Bob wants to digitally sign his company's annual report, he first generates a unique fingerprint of the report using an algorithm called a hash algorithm. Hash algorithms are specially designed to guarantee that even a single changed byte in the document will generate a completely different hash. Next, he encrypts the report and the hash using his private key. Alice (or anyone else) can verify the origin and authenticity of the signed report by first decrypting it using Bob's public key, then calculating her own version of the fingerprint and comparing it to the fingerprint she received.If the two match, it proves two things: that the report has not been tampered with, and it came from Bob. C. Non-repudiation Businesses require the ability to enter into binding agreements, whether in the physical world or on the Internet. Suppliers and buyers need the assurance that if they enter into an agreement, the other party will not be able to repudiate the agreement at some later point. Digital signatures on electronic purchase orders, contracts, and other agreements are legally binding in several countries and in many U.S. states, and legal acceptance is rapidly growing. D. infrastructure Manage keys: a PKI makes it easy to issue new keys, review or revoke existing keys, and manage the trust level attached to keys from different issuers. Publish keys: a PKI offers a well-defined way for clients to locate and retrieve public keys and information about whether a specific key is valid or not. Without the ability to retrieve keys and know that they are valid, your users can't make use of public key services.Use keys: a PKI provides an easy-to-use way for users to use keys—not just by moving keys around where they're needed, but also by providing easy-to-use applications that perform public-key cryptographic operations, making it possible to provide security for e-mail, e-commerce, and networks. E. A capability,not a thing A common misperception is that a PKI is a thing. In fact, it's a capability—the capability to easily publish, manage, and use public keys. Think of a PKI like a municipal water system. A wat er system is made up of purification plants, storage towers, pumps, water mains, and so on, as well as the pipes and faucets in your house.All of the disparate service-providing objects work together to provide a capability for users to obtain water on demand. In a similar way, a PKI consists of a group of discrete components that work together to allow you to use public keys, and public-key cryptography, seamlessly and transparently. The best place to implement a PKI is in the operating system. Operating systems already provide a number of other infrastructures, like the printing infrastructure that moves documents to printers and the file service infrastructure that retrieves files from shared storage.In both cases, the operating system provides a capability to transparently and easily use a network service, just as a PKI does. F. Digital certificates:packaging for public key So far, this paper has mentioned public keys when talking about the objects that a PKI uses. While public keys are required for PKI-based security, they're usually packaged as digital certificates. (It's important to stress that only public keys are packaged into certificates. The private key is never shared, so it doesn't require packaging—it's simply stored securely). The certificate contains the public key and a set of attributes, like the key holder's name.These attributes may be related to the holder's identity, what they're allowed to do, or under what conditions the certificate is valid. The binding between attributes and the public key is present because the certificate is digitally signed by the entity that issued it; the issuer's signature on the certificate vouches for its authenticity and correctness. For a real-world analogy, look in your wallet. If you have a drivers' license, you have the equivalent of a digital certificate. Your license contains a unique key (your license number) and some attributes (an expiration date, your name, address, hair color, and so on).I t's issued by a trusted agency and laminated to prevent it from being tampered with. Anyone who trusts the agency that issued your license and verifies that the lamination is intact can rely on its authenticity. At that point, though, the analogy breaks down—in the real world, only the government can issue a driver's license, so everyone knows that a license issued by Joe's Really Good DMV isn't valid. How do you make the same determination with a digital certificate? The answer lies in the concept of a certificate hierarchy.In a hierarchy, as shown in Figure 1, each issuer, or certificate authority, signs (using its own private key) the certificates it issues. The public half of the CA's keypair is itself packaged in a certificate—one that was issued by a higher-level CA. This pattern can continue through as many levels as desired, with each CA certifying the authenticity of the certificates it has issued. Eventually, though, there must be a top-level CA, called a roo t certificate authority. Since there's nobody above the root CA in the hierarchy, there's nobody to vouch for the authenticity and origin of its certificate.Instead, the root CA signs its own certificate—it simply asserts that it is the root. Figure 1: What a certificate hierarchy looks like Clearly, it's not secure to accept a root CA's assertion of its own identity. To verify a root CA's certificate, a trusted copy of its public key is obtained via an out-of-band method-—that is, it's delivered by a third party instead of over the network—and the key is used to verify that the root certificate is bona fide. Microsoft provides the public keys for many popular root CAs in PK-enabled products like Internet Explorer, allowing users to verify those roots transparently.Root CAs can also provide copies of their public keys for downloading from public web sites. Once the root key has been delivered via an out-of-band means, the user can verify the root certificate, an d hence the entire certificate chain. Even better, because each certificate's digital signature protects it from tampering, certificate chains can be freely passed over insecure media like the Internet. G. Public key enabled application Once your PKI can issue, publish, and control certificates, the next step is to deploy applications that can use them.A well-written application that is tightly integrated with the rest of the PKI can make the use of public-key cryptography all but transparent to the user. The user should not need to know how cryptography works, where certificates are stored, or any of the other details—they should simply indicate what they want done, and leave it to the applications and the PKI to make it happen. Applications can use digital certificates to deliver the benefits of public-key cryptography, and they can combine cryptographic functions like signing and encryption to make possible e-commerce, secure network access, or other desirable services.All Microsoft applications that use public-key cryptography are natively public-key enabled. For example, the Microsoft Outlook ® messaging and collaboration client offers built-in signing and encryption support, combined with the ability to use certificate publishers and root certificates from a number of sources. Internet Explorer, Microsoft Money, and Internet Information Server provide the ability to set up encrypted web sessions. PKI-enabled applications can build on industry-standard protocols to speed development and allow easy interoperability with other organizations, too.H. Hardware support The increasing market demand for PKI implementations has spurred hardware vendors to develop cryptographic hardware, including smart cards, PC cards, and PCI cards that offer onboard cryptographic processing. These hardware devices offer a wide range of capabilities. On the low end, smartcards offer limited cryptographic processing combined with secure key storage; on the high end, multi processor crypto-accelerators allow high-volume web services to secure data without suffering from bottlenecks caused by software cryptographic modules.The best thing about PKI hardware devices is that they're optional—if your application requires additional performance or security, you can add hardware to provide it as necessary, but you can still build a completely functional PKI in software. I. Models The standalone CA model The standalone CA model (see Figure 2) is probably familiar to you if you've used SSL-protected web sites. In the standalone model, some third-party entity holds the root key and certificate for your organization, and it issues and revokes all certificates for your users.This third party might be a commercial CA like VeriSign, Thawte, Belsign, or GTE Cybertrust; it could also be a bank, a law firm, a trade association, or any other organization that you trust to issue certificates on your behalf. Figure 2: The standalone CA model This model allows trus t both within and outside your organization, so you can exchange secure e-mail and e-commerce transactions with outsiders. Standalone CAs also free you from the complexities of issuing, revoking, and tracking certificates.However, it requires you to trust some outside entity with your certificate management, and many third-party CAs levy an individual charge for each issued certificate. The enterprise CA model In this model (see Figure 3), your enterprise acts as its own CA, issuing and revoking certificates subject to your business requirements. Because no outsourcing provider is involved, your organization maintains complete control over its PKI. In addition to that control, though, you can guarantee that no one outside the enterprise can obtain a certificate unless you issue it to them.This model works well for controlling access to internal resources, or for generating certificates whose attributes would be meaningless to an outside entity. For example, you could issue certifica tes to managers that would allow them to make electronic travel reservations through the company travel office. Figure 3: The enterprise CA model Enterprise CAs with subordinates You can expand the flexibility of the enterprise CA model by adding subordinate CAs for individual departments, business units, or subdivisions of the organization. Most organizations already delegate some amount of administrative control to their subunits.For example, individual managers at most companies have some level of purchasing authority; higher-ranking managers can write bigger checks. Even though there's a centralized purchasing department that does much of the enterprise-wide buying, individual units still have the ability to perform day-to-day purchasing tasks. Choose your trust model If the choice of a CA model is the most important one you face when implementing a PKI, choosing a trust model comes in a very close second. When you trust a root, you're making an implicit statement that you trust them to be careful about who they issue certificates to.In this case, careful isn't quite the right word; what you're really saying is that you trust them to follow their prescribed policies and procedures to verify the identity of a certificate holder when they issue the certificate. When you choose to trust a root certificate, you're also choosing to trust certificates signed by that root. Depending on the CA model you use, the practical impact of this choice could be large (as when you choose to trust a large, widely used commercial root CA) or small (like deciding to trust your own accounting department).Normally these decisions are made for the enterprise as a whole; however, the Windows 2000 PKI allows individual users (or their administrators) to make their own trust decisions. In addition, administrators may override or augment user trust decisions with group policies. You also have to choose what you trust certificates to be used for. The X. 509 v3 certificate standard all ows you to specify whether certificates can be used for signing, encryption, or both. For example, you might want to give everyone signature certificates but restrict the use of encryption-capable certificates to certain departments or individuals.Microsoft has extended this feature to allow you to specify additional uses, including signing software components, logging on using a smart card, or recovering an encrypted file. When using the Windows 2000 PKI, the issuer has total control over what the certificate can be used for. IV Conclusion Public key cryptography offers critical business advantages, including the ability to conduct e-commerce and normal business operations with increased privacy, security, and assurance. To deliver these benefits, a public-key infrastructure is necessary that makes it easy to manage, publish and use public keys.Windows 2000 offers a PKI that is completely integrated with the operating system and provides flexible, secure, interoperable services tha t are easy to use, easy to deploy, and easy to manage. References N. Ferguson; B. Schneier (2003). Practical Cryptography. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-22357-3. J. Katz; Y. Lindell (2007). Introduction to Modern Cryptography. CRC Press. ISBN 1-58488-551-3. J. Menezes; P. C. van Oorschot; S. A. Vanstone (1997). Handbook of Applied Cryptography. ISBN 0-8493-8523-7. IEEE 1363: Standard Specifications for Public-Key Cryptography Single Sign-On Technology for SAP Enterprises: What does SAP have to say? [1] ^ Ed Gerck, Overview of Certification Systems: x. 509, CA, PGP and SKIP, in The Black Hat Briefings '99, http://www. securitytechnet. com/resource/rsc-center/presentation/black/vegas99/certover. pdf andhttp://mcwg. org/mcg-mirror/cert. htm ^ Stephen Wilson, Dec 2005, â€Å"The importance of PKI today†, China Communications, Retrieved on 2010-12-13 ^ Mark Gasson, Martin Meints, Kevin Warwick (2005), D3. 2: A study on PKI and biometrics, FIDIS deliverable (3)2, July 2005

Main Factors of Lesson Plan Papers Essay

Main Factors of Lesson Plan PapersWhen addressing a classroom without goals, objectives, and a clear path is an obvious mistake that any teacher could make. The greatest idea will fall flat without understanding what to consider when lesson planning, and as we know all lessons require knowing how to reach specific students and how to respond to their needs as a student. Outlined in this paper is the Framework for Teaching, Core propositions, comparison of framework and propositions, main factors to consider when lesson planning, and how to identify the difference between goals and objectives, as well as observable and measurable objectives. Charlotte Danielson’s Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching (2007), Danielson used the Praxis III assessment and created organized responsibilities for teachers. Within this, there are four domains that were covered in The Framework for Teaching; planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction and, professio nal responsibilities. She outlines what each of the four domains is and clearly states the key concept and thesis. In 1987, The National Board of Certified Teachers (NBCTs) created a policy of the vision of accomplished teaching that they had. NBCTs also created The Five Core Propositions to â€Å"form the foundation and frame the rich amalgam of knowledge, skills, dispositions, and beliefs.† The Five Core Propositions are: teachers are committed to their students and their learning, teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to the students, teachers are responsible for monitoring and managing student learning, teachers should think systematically about their practice and learn from experience, and teachers are members of a learning community. All five of these propositions outline what every teacher should know and be able to do. Here is a visual organizer comparing the framework of lesson planning to the propositions of teaching by using different colors to categorize it. It is clear to see how the framework for lesson planning comes across in the propositions for effective teachers. Teachers should be able to create plans of goals and activities to help promote learning and implement instruction into their everyday lessons. A detailed lesson plan should consider how to organize and achieve the goals  and objectives of the lesson that is being taught. When a teacher is planning a lesson, they should start with the end in mind. Including several instruction methods to ensure, various learning types are being addressed. To have an effective lesson it has to focus on time allowances to be able to ensure productivity and completion of the extra activities. Once the initial lesson is complete, revisions, adaptations, and sometimes, re-teaching the lesson may be crucial in order to make sure that every student fully understands. Goals and objectives, as well as observable and measurable objectives, are important to have in the lesson plan as well. Goals for a lesson are an outline for students to understand the direction that they are intended to go in. Goals are not measurable. Objectives clearly define the goal, including measurable and observable behaviors. A method if setting clear objectives in lesson planning is to use S.M.A.R.T., which is an acronym for (S) Specific, (M) Measurable, (A) Attainable, (R) Realistic or relevant, and (T) Time Limited. For Example teaching students how to draw a triangle is the goal. The objective is that students will show their understanding by (a) identifying the correct and incorrect triangle, (b) correctly draw a triangle. This behavior is observable of the triangle identified correctly and drawn correctly. The measurable objective is to have 80% of the class showing they can do both of these things without help. Teaching to a captive audience is a huge responsibility. To be able to honor this responsibility it is our duty as a teacher to create engaging and nourishing lessons for every student. As well as being able to understand the logic, method, and clear process of lesson planning that will allow observable and measurable success in the classroom. References National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2014). The Five Core Propositions. Retrieved on October 17, 2014 from www.nbpts.org Methods for Effective Teaching: Meeting the Needs of All Students, Sixth Edition, by Paul R. Burden and David M. Byrd. Published by Pearson. Copyright 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc. http://www.madison.k12.al.us/personnel/NBCT/TchrInfo.htm. Retrieved October 17, 2014.

Anil Ambani: a Biography

————————————————- Anil Ambani From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia | This  biographical article  needs additional  citations  for  verification. Please help by adding  reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced  must be removed immediately, especially if potentially  libelous  or harmful. (June 2012)| Anil Ambani| Born| 4 June 1959  (age  53) Mumbai,  Maharashtra,  India| Residence| Mumbai, Maharashtra, India| Nationality| Indian| Alma mater| University of Mumbai The Wharton School|Occupation| Chairman of  Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group| Net worth|   $6 billion (2012)[1]| Religion| Hinduism| Spouse(s)| Tina Munim| Children| 2[2]| Parents| Dhirubhai Ambani Kokilaben Ambani| Relatives| Mukesh Ambani  (Brother)| Website| Anil Ambani| Anil Dhirubhai Ambani  (Gujarati:   ( ) ), born on 4 Jun e 1959, is an Indian businessman. He is the chairman of  Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, one of the largest private  conglomerates  in India. Anil's elder brother  Mukesh Ambani, who heads as the chairman ofReliance Industries. 3]  The Ambani family is the richest family in India and one of the richest in the world, their wealth inherited from  Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of largest Indian conglomerate Reliance Group. [4]  He is known for having had affairs with bollywood divas and his affair with Sushmita Sen is well known. He is a member of the Board of Overseers at the  Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the member of the Board of Governors of the  Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur;  Indian Institute of Management,  Ahmedabad. citation needed]  He is a member of the Central Advisory Committee,  Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. In March 2006, he resigned. He is also the Chairman of Board of Governors of  DA-IICT,Gandhi nagar. [5] Contents  Ã‚  [hide]   * 1  Career * 2  Awards and recognition * 3  Personal Life * 4  Bibliography * 5  References * 6  External links| ————————————————- [edit]Career Ambani joined  Reliance Industries, the company founded by his late father  Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1983 as Co-Chief Executive Officer and is credited with having pioneered many financial innovations in the Indian capital markets. citation needed]  For example, he led India's first forays into overseas capital markets with international public offerings of global depositary receipts, convertibles and bonds. He directed Reliance in its efforts to raise, since 1991, around US$2 billion from overseas financial markets; with a 100-year  Yankee bond  issue in January 1997 being the high point, after which people regarded him as a financial wizard[citation needed]. He along with h is brother, Mukesh Ambani, has steered the Reliance Group to its current status as India's leading textiles, petroleum, petrochemicals, power, and telecom company. [citation needed])[citation needed]  He is a close friend of movie star  Amitabh Bachchan  and  Subrata Roy. One of his major achievements in the entertainment industry is the takeover of  Adlabs, the movie production to distribution to multiplex company that owns India's only dome theatre and the recently announced joint venture worth US$ 825 million with  Steven Spielberg. [citation needed] He has been embroiled in a dispute with his brother, Mukesh Ambani, over the supply of gas from the latter's KG basin. citation needed] He recently topped Business Sheet's â€Å"world's biggest loser† list of business leaders who lost money in the late 2000s recession,[6]  losing $32. 5 billion in 2008, which brought him out of the top ten list to number 34 in 2009. ————— Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- [edit]Awards and recognition * Conferred the ‘Businessman of the Year 1997' award by India's leading business magazine  Business India, December 1997. [citation needed] ————————————————- [edit]Personal LifeAnil Ambani is married to  Bollywood  Actress  Tina Munim  and has two sons Jai Anmol and Jai Anshul. [7]  He has taken part in the  Mumbai Marathon  race. Ambani is also a fan of  Premier Leagueclub,  Newcastle United  and was extremely close to buying the club in September 2008. In June 2004, Anil was elected as an Independent Member of the  Rajya Sabha  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ upper house of the Parliament of India. He is a  vegetarian. [8]He is known for having had affairs with bollywood divas and his love affair with former miss universe Sushmita Sen is well known. [9]

Is Organic Food Better? Essay

There have been many different food trends over the years. We have been told about eating low fat diets, zero carb diets, and now organic. If you are like many others, there is a good chance that you have heard that organic foods are healthier to eat. They contain more vitamins, minerals, enzymes and taste than engineered produce do. Organic foods are also free from insecticides, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, fertilizers and a whole host of other toxic artificial additives, flavorings, colorings and preservatives. Organic foods are better tasting, more nutritional, better on the environment, and ethically more appealing. What does it mean for food to be organic? When food is grown naturally, it is considered organic; that is, without the use of synthetic pesticides, irradiation, artificial fertilizers, or biotechnology. The growing and tending process is what really defines a food as organic. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the soil is thoroughly tested and must be free of chemical exposure for at least three years. The food farmers produce must be free of any chemical or genetically engineered ingredients and must not have been raised or produced with any drugs or hormones. Organic certification procedures require that the food producer and/or distributor keep detailed written records (of where, when, and how the food was produced) and keep the organic food segregated from non-organic food if working with both foods (United). The term â€Å"organic food† is not a new concept. It has been around for as long as agriculture has been on the earth. Food was organic until someone decided to change the way that food was produced. Within the last century a large supply of synthetic chemicals were introduced into the food supply. Farmers, in fear of insects, started using pesticides to kill the insects. They also used synthetic fertilizers (especially nitrogen) to make plants grow fast. Nitrogen-driven growth produces weak, watery, and overly leafy plants which are more vulnerable to insects causing farmers to use more pesticides. Pesticide spraying has contributed to serious health problems for workers on these farms. In the article â€Å"The Truth About Organic Foods,† Jessica. DeCostole writes â€Å"Some studies have linked pesticides in our food to everything from headaches to cancer to birth defects — but many experts maintain that the levels in conventional food are safe for most healthy adults. † Most of the pesticides and fertilizers run off, polluting streams, rivers, oceans, fisheries, and drinking water. Organic farming does not use as harsh of chemicals as conventional farming. This makes it better on the soil and the water supply. People who oppose organic farming argue that organic farming requires twice as much land to grow the same amount of food as conventional farming does. Organic farming may require more land, but it is not double as what conventional farming uses. While organic farming usually requires more land, it is not double. Since the soil is not being depleted, organic farmers can use their land for longer periods of time. Organic farming can also produce higher yields and profits when it is done correctly. According to Jane Goodall in Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating, the top 25 percent of sustainable farmers who farm without the use of chemicals have higher yields than industrial farmers in the United States (161). There’s no question that organic foods are frequently more expensive than comparable conventional foods. Some of this can be attributed to the reduced production costs that can be achieved through commercial fertilizer and chemicals. Some of the price difference can also be attributed to the economies of scale enjoyed by the large multinational food companies, but these food systems are not on a level playing field. U. S. farm policy infuses billions of dollars into the conventional food system and keeps commodity prices artificially low. In the article â€Å"Seriously, Now – Why Aren’t Organics Getting Affordable,† Christy Harrison states â€Å"Conventional crops are heavily subsidized by the federal government in the United States, making them artificially inexpensive. Couple those subsidies — which have been in place since the New Deal — with the cost of cleaning up pollution and treating health problems created by conventional farming, and we’re paying a lot in taxes in order to pay a pittance at the grocery store. † Furthermore, conventional crops have been aided by decades of public and private research and development. Organic food systems receive only a tiny fraction of the agricultural research funds. The problem is not so much that organic foods are expensive; it’s that government policy has made conventional foods too cheap and that hurts farmers, rural communities and the environment. Effectively reducing the price discrepancy requires changes in public policy and strengthened food regulations. As consumers, the best thing we can do to reduce the costs of local and organic is to purchase local and organic. As more consumers choose organic, and a larger network of organic farmers develop innovative practices, prices will inevitably narrow between conventional and organic products. The growing organic market will also induce more public and private investment. Some argue that organic food doesn’t necessarily taste better than conventional food. Taste is subjective though. It is one of the five senses able to detect the flavor of substances. The flavor of food in the mouth is partially contributed to taste. Smell is also a factor. â€Å"The aroma of food contributes up to 80% of what we perceive as taste† (Benefits). The difference between conventional food and organic food is that conventional food contains preservatives to make it last longer. Organic food does not. It is often produced on farms near where it is sold, so it tends to be fresher when eaten. Consumers need to be careful though when buying organic. Multi-national corporations have started to buy some of the organic lines on the market, creating organic factory farms. These farms â€Å"produce monocrops and ship the product cross-country† (Goodall 164). Shipping the food from these monocrops across the country is a bad thing for the environment. Those against organic foods argue that it is not any more nutritious than conventionally grown food. In an interview with Dan Childs of ABC News, Robyn Flipse states â€Å"There is no good evidence that organically grown plants or animals are nutritionally superior to conventionally grown. † Many studies have been attempted to determine if organic food is more nutritious to conventional food, but the problem is variability in how these studies have been conducted. It is difficult to compare findings when there is so much variability (Prosser). It is possible for organically grown fruits and vegetables to contain slightly higher levels of Vitamin C, trace minerals, and antioxidant phytonutrients. It all depends on how it is grown. Foods depend on soil and water for their nourishment, and cleaner soil and water means cleaner food. It is that simple. It is important for us to make a commitment to living a healthier life, and eating healthy is one way to do that. It isn’t just about eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and good fats. We also need to consider food safety, nutrition, and sustainability. How our foods are grown and raised affects the environment as well as our health. According to Samuel Fromartz in Organic, Inc., â€Å"Buying and consuming organic food has come to be viewed not only as a means of avoiding harm, but as a benefit in itself, a personal way of aligning nutrition, health, and social and environmental well-being† (16). Clearly, more research on the possible health benefits of organic foods is needed. That is not the only reason why people are buying them, but it is an important one, and we need more data. Still, it is fair to say that critics are clearly wrong when they try to argue that there is â€Å"no evidence whatsoever† that organics are better than conventional foods. More evidence is needed, but there are some early signs that organic supporters may have been right all along. Works Cited â€Å"The Benefits of Organic Food: Why Organic Food is Better. † Natural Health Guide. Natural Health Guide, 2010. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. Childs, Dan. â€Å"Are Organic Foods Better for You? † ABC News. ABC News, 29 Nov. 2006. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. DeCostole, Jessica. â€Å"The Truth About Organic Foods. † Redbook. Redbook. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. Fromartz, Samuel. Organic, Inc. Orlando: Harcourt Books, 2006. Print. Goodall, Jane, Gary McAvoy, and Gail Hudson. Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating. New York: Time Warner Book Group, 2005. Print. Harrison, Christy. â€Å"Seriously, Now – Why Aren‘t Organics Getting Affordable? † Grist. Grist, 25 Aug. 2005. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. Prosser, Erin. â€Å"Nutritional Differences in Organic versus Conventional Foods: And the Winner Is†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Scientific American. Scientific American, 11 Aug. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. United States Dept. of Agriculture. National Organic Program. US Dept. of Agriculture, April 2008. PDF file. Self Evaluation I was not aware of using any of the rhetorical strategies while writing this piece. When I write, I research my topic and just write what comes to mind. It is not something that I think about when writing. As I look back at what I have written, I see that I have used a combination of these strategies. I would say that I have used ethos by using proper grammar. I am always watching my spelling and punctuation while writing. It is something that I cannot ignore. I am not like some people that just write and go back and edit afterward. I do most of my editing as I write. I have shown pathos by trying to appeal to the reader’s emotions about our health and environment. I have shown logos by the credible sources I have used, like Jane Goodall. In this piece, I mention a few of the arguments against organic food and counter them with why they are wrong. There are many who are against organic food, but their reasons for being against it do not hold up well. I was able to show sources that backed up why the reasons against organic food are wrong. I really cannot say that any of the techniques (reading responses, writerly practices, or peer reviews) helped me. The peer review for my rough draft was available for me to review for this paper. It was nice to have some feedback on my paper, though I do not feel it made a difference.

Business Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Economics - Essay Example Euro crisis is supposed to result in negative growth for the next upcoming six months. Apart from US, the British are encountering the problem of double dip recession (Winnett, 2011). Currently OECD is giving warning to the US government about an emerging economic slowdown that the country might have to encounter soon. OECD claims to derive such a result from the composite index of the leading indicators. Such alerts have been issued for the seven major economies. It is mostly using CLI instrument to get early signals of downturn from the upswings and downswings within the periodical growth cycle. Such an instrument will surely help OECD to send out early alerts to the economies (Major economies globally heading towards slowdown: OECD, 2008). Symptoms for such a slowdown will be continuous fluctuations in business cycles. Such fluctuations will linger for a long period of time. Slowdown in the euro zone will lose out the confidence of investors especially in the financial markets. Th is could be the main reason behind output contraction in the major economies. United States is already experiencing cyclical slowdowns. Such a trouble had not touched US economy in the last 10 years (Major economies globally heading towards slowdown: OECD, 2008). Preannounced liquidity shocks have been hitting the US economy. Due to such shocks US economy is undergoing unexpectedly large price changes. In recent times jumps in US treasury bonds have been identified (Jiang and George, 2011). Earlier in 1999, OECD had predicted much slower growth in the overall industrialization process for the United States. Accordingly there has a decrease in the short term rate of Federal Reserve Board (Wessel, 98). As per OECD, such a slow and weak growth for the United States is likely to continue till 2013. This will continue along with high unemployment (Winning and Parussini, 2011). The current economic crisis and the Federal government: There are two schools of thought on how the USA governme nt should deal with its current economic problems. One thought deals with the policy of significant deficit reduction that the Greek and Irish governments have implemented. And the other one deals with the substantive Keynesian stimulus package. The later aspect includes a reform of the tax system in order to make taxation more progressive (Kitromilides, n.d.). Policies of deficit reduction: Policies: During the financial crisis and huge debt crisis situation, governments of Greece and Ireland have taken some policies to surmount those crises. In the face of the huge accumulation of budget deficit, debt crisis, in 2010, the both the governments have taken policies to reduce these crises. At first both the governments have taken steps to reduce public expenditures and increase tax rates. This was a policy of fiscal consolidation plan. Along with this both the governments have asked for the financial assistance to IMF and EU. At the same time these governments have taken steps to init iate long-term structural reforms, such as, increasing competitiveness of the economies by improving employment and growth scenarios, enhancing private sector investments, and most importantly boosting the R&D sector of the economies (Kitromilides, n.d.). Explanations on effectiveness: These policies are still under the scrutiny, but they have been successful in the short term. The policy of reducing public expenditure

City plan of Philadelphia. PA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

City plan of Philadelphia. PA - Essay Example Now is the time to set in place a plan for that future so that current and future residents can once again feel the pride and joy from living in the city of ‘brotherly love’ and a home known for its acceptance of immigrants from all cultures and ways of life. This plan for a new Philadelphia is designed to span only ten years, as time cannot be wasted to get the city back on track towards that prosperity and free and independent city that Philadelphia is known for and certainly deserves to realize once again. Philadelphia’s Present Condition Many urban cities in America are currently facing problems of various sorts. Philadelphia is certain no exception. From infrastructure to education, and budgetary to water issues, Philadelphia is currently going through its fair share of challenges that threaten its very existence. One aspect of Philadelphia that has seemingly not changed over the years, however, is the resiliency of the people. The residents of the city are a vid sports fans, devoted to the area, and consist of multiple generations of families that have called Philadelphia home through the centuries. As such, while these conditions paint a dire picture, they do not truly capture the essence and sprit of the city as a whole. Problems can certainly hurt development and growth, but Philadelphia is well positioned to confront any challenge that it faces and often will arise being a stronger and more determined people as a result. Let us consider for a moment the current state of various issues within the city of Philadelphia as a whole. The first noticeable trend is that, after years of decline, the population of the city has recently started to rise once again. This indicates a movement back to the city a trust in the promise of the future, in spite of the current difficulties currently being encountered. In addition, with all of the negatives being encountered by the educational system, it is encouraging to note an increase in test scores. With the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, Philadelphia has encountered over a decade of failing schools systems and poor performance on mandated state testing. While there is still much work to be done in this regard, and Philadelphia as a whole still possesses a most fractured and disjointed educational system, the progress being currently demonstrated is promising and encouraging to the residents of the city. Prior to 2011, Philadelphia had one of the lowest high school graduation rates of urban cities within the United States. Recently, however, even this statistic has begun to reverse itself into positive territory. There graduation rates throughout the city have actually gone up in recent years, and it is estimated that the percentage of adults that have obtained a college degree is now nearly 23 percent. This is figure that many residents of the city thought they would never see. Truth be told, however, these numbers do not paint the whole story. The physical buildings housing many of the city’s educational institutions are crumbling due to age and lack of proper maintenance. The District has long been plagued with budgetary concerns, and the teacher’s have had numerous labor disagreements with the city in recent years. This, coupled with demographic issues also facing Philadelphia has created a perfect storm of trouble for