Comparing First Dates in Sottos Oranges and Wetherells The Bass, the

First Dates in Sotto's Oranges and Wetherell's The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant Everyone is born with innocence and they gradually gain experience through lessons learned in life; some people may gain more that others. Not all lessons in life are dramatic or negative, some may be subtle, positive, or even life altering; however, no matter how small or big, they do alter one's perspective on things and help them to gain experience, which will be with them forever. These experiences may be gained through love, war, or death, but in some way or another they have changed one's point of view. The works "Oranges", written by Gary Sotto, and "The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant", written by W.D. Wetherell, both tell about a boys first love and his first date. First loves and first dates is something that can be related to by everyone, whether boy or girl. These two works show that the outcome of a first date may not be what one expected, but in the end something more may be learned. In "The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant", the speaker fell in love with a beautiful girl named Shelia Mant, which was the only thing that he loved more than fishing. He watched her everyday sunbathing on the dock. He watched her so much that he learned what mood she was in by the position she was laying. When the summer was almost over he got up enough nerve to ask her out. To his surprise she said yes. They went to see a band, however, since he was only fourteen they took a canoe. While rowing the canoe he had his fishing pole on the back, because he never left the house without it. Little did he know that Shelia thought fishing was dumb. So, during the entire canoe ride he is trying to hide the fishing pole, which is hanging o... ...h the speaker from "The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant" did not have a great first date or love, he learned to be himself, not to change who he was so someone will like him. Although both speakers lost their innocence and gained experience in love and dating, they still have a lot more to learn in both. Innocence may be loss in a subtle or life altering way, negative or positive, but when all is said and done the experience gained will help one to succeed in life. Works Cited Lessing, Doris. "Through the Tunnel." Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A Stanford. Boston: McGrawHill, 2003. 860-867. Wetherell, W.D. "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant." Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston: McGrawHill, 2003. 191-196.

Material Balances for Carbon

Many of the earth's natural processes are cyclic. The circulation of water between oceans, atmosphere and continents is a familiar example. Another is the transformation and movement of carbon-containing compounds for which the immediately obvious elements are the photosynthetic generation by plants of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and the consumption of carbohydrates by herbivores who regenerate carbon dioxide through respiration. (As we shall see shortly, the complete carbon cycle involves a number of additional processes.)Such cycles are termed â€Å"biogeochemical cycles. † The term is most commonly used to refer to global cycles of the â€Å"life elements† C, O, N, S, and P, but its use is extended as well to regional cycles and to other elements or components. The study of biogeochemical cycles then is the study of the transformation and transport of substances in the Earth's systems. In most cases the cycles link biotic (living) subsystems to abiotic (non-liv ing) ones. Of particular current interest is the effect of human-caused disturbances on the natural cycles.A major disturbance in the carbon cycle, for example, is the continuous injection of carbon (mainly as carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. How much of this injected carbon ends up in the atmosphere? How much in the oceans? . . . in the land vegetation? What effect does the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have on the global climate? Insights to the answers to these and related questions can be gained through the use of mathematical models constructed by applying material and energy balance principles.Here the carbon cycle serves as an illustrative example, though much of the discussion is couched in terms that apply generally. The objective is to develop a simple mathematical model that will demonstrate the use of material and energy balances for studying the Earth’s natural processes. A schematic representation The transport o f substances in biogeochemical systems is commonly depicted graphically by means of flowsheets or flowcharts, which are composed of boxes (or compartments, or reservoirs) connected by arrow-directed lines.As such, the depiction resembles the flowsheet for a chemical plant or process where boxes represent various 1  units (reactors, heat exchangers, etc. ) and the lines represent material flows. Indeed the analogy extends to methods of analysis, as we shall see in later sections, based on material and/or energy balances. Flowcharts for biogeochemical systems differ from those generally used for chemical processes in that a single chart for the former usually is used to track the flow of just one substance (ordinarily an element such as carbon) — but it need not be so. The number of boxes in a schematic representation is indicative of the level of detail to which an analysis will be subjected or for which information (data) is available.The least detailed for global carbon, f or example, consists of only three compartments — for land, oceans and atmosphere — of the type shown in Figure 1. Commonly in such representations, the amounts, or inventory, of the substance of interest (represented by M's in Figure 1) in each compartment have units of mass or moles. The exchange rates or flows (usually termed â€Å"fluxes† in the ecosystem literature, represented by F's in Figure 1) have units of mass or moles per unit of time. Figure 1. Three-compartment representation of a biogeochemical cycle.M's  represent the inventory (mass or moles), and F's are flows or fluxes (mass or moles per unit time). atmosphere, Ma Foa Fao oceans, Mo Fta Fat land, Mt (terrestrial system) A quantitative description would give numerical values of the inventories and fluxes — or better yet, would give expressions for the F's in terms of the M's. Figure 2 presents a similar flowchart with a slightly higher level of detail. This representation recognizes th at there may be a significant difference between concentrations near the ocean surface and those in the deeper ocean layers.We will use this representation later for studying a model of the carbon cycle. 2 atmosphere, Ma Fsa Figure 2. Four-compartment representation of a biogeochemical cycle. Fas surface ocean layer, Ms Fds Fta Fat land, Mt (terrestrial system) Fsd deep ocean layers, Md A further level of detail might add boxes to represent land and ocean biota, but we will not add that complexity for our purposes here. Mathematical models Mathematical models of biogeochemical cycles can take on various forms depending on the level of detail sought or necessary and/or on the type of supporting or verifying information or data available.In general, models attempt to relate the rates of transport, transformation and input of substances to their masses and changes by way of equations based on material and/or energy conservation principles. The description in the preceding section sugge sts so-called â€Å"lumped† models; that is, models in which the spatial position is not a continuous variable. Indeed it may not even appear in the model equations. It is, in fact, considered to be piecewise constant. Thus the vertical position in the ocean was separated into two parts, surface layer and deep layers.For such lumped models, the mathematical description is in the form of ordinary differential equations for the unsteady states and of algebraic or transcendental equations for the steady state. So-called â€Å"distributed† models, which consider the spatial position to be a continuous variable, lead to partial differential equations for the unsteady and ordinary differential equations for the steady state. By far the most common models employed for biogeochemical cycles are of the lumped variety, and the remainder of this module will be devoted to them. One should think of lumped models as representing overall (perhaps 3 global) averages.With sufficient de tail (large number of boxes) they may be useful for accurate quantitative purposes; with little detail, they may be used to obtain rough estimates, to study qualitative trends, and to gain insights into the effects of changes. Lumped models are sometimes referred to as â€Å"black box† models — so called because they consider only the inputs and outputs of the boxes and their interior masses. They do not explore the interior details of the boxes — such as the predator-prey interactions that influence the population dynamics within the biota, or the complex ocean chemistry that affects the air-ocean exchange of material.In the same way, most flowsheet representations and calculations for chemical plants treat process units as black boxes. Material and energy balances relate known and unknown stream quantities. The detail within a box, such as the tray-to-tray compositions and temperatures of a distillation column are not directly involved in the usual flowsheet c alculation, but obviously are involved in determining the output streams, or in relating them to other streams, at a finer level of detail Calculations for a model of the carbon cycleHere we will use a schematic diagram similar to that in Figure 2 to construct a mathematical model for the carbon cycle. Our purpose is to estimate the effect of fossil fuel burning on the level of carbon in the atmosphere — important information for the assessment of the greenhouse effect. Figure 2 is reconstructed below to include the input of carbon from fossil fuels. atmosphere, Ma Fsa Figure 3. A simplified representation of the carbon cycle, including an input from fossil fuel burning. Fas surface ocean layer, Ms Fds Fat land, Mt (terrestrial system) Fsd deep ocean layers, Md  4 Fta Ff fossil fuelsThe following equations relate the flow rates (fluxes) in the diagram to the masses of carbon in the boxes in the form employed in references [1] and [2]. The numerical values of the coefficient s were derived from data presented in those references. Ffa is an input disturbance, yet to be specified. In these equations, the masses (the M’s) are in units of petagrams, and the fluxes (the F’s) are in units of petagrams per year. (One petagram is 15 10 grams. ) Fas = (0. 143) Ma (1) Fsa = (10 ( 2) ?25 )M 9. 0 s Fat = (16. 2) Ma0. 2 (3) Fta = (0. 0200 ) Mt ( 4)  Fds = (0. 00129) Md (5) Fsd = ( 0. 450) Ms ( 6)Notice that Equations 2 and 3 are nonlinear relationships between fluxes and masses. To appreciate the reason for this, say in Equation 2, bear in mind that the fluxes and masses are measures of the element C, which actually exists in various compound forms, with equilibrium likely established among them, in the ocean waters. Yet it is only carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere from the ocean layers in any appreciable quantity. Therefore, the relationship between carbon dioxide and the total carbon in the ocean layers is complicated.The nonlinear relation ship in Equation 3 is explained by the fact that this rate of transfer, nearly all in the form of carbon dioxide, is governed mainly by the rate of photosynthesis by plants — a rate usually not limited by carbon dioxide supply from the air but rather by the photochemical and biochemical reactions at play. Material balances Material balances on carbon (i. e. , atomic balances) may be written for each of the boxes in Figure 3. As an example, with the information in Equations 1-6 incorporated, the unsteady balance on the â€Å"atmosphere† box is given by 5 dMa 0. 2  = (10 ?25 ) Ms9. 0 + (0. 0200) Mt ? (0. 143) Ma ? (16. 2 ) Ma + Ff dt ( 7)Similar balances must be added for the other three compartments, and initial values for the four M’s must be given to complete the mathematical model. The input from fossil fuel consumption, the disturbance function Ff, may be a constant or a function of time. Its current value is about 5 petagrams of carbon per year. Over some periods of time its value increased at the rate of about 4% per year. Inasmuch as the Earth’s total reservoir of fossil fuels is estimated to be 10,000 petagrams, of which only half may be  recoverable for use, the current use rate, much less any significant increase, is not sustainable indefinitely.However, in the much shorter run, the concern is not about the availability of fossil fuels, but about how their use may be affecting the global climate. Steady states . The steady-state model is derived simply by setting the time derivatives in the transient equations to zero. Further, we can deduce from physical considerations that no steady state is possible unless Ff is zero. (Notice that the steadystate equations are nonlinear in the M's owing to the exponents on Ms and Ma.Consequently, a numerical search procedure must be used to obtain solutions to Problem 1 below. ) Problem 1 Incorporating the information in Equations 1-6, write the steady-state carbon balance for each o f the four â€Å"boxes† in Figure 3, taking Ff to be zero. Can you solve these equations for the numerical values of the four M’s? (Note that the equations are not linearly independent; one is redundant. ) (a) Take the total M (i. e. , the sum of the four M’s) to be 39,700 petagrams (the actual current estimate of the total carbon in the four compartments) and solve for the M’s.Note that your solution would be the ultimate steady-state distribution of carbon if the usage of fossil fuels were discontinued now — that is if Ff were immediately decreased from 5 petagrams per year to zero. (b) Instead of assuming an immediate reduction in Ff to zero, suppose that the usage of fossil fuels is reduced gradually in such manner that the carbon entering the atmosphere from this source decreases linearly with 6 time from 5 petagrams per year to zero over the next 100 years.Calculate the total amount (in petagrams) of carbon released by fossil fuel use over th at 100-year period, and determine the new set of M's at steady state. What fraction of the added carbon will ultimately (steadily) reside in the atmosphere? Unsteady (Transient) States. While information about steady states is of interest and importance, the more relevant questions can only be answered by examining the transient or unsteady state. How long does it take to approach a steady state? What levels of carbon are reached in the atmosphere along the way to an eventual steady state?What is the effect of increasing or decreasing the rate of consumption of fossil fuels? Consider the first question. According to the numerical values given above for fluxes and reservoir levels of carbon, the effective time constants for the reservoirs vary from a few years for the atmosphere to hundreds or thousands of years for the deep ocean layers. Therefore, a large input into the atmosphere may eventually decay to only a modest permanent (steady-state) increase owing to the fact that the lar ge capacity of the oceans will eventually absorb most of it — but the effects on the atmosphere may be felt for a century or more.The point was made above that the steady-state equations, being nonlinear, cannot be solved analytically. The same is true for the unsteady state. Therefore, the following problem requires a numerical procedure for solving the system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Problem 2 . Equation 7 gives the material balance for carbon in the atmosphere. Complete the mathematical description of the unsteady state by writing similar balances on the remaining three compartments shown in Figure 3.Take the initial (current) levels of carbon in the four reservoirs to be 700, 3000, 1000, 35000 for the atmosphere, terrestrial, surface ocean, and deep ocean reservoirs, respectively — all in petagrams. (a) Assuming that the carbon input from fossil fuel use remains constant at its present level of 5 petagrams per year, generate a numerical solutio n giving the amount of carbon in each reservoir versus time over a 100-year period. (Show your results in graphical form. ) (b) As in part (b) of Problem 1, let Ff decrease linearly with time from 5 petagrams per year to zero over 100 years.Again generate solutions and present curves showing the 7 reservoir levels of carbon versus time up to 100 years. What fraction of the total carbon entering the atmosphere from fossil fuel use is present in the atmosphere at the end of the 100-year period? Compare that fraction to your answer for part (b) of Problem 1. Comments? A Glance at the Global Warming Problem You might ask why should we be concerned about changes in atmospheric carbon levels. After all, the levels are very low. Further, we should expect some natural level of CO2 in the atmosphere owing simply to that generated by the respiration of plants and animals.In fact, that natural level is estimated to be about 280 ppmv — a pre-industrial level that probably existed steadil y for centuries before the industrial revolution. The answer to such questions is not simple, but the major concern nowadays is the possible upsetting of the Earth's energy balance leading to an increase in the average global temperature. We will not attempt an exhaustive treatment of this subject here, but since it connects directly to the preceding discussion of the carbon cycle, it warrants a quick glance at least. The following equation gives the simplest form of the Earth's energy balance.S(1 ? f ) r = 2 4 2 T (4 r ) (8) where S is the solar constant — i. e. , the amount of incident solar radiation per unit projected area of the Earth, f is the albedo or reflectivity of the Earth, r is the Earth's radius ? is the effective emissivity of the Earth for infrared radiation to outer space, ? is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant T is the absolute temperature — indicative of the global average temperature. The radius, r, cancels from Equation 8. The following list gives valu es for the other quantities in Equation 8. 2 S = 1367 watts/m f = 0. 31 ? = 0. 615 -8 2 4 ? = 5.5597 x 10 watts/(m oK ) 8Equation 8 is a steady-state balance equating the solar energy reaching the Earth's surface (on the left side) to the energy lost by infrared radiation to outer space (on the right side). Atmospheric gases affect the reflectivity, f, and the effective emissivity, ?. In particular, so-called greenhouse gases decrease ? by absorbing, or â€Å"trapping†, some of the infrared radiation, thereby reducing the amount of energy that can escape from the Earth. If all other factors are constant, a lower value of ? will result in a higher value of T from Equation 8.Other factors come into the picture, however, and lead to uncertainty about the extent of global warming that may occur due to increases in CO2 and other greenhouse gases. For example, an increase in the average temperature would probably lead to an increase in aerosols and cloudiness, which will act to inc rease f and offset the effect of a decrease in ?. We probably error on the pessimistic side (i. e. , predicting a temperature change that is too large) if we assume, as we shall here, that an increasing CO2 level works only to decrease ?. The following equation gives a reasonable estimate for that variation. = 0. 642- (8.  45 x 10-5) pco 2 (9) where pCO2 is the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in parts per million by volume (ppmv).Problem 3 For this problem you will need to calculate the concentration of CO2 in ppmv from the total mass of atmospheric carbon. For that calculation, take 18 the total mass of the atmosphere to be 5. 25 x 10 kg. In all cases use the initial values for the M's given in Problem 2. (a) Using your result from Problem 1(b) along with Equations 8 and 9, calculate the predicted eventual increase in the global temperature attributable to the carbon added to the atmosphere over a 100-year period.(b) Repeat Problems 2(a) and 2(b), this time incl uding a graph of the global temperature change versus years as predicted from Equations 8 and 9. Comment about the resulting temperature following from Problem 2(b) vis-a`-vis that following from Problem 1(b). 9 Problem solutions Solutions to the three problems presented in these notes are available to course instructors as Mathcad (Macintosh) files or as copies of those files in pdf format. Copies may be obtained by e-mail request to schmitz. [email  protected] edu.

How far is it applicable to management and employee motivation in contemporary Chinese organizations? Essay

Critically evaluate McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. How far is it applicable to management and employee motivation in contemporary Chinese organizations? During the 1960s the number of psychologists invented motivational theories, which aimed to increase organizations’ productivity. One of those is McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y, in which he claimed that people can be managed in two extremes, based on the grounds of their needs. After publishing his work had a significant impact on management ideas. Head (2011) states, that in present days, his approaches of management can be successfully applied in different countries, as well as in China. However, despite the modernization of modern working environment in China, there are still the number of hardships that make the adaptation of his theories complex and difficult. From the year of publication, McGregor’s work made a significant influence on the management philosophy. Most of the management books include his theory as an example of the substantial step of management insights (Jastolka, 2009). It was stated by Head (2011), that most of the managers prefer to use one of those, instead of other approaches. Later, after McGregor’s publication the contribution for a deeper research of labor’s motivation was made. Also, McGregor’s work persuaded managers to believe that employees’ behavior can be predicted using scientific metho ds. Afterwards the research has been conducted, therefore the deeper understanding of human’s motivation can be gained (Head, 2011). The appliance of both methods can be successful, depending on which sphere the company is specializing in. According to Bobic and Davis (2003), adaptive approach, or Theory X works with highly routine and detailed tasks. Additionally, it is more appropriate for firms with bureaucratic structures (Kirton, 1978; cited in Bobic and Davis, 2003). Such organizations have hierarchical systems with clearly distinguished responsibilities and roles. Regarding to the innovative technique, or Theory Y, it responds more efficiently with complicated tasks that require special skills (Sorensen, 2011). In spite of listed advantages, McGregor’s work was criticized for the number of weaknesses. Firstly, technological development, new forms of businesses and other improvements in the organization of production leaded to the alteration of employees’ responsibilities, and formed new types of jobs. It was claimed by Bobic and Davis (2003), that present workers have different working settings, in the comparison to the working environment in  1960s. Thus, it is fallaciously to regard this theory as a beneficial explanation of contemporary humans’ motivation. Secondly, people have a set of characteristics, which makes every person unique, and it is far too complex to distinguish them between only two groups. For example, Theory X does not take the diversity of individuals into the consideration (Miner, 2002; cited in Jastolka, 2009). Finally, McGregor’s hypothesis is mostly founded on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which validity is criticized (Heylighen, 1992; cited in Bobic and Davis, 2003). Furthermore, Maslow’s work was based on the empirical base of America, and its applicability to other countries has not been successfully proven yet. In case of China, its working environment is slightly becoming similar to Western, because in 1979 Chinese government began to implement economic policies to create an economy with capitalistic features, such as profit orientation, private owning and market forces (Francesco and Gold, 2005). Such changes significantly influenced the way, in which Chinese workers are treated by their managers, forcing them to practice methods that used in Western nations, however despite these changes, implementing of McGregor’s methods is hard for certain reasons. First of all, according to Francesco and Gold (2005), the management style of a country, such as China, with strong traditions and remained patriarchy, is hard to be transformed or altered. For example, Garg and Ma (2005) conducted a research, which shows the difference between frameworks of organizations. The participants of survey were three groups of firms, with different introduction of non-Chinese executives, who use Western management approaches: complete, partial and blank, and result shows a significant difference between these companies in some aspects of working conditions. In organizations with only Chinese executives, most of employees experience an unavailability of managers, lack of encouragement to be innovative and lack of support most of the time. However, it could be argued that the conditions described above could be associated with Theory X. Secondly, Chinese employees in firms function as a group where each member is working for the prosperity of the whole company (Francesco and Gold, 2005). This feature restrains the enthusiasm of workers to be innovative in their job in order to maximize the profit of his/her company, but coerce them to do their tasks conventionally, because employees are anxious to harm their firm, while Theory Y assumes that people must have more freedom. Then,  Tsui et al. (cited in Huang, 2006), argue that communist ideology force Chinese employees to make efforts in their work to the favor of the commune. Finally, due to the listed characteristics most of the Chinese managers use commune-based leadership style. This means that Chinese workers are mostly dependent on their command and thus it is more appropriate to implement the ideas of Theory X in Chinese organizations (Jackson and Bak, 1998; cited in Huang, 2006). However, an interview made by Jamal and Xie (1991), shows that satisfaction and motivation of employees are in direct relationship to managers’ level of participation. To sum up, both Theory X and Theory Y have been successfully adopted in Western and some of the developing countries. With regard to China, which economy type has changed only 30 years before and traditional values of Chinese people remain fundamental, which in turn reduce the probability of prosperous adaptation of McGregor’s ideas. Comparing both theories, Theory X is more applicable to China than Theory Y, because of traditional command-style of leadership. However, in spite of the number of successful implementations of these approaches in completely Chinese organizations, with the goal to maximize the profit of a company, the applying of methods, which reflect the nature of a worker in China, who is different from the Western employee is preferable to McGregor’s work.

Democracy essays

Democracy essays It is a tendency to practice democracy over the world. There are lots of governments in the world which are trying their best to promote a sense of democracy for their nationals. Obviously, we can find that there are still some areas in Hong Kong where we cannot have freedom, such as freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and so on .In order to make such a change, therefore, it is more than urgent to propagate democracy in our society. For us to do this , the best way is that we should cultivate such a sense in our youngsters who are ,as it has always been said, the future pillars of our society. As we all know, our future masters are still in school, the target, therefore, should be set on students in their campus life. Therefore, we should consider what the meaning of democracy is. No one can doubt the meaning that a democratic society is a society in which people can have their own opinions, choices, speeches to choose anything freely and are not disturbed by any persons. As we know more about democratic system in school, we will have democratic society in Hong Kong sooner or later. Organizing a students union has its undeniable role in promoting democracy in school. As the students can cast their votes to decide which the best union is. They will cater for the students?needs. In the short run, it can ensure that their own ballots would influence the election results and their votes would be respected in that it can have our just and equal system in school. What is also worth noticing is that by offering an opportunity for the students to express their own views, it is a good idea that students can enjoy freedom of press. For example, students can write articles to express what they think and what they need that they may be fulfilled by the school. Furthermore, the school authority should examine their opinions one by one, and give the responses seriously. ...

Who is Bell Hooks essays

Who is Bell Hooks essays Bell Hooks, whose government name is Gloria Watkins is a author, cultural critic, and feminist theorist that hails from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Over the past decade she has written plenty of novels that aroused the souls of many African-Americans. Salvation: black people in love is one of her most recent attempts to educate black people on the importance of love, which she claims is what black people today are missing. I can see that her views are well respected, by all of the positive criticism she receives from people like Maya Angelou and magazines like Essence and the Black Issues Book Review. Moreover, in this novel she makes a lot of claims and most hold to be true. But one significant claim that is made by Hooks is that Tupac Amaru Shakur was and still is a negative influence on young black males today. In this essay I will challenge that claim. I believe that Tupac Amaru Shakur has had a positive influence on young black males today because through his music and writings he w as able to teach young black males to respect people like they would want to be respected, to constantly search for knowledge, and to always have self-esteem. Bell Hooks, as well as the mass media portray to us that black people are not loving, and that our lives are so burdened with violence and aggression that we have no time to love. She involves Tupac Shakur, an influential and revolutionary rapper/activist into this general statement. Due to Tupac and a handful of other rappers, young black men try to take on the image of being hard. Hardness, is usually associated with being nonchalant about life, rebelling against the social structure, and being violently aggressive at times. In the dictionary, hard means tough, unbreakable, and stiff. I feel that Bell Hooks definition of hard means incompetent, devalued and destroyed and that once they learn this way of life, they will ultimately become ...

Biography of Alfred Wegener, German Scientist

Biography of Alfred Wegener, German Scientist Alfred Wegener (November 1, 1880–November 1930) was a German meteorologist and geophysicist who developed the first theory of continental drift and formulated the idea that a supercontinent known as Pangaea existed on the Earth millions of years ago. His ideas were largely ignored at the time they were developed, but today they are widely accepted by the scientific community. As part of his research, Wegener also took part in several journeys to Greenland, where he studied the atmosphere and ice conditions. Fast Facts: Alfred Wegener Known For: Wegener was a German scientist who developed the idea of continental drift and Pangaea.Born: November 1, 1880 in Berlin, GermanyDied: November 1930 in Clarinetania,  GreenlandEducation: University of Berlin (Ph.D.)Published Works: Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere (1911), The Origin of Continents and Oceans (1922)Spouse: Else Koppen Wegener  (m. 1913-1930)Children: Hilde, Hanna, Sophie Early Life Alfred Lothar Wegener was born on November 1, 1880, in Berlin, Germany. During his childhood, Wegeners father ran an orphanage. Wegener took an interest in physical and earth sciences and studied these subjects at universities in both Germany and Austria. He graduated with a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Berlin in 1905. He briefly served as an assistant at the Urania Observatory in Berlin. While earning his Ph.D. in astronomy, Wegener also took an interest in meteorology and paleoclimatology (the study of changes in the Earths climate throughout its history). From 1906 to 1908 he went on an expedition to Greenland to study polar weather. In Greenland, Wegener established a research station where he could take meteorological measurements. This expedition was the first of four dangerous trips that Wegener would take to the icy island. The others occurred from 1912 to 1913 and in 1929 and 1930. Continental Drift Shortly after receiving his Ph.D., Wegener began teaching at the University of Marburg in Germany, and in 1910 he drafted his Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere, which would later become an important meteorological textbook. During his time at the university, Wegener developed an interest in the ancient history of the Earths continents and their placement. He had noticed, in 1910, that the eastern coast of South America and the northwestern coast of Africa looked as if they were once connected. In 1911, Wegener also came across several scientific documents stating there were identical fossils of plants and animals on each of these continents. He eventually articulated the idea that all of the Earths continents were at one time connected into one large supercontinent. In 1912, he presented the idea of continental displacement- which would later become known as continental drift- to explain how the continents moved toward and away from one another throughout the Earths history. In 1914, Wegener was drafted into the German Army during World War I. He was wounded twice and was eventually placed in the Armys weather forecasting service for the duration of the war. In 1915, Wegener published his most famous work, The Origin of Continents and Oceans, as an extension of his 1912 lecture. In that work, he presented extensive evidence to support his claim that all of the Earths continents were at one time connected. Despite the evidence, however, most of the scientific community ignored his ideas at the time. Later Life From 1924 to 1930, Wegener was a professor of meteorology and geophysics at the University of Graz in Austria. At a 1927 symposium, he introduced the idea of Pangaea, a Greek term meaning all lands, to describe the supercontinent that he believed existed on the Earth millions of years ago. Scientists now believe that such a continent did exist- it probably formed about 335 million years ago and began to split apart 175 million years ago. The strongest evidence of this is- as Wegener suspected- the distribution of similar fossils throughout continental borders that are now many miles apart. Death In 1930, Wegener took part in his last expedition to Greenland to set up a winter weather station that would monitor the jet stream in the upper atmosphere over the North Pole. Severe weather delayed the start of the trip and made it extremely difficult for Wegener and the 14 other explorers and scientists with him to reach the weather station. Eventually, 12 of these men would turn around and return to the groups base camp near the coast. Wegener and two others continued on, reaching the final destination of Eismitte (Mid-Ice, a site near the center of Greenland) five weeks after the start of the expedition. On the return trip to the base camp, Wegener became lost and is believed to have died sometime in November 1930 at the age of 50. Legacy For most of his life, Wegener remained dedicated to his theory of continental drift and Pangaea despite receiving harsh criticism from other scientists, many of whom believed the oceanic crust was too rigid to permit the movement of tectonic plates. By the time of his death in 1930, his ideas were almost entirely rejected by the scientific community. It was not until the 1960s that they gained credibility as scientists began studying seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. Wegeners ideas served as a framework for those studies, which produced evidence that supported his theories. The development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in 1978 eliminated any residual doubt there may have been by providing direct evidence of continental movements. Today, Wegeners ideas are highly regarded by the scientific community as an early attempt at explaining why the Earths landscape is the way it is. His polar expeditions are also highly admired and today the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research is known for its high-quality research in the Arctic and the Antarctic. A crater on the Moon and a crater on Mars are both named in Wegeners honor. Sources Bressan, David. â€Å"May 12, 1931: Alfred Wegeners Last Journey.† Scientific American Blog Network, 12 May 2013.Oreskes, Naomi, and Homer E. LeGrand.  Plate Tectonics: An Insiders History of the Modern Theory of the Earth. Westview, 2003.Wegener, Alfred.  The Origin of Continents and Oceans. Dover Publications, 1992.Yount, Lisa.  Alfred Wegener: Creator of the Continental Drift Theory. Chelsea House Publishers, 2009.

PORTFOLIO PROJECT Part 7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

PORTFOLIO PROJECT Part 7 - Essay Example In stakeholders’ opinion, it is the benefit given to employees in exchange of the effort they have made for the organization. One complete definition for compensation is that it is a method to deal with all kinds of rewards of employees in the work system (Bomkamp, 2013). Compensation management as a HR function is significantly valued in organizations. Managers believe that it is a function that engages employees to their work system. They consider it as a function to ensure employees’ motivation in the work place. From a strategic point of view, compensation management is a planning stage for retaining employees. It is a planning process to organize qualified workers in the work system. It is a system that integrates workers with organizational culture and values. According to the contemporary literature, compensation is of two major types - financial and non-financial compensation. Financial compensation includes direct wages and performance based salaries while non- financial compensation may include job rotation, job expansion, hierarchy promotions and other resourceful benefits such as health insurance, medical facility, house or transport facility. In organizational practice, financial compensations are designed in accordance to market trends, while non-financial compensations are flexible, as they can be changed or amended depending upon the financial position of the organization. Furthermore, the literature asserts that compensation can be for the short term and long term. For example, Google Inc. offers work time entertainment facilities to employees as short term compensation, and the other company - Scientific Games Corporation offers $9.1 million golden parachute to the chairman of the office as long term compensation (Bomkamp, 2013, p. 2). The core objective of any reward or compensation is to retain employees and for that reason it has been noted that organizations actually determine compensations using flexible methods to ensure emp loyee retention. Definitely, if compensations are successful to retain employees, the employee turnover will be lower and as a result the organizational performance will be improved. This is what any organization would like to achieve from its compensation policy that is to increase employee performance. When high levels of employee performances are achieved then the company can expect higher efficiency and performance. The Challenge According to Joe (2011), accountants are in-charge of most of the technical work in an organization system (Martocchio & Joe, 2011). They have to conduct market research, prepare financial reports and bring revenue forecast, which is all a managerial level of task and operation (Martocchio & Joe, 2011). An effective compensation for accountants is one, which can justify with the accountant’s nature of work which involves high responsibility, major skill and effort (Singh, 2007). Definitely, if an accountant gives his full effort, the knowledge an d skill to his organization so the organization should acknowledge it by returning him back in the form of effective compensation. This is the challenge which most of the firms face while designing compensation for accountants, as they miss out the elements of fairness and equity at the time of compensating accountants (Martocchio & Joe, 2011, p. 20). Proposed Procedures for Accountants’ Compensation Management Market Assessment For designing effective