Sunday, January 26, 2020

Gender Discrimination Essay

Gender Discrimination Essay Introduction Gender inequality, or in other words, gender discrimination refers to unfair rights between male and female based on different gender roles which leads to unequal treatment in life. The term gender inequality has been widely known in human history but not until the beginning the 20th century has the transformation of gender relations become one of the most rapid, profound social changes (Wright Rogers 2009). And at the same time, the position of men and women were generally set. The growth of this situation has been obviously seen. According to a survey in America, females salary at work is 75% as low as males. Coming back to last century, at work, when men were paid 1 dollar, the amount that women received was just 58 cents, in accordance with the law in 1963 (Tran 2012) . And in Vietnam, gender inequality is shown in the difference between two genders in the number of babies. Statistics of Ministry of Planning Investment in 2010 reported that there were 110.6 new-born boys out of 100 new-born girls which was much higher than in the past. However, as a matter of fact, gender discrimination has made a big argument in society about whether the equality among genders should be encouraged or not. Regarding to this problem, American people seem to appreciate the position of women, meanwhile, the Chinese tend to think of higher power of men in life (Chang n.d.) Thus, this paper, with the purpose of reporting the current states of gender inequality, its impacts as well as the solutions to improve this trend, will give readers another look at this controversial problem. Discussion of findings What is gender inequality? Gender inequality is a social problem which causes unfair treatment in society between different genders. These dissimilarities are distinguished from biological factors, especially from differing reproductive roles in life (Reeves Baden 2000). This misperception comes originally from the wrong understanding about the position of each gender in life. Nowadays, the paradox that makes women suffer adversities and put women into unpleasant situation is seen in every angle of life. However, the method of gender discrimination in one place differs from that in others. For example, in workplace gender inequality accelerates when entering the job racing, not only the dissimilar salary, inequality at work is demonstrated through the differences between genders and the amount of money paid (Hsu 2012). In the aspect of education, in the past, men are prone to have more chances to go to school. Young women seemed to have fewer opportunities for higher education than young men (Dang 2008, p.25) Regarding to the reasons and the origin of gender inequality, it can be seen that Asia would be the place where gender discrimination has seemed to be a tradition. According to the General office for population family planning, the idea of distinguishing men from women came from the impacts of Confucianism and the awareness of people about life. Men were thought to have a duty of continuing the ancestral line. In that society, not having a son meant to be disrespectful towards the ancestor. Going on with this wrong conception, women are more likely to lose the role in community (Nguyen n.d.) How gender inequality affects lives? Initially, gender inequality has effects on the scale of population. According to statistics of the General office for population family planning (Nguyen n.d.), because of the discrimination of genders, the number of new-born boys and girls is unequal. To some people, the hope to have a son loses the balance between two genders. Unfortunately, this situation has occurred for such a long time, so the impacts of it in the population are rather huge. As report of Ministry of public health, it is estimated that, despite the attempt to reduce the fluctuation between the birth of boys and girls, in 2020 there will be 4.3 million men more than women. Minister of ministry of public health statement (cited in Phuong 2012), said that if this trend still keeps on going, it will lead to quite a few consequences in security and the order of society before marriage age of children because there will lack brides resulting from out-numbered new-born boys from girls. Now we can see an obvious consequ ence among the Chinese. According to a Blue Paper on Society released by the China Academy of Social Science, there will run short of brides in ten years because of severe gender imbalance among young people, particularly among under 19-aged people (Tang 2010). Secondly, the discrimination of genders leads to some problems in education. Education is an important tool, is the key to the growth of human. And no matter what gender a person is, he has right to expose to education like others. Chaudhry Rahman (2009 p.175), reported that there are many empirical evidences that, increase in female education improves human development outcomes such as child survival, health and schooling. However, lower female education had a negative impact on economic growth as it lowered the average level of human capital (Klasen 2002, cited in Chaudhry Rahman 2009, p.175). World Bank in 2001 stated that in almost all poor countries, there is a high trend of educational impacts of gender inequality. In poverty, girls are more likely to be influenced to approach education. Finally, economy is the field that is consequently affected, because there is a link between education and economy. The impact of gender inequality on economy is found through the number of male and female students in primary and secondary school which is negative (Barro and Lee (1994) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995), cited Stephan Klasen 1999, p.4). And they claimed that a large gap in male and female schooling may signify backwardness and may therefore be associated with lower economic growth( Barro and Lee (1994) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995)). And lets take China- a country which is famous for strong gender imbalance all over the world- as an example of modeling the impact of gender imbalances on economic performance (Golley Tyers 2012). As mentioned earlier, China is facing a lack of brides 10 years to go and this trend leads to the problems of women purchasing crime. Especially men in poor provinces now are exposing to marriage market and this situation makes the black market of selling wife on the rise, said the deputy director of the China Population Association- Tian Xueyuan (cited Tang 2010). Another economic impact of gender discrimination is unequal wages among male and female. According to Yang Juhua, a professor with Renmin University, the wages of women is much lower than mens despite the same level of position (cited Tang 2010). Tang also mentioned the chances to get a job of women are smaller and there is more likelihood of being refused on applying for jobs. How to solve this problem? Ninety-three years ago, people in some places in the world first officially celebrated the International womens day. In ninety three years, there have been a lot of changes made in terms of changing attitudes of people about the inequality of genders. Nowadays we are living in a developed world which is contributed by both men and female so why female have to suffer such that inequality which they dont deserve to? Generally speaking, this kind of inequality has existed for a long time and in every area of the world, no matter where it is (Chang n.d.). Now its time for the world together make this out-of-date conception fade away. To some extent, the Nobel Committee stated that we cannot reach democracy and peace unless we wouldnt give equal rights and chances for women have. For the sake of making economic recovery, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed that promoting women to participate in economy and increasing their productivity is the key to economic growth because it will create an effect on the competitiveness and growth of our economies. (cited Sharma Keefe 2011). In the relationship between economy and education, people cannot underestimate the importance of education. To flourish the economy system, people have to make an effort on schooling. Regarding to the solutions to this, setting up gender-sensitive schools is a crucial step in making a nice environment for learning and teaching. Helping female feel more confident in studying, improving a gender-sensitive curriculum which reflects national policy on gender equality to instruct is also necessary (Clarke 2005, p.11) Conclusion From all the discussing above, gender inequality is obviously an urgent problem in the world. Despite the fact that its volume much decreases, it still exists and makes a lot of people suffer its consequences every day. And there are many reasons leading to gender discrimination which cannot be solved easily. However, with education and progressive thoughts of people, there are also reasons to trust in the future of gender inequality being stopped. Then, hopefully, people can live in fairness no matter what gender they are.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Physics And Engineering In I.T. Power Management Essay

The cost of energy continues to increase with shrinking in corporate budgets and need for more energy input. At times like this, even IT industry is affected and the stakeholders are starting to look for new ways of cutting down the cost as they keep the quality of work high and efficiency maximized. Implementation of a good energy policy in an organization’s premises can lead to reduced costs of ICT infrastructural costs in terms of capital required in setting up servers and cooling systems. If the right energy saving and proper utilization habits are adopted and effective construction and installation ideas implemented in natural air flow optimization and proper heat insulation can lead to less cooling facilities requirements, cutting on costs (Greenguard, 2009). Efforts of energy conservation in IT infrastructure have been initiated through: †¢ Technologies like PoE (Power over internet) and midspans; this is a technology that enables gadgets like phones to receive power together with data through the Ethernet connection. Midspans are stand alone gadgets that are used to interface the Ethernet switch with the power sources for optimized power distribution to the ports as required. †¢ Implementation of Smart energy and lighting technology in huge company premises with many workers using ICT equipments. †¢ Efforts of IEEE-the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, to set standards for manufacturers of electronic and electrical gadgets (IEEE 802. 3-at) to ensure optimized energy utilization at the design level. †¢ IT technology in energy auditing and virtualization of power management †¢ Use of Integrated circuits (ICs) to control magnetic and pulse width modulators for external power connection in devices. †¢ Use of Power Source Equipment (PSE) and Power Devices (PD) in network classification during powering of new connections to ensure only PoE connections are powered in wireless and telecom devices. Electrical Power With the introduction of Power over Ethernet (PoE), many electronic devices that work in direct connection with computers through Ethernet cables have shifted from use of external power cables to reception of power together with data on the Ethernet connection. The (IEEE) has established some standards (IEEE 802. 3-at) for such technology, contributing to encouraging the manufactures of electrical and electronic products to contribute in efforts of making ICT infrastructure environment friendly, through less energy consumption. This is a strategy which if adopted can lead to very improved efficiency in power delivery in devices’ interconnection. The manufacturers of such devices, for example Texas Instruments’, are manufacturing devices with power capabilities of choosing either to use PoE or switch to standard mode when the option is not available. This is in the effort to become compliant with the IEEE 802. 3-at. Even when PoE is a better option than external cables, a more detailed power saving strategy can be applied through use of midspans, which interface the switches with power sources, injecting power to the ports using way much better technology and hence more efficient. Such consciousness is needed in order to contribute to the overall infrastructure. According to (Conner, 2008), for the manufacturers of the gadgets, the design of PoE can contribute to making of smaller boards and reduce the cost of inputs on large scale. The technology shift there in the physics of electronic gadgets is the replacement of impedance power reduction through dissipation with the magnetic and switching methods in pulse width modulators, controlled through ICs. In efforts to increase power efficiency, the cost of production is also bound to reduce in the long run. The application of PSEs and PDs in network in power control centers gives an option to do power budgets and determine the proper management strategies to be applied. These are such refined levels of control that give the way to streamline and generally control power use. With the current state of globalization in online business, the ICT infrastructure has grown to very complex networks, especially with emergent of mobile devices. Power systems for these networks are as huge as the extents of the networks while management is done manually at physical points of contact. The samples provided in the cases of Highmark and the University of Minnesota (Greenguard, 2009) form a small part of the global business ICT infrastructure that interact with the environment. Educating people/employees A huge effort should go to changing the habits of power use in a working environment. The employees can too contribute to the efforts of a greener ICT infrastructure by ensuring proper use of power. Switching off devices when not in use can help accumulate huge power savings with time. This is not a common thing in most IT departments and will take the initiative of the management to organist fro training of the power users on good use of energy sources. When organization becomes too huge with thousands of employees, energy efficiency becomes a major issue. Such a high number of users of the infrastructure can accumulate a high energy demand and proper management for cost effective and sustainable operation. An example of such a firm is the Highmark with 11000 employees. Energy Computations and Software Virtualization Right from the Physics hardware, the availability of interfacing in ports control to enable remote power on and power off (Ronen, 2009) in PoE makes complex networks manageable. In the Highmark case the Company strategized on extra careful management method on using software technology like energy auditing tools and virtualization as well as new technology in smart energy and lighting systems (Greenguard, 2009). According to the report, there has been increase in need for organizations to use power consuming ICT infrastructure with new technologies to do business as compared to the traditional methods. This has led to ratings of about â€Å"61 billion kilowatt-hours in 2006† by data centers (Greenguard, 2009). The figures could even increase with more ICT use, alarming the corporate to strategize on conservation and efficiency. Owing to this, there have been numerous instances of application of IT solution in power management. Highmark installed a system for collecting rain water and using it in a datacenter cooling system and virtualized the servers to monitor PC usage by employees. This strategy helped adopt the method of remote powering down of equipment not in use, to minimize wastage. The company consulted with IBM to do computations of server spacing for maximum utilization of cooling systems. It appears clearly that many organizations have massive equipments powered up even when not in use because of poor management policy. From these results, it is important to carry each of these computation and software analysis methods with weigh while considering efforts to manage such massive data infrastructures. In many cases, the companies rely on employees to be reliable in implementing the energy conservation policies but even that cannot be enough. If software methods are used to monitor use of powered resources and power them down remotely, a great deal of energy could be saved. A perfect example here is the IT organization of the University of Minnesota which could â€Å"switch off about 25,000 devices each night† (Greenguard, 2009). Conclusion The IT infrastructure comprises of billions of gadgets that use electrical power to operate and network equipment to keep them connected. Power consumption is therefore starts from a single device’s design and connection to the system and spans to the networking level. The physical electronic power consumption can be managed and through standardization methods such as those by IEEE. It is at such low levels that interaction with the environment can be analyzed and energy consumption optimized. The physical arrangement of power consuming data facilities is also of significance importance as clogging them closely together reduces the ability of natural air flow to take care of cooling done by electrical motors in fans. The relationship between IT and these physical sciences is so direct when it comes to practical application fields. The application of software power computation, management and control also helps ICT fit into the practical idea of conservation and greener infrastructure. From the cases analyzed, there is enough evidence that application of technology from the physics and engineering of devices and systems, software tools and ICT infrastructure can be managed in away that can lead to more environment friendly use. References Conner, M. (2008). PoE for high-powered applications. Electronics Weekly, (2263), 18 Retrieved from: http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=cph&AN=36122010&loginpage=Login. asp&site=ehost-live Sani Ronen, (2009) Midspans for next-gen PoE,An inside look at technologies and standards, Tech update, Available: www. networkworld. com Samuel Greengard, (2009), Building an Energy-Efficient IT Infrastructure, Baseline Magazine Available: http://www. baselinemag. com

Friday, January 10, 2020

Ansel Adams life and two analysis of his photographs Essay

Ansel Adams was born February 20, 1902, in San Francisco, California. Ansel took an interest in music at an early age. He taught himself how to play the piano and enjoyed the surroundings of nature. In 1916, he and his parents went on a trip to Yosemite National Park where he received his first camera, the Kodak Box Brownie. His first photographs recorded their vacation. Ansel fell in love with Yosemite National Park and would return every summer. He worked four summers as the caretaker of the park’s club headquarters. During this time, he became an expert mountaineer and conservationist and gained vast of experience as a landscape photographer. Ansel struggled between two professions, photography and music. In 1920, he decided to become a concert pianist. For seven years he gave piano lessons and concerts. After viewing Paul Strand’s wonderful work, Adams decided to switch careers to photography. A short time later, he joined â€Å"f/64†, a group dedicated to the concept of photography that looked like photography, not like an imitation of other art forms. Ansel stands as one of America’s greatest landscape photographers. His career was punctuated with countless elegant, handsomely composed, and technically flawless photographs of outstanding natural landscapes. His strength as an artist is largely attributed to his diligent investigation of the methods of photography, developing a careful darkroom technique of exposure and development he called the Zone System. In each of his images, Adams aimed to vary the range of tones from rich black to whitest white in order to achieve perfect photographic clarity. His reputation has been firmly established by exhibitions in virtually every major American art museum, three Guggenheim Fellowships and a score of publications. One of Ansel’s landscape photographs is Forest of Aspen. Forest of Aspen is an excellent example of chiaroscuro. The focal point is the tree on the left side that looks as if it is illuminated by the sun. Ansel was good at producing black and white photographs that had the whitest whites all the way to pitch black. The tree is a bright white while the rest of the photograph is a variety of grays and blacks. There are several skinny tree trunks behind the bright tree extending to the top and width of the photograph. Some grey leaves can be seen at the vary top of the photograph making the bright tree look like a younger tree. Between the skinny tree  trunks there is black space. The skinny tree trunks are a variety of grays starting from light gray to black as they retreat out of sight. Just to the left of the bright tree there is another tree a bit smaller. This tree isn’t bright, but rather a light gray. Small gray and black shrubbery occupies the lower portion of th e photograph. When looking at this photograph, one wonders how the sun seems to shine only on the small tree located on the left. Another photograph taken by Ansel Adams is Moonrise, CA 1966. This is another example of chiaroscuro. This photograph is looking at the campus of UC Berkeley and the sky. The top of the photo till midway is pitch black. Then in the middle but a little to the left is a small white circle which is the moon. Below the moon is a small section of sky that is still lit up. This section of sky contains scattered clouds. Under the skyline there are silhouettes of several buildings and trees. Some of the buildings details can be seen while others are black. The lower section of the photo is hard to make out. There appears to be a car in the lower right section indicating a possible parking lot. This photo shows excellent representation of the transforming sky from day to night. Ansel captured this transformation in mid-form. The sky contains both the pitch black night sky and the bright white sky with scattered clouds. Ansel Adams was a man who loved photography. He showed this love through countless studies he did with photography. No one could print his negatives the same way he could. Ansel was the best black and white photographer of his time. The ranges of black and white he could print were outstanding. I thought the film that we watched was very dry and dull but the photographs that Ansel Adams took were amazing. He truly was an artist. I have worked a little bit with black and white photography and the variety of color he got from his negatives was truly incredible. I have respect for Ansel because he loved photography. He showed this love through his photographs; and when he died in 1984, he arranged for all his photographs and negatives to go to the University of Arizona. Now his negatives can be observed and even reprinted to help the study of photography continue. This shows that he was a very giving person. He did whatever he could to help advance photography. He even  tested and pro moted the Polaroid Land camera, which he sent over 3,000 memos to Polaroid. Ansel Adams was dedicated to photography.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Roman Lares, Larvae, Lemures, and Manes

The ancient Romans believed that after death their souls became spirits or shades of the dead. There is some debate about the nature of Roman shades or spirits (aka ghosts). The theologian Augustine Bishop of Hippo (A.D. 354 - 430), who died when Vandals attacked Roman Africa, wrote about the Roman shades a few centuries after most of the literary, pagan Latin references to such spirits. Horace (65-8 B.C.) Epistles 2.2.209:​nocturnos lemures portentaque Thessala rides?)Do you laugh at dreams, miracles, magical terrors,Witches, ghosts in the night, and Thessalian portents?Kline translationOvid (43 B.C.-A.D. 17/18) Fasti 5.421ff:ritus erit veteris, nocturna Lemuria, sacri:inferias tacitis manibus illa dabunt.It will be the ancient sacred rites of the Lemuria,When we make offerings to the voiceless spirits. (Note that Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome died in 337.) St. Augustine on the Spirits of the Dead: Lemures and Demon: [Plotinus (3rd century A.D.)] says, indeed, that the souls of men are demons, and that men become Lares if they are good, Lemures or Larvae if they are bad, and Manes if it is uncertain whether they deserve well or ill. Who does not see at a glance that this is a mere whirlpool sucking men to moral destruction? For, however wicked men have been, if they suppose they shall become Larvae or divine Manes, they will become the worse the more love they have for inflicting injury; for, as the Larvae are hurtful demons made out of wicked men, these men must suppose that after death they will be invoked with sacrifices and divine honors that they may inflict injuries. But this question we must not pursue. He also states that the blessed are called in Greek eudaimones, because they are good souls, that is to say, good demons, confirming his opinion that the souls of men are demons. From Chapter 11. City of God, by St. Augustine, Augustine says there were the following different types of spirits of the dead: Lares if good,Lemures (larvae) if evil, andManes if indeterminate. Another Interpretation of the Lemures - Haunting Spirits: Instead of being evil spirits, the lemures (larvae) may have been souls that could find no rest because, having met with a violent or premature death, they were unhappy. They wandered among the living, haunting people and driving them to madness. This corresponds with modern tales about the ghosts in haunted houses. Lemuria - Festivals to Placate the Lemures: No sane Roman wanted to be haunted, so they held ceremonies to satisfy the spirits. The lemures (larvae) were propitiated during the 9-day festival in May named Lemuria after them. At the Parentalia or Feralia on the 18th and 21st of February, living descendants shared a meal with the benevolent spirits of their ancestral (manes or di parentes). Ovid (43 B.C. – A.D. 17) on the Lemures and Manes: Almost four centuries before the Christian St. Augustine wrote about pagan beliefs in shades, the Romans were honoring their ancestors and writing about the ceremonies. At the time, there was already uncertainty about the origins of placating festivals. In Ovids Fasti 5.422, the Manes and Lemures are synonymous and both hostile, in need of exorcism via the Lemuria. Ovid incorrectly derives the Lemuria from Remuria, saying it was to placate Remus, the brother of Romulus. Larvae and Lemures: Usually considered the same, not all ancient authors considered the Larvae and Lemures identical. In the Apocolocyntosis 9.3 (about the deification of  Emperor Claudius, attributed to Seneca) and Plinys Natural History, Larvae are tormentors of the dead. Manes: The Manes (in the plural) were originally good spirits. Their name was usually placed with the word for gods, di, as in Di manes. Manes came to be used for the ghosts of individuals. The first writer to do so is Julius and Augustus Caesars contemporary Cicero (106 - 43 B.C.). Reference: Aeneas and the Demands of the Dead, by Kristina P. Nielson. The Classical Journal, Vol. 79, No. 3. (Feb. - Mar. 1984). Also see Aeneid in the Realm of Hades Odysseus in the Underworld - Nekuia Ovid Fasti 5.421ff Judgment of the Dead in the Egyptian Afterlife Lemures and Larvae, by George Thaniel The American Journal of Philology. Vol. 94, No. 2 (Summer, 1973), pp. 182-187