Affirmative Action misc3 essays

Affirmative Action misc3 essays Affirmative action is described as the term meant taking appropriate steps to eradicate the then widespread practices of racial, religious, and ethnic discrimination. The history of affirmative action starts a long time before this definition was stated during the early 1960's. It starts back to the Declaration of Independence where it states all men are created equal. It moves toward the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments which involved the freeing of slaves, abolishing slavery, conferred citizenship on all persons born in the United States, and guaranteeing voting rights to all citizens. There were also many court cases that helped move forth into affirmative action. A few examples would be Buchanan v. Warley, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Brown v. Board of Education. The latter court case was a real firestorm over affirmative action, which ruled that all local, state, and federal laws that enforced segregation in education was striked down. President John F. Kennedy first used the phrase "Affirmative Action" when he issued Executive Order 10952. This order created the Equal Opportunity Commission or the EEOC and contractors on projects financed with federal funds to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, ant employees are treated during their employment without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin." President Kennedy also pushed for more legislation but was not alive to see it go through. Proceeding Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson took over the fight and pushed for the passing of Civil Rights Act of 1964, which barred discrimination in the variety of private and public settings. It included prohibiting discrimination in private facilities, outlawed discrimination in federally-funded-programs, and prohibited discrimination by both private and public employers and so forth. Still under Johnson's control, the Executive Order 11246, placed the responsibility for a...

Invisible Man Essays - Invisible Man, Brotherhood, Paint Factory

Invisible Man Essays - Invisible Man, Brotherhood, Paint Factory Invisible Man 1. In the Emerson's paint factory, the narrator first gets a job adding dope to bad paint and then is sent to work down in the basement of a building, where the oils for the paint are produced. The then gets into a fight with his foreman, and neglects his job of watching pressure gauges. His neglecting causes an explosion at Emerson's Paint factory and he is injured in the blast, and has to be taken to the hospital. 2. Brother Jack was the leader of the Brother hood. He was the one who sought out the narrator to become part of the Brotherhood. Tod Clifton was the youth leader of the Brotherhood. Tod was black and a handsum man, who lead the youth section of the Brotherhood, but in the end he betrayed the Brotherhood. Ras the Exhorter was a man against the Brotherhood. He wanted black versus white hate and was opposed to all the Brotherhood was up to. Sybil was a women in the Brotherhood, who was married. The narrator wanted to suduce her to find out what she knew, but she turned out to know nothing at all. 3. The symbolic significance of Mary's cast-iron coin bank is of what black people stand for to white people. The coin bank made the narrator angry, because it was symbolic of blacks, being slaves to white people, and how some white people though of black people as entertainment, and were not actually people but where just animals. 4. I believe that the narrator was unnamed for two reasons. One being that most of the novel was a flash back to things that had happened and he was explaining about himself, and we didn't need to know his name since we knew so much about him. Secondly because of the title of the book Invisible being mysterious, and to follow that the author decided not to tell the readers the narrators name to follow the mystery of the title. 5. The Brotherhood was an organization of people who believed in total unity of all of the races. Their purpose was to organize together as brothers and make every one of all nationalities and colors be in peace with each other, to respect every race as friends, as brothers.

Issues in Global Political Economy Research Paper

Issues in Global Political Economy - Research Paper Example As the research stresses natural resource abundance hinders economic growth. Many countries in African have plenty of natural resources such as gold, oil, and copper among many others. More than two-thirds of their products moving outside the country are natural resources, and yet these nations are poor and politically unstable. The countries depend on foreign investors for their economic feasibility. As the paper discusses some countries rich in oil minerals such as Iran, Kuwait, and Libya experienced slow growth in the last several decades. Moreover, members of the OPEC, in general, experience a fall in the GNP per capita whereas states not rich in minerals enjoyed a growth in their GNP per capita. South Africa went through a period of de-industrialization and a disappointing economic growth in the 1970's during the boom in gold prices. Several factors led the effects key of them being that the real exchange rate appreciated, and depreciation followed after that. The world saw a shift in making of cocoa paste from countries such as Peru and Venezuela to Colombia after the disruption of the air bridge. Consequently, a booming demand for Colombian coca was experienced, and many people in Columbia became self-employed, and teenagers in the rural areas got work to do. Although, the boom had economic spillover effects as well as financial opportunities it marked the beginning of viol ence and conflicts in major cities.

Chloride Concentration in South Florida Canal Essay

Chloride Concentration in South Florida Canal - Essay Example The Florida canals are located in South Florida is occupies a relatively low-lying highly carbonate area in terms of the topographical dimension. The area receives a relative relief rainfall pattern and the rainfall distribution is 10mm over 100 Km range. South Florida lies mainly on bedrock whose composition was mainly carbonated material, which was formed over one twenty years ago. The South Florida canals are mainly wetlands forming a critical component of the ecosystem. The increasing levels of chlorine and other chemicals in the canal is a major concern for the government and researchers in general (Gleason 165). Agricultural, household and industrial activities contribute a lot to the increasing levels of chemicals in the canal over the last one hundred years. The quality of water bodies in the Florida canal is deteriorating because of several factors such anthropologic activities, wetlands eutrophication and methylmercury pollution in the canal. Eutrophication is mainly caused by high levels of phosphoric materials from the industries. Marine life in the canal is deteriorating as a result of methylmercury pollution from industrial activities (F. McPherson 59). Moreover, the rate at which the wetlands dry is increasing as due to anthropogenic activities in the Florida canals. This affects the effectiveness at which water flows into the canal that is a big blow to the ecosystem balance. This research, however, focuses on determining the levels or concentration of chloride in the Florida canals.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 170

Assignment Example Its Canadian culture has led to loyalty of its customers, strategy that has made it difficult for other coffee houses such as Starbucks to make it in the Canadian Market. Tim Horton’s culture has been able to adapt more in its local market as compared to international markets. The main reason for its adaptation strategies is the ethics of its culture locally leading to customer preference and loyalty. According to research, it has the largest customer share in Canada despite the entry of other giant rivals such as Starbucks and Burgerking. Starbucks, on the other hand, is a coffeehouse chain based in America with its headquarters in Washington. The largest share of its market is found in the United States where its corporate culture has grown strong since its foundation in the late 1970s. Its capital and asset accumulation has led to its international infiltration in markets from all continents. It has also made entries in the Canadian market where it has faced competition from Tim Hortons. Its ethics and customer relations have led to sales acceptance and sales in most international markets where customers are after its trademark. Starbucks has also been involved in environmental projects such as recycling leading to improvements in its corporate culture. Starbucks is the better performer depending on its capital accumulation and market share. Tim Hortons only has its markets in the U.S, Persian Gulf and Canada while Starbucks has expanded to all continents with over 13,000 units worldwide. Its wide variety of products has led to an increase in sales unlike Tim Hortons that has not diversified its products. However, Tim Hortons merger with Burgerking will lead to accumulation of capital that may lead to its expansion and increased performance. Conclusion on the best performer has been based on assets, capital accumulation and market share. Starbucks has higher

Computer Vision In Bad Weather.

Computer Vision In Bad Weather. Saswati Rakshit Aim: To take advantage of bad weather in estimation of depth of a scene from its image. As in bad weather atmosphere modulates original information of an image to the observer so based on observation,we develop model methods for recovering scene properties(e.g. 3D structure,depth etc). Scope/Application: Computer Vision is widely used in various fields now a days. It is used in Optical character recognition: Technology to convert scanned docs to text  Face detection,Smile detection: Many new digital cameras now detect faces and smiles. surveillance and traffic monitoring. Image to a 3D model : turning a collection of photographs into a 3D model Google Self driving Car uses computer vision for distance estimation Introduction : Vision and Atmosphere: Normally in good weather we assume reflected light passes through air without attenuation.so it is assumed brightness of an image point in the scene will be same.But due to atmospheric scattering,absorption and emission light intensity and color are altered. Here our main consideration is on scattering. Bad weather(Particles in space):- weather condition differ in type and size of particles and their concentration. Air (molecule): scattering due to air is minimal Haze (aerosol): haze is certain to effect visibility. Fog (water droplet): Fog and haze has similar origins.but haze extends to altitude of several miles while fog is few hundred feet thick. Cloud is present in high altitude. Rain and snow both effects in image. Here our main consideration is on haze and fog because they appear in low altitude as compared to cloud. Mechanisms of atmospheric scattering Scattering is dependent on particle size and shape.small particles scatter equally in forward and backward,medium size particle scatters more in forward direction and large particle scatters all in forward direction. In nature particles are separated from each other so they scatter independently.i.e. do not interfere others.but In multiple scattering a particle is exposed not only incident light but also light scattered by other particles. Single scattering function can be written as follows I(Ó ¨,ÃŽ »)=E(ÃŽ »).ÃŽ ²(Ó ¨,ÃŽ ») (1) Where E(ÃŽ ») is total incident flux on the volume per unit cross section area I(Ó ¨,ÃŽ ») is flux radiated per unit solid angle per unit volume of medium and ÃŽ ²(Ó ¨,ÃŽ ») is the angular scattering coefficient Objectives: To identify effects caused by bad weather that can be turned to our advantages.understanding attenuation and airlight model that is helpful to measure depth maps of scenes without making assumption about scene properties or the atmospheric conditions. System flow: Here our main goal is to estimate depth and forming 3D of a scene in bad weather condition. For this purpose we used Two different scattering model 1) Attenuation model 2) Airlight model Now first we have used attenuation model and In this model image is taken at night.so environmental illumination are minimal. To estimate depth of light sources in the scene from two images taken under different atmospheric conditions. And applying different mathematical formula used in attenuation model we can compute relative depth of all sources in the scene from two images taken under two different weather condition. Next to work with airlight model we need images in day or when environmental illumination can not be ignored.that is image of a scene is effected by airlight. After selecting the 2D image we apply mathematical formulas of airlight model and comparing the intensity of scene point depth can be easily measured an 3D reconstruction of that scene is also possible. Mathmatics And Description: Attenuation Model We know that beam of light that travels through atmosphere can be attenuated by scattering.and the radiance(intensity) decreases if pathlength increases. Attenuation model developed by McCartney is summarized below If a beam passing through a small sheet(medium) of thickness dx, intensity scattered by the sheet can be written as follows I(Ó ¨,ÃŽ »)=E(ÃŽ »).ÃŽ ²(Ó ¨,ÃŽ ») dx [it represents scattering in Ó ¨ direction] Now total flux scattered in all direction is obtained by integrating over entire spherical sheet φ(ÃŽ »)=E(ÃŽ »).ÃŽ ²(ÃŽ ») dx -(2) fractional change in irradiance at location x can be written as follows: -(3) By integrating both side of eqn(3) between limits x=0 and x=d we get E(d,)= -(4) Where I0(ÃŽ ») is the intensity of the point source and d is the distance between object and observer’ Sometimes attenuation due to scattering can be expressed in terms of optical thickness which is T= [here is constant over horizontal path] Here eqn (4) gives direct transmission which we get after removing scattered flux. Airlight Model Here atmosphere behaves as source of light.environmental illumination has several light sources including direct sunlight,diffuse skylight and light reflected by the ground.In airlight model light intensity increases with pathlength and so apparent brightness increases. If the object is in infinite distance the radiance of airlight is maximum and radiance of airlight for an object right in front of the observer is zero. To describe the geometry of that model,first we need to consider environmental illumination along the observer’s line of sight is assumed to be constant but direction and intensity is unknown. Let the cone of solid angle dω subtended by a receptor at observer end.and truncated by the object at distance d. This cone between observer and object scatters environmental illumination in the direction of observer.so it acts as airlight(source of light) whose brightness increases with pathlength. So the small volume dV at distance x from observer is dV= dω x2 dx Now the intensity of light incident on dV is dI(x,)= dV k = dω x2 dx k †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(5) now light scatters in dV.so irradiance it produces at observer end is dE(x,) = †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.(6) [also given in eqn (4)] Now we can find radiance of dV from its irradiance as: dL(x,) = = †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..(7) by substituting (5) we get, dL(x,)= now we will find total radiance of pathlength d from observer to object by integrating the above expression between x=0 to x=d L(d,)= k (1-) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.(8) If d =∞ the radiance of airlight is maximum L(∞,=k So , L(d,)= L(∞, (1-) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(9) Estimation of depth using Attenuation Model: In this model image is taken at night.so environmental illumination are minimal and so airlight model is not chosen.At night bright points of image are normally street light,windows of lit rooms.In clear night these light sources are visible to observer in brightest and clearest form but in bad weather condition the intensity diminish due to attenuation. Our goal is to estimate depth of light sources in the scene from two images taken under different atmospheric conditions. Here image irradiance can be written using eqn(4) as: E(d,)= g (10) [g is optical parameters of camera] If the detector of the camera has spectral response s(ÃŽ »),he final image brightness value is E/== (11) We know spectral bandwidth of camera is limited so we can assume as constant. And we can write, E/=g=g I/ (12) Now if we take image in two different weather condition i.e. in mild and dense fog then there will be two different scattering coefficient. Let it will be ÃŽ ²1 and ÃŽ ²2.now if we take ratio of two resulting image brightness we get R== -(13) Using natural log R/=ln R= †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..(14) This ratio is independent of camera sensor gain and intensity of source. In fact it is only difference in optical thickness(DOT) of the source for two weather conditions. Now if we compute the DOT of two different light source and take the ratio we determine relative depths of two source locations So we can write, = †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.(15) Since we may not entirely trust the DOT computed for any single source.so above calculation can be made more robust = †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..(16) [here we assume to find the intensity of a single source pi,which is at distance di from observer.so to calculate its relative depth from other sources we need to compute depth of all sources of the scene upto a scale factor] The main goal of using this model is to compute relative depth of all sources in the scene from two images taken under two different weather condition. Estimation of depth using Airlight Model: At noon or daytime in dense haze or fog or mild fog most visible scene points are not illuminated and airlight effects.airlight causes intensity to increase when distance increases. Here we consider a single airlight image and try to compute 3d scene structure by measuring depth cues. Let,a scene point is at distance d and produce airlight radiance L(d,).if our camera has spectral response S( The brightness value of that scene point is: E/(d)= †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.(17) Substituting it by eqn (9),we get E/(d)= †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(18) If is constant we can write, E/(d)= †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(19) Now Let, S= †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(20) By substituting eqn(19) at eqn (20),and taking natural logarithm we can write, S/= ln S = -ÃŽ ²d †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(21) Here S/ is scale factor and a 3D structure of scene can be recovered upto this scale factor The part of horizon in the image which has intensity will be the brightest region of the image.(sky background) Future work:Next we will understand and discuss about Dichromatic Atmospheric Scattering and structure from Chromatic Decomposition. References: http://www.canberra.edu.au/irps/archives/vol21no1/blbalaw.html (Accessed on 20.04.2015) Narasimhan, S. G., Nayar, S. K., â€Å"Vision and the Atmosphere†, International Journal of Computer Vision, vol. 48(3), pp. 233–254, 2002. Allard’s Law, http://eilv.cie.co.at/term/34. (Accessed on 18.03.2015) Relation between Radiance and Irradiance, 2013, http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/68353/relation-between-radiance-and-irradiance. (Accessed on 18.03.2015) Radiaometry and Photometry, http://electron6.phys.utk.edu/optics421/modules/m4/radiometry.htm (Accessed on 28.03.2015

Reviewing the Homepage of Prestons Website :: Prestons Websites Showrooms Essays

Reviewing the Homepage of Preston's Website In the following report I will be reviewing the homepage of Prestons website, www.Prestons.co.uk. Prestons is a showroom situated in Colne, who deals with cars such as BMW and MINI. I will be explaining the content, layout and purpose of this webpage, and any improvements which I think could enhance the current company image. Content The homepage of Prestons website consists of both images and text. The main images drawn to my attention are: a red eye to show RedMammoth who is/ are the producer (s) / designer (s) of this website. Alongside that, is a picture of one of the latest models of BMW, the BMW x5, which is silver. Due to the fact that Prestons also deals with the sales of MINI, there is a picture of a silver MINI. Prestons also deals with Hillendale Land Rover’s; this is shown on their homepage, which is illustrated with a picture of the latest model of Landrover’s which is the Range Rover Vogue. The last of the images on this webpage is a Platinum Privilege card, which represents group information. To show what each image is there is an arrow pointing to each image and besides each arrow in the font Arial, size 9.5; it says what each image is representing in grey text. Beneath each image, there is a contact number for each link which is being represented by each picture except for underneath group information. There is a symbol for a telephone next to each number. The number is in the font Arial size 12. The largest piece of text within this homepage is PrestonsGroup which is again written in Arial but size 16. The font Arial has been used all throughout this homepage. The slogan â€Å"EXCELLENCE IN EVERYTHING WE DO† is written beneath PrestonsGroup in uppercase lettering, size 12. Prestons address is shown in white size 11. The rest of the text within this page is also in white. Beneath the address written in size 12 is the email address of Prestons. There are four different columns for the different purposes of this homepage i.e. a column for BMW, a separate column for MINI etc. No particular colour scheme has been kept throughout this homepage except for the images of the cars which are all silver, and each of the four columns are coloured differently. The RedMammoth column is in red, the BMW column in light blue, the MINI column in grey, the Hillendale landrover column in green and the group information column in dark blue. In each column there is a brief note as to what each one links