Religious Behavioral Development in the Stone Age

Religious behaviors developed to what they are today beginning in the pre-historic times of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and the Neolithic. There is evidence of these behaviors in the archaeological artifacts as well as mythological evidence. Religious behaviors evolved as humans evolved. Religious beliefs changed too. In the Paleolithic we learn that people were very spiritual; everything was treated as a spiritual act. They approached everything ritualistically and their behaviors were in response to the numinous. The numinous is described as a feeling you get when you can’t explain something. There is archaeological evidence pointing to animal worship during this time too. Spiritual beliefs in the Paleolithic gave way to forms of organized religion based on archaeological findings from the Neolithic. Beginning in the Paleolithic we see evidence of ritual burials as a form of religious behavior. Early modern humans buried their dead and some of those graves contained grave goods. These grave goods consisted of beads and various pieces of jewelry: bracelets, necklaces, and pendants. The grave goods may have implied that the people believed the dead would go on somewhere and they may need, or want, those items with them. This is a belief based on animism, that anything and everything has a soul or spirit. The grave goods could also mean that the living treated the dead the same way they treated the living. The burials suggested they had respect for the dead. These ritual burials continued on in the Mesolithic and the Neolithic. Starting in the Mesolithic and continuing in to the Neolithic, we see more religious behaviors develop. During the Paleolithic, people were living together and cooperating with one another, building temples, and gathering food and everyone spoke one language. The myths suggest that at one point the cooperation and harmony dissipated, and three new cultures evolved. With the three new cultures came three different languages. The cultures that emerged from the hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic were replaced with farmers, herders, and hunters in the Mesolithic. The myths suggest that the three cultures (farmers, herders, and hunters), came from the three sons of Noah. Prior to that, in the myth of the First Family, there were two types of people, or two different cultures. There was Cain, who was a farmer, a iller of the ground, and his brother Abel, who was a herder, or keeper of the flock. In a later myth we are introduced to Nimrod, who was a hunter, thus rounding out the three groups. Those three groups had their own set of religious behaviors. Those behaviors included animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, ritual sex, and ritual abstinence. Other behaviors emerged that may not be considered religious behaviors but instead, ‘ways of life’, but are worth mentioning since they developed over time along with the religious behaviors and played a major role in the lives of the early humans and shaping evolution. Those ‘ways of life’ include: shamanism, priesthood, matriarchy, patriarchy, Apollonian and Dionysian. We can better understand the religious behaviors of the different cultures only after we identify the pattern of culture, or traits, each one exhibited. The patterns of culture are associated with the characteristics in the distinction between the gods Apollo and Dionysius. Apollo was the god of light and Dionysius was the god of wine. Therefore, the characteristics are referred to as Apollonian and Dionysian. During the Mesolithic, Dionysian tendencies gave way to Apollonian tendencies. Dionysian characteristics include: earth, Eros, epicurean, heart, emotion, feeling, chaos, excess, female, equality, art, spontaneity, country, and nature. A culture that exhibited characteristics of Dionysian would most likely practice human sacrifice, ritual sex, shamanism, and matriarchy as their religious behaviors. Apollonian characteristics include: sun, psyche, stoic, mind, reason, thinking, order, restraint, male, hierarchy, science, city, and civilization. Differing from Dionysian, a culture that showed signs of Apollonian characteristics would practice animal sacrifice, ritual abstinence, priesthood, and patriarchy as their religious behaviors. Based on the myths and the artifacts of the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic, we are able to determine that the farmers were most likely Dionysian. Some of the characteristics evident in the myths, which are told from the farmer’s point of view, include the earth, Eros, and female. The characteristics in the artifacts include the female as well, but also equality. The burials, being of the same type, and the houses they lived in, which were also the same, suggest equality, and the female is emphasized in the statues. Eros, which gave us the word â€Å"erotic†, is prevalent in the artifacts and the myths. Based on our understanding of how the characteristics define the religious behaviors, we learn that the farmers practiced human sacrifice, ritual sex, shamanism, and matriarchy. Stonehenge was believed to have been built during the Neolithic. Archaeologists found human remains there and a number of the skulls showed signs of blunt-force trauma which suggested human sacrifice. The herders in the Neolithic displayed more Apollonian characteristics. As mentioned earlier, Dionysian tendencies were giving way to Apollonian tendencies. The evidence of this is found in both the myths and archaeologically. The male is prevalent in both, hierarchy is established, and order is suggested. Again, based on our understanding of how the characteristics define the religious behaviors, we surmise that the herders practiced animal sacrifice, ritual abstinence, priesthood, and patriarchy. The restraint and stoic characteristics point toward the abstinence while the male dominated myths point to the patriarchy way of life. There were numerous animal bones discovered which indicated animal sacrifice. Evidence of the Neolithic hunters’ way of life is vague but if we use the myths from the Mesolithic, and the artifacts from the Neolithic, we can deduce that the hunters were also Apollonian. The myths are told from a hunting point of view and they imply hierarchy and are male prevailing. The artifacts hint at the sun and we learned that the hunters lived close to the farmers which means they were civilized, used reason, and thinking. Being of Apollonian in nature, the hunters shared the same religious behaviors of the herders. In summary, religious behaviors have undergone dramatic, and not so dramatic, changes through the different time periods discussed. Some of those behaviors are still around today. Human sacrifice is probably the only one that has almost completely disappeared in the modern day, but on the other hand, animal sacrifice, which we’ve seen since the Mesolithic, is still relevant in this day and age. The behaviors exhibited had benefits such as providing a sense of community, it proved to be a form of communication, it offered assistance during crises, and also provided psychological well-being.

Mussolini’s Policies Againstethnic Minorities

Mussolini in Power Treatment of Religious groups in Italy Religion was a vital part of Italian society in the earlier 20th Century, Mussolini himself said that the Pope â€Å"represented 400 million people scattered (throughout) the world†. This meant that the pope and religion posed a massive influence on Mussolini’s rule and exercised a lot of power on all classes.Mussolini himself was atheist like his father and believed that science was made to prove religion wrong and that Jesus was a madman who had been mistakenly taken for a prophet, however publicly he relied on his image as a deeply religious man who prayed several times a day and who had a Catholic marriage and sent three of his children to communion. Over all Mussolini used religion as a political tool to ensure that he remained in power by appeasing to the population while also using it to appease to Italy’s allies by its racial policy.After Mussolini took over power in 1922 he started suppressing mos t of the ethic minorities and political opponents, also using religion as an excuse to get the latter out of the way. People not from the Italian ethnic group were forced out of the Country, further people with foreign first or last names had to change their names into Italian ones to fit the idea of the Roman race that held together. If people were speaking another language than Italian they were forced to speak Italian or an Italian dialect in public. After Mussolini started an alliance with Hitler and Nazi Germany he adopted several laws against Jews.Jews were not allowed to have certain professions (e. g. Professors, Doctors and Lawyers) nor were they allowed to marry anyone else than Jews. Jews were further discriminated often excluded from work or insulted verbally, but rules were never enforced with violence by Italian authorities. This however changed after Germany invaded Italy in 1943: Nazi Germany applied the same regulations as in Germany; Jews were forced to wear stars in public and were not allowed in certain places in public it is also a time when Jews are exported to Germany to be placed in German concentration camps like Auschwitz.It is rather interesting that Mussolini ruled Italy for 16 years without any racial laws or any attempt to enforce his political stance through the violence he had used before to get to power, but still discriminating minorities. He wanted the Italian race to recreate the Roman Empire that is the reason why he allied with Germany. He was aware of Germany conquering Europe and believed that Germany’s third Reich could unite with the Roman Empire and believed that they were the two dominant races that would ultimately come to obliterate or oppress all others.Mussolini also had plans to help Italy’s economy; he conquered countries in Africa for resources. He was not as racist as some people would think, especially compared to Hitler. He thought black people were less intelligent than white people, but he d idn’t have a lot of problems with other minority groups. His view did not change for his leadership, but in 1938 he chose to enforce racist laws, in the hope of increasing his power. This backfired and turned out to be his worst decision, political wise, as most Italians were not racist. This caused his support to decrease.Most Italians did not agree with these policies and started to like and support him less. His support dropped even more when entering the war in 1940, Italians did not agree with this decision. Especially the pope believed that this was against the lateran act which Mussolini had signed because Jews weren’t allowed to have marriages with Christians anymore. Mussolini’s main goal was to let religion influence his reign internal as little as possible even though this was barely possible and many of his plans backfired like his racial policies.He himself always claimed to be an atheist who loathed religion or as an â€Å"outright disbelieverâ₠¬  in private and often shocked people by â€Å"calling upon god to strike him dead† although he publicly said that he was Catholic and let his followers believe that he spent large parts of his day in prayer or communication with god, maybe an allusion to roman ideas that the leader of Italy was a demi-god or in close connection with the gods or God: another proof of his wish to prove Italian dominance.The vast majority of Italians were still Catholic and he needed the support of the Pope and the Church to ensure that the Catholic society continued to support him. Mussolini hated the church for its authoritarianism but this was more of anger because this authoritarianism clashed with Mussolini’s own. As a result of this vast influence of the pope Mussolini created the Lateran act in 1929 which was ratified by Pope Pius IX on June the seventh. The Lateran act stated that the church would keep diplomatic neutrality in foreign affairs and would also give up its land exc ept for the Vatican City to the rule of the Italian government.In exchange Catholicism would become the only legal state religion of Italy and the church would be allowed to manage all marriages. On top of that the Vatican City would be granted independent statehood and would be under church law and not under Italian law and would get a massive payment as compensation for the lost land. This pact signaled an uneasy alliance with the church, pope Pius was willing to keep out of Mussolini’s way of governing Italy as long as Mussolini guaranteed that he would not try to influence the church and kept communism at bay.Pope Pius called this deal as a sign that God had been given back to Italy and Italy to god, however this pact was violated by Mussolini several times. For one Mussolini still censored the Catholic newspaper and shortly after the Lateran pact was ratified he confiscated more editions in three months than in the next years, an effort that almost resulted in his excomm unication. What Pope Pius saw as another large violation of the treaty was the exportation of Jews to Germany and racism in general, especially because these prohibited marriages between Jews and non-Jews which were interfering with the churches right to manage all marriages.The exportation and aimed discrimination of Jews was an important change in Mussolini’s politics, not only did it result in clashes with the Pope who believed it to be infringing upon the Lateran act, but also because all of a sudden the Fascist party did not only herald the superiority of the Italian race but actively attacked groups which did not fit into their definition of the Roman race.

Emergency medical services ambulances issues Research Paper - 1

Emergency medical services ambulances issues - Research Paper Example This technique is costly to apply when selecting EMS technology. Assessment and selection of efficient and cost effective information technology devices have been some of the issues affecting emergency medical services in the recent times. Transmitting medical information directly to a hospital can help save time, money and more importantly save a patient’s life. The advent of onboard mobile gateway (oMG) wireless system from In Motion Technology British Columbia, Canada has made it possible to equip vehicles (ambulances) with computing devices that are able to communicate with each other in and outside the vehicle, using wired and wireless technology (Rich, 2012). The system being a multi purpose built communications processor minimizes proliferation of wireless accounts, radio modems and antennas by enabling local area network (LAN) devices to share assets with wide area network resources. The system is also self regulating thereby reducing the need for dispatchers since it can automatically sense, assess and select the best available network to provide a back up should the primary network fail. The central medical emergency dispatch (CMED) system is mostly suitable for voice communications. oMG has mobile da ta capabilities such as biometrics, LPR, and e-ticketing which provide officers with greater access to information in the field. With such tools and many more, officers do not have to radio a dispatcher to obtain information about vehicles or suspects. Secure, wireless wide area networking transit fleet operations are enhanced by the powerful oMG communications platform. All systems aboard an ambulance i.e. video surveillance, CAD/AVL etc are allowed access to multiple garage area and wide area wireless networks. This platform solves communications problems of health care professionals by providing a multi network environment with full access to

I will argue that demographic is imbalanced in the UAE because of the Essay

I will argue that demographic is imbalanced in the UAE because of the amount of foreign labor - Essay Example wing the start of this development, the UAE saw large numbers of foreign workers start to pour into the country and has steadily kept coming into the country to date, lured by the numerous prospects available to them. Along with this foreign workforce, a number of changes started to occur in the social structure, a primary one being a shift in population structure. The rest of this essay will focus on the impact this foreign workforce has had on population growth in the UAE. Population data is very difficult to come by for many Middle Eastern countries with high immigration rates and the UAE is no exception. Best efforts were made to ensure the population data is accurate for this essay. The main topics dealt with from now on will be a discussion of the issues faced by the government of the UAE in the present day to deal with this massive influx of people and finally will attempt to provide justification as to the notion that the demographics presented by the governments are inaccura te due to such severe population changes occurring in such a short period of time. The UAE takes the approach of estimating its population according to whether a person is a permanent resident of the country. People who are away from the family home for some reason are also included where as people on visit visas are excluded. This method of evaluation is accepted by the United Nations (UAE Plans Ahead). According to a census carried out in 2005 by the Ministry of Economy, the population of the UAE was estimated to be at 4,104,695, as compared with 2,411,041 in a previous census which took place in 1995 (UAE Plans Ahead†. Census 2005 UAE). The initial influx of foreign workers, also referred to as expatriates, stemmed from the rapid development that took place following the discovery of oil revenue. There was a shortage of national labor and to sustain growth, scores of foreign workers came to the UAE (Randeree,2009 from Halliday, 1977). Over the past three decades, the UAE has

MANAGING CONFLICT IN A DIVERSE WORKPLACE REPORT Case Study

MANAGING CONFLICT IN A DIVERSE WORKPLACE REPORT - Case Study Example According to the research conducted by Kirchmayer (1993 cited in Syed & Ãâ€"zbilgin, 2010) it has been found that conflict in the workplace is likely to arise when people belong to different cultural background. In a culturally diverse workplace each player has different attitudes towards conflict management and decision-making approach. Complications and misunderstandings are integral parts of culturally different workplace. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the cases of various types of conflicts in the workplace that have arisen from differences that ranges from gender to nationality and from sexual orientation to issues of pregnancy. The underlying reasons behind the problems and their implications have been discussed. The given case can be treated as a classic example of a misreading of signals. The approach taken by Strong was not outright wrong and the reaction of Mayer was not fully unjustified. It is difficult to point out the culprit per se. However, it can be argued that Mr. Strong should have â€Å"known better† by considering the reaction he had from Ms. Mayer for the first time they had interacted in the parking lot. Ms. Mayer had shown initial signs of irritation in the first meeting which should have provided the hint for Mr. Strong. In the research conducted by Corr and Jackson (2001) had shown that the perception of males of females of what constitutes sexual harassment are quite different. In the research that has been conducted in relation to sexual harassment it has been found that sexually-oriented behavior in non-work relationship is more acceptable than the same behavior in work relationships (Browne, 1997). This situation is more likely in the present case. The reaction of Miss. Bliss to the behavior of Mr. Law should have been more formal and stern. Miss. Bliss should have confronted about the situation

Best Buy Brings Diversity to the Geek Squad Essay

Best Buy Brings Diversity to the Geek Squad - Essay Example Also, the coloured people and women in the contemporary society have an almost equal access to education opportunities and skill enhancement institutions and organizations. In that context, racial and gender diversity has an important role to play in the employees’ motivation and training. On the one side it teaches the managers to be respectful towards and sensitive to the needs and expectations of the customers affiliated to the racial minorities and the women. This is pragmatic as these customer segments do have at their disposal, ample buying and decision making power and their choices do have the power to influence the profitability and sustenance of the companies. On the other side, being cognizant of racial and gender diversity issues allows the companies to benefit from the talent of the employees who are coloured or happen to be women. 2. Sensitivity to racial diversity and diversity issues is not something that can be imposed superficially, but rather a skill that is acquired through understanding and awareness.

Grievance Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Grievance Process - Essay Example Conciliation Service under the Department of Labor in 1918. In 1935, the National Labor Relations Act created the National Labor Relations Board or NLRB (FMCS, 2008). This Board, in its decisions on the Collyer Insulated Wire, 192 NLRB 837 (1971); and Dubo Manufacturing Corp., 142 NLRB 431 (1963) cases expressed the national labor policy to require parties to honor their contractual obligations and resolve their disputes through their collectively bargained grievance-arbitration mechanisms (NLRB, 2008). Since then, the grievance procedure as articulated in what is now known as the Collyer doctrine, a doctrine in labor law under which the National Labor Relations Board will defer an issue brought before it for arbitration if the issue can be resolved under the collectively bargained grievance procedure, has consistently been referred to in labor mediation decisions (Dictionary.com, n.d.). And thus, the concept of a grievance procedure was instituted. The goals of a grievance procedure are to channel conflict into an institutionalized mechanism for peaceful resolution; facilitate communication between labor and management regarding problems that arise in a collective bargaining relationship; enable employees to complain with dignity knowing that there is a system of appeals leading to an impartial decision-maker; and enforce compliance with the terms and conditions negotiated by the parties (SPFPA, 2008). It also provides a first step alternative in conflict resolution rather than going through expensive, time-consuming and negatively publicized lawsuits for both employees and employers. A lot of grievances are caused by a simple misunderstanding which may be quickly resolved through a simple negotiation. A grievance procedure for such incidences saves time, money, and the relationship between the parties especially if issues are handled by those

Social Systems Change as Possible Solution to Information Overload in Essay

Social Systems Change as Possible Solution to Information Overload in Organizations - Essay Example On a daily basis, the generated information can take an average person weeks or even months to ingest through reading, listening, or viewing (Becker, 2008). Information overload is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges that the modern society has to grapple with especially with the rapid advancement of technology. The information overload does affect people not only at the individual level, but the impact has also penetrated into the corporate world where it is the current major enemy to the efficient production within many organizations. A lot of organizations claim that due to information overload, they have experienced decreased productivity and the general reduction in efficiency of many employees. Indeed, technology is the main cause of information overload as in the ancient days when technology was still low, the rate of information overload was relatively low as compared to modern times. This is because technology advancements generate more information to people, which ma y affect them negatively if not well managed (Becker, 2008). With many organizations suffering from the impact of information overload on their highly esteemed employees, a number of them have taken measures in order to deal with the menace in a rational and logical manner. It is only through organizations implementing radical changes in their social systems that they will be able to find both short-term and long-term solutions to the negative impacts of information overload. ... Therefore, organizations ought to implement changes in their social systems if they are to mitigate the effects of information overload (Strother, Ulijn, & Fazal, 2012). The Merits of Social Systems Change in Solving Information Overload Although the benefits that come with technological advancements are good to any organization or nation, the information overload that comes with technology is detrimental to both the personal and organizational growth. The negative impacts of information overload include reduced overall performance, fatigue, incompetence, laziness, forgetfulness, and the inability to make sound decisions especially during critical situations. This problem has gradually developed over time and is now the epidemic that troubles many corporates. Recognizing the fact that human beings are not the objects of information overload by rather the subjects, organizations should make overhauls that affect the operations of their employees. This is so, because no one can reverse technological advancements, but one can mold a human character to fit in given situations and circumstance in order to negate the effects of information overload (Strother, Ulijn, & Fazal, 2012). One of the major reasons why organizations should go for the social systems change in curbing information overload is that the impact of information overload is more or less social in nature. Some of the adverse effects of information overload include poor performance at work, increased health risks of the individuals, and breakdown or reduced vigor in social relationships. As seen, these effect rest directly upon the subjects of information overload as the object that include technology does not have a direct part to play, but it

Conflict and Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Conflict and Change - Essay Example   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the themes that the author uses is controlling the mind. He says the government changes news and books contents. It does this to change the history that blackmails it as bad. The government monitors its citizens in all their daily activities. It banned the citizens from indulging in any forms of rebellious thinking, speaking, or activities. What results is a society of stooges and zombies who have no rights over themselves (Orwell & Fromm 2010). People are forced to control and suppress their sexual desires. The government makes children spies to seek for those who violate the orders. The act is unethical as the children will grow with conflicting thoughts and feelings to their families. The society marks the children as betrayers (Orwell & Fromm 2010). The author further develops his work with the theme of oppression. The government uses unethical and immoral tactics to quell the activities of Winston Smith the Protagonist. It takes his girlfriend away and forces him to give her up. Winston finally gives up and joins the government. It also forces its citizens to engage in strenuous jobs in the morning. They had to love what it was doing for them to be free (Orwell & Fromm 2010). Forcing anyone to love and adopt indecent activities is inhumane. The author uses the novel and its themes to show and warn the consequences of a totalitarianism government. The society and people become ethically and morally

How can theories of the social construction of technology (SCOT) help Essay

How can theories of the social construction of technology (SCOT) help inform the innovation processes by which novel technologie - Essay Example And, dialectically speaking advancements in one become the development of the other. It could happen in the other way around too; regressive societies could not only hinder technological reconstruction but also gave birth to regressive technologies as happened in Fascist Germany. The paper intends to analyze the complex paradigm in which social construction of technology and innovation and creativity in technological development go hand in hand. Social Construction of Technology, Innovation and Smart Technology Social reality must be identified as inherently pluralist. Berger and Luckmann note that â€Å"pluralism encourages both skepticism and innovation and is thus inherently subversive of the taken-for-granted reality of the traditional status quo. One can readily sympathize with the experts in the traditional definitions of reality when they think back nostalgically to the times when these definitions had a monopoly† (Berger and Luckmann, 1966, p. 115). Social construction of technology changes according to the nature of the prevailing paradigms of knowledge production. According to Thomas Kuhn, scientific development is no miraculous leaps by great scientists because â€Å"a new theory, however special its range of application, is seldom or never just an increment to what is already known. Its assimilation requires the reconstruction of prior theory and the re-evaluation of prior fact, an intrinsically revolutionary process that is seldom completed by a single man and never overnight† (1996, p.7). Certainly, many great technological interventions are known with name of individual scientists. However, every scientists work within a paradigm which is collectively constructed. Therefore, it is possible to argue that technologies are socially constructed. For instance, computer logarithms are the product of late capitalism but it would not have been possible without the ancient Indian invention of zero. Here, it is important to remember that scie nce is not supreme or infallible. Science and technology are necessarily social constructs and social products. Moreover, â€Å"science emerges as very human and – by necessity – constrained enterprise, even if its findings are subsequently presented as canonical† (Irwin, 1995, p.49). The terminology and language related to the technological discourses are crucial for understanding the social construction of technology. Therefore, Berger and Luckmann argue that â€Å"the common objectivations of everyday life are maintained primarily by linguistic signification. Everyday life is, above all, life with and by means of the language I share with my fellowmen. An understanding of language is thus essential for any understanding of the reality of everyday life† (1966, p.37). Language plays a major role in the social construction of technology as technology is a cultural product too. And, technology, on the other hand, changes language. For instance, social netw orking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have caused a metamorphosis in the way people use English language. Social construction of technology challenges the monopolistic claims by science and scientific community on the production of technologies. Non-deterministic â€Å"accounts of artifacts and technologies show that scientific knowledge plays little direct role in the development of even many state of the art technologies. Historians and other theorists have argued that there are

Marine Pollution Essay Example for Free

Marine Pollution Essay Pollution of the worlds oceans is quickly becoming a major problem on Earth. We know very little about the effect that pollution has on the oceans, but we continue to dispose off chemicals, sewage and garbage into it at an unprecedented rate. Most people likely do not even know what types of pollutants reach the oceans. There may be billions of people unconcerned about ocean pollution and hence this problem. Truly, the fish catch from the sea will tend to bio concentrate the pollutants to finally reach the humans. Toxic Ocean Pollutants Toxic pollutants in the ocean ecosystem have massive impacts on the plants and animals. Heavy metal poisoning (such as lead and mercury) from industrial effluents accumulate in the tissues of top predators such as whales and sharks (so do not hesitate to support ban of hunting whales and sharks but to the dislike of many others). Many a times such poisoning causes birth defects and damages nervous system. Dioxins from the pulp and paper bleaching process can cause genetic chromosomal problems in marine animals and may even cause cancer in humans. PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) typically cause reproduction problems in most marine organisms. PCBs usually come from older electrical equipment. Poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are another source of marine toxic pollution and typically come from oil pollution and burning wood and coal. These PAHs are responsible for causing genetic chromosomal aberrations in many marine animals. Lastly, low-level radiation poisoning is also possible in the ocean environment. Though scientists know very little about how radiation affects marine organisms, it cannot be a good thing anyway. Some marine species such as a population of Beluga whales living in the St. Lawrence River area in Eastern Canada are in serious trouble because of marine toxic pollution. These Beluga whales are the victims of ocean pollution ranging from PCBs to heavy metals as well as other pollutants. However, toxic pollution is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of total ocean pollution. The toxic pollution varies from PAHs heavy metal pollution from industrial effluent and fallout, PCB pollution and even possible low level radiation. No matter what we humans do, there is potential for serious pollution of the oceans. Marine Garbage Marine garbage disposal is another major form of ocean pollution. The worlds oceans are a virtual dumping ground for trash. Sometimes the garbage includes junked out fishing nets, plastics, general household garbage and even like bulbs. In one case, an island 300 miles from the nearest inhabited island (and 3000+ miles from the nearest continent) had 950 pieces of garbage ranging from plastics to tin cans. Garbage in the oceans is a serious issue as fish entangle themselves in fishing nets and animals sometimes eat trash products and die. There are numerous examples of dolphins, sharks and whales entangling themselves in fishing nets and dying from oxygen starvation. It is possible to clean garbage from the oceans if humanity quits using it as a garbage dump. Marine garbage can often enter into animal gut; plastic pop tab rings accidentally strangle animals and so forth. Controlling this form of pollution is important to maintain a healthy ocean ecosystem. Even simple plastic bags can have large pollutive impacts within the ocean. In one case, a deceased sperm whale was found to have a party balloon blocking its digestive system. The whale died from inability to process its food and died of starvation. Plastics can also have negative impacts to boats if they accidentally plug water intake lines. Sewage Disposal in Ocean Sewage is yet another major source of marine pollution. Typically, the problem with sewage is that it causes massive nutrient loading in the ocean ecosystem. Nutrient loading triggers algal blooms in the water leading to the loss of dissolved oxygen. After the depletion of oxygen levels, many organisms in the ocean die from being unable to breathe properly. Other problems associated with sewage include parasites/bacteria that force closure of public coastal beaches and poisoning of shellfish fisheries. For the most part, cities in the developed world have sewage treatment facilities but many of the cities in poorer areas have little to no sewage treatment. As the world population continues to increase, sewage pollution will be on the rise. What we often do not realize is that the waste water out of washing our clothes, faces, dishes and cattle, is ultimately headed to the sea. This includes everything from our homes (toilets, washing machines, bathtubs, dishwashers and so forth), industrial effluents and even chemicals such as paints and fertilizers that we dispose of down the drains. Eventually, all of this sewage pollution adds up and we land in serious problems due to lack of oxygen for organisms and poisoned water. Non-Point Pollutants The last major source of ocean pollutant is non-point. Non-point pollution can come from amazingly varying sources, viz., runoff from farmland (fertilizers, manure), industrial runoff (heavy metals, phosphorous), urban runoff (oils, salts, various chemicals) and atmospheric fallout of airborne pollution. Obviously, it is the hardest to control. Point pollution, in contrast, is pollution from a direct source like a factory outfall pipe. The enrichment of water by nutrients, especially compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus, causes an accelerated growth of algae and higher forms of plant life to produce an undesirable disturbance to the balance of organisms and the quality of the water (Eutrophication). Input of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus to the sea is a natural prerequisite for life, not an environmental problem. It becomes a problem only when the input increases to such levels that the original properties or functions of the ecosystem change. Then, it becomes too much of a good thing. When this manifests in marine waters or a lake, it is referred to as eutrophication a concept covering a series of events in the aquatic environment. Input of too large amounts of nutrients, followed by other events and effects is ominous and results in higher levels of nutrients in the water. Physical, chemical and biological changes that follow tend to reflect in the fauna and flora, oxygen conditions change and other changes in the water mass, in the sediments and on the surface of the bottoms. Pollution of coastal waters: Kerala under microscope The coastal waters of the maritime states are under the constant threat of pollution from a number of sources. The relatively long shoreline of India (6000 Km) is no exception either. More so is the case of Kerala. Compared to the rest of the union, profile of Keralas coastal waters may be better; still a lot remains to be achieved. The tropicality of the region and consequent intense rain fall in the hinterland, along with the physiography has immensely contributed to the quality of coastal waters. The agrarian nature of land use itself has become a bane to the coastal water bodies of the state in the midland as well as in the lagoons in coastal land. Fertilizer residue originating from the tea, cardamom, and rubber plantations of the highland and midland are finally headed to the coastal water of the ocean. But, the brunt is borne by the waters in the lagoons, ponds and other inland water bodies. The intracoastal water way is no exception either. Obviously, the fertilizer residue leads to the eutrophication of the coastal waters, and adds to the reservoir of the chemicals that already exists in the sea. Luckily, the amphibious plant species that characterize the fresh water bodies and lead to their eutrophication, do not survive in the marine environment. However, if not checked, we may reach a situation like in the mouth of Mississippi River, where a 60 mile wide algal belt has reportedly come to stay. The sheer size of the coastal waters is an insurance against the pollutants, like the fertilizer residues, yet could not influence the sea water chemistry to any great extent. Where do we go from here? Industrial pollution is not as bad as it used to be in the developed world as new techniques and better waste and effluent treatment are put in place. New laws and regulations make it difficult for people to dump their trash into the oceans though inevitably some dumping will always occur. One idea is to promote community beach-cleaning events where in everybody volunteers in to pick trash off the beaches. By cleaning up the trash on beaches, we lessen the potential chances of accidental animal kills and afford better and cleaner looks for beaches. Reduction of sewage is possible through the installation of better sewage treatment facilities and by adoption of volume reduction technologies for the worlds cities. Developed countries like Canada and the United States as well as Western Europe should assist the poorer countries in installing sewage treatment facilities. Reducing harmful sewage discharge would be a major start in helping to clean the oceans of pollution. Many areas of the world have reduced non-point pollution through proper recycling facilities for used oil and paint products. In the past, people simply dumped used oils and paints into the sewer system where they would do serious damage to the water. Pollution will still occur but with effort and determination it

Government Expenditure Causes the Revenue Generation by Government Taxation

Government Expenditure Causes the Revenue Generation by Government Taxation INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview The relationship between government revenue and expenditure is a very important topic and has been an essential issue for many economists and policy makers as it represents budget deficit, government expenditure Plans and taxation structure of a country. Since the main objective of every government is to improve economic growth with low debt levels, better education system, development of infrastructure and job opportunities better fiscal policy is needed to achieve these goals. From a short term perspective fiscal policy is said to be expansionary when government expenditures exceeds the total revenue and the resulting deficit is then financed by the government, However if these expenditures contributes in economic growth then there is a long term relationship exist between government expenditure and economic growth. In addition different studies indicate that the determination of Economic growth is depended on tax levels. Whereas many believe that the most significant factor that c ontributes in economic growth is tax level as the collection for development purposes of most developed and developing countries depend on tax revenue. 1.2 Research Problem In Pakistan the level of budget deficits have consistently increasing from 2005 which is then financed by the government through external and domestic borrowing resulting in a higher debt levels due to high interest cost associated with it and leads to more future tax expectations. Thus the financing by the government for the compensation of deficit is an important variable, several studies have put light on the outcome of fiscal deficit but very few have tried to find the reasons and causes of these deficits which is why the nexus between government revenue and expenditure is still an unsolved issue. Therefore the main purpose of this research is to study the causal relationship between government revenue and expenditure. 1.3 Hypotheses : Tax Revenue causes Government Expenditure. : Government Expenditure causes Tax Revenue. : Tax Revenue and Government Expenditure Bilaterally cause to each other. 1.4 Outline of the Study The research studies the causal relationship between government expenditure and tax revenue to see the reasons for the consistent budget deficits in Pakistan from many years. In addition time series analyses have been done to forecast the trend of government expenditure and revenue based on the leading variable. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Loganathan, Nanthakumar, Taha, and Roshaiza. (2007) have found a stable relationship between spending and revenue. Furthermore there is a long-term impact exist expenditures that enter as input into the production function and those that enter as inputs in investment technologies. Koch, Schoeman and Tonder (2005) found that there is an association between burden of taxes and economic growth according to the findings based on the data of 1960-2002 if tax burden decreases economic growth increases significantly. Friedman (1982) explains expenditure of the government depends on total revenue because as taxes increases expenditure increases by which deficit remains at the same level, he believes that the level of fiscal deficit cannot be reduced by increasing taxes. Buchanan and Wagner (1977) on the other hand have presented an alternative hypothesis that increase in taxes does not lead towards low expenditures because taxes creates higher price of goods for the public due to high interest cost associated with it Buchanan and Wagner suggest that in order to restore deficit government should limit its financing ability. Sobhee and Sanjeev (2004) tested the causality from tax to expenditure and from expenditure to taxes by using the data of public finance and founded that in a small economy government first accommodate the necessary funds then use them for public expenditure, therefore to avoid the situation of fiscal deficit the government must carefully monitor and control its spending programs. Fasano and Wang (2002) in a research on GCC countries founded that the primary Source of revenue is oil and due to the economic fluctuations medium-term expenditure strategy should be adopted according to which expenditure should not exceed the non-oil revenue so that in recessions to compensate expenditures oil revenues can be injected by short-term accommodations. Second hypothesis where causality runs from expenditure to revenue the government first spend and then to accommodate the required level of expenditure adjusts tax policy. Peacock and Wiseman (1979) Argues that due to economic crises government expenditure increases and they also remain at the same level when the crises is over. In their view government expenditure in driven by strong economic crises which is able to change public perception about the size of the government. Gounder, Narayan, Prasad (2007) find compatibility with the second hypothesis that the increase in taxes for the accommodation of government spending affects on the capital investment by investors due to the fear of paying higher taxes in future. The third hypothesis is fiscal synchronization according to which expenditure and revenue decisions are independent and bilaterally cause to each other. Reflecting the traditional theories for the demand for public goods. Meltzer and Richard (1981), according to him the demand of public expenditures and taxes need to compensate these expenditures are compared with many alternative spending programs for cost benefit analysis, therefore the practical implication of this hypothesis is bidirectional causality. Narayan and Narayan (2006) suggest three reasons regarding the importance of nexus between government revenue and expenditure first if proper implementation on policies is taken into consideration regarding government revenue fiscal deficit can be avoided, second if causality runs from expenditure to revenue outflow increases due to the fear that government will spend first and pay for it later by increasing taxes. Third in case of bidirectional causality expenditure can rise faster than revenue which can create huge budget deficits because revenue and expenditure decisions are independent of each other. Baharumshah and Lau (2007) Find two sets of different results where the fiscal policy of Korea, Singapore and Thailand is driven by expenditures where the government finances revenue for the planned expenditures according to the limit of the balanced budget which facilitate the long term sustainable budget position. However the taxation system should be implemented by taking care of the overall smooth fiscal policy. Whereas in case of Malaysia and Philippines expenditures and revenues are independent of each other and the level of government expenditures and revenues is determined through fiscal policy based on marginal cost and revenue. Furthermore the findings indicate that in order to achieve long-term economic growth fiscal consolidation is necessary to reduce deficits and debt levels which lead a country to fulfill expenditure priorities better and provide funds to more productive sectors. Griffin and McKinley (1992) believes that the expenditure policies of the government should be directed towards long-term future growth and for the well being of the people, Therefore activities that contribute more on socio economic development should be increased instead of using resources and funds to military defense projects. King and Rebelo (1990) taxation has a very important role in the long run growth process of a country where growth is not affected by indirect taxation, however direct taxation is harmful for growth. Roshaiza, Taha, Nanthakumar and Loganathan (2008) found in an analysis of Malaysia that the major part of taxes is direct taxes and reducing direct and indirect taxes will lead to reduce in government expenditures, In addition non-tax revenue does not contribute much in economys growth. Hondroyiannis and Papapetrou (1996) find unidirectional causality running from government expenditure to revenues in Greece where the reason of fiscal deficit from a long period of time was government spending decisions. The government spending to GDP is very high in Greece which results an operating inefficiency for the economy. Furthermore the results indicated that reducing fiscal deficit without reducing the government expenditure will leads to failure. Ahiakpor and Amirkhalkhali (1989) Based on the analysis of Canada found that to show the relevant results of fiscal policy government increase taxes which is a temporary and incomplete act in order to fully take control over fiscal deficit the government must reduce or limit its expenditures instead of finding ways to increase tax revenue burden on public. Baghestani and McNown (2004) in a study of Egypt and Jordan claim that to promote domestic savings and private investment it is necessary to eliminate budget deficit for both the counties. Baghestani supported the causality from tax revenue to expenditure in case of Egypt and bi-lateral causality in case Jordan. Furthermore promoted the process of privatization because it facilitate high domestic saving and investment and at the same time helps to reduce fiscal deficit. Neyapti (2008) studied the influence of fiscal decentralization on government revenue and expenditure and indicated that decentralization improves quality of governance which leads to decrease in budget deficit and stable economic condition. However the efficiency of fiscal decentralization increases in case of large population. Keho (2010) Study the data fo 1660 to 2005 to analyses the causal relationship between government expenditure and tax revenue to see which expenditure and revenue items plays a part in the reduction of budget deficit and found that GDP has significant effect on government expenditure. Furthermore the findings of granger causality test indicate unidirectional causality from government revenue to expenditure based on the findings Keho et al. concluded that the implementation for the elimination of fiscal deficit should not me made by just increasing revenues. Thus without spending cuts the results will not be beneficial. In other words tax system should be made with proper spending control system. Brennan and Buchanan (1980) suggest that in order to reduce fiscal deficit constitutional limits should be imposed on post-constitutional governments, so that revenue collection by latter governments can be reduced otherwise the level of goods demand by public to be financed will be minimum whereas revenue collection will be higher. Baffes and Anwar (1990) conducted the research for the countries Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Pakistan to determine the behavior of government towards revenue and expenditures for the alignment of fiscal deficit. The results found to be positive for Mexico, Brazil and Pakistan while the similar findings havent been found for Argentina and Chile. For Brazil, Mexico and Pakistan causality runs in both ways in other words bidirectional causality where decisions for the government spending and revenue are taken simultaneously. However in case of Argentina and Chile causality runs from expenditure to revenue. The results indicates that to control budget deficit the government should increase revenue collection and restrain expenditure whereas public expenditures should be reduced in Argentina and Chile. Stoian (2008) founded in case of Romania by applying Johansen cointegration and Error Correction model that the long run relationship between government revenue and expenditure do not affect major fiscal imbalances. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 Method of Data Collection Data of the two variables Government Expenditure and Total Revenue is taken from secondary sources with the help of multiple sources which includes (Ministry of Finance), (State bank of Pakistan) and (Hand book of Statistics on Pakistan Economy). 3.2 Sample Size Sample of 31 observations have been used by using the data of public finance from the year 1979-2010. Where the variable (Total Tax Revenue) has been created by adding indirect-tax, direct-tax, Non-tax revenue and surcharges and (Total Expenditure) has been calculated by adding Development and Non-Development Expenditures. 3.3 Research Model Granger model is used to study the causality where TR is the total revenue and TE is total government expenditure. The above two equation represents the hypothesis where the causality running from total expenditure to revenue in equation one and from revenue to expenditure in equation two. Therefore incase of rejection of any hypothesis we conclude unidirectional causality between government expenditure to revenue. However, if both the hypothesis is rejected we concluded bidirectional causality in other words fiscal synchronization exists between government revenue and expenditure. 3.4 Statistical Technique In this research granger causality test by granger (1969) has been applied to study the causal relationship by comparing one time series with another (Government Expenditure with Government revenue) where one variable becomes the cause of the other variable to predict it significantly. In addition cross-correlation has been applied to assess the correlation between both time series variables. CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 4.1 Findings and Interpretation of the results Table 4.1 Pairwise Granger Causality Tests Date: 01/27/11 Time: 17:32 Sample: 1 32 Lags: 2   Null Hypothesis: Obs F-Statistic Prob.     TOTAL_EX does not Granger Cause TOTAL_RE   30   0.84135 0.4430   TOTAL_RE does not Granger Cause TOTAL_EX   14.2132 8.E-05 With the help of the summary given in the table above we find that there is a unidirectional causality exist between total government expenditure and total revenue, as the value of F-Statistic is 3.5 we will reject the null hypothesis (TOTAL_RE does not Granger Cause TOTAL_EX). Table 4.1.2 Cross Correlations Series Pair:Total_Revenue with Total_Expenditure Lag Cross Correlation Std. Errora -16 -.177 .250 -15 -.143 .243 -14 -.099 .236 -13 -.056 .229 -12 -.010 .224 -11 .044 .218 -10 .097 .213 -9 .137 .209 -8 .210 .204 -7 .255 .200 -6 .299 .196 -5 .353 .192 -4 .427 .189 -3 .513 .186 -2 .663 .183 -1 .796 .180 0 .994 .177 1 .810 .180 2 .662 .183 3 .544 .186 4 .431 .189 5 .344 .192 6 .271 .196 7 .208 .200 8 .148 .204 9 .094 .209 10 .053 .213 11 .005 .218 12 -.036 .224 13 -.078 .229 14 -.114 .236 15 -.153 .243 16 -.188 .250 a. Based on the assumption that the series are not cross correlated and that one of the series is white noise. Figure 4.1.1 The results of cross-correlation indicates total revenue as a leading time series variabler with a strong correlation of .994 with government expenditures at lag 0, furthermore correlation a possitive correlation has been found from lag 1 to lag 11, However the correlation is dexreasing and from 12 to 16 lags correlation in negative predicting that with the increase in total revenue, total government expenditure will decrease in furture. CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH 5.1 Conclusion In this paper we have studied the causal link between total government expenditure and total revenue in Pakistan using granger causality test and the supportive cross correlation from 1979-2010. Our result from granger causality supports the hypothesis that tax revenue causes government expenditure in Pakistan. In addition cross correlation results have indicated long-term results that with the increase in revenue expenditures will increase. Therefore the major conclusion drawn from this research is that in order to eliminate the problem of fiscal deficit and sustainable economic growth government should focus on the policies which facilitate increasing revenue. 5.2 Discussion Various studies have analyzed the causal relationship between government expenditure and revenue. Some supported with unidirectional causality occurring from revenue to spending and from expenditure to revenue whereas some have indicated the result of bidirectional causality. However, both the variables have significant impact on budget deficit and economic growth. Fiscal deficit in Pakistan is a major issue as the findings of cross correlation indicates that the revenue and expenditures are correlated which means that as revenue increase expenditure increases and deficit remains at the same level and to compensate this deficit government increases its debt financing from domestic and foreign sources which leads towards inflation and high interest rates. 5.3 Implications and Recommendations The model and analysis of this study is very useful for economists and policy makers as it helps in enhancing revenue by tax reform programs. In addition for the determination of optimal spending expenditure reform assessment can be done through cost and benefit analysis which will help in setting objectives for tax collections and better utilization of taxes. 5.4 Future Research Future research possibilities could be as follows first variables like national income and debt financing could be included in the research. Second data sets of multiple countries would be interesting to analyze the causal relationship using the same model in comparison with this research. REFERENCES Ahiakpor, J.C.W., Amirkhalkhali S. (1989). On the Difficulty of Eliminating Deficits with Higher Taxes: Some Canadian Evidence. Southern Economic Journal, 56, pp. 24-31. Buchanan, J. M., Wagner, R. E. (1977). Democracy in Deficit, New York: Academic Press. Baharumshah, A. Z., Lau, E. (2007). Regime Changes And The Sustainability Of Fiscal Imbalance In East Asian Countries. Elsevier, 24 (6), pp. 878-894 Baghestani H., McNown R. (1994). Do Revenues or Expenditures Respond to Budgetary Disequilibria?. Southern Economic Journal, 61, pp. 311-322. Brennan, G., Buchanan, J. (1980). The Power to Tax: Analytical Foundations of the Fiscal Constitution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Baffes, J., Shah, A. (1990). Taxing choices in deficit reduction. Policy Research Working Paper Series 556, The World Bank. Friedman, M. (1982). Personal interview, The Washington Times, June, p. 2 Fasano, U., Wang, Q. (2002). Testing the Relationship between Government Spending and Revenue: Evidence from GCC Countries. IMF Working Papers 02/201. (Washington: International Monetary Fund) Gounder, N., Narayan, P. K., Prasad, A. (2007). An empirical investigation of the relationship between government revenue and expenditure: The case of the Fiji Islands. International Journal of Social Economics. 34, pp. 147-158. Griffin, K., McKinley, T. (1992). Towards a Human Development Strategy. Occasional Paper 6, December. Hondroyiannis, G., Papapetrou, E. (1996). An Examination of the Causal Relationship between Government Spending and Revenue: A Cointegration analysis. Public Choice, 89 pp. 363-374. Koch, S. F., Schoeman, N. J., Tonder, J. J. V. (2005). ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE STRUCTURE OF TAXES IN SOUTH AFRICA: 1960-2002. South African Journal of Economics, 73, 190-210. King, R. G., Rebelo, S. (1990). Public Policy and Economic Growth: Developing Neoclassical Implications. Journal of Political Economy, 98, pp. 126-150. Keho, Y., (2010). Budget balance through revenue or spending adjustments? An econometric analysis of the Ivorian budgetary process, 1960 2005. Journal of Economics and International Finance, 2(1), pp.001-011. Loganathan, Nanthakumar, Taha, Roshaiza. (2007). Have Taxes Led Government Expenditure in Malaysia? Journal of International Management Studies. Meltzer, A.H, Richard, S. F. (1981). A rational theory of the size of the government. Journal of Political Economy, 89, pp. 914-927. Narayan, P.K., Narayan, S. (2006). Government revenue and government expenditure nexus: evidence from developing countries. Applied Economics, 38, pp. 285-291. Neyapti, B., (2010). Fiscal decentralization and deficits: International evidence. European Journal of Political Economy, 26(2), pp. 155-166. Peacock, S.M., Wiseman, J. (1979). Approaches to the Analysis of Government Expenditures Growth. Public Finance Quarterly, 7, pp. 3-23. Roshaiza, Taha, Nanthakumar, Loganathan, (2008). Causality between tax revenue and government spending in Malaysia. The International Journal of Business and Finance, 2 pp. 63-73. SOBHEE, Sanjeev K. (2004). The causality between tax and spend of the public sector in maturities: A VECM approach. International Journal of Applied Econometrics and Quantitative Studies, 1-3, pp.115-130 Stoian, A., (2008). Analyzing Causality between Romanias Public Budget Expenditures and Revenues. Theoretical and Applied Economics. 11, No.528.

Geographical Analysis of Nankana Sahib, Pakistan

Geographical Analysis of Nankana Sahib, Pakistan Introduction of Nankana sahib: A brief history of city: This city was named after the first Guru of Sikhs Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It is capital of Nankana Sahib District. This city has historic significance regarding religion because Guru Nanak Dev Ji spread the light of the universal message to this world so it is a city of high historic and religious value and is a popular pilgrimage site for Sikhs from all over the world especially India. (http://www.sgpc.net/historical-gurdwaras/gurdwaras_in_pakistan.asp, 2011) It is bounded by Hafizabad on North and located about 75 kilometers south west of Lahore and about 55 kilometers east of Faisalabad and Its Southern boundary is formed by district Okara. (http://nha.gov.pk/?option=com_contentview=articleid=403%3Anankana-sahibcatid=62%3AtourismItemid=82showall=1, 2011) Earlier the township was known as Rai-Bhoi-Di-Talwandi and was renamed after the birth of Guru Nanak as Nankana Sahib. Formerly the area around Nankana Sahib was a tehsil of district Sheikhupura District. In 2005 the Punjab Government decide to rear the status of city as a District. Climate and soil conditions of city: â€Å"The climate of the city is subject to extreme deviations. From the middle of December to the middle of March the air is very moist or cold and light to moderate rain falls at intervals. The season of the winter rains is followed by a hex of very pleasant weather. In April the temperature rises fast and the two consecutive months are very hot. Towards the end of June Monsoon conditions appear and during the following two and a half months spells of rainy weather alternate with intervals of hot oppressive weather. The average rainfall in the district is about 635 mm. The upland or the Bar in the North West, in the natural condition, is a level prairie thickly dotted over with a stunted under-growth of bush jungle. The Bar Soil is popularly known as Missie. The low land along the river Ravi has light soil. The central portion which is the Deg Valley has stiff soil. Stiff soil is either Rohi or Kallarathi depending on the salt (kallar) contents.† (Awan, 2009) Geographical limits: lat Administrative limits: Formerly the city was a tehsil of Sheikhupura District. In May 2005 the Government of Punjab decided to raise the status of the city as a District with an aim that the economic condition of city along with the surrounding areas lift because it is a pilgrimage center for Sikhs from all over the globe. There is development especially of road network along all the city. Changes has been made in the administrative bodies of city form tehsil to district level administration. Nankana Sahib District is administratively sectioned into three tehsils. Nankana Sahib Sangla Hill Shahkot On 1 December 2008, Safdarabad was reattached to Sheikhupura District. (http://www.dawn.com/news/138586/nankana-becomes-district, 2005) Development in Nankana city: Private impresarios and State Government have planned to develop Nankana Sahib District with various projects, including: A rest house for Sikh pilgrims A new International Hotel for the people of the district A shopping mall A housing scheme A modern hospital A road-link to the Lahore and Faisalabad dual-carriageway District Complex Nankana Sahib The International Guru Nanak University The prospect for development of an airport has been outstretched in the district Nankana Sahib. The Government of Punjab has decided to link the city with provincial capital Lahore. (http://punjabroadways.gov.in/amritsar-nankanasahib.htm, 2006) Departments in Nankana district: District Education Department District Health care Department District Police Department District Law and Order Department District Agriculture Department District Finance Department District Development Department District Transportation Department District Infrastructure Department District Telecommunications Department District Human Right Department Deputy District Officers Religious Department Election Commission Department NADRA Department Tehsil Municipal Administration Department Wapda Department Industrial Department District Fishers Department District Forest Department (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nankana_Sahib_District#Clans_settled_in_District_Nankana, 2011) Demography and Language: According to the 1998 census of Pakistan Punjabi is spoken by 98% population of the city. Shahmukhi script is mostly used by natives but Nankana Sahib is one of few cities of Pakistan where the Gurmukhi dialect is also understood by the locals. The Punjabi dialects spoken in the district are; Majhi dialect which is spoken by the majority of district. Malwi dialect spoken by the migrated people from India Punjab. Urdu is also used and spoken as national language in the offices and education centers and English is also spoken and understood by educated people. According to Punjab Development Statistics 2008, total population of Nankana Sahib District is 1,466 thousands persons out of which 762 thousands are males and 704 thousands are females. Density of population in the district is 539 persons per square Kilometer. Muslims are in greater in population size 97% of population is Muslim and only 3% are Sikhs. Tehsil wise rural and urban population is given in the table: TOWN-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF URBAN RURAL POPULATION NAME OF TOWN POPULATION (THOUSAND PERSON) URBAN RURAL TOTAL Nankana Sahib 79 705 784 Safdarabad 54 210 264 Sangla Hill 58 138 196 Shahkot 45 177 222 Total 236 1230 1466 Source: Punjab Development Statistics 2008. (Awan, 2009) Infra-structural facilities: Communication network: A) Road links. The city has 1289.84 kilometers metaled roads in length. There has been different plans of construction and development in the city regarding roads for connecting it with big cities like Lahore, Sheikhupura, and Faisalabad through metal roads. For this purpose the government of Punjab is completing an interchange at Khangah Dogra on M-2 motor way which is connecting Lahore with Islamabad and is almost 5kms away from city Nankana. This project will help in development of newly formed district. This interchange will also give access to the Grand Trunk Road which is leading towards Indian Punjab from Wagah Border. A Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus was initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India for Sikhs. B) Rail linkage. There are three major Rail heads in the district, including Nankana Sahib, Safdarabad, and Sangla Hill. Through these linkages the city has been connected to Lahore and Faisalabad districts. A train from Amritsar India via Wagah Border Lahore also came to Nankana city. Power supply station: There are 9 grid stations in the district varying in capacity between 66 KV to 132 KV. Telecommunication exchanges: The district has 30 telephone exchanges operating with varying capacity from 50 lines to 7822 lines. Mobile phone services of different networks are also available. Social infrastructural Facilities in the District: SOCIAL INFRA-STRUCTURAL FACILITIES TEHSIL PRIMARY/MIDDLE/ HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGE HOSPITAL POLICE STATION RAILWY STATIONS POST OFFICE BANKS Nankana Sahib 732 3 1 7 3 8 33 Safdarabad 210 0 0 2 4 2 10 Sangla Hill 129 2 0 2 4 2 9 Shahkot 145 2 0 2 0 3 13 Total 1216 7 1 13 11 15 65 The following table is showing the details of social facilities in the district on Tehsil level; Source: Punjab Development Statistics 2008 / Respective District Offices. (Awan, 2009) Natural resources: Agriculture: Main crops. Rice, sugarcane, and wheat are the main crops cultivated in the district. The production of crops between years 2005-06 to 2007-08 are given in the table below; PRODUCTION OF MAIN CROPS (2005-06 to 2007-08) Crops PRODUCTION (M.TONS) 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Sugarcane 667 850 941 Wheat 414 411 451 Rice 173 164 180 Source: Directorate of Agriculture, Crop Reporting Service, Punjab. (Awan, 2009) Besides, Maize, Bajra, Cotton, Mash, Mong, Jawar, Masoor, Oil seeds such as Mustard, Sun Flower are also grown in minor quantities in the district. Main fruits: Guava and Citrus are the main fruits grown in the district which are cultivated there production during the period of 2005-06 to 2007-08 is given below in the following table: Production of Main Fruits (2005-06 to 2007-08) Fruits Production (M.TONS) 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Guava 24298 33644 29527 Citrus 16285 10400 9443 Source: Directorate of Agriculture, Crop Reporting Service, Punjab. (Awan, 2009) Besides other fruits including Mango, Banana, Litchi, Jaman and Phalsa are also grown in minor quantities in the district. Vegetables: Carrot, Cauliflower, Potatoes, and Onion are main vegetables grown in the district their production during the years 2005-06 to 2007-08 is shown in the table given below; Production of Main Vegetables (2005-06 to 2007-08) VEGETABLE Production (M.TONS) 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Potatoes 2059 3618 2896 Carrot 10558 9854 10311 Cauliflower 21859 17602 17553 Onion 14109 14218 13222 Source: Directorate of Agriculture, Crop Reporting Service, Punjab. (Awan, 2009) Besides Turnip, Peas, Tomato, Chilies and Garlic are also cultivated in the district in minor quantities. Forests: About 1.3 % of the total area of the district is under forests, which is an area of 1068.16 Hectares. There is also plantation of 955 Kilometers of tress in linear pattern alongside the roads/rails/canals in the district. Kau, Phalai, Kikar and Shisham are types of trees grown in the district. Livestock: Animal population. The main animals which are in the district are Goats, Sheep, Cattle, and Buffalos and their population is shown in the table given below, Animal population ANIMAL POPULATION ANIMAL POPULATION (Thousand HEADS) Goats 256 Cattle 130 Sheep 39 Buffaloes 401 Source: Punjab Development Statistics 2008. (Awan, 2009) Poultry population: According to Punjab Development Statistics 2008 there 62 layer and 386 Broiler poultry farms in the district having capacity of 229 thousands and 9653 bird respectively. There are also 4 breeding farms having capacity of 510 thousand birds. Available Hides/Skins from Slaughter houses: In year 2006-07 animals which were slaughtered in the recognized or un-recognized slaughter houses are 51000 animals which is sound estimate of availability of hides and skins in the district as per 2008 Punjab Development Statistics. The availability of slaughter house by – products is estimated as under:- Blood 17.65 M.TONS Bones 86.10 M.TONS Tallow 17.91 M.TONS Wool production: The total population of sheep is 39 thousand heads in the district from which approximately 39 M.TONS rough wool is produced annually. Literature review: Introduction: One of the most important and touchy issues of our time is utilization of energy resources. Energy provisions are compulsory to improve the infrastructure, transport, roads, industry, and construction of buildings to quicken the development of country. Pakistan is meeting severe challenge of energy deficit due to enormous increase in demand, growth of industrial zones, increment in population growth rate, poor organization of energy resources, deficient plans, devoid in implementation of policies regarding energy. (Munir, 2006) Researches in past: In past work has been done on solar panels in fields of remote sensing and GIS in different parts of world. A few of them are discussed over here, â€Å"A research on the topic Satellite remote sensing for identification of solar potential sites in Pakistan has been made. The study area is located at between longitude 62 and 75 degree east and latitude 24 and 37 degree north. Material and methods: satellite images were used in this study to identify the solar potential sites in Pakistan. Satellite data of NOAA was used which has focus on conditions of oceans and the atmosphere data which was free available on their website. Images from year 2005-2009 were selected of months including June, July and August these months were selected because these are monsoon months with maximum cloud cover. Precipitation data of following months having been collected from Meteorological department Pakistan. Data interpretation and analysis: ENVI and GIS are the main software packages that are employed for this satellite imagery analysis. Data Processing: Geo referencing Enhancement Selection of area of interest for classification (ROI) Supervised Classification (maximum likelihood method) Subset (Using Pakistan Boundaries) Vector comparison Composite (Monthly Maps) Data analysis: In order to find out least cloudless area, UNOIN operation has been performed which was most appropriate for combing cloud cover vector layers of different years and resultant vector layer shows the area with and without cloud cover. Final step involve to overlay the Pakistan district vector layer on each UNION layer, which provides location of least cloudless district in Pakistan. Results and conclusion: The results indicated that Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan have maximum potential for solar sites in whole Pakistan. While Quetta is selected to be a city receiving maximum solar radiation. Cholistan desert has been quite favorable for solar energy harvesting. In spite of having a huge potential of energy resources, Pakistan still remains an energy scarce country and has to heavily depend on imports to fulfill its energy demands.† (Ahmad, Aziz, Wahid, Basir, 2013) â€Å"A research on the topic A Simple Solar Radiation Index for Wildlife Habitat Studies has also been made. Study Area: They illustrated the use of SRI (solar radiation index) is an example application in which they tested for niche separation among bighorn sheep, elk, and mule deer during winter along a single environmental axis. The Gardiner Basin area of northern Yellowstone winter range (NYWR) USA. Houston and Despain gave the detailed description of area. The elevations in the area ranged about 1500m to 3350m. Methods: Solar radiation Index is derived by them by using the general equation for hourly extraterrestrial radiation striking an arbitrarily oriented surface. Relationship to Hill shade: Ciarniello et al. (2005) calculated hill shade values using a digital elevation model DEM and ArcGIS 8.3 version used those values as surrogate for solar radiation. The hillshade index was difficult to evaluate because algorithm for calculating hillshade is not given. Ungulate Niche Separation: They calculated slope and aspect from 30 m DEM and determined the density of use by bighorn sheep, elk, and mule deer from radio telemetry data gathered in previous studies. Results and discussions: In both comparison of relationship to hillshade with different values of azimuth and elevation they observe inexplicable behavior in values of hillshade. For all species examined winter use was concentrated in locations receiving relatively high levels of solar radiation. They found no difference in allocation of winter use by bighorn sheep and elk with respect to solar radiation. Our SRI is designed to enhance wildlife habitat models containing a solar radiation component by reducing noise improving interpretability and minimizing the number of model covariates. Ultimately this promotes greater understanding of the determinants of wild life habitat relationships and in turn improved decision making by wildlife managers.† (Vore, Ibry, Keating, Gogan, 2007) â€Å"Work regarding solar radiation calculations has also been made on the following topic: The Calculation of Solar and Net Radiation in Mountain Terrain, There is at present a need for reliable data on fluxes of solar and net radiation in hilly terrain. This paper develops a model which uses cloud temperature data to obtain above radiation fluxes in a mesoscale mountainous environment at Risdon Tasmania. The model was tested against climatological measurements of solar radiation in a horizontal area and was found to be satisfactory. Extending the test into a mountainous terrain is not practicable since measurements of solar and net radiations in such environment would be disturbed by the high forest and vegetation cover. The model must be viewed as an estimation of the solar and net radiation input into the vegetation-soil system. Diffuse solar radiation is an important component of solar radiation flux in this cloudy and temperate marine climate. Due to its isotropic nature diffuse solar radiation minimizes spatial differences in solar and net radiation receipt. Considerable interception of direct solar radiation occurs in winter time and therefore differences in solar and net radiation receipt are highest then. In winter time north facing slopes will receive the highest radiation while south facing slopes are largely in shadow and receive mostly diffuse solar radiation. Conclusion: This paper has indicated a method for estimating incident direct, diffuse and net radiation in mountainous terrains. The model has performed adequately when tested against climatological estimates of direct and diffuse solar radiation on a horizontal surface. The results leave open several paths of research. Transmission of radiation through the vegetation canopy could be studied in this mesoscale terrain. Also important are the implications of these results to the meso-scale water balance. Pan evaporation correlates well with net radiation (Kirkpatrick Nunez, 1980) which implies that approximate microscale water budgets could be obtained in the study area if the assumption is made that precipitation is constant. In summary, it is felt that the study of the incident radiation must represent a first step in under-standing the energy exchanges between the surface and the atmosphere in this complex environment.† (Nunez, 1980) â€Å"Research has also been done regarding solar radiation calculation on the topic named as: Modeling a Solar Radiation Topoclimatology for the Rio Grande River Basin.

Amen: Does Prayer Play An Important Role In Our Lives Today? :: essays research papers

Amen: Does Prayer Play An Important Role In Our Lives Today?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Does prayer play an important role in our lives today? The minority would say no and that prayer shouldn't ever have played an important role in our society. But, the simple fact of the matter is that for hundreds of years, prayer in school has been encouraged by both society and government. In recent years, it has been established that prayer in schools has led to a steady moral decline. Morals must be taught, in school and at home, and they cannot be properly taught without religion as a much needed stepping stone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Our government was based upon religious beliefs from the very beginning. The Declaration of Independence says: â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights. . .† Certainly, it talks about God, creations, God-given moral rights, the providence of God, and the final Day of Judgment-all of which are religious teachings. And school prayer has been an important part of our religious experience from the very beginning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Our very First Amendment didn't separate God and government but actually encouraged religion. It reads: â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof,† (Encarta 96). The first part simply says that the federal government cannot establish one religion for all of the people. The simple idea of everyone in our nation being limited to one form of religion is inconceivable. The second section insists that the government should do nothing to discourage religion. But forbidding prayer in schools discourages religion, doesn't it?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Early congressional actions encouraged religion in public schools. For example, the Northwest Treaty (1787 and 1789) declared: â€Å"Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, and the means of learning shall forever be encouraged† (Encarta 96). By seeing this, religion, which includes prayer, was deemed to be necessary. Congress has prayed at the opening of every session since the very beginning. By acknowledging these facts we ask the simple question, â€Å" If the government can pray in their sessions, why can't the governed pray in their (school) sessions?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Public schools had prayer for nearly 200 years before the Supreme Court ruled that state-mandated class prayers were unconstitutional in Engel vs. Vitale in 1962 (Buckley 70). How could this trail have such a huge impact on our nation and ultimately alter how we perceive our constitution? The fact that prayer was practiced for nearly 200 years alone establishes it by example as a

Scarlet Letter Essay -- Essays Papers

Scarlet Letter The Puritan Beliefs As Told Through The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne was not a Puritan. But Hawthrone’s forefathers were Puritans, so he had an understanding of their belief system and their basis behind it. He stated that he hoped the sins of his forefathers had been forgiven. Hoping to expose those ideas which he understood, yet despised, Hawthorne purposely presented many important Puritan beliefs as import aspects to the Scarlet Letter. In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne addresses three main Puritan beliefs: providence, predestination, and the strict code of ethics that the settlers of New Englanders lived by. The first main Puritanical belief Hawthorne referred to was the belief in divine providence. The Puritans believed that God granted providence, the right to enter heaven upon one’s death, to people who were moral and performed meaningful deeds while on earth. The main example of God granting providence is in chapter 8 when Hester visits the governor concerning Pearl. "†¦ The young minister’s argument†¦[that] the child had saved [Hester] from Satan’s snare" (100). Surly if God did not want Hester to enter His kingdom upon her passing, He certainly would’ve allowed Pearl to be taken and Hester to enter the forest with Mistress Gibbons. A second example of providence in the Scarlet Letter is when Dimmesdale is dying on the scaffold. He claims that the "burning torture upon his breast" (226) and the "dark and terrible old man" (226) ...

arranged marriage: for america? Essay -- essays research papers

Arranged Marriage: For America? Both arranged marriages and romantic marriages have good and bad points. Cultures such as India, Japan, and Ethiopia have had arranged marriages since the dawn of time. In America we allow our young adults to make their own decisions on whom to marry. Would Americans accept the practice of parents deciding whom they are going to marry without considering their wants or feelings? The answer is an emphatic NO! Americans are hopelessly romantic and fiercely believe in freedom of choice. Arranged marriages would never be accepted in American culture. Most of the time, if not all, the decisions we make concerning marriage are based on the concept of â€Å"romantic love†. Most young people tend to believe the only way to choose a mate is to date until you fall madly in love, plan a wedding, and get married. We follow our hearts even if it is impractical and doesn’t really make any sense. We do not feel that we need the wisdom and experience of anyone, let alone our parents, to make such an important decision. Love is more important and powerful than practical issues. However, by relying on our hearts, and not the wisdom and experience of others, we risk what could be the disastrous consequences of making an emotional decision instead of a rational one. Go back a few years (for some of us, many years) and think about how much stress we felt trying to make ourselves attractive to the opposite sex. We spent most of our days worrying about our looks and w...

Foundation and Empire 8. To Trantor

Devers bent over the little dead globe, watching for a tiny sign of life. The directional control was slowly and thoroughly sieving space with its jabbing tight sheaf of signals. Barr watched patiently from his seat on the low cot in the comer, He asked, â€Å"No more signs of them?† â€Å"The Empire boys? No.† The trader growled the words with evident impatience. â€Å"We lost the scuppers long ago. Space! With the blind jumps we took through hyperspace, it's lucky we didn't land up in a sun's belly. They couldn't have followed us even if they outranged us, which they didn't.† He sat back and loosened his collar with a jerk. â€Å"I don't know what those Empire boys have done here. I think some of the gaps are out of alignment.† â€Å"I take it, then, you're trying to get to the Foundation.† â€Å"I'm calling the Association – or trying to.† â€Å"The Association? Who are they?† â€Å"Association of Independent Traders. Never heard of it, huh? Well, you're not alone. We haven't made our splash yet!† For a while there was a silence that centered about the unresponsive Reception Indicator, and Barr said, â€Å"Are you within range?† â€Å"I don't know. I haven't but a small notion where we are, going by dead reckoning. That's why I have to use directional control. It could take years, you know.† â€Å"Might it?† Barr pointed; and Devers jumped and adjusted his earphones. Within the little murky sphere there was a tiny glowing whiteness. For half an hour, Devers nursed the fragile, groping thread of communication that reached through hyperspace to connect two points that laggard light would take five hundred years to bind together. Then he sat back, hopelessly. He looked up, and shoved the earphones back. â€Å"Let's eat, doc. There's a needle-shower you can use if you want to, but go easy on the hot water.† He squatted before one of the cabinets that lined one wall and felt through the contents. â€Å"You're not a vegetarian, I hope?† Barr said, â€Å"I'm omnivorous. But what about the Association. Have you lost them?† â€Å"Looks so. It was extreme range, a little too extreme. Doesn't matter, though. I got all that counted.† He straightened, and placed the two metal containers upon the table. â€Å"Just give it five minutes, doc, then slit it open by pushing the contact. It'll be plate, food, and fork – sort of handy for when you're in a hurry, if you're not interested in such incidentals as napkins. I suppose you want to know what I got out of the Association.† â€Å"If it isn't a secret.† Devers shook his head. â€Å"Not to you. What Riose said was true.† â€Å"About the offer of tribute?† â€Å"Uh-huh. They offered it, and had it refused. Things are bad. There's fighting in the outer suns of Loris.† â€Å"Loris is close to the Foundation?† â€Å"Huh? Oh, you wouldn't know. It's one of the original Four Kingdoms. You might call it part of the inner line of defense. That's not the worst. They've been fighting large ships previously never encountered. Which means Riose wasn't giving us the works. He has received more ships. Brodrig has switched sides, and I have messed things up.† His eyes were bleak as he joined the food-container contact-points and watched it fall open neatly. The stewlike dish steamed its aroma through the room. Ducem Barr was already eating. â€Å"So much,† said Barr, â€Å"for improvisations, then. We can do nothing here; we can not cut through the Imperial lines to return to the Foundation; we can do nothing but that which is most sensible – to wait patiently. However, if Riose has reached the inner line I trust the wait will not be too long.† And Devers put down his fork. â€Å"Wait, is it?† he snarled, glowering. â€Å"That's all right for you. You've got nothing at stake.† â€Å"Haven't I?† Barr smiled thinly. â€Å"No. In fact, I'll tell you.† Devers' irritation skimmed the surface. â€Å"I'm tired of looking at this whole business as if it were an interesting something-or-other on a microscope slide. I've got friends somewhere out there, dying; and a whole world out there, my home, dying also. You're an outsider. You don't know.† â€Å"I have seen friends die.† The old man's hands were limp in his lap and his eyes were closed. â€Å"Are you married?† Devers said, â€Å"Traders don't marry.† â€Å"Well, I have two sons and a nephew. They have been warned, but – for reasons – they could take no action. Our escape means their death. My daughter and my two grandchildren have, I hope, left the planet safety before this, but even excluding them, I have already risked and lost more than you.† Devers was morosely savage. â€Å"I know. But that was a matter of choice. You might have played ball with Riose. I never asked you to-â€Å" Barr shook his head. â€Å"It was not a matter of choice, Devers. Make your conscience free, I didn't risk my sons for you. I co-operated with Riose as long as I dared. But there was the Psychic Probe.† The Siwennian patrician opened his eyes and they were sharp with pain. â€Å"Riose came to me once; it was over a year ago. He spoke of a cult centering about the magicians, but missed the truth. It is not quite a cult. You see, it is forty years now that Siwenna has been gripped in the same unbearable vise that threatens your world. Five revolts have been ground out. Then I discovered the ancient records of Hari Seldon – and now this ‘cult' waits. â€Å"It waits for the coming of the ‘magicians' and for that day it is ready. My sons are leaders of those who wait. It is that secret which is in my mind and which the Probe must never touch. And so they must die as hostages; for the alternative is their death as rebels and half of Siwenna with them. You see, I had no choice! And I am no outsider.† Devers' eyes fell, and Barr continued softly, â€Å"It is on a Foundation victory that Siwenna's hopes depend. It is for a Foundation victory that my sons are sacrificed. And Hari Seldon does not pre-calculate the inevitable salvation of Siwenna as he does that of the Foundation. I have no certainty for my people – only hope.† â€Å"But you are still satisfied to wait. Even with the Imperial Navy at Loris.† â€Å"I would wait, in perfect confidence,† said Barr, simply, â€Å"if they had landed on the planet, Terminus, itself.† The trader frowned hopelessly. â€Å"I don't know. It can't really work like that; not just like magic. Psychohistory or not, they're terribly strong, and we're weak. What can Setdon do about it?† â€Å"There's nothing to do. It's all already done. It's proceeding now. Because you don't hear the wheels turning and the gongs beating doesn't mean it's any the less certain.† â€Å"Maybe; but I wish you had cracked Riose's skull for keeps. He's more the enemy than all his army.† â€Å"Cracked his skull? With Brodrig his second in command?† Barr's face sharpened with hate. â€Å"All Siwenna would have been my hostage. Brodrig has proven his worth long since. There exists a world which five years ago lost one male in every ten – and simply for failure to meet outstanding taxes. This same Brodrig was the tax-collector. No, Riose may live. His punishments are mercy in comparison.† â€Å"But six months, six months, in the enemy Base, with nothing to show for it.† Devers' strong hands clasped each other tautly, so that his knuckles cracked. â€Å"Nothing to show for it!† â€Å"Well, now, wait. You remind me-† Barr fumbled in his pouch. â€Å"You might want to count this.† And he tossed the small sphere of metal on the table. Devers snatched it. â€Å"What is it?† â€Å"The message capsule. The one that Riose received just before I jacked him. Does that count as something?† â€Å"I don't know. Depends on what's in it!† Devers sat down and turned it over carefully in his hand. When Barr stepped from his cold shower and, gratefully, into the mild warm current of the air dryer, he found Devers silent and absorbed at the workbench. The Siwennian slapped his body with a sharp rhythm and spoke above the punctuating sounds. â€Å"What are you doing?† Devers looked up. Droplets of perspiration glittered in his beard. â€Å"I'm going to open this capsule.† â€Å"Can you open it without Riose's personal characteristic?† There was mild surprise in the Siwennian's voice. â€Å"If I can't, I'll resign from the Association and never skipper a ship for what's left of my life. I've got a three-way electronic analysis of the interior now, and I've got little jiggers that the Empire never heard of, especially made for jimmying capsules. I've been a burglar before this, y'know. A trader has to be something of everything.† He bent low over the little sphere, and a small flat instrument probed delicately and sparked redly at each fleeting contact. He said, â€Å"This capsule is a crude job, anyway. These Imperial boys are no shakes at this small work. I can see that. Ever see a Foundation capsule? It's half the size and impervious to electronic analysis in the first place.† And then he was rigid, the shoulder muscles beneath his tunic tautening visibly. His tiny probe pressed slowly- It was noiseless when it came, but Devers; relaxed and sighed. In his hand was the shining sphere with its message unrolled like a parchment tongue. â€Å"It's from Brodrig,† he said. Then, with contempt, â€Å"The message medium is permanent. In a Foundation capsule, the message would be oxidized to gas within the minute.† But Ducem Barr waved him silent. He read the message quickly. FROM: AMMEL BRODRIG, ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY OF HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, PRIVY SECRETARY OF THE COUNCIL, AND PEER OF THE REALM. TO: BEL RIOSE, MILITARY GOVERNOR OF SIWENNA. GENERAL OF THE IMPERIAL FORCES, AND PEER OF THE REALM. I GREET YOU. PLANET #1120 NO LONGER RESISTS. THE PLANS OF OFFENSE AS OUTLINED CONTINUE SMOOTHLY. THE ENEMY WEAKENS VISIBLY AND THE ULTIMATE ENDS IN VIEW WILL SURELY BE GAINED. Barr raised his head from the almost microscopic print and cried bitterly, â€Å"The fool! The forsaken blasted fop! That a message?† â€Å"Huh?† said Devers. He was vaguely disappointed. â€Å"It says nothing,† ground out Barr. â€Å"Our lick-spittle courtier is playing at general now. With Riose away, he is the field commander and must sooth his paltry spirit by spewing out his pompous reports concerning military affairs he has nothing to do with. ‘So-and-so planet no longer resists.' ‘The offensive moves on.' ‘The enemy weakens.' The vacuum-headed peacock.† â€Å"Well, now, wait a minute. Hold on-â€Å" â€Å"Throw it away.† The old man turned away in mortification. â€Å"The Galaxy knows I never expected it to be world-shakingly important, but in wartime it is reasonable to assume that even the most routine order left undelivered might hamper military movements and lead to complications later. It's why I snatched it. But this! Better to have left it. It would have wasted a minute of Riose's time that will now be put to more constructive use.† But Devers had arisen. â€Å"Will you hold on and stop throwing your weight around? For Seldon's sake-â€Å" He held out the sliver of message before Barr's nose, â€Å"Now read that again. What does he mean by ‘ultimate ends in view'?† â€Å"The conquest of the Foundation. Well?† â€Å"Yes? And maybe he means the conquest of the Empire. You know he believes that to be the ultimate end.† â€Å"And if he does?† â€Å"If he does!† Devers' one-sided smile was lost in his beard. â€Å"Why, watch then, and I'll show you.† With one finger the lavishly monogrammed sheet of message-parchment was thrust back into its slot. With a soft twang, it disappeared and the globe was a smooth, unbroken whole again. Somewhere inside was the tiny oiled whir of the controls as they lost their setting by random movements. â€Å"Now there is no known way of opening this capsule without knowledge of Riose's personal characteristic, is there?† â€Å"To the Empire, no,† said Barr. â€Å"Then the evidence it contains is unknown to us and absolutely authentic.† â€Å"To the Empire, yes,† said Barr. â€Å"And the Emperor can open it, can't he? Personal Characteristics of Government officials must be on file. We keep records of our officials at the Foundation.† â€Å"At the Imperial capital as well,† agreed Barr. â€Å"Then when you, a Siwennian patrician and Peer of the Realm, tell this Cleon, this Emperor, that his favorite tame-parrot and his shiniest general are getting together to knock him over, and hand him the capsule as evidence, what will he think Brodrig's ‘ultimate ends' are?† Barr sat down weakly. â€Å"Wait, I don't follow you.† He stroked one thin cheek, and said, â€Å"You're not really serious, are you?† â€Å"I am.† Devers was angrily excited. â€Å"Listen, nine out of the last ten Emperors got their throats cut, or their gizzards blasted out by one or another of their generals with bigtime notions in their heads. You told me that yourself more than once. Old man Emperor would believe us so fast it would make Riose's head swim.† Barr muttered feebly, â€Å"He is serious, For the Galaxy's sake, man, you can't beat a Seldon crisis by a far-fetched, impractical, storybook scheme like that. Suppose you had never got hold of the capsule. Suppose Brodrig hadn't used the word ‘ultimate.' Seldon doesn't depend on wild luck.† â€Å"If wild luck comes our way, there's no law says Seldon can't take advantage of it.† â€Å"Certainly. But†¦ but,† Barr stopped, then spoke calmly but with visible restraint. â€Å"Look, in the first place, how will you get to the planet Trantor? You don't know its location in space, and I certainly don't remember the co-ordinates, to say nothing of the ephemerae. You don't even know your own position in space.† â€Å"You can't get lost in space,† grinned Devers. He was at the controls already. â€Å"Down we go to the nearest planet, and back we come with complete bearings and the best navigation charts Brodrig's hundred thousand smackers can buy.† â€Å"And a blaster in our belly. Our descriptions are probably in every planet in this quarter of the Empire.† â€Å"Doc,† said Devers, patiently, â€Å"don't be a hick tom the sticks. Riose said my ship surrendered too easily and, brother, he wasn't kidding. This ship has enough fire-power and enough juice in its shield to hold off anything we're Rely to meet this deep inside the frontier. And we have personal shields, too. The Empire boys never found them, you know, but they weren't meant to be found.† â€Å"All fight,† said Barr, â€Å"all right. Suppose yourself on Trantor. How do you see the Emperor then? You think he keeps office hours?† â€Å"Suppose we worry about that on Trantor,† said Devers. And Barr muttered helplessly, â€Å"All right again. I've wanted to see Trantor before I die for half a century now. Have your way.† The hypernuclear motor was cut in. The lights flickered and there was the slight internal wrench that marked the shift into hyperspace.