George Berkeley Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

George Berkeley - Essay Example This paper briefly analyses why he oppose the concept of matter and support the role of God in human life. Berkeley argued that whatever the material bodies at our sight are not material objects but light and colors only. He has pointed out that human senses has limitations in identifying the exact nature of objects because of the inferior powers of our senses. He has questioned the Newtonian concepts like space, time, motion etc. Newton was successful in defining material objects with respect to space, time, motion etc. Newton argued that every object in this universe is made up with a three dimensional space (Length, breadth and thickness).Moreover he has also argued that every object in this universe is either in a state of motion or in a state of rest with respect to another object. Berkeley questioned these Newtonian arguments and pointed out that our senses do not have the ability to recognize the actual shape and size of material objects in this world. Berkeley’s argume nts were summarized as a theory called "esse is percipi" which means all the things surrounding us are nothing but our ideas or shadows. These ideas were formed with the help of imperfect sensory inputs. Berkeley believed that human senses are not matured or perfect enough to recognize the actual shape and size of matters in this world. ... In other words, animals and human have different sensory abilities. The above example clearly shows that in this universe, different living things have different sensing abilities. Moreover it is quite possible that living things with superior sensing abilities than humans exist in this universe. Berkeley also argued that sensory inputs have no other existence which is different from our perceptions. For example, two blind people who try to recognize the shape of an elephant may perceive the shape of elephant differently if they touch different parts of elephant body. The one who touches the ear of the elephant may perceive the shape of elephant as flat whereas the one who touches the legs of an elephant may perceive the shape of elephant as cylindrical. In other words, we are quite similar to these blind people. Our senses are incapable of assessing the proper shape of an object. It is quite possible that the shape of an object may have other dimensions which we are incapable to per ceive using our senses. Berkeley believed only in spirits and ideas. He argued that the mental substance is a combination of mind, spirit and soul. Moreover, ideas rest in this mental substance. He also argued that spirit is the only active being whereas ideas are passive beings. In other words, ideas can be perceived differently by different people whereas spirit cannot be altered. Thus, Berkeley succeeded in classifying human knowledge into two broad categories; knowledge with respect to ideas and knowledge with respect to spirit. Spiritual knowledge cannot be perceived whereas knowledge based on ideas can be perceived by human senses. Thus, Berkeley argued that spiritual knowledge is beyond our control or beyond our grasping abilities. In short,

Choose one of the three Flexible , Fearful, or Feisty Essay

Choose one of the three Flexible , Fearful, or Feisty - Essay Example I always enjoyed to get engaged in a range of activities most often involved art activities. This activity pattern and craze towards colors polished my creativity. So, in the later stages of my childhood I proved to be a good cartoonist. I participated in many inter school events and won several prizes. Later on, I came to know the fact that being a flexible personality; I was really blessed as I was more adaptive towards new situations. I always enjoyed creativity and innovative ideas. I always liked to show positive attitude and this approach of my childhood has, definitely, affected my current life in a positive way. My flexible personality trait brought up confidence, optimism and tolerance in my personality. It is amazing to note that I never argued like younger siblings while mother used to serve some new food. It always made me curious to have new tastes and flavors. However, sometime ambiguous situations made me confused. As I have told that I was flexible at one end but I was not so clever. I was not very good in decision making as well. This was the basic reason why I most often adopted what my parents felt better for me. I was quite adaptive and bendy towards the decisions they put forward. And now when I am a grown up guy, I can differentiate that my intentions were not wrong. For me, my parents always did what they thought the best among all. From my childhood behavior, I analyze that living with flexibility and adjustment always offers a right path. Life is a continuous process offering give and take relationships. It goes on and on. So, those who prefer to adjust and accommodate with new situations always get the full benefits. This is what I really learn from my childhood. 1. Hanns M. Trautner, Diane N. Ruble, Lisa Cyphers, Barbara Kirsten, Regina Behrendt and Petra Hartmann. â€Å"Rigidity and Flexibility of Gender Stereotypes in Childhood: Developmental or Differential?† Infant and Child Development (2005): New York University,

Advantages and disadvantages of Home-working Essay Example for Free

Advantages and disadvantages of Home-working Essay Most of organizations use ICT for their work. Using ICT has increase the pace of organizations by a huge factor as well as helping in many other ways. However, everything has its disadvantages as well as advantages; the disadvantages of using ICT is developing some physical diseases, increased chances of fraud through ICT, etc. Day by day, new technologies are exploited and new ways of using ICT is introduced to people. One of the changes that can be brought to an editing company is to increase the amount of home-working. Increasing home-working will have many positive effects on the organization as well as some bad. If home-working is increased, the staff will have an opportunity of preparing their ergonomics just the way they want it to be. This will provide the staff with a more comfortable environment, and a better status of the brain; this way the staff can be more active and contribute more to their job. The other benefit of increasing home-working is that the risk of hacking and fraud of the data is reduced. If the staff member does most of his/her work at home, this means that he stores it in his own personal area. If someone broke up into the company, they wont be able to find that information, because it is not stored in the companys ICT. If home-working is increased, the staff member will be able to do his/her work whenever, wherever he/she wants; this wont give them a hard time trying to show up in the office on time. It will also help reduce transport. The members can do the work from home and will not need to go to their office. The reduction in transport is proven helpful for the environment. The disadvantages of increasing home-working are that the worker should be a responsible person. Many people will not do something unless they are forced to. If the employee of an organization is an irresponsible person, home-working will shows a decrease in productivity of an organization. The staff member should be able to differentiate between their personal life and work life to be able to have as successful life. The other disadvantage of home-working is that the employee is independent while working; this might raise a temptation of not working in them since there is no boss to tell them to do the work. Also, the boss would not know which employee is more productive than others, therefore they wont be able to reward, or penalize any of the employees. Keeping to the deadlines is very important. If given a task to complete by a certain date, it will be the responsibility of the employee to manage their time and have the task done by the deadline. However there is no guarantee that something wont go wrong. Maybe for example, losing all the data due to some technical or software error in the computer. There might even be some kind of a physical damage to the machinery which will delay the task. But being away from the employers sight, it might be difficult to prove that such an incident had really take place.

Failure Of The Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill Project Construction Essay

Failure Of The Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill Project Construction Essay In the quest to develop its policy in the steel sector the Federal Government of Nigeria under General Gowan era promulgated Decree No.19 on April 14, 1971 setting up the Nigerian Steel Development Authority (NSDA) which was charged with the responsibility for the planning, construction and operation of steel plants in the country. It was in addition tasked with carrying out investigations related to geological surveys, market studies and metallurgical research. The NSDA also embarked on short and long-term training of staff in overseas countries such as India and the Soviet Union on the operation and management of an iron and steel plant. Hence, in 1973, Tiajpromexport (TPE) of the then USSR was commissioned to prepare a preliminary project Report (PPR) on the iron and steel industry in Nigeria. The Report submitted in 1974, studied alternative production schemes based on both local and imported raw materials and was accepted in 1975. A contract for the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) signed in 1975 with the USSR was submitted to the Nigerian government in October of 1977. With the assistance of Sofresid of France as consultants, a variant of the steel plant was accepted in June 1978. The DPR specified broadly the general layout, composition and requirements as well as a tentative master schedule of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant. It was on the basis of this Detailed Project Report that the Global Contract was signed on the 13th of July 1979 between Nigeria and Tiajpromexport of the Soviet Union for the construction of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant. The signing of this contract signified major commitments on the part of the Nigerian government and the USSR to the development of an iron and steel industry in Nigeria. The Nigerian government on 18th of September 1979 promulgated the National Steel Council Decree No.60 dissolving the NSDA. The new decree provided for the formation of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant as well as five other limited liability companies. These are the Delta Steel Company Ltd., Aladja; the Jos Steel Rolling Mill, the Oshogbo Steel Rolling Mill, the Katsina Steel Rolling Mill, and the then Associated Ores and Mining Company Ltd., now, National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) at Itakpe. However, the very long gestation period of the Ajaokuta project meant that the rolling mills had problems of inadequate supply or lack of billets to operate optimally. This contributed significantly to the poor performance of the Nigerian steel sector. The steel companies, rolling mills and the mining company have all now been incorporated as limited liability companies and are expected to be self-funding (BPE, 2005).However, the government of Nigeria wishes to fully divest its equity holdings in the rolling mills. It seeks prospective core/strategic investors with an initial sale plan of acquisition of 80 per cent shares of the rolling mills, while the remaining shares will be offered to the staff of the company as well as the local community (Bureau of Public Enterprises, 2003). 1.1 THE AJAOKUTA PROJECT OVERVIEW The Ajaokuta project was established on the 18th of September 1979, with formation of Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd. Which was charged with the responsibility of constructing and operating the Ajaokuta integrated iron and steel plant. The project at inception was envisaged to produce 1.3 million tonnes at its first stage, 2.6 million tonnes at its second stage, and 5.2 million tonnes per annum at the third phase of long and flat products. The principal units of the Ajaokuta Plant include the iron making plant, steel making plant, the rolling mills, repair facilities, auxiliary facilities and the electric power supply system. The envisaged features of the Plant include 150mm Wire Rod Mill, 320mm Light Section and Bar Mill, 700mm Medium Section and Structural Mill and 900/630 semi-continuous Billet Mill Cross Section of ASCL: Source: Julius Berger Plc; Construction period, 10/1980-06/1990 ASCL, 1990). The Ajaokuta integrated plant, which is based on the blast furnace process of iron making, has a raw materials preparation unit that includes the Sintering plant, Coke-oven and By-product unit under the iron-making unit. The rolling mills are four, two of which, namely, the light section and Wire Rod mills were supposed to be the priority rolling mills. In terms of product mix, the Preliminary Project Report (PPR), proposed equal amounts of flat and long products. However, during this period, the national economy was buoyant with the construction industry enjoying a boom, and this led to the decision that the first stage of the plant would be devoted to long products only, while the second stage an expansion to 2.6 x 106 tones, would be for the production of flats. The first phase was therefore designed to produce long products like iron bars, wire rods, angles, squares, channels, beams, and structures. Most of the products were expected to be used in the civil engineering construction industry. However, hindsight shows that the change of the original concept of the plant was a serious error (Ogbu et.al, 1995). 1.2 COMPLETING EFFORTS OF THE AJAOKUTA PROJECT Several successive administration of the federal government had taken measures in the completion of the Ajaokuta project since its inception yet till date the project had not attained the first phase of its installed capacity. In line with the industrial policy of the civilian administration, a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between FGN and a Japanese firm, Kobe Steel Ltd, was entered into on May 31, 2002 to provide a Fastmelt Technology for the completion of the plant-phase I. Six months later, another agreement (Financing Agreement F.A) was reached with SOLGAS of USA to finance the project between the FGN and Kobe Steel Ltd on the 29th November, 2002. In a space of another seven months ON June 30, 2003 the Federal Government signed yet another agreement with the same SOLGAS: to extinguish earlier agreements reached and to move ahead to manage the project leaving in the wake too many loopholes, thereby putting into serious questions our techno-managerial ability. As this arrangemen t was in progress, there was on standby TPE to stage a come back. TPE actually submitted to the ministry to rehabilitate the plant at the cost of $300million. The recent effort of the government is the constitution of the 16-man Interim Management Committee after the concession of Ajaokuta steel company to an Indian based company, Global Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (GINL) failed in 2008 on the ground that the Indian firm was short-changing the interest of the country (Olaitan, 2010). The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development received the business plan of the Interim Management Committee for re-operationalising. With this, the seed fund of Six hundred and fifty (N650) million naira only was approved by the federal government to be released to the Interim Management Committee for re-operationalising the Light section mill, the Wire rod mill, the engineering workshops, the Thermal Power Plant at the Steel Plant. According to the Minister à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"the immediat e phase is re-operationalising, the second is completion of the plants and the third phase is privatizationà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ , (Mukhtar, 2010). 1.3 MAJOR CHALLENGES OF AJAOKUTA PROJECT The major problems inhibiting the proper functionality of Ajaokuta Steel Company can be categorized under the following: Funding. Raw material development. Infrastructure. High cost of energy and natural gas. Inappropriate capital structure. 1.3.1 FUNDING. à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Many ex-regimes save the Shagari Ekwueme era of the Second Republic had had but a smattering on the importance of the steel dream. Suffice it to say that in the Abacha regime the project was said to have been mortgaged much to the chagrin of compatriots in the industry and the country in general.à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ,(Omonihgo, 2004). It could be concluded that the government has spent a lot on the project, but poor funding has been the bane of completion schedules of the project Second to it is the lack of working capital for the operation of the Rolling Mills and other units of the steel project led to the shot down of these plants resulted in idleness and deterioration of the completed units. There is no gain saying that for a reactivation of these units, substantial working capital is required. 1.3.2 RAW MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT: Mines development, access roads, procurementinstallation of plant and equipment are still outstanding for a number of raw materials input in steel production apart from iron ore. There also, lies the problem of identifying and determining sources of imported raw materials like bauxite and manganese, cooking coal etc. 1.3.3 INFRASTRUCTURE: Apart from raw materials, external infrastructures to and from Ajaokuta steel are lacking. The completion of Warri-Ajaokuta rail line, dredging of, River Niger, and installation of bulk handling facilities at the ports are still outstanding. 1.3.4 INAPPROPRIATE CAPITAL STRUCTURE: Ajaokuta steel company being a public sector steel company has found it extremely difficult to source for funds in the financial market. Consequently, the government has been their source of funds. Sadly, the dwindling economic fortunes of the country via mal administration have made the government incapable of meeting the financial needs of these companies adequately. However, in as much as the nation is over independent on oil and its non diversification of the economy, politics both local and international, corruption has been the bligh of the realization of the steel dream, it remains inevitable that the completion and commissioning of the Ajaokuta steel plant remains the bed rock to Nigerians quest towards industrialization. 2.0 THEORY 2.1 Per Capita Consumption of steel The per capita consumption of steel is the index used to determine the level of industrialisation of a country. The per capita consumption of steel in Nigeria is woefully very small: 10kg, some say it is less than that; while the world average is 130kg. Statistics show that Nigeria is lagging behind even other African countries, with lesser endowments; like: Zimbabwe (25kg), Egypt (42kg), Algeria (38kg) and South Africa (112kg). But Nigeria is richly endowed with extensive deposits of metallic and nonmetallic materials across the country, which is why confronted by this gloomy economic outlook, the African Iron and Steel Association, AlSA, in May 2002 advised the Nigerian government that the nation can deploy her resources to raise up her level of per capita consumption of steel to 100kg, so as to jumpstart industrialisation within the next 10 years, Adding that Nigeria, with a population of over 150 million has a very large room and huge domestic market that can sustain such rapid g rowth. The country will also save for herself a lot of foreign exchange earnings if ASCL and DSC can come on stream, according to AISA. From the foregoing therefore, Nigerias demand for steel is estimated at about 12.0million tonnes per annum to begin industrialisation proper. If ASCL and DSC are operating optimally, then, they would contribute annually 5.2 million and 1.0 million tonnes respectively or cumulatively 6.2 million tonnes per year to the domestic market. It behooves, therefore, that the remaining 50 percent will still need to be imported or, another Ajaokuta and Delta Steel Complexes are required to argument the short-fall in supply. 2.2 Build Own Transfer Solution 2.3 Corporate Governance 3.0 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RESEARCH

Historiography of U.S. German Relations from 1871-1916 :: Historiography Diplomatic Essays

Historiography of U.S. German Relations Historiography on American German relations from the end of the Civil War up to the First World War is a rather obscure subject. Rather than having its own specialized and narrow individualized study, it is studied primarily in thematic articles dealing with specific events that marked such relations or in contrast to growing British-American rapprochement during this period, written in the context of European foreign relations historiography. There is little written about the structural continuity in the relationship between the United States and Imperial Germany between the years 1871 and 1918, unless it is in the context of the First World War and then only between the start of the war to its end and the subsequent period. While there are many parallels between both the United States and Germany during this time, such as the stresses of industrialization, urbanization, the search for national unity following a period of war, and the search for a world policy, there is little written about such similarities and about the shift from amiable relations to the growing antagonism that occurred during this period. In the period of following the outbreak of the First World War and the entry of the United States into European affairs, there is an immense amount written about American German relations. However, much of this is written in the context of the First World War and does not stress any sort of continuity in foreign relations from the period that preceded this general conflagration. Nonetheless, while there is a lack of attention in reference to the relations between these two great nations, simultaneously undergoing similar processes of industrialization, urbanization, and a world foreign policy, there are some key works that address their relationship during the period following German unification and the American Civil War and before the First World War, which saw them emerging as enemies from a period of them being once erstwhile allies. In the latter half of the twentieth century, many notable European diplomatic historians, such as A.J.P. Taylor[1], William L. Langer[2], and Raymond Sontag[3], mentioned the relationship between the United States and Germany in the period 1871 to 1916 in passing, when addressing the greater antagonism that existed between the British Empire and growing German interference in its spheres of influence throughout the globe.

Philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment Essay -- European History

During the eighteenth century, ideas of reform started in France and spread through Europe. This period is referred to as The Age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment carried the idea that economic change and political reform were possible. People started to think that they could use their own intellect to challenge the intellectual authority of tradition and the Christian past. The people who wrote for change and reform were called the philosophes (French for philosophers). They wrote hoping to bring reform to religion, political thought, society, government, and the economy. Thanks to the print culture, the philosophes’ ideas were spread throughout Europe. People started to have educated conversations about these new ideas in places like coffeehouses and drinking spots. The ideas of philosophes during the Enlightenment challenged whole societies. Some of philosophes include Denis Diderot, Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rou sseau, and Voltaire. In the mid eighteenth century, the Encyclopedia was published. It was written under the leadership of Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert. Over one hundred French thinkers contributed to the Encyclopedia, including all of the major French philosophes. Diderot wrote on about every subject including philosophy, science, music, and art. D’Alembert divided and described the different sciences, and he analyzed the role of reason. The Encyclopedia was meant to secularize learning and to refute intellectual assumptions from the Middle Ages. It contained articles on religion, government, and philosophy. It attempted to see the natural world through science and technology, and human passions through an understanding of how individuals and societies work. The Encyclopedia helped spread the thoughts of the Enlightenment over the continent. Immanuel Kant was an important German philosopher who coined the term the â€Å"Enlightenment.† He said, â€Å"Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance† (Kant). His greatest works were The Critique of Pure Reason, and The Critique of Practical Reason. â€Å"He sought to accept the rationalism of the Enlightenment and still to preserve a belief in human freedom, immortality, and the existence of God† (Kagan, 687). Kant did not think that the human mind j... ...e itself† (Richter, 109). During his lifetime, Voltaire wrote over two thousand books and pamphlets, and wrote for the Encyclopedia. He was one of the first philosophers in the Enlightenment, and some of his ideas lead to the French Revolution. Denis Diderot, Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire all helped to write about possible reform for society. They all challenged the established society. They all believed that society could be perfected a bit at a time. Work Cited Gay, Peter. The Enlightenment. New York: Norton, 1969. Kant, Immanuel. â€Å"What Is Enlightenment?† trans. by Peter Gay, in Introduction to Contemporary Civilzation in the West, 2nd ed., Vol. 2 New York: Columbia University Press, 1954, pp. 1071-1072. Kagan, Donald and Ozment, Steven and Turner, Frank. The Western Heritage: Volume Two: Since 1648, 8th ed., New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2004. Montesquieu. The Spirit of the Laws, trans. Thomas Nugent. New York: MacMillan, 1949. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract and Discourses. trans. by G.D.H. Cole. New York: Dutton, 1950. Richter, Peyton and Ricardo, Ilona. Voltaire. Boston: Twayne, 1980.

The present situation in iraq

The Iraq's general condition, including economic and political condition is bad[1]. During the years Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, there was a great dramatic fall of its economy. It was mainly due to the war Hussein aggressively started against Kuwait.   When US and British troops motivated in invading Iraq, which soon caused his defeat, its economic condition became even poorer. Sending powerful armed forces to fully disarm the Iraqi President Hussein was a big historical success but its remnants were a nightmare. The damage caused by the war made the entire population suffer. Everyone faced the same very difficult conditions. Lots of resources, agricultural and other land areas have been damaged.Recently, it appeared on the news[2] that there is a vague clue of reconciliation in Iraq. It says, â€Å"Leaders of the main factions have haggled over issues behind closed doors and urged Parliament to pass some conciliatory measures.† Although there is a temporary ceasefire, st ill the Iraqi leaders, as well as their supporters in the greater Middle East, have so many unfinished settlements on peace agreement.Seeing the present situation in Iraq, the answer to the question regarding new opportunities in the country is indistinguishable.By year 2006, Iraq is fourth[3] on the rank of the greatest oil reserves in the world. While, the current state of DWI is in Syria and in China, having oil reserves of 2.5 billion barrels and 18.3 billion barrels, respectively.[4] In comparison, Iraq has 115 billion barrels of oil deposit. With this much amount of difference, it is very tempting to venture any oil business in the area. It’s clear to have a predictable rise on the DWI revenue if it would have its development in Iraq. This would also give out opportunities to workers to have better compensation. However attempting to expand market share in Iraq would be too risky. Sending groups of people to work for the company in a particular chaotic place is very une thical.This is the primary reason United States law and U.N Sanctions barred any entry of business in Iraq. If DWI would insist to put in their business in the country, they would have to seek support from the US government first. Another option would be to have dealings with country’s parliament. Even if DWI would have settled with the US government or the parliament issues of Iraq, there is still no guarantee of a long-term settlement because the situation among them is even not fixed yet. Lots of deliberation is still going on among Iraqi leaders, and also between the Iraqi leaders and the US government as well. Thus any business dealings with the country these days are still unreliable. The best suggestion would be to wait for the time when there would be a secured peace in Iraq.References:Kjeilen, Tore. (Copyright 1996-2008). Looklex Encyclopedia. â€Å"Iraq: The Iraqi Republic†.Retrieved April 07, 2008 fromhttp://i-cias.com/e.o/iraq.htm.Mahdi, Kamil A. (2003). Ir aq's Economic Predicament. United Kingdom: Ithaca Press.Nafzinger, Wayne E., Frances Stewart, and Raimo Vayrynen.(2002).War, Hunger, andDisplacement: The Origins of Humanitarian Emergencies  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New York: Oxford Press.[1] Kjeilen, Tore, â€Å"Iraq: The Iraqi Republic†, Looklex Encyclopedia,http://i-cias.com/e.o/iraq.htm, Accessed 07 April 2008. [2] Taken from â€Å"Overview: The Iraq War† The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/ref/timestopics/topics_iraq.html#1, Accessed 08 April 2008. [3] Based from â€Å"Greatest Oil Reserves by Country, 2006†, HighBeam Research, LLC.  © Copyright 2005, http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0872964.html, Accessed 08 April 2008. [4] Mentioned in â€Å"Syria:Energy and power†, http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Syria-ENERGY-AND-POWER.html, Accessed 08 April 2008.