Nano Technology in Oil Industry Essay Example for Free

Nano Technology in Oil Industry Essay Introduction Nanotech applications Nanoparticles have been successfully used in drilling mud for the Last 40-50 years. Recently the other disciplines of the oil industry, such as exploration, primary and assisted production, monitoring, refining and distribution, are approaching nanotechnologies due to its immense Potential for Confronting challenges, performance improvement cost. Especially in ultra-deep water and artic environments, Severe reservoir conditions (high-temperature and high-pressure formations), nonconventional resources of energy,Heavy oils, tight gas, tar sandsreservoirs) Present nanotech applications in oil industry: Most of the major oil and service companies, such as BP, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Total and Schlumberger. done research in exploiting nanotechnologies to improve oil and gas production. Developing subsurface micro- and nanosensors that could be injected in oil and gas wellbores identification of nanotech potentialities applied to EOR issues. Recent published results speak about Single-Walled-Carbon-Nano Tube (SWNT) / Silica nanohybrids, active at the fluid interface, if delivered at the O/W interface, would react and modify the oil properties to increase oil mobilization, hence oil recovery. Researchers ars analysing the potential benefits derived by the application of nanomaterials, nanofluids and nanomembranes in oil industry. Sensors: Nanomaterials are unparallelled tools for the development of sensors and imaging-contrast agents due to the significant alterations in their optical, magnetic and electrical properties, along with their ability to form (electrically and/or geometrically) percolated structures at low volume fractions. Such nanomaterials, when combined with smart fluids, can be used as extremely sensitive down hole sensors for temperature, pressure and stress even under extreme conditions. The ultimate evolution of instruments for oil prospects is perceived to be nanorobots, which should really provide an effective mapping of the reservoir. Nanorobots still remain a dream,shared by the medical and oil sectors. But advances in nanosensors miniaturization are becoming a reality. Coatings: A corrosion-resistant material solution represented by nanometric thin films  and composites with nanostructured fillers are in the advanced stage. corrosion-resistant materials are the â€Å"just ready to happen † nanotechnology-based applications,due to its relatively low risk, high effectiveness and low complexity. Nanocoated, wear-resistant probes, made of tungsten carbide or boron nitride, enhance the life span and efficiency of the drilling systems. The same applies to the nano-layered corrosion inhibitors in pipes or tanks, which creates a permanent molecular coating on the surface of metals, eliminating corrosion. Nanofluids and nanomaterials for drilling and completion : Nanotechnology has opened the development of smart fluids† for drilling, production and stimulation applications. Nanofluids and nano-based additives exhibit major advancement by enhanced drilling by adding benefits like wettability alteration, improved drag reduction and sand consolidation. A specialized petroleum laboratory has developed an advanced fluid mixed with nanosized particles and superfine powder that significantly improves the drilling speed and can eliminate formation damage in near wellbore zone. With the synthesis of a new breed of elastomeric composites filled with carbon nanotubes or other strongly anisotropic nano-objects, a stronger, tougher and more rugged drilling tools and apparatus will be manufactured in future. These tools will ensure a significant weight reduction and facilitate self-sensing elements to be interrogated for the real-time monitoring of the most critical parts. Another important technique in the development of super-hard materials is the use of nanostructured dispersed-hardened materials .First generation of nanotech applications for improving hydraulic fracturing are represented by BakerHughes’s nanostructured metal composites, combined by magnesium, aluminium and other alloys, which offer both strength at lower weight and the ability to â€Å"dissolve† away under certain conditions. Another example is the proppant produced by Oxane Materials, constituted by nano-structured ceramic material which is as strong as but lighter as ceramic proppant. A possible solution for mitigating fines, by nanocrystals for treating hydraulic fracture proppant packs to fix formation fines. Nanotechnology application for reservoir monitoring for enhanced oil recovery Nanomembranes: A new generation of lightweight and strong nanomembranes is being developed and employed, Which will remarkably enhance  the exploitation of tight gas by providing efficient methods for removing impurities, separating gas streams and enabling GTL production. Nanoporous and nanoparticulate materials are also quite encouraging to manage the Health, Safety, Environmental, risks arise due to presence of CO2 and H2S in hydrocarbon mixtures. Nanotechnology application for reservoir monitoring The petroleum sector and the medical visualize the dream of a nanosensor able to provide in-situ information about the systems under analysis. The most complicated and Complex challenge faced by oil industry is that it requires strong technical improvements in injected nano sensors into the reservoir, to face placement and recovery, protection in harsh environments , 3-D location, sensors powering and data storage retrieving. For example, the quantity of oil present in a reservoir could be assessed based on the amount of material lost or retained during the travel time, or the extreme conditions (temperature, pressure, salinity gradient) at which the nanoparticles were exposed and for how long, could be determined. The idea can be to pump nano-sensors in the reservoir periodically so as to regularly monitor changes in the well/field conditions.In turn, this could result in enhanced production efficiency. Several possible applications and exploitation schemes are currently under study with nano-devices injected into a reservoir. A novel paramagnetic nanoparticles into proppant structures together with these smart proppant could help in mapping the fracture efficiency using detectable contrast agents. Further nanoparticles could preferably segregate into different fluid portions, hence providing enhanced characterization of the reservoir and, fianlly , improved oil recovery,due to their miniscule dimensions, increased surface area and high mobility. Nanotechnology application for enhanced oil recovery: The greatest challenge at present is the possibility of increasing the efficiency of hydrocarbon production, both by improving the current EOR methodologies and by developing alternative technologies. The current researches indicate the new generation nano-agents should modify the properties of the injected fluid, in terms of viscosity, density, thermal conductivity and specific heat and modify the fluid-rock interaction properties, .The use of two different types of polysilicon nanoparticles (one nanometer-scale) in oil fields  improves wettability, to enhance water injection and improve oil recovery. The application of paramagnetic nanoparticles for EOR , possess a unique combination of fluidity and capability to interact with a magnetic field. The addition of a surfactant would greatly reduce the interfacial tension in waterwet reservoirs due to the presence of a dipole moment.The reservoir fluid molecules align, thus reducing the resistance to flow. ConocoPhillips, aims at creating a new class of polymer-type nanoparticles that can be incorporated with EOR injection fluids to improve hydrocarbon recovery by penetrating small pore throats without being trapped and hence the a mount of expensive injection can be decreased. The University of Alaska Fairbanks investigated The possibility of improving gas injection for the Alaska North Slope heavy oil recovery. Metal nanoparticles. reduce the viscosity of the heavy oil. Using super critical CO2 and Viscosity ReducingInjectant (VRI) saturated by nanoparticles, exploit the thermal properties of nanoparticles for improved heat transfer to heavy oil; explore the effects of Poly Di Methyl Siloxane and metal nanoparticles on density and viscosity for reducing mobility and viscous fingering Phenomena . When dealing with extremely low permeability reservoirs, conventional approaches to water flooding cannot provide recovery factors greater than 0.2. This is mainly due to capillary forces which are very strong in narrow pore channels. With low-permeability reservoir rocks, the level of purity and filtration of injected water is one of the most important issues for a significant oil recovery. With rocks characterized by a permeability of 0.1 ÃŽ ¼m2 the recovery factor deviates from an average of 0.4 by less than 10% if particulates in injected water are smaller than 200 nm. Nevertheless, with a rock permeability of 0.05 ÃŽ ¼m2 the recovery factor is dramatically approaching zero with the same particle ssize. A traditional water flooding technique is obviously unproductive in this latter case, unless water is filtered and purified of particulates down to at least 100 nm. Innovative water nano-filters are to be specially designed both to ensure uniform pore throats and the ability to recovery tens of billions of tons of oil. Some feel that oil is essentially a nanoliquid, with asphaltenes being the dominant part, flowing in a micro and often nanoscopic environment (i.e., the porous media). According to that,it seems justifiable to consider most of the oil and gas production technologies, reservoir treatments and  stimulation as nanotechnologies. Under this point of view, current petroleum science is relying on the study and control of physical chemical phenomena occurring at the nanometer scale and the ability to correctly model the reservoir flow plays an important role. However, a suitable tool to reliably describe coupled phenomena is still missing. The present approach being discussed is, for creating nanorobots to monitor individual pores and channels and hydrocarbon flow, exchange information and identify zones which intensify the extraction or the injection of water. CONCLUSION: Nanotechnology Application to the oil industry has an immense potential benefits. Some applications are already available,while others could come from Complementing the solutions developed for the biomedical, automotive, aerospace, chemical and, textile Industries. Well drilling, fracturing and cementing as well as new generation membranes for gas separation already rely on nanotech solutions. At present efforts are being made to design nano-sensors for reservoir characterization and monitoring and to produce nano-fluids for improving EOR processes. Promising results have been obtained from laboratory experiment, but field tests are still in progress..The future of nanotechnology applications is remarkable.

Case for Christ Essay Example for Free

Case for Christ Essay Dr. Jeffry McDonald was an ex-marine standing trial for killing his family. He did not think the jury would find him at fault because he had an alibi. However, his alibi did not stand up to scientific evidence. Dr. McDonald was sentenced based on blood and trace evidence that did not back up his alibi. In this case scientific evidence is introduced to prove or disprove the consistency of the gospels based on the discipline of archeology. Strobel turns to an archeological professional who has personal experience working digs in the Middle East. His name is John McRay. As Strobel seeks to stay independent in gathering the evidence he proposes a question to help him determine if McRay will exaggerate the role of archeology when it comes to determining the reliability of the gospels. McCray points out that archeology can bring forth evidence is presented to either explain or disprove evidence presented. In this chapter the search for opinions contrary to those already collected, which includes the opinions of Jesus Seminar, a self-selected group representing a small portion of New Testament scholars who believe Jesus did not say most of what is credited to him in the gospels. They also published The Five Gospels which include the traditional four plus a manuscript titled the Gospel of Thomas which was written in the second century. The author examines their claims to see if he can find reliable evidence to disprove these confusing opinions. To find answers he visits Dr. Gregory Boyd to gather evidence to the Jesus Seminars widely publicized views. Most skeptics take pride in their intellectual ability. Some people like to think that they have no beliefs. However, modern science has shown us that everyone has beliefs. Although people would like to think that everything we believe is based upon evidence and logic this cannot be. We become emotionally bound to our worldview, so much so that worldview changes occur rarely. Observational evidence became apparent that the universe was expanding. Inferring back in time revealed that the universe was merely billions of years old. The data eventually led to the Big Bang theory which is virtually universally accepted by modern day cosmologist. The idea that the universe could have gone through an infinite number of birth and deaths was shown to be false on the basis of the lack of amount of matter within the universe. So we have come to realize that the universe first began to exist 13 billion years ago. Atheists are left with a problem because their worldview requires all things have a cause to exist So logic says that the universe had a cause. Virtually all atheists say that this cause was some natural phenomenon. It is also possible that the cause of the universe was a supernatural intelligence, God. The problem gets worse for the atheist. The physical laws of the universe fall within very small ranges in order for life or matter to exist contradicting strong atheism. The prospect of finding a naturalistic cause for the origin of the universe is dreary since the laws of physics indicate that we will never be able escape the bounds of our universe to even look for the cause of the universe.

Relationship Between Neoliberalism and Neorealism

Relationship Between Neoliberalism and Neorealism NEO-LIBERALISM, NEO-REALISM   THE ‘NEO-NEO SYNTHESIS’ Do you agree that neo-realism and neo-liberalism have come so close together so as to form a ‘neo-neo synthesis’? Or is the long-standing confrontation between the two very much alive today? ‘This positivist-realist legacy has, despite slight differences and  dichotomies, persisted in later positivist scholars of international  relations: Robert Gilpin, Stephan Krasner, and Robert Kohane. Whereas  they have a number of differences to debate, namely anarchy, regime,  state cooperation etc., they belong to the Neo-realist research  programme which as been called the ‘‘neo-neo synthesis’’. Despite the  substantive debate between neo-realists and neo-liberal institutionalists,  Neo-institutionalism does not actually challenge but complements neorealism . . . This indicates that neo-realism and neo-liberalism are no  longer incommensurable: they commonly share the rationalist research  programme.’ (Toru Oga, 2000: p.3) This quotation is given at such length because it succinctly and excellently gives the theoretical foundation for the notion of a ‘neo-neo synthesis’, and for the merger and integration of neo-realism and neo-liberalism. For a long part of the twentieth century realism and liberalism, and later neo-realism and neo-liberalism, were bitterly opposed to each other at both theoretical and practical levels: the former espoused a economic and political ideology that viewed the ideal international community as one possessed of lassiz-faire economic policies, of free markets and limited government intervention; the later proposed, to the contrary, that the international community should be a restraint upon nation states, limiting and controlling their political and economic activities, and making them behave according to mutually agreed criteria (Booth, 1995). Considering the antithetical nature of these two positions, it long seemed to supporters of both camps that a synthesis of their positions would be both heretical and impossible. Nonetheless, in the mid 1980’s a convergence of the two schools did indeed begin to emerge as it became clear that their differences were not as great as they has formerly assumed, and as other schools of a more radical nature began to attack neo-liberalism and neo-realism alike (Kratochwil, 2000). As Oga suggests above, the two schools came to see that they were both working according to the ‘rationalist research programme’ and that this joint philosophy might bear better fruit if they co-ordinated their work. This essay however proceeds to argue, using the twin criticisms of John Ruggie’s and Alexander Wendt’s constructivism and Richard Ashley’ and David Campbell’s deconstructivism, that the neo-neo synthesis is but a verbal mirage, a rhetorical convergence of ideas that is not a political reality and whose theoretical foundation is both illogical and unhistorical. It will th erefore be shown that neo-realism’s and neo-liberalism’s long-standing confrontation is as alive today as it has been at any time in its history. ‘Social constructivism’ first emerged as a challenge to the validity of the neo-neo synthesis of neo-realism and neo-liberalism in the work of John Ruggie (1986) and Alexander Wendt (1989). The principal objection raised by these scholars to the neo-neo-neo synthesis was that it failed to sufficiently account for or explain the roles and functions of national interests and national and corporate identities in the domain of international politics. In the words of Oda ‘Firstly, the neo-neo synthesis is unable to explain how territorial states formed particular identities and interests. Secondly, it fails to explain how state identity and state interest are co-instituted. Finally, there increasingly emerges the normative factor in international relations, such as humanitarian intervention, which the synthesis totally ignores’ (Oda, 2000: p.5). The neo-neo synthesis is therefore criticised on three counts: one, it pays too little attention to how national and te rritorial identities are formed, and therefore does not have sufficient knowledge of these identities when needing to make informed decisions on international political and economic policy; secondly, this being a related point, the neo-neo synthesis does not make clear the relationship between how state identities are formed and therefore how states will behave internationally in the protection of their interests; and, thirdly, the neo-neo synthesis in entirely impotent when asked to make decisions regarding one of the most significant developments in recent international politics: the emergence of humanitarianism. Thus Ruggie came to define the opposite to the neo-neo synthesis, i.e., constructivism, with the following statement ‘Social constructivists have sought to understand the full array of roles that ideas play in world politics, rather than specifying a priori roles based on theoretical presuppositions and then testing for those specified roles, as Neo-Utilitarians doà ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Ruggie 1998: p. 867). If this constructivist position is accurate, Ruggie argued, then the neo-neo synthesis cannot also be accurate. ‘On the one hand, the sign of ‘sovereignty’ betokens a rational identity: a  homogeneous and continuous presence that is hierarchically ordered, that has a  unique centre of decision presenting over a coherent ‘self’, and that is  demarcated from, and in opposition to, an external domain of difference and  change that resists assimilation to its identical being. On the other hand, the  sign of ‘anarchy’ betokens this residual external domain: an aleatory domain  characterised by difference and discontinuity, contingency and ambiguity, that  can be known only for its lack of the coherent truth and meaning expressed by  a sovereign presence’ (Ashley, 1988: p. 230) A further attack upon the solidity of the neo-neo synthesis has been launched by the deconstructivism school founded by Richard Ashley (1988) and David Campbell (1998) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ the criticisms of both centring upon failure of the neo-neo synthesis to properly explain the anarchical nature of the international political domain. According to the rationalistic model of the neo-neo synthesis the international economic and political community must be ordered according to absolutely certain and definite economic and political principles that are open to scientific research and investigation. Likewise, it is a belief of the neo-neo synthesis that economists and politicians are able to make predictions about the nature of the international environment by using these scientifically determined laws of economics and politics; the above model cannot allow for capricious economic and political events whose causes lie outside of scientific prediction (Lapid, 1989). Deconstructivism on the other hand, as Ashley shows in the quotation above, argues that the order bestowed upon a nation by its ‘sovereignty’ is not present in the international arena where a lack of sovereignty produces events that defy economic and political laws derived from the economic and political conditions in sovereign states (Ashley, 1988). In different words: the international arena and the sovereign domestic arena are markedly different and behave differently according to different sets of laws. Thus Ashley came to speak of the international arena as place of ‘anarchy problematique’ (Ashley, 1988: p.201): a notion considerably developed by the other founder of deconstructivism, David Campbell. In Writing Security (1988) Campbell considers the domestic and foreign policies of the United States as an example of the dichotomy between sovereign domestic behaviour and anarchical international behaviour. At the domestic level, successive American governments, be they republ ican or democratic, produce prudent and conservative policies designed to operate within a narrow ideological range; such policies are designed to appeal to an average American mind-set that is fond of such conservative policies. American foreign policy however manifests itself in much more radical forms, most recently witnessed in the invasion of Iraq, including many policies that violate the political, moral and economic ideologies expected at home. In Iraq, for instance, American policy is forced to respond to anarchical conditions that require very different policies and practices from those employed the homeland of America; these normal freedoms and rights are suspended because of the changed anarchical conditions over which America presides in Iraq. The explanation for this policy and ideological dichotomy rests upon a difference of identity: American citizens identify themselves at home, due to long tradition and experience of certain rights and freedoms, as possessing these absolutely and do not permit their governments to make major deviations from these; in the international arena however the identity of those making policy is not so strongly tied to cultural or individual identity but is rather an abstract spectre that can as such justifies more anarchical policies. Thus Campbell famously stated that ‘Identity can be understood as the outcome of exclusionary practices in which resistant elements to a secure identity on the ‘‘inside’’ are linked through a discourse of ‘‘danger’’ with threats identified and located on the outside. Foreign policy, being those practices of differentiation implicated in all confrontations between a self and other, embraces both positive and negative valences’ (Campbell, 1998: p.73.). The neo-neo synthesis, according to Ashley, Campbell and others of the deconstructionist school cannot properly exist in the form it pretends to because it does not take suffic ient account of the anarchical element in international politics. In the final analysis, it can be stated with some assurance that the ‘neo-neo synthesis’ is a desperate verbal illusion created by neo-liberals and neo-realists alike when jointly threatened by the strength of the constructivism / deconstructivism critique. The eminent political scientist Francis Fukuyama predicted in his famous National Interest article of 1989 entitled The End of History that differences of economic and political ideologies would soon be a thing of the past as the world, driven by forces of globalization, came together behind the consensus that liberal democracy and capitalism represented the end point of human history and would soon create a homogenous political order (Fukuyama, 1989). Deeply influenced and threatened by the persuasiveness of such ideas, and so by the notion that their own ideological differences might become superfluous; scholars of both schools created the ‘neo-neo synthesis’ as a self-defence mechanism. This mechanism has subsequently been revealed as both illogical and irrational by the criticisms levelled against it by the constructivism and deconstructivism schools. The pretence of ideological unity is falsified by the practical manifestations of both theories, which diverge radically and which show that the long-standing confrontation between the two positions is as alive today as at any other time before. BIBLIOGRAPHY Academic Books, Journals Articles Ashley, R. (1986 [1984]) ‘The Poverty of Neorealism’ in Keohane, R. O. (edt.) Neorealism and its Critics (New York: Columbia U.P.) Booth, K. (1995) ‘Dare not to know: International Relations Theory versus the Future’ in Booth, K. and Smith, S. (edt.) International Relations Theory Today (Oxford: Polity Press). Campbell, D. (1998). Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity (Manchester: Manchester U.P., Revised Edition) Cox, R. (1987) Production, Power, and World Order: Social Forces in the making of History (NY: Columbia U.P.) (1999) ‘Civil Society at the Turn of the Millennium: Prospects for an Alternative World Order’ in Review of International Studies Vol. 25 Fukuyama, F. (1989). National Interest article ‘The End of History’. George, J. (1993) ‘Of Incarceration and Closure: Neo-realism and New/Old World order’ Millennium: Journal of International Studies 22 (2). Kratochwil, F. (2000) ‘Constructing a New Orthodoxy? Wendt’s ‘Social Theory of International Politics’ and the Constructivist Challenge’ Millennium: Journal of International Studies 29 (1) Laclau, E. and Mouffe, C. (1985) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards A Radical Democratic Politics (London: Verso) Lapid, Y. (1989) ‘The Third Debate: on the prospects of International Theory in a Post-Positivist Era’ International Studies Quarterly Vol. 33. Oga, T. (2000). From Constructivism to Deconstructivism: Theorising the Construction and Culmination of Identities. PhD Thesis. Department of Government. University of Essex. Ruggie, J. G. (1986) ‘Continuity and Transformation in the World Polity: Toward a Neorealist Synthesis’ in Keohane, R. O. (edt.) Neorealism and its Critics (New York: Columbia U.P.) Waltz, K. (1979) Theory of International Politics (New York: Random House) Wendt, A. and Duval, R. (1989) ‘Institutions and International Order’ in Czempiel, E. O. and Rosenau, J. N. (edt.) Global Changes and Theoretical Challenges: Approaches to World Politics for the 1990s (Massachusetts: Lexington Books)

What inspires you? :: essays research papers

What inspires you?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have two things that inspire me in my life. One of them is my parents especially my mother, the other is the accident of my dad ¡Ã‚ ¯s company occurred in recent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will talk about the accident happened in March of this year. I live in States but my parents live in Korea. Only way we contact is using phone, or I visit them for every summer and winter vacation. If they don ¡Ã‚ ¯t tell me what is going on in our family there is no way to figure out that when I am in States. When I got home for this summer vacation, my dad asked me to come home early one day and he said that there is a serious thing that he wanted to talk to me. I had no clue what was going on. He said that there was a fire broken out in his factory. He owns huge furniture factory and he is C.E.O of this company. The biggest storage of his plant was gone because of the fire. It was about 1.8 million dollars worth, and it ¡Ã‚ ¯s gone now. People said that it was on the TV and newspaper for 3 days as a big tragedy. I visited there and I saw people working there to build new one again. The first problem he got was the loss of his assets and the second one was that he was getting too much of stress from that. I always got my personal expenses from my dad during vacation, but I just decided to work and make money. I know it is hard since I am taking 10 credits of summer courses during whole summer vacation. I strongly felt that I need to do something for my dad. So I applied one of the biggest accounting corporation in Korea, I got accepted as intern. It ¡Ã‚ ¯s been a little bit more than a month I ¡Ã‚ ¯ve been working, but the problem is that I only get 3hours sleep except the weekend. After I get home from work I eat dinner and start my homework and quizzes for my summer courses then I can go to sleep at around 3 or 4 o ¡Ã‚ ¯clock in the morning. I get really tired physically and mentally but when I think about what my dad was suffering from the accident it is nothing. I started thinking in positive way that this is good opportunity to overcome the suffer in my life. What inspires you? :: essays research papers What inspires you?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have two things that inspire me in my life. One of them is my parents especially my mother, the other is the accident of my dad ¡Ã‚ ¯s company occurred in recent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will talk about the accident happened in March of this year. I live in States but my parents live in Korea. Only way we contact is using phone, or I visit them for every summer and winter vacation. If they don ¡Ã‚ ¯t tell me what is going on in our family there is no way to figure out that when I am in States. When I got home for this summer vacation, my dad asked me to come home early one day and he said that there is a serious thing that he wanted to talk to me. I had no clue what was going on. He said that there was a fire broken out in his factory. He owns huge furniture factory and he is C.E.O of this company. The biggest storage of his plant was gone because of the fire. It was about 1.8 million dollars worth, and it ¡Ã‚ ¯s gone now. People said that it was on the TV and newspaper for 3 days as a big tragedy. I visited there and I saw people working there to build new one again. The first problem he got was the loss of his assets and the second one was that he was getting too much of stress from that. I always got my personal expenses from my dad during vacation, but I just decided to work and make money. I know it is hard since I am taking 10 credits of summer courses during whole summer vacation. I strongly felt that I need to do something for my dad. So I applied one of the biggest accounting corporation in Korea, I got accepted as intern. It ¡Ã‚ ¯s been a little bit more than a month I ¡Ã‚ ¯ve been working, but the problem is that I only get 3hours sleep except the weekend. After I get home from work I eat dinner and start my homework and quizzes for my summer courses then I can go to sleep at around 3 or 4 o ¡Ã‚ ¯clock in the morning. I get really tired physically and mentally but when I think about what my dad was suffering from the accident it is nothing. I started thinking in positive way that this is good opportunity to overcome the suffer in my life.

Social Justice In Education :: essays papers

Social Justice In Education â€Å"Social Justice in Education† by R. W. Connell discusses the role of education in society and the implications that social justice issues have on education. Connell begins by establishing that education and social justice can be examined separately yet they are inescapably linked through the social medium of their implementation. â€Å"Education concerns schools, colleges and universities, whose business is to pass knowledge on to the next generation. Social justice is about income, employment, pensions or physical assets like housing.†(Connell, 1993) Three points validating the equal importance of social justice and the education system to people of all delineations are: 1.) in Western society public schools are key forums of social interaction and comprise some of the largest social institutions 2.) educational institutions are highly economic bodies and have become â€Å"major public assets† (Connell, 1993) 3.) teaching becomes a vehicle by which so ciety is ultimately determined and has a great influence over society’s morality. Connell describes the meaning of justice in education as being â€Å"a question of fairness in distribution†¦ equality.†(Connell, 1993) â€Å"Justice cannot be achieved by distributing the same†¦ standard good to†¦ all social classes.†(Connell, 1993) By stating this, Connell summarizes that in the attempt to achieve equality, unequal means must be employed. The implications for teaching presented by Connell’s article are immense. The concept of equality in education and the equality of access to education are matters that are determined by the social constructs of the society in which we live. The notion of equality in education means that educators must approach all material and subject matter with a premise of unbiased predetermination. Music, math, science, fine arts, English, Japanese, history, etc†¦ must all be considered on a par. Our current educational system does not treat all subjects as equal in our public education system. The stereotypical reading, writing and arithmetic (primary subjects) take precedence over the fine arts and like subjects (secondary subjects). Social justice criteria as presented in this article, establish that economic variables are a means of determination for favouritism within the educational institution. Where the primary subjects receive ensured funding, the secondary subjects rec eive funding when deemed viable. This creates inequality at the very base of the institution itself. The result is degradation to all facets of the educational system. â€Å"The moral quality of education is inevitably affected by the moral character of educational institutions.

Fire Crackers :: essays research papers

Our Lives Versus Firecrackers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bong! Bong! Bong! These are the typical sounds one would hear passing by a Chinatown around February of every year. Indeed, these are the sounds of firecrackers, which are distinctive features Chinese people use to welcome a new beginning on Chinese New Year. However, can anyone imagine how many people have died or have been injured by these explosive features? According to a report, a firecracker storage area in China caught fire which caused the death of forty-seven people. An event of happy celebration unfortunately ended up being a tragically one. This leaves a question that needs to be answered: Should people's lives be sacrificed in order to keep the tradition of New Year celebration?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Being a Chinese, I truely understand that Chinese New Year is the most important and most celebrated holiday for Chinese. In addition, firecracker displays are always the first event to be launched off as the New Year arrives. According to older generations, firecrackers are considered not only a sign of getting rid of the old and welcoming the new, but are also believed to be able to dispel the evils. As a result, Chinese families deem the activity as an important one. However, it seems like this tradition is kept at the expense Lee 2 of innocent people's lives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In fact, firecrackers can lead to significant casualties if people don't use it appropriately. In recent years, firecrackers are bannedb in some states in America. There are a total of 11 states that ban all types of firecrackers while some states only allow few types of firecrackers. Most leniently states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida still allow all types of firecrackers ( Essoyan; Los Angeles Time ). The administration of some states has refused to allow the setting off of firecrackers during Chinese New Year celebration because these state governments believe that these explosives are too dangerous. Moreover, firecrackers have also been banned in China, after the firecracker storage area explosion incident.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In addition to its explosiveness, firecrackers are hazardous to people's health and lives. First of all, according to sources, firecrackers can trigger pneumonia or bronchitis caused by inhaling the smoke generated by firecrackers ( Kammerer; South China Morning Post ). Furthermore, many children do not realize the danger firecrackers can cause and are often burned and injured by these substances. Even adults can be physically harmed by firecrackers if they do not pay enough attention during the usage.

The United States: An Empire in Denial

With the arrival and eventual establishment of a permanent settlement on American soil in the early seventeenth century, the English settlers came upon an expansive territory of land teeming with resources and endless possibilities. Soon, these settlers longed for liberty and thus desired to break free from the imperial clutches of British rule. Standing resolutely against a great and powerful empire, liberty was won in America by the blood of its founding fathers, indelibly written in the Declaration of Independence.Perhaps in these humble beginnings are the reasons why America today could never officially admit on how she has evolved into the empire she had once detested and fought. The facts, however, speak for themselves. America today is a colossal empire and as such, she has in her power the capacity to shape the future by creating a world environment conducive to profitable economic relations (especially to third-world countries) and international peace, both of which are in s hort supply, these days.What the world needs, according to Niall Ferguson in page 301 of his book ‘Colossus’, is an effective liberal empire and the United States is the best candidate for the job. What restrains America from accepting and performing its role as an imperial power? This paper delves on this question and discusses the following relevant issues: (1) definition of an empire, (2) what America has become, (3) the American might: strongholds around the globe, (4) the American empire: adherence and denial, and (5) America as the engine of global growth.America is now the only superpower in the world and she is in a position to greatly influence the course of human history. Main Body Definition of an Empire Probing into the topic at hand, it is necessary to elucidate on the true meaning of ‘empire’ as rationalized by Mr. Ferguson: An empire is ‘first and foremost, a very great power that has left its mark on the international relations of an e ra . . . a polity that rules over wide territories and many peoples, since the management of space and multi-ethnicity is one of the great perennial dilemmas of an empire .. . An empire is by definition . . . not a polity ruled with the explicit consent of its peoples, [But] by a process of assimilation of peoples of democratization of institutions empires can transform themselves into multinational federations or even nation states. (10) Thus defined, an empire does not require the general consensus of the people involved. However, an empire can adapt to whatever is the prevalent social, economic or political environment at hand. What America Has BecomeIn the course of human history for the past four centuries since the arrival of the English settlers in America, has the United States revealed itself, in whatever degree, as a nation with imperial intents? As Ferguson states: This book argues not merely that the United States is an empire but that it has always been an empire. Unlik e most of the previous authors who have remarked on this, I have no objection in principle to an American empire. Indeed, a part of my argument is that many parts of the world would benefit from a period of American rule (Ferguson 2).The United States is perceived to be the greatest empire to have ever existed in the history the mankind, propelling itself to the top, not only with its involvement and successes at previous wars, but most especially, with its exploitation of constant advances in science and technology for its defensive posture. In this field, America has no equal. As we have seen, by most conventional measures of power–economic, military and cultural–there has never been an empire mightier than the United States today (Ferguson289). The American Might: Strongholds around the GlobeFrom a military standpoint, America has the greatest influence over many other nations today. Controlling offensive and defensive strategic sites around the globe, its military arm is well-emplaced and is in the best position to act or react should the need arise. . . . the U. S. military has around 752 military installations in more than 130 countries . . . In the first year of President Bush’s presidency, around 70,000 U. S. troops were stationed in Germany, and 40,000 in Japan . . . Almost as many (36,500) were in South Korea . . .Moreover, new wars have meant new bases, like Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, acquired during the 1999 war against Yugoslavia, or the Bishkek air base in Kyrgyzstan . . . At the time of writing, about 10,000 American troops are still based in Afghanistan, and it seems certain that a substantial force of 100,000 will have to remain in Iraq for at least the next few years. (Ferguson 16) What other nation in the face of the earth – be it in the past or in the present – could ever boast of such a claim? What other nation is more prepared to control vast areas of land, air and water with its military dominance?On lan d the United States has 9,000 M1 Abrams tanks. The rest of the world has nothing that can compete. At sea the United States possesses nine ‘supercarrier’ battle groups. The rest of the world has none. And in the air the United States has three different kinds of undetectable stealth aircraft. The rest of the world has none. The United States is also far ahead in the production of ‘smart’ missiles and pilotless high-altitude ‘drones’ (Ferguson 16). The American Empire: Adherence and Denial The United States today is an empire – but a peculiar kind of empire.It is vastly wealthy. It is militarily peerless. It has astonishing cultural reach. Yet by comparison with other empires it often struggles to impose its will beyond its shores . . . Only when the United States could cast itself in an anti-imperialist role . . . were the Americans able to perform their own cryptoimperial role with self-confidence (Ferguson 287). This is where the Ameri can nation faces its greatest hurdle in reaching its full potential and becoming a great empire for the greater benefit of the world, for it could not bear the concept of an Imperial America.It took a succession of humanitarian disasters abroad in the 1990s and terrorist attacks at home in 2001 to rekindle public enthusiasm for a more assertive American foreign policy, though even this had to be cloaked in euphemism, its imperial character repeatedly denied (Ferguson 287). But this denial is not a sentiment shared by all Americans. As events unfold and the need for change arises, more and more adherents to an imperial America surface, publicly giving voice to an advocacy silently embraced by a few.Richard Haas, who went on to serve in the Bush administration as director of policy planning in the State Department, argued that Americans needed to ‘re-conceive their global role from one of traditional nation-state to an imperial power’, calling openly for an ‘informa l’ American empire . . . As Thomas Donnelly, deputy executive director of the Project for the New American Century, told the Washington Post in August 2001, â€Å"There’s not all that many people who will talk about it [empire] openly. It’s discomforting to a lot of Americans.So they use code phrases like ‘America is the sole superpower’ â€Å"(Ferguson 4). There is little doubt that the declaration of an imperial America would profoundly provoke global agitation. However, one must bear in mind that this is not a new concept and that for decades, this abstraction has always been in the backdrop, even more so in every anti-American cause one would care to listen to. Few people outside the United States today doubt the existence of an American empire; that America is imperialistic is a truism in the eyes of most educated Europeans.But the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr noted as long ago as 1960, Americans persist in ‘frantically avoiding recognit ion of the imperialism [they] in fact exercise (Ferguson 294). All evidence suggests that America is an empire. The denial of the American populace and most especially that of the United States government to this fact is not an altogether innocuous act or claim, as in the present case of Iraq and Afghanistan. Does imperial denial matter? The answer is that it does . . .The trouble with an empire in denial is that it tends to make two mistakes when it chooses to intervene in the affairs of lesser states. The first may be to allocate insufficient resources to the nonmilitary aspects of the project. The second, and the more serious, is to attempt economic and political transformation in an unrealistically short time frame. (Ferguson 294) America as the Engine of Global Growth To this day, America remains to be the behemoth that it is with the American dollar taking its rightful place as the international currency in the global market.Twentieth-century history handed the United States a privileged position in the world economy; its currency became and has remained the world’s favorite. Since 1945 it has been used more than any other for denominating international transactions, and that has made it the preferred currency for central bank reserves (Ferguson 283). America, it appears, has everything that is needed to perform its imperial role. It is even likely that, in these times of widespread poverty, many countries would rally behind this cause for simple economic motives.The reason that so much overseas capital flows into the United States, so it is said, is that the American economy is the engine of global growth and foreign investors simply want a ‘piece of the action’ (Ferguson 281). At the end of the day, the alleviation of poverty through the creation of a dynamic and vigorous economy is the backbone of a peaceful nation. Here is where one sees the role that America should play. The Role that America Should Play What the world needs toda y is not just any kind of empire.What is required is a liberal empire- that is to say, one that not only underwrites the free international exchange of commodities, labor and capital but also creates and upholds the conditions without which markets cannot function- peace and order, the rule of law, non-corrupt administration, stable fiscal and monetary policies- as well as provide public goods, such as transport infrastructure, hospitals and schools, which would not otherwise exist. (Ferguson 2) The question that must now be answered is: ‘Can the United States achieve the role of being an effective liberal empire?’ There is no doubt that the America of today has a foothold on almost all of the essential attributes required to perform this role. Although the United States seems in many ways ideally endowed –economically, militarily and politically – to run such an ‘empire of liberty’ (in Thomas Jefferson’s phrase), in practice it has bee n a surprisingly inept empire builder (Ferguson 2). Because of the democracy with which America was founded upon, we have seen time and again how the American populace, in general, refuses to accept the concept of an empire.As such, it could not move on to greater heights of historical attainment. Others would claim that many millions of people around the world have benefited in some way or another from the existence of America’s empire – not least the West Europeans, Japanese, and South Koreans who were able to prosper during the cold war under the protection of the American nuclear ‘umbrella’ – and that the economic losers of the post-cold war era, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, are victims not of American power but of its absence (Ferguson 13).In the words of retired General Anthony Zinni: ‘What is our obligation to the world? ’ We preach about values, democracy, human rights, but we haven’t convinced the American people to pony up . . . There’s no leadership that steps up and says, ‘This is the right thing to do’ . . . That’s the basic problem . . . There has to be the political will and support for these things. We should believe that a stable world is a better place for us . . . the U. S.would make a much greater difference to the world. (Ferguson 293) Conclusion Through the acceptance and support for an American empire by the American people themselves – which in itself is a huge undertaking – the United States could significantly alter the course of human history for the better. This conclusion could better be proven by questioning any of the multitudinous impoverished citizens from a third-world country if such a nation would be better off under the auspices of the American dollar.The United States has always been an empire in denial. A truly unfortunate fact for humankind would have a much better place to live in if only the world, most especially the American populace, would accept, recognize and support this undeniable reality of an imperial America. Works Cited Fletcher, Richard. Colossus. U. K. : Penguin, 2004.