Battle of the Bulge essays

Battle of the Bulge essays In September of 1944 all signs pointed to a resounding Allied victory and the end of WWII. Everyone believed this was the case except for one man, Adolph Hitler. Refusing to resign Germany to defeat, he began planning a massive counterattack as early as August of 1944. The stalemate along the western front combined with the Allied logistical problems provided him with the preparation time and the precise location to execute this attack, the Ardennes. Hitler had earlier ordered the formation of a new reserve to be used in a November offensive and once the location for the attack was decided a massive buildup of German troops began. Hitler believed the dense forests and bad winter weather, which grounded the Allied air forces, could conceal this buildup. Hitlers master plan was code-named Wacht Am Rhein or Watch on the Rhine and would be useless without the personnel and equipment to execute it. In the fall of 1944 the German army was stretched all over Europe and was showing the strain of 5 years of war. On the western front the Germans were outnumbered 2-1 in troops, 15-1 in aircraft, and 20-1 in tanks causing Hitler to adapt some drastic measures to overcome these odds (Dworschak 3). Some examples of these measures were although the Germans lost almost 27,000 machine guns in September, only 1,500 replacements were sent to the front while 24,000 were set aside for Wacht am Rhein (Dworschak 3). 1,900 mortars were assigned to newly organized units rather than to the front and not one new Tiger or Panther tank went to Russia (Dworschak 5). More than 70 percent of all newly produced tanks and assault guns were sent to the west. Lowering the draft age to 16 and raising it to 60-increased troop size (Dworschak 5). The German rail system used over 2,000 trains, traveling under the cover of darkness, to move 145,000 tons of supplies, 4.6 million gallons of fuel, and 66 divisions to the Ardennes pri...

Reading Comprehension Questions

Reading Comprehension Questions Teachers have a tough job. Not only do they need to teach their core content areas, but they must also help their students master reading comprehension, too! Sometimes, its hard to do it all in context when you need to focus on the skills. Below, please find free reading comprehension worksheets complete with multiple choice questions and some essay questions, too. Each worksheet can be completed online, or you can print the attached pdf file for ease of classroom use.   The worksheets will help your students prepare for a reading comprehension test,  or even the critical reading section of any standardized test like the SAT, PSAT, GRE and more! Bonus? You can have them on hand for easy substitute lesson plans if you have to be out. Thats just a win-win! Nonfiction Reading Comprehension Questions This link will take you to a slew of reading comprehension worksheets based on nonfiction passages. The passage word counts range from 500 to over 2,000, and the content varies from famous speeches to biographies to art. Use the worksheets and accompanying multiple choice questions to test your students mastery of finding the main idea, assessing authors purpose, making inferences, understanding vocabulary in context, and more! Fiction Reading Comprehension Questions Here, find a range of reading comprehension worksheets based on fictional passages. The passage word counts range from the 800s up to 3,000. The settings range from a modern day  kitchen to 19th century  Parisian reform school. And like the nonfiction reading comprehension questions above, these focus on skills like main idea, inferences, vocab in context and more, too. Main Idea Worksheets While the nonfiction and fiction worksheets above offer varied questions, these worksheets focus only on finding the main idea. Here, youll find a worksheet of separate paragraphs followed by either multiple choice questions where students will have to get rid of distractors to find the correct main idea (getting rid of choices too narrow, too broad, partially correct, etc.), or open-ended questions where students will need to compose the main idea whether its stated or implied.   Vocabulary in Context Worksheets Each of the worksheets in this link focuses on a snippet from a story or nonfiction article and is followed by multiple choice questions asking students to determine the meaning of the vocabulary word based on the context. Words range in difficulty, although context is incredibly important in each selection in determining the meaning.   Inference Worksheets The first three worksheets come with pdfs for printing and included both open-ended and multiple choice questions. The last three are meant to be completed online. Students will look at pictures, and based on the photos or cartoons, make an inference backed up by the evidence displayed on the screen. Authors Purpose Worksheets These worksheets offer a variety of paragraphs, followed by an authors purpose question similar to those on standardized tests. For each paragraph, the students will need to select the choice that best represents the authors purpose for writing the passage. This is a very different concept from discovering the main idea or determining the authors tone.    Authors Purpose Worksheet 1  Authors Purpose Worksheet 2   Authors Tone Worksheets This skill set is currently being built up! But currently, you can find one authors tone worksheet with more to come very soon. Authors Tone Worksheet 1

Synthesis paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Synthesis - Term Paper Example Taking this course has enabled me to fully appreciate the various facets of leadership and to realize that leadership is an art in itself. The 9100 class required me to participate in a leadership simulation program online. I assumed two main roles: a state representative in economic development to head of funds distribution. Being in the economic development board, I was exposed to the myriad of challenges one faces when he or she has been granted the power and authority to make decisions. Before taking the course, I, like many other people, used to avoid discussing power since each one has a different opinion about it. However by this course, I came to understand that it is the trait which distinguishes leaders from followers and using it the right way is a very challenging task. This course has equipped me with the necessary qualities needed to be a good leader by making me work my way through problem-based experiences. In this paper, I will reflect upon how the leadership simulat ion course has helped me develop leadership traits and how the concepts of leadership apply to my experiences and learning. Being a member of the economic development board in the leadership simulation program allowed me to develop and hone my leadership skills. The program was a platform for me to come across the experiences that senior leaders face in their respective disciplines. By assuming a placement position in the economic department, I was exposed to the brunt of real responsibilities. The various skills that the simulation experience honed included better communication ability, making decisions in the spur of the moment as well as putting them to the test of thoughts and brainstorming, solving conflicts that may arise in the course of activities and performing other responsibilities of a board member. Being a simulated board member also opened the opportunity to interact with my peers and to work as a team. I realized the importance of team work and the importance of each and every member in interprofessional teams. This not only helped me to direct the decisions taken towards the optimal performance of the board but also to develop value-generating strategies which served to improve the efficiency of the processes. In the program, I came to identify my leadership style and to create a leadership plan2. The leadership program helped me to make my way through the problem-based scenarios in an organized and structured way. I was given different situations. In one such situation, being a member of the economic development board, I was required to evaluate the feasibility of a funding proposal. A lump sum of $1 million was proposed to be given to an economic development group, over a course of three years. My job was to investigate and decide whether the investment was worth it and if it contributed towards the betterment of the community as a whole. $1 million is a lot of money and in order to make such a decision, I had to evaluate the aims of the econ omic development group in detail. The situation allowed me to further upon my accounting skills and to weigh the profits against the possible losses. Discussing the situation with other board members allowed to me to diversify my communication and negotiation skills and to use the collective opinion in making a decision which is for the greater good of the community. Moreover, since I had a senior role and the amount of money being invested was large, my responsibility of keeping an

What role do greed and grievance play in civil war Essay

What role do greed and grievance play in civil war - Essay Example On the one hand revolts could develop because the insurgents desire riches by seizing control over resources; on the other hand they could emerge because insurgents want to cleanse the society from corruption, injustice, and abuse perpetrated by the incumbent regime. Current evidence and theories demonstrate that civil wars are based on motivations that reveal an interaction between greed and grievance. The more broadly recognised arguments largely stress the grievance thesis, which speculates some kind of political or resource scarcity or dispossession. In contrast, the greed theory explains that dissidents rise up in quest of self-centred economic gain. Valuable and major resources such as timber, diamonds, and oil constitute the base of the disputable commodities over which dissidents contest their governments. Furthermore, the concept of ‘greed’ works as a suitable name to define self-centred motives and the assets obtainable to fulfil certain benefits. Basically, a solid resource support works as a device for mobilisation. Numerous academics studying civil strife since the Cold War have a tendency to place emphasis on the costs or material aspects of civil war and to view this kind of conflict as a disturbance of ‘normal’ political, economic, and social dynamics in a society. However, participants in such conflict usually have a rooted motive in prolonging it—wars usually fulfil an array of economic and political interests, particularly within unstable, fragmented, or weak states. The weakness of economic performance in the long-run is directly and strongly associated with defective, dysfunctional systems that generate conflicts and dilemmas of their own, as well as an oppressive society and extensive rent seeking, which could be promoted by the existence of particular kinds of resource rents. The bases for civil

Textbook evaluation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Textbook evaluation - Assignment Example As a result, it can be concluded that the nature of learning/ teaching atmosphere may varies under different circumstances. Hence, it is important to keep in mind the requirements and significance of the specific learners in certain teaching conditions when selecting the criteria for the assessment of resources. There are many guidelines and checklists for evaluating the course material aimed to meet the needs of ELT situations as proposed by majority of different authors. In the next section, some of these criteria are discussed in detail. According to McDonough and Shaw (1993, p.66) the criteria needed to evaluate the course material is categorized into two stages, external and internal. investigate different criteria in two stages, namely external and internal stages. According to these researchers, the proposed criteria helps in thorough evaluation of the learning material which is considered comprehensive to meet the ELT needs of the learners and the teachers around the globe. I t has been pointed out by the researchers that the evaluation process is not concrete in nature; it changes with the learning/ teaching needs. The external evaluation revolves around meeting the needs of the intended audience, the ability of the learners/teachers, the framework of the material it is based on, the arrangement and presentation of the units/lessons, the author’s analysis on language and understanding. ... eaking and listening abilities involved in the resources, the association of tests and exercises to meet the needs of learners and the central focus of the course material, the suitability of the material to match the different learning styles, and how the teachers and the learners balance the use of course material in an appropriate manner. Explanation of the criteria to be used: Selection and organization of content: It is regarded as one of the most important standard to evaluate the material. Selection and organization of content is important. McDonough and Shaw (1993, p. ) describe that learners become more proficient in second language when they are speaking. This situation occurs when the language skills are taught in a collective manner rather separately. Level: The level to which the ELT learners can get advantage of a course book is established on the suitability of the course book to the point that it meets the needs of the concerned students. For example, the use of gramm atical features, the words and terms to be incorporated in reading texts and the standard of lessons should be beyond the ability of the students. General Appearance: Numerous researchers have underlined the significance of the exterior or the outer look of a course book. McDonough and Shaw (1993, p.61) have stressed the significance of external assessment because it â€Å"offers a brief overview of the outside of the book†. They emphasize the need for a significant and critical assessment of the claims made on the outer cover of the ELT books for teachers and the students. As Dougill (1987, p. ) have emphasized that course books should have interactive outlay to motivate and involve the students in learning. It has been observed that students judge the book by its outer look or the cover.

Benefit of Technology Transfer to Developing Countries

Benefit of Technology Transfer to Developing Countries WHY IS THE TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTION OF MULTINATIONALS POTENTIALLY SO IMPORTANT FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES? WHAT FACTORS WILL DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THE TRANSFERED TECHNOLOGY ACTUALLY PROVIDES NET BENEFITS FOR THE HOST DEVELOPING COUNTRY? Todays world is divided no longer by ideology but by technology 15% of the earths population, provides nearly all of the worlds technology innovationshalf of the worlds population, is able to adopt these technologies in production and consumption. The remaining part, covering around a third of the worlds population, is technologically disconnected, neither innovating at home nor adopting foreign technologies. Sachs (2000) According to the new Growth theory of the 1990s, Innovation is the prime source of technological advancementwhich in turn drives economic growth. One of the prime motives of host developing countries for widely accepting and encouraging various channels of FDI is to absorb the technological spillover from the foreign country firms. The Hard Technologies (industrial processes, equipment and plant) or Soft Technologies (technical know-how, management ideas, marketing skills etc) (Dunning and Lundan 2008) contributed by Multi-national Enterprises (MNEs) are considered the main source of economic development and growth. When a multinational firm vertically integrates with the developing country firms, host firms they are forced to abide by the MNEs strict guidance and standards to ensure quality goods or services in the form of raw materials or upstream services. The foreign firms would guide and assist, both managerially and technically which would lead to improvement both in quality and quantity of service by the local affiliates. Also domestic rival firms enhance their offerings to keep in pace with the foreign affiliated firms in the market thus enhancing the host country firms productivity. The biggest US based retailer, Wal-Marts entry and rapid expansion in China has helped the logistics industry in Chinese market to climb higher level Zhu (2010). For developing countries to carve their niche in the global economy, they need to be technologically advanced. There is a possibility of importing new technology from foreign developed market, but this will cause a setback as the procedure would be expensive. Also countries will find themselves alienated from the advancement of technologies if they cant develop export markets Sachs (2008). This can be minimised to a considerable extent by MNEs trickle down effect wherein transfer of technological skills from developed countries to developing countries occurs through FDI. The transfer of Panasonics microwave manufacturing base from United States to China has led to the presence of 2800 Chinese enterprises to provide components for it, which has not only contributed new technology, but also advanced operations management techniques to Chinese market (Sinani and Meyer 2004). The risk factor due to uncertainty of new technologys results and heavy investment thwarts the developing countries from introducing any new technology from scratch. The argument in support of MNEs is that technology  is the quintessential component of economic development and demands a lot of investment in research and development (RD). Developing countries, however, lack both in skills and funds essential for RD, which has led to the deficient level of RD in  developing  economies. The host countries innovation can be stimulated because of the presence of MNEs, which would command resources necessary for RD. Hence host firms can save on cost by using the technologies which are already implemented and used by MNEs using Demonstration (by MNEs) and Imitation (by host firms) (Das 1987; Wang Blomstrom 1992, cited in Crespo and Fontoura 2007). However the patent regulation and challenge of absorbing the technological skills in the short term collaborative contracts makes the process very challenging for the firms in the emerging markets. The human resources mobility from MNEs to local firms also act as a channel of technology transfer and extension since the systematic training provided to these high-skilled employees is dissipated to domestic firms in the form of innovative managerial ability thus enhancing the domestic enterprises which would otherwise be impossible (Crespo and Fontoura 2007). Table 1: Summary of Spillover Channels of FDI (Blomstorm and Kokko (1998); Gorg and Greenaway (2001); Gorg and Strobl (2002)) The technology transfer usually occurs in a market which is imperfectly competitive and possesses no particular market structure. Since different developing countries would have different market structure, it becomes very complicated to have a generalized theory and model to find the determinant factors of technological spillover benefits to local firms (Mondal and Pant 2010). The results of empirical study by various researchers act as an alternative to analyse the net benefits of technology spillover for the host developing countries. The firms Total Factor Productivity (Factors like the level of RD, foreign presence, the firm size) can be used as a proxy to gauge technology transfer (Haddad and Harrison 1992, cited in Crespo and Fontoura 2007).According to Seck (2011) A 10% increase in a developing countrys foreign RD capital stock leads to more than a 2% percent increase in its total factor productivity. The economic development level (measured by per capita GDP) impacts strongly on RD activity (Cheung and Lin 2003). The growth in host countrys RD activities reduces the technological gap and increases the absorptive capacity of the host firm thereby benefitting the host developing country. According to Schmid (2010), A one percent increase in the Research and development (RD) expenditure is associated with a five percent increase in the likelihood of a technology transfer. He also states that the technology transfer is positively correlated to the trade flows and RD expenditure of a developing country. RD resulting in new processes and products either amplifies firms revenues or saves firms costs and is considered as the vital proxy for endogenous growth and technological advancement, Zhu (2010). In 2004, 23.7 % of industrial RD within China was performed by affiliates as compared to 21.7% in 2004 (UNCTAD 2005, cited in Dunning and Lundan 2008, p.359) which exemplifies increasing trend and possibly positive effect on host developing countries. Here the main challenge lies in finding the exact proportion of beneficial RD activities. If the relative costs of technology adoption are large to the economic value of the underlying technology (to the host country firms), there will be little adoption relatively and FDI spillover realized will also be relatively limited (Blomstrà ¶m. et.al 1999). Thus cost of technology adoption plays a major role for the technology transfer to be beneficial to the host country firms. The factors contributing to the distribution of technological capacity (which includes Higher educational institutions, Scientists and Engineers, RD laboratories and other physical and human assets) which are aided by foreign affiliates reflects the net beneficial effect on host countries due to export or FDI (Dunning and Lundan 2008). Alongside the direct effects of technological capacity of host countries, the indirect consequences can be measured through knowledge, technology and RD spillovers to host economys local firms which can be measured in terms of the raise in productivity of local firms as a result of the MNEs presence or entry into host economy. However realising the exact proportion of productivity increase solely due to MNEs contribution is a big challenge for many other factors would have aided the process. A study by Xu (2000), cited in Dunning and Lundan (2008), suggests that the spending on royalties and licence fees approximately indicates the impact of productivity enhancement caused due to technology transfer of FDI in the host countries. The absorptive capacity of the developing countries varies and accordingly the positive or negative effects based on it. The study by Feinberg and Majumdar (2001), cited in Dunning and Lundan (2008) reveals that the pharmaceutical affiliates in India experienced no spillover to local firms through locally conducted RD whereas the foreign affiliates had benefited. On the contrary, a study conducted by (Mondal and Pant 2010) shows the presence of foreign affiliates and high absorptive capacity for developing countries to impact positively on technology spillover which is elevated by a highly competitive environment. The policies of host governments towards FDI such as technology policy and Intellectual Property Protection are also plausible determinants which impacts the magnitude of the efficiency spillovers captured by host country firms. For example government policies which would encourage the RD performance like effective IP protection would alleviate the chances of FDI and intensify the technological capability of local firms which in turn would aid to exploit appropriate foreign technology (Blomstrà ¶m et al. 1999). On the other hand patents filed by developed countries would result in limited transfer of technological capabilities due to the protection of technology from imitation for 20 years. China became the largest recipient of FDI among the developing countries during 1990s due to the market for technology policy and enforcement of patent law in line with TRIPs (Trade-Related Intellectual Properties) (Cheung and Lin, 2003). Due to contradicting research data and the dependence of technology transfer benefits on the kind of industry and the level of alliance between foreign and emerging market country firms, it becomes very complicated to generalise the factors contributing to the net benefits of the developing countries. CONCLUSION According to (Dunning and Lundan 2008) The ability to create, acquire, learn, use and effectively deploy technological capacity is one of the key ingredients of economic success in virtually all societies. The exact realisation of net benefit of technology transfer to developing countries is measured using TFP as a proxy and can be enhanced by strengthening their local economy and capabilities to attract FDI inflow with the aid of strict and stringent government regulations.

Vehicle Drive Train Systems Essay -- physics car automobile vehicle

Before the advent of the automobile, buggies were typically propelled by one or more horses. Even with the first automobiles there was a need for a drive system, though, since those horses were no longer there. One thing that has remained common to every car is a motor and transmission system of some sort, but what varies greatly between cars is what is between the transmission and the wheels, also known as the drive train. There are many different styles of drive trains, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Front Wheel Drive The most common style of drive train is that of the front wheel drive, abbreviated FWD. Front wheel drive was not, however, the first drive system. Front wheel drive first made its appearance in the automobile market in 1933 with the French Traction Avant, which literally means "pull from the front." At the time, the idea of having a car pulled by the front wheels was rather different, but this style of getting the power to the wheels worked rather well. What made the Traction Avant successful was that it was lighter and more fuel efficient than other car models made at the time. This increased efficiency was a result of not only eliminated weight, but also reduced power loss in moving the rotational energy to the back. The idea of front wheel driven cars was not embraced immediately by major car manufacturers, though, since having all the driving mechanisms placed right under or in front of the engine added complexity in production and maintenance that was not worth the extra gas mileage. It was when the gasoline shortage hit America in the early 1980s that the front wheel drive car first became popular. Chevrolet first implemented the system in its "Citation," in 1979, which became an... ...front and rear differentials. Taking this into consideration, all wheel drive systems are almost always on full time. In order for all wheel drive to work, a specialized computer and a matching set of sensors is needed to tell which wheels are spinning and to which wheels the power should be transferred to. The change is done through a series of automatic wheel braking, adding another complicated and costly mechanism to the brakes system. For this reason all wheel drive systems were usually only used in vehicles like Mercedes and Porches. Lately, though, due to the advances in manufacturing technology, there have been a few domestic vehicles released, like the newer Ford Explorers and the Saab 9-2X, both of which feature all wheel drive. Should the cost of production of all wheel drive systems continue to decrease, more domestic vehicles will feature it in the future.