Northrop P-61 Black Widow in World War II

In 1940, with World War II raging, the Royal Air Force began seeking designs for a new night fighter to combat German raids on London. Having used radar to aid in winning the Battle of Britain, the British sought to incorporate smaller airborne intercept radar units into the new design. To this end, the RAF instructed the British Purchasing Commission in the US to evaluate American aircraft designs. Key among the desired traits were the ability to loiter for around eight hours, carry the new radar system, and mount multiple gun turrets. During this period, Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons, the US Air Officer in London, was briefed on British progress relating to the development of airborne intercept radar units. He also gained an understanding of the RAFs requirements for a new night fighter. Composing a report, he stated that he believed the American aviation industry could produce the desired design. In the United States, Jack Northrop learned of the British requirements and began contemplating a large, twin engine design. His efforts received a boost later that year when a US Army Air Corps board chaired by Emmons issued a request for a night fighter based on the British specifications. These were further refined by the Air Technical Service Command at Wright Field, OH. Specifications General Length: 49 ft., 7 in.Wingspan: 66 ft.Height: 14 ft., 8 in.Wing Area: 662.36 sq. ft.Empty Weight: 23,450 lbs.Loaded Weight: 29,700 lbs.Maximum Takeoff Weight: 36,200 lbs.Crew: 2-3 Performance Maximum Speed: 366 mphRange: 610 milesRate of Climb: 2,540 ft./min.Service Ceiling: 33,100 ft.Power Plant: 2 Ãâ€" Pratt Whitney R-2800-65W Double Wasp radial engines, 2,250 hp each Armament 4 Ãâ€" 20 mm Hispano M2 cannon in ventral fuselage4 Ãâ€" .50 in M2 Browning machine guns in remotely operated, full-traversing upper turret4 Ãâ€" bombs of up to 1,600 lb. each or 6 Ãâ€" 5 in. HVAR unguided rockets Northrop Responds: In late October 1940, Northrops chief of research, Vladimir H. Pavlecka, was contacted by ATSCs Colonel Laurence C. Craigie who verbally detailed the type of aircraft they were seeking. Taking his notes to Northrop, the two men concluded that the new request from the USAAC was nearly identical to that from the RAF. As a result, Northrop produced the work done earlier in response to the British request and immediately had a head start over his competitors. Northrops initial design saw the company create an aircraft featuring a central fuselage suspended between two engine nacelles and tail booms. The armament was arranged in two turrets, one in the nose and one in the tail. Carrying a crew of three (pilot, gunner, and radar operator), the design proved unusually large for a fighter. This was necessary to accommodate the weight of the airborne intercept radar unit and the need for an extended flight time. Presenting the design to the USAAC on November 8, it was approved over the Douglas XA-26A. Refining the layout, Northrop quickly shifted the turret locations to the top and bottom of the fuselage. Subsequent discussions with the USAAC led to a request for increased firepower. As a result, the lower turret was abandoned in favor of four 20 mm cannon mounted in the wings. These were later repositioned to the underside of the aircraft, similar to the German Heinkel He 219, which freed up space in the wings for additional fuel while also improving the wings airfoil. The USAAC also requested the installation of flame arrestors on the engine exhausts, a rearrangement of radio equipment, and hard points for drop tanks. The Design Evolves: The basic design was approved by the USAAC and a contract issued for prototypes on January 10, 1941. Designated the XP-61, the aircraft was to be powered by two Pratt Whitney R2800-10 Double Wasp engines turning Curtiss C5424-A10 four-bladed, automatic, full-feathering propellers. As construction of the prototype moved forward, it quickly fell victim to a number of delays. These included difficulty obtaining the new propellers as well as equipment for the upper turret. In the latter case, other aircraft such as the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, and B-29 Superfortress took priority in receiving turrets. The problems were eventually overcome and the prototype first flew on May 26, 1942. As the design evolved, the P-61s engines were changed to two Pratt Whitney R-2800-25S Double Wasp engines featuring two-stage, two-speed mechanical superchargers. Additionally, larger wider span flaps were used which permitted a lower landing speed. The crew was housed in the central fuselage (or gondola) with the airborne intercept radar dish mounted within a rounded nose in front of the cockpit. The rear of the central fuselage was enclosed with a plexiglass cone while the forward section featured a stepped, greenhouse-style canopy for the pilot and gunner.   In the final design, the pilot and gunner were situated toward the front of the aircraft while the radar operator occupied an isolated space towards the rear. Here they operated a SCR-720 radar set which was used to direct the pilot towards enemy aircraft. As the P-61 closed on an enemy aircraft, the pilot could view a smaller radar scope mounted in the cockpit. The aircrafts upper turret was operated remotely and targeting aided by a General Electric GE2CFR12A3 gyroscopic fire control computer. Mounting four .50 cal. machine guns, it could be fired by the gunner, radar operator, or pilot. In the last case, the turret would be locked in a forward-firing position. Ready for service in early 1944, the P-61 Black Widow became the US Army Air Forces first purpose-designed night fighter. Operational History: The first unit to receive the P-61 was the 348th Night Fighter Squadron based in Florida. A training unit, the 348th prepared crews for deployment to Europe. Additional training facilities were also used in California. While night fighter squadrons overseas transitioned to the P-61 from other aircraft, such as the Douglas P-70 and British Bristol Beaufighter, many Black Widow units were formed from scratch in the United States. In February 1944, the first P-61 squadrons, the 422nd and 425th, shipped out for Britain. Arriving, they found that the USAAF leadership, including Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, were concerned that the P-61 lacked the speed to engage the latest German fighters. Instead, Spaatz directed that the squadrons be equipped with British De Havilland Mosquitoes. Over Europe: This was resisted by the RAF which wished to retain all available Mosquitoes. As a result, a competition was held between the two aircraft to determine the P-61s capabilities. This resulted in a victory for the Black Widow, though many senior USAAF officers remained skeptical and others believed the RAF had deliberately thrown the contest. Receiving their aircraft in June, the 422nd began missions over Britain the following month. These aircraft were unique in that they had been shipped without their upper turrets. As a result, the squadrons gunners were reassigned to P-70 units. On July 16, Lieutenant Herman Ernst scored the P-61s first kill when he downed a V-1 flying bomb. Moving across the Channel later in the summer, P-61 units began to engage manned German opposition and posted an admirable success rate. Though some aircraft were lost to accidents and ground fire, none were downed by German aircraft. That December, the P-61 found a new role as it helped defend Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Using its powerful complement of 20 mm cannon, the aircraft attacked German vehicles and supply lines as it aided the besieged towns defenders. As the spring of 1945 progressed, P-61 units found enemy aircraft increasingly scarce and kill numbers dropped accordingly. Though the type was also used in the Mediterranean Theater, units there often received them too late in the conflict to see meaningful results. In the Pacific: In June 1944, the first P-61s reached the Pacific and joined the 6th Night Fighter Squadron on Guadalcanal. The Black Widows first Japanese victim was a Mitsubishi G4M Betty which was downed on June 30. Additional P-61s reached the theater as the summer progressed though enemy targets were generally sporadic. This led to several squadrons never scoring a kill for the duration of the war. In January 1945, a P-61 aided in the raid on the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp in the Philippines by distracting the Japanese guards as the assault force neared. As the spring of 1945 progressed, Japanese targets became virtually nonexistent though a P-61 was credited with scoring the final kill of the war when it downed a Nakajima Ki-44 Tojo on August 14/15. Later Service: Though concerns about the P-61s performance persisted, it was retained after the war as USAAF did not possess an effective jet-powered night fighter. The type was joined by the F-15 Reporter which had been developed during the summer of 1945. Essentially an unarmed P-61, the F-15 carried a multitude of cameras and was intended for use as a reconnaissance aircraft. Redesignated F-61 in 1948, the aircraft began to be withdrawn from service later that year and was replaced by the North American F-82 Twin Mustang. Refitted as a night fighter, the F-82 served as an interim solution until the arrival of the jet-powered F-89 Scorpion. The final F-61s were retired in May 1950. Sold to civilian agencies, F-61s and F-15s performed in a variety of roles into the late 1960s.

Raising A Child Should Be A Parent s Number One Concern...

Raising a child should be a parent’s number one concern, everything else comes after. The innocent life that is brought into this world should not have to go through emotional despair or physical hardships at any a young age. Not so long ago it was common place to put children through hard practices without giving regard to their well-being. This kind of child abuse goes as far back as a millenia, and only recently has it gotten the legal attention it deserves. Child labor is the most apparent form of child abuse and has always been a part of the United States. The dawn of Protective laws for children started with the end of child labor. We must continue to engineer these laws to counteract child abuse. Let us legislate laws and create awareness to make a country where children won’t have to recover from their childhood. My eyes were opened to what child abuse was like at a young age. Back in elementary school I had a friend named Keyon who’s only meal was the one at school lunch. I found this out because at the time we were in third grade we’d go to lunch in a line and he would always ask different kids to let him cut in line. One day when he asked if he could cut me in line I was fine with it and allowed it but was curious to why he wanted his food so early everyday so I asked, â€Å"Hey Keyon why you always wanna be first in line? The food kinda sucks.† He turned around and said, â€Å"If I don’t eat now I won’t eat, this is the only meal we have for the whole day.† I was confused,Show MoreRelatedCommentary of Adam Liptak ´s Article Regarding Gay Marriage and Child Rearing716 Words   |  3 PagesAdam Liptak, a journalist for the New York Times, explained in Utah, in Opposing Gay Marriage, Find Three Arguments are Better than One why a heterosexual relationship is better for raising children in. The Utah law that would have allowed same sex couples to marry was recently shot down. Liptak goes on to explain why he agrees with the bill not being passed. 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Challenging and Demanding Work Environments

Question: Discuss about the Challenging and Demanding Work Environments. Answer: Introduction I would like to discuss bout Dominos Pizza in this report, which is my working place. Dominos Pizza is a privately held organization which delivers pizza and is the largest company in the world. It was founded in the year 1960. Across the United states and other countries, it is operating more than 5700 units. The concepts of Dominos are very simple which offers only delivery and has only a limited menu. For 3o years and more its been offering only tow pizza sizes and 11 toppings and till 1990 only cola as a beverage. Later it added salads, bread sticks and additional courses other than pizzas to its menu for running the business as a key personnels. As a role of an employee my focus was to provide the quality pizzas and also the timely based service to the customers. Leadership Team Their leadership style is found to be a lot more way to a democratic style. They are trying to build a trust in their system so that it can be moved ahead faster. But according to me people have looked it in another way (Armstrong, 2013). The autocratic leaders of the company were trying to make the decisions and announce then and then make a move forward so that it would be well-organized. The type of leadership style they follow has resulted in giving them the following strengths and weaknesses. Strengths: They hold a very strong brand image The quality of food and service is maintained high Ordering food online is supported The service of home delivery is effective The customer can design the pizza of their choice Weaknesses: The price of the product is high The menu they offer is similar to other pizza points The food contains high calories The coverage area is limited to, delivery Work Structure The work strategy of Dominos pizza has been design is such a way that their intention is to achieve growth further by strengthening the competitive position with the implementation of their business strategy continuously. They wanted to be the best pizza delivery company in the world by having exceptional franchises and team members (Ahmad, 2013). The roles and responsibilities of manager are to provide assistance to the entire crew and continuous monitoring of the quality of food and service they provide to the customers. Their main aim is to check whether they adhere to the standards and maintaining the customer relations. All the policies and the procedures are to be followed and make the crew follow (Fisher Gonzalez, 2013). Decision Making The management is involved in developing franchises and the stores owned by the company is involved in putting all their efforts and making the right decisions. According to me the management style so making decision for the growth of the business is appropriate so that it wont be biased (Marcano et al., 2013). The decisions are made according to the situations, but if they would take the suggestions from the other level employees before making final decisions would be appreciable so that the situations can be analyzed properly. Teams and Team building The efforts made by the teamwork would often result in producing the outcomes at a greater level than what we get from the individual work (Marcano et al., 2013). The following measures have to be implemented for building the teamwork in the workplace include: Team work has to be encouraged by implementing the recognition programs Social activities are to be encouraged The role each member in a team has to be outlined clearly Any problems that are bothering the should be identified and assessed The members of the team should be empowered by instructing them how to solve their disputes Motivation The manager and the team lead would be the appropriate motivators for the team since they can offer opportunities for the individual persons for their self development and encourage them from their abilities (Roberts, Lowry Sayer, 2014). The individual staff has to be motivated so that they are informed by the goals set for them and how it reflects the company and it would lead to their development. Conflict Conflicts would be there in every company which arises when there is an exchange of the ideas and the creativity of others. The conflict was found to be dysfunctional as some cultural conflicts was involved when there was some suggestion shared for the benefit of the company (Sainsbury, 2014). The following measures are taken by the manager for resolving the dysfunctional conflicts: The ideas from the multiple people are integrated by collaborating their work The conflicts are compromised between team either by agreeing or disagreeing to the solution finally As the strategy of the conflict management, competing is chosen The things that are benefited by functional conflicts are: Clear expectations are set by the manger Employees are given freedom to speak and share their opinions The business strategies that are used are all the members who are in the conflict and affected by that are involved and cohesiveness is built between the team members Work Forecast The work is calculated according to the members of the teams and is distributed based on their abilities it is planned and carried further. Safety and healthy workplace system are generated by the company (Ulrich, Smallwood Sweetman, 2013). They give protection to the employees from burns and other workplace injuries. They should be designed as per the safety standards to make it more effective. Time Management Prioritize the projects and the initial targets that has to be me met and the tasks to be performed for the day. Doing work on time without procrastinating things Being punctual Quality Assurance The quality is maintained at the desired level in delivering the product and services to the customers (Marcano et al., 2013). The quality is best managed at our workplace by implementing the strategy of paying the special attention at each and every stage of processing the products. The ingredients are stored in temperature required by the product. Legislative Context Equal employment opportunity: At our workplace all individuals from different castes, race and disabilities are employed without any bias. Diversity: Workplace is very diversified by encouraging different cultures Anti-Discrimination: all people are treated equally in the workplace Unfair dismissal: without any prior intimation there is no unfair justice done to the employees Short term work organization: individulas who require work for short period are encouraged. References Armstrong, M., 2013.How to manage people(Vol. 29). Kogan Page Publishers. Ahmad, K.Z.B., 2013. Speed Lead. Faster, Simpler Ways to Manage People, Projects and Teams in Complex Companies.Leadership Organization Development Journal. Fisher, E.J.P. and Gonzalez, Y.S., 2013. The ABC Manager-How to Manage People more Effectively in Today's Challenging and Demanding Work Environments.Engineering Management Research,2(1), p.67. Marcano Belisario, J.S., Tudor, K.I., Sumalinog, A.R.N., Middleton, L.T. and Car, J., 2013. Educational interventions for improving the skills of medical practitioners to detect, diagnose, and manage people with cognitive impairment and dementia.The Cochrane Library. Peterson, D.R., Barrett, J.D., Hester, K.S., Robledo, I.C., Hougen, D.F., Day, E.A. and Mumford, M.D., 2013. Teaching people to manage constraints: Effects on creative problem-solving.Creativity Research Journal,25(3), pp.335-347. Roberts, H., Lowry, A. and Sayer, A., 2014. Assessment and management of older people with sarcopenia: Helen Roberts and colleagues explain the risk factors for loss of muscle mass and what nurses can do to manage and reduce its effects in patients.Nursing older people,26(5), pp.18-22. Sainsbury, K., 2014. Online program to help people with coeliac disease manage the gluten free diet.Australian Coeliac, The, (Mar 2014), p.20. Ulrich, D., Smallwood, N. and Sweetman, K., 2013.The leadership code: five rules to lead by. Harvard Business Press.

The Movie Django free essay sample

Willis AFRS 55T (Tamp;[emailprotected]:30) Dr. T. Hasan Johnson 02. 23. 13 Extra Credit The Movie â€Å"Django Unchained† The objective of this paper is to review some of the results of the discussion-panel’s analysis of certain aspects of this movie that relate to the Hip-Hop culture. On Thursday, February 21, 2013, I attended a panel discussion hosted by the Africana Studies Department of Fresno State University. It was conducted at the African American Museum, Fresno California. Its purpose was to evaluate this movie’s effect on us (basically Black-Americans), by analyzing elements of this movie. This movie presents Black masculinity and femininity during the 1860s slavery era of America using characters that portray slaves as childish and stupid (the Betina or DArtagnan), violent (the Mandingo or Django), hypersexual (Sheba) and cowardly (all the black male slaves). These slavery created representations of Black masculinity (the Buck) and femininity (the Jezebel/Mulattoe) are relevant to Hip-Hop because they are the predominate characters being proffered as entertainment in the overwhelming majority of Hip-Hop videos. We will write a custom essay sample on The Movie Django or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The stereotypical persona of â€Å"The Buck† in the videos is the Gangsta/Thug and â€Å"The Jezebel/Mulattoe† is the Bitch/Ho— both are slavery created stereotypes. The Jezebel/Mulatto (Bitch/Ho) The Buck (Gangsta/Thug) Another aspect of this movie relevant to Hip-hop culture is the word â€Å"nigger†, used incessantly in the movie, just as, its morphed version, â€Å"Nigga† is used incessantly by Hip-Hoppers, in conversation and in their videos. Since language is one of the seven essential element of all cultures, the usage of the word â€Å"nigger† was discussed by the panel and audience and as a result of this discussion, we agreed that—without the use of the word â€Å"nigger†, â€Å"Django Unchained† would not be authentic; because, in this movie, â€Å"nigger† is a descriptive term, used to describe property, e. g. a slave or slaves—with no malice intended. Here are two examples, horse or horses and house or houses—ergo, nigger or niggers. The only character that uses â€Å"nigger† other than as a description of property is Stephen (the â€Å"Uncle Tom† played by Samuel L. Jackson). He used the word â€Å"nigger† to degrade his fellow black slaves. As with the movies use of â€Å"nigger†, the same can be said about Hip-Hop videos, they would lose its authenticity without the use of the word â€Å"Nigga† because â€Å"Nigga† in Hip-hop is a descriptive turn, but unlike â€Å"nigger† it versatility. For example, it can be used describe a relationship and its meaning changes depending on who is saying it and to whom. For example, in the movie when a Slave-master says â€Å"My nigger†, it does not have the same meaning as a Gangsta/thug or Jezebel/Mulattoe in a Hip-Hop video saying, â€Å"My Nigga†. The Slave-masters are describing their property, while the Hip-Hoppers are describing their relationships. During the audience participation portion of this discussion, a young black- man in the audience (Christopher Jackson) described how much the movie upset him. He also shared with us, the extent to which it made him realize how horrible slavery was; and how much suffering his ancestors had to endure; so that he can enjoy the civil rights he has today. He said, â€Å"Now I truly appreciate my ancestors and men like Martin and Malcolm, who made the ultimate sacrifice so that I can enjoy the freedom I have today. † Personal Reflections If the motives for making â€Å"Django Unchained† are to make us aware of how much our ancestors suffered under the yoke of slavery and to make us cherish our freedom; then, Christopher Jackson’s words are a testament to this movie’s success in both endeavors! In conclusion—I, along with many participants in this discussion, enjoyed â€Å"Django Unchained† and hope that there will be more movies made that expose the horrors of slavery, and that, also promote positive images of black men and women. [ 1 ]. This paper was submitted as extra credit for AFRS 27, 55T and 144 [ 2 ]. Heretofore, us, we, and our refers to Black-Americans [ 3 ]. Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies Bucks

The Role of Stakeholders in Community Development free essay sample

Introduction Development, be it social, economic and/or environmental, has to be understood as an inherently political process of people claiming basic rights to manage the resources their lives depend on. In principle, everyone should be involved. Managing the inherent complexity requires a process of comprehensive engagement and negotiation with a broad range of stakeholders and the conscious and strategic acknowledgement of their divergent values and interests, needs and expectations. This paper emphasizes that dialogue and negotiation among stakeholders are the vehicles through which sustainable community development projects are established, implemented and monitored. Bottom-up CD programs which emanate from the grassroots level and closely involve community members are more successful than those that are developed top-down. Who is a stakeholder? There is not much disagreement on what kind of entity a stakeholder can be. The CD process consists of donors, target beneficiaries, partner agencies, government and non-governmental organizations. Bryson (1999) defines a stakeholder as ‘any person, group or organisation that can place a claim on an organization’s attention, resources or output, or is affected by that output’, which concurs with Freemans definition that: A stakeholder in an organization is (by definition) any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organizations objectives (1984). We will write a custom essay sample on The Role of Stakeholders in Community Development or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Thus, stakeholders are individuals or groups that may be positively or negatively affected by the project and those that can bring expertise or resources, each is of equal importance. How important are they? The importance of attending to stakeholders is emphasized in several literatures (Freeman 1984; Eade Williams, 1995; Hoff, 1998; Bryson 1999 etc. ). The authors explain that stakeholder support is needed to create and sustain winning coalitions and to ensure the long-term viability of organizations, policies, plans, and programs. Key stakeholders must be satisfied at least minimally, or public policies, organizations, communities, or even countries will fail. Stakeholder expectations and their satisfaction represent the basis against which CD efforts and activities are judged (Sautter, 1999). Satisfaction is achieved by being responsive to the needs and expectations of the stakeholders. These expectations are diverse and sometimes in conflict with each other, yet overlooking them could severely restrict CD work. Thus, the role of the stakeholder in the CD process presents obvious problems as each stakeholder carries an element of self-interest in the project, with different expectations and views on priorities. It is important to include stakeholders who represent the true diversity of the community; as Sautter (1999) states, if a project is not meeting the expectations of several interest groups, it probably should not exist at all. Stakeholder Engagement Any management activity is fundamentally a negotiation process between stakeholders that should be initiated from the start and maintained not only during the project/initiative but in the long term through appropriate organizational and institutional arrangements (Sanderson Kindon, 2004). CD projects engage people, organizations, NGOs and government and it is recognized that they have increased success if they promote stakeholder participation, coordination and cooperation and reflect consensus opinion (Kleemeier, 2000; Eguren, 2008). Newman (2008) and Eguren (2008) appreciate the fact that similar issues affect stakeholders differently. As such, managers need to constantly assess stakeholder significance in the light of individual issues, in order to guide the amount of time and resources allocated to them. Effective CD demands synchronous attention to the genuine interests of all appropriate stakeholders. Sautter (1999) emphasizes this premise and cautions that failure to retain participation of even a single primary stakeholder group could result in the failure. The idea of comprehensively identifying and accommodating stakeholder values and interests with the ultimate aim of agreeing on a common agenda toward sustainability is a complex process and requires consensus building (Weisbord Janoff, 2000). This does not simply mean realizing that multiple stakeholders have different needs and values, but to sincerely try to understand and respect their differences. Therefore, as Simpson et al. , (2003) state, successful intervention of projects depends not only on genuine stakeholder participation but strong and effective management, as well as skilled and committed staff. CD project workers need to have the ability to recognize and respond effectively to a disparate set of entities. Consulting with, educating and assessing stakeholder motivation is important so that their influence doesn’t potentially conflict with and undermine the project’s goals. Weisbord and Janoff (2000) emphasize that subjects involved in CD, particularly the CD organizations, must thus develop and use skills and capacities for productive multi-stakeholder collaboration. These should include: systematic thinking, cultural sensitivity, trust building and mutual understanding and developing process to build social capital and strong multi-stakeholder networks. Planners need to adapt to diverse communication styles, changing priorities and different values in a non-judgmental, non-threatening and non-defensive manner and recognize that there is more than one way, one theory, and one solution (Newman, 2008). Stakeholder Strategies: the Bottom-up Approach The ‘bottom-up’ approach posits a broad range of stakeholders actively engaged in development action: each stakeholder is different, with its own interests, missions, procedures, and ways of deploying power in development action. Recognizing the multiplicity of the subjects of development is, as many authors believe, especially crucial for improving bottom-up practice (Kleemeier, 2000; Sanderson Kindon, 2004; Newman, 2008). CD projects planned ‘top-down’ do not allow for participation of all stakeholders, namely community members. For example, Simpson et al. (2003) reports on their project: ‘the nature of the community’s participation was regulated by the government’s agenda for the project, rather than by the community’s own needs, and individuals outside the immediate steering committee consequently felt isolated from decision-making and ownership of the project. The failure of traditional top-down development approaches was attributed to the lack of involvement of most of the potential beneficiaries and led observers of, and participants in, CD to advocate for an approach that included as many stakeholders as possible. A shift in the approach to community developmen t (CD) has afforded more local communities the opportunity to participate in processes to articulate their expectations and to prioritize their needs (Ife, 1995). The premise behind this approach is that local people need to fully participate and contribute towards addressing their own problems in their own communities. It is only out of the community’s own efforts that a change can be realized, because they are better informed of their needs and are the best sources of the answers to these needs. This creates an enabling atmosphere for them and enables participation in the implementation and the monitoring of the development. The aim of community participation is the empowerment and capacity building of people, which allows beneficiaries of projects to choose their alternatives. Community participation in development initiatives leads to self-transformation and self-reliance, thereby ensuring sustainability of programs and projects. It is easy to conclude that supporting local bottom-up processes brings greater and faster impact regarding the development of marginalized communities compared with highly politicized and abstract top-down approaches. The relevance of bottom-up participatory approaches has increased as organisations work to scale up their impact by undertaking projects which aim to build capacity or have an emphasis on developing local advocacy (Kotaval; 2005; Sautter, 1999) . Participatory aspects that enhance CD projects have been identified by several authors. Laverack (2001) provides a useful overview of the ‘operational domains’ of community empowerment, which he states is central to CD. He highlights that without participation, community empowerment and thus development would not occur. Diamond (2004) refers to participatory development as the co-operation, mobilization of communities or involving communities in the execution of development plans. Moreover, this approach emphasizes the importance of the inclusion of people, partnerships, the sharing of power and responsibility and empowerment. It views the communities as people with potential as well as capacity to manage their own development and above all encourages involvement of all stakeholders relevant to the development process (Simpson et al, 2003). Healthy, self-reliant communities are, as Weisbord and Janoff (2000) assert, built on connections stimulated by the empowering of individuals and groups. The participatory, bottom-up approach allows: Understanding the context If all stakeholders are consulted, a thorough understanding of the context of the CD project is gained. Resources acquired through CD do not benefit all segments of the community equally, depending on gender, age etc. , and it is imperative that CD planners take into account the interplay of the society and local community gender dynamics, culture, and power structures to accommodate for this (Ward et al. , 2008). Creativity Diversity of stakeholders groups and demographics allows for more creativity to problem solving and focuses on the strengths of the group. They often contain the seeds for new solutions. Placing value on local knowledge and the context in which it has been produced provides an avenue for establishing the trust relations and collaboration that are the basis for a successful development partnership and process (Sanderson Kindon, 2004). Through designing a process which draws on the strengths of multiple approaches, each bringing with them their own advantages and constraints in these ways, the final result is likely to be much richer. Relationship and Trust Building Involving all stakeholders allows them to communicate and build beneficial relationships and trust. Social capital theory suggests that people achieve more by cooperating, thus stakeholder engagement is a major catalyst for the creation of social capacity and capital. Putnam (1993) suggests that social capital is built through the trust we develop by working together and Cox (1995) talks about the necessity of trust in order for collaboration to occur as â€Å"trust leads to cooperation†. These relationships create a learning space, particularly for polarized dialogue, and exposes and challenges the discourses and mindsets of many participants. Empowerment and Capacity Building Bottom-up approaches are more socially inclusive, build on local strengths, and promote leadership, as well as ownership and accountability, of both problems and solutions (Simpson et al. , 2003). This leads to empowerment and builds capacity which enables the community to carry out the plan in the absence of the consultant, ensuring sustainability (Laverack, 2001). Stakeholders in contest – Limitations to the Bottom-up Approach The relationship between CD projects and providers, namely NGO’s, and their donors, illustrates the way in which stakeholder’s interests can conflict and jeopardise the bottom-up process. The structures and major players operating within the development arena were traditionally formed as a top-down system. However, the transformed focus of development toward a bottom-up approach has come into tension with this top-down structure; participation from the bottom-up is difficult when projects are planned at higher levels (Simpson et al. , 2003). As the general structure of development actions has historically been established as top-down, it is no surprise that top-down notions continue to be reflected in practice. CD providers usually come under pressure to achieve the goals of their donors (who usually work according to Western business principles) and are required to maintain appropriate upward accountability. However, as Simpson et al. (2003) point out, the recipient organisations and communities may not necessarily have the same goals as the donors. Thus, those projects heavily dependent on meeting the requirements of their donors probably won’t develop good relationships with, or meet the requirements of, the communities involved, which will undermine the CD process itself. The power imbalance between â€Å"funders† and â€Å"providers† of CD projects has been identified as a significant problem as it is likely that CD planners will be pressured to implement programs out of step with local needs (Davies, 1997). More consultation with and education of donors by their recipients is required to allow donors to better understand the nature of their project and their relationships with communities (Davies, 1997). CD providers must develop the capacity and professionalism to be able to challenge their donors to construct their CD project in such a way that the interests of the recipient communities are at the forefront and have a more active role in defining their own concepts of civil society (Weisbord and Janoff, 2000). Flexibility within the project that allows incorporation of feedback from participatory evaluation needs to complement ongoing work, linking its aims nd methods to that of the original project, including deep consideration of the power relations of all those involved in the project. It is only through this openness, and an ability to challenge a program of work and integrate learning directly into practice, that stakeholder interests will be balanced effectively over the long-term. Conclusion CD is a mediation process between real and perceived conflicts of interest among stakeholders in a community. Tensions among development stakeholders exist inherently alongside the commo n desire to improve the well-being of disadvantaged people. There is a broad range of stakeholders actively engaged in development action: each stakeholder is different, with its own interests, missions, procedures, and ways of deploying power in development action, their values, interests, participation and power dynamics are critical factors in determining the outcome of CD. It is therefore vital to consider them, not just in the planning phases of projects, but through its entire course, to ensure projects remain relevant and coherent to the context in which they are being implemented (Simpson et al. 2003). However, connections and interactions among stakeholders are dynamic and inherently problematic, and must be recognized and negotiated to enable existing understandings and ways of working to be challenged and new ways to be trialed and adopted (Quarles van Ufford ,1993). Accommodating collective action through participative, bottom-up approaches acknowledges the complexity of stakeholder interactions and creates a platform for communities to develop. References Bryson, J. M. (1999). A Strategic Planning Process for Public and Non-Profit Organisations. in J. M.

The Ethereal Plane Essays

The Ethereal Plane Essays The Ethereal Plane Paper The Ethereal Plane Paper Without Time on your side I cannot be stoped. My Daemon forces will soon pour onto the Ethereal Planes, and this fool he pointed his finger towards the semi concious Sirch who was attempting to clamber up to a standing position has sent a large majority of your Solar forces to defend the City Of Knights. You are doomed mohahahhhahahah. And with a swish of his cloak he was gone, the Dark Lord had left. His laugh still echoed through the minds of the stupidfied Ethereal beings. All but Rezarf looked to stunned to move, he helped Sirch to his feet and then spoke. Gather all the Solar and Angelic forces you can. he decreed And move with great haste to the Gates of Hell, we must fight him. Sir! Our forward scouts report the seals on the Gate have been broken, but it has yet to be opened. Good work Colonel, gather your forces and prepare to march on the Gate. We cannot let the creatures of the Nine Hells lose on the Ethereal Plane. Very Good, Rezarf my liege. And so it was.. The combined Solar and Angleic forces of the Gods of Good marched towards the Gates of Hell. Each God defending the Ethereal Planes was armoured and battle ready, for Ethereal Powers alone could not stop other immortals. Rezarf was dorned in glittering white plate mail, and held in his hand the legendary great sword Mikil; Sirch marhced alongside side him in golden mail crafted for him by Deah Neequ (the Elvish God of Craftsmen) and carried with him a long sword of Lighting; Amme was suited in light chain mail of heavy crimson and brandished two Rapiers of solid light; and the fearless Semloh (the God of Battle) lead the legions of Ethereal light adorned in his armour forged from the skin of Daemons, carrying his huge two handed battle-axe over his shoulder. Their forces numbered light, with only 200 Solar warriors and 300 Angelic fighters (as Sirch had sent 2000 Ethereal Guardsmen to the Prime Material from whence the could not be reclaimed in time). The did however know their Godly forces outnumbered those of the Dark Lords. 15 Human Gods marched alongside Rezarf, aswell as 5 Elvish, 4 Dwarfish, and 2 of the Halfling race, but they all knew only Rezarf alone could face up to the Dark Lord Iekkob. The marched forward with vigour and purpose, covering the ground very quickly. Whilst the heavenly light shined down upon them from the ever clear skies of the Ethereal Plane. Their shields, swords, and armour glinted and shimmered in the light. Their brightly coloured helms clinked, and their boots ruslted as they marched. The holy sound of the immortal troops marching to become mortal filled the canyons and hills as they passed. And as the grew ever closer to this possible doom the expressions on the faces of the Ethereal dwellers began to change, their brows grew furrowed and their eyes slender, they knew what was awaiting them was eternal nothingness if they failed. though for a lot they knew the void called for them even if they were victorious. Rezarfs expression, however, never changed; his face radiated steely deterimation and unquestionable belief, and this seemed to lift the downheartend soldiers of good. HALT ! Semloh gave a great cry and raised his hand, and the legions behind him began to stop. He moved to Rezarfs side, and they both stood deathly still. They gazed ahead for what seemed like an eternity for the forces of good, they all could sense the great evil emiting from the Gate but were not sure why they had halted so close to their journeys end. Ummm. Rezarf for once Sirch did not sound sure of himself Why have you and Semloh halted our army? Neither of the two answered him, so he joined them staring waiting. A loud hissing filled the air, the troops readyed themselves for battle. Shields were swung from backs, swords drawn from sheaths, and helms repositioned. Only Rezarf and Semloh did not move, the only apparent change was that they now seemed to b consetrating hard staring forwards with a purpose. Suddenly, very quickly, the unmistakable figure of the Dark Lord appeared. He was wearing no armour, only a robe of pure red and orange that seemed to be alight, and he carried no weapon, save for the staff of fire. He walked forward a few paces, bowed to Rezarf and Semloh, and started clapping. Bravo my dear friends. It seems there are some Stayers of the Light less gormless than your friend Sirch. I am proud of you Rezarf, you have done well to sense my concealed army. But I am afraid I must say NOW MY FIENDS KILL THE HARVANGERS OF LIGHT AND GOOD !!!!! He gave his arm a dramatic spin and pointed towards the bemused Ethereal Gods. They were looking from side to side, and some even took a shifty look behind them. Then out of no where a huge army of Daemons and other foul beasts of Hell appeared from behind Iekkob, charging forward. At the front of their lines where the Gods of Evil, and High Daemon Beast of Hell. The legions of light held their ground, drawing their swords and staying their shields. Crunch. The oncoming wave of Darkness had hit the barrier of light. The Solar, Angels, and Ethereal Beings held firm. Daemon after Daemon fell against the Solar Warriors. The Gods of Light and Evil were locked in combat, fighting to put each other into the void that awaited. Iekkob however slowly walked forwards towards Rezarf and Semloh, who stood together as Sirch had flinched at the oncoming wave and retreated to the lines of light. The occasionaly Daemon ran at Rezarf and Semloh, but with a blood curldling thud they fell as the Battle God swung his great axe. And likewise for Iekkob, though it was his glare that seemed to fell the majority of Solars and Angels approaching him. He approached the two leaders of light and spoke clearly heavenly through the choas. Come my friend Semloh, you are the God of Battle, are you afraid to face me in combat. Semloh growled a heavy growl, and bellowed as he charged towards the Dark Lord. I AM AFRAID OF NO FIEND !!!! Semloh swung his great axe as soon as he was in ranged of Iekkob. It was swung with great power, great strength, and incredible speed. For a fraction of a second it seemed to be a clean swing, looking to take the Dark Lords neck, but with timing and uncanny speed the calm, almost complacent, Iekkob raised his staff and defelected the blow. He then thurst his hand outwards and the invisible force pushed Semloh to the ground, about a metre away. He jumped to his feet, but the Dark Lord was their, and he was knocked down by a heavy blow from the staff. The Battle Gods forehead burned and blead as he lie gasping for air on the hard floor. As he looked up he saw the staff decsending towards his chest, he closed his eyes and accepted his fate. The Dark Lord smiled and withdrew his staff from the Gods chest, feeling Semlohs power draining into him. He looked at Rezarf and continued towrds him. Rezarf turned his gaze from Iekkob, and moved it across the battlefield. His eyes feel upon the figure of Yug diving in front of Amme, and taking the spear of Ydrof through the chest. Sirch was battling against Liwl valiantly his sword moving with speed to deflect the two lighting quick daggers of Liwl, but in vain as he was sliced with blood gussing accuracy by Elags from behind. Elechim had drawn her katana and buckler and was slicing through the ranks of the Daemon High Lords, only to be beheaded by a Harkul King, and lost to the void. Yadand, thanks to his great strength, was holding his own and Xela lay dead at his feet, the Drowish Gods entrails spilling along the floor as her summoned Drow Kings fought to protect her body; but even he fell to the skillful spear of Ydrof. Amme shrieked with anger and launched herself at Rehcturc, her beautiful hair billowing as she ran. The God of Orcs, and so forth, lunged without skill his great two handed sword thrusting forward. Amme deflected the thrust with her first Rapier and dislogded Rehcturc head with the second. Iemaj was quick on the action, he disimbowled a Solar Warrior, and thrust his short sword into the Ammes back her squeal covered the battlefield curdling the blood of the Ethereal Troops. Rezarf turned his gaze back towards Iekkob, who had stopped only 2 metres away from him waiting for his attention. Do you see now Rezarf, your cause is noble but pointless. My hordes of Daemons are slaughtering your Ethereal forces. The Gods who fought beside you are fallen deities. Where as my allies are strong, enhanced by the inheritance of the powers of your Gods of Good. I see nothing you wish me to Iekkob, you are evil. That is all I wish to know. And understand me good shall outlive evil. Look around you, my friend. Your army is all but routed and once your powers are mine I shall rule supreme on the Ethereal Plane. No. you wont. I shall stop you Iekkob, your were once my friend and for that reason I am truly sorry. Rezarf sighed heavily and thurst his hand forward, attempting use the unearthly force to throw Iekkob down. But he did not move, the Dark Lord simply laughed. You should know better Rezarf ! Neither of us can use our Godly powers this shall be a mortal fight. And with those words he leaped the remaining distance between them. Rezarfs sword flashed upwards, thrusting towards the Dark Lords chest, but was swiped away by the staff of fire. The had engage in a battle, where upon one would become supreme and the other would enter the void to be forgotten. You shall not be victorious Iekkob ! Rezarf shouted as he fought, warnings of his un-utterable belief in the power of good bellowed from him. The light shall prevail over the darkness. The glorious sword glinted and shone as its Ethereal owner used it to perfection. It hummed in the air, slash after thrust, after stab. Each was timing and speed to perfection. But the Dark Lords staff deflected every blow, with a sudden blaze of fire and embers as the two weapons smashed against each other. The Dark Lord fought his equal opposite, as did Mikil (the sword of Heavenly Light) as it was pitted against the staff of Hells Fury. Each as evil and righteous as their owner, the weapons blazed with their owners hatred for each other. The two most powerful immortals on the Ethereal Plane fought and fought, even as the battle drew to a close. Daemon forces were hunting and slaughtering the last of the Solar warriors and Angelic Fighters. Good and light shone only from its last carrier, Rezarf. He fought valiantly, though the Dark Lord fought supremely. Rezarf slashed downwards at the Dark Lords chest, but the staff caught the blow and deflected the sword. With speed yet unseen in the battle, Iekkob swung the staff of evil around and thrust hard. Rezarf fell to the floor, gasping for air, blood pouring from the open wound in his chest where the blow had landed. Mikil slipping from his grasp had fallen away. I have won my old friend. Goodbye. You have beaten me but you have not won Iekkob. I have seen your path and you shall lead the way to the void before me. The Dark Lord raised his staff and plunged it downwards, towards the Ethereal heart of Rezarf.   The shout echoed around the battlefield, Daemons cringed, Solars weapt, and the whole Plane shook with the sound of death. Storms crashed through the mortal Planes, as the powers gathered by this one of the most powerful immortals transended into a new host. The Dark Lord looked down, and through his chest stuck Mikil thrust from behind. The sword of Light radiated as the blood of evil itself ran down its glimmering blade. It was withdrawn and its wielder watched as the lifeless body of the Dark Lord fell to the ground, blood gushing from the weeping wound in his chest. His entrails slithered along the beaten grass and his eyes stared in fear as the void engulfed him. Thank You gasped Rezarf Light has prevailed because of youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu !!!!!! Rezarfs head rolled away across the battlefield, severed from his body, by the sword of Good. His corpe twitched as his Godly essence raced from it and into its knew host, and then it lay still dead. Rezarfs head had come to rest on the body of the Dark Lord, his eyes looking eeriely into the Iekkobs, his mouth parted into a smile his profecy had become truth. Hahahahahahah A Dark laugh filled the battlefield. Its owner stood proud and tall above the fallen bodies of the two most powerful Gods. As the dust cleared the Daemon forces turned their watchful gaze, and saw the figure of a Drowish King his enormous weapon held in front of him. The Daemons, Gods of Evil, and remaining Ethereal troops bowed and chanted.

Holistic - Concept Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Holistic - Concept Analysis - Essay Example The American Holistic Nurses’ Association (AHNA), 1994, explains health as â€Å"the maintenance of harmony and balance among body, mind, and spirit† (White, 2005, p.32). Through a process of continuous adaptation, the body endeavors to achieve balance or stability termed as ‘homeostasis’ among these factors. Internal physiological homeostasis is a balance of the body’s fluids. It is crucial for nurses to understand how the combining of all aspects of a person’s life help clients through healing processes. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper to undertake a concept analysis of the term ‘holistic’ through an integrated literature review, by identifying the attributes of the concept, and by illustrating the concept through a model case with supporting rationale. The Concept of ‘Holistic’ The holistic approach involves the whole picture. The Merriam-Webster (2011) dictionary defines holistic as concerned with whol es or complete systems rather than with the analysis, treatment, or separation into parts. Thus, holistic medicine relates to the treatment of both mind and body, while holistic ecology views humans and the environment as a single system. Further, the complete wholeness of something is much greater than the total sum of its component parts, and cannot be explained by examining each of its separate parts (Encyclo, 2011). The use of a holistic approach to treatment is gradually being used in combination with mainstream methods of patient care. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) to examine holistic modalities of treatment and patient care. According to the National Institutes of Health, holistic care takes into consideration the whole person â€Å"including physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects† (White, 2005, p.32). The main purpose of examining holistic care is to facilitate the integration of validated therapies into general patient care. The nurse using the holistic approach enables the patient to attain the optimal state for healing to take place. Further, as an instrument of healing, the holistic nurse healer facilitates the patient’s growth towards wholeness of mind, body and spirit. Holistic nursing calls for â€Å"deeper levels of commitment, compassion, love, and caring† (Dossey & Keegan, 2009, p.xv). According to Guzzetta (1998), holistic nursing is composed of caring, spiritualit, synchronicity, expanded consciousness, culture, environment and several other factors. Holistic care aims to heal the whole person using art and science to activate the innate healing potential within individuals, thus empowering the patient (Dunning, 2009). The Attributes that Define the Concept of ‘Holistic’ The holistic means of patient care that are used in nursing include biofeedback, exercise and movement, goal-setting, humor and laughte r, imagery, journaling, massage, play therapy, prayer, and therapeutic touch (White, 2005). The holistic model of nursing also has other attributes including a search for patterns and causes instead of treatment of symptoms of any disease; patient care is integrated and related to the entire patient, rather than specialized care. The emphasis is on human values rather than on efficiency (Dossey, 1997). Further, the nurse’s caring forms an essential component of healing; pain and disease are considered to be valuable signals of

VOTING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

VOTING - Essay Example According Lijphart (1999, p69), Cleisthenes introduced one of the earliest recorded systems of democracy in Greece back in 508 BC. This system of democracy required voters to select the least preferred politician who was then exiled for ten years in a distant country. The minimum number of votes that were required to have a politician exiled was 6000.However, if more than one politician received more than the set threshold votes, the candidate with the higher number of votes was exiled instead( Lijphart, 1999,p72). In the thirteenth century, the Venetian state created one of the most developed electoral systems at the time. The Venetian system nominated forty members in ‘Great Council’ and in the mid 13 century, the number of council members elected was increased to sixty (Grofman, & Merrill, 1999, p53) Though Venetians applied different electoral systems, approval-voting system was the most popular. The approval system required voters to cast a single vote for every can didate vying for a position in the council. Eventually, the candidate who garnered the highest number of votes was declared the winner to represent the state in the council (Grofman, & Merrill, 1999, p38). ... Equally important all candidates should be treated equally, without favoring a particular person over another. By treating the candidates equally, Schofield (2001, p584) notes that the voters are presented with a favorable opportunity of electing a person of their choice without bias and prejudice of any sort. Fair elections should also ensure that the victory goes to the candidate with the highest number of votes. Different governments and organizations apply various methods of ensuring effectiveness of the participants’ votes. According to Lijphart (1999, p102), votes become ineffective in electoral processes that lack fairness and transparency to both voters and the candidates. These malpractices include allowing particular voters to cast more than one vote, discriminating voters based on their gender, social and economic status, tribe, or ethnicity. In such cases, the votes become ineffective because people are not given an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice ( Lijphart, 1999, p105). In United states for instance, debate on whether setting the minimum voting age amounts to discrimination of young voters still persist. Candidates should be given an equal platform for presenting their candidature to the electorate. However, Schofield (2001, p587) notes that many electoral systems in the world contain elements of unfairness that favor a particular candidate over another or others. In such cases, the preferred candidate receives preferential treatment in form of positive media coverage, favorable popularity ratings among other practices at the expense of the other candidates. These practices make the vote to be ineffective because the

Should illicit drugs be legalized Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Should illicit drugs be legalized - Essay Example When one first hears that question, the mind immediately jumps to little packets of drugs like heroin and cocaine stacked on supermarket shelves where at most one would have to present id and thereby be in possession of them. However that might not exactly be the scenario the question itself is aiming at. No doubt drugs like heroin and cocaine should not be legalized. That is a matter so obvious that it is likely not to be the matter under debate and discussion anyway. The gray area arises when many of those illicit drugs are illustrated to have great medicinal benefit and seem no more capable of harm that cigarettes or alcohol. To answer the question, one must first explain what illicit drugs mean and how they may be further divided. Illicit drugs are any drugs that are illegal to trade, grow or possess. The word 'drugs', as mentioned, immediately gives rise to a negative stimulus in even the most educated of minds. But drugs do not necessarily have to be negative substances, or sub stances that harm a person. Medicines are also drugs, and many medicines also have the potential of being abusive substances, when administered incorrectly. Why then are they never sought to be made illegal? The answer to that is simple: because their benefits far outweigh any possible side effects that they may have. Certain illicit drugs such as Marijuana have been medically proven to have positive medicinal effects on patients suffering from diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or even AIDS. Granted, it is more popular as a recreational drug than a medicinal one, but perhaps the question should be over how to reduce the recreational appeal and enhance it more medicinally, and the laws against it should be not on the basis of sale or possession, but rather on stricter guidelines for its distribution. To say that all illicit drugs should be legalized is wrong, but to say that none of them should be is equally wrong. Drugs that are capable of being beneficial if correctly use d, such as the aforementioned marijuana should be further studied so that their harmful effects can be minimized and they should then be sold as medicines, but under the supervision of a doctor and only in the possession of a prescription. Antidepressants and relaxants are one of the most popularly used substances for abuse, yet they continue to be sold in pharmacies across the world, in likely every city of the world. Even cough syrup and laxatives have been recorded as abuse substances. Humans are capable of extracting negative benefit from almost any kind of substance or object imaginable. To make the substance illegal is counter-productive, as humans are also capable of find ways around the restrictions imposed upon them. Furthermore, it makes no sense to have substances like cigarettes and alcohol, which are shown to have almost no medicinal or health benefits at all, are freely sold, served and used, but others such as the aforementioned marijuana are not. Indeed, the reason t he latter is used might perhaps be the only reason the former are used: mental relaxation. Adults that consume alcohol or some generally do it to achieve a certain sense of calm or relaxation. When marijuana aims to serve the same purpose, why is the matter considered taboo? Those that argue over its being multiply more harmful do not consider how certain forms of tobacco, such as cigars, might be even more harmful than marijuana, yet they too are freely and legally sold. Perhaps the main fear over legalization of these drugs is that they tend to appeal to the younger generation, who unlike the adults that consume alcohol or smoke, might not be able to control their dependence on

Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm

Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm To solve the planning problem, we proposed an ACO algorithm with further designed. ACO builds solutions in a step-by-step manner and enables the use of problem-based heuristics to guide the ants to search the way; it is possible to design heuristics are useful to direct the ants to schedule the critical tasks as early as possible and to assign the project tasks to suitable employees with required skills. The Ant Colony Optimization promises to give solution with fast and perform well on the given problem. In consideration of the previous experiments, the proposed approach is compared with four other approaches on three real projects with randomly generated instances. Ant Colony Optimization algorithm can be described as the repeated execution of the following three main procedures: Solution construction Pheromone management Daemon actions The solution construction strategy in the proposed algorithm has two steps: 1) Construction of the task list 2) Construction of the matrix for employee allocation. The pheromone values are to be updated by the local and the global updating rules. 6.2 Software Environment 6.2.1 Features of .Net Microsoft .NET is a set of Microsoft software technologies for rapidly building and integrating XML Web services with Windows-based applications, and Web Application solutions. The .NET Framework is a language-neutral platform for writing programs that can easily and securely interoperate. There’s no language barrier with .NET: there are numerous languages available to the developer including Managed C++, C#, Visual Basic and Java Script. The .NET framework provides the foundation for components seamless interaction locally or remotely on various platforms. Net mainly standardizes the common data types of various languages and communication protocols so that components created in different languages can easily interoperate. â€Å".NET† is also the collective name given to various software components built upon the .NET platform. The .Net platform will provide to develop both products and services (like .NET My Services, Passport and so on). 6.2.2 The .Net Framework The .NET Framework has two main parts: The Common Language Runtime (CLR). A hierarchical set of class libraries. The CLR is the key feature of .net that described as the â€Å"execution engine† of .NET. It provides the common execution environment to execute programs which will be implemented in different languages. The main features .Net is Converting a low-level assembly-style language which is called as Intermediate Language (IL), into a native code (0’s and 1’s) to the platform being executed on. The new feature garbage collection that manages the memory efficiently. Verifying and also enforcing security restrictions on the code when it is running. Contains version control feature that maintains different versions of the programs and other such features. The following some other features of the .NET framework are described: Managed Code The programming language code which targets .NET framework is called managed code. Both managed and unmanaged code can be running at the runtime, but only the managed code contains the information that allows the CLR to make guarantee and execute, for any instance, the safe execution and interoperability. Managed Data Managed Code comes with the Managed Data. Common Language Runtime provides allocation of memory and dealing location facilities, and also garbage collection. Some .NET languages use Managed Data by default; those are like C#, VB .NET and JScript.NET. Targeting Common Language Runtime will be depending on the languages are using; make certain constraints on the available features. With the managed code and unmanaged code, one can have both the managed data and the unmanaged data in .NET application development the data that doesn’t get garbage collected but instead is looked after by unmanaged code. Common Type System The CLR uses something called the Common Type System (CTS) to strictly enforce type-safety for different languages supported by .Net. This will ensure that all classes which are implementing should be compatible with each other class, describing these types in a common way. Common Type System that defines how types (classes, interfaces, structures†¦) work at the runtime, which also enables these types in one language that interoperate with the types(classes, interfaces,..) in any other language, including with cross-language exception handling. CTS will ensure that the types are only used in a particular way; the runtime environment also ensures that the code does not make attempt to access any memory that is not allocated to it. Common Language Specification The Common Language Specification provides built-in rules and specifications that support for different languages interoperability. It also ensures that can be developed managed code is fully used by different developers using various programming languages, a set of language features and specifications has been defined in Common Language Specification (CLS). The components which follow these specifications and expose only Common Language Specification features are considered as CLS-compliant code. 6.2.3 The Class Library .NET provides one more special feature called base class library contains hierarchy of classes that are in built. Base class library defines more than 1000 types of inbuilt classes. Each and every class that defined in special construct called the namespace. The root namespace defined System or System.Object. System namespace contains basic types like Int16, Byte, Double, and String, etc. as well as Object. Objects of any class that derived from the System.Object. All the types have been differentiated into two types, Value types and Reference. Value types can be allocated in the stack memory that can provide more flexibility. Also having features called boxing and unboxing, boxing means of converting value types to reference types and vice versa. The base class library (BCL) is a library of classes that are pretty comprehensive. BCL providing generic collections, network I/O, Security, threading, and so on, which provides also XML and database connectivity using ADO .Net. The base class library is subdivided into groups of related namespaces; each namespace provides variety of classes that are related logically. 6.2.4 Languages Supported By .Net The multi-language capability of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET tool enables the programmers to use their programming skills to develop different types of applications like standalone applications, Web services, and web applications. The .NET framework also supports different versions of languages like Visual Basic, C++, VB.NET, and Managed C++, and so on. C# is an object oriented programming language used to develop the various applications like web, windows, web services,†¦there is no standard library for C# on its own but it has been designed with the help of using the .NET libraries. Fig. 6.1 Net Framework C#.NET is also compliant with Common Languages Specification and that supports structured exception handling with System Exception namespace. Common Language Specification is a set of rules that are followed by the Common Language Runtime. CLR is the execution engine provided by the .NET and it performs the execution of the code, makes the development process very easy. The objects or components that created by C# able to use in other CLS-compliant languages. Can be use objects and components created in any other CLS-compliant languages in C#.NET. The CLS ensure that complete interoperability between applications, regardless of the different languages used to design the application. 6.3 Features of SQL-Server SQL-Server is a Microsoft’s official data base server which will use to maintain large number of tables with relations. The OLAP Services feature available in SQL Server version 7.0 is now called SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services. The term OLAP Services has been replaced with the term Analysis Services. Analysis Services also includes a new data mining component. The Repository component available in SQL Server version 7.0 is now called Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Meta Data Services. References to the component now use the term Meta Data Services. The term repository is used only in reference to the repository engine within Meta Data Services. SQL-SERVER database consist of six type of objects. They are, Table Query Form Report Macro

The protestant ethic :: essays research papers

Who would probably get the six hours of leisure, a Protestant or a Catholic? The Protestant group is mostly made up of the Northern European descent. The Catholic group comes mostly from the Southern European descent. Supposedly The Northern group was a little more advanced than the Southern group. The Catholics created less industrialized products, while the Protestants created highly advanced things which allowed their industrial lives to prosper. To me this sounds a lot like who is better the light skinned whites are the darker skinned whites. I mean I understand the facts as to what advancements actually came from a certain place but I think that no one Protestant was actually better than another Catholic. One could argue that maybe the Protestant group is a more advanced group because perhaps they have a personal relationship with God and the Catholic group doesn’t. Is that why the Catholic group isn’t as â€Å"blessed† as the Protestants? I mean you could really make up a lot of arguments as to why that is the way that it is. I mean today it is still like this in the world. Guess what the North Americans are a lot more advanced than the Southern Americans. Hmm?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Status is something people aspire to, even if they don’t have the means to achieve it†, (Fancy). Could this mean that the Northern Europeans didn’t have the means to achieve things such as the Protestant did? Why did the Protestants have the means and where did they get them from, was it from God? â€Å"People saw that social mobility was possible for themselves.†(Fancy). â€Å"Hard work was an acceptable means to achieve it† (Fancy). Did the Southern Europeans really work as hard as the Protestants? Maybe the Protestants worked 50 hours more than the Catholics and maybe that is why they seem to have created more of a industrialized nation. I have just listed at least three reasons as to why the Northerners where so much more â€Å"better off†, than the Southerners. I know that Weber also kind of felt the way that I do about this having to really boil down to what spiritual beliefs played a role in who was to be more successful. â€Å"Spirit†, which had its roots from the Protestantism could not have grown in the modern capitalistic world. Weber believed that Europe was already acquainted with capitalism before the Protestant revolt. For a good century or so capitalism had been a growing monster.

Miss Essay

You will also evaluate who the target audience is, and analyse the effectiveness of the advertiser’s use of language, imagery and colours (advertising techniques) in achieving their intentions. Students must also discuss and evidence their understanding of the social, historical and cultural features which they feel are explicit and implicit within the poster. For this task, all students must demonstrate that they are taking an active and contributory role within the discussion and annotation process and that you have met the assessment criteria for this element of the task. Photographs of each group’s annotated ‘War Child’ poster will be taken. (1. 1 – 4. 2) ii. Compare and contrast the two advertisements by holiday companies to inform and persuade their target audience For this part of Task 3, you must compare and contrast the two holiday advertisements for Ibiza and Blackpool. Use the writing frame and assessment task criteria to help you structure your writing. Paragraph 1 – Introduction (1. 2) Introduce the two adverts, what they are for? Are they predominantly trying to persuade or inform? Mention the fact that you are going to compare and contrast them, and will be evaluating who the target audience is, evaluating what style and form the advertiser’s use, analysing the language used in the advertisements, and evaluating the imagery and colours that the advertisers have used. You will also mention that you will be analysing the social, historical and cultural features in the advertisements which are explicit and implicit. You must also comment on how you will be evaluating what all of the above (advertising techniques) has with regard to the overall effectiveness of the advertisements in targeting the audience. |In this media essay, I’m going to compare two adverts – which are adverting on holidays. The first advert is for the ‘IBIZA’ (I will call this advert A) The | |second is for ‘BLACKPOOL’ (I will call this advert B) Although they are both adverting on holiday, the advert holiday is totally on a different ways. This is| |because they are aimed at different group of people. | | | | Paragraph 2 – Target Audience (3. 1) Compare and contrast the two advertisements with regard to the target audience. Here you must evaluate who you think the advertisements are aimed at. You need to give at least two main points of evidence here. You also need to summarise how effective you think the advertisements are with regard to the targeting of the audience. The adver t A is persuading the young people and also giving information to what they are presenting for them during the time spent on their holiday. The | |advert B is also persuading people by giving them a free ticket to come to the Blackpool tower a place for holiday also informing them for is best to receive| |like the Tower complex houses have many attractions in all kind of entertainments that you can think of. | |In this two Adverts A and B I am going to have a closer look on both of them by comparing and contrasting them and evaluates who the target audience is. Both| |adverts are aimed at adults. However, advert A is aiming to the young people whereas advert B is aimed to mature adult’s men and women. The denotation of | |advert A IBIZA the style of the advert is girly colours like bright pink, blue and yellow and the written words are of red, white, yellow and violet colours. | | | | | |Poster A is aiming to the young people whereas poster B is aiming to adult’s men and women. In the advert A IBIZA the uses is girly colours like bright pink,| |blue and yellow and the written words are of red, white, yellow and violet colours. The imagery is about grouping pictures of young boys and girls at the | |beaches, cinema, airport, and car park; and some are travelling on large vehicle and they are of different code of dressing which is mainly for the young | |people and the language uses on it, it is an attraction to draw the attention of the young once that’s planning for their holiday. The both adverts are very | |effective because of different colours uses to design the posters they are of different effects, the form of the languages uses is to call an attraction of | |people and persuade them to come spent the holiday and the words uses are of upper and lower case which explain the thing to expect like going around visit | |the city, to the beaches, clubbing, dancing in the hall while spending their holiday. | | |These adverts are aiming at two different groups of people for the young boys and girls the styles uses and the languages uses know exactly the mind of young| |people of kind of thing they want like the social life style a young person would like to receive to be a history something they should look back on. | Paragraph 3 – Style and Form (3. 2) Here you need to compare and contrast the style and form of the two advertisements. Evaluate the overall style and form of the advertisements (the layout). Things to consider might be the position of the writing and the pictures. Which dominate and why? How does that link to the target audience? What font styles are used? What words are made to stand out? Again, summarise how does this link to how the advertisers are trying to inform or persuade the target audience? You must provide evidence. | | |The advert A which is the IBIZA has more effect on the poster and more colours also more photos of groups of people. The poster is displaying different | |people on different types of dressing. On the poster the written languages were uses upper and lower case some are bold and italics. The word used to stand | |out the advert is IBIZA written in a capital form with a large form of Alphabets. | |The position of the advert characters was at the right which displayed things to do at the beach, nights on the town, what’s are the costs prices, also the | |photos of groups of people was at the right side, they advertise the club beats with upper and lower case. |The advert B BLACK POOL the denotation of advert uses are less in colours and one photo of people dancing in the tower hall, photo of two people sited at the| |beach, the front photo of the tower hall and map show the travel direction which displayed the address and the direction to Blackpool town hall. The | |languages uses were upper and lower case some of the written words are highlighted bold and the position were at the left and the word Blackpool was written | |bold with a red colour and a written note from Deca Maggie to Jacquie were at the middle of the poster. The word used to stand the adverts is Blackpool | |written with a red colour and with large Alphabets. The two adverts A and B are trying to persuade the target audience to come and experience a good holiday. | | | Paragraph 4 – Language and slogans (4. 2) Here you must compare and contrast the language and slogans used in the two advertisements. What do you notice about the language choices? Is it formal or informal? Does it contain any dialect? Are there any slogans? Can you analyse how the language in the advertisements is used in different social contexts? Again, summarise how effective you think the language used in the advertisements is, in targeting the audience. You must provide evidence. |The language uses is to draw the attention of people who’s want or planning for holiday uses persuading word , writing on different form of colours, make | |use of italic, bold, upper case and case to call attraction. The imagery showing the adult’s men and women dancing at the tower all these are form of drawing| |an attention of the people to come and spent their holiday at the Blackpool tower. | |The language used was a clear and understand English languages there were nothing contain dialect and is wasn’t formal or informal. The language was use | |effectively because on the poster you can see that the written word was design attractively on lower and upper case has different attracting colour and the | |languages was targeting the people planning on holiday. Paragraph 5 – Imagery and colours (3. 2) Compare and contrast the imagery and colours used in the advertisements. Here you must evaluate the imagery (pictures and graphics) contained in the two advertisements. Compare the imagery of the two advertisements and comment on the differences. You could discuss how you think the use of imagery and colours is perhaps more effective than the other in targeting the audience. Wh at does the imagery and colours suggest about the two holiday destinations? Evaluate how the colours in the advertisements create a mood? Are they vibrant and exciting, or plain and reassuring? As before, summarise how effective you think the imagery and colours used in the advertisements is in targeting the audience. Give evidence. |The imagery is displaying group pictures of young boys and girls at the beaches, cinema, airport, and car park; travelling on large vehicle also the code of | |dressing which is mostly for the young people and the language uses on it. This advert is to call attraction to draw the attention of the young once that’s | |planning for holiday by persuading them to come and spent holiday. On the other hand, the denotation of advert B is a Tower hall Blackpool the style of the | |adverts uses in the background is blue with yellow and red and dim warm colour and the written words are of red, blue, yellow and black. | |The image and the pictures contained in the two adverts are very different; the IBIZA has more features images of young people than the Blackpool. The colour| |used for both image is more effective because it is attractive poster whose ever see is would like to have a closer look what the advertisement for and these| |adverts is targeting many adults willing to go on holiday. The evidence used to compare to be a poster magazine contrast. | Paragraph 6 – Social, historical and cultural features – explicit and implicit (4. 1) Compare and contrast the social, historical and cultural features which are explicit and implicit in the two advertisements. For instance, in the Blackpool advertisement why do you think the advertisers show a prominent image of a postcard? Is this a social, historical or social feature? You must provide evidence. |The imagery of the social life styles these days are totally different from the time of 1990. This present time we are now has different kind of dressing | |compare to the time of 1990, like the young boys and girls at this present time we are now put on tight clothes like jeans, short sleeve wearing of boots, | |different kind of hair styles but some people still like the old hair style of 1960, but the hair styles this time is different compare to the time of 1990 | |when people use to have afro hair styles and the code of dressing now also different. The code has built in rules or signals indicating the message being | |given by a person’s clothing and how it is worn. This message may include indications of the person’s gender,  income, occupation and  social class, political,| |ethnic and religious affiliation,  attitude  and attitude towards comfort, fashion, traditions, gender expression, marital status, sexual availability and | |sexual orientation, etc. Clothes convey other social messages including the stating or claiming  personal  or  cultural identity, the establishing, maintaining,| |or defying social group  norms, and appreciating comfort and functionality and the technology this time has developed more and experience han the time of | |1990 the both young’s and adults people are now civilise, mature in every areas of their social life styles with now bring effect on cultures and tradition. | Paragraph 7 – Conclusion (1. 1, 1. 2, 2. 1, 2. 2, 3. 1) For your conclusion, you must compare and contrast the two advertisements, evaluating how effective you think the advertising techniques used are with rega rd to the audience the advertisers are targeting. I am going to compare adverts of IBIZA and Blackpool for the conclusion of the advertisement. The IBIZA was very effective because it draw the attention of | |young people to take part of the holiday programme it to make the young people to have interest on what they were adverting that why it was design with so | |many effective colour that can create an attraction. The techniques used to advertise the poster was aiming to the young’s people who are planning for a | |holiday. The Blackpool is aiming to the adults men and women and the techniques used for the advert was targeting the adults people planning on holiday. The | |effect of the advert written was clear and clean easy to read and understand the colour use are so bright and the photograph show on the advert is a sign to | |encourage people whose has not have the chance to dance for a period of time, if you love dancing and meeting new people this is your chance to dance. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Five Tips for Planning a Successful Book Launch

Five Tips for Planning a Successful Book Launch If you want to be a best-selling author, theres a way to do it without the long, agonizing process of submitting your work to large publishing companies. Just ask James Redfield, a bestselling American author who got his start selling 100,000 copies of his self-published book, The Celestine Prophecy, out of the trunk of his car. It wasnt long until Warner Books took notice of his self-selling success, and agreed to publish the book. Since then, it has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, with translations into 34 languages. Three sequels, also published by Warner Books, followed.So how does this apply to launching your own self-published book? To begin with, notice how the happy ending to that story only happened because Redfield marketed himself aggressively. Without that self-promotion, the book wouldnt have become a world-wide bestseller, and neither will yours.Tip 1 - Create a stunning digital press kitThe larger publishing houses market their authors new books with digital pr ess kits, and you should follow their lead when marketing yourself. These types of press kits are standard and youll reveal your newbie status if you dont have one, especially if youre hoping to attract the attention of local journalists and reviewers.The goal of your digital press kit is to get medias attention. If you spend time creating a catchy, comprehensive digital press kit, they tend to take notice. Now, what goes in to the digital press kit might vary, depending on which media company you ask. These are all relatively standard, however:A summary of your bookA high-res image of the cover and back coverA quick bio about you, the author (limit this to four sentences)Your photoWays to contact youAny anticipated QAs that the media might havePositive reviews (if any) that your book as received so farAwards (if any) your book has receivedAfter getting your digital press kit together, its time to start finding a venue.Tip 2 - Search out multiple potential venuesThe venue you choos e is important to a launch events success, and will ultimately affect it in many ways- such as the work youll need to put into the event, and how big of a turnout you can expect. The best way to find the perfect venue is to look into multiple possibilities, creating a plan A, plan B, and maybe even a plan C.BookstoresBook launch parties are traditionally held in bookstores, which provides a certain level of literary authenticity to your work. Authors published by big publishers tend to launch their books in bookstores, as well, and youll have an immediate boost in marketing impact due to access to the stores clientele through in-store promotional posters and email lists. As an added bonus, the media will pay more attention if your venue is a bookstore, and youll likely be advertised within the book stores own marketing efforts (newsletters, emails campaigns, print advertising, etc.).The bad news is if youre a first-time author, and the only bookstores in your area are chain stores, this venue might be unattainable. Your best bet is to establish rapport with the bookstore owner and have a knock-out digital press kit, and even that might not work. This doesnt mean you should avoid approaching bookstores entirely- it just means that youll need to think of creative alternatives, as well.A bookstore can be a great venue for a book launch event and can also help your marketing efforts.LibraryPublic libraries might be a great alternative if you are a first-time author, especially if your work includes regional settings or events. Many public libraries offer conference rooms that can be reserved for your book launch event, although you might be limited in your choices of how the event will unfold.A library is a good alternative venue.HomeHosting a book launch party in your own home, or in a friends home, is always an option, particularly if that home is situated in an area that is considered to be an epicenter for the Arts scene. There are several potential down-sides to doing this, though. Local media and publishing agents will be less likely to provide coverage or attend the event, and your guests will likely be limited to acquaintances, friends and family.Use your home or a friends home if the location is part of the Arts scene.Specialty storeIs your book about gardening tips? A local nursery or garden club might be open to hosting your party on their premises. And a local motorcycle store would be a great place to launch an adventure book on motorcycling. Such venues not only lend legitimacy to your expertise on the topic- they also open up a new demographic of attendees through their members or customers, and can help open up your marketing reach through their own newsletters, in-store signage, email list, etc.A specialty store allows you to target a certain demographic.Tip 3 - Be prepared to put on your marketing hatIf you have a book to launch, youve likely worn many hats in the process- researcher, writer, editor, graphic designer, busi ness manager†¦ the list goes on and on. Just as those roles were important in the process of getting your book from an idea in your head to a published creative work, so is the role you must now take on- that of a marketer.How do you do this? Well, the first step is to organize like a marketer. When juggling multiple clients with multiple channels of marketing, a marketers best friend is a spreadsheet. On it, you can keep track of who you contacted, when you contacted them, what they asked for, and the deadline they presented. When the big publishers launch a book, they put their marketers to work contacting booksellers, journalists, critics, reviewers, and a lot of small, regional publications who would be willing to help spread the word about the book launch. And thats exactly what you should do, as well.Online marketingOne of best parts of advertising your book launch online is the cost, which is usually nothing more than time! If you already have a social media account on F acebook, connect an Author page to your primary account and use that to start getting the word out about your book. With the simple addition of an Author page associated with your main account, all your friends will be notified and invited to like your page at the touch of a button. If your writer or author profile isnt on Twitter, make one, and connect with friends there, as well. Or Instagram- wherever your most likely audience will be. You can also design and launch a website to promote your book. Some authors have even put up YouTube videos to communicate information, or give followers a small taste of whats to come.Local publicationsMany self-published authors make the mistake of limiting their marketing channels to the most obvious ones. If you send a press kit to your local newspapers and magazines, an editor or reporter might find it interesting enough to provide free press by doing a write-up on your book launch, or on your book in general. And social media is a highly effe ctive way to get the word out, but dont forget that there are many other publishing channels out there to approach- channels that might bring in a wider audience than you would expect.For example, if you are in a college town, contact professors who might spread the word to their students. Send a link to your digital press kit to student publications, college radio stations, or student bloggers who might be willing to advertise your book launch event.Offer giveaways for free copiesAnother great way to get people interested in your event is to offer a giveaway or a free copy. Everyone enjoys a freebie, especially if its a book copy signed by you, the author, as a memento. Other ways of doing this offering free wine tastings to lighten the mood, or free coffee for those who need a little pick-me-up to their day.Upload your manuscript to InkittWith a self-proclaimed mission of discovering talented writers and turning them into globally successful authors, Inkitt offers a platform where authors can upload their manuscripts to an eagerly awaiting audience. The website allows readers looking for that next great author to read and provide feedback on the book for free. Once authors reach a certain level of reader engagement, Inkitt publishes the manuscript in E-book, Print and Audiobook format.Tip 4 - Dont make the book launch event all about youA fun book launch party is a successful one. If your guests enjoy themselves, they will be far more likely to recommend the title to their friends or followers on social media. So how do you make sure your guests enjoy themselves?To being with, dont make it all about you. Sure, its your book launch party and youre the one who put in the work to write and publish the book in the first place. But before you plan to read excerpts from your writing for an hour- or worse, take your guests through a detailed narrative about how you write and why- focus on keeping it fun and engaging. Your guests are much more likely to appreciate a 10 to 15-minute reading with a QA session following it than they are in listening to a lecture or monologue. Even family and close acquaintances who know you well will enjoy the opportunity to ask you questions.Enlist help because youll need itDepending on the size and situation of your event, you will likely need help with the details involved. This is particularly true if you are hosting it in your home or in a rented space, as bookstores often have events coordinators and PR staff who take care of these details.For example, if parking for the venue is limited, you might need to ask someone to coordinate parking. Nothing would be worse for a nervous author than to be forced to direct traffic before it all begins. If there will be food catering, service or preparation at the event, you will need someone else to handle this for you. Someone has to make sure the caterer gets paid and the introductions are made, and it doesnt need to be you.These are all roles that your closest frie nds, spouse, or family member would likely be willing to take on, but it will require some coordinating on the front end to make sure everyone knows what to do and when to do it. Otherwise, the haphazardness and disorientation that results will scream Amateur!Tip 5 - Provide an honest glimpse into your writing processAvid readers love glimpses into an authors creation process, especially if they connect with the writing on a personal level. Whether its your family members and close acquaintances, or a full audience of intrigued strangers who read- everyone in attendance will be curious about how you wrote it and why. Here are a few questions to ask yourself while preparing to do this.Why did I write this book?Whats the story behind the books initial inspiration?How (as in what setting, situation, or routine) did I write it?What did I learn in the process?Going forwardWith a little creativity and a lot of work on the front-end, you can find ways to use your book launch to make a fir st impression that counts. And hopefully- that first impression will turn into bestseller lists and success as a self-published writer.