MGM465-0801A-05 Business Strategy - Phase 2 Individual Project Essay

MGM465-0801A-05 Business Strategy - Phase 2 Individual Project - Essay Example Due to non-availability of statistics from authoritative sources, it is not possible to map the progressive fluctuations in purchase activities of new and existing commercial premises. However, there is a progressive rise in the successive years in construction cost for commercial buildings. The number of new commercial buildings constructed from 2005 onwards is not available. However, the construction costs for construction of new private non-residential buildings for 2005 and 2006 were $256,644 million and $295,715 million respectively. The factors responsible for home improvement were preference for larger and more luxurious living spaces, significant number of homeowners opting for remodeling of kitchen and bathrooms, and in many cases new homeowners opting for home improvement within first two years of purchase. The total remodeling expenditure in USA in 2005 amounted to $280 billion of which $188 billion was for Home repairs and improvement. (Financing Guidebook for Energy Efficiency Program Sponsors, December 2007). It is necessary to improve efficiency by shaking up the top-level management. There cannot be tolerance for stagnant and loss-making centers, divisions and departments. Improve efficiency by working out a policy of rewarding good performance. Managers who do not perform must shape up or ship

Music 100 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Music 100 - Essay Example The instrument used at the performance was violin and each was tasked in producing a specific performance and adding value to the day’s performance. Fusing the orchestra with the Chinese traditional instruments gave it a fusion that uniquely displayed diversity in the music world. The group gave an excellent show as it gave an instrument version of the song. As much as many pieces where displayed at the event, our focus will be on â€Å"Heaven Earth Mankind† by the symphony orchestra lead by Dr. Thomas Cockrell. It represented all genre and represented diversity in the performance an analysis of the performance showed how other pieces represented a single genre. The theme being the moon festival, the piece was ideal as a fusion with the Asian instruments gave it an excellent outcome. Other notable instruments where the Harps which played the harmony and the cellos which where tasked in ensuring the rhythm was as per planned. The Cockrell‘s led group utilized the three instrument in ensuring a success to their performance. The most notable of them all was the violin representing each voice category. An excellent event disserved an excellent performance and that is what the symphony orchestra gave. The instruments took turns in providing a breathtaking moment. Just like a sea wave, the violin variably changed the mood. The beginning was a little bit slower maybe to create attention. As the climax approached, the violin became louder and rapid representing a dancing mood. The bridge of the performance saw only the sopranos play their instruments. As the title of the performance suggests, a heavenly mood was engulfed into the room. Some minutes later, the other instruments joint the wagon. Two minutes later, they stopped and before the audience had applause, they picked again and this time they played them rapidly until the conductor signaled the end of the performance. Other pieces

Two Key Logistics Activities In Humanitarian Aid And Relief Operations Business Essay

Two Key Logistics Activities In Humanitarian Aid And Relief Operations Business Essay The natural disasters and armed conflicts in various parts of the world in recent years have challenged the competency of traditional emergency relief operations. The challenges have revealed deficiencies which prompt the humanitarian relief sector to redefine the logistical activities that can meet the needs of humanitarian relief operations. the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of goods and materials, as well as related information, from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of meeting the end beneficiarys requirements (Kovacs Spens 2009). Nowadays humanitarian logistics is receiving interest from both logistics academics and practitioners as well. Humanitarian logistics is an umbrella term for a mixed array of operations. Delivering humanitarian aid can, therefore, be seen as a substantial global industry. According to Long and Wood (1995), food relief alone accounted for $5 billion worth of food in 1991; which has important consequences for the worlds agricultural and transportation industries. Every government in the world is involve in relief operations and might be donor and recipient of operations. Many practices shows the most difficult steps in responding disaster respond operation is providing right reliefs in right time for the people in need(Smirnov, et.al 2007). For the success of disaster relief mobilizing people, skills, resources and knowledge are the key process to help affected people by disaster and emergencies. This essay discusses the importance of two key logistics activities in humanitarian aid and relief operations. It also discusses the how two key logistic activities add value to relief operation in terms of place, time and firm utility. It concludes with a framework for humanitarian logistics in disaster relief. The key logistics activities are 1) Inventory management, and 2) Transportation management. Key logistics Activities Form utility: Form utility refers to the value added to goods through a manufacturing, production, or assembly process that can be used by the customer and is of value to the customer (Murphy woods 2009). It is a simple process of adding the raw materials together to produce a something of value product in form that adds value to the product. In todays global economic, logistics activities can also provide form utility. For example, breaking bulk and product mixing, which typically takes place at distribution centres, change a products form by changing its shipment size and packaging characteristics. Thus, unpacking a pallet of coca-cola into individual customer size adds form utility to the product. 1) Inventory management: Inventory is the stock of items used to support production processes raw materials and work in process, customer service and other activities that are maintained for many purpose. The most common is to satisfy the normal demand. Inventory management is the process of planning and controlling physical inventory. It is the key concept of supply chain management. Managing inventory is balancing the supply of inventory with demand for inventory. Every company want to have enough inventories to satisfy the demand of its customers. But companys doesnt want to keep too much inventories because it costs. Inventory costs money of holding cost, capital cost, service cost and inventory risk costs. So it is better not to have too much inventory. But every company should have their safety stock level. There are lots of approaches for to manage inventories In which JIT (just in time) approach best suits for humanitarian relief operation which adds value in terms of place, time and form utility. All of the humanitarian relief operations have the common aim to aid people in the survival. The main focus of disaster relief operation is to transportation of first aid material, food, equipment, and rescue personnel in time. The inventory of first aid materials and foods in warehouse is supplied in bulk quantity to the point of disaster for affected people, which adds value when foods are distributed to the victims it got value and it is their basic needs. So the inventory of a place got form utility in relief operations. The approach of JIT helps to provide everything needed in time which creates form utility of a product in relief operations. 2) Transportation management: Transportation can be defined as the actual, physical movement of goods and people between two points (Murphy Woods 2009). Transportation influences, or is influenced by many logistics activities. Transportation costs, it represents 40 to 50 percent of total logistics costs and 4 to 10 percent of product selling for many companies. Transport logistic direct affect the total logistic costs. Means of transportation also affect the cost and lead time. Means of transportation are air, road, and waterways. In a humanitarian relief operation normal ordered is processed where items are produced locally or in a product manufacturer. Items are then transported to the warehouse via truck or airways. And also emergency ordered are placed internationally to donor country or from United Nations and transported via air transport. Emergency orders have a much shorter transportation time than normal orders, but carry higher shipping costs. Once the supplies have reache d the airport from the production area, they are sent to the field of relief operation where they are received and recorded, at the distribution centres. Distribution centres receives good in pallets and big boxes, then they are break into the normal or consumption size, which adds value to the goods in terms form utility, from bigger form to consumption size in humanitarian relief operation base, which is possible via only transportation. Then it is distributed to affected people. Transportation also carries or helps rescue team to be in operation field where they provide their service. So transportation adds value in a service of rescue members by helping to be there in rescue operation field. Place utility: Place utility is having products available where they are needed by customers. Logistics provides place utility by moving goods from production surplus point to where demand exists, or moved from point of lesser value to point of greater value (Coyle, Bardi Langley 2002). Logistics adds economic values in products this addition of economic value of goods and services by moving from point of production to the point of consumption is known as place utility. For example, moving of produces in a farm by logistics to market where the produce is consumed or needed by customers this produce creates place utility. So the product which does not have value in a certain place might be of huge value in other place by moving the product which creates place utility. 1) Inventory management: In a time of disaster the most necessary things are human rescue and basic needs of people, food, water and medicines. The ability of rescue team or government delivery food and medicines and services to the affected locations relies heavily on transportation network. Advances in technology also allow firms to analyse their delivery networks and develop a route that will serve the item in the affected place. Here the necessary things for relief operations food, medicines etc are transported to the place of need which adds value in these goods and services from the warehouse where it had no value. 2) Transportation management: Transportation management is the logistic of flow of goods, information, services and other information from the point of origin to the point of consumption (..). Transport logistic is a channel of supply chain which adds the value of place utility. The value of goods or service is directly related to its location. For the humanitarian relief operation the food items, medicines and services has less value in the production area or in warehouse than in identical location or field of disaster relief operations. By transporting resources, foods, medicines and services value increases. Transportation adds value by moving the products and resources from one place to the area of rescue field. Place utility likewise impacts the value of services, considering a doctor trained to perform a unique procedure in relief operations. A victim who requires that procedure to live would place an enormous value on the services of the doctor. If there is no way to transport the doctor to the relief operation field the value of his service is zero at the patient. So it makes clear that transportation adds value in form of place utility at the humanitarian relief operations. Time utility: Time utility is having products available when they are needed by customers or economic value added to a product or services by having it at a demand point at a specific time (Murphy woods 2009). Logistics creates time utility through proper inventory maintenance and strategic location of goods and service. For example, it creates time utility by promoting and advertised products available in stores. Time utility adds value to the products in a certain time, winter clothes are of value only in the winter so it adds value for customers by providing in winter season. If they are selling winter clothes in the summer it has got no value and no time utility. 1) Inventory management: Transportation of inventory create time utility by moving something more quickly to a disaster relief operation base. Time utility is much more important in disaster relief operations because of the emphasis on reducing lead time and minimising inventory level through logistic related such as JIT inventory management approaches. To response a disaster relief humanitarian operation a lot of inventories have to be held; these should be of clothes, food and medicine. Transportation from the warehouse to affected area might take time depending on the situation and distance. In the relief operations the first aid materials and foods have to provide in time so that immediate response is required that affected people can get in time. It makes clear that providing right services and goods on time in need of people creates value in those goods and services. 2) Transportation management: When disaster strikes, the emergency plans of regional actors come to action in immediate response. But, however, prepared these actors are, they will need to operate in an environment with a destabilized infrastructure in certain time. Some disasters such as famines occur more often in less developed regions, which from the outset struggle with inadequate infrastructures and a lack of transport connectivity. Less developed regions are also more prone to a larger scale destruction of their infrastructure once a disaster strikes. As an example, earthquakes and floods are often magnified, due to poor housing situations and inadequate construction requirements. The nature of most disasters demands an immediate response, hence supply chains need to be designed and deployed at once even though the knowledge of the situation is very limited (Kovacs Spens 2007). The supply of rescue team and necessary items in a operation via transport logistics makes it easy to get there in time and help the people affected by disaster. At the place of disaster people are in need of help, to provide help for helpless people operation team needs to be there as soon as possible. For that purpose transportation helps a lot which adds value in the circumstances of disaster to rescue people. Transportation also helps to move food and medicine products to the field in time where these items are distributed among the people. Conclusion: In conclusion it can be stated that above discussed two key logistic activities has its distinct features to support in humanitarian relief operation in terms of form, place and time utility. By using inventory management and transportation management logistic activities it supports to provide necessary materials and services at humanitarian relief operations in terms of place time and form utility. It also find that inventory management policies for humanitarian warehouse must be easy to implement and flexible to change. Essay shows, for the humanitarian logistic basic principle of logistic can be applied. As they combined their aim with the motivation to help people, right people, resources, in right time, in the place, in the right time as soon as possible to deliver maximum relief.

Red Scare :: essays research papers

Analysis of the Red Scare "The tumult and the shouting dies, The captains and the kings depart." -Kipling, The Recessional Mr. Kipling was wrong. War does not always end with the last cry on the battlefield. World War I certainly did not. After the war formally ended on November 18, 1918, there was an ideological war still going on in the US. An ideological war which prompted mass paranoia and caused, among many other things, what would be known as the Red Scare, which began in 1919 and ended in 1921. Red Scare was the label given to the actions of legislation, the race riots, and the hatred and persecution of "subversives" and conscientious objectors during that period of time. It is this hysteria which would find itself repeated several decades later in history when Senator Joeseph R. Macarthy accused high government officials and high standing military officers of being communist. Undoubtedly the most important topic of an investigation into a historical occurrence is its inception. What caused the Red Scare? At the heart of the Red Scare was the conscription law of May 18, 1917, which was put in place during World War I for the armed forces to be able to conscript more Americans. This law caused many problems for the conscientious objector to WWI, because for one to claim that status, one had to be a member of a "well-recognized" religious organization which forbade their members to participation in war. did Quaker relief work in Europe. 500 suffered court-martial, and out As a result of such unyeilding legislation, 20,000 conscientious objectors were inducted into the armed forces. Out of these 20,000, 16,000 changed their minds when they reached military camps, 1300 went to non-combat units, 1200 gained furloughs to do farm work, and 100 of these, 450 went to prison. However, these numbers are small in comparison with the 170,000 draft dodgers and 2,810,296 men who were inducted into the armed forces. Nevertheless, the conscientious objectors were targeted in the Red Scare after the war. They were condemned as cowards, pro-German socialists, although that was not everything. They were also accused of spreading propaganda throughout the United States. Very few conscientious objectors stood up for themselves. Roderick Siedenberg, who was a conscientious objector, wrote that "to steal, rape, or murder" are standard peacetime causes for imprisonment, but in time of war "too firm a belief in the words of Christ", and "too ardent a faith in the brotherhood of man" are more acceptable.

Why Kedarnath Happened

A scientific analysis of the reasons for the disaster that struck Uttarakhand, particularly the temple town. THE primary trigger for the Uttarakhand disaster following the very heavy rain during June 16-18 was the extremely unusual behaviour of the monsoon this year over north India. The incessant, heavy rainfall over three days, perhaps accompanied by a few cloudburst-type events (which cannot be confirmed), resulted in flash floods and associated landslides. The devastation all round in their wake has been huge but the largest impact has been at the temple town of Kedarnath, which was in the midst of the annual pilgrimage season, with tens of thousands of people thronging the town and the downstream region along the Mandakini river . 1). Rainfall measurements for June 16 and 17 at the Dehradun station, of 220 millimetres and 370 mm respectively, indicate the severity of the rain during these days in the region. Haridwar received 107 mm and 218 mm of rainfall on the two days. Uttarkashi received 122 mm and 207 mm. While Mukteshwar (altitude over 2,000 metres) received 237 mm and 183 mm respectively on June 17 and 18, Nainital on the same days received 176 mm and 170 mm. Though rainfall over a 24-hour period in different parts of Uttarakhand has greatly exceeded these figures in the past (on many occasions above 450-500 mm and once even 900 mm at Rajpur near Dehradun), prolonged heavy rainfall for nearly three days over a large area is perhaps unprecedented, and the cumulative effect, compounded by geophysical, meteorological and environmental factors, may be the reason for the enormity of the disaster. More pertinently, these numbers do not give the actual quantitative picture of the very heavy rainfall in the higher reaches of the Himalayas (above 3,000 m) in Uttarakhand, where Kedarnath, Gangotri and Badrinath are located and where the impact has been most severe. This is because the rain gauge stations of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) are all located largely in the lower Himalayan reaches (below 2,000 m) and there are no stations in the higher reaches (above 3000 m). This is probably because snowfall data is regarded as more important than detailed rainfall data in these regions. As a result, there is no proper estimate of the rainfall in the affected regions. Unexpected advance What was peculiar about the monsoon this year? On June 14, the monsoon front was located over eastern India. In fact it was a trifle sluggish compared with the normal progress of the front (Map 1a). But within a day (Map 1b), the front advanced right across Uttar Pradesh and the western regions to cover the entire country by June 15, exactly a month ahead of its normal date of July 15. While the IMD had forecast a rapid advance with the announcement that the monsoon would strike Delhi before the normal scheduled date of June 30, its advance right across to the west just within a day was entirely unexpected. This has never happened in the past, according to M. Rajeevan, Adviser in the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). A system of westerly winds from the Arabian Sea had also been active during the same period and had covered Pakistan. It was a strong westerly system, and Rajeevan noted that it was similar to the system that stayed anchored over Pakistan in July 2010 and caused widespread flooding in Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan. Of course, by July 2010 the south-west monsoon had covered entire India, but this time around the system had formed in June itself. It was the interaction between the well-formed low-pressure system of the south-west monsoon from east to west and the upper air westerly trough running from north-west Rajasthan to the east that resulted in the heavy rainfall over Uttarakhand. In fact, the westerly system dragged the monsoon trough, which was anchored over Rajasthan and central India until then, towards the north across Haryana. A monsoon trough facilitates the movement of rainfall-causing low-pressure systems along its path. Its rapid movement northwards enabled the low-pressure system that was in the eastern part of the country to quickly traverse and locate itself over north-west India. According to Rajeevan, while the phenomenon of the monsoon trough being dragged northwards by the advancing strong westerly trough is known to occur, the exact dynamics of interaction between the two systems is not well studied. Thus, as the press release of June 20 of the IMD noted, â€Å"North-west India became the zone of an unusual confluence of the two branches of the monsoon—the Arabian Sea branch and the Bay of Bengal branch. The geology and orography of [the Himalayan regions] of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh resulted in the unprecedented impact in these two States. † While the IMD had issued warnings of widespread severe rainfall in the region soon after the observation of the advancing monsoon systems, the scale of impact could not be anticipated. Geophysical dynamics The peculiarity of the monsoon apart, the other interesting question is what geophysical dynamics channelled the major part of devastation along the Kedarnath valley and downstream of Kedarnath on the Mandakini. The region around Kedarnath is known to geologists to be prone to landslides. This is also clear from an early 1882 Geological Survey of India photograph of Kedarnath (Picture 2), which shows that the temple site is located not far away from the snouts of two mountain glaciers. David Petley, an expert on landslides at the Department of Geography at Durham University, United Kingdom, has analysed the calamitous event at Kedarnath on the basis of images from the remote-sensing satellites of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the U. S. Landsat. He points out that the amount of debris and rubble below the glacier on the left side of the 1882 picture suggests that transportation of sediment and debris from the upper reaches was active even then, and adds that the steep slope that is visible would have aided rapid transportation. It should be borne in mind that the geology is still roughly the same (Picture 3). It is evident from the post-event images of Kedarnath town around the temple that the massive destruction was the result of largescale debris carried by the huge volume of water from the upper reaches above the town. One of the compounding factors was that the glacial regions above Kedarnath had received fresh and excess snowfall when heavy rainfall hit the region (Pictures 4a & b), according to scientists of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of ISRO. Rainwater, with higher temperature, falling on the snow must have led to heavy snow melt and this runoff would have added to the rainwater runoff, resulting in a huge water flow that carried with it a huge debris flow, which struck the town with enormous ferocity. The snow cover has, in fact, increased in general subsequent to the extreme rainfall and flooding events (the satellite image on May 28/June 1 shows less snow cover). According to the NRSC scientists, the detailed dynamics of water flow due to snow melt caused by rain, particularly when snowfall is in excess, and the hydrology of it are not well understood. The NRSC recently released excellent high-resolution pre-flood and post-flood images of the Kedarnath region (Pictures 5a & 5b) taken by ISRO’s remote-sensing satellites Cartosat-2A and Resourcesat-2. The NRSC, on the basis of remote-sensing images from Resourcesat-2, has carried out an inventory of the landslides that occurred between Kedarnath and Sonprayag, a distance of approximately 20 km on the Mandakini. According to the preliminary report, the study identified a total of 192 landslides in this Himalayan stretch (Picture 6). Many landslides were triggered in the glacial regions in the mountains above Kedarnath. The large-scale debris flows from above were the result of these massive landslides. Double whammy Actually, for Kedarnath it was a double whammy. The massive damage caused to Kedarnath town can be seen clearly in the post-flood image. Just as there was an unusual confluence of two monsoon streams up in the atmosphere, in the mountainous terrain around Kedarnath, too, there was a coincidental reinforcing of two massive debris flows from above, one from the north-western side of the Kedarnath temple and the other from the north-eastern side. Petley has analysed these images to arrive at a plausible scenario as to what caused the massive onslaught on the town, virtually flattening it. This flow cascaded further and caused heavy damage downstream as well. The NRSC scientists, too, in their analysis, have come roughly to the same general conclusion. According to Petley, the two different but reinforcing events that caused the disaster were landslide-induced debris that came from the glaciated area in the north-east and a glacial-related flow that originated from the north-west glacier. From the images, one can distinctly identify the two flows. Petley, from his analysis of the images, the-cause -of-the-debris-flow-disaster-is-now -clear/), has inferred the following: 1. The flow from the north-east came down the margin of the glacier and spread out to strike the town. 2. The north-west flow descended from the other glacier to hit the town. 3. While a large part of the flow from the north-west passed the town on its west side, a part also struck it directly. On the basis of the pattern of overlay of sediments and their nature, Petley concludes that the flow from the north-west occurred after the one from the north-east. According to him, the debris flow from the north-east was triggered by a large, 75 m wide, landslide caused by heavy rainfall high on the mountains, which then came down the steep slope about 500 m, gathering the debris in its path. The flow was initially channelled into a narrow gully formed by the glacier and on exiting it the flow spread out in the floodplains before striking the town over a large area. The steepness of the slope would have given the debris enormous velocity when it struck the town. The total length traversed by this debris flow is estimated to be about 1,200 m. The event from the north-west was, however, quite different, points out Petley. The spot marked 1 in Picture 7 is a moraine, which had created a block for a basin to form, allowing the water to build up in it as a pool or a lake. This is what the local people call the Chorabari Tal, to which, in fact, pilgrims trek a few kilometres along the west side of the valley to have a dip. The Chorabari glacier has been retreating constantly in modern times, and according to D. P. Dobhal of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, it has retreated about 300 m since 1960. The effect of the retreat is to leave a moraine that can allow lakes to form, which can then collapse,† pointed out Petley in an e-mail message to Frontline. â€Å"In Kedarnath, this is exactly what happened. I am not sure when the lake basin formed—it may not have been in modern times—but this is a dangerous situation. Of equal concern is the trend towards more intense rainfall, especially if this occurs early in the year (that is, during snowmelt),† Petley added. Wall of water Eyewitness accounts say a huge wall of water swept the Kedarnath town in a flash. The spot marked 2 shows that the moraine had been breached by the rapidly building up water because of heavy rainfall and the water overtopping the moraine wall. The breach led to the sudden release of the impounded water and resulted in a massive wall of water sweeping across the Kedarnath valley and the town and causing a huge flash flood. According to the NRSC scientists, this lake would have had a depth of about 15 m, and the event was not exactly a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), which occurs when a dam or moraine wall is breached because of the sheer pressure exerted by the stagnant glacial water and ice that it encloses. This was a case of lake flooding because of excessive rainfall and consequent overtopping of the moraine wall, which eventually breached. The flow was so huge and forceful that it overtopped the moraine on the other side of the glacier as well, at the spot marked 3, resulting in three flows: one moving south-east to join the earlier debris flow from the north-east and enhancing it before turning southwards and striking the town. The third flow is a new channel that opened up, perhaps exploiting an existing old channel, because of the breach at spot 3. Heading down the slope towards the town at great velocity, it gathered sediment and debris en route and resulted in a muchwidened flow closer to Kedarnath. However, the bulk of the debris flow, as Picture 7 shows, moved southwards towards the town down the main channel on the south western side, which is the normal channel for glacial water flow. The spot marked 4 shows heavy erosion due to the flow in the area, suggesting that the flow must have carried a huge volume of water. According to Petley, this flow must have carried the many huge boulders and rocks seen in the post-flood image of the temple town. Closer to the town, the flow spread before striking. As a result, the debris and water flow moved to the east side of the town as well, engulfing the town from both sides. According to this picture supplied by Petley, which others too are in general agreement with, Kedarnath was first pounded by an earlier debris flow from the north-east, then a later pounding by the flow from the north-west. Petley suggests that the latter flow must have been more efficient because of the preceding events and also because it struck the town from both the west and the east simultaneously. The image also shows a dark patch just above Kedarnath on the north-eastern side (to the right of the spot marked 5) suggesting the formation of a new depression, which could have turned into a small-sized lake because of the heavy rainfall. It is also possible that water built up in this new depression, which would have been substantial, overtopped it and hit the town from the eastern side, enhancing the effect of the runoff and debris flow from the north-eastern side, an aspect that Petley has not considered. Downstream of Kedarnath, the flow remained contained within the channel. As a result, there was massive erosion of the banks of the Mandakini Further, smaller villages downstream were also severely damaged, and some of them, such as Rambara, were totally destroyed ). The damage caused to the Kedarnath region and downstream villages by the natural destruction resulting from unusual meteorological and geophysical processes was undoubtedly greatly enhanced because of the general environmental degradation caused by the massive and unregulated influx of pilgrims year after year, the haphazard development fuelled by tourist traffic, and the unplanned and poor construction of buildings and roads. Given the vulnerability of the region, the town itself has come up in a very dangerous location, points out Petley. Therefore, how much of the destruction in this event was actually man-made is a moot question. Besides the challenges of disaster management on such a massive scale, the Uttarakhand floods have also thrown up a lot of scientific challenges in the detailed understanding of monsoon dynamics as well as in the geophysical processes of landslides and large-scale debris flow and the heavy damage they can inflict on life, property and the ecology of a region.

Houston †How to Talk to a Hunter Essay

Through her How to Talk to a Hunter short story, author Pam Houston uses the second-person point of view to describe a rather controversial relationship between a certain liberal woman and a conservative man. The author thus explores the dynamics of gender relations through this unconventional and subtle approach. By employing this unusual point of view, the author seeks to involve all her readers in the story’s happenings. Further it is notable that Houston dwells on a rather sensitive topic of gender relations. Usually conservative societies seek to unjustly subordinate women to male power. The author thus deems it fit to make use of the second-person point of view to inform readers of, not what the story’s characters are experiencing, but rather, to explore the readers’ thoughts and feelings. This approach accommodates a great variety of readers into the story’s plot by entertaining persistent ambiguity that leaves the interpretation of the narrative’s theme open to audience speculation. To illustrate, by describing the reaction that the hunter will have towards the lady in the second-person, the author avoids being unnecessarily antagonistic in the story’s development (Houston 12). Instead, Houston allows readers to, firstly, examine their sentiments towards the story’s happenings and secondly, to identify with the some of the story’s happenings. In effect, the author leads the reader in developing the story’s plot as opposed to unilaterally telling the story by herself. In addition, this second-person point of view enables the author to avoid taking sides with regard to the gender debate. Rather, Houston incorporates both gender in analyzing and critiquing the existing gender relations. This technique thus makes the literary work acceptable to a wide variety of people from both the female and male gender. Houston capitalizes on the ability to arouse readers’ feelings as she seeks both female and male acceptance, and identification with, her How to Talk to a Hunter story.