Thursday, August 22, 2019
Biological Psychology Essay Example for Free
Biological Psychology Essay Abstract Psychology has its own biological boundaries. This is in the form of biological psychology or behavioral neuroscience. The main aim of this branch in psychology is to have a clearer picture of the relationship of the mind and body, and mind and brain. It tries to link the brain functions to the different mental processes and behaviors. This type of psychology investigates man’s physiological phenomena such as memory and emotions. Biological Psychology Human beings are more then a collection of systems, more than a collection of organs and more than a collection of cells.  The human body is complex. It is an operating organism which functions as a whole. The human body involves a great deal of variety of processes. By examining the parts, it does not mean that one can understand the whole organism (Arnold, 1999). Biological psychology is the field of psychology which main endeavor was to link the different brain functions to different mental processes and behaviors. Psychologists in this subdiscipline of psychology are often interested in relating biological variables to psychological or behavioral variables. It deals with biological processes and behaviors that are shared with mammalian animals. This is because biological psychologists utilize animals in their experiments. Some of these processes are sensation, perception, motivation, learning memory and control of motor movements (â€Å"Biological Psychology†).            The history of Biological psychology emerged from various philosophical views in the 18th and 19th century. However, its study started much earlier. It dates back to Avicenna, a Persian psychologist and physician. He recognized physiological psychology in the treatment of illnesses involving emotions. Avicenna also gave some psychological explanations on somatic illnesses. He believed that humidity inside the brain can cause mood disorders. Humidity is brought by the change with the amount of breath. Another is that happiness increases the breath so it contributes to the brain’s moisture. But then, too much moisture can make the brain loss control thus having mental disorders (â€Å"The Mind-Brain Problem†).            The philosophical history of Biological Psychology surfaced from philosophers like Rene Descartes. He believed that the pineal gland was the point of contact between the mind and body. He also proposed a theory that pneumatics or fluid power of bodily fluids is connected to reflexes and motor behavior (â€Å"The Mind- Brain Problem†).            Another philosopher who contributed to Biological psychology is William James.  He is the one who argued that in the study of psychology there should also be consideration to the understanding of Biology. He also stressed that the functions of the brain must be included in the study of psychology. The connection between mind and brain became progressively clearer in the nineteenth century. In this century, the doctors started observing patients who suffered from head injuries. The patients usually exhibited alterations in language and memory and some variation in their personalities. One patient is a refined businessman and a loving father became a vulgar person who lacks in affection for his loved ones after a sever blow in the head. These observations is lead researchers to experiment by producing surgical lesions in animals in different regions of the brain to observe what effects these lesions have on behavior (Westen, 1999). Since its origin, one of the major issues faced by biological psychologists was localization of functions. This entails knowing which different parts of the brain control different aspects of functioning. In 1836, a physician named Marc Dax, noted that lesions on the left side of the brain were associated with aphasia or language disorder. Because of this discovery, many other discoveries linking the left hemisphere of the brain with language function appeared (Westen, 1999). These other discoveries led to the finding of Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Broca’s aphasia involves difficulty in production of speech, whereas Wernicke’s aphasia involves difficulty in comprehending language (Westen, 1999).            The clinical assumption of Biological psychology is that organisms share similar biological processes and behaviors. Some of the other disciplines in psychology greatly related with biological psychology are comparative psychology, evolutionary psychology, neuropsychology, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology and experimental psychology (Westen, 1999).            Comparative psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes of animals other than human beings (Westen, 1999). Biological psychologists use animals in their experiments. They compare the results done on these animals to human processes and behaviors. Evolutionary psychology, on the other hand, deals with the explanation of mental and psychological traits and how they evolved to adapt to different stimuli. Neuropsychology is an interdisciplinary field of psychology and neuroscience that aims to explain how the structure and function of the brain relate to certain psychological behaviors (â€Å"Evolutionary Psychology†).            Other fields of psychology related with biological psychology such as clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, and experimental psychology are connected with biological psychology because these fields aim to link the physiological processes with different mental processes. Clinical psychology focuses on the nature and treatment of physiological processes that lead to emotional distress. Cognitive psychology examines the nature of thought, memory and language. And, experimental psychology examines mental processes in human and other animals (Westen, 1999). Some of the noted modern biological psychologists are Nikolaas Tinbergen, Karl von Frisch, Eric Kandel and Arvid Carlsson. Nikolaas Tinbergen is a Dutch ornithologist who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1973. His contribution is the organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns in animals. Karl von Frisch is an Austrian ethologist who won the same award with Tinbergen. He studied the senses of bees and identified they methods of communication(â€Å"Nobel Prize in Physiology/ Medicine 1973†)..Eric Kandel is a neuroscientist whose contribution is the analysis of biochemical changes in neurons assiciated with learning and memory storage. Arvid Carlsson is a neuroscientist most noted for his on the neurotransmitter dopmaine and Parkinson’s disease (â€Å"The Nobel Prize in Physiology/ Medicine 2000†).  Reference Arnold, T. (1999). Mind and Brian Relationship. Retrieved February 8, 2008, from            http://www.hyponoesis.org/html/essays/e022.html Biological Psychology. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from            http://www.psypress.com/common/supplementary/184169360X/part1.pdf Evolutionary Psychology. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from            http://www.psychnet-uk.com/evolutionary_psychology/evolutionary_psychology.htm The Mind- Brain problem. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from            http://moebius.psy.ed.ac.uk/~dualism/papers/brains.html The Nobel Prize in Physiology/ Medicine 1973. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved February 11, 2008,            from http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1973/index.html The Nobel Prize in Physiology/ Medicine 2000. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved February 11, 2008,            from http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2000/index.html Westen, D. (2nd Ed.). (1999). Psychology: Mind, Brain and Culture. U.S.A.: John Wiley            Sons, Inc.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Climate Change Mitigation Strategies: UNFCCC and India
Climate Change Mitigation Strategies: UNFCCC and India From UNFCCC Goals to India Abstract: Climate Change has the potential to alter the ability of the earths physical and biological systems to provide goods and services essential for sustainable development. Recognition of Climate Change as a significant global environmental challenge has a recent origin. International efforts to address the climate change formally began only a decade ago with the adoption of United Nations Framework Convention to Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. India is a party to UNFCCC and the government of India attaches great importance to climate change issue. India is a vast country covering 3.28 million Km2 with diverse surface features and supports 16.2 percent of the global human population. Endowed with varied soils, climate, biodiversity and ecological regimes, under diverse natural conditions and over a billion people speaking different languages, following different religions and living in rural and urban areas, India is an example for a complex yet successful democratic system. Decentralization of powers through local government, to benefit the grass root level is another significant feature of Indian Government. The 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts, 1992, of the Constitution of India have endowed vast powers to local governments at rural and urban levels respectively. Indias commitments to mitigate climate change are reflected in the essence of these two acts and the working and powers given to the local government. This paper explains and brings to picture how climate change mitigation strategies are filtered in Indian System right from the UNFCCC goals to The Government of India and further to smaller levels of local governments. The paper will explain the hierarchy and working of Indian governance system and highlights the climate change initiatives within this system. The paper will also analyze the constraints and gaps in the institutional setup at local level, which, if rectified, would give more successful results in Climate Change Mitigation Mission of the Government of India. Introduction: Over a decade ago most countries joined an international treaty- The United Nations Convention on Climate Change so as to consider the impacts of climate change and to work for adaptation and mitigation initiatives for secure future and sustainable development. The convention, commonly known as the UNFCCC entered into force on 21 March 1994. The ultimate objective of The convention is stabilizing green house gas emissions at a lower level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate systems. Under the convention the governments- Gather and share information on greenhouse gas emissions, national policies and best practices Launch national strategies for addressing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to expected impacts, including the provision of financial and technological support to developing countries. Cooperate in preparing the adaptation to the impacts of climate change. In 1997, the Kyoto protocol came into being, which shared the conventions objectives, principles and institutions and also significantly strengthened the convention by committing the parties to individual and specially; â€Å"legally binding targets†to limit or reduce climate change. The text of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted unanimously in 1997; and it entered into force on 16 February 2005. India is signatory to various multilateral environmental agreements, including The Montreal Protocol, The convention on Biological diversity, the United nations Convention to combat desertification ,including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) .Government of India attaches great importance to climate change issues. Eradication of poverty, avoiding risks to food production, and sustainable development are three principles embedded in the Convention. At present, information provided in the Indias Initial National Communication to the UNFCCC is in terms of guidelines prescribed for Parties not included in Annex I to the UNFCCC and the inventory is prepared for the base year 1994. India is a vast country. It covers 3.28 million km2 of area having diverse surface features. Also, it occupies only 2.4 percent of the worlds geographical area, but supports 16.2 per cent of the global human population. The country is endowed with varied soils, climate, biodiversity and ecological regimes. â€Å"Under such diverse natural conditions, over a billion people speaking different languages, following different religions and living in rural and urban areas, live in harmony under a democratic system†( India NATCOM,2004). Climate Change Negotiations Global warming issue became a part of the international agenda in 1988. The climate issue, initiated by the small island nation Malta, came up at the UN General Assembly in December 1988, as part of a discussion on the common heritage of mankind. The resolution set up a preparatory committee to work towards an international agreement. The concern for global warming particularly by the industrialized countries geared up since then and climate politics came into being and were refined with a series of international conferences and formal negotiations that followed. The momentum culminated in the signing of a Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and opened for signatures at the Rio Earth Summit in June, 1992. The FCCC aims at stabilization of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Subsequently, the parties to the FCCC adopted the Kyoto Protocol in December, 1997. However, the developing nations see the Protocol as burdened with loopholes because of the fact that it emphasizes on the economic concerns, rather than ecological or social justice. The main area of dispute between the developed countries and the developing countries lies in the sectors pertaining to equity and sustainability. However, the operational details of the Kyoto Protocol have now been finalised after intensive deliberations at Marrakech, on November 10, 2001, which was participated by 171 countries . The protocol has been guided by Article 3.0 of the FCCC, and marks the first global attempt to place legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions from developed countries. The Protocol calls for 5.2% reduction from their 1990 level of GHG emissions by the developed countries during the period 2008-2012. It also specifies the amount each country must contribute toward meeting the reduction goal. Nations with the highest CO2 emissions like the United States, Japan and most European nations are expected to reduce emissions by a range of 6 to 8 per cent. By 2005, all industrialized nations that ratify the accord must also show demonstrable progress toward fulfilling their respective commitments under the Protocol. Some issues that add to the complexity of the Kyoto Protocol: Considerations for baseline and its effects The target of 5.2% reduction beyond 1990 level in the commitment period 2008-2012, were dependent on 1990 emissions. This meant that if a country which had high emissions in 1990 and had reduced them between 1990 and thereafter, then it could actually increase its emission once again, or only stabilize these, and not carry out any reductions. As an example one can analyse the case of Australia. In 1990, as much as 30 percent of the emissions were from deforestation, which eventually became a blessing for the country for, instead of penalizing for creating the problem in the first place, Australia has been able to use its emission to its advantage, by winning the right to count any improvement from its 1990 level as its national credit. And as its deforestation rate has been controlled, it actually can increase its emission above and beyond the figure of 8 percent it is expected to reduce. On the other hand, USA and Japan were lobbying hard to change the date of baseline from 1990 to 1995. The reason for this lies in the fact that both the countries have made a significant increase in carbon emissions between 1990 and 1995. Flexible mechanisms The Kyoto Protocol includes three mechanisms Art.6 (Joint Implementation), Art.12 (Clean Development Mechanism) and Art.17 (Emissions Trading), These mechanisms are meant to pave an explicit way for developed countries to meet their Kyoto targets easily. The cheapest and the most attractive option for meeting the emission targets of the North (i.e developed countries-Annexe I) being the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that will be operated on the project basis invested in the South (i.e under developed countries). This implies that, as global warming is bound to be unsolved even by the end of this century, the South would have to pay a heavy price in future once they have reached a high level of energy efficiency through means like CDM. For by then the cost of carbon cutting will be very high even for the developing countries, which would eventually have to do the carbon cutting on their own. The next issue comes on the question of energy-efficient technology, which the North wishes to push to the South through CDM. As technology up-gradation is a continuous process, hence what is the most efficient technology at the time of implementation of the CDM project, may be obsolete within few years that follows. Principle of equity: the Kyoto Protocol does not define the rights and responsibilities of all nations within a reasonable frame. So long as the world remains within a carbon based energy economy, equitable sharing of the atmosphere shall remain a critical issue, especially for poor developing countries who need a maximum space for their future economic growth. The Kyoto reduction, by itself, is inadequate to achieve a stabilization of climate change by 2100. A continual and larger reduction, similar to that stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol for the 2008-2012 period, will be needed in the future in order to begin to stabilize long-term greenhouse gas emissions. Even if stabilization of greenhouse gases is achieved, global warming will still continue for several decades and sea levels will continue to rise for several centuries. This is because Even if the emissions from the developed countries were reduced to zero in the near future, the current trends of growing emissions from developing countries alone could force the atmospheric concentration to exceed stabilization levels of 550 ppm ( Parivesh, CPCB,2006). Thus, participation of all countries, including the developing countries such as India, is essential for a successful worldwide effort to arrest the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. India and Climate Change- The Threats and Vulnerability Climate Change is a major global environmental problem and an important issue because of diverse impacts not only ecological, but economic, social, political and physical in nature and content. It is a matter of great concern especially for developing countries like India who have limited capacity to develop and adopt strategies to reduce their vulnerability to changes in climate. Global, national and local level measures are need of the hour to combat the adverse impacts of climate change induced damages. â€Å"India being a developing country has low capacity to withstand the adverse impacts of climate change due to high dependence of majority of population on climate sensitive sectors as the agriculture, forestry and fisheries†,( Shukla, et.al, 2003). This is coupled with poor infrastructure facilities, weak institutional mechanisms and lack of financial resources. This is the reason why we are seriously concerned with the possible impacts of climate change. The possible impacts of climate change are mentioned below: Water stress and reduction in the availability of fresh water due to potential decline in rainfall. Threats to agriculture and food security, since agriculture is monsoon dependent and rain dependent agriculture dominates in many states. Shifts in area and boundary of different forest types and threats to biodiversity with adverse implications for forest-dependent communities. Adverse impact on natural ecosystems, such as wetlands, mangroves, grasslands and mountain ecosystems. Adverse impact of sea-level rise on coastal agriculture and settlements. Impact on human health due to the increase in vector and water-borne diseases, such as malaria. Increased energy requirements and impact on climate-sensitive industry and infrastructure. One of the various reasons for vulnerability of India depends on its typical and diverse climatic conditions. India is subject to a wide range of variation in climatic conditions from the freezing Himalayan winters in the north to the tropical climate of the southern peninsula, from the damp, rainy climate in the north-east to the arid Great Indian Desert in the north-west, and from the marine climates of its vast coastline and islands to the dry continental climate in the interior. The Indian summer monsoon is the most important feature in dictating meteorology of the Indian subcontinent and, hence, its economy. Almost all regions of the country receive entire annual rainfall during the summer monsoon (also called the SW monsoon), while some parts of the south-eastern states also receive rainfall during early winter from the north-east monsoon. Therefore, India could be more at risks than many other countries from changes in temperature and sea level. Models predict an average increase in temperature in India from 2.3 to 4.8  °C for the bench mark doubling of carbon dioxide scenario (Lonergan, World Bank Technical Paper No.402, 1998). Temperatures would rise more in Northern India than in Southern India. In the North Indian Ocean, under a doubling, the average number of tropical disturbance days could increase from 17 to 29 a year (Haarsma et.al Climate Dynamics, Vol.8, 1993); while, without protection, approximately 7 million people would be displaced, and 5,760 Km2 of land and 4,200 Km of road would be lost (Asthana, JNU, New Delhi, 1993). Further, in the Indian context, climate change could represent an additional stress on the ecological and socioeconomic system that are already facing tremendous pressure due to rapid urbanization, industrialization and economic development. Options for Mitigation â€Å"The ability to adapt to climate change depends on the level of income and technology, as well as the capacity of the system of governance and existing institutions to cope with change. The ability to mitigate GHG emissions depends on industrial structure (the mix of industrial activities), social structure (including, e.g., the distance people must travel to work or to engage in recreational activities), the nature of governance (especially the effectiveness of government policy), and the availability and cost of alternatives. In short, what is feasible at the national level depends significantly on what can be done at the subnational, local, and various sectoral levels†(Climate Change 2001: Working group III: Mitigation; IPCC,2001).The challenges of climate change mitigation involve diverse issues economic, political, social and environmental. Governance is one of the prime issues in mitigation of climate change impacts. A structured governance system is the only tool through which any policy framework or initiative can be achieved. The importance or role of governance in mitigation thus can be described through its three pillars: Organizational Structure- Through governance the qualities of organization participation, transparency and accountability can be achieved in the mitigation exercise at all levels.. Financial Mobilization- This involves ensuring financial commitment globally, at national levels and also at local levels of the government Legal Framework- It ensures empowerment, enforcement and compliance of mitigative strategies and supporting environmental laws. As the National GHG inventory for India shows, the major increase in GHG emissions over the next 20 years would be related to energy consumption. As India has abundant coal deposits, it is beyond doubt that coal will be the dominant source of energy. Therefore, energy efficiency measures in this sector remain our prime concern. Power generation in India is expected to reach a peak demand of 176 GW by 2012, and the total energy requirement will be 1058 billion units (Parivesh, Central Pollution Control Board, 2006). This is why; increasing the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the form of low carbon options are the two main measures that can greatly reduce GHG emissions. We will now simultaneously specify what scientific mitigation tools for climate change are available for various sectors and the corresponding governance measures to actually target the process of mitigation. The energy sector: Fiscal incentives and taxes, voluntary emission reductions, green rating, and capacity building etc. Another area of importance is the transmission and distribution losses, which is energy loss. There is considerable scope of reducing losses, meant to translate into a large mitigation potential. Two major categories of Barriers hinder adoption of electricity conservation and demand management in India. a) Macro-level barrier At the level of governance system; either policy induced or due to lack of appropriate policies and; b) Micro-level barriers related to the consumers and the economic environment they face.This can be equated to lack of awareness about possible alternatives on the part of the consumers and lack of awareness drives on the part of the government. The forestry sector: IPCC Second Assessment Report categorizes three broad options for abatement viz. Conservation management: This strategy attempts to conserve the existing carbon storage capacity of forests by halting or slowing down forests deforestation and forests degradation. Storage management : This strategy attempts to increase carbon strategy in woody vegetation and soil in existing degraded forests, as well as to create new carbon sinks in areas where forests do not exists or have been cleared. These may be achieved by promoting natural regeneration, reforestation on deforested lands, aforrestation of non-forest lands and agro-forestry on crop and pastureland. Substitution management: This strategy attempts involves the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable fuel wood or other biomass products. Here, governance plays an important role based on it a capacity to generate and bring about changes in the management of forests and augmentation of use of renewable products. The agriculture sector: Methane emissions from rice cultivation remain the major contributor of GHG emissions. Other sources being enteric fermentation, manure management, agricultural soils etc. Abatement strategy in this sector in India can be achieved given the scientific expertise available in India, but require gearing up by proper governmental intervention at the level of ministry of agriculture, as far as policy initiatives are concern, and through local governments for implementation and monitoring. The industrial sector: As the national inventory of GHG shows, major contribution came from energy intensive sectors like iron steel, fertilizer, cement, aluminium, paper pulp etc. A few option available for energy efficient options in power, industrial and domestic sector are given as follows: Source: Teri, New Delhi. These can be supported by further subsidizing use of energy efficient options and where required made mandatory by the government under the periphery of the existing environmental laws of the country. Mitigation through sinks: Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by a number of processes that operate on different time scales, and is subsequently transferred to reservoirs or sinks. The Kyoto Protocol through its Ariticle 3.3 allows afforestation as a sink to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Further, Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol states that additional human induced activities in the agricultural soils and LULUCF categories may be added to the three mechanisms (Joint implementation, Clean Development mechanism and Emission trading) subject to certain conditions. In India, forestry is dominated by government based institutions. These institutions need new insight so that they can effectively incorporate mitigation policies and measures in their resource management activities. According to the central Pollution Control Board, India has been persistently implementing one of the largest reforestation programs in the tropics with over one million hectares planted annually. Nearly half of this reforestation is on degraded forests and village common land. It is estimated that the carbon uptake in forests, degraded forests, and plantations is estimated to offset the gross carbon emissions from the forests sector. Carbon dioxide emissions in India are projected to increase from no-net emissions in 1990 to 77 million tonnes by 2020( Parivesh, CPCB,2006). Barriers to mitigation: Greenhouse gas mitigation measures are compounded by several barriers inherent to the process of development. In India, inequitable distribution of income and wealth forms a core feature of barriers to effective implementation of any type of intervention in India, leave apart climate change. Available instruments to limit domestic GHG emissions can be categorized into market based instruments, regulatory instruments, and voluntary agreements. For the developing countries, however, domestic structural reforms and policies on trade liberalization and liberalization of energy markets act as barriers to GHG reduction. These policies coupled with macroeconomics, market oriented reforms, set the framework in which more specific climate policies would be implemented. The IPCC Special Report on technology Transfer (IPCC, 2000) identifies various important barriers that could impede environmental technology transfer, such as: lack of data, information, and knowledge, especially on emerging technologies; inadequate vision about the understanding of local needs and demands; high transaction costs and poor macro economic conditions; insufficient human and institutional capabilities; inappropriate technology adopted and Poor legal institutions and framework. These hold good for the overall barriers of mitigation in Indian Context also. In terms of governance and its intervention, technology transfer can be traded off with some of our own indigenous technologies. This will ensure equitable exchange and also promote indigenous Indian Science. National Policy for Climate Change Mitigation We, as present generation have inherited this environment and atmosphere from our ancestors. Further the consequences of climate change will be faced by our children in the future. And so it can be said that climate change is an inherently different and irreversible problem as compared to other environmental problems. Also, the assumption that prior experience of problems like air pollution has failed at many levels as a good model upon which policy decisions on climate can be based. Options to mitigate climate change include actual emission reductions carbon dioxide sequestration and investments in developing technologies that will make future reductions affordable and easily available since cheap relative to their current costs. Since the inception of UNFCC in 1992, the Govt. of India has been an active participant in the climate charge negotiations. India being a party to the UNFCC was the 38th country to ratify it on November 01, 1993. The Ministry of Environment Forests is the nodal Ministry for all environment related activities in the country and is the nodal Ministry for co-coordinating the climate charge policy as well. The working group on the FCCC was constituted to oversee the implementation of obligations under the FCCC and to act as a consultative mechanism in the Govt. for impacts to policy formulation on climate change. To enlarge the feedback mechanism the Govt. of India has constituted an Advisory group on climate charge under the chairmanship of the Minister of Environment Forests. Development of National Guidelines Policy Options for reducing GHG Emissions The national guidelines or framework for monitoring GHG emissions and policy options for reducing GHG should emphasize not only on issues associated with climate change but also include the following: Emission Forecasting Setting goals Policy criteria Policy evaluation Organizational and political issues Climate change and GHG emission and sequestration may include many sectors of society and extend far into the future. Furthermore, policy measures to address GHGs overlap with many other public policy objectives, however in a complimentary way. Policy formulations involve: Understanding the issues at hand, Having a broad vision of the range of actions that governments can take to address those issues, Selecting from within this the approaches that offer the most potential far achieving multiple public goals. More importantly, the policy formulation process must respond to local circumstances and must address institutional, fiscal, political, and other constraints. The Govt. of India has nevertheless addressed a large number of local and regional environmental issues in its developmental strategy that are complementary to the climate change issue. Institutional Arrangements So Far For Climate Change Related Strategies In Area of Research The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Ministry of Non Conventional Energy (MNES), Ministry of Defence (MoD), Ministry of Health and Family welfare (MoHFW), are the main ministries of the Government of India which promote and undertake climate and climate change-related research in the country. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is also am important agency involved in working of this area and is under the direct governance of the Prime Minister.It supports all the above agencies with satellite-based passive remote sensing. The MoEF, MST, MHRD and MOA operate under the umbrella of many premier national research laboratories and universities. The most prominent being the 40 laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), an autonomous body under the MST; and the vast network of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the MOA. The CSIR is the national RD organization which provides scientific and industrial research for Indias economic growth and human welfare. It has a countrywide network of 40 laboratories and 80 field centers. The ICAR network includes institutes, bureaus, national research centers, The Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the MST coordinates advanced climatic and weather research and data collection over the Indian landmass. There are three premier institutions under DST that are solely dedicated to atmospheric science viz. the IMD, the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). Apart from the Indian initiatives, climate change research promoted by international organizations like the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP), International Human Dimension Program (IHDP) and DIVERSITAS are being strongly supported by various Indian agencies like Indian Climate Research Program (ICRP) under DST, National Committee- International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (NC-IGBP) constituted by Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and Geosphere-Biosphere Program (GBP) of ISRO. Agencies like CSIR, also provides infra-structural and financial support to carry out research in the area of global change In Area of Development The single most important feature of our post-colonial experience is that the people of India have conclusively demonstrated their ability to forge a united nation despite its diversity, and to pursue development within the framework of a functioning, vibrant and pluralistic democracy. In this process, the democratic institutions have put down firm roots, which continue to gain strength and spread. A planned approach to development has been the central process of the Indian democracy, as reflected in the national five-year plans, state plans,departmental annual plans, and perspective plans of various ministries of the central and state governments. For the last five and a half decades, the guiding objectives of the Indian planning process have been sustained economic growth, poverty alleviation, food, health, education and shelter for all, containing population growth, employment generation, self-reliance, peoples participation in planning and programme implementation, and infrastruc ture development. The National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development, 1992, provides the basis for the integration of environmental considerations in the policies of various sectors. It aims at the achievement of sustainable lifestyles and the proper management and conservation of resources. The Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution, 1992, stresses the prevention of pollution at the source, based on the ‘polluter pays principle. It encourages the use of the most appropriate technical solutions, particularly for the protection of heavily polluted areas and river stretches. The Forest Policy, 1988, highlights environmental protection through preservation and restoration of the ecological balance. The policy seeks to substantially increase the forest cover in the country through afforestation programmes. This environmental framework aims to take cognizance of the longer-term environmental perspective related to industrialization, power generation, transportation, mining, agriculture, irrigation and other such economic activities, as well as to address parallel concerns related to public health and safety. The statutory framework for the environment includes the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Other enactments include the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995, and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997. The courts have also elaborated on the concepts relating to sustainable development, and the ‘polluter pays and ‘precautionary principles. In India, matters of public interest, particularly pertaining to the environment, are articulated effectively through a vigilant media, an active NGO community, and very importantly, through the judicial process which has recognized the citizens right to a clean environment as a component of the right to li
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Use of Distributed Computing in Processing Big Data
Use of Distributed Computing in Processing Big Data Distributed Systems is an upcoming area in computer science and has the ability to have a large impact on the many aspects in[G1] the medical, scientific, financial and commercial sector. This document will provide an overview of distributed systems along with their current applications and application in big data. The most commonly used definition for a distributed system is, a system comprised of geographically dispersed computing components interacting on a hardware or software level [1].The rise in interest for distributed computing can be attributed to two major factors. The first factor is the creation and advancements in local and wide area networks which allow for large amounts of data to be transmitted over great distances in a short period of time [2]. The second factor is the new craze of the Internet of Things (IoT), where nearly every physical device manufacture having some sort of internet connectivity allowing for the possibility of tens of billions of devices that are able to interact. This large network of interconnected devices can be utilised to compute large amounts of data in a fraction of the time it would currently take to process. Characteristics of a Distributed System Heterogeneity Heterogeneity refers to the ability for the system to operate on a variety of different hardware and software components. This is achieved through the implementation of middleware in the software layer. The goal of the middleware is to abstract and interpret the programming procedural calls such that the distributed processing can be achieved on a variety of differing nodes [3]. Openness The openness of a distributed system is defined as the difficulty involved to extend or improve an existing system. This characteristic allows us to reuse a distributed system for multiple functions or to process varying sets of data. Concurrency Concurrency refers to the systems ability to handle the access and use of shared recourses. This is important because if there is no measure implemented it is possible for data to get corrupted or lost by two nodes making different changes to the same resource such that the system can carry this error through different processes causing an incorrect result. One way to counteract these errors is to implement a locking mechanism making a node unable to access a resource whilst it is being used by another node.[G2][G3] Scalability Scalability is one of the major characteristics that effectiveness of a distributed system, it refers to how easily the system can adapt to a changing size. This is due to the volatile nature of computers, such that a device is prone to leaving and joining the system at will. This volatility is caused by computers powering down, or unstable networks causing connectivity issues.[G4][G5] One factor that affects scalability is the degree at which the system is centralised. This is due to if a system relies on a centralised component or process (e.g. a central [G6]server), the more nodes that try to communicate or use this component, the more likely it is that there will be a bottleneck at this point in the system.[G7] Fault Tolerance Due to a distributed system having many computers comprised of different aged hardware, it is very likely for a part to fail in such a way that a node can no longer operate. Fault Tolerance is the ability for the system to handle such failures, this is achieved by using recovery and redundancy. Recovery is [G8]where a component will act in a predictable, controlled way if it relies on a component. Redundancy is where crucial systems and processes will have a backup that takes over if a system fails.[G9][G10] Transparency Transparency in a distributed system refers to the idea that the user perceives that they are interacting with a whole quantity rather than a collection of cooperating components. Transparency can be split into the following 8 sub-characteristics defined in Table 1. Table 1 Different forms of transparency in a distributed system [2]. Transparency Description Access Hide differences in data representation and how an object is accessed Location Hide where an object is located Relocation Hide that an object may be moved to another location while in use Migration Hide that an object may move to another location Replication Hide that an object is replicated Concurrency Hide that an object may be shared by several independent users Failure Hide the failure and recovery of an object The Internet The internet is the largest and most well-known decentralised distributed system ever created. It is currently comprised of millions of geographically distributed interconnected web servers that can communicate autonomously with each other and the billions of endpoint nodes [4]. The internet is constantly growing with more website and nodes added every day. One of the major factors contributing to the growth of nodes is the boost in IoT or smart devices. ATM Machines ATM machines are an example of a centralised distributed system that has been implemented globally. This is a centralised system because each ATM machine will [G11]only communicate with its bank central server. Centralisation is enforced as a measure to increase the security of the sensitive information stored on the banks databases[G12]. Each banks ATM network has the ability to communicate with another banks server [G13]such that a user can withdraw money from any ATM around the world. Botnets Botnets are an example of a malicious distributed system. They are can either be operated by a central server or based off a peer-[G14]to-peer network. A botnet is comprised of a collection of zombie machines which have been infected with malware allowing the bot master to control it and a command and control server whose role is to control the zombie computers allowing the zombie machines to execute any command that the botmaster desires. Data is any accumulation of facts and statistics to be analysed or referenced. Big data is most commonly defined as extremely large sets of data, both structured and unstructured, [G15]that can be analysed to reveal patterns and trends. This data is sufficiently complex or large enough that conventional data processing processes and applications are unable to deal with it [5]. Crowdsourcing is not a new idea in the software world, it is not an uncommon sight to see a developer pose a task to the masses and have someone else complete the task. This is mostly done free of charge. A similar concept is starting to be applied to big data, where researchers and institutes have started to crowdsource data for people to process[G16]. Currently, most data that has been crowdsourced is [G17]for scientific or medical research. A factor that contributes to the success of data processing on distributed systems is the relatively low cost of [G18]transferring data compared the cost incurred from doing the data processing internally [6].[G19] Play to Cure: Genes in Space Play to Cure: Genes in Space is a mobile gaming application developed by Cancer Research UK. Its main purpose is to allow the general public to process large amounts of data for the scientist at Cambridge University.[G20] The data is processed by the user controlling a spaceship to try and collect as much Element Alpha as possible. What the user is not aware that the placement of Element Alpha directly correlates to a singular piece of plotted data [7]. In the first month alone the application has managed to analyse 1.5 million data sample. To process a similar number of samples the research team achieve a similar amount of samples processed, it would take the research team 125,000 man hours [7]. Whilst it is a rudimentary implementation of a distributed system, Play to Cure: Genes in Space is a successful implementation and can show how important large distributed systems can processing big data. [emailprotected] [emailprotected] is currently the largest distributed computing program and was created by the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute and hosted out at UC Berkeley. It currently has approximately 3 million active users donating their computers[G21][G22] spare processing power to process data obtained from SETIs radio telescopes [8]. Since [emailprotected] is a voluntary program, each node needs to be able to process data in a way that the user is not negatively affected and choose to leave the program. This is achieved through the application processing data when it is detected that a machines CPU is [G23]idling [9]. As of the 10 March 2017, the [G24][emailprotected] program has come close to processing 18 years worth of data from the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope [10]. This achievement displays how easily large amounts of data can be processed by large distributed systems. There are endless possibilities when it comes to the potential applications[G25] for distributed systems. Processing big data is a lucrative market, this might cause a lot of large multinational organisation to try and utilise their own hardware to implement their own personal distributed system to process the terabytes of data that they can extrapolate from their Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and from data obtained from the media and other sources. Stock trading is a cut throat industry, and the ability to predict market trends faster than a competitor can allow a particular firm to make millions of dollars. It is plausible for large firms to implement their own distributed system to analyse previous market trends and current global and local affairs to predict the upcoming state of the market. In the future, distributed systems will allow for big data to be processed potentially at a near real-time timeframe. This document has outlined how distributed systems can assist in the faster and more effective processing of big data. References [1]H. Karatza and G. Theodoropoulos, Distributed Systems Simulation, Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 677-678, 2006. [2]M. van Steen and A. Tanenbaum, A brief introduction to distributed systems, Computing, vol. 98, no. 10, pp. 967-1009, 2016. [3]G. Coulouris, J. Dollimore, T. Kindberg and G. Blair, Distributed systems, 1st ed. Harlow, England: Addison-Wesley, 2012, pp. 16-25. [4]G. Coulouris, J. Dollimore, T. Kindberg and G. Blair, Distributed systems, 1st ed. Harlow, England: Addison-Wesley, 2012, pp. 8-9. [5]P. Grover and R. Johari, BCD: BigData, cloud computing and distributed computing, 2015 Global Conference on Communication Technologies (GCCT), 2015. [6]J. Gray, Distributed Computing Economics, Queue, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 63-68, 2008. [7]O. Childs, Download our revolutionary mobile game to help speed up cancer research, Cancer Research UK Science blog, 2017. [Online]. Available: http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2014/02/04/download-our-revolutionary-mobile-game-to-help-speed-up-cancer-research/. [Accessed: 24- Mar- 2017]. [8]B. Marr, Big Data: Using SMART Big Data; Analytics and Metrics To Make Better Decisions and Improve Performance, 1st ed. Wiley, 2015, pp. 208-209. [9]E. Korpela, D. Werthimer, D. Anderson, J. Cobb and M. Leboisky, [emailprotected] distributed computing for SETI, Computing in Science Engineering, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 78-83, 2001. [10][emailprotected], Setiathome.berkeley.edu, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/. [Accessed: 24- Mar- 2017]. [11]D. Anderson, J. Cobb, E. Korpela, M. Lebofsky and D. Werthimer, [emailprotected]: an experiment in public-resource computing, Communications of the ACM, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 56-61, 2002. [12]S. Khan, The Curious Case of Distributed Systems and Continuous Computing, IT Professional, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 4-7, 2016. [13]E. Albert, J. Correas, G. Puebla and G. Romà ¡n-Dà ez, Quantified abstract configurations of distributed systems, Formal Aspects of Computing, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 665-699, 2014. [14]S. Vinoski, Rediscovering Distributed Systems, IEEE Internet Computing, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 3-6, 2014. [15]I. Foster, C. Kesselman, J. Nick and S. Tuecke, Grid services for distributed system integration, Computer, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 37-46, 2002. [G1]Inserted: s [G2]Inserted: is [G3]Deleted:are [G4]Inserted: by [G5]Deleted:from [G6]Inserted: a [G7]Deleted:e [G8]Inserted: by [G9]Inserted: s [G10]Deleted:through [G11]Inserted: an [G12]Inserted: [G13]Inserted: [G14]Inserted: f [G15]Inserted: d [G16]Inserted: r [G17]Inserted: , [G18]Inserted: f [G19]Deleted:t [G20]Inserted: the [G21]Inserted: [G22]Inserted: s [G23]Inserted: [G24]Inserted: , [G25]Inserted: s [G26]Inserted: ,
Monday, August 19, 2019
Ural Mountains :: Informative Essays
The Ural Mountains are a rugged spine across Russia, running 1,300 miles from the fringe of the Arctic in the North, to the bend of the Ural River in the South. Traditionally they form a boundary between Europe and Asia. The north- south course of the Urals is relatively narrow, varying from about 20 to 90 miles in width, but it cuts across the vast latitude landscape regions of the Eurasian landmass, from Arctic waste to semidesert; the Urals also are part of the Ural economic region, a highly developed industrial complex closely tied to the mineral-rich Siberian region, and are the home of people with roots reaching deep into history. Physical Features The Urals divide into five sections. The northernmost Polar Urals extend some 240 miles from Mount Konstantinov Kamen in the north-east to the Khulga River the southeast; most mountains rise to 3300-3600 feet above sea level, although the highest peak, Mount Payer reaches 4829 ft. The next stretch, the Nether-Polar Urals, extends for more than 140 miles south to the Shchugor River. This section contains the highest peaks of the entire range, including Mount Narodnaya which reaches 6217 ft. and Mount Karpinsk Which is 6161 ft. These first two sections are typically Alpine and are Strewn with Glaciers and are heavily marked with permafrost. Farther south come the Northern Urals, which stretch for more than 340 miles to the Usa River in the south; most mountains top 3300 feet, and the highest peak, Mount Telpos-Iz, rises 5305 ft. Many of the summits are flattened, the remnants of the ancient Peneplains uplifted by geographically tectonic movements. In the north, intensive weathering has resulted in vast "seas of stone" on mountain slopes and summits. The lower Central Urals extend more than 200 miles to the Ufa river, rarely exceeding 1600 ft., althought the highest peak Mount SrednyBascy, rises to 3261 ft. The summits are smooth, with isolated residual outcrops. The last portion, the Southern Urals, extends some 340 miles to the westward bend of the Ural River and consists of several parallel ridges rising to 3900 ft. and culminating in Mount Yamantau, 580 ft.; the section terminates in the wide uplands of the Mugadozer h ills. The People Human habitation of the Urals dates to the distant past, The Nenetes are Sanoyed people of the Pay-Khoyregion, and their language belongs to the Samoyedic group of languages, which is widespread throughout northern Siberia. The most numerous indigenous groups the Bashkir, long settled in the southern Urals speak a tongue relater to the Turkic group. The Russian population is the largest group of people and is concentrated primarily in the central and
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Software Piracy in Lebanon :: Software Piracy Expository Essays
Software Piracy in Lebanon Abstract What is it about copying software that is desirable? Simply because it is free. In the United States, one might think twice before copying a Microsoft product. Copyright issues are all over the media --remember Napster? For a period of a year, we read countless stories of students all over the US and the world that were arrested for copying and trading MP3s. However, travel across the Atlantic to the chaotic world of Lebanon and one would not even think twice about copying a version of Microsoft Office 2000. What is the likelihood of getting caught? Pretty much a 0% chance. With political chaos surrounding Lebanon since its independence in 1943, the lack of law enforcement allows a variety of of crimes to occur -- one of the biggest ones being software piracy. About 89% of the software in Lebanon is illegally obtained. Section I gives a brief overview of how the origins of Lebanon. Section II describes the politics of Lebanon. The objective of Section I and Section II is to demonstrate to the reader how the lack of a stable government and any true law enforcement allows for so much piracy. Section III discusses in greater detail software piracy and Intellectual Property protection in Lebanon. Section IV gives the author’s point of view. Sources and endnotes can be found in Section V and Section VI respectively. Section I: Introduction Establishing Lebanon2 The history of the Middle East is rich with an eclectic mix of ethnicities and culture. Before World War I, the region that we now call the Middle East was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. After the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire diminished. Turkey emerged through the works of the Allies. Mesopotamia, an area filled with tradition and profitable goods, was split between Britain and France. With the support of the French, the Maronites, a sect of the Roman Catholic Church, established a strong political status in what is now modern day Beirut, Tripoli, and most of the Lebanon coast. Starting in the early 1900s, the Maronites had pressed for the expansion of this small Lebanese territory to what they argued was its natural and historical boundaries. Their argument was that the area had always had a unique social and historical character, different from its surroundings, which made it mandatory for the French to grant it as an independent state.
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Mary Breckinridge
Jennifer St. Pierre 7/10/2012 Mary Breckenridge NU 120 Michelle R. Edwards MSN, RN Breckenridge School of Nursing Mary Breckenridge was born in 1881 in Kentucky. She was born into an influential family, and for that she enjoyed a privileged childhood as well as getting an education in the U. S and Europe. Mary Breckenridge’s father was the U. S ambassador to Czar Nicholas II of Russia. By the time Mary Breckenridge was 26 years old she had become widowed, as well as losing both of her children at an early age. At this time Mary Breckenridge has decided to dedicate her life in improving the health of women and children. Gina Castlenovo, November 2003. ) Mary Breckinridge became a registered nurse in 1910 and worked at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York. During this time she was as well working in France during World War I, this is where Mary Breckinridge became exposed to new healthcare ideas. Mary Breckenridge stated â€Å"After I had met British nurse-midwives, first in France and then on my visits to London, it grew upon me that nurse-midwifery was the logical response to the needs of the young child in rural America†¦ My work would be for them†. Gina Castlenovo, November 2003. ) Proceeding after World War I Mary Breckenridge went to Columbia University and studied public health. She wanted to conquer the health issues in eastern Kentucky; this area had few roads and absolutely no physicians. Her theory was if she could be successful in such a run down, poor area she could be successful anywhere. Mary Breckenridge got around by traveling horseback and teaching families about their health as well as local lay midwives about birth practices.By doing this she had learned that women lacked prenatal care and gave birth to an average of nine children, this was done by mostly self taught midwives, and farmer’s wives. They relied on traditional beliefs and invasive procedures. (Gina Castlenovo, November 2003. ) Mary Breckinridge believed children’s healthcare should start in the prenatal period (birth-child’s first years) due to a high maternal mortality. When returning to London she became a certified nurse-midwife. She then went to Scotland to observe the work of a community midwifery system.This system served poor and rural areas. The structure was decentralized and was used as a model for the Frontier Nursing Services. Once arriving back in Kentucky in 1925, Mary Breckinridge began the work that would introduce a new type of rural health care in the United States. (Gina Castlenovo, November 2003. ) In 1925 The Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) was established, this was a private charitable organization. The entire serving area was about seven hundred square miles in southeastern Kentucky. Mary Breckinridge raised over six million dollars to support this organization.Many people believed this was due to her influential connection and speaking engagements. The staff was made up of nurse-midwives that w ere trained in England. The staff traveled by horseback and or by foot so that they could provide quality prenatal and childbirth care in the clients’ own home, they functioned as both midwives and family nurses. Clients were able to pay low fees in money and or goods. No one was turned away, and in doing so both maternal and infant mortality rates decreased significantly. (Gina Castlenovo, November 2003. )The Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) registered over sixty four thousand patients since 1925. The FNS as well delivered over seventeen thousand babies with only eleven deaths. One of the nurse-midwife began the first American school of midwifery in New York in 1932. The FNS founded its own school in Hyden Kentucky in 1939. Mary Breckinridge ran the Frontier Nursing Service until she passed away in 1965. (Gina Castlenovo, November 2003. ) The FNS still serves southeastern Kentucky, now with a hospital in Hyden, four rural health clinics, a home health agency, and the FNS Schoo l of Midwifery and family Nursing.Many people from all around the world come to study this particular model of rural and social service delivery. (Gina Castlenovo, November 2003. ) The American College of Nurse Midwives recognizes Breckinridge as â€Å"the first to bring nurse-midwifery to the Untied States†and the Frontier School of Nursing as â€Å"a leader in nurse-midwifery in the Untied States. In 1982 Mary Breckinridge was inducted into the American Nurses Association’s Hall as a tribute for her contributions to the nursing profession in women’s health, community and family nursing, as well as the rural health care delivery. Gina Castlenovo, November 2003. ) Mary Breckinridge had the right Idea about wanting to help the less fortune. In today’s society we have Medicaid. The Medicaid program was designed to provide health coverage for lower-income people, families, pregnant women, children, elderly and people with disabilities. (Medicaid) Reference s Gina Castlenovo, M. M. (November 2003. ). Mary Breckinridge http://www. truthaboutnursing. org/press/pioneers/breckinridge. html. Medicaid. (n. d. ). Medicaidhttp://www. healthcare. gov/using-insurance/low-cost-care/medicaid/. Washington, D. C. 20201.
Comparative Essay Between Movies and Books Essay
In 2003, David Foster Wallace said â€Å"Reading requires sitting alone, by yourself, in a room†¦I have friendsâ€â€intelligent friendsâ€â€who don’t like to read because there’s an almost dread that comes up about having to be alone and having to be quiet†¦When you walk into most public spaces in America, it isn’t quiet anymore. †Although the collective amount of time spent by people reading has declined with our minds, moving pictures with sound continue to further embed themselves in culture. Ask a group of fifteen year olds how many books they have read in the last month, and the likely answer will be that most of them have not finished a book since a month ago. But ask the same group the last time they saw a movie, and a week previous (or less) will fail to be an uncommon answer. A question then poses itself: why is it that one source of entertainment and art is falling out of favor while another is becoming more and more common? One could ascribe the comparative quality of the two, implying that movies are superior to books. However, a more accurate, yet less popular affirmation would be that books are superior to films and that superiority is not necessarily synonymous with prevalence. To go into detail in a movie the same way as one might in a book would be painfully difficult. The resulting abomination would be torturously monotonous due to movies very nature, which panders to the short attention spans of the average person by constantly moving and embellishing ideas with pictures and music. It would also be horribly long, the length of, or longer than an audiobook. For evidence, one could look at documentaries and nonfiction books. The former are far less informative, although one may wish to believe otherwise because a documentary film takes less work to enjoy and is, to some, more pleasurable. Take two lectures, both approximately an hour and twenty minutes in length (approximately the running time of a movie) and both by two highly acclaimed authors. The first, by Thomas L. Friedman, was on his book The World is Flat, and the second, by Temple Grandin, was on her book Animals in Translation. In either lecture, one could see the speaker constantly speaking and cramming more information into their allotted time. Yet neither covered even close to what was in their books. A documentary trying to do such a thing is even more preposterous, demanding copious amounts of time for a garnish of pretty images and smooth transitions. This is the reason scholars do not publish their findings in case-study documentaries but in texts. Long, arduous texts the average person would rather die than pick up. Further evidence is in the quality of film adaptations of books. If one went to see the recent movie Life of Pi after reading the original novel by Yann Martel, a period of misanthropy and depression may not be a completely unrelated concept. The movie was one hundred twenty-seven minutes long and left out numerous important facets, such as Pi’s connection with a Suffi man in part of Pondicherry, his grade-school teacher Mr. Kumar, and the training of Richard Parker. The content of the film was not, however, wanting when compared to others movies of its length. It might take several weeks to finish the book; how could a film-maker be expected to fill all of the information in it into one hundred twenty-seven minutes, with exposition, visual stimulation, and graphic theatrics as obligations? Life of Pi is art as a book, but as a movie, is a source of mass-market entertainment. Although film’s quantitative flaws of constriction are more than surfeit to deem texts as the more valuable mediaform, ample also are its qualitative stiflings. For example, if a movie character began to speak the way Jean Genet does in his books, the production would come across as contrived and pretentious. For a moment I was no longer a hungry, ragged vagabond,†wrote Genet in The Thief’s Journal, â€Å"whom dogs and children chased away; nor was I the bold thief flouting the cops, but rather the favorite mistress who, beneath a starry sky, soothes the conqueror. †Using words like â€Å"vagabond†and â€Å"flouting†in everyday speech is incredibly uncommon, and even english teachers will tell you that using the conjunction â€Å"nor†will get one beat up. Genet, however, is widely regarded as a brilliant artist for, including but not limited to, his beauteous prose. A stark contrasts between books and movies shimmers here. The language in a movie is only of characters, who are constantly in a mode of speech too casual for grace past a certain point, while a book is free to use English (or whatever tongue it is written in) freely. The confinement of characters as one of the only modes of expressionâ€â€and almost always the most utilizedâ€â€is also a problem when expressing greater themes. Compare most classic cinema achievements to esteemed novels, and an underlying trend will emerge: movies repeatedly project something about humans, or the nature of man, while books are far ore diverse, sometimes delving deeply into the emotional lives of characters without the chains of lengthy exposition and making discourse seem natural, while some dwell extensively on philosophical musings such as the meaning of life and the cyclical nature of history. One of the biggest reasons books dominate movies is also one of the biggest reasons books are becoming significantly popular. That is, books effect mental wo rk. Culture as a whole has become increasingly fast paced, and the instant gratification of movies fits in with the utmost dexterity. The interactive experience one has with a book is a glorious cradle for the type of deep thought about a topic that lasts maybe thirty minutes rather than thirty seconds. To read a novel by James Joyce, one must spend a significant amount of time trying to process the underlying themes and meanings, often rereading even a small portion several times until it makes sense. Many people loathe James Joyce for the daunting density of his work. But to watch a James Cameron movie, a two hour slot of time is all that is usually given up before a person begins eulogizing or bashing the piece. When one challenges one’s brain, it becomes more powerful, like a exercising a muscle. All aforesaid is meant not to bash movies, but simply to expose how they are surpassed by books. Many people who would argue the converse position are not without reason. Some may sight â€Å"art films†like Citizen Kane and Nosferatu, arguing that despite how these are very different in nature than books, they are greater and more beneficial media. Others would assert that there are more options in film. That there are new dimensions to work in when visuals are added into the mix: lighting, filters, cinematography, etcetera. And an entire other artform is said to be a fundamental part of movies but not books: acting. What a character says on paper can be extremely affected by what the inflection and tone of the speaker is. For example, the phrase â€Å"I wanted to kick his ass†can have a huge shift in meaning when emphasis is put on â€Å"I,†â€Å"wanted,†â€Å"kick,†â€Å"his,†or â€Å"ass. †Books, falling in the numerical eye of statisticians as a great form of media, are truly better and more diverse than the silver screen. Books are far freer to paint with complex detail and long topics, while most movies re tied to a certain length, making books better beacons for information. Freer still are books in the possibilities of both subject matter and ways to express that because they are not stuck on characters so severely. With their richness comes an opportunity for the reader to exercise the brain to a greater degree, enriching all parts of their mental life. Although some people disagree, using great old films and the unique opportunities filmmaking does provide the artist with as talking points, books remain the prevailing art the face of a shrinking audience.
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