Morals and values learnt in Under a Ramshackle Rainbow Essay -- Engli

Morals and values learnt in Under a Ramshackle Rainbow " Under a Ramshackle Rainbow", is a very deep poem in which the poet uses dark and morbid images and symbols to get across morals and values to the reader. The underlining theme of the poem is how one should treat their surroundings and what the consequences to their actions will be. From the immediate start of the poem, a creepy and eery atmosphere is created by casting a dark image in the reader's mind. ' A dead tree. On a rotten branch sit two wingless birds.' The words 'dead' and 'rotten' show the sincerity of the issue. The mentioning of two wingless birds is very significant as they portray the poet's first message to the reader. The wingless birds basically defy their objective in life. Birds need wings to fly and without wings not only do they not have their freedom, but they have no means of survival; they cannot avoid predators or catch prey. Therefore death is inevitable. After only reading the first two lines the reader may feel confused to why the birds are wingless and why their habit is in such an unusual state. The ending to the first stanza clarify the confusion. ' Among leaves on the ground a man is searching for his hands. It is fall. By this, the poet is explaining the cause of the dead tree and the wingless birds. When saying that the man is ' searching for his hands', it is made clear that the search is a pointless exercise as the reader is told that it is fall and therefore the pile of leaves would be extremely deep. Although the man still has his site, he does not have his hands which are essentially needed to search through the leaves. The poet uses this description as it is symbolizes man searching ... ...re successfully receiving compensation for man's behaviour is secured by the last line of the poem. ' The ants gather on the shore. ' It is as though the ants represent nature and are the audience that witness the death of the man. After reading " Under the Ramshackle Rainbow" the reader understands perfectly, the aim of the poem. The aim of the poem is to get across a message that one should respect their surroundings and instead of neglect or abuse them, giving back to them what you take. If one should act in greed and only take from nature, they will have to suffer the consequences. The aim of the poem is put forward effectively by using methods such as patheticfallacy, irony and dramatic twists. The poet also uses enjambement to give the poem a more distorted rhyme and structural appearance that emphasises the destruction and ruin of the poem.

Preparing to Conduct Business Research

On September 12, 2012 the New York City Health Department voted eight-zero with one vote abstaining, to enact a city wide ban on sugar-sweetened beverages in containers over 16ounce in size (Susman, 2012). At the urging of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg the health department is hoping that this ban will have an impact on the growing obesity problem among New York citizens (Susman, 2012). Opposition to the ban was evident before the final vote by citizens believing violations of his or her freedom are occurring and vendors who see the choices in what he or she serve the customers under dictation from city hall.Perhaps the group with the most to lose is the beverage industry; the ban limits servings of sugar sweetened drinks to 16 ounces or less in the city’s 24,000 restaurants, delis, movie theaters, sports venues, and street carts (Petrecca, 2012). This means no 20-ounce bottles, no super-sized drinks, no monster drinks at the movie theater, the fact is most of these es tablishments consider a 16-ounce beverage a small or medium drink (Petrecca, 2012). So smaller drinks mean smaller profits; however, it may be possible that this is not the case.The ban does not limit the number of 16-ounce drinks a person may purchase; the possibility for additional sales does exist (Petrecca, 2012). Because only restaurants offer free refills, it is possible that the smaller size drinks will result in greater quantities of sales at the other locations. Business Research The CEO of the Coca Cola Company is communicating with Learning Team A, hiring Learning Team A to research potential issues and opportunities resulting from the ban on containers over the limit of 16 ounces of sugar sweetened beverages in the city of New York.Coca Cola is showing interest in learning what the consumer thinks of the ban; how the customers believe it will affect his or her recreational and dining experiences. Coca Cola is not only showing interest in this information as it pertains t o New York City but also because the interest this ban is attracting from other large cities and what it would mean to the company if this became common practice in other locations (Koebler, 2012). HypothesesTeam A offers several hypotheses to the ban and the effects it will have on the citizens, vendors, and distributors of sugar sweetened beverages: ? Team A hypothesizes that the ban on sugar sweetened beverages will cause a decrease in beverage sales that contain sugar, costing the Coca Cola company millions of dollars in sales. ? Team A hypothesizes that the ban on sugar sweetened beverages larger than 16 ounces will cause consumers to purchase multiple quantities of beverages in replacement of what they use to purchase.Also the sale of sugar free beverages will rise; this will cause an increase in revenue for the Coca Cola Company. Team A hypothesizes that the public will be unreceptive to the ban and believes that the government body responsible for it has overstepped their bo unds. The public will think that the removal of this choice goes against the constitutional rights every person has and that he or she will attempt to find a way around the ban. ? Team A hypothesizes that although there will be citizens upset in regard to the ban, the citizens will embrace the law proving a measurable difference on the obesity problem in New York City. Variables to Consider and Questions to AskIn an effort to offer to the Coca Cola Company the most complete information, the best recommendations, and a reliable foundation on which to base future changes it is necessary to research as many variables as possible. Variable questions to include in the research include: 1) â€Å"The various age groups of the consumers, and their drink preferences. † 2) â€Å"How the vendors plan on handling this new rule and will the vendor adjust the prices, add free-refills, implement buy one get one programs, and add additional drink dispensers to accommodate customers. ) †Å"How these bans encourage customers to leave the city limits and visit establishments in the suburbs? † 4) â€Å"How the consumer understands the reasoning behind the ban and the obesity issue with the removal of beverage choice? †5) â€Å"Coca Cola currently holding a 70% market share in New York; this is a significant margin over the competition (Petrecca, 2012). It is important to research if the customer loyalty level will hold up to â€Å"deals† by the competition and how aggressive Coca Cola is going have to be with marketing and pricing. 6) â€Å"Is Coca Cola willing to embrace this ban, explore ways to market their diet products and fruit juices as an alternate to the sugar sweetened beverages? † Ethical Considerations Ethics play a critical role in conducting research projects (Donald R. Cooper, 2011). It is critical to examine how the results of the research issue breach the rights of the citizens. In the case of the New York City law that limi ts the sales of sugar sweetened drinks there are several ethical questions that arise.The strongest being, â€Å"how will this state law infringe on an individual’s rights to choose the size of their desired beverage? † The motivation behind the law is the unhealthy factors of sugary drinks, targeting one unhealthy option. Supporters of the law believe that this law will help prevent obesity; however, opposition believes it is unfair to place the weight of this issue on one product. Also at question â€Å"Is it ethical to restrict a consumer’s right to choose what he or she wants to drink?Along with sugar sweetened beverages there are other unhealthy products available that have proven effects on weight with no restrictions. Vendors and beverage makes can argue that the law shows bias and is discriminatory. This leads to another ethical issue; does the law give preference or competitive vendor advantage over consumer’s advantage. A consumer, who may wish to purchase a larger drink, may find the need to purchase multiple drinks, thereby increasing the sales of the company but yet not eliminating the risk of obesity.Also under consideration is the ethical question, â€Å"does the beverage company have a responsibility to their customers to reduce the chance of obesity, knowing that these beverages offer empty calories with no nutritional value? † Conclusion Moving into the future it is important to understand what difficulties a company will be facing. Knowledge from research projects provide companies the possibility to develop contingency plans and reduce the chance that the unknown will alter the course of a successful business plan.Earlier this month the New York City Health Department passed a law that has altered the way beverage makers and vendors conduct their business and altering the freedom consumers have in choosing something as simple as the beverage he or she drinks. The Coca Cola Company is looking to go forward armed with the knowledge they will need to maintain their superiority in the New York Market. This task has fallen on Learning Team A, as they will research and discover what the market and consumers will demand to remain customers of Coca Cola.

The Best of Tsunami-Resistant Building

Architects and engineers can design buildings that will stand tall during even the most violent earthquakes. However, a tsunami (pronounced soo-NAH-mee), a series of undulations in a body of water which is often caused by an earthquake, has the power to wash away entire villages. While no building is tsunami-proof, some buildings can be designed to resist forceful waves. The challenge of the architect is to design for the event AND design for beauty — the same challenge faced in safe room design. Understanding Tsunamis Tsunamis are usually generated by powerful earthquakes underneath large bodies of water. The seismic event creates a subsurface wave that is more complex than when the wind simply blows the waters surface. The wave can travel hundreds of miles an hour until it reaches shallow water and a shoreline. The Japanese word for harbor is tsu and nami means wave. Because Japan is heavily populated, surrounded by water, and in an area of great seismic activity, tsunamis are often associated with this Asian country. They occur, however, all over the world. Historically tsunamis in the United States are most prevalent on the West coast, including California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and, of course, Hawaii. A tsunami wave will behave differently depending on the underwater terrain surrounding the shoreline (i.e., how deep or shallow the water is from the shoreline). Sometimes the wave will be like a tidal bore or surge, and some tsunamis dont crash onto the shoreline at all like a more familiar, wind-driven wave. Instead, the water level may rise very, very quickly in what is called a wave runup, as if the tide has come in all at once—like a 100 foot high tide surge. Tsunami flooding may travel inland more than 1000 feet, and the rundown creates continued damage as the water quickly retreats back out to sea.   What Causes the Damage? Structures tend to be destroyed by tsunamis because of five general causes. First is the force of the water and high-velocity water flow. Stationary objects (like houses) in the path of the wave will resist the force, and, depending how the structure is constructed, the water will go through or around it. Second, the tidal wave will be dirty, and the impact of debris carried by the forceful water may be what destroys a wall, roof, or piling. Third, this floating debris can be on fire, which is then spread among combustible materials. Fourth, the tsunami rushing onto land and then retreating back to the sea creates unexpected erosion and scour of foundations. Whereas erosion is the general wearing away of the ground surface, scour is more localized—the type of wearing away you see around piers and piles as water flows around stationary objects. Both erosion and scour compromise a structures foundation. The fifth cause of damage is from the waves wind forces. Guidelines for Design In general, flood loads can be calculated like for any other building, but the scale of a tsunamis intensity make building more complicated. Tsunami flood velocities are said to be highly complex and site-specific. Because of the unique nature of building a tsunami-resistant structure, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a special publication called Guidelines for Design of Structures for Vertical Evacuation from Tsunamis. Early warning systems and horizontal evacuation have been the main strategy for many years. The current thinking, however, is to design buildings with vertical evacuation areas: instead of attempting to flee an area, the residents climb upwards to safe levels. ...a building or earthen mound that has sufficient height to elevate evacuees above the level of tsunami inundation, and is designed and constructed with the strength and resiliency needed to resist the effects of tsunami waves.... Individual homeowners as well as communities may take this approach. Vertical evacuation areas can be part of the design of a multi-story building, or it can be a more modest, stand-alone structure for a single purpose. Existing structures such as well-constructed parking garages could be designated vertical evacuation areas. 8 Strategies for Tsunami-Resistant Construction Shrewd engineering combined with a swift, efficient warning system can save thousands of lives. Engineers and other experts suggest these strategies for tsunami-resistant construction: Build structures with reinforced concrete instead of wood, even though wood construction is more resilient to earthquakes. Reinforced concrete or steel-frame structures are recommended for vertical evacuation structures.Mitigate resistance. Design structures to let the water flow through. Build multi-story structures, with the first floor being open (or on stilts) or breakaway so the major force of water can move through. Rising water will do less damage if it can flow underneath the structure. Architect Daniel A. Nelson and Designs Northwest Architects often use this approach in the residences they build on the Washington Coast. Again, this design is contrary to seismic practices, which makes this recommendation complicated and site specific.Construct deep foundations, braced at the footings. A tsunamis force can turn an otherwise solid, concrete building completely on its side, substantive deep foundations can overcome that.Design with redundancy, so that the structure can experien ce partial failure (e.g., a destroyed post) without progressive collapse.As much as possible, leave vegetation and reefs intact. They wont stop tsunami waves, but they can act as a natural buffer and slow them down.Orient the building at an angle to the shoreline. Walls that directly face the ocean will suffer more damage.Use continuous steel framing strong enough to resist hurricane-force winds.Design structural connectors that can absorb stress. Whats the Cost? FEMA estimates that a tsunami-resistant structure, including seismic-resistant and progressive collapse-resistant design features, would experience about a 10 to 20% order-of-magnitude increase in total construction costs over that required for normal-use buildings. This article briefly describes design tactics used for buildings in tsunami-prone coastlines. For details about these and other construction techniques, explore the primary sources. Sources United States Tsunami Warning System, NOAA / National weather Service, http://www.tsunami.gov/Erosion, Scour, and Foundation Design, FEMA, January 2009, PDF at https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1644-20490-8177/757_apd_5_erosionscour.pdfCoastal Construction Manual, Volume II FEMA, 4th edition, August  2011, pp. 8-15, 8-47, PDF at https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1510-20490-1986/fema55_volii_combined_rev.pdfGuidelines for Design of Structures for Vertical Evacuation from Tsunami, 2nd edition, FEMA P646, April 1, 2012, pp. 1, 16, 35, 55, 111, PDF at https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1426211456953-f02dffee4679d659f62f414639afa806/FEMAP-646_508.pdf  Tsunami-Proof Building by Danbee Kim, http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2009/teams/2/danbee.htm, 2009 [accessed August 13, 2016]The Tech To Make Buildings Earthquake — and Tsunami — Resistant by Andrew Moseman, Popular Mechanics, March 11, 2011How to Make Buildings Safer in Tsunamis by Rollo Reid, Reid Steel