The Big Bang Essays - Physical Cosmology, Astronomy, Physics

The Big Bang It is always a mystery about how the universe began, whether if and when it will end. Astronomers construct hypotheses called cosmological models that try to find the answer. There are two types of models: Big Bang and Steady State. However, through many observational evidences, the Big Bang theory can best explain the creation of the universe. The Big Bang model postulates that about 15 to 20 billion years ago, the universe violently exploded into being, in an event called the Big Bang. Before the Big Bang, all of the matter and radiation of our present universe were packed together in the primeval fireball--an extremely hot dense state from which the universe rapidly expanded.1 The Big Bang was the start of time and space. The matter and radiation of that early stage rapidly expanded and cooled. Several million years later, it condensed into galaxies. The universe has continued to expand, and the galaxies have continued moving away from each other ever since. Today the universe is still expanding, as astronomers have observed. The Steady State model says that the universe does not evolve or change in time. There was no beginning in the past, nor will there be change in the future. This model assumes the perfect cosmological principle. This principle says that the universe is the same everywhere on the large scale, at all times.2 It maintains the same average density of matter forever. There are observational evidences found that can prove the Big Bang model is more reasonable than the Steady State model. First, the redshifts of distant galaxies. Redshift is a Doppler effect which states that if a galaxy is moving away, the spectral line of that galaxy observed will have a shift to the red end. The faster the galaxy moves, the more shift it has. If the galaxy is moving closer, the spectral line will show a blue shift. If the galaxy is not moving, there is no shift at all. However, as astronomers observed, the more distance a galaxy is located from Earth, the m ore redshift it shows on the spectrum. This means the further a galaxy is, the faster it moves. Therefore, the universe is expanding, and the Big Bang model seems more reasonable than the Steady State model. The second observational evidence is the radiation produced by the Big Bang. The Big Bang model predicts that the universe should still be filled with a small remnant of radiation left over from the original violent explosion of the primeval fireball in the past. The primeval fireball would have sent strong shortwave radiation in all directions into space. In time, that radiation would spread out, cool, and fill the expanding universe uniformly. By now it would strike Earth as microwave radiation. In 1965 physicists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson detected microwave radiation coming equally from all directions in the sky, day and night, all year.3 And so it appears that astronomers have detected the fireball radiation that was produced by the Big Bang. This casts serious doubt on the Steady State model. The Steady State could not explain the existence of this radiation, so the model cannot best explain the beginning of the universe. Since the Big Bang model is the better model, the existence and the future of the universe can also be explained. Around 15 to 20 billion years ago, time began. The points that were to become the universe exploded in the primeval fireball called the Big Bang. The exact nature of this explosion may never be known. However, recent theoretical breakthroughs, based on the principles of quantum theory, have suggested that space, and the matter within it, masks an infinitesimal realm of utter chaos, where events happen randomly, in a state called quantum weirdness.4 Before the universe began, this chaos was all there was. At some time, a portion of this randomness happened to form a bubble, with a temperature in excess of 10 to the power of 34 degrees Kelvin. Being that hot, naturally it expanded. For an extremely brief and short peri od, billionths of billionths of a second, it inflated. At the end of the period of inflation, the universe may have a diameter of a few

The Rise of Municipal Police Forces essays

The Rise of Municipal Police Forces essays While the history of American policing can be traced to its English origins, the American system of policing evolved from an amalgamation of systems from England, France, and Spain. Many policing problems plagued the new cities of America. They included controlling certain classes, including slaves and Indians; maintaining order; regulating specialized functions such as selling in the market, delivering goods, making bread, packing goods for export; maintaining health and sanitation; ensuring the orderly use of the streets by vehicles; controlling liquor; controlling gambling and vice; controlling weapons; managing pests and other animals (Nalla These early police services had little to do with crime control, and were performed by volunteer citizens who served on slave patrols or Night Watches. Policing became formalize with the adoption of regular night watches, manned by volunteers that ultimately culminated in paid forces that provided service around the clock. These forces underwent reform that professionalized (bureaucratized) and attempted to depoliticize the police. In this process, police narrowed their mandate to crime-fighting, and motorized patrol replaced foot patrol with the police rapidly adopting more modern technology. The bulk of modern police history shows that each succeeding advance inadvertently distanced the police further and further from the people they ostensibly served. Each effort to improve police efficiency and effectiveness was a response to an obvious social problem, but few recognized the downside to each change was increasing isolation from the community. Though the system had serious flaws , night watches functioned fairly well as long as America remained primarily an agrarian society. However, at the turn of the nineteenth century, the drawbacks were becoming difficult to ignore. One major problem was that local watchmen were notoriously lax, ...

European Union Law structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

European Union Law structure - Essay Example One of the most obvious examples of a unitary state is United Kingdom. Also called a constitutional monarchy, UK is governed as one single unit. The Government is led by a Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who enforce executive power on behalf of the Queen. The political power of UK government can transfer political powers to lower levels, regionally or locally elected assemblies, governors or mayors but the central government retains the principal right to recall such delegated power (Wikipedia Unitary State and United Kingdom) A federal State is composed of different self-governing regions often called states which are united by a federal government. The self-governing status of the states is constitutionally entrenched and can not be altered by a decision made by the central government. Even though the sovereignty of each state is constitutionally granted, a federal state is not only a group of independent states. The states do not have any power in terms of foreign policy for example which is the burden of the central government. A federal State comes from an initial agreement to come together in order to solve mutual problems or provide for mutual defense as it was the case for United States with the Articles of Confederation in 1781. (Wikipedia, Federal State) The United States are naturally the best example of a federal State. While each of the States has its own written constitution and different laws, the federal government composed of the Congress, the President and the Supreme Court. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, the protection of human rights, welfare and education. (Wikipedia Unites States) 3. Supranational State A Supranational State is an entity where power is held by independent appointed officials or by representatives elected by the legislatures or people of member states. All the member states still have power but they must share this power with other actors. Furthermore, decisions are made by majority votes in consequence it is possible for a member state to be forced by other member states to implement a decision against its will. (Wikipedia Supranationalism) In the following part of our essay, we will try to analyze The European Union through different perspective in order to approach our findings with one type of state that we have described in the previous paragraphs. II. How is the European Union composed The father of the European Union is the European coal and Steel Community (ESCS) which was created in 1951 following a proposition by the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman which he made in 1950 in a speech inspired by Jean Monnet. Composed of six members, Belgium, West Germany,

West indians Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

West indians - Essay Example Following the arrival of the white man, numerous African black people were shipped over to work as slaves on sugar plantations on the islands and now make up a large proportion of the population. It is estimated that there are about 36 million people living in the West Indies today, most of African heritage. This is impacted by lower infant mortality rates with increased access to health care and other services. It is also estimated that millions of people have moved from the West Indies to the United States and other parts of the world. According to the article â€Å"West Indies† (2008), at least one million Cubans have moved into the United States with equally high numbers of Puerto Ricans and other West Indians also pursuing greater job opportunities and educations for their children. Most of these people speak Spanish, but this is not the only language spoken. Other languages spoken in high density include French and English, including a creole version of these languages. Dutch is spoken on some of the islands and Hindi and Urdu can still be heard on Trinidad and Tobago (West Indies, 2008). More than half of the West Indian peoples live in urban areas and live lives that are relatively comparable to the lives of people living in urbanized areas anywhere. However, the islands are not overly abundant in their own resources, so farming plays a large role in their economy. The climate is very warm for most of the year, so clothing is generally light and loose with hats, with wide shade-giving brims, playing a significant role in fashion. Perhaps because of the heavy slave-influenced past, their attitudes toward marriage, family structure and religion are somewhat different from what is found in the Protestant-influenced United States to the north. There are four types of family organization within West Indian families, each of which is centered around different religious ideals. The Christian family follows the

Retrenchment Strategy Essay Example for Free

Retrenchment Strategy Essay Since the beginning of the US financial crisis in 2007, regulators in the United States and Europe have been frustrated by the difficulty in identifying the risk exposures at the largest and most levered financial institutions. Yet, at the time, it was unclear how such data might have been used to make the financial system safer. This paper is an attempt to show simple ways in which this information can be used to understand how deleveraging scenarios could play out. To do so the authors develop and test a model to analyze financial sector stability under different configurations of leverage and risk exposure across banks. They then apply the model to the largest financial institutions in Europe, focusing on banks exposure to sovereign bonds and using the model to evaluate a number of policy proposals to reduce systemic risk. When analyzing the European banks in 2011, they show how a policy of targeted equity injections, if distributed appropriately across the most systemic banks, can significantly reduce systemic risk. The approach in this paper fits into, and contributes to, a growing literature on systemic risk. Key concepts include: * This model can simulate the outcome of various policies to reduce fire sale spillovers in the midst of a crisis. * Size caps, or forced mergers among the most exposed banks, do not reduce systemic risk very much. * However, modest equity injections, if distributed appropriately between the most systemic banks, can cut the vulnerability of the banking sector to deleveraging by more than half. * The model can be adapted to monitor vulnerability on a dynamic basis using factor exposures. About Faculty in this Article: Robin Greenwood is a Professor in the Finance unit at Harvard Business School. * Author Abstract When a bank experiences a negative shock to its equity, one way to return to target leverage is to sell assets. If asset sales occur at depressed prices, then one banks sales may impact other banks with common exposures, resulting in contagion. We propose a simple framework that accounts for how this effect adds up across the banking sector. Our framework explains how the distribution of bank leverage and risk exposures contributes to a form of systemic risk. We compute bank exposures to system-wide deleveraging, as well as the spillover of a single banks deleveraging onto other banks. We show how our model can be used to evaluate a variety of crisis interventions, such as mergers of good and bad banks and equity injections. We apply the framework to European banks vulnerable to sovereign risk in 2010 and 2011.

Evolution -Them-to Us Essay -- essays research papers

Evolution The origins of mankind is an extremely controversial issue within today’s society. Scientists have a host of different theories pertaining to man’s inhabitance of earth. Many disagreements arise between scientists who have different beliefs pertaining to where and how mankind arose. One such argument is the conflict involving the theory of evolution versus the theory of creation. After extensive scientific research, it is apparent that the theory of evolution is correct. Evolution is the theory that life arose by natural processes at an early stage of the earth’s history and that complex organisms developed from simpler organisms by a process of slow change. It is the idea that new species rise from older species after thousands of years of gradual chemical, environmental, and genetic change. Evolution can be described as the complex processes by which living organisms originated on earth and have been diversified and modified through sustained changes in form an d function â€Å"Evolution†. Scientists, looking for an explanation to the origin of man and other organisms created this evolutionism theory, which also presented answers to the many asked questions dealing with similarities between species. Unlike the theory of creation, which states that the complexity of life and different species can only be explained in terms of a supernatural creator or god who placed life on earth, the theory of evolution has a plethora of evidence proving it to be true â€Å"Creation†. There are several different types of observations that support the theory of organic evolution as an explanation for the similarities and the differences among species. One such observation is in the geologic record. The geologic record is the rock scheme found within the earth’s outer crust. By means of radioactive dating, the ages of rocks in many places on earth have been determined. It is a timetable of the earth’s geologic history. This combin ed with the fossil record, another observation supporting the evolutionary hypothesis, has produced an apparent sequence of life forms from most simple to most complex during the history of the planet. Fossils are any remains or traces of a once-living organism, which are formed by preservation, petrifaction, or sedimentation. Organisms can be preserved and protected against decay by being trapped in amber, tar, or frozen in ice. The hard parts of ... ... the world could have been created in six days. Even though Scopes was found guilty of contradicting creationism and the Bible’s teachings, the persuasion of the defense’s case brought up the major question of evolution versus creation. In 1996, the issue was revisited and now teachers have the right to teach both theories. The Attorney General said the constitutional separation of church and state would be violated if both theories were not acceptable. This trial was a major step for those who believed in evolution. The outcome eventually allowed for people to open their eyes and accept new ideas. The theory of evolution proved to be true â€Å"Monkey†. The controversy over whether evolution or creation is the correct answer to human origins is a major topic of discussion and argument in today’s society. People are entitled to their beliefs, but a great deal of evidence and supporting information has confirmed the theory of evolution to be factual and accurate. By combining all of this information along with comparisons between man and ape and the discoveries of humanlike fossils, the truth is apparent. The theory of evolution in my opinion is correct.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Morality of Drug Use

  In his book entitled â€Å"Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues,† Vincent Ryan Ruggiero formulated a criteria consisting of three elements, which criteria relates to respect for persons as a theoretical construct and a practical ethical standard for everyday decision making (Ruggiero, 78). These three criteria are obligations, moral ideals and consequences, which are all applicable to the determination of proper conduct in relation to drug use (Ruggiero, 79).Moral Ideals.Ruggiero explained his concept of moral ideals as distinct from obligations. For him, ideals are goals that characterize excellence, which goals are aimed at by different individuals (Ruggiero, 78). In particular, and in relation to respect for persons, he discussed that moral ideals assist a person in achieving respect for persons (Ruggiero, 80).He also explicated that moral ideals could be composed of various categories, such as the â€Å"cardinal virtues† of old and the theological virtues of religious thinkers. He likewise posited that moral ideals could vary from person to person, or from culture to culture (Ruggiero, 81). This is an important proposition, because the differences in moral ideals determine the differences in treatment given by each person on varying actions. Thus, one person could regard a moral ideal as more than just that, for example as an obligation that requires compliance.Applying this concept to the ethical issue of drug use, it would be concluded that the perspective could be viewed from a number of different perspectives, which also have varying moral ideals. This means that drug use could be viewed positively or negatively by different cultures or population, depending on their respective moral ideals.For example, a population of medical practitioners such as doctors would hold on to the ideal that drug use is necessary in certain cases, such as in situations of a disease or illness that could only be cured by the administration of particular drugs. On the other hand, a population consisting of the religious whose faith dictates the avoidance of drugs would hold on to the exact opposite moral ideal. Thus, an ethical decision hinges on the moral ideals to which the population concerned adhere, because such moral ideals determine the kind of ethical decision that would probably be made in any given situation.Obligations.Ruggiero also discussed the notion of obligations as a criterion for determining respect for persons. His concept of obligations refers to the element of compulsion into doing a certain act, as determined by the situation involved or the relationship between or among parties (Ruggiero, 80). He likewise explained that different kinds of situations and interpersonal relations dictate the kind of obligations that are imposed on a person.Viewing drug use in the light of Ruggiero’s concept of obligations, drug use could be ethically justified by formulating a situation such that the administration or pre scription of medicinal drugs and the corresponding use is seen as an obligation on the part of the doctor and the patient to maintain the latter’s good health and long life.Consequences.Finally, Ruggiero discussed the concept of consequences, which refer to the effects of an action on a person (Ruggiero, 81).   He states that the effects could be classified into beneficial or harmful effects, or grouped according to kind, such as whether they are physical or emotional (Ruggiero, 81).The most important aspect of Ruggiero’s discussion of the topic is his position that the benefit or harm caused by a specific act is determined by the impact of such an act on all persons involved, including the actor (Ruggiero, 81).This criterion is relevant in the issue of drug use, because ultimately, any ethical decision on this matter hinges on its effects on the user. Therefore, drug use could be ethically justified if it is shown that there are health benefits that could favor the user or his community. On the other hand, proof that drug use only leads to individual or collective harm would tilt the favor against drug use.In sum, Ruggiero’s three criteria are relevant in any discussion of the morality of drug use. These criteria provide practical knowledge with regard to the things that one should be looking at, prior to making an ethical decision.Works CitedRuggiero, Vincent Ryan. Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues. 6th ed.