Noble Prize Economist Amartya Sen Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Noble Prize Economist Amartya Sen - Term Paper Example He is widely regarded as the Mother Teresa of economics because of his contributions to the poor. He is currently serving in two universities; in Thomas W. Lamont University as the Professor of Economics and in Harvard University as the Professor of Philosophy. Apart from that he is a distinguished fellow in many other famous universities and institutions like Harvard Society of Fellows, All Souls College, Oxford, Trinity College, Cambridge etc. This paper briefly analyses the contributions of Amartya Sen as an economist to the world. â€Å"Amartya Sen was born on 3 rd November 1933 in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. His ancestral home was in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His family migrated to India following the partition of India in 1947†(Amartya Sen). The meaning of ‘Amartya’ is immortal. The renowned scholar of Indian literature, Rabindranath Tagore was the one who proposed the name of Amartya Sen. Rabindranath Tagore was one of the best friends of Amartya’s fa ther. Sen started his school education in Dhaka; however, the division of India forced Sen and his family to migrate to India in 1947. The latter part of his school education was in Visva-Bharati University school. He has joined Presidency College, Kolkata, for his college education and completed his First Class First in his B.A. (Honours) in Economics. He left the Presidency College as the most eminent student of the 1953 batch. He has continued his higher studies in Trinity College, Cambridge, and completed a First Class BA (Honours) from there in 1956. He has enrolled for a Ph.D. in Economics in Trinity College itself after the completion of BA (Honours) from there. During the same period itself, he was appointed as the Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at Jadavpur University, Calcutta. Later he returned to Trinity College and completed his Ph.D. in Economics. Within economics, he has made original and critical contributions to development theory, planning, capita l and growth theory, investment appraisal, the study of technology and employment, welfare economics, social choice theory, poverty and inequality measurement, issues in the causes and redressal of famines and destitution, and population policy (Subramanian). Amartya Sen is well known for his works for the poor. As mentioned earlier, he is currently regarded as the Mother Teresa of economics. The theory of social choice was developed by Amartya Sen. In his book â€Å"Poverty and famines† published in 1981, Amartya argued that famine occurs not only because of shortage of food, but also because of the inequalities built in to the mechanisms for distributing food (Amartya Sen). Masny of the earlier economists cited the food shortage as the major reasons for famine. However, Amartya was able to prove that even the produced food is not used up properly because of the problems in the distribution system. For example, in India, the government is distributing food to the poor people with the help of rationing system. However, because of the delays in completing the administrative procedures in supplying the food from the food go-downs to the ration shops, a substantial portion of the food items wasted. In other words, the bureaucracy is causing problems in the safe transport of the food items from the ware-houses to the ration shops in India. The increased percentage of corruption in bureaucracy is delaying the paper works. Thus, Amartya was able

Design and Construction of Liquefaction Tank

Design and Construction of Liquefaction Tank Chapter 3. Methodology As mentioned in previous chapters, the objective of the project is to design and construct a liquefaction tank to be used during geotechnical engineering lectures and laboratory sessions to demonstrate the liquefaction phenomenon fundamental concept. Existing liquefaction models The liquefaction demonstration tank is not anything new. In fact, it is a classic in a geotechnical engineering program. This demonstration experiment tends to leave a lasting impression on the students mind. It is easy to find numerous figures and pictures of a basic quicksand model. For example, Holtz and Kovacs (1981) demonstrate a conceptual design diagram of a liquefaction tank, as shown in figure 3.1. The model consists of two tanks. The water tank is at the bottom and the top tank contains sand. A pump is used to pump the water from the bottom tank into the sand tank, creates the upward flow in the quicksand tank. Flowing through the porous stone layer at the bottom of the sand tank, the upward water pressure is distributed evenly over the entire base of the sand layer, keeping the porewater pressure constant throughout. Number of piezometers is installed directly onto the sand tank at different level, which enables water heads within the quicksand tank during the experiment t o be observed and readings to be taken. From the literature research, there are two existing quicksand models built at other universities, pictures of which are obtained. Essentially, the concept is similar in both tanks. There are two separate containers, one on the top contains sand specimen and a tank with water at the bottom that will be used to fill and drain the sand tank into. Figure 3.2 shows the model at the University of Illinois which is very similar to the diagram in figure 3.1. The other liquefaction tank shown in figure 3.3 is built at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Instead of using pump, a standpipe is used to create and control the upwards flows in the sand tank. Also the piezometers in this model are installed on a separated board. Using flexible tubes, they are connected to valves installed at the side of the tank. A dial-gauge used to measure the vertical settlement of the object on top of the sand mass when it liquefies. Design of the model After evaluating all of the existing liquefaction models, an outline drawing including all dimensions and key features was drawn as shown in figure 3.4. The main concept of the model is kept the same as those existing models. Utilising a hydraulic bench to contain water and support the sand tank, pump and water tank is not be needed. As for the liquefaction tank, there are numerous requirements that its design has to meet. First all of the tank, measured 500x500x700mm, must be make strong enough to support the pressure created by the sand and water mass (about 200kg) in side. It also needs to be made water proof to prevent water from leaking out. One of the important requirements is that the tank must be transparent enough to enable a clear visual of the sand and the phenomenon happens in site to be observed. Taking all consideration into account, the sand tank is made out of fabricated Perspex panels glued together using impermeable glue. Similar to the model at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, five piezometers are installed on a separated board and connected to the tank using flexible tubes. This enables the model to be moved around safer and easier compared with rigid piezometers installed on the tank due to the significant height required. The tank also has two valves one on side acting as the inlet and out let, which helps to control the upward flow inside the tank. An overflow tube also is incorporated at the top. At each tube and valves connections, filter is used to prevent the sand particles from leaking out. Inside the tank, there nine plastic cylinders placed at the bottom of the tank to support the mass. The sand will sit on a layer porous stone of 40mm thick which contained by 2 layers of metal meshes with drilled holes. This allows the upward water flow to be distributed evenly over area of the sand mass base. Layers of geotextile are placed between the stone layer and the sand layer, which effectively stops the fine particles from leaking down to the porous stone layer. The sand was filled up to the height of the fifth piezometer which made up a total thickness of 430mm from the metal mesh base. The sand tank is placed on top of the hydraulic bench. There is also a steel frame support to be made in the future to secure the tank to the bench, enables it to be moved around safely. Based on these drawings, with the assistance of our departmental senior technicians, the tank was constructed as shown in figure 3.5. There is a small modification to the design, which the valves are not connected directly onto the side panel but through a thick layer of Perspex prevents any crack to occurs at the connections. Similar to the model at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, a dial gauge attached to a steel bar place over the top of the tank, is used to measure the vertical settlement of the model. A metal string helps to secure the structure model to the steel bar, which enable the model to be taken out of the tank easily after completely sinking into the sand mass. Testing materials Porous stone layer As described in the final design of the model, there is a porous stone layer with a thickness of 40mm placed between the sand and the mesh support. For this project, 10mm concrete aggregate was used to make up this stone layer. A sieve analysis was carried out on a 1 kg of sample to determine the grain size redistribution of this type of aggregate. Leighton Buzzard sand Once constructed, the model was used for testing liquefaction resisting performance of number of different type of structures. For these tests, Leighton Buzzard Sand fraction C was used. This was supplied by the David Ball Group, Cambridge, UK, confirming to BS 1881-131:1998. After performing number of classification tests namely maximum and minimum density and sieve analysis on the 0.5kg sample, properties of the sand were determined as follows. Specific gravity of the Leighton Buzzard Sand fraction C was 2.65. Minimum and maximum dry densities were 1.40 g/cm3 and 1.68 g/cm3, respectively. These are value corresponding to the maximum and minimum void ratios which were calculated as 0.89 and 0.58, respectively. More than 80% of the coarse sand particles, which are rounded and mainly quartz, are between (around) 300 ÂÂ µm and 600 ÂÂ µm which meets the BS 1881-131:1998 standard. Resisting structure models For this project, three small models with similar weight were made, representing three different foundation designs as shown in figure 3.6. All three models have same shape, weight and made of the same materials. Table 3.1 shows the dimension and weight of the models. Models A represents pile foundation for high raise buildings and large infrastructures. Model B represents a typical mat foundation which is a shallow foundation for small and medium houses and apartment buildings. Model C acts as the control which is just a standard block structure without foundation. Testing procedures To enable a comparison of the performance of the different types of foundations, the liquefaction tank was used to create the quicksand condition, in which the model placed on top of the sand surface, starts to sink down when the top sand layer liquefied. As mentioned in the literature review, there are various factors that can influent the liquefaction susceptibility namely soil particle grain size, upwards seepage and level of compaction. For this experiment to be accurate, all of the above parameters were kept approximately constant from one test to the other. The same sand, Leighton Buzzard (fraction C) was used in all three tests. Initial water level within the tanks as well as the flow rate controlled by the inlet valve with also was kept the same. All nine supports were placed at the bottom of the liquefaction tank, followed by the metal mesh and the qeotextile layer. A 40mm thick layer of cleaned concrete aggregate was put on top of the geotextile and slightly compacted. Another layer of geotextile and metal mesh were put in before pouring the sand in. The sand were poured into the tank and compacted evenly in three layers. Once the model and the dial gauge were installed on top of the tank, the experiment was ready to run. While the outlet was completely closed, the inlet valve was opened to allow the water is pumped in the tank creating an upward flow, hence the change in pore water pressure between the sand particles and the increase in the water level in the piezometers. Hydraulic heads reading from the piezometers at different levels were recorded periodically and later on used to determine pore water pressure inside the tank. As predicted by the theory, as the inlet, valve 1, is opened to let the water to flow in, the h ead at the bottom of the sand layer will gradually increase and eventually to a sufficient value which can cause the sand to liquefy. The upward seepage forces will balance the downwards gravitational forces created by the sand mass. Hence rendering the shear strength of the sand to zero, any structure/object placed on top of the sand surface will sink in gradually sink into the sand mass. The whole procedure of the test will be recorded using a digital camera for reference when analyzing the data. As can be noticed form the figure 3.5, a small amount of blue dye was added to all five piezometers, to enhance the visibility of the water level inside the tube, especially when taking pictures and video. This can cause the non unity density of the liquid inside the whole length of the tube and result in the inaccurate measurements of the heads in the tank. However, since the amount of dye is minimal and taking the non unity of the water inside the tank, it is assumed that the head represented by the piezometers is approximately same as the head inside the tanks. In fact, this can be shown in figure 3.7, where inlet and outlet valves are closed, the water level inside the tank is stationary. The different in heads caused by the non unity of the fluid can hardly be seen in all five piezometer. Data collection Liquefaction is a phenomenon that tends to occur very quickly. Therefore manual readings taking from all five piezometers are difficult and not very accurate. For this project, a digital camera was used to capture pictures at interval and record a video of the whole experiment. From the reading of the piezometers, porewater pressures at different level inside the tank will be calculated during the whole experiments. From these data, graph of settlement against porewater pressure will be plotted for each experiment. Since all other parameters were kept constant from one test to the other, excepts for the type of foundation used, therefore difference between graphs will enable a comparison between the different type of foundation to be drawn.

Woman of the Year: Queen Elizabeth the Second :: essays research papers

Woman of the Year: 1953-Queen Elizabeth II   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From the day she was born, the life of Queen Elizabeth II shows that she deserved to receive the title â€Å"Woman of the Year.† She had practical intelligence since she was a kid and she respected peoples opinions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926 at the London home of her mother's parents, Lord and Lady Strathmore. She was baptized at Buckingham Palace and named Elizabeth Alexandra Mary five weeks later. Elizabeth's father was Albert, the Duke of York. He was the second son of King George V. When his dad died in 1936, his brother was supposed to become king but he resigned. So he became king. Her mother was Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She was a member of the Scottish aristocracy. Her sister Margaret Rose was born on August 21, 1930, when she was 4 years old in Glamis Castle. Her grandparents were George V and Queen Mary, and Lord and Lady Strathmore.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elizabeth and her sister were homed schooled. She was taught by Miss Marion Crawford, a young Scottish woman. At the age of 5, she usually woke up at 6 a.m. and went out for riding lessons. After that, they had lunch, lessons in French, voice and piano. In the afternoon she would play in the garden, usually with her sister and Miss Crawford. She became heiress to the throne at the age of ten. She had to learn court etiquette and diplomatic practice from her grandmother, Queen Mary. She studied the geography and history of the Commonwealth countries and the U.S. Elizabeth went to Eton College for private lessons in law. She was training for future duties. Being a princess was not easy. She had to prepare for a hard life, never make mistakes, never look bored and never be sick if possible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elizabeth grew up at the families London home, a large Victorian House on 145 Picadilly and at the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. When her dad became King they moved to Buckingham Palace. It was more like a museum than a house. Elizabeth spent their holidays with their grandparents on both sides. When she spent it with the Strathmore it would sometimes be at the Glamis Castle. It was a rugged, rambling old Scottish fortress. â€Å"It looked like something out of a child's adventure stories-paradise of echoing rooms, long passage and mysterious stairways.† (Trease 1953, 231) Elizabeth enjoyed exploring the castle when she was young. She was 13 when World War II occurred. A year later bombs started falling on London. Elizabeth and her sister had to go to safety

Autobiography of a Classroom Essay

I am a very big classroom in a well-known public school. I cater to needs of the kindergarten class of the school, accommodating I think about eighty five children, a big number isn’t it? I understand that I am the best looking room in the school as, the very small children study here. I am very attractively decorated so that the little ones like to come here every day. The room that is me – is decorated with beautiful coloured pictures. The walls are a blend of some colours I do not know the names of. The furniture that is placed in the length and breadth of the room consists of small round tables to seat four children on each table, and the chairs are also tiny. That is not all, all the furniture is a mixture of many colours. When the children come inside the class they almost fight to sit on certain chairs. That makes me understand that they like the colours and fight for their favourite colours to sit on. At the top two ends of the length of the classroom there are two bigger tables and full size chairs for the teachers to sit. Since there are so many children there are two teachers while in other classes there is only one each. I am a treat for everyone to see. My pleasure knows no bounds when everyone who comes inside the class, admires me, appreciates my get up and the colours that don me. I have the twin advantage of being the most beautiful room in the school and also having the cutest of children coming to spend their time with me. Thus, my life is full of beauty, colour, noise and laughter and at times of course also crying and howling of the children. At times some new entrants to the school come to me with their mothers and, cry as if they had come to the slaughter house to be butchered. At such moments even by heart cries for the little ones and I wonder why man makes these little children come to study if they do not want to. I of course do not know how important studies are for human children, I only feel sad seeing the children cry. My life is full of a very busy schedule though very interesting. The routine of my daily life is so busy that, I do not get any relief for quite long hours. In the morning as early as 6 a. m. wo sweepers come open the lock of my room or rather me, and off they start working on me. They sweep my floor, squab it, dust each and every piece of the furniture in me. Thus, I get alerted as soon the room is unlocked. It is not even 8 a. m. when the little brats start pouring inside my body’s doors. At times they enter with so much noise that my whole body feels the rattle of it all. Their movements are so loud that now, I cannot even think of any rest. School bags get flung, tiffin boxes are strewn all about, water bottles are kept just anywhere and there is a lot of commotion all over. Soon the maid enters the room and keeps everything in order and my appearance at once improves and I look tidy and well kept. For these small ones the school hours are just three from, 8 a. m. to 11 a. m. These three hours is my duty time, and just is the time when I also get the day’s entertainment. Being a classroom for the Kindergarten children I get a great chance of hearing conversations between the teachers and the parents. Since this is the first time their children have entered school, parents devote a lot of time to talking about the school and its standards. At times I find that some parents are just too critical and, inspite of getting all the best in this school they always seem to be unhappy and dissatisfied with something or the other in the school. Such parents keep lecturing about things missing in the classroom, the school or even in the playground. When I hear such complaints, my heart sinks and I wonder if they will allow or not allow their children to come to me any more,. For such conversations I have understood that, these days parents pamper the children too much, and it seems that they can never yes, never be satisfied. I am quite surprised to see the vast difference in opinions. While on the one hand I, and also many parents think that I am very beautiful, well kept, and decorated, others of the same clan are always complaining of many defects in my appearance. This gives me a feeling of depression and I do wonder if I can do anything in the matter. After some thinking bouts, I realize that, I can do nothing to satisfy these unhappy parents. I am just here in the hands of the school authorities and stand here as and how they keep me. My working hours are just six, from 6 a. m. when sweepers enter to say 12 noon when I am locked after all children go. After my duty hours I just relax but also feel lonely. No matter what is said about me, I am thoroughly enjoying my life in the cute company of little children. Their company makes me also feel young though now I am quite old. Every summer vacation I am painted afresh, my furniture is painted, and, I am ready to welcome my little friends, new and old with a new look, new enthusiasm and renewed vigour. I pray that my life is forever allowed to remain so interesting and so relaxed. I just love all the children and teachers who come here to me, to work and play in the restricted area within my four walls.

Prejudice in to Kil a Mocking Bird

Prejudice is shown in many ways in To Kill a Mocking Bird. From social prejudice against the Cunninghams to racial prejudice against Tom Robinson, the book has displayed many aspects of how people can look through the window and see things completely differently than the person beside them. A form of social prejudice is when Aunt Alexandra forbid Scout to play with Walter Cunningham, a poor boy whom Scout attends school with. This is because Aunt Alexandra sees Walter and his family as poor and beneath the Finches, in her words,† †¦ they're good folks.But they're not our kind of folks. †Ã‚   This shows that to the Maycomb citizens, social status is an extremely important issue. Also, in Tom Robinson’s case, Aunt Alexandra also advices Atticus not to take up the case, as it would cause the people of Maycomb to look down on them or gossip about them. Hence this shows that people in Maycomb like Aunt Alexandra are extremely conscious about where they stand in the society. Maycomb is a very religious town with the foot-washing Baptists appearing to have a strong influence on the community.The foot-washers have very strict views and believe that anything which is pleasurable is a sin. They are therefore prejudiced against a great deal of people who are different from them with different opinions. An example of their prejudice is when Miss Maudie says, â€Å"some of ‘em came out of the woods one Saturday and passed by this place and told me and my flowers we were going to hell†. Their belief is so extreme that they feel they should threaten those who enjoy life. Another example of religious prejudice is the isolation of the Radleys.This isolation is due to the Radley family not attending church which is Maycomb’s â€Å" principal recreation †The Radleys suffer religious prejudice because they keep themselves to themselves, apart from everyone else. This action is considered a disapproval by the people of Maycomb. Als o, Mrs Radley hardly ever â€Å" crossed the street for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbours †, this is also deemed unfriendly and unforgivable by the people of Maycomb hence the isolated of the Radleys.A form of racial prejudice can be seen from the trial of Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is a black man who was found guilty of a rape he didn't commit. The racial prejudice nature of Maycomb is clearly portrayed through such instances as the fact that Atticus is accused by the town of being a â€Å"nigger lover† for defending Tom’s case and also through the mob scene outside the jail. The fact that a white man would stand up for a black man in that town got them very upset. â€Å"Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That's what I don't like about it†.The people are also not pleased that Atticus tried his best to defend Tom Robinson It is in the Tom Robinson trial that the greatest example of injustice because of prejudice is seen. The townspeople di d not care whether Tom was innocent or guilty because of his color and never even gave him a chance because he was black. Although Atticus actually manages to prove the innocence of Tom Robinson, the white jury still refuses to declare the innocence of a black man over a white resulting in the most blatant testimony to the fact that the town of Maycomb held racial discrimination above justice.Through its decision the town essentially kills a mockingbird. Tom Robinson was a man who did no harm to others but instead actually helped others out of kindness – a mockingbird who becomes victim to a racist society. Another form of racial prejudice is how inhumane the white are towards the black. The townspeople viewed this case as a carnival. â€Å"It was a gala occasion. There was no room at the public hitching trail for another animal, mules and wagons were parked under every available tree.The courthouse square was covered with picnic parties sitting on newspapers, washing down b iscuit and syrup with warm milk from fruit jars†. This was more like entertainment for the townspeople. This was fun for them, talking with friends, having lunch, and joking. They were there only to watch the trial like as if they were watching a show, they were only curious about the verdict of Tom Robinson’s case and were not concern about his predicament. This shows the prejudice in the white that caused them to be extremely cruel.

The Suffrage Movement in the United States essays

The Suffrage Movement in the United States essays The Suffrage Movement in the United States Women vote today because of the woman suffrage movement, a courageous and persistent political campaign that lasted over 72 years, involved tens of thousands of women and men, and resulted in enfranchising one-half of the citizens of the United States. Inspired by idealism and grounded in sacrifice, the suffrage campaign is of enormous political and social significance yet it is virtually unacknowledged in the chronicles of American history. Had the suffrage movement not been so ignored by historians, women like Lucretia Mott, Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul would be as familiar to most Americans as Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt or Martin Luther King, Jr. We would know the story of how women were denied the right to vote despite the lofty words of the Constitution, how they were forced to fight for their rights against entrenched opposition with virtually no financial, legal or political power. If the history of the suffrage movement was better known, we would understand that democracy for the first 150 years in American included half of the population. And we would realize that this situation changed only after the enormous efforts of American citizens in what remains one of the most remarkable and successful nonviolent efforts to change ingrained social attitudes and institutions in the modern era. For women won the vote. They were not given it, granted it, or anything else. They won it as truly as any political campaign is ultimately won or lost. In addition, they won it, repeatedly, by the slimmest of margins, which only underscores the difficulty and magnitude of their victories. In the successful California referendum of 1911, the margin was one vote per precinct! In the House, suffrage passed the first time by exactly the number needed with supporters coming in from the hospital and funeral home to cast their ballots. In the Senate, it passed by two votes. ...

The Three Sides of Latour essays

The Three Sides of Latour essays Death Comes For The Archbishop by Willa Cather is a book about the life and adventures of Jean Marie Latour. As the book progresses, Latour takes on many titles such as Father, Bishop and ultimately Archbishop. Along his travels Latour comes upon characters, many of which are quite similar. There are those characters that Cather deliberately writes more about to catch the readers attention. These characters are Father Martinez, Father Vaillant and Jacinto. In each of these characters Cather creates foils of Latour. There is something in his three foils that Latour wishes were a part of him. He had an altogether compelling personality, a disturbing, mysterious, magnetic power (pg.150). This quote shows exactly what Latour admired in Martinez. This admiration is odd because Martinez is a man whose actions contrast with those that a man of the church is supposed to perform. Another side to this is that Latour sees some of Martinezs qualities within himself and he hates that. In my life I have felt like Latour does in this situation. I find a person who is seen as having bad qualities and I see myself being that person. This makes me angry and I become more hostile to that person than I should be. This is the same with Latour and Martinez. Martinezs selfish and un-priestly ways make his better qualities stand out even more. The quality that Latour admires most in Martinez is his fire and passion conveyed in his sermons. Martinez may not be a man who follows all the rules but he is a man of deep faith in what he preaches. This is that quality that Latour wishes that he had. He wishes he had the ability to show his faith as well as Martinez. The next foil of Latour is his lifetime friend Father Joseph Vaillant. Father Joseph is the closest person in the book to Latour. He is faithful, intelligent and strong willed. The quality in Father Joseph that is most admired by Latour is that of dete ...