Analysing Business And Islam Ethics Religion Essay Example

Analysing Business And Islam Ethics Religion Essay Example Analysing Business And Islam Ethics Religion Essay Analysing Business And Islam Ethics Religion Essay In Islam, the difference between moralss and jurisprudence is really narrow. There is a considerable convergence between the same. The Prophet Muhammad gave a discourse on the twenty-four hours of the last pilgrims journey which outlines some of the basic Islamic rules. Some parts of the discourse are reproduced here: O People, impart me an attentive ear, for I know non whether after this twelvemonth, I shall of all time be amongst you once more. Therefore listen to what I am stating to you really carefully and Take THESE WORDS TO THOSE WHO COULD NOT BE PRESENT HERE TODAY.O People, merely as you regard this month, this twenty-four hours, this metropolis as Sacred, so see the life and belongings of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful proprietors. Hurt no 1 so that no 1 may ache you. Remember that you will so run into your LORD, and that HE will so think your workss. ALLAH has forbidden you to take vigorish ( involvement ) , hence all involvement duty shall henceforward be waived. Your capital, nevertheless, is yours to maintain. You will neither inflict nor suffer any unfairness. Allah has Judged that there shall be no involvement and that all the involvement due to Abbas ibn Abdal Muttalib ( Prophet s uncle ) shall henceforward be waived ISLAM AND BUSINESS ETHICS: A Freedom of Enterprise Islam gives complete freedom to economic endeavor. Each person in an Islamic society enjoys complete freedom in the earning of his support. He can get down, manage and form any sort of concern endeavor within the bounds set by the Islamic Shariah. However, freedom does non and must non run without a sense of duty. An person is free to prosecute his economic activities provided he respects the codification of behavior prescribed for the profession, which loosely means choosing things lawful and eschewing affairs improper. The dictates of the Holy Quran and the instructions of the Prophet ( southwest ) service to put a graduated table in everybody s head to separate between the lawful and the improper agencies of earning, and to forbid or disapprove of all things that are either morally incorrect or socially unacceptable. Islam, as a affair of rule, prohibits all activities which may do injury either to the bargainers or the consumers in the market. It encourages the prevalence of free market where everyone earns his nutriment without authorities intercession. However, it puts certain restraints in order to extinguish the incidence of unfairness and look into malpractices and improper operations Islamic Tenets Concerning Business TransactionsA Islam demands a certain type of behavior from the economic agents the consumers and the manufacturers. The behavior prescribed for the economic units of the society are so devised as to take to a happy province of personal businesss, which is the ultimate end of Islam. An Muslim market is characterized by certain norms that take attention of the involvements of both the purchaser and the marketer. There are a figure of regulations of ethical subject in Islamic commercial minutess without which concern contract would be regarded as missing flawlessness in the visible radiation of the codification of good manners, decency and ethical excellence. Some of these dogmas are as follows: A Keenness to Gain Legitimate ( Halal ) Net incomes Islam places great accent on the codification of lawful and improper in concern minutess. Many Quranic poetries disapprove the unlawful pickings of the belongings. Says the Holy Quran: A Do non devour one another s belongings wrongfully, nor throw it before the Judgess in order to devour a part of other s belongings sinfully and wittingly. ( 2:188 ) A Do non devour another s belongings wrongfully unless it be by trade based on common consent. ( 4:29 ) A The Prophet ( southwest ) endorsed the importance of legitimate ways of gaining in the undermentioned words: A Asked what signifier of addition is the best? [ the Prophet ] said, A adult male s work with his custodies, and every legitimate sale . ( Ahmad, No: 1576 ) A A Thingss legitimate and bastard are clearly defined in Islam A tradition of the Prophet ( southwest ) provinces: A A A clip will come upon the people when one will non care as to how he gets his money whether lawfully or illicitly. ( Bukhari, No: 1941 ) A Foremost among the unacceptable concern patterns strongly condemned in Islam is Riba. Riba ( involvement ) , by definition, is the excess amount the usurer charges from the borrower for deferred payment. Islam has forbidden all signifiers of Riba since it involves both subjugation and development. The Holy Quran says: A A Allah has permitted trading and out Riba ( vigorish ) . ( 2:275 ) A Devour non Riba doubled and re-doubled. ( 3:130 ) A O you who believe! fright Allah and give up what remains of your demand for usury if you are so trusters. If you do it non, take notice of war from Allah and his Apostle: but if you turn back you shall hold your capital amounts ; cover non unjustly and you shall non be dealt with unjustly. ( 2:278 ) A The Sunnah is every bit emphasized in denouncing Riba.A The Prophet ( southwest ) is reported to hold said: A May Allah direct down His expletive on the 1 who devours Riba and the 1 who pays it and on the two informants and on the individual composing it. ( Ahmad, No: 624 ) A Harmonizing to the Quranic instructions there is a clear differentiation between echt concern net incomes and involvement ; while the former is recommended and desirable, the latter is hated and undesirable.A A Trade through Mutual Consent Common consent between the parties is a necessary status for the cogency of a concern dealing. It, hence, follows that a sale under coercion is non acceptable in Islam. A sale dealing is to be regarded as legal merely if it is made through the common consent of the parties concerned. Taking advantage of person s predicament and bear downing high monetary value is besides a signifier of monetary development and as such forbidden in Islam. The Holy Quran says: A O you who believe! eat non up your belongings among yourselves in amour propres: but allow at that place be amongst you traffic and trade by common good will: nor kill [ or destruct ] yourselves: for verily Allah has been to you Most Merciful. ( 4:29 ) A sale is a sale merely if it is made through common consent. ( Ibn Majah, No: 2176 ) A Truthfulness in Business Minutess Islam encourages truthfulness in concern minutess and raises the position of a true merchandiser. The true merchandiser [ is rewarded by being ranked ] on the Day of Resurrection with Prophetss, veracious psyches, sufferer and pious people. ( Tirmidhi, No: 1130 ) The marketer and the purchaser have the right to maintain or return the goods every bit long as they have non parted or till they portion ; and if both the parties spoke the truth and described the defects and qualities [ of the goods ] , so they would be blessed in their dealing, and if they told prevarications or hid something, so the approvals of their dealing would be lost. ( Bukhari, No: 1937 ) A A Trustworthiness in Business Minutess The sense of common trust demands that the pros and cons of trade good be revealed to the purchaser so that he purchases the trade good in full satisfaction. Says the Holy Quran: A O you trusters! Do non bewray Allah and the Messenger, nor wittingly, bewray your trusts. ( 8:27 ) A Generosity and Leniency in Business Minutess One should be indulgent and generous in bargaining. The Prophet ( southwest ) invokes Allah s clemency therefore: A May Allah s clemency be on him who is lenient in his purchasing, merchandising, and in demanding back his money [ or debts. ( Bukhari, No: 1934 ) A A Honoring and carry throughing Business Duties Islam attaches great importance to the fulfillment of contract and promises. Islamic instructions require a Muslim bargainer to maintain up his trusts, promises and contracts. The basic rules of truth, honestness, unity and trust are involved in all concern traffics. O you who believe! Fulfil [ your ] duties. ( 5:1 ) A The Muslims are bound by their judicial admissions. ( Abu Daud, No: 3120 ) A A In order to safeguard the involvement of both the purchaser and the marketer it is desirable, harmonizing to the Islamic instructions, to clearly specify all the necessary inside informations refering the concern trade. Each concern contract should clearly stipulate the quality, the measure and the monetary value of the trade good in inquiry. Therefore, in a concern contract the offer and credence should be made between the parties concerned on a trade good which is with the purchaser and, which he is able to present. A Fair Treatment of Workers Islam puts certain conditions and limitations to rid of the opportunities of resentment between the employer and employees. A Those are your brothers [ workers under you ] who are around you, Allah has placed them under you. So, if anyone of you has person under him, he should feed him out of what he himself eats, clothe him like what he himself puts on, and allow him non put so much load on him that he is non able to bear, [ and if that be the instance ] , so impart your aid to him. ( Bukhari, No: 2359 ) A A I will be foe to three individuals on the Last Day: one of them being the 1 who, when he employs a individual that has accomplished his responsibility, does non give him his due. ( Bukhari, No: 2109 ) A The rewards of the laborers must be paid to him before the perspiration dries upon his organic structure. ( Ibn Majah, No: 2434 ) A Prohibited Matters in Business TransactionsA Another facet of concern moralss is the assorted signifiers of unethical concern patterns a Muslim man of affairs must avoid in his concern traffics. Some of these prohibited and unwanted concern patterns are as follows: A Covering in Prohibited ( Haram ) Items Covering in improper points such as carrion ( dead meat ) , hogs and graven images is strongly prohibited in Islam. Dead meat would intend the flesh of any bird or carnal dead from natural causes, without being decently slaughtered in an Muslim manner. Likewise, trading in porc or alcohols and sale of graven images and statues is non permitted in Islam. A A A Allah and His Messenger made illegal the trade of alcoholic spiritss, dead animate beings, hogs and graven images. ( Bukhari, No: 2082 ) A A A Sale of Al-Gharar ( Uncertainty, Risks, Speculation ) In Islamic this refers to the sale of a trade good or good which is non present at manus ; or the sale of an article or good, the effects or result of which is non yet known ; or a sale affecting hazards or jeopardies where 1 does non cognize whether at all the trade good will later come into being. Such a sale is purely prohibited in Islam because the quality, whether good or bad, is non known to the purchaser at the clip. Randomly Repairing the Monetary values Islam grants absolute freedom to bargainers provided they adhere to the codification of lawfulness. It does non, hence, promote the pattern of price-fixing and leaves the bargainers to gain the net incomes from each other within the lawful bounds. O Messenger of Allah! Monetary values have shot up, so repair them for us. Thereupon the Messenger of Allah said: Allah is the One Who fixes monetary values, withholds, gives extravagantly, and provides, and I hope that when I meet Allah, none of you will hold any claim on me for an unfairness sing blood or belongings. ( Tirmidhi, No: 1235 ) A A Hoarding of Foodstuff The Arabic word for billboard is Ihtikar. It means storing groceries or keep backing them in outlook of rise in their monetary values. Sometimes, a smattering of bargainers runing in the market purchase the full measure of an point, rice for illustration, and shop it up with the object of selling it subsequently at the clip of scarceness to pull maximal net income out of it and to order the monetary values. The consumers are left with no pick but to buy the article concerned from the 1 who hoards, as he is the lone 1 in the market who holds it. Sometimes, a bargainer hobnobs with the providers who will merely sell their ware to him. As a consequence, he holds the full stock of the indispensable points that other bargainers do non possess. He is, hence, in a place to order his footings in the market and sell them at an extortionately high monetary value to the needy people.A No 1 caches but the treasonists ( i.e. the evildoers ) . ( Abu Daud, No. 2990 ) A A The importer [ of an indispensable trade good ] into the town will be fed [ by Allah ] , and the hoarder will hold [ Allah s ] expletive upon him. ( Ibn Majah, No: 2144 ) A Exploitation of one s Ignorance of Market Conditions It is similar moving as the in-between adult male, taking advantage of people understanding of the market to derive maximal net income for yourself. The Prophet ( southwest ) has prohibited this pattern through a figure of instructions. A tradition reads: A A A town inhabitant should non sell the goods of a desert inhabitant. ( Bukhari, No: 2006 ) A Al-Najsh ( Trickery ) The term Al-Najsh means an action in which a individual offers a high monetary value for something, without meaning to purchase it, but merely to rip off or victimize another individual who truly means to purchase it. The individual rehearsing it may join forces with the marketer to offer high monetary values in forepart of the purchasers simply as a agency to rip off them. This type of deceitful dealing is wholly prohibited in Islam. The Prophet ( southwest ) is reported to hold said: A Do non harbor enviousness against one another ; make non outbid one another [ with a position to raising the monetary value ] ; make non bear antipathy against one another ; make non bear hostility against one another ; one of you should non come in into a dealing when the other has already entered into it ; and be fellow brothers and true retainers of Allah. ( Muslim, No: 4650 ) A Islam forbids person to offer a higher monetary value for a trade good after the trade has been accomplished between the parties. Obviously he is offering a higher monetary value in order to botch the understanding reached between the parties. As a consequence of this offer the purchaser may experience tempted to call off his contract to sell it at a higher monetary value. It may give rise to differences and dissensions between brothers. Hence it is purely prohibited in Islam. A Cheating and Fraud in Business Minutess The bargainers and business communities by and large have a inclination to actuate the clients by following deceitful concern patterns. Islam strongly condemns all such patterns in concern minutess ( Al-Ghashsh ) . The Messenger of Allah has commanded the trusters non to indulge in cheating and deceitful patterns in concern minutess. Sale of dead animate being, doubtful and obscure minutess, pull stringsing the monetary values, selling the points belonging to a desert inhabitant by a townsman Al-Najsh ( hocus-pocus ) , false eulogium and privacy of defects are all illustrations of cheating and fraud i.e. Al-Gashsh. The Prophet ( southwest ) has strongly condemned all such patterns in a figure of traditions and the truster to abstain from them. A The marketer and the purchaser have the right to maintain the goods or return them every bit long as they have non parted. He besides said that if both the parties have spoken the truth and described the defects every bit good as the virtues thereof ( the goods ) , they would be blessed in their trade. If they have told prevarications or concealed something, so approvals of their dealing would be lost. ( Bukhari, No: 1937 ) A A Cursing The bargainers frequently take resorts to cursing to stress that their points are of good quality. They claim qualities in the ware, which do nt be. They try to carry the purchasers to buy their trade good by raising Allah s name. Cursing in concern for such intents is out in Islam, be it false or true. A Cursing [ by the marketer ] may carry the client to buy the goods but the trade will be deprived of Allah s approval. ( Bukhari, No: 1945 ) A Giving Short Measures Another signifier of fraudulence is to pull strings weights and steps. It refers to the act of taking full steps from others and giving them short steps in your bend. Giving short steps was a common unease blighting the pre-Islamic yearss. The community of the Prophet Shuayb ( southwest ) was known for rehearsing it with impunity.. One of the poetries says: And O my people! give merely step and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due: commit non evil in the land with purpose to make mischievousness. ( Hud 11:84-88 ) A A Covering in Stolen Goods Almighty Allah has declared thievery improper and warned of terrible penalty such as cutting the manus of the stealer from the carpus articulation if the necessary legal conditions for the award of penalty are met. Even if the stealer escapes worldly punishment and gets off with stolen goods, it is non allowable for a Muslim to knowingly purchase or sell these points. The stolen points are neither to be bought nor sold by those who know the world. : A The 1 who knowingly purchases a stolen good, is a spouse to the act of wickedness and the shame. A Decision In modern times concern moralss has become a major subject of treatment among concern communities and other related organisations. Each and every society has evolved ethical and moral codifications of behavior for concern minutess. However, the Western secular ethical values are by and big supposed to be useful, comparative, situational and devoid of any religious sanctioning power. The Islamic ethical codifications, on the contrary, are humane instead than useful or comparative. They are good for all times and absolute and do nt acquire old as believed by people. Encyclopedia Britannica comments about Umar: The stating with which he began his reign will neer turn antiquated: By God, he that is weakest among you shall be in my oculus the strongest, until I have vindicated for him his rights ; he that is strongest I will handle as the weakest, until he complies with the jurisprudence . It would be impossible to give a better general definition of the map of the State. Ethical and moral codifications in Islam are portion of the overall Islamic religion and detecting them will non merely take to a happy province of personal businesss in this universe but besides holds the promise of multiplex returns in the Hereafter. Islamic ethical and moral codifications therefore create a sense of duty and answerability in the heads of the trusters, be they purchasers or Sellerss. Our attempt been to show the Islamic position refering concern moralss. As we saw, the ethical codification of Islam is multidimensional, far making and comprehensive. Islamic ethical model is repeatedly stressed throughout the Holy Quran, and the instructions of the Prophet and embrace all domains of life including concern fiscal traffics and duties. The cardinal codifications of moral behaviors such as truthfulness, trustiness, generousness and lenience, attachment to concern committednesss and contracts, just intervention of workers, turning away of evil patterns ( such as fraud, cheating, fraudulence, billboard of grocery, developments, giving short steps etc. ) provide, to a big extent, the general background of Islamic concern moralss. A BIBLOGRAPHY Book Lectures on Ethical motives, Dr. Sabahuddin Azmi, Ph. D. ( Economics ) , Lecturer, College of Islamic Banking, World Al-Lootah University ( Internet ) , Dubai.A Islamic Business Ethics, Rafiq Issa Bekun. Web sites: www.islamonline.net makkah.wordpress.com/ /some-key-business-ethics-principles-in-islam www.islamicperspective.net/Pictures/Essay % 20File/a6s2s2.pdf

Cynodictis - Facts and Figures

Cynodictis - Facts and Figures Name: Cynodictis (Greek for in-between dog); pronounced SIGH-no-DIK-tiss Habitat: Plains of North America Historical Epoch: Late Eocene-Early Oligocene (37-28 million years ago) Size and Weight: About two feet long and 5-10 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Long, narrow muzzle; low-slung body    About Cynodictis As has happened with so many other once-obscure prehistoric animals, Cynodictis owes its current popularity to its cameo appearances on the BBC series Walking with Beasts: in one episode, this early carnivore was shown chasing away a juvenile Indricotherium, and in another, it was a quick snack for a passing Ambulocetus (not a very convincing scenario, since this walking whale wasnt much bigger than its presumed prey!) Until recently, it was widely believed that Cynodictis was the first true canid, and thus lay at the root of 30 million years of dog evolution. Today, though, its relationship to modern dogs is more dubious: Cynodictis seems to have been a close relative of Amphicyon (better known as the Bear Dog), a type of carnivore that succeeded the giant creodonts of the Eocene epoch. Whatever its ultimate classification, Cynodictis certainly behaved like a proto-dog, chasing down small, furry prey on the boundless plains of North America (and possibly digging them out of shallow burrows as well).

Computer literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Computer literacy - Essay Example These make of computers are expensive and mainly used for specific operations and applications that need huge amount of information and calculations. They are used in weather forecasting among many other places where supercomputers are needed such as nuclear energy research, geological data analysis, and electronic design. Mainframe computers- it is a powerful computer used by several users thus referred to as a multi-user computer. These computers got their names after the small â€Å"minicomputers† emerged in the early 1970s. Today, the mainframe computers are very large. They are very expensive since they can support several hundreds of users at the same time. In different ways, it can be said that mainframe computers exhibit superior characteristics compared to supercomputers since they can support several programs simultaneously. On the other hand, supercomputers have the advantage of executing single programs at a faster rate compared to mainframe computers. Minicomputers- these are midsize computers used for applications. Their main uses includes engineering, desktop publishing, development of software and many other applications that needs moderate amount of power to compute. Personal computers-they first came to existence in 1970s. They are small, inexpensive and designed to be used by individual users. The first types of personal computers to come to the market were the Apple II. Personal computers are categorized depending on size and chassis. The chassis is also referred to as the metal frame, which serves as the structural support for electronic components. Personal computers evolved to a point where small portable computers came to being. There are different types of personal computers including Tower model-in this computer, the mass storage, motherboard and the power supply are on top of one another in a cabinet. This is opposite of what exists in the desktop models where these computer components are in a compact set of box. Tower

Paper of fact how the death penalty costs more than life in prison Essay

Paper of fact how the death penalty costs more than life in prison - Essay Example Thre had been 550 executions carried out since the reinstitution of the death penalty (Radelet and Borg 43). The death penalty is considered to be a method of deterrence, the primary reason for the argument for the death penalty in the 1970s centered on this debate. However, this has been denounced as a viable excuse for the death penalty as it is rarely considered as part of the cost/benefit internal discussion of an offender during the commission of a crime that would warrant a death penalty verdict. According to Radelet and Akers, as related in Radelet and Borg, â€Å" in a recent survey of current and former presidents of three professional associations of criminologists (the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Law and Society Association), 85% of the experts agreed that the empirical research on deterrence has shown that the death penalty never has been, is not, and never could be superior to long prison sentences as a deterrent to criminal violence† (45). Therefore, deterrence is not a viable argument for the death penalty. The second argument for the death penalty is incapacitation. ... life in prison went on to commit a murder later on, and ironically, this figure turned out to be the same percentage of those 630 offenders who were discovered to be innocent of the crimes for which they had been originally sentenced to death (46). One way in which the death penalty provides context is in consideration of the nature of law and race relations. The statistics show that since the new laws have been put into place, the death penalty is far more likely to be put into place by an average of three to four times more often when the victim is white. There is a less bias when the offender is concerned, but more often it is within the racial nature of the victim (Radelet and Borg 48). The nature of law, unfortunately, has shown that race is a defining factor in the treatment of an offender, whether it be through their own race or through that of their victim. Because law is subjectively applied, race has an effect in the decisions of the judicial branch of government. In additi on, it has been very rare that anyone of any means has been sentenced to death, making the death sentence relative to the poverty of the offender (Geraghty 209). However, the best argument that has come into existence, one that covers a vast number of issues in regard to the use of the death penalty as a punitive measure, is that concerning the financial costs of the issue. One of the reasons that is often given, by a factor of 11%, in support of the death penalty is because there is a belief that a death sentence is cheaper than supporting a life sentence of incarceration. However, the estimates in 1988 for the overall costs of an execution were 3.2 million, with it costing a mere 600,000 for life in prison (Radelet and Borg 50). While these figures are more than likely very different 20

Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Communication - Essay Example It is therefore important to effectively correspond to all stakeholders on appropriate strategies and objectives for calamity control procedures. This paper describes the five critical assumptions of an effective disaster communication strategy. To understand the five critical assumptions of an effective disaster communication strategy, it is important to posit that these strategies are based on the divergent stages of an effective calamity management procedure. Disaster management is categorized into various stages i.e. mitigation, preparedness, responses, and recovery stages. Consequently, a useful calamity communication plan of action has five basic postulations. According to Haddow, Bullock and Coppola, these include â€Å"customer focus, leadership commitment, inclusion of communication in planning and operations, good information, and media partnership† (134). Customer focus Studies done in the past have elucidated the fact that an effective disaster control structure is ought to focus on the consumer. In other words, the first priority should be to benefit the consumer. According to Haddow, Bullock and Coppola, an efficient disaster control structure considers the requirements and desires of the consumer and necessitates all stakeholders to be alert, quick to respond, and instructive. It is of significance to consider the fact that the consumers of a disaster control procedure are varied and may comprise workers or employees from international organizations, national institutions, governments, as well as a number of additional stakeholders associated with calamity control. It may also comprise o local individuals. Available sources posit that information relayed to each of the consumers affected must be on the basis of individual or institutional requirements (135). Leadership commitment According to Haddow, Bullock and Coppola, the initial stages a successful disaster control plan of action is established or instituted in participation and involv ement of the individuals involved in decision making within the body or institution involved in the process. Decision makers in the body conducting the operation must be loyal in terms of giving out and publicizing facts associated with the impending calamity. It is also important to involve decision makers in other related bodies and stakeholders as well as the local leaders in propagating all the facts of the calamity. This is attributed to the fact that articulate discharge of the relevant and useful facts regarding an impending calamity is important and hence individuals with necessary communication skills such as local leaders of the involved body are ought to be involved (135). Decision makers in a calamity situation are also ought to candidly encourage, approve, and support effective sharing and exchange of facts and information among all the stakeholders. Preparation and implementation It is also of importance to posit that dedication and loyalty of decision makers in disast er correspondence in relation to forecasting, preparation, and necessary procedures is critical. An expert in correspondence matters should therefore be involved and be incorporated or integrated in the decision-making group. Discharge of relevant information and facts of an impending calamity as well as other plans of actions geared towards mitigations procedures has been made less complicated by the use

Comets Essay Example for Free

Comets Essay A comet is a small body, roughly the size of a small town, in the Solar System. It is made up of ice, rock, dust, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and more. Some researchers think comets might have originally brought some of the water and organic molecules to Earth that now make up life here. Comets become visible as they near the Sun. The tail of a comet is its most characteristic feature. Round and round a comet goes in its orbit and when it comes into the inner solar system. Each time a comet gets closer to the Sun, the ice on the surface of the nucleus, measuring ten miles or less, begins turning into gas, forming a cloud known as the coma. Radiation from the sun pushes dust particles away from the coma, which can reach 1 million miles wide, forming a dust tail, while charged particles from the sun convert some of the comets gases into ions, forming a stream of volatile materials known as an ion tail. Some tails can reach 100 million miles long. The tail of the comet always points away from the Sun, since they are shaped by sunlight and the solar wind, so that when the comet is receding from the Sun, its tail actually runs before it. Typical comet loses about one tenth of a percent of its mass every time it passes near the Sun. After one thousand passages or so, Comets lose all their ices, leaving behind only an orbiting stream of fragile, inactive objects, meteoric dust, ice, and pebbles, similar to an asteroids. When Earth, in its annual journey around the Sun, passes through one of these dusty tracks, we are treated to a meteor shower. For centuries, scientists thought comets traveled in the Earths atmosphere, but in 1577, observations made by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe revealed they actually traveled far beyond the moon. Isaac Newton later discovered that comets move in elliptical, oval-shaped orbits around the Sun, and correctly predicted that they could return again and again. Throughout history comets inspired both wonder and fear. They were known as hairy stars resembling fiery swords that appeared unpredictably in the sky. Often, comets seemed to be omens of doom. The most ancient known mythology, the Babylonian â€Å"Epic of Gilgamesh,† described fire, brimstone, and flood with the arrival of a comet. (Goldman, 2009) Chinese astronomers kept extensive records on comets for centuries, including illustrations, observations and celestial positions of Halleys Comet going back to at least 240 BC; historic archives that have proven valuable resources for later astronomers. A few dozen comets are discovered annually by astronomers with telescopes or on photographic plates. Comets are usually named after their discoverer, and/or has spacecraft missions incorporated into their name. Most Comets are too faint or small to be seen without a telescope. Only every few years does a comet grow bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. A highly visible comet was Hale-Bopp, which came within 122 million miles of Earth in 1997. Its unusually large nucleus gave off a great deal of dust and gas, roughly 18 to 25 miles across, appeared bright to the naked eye. Our solar system is surrounded by a sphere, or cocoon, of cold, dark comets called the Oort Cloud, far beyond the orbit of Pluto, that reaches halfway to the nearest stars. Most Comets are believed to inhabit The Oort Cloud, however it has never been observed directly; but it must exist to account for the comets that arrive in our vicinity from enormous distances. (Dickinson, 1999). The Kuiper Belt, was discovered in an attempt to locate the non-existent tenth planet, planet X. The Kuiper belt was named after Gerard Kuiper an astronomer who predicted its existence in 1951. The Kuiper belt is a belt of comets. The first of these comets was picked up in 1992 during a deliberate search by astronomers. It is a chunk of primordial ice about 200 kilometers in diameter orbiting the Sun at 1 ? imes Neptune’s distance. In the years since the discovery, more than 100 similar sized objects have been found in orbits outside Neptune’s path. This is known as Trans-Neptunian Objects, (TNO). These giant cosmic ice balls are left over from the formation of the solar system. There are millions of comets six miles in diameter and thousands measuring a few do zen kilometers across, that form the Kuiper Belt. They are short-period comets. They take less than 200 years to orbit the sun, and in many cases their appearance is predictable because they have passed by before. Short period comets come around with steady regularity. Halleys Comet is likely the most famous short period comet in the world; it becomes visible to the naked eye on its return, every seventy-six years. Its last visit near Earth was in 1986. At that time five spacecraft flew past it, attaining extraordinary information, coming close enough to study its nucleus which is normally concealed by the comets coma. The potato-shaped, nine mile long contains equal part ice and dust, with about 80 percent of the ice made of water, and about 15 percent of it consisting of frozen carbon monoxide. Researchers believe other comets are chemically similar to Halleys Comet. The Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, discovered by Gene Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy. March 25, 1993 (Raymo, 2001). This short-periodic comet was the comet of the Great Comet Crash of 1994. The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided spectacularly with Jupiter in 1994, with the giant planets gravitational pull ripping the comet apart for at least 21 visible impacts. The largest collision created a fireball that rose about 1,800 miles (3,000 km) above the Jovian cloud tops as well as a giant dark spot more than 7,460 miles (12,000 km) across, about the size of the Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope, orbiting 375 miles above our planet’s surface, (Rosselli, 1998) has shown the effects of the comet smashing into the surface of Jupiter with an explosive power of 100 million megatons, which was the most violent event ever witnessed in the solar system. Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp are long-period comets. These Oort Cloud comets have orbital periods of thousands or millions of years. Their appearance is unpredictable. They follow long cigar shaped trajectories that take them far out beyond Pluto. They move like wave, up and down. At the cold, black tops of their curves, far from the Sun they proceed with a laborious leisureliness, taking as long as 30 million years to complete one trip around the sun. They gather speed as they fall toward the inner solar system, moving at its fastest, it punches around the Sun, then they slow again as they climb back to the tops of their trajectory. A potentially bright Oort cloud might be discovered at any time, typically somewhere near the orbit of Jupiter on its way center stage in the inner solar system. The brightest apparitions occur when a comet passes near Earth on its inward or outward journey. A comet is not like anything anyone has seen before. It is a starkly fascinating, and amazing visual experience, evoking passions of fear, anxiety, admiration, wonder, and bewilderment to the enlightened and unenlightened observer. Comets, especially those that are bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, continue to fascinate the Earth’s population. With 2013 being deemed â€Å"Year of The Comet,† (Barnett, 2013), astronomers, scientist, and watchers of all kinds can look forward to a rare treat; two visible comets, Pan- STARRS (3/12/13) ISON (11/28/13), in one year!

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome :: essays research papers

Fetal alcohol syndrome The 1990s is witnessing the significant impact alcohol-related birth defects are having on our society. These birth defects are caused by maternal use of alcohol during pregnancy which are irreversible, yet preventable. The most severe outcome, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), to the less easily diagnosed fetal alcohol effects (FAE). The incidence of FAS is estimated at .33 per 1,000 live births. The estimated incidence of FAE is three times that of FAS. With an annual cost of $76.4 million in the United States which only includes FAS, not FAE. The bulk of these costs are associated with mental retardation. It impacts the family, education system, health system and social services in general, as well as individual losses. FAS is considered the most common known cause of mental retardation in the Western World. For a positive diagnosis of FAS, in addition to a history of maternal alcohol use during pregnancy, each of the following three categories must be present: 1. slow growth before and after birth including weight, height and/or head circumference, 2. facial dysmorphology such as thin upper lip, flattened philtrum, and/or short openings between eyelids, and 3. damage to the central nervous system. Diagnosis can be difficult because many of the critical diagnostic features change with age. It is most difficult to diagnose in newborns and adults. Reaching an FAE diagnosis is even more difficult because only some of the symptoms are present, and possibly not as visible. This disorder cannot be detected by genetic testing because the damage is done after the baby is born. It is not known how much a pregnant woman can safely drink without damaging the fetus, although heavier drinking increases the likelihood of damage. Also, there does not seem to be any time during pregnancy when it is safe to drink. As a result, it is generally recommended that pregnant women abstain from drinking. Children born later to alcoholic mothers were at greater risk than older siblings. Another variable is the fact that drinking alcohol may not be the only risk-taking behavior of the mother. Poor nutrition, poor health, smoking, and other drug use may also contribute to poorer neonatal outcome. There is still a lot to be learned about how alcohol causes damage to the fetus, as well as the timing of exposure. Alcohol affects many organ systems, including the brain, which develops throughout all trimesters of pregnancy.