Mongo Beti’s Narrative in ‘The Poor Christ of Bomba’ Essay

Postcolonialism is a term that ranges from artistic actions, political theories, cultural theories, and social ideologies which have created a new genre of African writers in the mid to late twentieth century that theorize this term. The fallout, drawbacks, and social emergences that have come out of colonialism appear to have taken the definition of postcolonialism up to a certain point because according to some theorists of postcolonialism, the definition still remains subjective. At this point, what remains is still the level of understanding toward the colonized and remaining questions as to the motives of the colonizers to colonize. Postcolonialism relegates the colonizers intent to just personal financial gains over the colonized, whereas the colonized and its following generations still are dealing with the results of such humiliations and dominations impacted by colonialism. Perhaps to understand some of the effects of postcolonialism a reader should have a textual analysis of colonialism itself. In the book, The Poor Christ of Bomba, the author, Mongo Beti uses narration to tell a story that takes the reader inside the mind of a fourteen year old who finds himself in a situation beyond his control. The characterization of the narrate personify an age that draws the line between innocence and awareness. The condition as it were in the book takes a satirical approach on how the circumstances under colonialism rule may have been. Betis clever play on words, situations, and storylines open up the mind of the reader to take in some of the implications attribute to colonialism that make the term postcolonialism so arbitrary (Chrisman 8-11). Postcolonialism is referred to what actually happens after colonialism, its predecessor. The area controlled by is territorial occupier gains its independence and appropriates its own establishment. Politically it may appear that this area is now completely independent; however, the question remains if postcolonialism is completely underway. That issue in trying to define postcolonialism for theorists is answering that particular question. They claim colonialism occupies not just a geographical area but a geographical unconsciousness of the mind of the colonized. Even though the area is now free of its colonizers, is it really free of its conscious self? When language, culture, religion, and education has been altered to evoke a new one for years upon new generations of people, can those people find  their way to their ancestral state? So, if postcolonialism represents a medium of after colonialization, then it must also include the affects of displacement has occurred and perhaps this is why postcolonialism is so inflexible to define to one particular presumption because there are varied implications such as social, economic, political, and religious cultural aspects have to be taken into account before a linear definition is implemented into postcolonialism (305-311). Post-colonialism also refers to a set of theories in philosophy and literature which tackle with the inherited 19th century British and French colonial rule. As a literary theory, postcolonialism consists with literature created in countries that were once colonies of other countries and in fact, for some, this may still be the case. This faction has produced many theorists that have upstaged the term and its meaning to other nonsingular forms according to Aijaz Ahmad, who by feels a grand perplexity of the definition in literature and feels that the point of what is postcolonialism is being subverted. He feels that as long as the word does not remain as is and that if independent states the use political strategies of colonizers, there will also be inequalities among people and governments which will be referred to as non-white. This globalization sphere of postcolonialism will historical harness the fundamental effect of constructing this globalized transhistorcity of colonialism is to evacuate the very meaning of the word and dispense that meaning so widely that we can no longer speak if determinate histories of determinate structures such as that of the postcolonial state (31). Before postcolonialism is understood at some level, colonialism itself has to be defined. Mongo Beti uses his book, The Poor Christ of Bomba, to tell a fictional tale of colonialism. He uses wit, satire, irony, and parodies to bring forth some revelations about this subject matter of colonialism. Beti uses biographical narration. It resembles autobiographical narration which takes the reader through a historical account using a diary-like dialogue of the main protagonists life with other members of society such as the colonizers and the villagers who live alongside of the road of Bomba. Denis is the young boy whose mental imagery where this invasion takes place is  ultimately the readers tour guide of what colonialism may have like. Mongo Beti (1932-2001) was a Cameroon writer who was a theorists, novelist, essayist, and publisher. He is noted for being a prominent African writer who has been known to use satirical approaches to criticize and emphasize the effects of colonialism through his fictional novels. The importance of his characters in his novels, for example, The Poor Christ of Bomba, gives visional insight though the narrative of how the hierarchal order of the colonizer adhered to its position and then how the colonized submission presumably took place. Beti uses satire as a literary device to draw consciousness of a subject whose remnants have tried to define its effects known as postcolonialism. African Literature revolves around narration whether it is oral or written. Oral literature in Africa is considered enormously colorful, rich, and varied. Oral literature is closely association with rhythmus and music. Audiences are invited to participate; however through narration audience participation is different. Narration is seen as two kinds of art: performance art and informative. It is rich with folktales, myths, legends, and proverbs. Through narration present generations find a connection with ancestral past. Although earliest accounts of Africa literature are religious texts written in indigenous languages, most recently the major theme of African literature is the clash between traditional cultures and modernization which is written in a multitude of languages reflected by cross-cultures and colonization (Abiola 3). North Africa is dominated by Arabic language and its northern counties are considered Arab countries such as Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria for example. East Africas language is Swahili and dates back to 1652. By the mid-19th century, Latin script became more popular. During the 20th century Africa literatures in European languages resulted because of colonialism. Cameroon literature of the 1990s is considered a reflection of its economic state. What Mongo Beti did by writing a book like The Poor Christ of Bomba, certainly made him ahead of his time. Much the literature is centered on the political status the country is in. Although tradition oral literatures are  there for social and religious purposes, written literatures excel in trying to bring political change to the awareness of its people (Krieger 20). Mongo Betis first hand account of colonialism combined with his traditional milieu with oral literature and creative writing abilities helped him bring a story whose narration posses the elements to place the reader in the middle of situation such as colonialism where for a moment the colonizer and the colonized have nowhere to go but live the life placed on them and leaves the future unanswered for the colonized. It is this wavering end which sets the subjective meaning and tone for the definition of postcolonialism to be so broad and unpredictable. Perhaps one reason why the definition is random is because the effects of colonialism to people are different and cohesive at the same time. As the colonizers in the book bring their culture and religion to villagers in Africa, the people are affected differently and yet very similar at the same time; therefore, postcolonialism more than likely parallels the onset of this circumstance. Beti uses satire as a literary device to tell his story in his book. Perchance his book may have not been published had he taken a more disconcerting approach to the text. Satire became very popular during the early modern England in the mid-seventeenth century. It usually was used by anonymous authors who mocked the monarch, commonwealth, and then the Oliver Cromwell. By the 19th century it was used to mock social classes and Victorian values. Satire is known to use harsh or light humor to draw attention to a situation or a plight to try to bring attention to it, correct it, or change it. Beti uses strong satirical elements for his narrative to perhaps illustrate a problem such as colonialism to the forefront of his readers mind. He then mixes in tradition narration like oral literature to set the tone for his story using biographical narration to tell the story of colonialism. Biographical narration is a story relating key facts or events with a person’s life. It relates a sequence of events and communicates the significance of the events to the audience. There are certain scenes and incidents in precise places which are used to describe location of events. Sensory details are vital in describing the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene. Detailed actions, movements, gestures, and  feelings of the characters are used to express usage of interior monologue to depict the characters feeling. Beti uses a biographical description in the life of the characterization of Denis. It is through his naà ¯ve eyes that the reader is exposed to the French imperialists domination of Bomba. It is through this lens that the reader sees what the main protagonist, Reverend Father Drumont, is like. The main characters in this book share a parallel to what is perhaps the link that embellishes the dramatis personae that details the account of who are the people represented in colonialism as a whole, for example, the colonizers and the colonized (Gikandi 61-70). The colonizer presents the dominant hierarchical state. This is characterized as a system of power. The elements which comprise this system are first the French government. The French government felt compelled perhaps to take a different approach then the English to colonize Africa. They embedded their culture, language, and religion so fervently as a result today many Africa areas speak French as their first language and have remained Christian. Those perhaps resemble the colonizer are the Vicar, M. Vidal, Reverend Father Drumont and to some extend the instrument used or weapon of choice was the Catholic Church to influence the people of Bomba. The Colonized are everyone else and possibly in the end, the reader. The Sixta women, Catherine, the narrator, Zacharia, and the men of Bomba play the roles of the colonized. Although their positions and situations emerge differently in the narrative, they are still under the colonizers rule. Their positions are different which exemplify the fact of how diverse historical factors come into play when defining the after affects of colonialism. Each character embraces the colonizer and being colonized in a dissimilar way; therefore, the outcome of colonialism will create disparity for each type of person, such as, male, female, child, and/or new regime. This may be part of the problem in defining postcolonialism. Every person is affected uniquely and individually because each person is a separate embodiment of one another. Beti emphasis this predicament in each of his characters colonized or not, the condition is different yet the same. All play roles to feed and fuel colonialism. The Poor Christ of Bomba is about the Frenchs Christian mission to colonize African society in order to profit and assert dominion over sovereign territories. In order for the French to carry out this mission of authority they had to try to come with gifts of humanity, tolerance, and Christianity. The French engrossed their colonies with their language, their way of life, and culture politics. Words were changed from native tongues to French words. The impact was to make African people more like the French. The French failed to see the way Africans lived and survived. The French saw them as barbaric without religion or culture. The Africans did as they were told for very different reasons and as a result, they were weakened by this dominating force. Father Drumont is first seen as a compassionate and caring individual who symbolizes the good in a superior-like nation. He message of Christ to help save pagan people bring a message of hope to women in polygamist families and child who appear to be interested in his message. The men are not interested in hearing about Christ but are interested in what the mission may bring to help build their economic state and infrastructures for the betterment of the regions. What happens is the African system the Africans was known is destroyed and Father Drumont realizes his failure to completely change the people. This book represents the disagreement between Christian and pagan power. This is symbolic of the disparagement between both the French and the Africans. Part of the novels creation relies heavily in the fact that the characters will finally have a better understanding of who they are at the end of the novel and how colonialism affects both sides of the aisle. While religion plays an important role, the mission is factual a camouflage to hide the genuine reason why the French are there. The use of Christianity which even fools some of the colonizers themselves such as Father Drumont is essentially Betis archetype to use irony as a reflection of which religion and politics go hand in hand. The missionary is the representation is the epitome of irony Beti illustrates in the book. The mission is used as an excuse to continue the spreading of Christ but in reality it is the  spreading French propaganda which tries and keeps the people suppressed so they wont be punished for their sins. The narrator, Denis, is a young fourteen year old boy. He represents the reader. The reader knows possibly nothing of what colonization is or implies. As the reader continues to read the story with the narrators thoughts and dialogue with others, he starts comprehending how easily the Africans were fooled by the French. Denis, in his still naà ¯ve state is excited about the mission he will embark with Reverend Father Drumont. Denis assumes the mission is not just a spiritual quest but one of material supremacy. He is easily lured as so many Africans were. All the older characters voice their inner thoughts and Denis, because he still is very immature and makes fun of the situations at hand. Denis is excited about the mission and the material things it will bring. The French are too but obtain grander things from it. He comments, And we need so many things—an organ for the new church, a tractor for ploughing our fields, a generator for electric light, a motor-car, and so forth (Beti 9). The mission appears to a source for financial possibilities rather than the spreading of love of Christ. In an ironical twist this is the very start when Denis starts receiving mixing messages about Father Drumont and the Christianity he represents. Certainly Denis feels the church makes money through its members, but eventually finds out that whatever may seen convenient for the Father is convenient for the church without regard of its members and to those where the mission visits them. This inconsistency is a continual motif in the book. While Denis is influenced heavily by Father Drumont and his antics, Denis reveals a sense of maturity and knowledge in the end of the book; however, this knowledge doesnt reveal wisdom, only a sense of trying to remove himself from the problem of colonialism much like the reader may what to do so. The character of Catherine can symbolize what Africa should be like. She is free and beautiful unlike the Sixta women, she does what she wants. Although  she is under colonial rule, she is able to infiltrate the colonizers temporary rule and still live by her own standards. She maintains Africas historical past. She is mysterious, magical, and lures any man she wants. Denis falls under her spell just like the reader may also fall for her because Africa, even though not actually sexual, is sensualized in the form of Catherine. The emphasis placed on her character by Beti also represents the hope Africa will survive colonialism and find a free self and identity after the invaders leave; however, just as everyone involved Catherine has a major issue within her of her own identity emulated perhaps in Africas because they were so easily taken in. Identity is seen as who and what you are. For Africa, who were ill prepared to fight against the Frenchs intentions and lacked the unification to gather strength among themselves, they identified themselves collectively but not enough to oppose the French (Wolfreys 95-97). Zacharia is the cook. He is the consciousness of the colonizer even though he is in a colonized position. Beti uses this character to function as the checks and balances between the narrators inexperienced views over Father Drumonts true character. Zacharia goes on the mission along with the narrator and the Father. As a mediator of sorts and the most level headed one of the characters in the story, educates the Father and the narrator, Denis, as the journey gets underway about African culture. He seems zany, corky, and irresponsible. Beti uses this character perhaps to be the voice of the author who finally deposes and exposes Father and the system which he represents and fights so hard to maintain as a symbol of truth. Zacharia understands Africas former self and goes on this journey to find out what the whites know that they dont. In a way, he also represents those men in the town who seem interested in Christ but really want to make money and do business alongside their oppressor, the French. He is the spokesmen for the African standpoint in the book. He understands that modern society is plagued by the importance of money, so he too wants to know more about it. In a serious, sarcastic, satirical, and ironical way, Zacharia is the only character who can bring truths of African ways to light for the reader, the narrator, and the Father. Zacharia is really the only person the Father  listens to beside the system which in turn will also compromise his life as part of the damage caused by colonialism because it will displace the Father after the journey is over. The Father will then have no place to go. What follows the Father throughout the story is Zacharias advice and knowledge about the people of Africa and the system by which propels that Father to do what he thinks he is there in Africa to do. At one pivotal point in the book that changes things around for the Father is when Zacharia tells the Father that the first notion of God didnt come from him. To much surprise, the Father questions the motives of the roadside construction to M. Vidal and is told by Vidal that his intensions are to use the people into forced labor. This is when the Father has his first realization about his mission that serves capitalistic motives over Christianity (133-34). M. Vidal is the epitome of the colonizer. He is self-serving without a conscience and without a humane bone in his body much like the system he represents. He is the closest to the colonizer as possible. He wants to insure the people have completely submitted to the teachings of the church so they can do what the real purpose of the mission is. It is there to conquer hearts and minds as a consequent, they can work for the church and by doing so they have enslaved themselves to the very system who served them the illusion of Christianity. The Sixta women are an example of this kind of manifested slavery granted by the Fathers teachings. The women are used for hard labor and then free sex. When it is discovered most of them have venereal disease that are seen as dirty; however, under French rule, the Father is guilty of not protecting them and placing them in a vulnerable position. This chaotic outcome is a grander scope of the missions failure under the Fathers rule. The Sixta women are submissive, turned into whore-like behavior, and are worked harder than any other kind of people under Raphaels command placed and over sought by the Father. They are forced to confess their sexual misconduct but before are beaten with a cane. The Sixta women endure punishments brought on by the Father, the supposed incontrollable sexual urges of the men, and the system that needs them to work which in many ways mirror the victimization of  colonialism, the Sixta women are women are more easily taken advantage of since they are femal e. The Sixta women represent what the colonizer may see as Africas people: uncivilized, promiscuous, and in need of a good spanking like misbehaved children. The Sixta women, like Africa, took a beating that was physically, physiologically, psychologically, and sociological by its colonizers. This is why it is so hard to try to define a word like postcolonialism. Parts of a major problem are the people being colonized sometimes didnt support each other much like the men who had sex with the Sixta women. The ones who would get blamed where the women, in as sense the men let their own people get beaten for their won mistakes. Instead of controlling their own urges they only added to this image of sexual savagery the colonizer already theorized that they were. The Father, the main protagonist in the novel, Reverend Father Drumont, is the life force of the colonizer. The Father is a major part of the structure and working function of the colonizer. In retrospect, he is the colonizer because he is a major player who successful to a certain degree in colonizing the people of Africa. He brings the word of Christianity to keep the people in line. The people, like the Sixta women, are forced to work for the church and change their lifestyles to fit in. By encompassing this transition because of religion, the people in fact serve the French; therefore; the people through no fault of their own serve the colonizer because they are serving the church through the guiding hand of Father Drumont. Father Drumont is not as harden as Vidal but he is part of the cancer that feeds the people of Africa. Beti makes Father Drumont see the error of his ways through the advice of Zacharia. By making Father Drumont see this turnover, Beti is saying that all those who helped the system work are capable of realizing why it will fail. The reason it will fail is because humanity is not perfect and truth will emerge no matter what scheme tries to suppress it (Young 5-7). At the end of the book the reader realizes the next step is uncharted and open. Beti lays the groundwork to feel a sense of what colonization can do to people. He also leaves the question of postcolonialism up to the narrator who for some reason is clueless. It is important for Beti to end the book  this way because the purpose for the book itself has been carefully and wittingly established. Postcolonialism is considered the after affects of colonialism. Beti introduces a glimpse of who the people were who lived though the ravishment of colonialism in the town of Bomba. The book should also be noted for other insights and credited for a wondrous storytelling plights. Through the biographical narration, Beti defines the troublesome situations the characters of Bomba find themselves as those colonized may have experienced. He sets the tone and pace the underlying reason the French arrived with ulterior motives to help the people of Africa. The multiplicity of the characters and their situations mirror the multiplicity of defining postcolonialism. Where the people go from is up to the reader. Other authors suggest two things: revolt against the oppressor or work with them (Memmi 136-141). The dilemma is that it is not that simple because while reading the book by Beti what is ventured in the mission is the complexity of colonialism to begin with. Beti tries to put a face on several varied situations through distinct characters. Perhaps Beti named his book The Poor Christ of Bomba, because one particular meaning for Bomba means a wild, rich dance that culminates between the rhythm and the dancer. The colonizers instrument of choice to dominate the Africans was religion. The allocation of Catholicism which happened to be a less than a desirable concept to the regions alongside Bomba in the story helped serve the people of Bomba a less than desirable dance embodied the notion of Jesus and rhythmic quest of the French. Conceivably the metaphor for the title is that the combination of the Frenchs intentions with the African people just didnt sound good musically, contiguity, or even symbolically. Works Cited Abiola, Irele F. The Origins of a Species: African literature. Black Issues Book Review(January 1, 2001). Ahmad, Aijaz. Postcolonialism: Whats in a Name? Late Imperial Cultural. Eds. RomanLa Coupa. E. Ann Kaplan, Michael Sprinkler. New York: Verso. 1995. Beti, Mongo. The Poor Christ of Bomba. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. Reissued 2005. Chrisman, Laura and Patrick Williams Editors. Colonial Discourse and Post-ColonialTheory: A Reader. New York: Columbia University Press. 1994. Gikandi, Simon. Reading the African Novel: Studies in African Literature. NewHampshire: Heinemann Publishing. 1987. Krieger, Milton and Joseph Takougang. African State and Society in the 1990s:Cameroon’s Political Crossroads. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. 1998. Memmi, Albert. The Colonizer and the Colonized. Boston: Beacon Press. ExpandedEdition 1991. Wolfreys, Julian. Critical Keywords in Literary and Cultural Theory. New York:Palgrave. 2004Young, Robert. Postcolonialsim: A Very Short Introduction. New York: OxfordUniversity Press. 2003

Emile Durkeim, rational choice theory, Sykes and Matza

Chelsea Tirado Professor Lay Intro To Criminal Justice 4:30-5:45 1. Emile Durkeim believed that deviance and or crime was a normal thing to do. He believed it to be a second nature. According to the textbook, he first noted that all human societies have crime, even if there is differences in terms of what acts are criminalized. He also saw that crime would not occur only if every single being in society agreed not to commit a bad act. This would not work because of all the human diversity in the world.Kai Erickson believes that deviant acts are considered along a norm that was violated. One function of deviance is to maintain control in socities. According to the textbook, Erickson states that each deviant act, the community has an opportunity to reflect on deviance and decide whether the boundaries of acceptable behavior should be strengthened, kept the same, or relaxed. Erickson and Durkheim's views are both similar and different. Erickson's view has more of a psychology base, mean while Durkheim's view is a bit more straightforward. 2.According to the textbook, the rational choice theory is defined as an explanation for crime suggesting that offenders use a strategic thinking process to valuate the potential rewards and risks from committing a crime and make their decision accordingly about whether or not to commit the crime. It is a modern version of classical criminology using free will as a philosophical base. In shorter words, when a criminal commits a crime, they have a decision process that goes through their head of both how to commit the crime, and the consequences if caught.When a criminal goes through the rational choice, they may also be deterred from committing the crime all together. According to the textbook, the routine activities theory is defined as a theory that views crime and victimization as a unction of peoples everyday behavior, habits, lifestyle, living conditions, and social interactions. This theory suggests that crime occurs when th ree elements converge† a motivated offender, a suitable target, and a lack of capable guardians.In shorter words, the routine activities theory explains that offenders are pretty much set in their ways. These two theories are both alike, but mostly different. The rational choice theory suggests that a criminal goes through more of a thinking process as opposed to the routine activities theory that suggests that crime and victimization is a part of behavior. 4. Gresham Sykes and David Matza have a technique that is practiced with neutralization. Offenders learn to ignore social values and morals which in turn they commit a crime.Sykes and Matza came up with five techniques that may neutralize norms, and social values. The first one is denial of responsibility. According to this technique, criminals will tend to defer the fault from themselves. The second one is the denial of injury. The denial of injury is when a criminal will reason that the victim wasn't greatly harmed so it shouldn't be a big deal. The third one is denial of the victim. This means that even though the criminal accepts guilt for ondemnation of the condemners.Condemnation of the condemners means that a criminal will reason with themselves that most people do the illegal act. The criminal's reasoning would be, â€Å"But everyone does it! † The fifth one is appeal to higher loyalties. This means that the offender was inflicted with a decision between violating the law and violating a trust. For example, this means that a family member, or friend may have requested that the criminal drives drunk to them because they need a ride home. Instead of violating the trust between the family member or friend, the offender will violate the law instead.

Aspen Industries Financial Ratios - Liquidity Ratio, Current Ratio, L Research Paper

Aspen Industries' Financial Ratios - Liquidity Ratio, Current Ratio, Leverage Ratios, Total Debt Ratio IT project al Affiliation) Financial ratios Aspen Industries Financial ratiosFor the Year ended Dec. 31, 2013 and 2014 Financial ratios 2013 2014 Liquidity ratio Current ratio 0.90 1.84 Leverage ratios Total Debt ratio 0.61 0.50 Decisions Debt ratio analysis Debt ratio analysis is considered a solvency ratio that brings out the total liabilities of a firm as a percentage of the total assets that the firm has. In using this to make loan decision, it is used to show the assets that the company has that they are to sell in order to pay off the debts that they have (Bull, 2008). Debt ratio enables investors and also creditors to analyses the overall debt burden on the company that they operate as well as the ability of the firm to pay the debts that they have in future when the economic times are uncertain. In the calculations, the formula used is debt ratio is given by = The company that was choses has a debt ratio of 0.61 in 2013 and the ratio reduced to 0.50 in 2014. In loan consideration, companies that have high level of liabilities in their operation compared to assets are considered highly leveraged and these are more risky tom lenders. I recommend the company for a loan as it is observed that their debt ratio has reduced over the period and this makes them be legible and are thought to be able to pay their debts. Current ratio Current ratio is an efficiency and liquidity ratio which, measures the ability of a firm to pay off its short-term liabilities with the assets that the firm has at the current. The current ratio is important in determining giving out loan to a company as it determines the liability that is due in the next year (Bull, 2008). Through this it will indicate that the firm has a limited time that they are needed to raise the funds in order to raise funds so that they pay off for their liabilities. Current assets which the company has such as cash and marketable securities can be easily converted to cash. In this analysis, it shows that companies that have large amounts of current assets will more easily be able to pay off the current liabilities when they become due without the need to selloff the long term assets. The formula used in calculating the current asset is current ratio is given by = In the company, the current ratio was found to increase from 0.90 to 1.84. This implies that there is an increase in current assets and a reduction in current liabilities. The firm hence becomes legible to be given a loan as there is increase in current assets that they are able to sell off in order to pay the loan that they are given after a given period of time. Conclusion In analysis that was carried out in the company, it was determined that the ratios that the firm has; debt ratio and current ratio makes the firm qualify to be given a loan as they will be able to pay the loan at the required time through the assets that they have. Reference Bull, R. (2008). Financial ratios. Oxford: CIMA.

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Dhari's - Research Paper Example Nevertheless, recent efforts in economic development like the high population and employment growth and the increases in construction, health care, petroleum and social assistance are brightening the outlook (Garcia and Paul, 2006). New Mexico has a small manufacturing base which in 2003 was 4.7% of the non-agricultural population compared to the national average of 11.2%. There has been a reduction in the number of farms in the last few decades and a matching increase of the size of farms with most of the state’s agricultural efforts focusing on livestock instead of produce. In the past, mining was considered a main sector; however, it decreasingly plays a significant role in the state’s economy of only 1.8% in 2002 compared to 2.8% in 1988 and 5.5% in 1978. Because of the small employment opportunities in manufacturing and industrial sectors, the state historically has had a high rate of unemployment, even in non-recessionary times, the state experienced unemployment rates higher than the country’s average. For instance in 1987 unemployment was 8.9% compared to the national rate of 6.2%; moreover, in 2003, the state’s jobless rate was 6.4% compared to 6% of the national average (Garcia and Paul, 20069). ... These contrasting averages point the disparities in education in the state’s various population groups; For instance, the poor, Hispanics and Indians average less educational attainment than other groups in the state (Garcia and Paul, 2006). Therefore, of the estimated 1,819,046 total population of New Mexico, 120,000 are legally documented immigrants and 40,000 are undocumented; thus, the undocumented population is less than 7% of the total state’s population (Aparicio, Philip and Kalyani, 2004). Currently, over three quarters of immigrants admitted to New Mexico are from Mexico; even though, immigrants also come from other nations like the Asian nations. Although Hispanics make the largest portion of immigrant population in the state, over 90% are native born, which is higher than the country’s average of over64%. Many of the immigrants travel across the Mexico-New Mexico border without permit because of economic hardships and eventually end up staying in the s tate; thus, the reasons for immigrants staying are simply economic. For instance, an immigrant may decide to work for indefinite period in order to save some money and then go back to his or her country. Although undocumented immigrants enter New Mexico for economic opportunities, their rate of employment is low; thus, vast majority of the undocumented Hispanics and other immigrants live below poverty, which contribute to the poverty status of the state. Unemployment is main source of contemporary poverty; moreover, regional economic restructuring coincides with cultural diversity in America resulting in spatial inequalities in geographic areas (Aparicio, Philip and Kalyani, 2004; Esparza and Angela, 2008). This is reflected by the large differences in income and

How I Met Your Mother vs. I Love Lucy Movie Review

How I Met Your Mother vs. I Love Lucy - Movie Review Example Additionally, both the shows revolve around the theme of relationships and, therefore, a hilarious story emerges. Relationships and friendship are the most significant things to the characters. Their social lives and interaction between them forms the largest part of the plots. The clues that are offered, in the shows, to depict this are shown in the way the characters relate with each other, and the way they act when they are together. The love that these characters have for each other forms the main argument of the plot. Such shows are developed with the hope that viewers will get to find a common view in the show. These shows win awards because people agree that they have changed their lives significantly and that they support the view that the show presents. Yes, I do believe that my views on the two shows are true among many. The two shows have unique plots in, which the aims and objectives of the film are clear, and these views are the easily identified. It is from these shows that some people have understood the value of relationships. This shows that the two shows were developed to help the society in some way. They have also helped some parents in managing their teenage children. These shows teach people crucial lessons in life. However, one has to be highly attentive so as not to miss these teachings. The shows also teach people how to manage their relationships and social lives. They show the consequences that can develop because of relationship neglecting, or other factors and matters that affect relationships between two or more people. They make us think of and value the relationships that we have formed with people who around us. First, people are drawn to the shows because of they are hilarious contents. The two shows offer unending laughter during the few minutes that they run. Some people watch the two shows in the evening to get rid of stress that they had from work. Others watch the shows to see how the plot will develop. This is

LABELLING THEORY HAS NO IMPACT ON REAL WORLD DECISION MAKING PRACTISES Essay

LABELLING THEORY HAS NO IMPACT ON REAL WORLD DECISION MAKING PRACTISES - Essay Example Although labelling theory may have influences in different settings, it does not necessarily entail that all decisions be based upon it, as will be discussed in this paper. The theory Labelling theory presents that â€Å"deviance is a socially constructed process in which social control agencies designate certain people as deviants, and they, in turn, come to accept the label placed upon them and begin to act accordingly† (Kendall, 2007, pp. 188-189). There are several versions of the theory, of which the ideas of Howard Becker, seen to be a major proponent of the theory, will primarily be considered in the present paper. One famous statement by Becker upheld in this theory is, deviant as â€Å"one to whom the label has successfully been applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label† (as cited in Kendall, 2003, p. 189). Making labels Becker’s work in 1963, Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, is one of the most cited literature that focus es on labelling theory and deviance. According to him, only a few individuals have the power and qualifications to determine what is deviant or not, and they generally belong to the upper social classes (Franzese, 2009, p. 72). These individuals are called â€Å"moral entrepreneurs,† and are presented by Becker to be those who want to help the less fortunate, rather than being mean or evil (p. 72). The supposed intent of labelling was to take societal interests into consideration. However, because labeled individuals are inferior to those who have the capacity to label them in terms of power and status, the positive goal of labeling backfires to become what is usually seen to be negative and deviant to established norms. It is not emphasized how individuals can resist being labeled, but labeled individuals may be rehabilitated in the presence of interventions differing according to the deviant behavior. Consequences of labelling The labelling theory hypothesizes that deviance is not inherent, but rather a product of reaction to established societal norms, or results of societal perceptions. It presents a process where initially there is a pubic labelling which is informal at first but evolves to be formalized later; second, this label â€Å"overrides all the other symbols and statuses a person previously held,† and cause people to react very differently by rejecting or isolating the individual; and third, such label affects the individual’s self-perception and self-image, encouraging many to live according to that deviant label, or in other words accept that he or she is deviant and live according to it (Slattery, 2003, p. 135). This process outlines the consequences of labelling to the labeled individual, which are, most of the time, negative rather than positive. It is further contended that deviant behavior can be â€Å"cured† or rehabilitated, but doing so would not be easy, especially in the continuous presence of societal pres sure and rejection. Labelling in the real world In the context of the theory, labelling may be formal or informal, which is also a common criticism of the ideology. Informal labels are those that tend to be placed by family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, et cetera. Formal labels are those given by health care, the police, the academe, and other institutions. Literature dealing with the theory often cite â€Å"mentally ill† as a common established label, as well as in aspects in criminology,

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Strategic Management - Essay Example The Bowman’s Strategy Clock is used in defining the eight possible types of strategies, which are based on the coordinates of price and the value being added (Perceived).The shape of the strategy model is like a star and gives an overall appearance of a clock. The company has been playing the game of differentiation. It has set up a number of steps to make itself superior to its competitors. It can be seen from the huge spending being done by the company as a part of its plan for expansion. It has been spending over a hundred million sterling pounds on a yearly basis, over different projects. Lego has been diversifying with the building of theme parks in Denmark, it also the Lego bricks. In addition to this, theme parks have come up in other parts of the world like UK (United Kingdom) and USA. These have added to the brand value of the company as well as the visibility, attracting over 1.5 million people annually. The company has been trying to differentiate itself from the other players. The building of theme parks is an exercise of branding, which would set itself separate from other competitors (Johnson,s Scholes and Whitington, 2008). So, it is being done so that the company becomes a symbol of quality. The customers would associate th e brand (Lego), with a better sense of quality. This is the analysis of the company in terms of Bowman’s Strategy Clock. ... The value addition is low. It is specific to the segment. The price is high and the value is low. The market may be lost, if not in a position of monopoly. Based on the analysis from the Bowman’s Strategy Clock, the position of the company is analysed. This has been found out be as follows- Position 4(Differentiation) The company has been playing the game of differentiation. It has set up a number of steps to make itself superior to its competitors. It can be seen from the huge spending being done by the company as a part of its plan for expansion. It has been spending over a hundred million sterling pounds on a yearly basis, over different projects. Lego has been diversifying with the building of theme parks in Denmark, it also the Lego bricks. In addition to this, theme parks have come up in other parts of the world like UK (United Kingdom) and USA. These have added to the brand value of the company as well as the visibility, attracting over 1.5 million people annually. The company has been trying to differentiate itself from the other players. The building of theme parks is an exercise of branding, which would set itself separate from other competitors (Johnson,s Scholes and Whitington, 2008). So, it is being done so that the company becomes a symbol of quality. The customers would associate the brand (Lego), with a better sense of quality. This is the analysis of the company in terms of Bowman’s Strategy Clock. DIRECTION OF STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT The decisions regarding corporate growth are centred on the methodologies through which the organization can play a part in the promotion and sustenance of existent competitive advantage. There is a need for the expansion and growth of the companies, which leads to the adoption of different

Does IT lead to job elimination, or job enhancement Essay

Does IT lead to job elimination, or job enhancement - Essay Example s are assembled or foods processed, through the use of robotic arms and conveyer belts, a job that may have been retrospectively been done by a hundred unskilled workers can be done by just a handful of machine operators. Inevitably, given the sensitive nature of labor issue, machines were not very well received by the workers they stood to replace; even today the interrogation of technology is often condemned by those who view it as a negative force rendering people jobless especially in labor intensive economies. While this is a logically sound argument, it is nevertheless one sided in view of the fact that the relationship between labor and technology is not as simple as that. In as much as technology may result in unemployment in some sectors, it has spawned millions of jobs in in numerous sectors and one can even argue that in the end it creates more jobs than it destroys. In the late 19th century at the height of the industrial revolution, a group of artisans working in the textile industry started a revolution of sorts in Britain against the use of machines in the production of textiles. They were afraid that automation of the process of production would cause them to lose their jobs since less skilled and therefore cheaper employees rendering them redundant could operate the machines. The Luddites as they were known became a significant social and political movement and they engaged in numerous acts of destruction in protest of adaption of machines in their industry (Baggaley, 2010). So much so that it is estimated that British soldiers were at some point involved in fighting the luddites than engaging napoleon. Ultimately, the movement was crashed through a series of trials in which the Luddites were convicted for machine breaking, which had been made a capital crime, and many were executed (Edgerton, 2011).  Today, the term Luddite is used to d escribe someone who is seen as being opposed to or slow to incorporate technology (Baggaley, 2010). Proponents

The History of Community Policing Research Paper - 1

The History of Community Policing - Research Paper Example In looking for the key variable that provided the cohesiveness and viability to the concept of democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville identified the abundance of voluntary associations (Trojanowicz, 1982). It is likely that American judges, attorneys, and police officers of the 1800s and 1900s had a good sense of values of community, the decisions required relative to crime and social control, and the resources required to maintain the community in a healthy state (Tocqueville, 1961). Democratic ideological fears of adopting an institution from monarchical Europe helped ensure that local political repre ­sentatives would control American police departments. This local control eventually resulted in the misuse of police agencies by politicians and corruption flowed over into police departments (Miller, 2000). The first American police department to advance beyond the night watch concept and organize along the professional lines of Peel's model was the New York City police department in 1845 (Fogelson, 1977). Since the 19th century the United States has seen three specific periods of policing methodology that have been predominately, but not exclusively, directed at urban areas. The majority of information that has been learned from researchers has come from studies that have focused on large metropolitan police departments that were the first to implement these programs (Maguire et al., 1997). These three periods of policing strategy include: the political era, the reform era, and the community problem-solving era.

Twin Towers Essay Example for Free

Twin Towers Essay When waking up in the morning we never know what the outcome of our day will look like, weather it’s the same routine of a daily basis. Never in a million years would we think that our workplace will become a place in where history would changed. We know that September 11, 2001 became a day that changed both this nation and the people. The real question here is, Did the fall of the Twin Towers mark the moment of terrorism in America; or have previous events been the calling to attack America? Over the years there have been significant terrorism attacks. By looking at pervious attacks it shows us how the changes in terrorism are carried out and shows the changes in how countries counter terrorist attacks. If we want to know that the Twin Towers where indeed the start of terrorism for America we should look at the history of terrorism, the methodology and the absence of unity America shows toward each other. Looking and studying about the history of terrorism towards the United States, we see that the first attack towards the Twin Towers was the bombing in 1993 that was placed in a truck in the garaged of the building. Reading the book 102 Minutes, we see the perspective of the people who were trapped in the towers, but it also gives us the information about the 1993 bombing. This book states, â€Å"The 1993 bombing marked it as an icon and target. † ( Dwyer and Flynn 21). Reading this we can see that the September 11 attack on the Twin Towers was not the first attempt ever made. In my opinion the bombing of 1993 was a warning to the United States saying, â€Å"Look what we are capable of doing to your country. † Their plan was to kill around two hundred fifty-thousand people with one bomb. Unfortunately the bomb killed six people but injuring thousands. This mishap did not stop terrorism against America; one the other hand it was opening a door for them. â€Å" From most perspectives, the 1993 bombing of the trade center, killing six people, had been a bleak moment, marking the arrival of terrorism to America† (Dwyer and Flynn 133). The history of terrorism has been nothing but hard work. It was like they never gave till they were happy with their actions. The question is are they ever happy with their actions, or do they want more destruction? To my understanding Bin Laden says that it is more important for Muslims to kill American people than any other activity. Another event in the history of terrorism attacks was the USS Cole Attack in 2000. It is to be known that this event was also under the control of Usama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda networking; killing several Americans and injuring many. Seeing and knowing about the previous attacks Usama Bin Laden has been putting into action we can see that the Twin Tower collapse was not the moment that terrorism came to America. The Twin Tower attack was more of a statement saying, â€Å"Since you have not taken the 1993 bombing and USS Cole Attack into great consideration maybe hijacking planes and crashing them will open your eyes. † Throughout the past events we can see that Bin Laden put his life into planing these attacks with great passion. In the book The 9/11 Report, we read how the Al Qaeda prepared themselves for the horrific event and the studying they took in to know how to attack and when. â€Å"In the early summer of 2000, the Hamburg group arrived in the United States to begin flight training. All three of these men would be pilots on the 9/11 operation† (Jacobson and Colon 69). These hijackers studied everything they need to know in order to take action on that very day. From learning how to flight a pilot to using guns to to route these planes were to take on September 11. Not only did the terrorist gone under intense training and studying, but so did the United States. The Government and even researchers’ needed to know and understand the meaning behind the attacks. In the journal Intersecting Facts and Theories on 9/11 by Joseph P. Firmage, he mentions: â€Å"One of the challenges in comprehending the circumstances of 9/11 is the sheer volume of material spanning two decades that must be studied for one to become comfortable reaching the conclusions† (Firmage 19). Throughout his journal he talks about the subjects that were found in this research. How was it possible for terrorist to attack on America soil? His three possibly theories where that 1) the 19 Islamic radicals caught the U. S. off guard, 2) the Bush administration knew about the attacks and let them to happen, and 3) such officials architected the attacks and caused them to happened. Based on this information I agree with what the researcher has come up with because to be honest we all know that back before September 11, our security at airports was not as advanced and as great as today’s security. Back then we did no have the machine where one is to step in and it sees your body or detect the metal in your clothing. I honestly do not remember going through all that process when I was younger and would travel, but I cannot say the security did this and this because I was younger ,and did not pay attention to my surroundings. We do know that the government did have an understanding of the Twin Towers attack before occurring, yet they did not put mind to this situation. We know that inside the government there was lack of communication, but there was also lack in unity. The 9/11 Report book talks about many different subjects, but it also mentions the actions government took against the treats from Usama Bin Laden towards the Twin Towers. In this graphic adaptation is states how Richard Clarke wrote a memo to colleagues saying, â€Å"When these attacks occur, as they likely will, we will wonder what more we could have done to stop them† (Jacobson and Colon 79). This memo clearly tells us that our administration was well aware of Al Qaeda’s plans. If we look at the word â€Å"united† its most common definition is combined, connected. Now if we put these words in front of state United States means a state where administration is connected to its people; where we are one whole family and need to look out for one another. By not taking into great consideration the treats that United States received and not believing such horrific even could happen on the most â€Å"goddess† land in the world, our connection grew apart, because although many of us knew of previous attacks and government had a warning of an income one, we did not unite to fight for our land. I’m not saying we needed to start war, but by having better airport security back then and making it less easy for Muslims to have entered the United States, we would have been saying,â€Å"our gloves are on and we are ready to fight the war, if it means to keep our people safe. † Unity is something everyone has with someone. So why can’t our government keep their unity chain stronger and together as years pass. It seems that Al Qaeda in this case and in many other have had more unity then United States it self. The Al Qaeda knew what the plan was, knew which action they each had to take on that day. The Twin Tower attack was not the beginning of terrorist in America; terrorist were simply saying, â€Å"Look what we can do in your land. † The construction of the Freedom Tower to me signifies that we have not yet learned from our mistakes eleven years ago. We are calling for trouble because we want to show terrorist we are a land that can do anything and build a taller building then the ones they collapsed. United States has to learn that we are a state that is united in every way and grow stronger with each day that passes. Work Cited 1. Dwyer, Jim and Flynn, Kevin. 102 Minutes. New York: Henry Holt, 2005. Print. 2. Firmage, P. Joseph. â€Å"Intersecting Facts and Theories on 9/11. † (2006): 19. Print. 3. Jacobson, Sid and Colon, Erine. The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.

Social Security Policy In Hong Kong Social Work Essay

Social Security Policy In Hong Kong Social Work Essay Welfare services are significant elements in a society, which welfare should provide, to what extent the welfare can be provided and how to provide may vary among different society. There are some models help us to understand the factors affecting the welfare system such as the Residual Welfare Model and the East Asian Welfare Model. We will examine whether Hong Kong a typical example of these two models by analyzing the social welfare policies. Social welfare refers to the well-being or betterment for individuals through direct benefits, services or disposable income (Wong, 2010). According to Ronald B. Dear, Social policies are those principles, procedures, and courses of action established in statute, administrative code, and agency regulation that affect peoples social well-being. Social Welfare Policies are some sort of these social policies. They may be thought of as those policies that affect the distribution of resources Richan (1988). In the following analysis, we will 5 main kinds of welfare policies which are housing, education health care, social care and social security to illustrate whether Hong Kong a typical example of both the East Asian Welfare Model and Residual Welfare Model or not. There are various characteristics of the Residual Welfare Model, the individual characteristics, economic characteristics and the characteristics of government and state. For the individual characteristics, people are recognized to be self-independent, self-interested and self-responsible. For the economic characteristics, laissez fair economy and the invisible hand are upheld since people believes that market can solve the social problems and to maintain the well- being of the society. The government and state are the major providers of social welfare and control to what extent the welfare can be provided. Under RWM, the government and state should not over burden itself with social welfare/ services and interfere with individual right and interests. Therefore, only the basic welfare should be provided i.e. law and order, defense, transport and communication infra- structure. Welfare seems as residual, temporary and substitutes of the normal structure of supply which means the family and the market economy. Only when the normal structure of supply breaks down, social welfare and services should be provided. In order to avoid the reliance on the welfare system, some of the welfare/ services may come with the stigma of dole or charity element. The poor is the major group of people to receipt welfare and they always recognized as the incompetent second class members of society. To ensure the welfare can be provided to the people in need, welfare will always have selec tivity. The most common method is by means test. According the Mishra, the main features show that a minimal government or state is preferred. The government just wants to provide welfare for the paupers and poor which is just minority group of the society. The services provided are just serving the basic need for them and range of statutory services is limited. Combining all these elements, welfare is just a safety net, confined to those who are unable to manage otherwise. Main features Residual 1. State responsibility in meeting needs (ideology of state intervention) Minimal 2. Need-based distribution as a value (ideology of distribution) Marginal 3. Range of statutory services Limited 4. Population covered by statutory services Minority 5. Level of benefits Low 6. Proportion of national income spent on state service Low 7. Use of means test Primary 8. Nature of clients Paupers/ the poor 9. Status of clients Low 10.Orientation of the service Coercive 11. Role of non-statutory agencies in welfare Primary Fig.1, The main features of Residual Welfare Model, (Mishra, 1984) Whether Hong Kong a typical example of Residual Welfare Model? We used the 5 main kinds of social welfare policies in Hong Kong to illustrate Hong Kong is adopting the RWM or not. Education Hong Kong provided different schemes for people to pay for their education fee. One of the education subsidy schemes is Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme. Government will subsidize the parents to meet towards school fees for pre-primary education of their children in the form of Pre-primary Education Vouchers. In addition, Hong Kong government announced 12 years of free education in Policy Address 2009-2010. It provides 12 years compulsory free education to children. For the Tertiary students, Tertiary Student Finance Scheme was released. Government provided larger amount of subsidies to tertiary students. The total amount of grant paid by government is $621.93 million in 2009-10. Fig.2, Publicly-funded Programmes Summary of Statistics The Continuing Education Fund (CEF) subsidizes adults who willing to pursue continuing education and training courses. Adequate applicants will be refunded 80% of their fees, a maximum sum of HK$10,000. Apparently, government pays effort on the education policies and the population covered is really broad. Health Care For the Clinics part, 70 % of primary consultations take place in private sector while others take place in government funded clinics. Moreover, there are 41 public hospitals in Hong Kong. However, there are only 12 private hospitals. And the Hong Kongs 12 private hospitals provide a total of 2794 beds. It less than 10% into the number of hospital beds in Hong Kong. Furthermore, in Healthcare Reform (2009-2010 Policy Address), government decided to increase the healthcare expenditure from 15% of the Governments recurrent expenditure to 17% by 2012. The strategy of healthcare reform reflects the governments direction of healthcare in the follow few years will still highly intervene in the healthcare services. All of these healthcare policies show that government has a quite high level of intervention and these services are open to all the Hong Kong residents without any selectivity. As a result, the health care does not match to the principles of residual welfare model. Housing Government also had launched lot of policies about housing. There are about 710  000 public rental housing in the Housing Authoritys portfolio, housing about two million people. Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) was introduced in 1997 to enable at least 250  000 families living in public rental housing to buy their flats at an affordable price which is lower than the market price. Besides, Home ownership schemes (HOS) is another ownership scheme. It is designed to assist residents to buy their own flats and HOS flats are subsidized public housing. It is easily to find that government had interfered a lot in the housing supply. The population covered not just focus on the minority. Therefore, it differs from the principles of residual welfare model. Social Care In the field of social care, it provides a wide range of services taking care of the elderly, children, young people, disabilities, the victims of domestic violence, etc. This is quite different from the RWM since the population covered is large. The most common method adopted by the HK Government to provide the welfare services is to form partnership with non-government organizations. The government give a Lump Sum Grant to the NGOs and they provide the services to those in need. The expense on the Social Welfare Organization occupied the third large proportion of the total expense on welfare in Hong Kong. Fig.3, The expense of the social services organization Social Security Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme The characteristics on providing services on social security seem more close to the RWM. The aim of social security is to provide for the basic and special needs of the members of the community who are in need of financial or material assistance (Social Welfare Department, 2008). It is a short- time help. CSSA is a safety net for those who cannot support themselves financially and bring their income up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs (Social Welfare Department, 2008). The old age, single parent and unemployment are the three major groups of people of to apply CSSA (Statistics on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme 1998-2008, 2009). In order to select the most needed, people apply for CSSA should go through the financial tests. They need to pass the income and assets tests. Office interview and home visit will conduct to investigate and verify the applicants circumstances and information provided. Since this is a short-time help, the government do not want people rely on it, there is some special arrangement for those aged 15-59 in normal health to actively seek full-time jobs and participate in the Support for Self-reliance Scheme of the Department (Social Welfare Department, 2008). Sub-conclusion In the 5 main kinds of social policies, only the social security seems to be the typical example of residual welfare model. Social security just provides short-term help and to fulfill the basic needs of the recipients. Moreover, a series and comprehensive investigation and financial test are needed. And the CSSA may cause the Stigmatization. People may have bias on those CSSA recipients. Besides Government pays effort to teach and encourage the recipient to work in other to leave the safety net. In this sense, it conforms to the principle of residual welfare model. On the other hand, the other four categories of social welfare policies are not much like the residual welfare model. They are more like universal benefits and services having no or less selectivity, because benefits available to everyone. Those policies not only provide basic needs of individual but also to improve the quality of life, cultivate the citizens, and so on. Therefore, the expenditure on welfare keeps increasing. Thus, Hong Kong is not a typical example of residual welfare model. The East Asian Welfare Model (the EAWM) Definition There is another model related to social welfare policy which is the East Asian Welfare Model. It shares the Confucian ethics and value emphasizing on education, strong family relations, benevolent paternalism, social harmony, discipline, respect for tradition and strong work ethic. To determine whether Hong Kong is a typical example of The East Asian Welfare Model, we can see if it matches the elements of the model. Dominated on economic concerns In the EAWM, welfare policies are dominated on economic concerns in order to improve the productivity of labour force and provide strong working incentive. As it aims to help increasing the productivity of an economy, it is also called as a productivist social policy. Hong Kong does match this element. There is a concept of from welfare to workin Hong Kong. When more people have their own jobs, the numbers of CSSA recipients will decreases and the productivity of an economy will be increased too. Targeted employment assistance for various CSSA Recipients In Hong Kong, the government targets employment assistance for various CSSA recipients. For example, the Three trial Enhanced Community Work Projects which includes training elements in 2005 to 2006 were aimed to enhance the employability of participants. Up to October in 2006, there were 145 Intensive Employment Assistance Projects which provided intensive employment assistance services to unemployed CSSA recipients. Hong Kong government also supports for Self-reliance Scheme (SFS) that encourages and assists employable recipients to take up paid employment so as to make them to become self-reliant. This scheme includes Active Employment Assistance programme and Community Work programme. They aimed to help people finding jobs and thus increase the productivity of Hong Kong. Regulator rather than provider The Hong government acts as a regulator of welfare policy rather than a provider in EAWM. Hong Kong matches this element since Hong Kong government contracts out the services by giving funds to different organizations and asks them to provide welfare services for it. For example, it provides funds to The Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council to build Family Crisis Support Centres in order to tackle family crisis. It also gives funds to Po Leung Kuk and Childtime International Nursery Limited to build up child care centre so as to provide child care services. It gives funds to St. James Settlement and Hong Kong Society for the Aged to provide elderly services such as building up Elderly Community Centres. Way to maintain social stability and legitimacy In the EAWM, welfare has been seen and used as a key element to maintain social stability, to get the legitimacy of governments which lacked democratic legitimacy and to ameliorate grievances. Hong Kong matches this element. In Hong Kong, the Chief Executive and government officials are not elected by universal suffrage. With less legitimacy, welfare service becomes one of the tactics to pacify the grievances and to maintain social stability. Welfares can keep social stability as when peoples needs have been satisfied, they are expected not to commit crimes. Hong Kong government does do a lot to give financial assistance to the poor. For example, CSSA Scheme gives financial assistance to those who cannot support themselves. Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme provides monthly allowance to Hong Kong residents who are severely disabled or 65 years old or above. It shows that Hong Kong government uses welfare as a tool to maintain social stability, and so as to retain the legitimacy of the government. Low social welfare expenditure Hong Kong Government expenditure on social welfare is low compared with the Western countries. The welfare expenditure (% of GDP) of some western countries is above 20%, some are up to 29%. In Hong Kong, the welfare expenditure (% of GDP) is around 8% due to the low tax rate and the reliance on the market and the family to provide welfare. Hostile to the idea of welfare state Hong Kong is also hostile to the idea of welfare state. In the welfare states, the tax rate is high such as the corporate tax rate is 25% and the personal tax is up to 58% in Denmark. The high tax can support rate of large welfare expenditure. Welfare states provide comprehensive coverage of welfare including old-age pensions, unemployment benefits health and childcare services. The welfare is also very favourable since is more than the basic needs. In Sweden, the unemployed will receive 80 percent of his or her normal income under the unemployment benefits. However, in Hong Kong, the tax rates are extremely low compared with the OECD standards. The corporation tax rate is 17.5% and personal tax rate is only 16%, around 1/3 of the OECD standard. Hong Kong is one of the places with the lowest tax rates, named as tax haven. The low tax rates encourage competition i.e. the harder you work and more you gain. In the White Paper Social Welfare into the 1990s, government stated that it worked hard to improve the dependency culture and remind the citizens incentive to work and undermines the productive engine of the economy. It is to encourage self- independence and responsibility. Significant role of the family The family plays a significant role in Hong Kong social welfare. Hong Kong is influenced by the traditional Confucian culture which is family oriented. The role of family is measured not just by its affluence but also by its core values, the kindness, caring for others and mutual support. The family members support and look after each other. The number of elderly living with their son is higher than that in Western countries. The Government policies also promote the family values to lighten the dependency on social welfare system. Under Hong Kong tax system, allowances are given to the taxpayers who taking care of their children, parents and grandparents. It is to encourage family members to look after the youth and the elderly. Besides, the Public housing allocation policy will give special consideration to the family with elderly. The housing policy is family oriented. In the Policy Address 2009-2010, CE suggested to set up a Happy Family Info Hub to promote family core values, and to introduce family education as well as support services for the family. (Policy Address 2009-2010) Piecemeal, pragmatic and ad hoc welfare development Welfare development in Hong Kong is piecemeal, pragmatic and ad hoc. There is no comprehensive long term development plans on social  welfare, for example, the public housing policy in 50s, the aims of the policy is to settle the fire victims of Shek Kei Mei squatter areas. Besides, The Government legitimacy is shattered in the 67 riot. After that, Government started the social security policy including public assistance scheme, old age and disability allowances in the early 70s. The aims of the social security policy are to deal with critical issues and maintain society stability. Social welfare policies are reactive measures to address ad hoc issues without long term planning. Conclusion In conclusion, only social security policy in Hong Kong fit the Residual Welfare Model but other policies such as housing, education, health care and social care do not fit the model. On the other hand, the social welfare systems in Hong Kong fit most of the elements of The East Asian Welfare Model. Therefore, we do not agree that Hong Kong is a typical example of both models since it is not a typical example of the Residual Welfare Model but a typical example of the East Asian Welfare Model.

The ability of a metal

The ability of a metal < The ability of a metal to deform plastically and to absorb energy in the process before fracture is termed toughness. The emphasis of this definition should be placed on the ability to absorb energy before fracture. Recall that ductility is a measure of how much something deforms plastically before fracture, but just because a material is ductile does not make it tough. The key to toughness is a good combination of strength and ductility. A material with high strength and high ductility will have more toughness than a material with low strength and high ductility. Therefore, one way to measure toughness is by calculating the area under the stress strain curve from a tensile test. This value is simply called material toughness and it has units of energy per volume. Material toughness equates to a slow absorption of energy by the material. There are several variables that have a profound influence on the toughness of a material. These variables are: train rate (rate of loading). Temperature. Notch effect. A metal may possess satisfactory toughness under static loads but may fail under dynamic loads or impact. As a rule ductility and, therefore, toughness decrease as the rate of loading increases. Temperature is the second variable to have a major influence on its toughness. As temperature is lowered, the ductility and toughness also decrease. The third variable is termed notch effect, has to due with the distribution of stress. A material might display good toughness when the applied stress is uniaxial; but when a multiaxial stress state is produced due to the presence of a notch, the material might not withstand the simultaneous elastic and plastic deformation in the various directions. There are several standard types of toughness test that generate data for specific loading conditions and/or component design approaches. Three of the toughness properties that will be discussed in more detail are: Impact toughness. Notch toughness. Fracture toughness. Impact Toughness: The impact toughness (AKA Impact strength) of a material can be determined with a Charpy or Izod test. These tests are named after their inventors and were developed in the early 1900s before fracture mechanics theory was available. Impact properties are not directly used in fracture mechanics calculations, but the economical impact tests continue to be used as a quality control method to assess notch sensitivity and for comparing the relative toughness of engineering materials. The two tests use different specimens and methods of holding the specimens, but both tests make use of a pendulum-testing machine. For both tests, the specimen is broken by a single overload event due to the impact of the pendulum. A stop pointer is used to record how far the pendulum swings back up after fracturing the specimen. The impact toughness of a metal is determined by measuring the energy absorbed in the fracture of the specimen. This is simply obtained by noting the height at which the pendulum is released and the height to which the pendulum swings after it has struck the specimen . The height of the pendulum times the weight of the pendulum produces the potential energy and the difference in potential energy of the pendulum at the start and the end of the test is equal to the absorbed energy. Since toughness is greatly affected by temperature, a Charpy or Izod test is often repeated numerous times with each specimen tested at a different temperature. This produces a graph of impact toughness for the material as a function of temperature. An impact toughness versus temperature graph for a steel is shown in the image. It can be seen that at low temperatures the material is more brittle and impact toughness is low. At high temperatures the material is more ductile and impact toughness is higher. The transition temperature is the boundary between brittle and ductile behavior and this temperature is often an extremely important consideration in the selection of a material. Fracture Toughness: Fracture toughness is an indication of the amount of stress required to propagate a preexisting flaw. It is a very important material property since the occurrence of flaws is not completely avoidable in the processing, fabrication, or service of a material/component. Flaws may appear as cracks, voids, metallurgical inclusions, weld defects, design discontinuities, or some combination thereof. Since engineers can never be totally sure that a material is flaw free, it is common practice to assume that a flaw of some chosen size will be present in some number of components and use the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach to design critical components. This approach uses the flaw size and features, component geometry, loading conditions and the material property called fracture toughness to evaluate the ability of a component containing a flaw to resist fracture. A parameter called the stress-intensity factor (K) is used to determine the fracture toughness of most materials. A Roman numeral subscript indicates the mode of fracture and the three modes of fracture are illustrated in the image to the right. Mode I fracture is the condition in which the crack plane is normal to the direction of largest tensile loading. This is the most commonly encountered mode and, therefore, for the remainder of the material we will consider KI. The stress intensity factor is a function of loading, crack size, and structural geometry. The stress intensity factor may be represented. Role of Material Thickness: Specimens having standard proportions but different absolute size produce different values for KI. This results because the stress states adjacent to the flaw changes with the specimen thickness (B) until the thickness exceeds some critical dimension. Once the thickness exceeds the critical dimension, the value of KI becomes relatively constant and this value, KIC , is a true material property which is called the plane-strain fracture toughness. The relationship between stress intensity, KI, and fracture toughness, KIC, is similar to the relationship between stress and tensile stress. The stress intensity, KI, represents the level of stress at the tip of the crack and the fracture toughness, KIC, is the highest value of stress intensity that a material under very specific (plane-strain) conditions that a material can withstand without fracture. As the stress intensity factor reaches the KIC value, unstable fracture occurs. As with a materials other mechanical properties, KIC is commo nly reported in reference books and other sources. Plane Strain: A condition of a body in which the displacements of all points in the body are parallel to a given plane, and the values of theses displacements do not depend on the distance perpendicular to the plane. Plane Stress: A condition of a body in which the state of stress is such that two of the principal stresses are always parallel to a given plane and are constant in the normal direction. Plane-Strain and Plane-Stress: When a material with a crack is loaded in tension, the materials develop plastic strains as the yield stress is exceeded in the region near the crack tip. Material within the crack tip stress field, situated close to a free surface, can deform laterally (in the z-direction of the image) because there can be no stresses normal to the free surface. The state of stress tends to biaxial and the material fractures in a characteristic ductile manner, with a 45o shear lip being formed at each free surface. This condition is called plane-stress and it occurs in relatively thin bodies where the stress through the thickness cannot vary appreciably due to the thin section. However, material away from the free surfaces of a relatively thick component is not free to deform laterally as it is constrained by the surrounding material. The stress state under these conditions tends to triaxial and there is zero strain perpendicular to both the stress axis and the direction of crack propagation when a material is loaded in tension. This condition is called plane-strain and is found in thick plates. Under plane-strain conditions, materials behave essentially elastic until the fracture stress is reached and then rapid fracture occurs. Since little or no plastic deformation is noted, this mode fracture is termed brittle fracture. Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness Testing: When performing a fracture toughness test, the most common test specimen configurations are the single edge notch bend (SENB or three-point bend), and the compact tension (CT) specimens. From the above discussion, it is clear that an accurate determination of the plane-strain fracture toughness requires a specimen whose thickness exceeds some critical thickness (B). Testing has shown that plane-strain conditions generally prevail when: When a material of unknown fracture toughness is tested, a specimen of full material section thickness is tested or the specimen is sized based on a prediction of the fracture toughness. If the fracture toughness value resulting from the test does not satisfy the requirement of the above equation, the test must be repeated using a thicker specimen. In addition to this thickness calculation, test specifications have several other requirements that must be met (such as the size of the shear lips) before a test can be said to have resulted in a KIC value. When a test fails to meet the thickness and other test requirement that are in place to insure plane-strain condition, the fracture toughness values produced is given the designation KC. Sometimes it is not possible to produce a specimen that meets the thickness requirement. For example when a relatively thin plate product with high toughness is being tested, it might not be possible to produce a thicker specimen with plain-strain conditions at the crack tip. Plane-Stress and Transitional-Stress States: For cases where the plastic energy at the crack tip is not negligible, other fracture mechanics parameters, such as the J integral or R-curve, can be used to characterize a material. The toughness data produced by these other tests will be dependant on the thickness of the product tested and will not be a true material property. However, plane-strain conditions do not exist in all structural configurations and using KIC values in the design of relatively thin areas may result in excess conservatism and a weight or cost penalty. In cases where the actual stress state is plane-stress or, more generally, some intermediate- or transitional-stress state, it is more appropriate to use J integral or R-curve data, which account for slow, stable fracture (ductile tearing) rather than rapid (brittle) fracture. Uses of Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness: KIC values are used to determine the critical crack length when a given stress is applied to a component. Orientation: The fracture toughness of a material commonly varies with grain direction. Therefore, it is customary to specify specimen and crack orientations by an ordered pair of grain direction symbols. The first letter designates the grain direction normal to the crack plane. The second letter designates the grain direction parallel to the fracture plane. For flat sections of various products, e.g., plate, extrusions, forgings, etc., in which the three grain directions are designated (L) longitudinal, (T) transverse, and (S) short transverse, the six principal fracture path directions are: L-T, L-S, T-L, T-S, S-L and S-T. Fatigue Properties: Fatigue cracking is one of the primary damage mechanisms of structural components. Fatigue cracking results from cyclic stresses that are below the ultimate tensile stress, or even the yield stress of the material. The name fatigue is based on the concept that a material becomes tired and fails at a stress level below the nominal strength of the material. The facts that the original bulk design strengths are not exceeded and the only warning sign of an impending fracture is an often hard to see crack, makes fatigue damage especially dangerous. The fatigue life of a component can be expressed as the number of loading cycles required to initiate a fatigue crack and to propagate the crack to critical size. Therefore, it can be said that fatigue failure occurs in three stages crack initiation; slow, stable crack growth; and rapid fracture. As discussed previously, dislocations play a major role in the fatigue crack initiation phase. In the first stage, dislocations accumulate near surface stress concentrations and form structures called persistent slip bands (PSB) after a large number of loading cycles. PSBs are areas that rise above (extrusion) or fall below (intrusion) the surface of the component due to movement of material along slip planes. This leaves tiny steps in the surface that serve as stress risers where tiny cracks can initiate. These tiny crack (called microcracks) nucleate along planes of high shear stress which is often 45o to the loading direction. In the second stage of fatigue, some of the tiny microcracks join together and begin to propagate through the material in a direction that is perpendicular to the maximum tensile stress. Eventually, the growth of one or a few crack of the larger cracks will dominate over the rest of the cracks. With continued cyclic loading, the growth of the dominate crack or cracks will continue until the remaining uncracked section of the component can no longer support the load. At this point, the fracture toughness is exceeded and the remaining cross-section of the material experiences rapid fracture. This rapid overload fracture is the third stage of fatigue failure. Factors Affecting Fatigue Life In order for fatigue cracks to initiate, three basic factors are necessary. First, the loading pattern must contain minimum and maximum peak values with large enough variation or fluctuation. The peak values may be in tension or compression and may change over time but the reverse loading cycle must be sufficiently great for fatigue crack initiation. Secondly, the peak stress levels must be of sufficiently high value. If the peak stresses are too low, no crack initiation will occur. Thirdly, the material must experience a sufficiently large number of cycles of the applied stress. The number of cycles required to initiate and grow a crack is largely dependant on the first to factors. In addition to these three basic factors, there are a host of other variables, such as stress concentration, corrosion, temperature, overload, metallurgical structure, and residual stresses which can affect the propensity for fatigue. Since fatigue cracks generally initiate at a surface, the surface condition of the component being loaded will have an effect on its fatigue life. Surface roughness is important because it is directly related to the level and number of stress concentrations on the surface. The higher the stress concentration the more likely a crack is to nucleate. Smooth surfaces increase the time to nucleation. Notches, scratches, and other stress risers decrease fatigue life. Surface residual stress will also have a significant effect on fatigue life. Compressive residual stresses from machining, cold working, heat treating will oppose a tensile load and thus lower the amplitude of cyclic loading. The figure shows several types of loading that could initiate a fatigue crack. The upper left figure shows sinusoidal loading going from a tensile stress to a compressive stress. For this type of stress cycle the maximum and minimum stresses are equal. Tensile stress is considered positive, and compressive stress is negative. The figure in the upper right shows sinusoidal loading with the minimum and maximum stresses both in the tensile realm. Cyclic compression loading can also cause fatigue. The lower figure shows variable-amplitude loading, which might be experienced by a bridge or airplane wing or any other component that experiences changing loading patterns. In variable-amplitude loading, only those cycles exceeding some peak threshold will contribute to fatigue cracking. S-N Fatigue Properties. There are two general types of fatigue tests conducted. One test focuses on the nominal stress required to cause a fatigue failure in some number of cycles. This test results in data presented as a plot of stress (S) against the number of cycles to failure (N), which is known as an S-N curve. A log scale is almost always used for N. The data is obtained by cycling smooth or notched specimens until failure. The usual procedure is to test the first specimen at a high peak stress where failure is expected in a fairly short number of cycles. The test stress is decreased for each succeeding specimen until one or two specimens do not fail in the specified numbers of cycles, which is usually at least 107 cycles. The highest stress at which a runout (non-failure) occurs is taken as the fatigue threshold. Not all materials have a fatigue threshold (most nonferrous metallic alloys do not) and for these materials the test is usually terminated after about 108 or 5108 cycles. Since the amplitude of the cyclic loading has a major effect on the fatigue performance, the S-N relationship is determined for one specific loading amplitude. The amplitude is express as the R ratio value, which is the minimum peak stress divided by the maximum peak stress. (R=ÏÆ'min/ÏÆ'max). It is most common to test at an R ratio of 0.1 but families of curves, with each curve at a different R ratio, are often developed. A variation to the cyclic stress controlled fatigue test is the cyclic strain controlled test. In this test, the strain amplitude is held constant during cycling. Strain controlled cyclic loading is more representative of the loading found in thermal cycling, where a component expands and contracts in response to fluctuations in the operating temperature. It should be noted that there are several short comings of S-N fatigue data. First, the conditions of the test specimens do not always represent actual service conditions. For example, components with surface conditions, such as pitting from corrosion, which differs from the condition of the test specimens will have significantly different fatigue performance. Furthermore, there is often a considerable amount of scatter in fatigue data even when carefully machined standard specimens out of the same lot of material are used. Since there is considerable scatter in the data, a reduction factor is often applied to the S-N curves to provide conservative values for the design of components. Introduction to Materials: This section will provide a basic introduction to materials and material fabrication processing. It is important that NDT personnel have some background in material science for a couple of reasons. First, nondestructive testing almost always involves the interaction of energy of some type (mechanics, sound, electricity, magnetism or radiation) with a material. To understand how energy interacts with a material, it is necessary to know a little about the material. Secondly, NDT often involves detecting manufacturing defects and service induced damage and, therefore, it is necessary to understand how defects and damage occur. This section will begin with an introduction to the four common types of engineering materials. The structure of materials at the atomic level will then be considered, along with some atomic level features that give materials their characteristic properties. Some of the properties that are important for the structural performance of a material and methods for modifying these properties will also be covered. In the second half of this text, methods used to shape and form materials into useful shapes will be discussed. Some of the defects that can occur during the manufacturing process, as well as service induced damage will be highlighted. This section will conclude with a summary of the role that NDT plays in ensuring the structural integrity of a component. In materials science, fracture toughness is a property which describes the ability of a material containing a crack to resist fracture, and is one of the most important properties of any material for virtually all design applications. It is denoted KIc and has the units of . The subscript Ic denotes mode I crack opening under a normal tensile stress perpendicular to the crack, since the material can be made thick enough to resist shear (mode II) or tear (mode III). Fracture toughness is a quantitative way of expressing a materials resistance to brittle fracture when a crack is present. If a material has a large value of fracture toughness it will probably undergo ductile fracture. Brittle fracture is very characteristic of materials with a low fracture toughness value. [1] Fracture mechanics, which leads to the concept of fracture toughness, was largely based on the work of A. A. Griffith who, among other things, studied the behavior of cracks in brittle materials. Crack growth as a stability problem: Consider a body with flaws (cracks) that is subject to some loading; the stability of the crack can be assessed as follows. We can assume for simplicity that the loading is of constant displacement or displacement controlled type (such as loading with a screw jack); we can also simplify the discussion by characterizing the crack by its area, A. If we consider an adjacent state of the body as being one with a larger crack (area A+dA), we can then assess strain energy in the two states and evaluate strain energy release rate. The rate is reckoned with respect to the change in crack area, so if we use U for strain energy, the strain energy release rate is numerically dU/dA. It may be noted that for a body loaded in constant displacement mode, the displacement is applied and the force level is dictated by stiffness (or compliance) of the body. If the crack grows in size, the stiffness decreases, so the force level will decrease. This decrease in force level under the same displacement (strain) level indicates that the elastic strain energy stored in the body is decreasing is being released. Hence the term strain energy release rate which is usually denoted with symbol G. The strain energy release rate is higher for higher loads and larger cracks. If the strain energy so released exceeds a critical value Gc, then the crack will grow spontaneously. For brittle materials, Gc can be equated to the surface energy of the (two) new crack surfaces; in other words, in brittle materials, a crack will grow spontaneously if the strain energy released is equal to or greater than the energy required to grow the crack surface(s). The stability condition can be written as; Elastic energy released = surface energy created: If the elastic energy releases is less than the critical value, then the crack will not grow; equality signifies neutral stability and if the strain energy release rate exceeds the critical value, the crack will start growing in an unstable manner. For ductile materials, energy associated with plastic deformation has to be taken into account. When there is plastic deformation at the crack tip (as occurs most often in metals) the energy to propagate the crack may increase by several orders of magnitude as the work related to plastic deformation may be much larger than the surface energy. In such cases, the stability criterion has to restated as; Elastic energy released = surface energy + plastic deformation energy; Practically, this means a higher value for the critical value Gc. From the definition of G, we can deduce that it has dimensions of work (or energy) /area or force/length. For ductile metals GIc is around 50 to 200 kJ/m2, for brittle metals it is usually 1-5 and for glasses and brittle polymers it is almost always less than 0.5. The I subscript here refers to mode I or crack opening mode as described in the section on fracture mechanics. The problem can also be formulated in terms of stress instead of energy, leading to the terms stress intensity factor K (or KI for mode I) and critical stress intensity factor Kc (and KIc). These Kc and KIc (etc) quantities are commonly referred to as fracture toughness, though it is equivalent to use Gc. Typical values for KIcare 150 MN/m3/2 for ductile (very tough) metals, 25 for brittle ones and 1-10 for glasses and brittle polymers. Notice the different units used by GIc and KIc. Engineers tend to use the latter as an indication of toughness. Transformation toughening: Composites exhibiting the highest level of fracture toughness are typically made of a pure alumina or some silica-alumina (SiO2 /Al2O3) matrix with tiny inclusions of zirconia (ZrO2) dispersed as uniformly as possible within the solid matrix. (*Note: a wet chemical approach is typically necessary in order to establish the compositional uniformity of the ceramic body before firing). The process of transformation toughening is based on the assumption that zirconia undergoes several martensitic (displacive, diffusionless) phase transformations (cubic → tetragonal → monoclinic) between room temperature and practical sintering (or firing) temperatures. Thus, due to the volume restrictions induced by the solid matrix, metastable crystalline structures can become frozen in which impart an internal strain field surrounding each zirconia inclusion upon cooling. This enables a zirconia particle (or inclusion) to absorb the energy of an approaching crack tip front in its nearby vicinity. Thus, the application of large shear stresses during fracture nucleates the transformation of a zirconia inclusion from the metastable phase. The subsequent volume expansion from the inclusion (via an increase in the height of the unit cell) introduces compressive stresses which therefore strengthen the matrix near the approaching crack tip front. Zirconia whiskers may be used expressly for this purpose. Appropriately referred to by its first dicoverers as ceramic steel, the stress intensity factor values for window glass (silica), transformation toughened alumina, and a typical iron/carbon steel range from 1 to 20 to 50 respectively. Conjoint action: There are number of instances where this picture of a critical crack is modified by corrosion. Thus, fretting corrosion occurs when a corrosive medium is present at the interface between two rubbing surfaces. Fretting (in the absence of corrosion) results from the disruption of very small areas that bond and break as the surfaces undergo friction, often under vibrating conditions. The bonding contact areas deform under the localised pressure and the two surfaces gradually wear away. Fracture mechanics dictates that each minute localised fracture has to satisfy the general rule that the elastic energy released as the bond fractures has to exceed the work done in plastically deforming it and in creating the (very tiny) fracture surfaces. This process is enhanced when corrosion is present, not least because the corrosion products act as an abrasive between the rubbing surfaces. Fatigue is another instance where cyclical stressing, this time of a bulk lump of metal, causes small flaws to develop. Ultimately one such flaw exceeds the critical condition and fracture propagates across the whole structure. The fatigue life of a component is the time it takes for criticality to be reached, for a given regime of cyclical stress. Corrosion fatigue is what happens when a cyclically stressed structure is subjected to a corrosive environment at the same time. This not only serves to initiate surface cracks but (see below) actually modifies the crack growth process. As a result the fatigue life is shortened, often considerably. Stress-corrosion cracking (SCC): Main article: Stress corrosion cracking: This phenomenon is the unexpected sudden failure of normally ductile metals subjected to a constant tensile stress in a corrosive environment. Certain austenitic stainless steels and aluminium alloys crack in the presence of chlorides, mild steel cracks in the present of alkali (boiler cracking) and copper alloys crack in ammoniacal solutions (season cracking). Worse still, high-tensile structural steels crack in an unexpectedly brittle manner in a whole variety of aqueous environments, especially chloride. With the possible exception of the latter, which is a special example of hydrogen cracking, all the others display the phenomenon of subcritical crack growth, i.e. small surface flaws propagate (usually smoothly) under conditions where fracture mechanics predicts that failure should not occur. That is, in the presence of a corrodent, cracks develop and propagate well below KIc. In fact, the subcritical value of the stress intensity, designated as KIscc, may be less than 1% of KIc, The subcritical nature of propagation may be attributed to the chemical energy released as the crack propagates. That is, Elastic energy released + chemical energy = surface energy + deformation energy: The crack initiates at KIscc and thereafter propagates at a rate governed by the slowest process, which most of the time is the rate at which corrosive ions can diffuse to the crack tip. As the crack advances so K rises (because crack length appears in the calculation of stress intensity). Finally it reaches KIc , whereupon fast fracture ensues and the component fails. One of the practical difficulties with SCC is its unexpected nature. Stainless steels, for example, are employed because under most conditions they are passive, i.e. effectively inert. Very often one finds a single crack has propagated while the rest of the metal surface stays apparently unaffected. See also: Fracture. Fracture mechanics. Brittle-ductile transition zone. Charpy impact test. Izod impact strength test. Toughness of ceramics by indention. Stress corrosion cracking. Toughness. References: Hertzberg, Richard W. (1995-12). Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering Materials (4 ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0471012149. AR Boccaccini, S Atiq, DN Boccaccini, I Dlouhy, C Kaya (2005). Fracture behaviour of mullite fibre reinforced-mullite matrix composites under quasi-static and ballistic impact loading. Composites Science and Technology 65: 325 333. doi:10.1016/j.compscitech.2004.08.002. Other References: Anderson, T.L., Fracture Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications (CRC Press, Boston 1995). Davidge, R.W., Mechanical Behavior of Ceramics (Cambridge University Press 1979). Lawn, B., Fracture of Brittle Solids (Cambridge University Press 1993, 2nd edition). Knott, Fundamentals of Fracture Mechanics (1973). Foroulis (ed.), Environmentally-Sensitive Fracture of Engineering Materials (1979). Suresh, S., Fatigue of Materials (Cambridge University Press 1998, 2nd edition). West, J.M., Basic Corrosion Oxidation (Horwood 1986, 2nd edn), chap.12. Green, D.J.; Hannink, R.; Swain, M.V. (1989). Transformation Toughening of Ceramics, Boca Raton: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-6594-5. http://www.sv.vt.edu/classes/MSE2094_NoteBook/97ClassProj/exper/gordon/www/fractough.html. http://www.springerlink.com/content/v2m7u4qm53172069/fulltext.pdf sriram. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fracture_toughness A fracture is the (local) separation of an object or material into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress. The word fracture is