Yemen Strikes May Target Top AL Qaeda Leaders Essay Example for Free

Yemen Strikes May Target Top AL Qaeda Leaders Essay Al Qaeda is a global militant Islamist organization founded by the late Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam among other Islamic. It dates back to around August 1988-1989 in Peshwar in Pakistan. Its origins were traced to the Soviet War in Afghanistan. It operated as a network that comprised of both multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim revolution. This movement called for global jihad and implemented a strict interpretation of the Sharia laws. It was branded a terrorist organization by major organizations and countries in the world such as the United Nation Security Council, the European Union, NATO, the United States, and the United Kingdom among many other countries.               Al Qaeda functioned both on its own and through some minor terrorist organizations. The organizations that operated under the al Qaeda included Ayman al-Wawahiri’s Egyptian Islamic Jihad which was also known as el Gamaa Islamia. There were also other Jihad groups in countries such as Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Pakistan, Croatia, Tunisia Lebanon, Albania, Philippines, Azerbaijan, Tajistan and the Hashmiri Region in India and Chechnyan in Russia. AL Qaeda kept cells and personnel in numerous countries to facilitate its operations including Kenya, Tanzania, the United States, Germany, United Kingdome, Malaysia and Canada. â€Å"Al Qaeda has no home base, but maintains cells in different countries in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia† (Zalman) Objectives                  One of the ultimate goals of Al Qaeda was to fight off the United States armed forces out of Saudi Arabian peninsula and Somalia. They issued rulings on Islamic laws indicating that such action was proper and essential. Bin Laden led the AL Qaeda to oppose the United States for various reasons. First, they perceived the United States to have no faith because its governance was not as per their interpretation of the Islamic laws. The second reason was that they regarded the United States as a provider of vital support to â€Å"other infidel† nations and institutions. They particularly branded the Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and finally the United Nations, as enemies of the Islamists organization. Third, Osama Bin Laden greatly contended the participation of the United States armed force in the Gulf war and operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1991, 1992 and 1993 respectively. Above all, the presence of the American forces in the Saudi Arabian penins ula was with no doubt resented by the al Qaeda. Last but not least, the United States Government’s incredible resentment was owed to the arrest and conviction of the al Qaeda personnel or any member of their affiliate terrorists organizations. For these reasons, Osama Bin Laden led the al Qaeda to declare jihad, holy war, against the United States. He pursued this goal through all means possible. The al Qaeda made attacks on any nations or organizations allied to the United States.                Since 1988, when Al Qaeda was formed, â€Å"the organization has been credited with scores of terror attacks around the globe, which have resulted in the deaths of thousands of people† (National Geographic). Attacks in East Africa                   On 7th August 1998, well planned attacks were made on two American embassies in the East African countries of Kenya and Tanzania. In Tanzania, it is perceived by the authorities that a bomb was planted in a refrigeration truck which was later parked outside the United States embassy. It was unfortunate that these two embassies did not meet the recent strict measures that have been implemented. The attack on the Tanzanian embassy saw 11 people die and 86 more get injured. On the other hand the Kenyan bombing resulted in the deaths of 12 Americans, 213 Kenyan Citizens and had over 5000 casualties. One of AL Qaeda’s leaders, Al Libi, â€Å"was wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 1998 bombings of the two embassies in Africa† (CNN).               The aftermath of this attack was devastating and the United States in conjunction with the Tanzanian government sought to set up a new embassy. The United States impeached Osama Bin Laden as the core perpetrator of the bombing of these embassies. The united stated went ahead to offer a reward for five million dollars for his arrest and conviction.                   The United States government as devastated as it was plotted attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan. On 20th August 1998, the United States attacked Sudan and Afghanistan. It was alleged that the US targeted a chemical weapons producing plant, located in Sudan, with 13 cruise missiles. This only resulted to the deaths of the night guards. There has not been any substantial evidence that supports the attack and therefore it has come under extreme criticism. The attack on Afghanistan consisted of about 75 cruise missiles which targeted three separate terrorists’ camps and strongholds. This attack brought the deaths of 24 people but unfortunately failed in getting Osama Bin Laden. â€Å"The strikes were a response to an imminent threat to the U.S. posed by a terrorist network backed by Osama bin Laden† (CNN). Attacks in Yemen                   This is AL Qaeda’s first ever attack in its course. It is known as the Yemen Hotel Bombing of 1992. On the evening of the 29th of December 1992, a bomb went off at the Gold Mahur Hotel. This happened to be where the United States’ armed forces had been staying on their route to Somalia. Fortunately the troops had already evacuated the hotel at the time of the attack. Undeterred by any circumstances, the AL Qaeda went ahead to plot another attack. They targeted another hotel. They perceived that the American troops were staying in the Aden Movenpick. However, the bomb detonated in the hotel car park, ahead of time for their attack. The explosion led to the death of two Australian tourists. Osama Bin Laden and Mohamed Khan claimed responsibility for these attacks. Attacks in Jordan                In December 1999-2000, there was a plotted attack by the AL Qaeda to attack United States and Israelis tourists who had visited Jordan to celebrate the millennium. Conversely, authorities in Jordan disillusioned the plotted attacks and apprehended and convicted 28 suspects. This plot involved the bombing of the LAX but this was a complete failure for the AL Qaeda since the bomber, known as Ahmed Ressam was apprehended at the US- Canadian border with explosives in his car. The AL Qaeda did not stop at that. They planned an attack on the USS Sullivans on January the third in 2000. This failed because they put too much weight on a small boat that was to bomb the ship. Attack on MV Limburg                   The Limburg was loaded with 397,000 barrels, equated to 63,100 m3, of crude oil from Iran en route to Malaysia. It was attacked in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen where it was to collect another load of crude oil. The Limburg was registered under a French-flag. PETRONAS, a Malaysian petrol firm, had chartered the Limburg. At some distance offshore, a small boat loaded with explosives rammed the tanker on the starboard and detonated. The craft caught fire and estimated 90,000 barrels, equated to 140,000 m3 of crude oil spilled into the ocean. Yemeni authorities apparently claimed that the explosion was caused by an accident. However investigations showed traces of TNT on the wrecked vessel. In the incident one crew member was killed and 12 others were injured. According to BBC, Ahmed al-Darbi confessed to being responsible for this incident.                      The Battle of WanatOn July 13, 2008, AL Qaeda and Taliban guerilla fighters raged war on NATO troops. This occurred near Wanat, a village in Waygal district, in Afghanistan’ province of Nuristan. This battle has been branded â€Å"Black Hawk Down†. It was one of the bloodiest attacks in the war and one of the numerous attacks on remote outposts. In comparison to the preceding ambushes that were executed in a haphazard manner, this was well coordinated and executed. â€Å"American casualties included nine killed and 27 wounded, while four Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were wounded† (Terrorists groups). Attacks on the United States                  On Tuesday September 11, 2001 a coordinated series of 4 attacks were launched on the US in the metropolitan area of Washington DC and in New York by the Al-Qaeda, a terrorist group of Islamic religion.                19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners. The purpose of hijacking the planes was so that they could be used for suicide attacks.                  Two of the planes, the United Airline flight 175 and also the American Airliners flight II were crashed into the south and north towers of the world trade center complex in New York City respectively. In two hours the two towers collapsed. The debris from the buildings and the fires partly of completely caused the collapse of the buildings in the world trade center complex and also caused damage to another ten large surrounding structures. The Rise                  The affliction of AL Qaeda on global is seemingly a long standing affair. Its beginning goes back decades to the modern-day establishment and conversion of a non-state armed group that has made it its purpose to create exceptional regional and international changes based on unnecessary use of brutal force for political motives. Apart from prompting domestic and foreign crises, the AL Qaeda focused specifically in adapting and prospering open-endedly as it sought new approaches. All along, it is in this perspective that the growth of AL Qaeda was planned for. This was a preordained way for the group to ensure it growth regardless of any setbacks from the very beginning. This isolated it from preceding and successive Islamists groups. On the other hand, traditional Islamist factions started to institute themselves through religious preaching, political sermons and particularly through networks of domestic social amenities.                   The first incarnation of AL Qaeda was to act as a welfare provider originating in the reinter state, Arabian Gulf. On the other hand its purpose was to apparently fight the Soviet Union in the 1980s, Jihad. The superiority of this underlying principle did not translate to a sudden halt of an unsatisfied local aim but somewhat the domestic contention to spill out to the external parties. From the perspective of a failed Arab and Islamic nation building, this faction sprang forth as a project with the combination of religion and politics. I was built upon: Relocation of authority; Outwitting the state; And the belligerent empowerment of a non-state actor.                  If in the beginning the swift propagation of the five regional depictions of the Al Qaeda were questionable, an added suggestion of the organization’s inspiring global reach and its ability to function in multiple nations long after War on Terror had been declared against it, it progressively occurred that the regional affiliates were significantly at variance and their link to the mother Al Qaeda was in some way unsubstantiated.                   Although in its first fifteen years it had been able to develop globally against vital odds; for each tactical loss, the Al Qaeda earned a strategic gain. This was demonstrated by: Retreating in Afghanistan but advancing in Iraq; Restricted leadership but had proliferating contacts; Abridged physical mobility but had global impact; Additional enemies but expanding recruits. The fall                  In the period between 2006 and 2011, AL Qaeda’s leadership had changed into a self-commandment, in due course offering only political, religious and military commentary, and not operational orders. Taking everything into account, what can be interpreted as a regionalization strategy of the Al Qaeda mixed up the global representation of the organization. The required elasticity the group embraced, partially voluntarily, partially as a way to adjust to the impending international anti-terrorism campaign, brought about an ever-growing distance with the already liberated divisions.                  Osama Bin Laden’s vanishing from Al Qaeda and also the War on Terror scene, for that reason, signified the end of the reign of the original faction established in Afghanistan. This opened a new chapter in which the regional authorizations will further sanction their existing independence. In so doing they will bestow the conflict with a new arrangement by diminishing terrorism among nations. War on Terror                  Previous efforts to put an end to this menace were somehow unsuccessful until May 2, 2011. O this day, a team of U.S Navy Seals with the help of the United States intelligence located the AL Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. He was found in Abbottabad in Pakistan, 31 Miles from Islamabad where he met his demise. On June 16 the same year, Ayman al-Zawahiri succeeded Osama Bin Laden but the fight against terror continues.                The war against terror is a global war. There have been numerous efforts to curb the AL Qaeda menace. The United States has shown great dedication in trying to bring justice to the crimes committed by this faction, the Al Qaeda. These efforts have included several military actions by the United States armed forces and other allied nations and institutions like the UK and the United Nations. Presently, there are ongoing various military operations against this terrorist faction. This operation either targets the faction directly or the affiliates of this faction such as the Al Shabaab in Somalia. Many countries have joined the war against terrorism. For example, according to Fox News, the Iraqi Government has announced that it is offensive on AL Qaeda. Yemen is also said to be targeting top AL Qaeda leaders, as Stated by CNN reporters, Jamjoom and Smith, write.                   The United States government has greatly contributed the gradual fall that AL Qaeda is undergoing. Military action is seemingly the way to go since these terrorists seem not to the get the hang of diplomacy. Presently, â€Å"prompted in part by a recent video that showed Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen openly taunting the United States, the CIA launched lethal drone strikes†(Dilanian). According to ABC News, even after two years when the United States withdrew its troops from Iraq, the US is still aid the Iraqi government to fight off the AL Qaeda faction. References Al Qaeda. Answers, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. AL Qaeda Attacks: A Chronology. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Battle of Wanat 2008. Terrorist Groups, 8 Apr. 2008. Web. 26 Apr. 2014 Fast facts: The embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. CNN, 6 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Guantanamo prisoner al-Darbi admits MV Limburg Attack. BBC, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Jamjoom, Mohammed and Smith, Matt. Yemen Strikes May Target Top AL Qaeda Leaders. CNN, 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. US Assisting Iraq in Fight Against Al Qaeda 2 Years After Troops Withdraw. ABC NEWS, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.Zalman, Amy. Al Qaeda: Profile of Al Qaeda. About, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Source document

Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism

Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism Eagelton’s essay, Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism, was first published in the New Left Review in 1983 in which his post Marxist analysis of literature is exposed. He accounts for capitalism influence on art and its role. The capitalist and late capitalist areas have seen two new forms of literature appear: modern and postmodern. The modern, Eagleton explains, â€Å"In bracketing off the real social world, establish[es] a critical, negating distance between itself and the ruling social order†[1], while postmodern works accepts the fact that it is a commodity and thus conflicts between its material reality and its aesthetic structure. Capitalism has turned art into a commodity, and after analysing this claim, the characteristics of modern and postmodern genres will be analysed, so as to understand literature’s role. Eagleton explains how â€Å"High modernity [†¦] was born at a stroke with mass commodity culture.†[2] Capitalism, as defined by Marx is the bourgeois doctrine by which they are in possession of the modes of production and manufacture goods, sold for a profit. According to most Marxist thinkers, including Eagleton, art became one of the goods that the bourgeoisie wants to monopolise, produce and sell. Art has become a commodity, dissolved into social life. Eagleton denounces the effects of late capitalism on art: â€Å"if the artefact is a commodity, the commodity can always be an artefact. Art and life indeed interbreed†[3]. Eagleton points out that that the â€Å"performative principle†, which he redefines as the deliverance of goods, also applies to the capitalist conception of art. The use of â€Å"best seller† as criteria of advertisement for literature proves that literature has become a mass commodity good. Art and literature have been influenced by some characteristics of late capitalism, such as virtual reality based on mass consumerism. Our society focuses on commodities sold to and ideologically integrated by the consumer: â€Å"The commodity is less an image in the sense of a â€Å"reflection† than an image of itself, its entire material being devoted to its own self-presentation†[4]. Art has become centred on its own image, role and place within society, because it has somehow lost its utopian role of mirroring the world, as if capitalism has perverted its function: â€Å"If the unreality of the artistic image mirrors the unreality of its society as a whole, then it is to say that it mirrors nothing real and so does not really mirror at all.†[5] Modernism and postmodernism are genres that emerged in the capitalist and late capitalist stages. They seem to have a common point: to focus on their role and concentrate on self identity. Eagleton uses de Man’s deconstructivist theory to define modernism: â€Å"Literature defines and pre-empts its own cultural institutionalisation by textually introjecting it, hugging the very chains which bind it, discovering its own negative form of transcendence in its power of literally naming, and thus partially distancing, its own failure to engage in the real.†[6] Modernism attempts at representing the real, but cannot do so and raises a paradox: it â€Å"resists commodification†[7] but is nonetheless part of it, thus part of the social and cultural superstructure of society, which it denies. Denying being part of the capitalist mass commodity is the very core of modern failure to represent the real. Postmodernism appears as a more cynical genre. Some of its features are the blurring of boundaries, pastiche and grotesque. It does not attempt to represent the world, since it is virtual, and would thus fail to describe it. Postmodernism seems to be very different from modernism on the ground that: â€Å"If the work of art really is a commodity, it might as well admit it†[8] and â€Å"become aesthetically what it is economically†[9]. Eagleton also suggests that postmodersism aims at parodying the commodity production, without adding any meaning in it; if meaning was added in the pastiche, making it parody, it would serve to alienate the self from reality, and according to postmodern thought, there is no reality it can be alienated from. All these features aim at empting the social content of art. Eagleton assessed the features of literature genres characteristic of capitalist stages, in order to draw a critical and theoretical approach of literature. He seems to focus on its ideological role, which is, more than its representational value, its only role left. Modernism deconstructs the â€Å"unified subject of bourgeois humanism, draws upon key negative aspects of the actual experience of such subject in late bourgeois society, which often enough does not at all correspond to the official ideological version.†[10] Indeed, literature acts as an ideology denouncing ideology. Capitalist ideology professes that mass consumption finally fulfils libidinal desires, when in fact, as modernism exposes, takes us away from our self and reality, from the â€Å"unified subject†Ã¢â‚¬â€a harmonious society—that late bourgeoisie claims to have reached. Postmodernism, despite not embracing the reality of society, draws upon ideological inconsistencies of the bourgeois di scourse, thus rendering itself ideological. It shows the incapacity of complying with the capitalist ideology: â€Å"the subject of late capitalism is neither simply the self-regulating synthetic agent posited by classical humanist ideology, nor merely a decentred network of desire, but a contrary amalgam of the two.†[11] The impossibility for the self to comply with all its obligations—familial, consumering, working—in the late capitalist society is denounced by postmodernism. It seems that Eagleton places literature at the centre of ideology, as a resistance to bourgeois ideology. De man explains that â€Å"the bases for historical knowledge are not empirical facts but written texts, even if these texts masquerade in the guise of wars and revolution†[12]; literature is at the heart of our knowledge, ideologically built, and seems to remain so, decades after the end of ideology was proclaimed. BIBLIOGRAPHY Modern Criticism and Theory, a Reader. Ed. D. Lodge. Eagleton, â€Å"Capitalism, Modernism and Postmodernism†. Longman: London and New York, 1988. 1 Footnotes [1]Modern Criticism and Theory, a Reader. Ed. D. Lodge. Eagleton, â€Å"Capitalsim, Modernism and Postmodernism†. Longman: London and New York, 1988. p 392. [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid. p386-387. [4] Ibid. p.387. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid. p.391. [7] Ibid. p.392. [8] Ibid. [9] Ibid. p.393. [10] Ibid. p.395. [11] Ibid. p.396. [12] Ibid. p.390.

One Day By David Nicholls Literature Essay

One Day By David Nicholls Literature Essay Born in 1966 in Eastleigh, Hampshire. David attended Toynbee Comprehensive school, and attended Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, before going to the University of Bristol in 1985 to study English Literature and Drama. Having graduated, and keen to pursue a career as an actor, he won a scholarship to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, before returning to London in 1991. There he worked in a number of bars and restaurants before finally earning an Equity card. He worked sporadically as an actor for the next eight years, appearing in plays at Battersea Arts Centre, the Finborough, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Birmingham Rep. In between jobs he worked as a bookseller at Waterstones, Notting Hill. A three year stint at the Royal National Theatre followed, understudying and playing small parts in, amongst others, Arcadia, Machinal, Inadmissable Evidence and The Seagull. During this period, he began to read plays and film scripts as a freelance reader, before taking a job at BBC Radio Drama as a script reader/researcher. This led to script-editing jobs at London Weekend Television and Tiger Aspect Productions. During this period, he began to write, developing an adaptation of Sam Shepards stage-play Simpatico with the director Matthew Warchus, an old friend from University. He also wrote his first original script, a situation comedy about frustrated waiters, Waiting, which was later optioned by the BBC. Simpatico was turned into a feature film in 1999, starring Sharon Stone, Catherine Keener, Jeff Bridges, Nick Nolte and Albert Finney. This allowed David to start writing full-time, and his first TV production followed soon afterwards; I Saw You, a one-off romantic-comedy starring Paul Rhys and Fay Ripley, which won best single play at the annual BANFF television festival. Four episodes of Cold Feet followed, and since then David has written for film and TV as well as fiction. He has been twice nominated for BAFTA awards and his first novel, Starter for 10 was featured on the first Richard and Judy Book Club. Davids TV credits include an updated version of Much Ado About Nothing, with Damian Lewis and Sarah Parrish (BAFTA nominated Best Single Play) and the one-off play After Sun, starring Peter Capaldi and Sarah Parrish. An acclaimed adaptation of Tess of the DUrbervilles followed, starring Gemma Arterton, Eddie Redmayne, Hans Matheson and Jodie Whittaker. In fiction, he has written three novels, Starter for Ten, The Understudy and One Day. In film, Simpatico was followed by the movie version of Starter for Ten, directed by Tom Vaughan, with James MacAvoy and Rebecca Hall, and an adaptation of Blake Morrisons memoir And When Did You Last See Your Father? directed by Anand Tucker, and starring Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent and Julie Stevenson. The feature film version of One Day, directed by Lone Scherfig, began production in July 2010, with Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Romola Garai, Rafe Spall, Jodie Whittaker, Ken Stott and Patricia Clarkson. At present, David is writing his fourth novel, as well as working on a feature-film version of Dickens Great Expectations. David lives in North London with his partner Hannah and two children. Review: Two students at the University of Edinburgh -Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew- meet for the first time on the night of their graduation, on 15 July 1988. They had one really nice night together but neither of them expects anything more permanent than that, so they became friends and went on with their lives. One Day revisits Emma and Dexter on this day, St Swithins Day, over the next 20 years. They meet again and again at the same time and on the same day each year while the friendship goes stronger and they never lose track of each other. But there is one thing they can ´t realize: that the love of their lives is right in front of them and they keep on trying to find another person. Dexter dates several girls and even got married with one of them, which who he became a father and an husband. On the other hand, Emma tries to have a serious relationship with her boyfriends but that is never possible because there is always something that goes wrong. After all these complicated relationships of both, Dexter marriage goes wrong and the only person that is always there to help him in every moment is Emma. They meet again because Dexter is feeling terrible and they decide that they should finally be together. They start dating and they Emma move in with Dexter. The both of them are finally happy and together, living their lives and at the same time, Dexter raises, with Emma ´s help, his beautiful daughter. The only thing that they want to change in their lives is their home. They already found a nice job and Dexter opened a coffee shop, his first serious job. Emma helped Dexter move on with his life, and they are very well with each other. But something happened: Emma had an accident and died and Dexter ´s life gets ruined. Dexter couldn ´t handle that situation so he started to drink again and not taking good care of him. It was an awful period of Dexter ´s life but he knew he had a daughter and that he had to take care of her so he tries to rebuild his own life. He moves on and starts to date one of his employees, trying to be happy again. Characters: Emma Morley- Emma, the idealistic, played bass in an all-girl band . . . variously called Throat, Slaughterhouse Six and Bad Biscuit. Joined a strident arts collective called Sledgehammer Theatre Cooperative (intent on doing really good, exciting original political devised work). Took a job at a Mexican restaurant called Loco Caliente. On the other side, she is an principled socialist and she writes poetry, is an aspiring writer. She was a teacher and did some plays with her students because of her taste for reading. Dexter Mayhew- Dexter Mayhew is the typical cute boy that loves to party every single day. Loves alcohol, cigarettes and travelling. He worked as a TV presenter on tawdry late-night television shows like Largin It, a loud lad-fest with rock bands and movie star guests, and cage dancers as backup. Completely in love with Emma, but keeps on chasing other women. Suffers a lot with the pain of lost. He is very confident, very handsome and has a large parental home in the Cotswolds. Quotes: You can live your whole life not realising that what youre looking for is right in front of you. Just kidding was exactly what people wrote when they meant every word. when will you stop trying to educate me, I wonder? Never I hope. Loco Caliente means Crazy Hot; Hot because the air-conditioning doesn ´t work, crazy because that ´s what you ´d have to be to eat here. You ´re gorgeous, you old hag, and if I could give you just one gift ever for the rest of your life it would be this. Confidence. Either that or a scented candle. If you have to keep something secret it ´s because you shouldn ´t be doing it in the first place! Life is failing to imitate art. The true writer, the born writer, will scribble words on scraps of litter, the back of a bus ticket, on the wall of a cell. Friends are like clothes: fine while they lasted but eventually they wore thin or you grew out of them. -The future. My career. It ´s not what I expected. -It never is, is it? The future? That is what makes it so fucking EXCITING! Catarina Rodrigues Fernandes 12 °F

Children of the Forest by Kevin Duffy Essay -- Children Forest Kevin D

"Children of the Forest" by Kevin Duffy "Children of the Forest" is a narrative written by Kevin Duffy. This book is a written testament of an anthropologist's everyday dealings with an African tribe by the name of the Mbuti Pygmies. My purpose in this paper is to inform the reader of Kevin Duffy's findings while in the Ituri rainforest. Kevin Duffy is one of the first and only scientists to have ever been in close contact with the Mbuti. If an Mbuti tribesman does not want to be found, they simply won't be. The forest in which the Mbuti reside in are simply too dense and dangerous for humans not familiar with the area to enter. Without them he would simply be wandering aimlessly in the forest. It was very important for Kevin Duffy to win the respect of the tribe when he arrived. The Mbuti are one of the most fascinating of all the "uncivilized" peoples of the world. This tribe inhabits equatorial Africa near the city of Kisangani in Zaire in the Ituri rainforest. The Mbuti, being the smallest people on earth, live in the most inaccessible place on earth. An Mbuti tribe is almost impossible to find in such a dense forest. The tribe's men and women are only about four and a half foot tall yet they navigate though rich and dense forestry daily in the search for meat and fruit. The Mbuti greatly acknowledge their beloved forest as the supplier of all their worldly needs and possessions. The forest supplies them with food, clothing, shelter, and to them, affection. The Mbuti treat the forest as their parents and see themselves as it's children. They often sing to it in times joy and pray to the forest in times of remorse. Duffy becomes a "fly-on-the-wall" among this particular Mbuti clan. Not by spying on them, but becoming a friend, a very good friend. The Mbuti trusted him like a brother and invited him into their lives to share everything from the birth Mazero's new child to the death of Ndima, one of the tribes' elders. He was even allowed to film the Mbuti's famous elephant hunt. To achieve this kind of trust among an "alien" culture is a phenomenal feat. The elephant hunt was the first story that depicted the actual way that the Mbuti hunted and shared their shared their rewards from a hunt. The entire tribe set out in order to search for an elephant for a feast. All the males of the tribe, regardless of age left ... ...in that respect. Humans seem to always behave like humans no matter where they are in the world or what technologies they possess. The Mbuti are probably better than Americans in another aspect also. They all hunted together, but not only the hunters and their families got to eat. Families of all the surrounding tribes enjoyed a meal. In today's society, people walk the streets hungry while other live lavishly, eating until they are stuffed. If Americans were more like the Mbuti, this country would be a much better place. The Mbuti pygmies of the Ituri rainforest are a fascinating people. They need their forest for food, shelter, and protection from other peoples of the world. How the Mbuti managed to survive the conquests of the Spanish and the English is beyond our knowledge. Their dense, uncharted forest has kept them a secret to many people to this day. The Mbuti probably are the most unchanged people still living on earth. As long as the Mbuti's forest isn't destroyed by the world's greed for money, they will more than likely remain there for decades to come. Works Cited: Duffy, Kevin, "Children of the Forest". Waveland Press, Inc. 1996

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Essay -- Behavior Disorders A

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder â€Å"ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is like living in a fast moving kaleidoscope where sounds, images and thoughts are constantly shifting.† (NIMH-ADHD) ADHD can be very frustrating and difficult for children. Medication and treatment are available and have been proven effective. Parents can also get frustrated and they could do something wrong. ADHD is effectively treated with medication and therapy. There are three basic types of ADHD. They are inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. (NIMH-ADHD) A child may have one, any combination of two or even all three of these types. If a child has a hard time keeping their mind on one thing or if they get bored easy they have a type of ADHD that is called inattention. If the child has hyperactivity ADHD, they are always moving, can’t sit still, and talk incessantly. They squirm in their seat or pace around the room. If the child has impulsive ADHD they are unable to think before they do something. They might run out into the street without looking, or blurt out something completely inappropriate. Parents must understand that everyone shows signs of ADHD at times, so the DMS (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has a specific guideline for determining ADHD. (Aschenbrenner, Diane S.) Showing signs of ADHD could mean the child is suffering from chronic fear of mild seizures. If the child has problems in sc hool it could mean one of three things. One is the child actually has ADHD. The child has trouble paying attention and may get frustrated with school. Two, the child does not have ADHD the child is just bored with the subject because of the ease of it and therefore shows signs of ADHD. Or three, the child again does not have ADHD, but is having trouble because they are just not developmentally ready for the material. There is no direct link from ADHD to bad parenting or inadequate home-life. Although, if the child does have ADHD, good parenting and support is necessary. Bad parents only make things more difficult for both the children and the parents. Parents often ask, â€Å"What did I do wrong?† but in fact the question is often times irrelevant. Scientists have learned a lot about ADHD in the past decade. They have determined things that do not cause ADHD that people usually blame right away. They are too much televi... ...Many people go through counseling. So kids with ADHD must make the change as gradual as possible. They should continue therapy even after they live on their own. They should talk to their doctor about continuing medication. It is very important that an ADHD child does this because it would be rough if they did not continue to seek therapy. ADHD is a life complicating disorder. It would be easier if nobody had to suffer though this horrible disorder, but until they figure that out they do. However people with this disorder can be successfully be treated with a combination of medication and good therapy. A set of good parents helps too. People with bad parents are worse off in life in general. An ADHD child needs a lot of support in the process of growing up in order to be successful in society. Sources Cited About ADD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Available at: http://add.about.com Aschenbrenner, Diane S., Drug Therapy in Nursing, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, March 2005 Attention Deficit Disorder Association, Available at: http://www.add.org "NIMH-ADHD" Available at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/adhd/complete-publication.shtml

Harmonic Elimination

336 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 22, NO. 1, JANUARY 2007 Modulation-Based Harmonic Elimination Jason R. Wells, Member, IEEE, Xin Geng, Student Member, IEEE, Patrick L. Chapman, Senior Member, IEEE, Philip T. Krein, Fellow, IEEE, and Brett M. Nee, Student Member, IEEE Abstract—A modulation-based method for generating pulse waveforms with selective harmonic elimination is proposed. Harmonic elimination, traditionally digital, is shown to be achievable by comparison of a sine wave with modi? d triangle carrier. The method can be used to calculate easily and quickly the desired waveform without solution of coupled transcendental equations. Index Terms—Pulsewidth modulation (PWM), selective harmonic elimination (SHE). I. INTRODUCTION S ELECTIVE harmonic elimination (SHE) is a long-established method of generating pulsewidth modulation (PWM) with low baseband distortion [1]–[6]. Originally, it was useful mainly for inverters with naturally low switching frequency due to high power level or slow switching devices.Conventional sine-triangle PWM essentially eliminates baseband harmonics for frequency ratios of about 10:1 or greater [7], so it is arguable that SHE is unnecessary. However, recently SHE has received new attention for several reasons. First, digital implementation has become common. Second, it has been shown that there are many solutions to the SHE problem that were previously unknown [8]. Each solution has different frequency content above the baseband, which provides options for ? attening the high-frequency spectrum for noise suppression or optimizing ef? iency. Third, some applications, despite the availability of high-speed switches, have low switching-to-fundamental ratios. One example is high-speed motor drives, useful for reducing mass in applications like electric vehicles [9]. SHE is normally a two-step digital process. First, the switching angles are calculated of? ine, for several depths of modulation, by sol ving many nonlinear equations simultaneously. Second, these angles are stored in a look-up table to be read in real time. Much prior work has focused on the ? st step because of its computational dif? culty. One possibility is to replace the Fourier series formulation with another orthonormal set based on Walsh functions [10]–[12]. The resulting equations are more tractable due to the similarities between the rectangular Walsh function and the desired waveform. Another orthonormal set approach based on block-pulse functions is presented in [13]. In [14]–[20], it is observed that Manuscript received August 2, 2006; revised September 11, 2006.This work was supported by the Grainger Center for Electric Machines and Electromechanics, the Motorola Center for Communication, the National Science Foundation under Contract NSF 02-24829, the Electric Power Networks Ef? ciency, and the Security (EPNES) Program in cooperation with the Of? ce of Naval Research. Recommended for publ ication by Associate Editor J. Espinoza. J. R. Wells is with P. C. Krause and Associates, Hentschel Center, West Lafayette, IN 47906 USA. X. Geng, P. L. Chapman, P. T. Krein, and B. M.Nee are with the Grainger Center for Electric Machines and Electromechanics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 USA (e-mail: [email  protected] edu). Digital Object Identi? er 10. 1109/TPEL. 2006. 888910 the switching angles obtained traditionally can be represented as regular-sampled PWM where two phase-shifted modulating waves and a â€Å"pulse position modulation† technique achieve near-ideal elimination. Another approximate method is posed by [21] where mirror surplus harmonics are used. This involves solving multilevel elimination by considering reduced harmonic elimination waveforms in each switching level.In [22], a general-harmonic-families elimination concept simpli? es a transcendental system to an algebraic functional problem by zeroing entire harmonic fami lies. Faster and more complete methods have also been researched. In [23], an optimal PWM problem is solved by converting to a single univariate polynomial using Newton identities, Pade approximation theory, and symmetric function properties, which . If a few can be solved with algorithms that scale as O solutions are desired, prediction of initial guess values allows rapid convergence of Newton iteration [24].Genetic algorithms can be used to speed the solution [25], [26]. An approach that guarantees all solutions ? t a narrowly posed SHE problem transforms to a multivariate polynomial system [27]–[30] through trigonometric identities [31] and solves with resultant polynomial theory. Another approach [32]–[34] that obtains all solutions to a narrowly-posed problem uses homotopy and continuation theory. Reference [35] points out the exponentially growing nature of the problem and proposes the â€Å"simulated annealing† method as a way to rapidly design the wavef orm for optimizing distortion and switching loss.Another optimization-based approach is given in [36] and [37], where harmonics are minimized through an objective function to obtain good overall harmonic performance. There have been several multilevel and approximate real-time methods proposed; these are beyond the scope here but discussed brie? y in [38]. This manuscript proposes an alternative real-time SHE method based on modulation. A modi? ed triangle carrier is identi? ed that is compared to an ordinary sine wave. In place of the conventional of? ine solution of switching angles, the process simpli? s to generation and comparison of the carrier and sine modulation, which can be done in minimal time without convergence or precision concerns. The method does not require an initial guess. In contrast to other SHE methods, the method does not restrict the switching frequency to an integer multiple of the fundamental. The underlying idea was proposed in [39] but has been re? ned he re to identify speci? c carrier requirements that exactly eliminate harmonics and improve performance in deeper modulation. The method involves a function of modulation depth that is derived from simulation and curve ? ting. In this respect, it has some similarity to [15] and [16], in which approximate switching angles are calculated and ? tted to simple functions for cases of both low-( 0. 8 p. u. ) and high-modulation depth. It is interesting that the proposed approach connects modulation to a harmonic elimination process. Carrier waveform mod- 0885-8993/$25. 00  © 2007 IEEE IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 22, NO. 1, JANUARY 2007 337 Fig. 1. Direct calculation of the phase modulation function at various modulation depths with ? rst through 109th harmonics controlled.Fig. 2. Direct calculation of the phase modulation function at various modulation depths with ? rst through 177th harmonics controlled. i? cation is common in other PWM work, as in switching frequency ra ndomization intended to reduce high-frequency components. A detailed review is outside the scope, but one discussion is given in [40]. The proposed technique is not a variation of random-frequency carriers. Instead, the carrier waveform is modi? ed in a speci? c and deterministic way to bring about a certain effect. The proposed method is readily implemented in real time.The switching signals themselves can be generated by analog comparison, while the modi? ed carrier is generated with fast digital calculation and digital-to-analog conversion. Hardware demonstration is provided here. An approximate, low-cost implementation based on present-day hardware is given in [41], but further re? nement is needed for precise elimination. II. SIGNAL DEFINITIONS AND SIMULATED RESULTS Consider a quasi-triangular waveform to be used as the carrier signal in a PWM implementation. In principle, the frequency and phase can be modulated.To represent this, consider a triangular carrier function written as (1) where is the base switching frequency, is a phase-mod0, (1) reulation signal, and is a static phase shift. For duces to an ordinary triangle wave based on conventional quadrant de? nitions of the inverse cosine function. The modulating where signal will be represented as is the depth of modulation. The pulsewidth-modulated signal, , is 1 if and 1, otherwise. 2 In [39], a phase modulation function is considered, where is the desired output fundamental fre, but dequency. This was shown to approach SHE at low 0. . To determine a better phase-modulagrades above tion function, the pattern of switching angles that occurs was investigated. Fig. 1 shows the phase modulation values needed for various with harmonics 1–109 conversus angle trolled. Fig. 2 shows the same with harmonics 1–177 controlled. Many other sets of controlled harmonics were tested with similar results. The pattern looks much like a shockwave pattern that can be modeled with the Bessel–Fubini e quation from nonlinear acoustics [42] (2) where is a Bessel function of the ? rst kind. The natural is in? ity in principle, but for calculation purposes number 15 or higher is usually suf? cient, as discussed below. The and have been determined by curve functions ? tting as (3) 1. and (4), shown at the bottom of the page, where 0 Fig. 3 shows a closeup view of a PWM waveform generated as in (2). Nineteen harmonics are with a carrier that uses 0. 95. The waveform is compared controlled with a (high) to one generated with conventional elimination by numerical solution of nonlinear equations. As can be seen, the switching edges match well. Fig. 4 shows a full-period time waveform and a magnitude 11.With spectrum [fast Fourier transform (FFT)] for this switching frequency ratio, the method eliminates harmonics two through ten (even harmonics are zero by symmetry). The 2 and the modulation depth carrier phase shift is set to 1. The spectrum con? rms the desired elimination. is 0. This v alue Fig. 5 shows the same study except with also achieves satisfactory baseband performance, but with a different pulse pattern. The pattern provides slight differences in higher-order harmonics. For example, the 11th and 13th harto . monics vary 2%–3% in magnitude as is varied from (4) 338IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 22, NO. 1, JANUARY 2007 Fig. 3. Conventional harmonic elimination waveform and proposed PWM 0. 95, harmonics controlled through the 19th). waveform (m = Fig. 5. Pulse waveform p, message signal m, and magnitude of pulse waveform 1, and ‘ 0. spectrum for ! =! 11, m = = = Fig. 4. Pulse waveform p, message signal m, and magnitude of pulse waveform spectrum for ! =! 11, m 1, and ‘ =2. = = = In these cases, all baseband harmonics are eliminated. In three-phase systems, triplen harmonics may cancel in the currents automatically if neutral current does not ? w. Therefore it is not always necessary to eliminate them by design in the SHE pro cess. Modulation-based harmonic elimination excluding triplen harmonics is similar in many respects to the case here. However, the phase-modulation functions resemble piecewise polynomials rather than the shockwave form of Figs. 1 and 2. This is discussed in detail in [38]. The speed of calculating these waveforms is dictated by , the number of terms to keep in the series (2), and , the number of discrete points used to approximate the waveforms. A personal computer (1. 86-GHz Intel M Processor with 1. -GB RAM) running MATLAB on Windows XP was used to carry out the calculations. First, a modi? ed triangle wave was ap100 000 points per cycle, the modulation proximated with 1, and a frequency ratio of 19 was used. depth was set to was varied from ? ve to 35. Over this range, the The number quality of solution was acceptable and the average calculation time varied from 0. 327 to 0. 915 s. Next, the same conditions 35 and was varied from 10 000 were used with except to 200 000. The aver age calculation time varied almost linearly from 0. 149 to 1. 78 s with no signi? cant difference in the resulting spectrum.Finally, with held constant at 100 000, the frequency ratio was varied from seven to 51. The average calculation time was consistently near 0. 92 s. This is expected since the number of harmonics eliminated has no scaling effect in (2). However, for larger frequency ratios, larger may be needed for precision. In summary, it is recommended that be set to at least 1,000 the frequency ratio and set to at least 15. In any case, with present-day personal computers the solution can be calculated in less than 1 s (typically) without iteration, divergence, or need for an initial estimate, and reduced versions can be computed in less than 200 ms.Notice that this time interval need not cause trouble with real-time implementations. The carrier only needs to be recomputed with the modulation signal changes. In applications such as uninterruptible supplies, this is infreque nt. In motor-drive applications, a response time of 200 ms to a command change may be acceptable as is. Alternatively, a look-up table can store some of the relevant terms to speed up the process dramatically. Dedicated DSP Please de? ne DSPalgorithms will be much faster than PC computations based on MATLAB. III. EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLES To show that the proposed technique satisfactorily eliminates harmonics, the modi? d carrier was programmed into a function generator. The output provided a carrier signal in a conventional sine-triangle process. Three examples are shown below to reveal a range of interesting conditions. Fig. 6 shows the resulting waveforms for a high-depth case 0, and 0. 95. The with nineteen harmonics eliminated, and are shown at frequency ratio is 21:1. The signals the top, followed by the PWM waveform and the FFT spectrum. From the spectrum it can be seen that the desired harmonic-free baseband spectrum is achieved. In the next example, the phase 2.The unexpected r esult was that the spectrum shift is was insensitive to , as shown in comparison to Fig. 7. The desired spectrum occurs despite the difference in carriers. The resulting PWM waveforms at various values of may not offer obvious advantages, but it is noteworthy that they are not the same as conventionally computed SHE waveforms and would not be achievable with conventional SHE solution techniques. As another example, it is shown that the carrier base fre, need not be an odd multiple of . In Fig. 8, the frequency, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 22, NO. 1, JANUARY 2007 339 Fig. . Experimental modulation-based SHE with ! ‘ 0. = =! = 21, m = 0. 95, Fig. 9. Experimental modulation-based SHE with ! ‘ 0. = =! = 13. 5, m = 0. 95, Fig. 7. Experimental modulation-based SHE with ! ‘ =2. = =! = 21, m = 0. 95, Fig. 10. Experimental modulation-based SHE with ! ‘ 0. = =! = 50, m = 0. 95, The last example, shown in Fig. 10, applies to a case where a high number of harmonics is eliminated (50 1 ratio) effectively, which is much higher than typically are reported in the literature. IV. CONCLUSION A method for calculating and implementing SHE switching angles was proposed and demonstrated.The method is based on modulation rather than solution of nonlinear equations or numerical optimization. The approach is based on a modi? ed carrier waveform that can be calculated based on concise functions requiring only depth of modulation as input. It rapidly calculates the desired switching waveforms while avoiding iteration and initial estimates. Calculation time is insensitive to the switching frequency ratio so elimination of many harmonics is straightforward. It is conceivable the technique could be realized with low-cost microcontrollers for real-time implementation.Once the carrier is computed, a conventional carrier-modulator comparison process produces switching instants in real time. REFERENCES [1] F. G. Turnbull, â€Å"Selected harmonic reduc tion in static dc-ac inverters,† IEEE Trans. Commun. Electron. , vol. CE-83, pp. 374–378, Jul. 1964. Fig. 8. Experimental modulation-based SHE with ‘ 0. = ! =! = 20, m = 1. 0, quency ratio is adjusted to be 20:1, with 0, and now 1. 0. The same nineteen harmonics are eliminated, but now the switching frequency is 5% lower. Intervals during which the carrier waveform is not triangular can be seen in the ? gure. As shown in Fig. , the frequency ratio can also be a half-in0. 95 and 0. teger. In this case, the ratio is 13. 5:1, 340 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 22, NO. 1, JANUARY 2007 [2] H. S. Patel and R. G. Hoft, â€Å"Generalized techniques of harmonic elimination and voltage control in thyristor inverters: part I-harmonic elimination,† IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. , vol. IA-9, no. 3, pp. 310–317, May/ Jun. 1973. [3] ——, â€Å"Generalized techniques of harmonic elimination and voltage control in thyristor inverters: part II-vol tage control techniques,† IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. , vol. IA-10, no. 5, pp. 666–673, Sep. /Oct. 1974. [4] I.J. Pitel, S. N. Talukdar, and P. Wood, â€Å"Characterization of programmed-waveform pulsewidth modulation,† IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. , vol. IA-16, no. 5, pp. 707–715, Sep. /Oct. 1980. [5] ——, â€Å"Characterization of programmed-waveform pulse-width modulation,† in Proc. 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Technol. , vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 345–354, May 2003. [31] J. Sun and H. Grotstollen, â€Å"Pulsewidth modulation based on real-time solution of algebraic harmonic elimination equations,† in Proc. Int. Conf. Ind. Electron. , Contr. Instrum. , 1994, pp. 79–84. [32] T. Kato, â€Å"Sequential homotopy-based computation of multiple s olutions for selected harmonic elimination in PWM inverters,† IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 86–593, May 1999. [33] J. Sun, S. Beineke, and H. Grotstollen, â€Å"Optimal PWM based on realtime solution of harmonic elimination equations,† IEEE Trans. Power Electron. , vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 612–621, Jul. 1996. [34] Y. -X. Xie, L. Zhou, and H. Peng, â€Å"Homotopy algorithm research of the inverter harmonic elimination PWM model,† in Proc. Chin. Soc. Elect. Eng. , 2000, vol. 20, pp. 23–26. [35] S. R. Shaw, D. K. Jackson, T. A. Denison, and S. B. Leeb, â€Å"Computeraided design and application of sinusoidal switching patterns,† in Proc. IEEE Workshop Comput. Power Electron. , 1998, pp. 185–191. [36] V. G.Agelidis, A. Balouktsis, and I. Balouktsis, â€Å"On applying a minimization technique to the harmonic elimination PWM control: the bipolar waveform,† IEEE Power Electron. Lett. , vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 41 œ44, Jun. 2004. [37] V. G. Agelidis, A. Balouktsis, and C. Cosar, â€Å"Multiple sets of solutions for harmonic elimination PWM bipolar waveforms: analysis and experimental veri? cation,† IEEE Trans. Power Electron. , vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 415–421, Mar. 2006. [38] J. R. Wells, â€Å"Generalized Selective Harmonic Control,† Ph. D. dissertation, Univ. Illinois, Urbana, 2006. [39] P. T. Krein, B. M. Nee, and J. R.Wells, â€Å"Harmonic elimination switching through modulation,† in Proc. IEEE Workshop Comput. Power Electron. , 2004, pp. 123–126. [40] A. M. Stankovic, G. C. Verghese, and D. J. Perreault, â€Å"Analysis and synthesis of randomized modulation schemes for power converters,† IEEE Trans. Power Electron. , vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 680–693, Nov. 1995. [41] M. J. Meinhart, â€Å"Microcontroller Implementation of Modulation-Based Selective Harmonics Elimination,† M. S. thesis, Univ. Illinois, Urbana, 2006. [42] B. En? o and C. Hedbe rg, Theory of Nonlinear Acoustics in Fluids. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer, 2002.

School Finance Paper

Connie Findley University of Phoenix June 14, 2010 School Finance Issue Paper There is a popular myth that government sponsored public education is cost free to students, families and teachers (Darden, 2007). The economic crisis has resulted in a wave of reduced funding sources for school districts around the country. As state and city budgets have been slashed, the consequences for districts are dire (Trainor, 2010). Debates about how to improve public education in America often focus on whether government should spend more on education.Federal and state policy makers proposing new education programs often base their arguments on the need to provide more resources to improve opportunities for students (Lips at el. , 2008). The increasing number of budget cuts have left teachers, administrators, families footing the bill for classroom materials. The challenge has become to provide essential school supplies and classroom materials despite millions in budget cuts. Many districts has ra ised dozen of school fees for various students activities and added many items to school supply lists every year (Dyrli, 2008).In recent years there has been a great interest in the effect of school resources on academic achievement ( Froese, 1997). Answering whether spending more on public education improves academic achievement begins with establishing how much the United States spends on education. In 2007, the federal government spent $71. 7 billion on elementary and secondary education programs. These funds were spent by 13 federal departments ad multiple agencies. The Department of Education spent $39. 2 billion on K-12 education.The largest programs in the Department of Educations budget were education for the disadvantaged and special education (Lips at el. , 2008). The monies dedicated to states from the federal government is earmarked for certain programs. Allotted monies for school resources do not always equate to materials for classroom instruction. Many people believe that lack of funding is a problem in public education, but historical trends show that American spending on public education is at an all-time high (Lips at el. , 2008). Acknowledging that education excellence cost money, the vast majority of school districts have a tough time keeping pace.Schools are tempting to use several solutions to combat the budget crisis. Schools are collecting fees from parents, they can pretend not to notice as teachers quietly bear the expenses as an act of caring, or solicit or accept dollars that come from third-party sources (Darden, 2007). Academic researchers have sought to answer the question of whether education expenditures are correlated with student performance. However, there is a lack of consistent evidence on whether education expenditures are related to academic achievement.Despite the lack of consistent finding, leading researchers in the area acknowledge that any effect of per-pupil expenditures on academic outcomes depends on how money is spent, not how much money is spent (Lips at. el. , 2008). Existing evidence indicates that the typical school system today do not use resources well at least if promoting students achievement is the purpose. The high and increasing percentage of funding is allocated to non-classroom expenditures is evidence of the need to improve resource allocation in the nation’s public schools.According to the National Center for Public Education Statistics, only fifty two percent of public education expenditures are spent on instruction. This percentage has slowly been decreasing over recent decades (Lips at. el. , 2008). One problem school districts are facing is shrinking enrollment. These school districts are left with vacant buildings and hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in desk, chairs, office supplies and equipment, computers and textbooks that may eventually find their way to the dump.At the same time, districts in growing communities struggle to accommodate an enrollment expansion with limited funding, facilities and equipment. Administrators may be forced to purchase and temporary classrooms (Trainor, 2010). One of the major areas that school administrators are focusing on is technology in the classroom. While many teachers are bearing the cost of glue, paper, pencils and other classroom materials essential for achievement, school officials are providing funding for instructional computer programs to help increase reading and math achievement.While purchasing new computers is not always an option many school districts are finding ways to provide computers without overspending. In an effort to reduce cost, some school technology leaders have formed groups to negotiate pricing with firms selling refurbished computers. Because every computer in a school setting does not need the most sophisticated capabilities, refurbished models provide access as well as word processing and other basic programs at an affordable price (Trainor, 2010). Providing update d and current textbooks is another recurring cost that school systems face.There is a large used textbook market which has existed for decades. Districts around the country regularly sell retired textbooks. Sometimes school systems replace relatively new textbooks because of a change in curriculum requirements (Trainor, 2010). School systems are wasting money of textbooks each year due to purchasing books that are already retired or by purchasing an older edition of a textbook. Teachers are using creative ways to supplement curriculums and information not found in textbooks but are required by the state to teach.School districts need a willingness to explore the possibilities of learning about the other three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle (Trainor, 2010). When budgets are tight, district administrators must sometimes choose between supplies and other needs. To help bridge the gap, many teachers are buying more material than ever for their classrooms. The most recent study by the Nat ional School Supply and Equipment Association found that in the 2005-2006 school year, teachers spent and average of $552 on school supplies and instructional material (Dyrli, 2008).Some school systems have found themselves in court over the idea of providing a free education while asking parents to pay for school activities. In April 2006, the Indiana Supreme Court struck down Evansville-Vanderburgh School Districts $20 school activity fee, saying it was the equivalent of tuition charge and therefore violated the state constitution. The money was used to pay for music, drama, nurses, school counselors, alternative education and other needs. This fee was an attempt by this school system to balance the budget (Darden, 2010).One of the perks that teachers could look forward to during tax season is the tax credit offered to teachers. California Public School teachers in 2004 found out right before school started that they would no longer be able to deduct the cost of school supplies fr om their taxes. California cancelled its Teachers Retention Tax Credit, hoping to save about $400 million over two years (Vail, 2004). Nationally, teachers have similar, though much lower tax program for supplies. Most school districts have classroom budgets for such expenses, but teachers frequently dip into their own pockets to supplement the budget.The general public does not understand how much teachers spend out of their own pockets just to be able to do their jobs, but they do it because it’s the best for the students and they want the students to learn, achieve and be successful (Vail, 2004). Tax payers have invested considerable resources in the nation’s public schools. However, increasing funding if education has not led to similarly improved student performance (Lips at. e. , 2008). School systems across the country are now looking for ways to supplement their restricted and strained budgets.Many are looking at purchasing refurbished computers, recycled class room materials, charging fees to parents and adding more supplies to back-to-school list. While these efforts are not in vain they are only a starting point. School district are going to have to solicit funding from private corporations, form partnerships with business in community and find raise to help supplement declining funds. What does this mean for students and teachers? Teachers continue to purchase classroom materials essential to help students master core goals.Students are having to adjust to larger classrooms, sharing materials and equipment while goals and standards continue to rise. Teachers will have to bear the burden to meet federal mandates while working with less than adequate supplies. These barriers will force teacher and parents to provide creative alternatives for learning and building stronger relationships with each other in order to provide students with more learning opportunities.Reference Darden, E. (May, 2007). School law show me the money. American Sch ool Board Journal, 44-45. Dyrli, K. (2008). School supplies on a budget. World Wide Web. htp://www. DistrictAdministraton. com. Froese, V. (1997). The relationship of school materials and resources to reading literacy: An international perspective. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Lips, D. , Watkins, S. , and Fleming, J. (2008). Does spending more on education improve academic achievement? Backgrounder: The Heritage Foundation of America, 2179. Trainor, C. (2010). The other three rs. American School Board Journal, 50-51. Vail, K. (2004). Tax credit for school supplies? Maybe not. American School Board Journal, 8.