Tv series Angels in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tv series Angels in America - Essay Example Prior Walker, a gay man who discovers he has AIDS, must deal with the end of a relationship while facing his own mortality. Through his numerous heavenly visions, he learns that he is a prophet, perhaps symbolizing hope and survival. At the beginning of the story, Louis Ironson is Prior’s neurotic boyfriend; later, however, he abandons the relationship once he discovers Prior is suffering from AIDS, unable to deal with a tragedy that symbolizes his own fears. Harper and Joe Pitt must address their own life-changing events: she attempts to numb her repressed life with drugs and must eventually face her husband’s homosexuality; and Joe must struggle with his sexual identity and issues of politics and homophobia. Two main characters are based on actual people: Roy Cohn and Ethel Rosenberg. Cohn’s voyage is not easy; he continually denies his sexuality and, until the end, holds tightly to his judgmental nature and conservatism. The ghost of Rosenberg visits Cohn in t he hospital as she struggles with her unjust execution and the desire to confront her prosecutor. Each character’s journey begins with tragedy and personal struggle, as these elements work well as dramatic sources of self-discovery. The various ways in which the main characters deal with the issue of homosexuality can me seen in their personal relationships and how they look at the world. Whether in or out of the closet, each character must face the stereotypes and social expectations of their sexuality. It is clear that the characters who refuse to face the truth of their sexual orientation struggle with the avoidance of their true nature and, in many ways, this dishonesty eats at their souls. Joe is living a lie through his marriage to Harper and gradually understands he must live a somewhat truer life, while Harper faces the repercussions of his decision. Cohn is perhaps the most repressed and

Vernacular And Contemporary Use Of Bamboo Environmental Sciences Essay

Vernacular And Contemporary Use Of Bamboo Environmental Sciences Essay Bamboo is one of the oldest known and used materials by mankind. Due to the rise in the environmental concerns, wood has become a critical resource. Bamboo is also very effective in sequestering carbon and helps in reducing the green house emissions. Bamboo is one of the few materials which have an enormous range of uses. It can be used as a construction material, for interiors, in furniture design, as a decorative plant and it is also a delicacy in the culinary world. Bamboo has a substantial history of application in construction due to its structurally desirable properties. Since bamboo is light weight, it is used in other industries like construction of boats and as structural members in kites and planes since primitive times. Bamboo has been used in China to make paper, cloth and Rayon. The tensile strength of bamboo makes it a crucial factor in construction of the bridges across rivers in India and China. The use of bamboo in various industrial processes has shown a great potential for the production of composite materials and components which can be effectively used in the structural and non-structural applications in building construction. Most importantly, bamboo is a renewable raw material. Bamboo is a group of giant and fast growing perennial grass. It is native to the tropical, sub tropical and temperate areas of all the continents other than Europe. Bamboo can be found in a wide range of climates, like the cold areas of the Indian Himalayas to the hot tropical areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Vernacular and contemporary use of bamboo: The native people of Asia, Africa Central and South America used bamboo for housing purposes. This architecture was categorised as vernacular, because it used the locally available resources and traditions to address to the local issues and climatic conditions, without an architect intervening. The vernacular architecture of any place is the reflection of the environmental, social and historical context in which it exists. It is basically the architecture that has been carried on since the old times or the native traditional architecture of a place. In many countries, the poor people in rural areas used bamboo to build their houses. This bamboo was obtained after its use as scaffolding in building construction. Since the primitive people used bamboo for building their houses, and the bamboo that they used, was the used bamboo from the construction industry, it came to be known as the poor mans timber. A shift from the use of bamboo as a building material occurred only after the adven t of modern materials like concrete, brick, steel etc. The use of these materials changed the mind set of people and their use became a status symbol, because they were stronger and more durable than bamboo. Bamboo is adaptable to most climates, and is found in large numbers in the Asian sub-continent; many areas in these regions have adopted the use of bamboo as a building material, and created their own vocabulary for designing with bamboo. After harvesting and treatment against insects, local materials and techniques can easily be adapted with bamboo for building construction. Availability of bamboo: Bamboo is mainly found in the chain islands of Oceania (Thailand, Singapore, islands surrounding Philippines and Micronesia), warm areas of South America (Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Columbia), Central America (Mexico, Panama, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Honduras), Africa (Madagascar, Nicaragua, South Africa, democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya), North America and Asia (China, India, Japan, North and South Korea and Bangladesh). Out of all the bamboo species available, roughly 300-500 species are found in China alone. In all, Asia contains 64% of the worlds bamboo diversity. Most of the developing countries of the world are located along the equator. These countries have a fast growing population and have an ever increasing need for housing. These areas have climate that is conducive for bamboo growth. The use of bamboo as a construction material in these areas is suitable, because it is a fast growing, inexpensive and locally available resource and has excellent construction qualities. Bamboo can be found in areas at the sea level as well as at altitudes of about 3800m. Majority of the bamboo species grow at temperatures from 25-50 degrees Celsius. Sandy loams to loamy clay soils are suitable for bamboo growth. Bamboo cannot thrive in saline soil. CHARACTERISTICS OF BAMBOO: The biological classification of bamboo is as follows: Kingdom : Plantae   Phylum ( Division) : Magnoliophyta   Class: Liliopsida   Subclass: Commelinidae   Order: Cyperales   Family: Gramineae (Poaceae)   Subfamily: Bambusoideae   Tribe: Bambuseae   Subtribe: Bambusinae There are two types of bamboos, the running type (herbaceous) and the clumping type (woody). Of these two, the running type is mostly found in the temperate climates or in the high mountainous regions of the tropics and they produce both, a culm and rhizomes. A culm is the above ground vertical shoot and rhizomes are the long underground shoots. Generally, the bamboos found in the tropical regions are the clumping type. The clumping type has a tendency to produce large diameter and thicker walled culms, but has very short rhizomes. Bamboo which is three to six years old is suitable for the purpose of construction. Herbaceous bamboos sprout from the same main root and grow in dense clumps. They have thin culms and many leaves. In the woody bamboo, many culms sprout from the same stem since it grows horizontally beneath the soil. The characteristic of woody bamboo is that it grows thick and tall. The straight culms are most suitable as a building material. Most of the woody bamboos can grow in temperatures of up to -17 degrees Celsius. The herbaceous type of bamboo cannot tolerate freezing temperatures. Since bamboo belongs to the grass family, it grows by stretching upwards and not in concentric rings like trees. Most of the species of bamboo grow hollow and have varying thickness of the outer wall. Diaphragms or nodes divide the central chamber of the stalk into sections at regular intervals. This gives bamboo its stiffness. The shape of bamboo, its hollow and brittle nature all these together pose several challenges while designing with bamboo. Also, the areas in which bamboo is usually found have a temperate or tropical climate and hence rainfall is ample in these areas. The bamboo that is used in these areas which are humid must be protected from moisture otherwise it may rot and fail. Similarly, when exposed to severe sunlight, bamboo expands and contracts due to the heat and this can result into the bamboo splitting and cracking. In such cases, the bamboo must be protected from sunlight. As a building material, bamboo has many advantages owing to its lightweight, hollow and versatile nature. Bamboo can be used to design buildings that allow natural ventilation by creating breathable walls, floor and roof structure. The shape and size of bamboo also provides for versatility in design. This type of construction is suitable in areas like the tropics which tend to have a humid and hot climate. Properties of bamboo: Tensile properties: Bamboo has a tensile strength equal to that of steel owing to the strong fibres within its shoot. This strength is greater parallel to the shoots as compared to the strength perpendicular to the grain direction. This is an important consideration while designing connections for load transfer. Compressive properties: The compressive strength of bamboo is due to the hollow cylindrical shape of the culm, where the strongest fibres are along the outer edge and stiff nodes at equal intervals along the length which act as diaphragms. The bamboo shoot would possess a relatively high compressive strength axially if it were to grow in a perfectly straight manner. Bending strength: The fibres that run along the length of the bamboo make it most vulnerable to excessive bending, which causes the bamboo shoot to lose its circular form and hence its strength. There are numerous parameters like age, position of the culm, moisture content, skin surface and distribution node which greatly affect the bending strength of the bamboo shoot. Shear strength: One of the most important drawbacks of bamboo in terms of its material properties is its low shear strength. The walls of the shoot are relatively thin, and contribute significantly to the cracking and splitting of the culm. Buckling failures: Owing to its slender nature, the bucking strength of bamboo is an important factor that needs to be taken into consideration while designing. Density: After conducting various studies, it has been found that some species of bamboo that grow in the Asian and American continents have a density greater than that of timber. The average density is 700-800kg/meter cube; however this value varies with each individual species. Seismic resistance: Bamboo shoots have a low modulus of elasticity and a high strength to weight ratio of the culm and hence, bamboo structures react well to earthquakes. Since bamboo structures are light weight as compared to concrete or steel, they cause relatively small inertial forces from earthquakes. Bamboo also has a reduced response to ground movements owing to its flexible nature. CONTEMPORARY USE OF BAMBOO IN BUILDING DESIGN: Owing to its structural properties and versatility, bamboo has manifold uses in the construction industry. It can be used for making walls, both interior and exterior, for making roofs, as scaffolding, for flooring, for making partitions etc. Bamboo has been used by man in the construction of temporary structures, huts, mud houses etc. since a long time. Over the years, the methods of construction used since the primitive times, have evolved and adapted themselves. Even though there have been advances in the techniques used in bamboo construction, the basic principles from the age- old methods have remained the same. Case studies: The Green School, Bali, Indonesia: Architect: PT Bambu / Aldo Landwehr, John Hardy. The campus of the Green School is sustainable and is beautifully designed along both the sides of river Ayung in Sibang Kaja, Bali. It is situated in a jungle with a variety of native trees and plants and organic sustainable gardens. The campus of the Green School is powered using a number of alternative energy sources like bamboo sawdust hot water and cooking system and a hydro -powered vortex generator and solar panels. The campus has spaces like classrooms, gyms, assembly areas, offices, cafes, faculty housing etc. Bamboo is the locally available and sustainable material which has been used so as to exploit its maximum potential. Bali is located along the equator and has a tropical climate. This climate is suitable for bamboo construction. The Green School understands and respects the vernacular architecture of the region and goes a step further than just creating modern spaces using traditional materials. The Inspiration Office, Kochi, Kerala, India: Architect: Prasad Jonathan. D. W. The premises of the Inspiration office in Kerela, India cover an area of about 2750 sq.ft. It is the first building of its kind. It is an experimental design, which has attempted to develop a new technology (bamboo reinforced plaster). They have then used this plaster in walls, floors and roofs. RCC columns, ferro-cement beams and very little reinforced plaster have been used along with bamboo to achieve the beautiful design of this building. One of the remarkable characteristic of the building is that out of the total bamboo used, 25% was from areas in the vicinity of the site. The concept of the design is based on an open plan. This helps in allowing the communication flow, but keeps the privacy intact. The office is divided into public spaces, semi- private spaces, private spaces and executive spaces. Micro-steel reinforced mortar bamboo composite is used for infill floors, walls and roof of the building. There is a difference of about 4-5 degrees between the interior and exterior temperature on an average. BAMBOO as a low impact construction material: Bamboo is a giant grass and can grow up to 4 feet in a day. The shoot of bamboo can be cut like grass and the roots inside the earth will grow a new shoot, this makes it a highly renewable resource. Bamboo has been used in building construction since the ancient times. It is a traditional building material which is available at a much lower price than other traditional building materials. It also has advantages in terms to sustainability, flexibility and growth time as compared to the other traditional materials. The characteristic of bamboo that makes it a sustainable material is that some varieties of bamboo can grow up to 4.3 inches a day. Bamboo can be harvested in three to five years. In the first 180 days of its growth, bamboo will reach nearly 100 feet. Bamboo is instrumental in carbon sequestration because it grows in a greater density and faster than a forest with trees. In comparison to other wood products, bamboo requires little energy for curing after it is cut. On an average, the medium size culms require about four months to dry up completely. Harsh chemicals are not necessary to preserve bamboo; it can be preserved using natural substances and non- toxic chemicals. Simple techniques like keeping it off the ground and keeping it dry will increase the life of bamboo as a building material. Concrete can be reinforced with bamboo instead of steel. This would reduce the impact on the environment, as the production of steel is more energy consuming and steel has more embodied energy as compared to bamboo. Bamboo is a very good example of sustainability, in terms of it being a plant as well as a building material. Numerous tests have been conducted to evaluate the performance of bamboo for compressive and tensile strengths as compared to traditional wood species. Due to its light weight, bamboo performs better in shear than materials like concrete which have greater mass. The bamboo which is suitable for building construction can grow in poor soils since it requires very little nutrients. The woody bamboo which is suitable for construction purpose reproduces asexually by spreading and this continues during the growing season. This growing season varies according to the climate, but it normally lasts for about four to six months of a year, generally when the temperatures are warm and rainfall is regular. This means, that no special care needs to be taken for growing bamboo, and hence as a result, . Using bamboo that is grown locally as a building material would help in saving the shipping cost and consume less fossil fuel. Preferably, bamboo that is grown within a radius of 150-200kms from where it needed should be used for construction because it has low embodied energy and hence it is more environmentally friendly. CONCLUSIONS: Bamboo is typically found in the tropical and temperate regions of the world. In most of the areas where bamboo is found, the native species, that are readily available, are used for construction. Bamboo is also used for various other purposes like furniture design, textile making, as food, for making instruments etc. Bamboo is rapidly renewable as a building material and it can be harvested almost every 5 years, which means that one can grow his own house! Even though controlling the growth and spread of bamboo is a difficult task, bamboo growth is advantageous because it converts carbon dioxide into oxygen more effectively than trees. The physical properties of bamboo allow it to be bent into various shapes whenever required, when heat is applied. Since the use of bamboo as a building material has not gained as much popularity as a few other materials, there is a lack of construction systems which are needed to work with bamboo. Similarly, standardisation of bamboo construction techniques is also necessary. While there are many individual species of bamboo that are on the verge of extinction, the cultivation of bamboo as a building material is harmless. The use of bamboo as a building material has more advantages than disadvantages. If properly cultivated and harvested, bamboo can be grown and used as a building material where it is necessary in the highly populated areas of the world. Bamboo as a building material is inexpensive, lightweight, regenerative and sustainable and it needs to be explored to its full potential. Bamboo needs to be mainstreamed in regions where it is available in plenty and easily and needs to be used in modern architecture. Abstract: This essay discusses the probable use of bamboo as a low impact building material in tropical, sub- tropical and temperate regions of the world, where it is found in abundance. Bamboo belongs to the grass family, it is evergreen and perennial; it is thus becoming an increasingly popular building material. Bamboo owes this to its credentials; it grows very fast, it is easy and cheap to cultivate and it is extremely strong. We live an age, where the construction industry is ranked as one of the least sustainable industries and it eats up most of the non-renewable resources available globally. The choice of a building material is generally made after considering the technical, functional, financial and design requirements. However, in the last few decades, sustainability has become a huge problem and hence, the environmental impact of a building material is now becoming the prime criterion. Thus the qualities of bamboo are very appealing as a low impact building material. Today, we need to emphasise on finding innovative solutions for building materials which impact the environment to the minimum. Bamboo is a potential sustainable alternative to the conventional structural materials like concrete, steel and timber in the regions where it is grown in plenty, and the climate is suitable for bamboo construction.

Detecting the Functional Gastrointestinal Disorder based on Wavelet Tra

In recent years, researchers have developed powerful wavelet techniques for the multi-scale representation and analysis of signals [1][2][3][4][5]. Wavelets localize the information in the time-frequency plane[6]. One of the areas where these properties have been applied is diagnosis. Due to the wide variety of signals and problems encountered in biomedical engineering, there are various applications of wavelet transform [7][8][9][10]. Like in the heart, there exists a rhythmic electrical oscillation in the stomach. With the accomplishment of the whole digestive process of the stomach, from mixing, stirring, and agitating, to propelling and emptying, a spatiotemporal pattern is formed [11]. The stomach has a complex physiology, where physical, biological and psychological parameters take part in, becoming difficult to understand its behavior and function. It is presented the initial concepts of a mechanical prototype of the stomach, it uses to describe mechanical functions of storing, mixing and food emptying [12][13]. The nature of gastric electrical activity in health and disease is fairly well understood. In man, it consists of recurrent regular depolarization (slow waves or electrical control activity-ECA) at 2.5 to 4 cycles per minute, and intermittent high-frequency oscillations (spikes or electrical response activity-ERA) that appear only in association with contractions. The oscillations commence at a pacemaker site high up in the corpus and propagate to terminate at the distal antrum. The velocity of propagation and the signal amplitude increase as the pylorus is approached. ECA are the ultimate determinant of the frequency and direction of propagation of phasic contractions, which are responsible for mixing and transp... ...ls from their wavelet coefficients, before they are applied to a static neural network for further classification. The design of neural network is simple because only interesting features of GEA types are presented. The experimental results show that it’s possible to classify GEA types by using this simple neural network architecture. We present the results from a network which is trained on sample types. The approach of classifying the output of a feature detector offers greater computational efficiency and accuracy than that of attempting to use a neural network directly upon a GEA signal, and yet preserves the ability to train and flexibility of a neural network. Section 3 of this paper describes the architecture of a network to classify the GEA types for detecting abnormalities. Experimental results of training and testing a network are presented in section 6.

Difficulties Relating to the Recognition Essay

Introduction: With the development of market economies, knowledge economy and information industry, intangible assets as a necessary part of current business become one of the most important factors leading businesses to a success. In the previous years, people paid more attentions to tangible assets i.e. PPE, inventories, and other tangible assets that can produce future economic benefits. However, nowadays, people recognize that intangible assets would bring enormous benefits than we can expect. In fact, tangible assets, on average, are only 30% of the value of some companies. Especially, in the hi-tech industry, the percentage of intangible assets arrives to 90% in some companies. For instance, the US Microsoft, its book value is lower than GM’s, but its output value and profit is far more than the combination of three subsidiaries of GM. Furthermore, the ratio of intangible asset even reflects the strength of a company and makes the company more competitive. Intangible assets have real vale and are very important to a company’s success, but are much harder to measure and quantify than their tangible counterparts. Therefore, what is the most significant point regarding to intangible asset is to recognize and measure reliably during accounting process thereby evaluating asset or even the value of a corporation more accurately and disclosing the actual information to accounting users. This essay will illustrate difficulties when recognizing and measuring intangibles and concentrating on the process of brand in particular. Difficulty analysis: IAS38 defines an in tangible asset as â€Å"an identifiable, non-monetary asset without physical substance†. It cannot be an intangible asset if an item is not an asset. As an asset, it must be controlled by an entity which also results in expected economic benefits flowing into the entity. Being distinguished from PPE, intangible asset has no physical substance. The feature â€Å"Identifiable† stated in IAS38 is that â€Å"an item is identifiable when it arises from contractual or other legal rights or when it is separable†. When it comes to control, the problem becomes more complicated. An entity could obtain future benefits arising from an intangible; however, whether the item is controlled by the entity firmly or not is not certain. For example, if a company purchase patent by trading contract, this patent controlled legally will bring benefit to the entity, then the patent can be demonstrated as intangible asset. On the other side, staff training expenditure for talents plan is not recognized as intangible asset because the entity cannot control the staff actually if they change jobs to another company even though after training they can generate future benefits for this company. As a result, it is difficult to recognize the intangible asset from its definition. Intangible resources should be recognized as expenses when incurring, if the asset recognition criteria are not met. In the respect of measurement, capitalizing and amortizing intangible assets over their useful lives will affect future benefits, which are believed to follow the principles of prudence and accrual of financial statements. Nevertheless since intangibles are difficult to record materially, the value of financial statements will be declined when doubtful or even non-existing assets happened. Take deferred charge as a example, in some standards, deferred charges (e.g. advertising and promotion costs, R&D costs, organization costs, start-up costs, and legal costs ) can be capitalized, because they are amortized over 1 year period, thus costing the future economic benefits. As for their counterpart, ISAC states that these costs must be expenses, for which reason that â€Å"Once an intangible asset is in working condition, any further costs incurred in relation to that asset are not recognized as part of its cost. Therefore, costs incurred in using or redeploying an intangible asset should be recognized as an expense† (Melville, 2011, P103). When concerning the subsequent expense, it is difficult to distinguish between capitalization and expenses clearly. What should be highlighted here is †brands† which referred in IAS38, â€Å"Expenditure on internally generated brands, mastheads, publishing titles, customer lists and items similar in substance cannot be distinguished from the cost of developing the business as a whole. Therefore, such items are not recognized as intangible assets.†Brands are regarded as a type of intangible items where recognition could become possible and even necessary. Difficulties arise when brands are separated by internally and externally generated intangible assets. Internally generated tangible assets are â€Å"those which have been developed by the entity itself rather than purchased from another entity.† (Melville, 2011, P103) In order to be included in balance sheet assets, brands should be either â€Å"acquired for valuable consideration and need not be shown under goodwill† or â€Å"created by the undertaking itself, in so far as national law permits their being shown as assets† (EEC 1978, art. 9 C.). According to the example of Part A, Enigma plc has a brand expenditure of â‚ ¬10,000 including the acquisition of the Variations brand acquired from Elgar Ltd for â‚ ¬7 million and marketing expenditure on Enigma’s internally generated brands. Externally and internally generated intangible asset should be separated for accounting. In terms of externally generated tangible asset acquired by purchasing from another company, which satisfies the criteria of intangible assets: (a) future economic benefits arising from the acquisition of this item will flow into the entity; (b) the entity obtained this equity by contract so that controlling it legally and substantially; (c) brand is non-monetary; (d) it is identifiable for brand with no substance. Brand acquired from external parties reflects the position of intangible assets that have been clarified above; therefore, being recognized as intangible asset and recording â‚ ¬7 million under asset in the statement of financial position. Notwithstanding internally generated brands might be an intangible asset, difficulties to confirming still exist. IAS38 then states that â€Å"it may be difficult to assess whether an internally generated intangible asset qualifies for recognition because of: (a) The problem of establishing whether or not there is an identifiable asset which will generate future economic benefits, and (b) The problem of determining the cost of the asset reliably† Managers cannot ascertain that internally generated brands would produce future economic benefits even if generating the brands at cost which should be written off as an expense. In consequence, the cost of brands is demonstrated as expenditure and recorded in the comprehensive income. Conclusion: Difficulties of recognizing and measuring the intangible assets are not only on the process of accounting, but also regarding the difference between varies of standards around the world. Moreover, investors and managers of corporations abstract more emphasis on self-brand as increasingly attention paid to competition of intangibles. Nevertheless, the self-brand should be firstly recognized as actually an intangible assets or the cost is just an expense, which will assist us with accounting process as well as disclosures to the outer parties. Reference: EEC (European Economic Community). 1978. â€Å"4th Directive on the annual accounts of certain types of companies n ° 78/660/EEC.† Official Journal of the European Communities, (August 14). Hendriksen, E.S. and Van Bred, M.F. (1992) An Accounting Theory.5th edition. Chicago: Irwin IAS 38 Johnsen, L.T. and Patrone K. R. (1998)Accounting Horizons. pp. 293–303 Melville, A. (2011) International financial reporting. 3rd edition. pp.100-113 Nils,E.J. and Kjell.H.K. (2000) ’Accounting for Intangible Assets in Scandinavia, the UK, the US, and by the IASC: Challenges and a Solution’, the International Journal of Accounting, 35(2), pp. 243–265. 2000 [Online] Available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020706300000480 (Accessed:20 Nov.2012) Stolowy, H. , Haller, A. and Klockhaus, V. (1999) ’Accounting for brands in IAS38 of IASC (intangible assets) compared with French and German Practices’, Emerging issues in international accounting, pp.7-20.1999 [Online] Available at https://studies2.hec.fr/jahia/webdav/site/hec/shared/sites/stolowy/acces_anon yme/recherche/working%20papers/accounting%20for%20brands.pdf Walton, P. and Aerts, W. Global Financial Accounting and Reporting. second edition.pp.150-155)

Patriot Act, Pros and Cons

The Patriot Act was signed into law by President Bush in response to the tragedy of the events of 9/11. This report explains the issues that warranted this law, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the Patriot Act of 2001. Passed in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the law expanded the government's powers in anti-terrorism investigations. And as expected, controversy is always an issue when such laws are passed. The Patriot Act in no exception. Although the law was designed to counter terrorism within the borders of the United States, some provisions of this law are controversial due to infringements on civil liberties. The following are a list of pros and cons based on information provided by the United States Department of Justice, and ACLU. The Pros: †¢Allows law enforcement to use surveillance against more crimes of terror †¢Law enforcement can conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists †¢Federal agents ask a court for an order to obtain business records in national security terrorism cases †¢The Patriot Act facilitates information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better â€Å"connect the dots. †¢The Patriot Act reflects new technologies and new threats †¢Law enforcement officials may obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurs The Cons: †¢FBI can demand â€Å"any tangible thing,† including books, letters, diaries, library records, medical and psychiatric records, financial information, membership lists of religious institutions, and genetic information without your knowledge or conse nt a. The FBI needs only to tell a judge (no need for evidence or probable cause) that the search protects against terrorism. The judge has no authority to reject this application. †¢Section 213: a. It expands the government's ability to search private property without notice to the owner †¢Violates the 1st and 4th Amendments to the Constitution †¢Does not work: a. 0 out of 5,000 suspects detained for terrorism have been convicted Opponents of the Patriot Act argue that this law was pushed through Congress with some measure of haste and opportunistic tones. The debate and controversy will obviously continue as is with most laws passed within the halls of the United States Congress. As guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States with respect to the right of protest, the Patriot Act will continue and amendments will sure to follow. The act’s own framers admit that it reduces peacetime liberties but argue that it is must continue in order to fight terrorists. As is the case with a law such as the Patriot Act, once it is implemented the government is always reluctant to relinquish its additional powers regardless of whether or not the original threat that prompted the act still exists. Such laws are sometimes viewed as too harsh or simply appalling and sometimes a person feels that his or her privacy is being violated. Sometimes all one has to do is to remember the tragic events of 9/11 to renew their sense of well being, security, and the freedom that is afforded by this great nation, the United States of America.