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Sunday, December 29, 2019

Gerrymandering - Congressional Districts on Census Data

Every decade, following the decennial census, the state legislatures of the United States are told how many representatives their state will send to the United States House of Representatives. Representation in the House is based on state population and there are a total of 435 representatives, so some states may gain representatives while others lose them. It is the responsibility of each state legislature to redistrict their state into the appropriate numbers of congressional districts. Since a single party usually controls each state legislature, it is in the best interest of the party in power to redistrict their state so that their party will have more seats in the House than the opposition party. This manipulation of electoral districts is known as gerrymandering. Although illegal, gerrymandering is the process of modifying congressional districts to benefit the party in power. A Little History The term gerrymandering is derived from Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), the governor of Massachusetts from 1810 to 1812. In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill into law that redistricted his state to overwhelmingly benefit his party, the Democratic-Republican Party. The opposition party, the Federalists, were quite upset. One of the congressional districts was shaped very strangely and, as the story goes, one Federalist remarked that the district looked like a salamander. No, said another Federalist, its a gerrymander. The Boston Weekly Messenger brought the term gerrymander into common usage, when it subsequently printed an editorial cartoon that showed the district in question with a monsters head, arms, and tail, and named the creature a gerrymander. Governor Gerry went on to become vice president under James Madison from 1813 until his death a year later. Gerry was the second vice president to die in office. Gerrymandering, which had taken place prior to the coinage of the name and continued for many decades thereafter, has been challenged many times in federal courts and has been legislated against. In 1842, the Reapportionment Act required that congressional districts be contiguous and compact. In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that districts must follow the principle of one man, one vote and have fair borders and an appropriate population mixture. Most recently, the Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that manipulating district borders to give an advantage to one political party was unconstitutional. Three Methods There are three techniques used to gerrymander districts. All involve creating districts that have a goal of encompassing a certain percentage of voters from one political party. The first method is called the excess vote. It is an attempt to concentrate the voting power of the opposition into just a few districts, to dilute the power of the opposition party outside of those districts that contain an overwhelming majority of the oppositions voters.The second method is known as the wasted vote. This method of gerrymandering involves diluting the voting power of the opposition across many districts, preventing the opposition from having a majority vote in as many districts as possible.Finally, the stacked method involves drawing bizarre boundaries to concentrate the power of the majority party by linking distant areas into specific, party-in-power districts. When Its Done The process of reapportionment (to divide the 435 seats in the House of Representatives into the fifty states) takes place soon after every decennial census (the next will be 2020). Since the primary purpose of the census is to count the number of residents of the United States for purposes of representation, the Census Bureaus highest priority is to provide data for redistricting. Basic data must be provided to the states within one year of the Census - April 1, 2021. Computers and GIS were utilized in the 1990, 2000, and 2010 Census by the states to make redistricting as fair as possible. Despite the use of computers, politics does get in the way and many redistricting plans are challenged in the courts, with accusations of racial gerrymandering tossed about. We certainly wont expect accusations of gerrymandering to vanish anytime soon. The U.S. Census Bureaus Redistricting site provides additional information about their program.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Dating From The Dynastic Period Of Egypt - 1207 Words

Dating from the Dynastic Period of Egypt (3000-2938 BCE), the Narmer Pallet is one of the most important archeological findings to date. Previous to king Narmer, Lower and Upper Egypt were divided and frequently at war with each other. The common belief of most historians is that the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt was due to the influence and propaganda of King Narmer and his court. On one side of the palette, king Narmer is pictured with the bulbed-white crown of Upper Egypt, while on the other side, it portrays the king wearing the crown of Lower Egypt, the papyrus. Illustrating one of the earliest known characterizations of an Egyptian king, the palette has be referred to as â€Å"the first historical document in the world† by Egyptologist Bob Brier. Historians regard King Narmer as the king who unified Lower and Upper Egypt, and thus the father of the Early Dynastic Period. Carved from a single piece of dark gray-green siltstone, the Narmer Palette is shield-shaped and stands at about 63 centimeters tall. In the past, the stone has often been misidentified as being a slate or schist. Slate is layered and prone to flaking, while schist is a metamorphic rock containing large, unevenly distributed mineral grains. Both slate and schist are unlike the finely grained siltstone, which was used continuously during the pre-dynastic period for creating palettes, and also was used as a source for Old Kingdom statuary art. The Palette, which has survived five millennia in almostShow MoreRelatedDating From The Dynastic Period Of Egypt1850 Words   |  8 Pages(Title) Dating from the Dynastic Period of Egypt (3000-2938 BCE), the Narmer Pallet is one of the most important archeological findings to date. Previous to king Narmer, Lower and Upper Egypt were divided and frequently at war with each other. The common belief of most historians is that the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt was due to the influence and propaganda of King Narmer and his court. On one side of the palette, king Narmer is pictured with the bulbed-white crown of Upper Egypt, whileRead MorePredynastic And Dynastic Egypt1604 Words   |  7 PagesPredynastic Egypt was composed of two separate areas that made their settlements along the Nile river: Lower Egypt, the northern Delta area, and Upper Egypt, the southern area. The transition from Predynastic to Dynastic Egypt is marked by the presence of a Pharaoh, or king, presiding over both Lower and Upper Egypt, however; the manner and reasoning behind why this centralization between these two regions occurred is up to speculation . Lords of the Two Lands: The Origins of Dynastic Egypt by RobertRead MoreThe Narmer Palette : The Great Hierakonpolis Palette And The Palette Of Narmer1674 Words   |  7 PagesNarmer, is one of the most significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, it contains some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found in history. It is thought by some to depict the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the king Narmer. On one side, the king is shown with the bulbed white crown of Upper Egypt, and on the other side it shows the king wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt. The Palette of Narmer accommodates one of the earliest known characterizationsRead MoreThe Children Burial Of Ancient Egypt1405 Words   |  6 PagesThe children burial in ancient Egypt: Ironically, the oldest human grave so far discovered in Egypt is that of a child. The grave was discovered in 1994 at Taramsa Hill (near Qena in Upper Egypt, located near the modern site of the temple of Hathor at Dendara). It contained the skeleton of a child between 8 and 10 years, buried about 55,000 years ago (Middle Paleolithic age). The child found sitting against the wall of a shallow pit, its face skyward, legs pulled up, left arm on its hip and rightRead MoreAncient Egyptian Portraitures Essay1672 Words   |  7 Pagesfascination with Egyptian Art come from the pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphs. The theme of the exhibition is about racial types in Ancient Egyptian Art it will survey the various naturalistic facial features found in the non-royal sculptures. In contrast, the Royal portraits are extremely symbolic in representing human figures with the combination of human gods and animal forms that tend to portray idealized, conventional faces of Egypt. Utilizing objects f rom the permanent collection at the BrooklynRead More Egyptian Flood in the Nile2264 Words   |  9 PagesThe events that comprise the Nile flood are the fact that the nile river helped develop Egypt. We can say that the Nile Flood was more of a savior to the Egyptians. Egyptian flood in the Nile: Rains in Africa, especially rains from the Ethiopian Highlands became crucial and by crucial I mean there was severe rainfall every year in Egypt. The levels of water were too high sometimes that Egyptians had to learn how to manage the water so that they can keep up with their crops. The Ancient EgyptiansRead MoreThe Domestication Of Cats : Analysis2336 Words   |  10 Pagesloved around the world for a number of reasons, their origins are ambiguous and hard to see where they really began. This paper will show you how cats have changed over time, in what ways they have changed, where they originated from, etc. I will explain how they went from big cats like lions or tigers to house ho ld pets that we know and love today. It all started in the Oligocene era (25 MYA – Present) where the first signs of what is now called felines or cats of our own era were found. BeforeRead MoreThe Works That Have Impacted The Art World And Have Made It What It Is Today?2296 Words   |  10 PagesAncient Egyptian art. The works that were produced for time period are interesting in terms of the lack of tools and the innovation to make these paintings, sculptures, and architecture that almost seem impossible to have been constructed. In my opinion the arts produced during the Early Dynastic through the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt are some of the most technologically advance forms that stand out over all other art forms for the time period, and have influenced the development of artists and theirRead MoreEgyptian Art and Architecture4176 Words   |  17 Pages sculpture, and allied arts of ancient Egypt, from prehistoric times to its conquest by the Romans in 30 bc. Egypt had the longest unified history of any ci vilization in the ancient Mediterranean, extending with few interruptions from about 3000 bc to the 4th century ad. The nature of the country, fertilized and united by the Nile, and its semi-isolation from outside cultural influences, produced an artistic style that changed little during this long period. Art in all its forms was devoted principallyRead More Egyptian Art and Architecture Essay examples4113 Words   |  17 Pages sculpture, and allied arts of ancient Egypt, from prehistoric times to its conquest by the Romans in 30 bc. Egypt had the longest unified history of any civilization in the ancient Mediterranean, extending with few interruptions from about 3000 bc to the 4th century ad. The nature of the country, fertilized and united by the Nile, and its semi-isolation from outside cultural influences, produced an artistic style that changed little during this long period. Art in all its forms was devoted principally

Friday, December 13, 2019

Finance Internship Report Free Essays

Internship / Project Title: Revenue Operations Specialist Internship / Project Progress: I worked in a Saas-based company as a revenue operation specialist. My main responsibilities were to work closely with the CFO with weekly cash flow analysis and to apply cash, book journal entries and created A/R aging reports in Net Suite and GP. Also, I completed monthly GL account reconciliations and revenue waterfalls and prepared SOX filing, such as sales order and journal entry samples. We will write a custom essay sample on Finance Internship Report or any similar topic only for you Order Now Furthermore, I worked closely with account executives in managing over 350 customers, generating invoices and processing payments in Quickbooks and Xero. When my company transferred system, I migrated over 5 GB of system data using Pivot Table and Vlookup and created novel collection metrics and invoice billing charts on daily basis. Besides, I helped AP team to verified over 100 weekly expense reports for employee expense reimbursements and assisted with accounting logs and billing/revenue close process. I also supported in preparation of financial statements and management reporting and managed billing schedules for revenue recognition This position helps me understand how a finance department runs in the daily work. Also, I built many skills relevant to accounting in the software industry, such as revenue recognition, account receivables and VSOE. I summarized what I learnt and contributed for my company below. Revenue and Budgeting: Assisted financial team to reached $29 million quarterly revenue target in ahead of one month; Managed PL, aged receivables, income statement, bank reconciliation reports and journal entry for monthly revenue reconciliation; Handled revenue waterfall month end closures in an accurate and timely manner, finishing a week before official due date and exceeding manager expectation. Maintained the budgeting model by the development and improvement of budgeting process to decrease 10% cost on delivery rates and advertisement occupancy. Account Management: Engaged professionally with sales personnel to manage over 350 customer master files in QuickBooks and 300 customers in Xeros and to implement leads generations in Salesforce. com CRM; Built and developed customer relationships to enhance performance in the bank and generated 10% in portfolio revenue. Data Management: Posted daily cash applications and journal entries in various accounts in Net Suite, kept track of over checking and money market accounts simultaneously and maintained onsistently 100% accuracy; Reconstructed over 5 GB of system data using vlookup and combination formulas in Excel, handled software compatibility issues, input and output parsing, saved company over 30 hours in automating the manual migration of data. Overall, what I learn from class in ITU is well applied to my job. For instance, in Financial Accounting class, we learnt the knowledge about three important financial statements, which I used and reviewed in my job. How to cite Finance Internship Report, Papers

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Crime Scene Reconstruction free essay sample

It has moved beyond a physical barrier allowing analysts to dissect the crime scene to identify evidence often missed simply walking through the traditional steps of sketching. There is now the opportunity for anyone to revisit the crime scene the next day, next week, or years from now. This is an important the crime scene leaving nothing to the Jurors imagination. According to the Department of Safety for the State of Connecticut, forensic crime scene reconstruction is the process of determining the sequence of events about what occurred during and after a crime (Department of Public Safety Scientific Services, 010). Crime scene reconstruction normally starts ideas of what happened during the crime and then moves to an analysis of the evidence at the scene. It focuses on gathering as much data and evidence to form a valid hypothesis. The hypothesis can then be subjected to various tests to prove or disprove the overall interpretation of the reconstruction. Once the reconstruction is formalized a theory can be determined in support of the reconstruction. There are three types of crime scene reconstructions. They are specific incident reconstruction, specific event reconstruction, and specific physical evidence reconstruction. Specific incident reconstruction involves reconstructing a crime scene where an accident or incident occurred. This will be needed during such incidences as traffic accidents or homicides. The purpose is to identify the types of evidence that can be associated with these incidents. Using specific event reconstruction, the sequence of events or timelines can be established. This form of reconstruction looks at how all of the pieces of the puzzle fit together. With specific event reconstruction the sequence of events can be determined. The final type of reconstruction is specific physical evidence reconstruction. This involves evidence such as blood and bullets. Through reconstruction of blood splatter, it can be determined where the shooter was standing during a homicide. It will also help identify the location of the bullet if it is exits the body of the victim. Capturing the crime scene is an important part of the crime scene reconstruction process. Typical methods include sketching the crime scene using graph paper and a pencil or taking photographs from a digital camera. Both of these methods do provide a snapshot of the crime scene for preservation but, they do not capture the scene in its entirety. A sketch will note measurements of physical evidence in their relation to the victims body or to such items as furniture and doorways. However, it is completely relying on the investigator to supply accurate measurements and identification of the physical evidence. Using 3D technology, the entire crime scene can be analyzed for accurate measurements at anytime. An advantage that 3D technology has over other methods of crime scene reconstruction is that it can preserve the crime scene in a moment in time. This is vital if the scene is in a populated area and needs to return to its natural state as soon as possible. Think about a crash scene involving two vehicles on an expressway in Los Angeles during rush hour that resulted in a fatality. The time it takes to clear the scene is a very important variable when collecting the evidence. Under these conditions, there may be evidence that goes unnoticed by an investigator that is sketching the scene. Not to mention the time that it takes to do physical measurements. Using 3D technology can allow the investigator to collect the data and have confidence that nothing will missed. In order to capture a crime scene in its entirety multiple scans of the scene must be considered. The collection of data comes from only the viewpoint of the investigator. Consider capturing the image of an automobile. If we were to stand at the front of the automobile we would not be of the automobile to in order to collect a complete image. One tool used to collect 3D images from a crime scene is a calibrated digital camera. It uses a technology called stereo photography. Standard photographs are only 2-dimensional representations of what you see. 3-dimensional photographs are taken from two perspectives. Because we have two eyes, we will need two perspectives on a scene. By forcing each eye to see only one photograph, i. e. the left eye sees the left photograph and the right eye sees the right photograph, your brain will reconstruct the depth information from the two pictures and you will see a 3D image (3dphotography, 2010). The use of calibrated digital cameras allows the viewer to see the image as it would have been seen by the individual taking the pictures. When multiple photographs are combined, a reconstruction of the scene is created. Another tool that is used to collect 3D images from a crime scene is a 3D scanner or laser. A 3D scanner is known for high-accuracy and long range. Most 3D scanners can collect data from 900 feet away. It can operate in bright sunlight or total darkness, indoors or out. The built-in digital camera allows the measured 3D data (known as a point cloud) to automatically be mapped creating a 3D rendering of the scene (3D Forensic Mapping, 2010). The 3D scanner quickly digitizes a scene using both panoramic photography and 3D laser scanning which is the process of making millions of highly accurate measurements in Just a few minutes. The result is an accurate 3D representation of he scene from which any measurement can be made, even long after the scene has been vacated. Whether using a calibrated digital camera or a 3D scanner, it is time to create a 3D model of the data. The models are assembled in 3D animation software. This is when the data that was collected at the crime scene is put into the software. In the case of the using a calibrated digital camera, each pixel is assigned a coordinate. The coordinate is made up of XYZ; where X is an Easting coordinate, Y is a Northing coordinate, and Z is the elevation. The pixels or coordinates are then lotted on a 3 dimensional grid. If we consider a sketch that is typically performed at a crime scene, it is laid out on a piece of graph paper. The investigator assigns a certain measurement between squares and then plots all the relative items of the crime scene at the respected distance. This would be considered a 2 dimensional drawing where only X Y are plotted. In a 3D plot, it includes the Z value. This gives the 3 dimensional model its depth. So, the multiple photographs taken with the calibrated digital camera are overlaid, assigned a coordinate, and modeled into a 3D image. The 3D scanner is not much different from a calibrated digital camera, although it uses an infrared laser to collect data points instead of pixels. The hardware then assigns coordinates to each data point and the software plots them. A 3D scanner can collect as many as 100,000 data points per second (Oberle, 2009). This creates a huge advantage over using digital camera which can only collect upwards of 8 million pixels with each photo (Patterson, 2010). It would only take a scanner Just over a minute to surpass a digital camera in resolution. At this point, the scene is ready for review. With the combination of photo-like images the software will allow the viewer to spin the images 360-degrees. Looking at the computer screen, you will be able to enter the crime scene as if you were actually there. This can be copied and viewed by anyone with access to the 3D software. It becomes a crime scene, the more likely evidence will not go unnoticed. When reviewing the crime scene reconstruction, measurements can be achieved right from the office. Because each data point is assigned a coordinate, the distance formula can be used to calculate distances between two points. The software includes an algorithm that can quickly calculate the distance between any points selected by the user. Therefore, determining specific physical evidence reconstruction such as blood splatter is made possible back at the office. In blood spatter evidence, the measurements will help calculate the mass of each drop from the size of its stain, and use this to calculate its maximum potential velocity. Air drag would tear apart a droplet if it travelled faster than this limit (Marks, 2010). With that information, and an angle of impact estimated from the shape of the stain, the software projects a ealistic trajectory backwards in time to locate the origin of the blood spatter.