Cuban Missile Crisis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cuban Missile Crisis - Assignment Example Additionally, the U.S. resolved to destroy all its weaponry positioned in Italy and Turkey. It vowed never to attack Cuba unless directly provoked. The paper strives categorically to afford a detailed analysis of the Cuban missile crisis. It will focus on the actions that triggered the crisis during the 1960s. Additionally, it will examine both its short term and long-term implication. A number of factors are directly linked to the emergence of the Cuban missile crisis. Since time immemorial, the US has been against the close association between the European communist nations and South American nations (Kennedy, 2011). The US felt threatened by an alliance between the Latin and the Soviet Union. After the adoption of communism by Cuba, the US tried to overthrow the Cuban government. However, it failed and the operation adopted the name failed Bay of Pigs invasion. After the botched operation, the Soviet Union resolved to strengthen its position by offering to place nuclear missile in Cuba. Fidel Castro, the then Cuban leader gladly agreed hoping that it would deter further attacks from the U.S. When the plot was known to the US, the Cuban Missile crisis ensued. The aftermath of the crisis helped shape the relation between the Soviet Union and the US. Khrushchev credibility bared the blunt of international criticism after agreeing to dismantle the missiles and because the US nuclear deployment in turkey and Italy was not known publicly. The political downfall of the soviet leader is directly linked to the conclusion of the crisis. However, the resolution was applauded in the U.S. with historian citing it as a great achievement by John Kennedy’s government (Khan, 2012). Additionally, they argued that the US success in the crisis had prompted its involvement in other military operation across the globe. The crisis also led to the creation of a Moscow-Washington hot line that linked the Kremlin and the White house. The cold war

Materials in Construction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Materials in Construction - Essay Example This has two components namely: direct and indirect. Direct energy is the energy used to transport building products to the site, and then to construct the building while indirect energy is the energy used to acquire, process, and manufacture the building materials, including any transportation related to these activities. Different materials have different embodied energy. It is measured as a quantity of non-renewable energy per unit of building material, component or system. It may be expressed as megaJoules (MJ) or gigaJoules (GJ) per unit of weight (kg or tonne) or area (square metre). Some embodied energy of common materials are presented in the table below. Embodied energy in construction has important connection to environment since CO2 emissions are highly correlated with the energy consumption. Literatures show that on average, 0.098 tonnes of CO2 are produced per gigajoule of embodied energy. Therefore, the higher the embodied energy of a specific construction material the higher its environmental effects. The external envelope is the primary and critical component of a building that serves as insulator and a protective physical covering for the occupants. The envelope consists of the roof, walls, windows, and the doors. Design of a building’s external covering is based upon several performance objectives such as: structural integrity, moisture control, temperature control, and control of air pressure boundaries. Common measures of the effectiveness of a building envelope include physical protection from weather and climate (comfort), indoor air quality (hygiene and public health), durability and energy efficiency. In order to achieve these objectives, all building enclosure systems must include a solid structure, a drainage plane, an air barrier, a thermal barrier, and may include a vapor barrier. Moisture control is essential in cold climates. Since the building enclosure is