Keller EAS 131 Writing Assignment 5 Essay

Keller EAS 131 Writing Assignment 5 Essay Keller EAS 131 Writing Assignment 5 Essay Running head:â€Å"FORECASTING METHODS AND LIMITATIONS†. 1 Capabilities And Limitations Of Forecasting Methods Past And Present ANDREW KELLER†¨ THOMAS EDISON ONLINE†¨ Running head:â€Å"FORECASTING METHODS AND LIMITATIONS†. 2 Abstract This paper will focus on weather forecasting models of the past and present and include key parameters used in making accurate forecasts. I will examine the advances in computers and mathematics which allow forecasters to have increased accuracy over models of the past. I will also attempt to highlight the challenges and limitations of making computer model forecasts and explain how errors might compound for forecasts of increasing duration. Running head:â€Å"FORECASTING METHODS AND LIMITATIONS†. 3 Capabilities And Limitations Of Forecasting Methods Past And Present Weather forecasting is the attempt by meteorologists to predict the state of the atmosphere at some future time and the weather conditions that may be expected. Weather forecasting is the single most important practical reason for the existence of meteorology as a science. It is obvious that knowing the future of the weather can be important for individuals and organizations. Accurate weather forecasts can tell a farmer the best time to plant, an airport control tower what information to send to planes that are landing and taking off, and residents of a coastal region when a hurricane might strike. As important as this field of study is and as detailed as the level of technology is, very little is understood by the end ­user about complexities involved in making an accurate forecast. Global weather data are collected at more than 1,000 observation points around the world and then sent to central stations maintained by the World Meteorological Organization, a division of the United Nations. Global data also are sent to NWS's NCEPs for analysis and publication. The less one knows about the way the atmosphere works the simpler weather forecasting appears to be. For example, if clouds appear in the sky and a light rain begins to fall, one might predict that rain will continue throughout the day. This type of weather forecast is known as a persistent forecast. A persistent forecast assumes the weather over a particular geographic area simply will continue into the future. The validity of persistent forecasting lasts for a few hours, but not much longer because weather conditions result from a complex interaction of many factors that still are not well understood and that may change rapidly. How then can meteorologists be expected to accurately predict the weather over a week in advance? In the coming pages we will look at what advances are being made in technology and algorithms in helping advance the accuracy of forecasting and contrast the forecasting methods of several decades ago with forecasting methods in use today. We will also examine how input variations and processing errors can accumulate over multiple forecasted time periods. Running head:â€Å"FORECASTING METHODS AND LIMITATIONS†. 4 Steady ­state or trend method: A somewhat reliable approach to weather forecasting is known as the steady ­state or trend method. This method is based on the knowledge that weather conditions are strongly influenced by the movement of air masses that often can be charted quite accurately. A weather map might show that a cold front is moving across the Great Plains of the United States from west to east and it might be reasonable to predict

Learn More About the Riverine Command Boat (Experimental) (RCB-X)

Learn More About the Riverine Command Boat (Experimental) (RCB-X) The Riverine Command Boat (Experimental) (RCB-X) is an experimental military craft that is testing alternative fuel blends. RCB-X uses a blended fuel consisting of 50 percent  algae-based biofuel and 50 percent NATO F-76 fuel. The goal is to reduce the Navy’s consumption of petroleum-based fuels. RCB-X is an experimental version of the Swedish Riverine Command Boat. Over 225 Riverine Command Boat’s are in use worldwide. Riverine Boat Specs Riverine Command Boat (Experimental) (RCB-X) is a 49-foot long, 12-foot wide craft that is fast and agile. The vessel is designed for use on rivers for patrols and assaults by small forces. The RCB-X has a top speed of 44 knots, 1,700 horsepower and a crew of four. It also has a 3-foot draft allowing for easy travel on most rivers. It has Swedish built engines and Rolls Royce twin-ducted water jet propulsion. The bow is reinforced allowing the craft to be run onto shore at full speed without damage. RCB has a range of 240 nautical miles on rivers or open water. There are six gun mounts on the vessel. One on the bow and another behind the mast are remote- controlled from the cockpit. The other four are used for manned weapons. It can carry .50 caliber machine guns, mortar, 40 mm grenade launchers or Hellfire missiles. The mortar launcher is a twin-barrel 12 cm. mortar. RCB can carry up to 20 troops at one time, and be transformed into a dive support vessel or a command craft. The boat can also be configured as an ambulance to take wounded soldiers off the battlefield by river. Made of heavy-duty aluminum, it has a 580-gallon fuel tank that contains a large, high-speed fuel fill capability. The bow drops down making it easy to disembark and return to the craft quickly. The cockpit is armor plated for protection and the cabin can be sealed against nuclear, chemical and biological agents. Over 4 tons of cargo can be carried on the craft. RCB-X and RCB’s are built by Safeboat International under license from the Swedish company Dockstavarvet. The first models cost anywhere from $2 to $3 million each. Bio Fuel Because the Riverine boat is a test version for fuels, it garners power from a 50 percent  algae-based and 50 percent NATO fuel called hydro-processed renewable diesel or HR-D. If the RCB-X used 100 percent biofuel, it would contain water which fouls the engines of Navy craft. Biofuels also have a six-month service life and the blend allows for longer term storage of fuel. The biofuel blend is made by a company called Solazyme, which calls the fuel Soladiesel. Soladiesel is designed to be used directly in place of conventional fuels, with no modifications to the engines or fuel system of the craft. In 2010 Solazyme delivered 80,000 liters of Soladiesel to the U.S. Navy and was under contract for an additional 550,000 liters at the time of publication. The fuel is produced in partnership with Chevron and Honeywell  in Illinois. Solazyme also makes a replacement for jet fuel and standard diesel vehicles. Solazyme’s algae grows in the dark using sugars from plants such as sugar cane and corn. Their system uses standard, industrial fermenters allowing for rapid scaling of production. Solazyme is based in San Francisco, California. Future The Navy  began testing the Riverine boat in 2010. It planned to deploy a strike group for local operations using the blended fuel in 2012 with full deployment in 2016. The Navy is testing the RCB-X, and it may be a possible fast craft for going from brown water (river) to green/blue water (ocean).

Stakeholders Influence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Stakeholders Influence - Essay Example achieve this, I shall concentrate upon incorporating the use of latest technology to facilitate the organizational personnel in the process of assisting the consumers. I am the CEO of a public health organization. The organization faces the challenges of limited resources whereas the number of patients has been on an increase in the past few years. There is limited staff, equipment, and technology to provide the patients with quality care. There are two basic types of stakeholders in the public corporations; internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders are those that are involved in resourcing, funding, and coordination of the strategies whereas external stakeholders are the ones who share their experiences and opinions upon the issues and points of concern to them as representatives of the local community and the service users. Internal stakeholders of the public corporations include but are not limited to director of nursing, head of health information and intelligence, procurement, public health strategists, managers, researchers, trustees, and board committee members. External stakeholders include media, news reporter s, policy makers, consumers of services rendered by the public corporation, providers, local authority, vendors, and funders. As the CEO of the public corporation, my powers are limited since government is the prime decision-maker. â€Å"The specific responsibility and influence of public organizations within institutional collective action†¦is a source of ambiguity. It becomes therefore a matter of political authority for public organizations to invest in the structuring of public problems and policies† (Demortain, 2004). According to my plan, I would first prioritize the issues according to their importance. I would assess the influence of internal and external stakeholders in relation to each issue, as well as their sources of influence. â€Å"The impact stakeholders can have on organisational policy, strategy, and

MULTINATIONAL CORP-EVOL & CUR ISSUE Movie Review - 2

MULTINATIONAL CORP-EVOL & CUR ISSUE - Movie Review Example As the financial crisis got worse, the Federal Reserve took unusual and unparalleled actions to re-establish financial stability. Unemployment rate continued to rise until mid-2003, as the United States economy was rebounding from a small recession in 2001. The Federal Reserve was worried that the economy would slide into recession so they kept the federal funds rate very low. The rate reached 1 percent by mid-2003 (Labonte and Makinen 9). As the economy began to expand and prices began to increase, the federal funds rate was increased to 5.25 percent by mid-2006. According to Labonte: It is now argued by some economists that the financial crisis was, at least in part, due to Federal Reserve policy to ensure that the then-ongoing expansion continued. In particular, critics now claim that the low short-term rates were kept too low for too long after the 2001 recession had ended, and this caused an increased demand for housing that resulted in a price bubble (Labonte and Makinen 9). The economy was more and more susceptible to changes in short-term interest rates largely due to the move to floating interest rate mortgages from fixed interest rate financing for housing. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Benjamin Bernanke stated that the low home mortgage rates were largely caused by a glut in global savings. Bernanke went on the say that the Federal Reserve had little control over these savings due to constraints in the regulatory framework. The Federal Reserves later policy of tightening monetary policy was to burst the housing bubble, claim critics. The critics further suggest that lax lending standards, which were regulated by the Federal Reserve, also contributed to the crisis. The subsequent increase in bank leverage ratios meant that they could borrow more overnight and create collateralized debt obligation (subprime loans) in the securitization chain. When the housing bubble burst, it led to a

Home Networking Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Home Networking - Article Example dependent of one another either by resulting to emerging internet architect and protocols or by painting new UI ahead of technologies that are existing (Edwards et al., 2011). Challenges facing home networking are what make it a bit inconveniencing to users (Edwards et al., 2011). These are the reason for the slowdown in home networking but there are solutions to them. Once the problems are solved then, home networking can be more convenient to the users (Edwards et al., 2011). The article perspective is that of user (Edwards et al., 2011). This is because he has identified various problems experienced in home networking. Additionally, has stated the possible solutions that can be of use to try to solve the problems facing home networking (Edwards et al., 2011). Adoption of networking in homes has become rampant over the years. For instance, in 2009, 63% of homes in the U.S had broadband connectivity and more than 50% had a home network (Edwards et al., 2011). The home network is multiple computers using a shared connection (broadband) through wireless or wireless (Edwards et al., 2011). In late 1999 as ell as inception of 2000, this knowhow has greatly though showed gigantic growth problems. This problem, which experience is beyond inconvenience, as it poses threats to their privacy. Addressing these problems will first require research from the industry, system, and the networking. The advantage is that it bears implications, which are positive especially meant for sustainability as well as public accessibility. This is a commendable breakthrough based on its boosting to commercial, education as well as communication services (Edwards et al., 2011). Home network has problems more so on end users who find difficulties in securing and managing their networks because this development is for managed environment. The privacy of an individual is not a guarantee and it does not have the chance to install applications of new-generation (Edwards et al.,

Business Structure Of Blizzard Entertainment

Business Structure Of Blizzard Entertainment This report is a in-depth look at Blizzard Entertainment the company, to find out why Blizzard entertainment is so successful in the gaming industry. We will look at the reasons on how it could come out with best selling games over and over again and how they manage to sell 2.4 million copies of one game within the first 24 hours. Furthermore, we will understand how Blizzard entertainment runs such a big company to such efficiency using the business model SWOT and PEST in the analysis of its success. A look at the current developments and what future developments it might have or where it can go from here will be discussed as well. Well, Blizzard Entertainment was not always as we had known it, originally founded in 1991 February as Silicon Synapse by Chairman Allen Adham, president Michael Morhaime and vice president Frank Pearce All Graduates from UCLA. In the days of Silicon Synapse it was more on focused on making game ports for other Gaming studios. Until the Breakthrough Game The Lost Vikings, it was hailed as one of the forefathers of that Game Genre . A year after that they released Rock Roll Racing another Cult Hit that paved the way for its predecessors in the Racer Shooter Genre. In 1994 It was only then its name was reestablished as Blizzard Entertainment. The first big scale game it released by Blizzard Entertainment, was Warcraft: Orcs HYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft:_Orcs__HumansHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft:_Orcs__Humans Humans and it was a hit with the gamers. Ever since they have made a benchmark in the game, the gaming world was at their fingertips now. After such success with Blizzard Entertainments original Warcraft game, Warcraft: Orcs HYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft:_Orcs__HumansHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft:_Orcs__Humans Humans , was touted as one of the best strategy games of 1994, and the games epic sequel, 1995s Warcraft II : Tides Of Darkness, won numerous awards, including the companys first Game of the Year award. Warcraft III :Reign Of Chao ss, released in July 2002, has likewise won several accolades , just like Starcraft another hit Game Series released by Blizzard Entertainment, It has become a staple of professional tournament gaming, along with its expansion, the award-winning Warcraft III : The Frozen Throne, which was released in July 2003. II. Current Projects and a look at the rise of WOW ( World Of Warcraft) Well Blizzard has many notable achievements in its released games, None of it comes close To World Of Warcraft, more widely known as WOW. World of Warcraft stands as the greatest game in the popular Warcraft series. World of Warcraft has been an extraordinary success since its launch in November 2004. It has impressed game critics and has captivated millions of players, who adore the virtual world created by this game. It is no longer just a game but is now a genuine phenomenon, and one that shows no signs of abating. It is one of the key games of recent times, and stands as a landmark title for online gaming. World of Warcraft is the forth title in the series of Warcraft games, which has been entertaining people for over a decade To understand more about the appeal of World of Warcraft, let us recall the time when WOW was released. It was not merely some massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It created a truly engaging online world set in the heart of Azeroth, a fantastic land that is filled with heroes and monsters and many other creatures. The games strength is that it functions as an experience, as a world that exists on its own terms that you may visit and explore as you please. The game sold more than 240,000 copies in its first 24 hours on the market, more than any other PC game in history. Since then it released two other expansion sets which was a greater success then the one before. Blizzard is also making attempt to diversify beyond their original aim of just making games. Blizzard Entertainment is currently working with Legendary Pictures in making a live action Warcraft movie. III. tso The 8 Core Values are namely : Gameplay First, Blizzard Entertainments success can be attributed to the gaming experiences they provide the consumer or player. The goal of each discipline within the company regardless of job post be it art, programming or customer support, is to create games as fun as possible for as many people as possible. In order to achieve this aim, it is in Blizzard Entertainments prime belief that its workers also enjoy the process of game making. Commitment to Quality, This is the most well known core value of Blizzard Entertainment, which is not only applied in creating the best gaming experience for the consumers, but also practiced in every aspect of their job. They approach each task carefully and seriously, and seek honest feedback and use it to improve the quality of their work. Afterall, games are remembered for their high quality, and not how late they are released into the public. Play nice, Play Fair, In their business first impressions are important but lasting impressions are the ones that matter. Blizzard Entertainment strives to maintain a high level of respect and integrity in all interactions with us, players, colleagues, and business partners. The conduct of each Blizzard Entertainment employee, be it online or offline, can reflect on the entire company. Embrace your inner Geek, The employees at Blizzard are encouraged to show their geek side . Cutting-edge technology, comic books, science fiction, top-end video cards, action figures with the kung-fu gripà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Whatever it is theyre passionate about, it matters that each employee embraces it! Their unique enthusiasm helps to shape the fun, creative culture of Blizzard Entertainment. Happy and truly passionate workers make better workers, and what Blizzard Entertainment is all about today. Every voice matters, Great ideas can come from anywhere. Blizzard Entertainment is what it is today because of the voices of our players and of each member of the company. Every employee is encouraged to speak up, listen, be respectful of other opinions, and embrace criticism as just another avenue for great ideas. All because Blizzard values its employees and listens to the different ideas. Think globally, Blizzard Entertainment is a global company and everywhere on the planet there are people who play Blizzard Entertainment games. While respecting the cultural diversity that makes people unique, we strive to grow and support our global gaming community. We also seek the most passionate, talented people in the world to enrich our company and help us forge the future vision of Blizzard Entertainment. No country is too big or too small for Blizzard to take on or think about. Lead responsibility, Blizzard Entertainment believes its products and practices can affect not only our employees and players but the industry at large. As one of the worlds leading game companies, they are committed to making ethical decisions, always keeping the players in mind, and setting a strong example of professionalism and excellence at all times and for other game companies to exemplify. Learn and Grow The games industry is ever-changing. Technology improves, techniques change, and design philosophies become outdated. Since the founding of Blizzard Entertainment, it has worked to improve through experience, teaching one another and cultivating the desire to be the best at what they do. They see this as an individual responsibility as well as the companys. Employees can count on their peers, managers, and the company itself to be supportive and help them gain the knowledge and training they need. IV. A in-depth SWOT Analysis This Analysis will help us better understand of Blizzard Entertainments Success and its weaknesses. Using The SWOT Analysis model we can see the opportunities and revaluate the strategies to cope with its weaknesses. Strengths Good market position globally One of the very best pc game developers and held in high esteem by its customers. Very large age group from its larger customer base. Takes Feedback from its players and customers quickly and seriously. Developed World Of Warcraft to huge success and acclaim. Weaknesses May lack some competitive edge in some market segments over rival companies Relies on its current game titles more than it should. Very slow to release its games, often over the stipulated release date. Opportunities Business can be further diversified into other industries, example, making a film which it is trying to do now. Acquire more gaming sectors. More varied games. Look at a brand new type of pc game to boomz everyone away. Opening up of other global markets, getting more customers worldwide further. Working together with another pc gaming company to have a co-project. Threats Other big pc game producing companies, might pose some competition with maybe more attractive graphics or different game genres, Example, FPS. The time it takes to release a game might turn some gamers off, or they might just stop waiting all together. Limited experience in other industries it might want to diversify into Piracy 3rdparty clients such as Garena, lancraft blueserver and many others. Strengths Blizzard Entertainment has a good market position globally, meaning in the games market it has a huge cut of the customers and transactions that happen in it. Blizzard Is very well respected by the gamers, customers and other companies alike for their awesome games which are well designed and enjoyable for a very wide age group. When Blizzard comes out with a new game other companies will always try to better it learning from its strengths. From kids to adults, blizzard games have players every age range, making it well welcomed by all. Blizzard Entertainment leaves no gamer from the casual gamer to hardcore, professional gamer satisfied. The games Are simple enough and fast for the casual gamer to play, but also well balanced with good competitive potential. Intact, World Cyber Games (WCG) the worlds largest scale gaming competition has 2 Blizzard Entertainment games to compete in, Namely Starcraft 2, Warcraft 3 and Dota, which is a custom map made from Warcraft 3. Blizzard Entertainments World Of Warcraft easily overshadows all of its accomplishments with 12 million subscribers and increasing. Making it the most played online MMORPG, no small feat without its dedicated team of staff. If a bug is reported or game defect , blizzard will take it seriously and respond quickly to look into the problem and solve the issue. Weaknesses While Blizzard Entertainment is certainly a very successful company but it is not perfect or infallible. One of its Weaknesses is its most of its games revolve around the same genre of the real time strategy (RTS) or Role Playing Games (RPG). Some game diversity would be a fresh change and might get into a bigger cut of the market and different gamer groups. On top of that Blizzards Entertainments game graphics might be less visual compared to other games therefore might have less competitive edge in some market segments over rival companies example sports gaming or fps. Though Blizzard Entertainment has very good games it keeps expanding on the already expanded game stories, example Warcraft which has great gameplay and good storyline, however it Blizzard keep concentrating on the same story and how to make a better installment people might get bored to keep playing the same story thats over extended or stretched. While Blizzard Entertainment are showing great signs of market diversification by trying to make a movie, their experience is very little in that field and almost non-existent. Might hit many glitches and problems along the way it might hard to solve with little experience. Which Blizzard Entertainment is attempting to avoid by working with a experience movie company, Legendary Films. Everyone agrees that Blizzard Entertainment makes great games, but another thing they agree is they take a really long to do that often over the stipulated release date. An impatient customer is never a happy customer. Game Quality should never be compromised but still the releases could be faster. Opportunities No doubt Blizzard Entertainment is very successful in its games and products, it can further diversify into other game genres it might not have touched, example sports gaming or FPS. Warcraft has a very rich storyline and might be good as a comic or book, gaining more exposure for Blizzard Entertainment as well in the process. Gameplay improvements and Graphical improvements to its current games with patches or when a new game comes out because the gaming industry is always improving, and gamers demand more every time. Look at a brand new game Genre with a totally new gaming engine of which the likes were never seen before and Blizzard Entertainment is on its way to another great selling game. Working with another experienced gaming company will help expand its horizons and its pool of talent, with more ideas and more funding, Blizzard Entertainment has a great global market share and good global coverage, but there are still countries that have not even heard of it, with the expanding global market and opening of markets, it would be a great time to reach even more countries. Blizzard Entertainment is currently working with Legendary Pictures, the studio behind the feature films such as Watchmen, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, and 300, in making of a live-action Warcraft movie. Threats Blizzard Entertainment faces serious competition from other companies that have some game genres that other gamers find more fun, example FPS. On top of that though Warcraft 3 has great cinematics, its in game graphics cant be compared. So many other games out there with much better graphics. EA games has Tiberiam Wars with much better graphics but of the same RTS genre , how about Relic Gamings Company of Heros. The Time it takes for Blizzard Entertainment to release its games is a great internal threat, for it may lose many loyal customers that got sick of waiting for the usually delayed games. Customers hate to wait unnecessarily and may buy other games instead. Blizzard Entertainment move into diversifying its market by moving into the movie industry which it has little experience, and requires a lot of funding. By going into other Game Genres its not familiar with also can be a risky move that might spell disaster by spreading itself too thin. Piracy is without a doubt one of the greatest threats to Blizzard Entertainment, infact to any industry that relies on the IP law. File Sharing is now everywhere and very easily accessible, one can even get the game without going out of his home and without spending a single cent for the game. Piracy costs Blizzard Entertainment millions of dollars every year. Why would people pay if they can get it free? Along with Piracy is 3rd party clients that make it possible for the games to be played online for free without the need for a original cd-key. In the past without these programs playing online with a pirated game would be impossible, and that would be one of the reasons why original games where still popular for the fact it had a cd-key that allows it to be played online. With these programs it bypasses all these security measures and there is no longer the need to pay for the game. V. Final SWOT Evaluation It is clear enough from this evaluation that Blizzard Entertainment has a very successful business model, but at the same time has so much more that it could improve on and diversify into. The very rich storyline of Warcraft has so much potential from movies to books to comics to Television series. The move that Blizzard Entertainment decided to make by working on a Warcraft movie was a good market decision to capture the growing movie industry and movie fans. Its lack in experience in the industry is offset by doing the movie with a more experienced movie company Legendary Pictures, the studio behind the feature films such as Watchmen, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, and 300, with a proven track record. But it should be warned that yes Blizzard Entertainment can go into other industries, but it must not neglect its main market share the gamers, and some hardcore fans might be turned off by the change Blizzard Entertainment. The Strengths are many and can be further worked upon by looking at the same game with different angles. Continuing to make games based on the gamers demand would be the best bet, for that means their games will always be in demand. The threats and weaknesses are numerous as well, however with the right well thought strategies they can be avoided and countered to keep Blizzard Entertainment ahead in the gaming world. However the greatest threat is Piracy and 3rd party clients, which in the case the saying if you cant beat them , join em doing business with the 3rd party clients might help Blizzard Entertainment gain back its lost profits from the programs and piracy. VI. Conclusion Blizzard Entertainment is a great game developer, and to continue in a increasing volatile market it has to keep changing to meet the demands of the new world. But if it continues to deliver its mission statement Dedicated to creating the most epic entertainment experiencesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.ever following its 8 core values. I dont doubt and not for a second that Blizzard Entertainment will continue deliver gaming experiences that redefine gaming.

The Withch-hunt In Modern Europe :: essays research papers

THE WITCH-HUNT IN MODERN EUROPE By: Brian Levack The Witch-Hunt in Modern Europe by Brian Levack proved to be an interesting as well as insightful look at the intriguing world of the European practice of witchcraft and witch-hunts. The book offers a solid, reasonable interpretation of the accusation, prosecution, and execution for witchcraft in Europe between 1450 and 1750. Levack focuses mainly on the circumstances from which the witch-hunts emerged, as this report will examine. The causes of witch-hunting have been sometimes in publications portrayed differently from reality. The hunts were not prisoner escapee type hunts but rather a hunt that involved the identification of individuals who were believed to be engaged in a secret activity. Sometimes professional witch-hunters carried on the task, but judicial authorities performed most. The cause of most of these hunts is the multi-causal approach, which sees the emergence of new ideas about the witches and changes in the criminal law statutes. Both point to major religious changes and a lot of social tension among society. The intellectual foundations of the hunts were attributed to the witch’s face-to-face pact with the devil and the periodic meetings of witches to engage in practices considered to be barbaric and heinous. The cumulative concept of witchcraft pointed immediately to the devil, the source of the magic and the one most witches adored. There was strong belief then that witches made pacts with the devil. Some would barter their soul to the devil in exchange for a gift or a taste of well being. Many believed that these witches observed a nocturnal Sabbath where they worshipped the devil and paid their homage to him. They were also accused of being an organization known for its cannibalistic practices of infanticide incest. Another component of this cumulative concept was the belief of the flight of witches. The belief for this was contributed to by the assumption that witches took flight from their homes to goto nocturnal meetings without their absence from home being detected. The belief in â€Å"flying night witches† was shared by many cultures in the modern world. These women were referred to as strigae, which was one of the many Latin terms for witches. As the reader first opens the legal foundations of witch-hunting, one finds that historically it was a judicial process from discovery to elimination. Levack states that before the thirteenth century European courts used a system of criminal procedure that made all crimes difficult to prosecute.