Steve Jobs Research Paper Example

Steve Jobs Paper Steve Jobs Personality Steven Paul Steve Jobs (1 953 201 1) American entrepreneur, marketer, and inventor, who was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields, transforming one industry after another, from computers and smartphones to music and movies. Co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios. He became a member of the board of rectors of The Walt Disney Company In 2006.   As the CEO of the company. Jobs oversaw the development of the IMac. iTunes, iPod, IPhone, and iPad, and on the services side, the companys Apple Retail Stores. ITunes Store and the App Store. He died of respiratory arrest related to his tumor on October 5, 2011 (he had a   The market value of Apples shares has grown pancreas neuroendocrine tumor). from about $1JS5 billion in 2000 to SUS351 billion (2011) making it one of the biggest publicly listed companies in the US. Jobs transformed personal computers, telephones. even retail stores. among others†and he would have probably taken on television, if he had lived long enough. CBS 60 Minutes. [picl Steve Jobs is a perfect example of a person who intuitively understood the power of user-centered design, From the very beginning, he made sure that Apple employed people Who were tasked to advocate for the Customer _ In the early 1980s this had never been heard Of. Steve Jobs understood that a company would better serve its customers, if they were listened to. We will write a custom essay sample on Steve Jobs specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Steve Jobs specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Steve Jobs specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer His innovative work related directly to the rise Of an awareness Of usability. Jobs knew that a product or service is only successful hen it meets the needs of the users, making their lives easier and more enjoyable. There are conflicting stories of whether he was a true supporter of the methodology of user-centered design, but there is clear agreement that he knew ho. to figure out what users needed and wanted. Steve Jobs showed us what it was like to Inspire people, live a dream. In June 2005, Jobs gave the Commencement address at Stanford University: When I was 17. I read a quote that went something like: If you live each day as f It was your last, someday youll most certainly be right. It made an impression on me, nd since then, for the past 33 years, have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been No for too many days in a rcn. , I He did it by following a trail led by his passion for innovation. Leadership Theory Steve Jobs fits best with the Trait Theory. The main believe of Trait Theories are that they can develop through experience and learning. As a matter of fact that Apple is well-known as learning and innovative company due to Steve Jobs management style. Jobs has faced a lot of different market situations along with his career and almost in all he has succeeded. Jobs possess a vision, willingness to take personal risks to achieve that vision, sensitivity to follower needs, intelligence, self-confidence, level of energy and activity as well as task-relevant knowledge. Firstly, the vision of Apple is to focus on software rather than hardware; at the point when he has delivered music to online consumers he set out to develop the best customer experience. Moreover, Apple took many risks to achieve their vision and goals. Cooperating with is rival Bill Gates is a good example of that (the deal was Gates supply Apple with Office, Internet Explorer programs, and purchase 150 million dollars of Apples stock. Though this deal was good for Microsoft, it was even better for Apple) and as result, Apple was no longer a competition for Microsoft. The production of iPod was also a risky game. Jobs pushed his managers and the engineer team for innovative thinking, which was a huge challenge for everyone.Thirdly, Steve was self- confident. The fact that he created a video-editing program even without the help of Adobe shows his trait very good. l am convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance Steve Jobs, in 1995. My Job is not be easy on people, but to make them better.   Participative leadership While some found his management style caustic, he also developed loyalty from many team members. You need a lot more than vision † you need a stubbornness, tenacity, belief and patience to stay the course, said Edwin Catmull, co-founder of Pixar. In Steves case, he pushes right to the edge, to try to make the next big step orward. Jobs emphasized the importance of teamwork to his employees. Though he made the final decision on product designs, he knew that the right people would be a companys greatest asset. Thats how I see business, he said. Great things in business are never done by one person; theyre done by a team of people. According to Jobs work mantra and ethic, innovation is what distinguishes a leader and a follower. Some people arent used to an environment where excellence is expected. Thanks to Jobs expectation of high quality, almost every product hes turned out has een a huge success among consumers and businesses. One of the greatest business strategists of all times He was a high-maintenance co-worker who demanded excellence from his staff and was known for his blunt delivery of criticism. But it was his sheer genius combined with his ability to articulate his vision and bring staff, investors and customers along on the Journey plus the lessons learned in a major career setback that made it work. The results: indisputable. A visionary is how he is most often described in relation to Apple, the company he founded with high school buddy Steve Wozniak in 976. Also described as a high-maintenance co-worker who labelled people who didnt impress him as bozos. We have an environment where excellence is really expected, Jobs said in an interview in 1983. Whats really great is to be open when [the work] is not great. My best contribution is not settling for anything but really good stuff, in all the details. Thats my Job, to make sure everything is great. Employees were recruited into the company as specialists and put into roles that made the most of their specific strengths and abilities. Turnover was low despite the emanding corporate culture Jobs was a passionate advocate for his vision and incredibly effective at communicating this to shareholders, customers and staff. People Join and stay because they believe in the mission of the company, even if they arent personally happy. Steve Jobs quotes Being the richest man in the cemetery doesnt matter to me. Going to bed at night saying weve done something wonderful† thats what matters to me. Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations. Your time is limited, so dont waste it living omeone elses life. Dont be trapped by dogma† which is living with the results of other peoples thinking. Dont let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Technology is nothing. Whats important is that you have a faith in people, that theyre basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, theyll do wonderful things with them. Charity work In his lifetime, Steve Jobs was roundly criticized for seemingly not donating enough money to philanthropic causes. However, it has been revealed recently that the late ounder of Apple and his wife, quietly made large donations to charity: Jobs donated $50million to Stanford hospitals. Funded HIV and AIDS research   Powell Jobs (Steve Jobs wife) founded College Track, a college preparation organization, in 1997, and she has been sponsoring the group ever since. Every year, the award-winning animation studio Pixar, which Mr Jobs helped launch, hosts a screening of a film to raise money for College Track, suggesting that the family have been doing charity work behind the scenes. But Jobs never addressed his philanthropic endeavors and refused to discuss the subject even with his biographer.

heart mechanics essays

heart mechanics essays The purpose of this experiment was to subject a rat cardiac muscle to different physiological situations and determine their effect on the twitch force and duration. Force-frequency relation show a positive trend suggesting that as frequency of stimulation increases (for the range of 0.2-0.8 Hz), the force increases. Also the extra cellular calcium concentration effects on the peak force were measured, showed an increasing trend when the [Ca2+ ]o was incrementally increased from 0.2 to 3mmolL-1. The rat cardiac muscle was also subjected to cardiac glycoside such as ouabain, which resulted in an increase in the diastolic force, inotropic agents such as isoprenaline, which increased the velocity of contractility, and finally the effects of caffeine were considered. We were provided with a ventricular strip of a rat heart muscle; it had the dimensions of (~20mm resting length, 5mm wide and 1mm thick). The strip was embedded in an oxygenated 1.5mM Ca2+ Tyrode solution (constant PH=7.4) with constant O2 partial pressure of oxygen is 760 mmHg, because the cell needs oxygen in order to survive, the strip mounted using threads to a force transducer and a stimulator (REF1), these were connected to power LAB (amplifier) which was connected to a computer, the Chart software was used to record the data. Note that the temperature the experiment was performed at was 14 C, and specimen was field stimulate at a voltage of 60V in order to make the whole muscle contract. Field stimulation is the stimulation of the specimen through a medium, so that the whole tissue is electrically stimulated, point stimulation is stimulating a single muscle cell. Measurements of frequency-force relation: We applied different stimulus frequencies to the muscle (ranges 0.1-0.8 Hz) and recorded the force response, each frequency stimulated the muscle for a short period of time (around 1 minute) until the force response seemed to be steady then 1 twitch was re...

Definition of Embodiment in Patents

Definition of Embodiment in Patents Embodiment by definition is a manner in which an invention can be made, used, practiced or expressed. Embodiment in Patent Applications The phrase embodiment will be in your patent application, as part of the legalese used. In a patent application, the specification will include descriptions of the preferred embodiments. If you read a patent you will often see a section headlined DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT. You will often refer to some aspect of your invention as an embodiment in descriptions. Looking at examples of how the word is used should make what it means and how to use the word clearer. Examples The following examples are more fully described in the first link box below. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTFIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of a Halloween mask with a flash device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 1 is a front pictorial perspective view of a wireless telephone constructed in accordance with an embodiment the present invention;

Persuasive synthesis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Persuasive synthesis - Research Paper Example However, it is possible to treat and cure cancer when discovered during its early stages through chemotherapy. This scientific process uses radioactive rays to kill the cancerous tumors that form part of the cancer. There are several types of cancer; these include breast cancer, prostate cancer, and vaginal cancer. Nowadays cancer has become the most deadly disease in the world, attributed to causing deaths of several notable figures in the world, e.g. Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple Company. The relatives of these people suffer from various challenges. This is because the thought of their suffering relative really paints a negative impact in their physical, emotional, and mental status, thereby causing them a lot of pain (Ronda, Talley, McCorkle and Baile). The patient requires total attention from their relatives. This is because the cancerous cells usually eat up his body and mind leaving him weak both physically and psychologically. Therefore, the relatives have to come around to fill this void by being there for their sick relative. They have to spend a lot of time attending to them. This means they must shelve all their other engagements in order to be with the patient at the hour of need. This is in itself suffering because it denies them an opportunity to pursue other matters. In addition to being there for the patients, the relatives may sometimes lack sleep because they have to stay awake to keep the Patient Company especially if they have no sleep due to extreme pain or extreme depression. (Ronda, Talley, McCorkle and Baile). Furthermore, since they cannot nurse their patient away from home, they have to complete all scheduled work outside their homes. This is to allow them ample time to attend to the patient when they get back home. The emotional pain they encounter comes from their desire to satisfy the patient, who in most cases has lost all the hope in life. They have to make him feel important and loved so that they can give

Design of a Research Project Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Design of a Project - Research Paper Example This makes them costly as the manufacturing process includes removal of impurities. The spherical solar cells are silicon spherical cells that are repeatedly melted and fused with low-purity metals. The spheres are made by using the surface tension in a zero-gravity environment. This makes them relatively expensive to produce. However research has suggested that the spherical solar cells have certain benefits over the simple planar cells. The most important of these advantages include the spherical directivity of such cells. Because of the spherical nature of the cells, there is no directivity of light in case of spherical solar cells and lights from all directions including reflected and scattered light (Nakata, 2001). However there has been no quantitative analysis of this proposition. This paper aims at doing the same. The light-receiving characteristics of a spherical solar cell will be evaluated through a geometrical model. This will include the analysis of the characteristics of the light receiving properties of spherical solar cells, along with a comparison of the planar cells. Based on the comparison, advantages and disadvantages of each type will be evaluated. As can be seen from the figure 3, L1 is incident perpendicularly to the surface while L2 does not strike the surface in a perpendicular fashion. Since a unit cell is having a very small effective area, every point on the cell will have directivity with respect to the incident light. On the basis of this, the effective area of the entire cell can be calculated: Based on the available literature, and the model described, it can be assumed that there is no directivity in unit cells. The author also expects that the power generated in spherical cells is much more than simple planar cells. The author expects to conduct experiment trails to validate these assumptions. Based on the theoretical framework described above, the methodology will try to assess the effective area of

Oil, War and U.S. Foreign Policy. Essay Example for Free

Oil, War and U.S. Foreign Policy. Essay The war against Iran by the Anglo-American powers has been in planning since 1990s as part of their Greater Middle East strategy. A number of sources have recently reported plans by the Iranian government to institute a Tehran oil bourse and this might be the hidden agenda behind the evident march to war by the Anglo-American powers on Iran. The oil bourse argument is a red herring which diverts the attention of people from the real geopolitical grounds which is behind the real motive for the march to the war which is a high risk game on the nuclear weapon. In 1996, two neo-conservatives, Douglas Feith and Richard Perle who later played an important role in the formulation of the Pentagon policy in the Middle East under the Bush administration authored a paper which was presented to the elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The advisory paper, â€Å"A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm†, had the intention of making Netanyahu to make â€Å"a clean break from the peace process†. Feith and Perle also demanded Netanyahu to strengthen the defense of Israel against Syria and Iraq and to attack Iran as the prop for Syria. More than a year before the declaration of the former US president George W Bush of his â€Å"shock and awe† operations against Iraq, he made his January 2002 State of the Union address which is now infamous to the Congress in which he Iran, together with North Korea and Iraq as members of the â€Å"axis of evil† trio. This occurred before anybody in Tehran had even considered establishing an oil bourse in trading oil in various currencies. According to Engdahl, the US believed that the Tehran oil bourse would be the casus belli, which would trigger the pushing of Washington down the road to the potentiality of annihilation of Iran, which seems to be based on the notion that trading on oil openly to other nations in other currencies would make Tehran set in to motion a chain of events in which buyer after buyer, nation after nation, would come to buy oil no longer in US dollars but in euros. This in turn according to an argument, would lead to a panic in selling of the US dollars on the world foreign exchange markets and also lead to the collapse of the role of the US dollar as the reserve currency, which is one of the pillars of the â€Å"US Empire†. According to Engdahl in his book, A Century of War, the creation of â€Å"petrodollar recycling† in 1974, which is a process where the by then US secretary of state Henry Kissinger was deeply involved, led to oil price hike of 400% and this was orchestrated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Engdahl puts it that US dollar did not manage to become a â€Å"petrodollar† even though Kissinger emphasized the process of â€Å"recycling petrodollar†. According to the author, what Kissinger was referring to was the initiation of a new phase of global hegemony of US in which the export earnings from the petrodollar of OPEC oils lands would be recycled back to the hands of the major London and New York banks and later re-lent in the form of US dollars to other nations which are deficient in oil such as Argentina and Brazil and this led to the creation of what was soon to be known as the Latin America debt crisis. By this time, the US dollar had been a fiat issue since August 1971 following the abrogation of the Bretton Woods Treaty and refusal by the then US president Richard Nixon to redeem US dollars which were held in foreign central banks for gold. Due to the 400% increase in oil prices, nations such as Germany, France, and Japan suddenly had the reason to buy oil in their own currencies with the aim of lessening the pressure on their reserves of trade dollars which was rapidly declining. This led to the coming up of the Pentagon and US treaty partly with their secret diplomacy by Kissinger through bullying threats According to Engdahl, the US military were sent to Afghanistan for two main reasons; the first reason was to restore and control the world’s largest supplier of opium in the world while at the same time use the drugs as a geopolitical weapon against their opponents especially Russia. The control of the drug market is an essential ingredient for the liquidity of the corrupt and bankrupt Wall Street financial market. U. S. Military and CIA Interventions in the Middle-East. Blom traces the origin of the current conflict from the brutal 1980-88 war which was between Iran and Iraq. At the time of the war, Kuwait was busy stealing oil from the Iraqi territory which was worth more than $2. 4 billion of oil. Soon after the battle, United Emirates and Kuwait started to exceed the production quotas that had been established by OPEC and this led to flooding in the oil market leading to a reduction on oil prices. This led Iraq to become deeply in debt and the then president Saddam Hussein declared this policy a threat to hi country by pointing out that Iraq was loosing billions of dollars each year due to the drop in oil prices. In an attempt to offset these loses, Saddam decided to gain possession of the two Gulf islands which were blocking Iraq from ownership of Rumaila oilfield. Kuwait continued to ignore Iraq’s territorial and financial demands and the OPEC’s request to follow the quota system and this led to Iraq to form large number of troops who were posted along the Kuwait border. This led to the intervention of the US who viewed themselves as the world’s supper power. After Iraq attacked Kuwait, US came to the defense of Kuwait by declaring that their interest was in protecting nations with whom they had longstanding and deep ties while at the same time, The White House declared their concern about the buildup of troops by Iraq. According to the author, United States had an official position on the Kuwait-Iraq border dispute. This is evident from the official statement that were found by the Iraqis in some of the Kuwait intelligence files which was a memorandum concerning a meeting between the CIA Director William Webster and Kuwait state security in November 1989. in the document, there was an agreement between the Americans and Kuwait that it was of great importance to take advantage of the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq with the aim of putting pressure on Iraq’ government so as to delineate their common borders. It is evident that US was involved from the beginning and advised Kuwait to apply pressure on Iraq so as destabilize the country economically. The CIA later denied these allegations saying that it was a fabrication. Blum puts it that the US has been behind the Kurdish’ slaughter of many innocent citizens and also encouraged the Shiite Muslims in Iraq to rebel. All these were done in an attempt to incite Saddam so that he could incite a coup which would result in to the intervention of the United States. The killings in the Persian Gulf by the American soldiers have been due to a voice command from George Herbert Walker Bush according Blum. The United States started supporting Afghan Islamic fundamentalists in 1979 in their bid to fight the Soviet Union. The US continued with their support despite the kidnapping of American ambassador in the capital city of Kabul in February 1979. American intervention according to Blom had some hidden agenda. The US was using lies and tricks to gain influence of Iraq so as to control the oil prices. In both cases, the authors recognize the use the use of tricks by the US government to make the Middle East unstable. Both the authors share a common view on the idea behind the control of Middle East affairs. In both cases, the authors acknowledge the use of military force in the wars in the Middle East and in both cases, it appears that US is the main cause of all these wars. The aim of the United States according to the two authors is to take control of the rich oil nations and make sure that they continue to price and sell oil in US dollars. They both acknowledge the pretence of the US to send their military force in these countries with the aim of restoring peace while in the real sense; the US is after establishing permanent military base in places such as Iraq so that they can control the resources of these countries. Under the Bush administration, there was a severe military attack in Iraq with the aim of removing Saddam from power with the pretence that he was behind manufacturing of nuclear weapons. After the attack, it became apparently clear that such a thing never existed in Iraq. Bush was only accomplishing a war that was started by his father against Saddam who had refused to consent to the demands of the United States. The Use of Torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. A lot has been said regarding what lies behind the shocking images of torture at Abu Ghraib which were released in 2004. many American were shocked by such images and novel with the exception of one American; Alfred McCoy who had been following the operations of the Central Intelligence Agency since the early 1970s, when the agency tried unsuccessfully to stop the publication of his book, The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade. McCoy had long been conducting study on the pioneering research by the CIA in to the methods of psychological torture. He writes that the CIA had started this project in the early 1950s with their initial study on the Chinese and Soviet methods of breaking and interrogating prisoners. The author has a negative image regarding the torture policies that America has used in the last decades. The CIA’s discovery of Psychological torture had its breakthrough in the 17th century. This was in contrast to the physical approach which they saw most of the times produced unreliable information or heightened resistance. Under the new psychological paradigm introduced by the CIA, the interrogators used two essential techniques; self-inflicted pain or disorientation so as to make the victims feel responsibility of their own suffering. The first stage of psychological torture involves the use of non-violent methods to by the interrogator to disorientate the subject. After disorientating the subject, the second stage involves simple self inflicted discomforts which may be in form of standing for many hours with the arms in extended position. Although psychological torture is less brutal due to the fact that there is no touch, the torture leaves both the interrogator and the victim with deep psychological scars. Victims normally require long-term treatment in order to recover from the trauma far much more than the physical pain. On the part of the interrogator, they may suffer from dangerous expansion of ego which may eventually lead to escalating cruelty and lasting emotional problems. According to McCoy, torture was conducted by the CIA directly and also indirectly through outsourcing. The use of torture is against humanity since it involves forcing the subject to confess in criminal cases with the assumption that they are guilty prior to trail. The CIA also used this method to serve as a deterrent to other potential offenders. According to the author, torture did less in bringing any trustworthy information or truthful confession neither did it prevent other people from breaking the law in any significant way. Following the September 11 bombing of the Twin Towers in the US, the administration of the former President George W. Bush allowed US intelligence service and the military to use torture as the only means to â€Å"quickly obtain information†. They did this by creating a category of prisoners who they claimed fall outside the protection by any treaty or law obligations and are deemed to be tortured. According to the CIA, they argue that this policy which considered the most abusive approach to interrogation is the most efficient and effective quick way to get information that is accurate and useful. From McCoy’s book, he clearly puts it that torture is always not a good way of producing reliable information. The experience from Colonel John Rothrock, who was heading a combat interrogation team in Vietnam, reported that â€Å"he doesn’t know any professional intelligence officers of my generation who would think this [torture] is a good idea,† but the US under the Bush administration failed to listen and this led to death of many innocent people in the name of state security. These torture cases were concealed from the general public and the Congress when CIA was busy for the past half of the century developing and applying a sophisticated form of psychological torture which were meant to go against investigation, prohibition or prosecution and this made it very successful. Americans have found themselves have found themselves in six separate accounts of this same moral quagmire in the last 50 years period. The first was the exposure of the CIA sponsored torture which took place in South Vietnam in 1970, Iran in 1978, Brazil in 1974, Honduras in 1988, and the cases in Iran and Iraq. Each of these cases was exposed at different times and as each case fades, the agency resumes with their lethal work in the shadows. The role of torture in the geopolitics of the Middle East is to divert attention on the real issue. While the CIA was busy torturing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq, they were at the same time busy exporting opium to other countries. The use of torture was also a means of making sure that no information was leaked to the public. Another role that torture play is to make the subject confess to what the interrogator expects them to do. Also the use of torture by the CIA was to make people from Middle East to desist from any corporation with those who could get in to their secret conducts in these countries. An example is when McCoy was doing a research for his book in the mountains of Laos; a group of CIA machineries attempted to kill him and even threatened his translator to stop working for him. While these were happening, the CIA was secretly transporting opium using Air America helicopters to South Vietnam. Use of torture helped the American’s to exert great influence in the Middle East as those who experienced the tortures gave their experiences once they were out of the prison. The psychological damage was so much that the victims could not become normal again. This coupled with the killings of many people during the war led to weakening of these nations such that American control of oil and drugs like opium could be easy. All these acts were conducted with the aim of building an â€Å"American Empire†. Works Cited. Alfred McCoy. A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror (American Empire Project).

Cuba :: essays research papers

Cuba   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cuba is the largest island of the West Indies, lying south of Florida and east of Mexico's Yucatà ¡n Peninsula. The Republic of Cuba is combined with the surrounding islands. On the East, Cuba is separated from the island of Hispaniola by the Windward Passage. The U.S. maintains a naval base at Guantà ¡ namo Bay in the Southeast. The capital and largest city of Cuba is Havana.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The island extends about 760 miles from Cabo de San Antonio to Cabo Maisà ­ , the western and eastern extremities. The average width is about 50 miles. The total area is 44,218 square miles including the area of the Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) and of other islands of the country. Land and Resources   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  About 1/4 of the surface of Cuba is hilly, the remaining consists of flat or rolling terrain. The hilly areas are scattered throughout the island and do not come from a central mass. The main 3 ranges are the Sierra de Trinidad in the central part of the island, the Sierra Maestra, in the Southeast, and Sierra de los Órganos in the West. The first two ranges are under 3000 feet. The Sierra Maestra, has the greatest in altitude and mass, and contains Pico Turquino (6561 ft), the highest point in Cuba. Most of the soil of Cuba is relatively fertile.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the natural features of the island is the large number of limestone caverns. Most of the many rivers of Cuba are short and unnavigable. The main river is the Cauto, located in the Southeast. The coast of Cuba is very irregular and is indented by numerous gulfs and bays. Cuba :: essays research papers Cuba   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cuba is the largest island of the West Indies, lying south of Florida and east of Mexico's Yucatà ¡n Peninsula. The Republic of Cuba is combined with the surrounding islands. On the East, Cuba is separated from the island of Hispaniola by the Windward Passage. The U.S. maintains a naval base at Guantà ¡ namo Bay in the Southeast. The capital and largest city of Cuba is Havana.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The island extends about 760 miles from Cabo de San Antonio to Cabo Maisà ­ , the western and eastern extremities. The average width is about 50 miles. The total area is 44,218 square miles including the area of the Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) and of other islands of the country. Land and Resources   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  About 1/4 of the surface of Cuba is hilly, the remaining consists of flat or rolling terrain. The hilly areas are scattered throughout the island and do not come from a central mass. The main 3 ranges are the Sierra de Trinidad in the central part of the island, the Sierra Maestra, in the Southeast, and Sierra de los Órganos in the West. The first two ranges are under 3000 feet. The Sierra Maestra, has the greatest in altitude and mass, and contains Pico Turquino (6561 ft), the highest point in Cuba. Most of the soil of Cuba is relatively fertile.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the natural features of the island is the large number of limestone caverns. Most of the many rivers of Cuba are short and unnavigable. The main river is the Cauto, located in the Southeast. The coast of Cuba is very irregular and is indented by numerous gulfs and bays.