Monty Python Grail Video Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Monty Python Grail Video - Essay Example The Monty Python Grail Government video casts an interesting light on several of the topics we have discussed in this class. Two of the most prominent is relativism and the role of religion in government. Relativism, in general, is the idea that there is no one objective truth, but that everything is relative to the speaker’s viewpoint. In other words, our perceptions of what goes on around us make us see things differently to how others perceive them. This is seen in the video through the way King Arthur and the peasant interpret things so differently, from his right to rule down to how people should be treated. They also clearly have different ideas about what Arthur is doing on his quest. The role of religion in government has a lot to do with relativism. Although some would consider this role to be vital, and the only way for a government to be legitimate, others would not. In the video, for example, King Arthur explains how he became king by getting Excalibur from the lady of the lake, and how this makes him the true king of the country. The peasants, on the other hand, think this is ridiculous. Although the lady of the lake is not religious as such, she makes a good example of the arguments against religious rule. For instance, the male peasant talks about how, instead of â€Å"farcical aquatic ceremonies,† the real right to power should come from the people of a country. This would suggest that the only way to be really a legitimate ruler or government would not be religious, but popular support.

The Concept of Cultural Diversity is Society Assignment

The Concept of Cultural Diversity is Society - Assignment Example As Jane Elliott's "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" experiment teaches, there are many criteria of distinction like racism and prejudice. Racism and Classism which are inextricably tied together are the two most common criteria of conceptualization of social class. David Wellman defines racism as a "system of advantage based on race." (Wellman1977). Color is the other main criterion that determines the social class and this may well be defined as the diction made between people on the basis of the color of their skin. The power of the money that one owns also determines the social class of the person and thus we have the rich and the poor. In modern society we see the rich becoming the richer and the poor the poorer. All these elements go into the making up of the social classes. A. Two of the basic distinctions that we find in the social class system are that of race and ethnicity. These are the two major kinds of class discriminations that we face in modern society, especially in the US. Racial group and ethnic group, often considered as the same, have many similarities as well as differences. Before we make the detailed distinction between the two, let it be remembered that any kind of distinction made on the basis of race and ethnicity is the most harmful situation in the world today. The "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" experiment of Jane Elliott teaches us how important it is to rise above the barriers of such distinctions made on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, and so on. Nobody is more privileged than others on the basis of the color of the skin, the ethnic group or the particular race or class one belongs to. Let us also remember the great voice of Martin Luther King who pleaded for the racial equality of all the people. "History is cluttered with the wre ckage of nations and individuals who pursued [the] self-defeating path of hate." (Sklar 1997). There are striking similarities between racism and ethnicity. A racial group is one that is distinguished from that of other groups on the basis of some well defined and salient features of its own. This type of classification is a general categorization on the basis of color and other types of distinction. On the other hand, when we speak about an ethnic group, we are particularly identifying the distinction based on the individual cultural aspect of that community or group. The members of an ethnic group identify themselves on the basis of their descent, ancestry, and lineage. They have a distinction on the basis of the culture, religion, language and other characteristics. Thus, in the racial discrimination of the Blacks from the Whites, we see the racial group formula working out. In the case of particular ethnic group existing on its own to sideline the other cultural, national, and racial groups we find the distinction based on the individual ethnicity. The impact of these diff erences whether it is racial or ethnic begins even at a very young age. The racial caste system is a way of life that subjugates one race of the community to another. Jim Crow was such a racial caste system and under this system, the Afro-Americans were treated as the second class citizens.  

Analysis Of Business Environment For Coca-Cola Company Research Paper

Analysis Of Business Environment For Coca-Cola Company - Research Paper Example The company can minimize weaknesses and fight threats to improve financial and training systems and undertake staff motivational initiatives to minimize risks associated with new markets and increase competitive advantage as well as constantly build expertise in the firm to minimize chances of the firm undertaking risky business internationally such as the experiences seen during the global financial crisis. Also, technological advancements in the industry may be useful to increase competition. Using SWOT analysis, the company should be able to focus on its strengths, curtail threats, and take the utmost possible gain of opportunities available, and trigger aggressive strategy formulation. The firm has a better understanding of its competitors which can provide insights to craft a coherent and successful competitive position. To maintain and/or increase customer loyalty, the company should employ strategies that jealously guard its existing market share and also explore ways of expan ding the customer base to grow revenue and increase business performance. Product differentiation based on customer segments is one of the strategies the company can use. The company should also explore the strengths and limitations of its competitors by interrogating the soft spots of alternative products to strengthen its products. Other strategies may include going an extra mile to know its customers better, meet and exceed customer expectations, increase value derived by customers from its products.

Attempted Merger Article Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Attempted Merger Article Analysis - Assignment Example The Governor of Maine wants to reduce the number of â€Å"school administrative units to 80 or fewer† (Goodman). The Governor and people who favor the merger of localities point out that bigger localities or districts would result in saving taxpayers a lot of money, as they would not be required to pay for the maintenance of separate official workers and premises for their small districts. Moreover, the money saved can be spent on much-needed improvements – such as computer labs for schools. Local officials are not in favor of such a change. When the Governor of New Jersey decided to force the merger between his State’s towns by proposing to cut aids to them based on their population, â€Å"[d]ozens of mayors railed against the plan in rallies around the state† (Goodman). This has been a set pattern everywhere, whenever a Governor tries to implement a consolidation of his State’s localities, the municipal officials react negatively, and ultimately the Governor has to back down due to the opposition. According to the local officials, and some residents as well, this move by the State equals breaking a tradition in some respects and the State interfering in local politics in others. The state officials, however, deny this; according to one such official, Joseph Daria, â€Å"The provision of municipal services†¦ have to do with how you can help people† (Goodman), therefore, tradition and politics should have nothing to do with them. Additionally, as Goodman points out, there is no evidence to prove that these mergers will actually result in cost saving; that is a possibility, but not a certainty.

Importance of Education in Human Development

Importance of Education in Human Development Education is one of the main crucial aspects towards human development. This means, it is important in shaping human life and development. There are several types of education namely formal, informal and non formal education. These types of education are normally given since childhood to adulthood and they vary from society to society. Childhood is a critical stage in human development so education provided during that period needs to be a special one. Several authors have done some works to show weaknesses in childhood education systems and pedagogies and they have identified some measures to improve. Those authors include Maria Montessori and Margaret Mead. They show the need for educational reform in order to bring peoples socio-economic development. The main purpose of this paper is therefore to identify some problems and weaknesses in educating children and to provide suggested measures for improvement. It will focus on the work of Maria Montessori which was based in Italy exper ience and Margaret Mead basing in America and Samoa  [1]  experience. The paper will focus on formal education in schools and informal education in the homes. Maria Montessori (1912) in her work, the Montessori method, argues that through different ways, the existed education system is not proper to children. She shows weakness of the old scientific pedagogy and proposing new kind of scientific pedagogy. She says, the principle of slavery pervades pedagogy and therefore the same principle pervades school. She argues for reform and transformation of the whole school environment including the roles of educators, school buildings, sitting arrangement, lessons to be taught as well as the teachings methods. She is proposing the Montessori Method as a critical consideration of the new pedagogy in its relation to modern science. She shows the need to move away from a false and narrow way of educating children to a more free system in order to have a true and proper system for training the future generation. Starting with the role of teachers or educators, she says they should be very well prepared on how to deal and interact with children. That preparation should be based on the spirit rather than on the mechanism in order to awaken their mind and hearts. To her, the teachers tend to pour certain knowledge and facts into the heads of the pupils and in order to succeed in that they need to discipline the pupils into immobility and force their attention through systems of prizes and punishments. She argues that prizes and punishments are instrument of slavery of the spirit and they are incentives toward unnatural or forced effort and that cannot be considered as natural development of the child. Even if nowadays there are no whippings or other forms of punishments in schools, even scolding of teachers or giving a pupil bad mark is not encouraged by the author. This system of prizes may turn an individual aside from true choices and make him/her choose a false one and forced to follow it. Prizes and punishments may have various negative consequences for the children because even in future, at work the children will tend to work for prizes and rewards instead of professional motivation. However, the system is still very common and continues today in many parts of the world and people are so rigid to change it. It is argued that education should guide childrens learning but it represses instead. According to Montessori, the teachers task should be to nourish, assist, watch, encourage, guide, induce, rather than to interfere, restrict or prescribe. In case of school buildings, class rooms and sitting arrangement, she says they are structured in such way that they prevent and repress children mobility and behaviours. They also make the children to study in unhygienic conditions which endanger even their physical development. She argues that it is not good for children to grow up in an artificial environment so she proposes pupils liberty, auto education, establishment of harmony between the work and activities of home life and school tasks so as to improve the children education. She says the scientific pedagogy in the school should permit free and natural manifestations of the child. It is true that free children can learn best than those tied to false and fake environment which does not portray their real life. Restricting children mobility in schools has similar consequences like rewards and punishments. It degrades their bodies and spirits and can lead to forced discipline and lack of confidence. The Montessori Method consists of various lessons including intellectual education, muscular education and education of the senses to name a few. She believes that education of the senses is very important for guiding practical life. At the same time, Montessori drives our attention to the role of religious education as being important to guide children moral life. In this case, the education system needs to be comprehensive and it should not just focus on teaching children reading, writing and arithmetic. However, in our contemporary society this may not be very practical because of the declining role of religion in peoples life. There are people who do not practice any religion anymore. It is argued that, the Montessori system is not yet complete but it comprises a system well enough established to be practical in all child care institutions and in the first elementary classes. The system originated from the preceding pedagogical experiences with abnormal children when it was discovered that abnormal children when taught in a different and special way and if helped in their psychic development they can be able to learn and compete with normal children. This fact proved that the normal children are being suffocated and repressed hence they do not reach their full development. This derived the need to apply similar methods to normal children so as to develop and set free their personality. It is believed that these methods will guard a persons natural life and free him or her from the so called oppressive and degrading society. Montessori now saw the need to apply her methods and to develop didactic materials  [2]  which could effectively be used in the so called Children Houses  [3]  . It is also important to mention that the Montessori system represents the successive work of other three physicians namely Itard, Seguin and Kant. The system had been widely accepted and it is applied in many countries including the developed and developing countries. However, it needs special skills, knowledge and materials so it can be argued that it is expensive to run. It is applied in some private schools but it is a challenge in public schools. Also it application can conflict with the home environment of the child when there are two different systems at home and school. It can function well if parents are also aware of it. Mead (1928), in her work on Coming of Age in Samoa, also analyses gaps and weaknesses in the education system in America by comparing it with Samoa experience. Mead focuses more on the childs home environment but also she analyzes the childs school environment. When analysing education of the Samoan child, she explains how children from infant stage are raised and different roles of family members in raising children. She also shows how children are handled and educated before and after puberty until they get married. Here, she has analysed an African society of Samoa which has not yet received external contacts from other countries especially the developed countries. The society she also describes as a primitive society. She analyses this society by showing how a child learns from his or her surrounding environment. However, she does not argue that it is perfect way of raising and educating children but she points out that there are crucial things which a developed society such as A merica can learn from it. Like Montessori, she acknowledges the importance of a childs home and natural environment for learning. In Samoa, from birth until the age of four of five a childs education is simple, focussing on physical development such as learning how to sit and crawl. Young girl and boys of six or seven years are the ones responsible for caring, socializing and disciplining the small children. However, there is unequal treatment for boys and girls because girls are more burned with child caring responsibility and they have little opportunity to learn some other forms of work and play compared to the boys. However, it is noted that with the introduction of formal schooling by the government, the children are now being removed from home and they stay in school for many hours. This will in turn bring disorganization and change of the traditional system. Mead sees several problems in the American education system in comparing it with Samoa. In Samoa, children are not forced to learn or punished harshly for slowness of development as in America. She argues that punishments such as whippings in schools can make a child able to make mathematical calculations but she/he wont be able to interpret or make sense of it. Like Montessori she criticizes punishments in schools but she doesnt identify rewards as a problem. She also argues that, the American education system tends to confuse pupils because it fails to make important connection between the school and the home environment. There are cases where by things allowed at home are not allowed at school. American children spend many hours in school learning tasks which do not have visible connections with what their parents are doing as opposed to Samoan children. They are also encouraged and left to play with toys and dolls which are meaningless. The education system fails to include children participation and integrating school life with the surrounding community like what Samoa does to its children. American boys and girls finish school at the age of 14 and 18 and are ready to work but they have few choices to make because the education and the skills they get influence which work they should do. Here, she calls for an education system which will prepare and train the children the choices which confront them. She suggests education in the home even more than at school. Like Montessori, Mead also stresses the need for practical education. For Montessori, a good way for solving this problem had been to establish children houses. Mead adds that, education system in America had the problem of handling children of different endowment and different rates of development. There had been a tendency of keeping children in one educational step for a long time in order to give time to the mentally defective children to catch up. This has many disadvantages to the children and to Montessori also, this is a way of repressing and degrading childs full development. Generally, Mead sees problems in educating and treating children at home and in schools. She urges for education reform which will enable children to make important choices for their life. Education should also give more attention to mental and physical hygiene and in this way like Montessori, she argues that a child needs to be health in mind and body and she or he should learn freely without being tied to some systems or to one regime. America has a heterogeneous culture and various philosophies so children should be taught how to think instead of not to think. They need to be taught how to make individual choices and to tolerate the heterogeneous culture. In conclusion, the two authors have identified how education of children is structured and they have identified errors gaps and weaknesses which need to be worked on. Although the authors come from two different societies they have been able to identify some common problems and in one way or another some similar measures on educational reform. This might be due to the fact that they have some similar background as developed countries. It is surprisingly true that the problems identified persist in many other countries including the developing countries till today. In that case, it can be argued that the developing countries might have adopted similar educational schemes through colonialism.

Business Essays Environmental Management System

Business Essays Environmental Management System Environmental Management System Abstract The number of enterprises certified an Environmental Management System due to the Eco – Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS) and to other Environmental Management System raised in the last few years. Especially companies from the industry sector realized how important it is to be certified. The majority use and implement environmental management systems due to the Eco – Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS) or due to the ISO 14001 regulation. Lots of them prefer to implement the ISO 14001 regulation because of the worldwide acceptance but others prefer the EMAS norm because the ISO 14401 certificate is absolutely contained into the EMAS regulations. The EMAS certification seems to be very interesting for entrepreneurs because of the incorporations of all employees of a company. This can result that employees could get more ambitioned and the employee loyalty could rise. Additionally, companies often get subsidized by the European Union. Organisations have to pass several stages to achieve the certification, the EMAS registrations and to benefit from it. Chapter 1 Introduction Implementing an environmental management system (EMS) is one of the best ways to show how an enterprise can act environmentally interested and efficient (Emilsson, 2002). An EMS due to EMAS regulations shows to clients and the public that entrepreneurs take care about environmental impacts which are caused by the productions of goods. Additionally, the implementation of efficient environmental management systems improves a company’s processes and brings other economic benefits. Now more and more companies realise how important an EMS is and how much they can profit from it. The two most important and famous regulations are the international standard ISO 14001 developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the regulation the Eco-Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS). The majority of the companies certified their EMS under these two systems because of the worldwide acceptance of the ISO 14001 regulations and the European Union regulation EMAS, which was developed by the European Union. The EMAS regulation is European wide accepted but the included ISO 14001 regulation is as mentioned before worldwide into force. Because of the additional cost and the additional time which is needed to implement an EMS due to the EMAS regulation a lot of companies decide to implement an EMS due to the ISO 14001 norm. The purpose of the following study is to demonstrate how an EMAS EMS should be constructed in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). In order to get a better overview the current Business and Environment will be defined and Environmental Management Systems will be elucidated with the corresponding literature. The Stages of an EMS due to the EMAS regulation will be shown with its relevant literature in the literature review chapter as well. In addition, the differences between the EMAS regulation and the ISO 14001 norm also were examined and are being treated in the literature chapter review. Followed with the methodology chapter in which the author presents how the corresponding research is done by using the relevant literature research in the secondary research area and by doing a questionnaire in the relevant primary research part. In chapter Four the author presents the results which where discussed in the preceding research and analyses the results which where worked out with the help of the primary and secondary research. Chapter Five considers the research and a conclusion can be worked out. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Business and Environment 2.1.1 Identification of Business Business has experienced dramatic change since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution which took place in Western Europe two hundred years ago (Blair, 2001). New businesses appeared such as chemical industry, motor industry, and retail industry; new technology was applied in everywhere; and new market was opened all over the world. All these changes of business area caused environmental impacts which totally different from two hundred years ago. In order to discuss the environmental impact of business we have to answer a basic question: what is business nowadays? Strictly speaking, business is the range of commercial organizations and their activities that characterize the way in which trading is conducted in a capitalist economy (Blair, 2001). However, commonly the words â€Å"industry† and â€Å"business† are used interchangeably and this is the case in this article. Business with the same meaning of industry which is seen as the collection of firms who operate essentially the same series of processes that result in a related set of products (whether tangible products or services) that a third party wishes to buy (Blair, 2001). By convention, industries are divided into primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Primary industries include fishing, forestry, agriculture and the extractive industries (essentially, the quarrying and mining of minerals). They involve the collection, harvesting and exploitation of resources directly produced by physical processes. Secondary industries are the manufacturing industries. They take raw materials and by a variety of processes produce tangible goods by adding value to the raw materials. The tertiary industries produce services, for either individuals or for other organizations. The way in which primary, secondary and tertiary industries effect the environment are seen as being sufficiently different to warrant separate analysis. 2.1.2 Environmental Impact of Different Businesses The environmental impacts of different industrial sectors vary enormously (Welford, 1998). For example, the oil industry may cause serious environmental impacts while the retail industry has less direct impacts to the environment. This is because the oil industry belongs primary industries while retail industry belongs tertiary industries and the characteristics of these two industrial categories are totally different. Because of their intimate relationship with the environment, the primary industries have a widespread and significant environmental impact. Firstly, they cause high pollution. For example, oil and gas flares, which happened in oil industry, contribute to global warming. Additionally, oil spills can cause great localized harm to marine ecosystems. Secondly, the primary industries generate considerable wastes. The fossil fuel and mining industries are the main culprits in waste generation. However, the wastes of factory farming also should not be neglected. Thirdly, farming and forestry of the primary industries have the greatest overall impact on habitats because they occupy the greatest areas of land. The type of farming or forest has a profound influence on the nature of flora and fauna of a region. Finally, farming and forestry also has significant landscape impacts because they form important landscapes in much of the developed world. Manufacturing is the core of the secondary industries. Raw materials and components are brought together and manufactured into either end product or a component for some other manufacturing process. Manufacturing processes consume huge amount of energy and inevitably produce waste products and pollution. Waste is seen as part of the process, whereas pollution is seen as an inevitable consequence of the process that should not happen in the perfect industrial process but which, in practice, results in the degradation of some physical resource. This is most usually the air, watercourses or the ground. Sound and visual impact may also be included under the broad banner of pollution. In addition to the manufacture process, the products itself also cause environmental impact during its delivery, use and disposal. Tertiary industries or so-called service businesses received relatively little attention on their environmental impacts. This may be because in comparison to primary or secondary industries they appear to depend far less on physical resources and they often deal with a more intangible product. However, the environmental impact of tertiary industries is less obvious but does not mean that it does not exist. For example, compared to an oil refinery, a supermarket seems to be much less environmental impact but it is not without impact. The transfer of goods within the supermarket chain, and the customers travel to the store especially those suburban stores all cause air pollution. Other environmental impacts which tertiary industries cause include energy consumption in heating, lighting and equipment, pollution through the travel of their employees and clients, produce waste from canteens, consume waster and materials and certainly produce large volumes of paper waste. 2.1.3 Strategy Towards Environmental Impacts Since the 1960s, there has been a growing interest in the environment, or more specifically in the damage being done to the environment (Welford, 1998). During the first two decades, it was felt that growth and development and protection of the environment could not go hand in hand. Hence most of the theories that developed during this period were anti-growth. However, the 1980s witnessed a shift in thinking. The concept of ‘zero growth’ was replaced by sustainable development which has been broadly accepted nowadays. Sustainable development, in its simplest form, is defined as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). It implies that it is possible to make development and environmental protection compatible. However, the old ways of development which cause pollution and atmospheric damage, disrupts traditional ways of living, destroys ecosystems and feeds more and more power into international oligopolistic industrial structures must be changed into sustainable ways (Welford, 1998). The Brundtland Report, commissioned by the United Nations to examine long-term environmental strategies, argued that this would require quite radical changes in economic practices throughout the world. As an ultimate objective, the concept of sustainable development is immensely valuable. However, strategies are needed to translate conceptual theories of what sustainable development means into practical ways of achieving it over time within the corporate context. Firms clearly have a role to play in the development of substitutes for non-renewable resources and innovations which reduce waste and use energy more efficiently. They also have a role in processing those materials in a way which brings about environmental improvements. Additionally, firms have the opportunity for considering both the use and disposal of the product during the design period. In order to achieve these goals, companies must seek to develop management strategies which will improve their environmental performance (Welford, 1998). 2.2 Environmental Management Systems Many companies have adopted environmental policies and carried out environmental audits or reviews in response to legislative pressures, green marketing opportunities, increased public pressure, ethical concerns and the commitment of local and central government (Netherwood, 1998). However, companies still be faced with a problem of finding a systematic way of implementing commitments to environmental management within their existing organizational structure. In practical, one tool which companies have generally accepted to facilitate implementation of environmental policy is an environmental management system (EMS). An EMS is defined by the British Standards Institute (BSI) as: the organizational structure, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for determining and implementing environmental policy (Netherwood, 1998). Similar definitions are found in the EU eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) and ISO 14001. Not like legislation, EMS is a voluntary tool which can help companies to control environmental impact caused by their operations (Roberts, 1998). Despite the fact that different companies may develop different environment management system, usually there are some common steps can be found in these EMSs. This is because most of them were designed based on the steps of quality management system such as ISO 9000 (Netherwood, 1998). Therefore, it is possible to create a standard for environmental management systems in order to ensure a certain quality for the EMS, and to encourage organizations to improve their environmental performance. In the last few years a number of voluntary environmental management schemes have been developed. The standard-BS 7750- was published by BSI in March 1992 and was the world’s first environmental management system standard. At the same time that BSI began work on BS 7750, the European Commission was setting out its proposal for an eco-audit scheme and it was from this proposal that EMAS eventually emerged in 1993. In the same year of EMAS publishing, the activity relating to environmental management system standardization began on the international scene. And after a development time of a little under three years, ISO 14000 series were published in October 1996. The standardized environmental management systems are voluntary and are designed to be externally verified by nationally accredited bodies, in a similar way as the quality standard ISO 9000. It is argued that companies which register with the schemes, gaining the EMAS and ISO14001 accreditation, will experience added value such as market advantages, and legal compliance (Netherwood, 1998). 2.2.2 Stages of Standardized Ems Environmental management systems are very much related to quality management systems. They are mechanisms that provide for a systematic and cyclical process of continual improvement. As can be seen in Figure 1, the cycle itself begins with planning for a desired outcome (i.e. improved environmental performance), implementing that plan, checking to see if the plan is working and finally correcting and improving the plan based on observations form the checking process. Logically then, if the original outcome desired remains the same, a system of this nature will, by default, generate increments of progress that continually move toward the desired outcome (Roberts, 1998). In order for a company to achieve environmental performance through a management loop as mentioned above, it will need to define responsibilities for environmental management, deploy resources to ensure that action is taken on environmental issues, train staff to become aware of their environmental responsibilities, monitor environmental performance and audit and review the system of achieving environmental improvement. The basis of all of this activity is an organizational commitment to continual environmental improvement and an environmental policy (Netherwood, 1998). The stages of a typical environmental management system were shown in Figure 2. 2.2.3 Why Develop an EMS? Develop an EMS within a company will definitely cost resources such as time, human resource, and money (Bansal, 2002). Such costs become more apparent when a company applies certification for their EMS. Furthermore, it has been suggested that EMS and the standards will just add another layer of bureaucracy for the company. So why do a company need an environmental management system? The answer is creating a successful EMS could bring more benefits than the costs. The advantages of improved environmental management can be divided into two broad categories (Roberts, 1998). The first category addresses the fact that improved environmental management is good for our planet and a fundamental requirement of global sustainability. This is because respecting that present business patterns are fundamentally unsustainable, improved environmental management will serve at least to move our business patterns towards sustainability. The second category, which seems have a more direct relationship with companies, addresses the fact that improved environmental management could benefit the company a lot. The table 3 lists some of the benefits. 2.3 ISO 14001 2.3.1 Background Information of ISO 14001 ISO 14000 is a series of international standards for environmental management. In order to satisfy the increasing demand of establishing international environmental management standard, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) started to develop it in 1993 and after nearly three year’s development, ISO published this series of standards (ISO 14001 and ISO 14004) in October 1996. It is the first such series of standards that allows organizations from around the world to pursue environmental efforts and measure performance according to internationally accepted criteria (Roberts, 1998). The 14000series consists of over a dozen separate standards. But all these standards are fallen under two categories: specification standards and guidance standards (Krut, 1998). ISO specification standards are prescriptive documents: they describe what a company must do or not do in order to get certification. ISO 14001 is a blueprint for the company’s environmental management system, and it is the only specification standard in the ISO 14000 series. It describes how a company might manage and control its organizational system so that it measures, controls and continually improves the environmental aspects of its operations (Krut, 1998). ISO 14001 is intended to be applicable to ‘all types and sizes of organizations and to accommodate diverse geographical, cultural and social conditions’ (ISO, 1996). The overall aim of both ISO 14001 and the other standards in the 14000 series is to support environmental protection and the prevention of pollution in harmony with socio-economic needs. ISO 14001 applies to any organization that wishes to improve and demonstrate its environmental performance to others through the presence of a certified environmental management system (Roberts, 1998). With the exception of requiring the commitment to continual improvement and commitment to comply with relevant legislation and regulation, ISO 14001 does not prescribe environmental performance requirements. ISO 14001 specifies the requirements of the management system itself, which, if maintained properly, will improvement environmental performance by reducing impacts such as air emissions and wastewater effluents (Roberts, 1998). 2.3.2 Stages for Implementing ISO 14001 2.3.2.1 Environmental Policy Environmental policy is a formal and documented set of principles and intentions with respect to the environment. Essentially, the environmental policy is the guiding document for corporate environmental improvement and adherence to it is fundamental to the integrity and success of the entire EMS (Roberts, 1998). A policy must contain commitments to: Continual improvement; Prevention of pollution; and Complying with relevant environmental legislation and other relevant requirements. 2.3.2.2 Planning The company must then set itself objectives and targets relating to its three policy commitments and devise a plan to meet these objectives and targets. Here the environmental objectives are the broad goals that your organization sets in order to improve environmental performance while environmental targets are set performance measurements that must be met to realize a given objective. All environmental objectives must have at least one target (usually more) and all targets must relate directly to a stated objective (Roberts, 1998). 2.3.2.3 Implementing and Operation Having devised its plan, the organization must then put in place the various elements necessary for its successful implementation and operation. 2.3.2.4 Checking and Corrective Action Having implemented its plan, the organization must then check to see whether it has been successful in meeting its objectives and targets. If any have not been met, then corrective action must be taken. The entire management system must be periodically audited to see that it meets the requirements of the standard (Welford, 1998). 2.3.2.5 Management Review Management must periodically review the system to ensure its continuing effectiveness and suitability. Changes are made to the system as and when necessary. 2.4 Eco-Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS) 2.4.1 Background Information of EMAS EMAS the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, is a voluntary initiative designed for companies and other organizations to evaluate, report, and improve their environmental performance. It should be highlight that EMAS is a European Union Regulation, which applied within the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA) — Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. An increasing number of candidate countries are also implementing the scheme in preparation for their accession to the EU (EMAS, 2004). The scheme has been available for participation by companies since 1995 (Council Regulation (EEC) No 1836/93 of 29 June 1993) and was originally restricted to companies in industrial sectors. The aim of EMAS is to recognize and reward those organizations that go beyond minimum legal compliance and continuously improve their environmental performance (EMAS-UK, 2004). In addition, it is a requirement of the scheme that participating organizations regularly produce a public environmental statement that reports on their environmental performance. It is this voluntary publication of environmental information, whose accuracy and reliability has been independently checked by an environmental verifier, that gives EMAS and those organizations that participate enhanced credibility and recognition. In June 1997 The Commission undertook a 5-year review of EMAS, taking into account experience gained during its operation. The final revised Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001) published in April 2001, is often referred to as EMAS II. This new Regulation has been open to all economic sectors including public and private services. In addition, EMAS II was strengthened by the integration of EN/ISO 14001 as the environmental management system required by EMAS; by adopting an attractive EMAS logo to signal EMAS registration to the outside world; and by considering more strongly indirect effects such as those related to financial services or administrative and planning decisions. 2.4.2 Stages for Implementing EMAS The objective of EMAS shall be to promote continual improvements in the environmental performance of organizations by (EMAS, 2001): (a) The establishment and implementation of environmental management systems by organizations as described in Annex I (b) The systematic, objective and periodic evaluation of the performance of such systems as described in Annex I (c) The provision of information on environmental performance and an open dialogue with the public and other interested parties (d) The active involvement of employees in the organization and appropriate initial and advanced training that makes active participation in the tasks referred to under (a) possible. Where they so request, any employee representatives shall also be involved. 2.4.2.1 Conduct of an Environental Review Consider all environmental impacts of the organization’s activities: production processes, products and services, assessment methods, the legal framework as well as existing environmental management practices and procedures. 2.4.2.2 Establish an EMS Based upon the results of the environmental review, establish an effective environmental management system aimed at achieving the organization’s environmental policy as defined by the top management. The management system needs to define responsibilities, objectives, means, operational procedures, training needs, monitoring and communication systems. 2.4.2.3 Carry Out An Environmental Audit Assess the management system in place and the organization’s environmental performance in light of the organization’s environmental policy and programme as well as of legal requirements. 2.4.2.4 Prepare an Environmental Statement The environmental statement should specify the results that have been achieved against the environmental objectives of the organization. It should also lay down the means by which the organization plans to continuously improve its environmental performance. 2.4.2.5 Get Independent Verification By an EMAS Verifier An EMAS verifier accredited with an EMAS Accreditation Body (UKAS in UK) of a Member State must examine and verify the environmental review, EMS, and audit procedure as well as the environmental statement. 2.4.2.6 Register With The Competant Body of the Member State The validated environmental statement must be sent to the appropriate EMAS Competent Body for registration and be made publicly available. 2.5 Drivers and Barriers of EMS Implementation In SMEs SMEs face internal and external barriers when seeking to address their environmental issues and adopt and implement EMSs, but it is the internal barriers that initially have the more significant role in impeding progress (Hillary, 1999). Negative company culture towards the environment and the disassociation between positive environmental attitudes and taking action cause the uptake of environmental performance improvements and EMS adoption to stumble at the first hurdle (Hillary,1999). On top of this general culture of inaction on the environment, SMEs are also very sceptical of the benefits to be gained from making environmental improvements (Hillary, 1999). In many cases, especially for the smaller organisations, low awareness and the absence of pressure from customers (the most important driver for environmental improvements and EMS adoption) and insufficient other drivers mean that no efforts are made to address environmental issues (Hillary, 1999). SMEs also face the problem of locating, and having the time to locate, good quality advice and information. Once a SME has embarked on EMS implementation the process is often interrupted and resources are frequently diverted to core business activities (Hillary, 1999). It is the lack of human resources, not financial ones, which SMEs find most difficult to secure and maintain for EMS implementation. The more multifunctional the staff, as is common in micro and small companies, the more likely the process of implementation will be interrupted. Some studies indicate that SMEs, once on the route to certified EMSs, face inconsistency and high charges in the certification system. SMEs are subjected to a variety of stakeholder pressures related to their environmental performance and their adoption of EMSs. Customer and supply chain are also prominent in driving SMEs environmental improvements (Hillary, 1999). However the regulator and local authorities exert greater influence on the general environmental performance of SMEs, in particular medium-sized enterprises, than customers. 3 Methodology 3.1 Introduction This chapter provides a detailed explanation of the research methods used by the author in order to complete the study. White (2000) stated that â€Å"research should be focused, not general† therefore the research conducted for the study will be to specific objectives. Academic theory is used to explain the advantages and disadvantages of research methods. The study will also aim to outline research limitations at the end of the chapter. 3.2 Quantative Approach In this thesis a study is applied to gain information and to fulfill the purpose: â€Å"how can small and medium sized enterprises profit from environmental management systems†. Questionnaires are made with people from 12 different German companies. Two types of methods can mainly be used in the scientific research, they are positivism and hermeneutic. Positivism starts with one well defined knowledge as an ideal, while the hermeneutic methods relate to different knowledge (Proctor, 2003). Conclusively can be said, that the hermeneutic method is about the interpretation and the usage of feeling and understanding when interviews are performed, which is also known as qualitative approach (Thomas, 1997). Thus the quantitative approach has received some critique, mainly when the data is collected. The risk is that the researcher could handle the topic to much facile way, without being aware of it (Thomas, 1997). 3.3 Why Qualitative Approach? The choice of the research of the core and the structure of environmental management systems has led to the discretion of the quantitative approach which was essential due to the interpretation of the environment and the experiences of several companies (Deacon et al, 1999). Furthermore, since the authors wanted to examine the meaning of environmental management systems on different levels, it is preferably to use a quantitative research method (Casell Symon, 2004), given that environmental management systems have potential exploration. What differs a qualitative method from a quantitative method is that the qualitative method a first qualitative perceptive of the fundamental motives and reasons is received, in the quantitative method the researcher is generalizing data from a sample to the population. To enhance the reason of using a qualitative method in this thesis the quantitative approach will help to develop a good definition and a highly topical view of environmental management systems. This is due to the fact that the author will have a better understanding of the different definitions that exist today. 3.4 Literature Study The process of gathering data starts with the secondary research existing of the study of literature such as articles, books and journals. The author chose to use literature resources of the library of Northumbria University and furthermore literature such as articles and journals via databases like Emerald, Ebsco Host, Business Source Premier, FT.com (Financial Times), Science Direct and Nexis. The usage of keywords was as follows EMAS, ISO 14001, sustainability, environmental management systems and continual improvement, thus several gave more hits than other. In order to cover other aspects, in especially the theoretical framework the author tried to use other keywords connected to the specific area. Also sources more connected to the entrepreneurial part of marketing have been used in order to get a broad and specific picture of environmental management systems due to the EMAS and ISO 14001 regulation. The author pointed out that the literature parts into primary and secondary sources. Primary resources are written by an author that also took part in the research behind it. Secondary sources are literature that covers a certain topic but without a specific research behind it. Secondary literature sources do not always give enough

Globalization and Policy Concertation Essay -- Global Economics Global

Introduction My argument in this paper is that globalization is not leading to a decline in the incidence of policy concertation in Western Europe between governments, employers and trade unions, contrary to much accepted wisdom, and that this persistence of policy concertation can be best understood in terms of a configurational model of policy concertation in which the main variables are perceived problems, the degree of agreement on economic policy among the relevant political actors, and the perceived implementation capacity of these actors. I take my definition of ‘globalisation’ from that devised by David Held and his colleagues: A process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organisation of social relations and transactions – assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity and impact – generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction and the exercise of power (Held et al 1999: 16). I focus in particular on economic globalisation, namely the increase in worldwide trade, the globalisation of financial markets and capital movements, and the multinationalisation of production. By ‘policy concertation’ is meant the making of public policy by means of national-level, intersectoral negotiations leading to agreements – as opposed to non-binding discussions - between government representatives and representatives of peak employer and/or trade union confederations about the formation of government policies. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as ‘corporatism’, but the term ‘policy concertation’ is preferred for the sake of clarity because the term ‘corporatism’ is also used to describe other types of phenomena: Schmitter’s o... ... Traxler, Franz (1995a), ‘Farewell to Labour Market Associations? Organized Versus Disorganized Decentralization as a Map for Industrial Relations’, pp.3-19 in: Colin Crouch and Franz Traxler (eds.), Organized Industrial Relations in Europe: What Future? Aldershot: Avebury. Traxler, Franz (1997), ‘The Logic of Social Pacts’, in Social Pacts in Europe, ed. Giuseppe Fajertag and Philippe Pochet. Brussels: ETUI. Treu, Tiziano (1992). ‘Tripartite Social Policy-Making: An Overview’, pp.1-25 in: Tiziano Treu (ed.), Participation in Public Policy-Making: The Role of Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter. Wallerstein, Michael, Miriam Golden and Peter Lange (1997), ‘Unions, Employers’ Associations, and Wage-Setting Institutions in Northern and Central Europe, 1950-1992’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review 50(3): 379-401.

Sigmund Freud Essay -- Biography

Sigmund Scholmo Freud was born on May 6, 1865 in Freiburg, Moravia. Freud was orginally born Jewish but changed over to Atheism, later his Jewish past would come back to â€Å"haunt† him. An interesting (yet disturbing) fact is that Freud's mother, who was also his father's second wife, was only a few years older than his two stepbrothers. Many people believe that this was a cause to why Freud to believe that the psychological issues are related back to sexual issues in childhood, since he had an psychological issue with this (Isbister, pg 9). As a child, Freud was the favorite among his ten brothers and sisters and the most intelligent. He was the only child among his siblings to get the best education that money could afford. When he was growing up he wanted to study law but instead chose medicine because (his quote from his autobiography) â€Å"at the time, the theories of Darwin, which were then of interest, strongly attracted me, for they held out hopes of an extraordin ary advance in our understanding of the world; and Goethe’s beautiful essay on nature read aloud in a lecture before I left for school that decided me to become a medical student.† (Strachey, pg.8). At age seventeen Freud went to the University of Vienna and then graduated in 1885 with a doctoral degree in medicine but this was hard to do because of all the negativity towards the Jewish people. During and after his college career he always believed that evolution and psychology determined people’s behavior. During college, Freud done an internship at Theodor Meynert’s Psychiatric Clinic and studied under Ernst Brucke, a psychology Professor. He did research about cocaine at Theordor Meynert’s Pyschiatric Clinic. Midway through the research he believe that cocaine cou... .... According to some people this ended psychoanalysis, however, it did not because even today psychologist still follow Freud’s theories by disproving them or proving them. On September 23, 1939, Sigmund Freud died from a physician assistant overdose on morphine because he could not handle the pain from battling jaw and throat cancer, anymore. â€Å"The twenty-first century was also known as the Freudian century† (Thruschwell, pg.7). Sigmund Freud changed the way we think, understand, and look at psychological issues today. Of course, some of his theories has been proven false or has been â€Å"updated† throughout the years but he is still known as the father of psychoanalysis. Even though Freud thought that everyone’s problems can be traced back to childhood or sexual issues, he created and done so many different good things in the psychological and neurological field.

Cognitive science Essay

Sir William Haley once said, â€Å"Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don’t know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it†. If students were guaranteed to leave school with knowing of what they don’t know and the desire to continue learning, the method of learning will be correct. Today’s education system does not give students the opportunity to enjoy what they are learning. The banking method, where students are empty vessels which educators must deposit knowledge into, deprives them of creativity and the desire to learn. No child is given the chance to shine and be unique. Students today are simply being placed on a conveyer belt, sorted, and then labeled according to their so called intelligence. We need an education system that provides a slower learning method, a method where you focus on what is being learned instead of zipping through it, and the freedom to make mistakes as this will electrify and stimulate students to fulfill their potential. We must recognize students as individuals and keep in mind their diverse backgrounds. In â€Å"Lives on the Boundary,† Rose states, â€Å"The canon has intended to push to the margins much of the literature of our nation: from American Indian songs and chants to immigrant fiction to working-class narratives† (100). The messages that are received from the text are crucial. The students need to be able to relate to what they have before them. One of the problems with today’s education system is we are given material to read, memorize, and expected to repeat it back at the snap of a finger. But without the ability to relate and connect with the material, the learning doesn’t take place. Everything that is read or being said is just going through one ear and out the other. By adding relatable texts, you add life to learning. In â€Å"Learning in the Key of Life,† Jon Spayde states, â€Å"people cannot learn what they do not love† (69). When students are reading or learning about a subject they love, they are inspired and motivated to learn more. This alone can benefit the learning process for students. It becomes much easier to grasp concepts learned in class. Today’s education system does not allow all students to thrive in their own way. It is fast paced with limited space for creativeness. We are given large amounts of information at a time and attempt to move as quickly as possible through all that we can. There is never â€Å"time† to stay longer on a topic. The instructors try their hardest to keep the pace, but this way of teaching does not benefit any student. In â€Å"Learning in the Key of Life†, Jon Spayde states, â€Å"†¦we are focusing far too much of our energy and resources on fast knowledge, ignoring all the richness and meaning slow knowledge adds to our lives† (68). When the focus is on just getting through the material, we are skipping over the value and richness of slow knowledge. Instead of zipping through a lesson because it needs to be done by a certain day to move onto the next, the focus needs to be on what is being learned than making a time requirement. Spayde also states, â€Å"You can figure out what you can do pretty quickly, but the ethical understanding of what you ought to do comes slowly†. We need to adopt the slow learning method, without it we are missing out on more than we think. There is so much more to learning than getting through the material, the purpose of it is to benefit and gain from it. With slow knowledge we will achieve this. One of the most important changes that needs to be done is the view on mistakes. In the article, â€Å"How to Make Mistakes,† Dennett states, â€Å"Mistakes are not just golden opportunities for learning; they are, in an important sense, the only opportunity for learning something truly new†. When fear is being put into a student to never make a mistake, their education is stunted. They lose the ability to explore and take the chance of being wrong because they are repeatedly punished for being incorrect. When a mistake is made, students will learn where they went wrong and will then grow from it. The key to progress is making mistakes. The reason we are in school is to learn, but with this opportunity taken away from students their ability to learn is ripped from their grasp. Daniel C. Dennett also states, â€Å"You should seek out opportunities to make grand mistakes, just so you can then recover from them†. Instead of using all of their energy to attempt to be perfect and run from being inaccurate, every student should look for every opportunity to be wrong. Without errors, the students can not accomplish much. If you look at Todays’ education system is in desperate need of change. No student is given the opportunity to show what they are fully capable of. Instead they are told what they can do. They are simply labeled and placed where they â€Å"should be†. But when students begin to pursue their mistakes and soak in the richness of slow knowledge, they will begin to truly learn. Maria Montessori once said, â€Å"If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man’s future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual’s total development lags behind? †. If many students are having difficulty learning in the method we have created ages ago, why not change it? The time is now and there is no time to waste. We must refocus this outdated system to insure that the students will have a secure future and keep the standard of living that we have today.

The Digital World

The twenty first century marked the start of a new era of technological advancements. Although technology has evolved through the ages, the new developments have certainly brought technology unto a higher pedestal, creating more and more opportunities for people all over the world. The world went back to its usual state- borderless. Communicating with people in other parts of the globe has been made easy with a simple click of the send button. The internet has also certainly provided students with other avenues to obtain information for their school work.Not only that, editing pictures, videos, music, etc. has also been possible through the different advancements developed. Years ago, we were so used to using hearing our favorite music from cassette tapes placed inside portable cassette players. But nowadays, digital music, Ipods, mp3 players, and the like have been introduced. True enough; a digital world has been created together with the coming of this millennium. Widespread Use o f Internet Appliances The introduction of internet appliances in the market is seen to be another avenue by which producers could increase their revenue (Mandelstam, D. , n. d.)According to the study made by Hambrecht’s and Quist’s Internet Group, the development and production of internet appliances shall increase in the 2000s (Pastore, M. , 1999). As a means for increasing their revenue, the producers of internet appliances have connected their products to the internet to be able to receive positive feedback, knowing how popular the internet is nowadays and of course, the fact that these appliances could be accessed even from a distance. More or less, we should be expecting more internet appliances in the near future as anything is possible in the modern times through technology (David Strom Inc., 1999).Digital Counterfeiting Digital imaging is another technological advancement brought about by the twenty-first century. The editing of pictures through a program such as Photoshop has somehow evolved to the forgery of Identification cards (csrc. nit. gov, n. d. ) as well as the faking of US dollar bills (books. nap. edu, n. d. ). Obviously, digital counterfeiting is continuously being used as another way to commit crime by those who have continuously abused the benefits being brought about by the advancements in technology (Miller, 2000).Benefits and Risks of New Wireless Technology Wireless Technology, as its name implies promises one thing: internet connection without the wires (hp. ca, n. d. ). Wi-fi enabled hotspots are seen in every part of the country, in coffee shops, malls, airports, schools, etc. allowing people to check their emails or access the internet wherever they are, thus cutting the possibility of failing to read a very important email message or failing to attend to something important.Just like mobile phones, sending messages over the World Wide Web and researching would be hassle-free and very easy. In the office setup, manag ers would have an easier time in setting up networks without moving wires (hp. ca, n. d. ). It would help in lessening the rigidity of the office environment that often leads to the raising of IT costs and reduction in productivity (hp. ca, n. d. ). In summary, wireless technology offers an efficient, effective and convenient way of accessing the internet, for companies and for individuals.Unfortunately, disadvantages come with these benefits. In a report published by BBC news (April 28, 2007), the head of the government’s committee on mobile phone safety research Professor Lawrie Challis released a statement with regard to the potential health risks that wi-fi internet could bring (bbc. co. uk). Research shows the dangers of pollutants such as lead and UV radiation when using wireless internet. In addition to this, wireless technology is constantly becoming a threat to security and privacy as well.The Ernst &Young survey showed that most companies do not have protection agai nst intrusion from third parties, seeing the wireless technology as another avenue to commit internet related crimes (Beckley, 2005). Computer Gaming One of the causes of internet addiction is internet gaming. As the gaming culture continues to arise, these games become more and more addictive because of the use of the stereotype of the game player (Cover, R. , 2006). Although internet addiction is one of the many disadvantages of computer gaming, violence is yet another negative value planted in the young minds of children (Myclopedia, 2004).The violence being taught maliciously by these computer games could affect our society as this may release the aggressive behavior within us (Harris, J. 2004). The addiction of the people in these computer games would help in further deteriorating the values which should be considered as more important such as socialization with real people. Spam and its prevention and ramifications The direct effects of spam could include the consumption of co mputer and network resources, which could again, lead to the congestion of mail servers.It is also costly for individuals who devote much of their time and attention in canceling and disregarding unwanted messages without deleting the important ones. Spam comes from different senders. One of the most common brought about by spamming then is the impossibility to disregard these kinds of messages without ignoring the valuable ones. Because of the many emails an individuals usually receive, and because most of them are spam, they tend to delete everything including those that of vital importance to them.The simplest way to avoid this problem is through filtering. Popular email hosts nowadays offer filtering as one of their services. If a certain individual receives too much mail from a certain sender, all she/he has to do is block that certain address. Thus, all email messages that would come from that particular sender would not be delivered to his/her inbox (Gnus Manual, 2003). One w ay of discouraging spammers is through charging each and every mail being sent all over the world (Boushka, 2006).Also, new filtering systems should be developed that could help in slowing down the servers of these spammers as well as helping in bouncing back spammed emails to their senders. Although the Bayesian way of filtering is considered to be the most effective way to combat SPAM (Graham, 2003), new efforts must be done in order to enhance this considering the flaws present in the system. The development of new email protocols should be given importance- protocols that would no longer be susceptible because of spam (Boushka, 2006).Electronic Surveillance and Personal Privacy Wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping has been two of the most popular methods being used in criminal investigation (Landesman, n. d. ). These new forms of technology are being placed secretly to monitor the activities of criminals, and hopefully catch them in their act (Maclin, 2007). Aside from these , new surveillance videos have been installed to monitor employees’ work in a certain company to ensure that they are doing what is expected of them, and are not committing any felonies (Sinrod, E.J. , 2001).Though these may be advantageous to some, the increase in the production of electronic surveillance poses a threat to the privacy of the people being placed under these surveillance systems. In the next five years or so, more and more electronic surveillance devices could be developed that would not be noticed by the general public but could actually monitor their personal lives (Kaplan, C. S. , 1990). Ethical Use of Computer Information from Data MiningData mining is the extraction of protected information from larger databases that definitely helps companies in their gathering of very important information (Anderson. ucla. edu, n. d. ). It is of course, very useful for the science professionals and even for the businessmen as they do get their profits from the vast amou nts of information that they obtain. Data mining tools do predict trends and behaviors that could be of great help to anyone in research. However, some businessmen take advantage of data mining and even go beyond as online marketing which is not very different from SPAM (Exa, 2002).Somehow, these profit oriented individuals have violated the ethics of data mining by advertising online, spamming the accounts of people holding email accounts, and even sending out copyrighted information (Thearling. com, n. d. ). Health Dangers of Using Computers and the Internet The computer can be seen as one of the causes of many accidents. Usually, small kids could cause fire and get badly wounded for spilling a drink on the computer. Thus, children should be taught on how to properly use the computer to avoid accidents such as this (allpctips. com, 2006).In relation with this, too much use of the computer could affect the health of its users. These health related problems, cited by the Royal Socie ty for the Prevention of Accidents are the following: Repetitive Strain Injury, Strained Eyes, Stress and the worst, Epilepsy (RoSPA, 2007). In order to prevent these, one must be able to organize his or her work properly to minimize his or her time in front of the computer. Also, users must know when to take their short breaks in order to relax themselves during long periods of being exposed to the computer (Herbert, 2006).Environmental Impact of Widespread Computing Widespread computing requires a lot of energy and somehow contributes to the pollution of the environment (Kohler and Erdmann, 2004). It is also very damaging when a certain place does not have proper waste disposal (Bolton, 2003). Widespread computing could lead to problems that could contribute to the pressing problems that our world is facing nowadays, on the account of the threats of global warming, brought about by the pollutants that harm our ozone layer.The chemicals emitted as waste from pervasive computing cou ld even add on to this problem. In the same way, the increasing consumption of energy, could be tripled just because of widespread counting (Williams and Kuehr, 2003). Internet Addiction Internet addiction ruins real-life relationship and could bring about personal, family, academic, occupational and financial problems as being too engrossed with the internet puts people in seclusion, making them more and more distant to real people (Illinos Institute for Addiction Recovery, n.d. ).The reason why most people tend to be so addicted to the internet is because they find it as an extension of their social life- through the different chat soft wares, social networks such as friendster. com and myspace. com, etc. (Grohol, J. M. , 1999). Obviously, internet addiction has been more common to the children and teenagers who are so enthusiastic towards the new world that was opened to them through the World Wide Web (bewebaware. ca, 2007).

Gustav klimt

They may be completely different to another figure. Josephine Wall is a popular British artist and sculptor. Famous for fantastical works. This painting shows a beautiful girl with strawberry blonde hair out and about on a summer afternoon. The young girl enjoys the sun on her face on a warm midsummer day. The top of her head is covered with a straw hat, and she is surrounded by vibrant summer flowers and trees, and vivid butterflies. But perhaps the most wonderful part of this painting is what is happening right on top of the girl's hat.The Tara around her hat turns into a field where people are enjoying the summer and one another. I find this painting to be wonderful. There is such simplicity behind this painting that helps u feel relaxed when looking at it. The simple lives of the people on top of the girls hat are relaxing because we can easily make out that they are having a wonderful time in the summers sun. It captures the soul of summer and what summer should look like in a s ense. Rob Gonzales is a Canadian painter of magic realism with a unique perspective and style.The Sun Sets Sail is a smooth and calming painting that is also a wonderful optical illusion. Surrealistic paintings which show two seemingly different realistic scenes that magically merge into one. Gonzales exhibits his talent to trick the audience's perception by establishing the ships as the negative space of the arches under the aqueduct. His treatment of details on the ships and the aqueduct create an optical illusion, and a wonderful piece of artwork.Gonzales used shape in order to define the contours of the sailing hips; the arches under the aqueduct are roughly the same shape as the ships. This diagonal composition strengthens the sensation of movement that the ships create. The space created in the painting extends well beyond the edges. There is no limit set by any object in the space. The aqueduct starts to define an edge, but the arches show more space beyond. The colors in the painting also play a role in defining the optical illusion.The aqueduct is a blue silhouette on the left, and that color becomes the sky on the right. The choice to use Just blues and whites make the illusion smooth and simple. Franz Saver Windcheater (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German painter, known for his portraits of royalty in the mid-nineteenth century. The Princess Leonia reclines on a low Turkish sofa on a veranda overlooking a lush tropical landscape. The style is naturalistic, and the detail is so precise, it looks like a photograph.It was painted in Rome when Franz met the Princess and her husband and made portraits of both of them. Princess Leonia she was a daughter of one of the most influential families of the Russian nobility. Known for her great beauty and intellect, the Princess is resplendent in a luxurious gown of ivory silk moor ©. She is lying on an open balcony and behind the column are plants, and further back, the ocean with a distant island and clouds in the sky displaying the colors of sunset. Windcheater used atmospheric perspective as he painted each receding item with less detail.The detail of the carpet in the foreground, and the large column and rapiers in the background, do not quite as precise, thus, not seem as important. This technique serves two purposes: to show the distance of the island and the horizon from the balcony, and also to ensure that Princess Leonia is the focus of the painting. I chose this painting because of the many different elements of design and principles of art used. The implied texture of her gown; the depth created with atmospheric perspective; the asymmetrical balance, as she is definitely more on the left side of the picture.

Leadership Qualities In the novel Lord Of The Files Essay

In the novel lord of the files both Ralph and Piggy demonstrate qualities of a leader and others that would make you think otherwise. In this essay I will evaluate how each character has leadership qualities and how they are shown in the book. Firstly Ralph demonstrates leadership qualities by taking the lead on the expedition. He immediately seems like the one in charge. He is confident, â€Å"He hastened back into the forest.† Ralph shows that he knows exactly what he is doing and is confident in his own judgement. This is a quality that leaders have, they are able to trust their own judgement and be a go-getter, Ralph shows a continuous sense of self-confidence in his actions and decisions and isn’t afraid to take a leap of faith. However, Piggy does not demonstrate this leadership quality. He is reserved and very self-conscious. He †glanced over ralphs shoulder before leaning†; this tells me that piggy is very self-conscious of peoples opinion about him. He confides in Ralph after trusting him with his name and seems like a follower. By taking the back seat in the first chapter Piggy shows us how intelligence isn’t always directly visible. Piggy is more intelligent than Ralph as Piggy comes up with suggestions that are both productive and extremely important for survival and information about the Island. â€Å"‘I expect we’ll want to know their names,’ said the fat boy, ‘and make a list. Although Ralph seems like the boy with the leadership qualities and the knowhow, Piggy comes up with probably the most important plan to get off the island. He assumes that he and Ralph could not have been the only survivors from the plane crash and quickly devises a strategy to make every one accountable for themselves. This intellectual mind-set portrayed is a leadership quality, despite it not being as obvious in him due to his withdrawn, following nature. Also, from appearance Ralph seems like a good leader. He is describes as † the fair boy†, as opposed to †the fat boy†. This is significant because the writer uses contrast to make ralph look better outwardly and arguably make Piggy look better inwardly. The novel is a question on society’s judgment on the word leader; what is a leader? is it appearance or content?. Ralph seems like the perfect man for the job. He is described as having a developing torso, putting emphasis on his physique and physical aspect and he seems a lot more fit that piggy. Ralph also doesn’t seem to have as much problems as Piggy. Piggy has Asthma, seems to have a fear of his controlling grandma and also seems to pant a considerable amount of times. Through the writer making Piggy seem like the one with the problem the effect given is that Piggy begins to show unusual leadership qualities. Piggy is a quick, calculated thinker and most of his ideas are shunned by Ralph until he supposedly ‘thought them up’. This Shows that although Ralph is ignorant in terms of praise for Piggy he does acknowledge that Piggy does come up with the ideas much quicker than him. Ralph, on the other hand demonstrates attributes that are not normally considered leadership qualities. â€Å"They used to call me ‘Piggy’. Ralph shrieked with laughter. He jumped up. ‘Piggy! Piggy!†. Ralph shows childishness in this passage which is an attribute that is not considered a leadership quality. Through Ralph’s childishness we begin to consider how important Piggy is. We see Piggy although he does not evidently look it, is a far more mature boy. He calculates and makes educated conclusion’s whereas Ralph seems to just be an adventurer and a depiction of a leader in those harsh times. As It was a time of war children would have been expected to have physical strength (to work for their guardian in the country) and mental strength. Ralph and Piggy alone do not have full leadership qualities enough to be a leader but collectively they join up to have essential skills for survival on a deserted Island

That Dark Type is Called Boldface

That Dark Type is Called Boldface That Dark Type is Called Boldface That Dark Type is Called Boldface By Maeve Maddox In comparing style manuals, I came across these instructions: Never underline text. If you need to call attention to certain words, use body copy that is bolded or italic. St Anselm style guide Bolded? We talk about italic type, serif type, and sanserif type. Whats wrong with boldface? Its not as if bolded saves any syllables. Use body copy that is boldface or italic. Apparently bolded is creeping into use: This is a discussion on Compressing bolded type within the Adobe Acrobat forums in Adobe Tools category; Notice the bolded type sandwiched between lighter weight typefaces. a lighter blue that will only be legible if you combine it with a larger font size or at least as in this example a bolded type On the other hand, not everyone has opted for that ugly johnny-come-lately: A single syllable or letter in boldface type in the stems marks the position of the accent throughout this grammar. Use the word â€Å"Abstract† as the title, in 12-point Times, boldface type, centered relative to the column, Authors names in boldface type, subjects or titles in lightface type. Bolded indeed. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Fly, Flew, (has) FlownFlied?35 Genres and Other Varieties of FictionWriting Styles (with Examples)

Analysis of Dr. King essays

Analysis of Dr. King essays Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Kings use of rhetoric in I Have a Dream is one of persuasion, determination, and also at times, radicalism. The fundamental ideal that King orates is an outline of a country in which people of all races and religions would become unified, integrated, and equal. King wishes for immediate national action on the issue of segregation while asking people of the black community (and those with similar virtues) to harmonize and cooperate for a collective cause. Metaphors are key in addressing his speech. King uses metaphors and figurative language throughout his whole speech when conveying messages. He speaks of the check of constitutional rights to be cashed by the African Americans. King states that the American government had denied African Americans rights by putting it into a metaphor, saying that there has been, ...a check which has come back marked insufficient funds. King also strongly advocates nonviolence by stating, Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. King addresses his speech not only to colored Americans, but also to those of the white community who had struggled beside the blacks in a search for domestic equality. He refers to whites as our white brothers who have come to realized that their destiny is tied up with our destiny... King implies that there will be a biracial army to storm the battlements of injustice, meaning that people of all backgrounds in his audience will come together to fight discrimination. His reason for having had universal audience was so it would symbolize that everyone was in the fight for freedom together, that every American must fight for civic virtue. The last strategy used in the rhetoric is the idea of repetition. The most frequent ...

how technology affects my life essays

how technology affects my life essays Try imagining your life without technology. Without alarm clocks, refrigerators, computers, telephones and so on. It would be very different from what we are accustomed to today. The truth is, all of us rely on technology a great deal to get through the day. Whether it's at work, at home, or at school, I know my family depends greatly on technology. Without technology our lives would all be much different. My sisters and I use technology at school a lot. We are always on the computers doing research and typing papers. As a student, I am in web page design class where I use computers everyday. My sister Kelly is in her school's web club where she also uses the computers. At school, computers are not the only type of technology we use. At games we use the scoreboard. In math class, we use claculators and during some classes, we listen to books on tape or audio tests. I think that without technology, school would be much more difficult. At home we use technology a great deal. In order to wake up in the morning, we all depend on alarm clocks to wake us up. We have refrigerators to keep all of our food cold. We also use the computer a lot. We are always looking up things for school, talking to friends, or playing games. We use cell phones to keep in touch with everyone too. We use CD players to listen to our favortie music. And of course we use the televison to watch all of our favorite shows, and what's TV without a remote? We use that too. Technology is everywhere you look inside of my house and it helps us get through the day much easier. Technology affects my life in so many ways. It also affects the lives of other people such as the ones in my familyTechnology helps us so much and sometimes we take it for granted. I know that doing this essay has shown me not to take the technological advances we have today for granted becuase someone had to come up with those ideas. I am very thankful to all of the people for making my life ...

Venus in Furs Book Review

'Venus in Furs' Book Review Not many writers have the distinction or the notoriety of having a psycho-sexual term named after them. The astonishing and ingenious sexual cruelties in the Marquis de Sades works, particularly in The 120 Days of Sodom, have made his name a byword, and in 1890 the German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing introduced the word sadism into medical terminology (even though the sole manuscript of The 120 Days of Sodom had yet to be discovered and published, the full fury of which would wildly intensify the meaning of the term). Historian and Progressive Thinker Fittingly in the shadow of the overpowering de Sade, the Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch inspired the term for sadism’s flip-side, masochism, which was also introduced by Krafft-Ebing. Von Sacher-Masoch was a historian, folklorist, collector of stories, and progressive thinker, but even though he produced dozens of books in any number of genres, he’s almost solely known for his infamous novella Venus in Furs (its the only work translated into English). Initially meant to be part of an epic novel-sequence called (Sacher-Masoch abandoned that plan after a few volumes), Venus in Furs was published as the fourth part of the first book, which was entitled, Love. Each book was named after one of the â€Å"evils† that Cain introduced into the world, and with this underlying premise- that love is an evil- von Sacher-Masoch reveals a seriously uneasy view of human relations. Venus in Furs - Beginnings The book starts with an epigraph from the Bibles book of Judith, which narrates the story of a clever and powerful woman beheading Holofernes, an Assyrian general. An unnamed narrator, then, opens the book with a strange dream of an icy Venus, who wears furs and who leads a philosophical discussion about how women’s cruel nature increases mans desire. When the narrator awakens, he goes to meet with his friend Severin, to whom he relates his dream. ​ Introducing Severin Severin is a strange and sober man who at times, the narrator relates, had violent attacks of sudden passion and gave the impression of being about to ram his head right through a wall.† Noticing a painting in Severins room depicting a northern Venus who wears furs and holds a lash that she uses to subjugate a man who is clearly a younger Severin himself, the narrator wonders aloud if the painting perhaps inspired his dream. After a short discussion, a young woman enters to bring tea and food for the pair, and to the narrator’s astonishment, a very slight offense on the woman’s part causes Severin to berate, whip, and chase her from the room. Explaining that you have to â€Å"break† a woman rather than let her break you, Severin produces a manuscript from his desk that tells how he was ostensibly â€Å"cured† of his obsession with being dominated by women. Confessions of a Suprasensual Man Entitled â€Å"Confessions of a Suprasensual Man,† this manuscript comprises all but the last few pages of the rest of the novel. Entering into this frame, the narrator (and the reader) finds Severin at a Carpathian health resort where he meets and falls in love with a woman named Wanda, with whom he draws up and signs a contract that makes him her legal slave and gives her full power over him. At first, because she seems to like him and enjoys his company, Wanda shies away from the degradations that Severin asks her to subject him to, but as she slowly allows herself to take up her dominant role, she takes greater pleasure in torturing him and increasingly grows to despise him for how he allows her to treat him. Leaving the Carpathian mountains for Florence, Wanda makes Severin dress and act like a common servant, forcing him to sleep in disgusting quarters and keeping him isolated from her company unless needed to serve some whim or another. These changes make Severin feel the palpable reality of his desires- a reality that he was in no way prepared for- but although he loathes his detestable new position, he finds himself unable to resist (and to keep from requesting) new humiliations. At times Wanda offers to put an end to their game  because she still has feelings of affection toward him, but those feelings fade as her mantle of power gives her free rein to use Severin for her increasingly twisted devices. The breaking point comes when Wanda finds a nearly superhuman lover in Florence and decides to make Severin subject to him as well. Unable to bear subjugation to another man, Severin ultimately finds himself â€Å"cured† of his need to be dominated by women. Telescoping back to the novel’s outer frame, the narrator, who’s seen Severin’s current cruelty toward women, asks him for â€Å"the moral† to all of this, and Severin answers that a woman can only be a man’s slave or despot, adding the caveat that this imbalance can only be remedied â€Å"when she has the same rights as he and is his equal in education and work.† This egalitarian last touch squares with von Sacher-Masoch’s socialist leanings, but clearly the events and stresses of the novel- which were mirrored closely in von Sacher-Masoch’s personal life, both before and after writing it- prefer wallowing in inequity much more that eradicating it. And this has been the novel’s main appeal for readers ever since. Unlike the works of the great de Sade, which soar as striking feats of both writing and imagination, Venus in Furs is much more of a literary curio than an artistic piece of literature. Its symbolic orders are muddled; its philosophical excursions are both ponderous and corny; and although its characters are vivid and memorable, they too often fall into â€Å"types† rather than exist as fully explored individuals. Still, it’s a curious and often enjoyable read, and whether you take it as literature or as psychology- or as erotica- there’s no question that this book’s whip will leave a distinct mark on your imagination.

Verlan - French Slang àlenvers

Verlan - French Slang lenvers Verlan is a form of French slang that consists of playing around with syllables, kind of along the same lines as pig Latin. Unlike pig Latin, however, verlan is actively spoken in France. Many verlan words have become so commonplace that they are used in everyday French. To verlan a word, simply separate it into syllables, reverse them, and put the word back together. In order to maintain the correct pronunciation, the verlaned word often undergoes some spelling adjustments. Unnecessary letters are dropped, while other letters are added to make pronunciation logical. There are no real rules for this; its just something to be aware of. Note that not every word can or should be verlaned; verlan is used essentially to emphasize or hide the meaning of the main word(s) in a sentence. How It Works Lets start with the word lenvers, which means the reverse. Separate lenvers into its two syllables len and vers. Invert them, put them together into a single word, and then adjust the spelling: lenvers... len vers... vers len... verslen... verslen... verlen... verlan Thus, you can see that verlan is lenvers pronounced lenvers (reverse pronounced in reverse). Lets try another example: pourri... pou rri... rri pou... rripou... ripou Most single-syllable words are just pronounced backwards. fou oufcool (from English) looc Take It a Step Further The above examples are pretty simple, but verlan gets more complicated when it comes to the e muet, which is a very important sound in verlan. Words that end in e muet (like femme) and words which end in a pronounced consonant and which usually have an e muet sound tacked onto the end (like flic, which is usually pronounced flique) retain the sound of the e muet when they are verlaned. In addition, when the syllables are reversed, the resulting final vowel sound is sometimes dropped. flic... fli keu... keu fli... keufli... keuffemme... fa meu... meu fa... meufa... meufarabe... a ra beu... beu ra a... beura... beur Verlan was invented as a secret language, a way for people (notably youths, drug users, and criminals) to communicate freely in front of authority figures (parents, police). Because much of verlan has become incorporated into French, verlan continues to evolve - sometimes words are re-verlaned. Beur, commonly heard in the 1980s, has been reversed again to reub. Keuf has been re-verlaned to feuk, with a bonus - it now resembles a vulgar word in English. Here are some common verlan terms that you should be able to recognize. Remember that verlan is a form of slang, so you probably shouldnt use it when talking to someone you  vouvoie. balpeau  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  peau de ballemeaning: nothing, zip barjot  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  jobardmeaning: crazy, insane un  beur  (now  reub)  Ã‚  Ã‚  un  Arabemeaning: Arab blà ©ca  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  cablà ©meaning: trendy, in un  brelica  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  calibremeaning: revolver une  cecla  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  classemeaning: class cà ©fran  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  franà §aismeaning: French chanmà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  mà ©chantmeaning: mean, nasty chà ©bran  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  branchà ©meaning: cool, plugged in chelou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  louchemeaning: shady, dubious une  cinepi  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  piscinemeaning: pool une  deban  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bandemeaning: group, band un  skeud  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  disquemeaning: record, album fais  ià ¨che  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of fais  chiermeaning: its boring, annoying un  fà ©ca  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  cafà ©meaning: cafà © à ªtre au  fumpar  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of à ªtre au  parfummeaning: to be in the know une  gnolba  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bagnolemeaning: car, junker geudin  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  dinguemeaning: crazy jourbon  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bonjourmeaning: hello un  kebla  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  Black  (from English)meaning: black person kà ©blo  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bloquà ©meaning: blocked, caught un  keuf  (now  feuk)  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  flicmeaning: police officer (equivalent to cop, copper, pig) un  keum  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  mecmeaning: guy, dude laisse  bà ©ton  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of laisse  tombermeaning: forget it, drop it un  là ©pou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  pouletmeaning: police officer (equivalent to cop, copper, pig) looc  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  cool  (from English)meaning: cool une  meuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  femmemeaning: woman, wife ouf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  foumeaning: crazy pà ©cho  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  chopermeaning: to steal, nick; to get caught une  pà ©clot  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  clopemeaning: cigarette le  pera  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of le  rapmeaning: rap (music) un  quà ¨m  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  mecmeaning: guy une  raquebar  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  baraquemeaning: house relou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  lourdmeaning: heavy les  rempa  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of les  parentsmeaning: parents un  reuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  frà ¨remeaning: brother une  reum  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  mà ¨remeaning: mother un  reup  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  pà ¨remeaning: father une  reus  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  sÅ“urmeaning: sister ripou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  pourrimeaning: rotten, corrupt la  siquemu  / la  sicmu  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of la  musiquemeaning: music un  sub  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  busmeaning: bus à ªtre dans le  tarcol  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of à ªtre dans le  coltarmeaning: to be exhausted une  teibou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bouteillemeaning: bottle une  teuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  fà ªtemeaning: party tirape  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  partirmeaning: to leave tisor  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  sortirmeaning: to go out une  tof  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  photomeaning: photograph la  tourv  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of la  voituremeaning: car le  tromà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of le  mà ©tromeaning: subway zarbi  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bizarremeaning: strange un  zarfal  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  falzarmeaning: pants, trousers une  zesgon  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  gonzessemeaning: girl, chick zyva  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  vas-ymeaning: go