Man Vs. Woman

Our society is full of stereotypes concerning the traits of behavior â€Å"typical† for males and females.   According to some of these women talk more than men, and shop longer than men.   On the other hand, men are, for example, more logical than women. No matter what the stereotype is, the common characteristic for all stereotypes is that they put woman in a certain way lower, make her a weaker human being than man. Some stereotypes – be it women’s likeness for shopping, men getting better jobs, or females playing team sports – are offensive and even discriminating.   However, in the last couple of decades women around the world at different points in time have begun a campaign fighting for the equality of their rights.   Successful results of such campaigns not only provided women with some additional rights; these results are also leading to a need for a change of some stereotypes, including, in particular, shopping, career and sports. Among the most popular ones is a stereotype that women like shopping more than men.   It is a common thought that for women shopping is like a therapy, it is a necessary fun and part of female’s nature to like to shop – or so it is believed to be.   On the other hand, according to this stereotype, men perceive shopping as a waste of time, which is not a fun, but simply a necessary part of life:   you have to, for example, wear cloth, so you have to shop for them.   For men this means coming into the mall and going straight to buy what is needed without spending many hours walking around, looking and choosing. Such is a common believe. However, it seems to me that men are starting to spend more and more time shopping, while women – once more of them spend more time working on their careers – are starting to perceive shopping as a â€Å"must† and not as â€Å"fun†.   A good example would be my friends – Alex and Laura – who have been dating for more than a year by now.   This couple spends most of their free time together, yet there is one thing they simply cannot do together: shopping. The reason is that Alex needs much more time and is much pickier when he shops, while Laura buys cloth when she needs them. Among our friends it is a common joke that if Laura is out without Alex that means he is shopping.   It should be noted that many men, including my friend, sincerely enjoy the process of shopping; they find it entertaining to go from one department to another, try on different models to find something that will make them look really good. Does not that sound like a â€Å"common† female logic? Also, I have heard many stories, especially from married couples, about husbands who not only like to go shopping with their wives, but actually like to choose the clothes for them, or, at least, to comment and give advice as to what dress and shoes to buy.   Thus, it seems to me that women’s likeness for shopping is really a stereotype that needs to change, and in reality men do shopping in the same way, if not even more seriously. Another area full of stereotypes is the one related to careers and men holding better-paid and higher status positions in almost any of the professional fields.   There are actually several stereotypes tight into this.   The first one is – women are more family oriented and, thus, they cannot be truly devoted to work.   Another common belief is that men are more logical, and, thus, better decision makers, whereas women have more chances to be led away by their emotions rather than brains. These two stereotypes combined together are enough to explain the reasons behind a tendency for men to get better jobs.   However, my experience shows that in real life there are many deviations from above stated beliefs.   First of all, there are many men who worry about their families as much as women do, or, I can say that I know many homes where husbands and wives are equally concerned with their family.   Best example to give is my own home.   Looking back at my childhood in no way can I say that it was only my mother who brought me up.   With both parents working full-time I was getting equal attention from both of them as a kid, and even more attention from my dad as I was getting older. As to men getting higher ranking or better paid positions in business world, it is common knowledge that this tendency is gradually changing.   There have been a number of movements of women fighting for equal rights, which have achieved significant progress.   Today more and more women are building their careers in a competitive business world, and some of them are trying to combine it with family life.   On the other hand, it is not uncommon to meet a family where a wife is making money and a husband is taking care of kids and home, and, thus, the stereotype is already changing. One other area often perceived as â€Å"male’s territory† is that of sports, especially, team sports.   This summer a friend of mine went to soccer European league championship in Spain – Euro-2004.   This was a huge event with people coming from all over the world, lots of expensive advertisement and media from every European country.   Tickets were sold out months in advance.   In Europe this championship in its popularity is, probably, equal to the Olympics, if not exceeding it. There is no need to mention that playing on the field were men, and not women.   Of course, female soccer also exists, but if you ask me, I cannot name one single team or one single professional female soccer player.   Even though I have a girl-friend who spends hours kicking the ball on the field – with other girls or with guys, does not matter – in no way can I personally imagine for female soccer to be as popular as male soccer is.   For me it is just not a female sport and I do not think it will change in the nearest future. Therefore, some stereotypes regarding man and woman are on the threshold of change, while others will remain as they are.   I personally am convinced that in our days – with feminist activists and homosexual minorities constantly fighting for their rights – man-woman stereotypes are actually changing, and shopping, career-building and sports are just some examples of this tendency. Many of existing stereotypes are already perceived as a joke (women are statistically acknowledged to be better drivers, yet every men driver can tell you a joke about a woman’s driving), but others are rooted deeply in our society.   Here it should be noted that change of a stereotype does not mean simply stating that there are evidences of a certain stereotype being false. A change of stereotype requires a change of people’s mentality, their perception of a certain issue related to either men’s or women’s behavior.   Once this is realized it becomes clear that in order for a certain belief to transform, a generation or more of human’s life may be needed, and while majority is already realizing the need for a change of some stereotypes, the change itself will take us some time.

How to Treat Depression Without Medication Essay

While it takes more than a simple â€Å"lifestyle change† to effectively attack a medical issue such as depression, it is not more medication that this Country needs more of, but rather a greater awareness, better mental health education and greater access to therapy for those suffering from this condition. Depression is as much an organic, physiological issue as a broken bone or heart problem but because it cannot be â€Å"seen† it is often ignored, dismissed, mistreated or over-medicated by the vast majority of healthcare providers. Today’s HMO driven, medication dependent society tends to throw pharmaceutical â€Å"band-aids† at the problem of depression. A more holistic, therapeutic approach, ideally involving the family/support system of the patient would, in the long run, be both a more effect and lasting treatment for the patient and more cost effective as well. While depression can, in fact, be helped by the use of proper medications, any long-term treatment must include counseling/therapy and significant and lasting lifestyle changes. Depression is, in fact, the catalyst that has lead me to pursue my current academic and professional dream to become a Psychologist. It is also something that I have a great deal of personal experience with, both as a parent of a clinically depressed teenager and as a woman living with a depressive disorder myself. In my own personal experience, the majority of doctors tend to â€Å"throw medication† at the issue of depression, when in fact, for many patients, therapeutic counseling and psychotherapy is often all that is needed. This tendency to medicate first and counsel second, especially in teens, can be irreparably damaging. Psychological medications, by their very nature, effect brain chemistry and can have huge negative side effects: suicidal tendencies, physical aggression, dramatic weight gain (which can have psychological and other medical side effects of its own), to name a few. These side effects can often times be even more emotionally damaging and dangerous to the patient than the depression itself. In 1998, after years of struggling, I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. My own personal struggle with depression has also involved quite a few medications, with varying successes and varying degrees of side-effects. While searching for an effective treatment for me, my doctors prescribed any number of SSRIs, Beta Blockers and other commonly prescribed medications for the treatment of depressive disorders. I fought with sexual side effects, weight gain, crippling panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and more. In the end, I chose to wean myself from the medication and focus on therapy and the necessary lifestyle changes that go along with it. It is still a daily struggle and a choice to be happy and fight the â€Å"demons† that haunt me, but with the help of God, my family and my therapist, I am happier and more â€Å"well-adjusted† than ever before in my life. In a developing brain, like that of a depressed adolescent, these potentially hazardous side effects can be even more detrimental. In 2006, My then 14 year old daughter, when faced with depression due to her parents’ divorce and adjustment to life as an â€Å"Army Brat,â€Å" was put on Prozac by her Family Practice Physician. Within 30 days she had to be hospitalized and detoxified after suffering a psychotic episode at school and weeks of suicidal and homicidal thoughts. After a year of numerous diagnoses, multitudes of different psychological medications and weight gain of almost 80 pounds, she was no more emotionally stable than she was when she had begun the treatment. With the assistance of a new Psychiatrist and Primary Care Physician, we weaned her off all of the psychological medications and instead enrolled her in bi-weekly, one-on-one counseling with a Psychologist. It took her almost 3 years to undo the damage the experience with the hospital and medication trials had inflicted on her. She is finally doing well, is stable and uses counseling, meditation, breathing techniques and a number of other therapeutic tools to deal with the stresses of life, rather than continuing to be medication-dependent and suffering the side effects of those medications.

Police and Critical Thinking

As a police officer it is our role to observe, think about, and solve problems objectively and systematically. Police officers attend a variety of scenarios when working as a general duties officers it is our job to discover the truth; this requires the use of critical thinking and the scientific method of investigation to find the truth. When attending a job and conducting an investigation into a crime or offence police must utilise these skills as critical thinking and the scientific method of investigation go hand in hand with one another. In particular, to be able to make effective use of the scientific model, you need to be a critical thinker (Osterburg & Ward 1992 pp 11). Using the Scientific Method of Investigation requires police to identify the problem on arrival, then to form a hypothesis as to what has happened as well as possible suspects and motives. By collecting further data, police can then review their original hypothesis and start to make an evidence based conclusion on the incident at hand. The whole point of police investigations whatever the crime or incident is to arrive at the truth (Miller,L & Connelly,M. 1996). There are six steps to the scientific method of investigation. (Becker, RF, 2000, p. 7) The six steps are state the problem, create a hypothesis, collect all data, test the hypothesis, continue to collect data and finally arrive at a theory. By adhering to this method it provides framework that best assists police in discovering the truth about what happened in a structural, factual and reliable way. PPP232 Topic 3) In this essay I will be critiquing the way the police officers have investigated the assault on Mr Lee that took place and how the officers have used both critical thinking and the scientific method of Investigation, to gather all evidence available to find the truth, in an ethical manner. When applying the first stage of the investigation to the scenario the officers attending the scene are approached by the licensee of the Chiefly Hotel. Denis e Spence informs Senior Constable Baltrow that a barman who works in her hotel has been assaulted. Previous experience and observations are both factors which aid us in identifying a problem; this is known as ‘inductive reasoning. ’ In this case, I believe, both factors come into play for Senior Constable Baltrow. Senior constable Baltrow then begins to question the licensee. During the questioning process a male appears from down the street who seems to be out of breath. This male Gary Rawlings, states to police he has just chased a male who assaulted Dan Lee. It appears Mr Rawlings has a lot of valuable information about the assault. By using Denise and Gary’s evidence the Officer in charge is able to identify that a male has been assaulted and taken to Bathurst hospital. The problem has now been identified and the Officers can use their initial observations and the current information they have gathered to begin to form the hypothesis. â€Å"A working hypothesis is like an incomplete puzzle that comes together a piece at a time. † (Becker, 2000. pp. 4). After forming a logical hypothesis that the victim was assaulted by a male, it is now up to the officers to â€Å"Collect Further Data†. Whilst collecting data the Officers will be identifying, utilizing and evaluating various sources of information and evidence collected at the scene to help support their hypothesis. Both the statements give evidence to prove the assault took place but police have no information as to why the assault happened. Constable Buchman points out to Senior constable Baltrow that there is CCTV footage available. In collecting data it is also crucial for the police to be able to link all the evidence presented from witness, victim and available evidence from the crime scene. The next step in the investigation is to interpret the data and test the hypothesis. The statements made by the witnesses may change the officer’s hypothesis from ‘was the assault carried out intentionally or was in self-defence, the CCTV footage will provide officers with valuable evidence to support their hypothesis. For the officers to come to a decision, about their initial hypothesis, it requires critical thinking about their line of investigation. Critical thinking is an integral part of the scientific method of investigation. It is the examination and test of propositions of any kind which are offered for acceptance, in order to find out whether they correspond to reality or not. (Nixon, Stefanovic, & O’Conner, 2009, p. 74). The concept of critical thinking includes inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is the process of arriving at a conclusion based on a set of observations. In itself it is not a valid piece of evidence as it can lead to assumptions, stereotypes and prejudices about a suspect. It can also lead to tunnel vision. Deductive reasoning is using the evidence and information at hand to create specific facts and ideas about what occurred during an incident. Its use can help create a hypothesis to help investigators advance in an investigation. It is a starting point for an investigation not a conclusion and an integral part of the scientific method of investigation (PPP232 Module 3). It is not your job to punish: your job is to discover the; who, what, where, when, how and why of an event, and then to report the matter to another authority (Court, Coroner, DPP, Workcover etc). This is the key role of investigation – discovering the truth of the matter and this subject strives to expand your knowledge and skills so you become an effective, professional and ethical investigator. The data that the investigating police were provided with through the investigation process was able to offer police with a sequence of events, before, during and after the incident. The data collected by the police has ensured that the witnesses version of events, matched up with the CCTV footage at the scene. This shows how important evidence is in the investigation process as it allows police to correctly identify and charge suspects according to law. The officers in the scenario believe they are dealing with an assault. To help investigate the crime further the officers will now gather additional data. The officers collect the CCTV footage which will play vital part in the investigation. A description of the suspect is given to Senior constable Baltrow and is broadcasted over the police radio. The officer in charge then proceeds further into the investigation when he is informed about a piece of wood which was used in the assault. The Officer locates the piece of wood and records, photographs and collects this evidence. The next stage of the investigation is to take statements from the witnesses, victim, to obtain a copy of the CCTV footage, and search the area for further witnesses or evidence. Police would then send out Forensic service Group to see if there is any further evidence they can obtain from the scene. The CCTV footage obtained will confirm the witness’s versions. The police now attend Bathurst Hospital to speak with Mr Lee and Catherine James about what occurred at the Chiefly Hotel. Their statements will be a vital part of the investigation. Police observations of Mr Lee’s injuries are consistent with the statements gathered. Police take statements which confirm and support the facts gathered about the assault. Over the radio police get a call stating that a male has been caught trespassing on a property. On arrival the person of interest appears to match the description of the accused involved in the assault at the Chiefly hotel. Applying critical thinking to the new evidence given about a male attempting to break into a property at Bathurst, police now have the suspect allowing for the investigation to begin. The officers are able to caution the offender and begin questioning Jason Priest about the assault. During the questioning process the accused states that the victim came up to him and assaulted him with the piece of wood. Using the CCTV footage the police will now have to view the footage to test this theory. At this stage of the investigation the officers believe they have sufficient data to support their decision on arresting the accused. The Officers will now need to collate any further evidence which would be beneficial to their case such as the victim and witness statements, CCTV footage, forensic evidence from the scenes and the photo identification back at Bathurst Police Station. The data which has been collected is all evidence that meets the description and identifies the suspect. Now that the police have obtained vital information they are able to place the two men out the front of the Chiefly hotel. The victim and first witness supplied important information to the Officers which allowed them to start the investigation, the officers were able to obtain sufficient data to support what type of offence was committed. The only barrier could be the witnesses may drawback from an investigation as they could be affected by emotion, threats, or fear to give their true account on what happened. The responding officers are in a position not only to influence the victim’s feelings, perceptions and assessments regarding the victimisation experience, but whether the victim will assist in the prosecution of the case. ’ In this prosecution the CCTV is important as it shows who has the piece of wood and the method in which it was used, intent or self-defence. The CCTV footage helps the officers comprehend what has occurred and collaborate the versions that hav e been represented by the witnesses. Police have obtained 3 forms of evidence: Real, Original and Documentary. Real evidence is an object, something tangible that is found at a crime scene or is related to an offence. In this scenario an example of real evidence is the piece of wood that was used by the accused as a weapon in the assault. Original evidence is evidence given by a witness, a statement and anything said by a person in relation to the offence and what they saw. Police obtained statements from Denise, Catherine James and Mr Lee. Documentary evidence is anything that can be classed as a document. Relating to this scenario the officers took photos of the weapon in the assault and collected CCTV footage from Denise the licensee of the hotel. From gathering and assessing all evidence police can now â€Å"Draw an Evidence Based Conclusion†. It is now up to the officers to use critical thinking to link all pieces of evidence to the crime to find the truth. By individualising each piece of evidence found, the officers can identify what each piece of evidence means, determine the reliability of the evidence and what range of conclusions can be drawn from it. By collecting further data, police can then review their original hypothesis and start to make an evidence based conclusion. When undertaking any role as a police officer it is important to maintain professionalism by acting in an ethical manner, The† Code of Conduct and Ethics† and â€Å"Statement of Values† provide guide lines for police to adhere to when undertaking this role. Police must always act in an ethical manner throughout their role as a police officer. Everything a police officer does is under scrutiny from fellow officers, victims, witnesses and of course the public, which is why it crucial that police act in an ethically sound manner. The â€Å"Code of Conduct and Ethics (CCE)† and â€Å"Statement of Values (SOV)† provides a framework in which the police are to operate. In this scenario the police have embraced the expectations from both the CCE and the SOV. The 3 main points of the CCE addressed in the scenario are: the officers â€Å"behaved honestly and in a way that upholds the values and the good reputation of the NSW police† and â€Å"acted with care and diligence†. The officers throughout the incident acted professionally, and made numerous decisions during the investigation some ethically correct and others which could have been dealt with differently. One of the decisions made which I believe to be unethical was not to IPE the person of interest. Section 201(2)(c) of LEPRA clearly states an officer must inform a person of their name, place of duty and give evidence that they are police officers if not in uniform before exercising any power. Failure to abide by this legislation deems all powers that are exercised unlawful. Due to the officers failing to abide by this safeguard the arrest would be considered unlawful. This could possibly see the collapse of the case in court and see a crime go unpunished. Another factor is that tunnel vision occurred when the officer in charge was questioning the witness at the scene. An example of the officers not thinking critically and letting tunnel vision take over is when the officer in charge broadcasted the description of the male wanted for the assault. At that stage the officers only assumed that an assault has occurred. Police also broadcasted a description of the accused over police radio, this was done without fully investigating and assuming that the witness was telling the truth. Police should have reviewed the CCTV footage from the hotel to ascertain that an assault had occurred and the description of the accused was correct. It seemed to me that officers performed fairly well. They sufficiently investigated the matter and were able to arrest the suspect for further in It is easy for us to watch this scenario unfold on DVD and criticise the actions and decisions of the two officers. However when you are placed in real life situation you need to focus on what will be in the public’s best interest and what ethical decisions will need to be made. It is important to remember that investigation is not a game with winners or losers it is a search for the truth based on the gathering of information in a fair and ethical manner. I believe that the Officers were able to provide a framework that best assisted them to the truth of the crime. In conclusion â€Å"Critical thinking† and the â€Å"Scientific Method of Investigation† are fundamental partners in criminal investigation. Together they form a â€Å"logical and scientific format† (Activity 6. 1) that enables an investigator to form logical conclusions based on the collected evidence. Critical thinking allows for conclusions coming forth from a number of different perspectives. Together this way of thinking is important in investigations as it aides investigators in answering questions and reconstructing the past. Often police are placed in a situation that requires them to solve a crime or identify an offender who committed an offence. The fact that the community have placed police in that role means it is the police who are accountable for finding the truth, and this is the basis of investigation – for police to search for the truth.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Essay Example One depicts the life of a slave boy and the other that of a girl. That Jacobs used a pseudonym is sometimes cited as a proof the account being a piece of fiction. I think it does not have to be so. It is an author’s right to use a pen name and it applies to Jacobs just as well. It is literally true that facts are often stranger than fiction and that explains why Incidents, for a long period after its publication in 1861, continued to arouse the skepticism that it was in all probability a white abolitionist’s fabricated work till Yellin of Pace University established the author’s authenticity (Diamond VIII). The cynicism understandably comes from those quarters where the members, owing as often to their community identity as to the gender identity, will never be able to identify with the traumatizing experience of what it means to be a slave – a female slave in particular; in the south, to be even more precise. The pain of having to choose between family ne eds and master’s decrees, for instance, cannot be appreciated just by going through the pages of a book. However, they were not the author’s target either. ... ery during the 17th and 18th centuries are two features that expose the darker side of the history, society, culture, politics and economics of a nation that is conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal (Elmore 232). In this context, Incidents assumes significance for its capacity to throw light on the fact that the cruelly exploitative nature of slavery is as horrible as the atrocities under colonialism, if not worse. It is an important literary work as well a source of crucial historical information about 19th century America that could be of essence to future generations in grasping what their forerunners lived through. It is a portrait of the society in which ‘citizen’ was a strange word to be used to refer to a colored man, as Jacobs observes on receiving the obituary notice of her uncle Phillip (Castronovo 158). For a slave, what images is the word freedom likely to conjure up? Being a woman can make more difference than w e think. Jacobs’ narrative is all about a relentless pursuit of individual freedom. But the way she envisages this freedom is beyond the wildest stretch of one’s imagination. The moment of freedom was not when she was able to take control of her life. Nor did it arrive when her employer had bought her freedom. Since self-definition and self-assertion are undeniably among the key themes of the protagonist in Incidents, it is not easy to resist the temptation to label it as feminist. But we find an interesting contradiction. From the feminist perspective, it is hard to think marriage can be synonymous with freedom whereas Jacobs equates freedom with marriage when she states: Reader, my story ends with freedom; not in the usual way, with marriage† (Jacobs 183). It is in sharp contrast with the

Indians and Alcohol in Early America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Indians and Alcohol in Early America - Essay Example Professor Mancall fascination with other subjects -- Geography, for example, or other things Dutch -- served his writings as well, and also made for interesting subjects in his essays and short script pieces. A very important author, who deserves to be more widely translated,. Peter C. Mancall has a unique talent among contemporary History authors. Emphatically Europeans -- and the grand old man of contemporary Indian History --, his books easily transcends national borders. There is not anything regional about his writing. If anything symbolizes his writings, it is certain darkness and a certain message. The gloom is not oppressive in his writings particularly in his book "Deadly Medicine, Indians and Alcohol in Early America". Professor Mancall is not out to weigh his reader down. He is, however, a realist, and insists that certain things need be said. Teachers and students and workers are satisfied with his teachings and we as readers do not see many of his critics -- Peter C. Mancall will have none of that. He presents the fact, cruel as it seldom is. He feels no immense push for to round off his stories with ends in a meaningful ways.The message is also persistent: He shares a sense of how to employ it with ecstasy, drowning into deep history. Years of writing and teachings have giv... He is among the few male authors able to create particularly strong History environment. A gifted illustrator, he skills his books. The words alone suffice, but Peter C. Mancall illustrations and sense of presentation manage to improve even on these. There is no question: Peter C. Mancall is one of the major authors writing in History today. Review On "Deadly Medicine, Indians And Alcohol In Early America" This book "Deadly Medicine, Indians and Alcohol in Early America" consists of seven chapters excluding the prologue and epilogue. The book consists of 296 pages in all. The book basically describes alcohol since the American ancient times and its impact upon the early Indians who settled in early America. Alcohol violence has destroyed and ruined American Indians from the time of seventeenth century, when European colonist began doing business of furs and alcohol. In the first book to investigate the genesis of this current social crisis, Peter C. Mancall discovers the liquor's business overwhelming contact on the Indian societies of imposing America. The Professor Mancall pursues the track of liquor from the West Indian manufacturers to the regal vendors and on to the Indian customers in the eastern woods. To learn why Indians contributed in the alcohol business and why they practiced such a commanding longing for alcohol, he concentrate on present health views on alcoholism and re-inspects the colonial period as a time when Indians were outlining novel approaches for endurance on earth that had been fundamentally distorted. Lastly, Professor Mancall evaluates Indian consumption in New France and New Spain with that in the British settlements. Everlastingly devastating the label of t he

Smart card Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Smart card - Case Study Example This proved to be a hindrance to the growth of the car because of the high waiting time. 2. There were 4 models of the car: Smart fortwo pure model for $11,590; Smart fortwo Passion Coupà © for $13,590; Smart fortwo Passion Cabriolet for $16,590; and smart fortwo BRABUS for 17,990 (smart fortwo, 2009). The advantages of owning a Smart Car includes low price, and low expenditure on fuel. However, the disadvantage is that only 2 people can be seated in the basic versions. The target customers for Smart Car are the small sized-families with no or one child with low budget. Those who have high travelling requirements also may intend to buy this car. This is because of its high fuel efficiency and low price. Before purchasing the car, it should be made sure that the car follows the safety features of USA. 3. In order to market the product, the company conducted city-tours, introduced the concept of Smart Towers in order to build the brand image. The car is marketed as a fuel-efficient, affordable stylish smart vehicle. The strategies shall be very effective in countries such as China because of the price range, and the fuel-efficiency of the car. Road shows in the major cities will help it get focus. The company shall try to get more mileage in road shows, have celebrity endorsers and the focus shall be to highlight the high fuel-efficiency and low price range aspect of the car. 4. The Smart Car which witnessed high demands during the time of launch has taken a drop in demand owing to similar launches by other companies. Various reasons can be attributed to this drop: Economic slowdown; Availability of more such products; poor distribution network. In order to boost the sales, the company needs to improve its marketing and branding exercises. The company also needs to improve its distribution channels. The company shall try to include Mercedes-Benz and smart car centers in the overall distribution channels rather than just relying on the

Immigration to USA Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Immigration to USA - Assignment Example The work of the new department was overseeing a range of agencies and especially those specializing with immigration (US immigration enforcers, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and US Customs and Borders Protection. Creation of the new department came with a huge funding hence increasing the cost of maintaining all the departments, (Rollings-Magnusson 274). Secondly, deportations spending increased this is because the coming of the new department increased the activities of the subordinate department and this resulted to deportation of roughly 200,000 people in 2001 and almost double in 2011. Third, removing of criminals and this included both deportation and voluntary and since then it has doubled. Fourthly, police officers at the local level were promoted into immigration officers, a project aimed at securing communities. They worked together with Homeland security to ensure accomplishment of their goals of arresting and deporting the non-United States citizens. Finally was the tying immigration enforcement to corporate profits, this ensures that the law is enforced and the rate of immigration is reduced. What are the differences between the service and enforcement sections of immigration policy? Which do you hear about in the news? What do you hear? The service section has specialized with giving services to the people migrating in and out of the US, and has the responsibility of issuing visa as well as other crucial travel document to the immigrants. Additionally, they are responsible for immigrants screening and inspection of the immigrants before their entry to the United States. Enforcement section on the other hand deals with enforcement of the immigration department policies, (Maxwell 34); they are involved with deportation of those who are in the US illegally and those who lack the proper documentations. The commonly heard in the news the about enforcement sections since 9/11 is that the US administration embarked on ensuring their nationals safety, (Tirman 67). New policies and measures were put in place to deport those who did not have the necessary documents to be in the country and also restrictive measure were put in to place limit immigration in to the US. The news items common are on the number of people deported a nd the number of criminals deported, it is all about how people are being shipped and flown out of the US. What are the pros and cons of a law like SB1070? What do you think is going to happen? The SB1070 law had extensive negative impacts to the economy compared to positive impacts. Some of the pros are that the United State citizens could now obtain employment opportunities where the aliens had dominated and due to the restrictive immigration laws, security was enhanced. The disadvantage entails the decrease in the sector of the tourism; the police were authorized to monitor the immigrants’ documents especially those they suspected to be lacking the necessary authority to be in Arizona. This discouraged tourist because nobody wants to be scrutinized all the time other than being left free to enjoy touring the country as they set out to. The laws influence the sector of agriculture sector and most crucially in Alabama whereby the sector of agriculture sector generates revenu e. The laws incapacitated the performance due to the many restrictive laws. The restrictive immigration laws also influenced the businesses and this was mainly due to the distortion they brought in the competitive advantages in attracting new businesses to the region. The higher education departments lost students because many had came other

Selecting Forensic Tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Selecting Forensic Tools - Essay Example ion/attack. It is, hence, computer detective work. The importance of computer forensic technologies to the securitization of information and for the detection of the source of cyber crimes, manifest in the unauthorized retrieval of data, cannot be overemphasized. As both Stephenson (1999) and Carrier (2004) emphasize, organizations which do not have a digital forensics system in place are inexcusably careless and irresponsible. The implication here is that organizations which handle sensitive data, especially data which the law holds as confidential and private such as patient information, will have a digital forensics system in place. This was confirmed by our organization's IT Director who explained that a digital forensics analysis system was implemented over two years ago. While the IT Director claimed that the organization did not abide by criteria for the determination of whether to use open source or commercial tool sets, his explanation of the system and the process of its selection underscore its efficiency. Tool Selection The selection of the tool set was determined by the needs of the organization, the nature of its data and, importantly, a review of past attacks and unauthorized intrusion attempts. As a healthcare organization, the securitization of data is of primary importance since the leakage of patient information to unauthorized personnel renders the organization vulnerable to litigation. Furthermore, because of the nature of its activities, the data information combines between text, as in medical reports and demographic data, graphics, as in patient X-rays, and numbers, as in financial information. The organization, therefore, has to protect three data types. In their analysis of the various computer forensic tools, Yasinsac and Manzano (2001) maintain that the criteria for selection should be data type and organizational needs and activities. Further explaining this, they note that the tools which are used vis--vis graphical data are not effective when used for numerical or textual information. Watermarking tools are most effective where graphical data is concerned but not so in relation to textual data (Yasinsac and Manzano, 2001). Furthermore, whether commercial or open source tool sets are used should depend on an organization's size, the complexity of its functions and the volumes of data it handles (Yasinsac and Manzano, 2001). Even though he concurred with Yasinsac and Manzano's (2001) recommendations, the IT director admitted that adherence to their tool set selection criteria was not feasible. While open-source rather than commercial tools were used as a result of the complexity of the organization's processes and the volumes of data it handles, it did not distinguish between graphic and text-based data. Doing so would involve the implementation of two different digital forensics tool sets, thereby multiplying the human and non-human resources assigned

Valuation of the benefits of infrastructure projects(built Essay

Valuation of the benefits of infrastructure projects(built environment) may sometimes be difficult but it is essential for the rational determination of sector - Essay Example The public services are not able to mobilize resources to meet the increasing demand in these areas, mainly due to bureaucratic interventions, organizational lapses and political lethargy. Therefore, it has become necessary for the private sectors to involve themselves prominently in this strategic area of human living. The fact remains that the implementation and execution of infrastructure developmental projects have remained uppermost in the hands of their planners and executors, but they have not considered its implications nor pondered over the necessary ways in which these projects could provide long time succor and increased standard of living for the masses effected by these projects or the ultimate beneficiaries of these efforts. Hence these projects have been carried out in an ad hoc manner, which is why it has become imperative to upgrade and enhance the quality of service to bring it at par with acceptable standards. The emphasis should be on providing infrastructure proj ects with a national or regional development policy or strategy and also to link the resources decision with local social, economic and environmental requirements. This way, not only the broader objectives of the project would be met but its utility value, in the grassroots level would also stand ensured. This is because all important infra structural projects should have social upliftment and emancipation of the underprivileged and marginalized sections of society in mind when they are conceptualized and also when they are finally implemented. The economic evaluation of development projects should be such that it renders maximum benefit to social welfare. Although the objectives may be clearly delineated, the derivation of net benefits or its quantitative benefit value may not be assessable in real money terms. To take an illustration, the Government wished to seek the

Sun Yatsen's Revolution of 1911 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sun Yatsen's Revolution of 1911 - Essay Example The post Sino-Japanese War (1894-1896) further made the imperial China relinquish more territories including loss of suzerainty of Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria (Lee and Hock 20). The fulcrum of the revolution was the Wuchang rebellion on October 10, 1911, which mainly pushed for changes through the Qing court. The revolution aimed at transforming changing the authoritarian imperial rule to a constitutional monarchy. Led by Sun Yat-sen, a new leadership came into place with him taking the president’s position. The revolution concluded on February 12, 1912 with the abdication of the â€Å"Last Emperor† Puyi. The three people’s principle was responsible for ensuring equality, national identity and establishment of responsive policies as developed by Sun Yat-sen. China’s nationalism or People’s National Consciousness got ideologically drawn from diverse sources including Chinese American thinking, Marxism, Russian ethnological thought and American progressivism (Lee and Hock 28). Nationalism aimed at transforming China’s prosperity by overthrowing the Manchus and limiting the influence of foreign imperialism. Democracy was to proclaim the people’s rights by establishing a republic governed by a constitutional monarchy and not the imperial system. Undoubtedly, nationalism and people’s rights became his primary principles where people had to own the rights of Referendum, Initiative, Recall, and Election. Subsequently, democracy separated the different roles of the government incorporating five powers of the government of Legislation, Judicial, Execu tive, Examination and Control ((Lee and Hock 30). Socialism or people’s livelihood as a principle came after adoption of democracy and nationalism. It was a principle motivated by the idea to equalize land and regulate capital, which got controlled by a few people during the Qing dynasty. Transformation of China from imperial dynasty to a constitutional republic took three stages. The military rule was

Saint Augustine of Hippo and his Confessions Essay

Saint Augustine of Hippo and his Confessions - Essay Example Monica. It can be deduced through his works that his main goal is to find the spiritual truth, and due to himself not acknowledging the spiritual presence of God everywhere he had an early life full of sins. He died in 430, just when the Vandals were starting to besiege Calama, where he stayed for the rest of his life.4 As a reformed man who used to live in a life of sin, his book Confessions was able to convey his thoughts as well as his beliefs during and after his conversion to Christianity, as well as the struggles he had to face during the time when Rome was already crumbling and a new era was about to usher in. St. Augustine’s book, Confessions recalls most of his younger life, when he was still living in sin. The first 10 books were mostly his biography, while the remaining books focused on the first chapter of Genesis, mostly dealing with creation and the fall of grace, which he personally experienced.5 While it is not said in the book that he was a very bad child, he found pleasure in committing sins due to his search of love.6 The first book deals with his infancy to his youth, and during which he was starting to question things which he must do, as well as the good and mischievous things that he did in order to gain praise from just about everyone: from his parents; to his teachers and to his peers. However, trying to gain praises from human beings was only to make oneself feel good, and for that he confesses that he only looked for beauty and not the truth.7 The second book tells about St. Augustine’s life as a youth who was sent to Carthage in order to further his studies and become a respectable man. However, due to his relishing of the needs of the flesh, as well as to satisfy the peer pressure from his friends, he has sunk into an even lower state, much to the chagrin of his devout mother. He confessed that during these times, he was doing such things in order to satisfy his need for sinning, and nothing else.8 Concluding this book is St. Augustine admitting that having friends can either be good or dangerous, and that to live away from friends that commit sins should be the best course of action to avoid becoming a sinner even further. The third book talks about St. Augustine’s life in Carthage, how he felt that he desired to love something, but instead fell into the throes of lust.9 He also loved being an audience to theatrical plays, especially those of tragedies since he sees them as a mirror to his own life. Again, just to satisfy his vanity, he committed himself to become an eloquent speaker, to impress people. But upon reading the book Hortensius by Cicero, his whole life goal changed. He now tries to pursue the truth instead of knowledge.10 During this time he was jumping from one belief to another, and he stayed in the Manichean faith for around 10 years. Finally, through his mother, St. Monica, things were starting to become different for him. In the fourth book, most of St. Augustine’ s doubts regarding the Manichean religion as well as his swindling life as a teacher of rhetoric were further

Biome is a large ecosystem Essay Example for Free

Biome is a large ecosystem Essay A biome is a large ecosystem where plants, animals, insects, and people live in a certain type of climate. Therefore, desert where the plants are short and the animals are small because of a lack of water. There is one-fifth of the earth land’s surface is desert. Deserts can be found on every continent except Europe. The desert biome can be separated into four kinds and they are cold, hot and dry, coastal and semiarid. The cold deserts that are located in Greenland, Antarctic and the Nearctic ecozone. These deserts are characterized by cold winters with snowfall and high overall temperatures throughout the winter, and sometimes in the summer too. In the hot and dry desert, the seasons are generally warm throughout the year and very hot in the summer. But the winters usually bring little rainfall. With the summers are moderately long and dry and the winters are normally have a low concentration of rainfall, which are made up the semiarid desert And the final desert is occurred in moderately cool to warm areas such as the Nearctic and Neotropical realm. Deserts are also found in areas where rainfall is less than 50 cm a year. However, with a little rainfall, most of the deserts have a considerable amount of specialized vegetation and vertebrate and invertebrate animals as well. And there are only a few large mammals in the deserts because they are not capable of storing sufficient water or withstanding the blistering heat. In the variety of the deserts, plants have had to develop different ways of capturing water in the roots, stems, leaves or fruit in order to survive in their habitat. There are short grasses, sagebrush, creosote bushes and cacti can be found in nearly all deserts. About animals, in order to survive, they try to stay in the shade of plants or rocks or by burrowing underground in the heat of the day and many desert animals are nocturnal by hunting at night when it is cool. Camels, reptiles, insects, birds and small animals are adapted living in the all deserts. Specially, camels are one of the few large mammals to survive in the desert because they can have well storing water in their bodies. There are all about the description about a desert biome. As we can see, animals and plants are found in a desert are distinctive in their adaptive capabilities, just so that they are able to survive in the harsh desert conditions.

Construction Essays Construction Industry Workers

Construction Essays Construction Industry Workers Construction Industry Workers The construction industry currently employs 2.2 million workers making it Britain’s largest industry (HSE, 2007). However, the sheer size of the industry comes at a cost as it is regarded as being one of the most dangerous industries to work in due to the individual complexity of construction projects and tough working conditions that workers are exposed to (HSE, 2005). The wide range of activities undertaken by construction workers further emphasises the need for a high level of legislation and management of measures to reduce accident and injuries throughout the entirety of the construction process, from planning to demolition. This is essential if the health and safety on construction sites is likely to improve and become more effective, which is important for not only the people already involved within the construction industry, but also for the expected 2-3% growth within the next 5 years (Reference). (Reference) suggests that poor design and management in the constructio n industry is the principal cause of the unacceptable accident and fatality record throughout construction sites in the UK. This needs to be improved through the improved implementation of measures to reduce these statistics which has been highlighted through the introduction of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, which are perceived to provide numerous benefits to the construction industry from design concept onwards and help ensure that construction projects are safe to build; safe to use; safe to maintain, and deliver good value. These regulations aim to avoid, reduce and control health and safety risks faced by construction workers and others through preventative measures particularly during the design and management stage, whether engaged in, or affected by, new build, maintenance, repairs, demolition or other construction works (Joyce, 2007). http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hsc/meetings/2006/171006/c54Ann6.pdf The CDM regulations have the potential to make a significant impact on the industry with regards to health and safety however it is unrealistic to think that this can be achieved very quickly without encountering any problems in an area which has had much debate regarding this topic. It will take time before the new legislation will be free flowing however improvements in both effectiveness and efficiency can be expected as lessons are learnt. Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers Rationale for the Research The subject of this dissertation developed from a personal interest in the Health and Safety aspect of the construction industry and the significant research within the industry on how to minimise the injuries and fatalities on construction sites. In the construction industry, the risk of fatality is four times more likely to occur than in any other industry throughout the UK, whilst the risk of major injury is two and a half times higher (HSC, 2005b). A Health and Safety Executive (HSE, 1997) study, reveals that the construction industry has one of the highest ratios of non-injury to injury accidents of all UK industries. For every major accident on a construction site, Heinrich’s accident to incident ratio model suggest that there will be approximately thirty minor accidents and three hundred near misses (Hughes Ferrett, 2007). The HSE (2007) recorded 77 fatalities on construction sites during 2006/2007 and 3,711 major injuries to employees in construction related accidents . Include the 7,108 over 3 day injuries reported to the HSE and an estimation of under-reporting of injuries of approximately 45%, and it is evident that the accident rates in the construction industry is unacceptable and needs to be reduced. The Government and the Health and Safety Commission became aware of this on going poor record in the construction industry and at the Construction Health and Safety Summit in 2001, set a target of reducing the number of fatalities and accidents by 66% in the UK by 2010. The fatality rate appeared to be reducing year after year, with a industry record low of 59 fatalities in 2005/2006 (HSC, 2006) compared to the 69 in 2004/2005 (HSC, 2005) showing sufficient progress was being made. However, the 77 fatalities recorded in 2006/2007, and already 60 fatalities recorded in the first 9 months of the 2007/2008 period (HSE, 2007) shows that progress was short lived and that once again the rate of fatalities and injuries within construction sites is inc onsistent and starting to rise. The latest published statistics by the HSE shows the increased need to improve the measures used in order to prevent accidents and fatalities on construction sites. The CDM regulations 2007 which is the latest legislation to be introduced to the construction industry aim to achieve this through implementing regulations to develop improvements at the design and management stage of construction projects by placing more responsibility on all parties involved. The HSE suggested in ‘Blackspot Construction’ that 70% of the fatalities and accidents on construction sites could have been prevented by positive action by managers within the industry (Joyce, 2001) and speaking from Ashburton Grove, Kevin Myers, Chief Inspector for Construction said: â€Å"Every fatality is one too many, most are preventable, each a tragedy for those affected†. As a result the fundamental aim of this study is to identify factors to improve health and safety mea sures on construction sites within the UK with a view to reducing the number of accidents and fatalities. The importance of improving these measures to reduce accident statistics is because, apart from the human cost of suffering, moral and legal effects an accident may have; the economic cost to organisations can be devastating. In a study undertaken by the HSE, it was shown that accidents produce direct costs such as injury, ill health or damage which can be insured against, however it is the indirect costs such as material damage and legal costs that are most costly to organisations as they can be up to 36 times greater than the direct cost of an accident (Hughes Ferrett). The following information in this chapter gives further details about the principle aim and objectives for this research topic. Aim To identify factors to improve health and safety measures on construction sites within the UK with a view to reducing the number of accidents and fatalities. Objectives This aim will be investigated through a series of key objectives: 1.To provide an understanding of the current health and safety legislation that surrounds the construction industry with a particular focus on the CDM regulations 2007. 2.To provide a review of the history of accidents and fatalities within the construction industry. 3.To identify the current measures used to prevent accidents and injuries on construction sites. 4.To establish the main effect of preventative measures and what factors would assist the preventative measures used on construction sites within the UK in order to reduce the number of accidents within the construction industry. 5.To identify operatives understanding of the CDM regulations as well as success and problems associated with them. 6.To establish views from CDM duty holders on the current effectiveness of the CDM regulations. Outline Research Methodology This research topic has incorporated two research approaches in order to collect information which was the following: secondary data collection and primary data collection. Secondary data collection This form of research refers to the ‘desk study’ approach where data is obtained from sources that cite from primary sources. This method had been used to achieve the first, second and third objectives. These sources will be critically appraised by means of a systematic literature review which will cover the internet, textbooks, newspaper articles, research journals, thesis, reports, trade publications, etc. Primary data collection This form of research refers to the methods of primary data collection which can take the form of a number of practical approaches. This method of research was accomplished to utilise objectives four and five. The selected method for this thesis will be a structured survey approach in the form of a questionnaire. This method was selected as it is the best form of gathering data from a large number of respondents in a relatively short time frame. The questionnaires will adopt a semi structured format, employing both open and closed questions to gather the appropriate data. The research method is a way in which the research objectives can be questioned and achieved. Throughout my research I will be using a number of core sources of references such as the books, the internet, newspapers, companies, journals and questionnaires in order to carry out my objectives. I will decide upon the most appropriate research strategy which can be carried out in two ways depending on the purpose of the study and the type and availability of the information required. These two methods can be classified as â€Å"Quantitative† and â€Å"Qualitative†. Quantitative research (Naoum, 2007) can be defined as â€Å"objective† in nature. It involves the description or analysis of statistical procedures that involves specific measurements of variables to determine whether a theory holds true. Qualitative research on the other hand can be defined as â€Å"subjective† in nature (Naoum, 2007). It does not involve the use of specific variables, but relies o n reasons behind various aspects of data. It emphasizes the means, experiences and different descriptions of topics from different authors points of view. The type of qualitative data collected fell under the classification of attitudinal research. Attitudinal research is used to ‘subjectively’ evaluate the ‘opinion’, ‘view’, or the ‘perception’ of a person, towards a particular object (Naoum, 2007). For this study the ‘object’ has been the CDM regulations and the ‘person’ has been the duty holders that implement these regulations. The purpose of this section is to inform the reader of the contents of this dissertation. Each chapter within the dissertation has a brief description stating what each chapter includes, the purpose of it, and its relationship to carry out the research aim and objectives, followed by a conclusion of the chapter. Chapter One Introduction Chapter one highlights to the reader the main topic area that is being investigated and researched into. It does not going into depth in the topic but it does provide a background and rationale into the research area. Within this chapter the research aim will be described as well as the objectives and the research methodology used in order to achieve the objectives set. Chapter Two History of Health and Safety legislation Chapter two will provide a detailed description of the health and safety legislation that has surrounded the construction industry since the first publication in 1961. A particular focus will be on the latest legislation known as the CDM regulations 2007 highlighting specific roles each professional has within the regulations in order to implement rules to provide a safer construction site. This chapter will also provide a background into the main changes that have occurred and assess the main reasons for why these changes were necessary. Chapter Three – Accidents and injuries within the construction industry This chapter intends to review the statistics provided by the HSE on fatalities and accidents within the EU member states, the industries within the UK and in particular and in particular the accidents and fatalities within the construction industry. It will analyse statistics prior to the introduction of the CDM regulations as well as after the introduction of these regulations highlighting any common problems that have occurred and potential reasons this. Chapter Four – Measures to prevent accidents on construction sites This chapter intends to review the main systems in place to reduce accidents on construction sites and comment on which are the most successful that should be developed further. This chapter will also discuss the cost implementations of implementing these measures along with the potential benefits of doing so. Chapter Five Research Methodology and Questionnaire / Interview Design This chapter highlights my proposed research methodology for obtaining the information necessary for my study. This chapter also describes how questions for my interview have developed as my research has become more detailed, as well as why such questions were chosen for the interview and what I intend to achieve from these. Chapter Six Analysis of Results Chapter Seven with provide the reader with a detailed analysis of the results from my questionnaire / interview. A wide range of data will be gathered so therefore a summary of the information which highlights specific areas will be presented in the form of charts, tables, graphs and a written conclusion of the results. Chapter Seven Conclusions and Recommendations This chapter was designed to provide the reader with a final discussion and conclusion for the research information that has been collected as well as to provide imitations of the study and recommendations for future research. The dissertation does not provide a chapter titled ‘literature review‘, however in order to achieve the objectives set, a comprehensive literature review will be ongoing throughout the study to critically appraise issues and statements identified and gain the industries, work operatives and authors opinions of the progress, effectiveness and success of the CDM regulations within the construction industry. A wide range of key literature from sources such as research journals, refereed conferences, thesis, textbooks, reports, trade publications and newspaper articles on this research topic have been reviewed, analysed and appraised of their strengths and weaknesses. Chapter Two:History of Health and Safety Legislation This chapter intends to provide a background into the history of the UK’s health and safety legislation that has governed the construction industry and progressed over time. A particular focus on the CDM regulations 2007 will be provided, highlighting key roles and responsibilities as well as the necessary components of the regulations. Factories Act 1961 The Factories Act 1961 was the starting point for parliamentary legislation on health and safety matters within the construction industry. Construction safety was first introduced into safety law in the Factories Act 1937, however further amendments and alterations were made in 1948 and 1959 before the final consolidating measure in 1961 to produce the final version known as the Factories Act 1961 (Holt, 2001). One of the main problems encountered with the Factories Act 1961 was that it only applied to premises defined within it, such as factories, and did not cover other workplaces such as schools or hospitals. This was the main reason for the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The relevant contents of the Factories Act 1961 have since been applied to other legislation with the remaining sections left out that are of little relevance to the construction industry (Holt, 2001). Fire Precautions Act 1971 (Amended 1989) The introduction of the fire precautions act 1971 ensured that all properties regulated by the Act should require a fire certificate that should only be authorised by the fire authority. These certificates were only awarded if the inspection of the property met the safety requirements outlined in the act itself. The requirements introduced by the Fire Precautions Act 1971 paid particular attention to the people working on the premises; this involved making them aware of the means of escape as well as ensuring that people on the premises have sufficient warning to evacuate in the event of a fire. The act did not just ensure that there was sufficient facilities in place to combat a fire but also ensured that personnel employed within the building received sufficient instruction and training in what to do if a fire ever occurred. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1971 (Amended 1974, 2002) The introduction of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1971 (HAS 1971) involved improvements to the Factories Act 1961. The Act’s obligations are based more on relationships between organizations and employees rather than on narrow definitions on types of premises as in the Factories Act 1961 (Holt, 2001). The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1971 is currently the centrepiece of legislation for all industries in Great Britain that provides the legal framework to achieve high standards in health and safety. The act was responsible for establishing the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enabling them to propose health and safety regulations and approved codes of practice, they both however act in accordance with the secretary of state who must be informed of any proposed amendment or new regulations. The Health and Safety Commission The Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive are responsible for the revision of the CDM Regulations. They were originally established as part of the Health and  Safety  at Work etc Act 1974 as two separate non-departmental public bodies (HSE, 2007). The HSC is appointed by the secretary of state whose main aim is to protect members of the UK against health and safety risks that may occur during working activities. In order to achieve this they must conduct and sponsor research; promote training; provide an information and advisory service; and submit proposals for new or revised regulations and approved codes of practices (HSC, 2007). http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hsc/index.htm The Health and Safety Executive The role of the Health and Safety Executive is to assist the Health and Safety Commission to ensure that risks to people’s health and safety from work activities are properly controlled (HSE, 2007). The HSE is the main enforcement and advisory body to the HSC however for activities that involve lower risks such as offices then local authorities have equal powers to enforce (Holt, 2001). http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hse/index.htm The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 The health and safety (First Aid) regulations 1981 contained certain regulations that apply to construction sites and their workers. The act places vast amounts of responsibility on employers who are required to carry out an assessment of first aid needs which involves consideration of workplace hazards and risks, the size of the organisation and other relevant factors, to determine what first aid equipment, facilities and personnel should be provided. The location of these provisions should be made aware to all employees by the employer under regulation 4. Regulation 3 states that employers are responsible to ensure that adequate and appropriate equipment and facilities are available for enabling first aid to be rendered to an employee in the event of being injured or taken ill whilst at work (HMSO, 1981). It was also the responsibility of the employer, under regulation 3, to ensure that a competent person is available at all times to carry out first aid procedures in the event of a n injury or illness occurring on the construction site. http://www.hse.gov.uk/firstaid/legislation.htm#duties Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989 (Amended 2002) The Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989 came into force as of the 30th March 1990 in an attempt to prevent head injuries whilst working on construction sites. These regulations apply to all members of the workforce with the responsibility of the employer to provide each employee who is at work with suitable head protection, maintain it, and replace it wherever necessary as outlined in regulation 3. Under regulation 4 the employer, self employed or anyone who has authority over another person must ensure that suitable head protection is worn whenever reasonably practicable. In the event of self employed workers entering the site, they must wear and comply with all rules set by the site they are working on in order to comply with regulation 4. In order to comply with regulation 5, all rules established with the wearing of suitable head protection must be provided in writing and brought to the attention of any worker that may be affected by them. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19892209_en_1.htm The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 first came into force on the 1st April 1990 in order to target the number of health and safety risks exposed to work operatives on construction sites involving working with electricity (HMSO, 1989). These regulations place responsibilities on both the employer and self-employed to comply with the provisions of these Regulations and the duty of the employees to co-operate with the rules set by the employer. Regulation 4 sets out standards to be achieved involving systems, work activities and protective equipment. This involves ensuring that all systems when carrying out operations should be adequate, used and maintained in an efficient manner in order to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any risks of danger. Regulations 4 of this legislation also indicates that any equipment provided in order to protect work operatives carrying out tasks on or near electrical equipment must be appropriate, maintained in a satisfactory condition and used in the correct manner. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19890635_en_1.htm The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (Amended 1999, 2006) The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 came into effect as of the 1st January 1993 which placed responsibility upon all employers and self-employed to carry out suitable and sufficient risks assessments with regard to health and safety issues on construction sites. This is to ensure that regulation 3 is achieved through informing employees of the potential issues that may affect, or potentially affect the health and safety of another person on site. The other most significant responsibility placed on the employer under regulation 11 is to ensure that they fulfil capability and training requirements set out in this legislation. This involves the employer making sure all employees are provided with adequate health and safety training upon recruitment or upon being exposed to new or increased risks such as the introduction of new work equipment. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1992/Uksi_19922051_en_2.htm#mdiv1 The Manual Handling and Operations Regulations 1992 (Amended 2002) The Manual Handling and Operations Regulations 1992 were first enforced on the 1st January 1993 which introduced the requirement for employers to avoid the need for their employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involves a risk of being injured, this is outlined in regulation 4. If manual handling and operations are undertaken then it is the responsibility of the employer to keep these occurrences to levels as low as possible as well as to provide employees with general indications where it is reasonably practicable to do so such as the weight of each load. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1992/Uksi_19922793_en_1.htm The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (Amended 2002) The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 came into effect on the 1st January 1993 to try to ensure that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is provided and worn at all times if work operatives are presented with a situation that provide risks to their personal health and safety. Regulation 4 of the act states that it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that PPE is provided to all employees whilst at work if they are likely to be exposed to health and safety risks, any self employed work operative must provide their own PPE once entering the construction site. Regulation 4 also emphasise that the PPE provided should be appropriate for the risks involved and should fit correctly or at least have a mechanism for adjustments that enable it to be worn correctly. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1992/Uksi_19922966_en_2.htm#mdiv1 The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (Revised 2002, Amended 2003) The WHSW regulations 1992 came into force on the 1st January 1993. These regulations do not apply specifically to construction sites which means they have had no effect in reducing the number of accidents and fatalities throughout the construction industry. The construction industry had two specific sets of regulations that were industry-specific before the introduction of the CDM regulations 2007 as these regulations incorporated both of them. These were known as the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 which are described in more detail below: Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (Amended 2007) The CDM regulations 1994 first came into force on the 31st March 1995 with a view to further reducing the number of accidents occurring within the construction industry (Joyce, 2001). The main aims of the regulations were to reduce the regular occurrence of accidents and ill health arising from construction work (Percy, 2002). The main influence these regulation had on the construction industry was that it shared responsibility of health and safety issues during construction work between all parties and not purely the responsibility of the contractor (Joyce 2001). These regulations were in place for 12 years but have recently been amended and are now known as the CDM regulations 2007. The reasons for the amendments were due a number of problems encountered with the CDM regulations 1994 such as the ongoing debate about there effectiveness, high level of unnecessary bureaucracy, lack of clarity and regulations that were subject to misinterpretation throughout their enforcement (Joyce, 2001). The CDM regulations 2007 intend to take on board the research into these problems and readdress the main criticisms in order to improve the effectiveness within the industry. The CDM regulations 2007 are discussed further in section 6.0. Reports of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995 The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 came into force as of the 6th April 2006. These regulations have an effect with a view to protecting workers against the potential risks to their personal HS arising from exposure to noise at work (HMSO, 2005). It is the responsibility of the employer under regulation 5 to provide a risk assessment to assess the potential risks of exposure to noise an employee may face when carrying out work on site, if exposure is likely to occur then where possible it should be eliminated at the source or reduced to nose levels as low as possible in order to comply with these regulations. In order to support regulation 5, regulation 7 sets out to ensure that the employer must provide personal hearing protection to any employee who is exposed to high noise levels in order to protect their health and safety, this must be supported with the use of appropriate safety signs in order to inform work operatives of an area that is subject to high noise levels. R egulations 9 and 10 respectively are provided to ensure that if employees are exposed to high levels of noise then the employer must ensure that they are placed under suitable health surveillance as well as provide them with suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training in order to carry out their tasks efficiently (HMSO, 2005). Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 The CHSWR 1996 were enforced as of the 2nd September 1996 which replaced the Construction (General Provisions) Regulations 1961, the Construction (Health and Welfare) Regulations 1966 and the Construction (Working Places) Regulations 1966, which were all revoked (Holt, 2001). These regulations were introduced as the construction equivalent of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 as they do not apply to constructions sites (Holt, 2001). The CHSW Regulations 1996 were created by the HSC which represented the UK’s implementation of Annexe IV of the Temporary and Mobile Construction Sites Directive (Clarke, 1999). Before the introduction of the CDM regulations 2007, the CHSW regulations 1996 applied to all construction work and along with the CDM regulations 1994, they provided a life cycle of health and safety standards throughout the entirety of construction projects. This was achieved as both these sets of regulations applied to different aspects of const ruction work which meant there was no overlapping of each legislation between the two sets of regulations. The CHSW 1996 applied to workers carrying out construction site work where as the CDM regulations 1994 applied to those in the design and management process. Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 were first enforced on the 1st April 1996, they were introduced as a set of regulations to notify the construction industry of the minimum requirements for the provision of safety signs at work. This act complies with the MHSW regulations 1992 as an employer must provide appropriate safety signs if they feel that the risk assessment made as a requirement of the MHSW 1992 regulations cannot adequately reduce risks to employees after adopting appropriate techniques for collective protection, and measures, methods or procedures used in the organisation of work. These signs are used to warn or instruct employees of the nature of potential risks they may face and inform the employees of the appropriate measures to be taken to protect against them. This act also introduces a standardised system of safety signs; this enables workers to be able to travel from different construction sites and not face the problem of different m eanings for different signs. In order to comply with regulation 5; employers must ensure that each of their employees receives suitable and sufficient instruction and training in the meaning of safety signs and the measures to be taken in connection with safety signs. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1996/Uksi_19960341_en_1.htm Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 The COSHH regulations 2002 were introduced to the construction industry on the 21st November 2002, this legislation placed responsibility upon employers to ensure that exposure to substances hazardous to health is either prevented or, if not reasonably practicable, adequately controlled (HMSO, 2002). The employer should prevent from carrying out work that may potentially expose an employee to substances hazardous to health unless they have carried out appropriate risk assessments and carried out the suitable processes in order to comply with these regulations, and safeguard workers on site. Regulations 12 of the regulations states that an employer should provide employees with suitable and sufficient information, instruction and traini

Technology In Invisible Man And Hollow Man Film Studies Essay

Technology In Invisible Man And Hollow Man Film Studies Essay The classic 1933 film The Invisible Man based on a science fiction novel by H G Wells of the same name is a story which follows the life and demise of Dr. Jack Griffin as he battles psychological and physical effect of an invisibility drug while trying to find a cure to return him to normal visibility. The film was directed by James Whale and starring Claude Rains and is considered to be one of the greatest of a series of films called the Universal horror films produced in the Golden Era 1930s of the Universal Studios. The Invisible Man was a phenomenal success, despite being realised during the Great Depression, and produced several sequels. The success of the film also launched the career of leading actor Claude Rains. Hollow Man released in the year 2000, Director by Paul Verhoeven and starting Elisabeth Shue Kevin Bacon is the modern day equivalent also inspired by H. G. Wells The Invisible Man A scientist develops a serum which renders the flesh of any living life form invisible. After testing the serum on a variety of different animals he decides to inflict it upon himself but after efforts to return him to permanent visibility fail he and his colleagues struggle to find a cure before the mental repercussions take their toll. Despite being inspired and based on H.G Wells original novel, although based in different eras, both films contain many paralleling sequences depicting the various elements of the invisible characters different states. Some key examples of this can be seen when the character turns from totally visible to invisible or visa versa. Sometimes an invisible character is wearing visible clothes and face masks which interact with other cast members and the environment in shot. Both films helped push the boundaries of the special effects available in their respective eras and presented new and exciting challenges to the special effects artist in charge of producing them and it is these effect with can be credit to the susses of both films. John P. Fulton and Frank D. Williams are the men directly responsible for creating the ground breaking effects seen in the The Invisible Man film. On the 23th of July 1916 F. D. Williams filed a US patent entitled Method of Taking Motion Pictures which detailed a method of taking motion pictures, and is especially adapted to produce a picture showing two or more objects in relative positions in which they have not actually been placed (F. D. Williams, 1916. Method of taking motion pictures. U.S. Pat.1,273,435) This process was used and adapted as a base to create the majority of effects which illustrated a partly clothed or bandaged invisible character in the film. To achieve these effect sequences Rains or a double wore a tight fitting black velvet suit underneath any clothes which were to remain visible moving around the scene. The actors performance was then filmed on a black velvet backdrop; a second background plate was filmed and a double exposure was then used to seamlessly combine the two shoots together, this resulted in the black elements from the first shot, the valet suit and backdrop being replaced by the background film in the second shoot. This is a very early version of an effect today know as green screen, in modern times an array of different colours, most commonly green, blue and black are used depending on the backdrop and the colour of other elements in the scene for example if the screen is green heavy or an actors costume includes green, a blue backdrop can be used. After the film was finished Fulton admitted the most difficult shot to achieve of the entire film was when the invisible man is seen to unwrap the bandages from around his head in front of a mirror. To create this sequences four different takes where used of the actor removing the bandages but with different parts of the set masked in black velvet. The first take was used to captor the surrounding walls and mirrors frame but the mirror glass was masked out so it could be captured separately in the second take, the third was of the actors back unwrapping the bandages and the fourth of the actor performing the same unwrapping action but from the front. Each take needed to match in perceptive and viewpoint to enable them to be merged together into a single shoot. (Now you see him:The Invisible man revealed, 2004. DVD. USA: Universal Studios) A parallel can be draw to this sequence in Hollow Man when efforts to restore the invisible scientist Sebastian Caine played by Kevin Bacon fail. His colleges make the decision to create Sebastian a synthetic face mask by pouring liquid latex over his head to help give him a visible presents. There was a lot of discussion about what had been done before in invisible man movies and Paul was very concerned we did not repeat all been done before Alec Gillis (Fleshing out the hollow man, 2007. DVD. London: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) In the Hollow Man special features The Mask, Tom Woodruff, Jr. from Amalgamated says our main drive was coming up with something that looked like Kevin Bacon but also looked like some crudely constructed mask (Fleshing out the hollow man, 2007. DVD. London: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) The choice to use a latex mask molded to the actors face did indeed make bacon more recognisable to the audience which dose help further ground the entire effect. Unlike The Invisible Man where bandages are wrapped around Rains head, disguising his characteristic features to the point where it could be anyone and inevitably allowing the director to cast doubles in some shots which is noticeable due to the double being taller than rains. To a achieve the effect of liquid latex being poured and conforming around the actors face which would seemingly to appear out of thin air, The actors face was covered in green body paint which was later digital removed from the plate leaving only the latex. According to Alec Gills from Amalgamated Dynamics and Jonathan Erland of Composite Components, experts in green screen technology, a new type of body paint was developed which was used to actively turn Bacon into a walking green screen which in its self was a major development to allow the actor to be painted out of many scenes in the film. Many safety guidelines had to be followed in its creation, the paint had to be durable as well as being safe for actor Bacon to wear during the busy filming schedule. Green vacuum formed pieces of plastic were placed over the actors eyes to help protect them from scissors while eye holes were cut into the mask they also helped in the masking out of Bacons actual to allow the integrate of a 3D generated model of the inside of the latex mask to aid the illusion of a hollow interior. (Now you see him:The Invisible man revealed, 2004. DVD. USA: Universal Studios) Turning Bacon into his walking green screen state meant he was able to physically act out all of his scenes even if he was in a fully indivisible state in the film because of high tech digital camera used in the filming were able to record their own movements, after a take was filmed the camera was able to automatically re-film the empty background set precisely based on the pre-recorded tilt pitch and pan data, because this generated an exact duplicate plate made the job of digital removal of Bacon far easier, this in turn allowed the cinematographer to create much more dynamic and interesting camera moves. This also provided bacons fellow actors a precise focus point in a scene which as something just not possible in The Invisible Man as camera had to remain static and Rain was filmed on at black ground and composited back into the sequence later. Filming Bacon in the scene also supplied the special effects team with a great animatic and lighting reference to match any CG elements to. A second paralleling sequence between the two films can be seen when the main character passes between the states of visible to invisible. In Hollow Man after developing and successfully testing an invisibility serum on animal subjects, Sebastian decides to take his experiments to the next level, a human trail by inject himself with the serum which triggers the dramatic transformation to invisibility, although in reverse this effect sequence is also used in the last scene of The Invisible Man when of Dr. Jack Griffin dies the invisibility which has plaged him thought out the film final wears off and his body becomes visible throw death. As Griffin fiancà ©e Flora sits down beside his bed the camera changes to an Answering Shoot, a technique used to show dialogue between two characters. The camera is moved to look over Floras left shoulder, although we the audience start to hear Griffins voice speak his last words we can see Flora is still in fact looking at a hollow night shirt tucked up in bed and an impression in the pillow where Griffins head ought to be. In this shoot the night shirt is seen subtly rising and falling to indicate breathing but this has not been animated in keeping with the words we can hear Griffin speaking. After a brief close-up shot of Flora, the camera cuts back to a close up of Griffins imprint in the bed. Almost immediately the transformation takes place and this is the first time in the film the audience see Rains face and after a slow plan back the film ends. This was done directly in the camera, the pillow, the indentation and all was made of plaster and the blankets and sheets of papier-mà ¢chà ©, a slow long lap dissolve revealed a skeleton, a real by the way another lap dissolve replaced the skeleton with a roughly sculpted dummy which suggested the contours of the actor and a further series of dissolves each time using a slightly more finished dummy brought us to the real actor himself John P Fulton DVD commentary. (The Invisible man, DVD 2004. DVD. USA: Universal Studios) The potential problem with using this technique of layering full frames is if any other supposedly static object moves thought out any of frames the in the scene this will becomes very obvious. This is most notable when the corner of the bed sheet moves between the skull and full face transition. In contrast Hollow man is able to utilise many modern techniques for this transformation from visible to invisibility, most notably computer graphics. In the equivalent scene actor Kevin Bacon character seemingly dissolve away; multiple different layers of human anatomy effectively dissolve from one layer to the next. His skin gives way to the layers of muscles, tendons, internal organs and eventually only an animated skeleton left thrashing around on the table for a short period before it too disappears. A scene only made possible by today standards by continually pushing the boundaries of computer graphics. Another thing that made it more difficult for us was the actual amount of data and amount of geometry we had to push though are system, we had to buy better and faster computers to actually handle it Scott Stokdyk, Digital Effects Supervisor (Fleshing out the hollow man, 2007. DVD. London: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) This was a necessary step in the case of Hollow Man as unlike other CG characters generated for feature films which only require modelling the outer skin of a character, the team at Sony had to go to great lengths to produce all the different individual internal elements of the human body to achieve this effect sequence. Before work on the CG character could begin preliminary research into human anatomy was carried out by the team who looked out medical journals and the work of Dr.Gunther von Hagens who painted a technique for preserving human tissue with polymer which is used in the Body Works exhibitions. The team then started RD testing ways of adding animated controls to models of the human body capable of simulating not only the overall human body movements but also controlling all the individual elements that comprise of the human body. After Kevin Bacon was selected to play the lead role full body cyber scans were generated to match the 3D representation which allowed modelling supervisor Wayne Kennedy and the team to match his likeness as close as possible as . But While modelling techniques were still being developed the arising problems meant a separate department, pushing software development and plug-in creation. Modern films produced with digital technology arent as restrictive as in the analogue period, new software can be custom written for a specific task. The production team worked with Maya to accomplish the majority of 3D work used in the film as another advantage of the digital workflow, meant custom tools built for the studios pervious film Stuart Little were adapted and applied where needed to Hollow man. (Shay,E., 2000. Hollow Man: Disappearing Act.Cinefex,83, 111) (more pictures to be added) (conclusion be rewritten) Although there have only been two scenes discussed, many parallels can be drawn between the two films, in the way the audiences react to them, and the effects used. Although due mostly to technological and creative advancement, there are also many differences in how the effects were achieved. One thing can be said for both films though, at the time of their release both films were at the cutting of technology. Keeping the audiences at the edge of their seats in true horror fashion. The Invisible Man used many of the original techniques, which became the basis for modern cinema and would evolve and go on to be used in Hollow Man almost seven decades later. Techniques such as the Williams process or travelling mattes as they are also known. These processes would go on to become green and blue screen techniques used in todays film industry. Like many of the horror classics from the analogue period, The Invisible Man has become very dated. The effects were believable at its time of release they have become less so as the years have gone by. In some scenes the effects are quiet comical in execution by todays standards. The techniques used were also not fool proof, even at the time of production. The use of different lighting set ups used to achieve some composited effects, caused instances of ghosting where the set was visible through the character. These factors have lead to the film becoming less convincing as the years have passed. The same advancement in technologies, has also meant that films such as Hollow Man could be produced reaching new levels of realism. Firmly putting audiences back in the grasps of fear. It took the team at Sony Picture Imageworks over 2 years to create the visual effects used in Hollow Man with the vast development of computers, plugins and software advancements. The finished result keeps Hollow Man on par with films being released a decade later. With further developments in technology and computer generated imagery, it can only mean bigger, better things to come. Keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. Sussce of film made 7 more Refs (The Invisible man, DVD 2004. DVD. USA: Universal Studios) (Now you see him:The Invisible man revealed, 2004. DVD. USA: Universal Studios) (Shay,E., 2000. Hollow Man: Disappearing Act.Cinefex,83, 111) (Fleshing out the hollow man, 2007. DVD. London: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) (F. D. Williams, 1916. Method of taking motion pictures. U.S. Pat.1,273,435) Rickitt, R., 2000. Special Effects the history and technique. London: Virgin Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Man_%28film%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Man Hollow Man: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164052/

Cicso Systems vs Huawei Technologies :: Lawsuit Law Intellectual Property Essays

Cicso Systems vs Huawei Technologies I. Cisco Systems files lawsuit against Huawei Technologies Cisco Systems filed a lawsuit against Huawei Technologies on January 23, 2003 claiming that Huawei had copied, misappropriated, and infringed on Cisco’s intellectual property in its rival line of low-cost networking routers.1 Cisco Systems is an industry leader in providing networking equipment for voice and data transfer. Huawei Technologies is China’s leading manufacturer of telecom and network equipment gear and is viewed by analysts as a formidable competitor to Cisco2. II. Details of the lawsuit Cisco’s allegations include the following:3 . Copying of IOS source code: IOS (Internetworking Operating System) is Cisco’s proprietary operating system. Cisco claims that Huawei’s operating system contains text strings, file names, and even bugs that are identical to those in Cisco’s IOS source code. . Copying of Cisco’s technical documentation: Cisco alleges that whole portions of text from Cisco’s copyrighted technical documentation are found in Huawei’s user manuals for their Quidway routers and switches. . Copying of Command Line Interface: A Command Line Interface (CLI) is the interface through which a user issues commands to a router. Cisco claims that extensive portions of its CLI and help screens appear verbatim in Huawei’s operating system for its Quidway routers and switches. . Patent infringement: Cisco alleges that Huawei is infringing at least five Cisco patents related to proprietary routing protocols. Cisco wants a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting the use, sales, marketing, and distribution of Huawei’s Quidway routers and switches. The suit includes an order to triple all damages, an amount to be determined by a jury during a trial.4 Cisco also took action against a Huawei distributor in the United Kingdom. Spot Distribution received a cease and desist letter for distributing Huawei products that allegedly infringe Cisco’s intellectual property.5 Cisco filed the case in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas,6 nearby Plano, Texas, where it has a subsidiary. The court is reputed to be knowledgeable about patent and intellectual property infringement cases, sympathetic to patent holders, and quick to issue injunctions. While patents granted in the United States are only enforceable in the United States, copyright laws are enforced worldwide.