Road Safety free essay sample

Road incidents are a major problem in every society. Many lives are taken due to careless driving or misuse of public roads. Road incidents, also known as traffic collision, traffic accidents, motor vehicle collision, road traffic collision, wreck (USA) and car crash (Australia), can be defined as an unexpected and undesirable event , that occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian and other stationary obstruction. Road incidents are not only a rising concern in Fiji but also in every country in the whole world. Increase in the number of road incidents is a matter of concern in Fiji and also other countries in the world. Usually road incidents have very high impact on the people, that is, on the life, mind and family. People who are the victim of accidents normally regret for the rest of their lives because of the suffering they endure due to their carelessness in not following the simple road safety rules. We will write a custom essay sample on Road Safety or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Approximately hundred to two hundred people die each year due to road incidents. An escalation in the number of road incidents is not only a problem in Fiji but in every country in the whole world. Developed and leading countries like Australia and the United States of America also face the problem of road incidents and its impact on the people. In the recent years, the number has increased rapidly and many people are affected due to road incidents in one way or another. Many people lost their lives, family members or loved ones, suffer physical damage and damage to their properties due to not following the simple and easy road safety rules. Due to carelessness of people and failing to follow the road safety rules, this is turning out to be a great concern for Fiji Government and its time that action is taken. Many people are dying everyday. The Government and concerned authorities such as the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and police, are showing their concern by organizing operations to monitor the drivers activities and holding awareness programs to educate people.

Social Networking Service Essay Example

Social Networking Service Essay Example Social Networking Service Essay Social Networking Service Essay Essay Topic: The Social Contract A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Online community services are sometimes considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks. citation needed] The main types of social networking services are those which contain category places (such as former school year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook and Twitter widely used worldwide, Nexopia (mostly in Canada);[1] Bebo,[2] VKontakte, Hi5, Hyves (mostly in The Netherlands), Draugiem. lv (mostly in Latvia), StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), iWiW (mostly in Hungary), Tuenti (mostly in Spain), Nasza-Klasa (mostly in Poland), Nyx. z (mostly in Czech Republic), iCubee (mostly in Philippines), Decayenne, Tagged, XING,[3] Badoo[4] and Skyrock in parts of Europe;[5] Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America;[6] and Friendster, Mixi, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, renren and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands and LinkedIn and Orkut are very popular in India. There have been attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate entries of friends and interests (see the FOAF standard and the Open Source Initiative). A 2011 survey found that 47% of American adults used a social network. [7] History The potential for computer networking to facilitate new forms of computer-mediated social interaction was suggested early on. [8] Efforts to support social networks via computer-mediated communication were made in many early online services, including Usenet, ARPANET, LISTSERV, and bulletin board services (BBS). Many prototypical features of social networking sites were also present in online services such as America Online, Prodigy, and CompuServe. Early social networking on the World Wide Web began in the form of generalized online communities such as Theglobe. com (1995),[9] Geocities (1994) and Tripod. om (1995). Many of these early communities focused on bringing people together to interact with each other through chat rooms, and encouraged users to share personal information and ideas via personal webpages by providing easy-to-use publishing tools and free or inexpensive webspace. Some communities such as Classmates. com took a different approach by simply having people link to each other via email addresses. In the late 1990s, user profiles became a central feature of social networking sites, allowing users to compile lists of friends and search for other users with similar interests. New social networking methods were developed by the end of the 1990s, and many sites began to develop more advanced features for users to find and manage friends. [10] This newer generation of social networking sites began to flourish with the emergence of SixDegrees. com in 1997,[11] followed by Makeoutclub in 2000,[12][13], Friendster in 2002,[14] and soon became part of the Internet mainstream. Friendster was followed by MySpace and LinkedIn a year later, and finally, Bebo. Attesting to the rapid increase in social networking sites popularity, by 2005, MySpace was reportedly getting more page views than Google. Facebook,[15] launched in 2004, has since become the largest social networking site in the world. [16]Today, it is estimated that there are now over 200 active sites using a wide variety of social networking models. [citation needed] May 2011: Based on TNS research, the global average of who access daily the social networking sites accounts is 46 percent. [17] [edit]Social impacts Web based social networking services make it possible to connect people who share interests and activities across political, economic, and geographic borders. 18] Through e-mail and instant messaging, online communities are created where a gift economy and reciprocal altruism are encouraged through cooperation. Information is particularly suited to gift economy, as information is a nonrival good and can be gifted at practically no cost. [19][20] Facebook and other social networking tools are increasingly the object of scholarly research. Scholars in many fields have begun to investigate the impact of social networking sites, investigating how such sites may play into issues of identity, privacy,[21] social capital, youth culture, and education. 22] Several websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model for philanthropy. Such models provide a means for connecting otherwise fragmented industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience with interested users. [23] Social networks are providing a different way for individuals to communicate digitally. These communities of hypertexts allow for the sharing of information and ideas, an old concept placed in a digital environment. In 2011, HCL Technologies conducted research which showed that 50% of British employers had banned the use of social networking sites/services during office hours. [24] [25] [edit]Typical structure [edit]Basics Social networking sites share some conventional features. Most often, individual users are encouraged to create profiles containing various information about themselves. Users can often upload pictures of themselves to their profiles, post blog entries for others to read, search for other users with similar interests, and compile and share lists of contacts. In addition, user profiles often have a section dedicated to comments from friends and other users. To protect user privacy, social networks usually have controls that allow users to choose who can view their profile, contact them, add them to their list of contacts, and so on. In recent years, it has also become common for a wide variety of organizations to create profiles to advertise products and services. [edit]Additional features Some social networks have additional features, such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or affiliations, upload or stream live videos, and hold discussions in forums. Geosocial networking co-opts Internet mapping services to organize user participation around geographic features and their attributes. There is also a trend for more interoperability between social networks led by technologies such as OpenID and OpenSocial. Lately, mobile social networking has become popular. [citation needed] In most mobile communities, mobile phone users can now create their own profiles, make friends, participate in chat rooms, create chat rooms, hold private conversations, share photos and videos, and hare blogs by using their mobile phone. Some companies provide wireless services which allow their customers to build their own mobile community and brand it, but one of the most popular wireless services for social networking in North America is Facebook Mobile. [edit]Emerging trends in social networking As the increase in popularity of social networking is on a constant rise,[26] new uses for the technology are constantly being observed. At the forefront of emergi ng trends in social networking sites is the concept of real-time web and location based. Real time allows users to contribute content, which is then broadcasted as it is being uploaded the concept is analogous to live radio and television broadcasts. Twitter set the trend for real time services, where users can broadcast to the world what they are doing, or what is on their minds within a 140 character limit. Facebook followed suit with their Live Feed where users activities are streamed as soon as it happens. While Twitter focuses on words, Clixtr, another real time service, focuses on group photo sharing where users can update their photo streams with photos while at an event. Facebook, however, remains easily the greatest photo sharing site Facebook application and photo aggregator Pixable estimates that Facebook will have 100 billion photos by Summer 2011 [27]. Foursquare gained popularity as it allowed for users to check-in to places that they are frequenting at that moment. Gowalla is another such service which functions in much the same way that Foursquare does, leveraging the GPS in phones to create a location-based user experience. Clixtr, though in the real time space, is also a location based social networking site since events created by users are automatically geotagged, and users can view events occurring nearby through the Clixtr iPhone app. Recently, Yelp announced its entrance into the location based social networking space through check-ins with their mobile app; whether or not this becomes detrimental to Foursquare or Gowalla is yet to be seen as it is still considered a new space in the Internet technology industry. 28] One popular use for this new technology is social networking between businesses. Companies have found that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are great ways to build their brand image. According to Jody Nimetz, author of Marketing Jive,[29] there are five major uses for businesses and social media: to create brand awareness, as an online reputation management tool, for recruiting, to learn about new technologies and competitors, and as a lead generation tool to inter cept potential prospects. 29] These companies are able to drive traffic to their own online sites while encouraging their consumers and clients to have discussions on how to improve or change products or services. One other use that is being discussed is the use of social networks in the science communities. Julia Porter Liebeskind et al. have published a study on how new biotechnology firms are using social networking sites to share exchanges in scientific knowledge. 30] They state in their study that by sharing information and knowledge with one another, they are able to increase both their learning and their flexibility in ways that would not be possible within a self-contained hierarchical organization. Social networking is allowing scientific groups to expand their knowledge base and share ideas, and without these new means of communicating their theories might become isolated and irrelevant. Social networks are also being used by teachers and students as a communication tool. Because many students are already using a wide-range of social networking sites, teachers have begun to familiarize themselves with this trend and are now using it to their advantage. Teachers and professors are doing everything from creating chat-room forums and groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting. Social networks are also being used to foster teacher-parent communication. These sites make it possible and more convenient for parents to ask questions and voice concerns without having to meet face-to-face. Social networks are being used by activists as a means of low-cost grassroots organizing. Extensive use of an array of social networking sites enabled organizers of the 2009 National Equality March to mobilize an estimated 200,000 participants to march on Washington with a cost savings of up to 85% per participant over previous methods. [31] The use of online social networks by libraries is also an increasingly prevalent and growing tool that is being used to communicate with more potential library users, as well as extending the services provided by individual libraries. A final rise in social network use is being driven by college students using the services to network with professionals for internship and job opportunities. Many studies have been done on the effectiveness of networking online in a college setting, and one notable one is by Phipps Arabie and Yoram Wind published in Advances in Social Network Analysis. [32] [edit]Social network hosting service A social network hosting service is a web hosting service that specifically hosts the user creation of web-based social networking services, alongside related applications. Such services are also known as vertical social networks due to the creation of SNSes which cater to specific user interests and niches; like larger, interest-agnostic SNSes, such niche networking services may also possess the ability to create increasingly niche groups of users. [edit]Business model Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be because social networking is a relatively new service, and the value of using them has not been firmly established in customers minds. citation needed] Companies such as MySpace and Facebook sell online advertising on their site. Their business model is based upon large membership count, and charging for membership would be counterproductive. [33] Some believe that the deeper information that the sites have on each user will allow much better targeted advertising than any other site can currently provide. [34] Social networks operate under an autonomous business model, in which a social networks members serve dual roles as both the suppliers and the consumers of content. This is in contrast to a traditional business model, where the suppliers and consumers are distinct agents. Revenue is typically gained in the autonomous business model via advertisements, but subscription-based revenue is possible when membership and content levels are sufficiently high. [35] [edit]Issues [edit]Privacy Privacy concerns with social networking services have been raised growing concerns amongst users on the dangers of giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Users of these services also need to be aware of data theft or viruses. However, large services, such as MySpace and Netlog, often work with law enforcement to try to prevent such incidents. [citation needed] In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individuals behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken. Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data- information that was altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to third parties. This danger was highlighted when the controversial social networking site Quechup harvested e-mail addresses from users e-mail accounts for use in a spamming operation. [36] In medical and scientific research, asking subjects for information about their behaviors is normally strictly scrutinized by institutional review boards, for example, to ensure that adolescents and their parents have informed consent. It is not clear whether the same rules apply to researchers who collect data from social networking sites. These sites often contain a great deal of data that is hard to obtain via traditional means. Even though the data are public, republishing it in a research paper might be considered invasion of privacy. [37] Privacy on social networking sites can be undermined by many factors. For example, users may disclose personal information, sites may not take adequate steps to protect user privacy, and third parties frequently use information posted on social networks for a variety of purposes. For the Net generation, social networking sites have become the preferred forum for social interactions, from posturing and role playing to simply sounding off. However, because such forums are relatively easy to access, posted content can be reviewed by anyone with an interest in the users personal information. [38][39][40] Following plans by the UK government to monitor traffic on social networks[41] schemes similar to E-mail jamming have been proposed for networks such as Twitter and Facebook. These would involve friending and following large numbers of random people to thwart attempts at network analysis. [edit]Data mining Through data mining, companies are able to improve their sales and profitability. With this data, companies create customer profiles that contain customer demographics and online behavior. A recent strategy has been the purchase and production of â€Å"network analysis software†. This software is able to sort out through the influx of social networking data for any specific company. [42] Facebook has been especially important to marketing strategists. Facebook’s controversial and new â€Å"Social Ads† program gives companies access to the millions of profiles in order to tailor their ads to a Facebook user’s own interests and hobbies. However, rather than sell actual user information, Facebook sells tracked â€Å"social actions†. That is, they track the websites a user uses outside of Facebook through a program called â€Å"Facebook Beacon†. [43] [edit]Notifications on websites There has been a trend for social networking sites to send out only positive notifications to users. For example sites such as Bebo, Facebook, and Myspace will not send notifications to users when they are removed from a persons friends list. Similarly Bebo will send out a notification if a user is moved to the top of another users friends list but no notification is sent if they are moved down the list. This allows users to purge undesirables from their list extremely easily and often without confrontation since a user will rarely notice if one person disappears from their friends list. It also enforces the general positive atmosphere of the website without drawing attention to unpleasant happenings such as friends falling out, rejection and failed relationships. [edit]Access to information Many social networking services, such as Facebook, provide the user with a choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their information. [44] Parents who want to access their childs MySpace or Facebook account have become a big problem for teenagers who do not want their profile seen by their parents. By making their profile private, teens can select who may see their page, allowing only people added as friends to view their profile and preventing unwanted viewing of the profile by parents. Most teens are constantly trying to create a structural barrier between their private life and their parents. 45] To edit information on a certain social networking service account, the social networking sites require you to login or provide a password. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from adding, changing, or removing personal information, pictures, and/or other data. [edit]Potential for misuse The relative freedom afforded by social networking services has caused concern regarding the potential of its misuse by individual patrons. In October 2006, a fake Mysp ace profile created in the name of Josh Evans by Lori Janine Drew led to the suicide of Megan Meier. 46] The event incited global concern regarding the use of social networking services for bullying purposes In July 2008, a Briton, Grant Raphael, was ordered to pay a total of GBP ? 22,000 (about USD $44,000) for libel and breach of privacy. Raphael had posted a fake page on Facebook purporting to be that of a former schoolfriend Matthew Firsht, with whom Raphael had fallen out in 2000. The page falsely claimed that Firsht was homosexual and that he was dishonest. At the same time, genuine use of social networking services has been treated with suspicion on the ground of the services misuse. In September 2008, the profile of Australian Facebook user Elmo Keep was banned by the sites administrators on the grounds that it violated the sites terms of use. Keep is one of several users of Facebook who were banned from the site on the presumption that their names arent real, as they bear resemblance the names of characters like Sesame Streets Elmo. [47] [edit]Risk for child safety Citizens and governments have been concerned by a misuse by child and teenagers of social networking services, particularly in relation to online sexual predators. A certain number of actions have been engaged by governments to better understand the problem and find some solutions. [specify] A 2008 panel concluded that technological fixes such as age verification and scans are relatively ineffective means of apprehending online predators. [48] In May 2010, a child pornography social networking site with hundreds of members was dismantled by law enforcement. It was deemed the largest crimes against children case brought anywhere by anyone. [49] [edit]Trolling Main article: Troll (Internet) A common misuse of social networking sites such as Facebook is that it is occasionally used to emotionally abuse individuals. Such actions are often referred to as trolling. It is not rare for confrontations in the real world to be translated online. [citation needed] Trolling can occur in many different forms, such as (but not limited to) defacement of deceased person(s) tribute pages, name calling, playing online pranks on volatile individuals and controversial comments with the intention to cause anger and cause arguments. Trolling is not to be confused with cyber-bullying. edit]Online bullying Online bullying, also called cyber-bullying, is a relatively common occurrence and it can often result in emotional trauma for the victim. Depending on the networking outlet, up to 39% of users admit to being â€Å"cyber-bullied†. [50] Danah Boyd, a researcher of social networks quotes a teenager in her article, Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites. The teenager expresses frustrati on towards networking sites like MySpace because it causes drama and too much emotional stress. [51] There are not many limitations as to what individuals can post when online. Inherently individuals are given the power to post offensive remarks or pictures that could potentially cause a great amount of emotional pain for another individual. [edit]Interpersonal communication Interpersonal communication has been a growing issue as more and more people have turned to social networking as a means of communication. Benniger (1987) describes how mass media has gradually replaced interpersonal communication as a socializing force. Further, social networking sites have become popular sites for youth culture to explore themselves, relationships, and share cultural artifacts. A Privacy Paradox Many teens and social networking users may be harming their interpersonal communication by using sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Stated by Baroness Greenfield, an Oxford University Neuroscientist, My fear is that these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment. [52] The convenience which social network sites give users to communicate with one another can also damage their interpersonal communication. Sherry Turkle, the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, stated, â€Å"Networked, we are together, but so lessened are our expectations of each other that we feel utterly alone. And there is the risk that we come to see others as objects to be accessedand only for the parts we find useful, comforting, or amusing (Turkle 154). †[53] Furthermore, social network sites can create insincere friendships, Turkle also noted, â€Å"They nurture friendships on social-networking sites and then wonder if they are among friends. They become confused about companionship (Turkle 17). †[54] [edit]Psychological effects of social networking As social networking sites have risen in popularity over the past years, people have been spending an excess amount of time on social networking sites and on the Internet in general. The excessive amount of time that people spend on social networking sites has led researchers to debate the establishment of Internet addiction as an actual clinical disorder. [55] Social networking can also affect the extent to which a person feels lonely. In a Newsweek article, Johannah Cornblatt explains â€Å"Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace may provide people with a false sense of connection that ultimately increases loneliness in people who feel alone. † John T. Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, claims that social networking can foster feelings of sensitivity to disconnection, which can lead to loneliness. [56] [edit]Patents Number of US social network patent applications published per year and patents issued per year There has been rapid growth in the number of US patent applications that cover new technologies related to social networking. The number of published applications has been growing rapidly since 2003. There are now over 3500 published applications. As many as 7000 applications may be currently on file including those that havent been published yet. [57] Only about 400 [58] of these applications have issued as patents, however, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents and the difficulty in getting these patent applications allowed. [59] It has been reported that social networking patents are important for the establishment of new start-up companies. 60] It has also been reported, however, that social networking patents inhibit innovation. [61] On June 15, 2010, the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded Amazon. com a patent for a Social Networking System based on its ownership of PlanetAll. [62] The patent describes a Social Networking System as A networked computer system provides various services for assisting users in locating, and establishing contact rela tionships with, other users. For example, in one embodiment, users can identify other users based on their affiliations with particular schools or other organizations. The system also provides a mechanism for a user to selectively establish contact relationships or connections with other users, and to grant permissions for such other users to view personal information of the user. The system may also include features for enabling users to identify contacts of their respective contacts. In addition, the system may automatically notify users of personal information updates made by their respective contacts. [63] The patent has garnered attention due to its similarity to the popular social networking site Facebook. 64] [edit]Investigations Main article: Use of social network websites in investigations Social networking services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook has been used by police (forensic profiling), probation, and university officials to prosecute users of said sites. In some situations, content posted on MySpace has been used in court. [65] Facebook is inc reasingly being used by school administrations and law enforcement agencies as a source of evidence against student users. The site, the number one online destination for college students, allows users to create profile pages with personal details. These pages can be viewed by other registered users from the same school which often include resident assistants and campus police who have signed up for the service. [66] One UK police force has sifted pictures from Facebook and arrested some people who had been photographed in a public place holding a weapon such as a knife (having a weapon in a public place is illegal). [67] [edit]Application domains [edit]Government applications Social networking is more recently being used by various government agencies. Social networking tools serve as a quick and easy way for the government to get the opinion of the public and to keep the public updated on their activity. The Centers for Disease Control demonstrated the importance of vaccinations on the popular childrens site Whyville and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a virtual island on Second Life where people can explore underground caves or explore the effects of global warming. [68] Similarly, NASA has taken advantage of a few social networking tools, including Twitter and Flickr. They are using these tools to aid the Review of U. S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, whose goal it is to ensure that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving its boldest aspirations in space. [69] [edit]Business applications The use of social networking services in an enterprise context presents the potential of having a major impact on the world of business and work (Fraser Dutta 2008). Social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact bases. These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses operate globally, social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world. One example of social networking being used for business purposes is LinkedIn. com, which aims to interconnect professionals. LinkedIn has over 100 million users in over 200 countries. [70] Another is the use of physical spaces available to members of a social network such as Hub Culture, an invitation only social network for entrepreneurs, and other business influentials, with Pavilions in major cities such as London, UK. Having a physical presence allows members to network in the real world, as well as the virtual, adding extra business value. Applications for social networking sites have extended toward businesses and brands are creating their own, high functioning sites, a sector known as brand networking. It is the idea a brand can build its consumer relationship by connecting their consumers to the brand image on a platform that provides them relative content, elements of participation, and a ranking or score system. Brand networking is a new way to capitalize on social trends as a marketing tool. [edit]Dating applications See also: Online dating service. Many social networks provide an online environment for people to communicate and exchange personal information for dating purposes. Intentions can vary from looking for a one time date, short-term relationships, and long-term relationships. [71] Most of these social networks, just like online dating services, require users to give out certain pieces of information. This usually includes a users age, gender, location, interests, and perhaps a picture. Releasing very personal information is usually discouraged for safety reasons. [72] This allows other users to search or be searched by some sort of criteria, but at the same time people can maintain a degree of anonymity similar to most online dating services. Online dating sites are similar to social networks in the sense that users create profiles to meet and communicate with others, but their activities on such sites are for the sole purpose of finding a person of interest to date. Social networks do not necessarily have to be for dating; many users simply use it for keeping in touch with friends, and colleagues. [73] However, an important difference between social networks and online dating services is the fact that online dating sites usually require a fee, where social networks are free. [74] This difference is one of the reasons the online dating industry is seeing a massive decrease in revenue due to many users opting to use social networking services instead. Many popular online dating services such as Match. om, Yahoo Personals, and eHarmony. com are seeing a decrease in users, where social networks like MySpace and Facebook are experiencing an increase in users. [75] The number of Internet users in the U. S. that visit online dating sites has fallen from a peak of 21% in 2003 to 10% in 2006. [76] Whether its the cost of the services, the variety of users with different intentions, or any other reason, it is undeniable that social networking sites are qu ickly becoming the new way to find dates online. [edit]Educational applications The National School Boards Association reports that almost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online and, surprisingly, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork. Yet the vast majority of school districts have stringent rules against nearly all forms of social networking during the school day - even though students and parents report few problem behaviors online. Social networks focused on supporting relationships between teachers and their students are now used or learning, educator professional development, and content sharing. Ning for teachers, Learn Central,[77] TeachStreet and other sites are being built to foster relationships that include educational blogs, eportfolios, formal and ad hoc communities, as well as communication such as chats, discussion threads, and synchronous forums. These sites also have content sharing and rating features. Social networks are also emerging as online yearbooks, both public and private. One such service is MyYearbook which allows anyone from the general public to register and connect. A new trend emerging are private label yearbooks only accessible by students, parents and teachers of a particular school similar to Facebook beginning within Harvard. [citation needed] [edit]Finance applications The use of virtual currency systems inside social networks create new opportunities for global finance. Hub Culture operates a virtual currency Ven used for global transactions among members, product sales[78] and financial trades in commodities and carbon credits. [79] [80] In May 2010, Carbon pricing contracts were introduced to the weighted basket of currencies and commodities that determine the floating exchange value of Ven. The introduction of carbon to the calculation price of the currency made Ven the first and only currency that is linked to the environment. [81] [edit]Medical applications Social networks are beginning to be adopted by healthcare professionals as a means to manage institutional knowledge, disseminate peer to peer knowledge and to highlight individual physicians and institutions. The advantage of using a dedicated medical social networking site is that all the members are screened against the state licensing board list of practitioners. 82] The role of social networks is especially of interest to pharmaceutical companies who spend approximately 32 percent of their marketing dollars attempting to influence the opinion leaders of social networks. [83] A new trend is emerging with social networks created to help its members with various physical and mental ailments. [84] For people suffering from life altering diseases, PatientsLikeMe offers its members the chance to connect with others dealing with similar issues and research patient data related to their condition. For alcoholics and addicts, SoberCircle gives people in recovery the ability to communicate with one another and strengthen their recovery through the encouragement of others who can relate to their situation. DailyStrength is also a website that offers support groups for a wide array of topics and conditions, including the support topics offered by PatientsLikeMe and SoberCircle. SparkPeople offers community and social networking tools for peer support during weight loss. [edit]Social and political applications Social networking sites have recently showed a value in social and political movements. In the Egyptian revolution, Facebook and Twitter both played a pivotal role in keeping people connected to the revolt. Egyptian activist have credited social networking sites with providing a platform for planning protest and sharing news from Tahrir Square in real time. By presenting a platform for thousands of people to instantaneously share videos of mainly events featuring brutality, social networking proves to be a vital tool in revolutions.

Macbeth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Macbeth - Essay Example This order doesn't seem to be something Duncan thought carefully about and seems to be a violation of justice in that Cawdor is denied a final defense. Macbeth's murder of the king reasserts justice for Cawdor, but it violates the justice of his society. Also, Duncan's actions are repeated by Macbeth when he orders the murder of Macduff’s family and the execution of Banquo. Because he has violated justice, Macbeth suffers mental torture that eventually leads to his own destruction. This illustrates how a king who resorts to violence as a means of asserting his power will be forced by his own nature to continue escalating his violent actions until he himself is destroyed. Macbeth’s elevation to Cawdor near the beginning of the play reinforces the witches' prediction and the idea that Macbeth is more committed to his own personal interests than he does to justice. This is a slowly developing process that begins when Macbeth writes to his wife about the prophecy and his pr omotion to Thane of Cawdor. Although he knows his only reason for moving against his king is â€Å"vaunting ambition, which o’erleaps itself† (I, vii, 25-27), Macbeth decides his commitment to Lady Macbeth and his greed is stronger than his commitment to the less tangible ideals of truth and justice that he's vowed to uphold. When Macbeth willingly participates in murder for his own welfare with no concern for the welfare of the realm, the consequences quickly escalate to massacres of perceived but often innocent enemies and the need for Macbeth to lie and deceive as a means of maintaining the perception others have of him. Because Macbeth has violated the rules of justice, he is unable to see innocence in friends and expects nothing from them but harm. His own violations force Macbeth to consider Banquo's possible schemes, leading him to order murder as a form of self-protection even though Banquo has sworn himself to secrecy after they meet with the witches: â€Å"I f you shall cleave to my consent, when ‘tis, / It shall make honor for you† (II, i, 25-26). When Banquo brings up the subject of the witches, Macbeth's betrayal causes him to assume Banquo will do the same. â€Å"Our fears in Banquo stick deep, / And in his royalty of nature reigns that / Which would be feared. ‘Tis much he dares; / And to that dauntless temper of his mind / He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor / To act in safety† (III, i, 49-54). Macbeth realizes that he has Banquo’s silence only as long as keeping silent benefits Banquo. While Macbeth wouldn't have seen Banquo as a threat had he acted in the name of justice, Macbeth's violation of justice makes him see Banquo as a threat that must be eliminated. This is highlighted by the fact that Banquo had no intention of doing anything to bring about Macbeth’s downfall since he was excited for the benefits to his own son from the prophecy. Because he can't depend on justice to give him success, Macbeth must again turn to the witches for advice. â€Å"I conjure you by that which you profess, / Howe’er you come to know it answer me †¦ Even till destruction sicken, answer me / To what I ask you† (IV, i, 50-51, 60-61). He realizes that these are creatures of evil, but he has already turned his back on justice and has no other resource to turn to. For their part, the witches drive Macbeth to further evil action in his seeking of Macduff,

How is this artefact the product of a particular historical and Essay - 1

How is this artefact the product of a particular historical and cultural environment - Essay Example In addition to that, in order to focus the analysis, the research will examine a pair of jeans that is in possession of the author. To begin with, it may be suitable to perform a preliminary analysis. Thus, one should point out that one of the main characteristic features of jeans is the peculiar kind of fabric that it is made of. The actual cloth that is used in production is called denim and is different from regular fabric in structure as feature an unusual combination of warp and weft (Chauncey 5). In addition to that there are metal rivets that are thought to reinforce the pockets so that they could carry more. Finally, there a special kind of thread that is used for the seams. The jeans that were the direct object of investigation are made by Gap. Keeping in mind that this company largely uses factories that are located on the island of Saipan, it would not be an exaggeration to point out that the pair of jeans in question was produced on that island (Bendix 5). It may be rather difficult to identity the time when this artefact was manufactured as there is no date indicated on the cloth. However, there may be a way to define the approximate time. Considering the fashion of the jeans, one might conclude that the pair in question was made in 2012. Speaking of the processes that were used in its production, one might speculate that they were made by hands of the hired workers. In order to gain a better understanding of the artefact one may also consider the reason why it was made. Leading aside different speculations about the possible cultural meaning and the shifting paradigm of clothes, one may point out that jeans have become the most popular casual clothes in the world (Cunningham 31). This means that people who come from different cultural backgrounds may be willing to buy a pair of jeans in order to wear it on a daily basis. That is why the

In theory, Parliament is sovereign in New Zealand. In practice, it is Essay

In theory, Parliament is sovereign in New Zealand. In practice, it is not - Essay Example Sovereignty and Function of New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Legislature is Sovereign. The arm of government can call parliamentarians to meet. Secondly, it can dissolve parliament and assent to bills passed in the house before they become laws. The major function of the parliament is to make laws. The parliament also provides the government with members to be appointed in various ministerial positions. This enables the government to maintain majority and confidence among parliamentarians. The parliament also serves as a watchdog for the people by controlling and scrutinizing the government. The ministers are answerable to the parliament and are often asked questions in parliament regarding their ministries. The final function of the parliament is to represent the people in parliament. It fulfils this function by airing views and wishes of the electorate in parliament (NZCU South, 2013).   The three Arms of the Government The first arm of the government is the Executive. It i s made up of the crown that is represented by Governor-General, the cabinet ministers and the civil servants. The executive is concerned with initiating, developing and implementing government policy. It also publishes and administers legislations (Salter, 2013). The legislature has a single chamber called the House of Representatives. Its main duty is to make laws by drafting, evaluating and debating bills before they become laws. The people elect the MPs after every three years (Salter, 2013). The last arm of the government is the judiciary. It is made up of the judges and courts. Its main duty is to interpret and apply law as per the constitution. Apart from this, the judiciary punishes offenders and arbitrates any conflict between the legislature and executive (Salter, 2013). Powers of Parliament Various ways can be used to increase the powers of parliament. One of them is giving parliamentarians immunity when debating. According to this provision, parliamentarians will be free to express their views without fear of imprisonment. This would enable them to check the government without fear. The parliament should also be allowed to discuss any matter before the courts or the executive. The court and executive proceedings should not hinder parliamentary proceedings. This would enable the parliament to oversee implementation of government policies that are beneficial to the public. In addition to this, parliament should have the powers to summon any one including the members of the judiciary and the executive to question them on various matters of the state. Lastly, the parliament should be allowed to scrutinize and assent to all executive appointees in order to ensure they serve the public and not the executive (New Zealand Parliament, 2013). The role of Executives The executive is made up of the Prime Minister, Governor General, cabinet ministers, civil servants and government departments. The executive draft government bills and present them in parliament f or debating. It is also charged with developing and implementing various policies that would improve the welfare of the citizens. However, the sole function of the executive is to advise the Governor-General on his duties such as appointment of ministers. The ministers head various ministries such as finance and judiciary. Civil servants are charged with implementation of the

Rise Of The Creative Class Cultural Studies Essay

Rise Of The Creative Class Cultural Studies Essay According to Richard Florida, cities must make purposive efforts to establish the right people climate for the favoured class of creatives or they will wither and die (Florida, 2002; p. 13). Critically reflect upon Floridas thesis as to the role the creative classes play in stimulating economic success in places. In 2002, Richard Florida published, The Rise of the Creative Class, the book analyses the forces reshaping our economy and how companies, communities and people can survive and prosper in a post-Fordist U.S. It provides a provocative new way of thinking about why and how places economically develop but whether there is merit in his thesis is questionable. In essence, Floridas book seeks to describe a new economy, in which Creativity has become a driving force of economic growth. The ability to compete and prosper in the global economy goes beyond trade in goods and services and flows of capital and investment, instead, it increasingly turns on the ability of [cities] to attract, retain and develop creative people (Florida 2002a, p.3). These creative people are what Florida names the creative class and it is this new socioeconomic class who he claims add economic value through their creativity and are the ultimate economic resource (Florida 2002a, p.2). It is important to understand that Floridas definition of the Creative Class is extremely broad. Florida (2002a) argues that this is because all professions entail some creativity in their execution. However, it can be broken down into three main components and each component illustrates a role that the creative class plays in stimulating economic success. The first component is the super-creative core. These are people who invent, take out patents and thus are at the centre of economic and technological development. It includes a wide range of occupations, with arts, design, and media workers as a small subset. Florida considers those belonging to this group to fully engage in the creative process (2002a, p. 69). The Super-Creative Core is believed to be innovative, creating commercial products and consumer goods and the ability to come up with new ideas and better ways of doing things is ultimately what raises productivity (Florida 2002a, p.2). The second component is the creative professionals. This group do not have as clear of a connection with technological development. They educate, manage, care take as well as develop models and thoughts and thereby facilitate the economic development. The bohemians is the last component. These are the artistically creative and their role is attracting the other two groups. The presence of such human capital in turn creates a specific people climate and attracts the first two components and therefore generates innovative, technology-based industries which bring economic prosperity (Florida 2002b). However, as will be explained later, the presence of bohemians in cities attracting the rest of the creative class and therefore promoting economic growth is a contested issue. The fact that the creative class aggregate efforts have become the primary drivers of economic development is made more understandable by the new economy that has been created. In this post-Fordist society, Hartley (2005) argues that high tech creative industries are at the core to economic development and therefore the creative class, who play a key role in these creative industries and are crucial to economic development. With this new society, Florida (2002a) argues that with more creative class presence there will be more high-tech jobs, more growth in employment and firm formation, therefore greater economic success. Florida (2002) debates that this stimulation of economic success by the creative class means that there is an inevitable need for cities to attract the creative class or they will wither and die. However, do jobs follow people or people follow jobs? The old Fordism models assumed that people move to where the jobs are, suggesting a development strategy of cutting corporate taxes, developing industrial parks and clusters. On the other hand in a Post-Fordism society, Florida (2002c) argues that jobs move to, or are made, where the skilled workers are, inferring an economic development strategy concentrated on attracting people as consumers of place and suggesting that the traditional beliefs of economic development are out of date. Florida is not the only one who comes to these conclusions, Vias (1999) and Holmberg et al. (2001) argue that jobs follow people too. However, question marks must be raised over the robustness of the research findings and the range of different population an d/or employment groups; as Hoogstra et al. (2004) suggests the nature of causality differs greatly across space as well as time due to subjectivity. Florida (2002) argues that diversity is the key to this attracting of the creative class and therefore economic success. Furthermore, places need to culturally provide and encourage the 3Ts; talent, technology and tolerance. These attributes present a people climate that Florida justifies when he writes, Creative-minded people enjoy a mix of influences. They want to hear different kinds of music and try different kinds of food. A vibrant, varied nightlife was viewed by many as another signal that a city gets it' (2002a, p.67). Florida measures this diversity by using three main indices: The Bohemian index, the gay index and the coolness index. From these indices and various others Florida devised his own ranking system with an overall creativity index for each city. It is through this method that Florida links his desired people climate to the creative class and thus economic success. This idea that urban economic success comes from having an attractive people climate for high skill people is in general an accepted view (Glaeser et al. 2001) and has certainly had an effect on urban policy, as Malanga (2004, p.36) observes, The notion that cities must become trendy, happening places in order to compete in the twenty first century is sweeping urban America [and beyond]. However, is it Floridas people climate that is needed to attract the creative class and therefore economically succeed? The idea that Floridas people climate, created by the bohemians, attract the rest of the creative class to the city and therefore fuel economic growth, as mentioned earlier, is a contested issue. Glaeser (2004) argues that the creative class want big suburban lots with easy commutes by car, safe streets, good schools and low taxes. After all, he argues, there is plenty of evidence linking low taxes, sprawl and safety with growth. He gives the example of Plano in Texas, which was the most successful skilled city in the country in the 1990s and its not exactly a Bohemian hotspot. Where Florida is also vulnerable to criticism is in his methodology and manipulation of data in the correlation between his people climate and the creative class and therefore economic growth. In his first appendix to The Rise of the Creative Class, he writes, in retrospect, I probably could have written this book using no statistics at all. Moss (2009) argues that in chapters 13 and 14 and the accompanying appendices, Florida should have done just that. Part of Floridas people climate is the 3Ts concept, and he creates measurement indicators for each. Moss (2009) argues that, predominantly, both the logic and data linking these axes together are unclear. He argues that Florida relies primarily on lists of rankings of urban areas that look similar. Though Florida documents statistically significant correlations in some cases, both Clark (2004) and Glaeser (2004) find that they have less explanatory power than other combinations. Additionally Florida does not give much information about the regressions (Markusen 2006). Moss (2009) argues that this is illustrated by the fact that it is not known that Florida uses same-sex male households reporting as partners (and thus presumably gay) in the Census as a proxy for diversity. Not only does this show lack of information about the regressions and therefore less validity to Floridas thesis, but it also shows the vague nature of Floridas work. Another flaw is that the connection between the 3Ts element to Floridas people climate and actual economic growth is weak. If Florida ran a regression on each of the 3Ts and job creation or per-capita income, the results arent given. In fact, the notes to chapter 13 record a correlation between employment growth and the Creative Class concentration that, while statistically significant, was only 0.03! (Moss 2009) Steven Malanga finds more weaknesses in Floridas correlation between Floridas people climate and economic growth. Since 1993, cities that score the best on Floridas analysis have actually shown to not have grown as fast as the overall U.S. jobs economy, increasing their employment numbers by only 17 per cent (Malanga 2004). Floridas indexes, in fact, are such weak predictors of economic performance that his top ranked cities havent even outperformed his bottom ranked ones (Malanga 2004). Led by large percentage gains in Las Vegas (the fastest-growing economy in the U.S), Floridas ten least creative cities are actually huge job generators, adding more than 19 per cent to their job totals since 1993 (faster growth than the national economy) (Malanga 2004). Malangas main argument, that Florida makes no significant effort to show how the 3Ts are related to actual economic growth, is powerful. Floridas Creativity Index is also shown to have faults and therefore illegitimizing the correlation between Floridas people climate and the creative class and therefore economic growth. The Creativity Index is centred on four equally weighted factors: the concentration of Creative Class workers in the area, a High Tech index measuring a regions share of national tech industry output, the concentration of tech industries within the region, as well as the number of patents recorded per capita and the concentration of same-sex domestic partners within the region (Moss 2009). No justification or evidence is shown that supports the notion that these factors should be equally weighted (Moss 2009). Alternatively, each of 268 metropolitan areas is ranked on each of the four factors, and the Creativity Index is calculated solely by subtracting the regions rank order in each category from 1076, which, strangely, is four times 269 (Florida 2002a). Florida does not bother to look at the distribu tion of the actual values within the ranks, which is only useful if the distribution is linear, or doesnt vary between the four factors. For example, if theres a substantial band of cities in the Creative Class index that are almost equal from rank 140 to rank 157, but the city ranked 157 in the patent index is a large drop from the city ranked 156; this system wouldnt pick such common subtleties up. This highlights the lack of rigorous scientific inquiry in which Florida operates. Much of Floridas work focuses on the U.S solely and it is questionable to whether Floridas ideas are transferrable to the rest of the world. In Europe, several researchers have tried to produce similar data and have obtained spatial correlations similar to Floridas (Boschma and Fritsch 2007). This thesis is therefore not specific to North America: it can also be applied to Europe, and Florida and his colleagues have, in fact, conducted a report backing this claim (Florida and Tinagli 2004). Although Floridas work has been said to be legitimate in Europe, more concentrated in-depth studies prove that this is not the case in the UK. Nathan (2005) examines Floridas ideas, concentrating on the evidence in British cities. He finds insufficient evidence of a creative class, and little indication that creative cities do better. He argues that companies search for the required workers when making location decisions, but skilled people also move to where the jobs are. Buzz attracts young peop le to city centres for a short time, after which most move out to suburbs; this is mainly down to the hegemony of London. Nathan (2005) concludes that the creative class model is a poor judge of UK city economic performance and decision makers should focus on the basics: creativity is the icing, not the cake (Nathan 2005, p.1). Not many studies at all have been done implying Floridas thesis on other developed countries outside Europe and therefore it is hard to say whether his thesis applies to the whole of the developed world. Not many studies have been carried out on the developing world either. Purely on the basis that most non developed countries are not entirely associated with the post-Fordist economy, one assumes that the creative class is smaller and not attracted to the cities therefore not having as significant a role in economic development. Thus, it must be said that it is hard to justify Floridas thesis as having relevance to the rest of the globe. In conclusion, Floridas claim that attracting the creative class to cities in a post-Fordist society does have substance. However, his claim that jobs follow people is tarnished by the subjective nature of this concept, with a need to collect more data. In analysing Floridas link between his people climate and economic growth one begins to cast doubt over his thesis. This is down to his poor methodology and seeming manipulation of data and the fact that Floridas correlations have less explanatory power than others. Additionally, not much information is given on the regressions decreasing their validity, Floridas link between the 3Ts and economic growth is weak and the creativity index also has flaws. Floridas thesis is said to be transferrable to Europe but is not applicable to the UK. His theory has not been applied to the rest of the developed world or the developing world in depth and therefore one cannot say if his theory is valid.

Penguins :: essays research papers

Myopic little men in tuxedos, or highly efficient land/water animals? Recent research indicates there's more to penguins than meets the eye. If you've every wondered what it would be like to be able to see as clearly under water as you can on land, just ask the nearest penguin.Most aquatic animals are short-sighted on land. Most terrestrial animals (and that includes us) are far-sighted under water. But researchers have discovered that penguins can apparently see equally well in both environments, because of the unique structure of their eyes. Penguins have to be able to see well under water because their diet consists mainly of plankton, molluscs, crustaceans, and the inevitable fish. Through a special slowing-down of their heart rate they're able, like many other diving animals, to stay submerged long enough to search out and chase whatever catches their fancy. On dry land, it's a different story-or has been up to now. Waddling along on their flat little feet, eyes fixed intently on the ground, penguins appear myopic, inefficient and generally out of place. In fact the reverse is true. During a recent stay on the Falkland Islands, a Canadian researcher discovered that penguins are able to recognize individuals and navigate the rocky terrain on which they live quite well. Long of body and short of leg, they probably poke their heads forward as an aid to balance. And as for looking at the ground, they're merely-like us-keeping an eye on where they're going. The human eye is adapted for aerial vision, which is why scuba divers-or even you and I in the local swimming pool-must wear goggles or a face mask to re-introduce air in front of our eyes in order to see clearly. Among vertebrates in general, the bird eye is frequently described as the most efficient. Its superior quality, combined with the fact that a large number of birds-cormorants, pelicans, seagulls, even ducks, as well as penguins-get their food from water, obviously

Mammon Winery

Mammon Winery, Inc is a wine company established by a man with the name Dionysus Mammon, Sr (Mann and Roberts).   He was an immigrant from Greece who came to the United States in 1930 (Mann and Roberts). Mammon Sr. founded the company on a line of non-varietal jug wines (Mann and Roberts).   Mammon Winery, Inc. found its strong hold in the market with this specialty line.   Later, having finished a degree in enology, the study of wine making, Dionysus Jr. would join his father in the company. Dionysus jr. began his wine making crusade by convincing his father to branch out and explore other options within the wine making industry (Mann and Roberts).   This new line of exploration was in the form of premium varietal wines.   However, in order to be successful in this venture, they needed a large increase of capital for purchasing the necessary vineyards (Mann and Roberts).   Reluctantly, Dionysus Sr. took the company public and secured the required funds (Mann and Roberts).   Forty percent of Mammon Winery Inc. became owned by the public (Mann and Roberts).   For the first time, â€Å"outsiders† sat in on the board of directors (Mann and Roberts). The issue most concerning Dionysus Sr. in regards to Mammon Winery, Inc. was how to present this new line of premium varietals.   To use the Mammon Winery corporate name or to not, was the big debate over the labeling of the bottles (Mann and Roberts).  Ã‚   When changing the look and scope of a particular line, using the corporate company name could be detrimental to the initial successful production of wines.   Dionysus Jr.’s want to use a different name just as Canadaigua, Gallo, and Mogen David had done, was not an out of the ordinary proposal. It offers protection to the Mammon Winery Inc. from the consumers of the other line attaching the â€Å"lower class† taste to the whole company (Mann and Roberts).   Another issue is that Dionysus Jr. wanted to change the size of the wine to a pint rather than leave it in traditional wine bottle form (Mann and Roberts).   The idea was that the easier to carry bottle would be more appealing to those in the middle to low economic class.   It would make the new line of production more marketable for the pensioners on a fixed income.   Dionysus Jr. was taking the company into a new area in which it could offer a product to the average consumer even if they were not big on drinking wine. Mammon Winery, Inc. proposed to enter a new wine market for lower-end wines, which is due to the increase in unit sales in the fortified wine market. This is an attempt to enter the cheap wine market and cash in on profits that come along with it. The proposal has a target demographic of middle-to-lower class, or pensioners on a fixed income (Mann & Roberts). In order for Mammon Winery, Inc to come from the bottom of the barrel to the crà ¨me of the crop replies heavily on several key fundamentals. The winery needs to identify and analyze the important issues of how can they capitalize on producing a cost efficient product that is entered into a market that is rising, and who is their chief demographic. Mammon Winery, Inc plans to introduce a low-end wine product that is made cheaply and sold by the pint (Mann & Roberts). It is recommended that the product to be sold by the pint to lower the cost, both for the company and consumer. It is planned to use rejected grapes from Mammon’s premium selection and the filling of their unused capacity is expected. In addition, it is noted that any grape is suitable and can insulate the company from bad grape years (Mann & Roberts). Mammon chooses to use less advertising, which will cut cost, and use wine gurus to entice consumers to their product. The chief demographic is individuals on a fixed income – middle-to-low class. On the other hand, it was reported that a competitor’s lower-end product hit it big with the â€Å"yuppie† crowd of England (Mann & Roberts). The individuals with fixed incomes will find this product appealing and convenient. Mammon Winery, Inc. will sell the cheap sugary wine at eighteen percent alcohol to retailers. They indicate that the projected audience is the perpetually intoxicated and further indicated that it is against the law to sell alcoholic beverages to the intoxicated but state it is not their problem and cannot control what the retailer chooses to do (Mann & Roberts). Mammon Winery, Inc. knowingly sold their product to a target audience of â€Å"winos† and chose to take advantage of the consumer by offering a much more affordable, cheap wine. This can be easily compared to the tobacco companies choosing a target demographic of individuals of non-smoking age by making their product appealing (Mann & Roberts). For instance, both companies are holding back valuable information from the customer. Both products by both companies are addictive and can cause serious health issue, but still these companies greatly affect the target audience one way or another. This is because it pays or at least promises to pay (Sullivan 2001). A company may gain something, or may keep from losing something by selling to their target audience or unethically holding back information that may turn away consumers. However, the profit motive holds in both cases. It is noted by Mammon Winery, Inc. that profit margins would be at least ten percent higher on the lower-end product then their other lines (Mann & Roberts). Therefore, the company’s urge to branch out in the wine industry by offering a new product is nothing beyond regular business practices.   However, their intentional marketing of the product to those suffering from alcoholism or the homeless is an underhanded technique.   They run into an ethical conflict as they must now combat their marketing techniques with significant contributions to charities. These charities though, must also be chosen for a reason.   Just as the tobacco industry chooses specific charities for good-will projects, so too will Mammon Winery, Inc.   Mammon Winery, Inc. will also have to construct both a label and bottle that will effectively promote their new line.   However, the targeted audience should not be able to be determined based upon its looks.   The price will be adjusted for the targeted consumer, but beyond that, it should not be obvious in its aim.   Therefore, the expansion of Mammon Winery Inc. is within reasonable business practices but will have to carefully combat its stated aim at a particular consumer with clever charitable contributions. Works Cited Mann, Richard A. and Roberts, Barry S. â€Å"Mammon Winery, Inc.† Sullivan, Evelin. The Concise Book of Lying. 2001   

10 Nickel Element Facts (Atomic Number 28 or Ni)

10 Nickel Element Facts (Atomic Number 28 or Ni) Nickel (Ni) is element number 28 on the  periodic table, with an atomic mass of  58.69. This metal is found in everyday life in stainless steel, magnets, coins, and batteries. Heres a collection of interesting facts about this important transition element: Nickel Facts Nickel is found in metallic meteorites, so it was used by ancient man. Artifacts dating as early as 5000 BC made from nickel-containing meteoritic metal have been found in Egyptian graves. However, nickel wasnt recognized as a new element until  Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt identified it in 1751 from a new mineral he received from a cobalt mine. He named it an abbreviated version of the word  Kupfernickel. Kupfernickel was the name of the mineral, which roughly translates as meaning goblins copper because copper miners said the ore acted as though it contained imps that prevented them from extracting copper. As it turned out, the reddish ore was nickel arsenide (NiAs), so its unsurprising copper was not extracted from it.Nickel is a hard, malleable, ductile metal. It is a shiny silver metal with a slight gold tinge that takes a high polish and resists corrosion. The element does oxidize, but the oxide layer prevents further activity via passivation  It is a fair conductor of electricity and heat. It has a high melting point (1453  ºC), readily forms alloys, may be deposited via electroplating, and is a useful catalyst. Its compounds are mainly green or blue. There are five isotopes in natural nickel, with another 23 isotopes with known half-lives. Nickel is one of three elements that are ferromagnetic at room temperature. The other two elements, iron and cobalt, are located near nickel on the periodic table. Nickel is less magnetic than iron or cobalt. Before rare earth magnets were known, Alnico magnets made from a nickel alloy were the strongest permanent magnets. Alnico magnets are unusual because they maintain magnetism even when they are heated red-hot.Nickel is the principal metal in Mu-metal, which has the unusual property of shielding magnetic fields. Mu-metal consists of approximately 80% nickel and 20% iron, with traces of molybdenum.The nickel alloy Nitinol exhibits shape memory. When this 1:1 nickel-titanium alloy is heated, bent into shape, and cooled it can be manipulated and will return to its shape.Nickel can be made in a supernova. Nickel observed in supernova 2007bi was the radioisotope nickel-56, which decayed into cobalt-56, which in turn decayed into iron-56.Nickel is the 5th most abundant element in the E arth, but only the 22nd most abundant element in the crust  (84 parts per million by weight). Scientists believe nickel is the second most abundant element in the earths core, after iron. This would make nickel 100 times more concentrated below the Earths crust than within it. The worlds largest nickel deposit is in Sudbury Basin, Ontario, Canada, which covers an area 37 miles long and 17 miles wide. Some experts believe the deposit was created by a meteorite strike. While nickel does occur free in nature, it is primarily found in the ores pentlandite, pyrrhotite, garnierite, millerite, and niccolite. Nickel and its compounds are carcinogenic. Breathing nickel compounds can cause nasal and lung cancer and chronic bronchitis. Although the element is common in jewelry, 10 to 20 percent of people are sensitive to it and develop dermatitis from wearing it. While humans dont use nickel for any known biochemical reactions, its essential for plants and occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables, and nuts.Most nickel is used to make corrosion-resistant alloys, including stainless steel (65%) and heat-resistant steel and non-ferrous alloys (20%). About 9% of nickel is used for plating. The other 6% is used for batteries, electronics, and coins. The element lends a greenish tint to glass. It is used as a catalyst to hydrogenate vegetable oil.The US five-cent coin called a nickel is actually more copper than nickel. The modern US nickel is 75% copper and only 25% nickel. The Canadian nickel is made primarily of steel. Nickel Element Fast Facts Element Name: Nickel Element Symbol: Ni Atomic Number: 28 Classification: D-block transition metal Appearance: Solid silver-colored metal Discovery: Axel Frederik Cronstedt (1751) Electron Configuration:  [Ar] 3d8  4s2  or  [Ar] 3d9  4s1

How to Promote Literacy and Skilled Communication

How to Promote Literacy and Skilled Communication How to Promote Literacy and Skilled Communication How to Promote Literacy and Skilled Communication By Mark Nichol You may or may not agree that English-language usage is deteriorating, but it is clear that many young people are unable to express themselves well in writing according to contemporary standards. How can we develop a population of competent writers? First, we must avoid exaggerated notions of an entire generation of illiterates. It is true that electronic communication media like texting and Twitter discourage careful composition. (Twitter requires conciseness, but coherence is often a casualty.) It is true that absorption in high-tech entertainments such as computer games distracts youth from the rewards of reading. It is true that a tragic focus on quantitative evaluation of students has caused a decline in qualitative expression. But I’ve read lots of articles and books written by people who weren’t even born when I began writing and editing professionally but are already more talented than I’ll ever be. The English language as we know it isn’t going anywhere (not in our lifetimes, anyway). Yes, we must acknowledge that our society does not value the written word the way it used to, but we must not dramatically bemoan the death of literacy. Here’s what we can do, both on an individual level and a societal one, to improve our collective competency in writing: We can advocate for extensive and intensive writing experiences for children that are developmentally appropriate. Don’t push children to learn to read and write when they aren’t ready, but when they are ready, inundate them with meaningful opportunities to express themselves in writing crafting narratives, not filling in worksheets. An effective cumulative process includes modeled writing (demonstrating practically to children how one translates thinking aloud into writing), shared writing (having students collaborate to produce a piece of content such as a collective account of a shared experience or a summary of what they’ve learned), guided writing (monitoring students’ individual writing to help them learn to generate and express ideas), and independent writing (encouraging students to craft their own work by writing and rewriting). We can also teach reading rationally. Public education has suffered from politicized mood swings between various approaches to developing children’s reading skills. Educators, parents, and the general public must accept that phonics is neither a cure-all nor a curse and that whole-language instruction should neither be the sole means of instruction or be avoided. Why not incorporate both approaches? (Indeed, that is the basis of a strategy called balanced literacy.) But this combination should take into account that children are most motivated to learn to read when the material is meaningful to them. They should be encouraged to read their own writing and that of their peers, and although assignment of high-quality reading texts is productive, they should also be given free rein to choose their own reading materials, even comic books and other writing forms that are not necessarily considered substantial. The greatest challenge to literacy, however, is not children’s apathy toward or antipathy about reading and writing, and it is not adults’ bickering about the best teaching strategies. Two other interrelated factors are responsible: inadequate funding for public education and a cultural devaluation of writing skills. Government and school officials have eroded public confidence in their ability to use education funding wisely and effectively to teach children basic literacy skills, resulting in voter skepticism about the wisdom of approving school bonds and other financial resources. Not only does this failure degrade the quality and efficacy of the curriculum, it also results in deteriorating infrastructure in the public schools, which erodes teacher and student morale. But high-quality public education requires carefully considered, long-term planning and generous infusions of funds. Also, the general public hears and sees media reports hyping the peril of poor writing skills in texting and other high-tech communication, and observes these facts firsthand. The business world, and the journalism and publishing industries, do suffer from poor communication skills among workers. But these problems aren’t limited to the younger members of society; they permeate all age groups. The answer is a well-thought-out, well-funded educational system and a network of support including continuing education (wholly or partially funded by employers for their workers) and/or internal mentoring. And we, as a society, must accept that people will shrug off substandard informal writing, but we must also demand that they demonstrate respect for the language and for those they share it with by striving to communicate well. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Regarding Re:"Have" vs "Having" in Certain Expressions20 Criminal Terms You Should Know

Consultancy Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Consultancy Report - Essay Example Further, the practice of recommendations through incentives is a major ethical issue that needs to be curtailed. It is important for the three firms to reorganize their acts and put on a higher degree of professionalism when it comes to competitiveness. It is this way that will lead to lesser unethical practices where there will be lesser stealing of product formula and incentive recommendation practices by the three firms leading to a civilized pharmaceutical industry that other firms will look up to as their model industry. The three companies selected for this discussion are: Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Pfizer Inc. These companies are the three largest pharmaceutical companies in the world employing over 300,000 people across the world and sharing more than $150 billion in revenues in between them. The three firms are very innovative and compete with each other on their brand equity and image. Ethics is defined as the standards that enable one to tell the difference between right and wrong. Thus, ethics is a standard that can vary for each individual, company or entity. The ethics standards of a truthful and honest person will be higher than that of a regular liar. Ethics is what enables one to judge something as right or wrong. It is highly qualitative and as mentioned earlier, can differ greatly for two entities (Framework for ethical thinking, 2009). Focusing constantly on innovation and quality, it is not possible for any of these firms to engage in quality compromise as it would not only be detrimental to human life but would also endanger there future existence in the market. Thus, ethics is one of the most important pillars of operations in the pharmaceutical industry. However, this quality is not religiously practiced when it comes to competition. Novartis, Pfizer and Glaxo manufacture a wide variety of medicines and drugs that are cures for the same diagnosis: the only differences lie in

European Law Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

European Law Assignment - Essay Example The consignment of jam is clearly â€Å"goods† for the purposes of the Treaty and as the case of SIOT v Ministry of Finance 2asserted; freedom of movement and transit within the Community constitutes a prima facie fundamental of community law. Furthermore, the Article 28 provision is also intended to ensure non-discrimination between domestic and foreign products of Member States3. Furthermore, Article 30 (ex 25) formally abolishes customs duties and any other charges having equivalent effect and provides that: â€Å"Member states shall refrain from introducing between themselves any customs duties on imports and exports or any charges having equivalent effect, and from increasing those which they already apply in their trade with each other4† If France’s restrictions on Jessica’s exports are found to be in breach of Article 30, Jessica will only have recourse under EU law if Article 25 has â€Å"direct effect5†. The case of Francovich v. ... lity of Article 30 and â€Å"measures of equivalent effect† was considered in the leading case of Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen9, where the ECJ asserted that Article 12 (now 30) had direct effect. As such, the Treaty provisions were required to be applied by national courts as domestic law. Accordingly, Article 30 can be invoked before national courts and is applicable as national law in the EU member states. Therefore, in the current scenario, Jessica can invoke the Article 30 rights against France and each of the other territories imposing restrictions as members of the EU. Furthermore, it is also important to mention that EC case law has established that Treaty provisions have direct effect and direct applicability giving nationals rights under the Treaty provisions in national law10. Accordingly, Jessica may under Article 30 claim that France has breached EU law and the next issue is to determine what constitutes a breach for the purpose of A rticle 30. The fee imposed by France is imposed by the customs department for the purpose of testing suitability of the consignment for the French market. Although the fee being charged by France is not expressed in terms of being a customs duty, it could still be illegal under Article 30 for being a â€Å"measure of equivalent effect†. In considering the definition of measures of equivalent effect, the ECJ held in the Re Statistical Levy case, Commission v. Italy 11that the term â€Å"charges of equivalent effect† was: â€Å"any pecuniary charge, however small and whatever its designation and mode of application, which imposed unilaterally on domestic and foreign goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier, and which is not a customs duty in the strict sense, constitutes a charge†¦. even if