Home Depot Business Proposal Essay

Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank founded Home Depot Corp in 1978 (The Home Depot, 2013). The business created strategic product analysis providing an assortment of items to consumers. From the beginning, workers have been able to deliver superior customer satisfaction in the business, helping consumers with jobs such as handling power tools, changing out parts on appliances, laying tile, etc. The Home Depot employees all underwent arduous training to familiarize each employee with products. In addition, the business began hosting workshops to teach consumers on how to do things themselves. Home Depot progressed into a globally known hardware retailer that has an inventory consisting of up to 40,000 various types of constructing and home improvement materials, supplies, outdoor, lawn and garden equipment, appliances, and more than 250,000 other items that can be acquired through special order online or in store (The Home Depot, 2013). Home Depot offers extensive dedication to developing every source in the creating an operational competitive advantage in addition to managing logistics surrounded by the supply chain. An impenetrable basis surrounded by the symbol of home improvement creates the opportunities impact and generates properties on obtaining policies, strategies and measures, which are recognized in Home Depot’s procurement technique. Variables Depending on the number of sellers in any one industry, the differentiation of products and the barriers to entry, a market structure could be an oligopoly, monopoly, perfect competition, or a monopolistic competition. The price elasticity of demand ranges from relatively low in a monopolistic market to very high in a perfectly competitive market. The higher the price elasticity of demand, the more a modification in cost will affect demand for product. The Home Depot asserts various domestic and international customers, ranking as the fourth leading home improvement merchant in the U.S. and fifth biggest in the world. Home Depot customers range from in-house associates to external novice homeowners to industrious commercial contractors. The Home Depot works closely with suppliers to ensure customer satisfaction globally, and domestically. The program is aimed to backup and heighten the service process for The Home Depot stores, deliver efficiencies to our Suppliers, enhance accountability, efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring a superior shopping experience to The Home Depot customers (The Home Depot, 2013). The business also offers a well-designed Internet site that emphasizes supplier collaboration. The New Supplier Toolbox designs create successful partnerships without complicated rerouting and puzzling forms. The material of Home Depot customers differ from needing insecticides to attaining enough drywall supplied to complete the inside of an entire home. The Home Depot also offers an innovative easy to use Internet site that highlights supplier teamwork. Even pricing and SKU number changes have clear procedures to follow ensuring The Home Depot and its partners interconnect. Looking up products is as easy as ever by simply entering the SKU number and selecting from a pictured list of products matching that numbe r. Revenue and Profit Maximization Understanding what the customer perceives as value is important. A company like Home Depot needs to review its services to maintain and develop a customer base. Adjustments in trends in the market because of economic factors or to the point that they current established practice of services does not meet the customer’s demands. The domestic outlook of expectations on procurement policies and procedures explains Home Depots Annual report. At one time, Home Depot set up design centers for kitchens and baths. These design centers are set as a service to the customer who would have embed Home Depot products into the designs of each customer’s home. Home Depot has altered its procurement strategies and purchasing measures. The business set up design examples of kitchen and bathroom designs. These design examples are set as a design service and example to the consumers who install Home Depot merchandise in the plans of his or her home remodel, renovation, or design. This strategy did not increase the production at each  store, as many consumers would take ideas from the example designs completed at the Home Depot and acquire similar merchandise from other stores like the Internet or other home improvement retailers. The procurement policy has changed to include higher product lines like Thomasville furniture and RIDGID tools known high-end items in the furniture and professional grade tools industry. In addition, Home Depot has collaborated with Martha Stewart Living offering a select brand of home improvement merchandise in certain types like paint, outdoor living, and home organization merchandise from Martha Stewart Living (Home Depot, 2013). By modifying strategies from internal industries such as example design stations that drive merchandise, the emphasis should be retaining the consumer through purchasing Home Depot’s products and guaranteeing that products remain available. Home Depot has changed their strategy and policy of purchasing to reflect the changes in the domestic market. Given is an outcome to raise demand for a service, fluctuating the demand curve to the right. By adding features to the provision or constructing it quicker or more dependable, Home Depot can lessen production outlays, shifting the supply curve to the right. Marginal Factors It is important to understand what patterns arise from the local markets when operating from a global perspective. Sourcing local markets is a serious link a company like Home Depot can establish. Setting a strategy for domestic sourcing creates a rooted market existence. From a global outlook, Home Depot preserves a global sourcing merchandise program. Home Depot maintains a global tracking merchandise database to source superior products straight from manufacturers all over the world (The Home Depot, 2013). Their merchant team recognizes and buys high demand advanced products directly for its various store locations. Moreover, Home Depot has sourcing headquarters located in China, India, Italy, Mexico, and Canada (The Home Depot, 2013). Revenue is maximized when Marginal Revenue equals Marginal Cost. To use it, a business needs to know how much it costs to produce one more unit of a service. By setting this global sourcing strategy, the anticipation for Home Depot is that it will understand what sells in a domestic market and sourcing from that specific area. Local connections and pricing will support Home Depot’s objective of global increase since the consumer base will  recognize local merchandise lines and supplies. A local area network can understand specific needs of that area. For example if a country like India has monsoon rains and winds the local office in India can understand the trends and seasons. Home Depot has developed these regional offices to understand the flow of goods to support its local customer base (The Home Depot, 2013). Moreover, having recognition in the local area can also respond to difficulties for that area. Pricing Home Depot’s procurement process summaries the business’s supplier facts inside the reference manual. This manual offers definite data to guarantee effective collaboration and partnerships. The ordering cycle for Home Depot’s consists of electronic data exchange needs, delivery statistics, buying order approaches, store environment settings, engineering superiority, customs compliance, and shipping restraints. Figure 1: The Home Depot Ordering Cycle Diagram Distribution statistics include product and packaging characteristics, freight requirements, and product flows (Amadeo, 2014). The Home Depot outlines distribution necessities to limit misperception and quandaries upon entrance. The data describes where product distributions should be contingent on point of foundation, creation, and final distribution. The final requirements of The Home Depot supplier reference manual include customs compliance and transportation. The Home Depot outlines how suppliers need to handle international imports or exports, from having the appropriate documentation to sufficient packaging and security. Home Depot summarizes how suppliers must handle worldwide imports or exports, from having the correct documentation to adequate packaging and security. Pricing strategies involve movement along the demand curve (Amadeo, 2014). In a marketplace with high price elasticity of demand, like a monopolistic competitive market, a small decrease in cost will have a huge influence on demand (Amadeo, 2014). Non-pricing strategies shifting the demand curve to the right include TV advertisements. This is a joint strategy in markets with low price elasticity of demand, such as oligopolies. Selecting a mixture of strategies having the greatest effect on demand in the business’s industry  may be best. Barriers and the Service Patents or lobbying for increased industry regulation, or making service expensive while entering the industry by selling a service that requires specialized tools in a workforce like Home Depot is a definite barrier entry. Money back guarantee is another option for dissatisfied service or products within product and service differentiation. Labor cost is reduced by capital. Operating Home Depot’s organization demands for the uppermost levels of merchandise excellence, modernization, obtainability, on-time delivery, security in fabrication and delivery, compliance with regulations and codes of conduct, and compassion to product reputation (The Home Depot, 2013). This is a major influence to the procurement strategy, policies, and procedures. The supply chain streamlines many global and domestic opportunities, product and service outsourcing and is a cognizant to personnel support. The selection of products, analyzing, sourcing approaches, freight and import cost, export, shipping, import details, contracts information and processes broaden potential business movement controlled by procurement decisions and influences of policies. Some enforce policies and potentially bring forth benefit, or substantial reasons for internal and external sourcing strategies to create innovative advantage in organizations procedures and decides building and buying solutions. Home Depot faces challenges to unify and coordinate our operations and supply chain from customer to supplier. Challenges involve reducing inventory levels, improving communication between trading partners and changing customer demands, reducing the time from order to arrival of a product, and reducing cost. Contractor Sales/Comparative Advantage Transactions in all Home Depot stores continues to rise. This is a strong indication that homeowners simply can invest more into maintenance and home improvement projects. Usually, contractor sales, which account for a significant percent of Home Depot’s business, continue to fall short. Competition for contractor business is aggressive. Top contenders in this market, like Lowe’s, has attuned their strategies to allow local store  managers to deliver contractor markdowns without corporate consent. Projected Outcome Expanding e-commerce services with Home Depot provides customers greater access to the products and services deepening the guarantee to improve every resource to generate an effective competitive gain. A solid foundation in the expansion to include contractor sales, web-based imaging solution software, and the Home Depot Foundation community outreach program would benefit the company immensely. Home Depot understands their greatest competitive advantage originates within the organization through the Home Depot associates. By removing department silos and creating cross-functional areas within the organization the associates at Home Depot work together to improving the business through creative innovative ways to improve customer service. Recommendations Home Depot’s supply chain value, management, vision or goals and development priorities should focus upon particular objectives in the next 2-year period. Home Depot’s strength to the projected supply chain strategy is the use of e-business and e-commerce processes that enables all information available to the supply chain. Home Depot’s weakness is within the launch of super store concepts ability to suffer postponement. Adding feature late in the process to make products and services grand from data obtained after more accurate or detailed research. Home Depot is creating a tactical decision support tool to assist in managing new projects in addition to the supply chain changes for nonprofit organizations to rebuild homes and contracts for retailed products. Home Depot’s demanding forecast is about control, improvement and deviating through customer demands not supply chain inventory management issues. Most important as technology becomes more innovative, IT strings business technology. Conclusion Home Depot’s business demands for the utmost levels of merchandise excellence, revolution, obtainability, timely shipping, protection in fabrication and delivery, compliance with rules and regulations, and understanding of brand and its reputation is a major impact to the customer service strategy and improvement to merchandise, policies, and techniques.  The supply chain modernizes many global and domestic occasions, merchandise and service outsourcing and is a familiarity to worker support. The variety of merchandise, examining, sourcing methods, merchandise and import price, distribute, delivery, import information, contracts statistics, and procedures broaden probable business measures controlled by procurement decisions and influences of policies. The affiliation with many state and federal laws restricts and offer different business treatment and regulations. Some impose policies and theoretically bring forth profit or considerable motives for internal and external sourcing strategies to generate state-of-the-art influence in organizational processes and chooses building and buying solutions. References Kimberly Amadeo. (2014). What Is the Business Cycle? Retrieved from: http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/business_cycle.htm The Home Depot. (2013). Welcome to the Home Depot. Retrieved from: https://corporate.homedepot.com/Pages/default.aspx

Projectile Motion Lab: Using a Toy Gun

Projectile Motion Lab: Using a Toy Gun Purpose: The purpose of this investigation is to measure the vertical displacement, or height of the launch, and the horizontal displacement, or range, travelled by a projectile (bullet from toy gun). Questions: What is the shape of the actual path travelled by a projectile? How closely does an actual projectile's results follow the theoretical predicted results? Hypothesis: The shape of the path travelled by the projectile, in this case the bullet of the gun, is a parabolic. This means that is a curvy shape due to the bullet being launched in the air (making curve go up) and the earth's gravity pulling it down (making curve go down). As the height of the bullet's release increases the the time to reach the ground will increase, and therefore the range of the bullet will increase. This is because the bullet's vertical velocity will decrease later as the height is higher up, having a larger time, and therefore a larger range. Materials: Toy Gun Fake Bullets Metre Sick Stop Watch General Observations: A metre stick was used to measure the height and the range of the bullet. A stop was used to determine the time it took for the bullet to reach the ground. As the bullet was released, its path was parabolic. This means that its was curvy because it was first int air, but the gravity pulled it back down to the surface. The toy gun was steadily held in my hand. The initial height was the distance from the gun to the surface used. The gun shot out the bullets at a fairly fast speed. As the height was increased, the more time the bullet took to reach the ground. As the height was increased, the range was also higher. Observation Table: Data of various heights used: | Height (cm) |Time (seconds) |Horizontal Distance (cm) | |25 |2. 26 |70. 7 | |50 |3. 19 |100 | |75 |3. 1 |122 | |100 |4. 52 |141 | Analysis: Picture of the launcher: Height vs. Range graph- Refer to attached data in the back. Position vs. Time graph- Refer to attached data in the back. The graph results definitely support the hypothesis. This is because as the height of the toy gun was increased, the horizontal distance increased. Also, as the horizontal distance of the bullet increased, so did the time (vice- versa). The graphs were very similar due to the horizontal distance (cm) being constant on the y- axis of the graph. In the Horizontal Distance vs. Time graph, the time represented the corresponding heights of the Horizontal Distance vs Height graph. Making the graphs very similar. Determining the Vi of the Bullet: Vi = aav x ? t aav = -9. 81 m/s? ?t = 3. 19 seconds Vi = -9. 81 x 3. 19 Vi = 31. 3 m/s [v] *Therefore the initial velocity of the bullet is 31. 3 m/s [v]. Theoretical Ranges of the Bullet: Formula- ? d = Vi x ? t |Height (cm): |Range/ Horizontal Displacement (cm) : | |25 |? d = 31. 3 x 2. 26 | | |? d = 70. 7 cm | |50 | ? d = 31. 3 x 3. 19 | | |? d = 99. 8 cm | |75 | ? d = 31. 3 x 3. 91 | | |? = 121 cm | |100 | ? d = 31. 3 x 4. 52 | | |? d = 142 cm | Experimental Percent Errors For each Range: Formula- % error = [ (experimental value – accepted vale) / (accepted value) ] (100%) |Height : |Experimental Range: |Theoretical Range: |Percent Error: | |25 cm |70. 7 cm |70. 7 cm |0. 0% | |50 cm |100 cm |99. 8 cm |0. 00 2% | |75 cm |122 cm |121 cm |0. 00 8% | |100 cm |141 dm |142 cm |0. 00 7% | As it can be seen, there was a very little percent error between the actual and the theoretical range of the bullet from the gun. The theoretical and the experimental ranges were almost identical, and in some cases they were Sources of error: The first source of error was the toy gun's bullet were not perfectly a cylinder. Since the bullets we made out of plastic foam there some ripped edges. This would definitely give a slightly inaccurate result sine the bullet would not consistently travel in the same way as it is going in a parabolic path. This would cause some twisting and turning of the bullet since the rips would collect air and make the bullet therefore move around (sort of like air pockets). The main problem with this is that the bullet is not consistently travelling in the exact same way. Another source of error was that since the gun was shot from a human being's hand it is really tough to keep the gun at the same angle (zero degrees) as it is shot. If the angle of the gun is not consistently shot at the same angle it will definitely impact the results because the horizontal distance (range) of the bullet will be different each time. If the gun has an angle pointing downward, the range will decrease. The bullet will be in the air for a smaller amount of time, covering less ground. If the gun is pointing upward the range will increase. The bullet will be in the air for a longer period of time, covering more ground. There can be ways though to fix these sources of errors. For the first one where there were rips in the bullet, what one can do to fix the bullets is use tape to cover up the holes. Or, a better solution would to buy new, fresh bullets where there are no bend, rips or chance of disfunction. To make sure that the bullets angle is constant after each shot, what one can do is use a stand to place the gun in. This would make sure that the gun is not pointing down or upward, giving very accurate data of the range. Conclusion: All projectiles travel in a parabolic path. Projectile motion is the motion of an object who's path is affected by the force of gravity. Everything is affected by gravity, but it profoundly alters the motion of objects that are thrown or shot upward. The arching of the bullet in this experiment is caused by gravity, as well as its falling motion in general. Gravity causes change in the vertical velocity of the projectile. Objects experiencing projectile motion have a constant velocity in the horizontal direction, and a constantly changing velocity in the vertical direction. Thus, this is causing the parabolic shape. The actual projectile's results were really close to the theoretical results in this case. There were no outliers in the range. If the theoretical range and the actual range were not close it would be due to the tools used to measure the time and the distance. A metre stick was used to determine the horizontal range for the experiment. This is very inaccurate because the bullet dropped way to fast to see the actual landing spot. The landing spot was based on the eye. Also since a timer was used to determine the time of the bullet's range this is again very inaccurate since the bullet dropped way to fast to use a stop watch. Overall, the results in this case were luckily extremely close and accurate having a maximum percent error of 0. 00 8%. The reasons for the experimental error was mainly due to the tools used to measure data and, the inconsistency of the angle of the gun. As stated earlier a metre stick was used to determine the horizontal range for the experiment. This is very inaccurate because the bullet dropped way to fast to see the actual landing spot. The landing spot was based on the eye. Since a timer was used to determine the time of the bullet's range this is again very inaccurate since the bullet dropped way to fast to use a stop watch. Again as stated earlier, if the angle of the gun is not consistently shot at the same angle it will definitely impact the results because the horizontal distance (range) of the bullet will be different each time. If the gun has an angle pointing downward, the range will decrease. The bullet will be in the air for a smaller amount of time, covering less ground. If the gun is pointing upward the range will increase. The bullet will be in the air for a longer period of time, covering more ground.

Swot Au Bon Pain in Malaysia

Strengths * Au Bon Pain has the most successful overseas franchisee at Malaysia’s geographic neighbor Thailand. The similarity between these two countries might smooth the expansion of the business in Malaysia. * Au Bon Pain customized its menu in every operating Asian countries, this can be adapted to Malaysian market as well. (e. g. , poultry-based meat is favored by majorities). Like in Thailand and South Korea, beginning Au Bon Pain’s business plan with cafes in prime office locations (targeting foreign and local businessmen) might work as Kuala Lumpur is one of the economic centers in Asia-Pacific area. * Au Bon Pain has a tradition to support charities. Meanwhile, Malaysia has one of the highest Gini coefficients in Asia, poverty rates also vary significantly from state to state. Weaknesses Au Bon Pain is a new brand while Malaysians term to put a | Opportunities * Increasing consumer awareness in nutrition value and food fortification for healthcare * Malaysia's Economic Transition Plan calls for real GDP growth of 5-6% per year over the next ten years. * The service sector makes 44. 9% of GDP, Malaysia's development plan has a target of 35 million tourists in 2020 * Malaysia is the third largest producer of poultry meat in the Asia Pacific region.Malaysia is self-sufficient in poultry, pork and eggs * More and more hectic and stressful lifestyle in urbanized Malaysia contributed to the growing demand for convenient fast food * Malaysian consumers take to eating out more frequently, which boosts foodservice volume sales in 2011 * Increasing consumer awareness in nutrition value and food fortification for healthcare has created the demand for functional/healthy minimally processed fresh and organic food * Most of the respondents prefer to dine at western fast food restaurants than local fast food| Threats * Malaysia has a Muslim population of 60%.Most retailers, foodservice operators and food manufacturers are inclined to ask for halal certi ficates for non-meat based food products and ingredients. * Malaysia’s rising inflation rate dampened consumer spending in  Malaysia  during 2011. | SWOT: Au Bon Pain in Malaysia

Reproduction problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reproduction problems - Essay Example In the case of this patient the deficiency of 21 Hydroxylase led to the over production of androgen in the adrenal gland, which caused virilence in the patient. The exact pathophysiology of this disease will be explained in detail in the following section. 21Hydroxylase is specifically located in the endoplasmic reticulum of the zona fasciculate of the adrenal gland. It main function is the catalysis of 17 hydroxyprogesterone to a compound known as 11 deoxycortisol utilizing the glucocorticoid mechanism (Nieschlang et al., 42-55).The pathway begins with pregnenolone and ends with cortisol. It also acts as a catalyst in the pathway of progesterone to 11 deoxycortisteronne. Therefore, the deficiency of this enzyme affects both the glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid pathways. The alsom leads to the hyperplasia of the adrenal cortex and elevates the level of ACTH (Nieschlang et al., 42-55). Since the catalytic step of the reactions is inhibited, there is an accumulation of 17 hydroxypr egnenolone and progesterone in the adrenal cortex. The level of 17 hydroxypregnenolone is elevated by approximately 500 times. 17 hydroxypregnenolone is utilized in the synthesis of androstenedione, DHEA and testosterone therefore excessive accumulation of this steroid hormone has led to the ambiguous external genitalia. The ovaries inside the patient are normal and the fallopian tubes, uterus and upper vagina are also normal due to the fact that they are not exposed to testicular antimullerian hormone. The elevated levels of testosterone lead to the enlargement of phallus. The patient has stage 1 virilization due to the significantly enlarged clitoris (Nieschlang et al., 42-55). The therapeutic approach towards congenital 21 hydroxylase deficiency is complicated and requires long term care and management. The patient should be admitted to the pediatric endocrine clinic. The management approaches require the following issues to be addressed and these include stress coverage, parenta l education and crisis prevention, monitoring and initiating hormonal replacement, optimizing the growth of the patient, reconstructive surgery of the external genetalia and optimizing the suppression of androgens and the future fertility of these infants. The hormonal replacement in newborns with CAH is to protect them from developing insufficiency of the adrenal gland and to also stomp the enhanced production of androgens. The hormonal replacement involves the administration of glucocorticoids which act as a substitute of cortisol thereby reducing the excessive amount of ACTH production. The parents of the child should also be educated on the nature of treatment as the administration of glucocorticoids is independent of the health condition of the patient and stopping administration may lead to death by adrenal crisis. The doses should never be missed. Case 2 The patient had 5 alpha reductase deficiency which is an autosomal recessive intersex disorder which occurs as a result of genetic mutation. This leads to the deficiency in the 5 alpha reductase type II gene (Costanzo, 10-20).The reactions that are catalyzed by 5 alpha reductase deficiency lead to the production of testosterone, therefore this process is inhibited. This enzyme is also responsible for the conversion of testosterone to DHT. The enzyme is expressed in the external genitalia in the early gestational period and is an important influence on the physiological development of male external

Financing_Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Financing_Entrepreneurship - Essay Example From the findings of this study, the MD of this case study Pimlico Plumbers is reluctant to do a franchise kind of business. Unless a business’ operations can be conducted from a central point, spatial expansion of activities would not be advisable due to its expensiveness. An example of performing business activities in different locations is that of one establishment in a given town and another in a different town or even a restaurant with the expectations of purchasing equipment and recruiting staff as well as renting of other business premises. Otherwise, if carrying out business operations in various geographical locations becomes hard, there is an alternative of licensing a format of business to other 3rd parties asking them for an opportunity of franchise. Pimlico Plumbers Ltd can be advised to consider franchising and on that note the MD, Charlie Mullins may consider the information provided by the growingbusiness.co.uk website. Under circumstances where third parties are seeking franchise just like in this case Zockoll, then there is need to understand this type of business approach. In such situation, franchisees have to take care of the entire or a portion of their cost outlay of launching franchised parent business’ version. Charlie Mullins’ fear of not Franchising is not losing control. ... It says that franchising presents an opportunity of growing a business both nationally and internationally and where the parent business need not make investments in premises and staff. Franchising is not advisable for all businesses in entirety. While it works for some, others are not likely to make it by way of franchising their businesses. All there needs to be is a recognisable or a widespread brand. (growingbusiness.co.uk, 2009) Pimlico Plumbers has been in business since three decades ago, with a staff made up of 133 engineers besides 42 personnel working in their offices. It is the biggest independent service body corporate. It is atleast known nationally in the UK and thus business franchising can work for the company. The clients of the company are with the inclusion of Chelsea football members of the team, Daniel Craig, Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley. The MD has appeared on Secret Millionaire a programme by Channel 4. (pimlicoplumbers.com, 2010) A franchise business is not free of merits and demerits alike. Franchises are advantageous to owners in that they get to undertake their own operations using the brand provided by an already existing business. A franchise also gains a profit share as well as upfront fee. Franchisees take financial risk while a business profile is being grown besides ample revenue. On the other hand, it is hated for its hindrance to expand in future since the only existing potential is that of staking in profits while franchisees enjoy the remainder. Poor management of franchises as likely to demolish a business brand is another disadvantage that should be put in mind. (growingbusiness.co.uk, 2009) (2). External Finance and Bank Borrowing On the issue of

How Can Impoverished Countries with Weak Formal Legal Systems Deal Essay

How Can Impoverished Countries with Weak Formal Legal Systems Deal with a Past of Mass Human Rights Atrocities - Essay Example However, the prevailing economic, legal and political frameworks in these countries are major impediments to achievement of justice especially on human rights atrocities. This paper explores ways in which impoverished countries can deal with past injustices, with particular focus on human rights atrocities. In attempts to deal with the past human right atrocities, the impoverished countries have undertaken a rather unusual approach of forgiveness instead of punishing the perpetrators. Other countries forgive many of the alleged perpetrators and imposing punishment on few individuals considered most culpable of the atrocities. This form of addressing past injustices of human rights atrocities referred as â€Å"restorative justice† has become the most popular mechanism for the last four decades especially in developing countries. Several countries including Sierra Leone, South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana and Central African Republic in Africa have embarked and concluded restorative ju stice to address the past atrocities. Other notable countries in Africa include Nigeria, Morocco (Lyn and Kimberly 2004:2). Similarly restorative justice process has been undertaken in developed countries such as Northern Ireland. Establishment of truth and reconciliation commissions is the most commonly applied method of dealing with the past injustices in Africa. ... These include international humanitarian law, international tribunals, non governmental organizations and foreign military intervention to overthrow the regime responsible for mass killings (Benomar, 1993). According to Beckman and Butte(2008: p2), â€Å"international law comprises of principles and rules that are universally applied in dealing with the conduct of states and of international organizations in their relations with one another and with private individuals, global companies and minority groups.† The International Criminal Court a permanent international tribunal is one of the universal judicial organs established under the international law to arbitrate on the most serious crimes against humanity. These crimes include genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression (Beckman and Butte, 2008: p3). Most impoverished countries are normally in transition to democratic governance and emerging from conflicts, which cause widespread violations of human rights . The International Criminal Court through many subsidiary global committees on human rights examines all these crimes and determines which falls within its jurisdiction. The perpetrators who bear the greatest responsibility for crimes against humanity are charged in the International Criminal Court (Gary, 2000). Currently, several prominent persons in several sub-Saharan Africa accused of crimes against humanity are facing charges in the international court. Some of the countries in which the international court is arbitrating include Sudan, where the current president is wanted for committing crimes against humanity in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya for the post election violence in 2008. In addition, individuals accused of committing transitional

American religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American religion - Essay Example The use of the term softening is a strategy to balance the increasing religiosity and the decline in certain religious aspects. The softening of religion in America has become an issue of debate. There are many reasons put forth to support the softening of religion. Although some scholars do not support the softening ideology, certain factors prove the idea of softening true. This paper will focus on describing what has caused the softening of religion in America. Religion diversity is one of the reasons why some authors believe that American religion is softening. In the early 1900s, there were many people who professed to be members of different religions. Specifically, there were many Americans who proved to be staunch Protestants and Catholics. In the 1970s, the number of such people had decreased immensely. Many Americans have let go of their religious affiliations and opted to become atheists. Although such people recognize the existence of God, they prefer to stay away from any specific church. Currently, there are different types of atheism exhibited by people in America. Chaves, one of the authors who have explored the softening of religion in America believes that American atheists who have distanced themselves from religious groups are more than people who are stuck to the religion. In addition, the increasing popularity of other religions such as Hinduism and Islam has contributed to increased softening of religion. The American p opulation no longer fits a homogeneous description of religion (Chaves 18). The reasons for this are because people exhibit diverse faiths and appreciate the value of religious diversity. Notably, there was a time when America registered a remarkable increase of Protestants. The increase was after different Protestant groups received much popularity. Many people joined the Protestant groups leaving behind the traditional Christianity groups. It emerges that the current trend depict a decline of Protestants. It is no

Foreign Market Entry Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Foreign Market Entry Strategy - Essay Example In today’s highly competitive and complex environment, the firms pursuing a strategy of international market expansion face with a necessity to make a key strategic decision of the choice of market entry mode. Liang et al. (2009) provide a brief overview of the key types of foreign market entry strategies including the following: export, licensing and franchising, acquisitions, greenfield investments, or joint ventures. These market entry strategies very in terms of key variables, including the share of capital ownership, organizational control level, resource requirements, risk exposure and expected future returns (Liang et al. (2009) explain that foreign market entry strategy depends heavily on the company’s strategic orientation and strategic capabilities. In order to get empirical data, the researchers have carried out a study evaluating a sample of 332 foreign market entries of 62 U.S. companies over a period of 6 years (Liang et al., 2009). The results of the stud y have shown that the firms that competed primarily in terms of innovation (prospectors) preferred to select equity-based foreign market entry mode and compared to the firms that focused on brand positioning as their competitive advantage (defenders). Prospectors also made a choice in favor of full-ownership entry modes such as full acquisition and greenfield investment. This empirical study indicates that the firms which make innovation and know-how their strategic capability are ready to face a risk of information leak.

Dante And Virgil Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Dante And Virgil - Research Paper Example This is made clear in Canto IV where Dante and Virgil meet the great Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Lucan. These philosophers are in the first level of hell which is really more like a purgatory. Because they were born before the birth of Christianity, they did not have the opportunity to recognize Christ as their Lord and Savior so they live in a state of Limbo. When alive, they dedicated their lives to wisdom and thought rather than religion and did not have the foresight that the patriarchs of the Old Testament had in embracing faith that one day He would come. As a result, their afterlife is a world in which reason provides some illumination, but the atmosphere is mostly dark without God’s light. However, the souls are comfortable and content in being able to share human ideas and thoughts with other great thinkers. This section of the Comedy firmly establishes Dante’s ideas that the only way to receive God’s blessing is through Christian faith. Even though the ancient philosophers were highly respected thinkers who led very virtuous, ethical and moral lives, they are still trapped in Limbo because they never even considered the possibility that Jesus would one day come to redeem them all. This is made clear when Virgil tells him that a person â€Å"in power crowned† came to Hell and took away all the Old Patriarchs who believed that the Messiah would come even though they died before he appeared. Thus it doesn’t even matter if you have lived the kind of life prescribed in the Bible, you still can’t get into heaven unless you were willing to have

What affect has the Internet had on our Cognitive abilities Research Paper

What affect has the Internet had on our Cognitive abilities - Research Paper Example is widely used as a means of communication around the world and therefore contributes immensely in developing the cognitive abilities of the individual. The authors Berson & Berson (2005) has denoted that the internet has caused a revolution in causing the environments to expand at a global level, the world has turned into a global village since the inception of internet, the people around the world have gained an easy access in interacting with others around the world. Internet has become one of the famous modes of communication around the world among especially youngsters as well as adults (Quigley & Blashki, 2003). The use of internet focuses on developing the cognitive abilities of the individuals. At the educational level the use of internet is considered compulsory as students need to be in touch with the latest happenings of their respective fields and internet is the easiest modes of being in touch with the latest proceedings. The cognitive skills of any being is the capability of implying the mental abilities of any individual at the basic level, and by this use of mental ability, the individual is able to conduct their thinking process, their learning process and their studying process (Keil, 1989). Cognitive Abilities is associated with mental processes in for instance evaluating the sounds that an individual has heard or the images and the information that an individual tries to recall. Also, cognitive abilities include the relationships that are made between different data and information. Cognitive abilities of any human being can be identified and also measured on an individual basis. The strength of the cognitive skill and its efficiency has direct correlations with the learning processes of any individual. There have been different research studies conducted and various theories have been derived for deducing the importance of cognitive abilities and resources so that the variation levels can be understood in the learning processes (de Haan,

How Much Co2 Lab Essay Example for Free

How Much Co2 Lab Essay Experimental: An Alka-Seltzer tablet was accurately weighed and recorded using a weighing boat and analytical balance. A fragmented piece between 0. 2100g and 0. 2800g was also weighed and recorded. 500mL of water was placed in a 600mL beaker. 80mL of water was then mixed with 20mL of 6M HCl in a 150mL beaker to create 1. 2M HCl. A 1. 5g piece of Alka-Seltzer tablet was then added to the HCl solution. After complete evolution of CO2, gravity filtration was used to catch all of the starch produced from the reaction. The buret was filled with the filtrated solution and the glass tube end of a rubber tube was inserted about 2 inches into the mouth of the buret. While keeping a finger over the buret mouth, the entire buret was quickly inverted and the tubing and mouth completely submerged into the water in the 600mL beaker. The buret was then clamped into place while double checking the buret mouth was under the water level and the rubber tubing was not pinched. The stopcock was then opened extremely slowly until the water level in the buret dropped close to the 50. 00mL mark. This level was then recorded. 25mL of the prepared HCl solution was added to a 125mL Erlenmeyer flask, along with a 0. 5-1. 0g piece of Alka-Seltzer tablet. After complete evolution of CO2, the neck of the flask and rubber stopper were completely dried. The tablet fragment earlier weighed (between 0. 21-0. 28g) was then added to the flask followed by immediate insertion of the stopper to ensure a tight seal. 5 minutes after the CO2 has been generated, the new water level of the buret was recorded, along with the distance in inches between the buret and beaker’s water levels. Lastly, the prevailing atmospheric pressure, temperature of the water, and approximate volume of the room was recorded. Results and Calculations Table 1 Experimental Values Experimental Values| Measurements| Current pressure of the room| 29. 3 in. Hg| Mass of entire tablet| 3. 2545 g| Mass of fragment| 0. 2524 g| Buret water level (start)| 45. 62 mL| Buret water level (end)| 7. 50 mL| Distance between buret and beaker water level| 3. 625 inches| Temperature of the water/room| 21. 8Â °C| Pressure of water at 21. 8Â °C| 19. 587 torr| Length, width, height of the room| 1463cm, 792cm, 366cm | Conversions: Temperature of the Room: 21. 8Â °C + 273. 15 = 294. 95K Volume of the room: (l? w? h) = (1463cm)(792cm)(366cm) = 424 x 108 cm3 = 424073L Pressure of room: 29. 3 in. Hg x 760 mmHg x 760 torr = 744. 3 torr 29. 92 in. Hg 760 mmHg 29. 3 in. Hg x 1 atm = 0. 97927 atm 29. 92 in. Hg Calculations: PÂ °atm = Patm – ( in. of H2O )( 1. 87 torr/in. of H2O ) = (744. 3 torr) – (3. 625 in. )(1. 87 torr/in. ) = 737. 521 torr PCO2 = PÂ °atm – PH2O = (737. 521 torr) – (19. 87 torr) = 717. 934 torr x 1 atm = 0. 94465 atm 760 torr VCO2 = 45. 62mL – 7. 50mL = 38. 12mL = 38. 12mL x (1L/1000mL) = 0. 03812 L NCO2 = PCO2VCO2/RT = ( 0. 94465atm )( 0. 03812L ) = 0. 0014873 mol CO2 ( 0. 08206 L? atm/mol? K )(294. 95 K) Moles of CO2 one tablet produces: (moles CO2) x (mass tablet/mass fragment) = (0. 0014873 mol CO2) x (3. 2545g / 0. 2524g) = 0. 019178 moles CO2 in tablet Moles of the room: Nroom = ProomV room/RT = (0. 9727atm)(424073L)/(0. 08206 L? atm/mol? K )(294. 95 K) = 17,042. 7 moles in room of tablets required to fill room: (moles of room) / (moles of CO2 per tablet) = (17,042. 7 moles) / (0. 019178 mol CO2) = 8. 887 x 105 tablets Mass of NaHCO3 needed to fill room with CO2: = 8. 887 x 105 tablets x 0. 019178 moles CO2 x 1 mol NaHCO3 x 84. 01g NaHCO3 1 tablet 1 mol CO2 1 mol NaHCO3 = 1. 432 x 106 g NaHCO3 Discussion In order to find the number of tablets needed to produce enough CO2 to fill the room, the ideal gas law was required first to solve for the number of moles of CO2 in one tablet and second the number of moles of the room. To use the ideal gas law, the atmospheric pressure was adjusted for due to the lower pressure in the buret when compared to the outer atmospheric pressure. This unequalization of pressures, although corrected, may still be slightly off, thus potentially causing later calculation error when using the ideal gas law to solve for the moles of CO2. Difficulties in the experiment arose when inverting the buret and completely submerging it into the beaker of water. This is a likely place for error because keeping a finger over the mouth of the buret and sealing the mouth tightly enough during the inverting process was very difficult. If too much of the solution inside the buret leaked out, one would not have enough volume to start with (before the CO2 evolution) and thus would have to remake the solution and repeat the process. Another potential source of error would be the measurement of the size of the room. With so many objects (lab tables, carts, ceiling structures) that also occupy the space, it was very difficult to determine an accurate volume of the room. Thus, the actual number of tablets required to fill the room might be a little bit less when the objects taking up space in the room are considered. Additionally, if the gravity filtration failed to filtrate all of the starch from the HCl solution, the leftover starch could potentially cause a problem in the reaction when the tablet fragment is added to the solution, thus providing more possible sources of error. Another minor source is the sensitive nature of the analytical balance, possibly leading to incorrect weight measurements of the tablet fragments. Another is general human error, such as reading the volume on the buret when determining the amount of CO2 evolved from the fragment. Conclusion In conclusion, the overall experiment proved to be successful; depending on the calculated size of the room, the number of Alka-Seltzer tablets required to produce enough CO2 gas to fill it was able to be determined. The mass of NaHCO3 needed to produce enough CO2 was also able to be calculated due to the fact that one mole of NaHCO3 is equal to one mole of CO2. Using the ideal gas law, Dalton’s law of partial pressure, stoichiometry, and conversions, a result was calculated, thus proving that future experiments dealing with the calculation of CO2 evolved from Alka-Seltzer by using an inverted buret can be done successfully.

4P Marketing Essay Example for Free

4P Marketing Essay hese are the basic elements of the MARKETING PLAN for any business. PRODUCTThe business has to produce a product that people want to buy. They have to decide which market segment they are aiming at age, income, geographical location etc. They then have to differentiate their product so that it is slightly different from what is on offer at present so that people can be persuaded to give them a try. PROMOTIONCustomers have to be made aware of the product. The two main considerations are target market and cost. A new business will not be able to afford to advertise on national television, for instance and would not wish to because its market will be local to start with. Leaflets, billboards, advertisements in local newspapers, Yellow Pages and word of mouth would be more appropriate. PRICEThe price must be high enough to cover costs and make a profit but low enough to attract customers. There are a number of possible pricing strategies. The most commonly used are PENETRATION PRICING charging a low price, possibly not quite covering costs, to gain a position in the market. This is quite popular with new businesses trying to get a toehold. CREAMING the opposite to penetration pricing, this involves charging a deliberately high price to persuade people that the product is of high quality. Luxury car makers often use this strategy COST PLUS PRICING this is the most common form of pricing. Costs are totalled and a margin is added on for profit to make the total price. PLACEThe business must have a location that it can afford, and that is convenient and suitable for customers and any supplier. The Marketing mix is a set of four decisions which need to be taken before launching any new product. These variables are also known as the 4 Ps of marketing. These four variables help the firm in making strategic decisions necessary for the smooth running of any product / organization.These variables are Product

Android-based English Grammar Checker with Voice Recognition

Android-based English Grammar Checker with Voice Recognition ABSTRACT In this paper, the Researchers describe an Android-based Voice Recognition system that acts as a grammar checker specifically geared to the needs of non-native speakers who are willing to learn and be familiarized with English language. This paper also examines how wrong usage of grammar can affect the communication of people both orally and in writing. Most commercial grammar checkers on the market today are meant to be used by native speakers of a language who have good intuitions about their own language competence. These tools were made to help native speakers who were not fluent in other language, thus making their outputs grammatically correct. However, these errors vary from one another, the reason why different grammar checkers are designed for different specific needs. The grammar checking component uses island processing rather than a full parse. This approach is both rapid and appropriate when a text contains many errors. In this research, it aims to develop a complete voi ce-based English grammar checker application that will help non-native speakers that want to learn and to speak English fluently. The focus of this paper is the grammar checking component. This approach is both useful and more efficient, since it directly corrects the grammar by translating the voice into text. The system also used Internet Search Engines that will provide examples of how the content of the voice into text segment can be expressed in a grammatically correct and idiomatic way. This application can help people having a hard time in expressing themselves using the English Language. KEYWORDS Voice Recognition, Grammar Checker, Android, Natural Language Processing, Mobile, Application, Vocabulary, Grammar INTRODUCTION One of the common reasons of miscommunication is due to wrong choice of words, resulting to poor grammar. Poor grammar later results of miscommunication or worse, someone with bad grammar was often insulted or shamed by people. To avoid these, word-processing systems are developed at the present time already include grammar checkers that are used to locate different grammatical errors in a text. These tools were made to help native speakers who were not fluent in another language, thus making their outputs grammatically correct. It is also intended to help its researchers to write texts in English, which is not their language. Although their command of the language is generally acceptable, most of them do not feel confident about their correctness and the expressiveness of their writing. However, these errors vary from one another, the reason why different grammar checkers are designed for different specific needs. Internet provides a boundless number of documents in English so the main function of the checker is the use of an Internet search engine that detects the text segments that are not found on any web pages. But most of these tools were aimed to help native speakers to check their English grammar, but what about Filipino and other citizens who are not fluent in speaking in English Language? How can one point out his or her grammar mistakes when they are trying to write a paper in our language? We designed an Android application for grammar-checking in English Language by using voice recognition. This android application aims to help the users that wants to learn English Language fluently and at the same time, it can help to improve their English vocabulary and grammar. The system will require the user to record a voice message. After the recording, the system will translate the message into text. There will be two buttons, the record again and go. If the text output is wrong, the user should press the record again button and if the text output is correct, the user can proceed. The system will now check the grammar. For example, the user recorded â€Å"Matt like Fish†. The text output was correct, so the user pressed go. The system will now process the grammar checking and after a few seconds, the system will give the corrected result via text output which is â€Å"Matt likes Fish.† In order to find out the common errors usually done by users, we conducted a survey among potential users around the New Era University, specifically some Filipino students who are a bit struggling when it comes to speaking English fluently. We ranked the results by percentage so that we know what we should be focusing on. A total of 30 respondents participated in the survey. DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENTS Internet search engine Grammar Checker Internet Search engine The checker used the Wordnet 3.0 engine, a lexical database for the English Language. It arranges English words into sets of synonyms called synsets. The engines used to find the search results for a text segment are Google and Yahoo. Grammar Checker Part of a system that verify written text for grammatical correctness. The implementation of a grammar checker makes use of Natural Language Processing. Once the grammar checker has been active, the text which is based on the voice recorded by the user will undergo a number of stages. It is separated into sentences and words. The individual words are then looked up in the internet. It includes all the words that occur in the system with all its possible usage. METHODOLOGY The table shows the results of the survey. With this table, we are now informed about the common mistakes that the potential users might commit. This table will help us to distinguish and to focus more on the most common error to help the users more efficiently. The common error that had the highest percentage is the improper structure of English sentences. Next is the improper use of verbs. Third is an improper classification of Noun. Fourth is the improper combinations of certain words, fifth is incorrect use of Adjectives and lastly, is improper use of Adverbs. This application will help the users construct English sentences which are grammatically correct. In this way, the users will learn their mistakes and at the same time, learn how to speak and write in English fluently. The following table gives the percentages of errors found in the surveys conducted. Table 1. Error Percentage SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE Figure 1 Grammar Checker Architecture Figure 1 shows the architecture of the system. It shows the flow of the system and how the system works and also how to gain and give a possible output of the application. Figure 1.2 Voice Recognition In this picture, it shows the stress of the user’s recorded voice and translates it into text. The system will recognize the voice and checks its grammar in the process. After that, the user will now find out his/her mistakes and the system will provide the correct grammar. METHODOLOGY RELATED WORKS Automatic voice recognition has a long history speech processing. Automatic speech recognitioncan bedefinedas the independent, computer-driven transcription of spoken language into readable text in real time (Stuckless, 1994). There is a lot of research has been done for Android applications including Speech Analysis and Natural Language Processing. Voice Recognition today is still improving as additional uses for the technology are developed. The applied voice analysis to conclude activities happened around a user. Voice Recognition Technology can set up to depend on tools known as grammar models that help minimize the data required to recognize the signals. DESIGN AND ALGORITHM ANALYSIS The eCheck: An Android-based English Grammar Checker Using Voice Recognition is designed to guide and help not only Filipino citizens, but also other people that want to learn English fluently and at the same time, improve their English vocabulary and grammar skills. SYSTEM OVERVIEW As stated in this study, the Researchers applied the same basic principles as they have adopted before, however, the Researchers considered a chart to show the flow of the system and to show how our application work. The Researchers also tried to measure the connection of each sentence in the message of the set of categories in our study. Once the grammar checker has been activated, the text which is based on the voice recorded by the user will undergo a number of stages. It is separated into sentences and words. The individual words are then looked up in the dictionary (see Burnage 1990). It includes all the words that occur in the system with all its possible usage. There are some words that are the same, but has a different meaning. In this sense our dictionary is not a simplified type. It is vast but simply a shorter version. CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATIONS The capability and reliability of the Voice Recognition technology have been ever-growing. With more attention and implementation into the world’s most common operating devices, this technology will continue to develop. The Overall evaluation of this application is very helpful, especially to the Filipino citizens. This application can generate data that can give answers to their grammar and speaking concerns, With the advancement of technology, doing a grammar check and spelling is easier than you think. It no longer requires hitting the books and having lots of thesauruses or dictionaries at hand. The Researchers recommend this application for non-native speakers having a hard time in expressing themselves using the English Language.This application can be used for the business and transactions that requires them to speak in English. Because this application can help them to learn more about the English Language by just speaking and by knowing the grammar proper and the right pronunciation of it. There are many features of English that make it fun and interesting to learn. The Researchers also recommend this application to Everyone who wants to learn the proper grammar in English, for them to improve, to gain more knowledge and to fully develop their speaking and also grammar concerns in their own language. By using this application, they are just like having a tutor and a grammar book. The Researchers also recommend that if this study continues to improve, it is needed to be developed and implemented because these tools were made to help native speakers who were not fluent in English language and to discover more about it.

The Central Theme and Symbolism of William Faulkners A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner's central theme in the story "A Rose For Emily" is to let go of the past. The main character in the story, Emily Grierson, has a tendency to cling to the past and has a reluctance to be independent. Faulkner uses symbols throughout the story to cloak an almost allegorical correlation to the reconstruction period of the South. Even these symbols are open to interpretation; they are the heart and soul of the story. With the literal meaning of Faulkner's story implies many different conclusions, it is primarily the psychological and symbolic aspects, which give the story meaning. Miss Emily cannot accept change to any degree. She is unable to ameliorate as the rest of the society does. The Old South is becoming the New South, and yet Emily still has a Negro man helping around the house. Her house "had once been white" and sits on what "had once been" a most select street, however now it is surrounded by cotton gins, garages, and gasoline pumps. This scene creates a sense of the house being "an eyesore among eyesores" (469). Another example of Miss Emily's ability to refuse change is when she does not allow a house number to be placed on her house when the town receives free postal service. Emily's father denies her the freedom to establish relationships with men. In fact, Emily was denied her ?rose.? A rose if often referred to as a symbol of everlasting love between a man and a woman. Since her father denies her the chance to court men, she has no chance to even fall in love. "We had long thought of them as tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the... ...the point where he was inextricable in the bed. ?Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long stand of iron gray hair? (475). Miss Emily has apparently poisoned Homer for fear of him leaving her. She loved him so much, that she would have rather him lay dead in her house than to have a broken-heart. Instead of grieving as a normal person would, Miss Emily turns into a psychotic crazed lover. For many years, Emily must have lain next to him in an embrace. She wanted to preserve her love, and this further proves her unwillingness to change. Work Cited Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature For Composition. 6th Ed. Sylvan Barnet, Burto, Cain, Stubbs, Et. Al. New York: Longman, 2003. 621-631.

Redemption in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Essay -- Christmas

Redemption in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Introduction Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas carol reflecting on the society that he live in the Victoria Era. During the reign of Queen Victoria Britain became one of the most Industrialised countries in European. From Britain Factories, mills, shipyards came products ranging from steam locomotives, to textiles and ship, while coal miners toiled deep below the ground to produce the coal needed to power Britain expanding Industries. During Victorian times there was a serious gap between the rich and poor. Rich people were very wealthy and poor people were living outside on the payments in very poor weathering conditions, also poor people were in poverty. Soon industrialisation began factories started to open, and poor people began to work in factories. Many peasants were paid minimum wages. So many peasants were suffering hardship for example living condition. Living condition during the Victorian Era were very poor they used to work for a long working hour and not get any break or time off at any Time. And Long working hour made poor workers very tired. They would get straight to work as soon as they enter in. Later child labour began. Many children started working in factories. Most of the children were mainly boys rather then grails. Child labour in Victorian England was described as the children chained belted harnessed like dog, and also half naked. Diseases were caught quite a lot during the Victorian times by children who were working in factories and other sorts of places. Charles dickens decided to call his story a song because Christmas was associated with celebrating and singing carols. Everything that’s he wanted to bring ... ... everyone he meets. He visits Fred's house and has a wonderful time at the party. The next morning, Scrooge gets to work early. When Cratchit comes in late, Scrooge pretends to reprimand him, then gives him a raise. Scrooge continues his kindly ways, befriending everyone and becoming a second father to Tiny Tim, who does not die. He never sees the ghosts again, but he keeps the spirit of Christmas alive in his heart as well as anyone. The Conclusion is that scrooge is a miserable miser who cares nothing for other and does not known how to keep Christmas. Consider the matter more carefully, these fire well fed business men certainly know how models of conspicuous consumption. Their charity would reach a handful of people who got out of it a good meal for a day and nothing would alleviate the sources of their poverty and misery for the rest of the years.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay -- John Steinbeck Mice Men Ess

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck John Steinbeck was born on 27 Feb 1902 in Salinas, California, not far from the area where Of Mice and Men is set. He attended Stanford University, but never settled to one area of study and left without obtaining a degree. In his twenties, he pursued a varied working life, including that of an itinerant ranch worker, similar to the characters portrayed in the novel. His early writings had some success, and established him as an author interested in social problems. 'Of Mice and Men' was first published in 1937, and was immediately successful, earning Steinbeck a wide reputation. Steinbeck enjoyed even greater success with the full-length novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. He wrote a number of other novels such as Cannery Row and In Dubious Battle, as well as Short Stories such as The Red Pony and The Pearl. The latter two stories are frequently studied as school texts. However, most critics agree that Steinbeck's later works don't quite match up to his earlier efforts. Nevertheless, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 "...for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humour and a keen social perception.". Steinbeck died 20 Dec 1968. Overall Plot. George and Lennie are two migrant American labourers, who share a dream; that one day they may buy a farm, and Lennie will be able to take care of the rabbits. Although Lennie is physically very strong and has the body of a man, he has the mind of a child. The two men arrive on a ranch near the town of Soledad, where they are about to start work as barley buckers. On arriving there, they meet Candy, an old o... ...il the 'sof' things' that Lennie pets in the novel, showing that the petting grows more serious as the novel goes on. Describe in some detail the incident where Lennie crushes Curley's hand. What does this incident reveal about each of these two characters? While Curley is physically aggressive towards Lennie, his wife is sexually provocative. Show how these two characters create trouble for Lennie, and combine to cause his death. Many people in the novel suffer from disappointment. Choose any three of the following characters and discuss what reasons they have to be disappointed about their life: Crooks - Curley - George - Candy Which character do you feel most sorry for in this story? Explain your choice by referring closely to the events of the novel. Slim is the only character in the novel who is not handicapped in some way. Do you agree?

Behind the Myth of Sisyphus Essay

The philosophical essay of â€Å"The Myth of Sisyphus† by Albert Camus was written in France, in 1942. Obviously during a very historical time of war in which had a lot of people on the edge. The piece of work written was motivated by what Camus thought about the situation during the time; such as suicide, absurdity and happiness. The meaning of life was defined in many different ways, and with that being said Camus had seen so much that he had different values and searched for the truth about life and its purpose, plus what motivated a modest philosopher. Society took this essay as something very absurd and really didn’t know how to react to it but wonder how meaningful is life and what is to be valued and what shouldn’t be. People were on the edge just thinking about these kind of things. Especially during this time people didn’t know what to believe or what to have faith on as well because of the war. Which is why society looked at this as dark comedy and could’ve also been an eye-opener to others as well. Just something to keep their minds off the situation that was occurring. The World War II was happening at the moment and it was a historical disaster for many. When the Germans invaded France, Camus joined the French Resistance. He was in it for four long years and also wrote for a paper so he had to know a lot of information about the war. I am most certain that from the experience having gone through the war made him realize many things about the values of life. â€Å"It was during this period that Camus formalized his philosophy that human life was sacred, no matter how inexplicable existence of life might be.† (Bree). Seeing the death toll from the war any one can see how sacred life is. That is when he gradually started looking into life’s philosophy and he came up with the conclusion that life was absurd. â€Å"[m]isunderstood as a philosophy of hopelessness. Camus did hold  that life was absurd — defying logical explanation, and ultimately irrational. However, Camus considered life valuable and worth defending.† (Bree ). Basically, if you had an explanation and reason to what you were doing in life and if you considered it meaningful, then it was meaningful. Other than that, according to Camus’s philosophy it was absurd. While Camus was arranging and discovering new thoughts about philosophy, he happened to write â€Å"The Myth of Sisyphus†. It was a Greek myth about a man named Sisyphus who was punished to repeat a meaningless task of pushing a rock up a mountain and seeing it roll back down once it reached the top. Why push a rock if it is going to go down again. However, it can be meaningless but only if it was interpreted that way. This essay was written when he came to seek about the meaningless and the absurdity of life. When Camus came to the conclusion whether to find the meaning of life was suicide in a way it contradicted himself. â€Å"Without man the absurd cannot exist.† (Camus). Suicide is way to see how life is valuable but obviously impossible to tell and demonstrated it to others philosophically. â€Å"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.† (Camus). Therefore, suicide is just really an absurd thing to do and impossible to prove the point. That it when Camus came up with the idea that happiness and absurdity are similar. In â€Å"The Myth of Sisyphus†, Sisyphus goes through a struggle pushing the rock but once he reaches the top he is, I believe, happy for having accomplished it. He accomplished pushing it up after such a struggle. â€Å"The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.† (Camus). Even though he was in a bad situation he saw the bright side of it. Either you were happy and realizing there are worst things than pushing a rock up a mountain, or sad because of the good things other people have that you didn’t. However, even though Sisyphus was happy for a moment, Camus thought it was absurd to be happy because Sisyphus knew his fate when he would reach the bottom of the mountain. Camus compared this to real life and it is the same awareness that an absurd man has in his life. The war strongly influenced Camus’s thoughts. â€Å"Historical revolt, rooted in metaphysical revolt, leads to revolutions seeking to eliminate absurdity by using murder as their central tool to take total control over the world.† (Knopf). Philosophically, in the war murdering was eliminating absurdity and thinking that it would get that answer whether life is meaningful or not. Today society believes life is meaningful, however, there are a few who don’t think so and therefore, they come down to committing suicide. That lead to Camus searching to see whether life is meaningful or not. When you discovery that life is meaningless, you can’t unrealized the truth about your life. You can’t go back and live life while ignoring yourself that there is no purpose. Which again leads to suicide, who wouldn’t want if knowing there is nothing for one in life at all. All you can have is hope for another day but even Camus argues that hope is not always a good thing it can also disappoint your expectations. I know it may seem confusing but as Camus believes that even the absurd can’t be understood at times. So even if life is meaningless it is precious! However, one cannot simply judge their own life and assume it is meaningless if you have not experienced everything. You cannot judge whether all you done was good or bad or if that was it in your life. Camus and Nietzsche are both similar in their own ways the only difference is that Nietzsche pursued for the truth about life and that life is meaningful. â€Å"Nietzsche’s point was that be wholly alive means being aware of the negative as of the positive, feeling pain, not shunning any experience, and embracing ‘even in its strangest and hardest problems’.† (Arson). Then that is when Camus seems quite confused because at first he declares that life is meaningless and when he reaches the end he is pretty much concluding â€Å"[t]hat life is to clearly by judged to be better than others†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Arson). Life is purely what we make of it and even Camus states at the very end of â€Å"The Myth of Sisyphus† that â€Å"One must imagine Sisyphus happy.† (Camus). That is why I conclude that Camus was absurd and essentially everyone was too. In all it was an absurd contradiction. The main theme shared thoughtout the course that can relate back and forth is truth and the good and evil. â€Å"Camus mirrors Nietzsche’s own morality when he interrogates God as a moral instance. Both authors seem to start from a  fairly humanistic viewpoint: God is the constructed being, a named abstraction and an uplifted instance to distribute what is morally right and morally wrong.† (Svenja) With that said how are we to judge ourselves to know what is wrong and right and from there on serve a purpose in life? If we judge ourselves to having done something evil we usually feel bad and sometimes do the absurd and commit suicide. But even committing suicide is bad because you will never find out if there was meaning behind the a person’s life. So you can’t even eliminate all the evil from the world.   And if so, you cannot judge a person by their actions but philosophically judged on their intentions. â€Å"[t]hese figures try to re-feel themselves but they can only do so when they accept their fate as their own and not made by society.† (Svenja) In order to actually live life you must accept life and what becomes of it, meaningless or not, life will always be precious! Correspondingly, Camus must face his truth. â€Å"Like Sisyphus, we are our fate, and our frustration is our very life: we can never escape it.† (Satre) As a society that’s why we all must accept the truth in life and that is our fate as well. No matter if it has value, you must continue living, committing suicide is not the answer and by doing so you will prove to others that there can be meaningless lives. You can’t escape it and you can’t be absurd in Camus’s philosophy either. Camus even detects a level of absurdity in Nietzsche’s philosophy as well. Truth is that Camus is absurd, maybe he is searching for meaning of life so much that it becomes irrational. Which in that case leads to him believing about suicide but knew he was never even going to find meaning that way at all. He would be never be able to tell how valuable life is. Therefore, Camus must be happy about life and its meaning so he can actually live life as it is. The only problem philosophers have is that they can never admit that absurdity in their thoughts, so they make a reason and figure out a way out of it. That’s the only way you can actually live life in happiness and still have fate even though you believe there is no meaning behind life. If you search for your meaning in life you will just dedicate all your time doing so, and never actually living life. One must value life day by day. However, in a way I do agree with Camus because if you have fate about the next day being better and then being disappointed about it, it is really saddening. So why have fate when you can just enjoy life as it goes and actually grab a value out of it. Just as  Sisyphus did, when he actually became happy even though his fate was struggling all over again. He valued that he was doing better than other people who were suffering at the same time. I believe that’s how people should be in life, you should always seek out the good in bad situations no matter what. It is the only way people can live in true happiness. Works Cited Arson, Ronald, â€Å"Albert Camus† The Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Spring 2012 Ed. Edward N. Zalta. ed. 2012. Print Brà ©e, Germaine; Camus, (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1959, 1961) Camus, Albert. Myth of Sisyphus. 1942. Print Knopf, A. Alfred. The Rebel: An Essay on Man In Revolt, New York. 1954. Print. Svenja, Schrahe. â€Å"Albert Camus and Friedrich Nietzsche† Albert Camus Society. 2011. Print.

International Corporation Essay

Hard Rock Cafe International founded in 1971, as one of the worldwide entertainment and dining brands, internationally- highly praised music. It has a network of 122 signature Hard Rock Cafes in 41 countries and owns the world’s greatest collection of music memorabilia. Founded by two Americans, Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, they are enterprising and music loving. Peter brought a real understanding of the restaurant business, and Isaac brought many creative attributes and together they made the Hard Rock Cafe (â€Å"The Hard Rock Cafe Story†, 2005). Hard Rock Cafe was an instant classic, entertain and attracting customers with its first-rate, but fairly priced casual American charge, warm service and ever-present rock ‘n’ roll music and sensibility. They offer quality, classic American food in their unique, high-energy, music memorabilia-packed atmosphere. Hard Rock Cafe has finally become the world’s leading collector and exhibitors of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia (â€Å"The Hard Rock Cafe Story†, 2005). Known for its collectible and fashion merchandise, live concerts, Hard Rock Live performance venues, www. hardrock. com and Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos, Hard Rock Cafe International, Inc. is a totally owned subsidiary of London-based The Rank Group Plc. Hard Rock Cafe International provides visitors around the world with a unique experience that combines food and merchandise with the largest collection of rock memorabilia on the world. Hard Rock Cafe has become a global phenomenon. (Adelstein, 1999) People should keep their eye out as Hard Rock Cafe continues to take music into the next millennium, because at Hard Rock, music is truly the universal language. In latest years, Hard Rock has expanded its cafe limitations by reinforcing its â€Å"music connection† through music-related products and programs such as collectible and fashionable Hard Rock Cafe merchandise, the Hard Rock Records music label, www. hardrock. com, Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos, and Hard Rock Live music venues. Not only they can rock hard, they know how to throw a party. Opening celebrations for each new Hard Rock Cafe all around the world are started by live musical performances (â€Å"About Hard Rock cafe†, 2005). Hard Rock Cafe has been governed by a guiding service with law talent and honest philosophy, â€Å"Love All – Serve All. † Means a place where all have always been welcome, in spite of age, sex or class. Hard Rock Cafe remains amazingly faithful to its original intentions. Its rock ‘n’ roll sensibility a Hard Rock Cafe legacy- remains at the very center of all Hard Rock restaurants and every development hard work undertaken by Hard Rock Cafe. Classic American food, served up by a skilled, caring and helpful wait staff, is still the â€Å"order† of the day at Hard Rock Cafe. And a their commitment to widespread humanitarian causes under the banner ‘Save the Planet’- has helped make Hard Rock a legitimate cultural force, from coast to coast, continent to continent (â€Å"The Hard Rock Cafe Story†, 2005). Nowadays, Hard Rock Cafe International, with Hard Rock Cafe at its center, is an entertainment and leisure company that continues to successfully expand the Hard Rock Brand through limitless music-related ventures. Hard Rock Cafe is innovating on a system wide modernization program for the 21st century and adding a new day part, a nightclub with live music. Hard Rock is best known not for its food but for its atmosphere. The cafes ask for donations of music memorabilia and have the world’s largest collection of such. Time after time, their guests have told them that they are looking for an opportunity to make a personal, physical and sometimes even spiritual connection to the music and artists of their time. Then Hard Rock Cafe offer a entertaining, unique and educational look at the evolution of music, that can effects on world events and the emotional appeal and timeless energy as told through priceless memorabilia, interactive displays, educated guides and self-guided tours (â€Å"Hard Rock Cafe Announces Plans†, 2002). For Hard Rock Cafe the biggest challenge facing reputable restaurant chains like theirs is losing their customer. In addition, there have been many new competitors, paying attention by a low cost of livelihood and rising people, offering a comparable dining experience. Moreover, employee turnover has continued to increase. Fighting this situation, Hard Rock Cafe wanted to take improvement of their well-built brand image, combined with excellent customer service and constantly high food quality and to attract more customers from the close region (â€Å"Hard Rock Cafe sets new dining trends†, 2004). At Hard Rock Restaurant, to serves their customer they do not applied manual POS (Point of Sales) systems. The reason why The Hard Rock restaurant is do not make use of manual POS solution because it was based on manual processes, it was inefficient and costly to train new staff— and tracking lost revenue was nearly impossible. Before a new employee was ready to work on the restaurant floor, they have to follow the intensive classroom education for a week. From this activity expected, deliver the new wait-staff and cashiers that enable to memorize extensive information, from standard menu items and services options, to preparation alternatives, pricing details and corporate service policies (â€Å"Hard Rock Cafe sets new dining trends†, 2004). To be confident for the long term, The Hard Rock Cafe management needed to find a way to enhance customer service and reduce the amount of time that customers had to wait for their orders. Moreover, they had to decrease on training costs, as well as organization more-effective profits controls and a process for tracking customer preferences and sales trends to advance productivity. To face a great deal disturbance in the technology industry lately, the restaurant’s major concern in selecting a new POS resolution was dependability. Not just of the restaurant’s new systems, but also of the technology source delivering them. Then they use the new IBM technology-based solution (â€Å"Hard Rock Cafe sets new dining trends†, 2004). Hard Rock Cafe expects a full return on investment (ROI) for the new IBM technology-based solution. ROI expected can reduce the cashier headcount and staff training costs. Hard Rock Cafe wait-staff and cashiers can trust in rapid access to concurrent menu and pricing information to respond quickly to diners, by leveraging new functionality. Besides, human error during the order-entry process has been reduced to nearly nothing, resulting in better consistency, efficiency, and customer satisfaction (â€Å"Hard Rock Cafe sets new dining trends†, 2004). To constrain decision making about promotions, pricing and staffing, Hard Rock Cafe managers can track member of staff and customer activities, enabling the company to collect precious business data. By that method, they can rapidly identify popular items, advantage information to cross-sell extra menu items and track the preferences of common. The customers have seen the new technology and they often comment on the new modern system and Hard Rock Cafe innovative approach to reform the dining experience. This will affect customer faithfulness over the long term by enabling Hard Rock Cafe to leverage unforgettable, first-rate service and the strong brand image to attract a bigger base of both visitor and local customers (â€Å"Hard Rock Cafe sets new dining trends†, 2004). To build financial system work well, strategy for the Hard Rock Cafe are: ? They should fix the infrastructure and the existing corporate systems, ? They must invest in customer-facing programs ? They supposed to provide technologies that will drive traffic to Hard Rock’s website (www. hardrock. com) and from there to the restaurants

Media and Moral Panic

Media is the main revenue of mass communication. The media plays a variety of roles in society; its main responsibility is that of providing information. As constant consumers and users of this information the relevance to the majority of members in the wider community inclusive of teachers and students is critical. The media positions us as the audience to take a particular viewpoint of a topic, issue or problem that is evident in our society.To what extent though does this role as information provider influence moral panic? Moral panic refers to the exaggerated social response to media coverage of a sporadic episode that consequently turns it into a widespread issue and causes colossal concern in society (Cohen, 1987). The media has a tendency to manipulate people by amplifying the facts and truths and using multiple camera techniques to surround a group/individual and outcast them in society, thus labeling them the ‘other’. Othering’ is closely linked to discri mination as it consists of the â€Å"objectification of another person or group† which puts aside and ignores the complexity and subjectivity of the individual/s. Teachers and students must construct their own knowledge about media coverage and understand that at times the media amplifies issues of concern by stereotyping and excluding particular members of society. A certain structure exists in society, if groups/individuals step outside of the boundaries, society categorises them as ‘others’ and excludes them from the majority.After this occurrence there are two options that exist; to either accept the exclusion or conform to societal norms and return to the inclusion. It is vital to understand the effect that bullying, discrimination and the mass media have on these groups/individuals and realise that some students in your classroom may fall under these categories. Therefore it is in our power as teachers, to inform and position students to be critically liter ate consumers of the media, to ensure they are able to bestow a critical perspective towards texts.Due to the fact that the media plays a massive role in students’ everyday lives in the 21st century it is vital that educators engage students in pedagogical experiences that teach them to become critically literate readers. Students could start by developing an understanding of the indicators of moral panic which are: 1. Concern – the issue is at a sensitive level and affects one’s feelings on a personal level. 2. Hostility – increased level of antagonism towards those involved in the threat or panic. 3. Consensus – a general agreement among society that a threat actually exists. . Disproportionality – the problem is exaggerated and amplified to create public concern. 5. Volatility – erupts suddenly and almost as quickly then subsides or disappears. (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 1994). Developing an understanding of these indicators gives studen ts a solid foundation to be able to critically analyse the texts they observe and hear to make an informed decision about the information they are receiving. Students must also have an understanding of the indicators of Disproportionality so they are able to critically analyse the texts they are viewing.They must be able to identify when figures are exaggerated, figures are fabricated altogether, where there are other harmful conditions in society but they are not getting mass coverage and the changes over time (Critcher, 2006). It can have a detrimental effect in students understanding if they are not presented the tools to be critical readers of texts. In conclusion, it is completely important and relevant to teachers and their students to have a critical understanding of the relationship between the media and moral panic because†¦.

To what extent do World Trade Organization rules act as a barrier to international environmental governance?

Introduction The gradual opening of the arteries of world trade through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), while resuscitating international economics and being a symbol of the â€Å"hyperliberalisation† of trade, has been strangling environmental protection (Conca: 2000, Lowenfeld: 2008: O’Neill & Burns: 2005). The need for an effective, robust and objective way to resolve international disputes is arguably, in the light of the relentless and â€Å"inexorable integration of markets, nation-states and technologies to a degree never witnessed before† (Friedman: 1999), stronger than ever and a retreat to the unilateralist ideologies which gave birth to the First World War is almost unthinkable now given our interdependence on each other. The question is can the environment be protected while the aggressive expansion of trade continuesThe birth, by accident, of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1945, was part of an indefatigable drive to combat trade protecti onism, discriminatory trade policies and most significantly armed conflict as a means of resolving disputes in the wake of the second world war (Irwin, Mavroidis & Sykes: 2008, Lowenfeld: 2008, Wilcox: 1949). One of the pronounced goals of trade liberalization is the removal of trade barriers and with the accession of China to the WTO, which replaced the GATT in 1995, the â€Å"hyperliberalisation† of trade is gathering pace with 153 members and 97% of world trade (Conca: 2000, p.484). This unrestricted access, while avowedly positive for economic growth, has been perceived by many commentators as being â€Å"inimical to the quest for global ecological sustainability† as Conca, the most skeptical critic, puts it (Ibid). World Trade Organisation rules have, to a large extent, acted as a barrier to international environmental governance both substantively and procedurally. In terms of the national laws and the WTO, the destabilization of international environmental regi mes and procedural rules the WTO has hindered rather than helped environmental initiatives both nationally and internationally. There have been some signs of progress, however, with a joint report by the United Nations and the WTO in 2010 acknowledging for the first time that some restrictions on the liberalization of trade will be needed to fight climate change (WTO-UNEP Report: 2010) and other commentators discerning a move towards an â€Å"accommodation between the notions of free trade and environmental protection† (O’Neill & Burns: 2005, p.319). It is also vital to note that Conca’s strident objections, while relevant, were written in the year 2000 after just five years of the WTO and therefore omits one important WTO decisions. Nevertheless the author’s biting criticism must be answered and his view is not entirely without justification even in 2012: â€Å"The WTO has proven to be profoundly anti-environmental both procedurally and substantively, handing down environmentally damaging decisions whenever it has had the chance to do so. Fears of a race to a dirty bottom are proving prescient, and optimism that trade rules can be greened from within has waned appreciably† (Conca: 2000, p.484). Part 1:WTO rules and the environment WTO/GATT, national laws and decisionsOne of the central objections to the WTO rules in the sphere of environmental policy is that they, in Conca’s words, â€Å"undercut† national policies (2000, p.486). Erich Vranes adopts more mature terminology for this level of interaction which he labels as â€Å"vertical† as between domestic measures and WTO law (Vranes: 2009). Conca’s objections arise when a national environmental regulation is challenged under WTO rules and, without exception between 1995 and 2000, â€Å"handed down an anti-environmental decision† (Conca: 2000, p.486). There have been six decisions relating to environmental issues under the old GATT regime and just three under the new WTO rules (WTO website: 2012). The case which sparked the hostility to the GATT/WTO regimes is the Tuna/Dolphin case (case 1) where dolphins were being caught in tuna nets and dying unnecessarily in the hunt for tuna (Lowenfe ld: 2008, p.315). The US government sought to ban all tuna imports from Mexico which brought a dispute settlement proceeding under the old GATT rules under article XXIII. America’s defence under article XX (the general exceptions article) was based on the protection of animal life and the â€Å"conservation of exhaustible resources† and proved futile as the Panel found in favour of the Mexicans with the ban on tuna contrary to article XI(1) of the GATT and unjustified by Article XX(b) or (g) (Lowenfeld: 2008, p.317). The other cases under the old GATT regime concerned American taxation on gas guzzling cars brought by the EU in October 1994, the so-called â€Å"son of Tuna/Dolphin† where the EU successfully challenged the Marine Mammal Protection Act in June 1994, the father of the Tuna/Dolphin dispute successfully brought by Canada against the USA in February 1982 and finally two successful cases brought by the US against firstly Thailand for the restriction an d taxation of cigarettes in November 1990 and secondly against Canada regarding the exports of herring and salmon (WTO website: accessed 2012). Conca’s powerful criticism was written only after two WTO decisions on the environment had been handed down and the rules were interpreted narrowly: firstly United States – Standards for reformulated and conventional gasoline in 1996. In this case, brought by Venezuela and Brazil against the US, measures to ensure imported gasoline complied with air quality restrictions were found to be discriminatory although the WTO panel did emphasize that it was America’s discrimination against imports, which were subject to more stringent measures than exports, which crippled their case; not that they didn’t have a defence or indeed a noble cause. Secondly, in a â€Å"strikingly similar† complaint to the tuna/dolphin decision brought in 1998, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand all challenged US legislation which banned all imports of commercial seafood, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, to save turtles instead of dolphins: United States Import Prohibi tion of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products. Although the US lost this case, again by virtue of discriminatory behavior, it is clear that the seeds were sown for a fresh start and as Lowenfeld points out, this appellate decision had â€Å"sought to dampen the conflict between the trade and environment communities† (2008, p.323). Furthermore, had the US not discriminated, then it is certain that they would have won both on imports of gasoline and shrimp and indeed the second decision in the shrimp case confirms this (O’Neill & Burns: 2005) . This analysis leaves just one WTO decision in the 21st century: European Communities — Measures affecting asbestos and asbestos-containing products. In this trailblazing decision, brought in 2001 by Canada against the EC ban on asbestos products, the WTO panel found, affirmed later on appeal, that France was entitled to ban such harmful products under the very provisions so controversial in the tuna/dolphins case: â€Å"†¦the Panel found that the French ban could be justified under Article XX(b). In other words, the measure could be regarded as one which was â€Å"necessary to protect animal, human, plant life or health.† It also met the conditions of the chapeau of Article XX. It therefore ruled in favour of the European Communities. (WTO website: accessed 2012)1.2 International environmental regimesAnother powerful criticism leveled at the WTO rules is the perceived parallel at an international level where Conca discerns a â€Å"WTO-based threat to a broad array of international environment regimes† (Conca: 2000, p.487). This threat, which Vrane labels as being on a â€Å"horizontal† level between WTO law and public international law including treaty agreements (Vrane: 2010), is, according to Conca, brought about because these international environmental regimes often depend on trade related measures for their implementation and observance (2000, p.488). The main p roblems are firstly that the WTO’s existence is having a chilling effect on â€Å"global political imagination† (Ibid). Conca justifiably points out that the 1994 Amendment to the Basel Convention, which sought to ban the trade in hazardous wastes, may well be one of the last to target the trafficking of environmental hazards. The continued political impasse concerning the Kyoto Treaty lends weight to Conca’s observations although perhaps, in light of the global recession, the international environmental arena is anyway sterile (Rajamani: 2008). Secondly Article XI of GATT, which prohibits quantitative import/export restrictions is often cited as being a stumbling block and could well be used as the basis of a WTO challenge against environmental regimes such as the one which exists with respect to logging (Conca: 2000, p.489). This problem is still a hypothetical one but nonetheless is relevant and demonstrates perhaps that the rules have had a â€Å"chilling e ffect† on numerous proposed environmental regimes (O’Neill & Burns: 2005, p.330). Conca cites the example of a new logging regime: which failed to materialize at the Seattle conference (ibid). Finally the Basel Convention on hazardous waste is cited by Conca as a battleground: â€Å"Ineffectiveness and a huge loophole for waste ‘recycling’ kept the waste trade†¦alive, leading a coalition of developing countries and environmental activists to push through the ‘Basel ban’ at a 1994 conference of the parties. The constant threat of a WTO challenge has inhibited the collection of the national ratifications needed for the amendment to enter into force, and undercuts efforts to use the regime†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Conca: 2000, p.489) Part 2: Procedural Rules of the WTO2.1 Burden of proof, precautionary principle and Amicus CuriaeFinally the rules of the WTO themselves have been justifiably seen as stacking the deck against those who are fighting for the environment (Lowenfeld: 2008, p.327). The burden of proof is, as Conca observes, â€Å"squarely on the shoulders of those arguing for environmental precaution† (Conca: 2000, p.485). The presumption of a violation means that â€Å"the Member against whom the complaint has been brought†, will â€Å"rebut the charge† and the party which is asserting the affirmative of a particular claim will bear the burden of proof: a rule which is universal to all disputes and not just the environmental issues (Sebastian: 2010). Lowenfeld also points to the â€Å"precautionary principle† which dictates that: â€Å"†¦uncertainty regarding the adverse environmental effects of an activity should not be a bar to adoption of measures to prohibit or otherwise regulate the activity, but that such uncertainty provides an affirmative justification for adopting such measures† (2008, p.333). The Beef Hormones case is often cited in connection with this embryonic principle. The Appellate Body held here that this principle was not yet part of customary law but that it was commonsense to weigh the â€Å"severity of the danger against the degree of likelihood that the danger would be enhanced by the challenged activity† (Ibid). Lowenfeld suggests that this line of reasoning could lead to the WTO adopting a â€Å"worst- case scenario† argument which would, quite understandably, undermine environmental protection (Ibid). The author concludes by observing: â€Å"†¦the precautionary principle as formulated by the European Community seems too harsh. On the one hand, it is susceptible to misuse for purposes of competition and protection; on the other, it seems both to overestimate and underestimate science† (Ibid at p.334). Further to the burden of proof and the precautionary principle are the Amicus Curiae briefs: the closed door proceedings used to make it difficult for the stakeholders usually so closely intimated with environmental action (charities etc) to participate and are still difficult to surmount. This procedural innovation, which is a creature of statute, has enabled certain organisations to provide opinions to supplement decisions which are often made by lawyers and economists who usually have little knowledge of environmental effects (Conca: 2000, p.485). Those submitting the Amicus Curiae briefs can be WTO members or non-state actors and it is important to note that the acceptance of such briefs is an exercise of discretion on the part of the Panel (Stern: 2006). The fact that such briefs have become more commonplace undoes Conca’s arguments a little but, as noted above, it is ultimately a question of discretion as to whether an organization is allowed to submit such a brief. Wha t is clear is that the complex ways in which ecosystems can be corrupted do not always fit easily into the burden of proof system.2.1 Interpretation of Article XX of GATTThe interpretation of this article is key to much of the criticism of the GATT/WTO. In both Tuna-Dolphin and Shrimp-Turtle cases it has been noticed that these general exceptions to GATT provisions has been interpreted narrowly by both GATT and WTO panels respectively (O’Neill & Burns: 2005, p.325). This narrow interpretation has fuelled a lot of criticism with the panel in Shrimp/Turtle expressly saying that the WTO supports countries who hold such noble goals and that it was because of the US’s discriminatory behavior that they held against the US. As noted above, however, the decision in European Communities — Measures affecting asbestos and asbestos-containing products could be the beginning of a new era of interpreting the exceptions as they relate to environmental protection. Certainly the WTO has been sensitive to the criticism it has received from many quarters about its handling of such cases. Whether Conca’s observation that â€Å"Playing by WTO rules, the first definitive ‘proof’ of harm will often be irreversible ecosystem collapse† is debatable in the current climate and, arguably, about a decade out of touch (2000, p.485). Conclusion In conclusion the rules of the WTO to a large extent are acting as a barrier to international environmental governance. In terms of the undermining of national and international laws, the procedural flaws in terms of the burden of proof, the precautionary principle and the amicus curiae briefs as well as the narrow interpretation of article XX, the WTO has a lot of damage to undo in the coming years. Much has been written on this volatile subject and it is clear that Conca (2000) is the most scathing critic. His polemic is out of date, however, and although many of his conclusions are valid his overriding point, that there is an anti-green agenda in the WTO is slowly being unraveled. Indeed as far back as the 1998 Shrimp-Turtle case it has been discerned by astute commentators like O’Neill and Burns that the decision is a pro-environmental one, albeit resulting in ultimate defeat for the USA. The recent joint UN-WTO report (2010) is an indicator of the direction which the WTO is going in and the most recent case involving environmental action, the EU-Canada Asbestos case, confirms that a broader interpretation of article XX can provide positive environmental results. Perhaps the greening of the WTO has begun and no doubt the scathing criticism of authors like Conca had something to do with their new-found green credentials. A proper reform of the WTO rules is required but perhaps the tide has already turned as Barkin observes: â€Å"†¦the incompatibility between the rules of the international trading regime and the need for responsible management of the global environment is substantially overstated, and that official interpretations of these rules are becoming consistently more environmentally-friendly over time† (Barkin: 2005, p.334). BibliographyJournalsConca, Ken (2000) ‘The WTO and the Undermining of Global Environmental Governance’ Review of International Political Economy 7:3 Autumn pp 484 – 494 Rajamani (2008) ‘From Berlin to Bali and Beyond: Killing Kyoto Softly?’ International & Comparative Law Quarterly 57(4) pp909-9392.0 BooksBarkin, Samuel.J (2005) ‘The Environment, Trade and International Organisations’ in Dauvergne, Peter (ed) Handbook of Global Environmental Politics Edward Elgar Cheltenham Friedman, Thomas (2000) The Lexus and the Olive Tree Anchor Books: UK Irwin, Mavroidis & Sykes (2008) The Genesis of the GATT Cambridge University Press: worldwide Lowenfeld, Andreas F. International Economic Law (2008) (2nd ed) Oxford Uni Press: Oxford, New York. O’Neill, Kate & Burns, C.G William (2005) ‘Trade Liberalization and Global Environmental Governance: the Potential for Conflict’ in Dauvergne, Peter (ed) Handbook of Global Environmental Politics Edward Elgar Cheltenham Sebastian, Thomas (2010) ‘The law of permissible WTO retaliation’ in Bown and Pauwelyn (eds) The Law, Economics and Politics of Retaliation in WTO Dispute settlement: Cambridge University Press: worldwide Stern, Brigitte (2006) ‘The emergence of non-state actors in international commercial disputes through WTO appellate Body case-law’ in Sacerdoti, Yanovich and Bohanes (eds) The WTO at ten: The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System: Cambridge University Press: worldwide Van den Bossche, Peter (2008). The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization, UK: Cambridge University Press Vranes, Erich (2009) Trade and the Environment: Fundamental Issues in International Law, WTO law and Legal Theory Oxford University Press: Oxford3.0 StatuteEndangered Species Act GATT 1947: Articles XXII and XXIII Marine Mammal Protection Act 1972 Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes4.0 WebsitesWTO, ‘WTO and UNEP launch a report explaining for the first time the connections between trade and climate change’, 26 June 2009, Press/559. UNEP issued an identical press release on the same day, available at www.wto.org/english/news.e/pres09_e/pr559_e.htm. WTO website accessed on 2nd February and available from: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/envir_e/envir_e.htm5.0 DecisionsGATT > United States — Taxes on Automobiles, ruling not adopted, circulated on 11 October 1994. Case brought by EU. > United States — Restrictions on Imports of Tuna, â€Å"son of tuna-dolphin†, ruling not adopted, circulated on 16 June 1994. Case brought by EU. > United States — Restrictions on Imports of Tuna, the â€Å"tuna-dolphin† case, ruling not adopted, circulated on 3 September 1991. Case brought by Mexico, etc. > Thailand — Restrictions on the Importation of and Internal Taxes on Cigarettes, ruling adopted on 7 November 1990. Case brought by US. > Canada — Measures Affecting Exports of Unprocessed Herring and Salmon, ruling adopted on 22 March 1988. Case brought by US. > United States — Prohibition of Imports of Tuna and Tuna Products from Canada, ruling adopted on 22 February 1982. Case brought by Canada. WTO > European Communities — Measures affecting asbestos and asbestos-containing products. WTO case No. 135. Ruling adopted on 5 April 2001. Case brought by Canada. > United States — Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products, the â€Å"shrimp-turtle† case. WTO case Nos. 58 and 61. Ruling adopted on 6 November 1998. Case brought by India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand. Recourse to Article 21.5 of the DSU. Ruling adopted on 21 November 2001. Case brought by Malaysia. > United States — Standards for Reformulated and Conventional Gasoline, WTO case Nos. 2 and 4. Ruling adopted on 20 May 1996. Case brought by Venezuela and Brazil.