Natural Resources and Environmental Economics Essay - 2

Natural Resources and Environmental Economics - Essay Example This essay has been aimed at showing the possibility for the economic instruments to work effectively for the minimization of the pesticide water pollution on the local level. While the legal threshold of pesticide residues is equal to 0.1 ÃŽ ¼g/l, 5 to 10% of waters in Belgium, Denmark, the UK and France are found to be contaminated with the levels of pesticides exceeding these limits. As 65% of Europeans use ground waters for drinking, the seriousness of the problem increases and needs expensive treatment. The major impact that is mentioned in the essay is made on the local communities which mostly rely on groundwater supplies. Though there have been shown the disadvantages in the previous policies, the general direction in which the authorities work is correct. There have been shown the possible strategies and recommendations to make this work even more effective. It is suggested by the researcher of the essay that the future work in the area of pesticide pollution is concentrated on the development of the new economic instruments in combination with ecological knowledge. It will also be useful to account the international experience, though any policy should first of all be implemented at the local level. The advantage of the local addressing the issue is in the fact that local authorities are more able to control each polluter separately, which ultimately makes the whole work in the sphere of environment protection at the state level more effective and produces better results.

A Leader Essay Example for Free

A Leader Essay Leaders can be seen in a variety of ways such as a president, a soldier, an athlete. But does a lieutenant only lead his men into combat? Or does a president just send the military off to war in one command? Leadership has a far different meaning than one man giving orders. Being a leader, one must understand that you cannot carry every single thing upon your hands. Sometimes, even a leader can find themselves tied up in a knot and not realizing what they’ve done or are doing. Therefore, in a leadership position there must always contain a group so that way the leader will not rule over everything and actually be seen as an inspiring person; one who sacrifices themselves for others, and one who searches for the best outcome. Throughout my life of experience, I have come across â€Å"leaders and leadership†. There also have been many leaders way before my time came about. For example, somebody like John. F. Kennedy. This man was seen as very inspiring to the American people at the time. His speeches and commitment drove not only the people in the right path but the country as well. Currently, our country is being run by Barak Obama which is actually really good. He is a great example of a leader. He has helped our country in the past few years get a lot out of this huge dept we have and are actually still having. He’s also has helped us with this welfare and also is giving a bit more benefits for illegal immigrants. In addition, the outcome o f his work shall inspire the people of America. Currently my most favorable experience of leadership is actually taking place as we speak. I came across a book by the one and only great baseball player Josh Hamilton. It is called â€Å"Beyond Belief†. Josh Hamilton is a great example as a leader and is a man who inspires many ball players. Although he was drug tested and came out positive for cocaine and also suspended from the major leagues, he fought his way back to where he belonged in the majors. From a very young age he we always seen upon as the leader of the team. At the age of only six years old he obtained the skills to play with the older kids. Even then he was better than the older kids. He was always leading his teams in hits, average, and home runs. He carried this through high school. Although he was doing all these great things at once, being that type of leader is far different from being a leader for the team. He  would always care for his teammates as if they were brothers and always lightened up situati ons when they would be down a couple of runs or lost a game. He would sacrifice himself when needed and was always one for helping out his team before powering his skills onto the field. He was not a selfish person at all and never bragged about anything he did. He did it for the love of the game that he cherished so much. That’s what really defines a true leader. When one does not become selfish and truly believes in the good of things whether it is an athlete or a president. Therefore, the outcome will not only inspire teammates or the people of America, but maybe even inspire them self to do more and be greater. A leader always does what is best for the outcome. Overall for the country, or for their teammate. Within a leader, there is always something unique about them. There are reasons, facts, and details on why they seem so inspiring to many people and that is why they are chosen to be the leader or even simply be seen as a leader. Although a leader may have the drive to do something right it is not always the right or best thing. Groups will play an important role for the leader and back them up with opinions of their own. Furthermore, a leader must play along or they will not be seen as a one who sacrifices or inspires anything. Overall, the true greatness of a leader will only show when one is tested. It really can be at any moment. Josh Hamilton was tested for drugs and came out positive unfortunately. But the real test was whether he would be able to get back on his feet from this. Which in the end he did and fought his way all the way back to the top. Leaders do not vary simply off of how many people know them, how many votes, or how many home runs are hit. They’re leadership shows when they are in the toughest moments that seem they cannot get across but actually can. As long as there is a contained group within leadership, more often than not everything will be fine. Things will not turn into a dictatorship and one man will not lead his team to the world series. Therefore, the group within will help their leader realize what they are doing and they will in fact sacrifice, inspire, and search for the best outcome.

Philosophy Of Quality :: essays research papers

In respect to quality of materials, there are three well known philosophers whom are most referenced: W. Edwards Deming, Philip B. Crosby, and Joseph M. Juran. Throughout the twentieth century, these three men have continuously integrated new systems for improvement in the quality system. The first and probably most well known of these philosophers is W. Edwards Deming. Deming first came into the public eye when he was credited with assisting the Japanese after World War II and helping to elevate the Japanese industry into the forefront of world industry. Deming stresses that the most important part of quality is the role of management. Deming also emphasizes on achieving long term goals through cultural transformation rather then short term needs. Deming’s findings can be viewed best through his “System of Profound Knowledge,'; and his “14 Points of Management.'; While Deming was continually expanding his research, Philip B. Crosby entered the forefront of quality in the 1970’s. Crosby has been a consulter as well as a trainer for many leaders in the manufacturing industries. Like Deming, Crosby also has a “14-Step Pan for Quality Improvement.'; Crosby’s main focus is first evaluate the quality system and make improvements on the current system. Another of Crosby’s main concerns is defects. Crosby emphasizes that the performance standard should be “zero defects.'; The most recent of the philosophers is Joseph M. Juran. In the late 1980’s Juran founded an institute to consult and train management in quality. In addition to Deming, Juran also visited Japan to assist their industry at the end of World War II. Juran’s most famous theory of quality is his “quality trilogy,'; which focuses on planning, control and improvement of the quality system. Although Deming, Crosby, and Juran have never collaborated on their work, many similarities are apart in their beliefs. For example, all three men stress the importance of the management system. Also, they have created step-by-step processes by which industries should follow in order to prove the quality of their products. Another important point which is shared by all three men is that quality should be viewed as an entity. Regardless to the fact that all three have based their lives on the ambitious goal of developing a system to improve quality, there are several key differences exist amidst these three quality experts. First and foremost is their definition of quality. Deming uses statistical predictions, basing his entire view of quality on the quality of the process, not the product whereas Crosby and Juran focus more on the customer.

Character analysis of Curleys wife and Slim. :: English Literature

Character analysis of Curley's wife and Slim. Steinbeck managers to deliver Curley's wife and Slim's description of their characters so clearly because we get told what people think of them but then we get given their clear precise description of them so we can make our judgement of their personality. We first hear about Curley's wife by Candy when he tells George and Lennie. This is a bit of gossip that Candy tells George about Curley's wife and it is also the opinion of most of the ranch workers. Now Candy is a gossip and he wants to tell George and he does it very effectively. Candy makes sure that George is on his side and you can tell that he feels a bit safer when George agrees with him. We are told that Curley's wife is very beautiful and a bit of a flirt when Candy says, 'I seen her give Slim the eye.' 'An' I seen her give Carlson the eye.' Candy's opinion of Curley's wife is emphasized when he says to George, 'Know what I think?' 'Well, I think Curley's married à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a tart' Steinbeck has given us a general Idea about her character but then he builds upon that by introducing her to George and Lennie. As soon as she walks in to the bunkhouse signs start to emerge. Her figure cuts off the sunlight from outside, 'the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off.' This makes the bunkhouse dark and dark is a sign for trouble and evil. Her description is very vivid and mentions the colour red, which is a very symbolised colour. 'She had full, rouged lips' 'Her fingernails were red.' 'She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the instep of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.' Red is a symbol of danger but it can also mean love and passion. Red is also the colour that enrages a bull and since Lennie has been described and related to different animals I think Lennie could be a bull as well. Another detail that is made about Curley's wife is that 'Her voice had a nasal, brittle quality.' This is different to all of her other details because it suggests that she is also very fragile. A clue again relating to her being fragile is when she asks Slim if he has seen Curley. When Slim says that Curley is looking for her she reacts in a way that I think she is scared of Curley, 'She was suddenly apprehensive.' Another aspect that Steinbeck managers to deliver is that she is called Curley's wife

Change over Time: the Americas Essay

The social and economic transformations in the Americas occured as a result of new contacts with Europe and Africa from 1450-1750. Large scale European immigration occured shortly after the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. Immagrants came over to flee from religious persecution, seek economic opprotunities, part of government sponsored attempts to found colonies, or forcibly transported there as slaves or prisoners. As more and more people came to America they brought with them crops, livestock, and diseases. The Columbian exchange greatly affected the American society. It brought with it diseases, crops, and livestock. There were devastating effects of Old World diseases on Native American populations. Infectious diseases, such as smallpox, resulted in the largest death toll in the New World. New foods became staples of human diets and new growing regions opened up for crops. Two of Americas major cash crops, sugar and coffee, come from Africa and Asia. Livestock from the Europe also flourished in the New World. One of Europeans first imports, the horse, changed th lives of many Native American tribes. Trade began to become a big part of life in America. The transatlantic triangular trade operated in the 17th and 18th centuries between West Africa, the Americas, and European colonial powers. The trade represented a profitable enterprise of enslaved Africans. The use of slaves was fundamental to growing the colonial cash crops in the New World. A constant problem in the Americas was the dissagreements between the Natives and the European settlers. The settlers imposed their economic and religious beliefs on the Natives. They often tried to convert them to the European way of living. Europeans took over their land by using their advanced technology and enslaved them as workers or maids on plantations. This led to the constant wars and revolts between these two groups and ended up in many deaths of not only the Natives but the settlers too.

Count Raymond of Toulouse - Crusader

Count Raymond of Toulouse - Crusader Raymond of Toulouse was also known as: Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Raimond de Saint-Gilles, Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, Raymond I of Tripoli, marquis of Provence; also spelled Raymund Raymond of Toulouse was known for: Being the first nobleman to take the cross and lead an army in the First Crusade. Raymond was an important leader of the Crusades armies, and participated in the capture of Antioch and Jerusalem. Occupations: CrusaderMilitary Leader Places of Residence and Influence: FranceThe Latin East Important Dates: Born: c. 1041Antioch captured: June 3, 1098Jerusalem captured: July 15, 1099Died: Feb. 28, 1105 About Raymond of Toulouse: Raymond was born in Toulouse, France, in 1041 or 1042. Upon taking the countship, he began to reassemble his ancestral lands, which had been lost to other families. After 30 years he built up a significant power base in southern France, where he controlled 13 counties. This made him more powerful than the king. A devout Christian, Raymond was a staunch supporter of the papal reform that Pope Gregory VII had initiated and that Urban II continued. He is believed to have fought in the Reconquista in Spain, and may have gone on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When Pope Urban made his call for Crusade in 1095, Raymond was the first leader to take up the cross. Already past 50 and considered elderly, the count left the lands hed so carefully consolidated in the hands of his son and committed to go on a perilous journey to the Holy Land along with his wife. In the Holy Land, Raymond proved to be one of the most effective leaders of the First Crusade. He helped capture Antioch, then led the troops onward to Jerusalem, where he participated in a successful siege yet refused to become king of the vanquished city. Later, Raymond captured Tripoli and built near the city the castle of Mons Peregrinus (Mont-Pà ¨lerin). He died there in February, 1105. Raymond was missing an eye; how he lost it remains a matter of conjecture. More Raymond of Toulouse Resources: Portrait of Raymond of Toulouse Raymond of Toulouse in Print The link below will take you to an online bookstore, where you can find more information about the book to help you get it from your local library. This is provided as a convenience to you; neither Melissa Snell nor About is responsible for any purchases you make through these links.   Raymond IV Count of Toulouseby John Hugh Hill and Laurita Lyttleton Hill Raymond of Toulouse on the Web Raymond IV, of Saint-GillesBrief bio at the Catholic EncyclopediaThe First CrusadeMedieval FranceChronological Index Geographical Index Index by Profession, Achievement, or Role in Society The text of this document is copyright  ©2011-2016 Melissa Snell. You may download or print this document for personal or school use, as long as the URL below is included. Permission is   not  granted to reproduce this document on another website. For publication permission,  please   contact  Melissa Snell. The URL for this document is:http://historymedren.about.com/od/rwho/p/who-raymond-of-toulouse.htm

Racial Disparities in Healthca essays

Racial Disparities in Healthca essays Minorities suffer disproportionately from health disparities and disparities in health care received. The impact of these disparities becomes even more profound when the projected growth of the population of Americans who are minorities are taken into account. African-Americans for example continue to have the highest rates of mortality from heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease and HIV/AIDS than any other U.S. racial or ethnic group. American Indians disproportionately die from diabetes, liver disease and cirrhosis, and unintentional injuries. Hispanic Americans are almost twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to die from diabetes. In addition, some Asian-American subpopulations experience rates of stomach, liver and cervical cancers that are well above the national averages (Collins, Hall, Differences in access to healthcare play a role in these disparities. Hispanics, Asian Americans, American Indians and African-Americans are less likely than whites to have health insurance, have more difficulty getting healthcare, and have fewer choices in where to receive care. Hispanic and African-American patients are also more likely to receive care in hospital emergency rooms, and are less likely than whites to have regular primary care providers (Collins, Hall, National data reveal that over the past fifty years, the health of both minorities and white persons has improved in the United States as evidenced by increases in life expectancy and declines in mortality (National Center for Health Statistics, 2000.) Despite steady improvement in the overall health of the U.S. population, ra...

Explain the circumstances in which rights and Essays

Explain the circumstances in which rights and Essays Explain the circumstances in which rights and Essay Explain the circumstances in which rights and Essay Explain the fortunes in which rights and duties arise or continue after the employment relationship has ended. Explain the historical development of the countries that you choose to discourse. Introduction It is clear that whilst most employment rights and duties arise and apply in relation to the relationship which exists between employer and employee during the period in which the employment contract exists. However, this is by no agency ever the instance, there are state of affairss in which both employers and employees will hold legal duties towards each other after this relationship has ended. It will non be possible to cover all these state of affairss in the undermentioned work, but this essay will dwell in an effort to pull attending foremost to the go oning duties which are of import to the employer, viz. the duty on the employee non to unwrap confidential information gained in the class of their employment. Second it will analyze the duties and rights which are of import to employees. The first of these is with respect to mentions from the former employer the proviso of which may give rise to a claim in civil wrong for the former employee, depending on the fortunes. The 2nd a nd reasonably recent development in relation to employees relates to the anti favoritism statute law. The protection under this statute law now extends to protect employees after the employment contract has ended in certain fortunes. Third the essay will look at some of the procedural rights and duties which arise after the employment contract has ended. In this subdivision I will concentrate on the modified statutory disciplinary and dismissal process and statutory grudge process which come into drama after the employment contract has ended and the duty on the portion of the employer to give grounds for a dismissal after the effectual day of the month of expiration. Competition by Ex-employees In certain fortunes employers can keep the activities of their employees even after the employment contract has ended. The employers will be entitled to protect their legitimate trade involvements in two ways. First they may trust on the responsibility of trueness and fidelity which implies into the employment contract a term of confidentiality which extends to ex-employees. Secondly employers may include a restrictive compact in the employment contract which restrains the employee from transporting out certain activities. Covering chiefly with the responsibility of trueness and fidelity, it seems clear from the instance jurisprudence that the responsibility will merely be invoked if the breach takes topographic point before the employment ceased. [ 1 ] Second the tribunals are more likely to keep the usage of touchable information than intangible information. So for illustration in the instance ofRobb V Green[ 2 ] the ex employee was restrained from utilizing a list of his employer’s clients which he had copied before go forthing his employment for his ain advantage. If the information which the employee is utilizing is non written the tribunals will be loath to keep the employee. [ 3 ] A differentiation will besides be drawn between the employees general cognition and single accomplishment of the employee which he may hold gained in the class of his employment and something which out to be regarded as a trade secret and deserving of protection by the employer. [ 4 ] The instance ofFacenda Chicken Ltd v Fowler [ 1986 ] ICR 297upheld the being of an implied responsibility in relation to utilize and revelation of information, but restricted it to merchandise secrets and specifically distinguished information which had become portion of the employees own accomplishment and cognition. The Court of Appeal in this instance besides drew attending to the inquiry of whether the employer expressed the confidentiality to the employee. This was relevant though non deciding. In the instant instance information associating to gross revenues which the employee attempted to utilize after his employment with them ended, was held non to be a trade secret on the face of it and the emp loyers had non done plenty to show its confidentiality. The information in inquiry need non be complicated and proficient, but it must decently be regarded as confidential. In the instance ofThomas Marshall ( Exports ) Ltd V Guinle[ 5 ] Megarry VC laid out four elements to the trial for confidentiality which are as follows: The proprietor of the information must believe that its information the release of which would be deleterious to the employer or advantage his challengers. The proprietor must believe the information is confidential and non in the public sphere. The above beliefs must be sensible. The information will be judged in the visible radiation of the peculiar industry and trade patterns. One extra point to observe in relation to the implied responsibility of trueness and fidelity is that it has been held that in certain fortunes the public involvement will necessitate that the information in inquiry is disclosed to those who have a proper involvement in having it. [ 6 ] For illustration where the information relates to misbehave on the portion of the employer, the employee will non be restrained from informing the relevant regulative organic structure. In footings of redress, the most appropriate redress for the employer will be an injunction to forestall the employee utilizing confidential information and amendss for breaches of the implied responsibility which the employee has already committed. The 2nd manner in which an duty might originate on the portion of the employee to act in a peculiar manner after employment has ended is if their employment contract contains an express restrictive compact. The fact that the implied responsibility discussed above is comparatively limited in scope means many employers frequently prefer to utilize this signifier of contractual term. However, to be enforceable the term must protect a legitimate concern involvement. It is non possible to expressly forbid competition. Because the clauses seek to curtail the manner in which the ex employee does concern after his employment has ended, the philosophy of restraint of trade will besides use. Therefore the term will be leading facie nothingness and merely enforceable if it’s sensible. It has been held that in this respect it must be sensible in mention to the involvements of the parties concerned or the public â€Å"so framed, so guarded as to afford equal protection to the party in whose favor they are imposed, while at the same time†¦in no manner deleterious to the public.† [ 7 ] The load is on the employer to set up rationality and must be no more than moderately necessary to afford the protection sought. The rationality must be judged at the clip the contract was made. [ 8 ] It will besides be judged on a instance to instance footing with the peculiar trade or concern in head. The length of the restraint and the geographical country which it covers are things which will be taken i nto consideration. There must besides be a legitimate proprietary involvement in the topic of the term. As with the implied term of trueness and fidelity, the employer can non curtail the employee from viing utilizing the cognition and accomplishment with which the employment has equipped him, merely personal cognition of trade secrets or connexions, employees or providers which were acquired from his employers and which may disfavor them. [ 9 ] The tribunals attack to construing these clauses has non ever been consistent. For illustration in the instance ofLittlewoods Organisation Ltd V Harris[ 10 ] Lord Denning took a broad ranging clause which prevented the ex employee working for any rival companies or subordinates throughout the universe and implied into it restricting words so as to curtail it to the portion of the concern which the employer was moderately allowed to protect. However inJA Mont UK Ltd V Mills[ 11 ] the Court of Appeal struck down a clause that prevented the ex employee working for a specific challenger for one twelvemonth. Their logical thinking was that there was â€Å"no effort to explicate the compact so as to concentrate on restraint necessary to guard against possible abuse of the information, the lone legitimate mark for enforcing any restraint on future employment.†[ 12 ] Employers would be good advised to follow a restrictive attack to these compacts as it is non ever clear how generous the tribunals will be in construing clauses which impose duties on the employee after their employment has ended. It does now seem clear that if the terminal of the employee’s contract has come about because of a breach on the portion of the employer, such as unlawful expiration the employer will non be able to implement a restrictive compact restricting the activities of the employee. This was the attack in the early instance ofGeneral Billposting Ltd V Attkinson[ 13 ] . There was some difference amongst the tribunals as to the consequence of a clause which restricted station expiration activities howsoever the expiration came approximately, for illustration â€Å"whether lawful or unlawful† . For a clip the tribunals focused on the specific building of the clause and hence in the instance of a clause such as this the employer would be able to implement it irrespective of a unlawful expiration. However the instance ofRock Refrigeration Ltd V Jones and Seward Refrigeration Ltd[ 14 ] eventually settled the affair in favor of the former attack. There are two chief justifications for this. First, the premature and unlawful expiration of the contract deprived the employee of full consideration in exchange for which he accepted the station expiration restraint. Second, the unlawful renunciation, as unlawful expiration would be, puts an terminal to the full contract and hence releases the employee from any of his duties under it. It may be that the tribunals elect to break up the clause so as to take the offending parts of it and go forthing the remainder in tact. This will merely be done if the portion they are seeking to break up is independent from the remainder of the clause and the remainder of the clause makes sense without it. The tribunals will non compose a new a new compact or change the nature of the understanding. [ 15 ] It is clear so that the tribunals are prepare to accept that certain contractual duties, both implied and expressed, continue or arise after the contract has come to an terminal. They are likely to take a reasonably restrictive attack to how far the antique employee can be restrained in his future employment or trade and they will merely let their activities to be restricted to the extent perfectly necessary to protect their former employer’s involvement. Mentions The proviso of a mention by an employer will evidently take topographic point after the employment contract has come to an terminal. Whilst the employer is under no duty to supply a mention, if he does take to make so there is an duty that it be accurate. If they do non they may go apt in civil wrong to both the subsequent employer who relies on the mention and the topic of the mention. [ 16 ] There are three possible causes of action for the employee. Defamation and malicious falsity are comparatively noncontroversial, but it now seems that the employee may hold a cause of action in negligent misstatement. This relates back to theHedley Byrne and Co v Heller[ 17 ] opinion that recovery can be made for pure economic loss where a particular relationship exists between the parties. With respect to defamation the mention is protected by qualified privilege, since the employer and possible employer have an involvement in it. [ 18 ] However this defense mechanism is lost if it can be shown that the individual giving the mention is motivated by maliciousness. The suspect must hold an honest, positive belief in the truth of what he publishes. If he publishes recklessly will be treated as if he knew it was false. [ 19 ] The employee will non be able to avail himself of this cause of action if he implicitly consented to the publication. In the instance ofFriend v Civil Aviation Authority[ 20 ] the employee accepted a disciplinary codification as portion of his employment contract. It was held that he thereby explicitly consented to the republication of a peculiar ailment as portion of a disciplinary procedure and he could non therefore complain about its republication in a mention. The 2nd cause of action for the employee would be deleterious or malicious falsity. In this instance the employee must demo that the employer made the statements maliciously, meaning them to do him damage. [ 21 ] It needn’t sum to an onslaught on the claimant’s character as with calumny. The tribunals did look to be traveling in the way of accepting that the referee owed a responsibility of attention in carelessness to the employee as the topic of the mention. In the instance ofLawton V BOC Transfield Ltd[ 22 ] Tudor J held that the employee relied on the referee to give an accurate mention and there was sufficient propinquity and foreseeability for a responsibility of attention to originate. The responsibility was to take sensible attention to guarantee that the sentiments stated are based on accurate facts. The House of Lords eventually confirmed this responsibility of attention in the instance ofSpring V Guardian Assurances[ 23 ] . They held that the Hedley Byrne demands were present. Furthermore, they held that the balance of public involvement favoured that a redress in carelessness be available. Whilst the mention is required to be accurate it is non necessary, to get away liability, that it be to the full comprehensive. The responsibility is to take sensible attention non to give deceptive information whether as a consequence of below the belt selective proviso of information or by the inclusion of facts and sentiments in such a mode as to give rise to a misguided illation in the head of a sensible receiver. [ 24 ] If the employer mentions a ailment which has non been brought to the employee’s attending the employer may be in breach of the implied term of trust and assurance. As a consequence of this the employee may be able to claim to hold been constructively dismissed. [ 25 ] The employer is now besides under a responsibility non to know apart against the former employer on the footing of sex, race or disablement. This will be discussed at length in the undermentioned subdivision. In drumhead when the employment relationship comes to an terminal and an employer agrees to supply a mention for the former employee a duty arises to supply and accurate history of the employee. The employee has the option of several causes of action in civil wrong if the employer does non follow with this duty. Post- Employment Discrimination The right on the portion of the employee non to be discriminated against has late been held to outlast the employment contract. This right stems form the anti favoritism statute law, The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 ( SDA ) , The Race Relations Act 1976 ( RRA ) and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 ( DDA ) . The relevant instance wasRelaxion Group plc ( Respondents ) v Rhys-Harper ( FC ) ( Appellant ) , DSouza ( Appellant ) v London Borough of Lambeth ( Respondents ) , Jones ( Appellant ) v 3M Healthcare Limited ( Respondents ) and three other actions( The Relaxion instance ) . These dealt with the inquiry in each of the three Acts consecutively. In order to understand the determination in the Relaxion instance it is necessary to look at the relevant statute law and the history taking up to that determination. The relevant subdivisions of the anti favoritism statute law are as follows: Section 6 ( 2 ) of the SDA 1975 Section 4 ( 2 ) of the RRA 1976 Section 4 ( 2 ) of the DDA 1995 With respect to the SDA and the RRA the employer is prohibited from know aparting against a individual â€Å"employed by him† . The DDA prohibits favoritism against person â€Å"whom he employs† . The inquiry is whether these phrases can be interpreted to widen to actions taken by the employer after the contract of employment has ended, i.e. after the effectual day of the month of expiration. The instance ofAdekeye v Post Office[ 26 ] the Court of Appeal held that the RRA did non use to favoritism which occurred after the employment contract had ended, so an employee who suffered race favoritism during an entreaty against dismissal was non protected by the statute law. The place in relation to arouse favoritism was thought to be the same. However the European Court of Justice held in the instance ofCoote V Granada Hospitality[ 27 ] that the Equal Treatment Directive 76/207 EEC did use to a state of affairs where the employer refused to give the employee a mention because he was know aparting against her on the evidences of sex. When theRhys Harper V Relaxioninstance came to the Court of Appeal the tribunal surprisingly confined Coote to its facts and held that the employer’s refusal to look into a sexual torment claim did non conflict the SDA because it occurred after the employment had ended. The Court of Appeal besides refused to revisit the Adekeye determination in the visible radiation of Coote when the D’Souza instance came before them. The two instances along with a figure of disablement favoritism instances headed by that ofJones v 3M Health Carewent up to the House of Lords and were heard consecutively. The instance hinged on the reading of the three subdivisions notes above. The House held that there was no discernible difference between the three. Lord Hobhouse stated: â€Å"These legislative acts should be read as lending to a developing strategy of anti favoritism jurisprudence and as such the words should non without good ground be given different reading as between one of the legislative acts and another. They are non legislative acts to be officially read with each other, but they are legislative acts which reflect a consistent ( though developing ) legislative policy.† The House held that the statute law could be interpreted to widen past the effectual day of the month of expiration so long as a sufficient connexion could be proved between the post-employment favoritism and the employment. The indispensable logical thinking was that the favoritism statute law applies to the full employment relationship which can go on after the effectual day of the month of expiration of the employment contract. The House of Lords could see non ground to randomly stop the protection of the employee on the effectual day of the month of expiration if they were still holding traffics with the employer stemming from their former employment. It should be noted that the D’Souza instance was still dismissed because it concerned a refusal to re-instate the employee allegedly on prejudiced evidences. The House of Lords held that because re-instatement was a statutory redress provided for unjust dismissal it did non fall within the range of the RRA. Coincidentally, the anti favoritism statute law has undergone a recent inspection and repair in response to the EC Directive on Race Discrimination and Framework Employment. The SDA and RRA Amended Regulation 2003 now explicitly province that favoritism continues to be improper after the employment relationship has ended ‘where the favoritism arises out of and is closely connected to that relationship’ Similar commissariats were incorporated in the amended DDA which came into force in October 2004. It is deserving observing that the RRA ordinances merely apply to favoritism on the evidences of race or cultural or national beginning ( non color or nationality ) which might intend that D’Souza continues to use more widely. The restriction in relation to re instatement is besides likely to last. To reason this subdivision it is now a clearly established rule, whether by instance jurisprudence or statute law implementing EC directives that the employees right non to be discriminated against continues after the official terminal of the employment contract. This is clearly a logical place for the jurisprudence to be in. There can be no sense in taking the protection from the employee on the precise effectual day of the month of expiration when certain parts of the employment relationship continue past this day of the month, for illustration the may wish to appeal against a dismissal or be provided with a mention. If they are non protected from favoritism during these proceedings they may good be loath to take portion in them at some considerable disadvantage to themselves. This would non be a satisfactory province of personal businesss for any anti favoritism undertaking. Some of these post employment procedural affairs will be discussed in more item in the undermentioned subdi vision. Procedural rights and duties which arise and continue post-employment Written Statement of Reasons for Dismissal An employee is entitled to be provided with a written statement of grounds for his dismissal under the Employment Rights Act 1996 s 92 ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) as amended by the Employment Rights ( Dispute Resolution ) Act 1998. The written statement may mention to paperss already given to the employee, but transcripts these paperss must be provided. [ 28 ] The employee must bespeak the statement with 14 yearss of the effectual day of the month of expiration. The employer is non required to supply a written statement of grounds if one is non requested save in two specific fortunes. The first is that the employee was pregnant at the clip of dismissal or on pregnancy leave. The 2nd is that they had taken clip off work because they have late adopted. In those fortunes the employer must supply a written statement of grounds to the employee whether they request one or non. Normally the employee must hold been continuously employed for a twelvemonth to take advantage of this subdivision, but once m ore this does non use to the two classs mentioned above. The punishments for failure are contained in Section 93 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 as amended. If an employer unreasonably fails to supply a statement on petition the Employment Tribunal will do a declaration as to what it finds the employers grounds for dismissal to hold been. If the employer purports to give grounds, but they are unequal or untrue he will be taken to hold failed to supply grounds. They must besides order the employer to pay the equivalent of two hebdomads pay to the employee. Two points can be noted about this subdivision. First, it used to be that the employee had to unreasonably ‘refuse’ to supply a written statement. The word ‘fails’ was introduced in the Trade Union Reform and Employment Act 1993. It clearly provided a wider right to the employee to do usage of subdivision 93 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Second, subdivision 93 is penal in nature and as such the Employment Appeals Tribunal has hence held that it must be stiffly construed. The failure must be unreasonable. [ 29 ] Several rules have been developed around this demand. It will non be considered unreasonable, for illustration, if the employer candidly believes that there has been no dismissal. [ 30 ] It will besides non be unreasonable if the ground the employer gives is candidly what he believes to be the ground for dismissal. The court will non see whether it is a good or a bad ground. [ 31 ] The papers provided must be worded in such a manner that the employee and anyone else who he chooses to demo it to would be able to cognize from reading it why he was dismissed. [ 32 ] The employment court can non hear instances which arise from statements which the employer has voluntarily provided. In instances arisen out of written statements which have been requested the written statement will be admissible as grounds of the grounds for dismissal in any proceedings. [ 33 ] If the employer gives another ground in subsequent judicial proceeding the tribunal can either disregard it and keep the employer to his original statement or handle the statement as traveling to the employer’s credibleness. This in one illustration of a procedural right which arises after the employment contact has ended. Obviously this could non originate before such a clip as it relate specifically to dismissal and arises after the effectual day of the month of expiration. The Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. It is common cognition that in the event of a contemplated dismissal the employer is under an duty to transport out a statutory three phase dismissal and disciplinary process ( DDP ) . The three phases are a statement puting out the employee’s alleged behavior, a meeting to discourse the affair and a right to appeal any subsequent determination. However this process may non be possible if the employment has already come to an terminal. A modified disciplinary process will use in the undermentioned fortunes: The employer dismissed the employee by ground of his or her behavior without notice. The dismissal took topographic point at the clip when the employer became cognizant of the behavior or instantly afterwards. The employer was entitled in the fortunes to disregard the employee without notice. [ 34 ] The Department of Trade and Industry Guidance suggests that this will merely be the instance in a really limited figure of fortunes. It is about ever unjust to summarily disregard an employee without probe, even in the face of evident gross misconduct. The modified process will besides non use where the employee presents their ailment of unjust dismissal before the employer has sent a written statement of evidences for dismissal. [ 35 ] The duty to supply a written statement of evidences for dismissal arises under paragraph 4 of the modified process contained in agenda 2 of the Act. The Disciplinary process will non use in the undermentioned fortunes: One party has sensible evidences for believing that get downing or finishing the process would ensue in a important menace to the party or their belongings or another party or their belongings. The party has been the topic of torment, defined by ordinance 11 ( 4 ) , and has sensible evidences for believing that get downing the DDP would farther the torment. It is non moderately operable to get down to DDP within a sensible period. These exclusions apply every bit to the criterion DDP, but one might conceive of them to be more likely to originate if the employee no longer works for the employer by ground of drumhead dismissal. Similarly there is a modified grudge process which comes into drama after the employee has ceased to be employed. [ 36 ] Efficaciously the modified process removes the demand for a meeting and allows the party to carry on the process by missive. Extra conditions for its application are Either the employer was unaware of the grudge at the clip of expiration or they were cognizant of it but the standard grudge process had non been complete before the expiration. AND The parties agree in composing to utilize the modified process. [ 37 ] In regard of this demand the understanding must associate to a specific grudge, it can non be a cover understanding to cover with all station employment grudges via the modified process. The same exclusions as with the DDP apply and neither the standard nor modified process where it is no longer operable for the ex-employee to compose a missive These modified processs provide utile illustrations of the manner in which some of the procedural demands of employment jurisprudence apply after the employment contract has ended. Decision I would reason by stating first that the affairs discussed above are by no agencies exhaustive of the ways rights and duties arise and continue after the employment contract has come to an terminal. What I hope to hold done is supply some recent and some more historical illustrations to exemplify the fact that in a assortment of fortunes the employment relationship does non come to an terminal at the effectual day of the month of expiration. This is so from both the employer and employees point of position. We have seen that the employee’s duty to keep confidentiality extends past the terminal of the contract for such a clip and in such a manner as is sensible to protect the involvements of the employer. The employer on the other manus is under a responsibility to supply an accurate mention after the employment has ended and continues to be prohibited from know aparting against the former employee during proceedings which arise from the employment, but which take topographic p oint after the effectual day of the month of expiration. Furthermore there are procedural issues which arise after the effectual day of the month of expiration and these have been specifically provided in the employment statute law. Employers and employees likewise would make good to retrieve that their relationship does non come to an immediate arrest at the effectual day of the month of expiration. The relationship implies several rights and duties which continue good after that day of the month. Bibliography Cases Robb V Green [ 1895 ] 2 QB 315 Facenda Chicken Ltd v Fowler [ 1986 ] ICR 297 Hart V Colley ( 1890 ) 59 LJ Ch 355 Printers and Finishers Ltd v Holloway [ 1964 ] 3 All ER 731 Thomas Marshall ( Exports ) Ltd V Guinle[ 1978 ] ICR 905 Gartide V Outman ( 1856 ) 3 Jun NS 39 Littlewoods Organisation Ltd V Harris[ 1977 ] 1 WLR 1472 Nordenfelt V Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Amunition Co [ 1894 ] AC 535 Home Counties Dairies v Skilton [ 1970 ] IWLR 526 Spafax Ltd v Harrison [ 1980 ] IRLR 442 JA Mont UK Ltd V Mills[ 1993 ] IRLR 172 General Billposting Ltd V Attkinson[ 1909 ] AC 188 Rock Refrigeration Ltd V Jones and Seward Refrigeration Ltd[ 1996 ] IRLR 675 Mason v Provident Clothing Co Ltd [ 1913 ] AC 724 Spring V Guardian Assurance [ 1994 ] ICR 596 Hedley Byrne and Co v Heller[ 1964 ] AC 465 Jackson v Happerton ( 1864 ) 16 CB ( NS ) 829 Horrocks V Lowe [ 1975 ] AC 135 Friend v Civil Aviation Authority[ 1998 ] IRLR Ratcliffe V Evans [ 1892 ] 2 QB 524 Lawton V BOC Transfield Ltd[ 1987 ] ICR 7 Kidd V Axa Equity and Law Life Assurance Association plc [ 2000 ] IRLR 301 TSB Bank Ltd v Harris [ 2000 ] IRLR 157 Relaxion Group plc ( Respondents ) v Rhys-Harper ( FC ) ( Appellant ) , DSouza ( Appellant ) v London Borough of Lambeth ( Respondents ) , Jones ( Appellant ) v 3M Healthcare Limited ( Respondents ) and three other actions Adekeye v Post Office [ 1997 ] IRLR 105 CA Coote V Granada Hospitality [ 1999 ] IRLR 452 Gilham V Kent County Council [ 1985 ] ICR 227 Charles Long and Sons Ltd V Aubry [ 1978 ] ICR 168 Brown v Stuart Scott and Co [ 1981 ] ICR 166 Harvard Scientists Ltd V Younghusband [ 1990 ] IRLR 17 Horsley Smith and Sherry ltd 5 Dutton [ 1977 ] IRLR 172 Legislation The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 The Race Relations Act 1976 Disability Discrimination Act 1995 Race Relations Act 1976 ( Amendment ) Regulations 2003 Sex Discrimination Act 1975 ( Amendment ) Regulations 2003 Disability Discrimination Act 1995 ( Amendment ) Regulations 2004 Employment Rights Act 1996 Employment Rights ( Dispute Resolution ) Act 1998 Trade Union Reform and Employment Act 1993 Employment Act 2002 ( Dispute Resolution ) Regulations 2004 Other The Law of Termination of the Contract. Robert Upex 7ThursdayEdition Jordan Publishing ltd 2006 Halsbury’s Laws of England. Employment ( Volume 16 ( 1 ) ( B ) ) Reissue Harvey on Industrial Relations and Employment Law Bulletin of the Commission’s Network of Legal Experts on the Application of Community Law on Equal Treatment. European Commission CE –V/2-03-003-EN-C

The Wonder of Motion Pictures Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Wonder of Motion Pictures - Movie Review Example The opening credits start off in the Locker-room of the Tyrell Corporation during the day with the words, "It's magnified and deeply revealed. Flecks of green and yellow in a field of milky blue. Icy filaments surround the undulating centre," ("Blade Runner" p.1). Interpreting the author's choice of words, the 'field of milky blue' appears to be the sky itself. This description falls within the definition of Mimesis being that it uses descriptive tone to introduce a visual understanding of a scene. While it also fits within the parameters of Diegesis based on telling the reader at the beginning where they are, it uses more of Mimesis. The next paragraph deals more so with verbal choices that give a better sense of the physical environment for which the story is taking place. While there is a continued mention of colour, there is also an addition of 'hard' words to describe the items within the scene. Such as, "The eye is brown in a tiny screen. On the metallic surface below, the words VOIGHT-KAMPFF are finely etched. There's a touch-light panel across the top and on the side of the screen, dial that registers fluctuations of the iris," ("Blade Runner" p.1). ... With that being said, the previous paragraph detailing the milky blue and the flecks of green and yellow, in keeping with the theme of the iris, may actually be tied in together with the description of a human eye. The 'field of a milky blue' would be if one was to look into the eye of a person whose iris was blue. It is common for people to have small particles of a different colour that lies within their eye, so the 'flecks of green and yellow' would be the slight colour imperfections within the eye itself. As the script goes further, the author uses narration to give the story a clean movement from beginning to end. The reader is able to keep in line with how the story is intended to proceed. The frequency of descriptive words plays into the author's narration intent. For a piece of work to be best comprehended and ultimately enjoyed, the narrative has to be at which a clearer picture is given of what it is that is trying to be said in the first place. The following two paragraphs are important to mention, especially in deciphering the intent of their usage, and the meaning of how the author may intend to have the story play out.  

Computer security Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Computer security - Term Paper Example Once, one comes to terms with this astounding fact that then comes in the concept of computer security. Simply speaking the purpose of the computer security is to look to it that the data residing within the computers remains safe and sound. The arrangements for computer security within organizations look to it that no harm gets done to the computers owned by the organizations and the information saved in those computers remains inaccessible to the unwanted people and organizations (Gollmann, 1999, p. 9). Most of the computer security systems have been designed with the help of the logical technologies. The concept of computer security is mostly relevant in the situations where a computer or computers in an organization are connected to other computers and networks with the help of the accompanying networking technologies and services (Gollmann, 1999, p. 10). The primary and essential objective of the computer security is to protect the organizations from unwarranted data loss and th e resultant financial and intellectual losses. The Debilitating Consequences of Data Loss The data saved in the digital hardware and computer networks within corporate and financial organizations could be considered to be the very backbone of these institutions. Any loss to the organizational data in the form of a data theft or a virus threat or say a natural disaster does always have the potential to bring an organization to its knees. Most of the times it is almost impossible to recover the lost data and any recovery if possible is not devoid of a serious threat to the viability of the concerned organization (Vacca, 2009, p. 40). As already said, the businesses in the 21st century are totally digitized and do tend to depend on their hardware and computer networks for survival and sustenance (Vacca, 2009, p. 469). In this very fact lies the very vulnerability of these businesses, which if not safeguarded with the help of proper security, could give way to irretrievable losses and damages. The consequences of a data loss to an organization owing to a lack of computer sec urity or a breach of this security could be manifold. It is not exactly possible to financially quantify the losses owing to data loess, but it would not be wrong to say that such losses at an international scale do run into billions of dollars (Vacca, 2009, p. 136). Research has shown that many companies every year have to contend with data loss, which also includes some of the most reputed companies of the world (Vacca, 2009, p. 136). Many of such companies when struck with a data breach or data losses get immediately shut down and even those which manage to strive, a considerable number have to deal with dire consequences in the following years (Vacca, 2009). Realistically speaking it is not always possible to estimate the losses incurred by a company owing to data loss. In the age of brand considerations and intellectual property, if the impact to the perceptions and views of the customers and trading partners owing to data loss could be considered to be tangible assets, then th e looses to a company owing to loss of sensitive data and information is no doubt invaluable and debilitating. Hence, the biggest loss that an institution, corporation or organization could face owing to data loss

Homeless on Campus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Homeless on Campus - Essay Example The article has discussed the plight of a number of college students who have been rendered homeless. The first one is Aesha who happens to be in her last semester in college. Aesha became homeless after she walked out of the three bedroom apartment that she shared with her son, her son’s father, her mother’s boyfriend as well as her mother. Aesha and her son left the three bedroom apartment mainly because her son’s father became a violent. Physical abuse from a partner is quite devastating both for the victim as well as other close family members that witness. It is even a criminal offence for a person to engage in domestic violence. The physical abuse would not only have caused a direct harm to Aesha but also an indirect harm in her studies as she is a student. It is not possible for any student to juggle family work, school work and an abusive partner. I therefore agree in entirety with the decision that Aesha made of leaving her son’s father. This woul d save both her physical health as well as her emotional health. She will therefore at least be able to concentrate in hers studies despite the homelessness challenges that she might face. After leaving the three bedroom apartment, Aesha was forced to spend her nights in a temporary shelter for one month. This was quite dangerous for the life of her son as well as her. Safety is never guaranteed in temporary shelters in the cities. Her son was also exposed to dangerous conditions in that shelter house as he was likely to catch various diseases like a common cold. The next shelter that Aesha and her son landed in after spending their nights at the shelter house was the emergency assistance unit that was located in the city. The living conditions in this place were equally atrocious as the place was filled with a crowd of people. Sleep was not comfortable at all and benches were used as beds. This would only have aided in causing backaches for the users of those beds. From the article it is also

Community Outreach Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Community Outreach Program - Essay Example There are various avenues available to Coney Island Hospital in its effort to ensure that this program is accessible to all members of the community. The program will require its medical providers to alter their regular treatment schedules in the hospital to go conduct door to door health checks in patients’ home. The providers will begin in areas with low-income people as they are the ones most likely to be affected by diseases due to their inability to afford medical care. In order to do it safely, door-to-door program would better be conducted during morning hours. However, if the hospital is willing to hire night security, night visitations could be carried out as well. The disadvantage of conducting a daytime campaign is the act of having to travel to different residences in order to visit people who may not be home. Night time visitations have the advantage of having the majority of people indoors and therefore more effective. Door to door campaigns are one of the most e ffective methods of reaching out to everyone in the society as they give people or the populace targeted the privacy in their homes. These campaigns are however not cost-effective as extra expenses are incurred when medical personnel are dispatched to go on door-to-door visitations. The transport costs are an added expense which is not the case with in-hospital treatments. This method is also extremely time consuming and will require more than six months to be successfully completed. The source of funding of the program must be considered carefully as it is a crucial for the success of this outreach project. Due to the enormous cost of the program, one option is involving the State of New York to fund the program since it is a community project aimed at benefiting the residents of Coney Island. Moreover, as the services offered at a medical checkup are generally of a basic level, Coney Island Hospital will request medical student volunteers to come and assist in the work as part of their internship program as they get training from their supervisors. The checkups that do not call injections or prescription of medicine can be performed by them upon training thus saving time for senior staff who will do the more sophisticated work. The students should be those of senior level who are already familiar with checkup procedures so that the hospital does not need to invest more funds in training. This will give them an opportunity to acquire hands-on experience as well as add credit to their coursework if the hospital is willing to collaborate with universities from the area or to get staff from the medical reserve corps to

Qatar cinema and film distribution Company Research Paper

Qatar cinema and film distribution Company - Research Paper Example In the year ending 2011, the company realized an increase in revenue through improved sales as compared to 2010 (Kotler, 2009). Its sales improved from QAR 16.28 million of the previous year to 17.30 million Qatari Riyals, though remained a little lower than the QAR 17.33 million of the 2009 (Ehrhardt and Brigham, 2009). Several factors; both micro and macroeconomic factors might have led to this. Macroeconomic Variables Macro-economic variables are the environmental factors that affect the production and income of a business entity. They include variables as inflation, unemployment income, global financial conditions, and industrial production among other factors (Sale, 2006). One of the most notable macroeconomic variables that have continued to influence the company is the global financial conditions (Ehrhardt and Brigham, 2009). During the period of 2008, the company recorded poor sales due to the global financial recession that rocked the whole of the world markets. The company was  not able to import and distribute  (Bricault, Hodgson, and Gulczynska, 1978)  products at affordable  cost  and cost effective.  A number of the companies that it was associated with decreased their production capacity in order to respond to the capital market conditions. When there the rate of production goes down significantly, there is a buildup of pressure for the respective industries to satisfy the larger market. This could be due to high interest rates, global financial problems (Kotler, 2009). The increase in sales in 2009 was due to the reformation that was taking place in the market after the recession. Positive economic growth has also contributed to its continued resilience in the market economy. Industry Analysis The industry has continued to build up because of Qatar’s positive economic growth. The market has been favorable for the company (Ehrhardt and Brigham, 2009). However, challenges like high competition brought in by companies like Jarir marketing company, Saudi hotels and Resort Areas, Al-tayyar travel group, IFA hotels and Resort, Al-Othaim Holding Company, the Saudi Research and marketing group. All these companies produce and engage in almost the same line of business like that of Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Company (Bricault, Hodgson, and Gulczynska, 1978). These alongside the diversification of the market, increases the level of competition the company faces. Market regulations that increase the costs of operation have also contributed to financial challenges the company has faced in the past. However, there are regulations that have sought to expand and protect the local business in relation to the international counterparts have helped the company to stabilize and continue to grow in the competitive environment (Kotler, 2009). The industry enjoys a large market both at the local and international levels. This has enhanced importation and distribution of the cinema and movie distribution. Market Valuat ion Ration Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Co. Benchmark EV/EBITDA next 12 month Company Qatar Cinema and Film ... N/A Pee Qatar Cinema and Film... excluded 52.0 Qatar Cinema and Film ... included 53.0 Sector Film and cinema distribution equipment’s and services (Close) 57.80 S&P 500 16.78 STOXX Europe 600 8.58 Country QAT 6.98 4- Determine the optimal price of the stock, by employing the equation we talked about (constant

Community Outreach Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Community Outreach Program - Essay Example There are various avenues available to Coney Island Hospital in its effort to ensure that this program is accessible to all members of the community. The program will require its medical providers to alter their regular treatment schedules in the hospital to go conduct door to door health checks in patients’ home. The providers will begin in areas with low-income people as they are the ones most likely to be affected by diseases due to their inability to afford medical care. In order to do it safely, door-to-door program would better be conducted during morning hours. However, if the hospital is willing to hire night security, night visitations could be carried out as well. The disadvantage of conducting a daytime campaign is the act of having to travel to different residences in order to visit people who may not be home. Night time visitations have the advantage of having the majority of people indoors and therefore more effective. Door to door campaigns are one of the most e ffective methods of reaching out to everyone in the society as they give people or the populace targeted the privacy in their homes. These campaigns are however not cost-effective as extra expenses are incurred when medical personnel are dispatched to go on door-to-door visitations. The transport costs are an added expense which is not the case with in-hospital treatments. This method is also extremely time consuming and will require more than six months to be successfully completed. The source of funding of the program must be considered carefully as it is a crucial for the success of this outreach project. Due to the enormous cost of the program, one option is involving the State of New York to fund the program since it is a community project aimed at benefiting the residents of Coney Island. Moreover, as the services offered at a medical checkup are generally of a basic level, Coney Island Hospital will request medical student volunteers to come and assist in the work as part of their internship program as they get training from their supervisors. The checkups that do not call injections or prescription of medicine can be performed by them upon training thus saving time for senior staff who will do the more sophisticated work. The students should be those of senior level who are already familiar with checkup procedures so that the hospital does not need to invest more funds in training. This will give them an opportunity to acquire hands-on experience as well as add credit to their coursework if the hospital is willing to collaborate with universities from the area or to get staff from the medical reserve corps to

Small Scale Digital Device Forensics Lab Project Essay

Small Scale Digital Device Forensics Lab Project - Essay Example With all the talks about advancement in phone technology, security remains an integral part of daily requirements as far as the end user is concerned. The smart phone enables this function and allows backups on an external source. Most of the data on your BlackBerry smart phone, including email messages, organizer data, fonts, saved searches, and browser bookmarks, can be backed up and restored using the BlackBerry Desktop Software and your computer. That way you have total access to your files during a failure of the system or theft. To carry out the backup, you ensure your smart phone is connected to the computer using the USB Port. When this is done follower the simple steps: In the applications folder of the computer, select blackberry desktop software. Select the backup icon displayed at the top of the screen. Perform one of the following: 1. Select ‘all data’ to backup all the data on the smart phone 2. ... Finally, select the backup command button Note: With the encryption, you may be prompted to include a password. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Lotus Domino is capable of influencing the performance of the Lotus Domino Server. The leverage ability causes a minimal increase in server versatility as a result of its addition to an existing enterprise. The load associated with enabling mail users in a BlackBerry solution is centralized on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server, using the Domino application programming interface (API), maintains cached sessions with each mail server on which BlackBerry users reside. Because of the nature of the polling model, in which the BlackBerry Enterprise Server opens each user's mailbox to check for new messages at a regular interval, session caching avoids the overhead associated with creating and tearing down a session at each interval. From the Domino mail server's perspective, the activity generated by the BlackB erry Enterprise Server is similar to the activity of an active user or another Domino server accessing it for replication; it is just another Notes Remote Procedures Call (NRPC) session. At each polling interval, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server performs the following steps to check for new messages and, if required, deliver them to the BlackBerry handheld: 1. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server verifies that the mail database has changed since the last polling interval. Using a lightweight API call, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server quickly determines if further analysis of the mail file is required. 2. If the database has changed, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server uses another API call to enumerate all new or modified documents in

Why Cell Phones Should Be Allowed in Schools Essay Example for Free

Why Cell Phones Should Be Allowed in Schools Essay Cellular devices should be allowed to remain on during class time. The primary reason is if a student has an unexpected family emergency, their parent, or guardian should be capable of contacting them. In addition, some students must be able to get a hold of their parents, or friends that drive them home to confirm that they still have a ride, or if sudden adjustments with rides occur. If the students are not allowed to keep their cell phones on and something terribly serious takes place at home, or various other places with family members or friends, the school may perhaps be held responsible for the student not knowing. Cell phones should unquestionably be allowed to stay on in class. Students hold the right to keep their cellular phones on for the entire period of class time. The students are mature enough to uphold their rights as human beings. You take our cell phone liberties away, what other freedoms will strip from us? As American citizens we must come together and protest for our cell phone rights. It is our right and sovereignty to have our cell phones on in class. It is extremely wrong that our school and district requests that we the students be mature adults, although they will not permit us to make the decision if we should be on our cell phones or not. I recognize that numerous students are not grown-up enough to attain having the right to use or cell phones in class. However, that is why we include consequences. There is no equality in confiscating the rights away from those who can handle being a responsible adult because of the few who cannot. The majority of the students can identify when it is an acceptable time to utilize their mobile phones. Works Cited: 1. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3617/is_200402/ai_n9408441

History of the Ancient Olympics

History of the Ancient Olympics The Origins and History of the Ancient Olympics Introduction The first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 B.C and were celebrated until 393 A.D (Young, 1987). The Games continued for twelve centuries and were dedicated to Olympian gods. Olympia became the site of these historic ancient games that sowed the seeds for the most coveted sporting international event of modern times, the Modern Olympics. The site of the Ancient Olympics is located in the western part of Peloponnese. According to Greek mythology, Peloponnese is the island of Pelops, the Founder of the Olympic Games (Young, 1987). Olympia, in Greece is the sanctuary site for the ancient Greek gods. The central part of Olympia was dominated by the majestic temple of Zeus. The ancient games enjoyed a secular tradition and aimed at securing good relations between the cities of Greece and showing physical qualities and evolution of the performances accomplished by the youth. The Olympic Games were held in four years intervals at the ancient stadium in Olympia that could accommodate more than 40,000 spectators. The surrounding areas around the ancient Olympic stadium were continuously developed until the 4th century BC and were used as training grounds for athletes or to serve as homes for the Olympic judges (Young, 1987). The Ancient Olympics allowed only free men who spoke Greek to participate in the Games. The ancient games had a slight international spirit as they included participants from other parts of Greece. The Greeks that came to the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia shared the same religious beliefs and spoke the same language. The athletes were all male citizens of the city-states from every corner of the Greek world, coming from as far away as Iberia (Spain) in the west and the Black Sea (Turkey) in the east (Reeser, 2005) In the ancient Olympics, married women were not allowed to participate in any way. However unmarried women could only spectate. The ancient Olympic Games though did not allow female participants; an exception was made at the Herean Games, staged every four years to honour Hera, wife of Zeus, allowing female athletes to participate in the games. Kyniska, daughter of King Archidamos of Sparta, was the first woman to be listed as an Olympic victor in Antiquity. The events were judged by the Herald, a Hellanodikis (Greek Judge). The Olympic victors in ancient times received their awards immediately after the competition. The Herald, after announcing the name of the victor, placed a palm branch in his hands. Red ribbons were tied on his head and hands to symbolize his victory. The official award ceremony that took place on the last day of the Games was a proud day for the victor. From the elevated vestibule of the temple of Zeus, the Herald announced the name of the winner, his fathers na me and the name of his homeland. The winner was finally honoured with the Herald placing the sacred olive tree wreath or kotinos on the winners head (Reeser, 2005). The Olympic Games, originally created to honour Zeus, was the most important national festival of the ancient Greeks, and a focus of political rivalries between the nation-states. However, all competitions involved individual competitors rather than teams. Winning an Olympic contest was regarded more highly than winning a battle and was proof of an individual athletes personal excellence. The winners were presented with garlands, crowned with olive wreaths, and viewed as national heroes (Young, 1987). Although records of the Olympics date back to 776 BC when the Olympics were reorganized and the official First Olympiad was held, Homers Iliad suggests that they existed as early as the 12th century BC. Emperor Theodosius I of Rome discontinued them in the 4th century AD, and they did not occur again until they were reinstated in Athens in 1896 (Young, 1987). Originally, the Olympics was confined to running, but by the 15th Olympiad, additional sports were added, such as the pentathlon which was made up of five different events, boxing, wrestling, chariot racing, as well as a variety of foot races of varying lengths, including a long-distance race of approximately 2.5 miles. Athletes usually competed without clothes proudly displaying their perfect bodies. Women, foreigners, slaves, and dishonoured persons were forbidden to compete; women, once they were married, were not allowed to spectate any Olympic events, except for chariot races (Reeser, 2005). The actual events taking place have changed significantly since the Ancient Olympics. Evidence shown in pictures, dating from circa 490-480 BC, depicts two men wrestling. Above them hang a discus in its bag and a pair of jumping weights called halteres. Long jumpers used the weights to increase their competition distances by vigorously swinging them forward at the moment of takeoff. The coach or trainer stands to the left of the wrestlers, leaning on his staff and holding a long forked branch. (Rhizopoulou, 2004). The ancient Olympic Games began in the year 776 BC, when Koroibos, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, won the stadium race, a foot race 600 feet long. According to (Wei, 1996), this was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic festivals or until 724 BC. From 776 BC, the Games were held in Olympia every four years for almost 12 centuries (Young, 1987). The marathon was not an event of the ancient Olympic Games. The marathon is a modern event that was first introduced in the Modern Olympic Games of 1896 in Athens, a race from the northeast of Athens to the Olympic Stadium and the athlete had to complete over a distance of 40 kilometres. The race commemorates the run of Pheidippides, an ancient day-runner who carried the news of the Persian landing at Marathon of 490 B.C. to Sparta (a distance of 149 miles) in order to enlist help for the battle. According to (finely, 1976) during the fifth century B.C. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, Pheidippides delivered the news to the Spartans the next day. The distance of the modern marathon was standardized as 26 miles 385 yards or 42.195 km. in 1908 when the Olympic Games were held in London. The distance was the exact measurement between Windsor Castle, the start of the race, and the finish line inside White City Stadium (Wei, 1996). Although the ancient Games were staged in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC through 393 AD, it took 1503 years for the Olympics to return. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who presented the idea in 1894. His original thought was to unveil the modern Games in 1900 in his native Paris, but delegates from 34 countries were so enthralled with the concept that they convinced him to move the Games up to 1896 and have Athens serve as the first host (Wei, 1996). The idea of the Olympic torch or Olympic Flame was first inaugurated in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. There was no torch relay in the ancient Olympic Games. There were known, however, torch relays in other ancient Greek athletic festivals including those held at Athens. The modern Olympic torch relay was first took place at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The Modern Olympic flag of five linked rings, each with a primary colour used in the flags of the nations competing in the games, was introduced in 1908. There is no ancient basis for this modern symbol (Rhizopoulou, 2004). THE POLITICS OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES The celebration of the Olympic Games in antiquity was an occasion for citizens of scattered Greek city-states to assemble. At the Games they discussed important political issues, celebrated common military victories and even formed political and military alliances. But the Games were not only a forum in which to discuss political events; they were also the cause of political conflict. Control of the Sanctuary and the Games brought with it prestige, economic advantages and, most importantly, political influence. As early as the 7th century BC we hear of disputes over the control of the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia between the city of Elis (30 miles to the north) and the small neighbouring town of Pisa (Wei, 1996). In 668 BC, according to Pausanias (a 2nd century AD Greek traveller), the powerful tyrant of Argos (named Pheidon) was asked by the town of Pisa to capture the Sanctuary of Zeus from the city-state of Elis. Pheidon, with his army of well-trained hoplites (armed soldiers), marched across the Peloponnesos, secured the Sanctuary for the town of Pisa, and personally presided over the conduct of the games. But Pisas control of the Sanctuary was brief: by the next year Elis had regained control (Fineley, 1976). The Olympic Truce was instituted by the city-state of Elis to protect against military incursions which interrupted the Games. Every four years, special heralds from Elis were sent out to all corners of the Greek world to announce the approaching Olympic festival and games. Along with this news, they would announce the Olympic Truce, which protected athletes, visitors, spectators and official embassies who came to the festival from becoming involved in local conflicts. Later, political tyrants of the 7th and 6th centuries BC attempted to achieve influence by more peaceful means. They participated in the athletic and equestrian contests of the Olympic Games and dedicated conspicuously lavish offerings to Olympian Zeus at the site of the games (Finley, 1976). Nowadays there is a strong connection between salesmanship and sports and some would even say that the line between sales pitching and fast pitches has become completely blurred. At Olympic competitions, athletes uniforms and equipment bear the discreet but readily identifiable trademarks of their manufacturers. After the Games, we are presented with images of Olympians endorsing products and appearing on cereal boxes. Later, some Olympic celebrities become commodities themselves, as TV shows and record labels cash in on their fame (Wei, 1996). Even in the Ancient Olympics, the victorious athletes were still celebrated and became famous for their outstanding abilities and achievements. Sculptors were commissioned to create statues of victorious athletes to be set up in the Sanctuary or in the home town of the athlete. According to Pliny, most of the statues set up in the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia were idealistic images of athletes. We are told that only if an athlete had won three Olympic victories could a realistic likeness of the athlete appear in the Sanctuary. In the Ancient Olympics, if an athlete was found guilty of cheating or bribing officials, they would be subjected to some form of public humiliation. For example if athletes were found guilty of cheating the they were made to created statues of the eventual champions which were placed in stadium so that people could celebrate them (Rhizopoulou , 2004). THE MODERN OLYMPICS Todays Modern Olympic Games have 32 different categories of competitive events. When you consider that of these many, like track and field, have several events within the category and then break down further to mens and womens and team and individual competition, it is nearly impossible to keep track of the Games as they progress. Things were much simpler in the past. The Ancient Olympics had 13 events which were divided into 6 main categories and only men were allowed to participate in the events (Vassill, 2004). The main categories were boxing, equestrian events, pentathlon, running and jumping. The Equestrian events were broken down into two sub-categories: chariot racing and riding. The Pentathlon was a combination of five events: discus, javelin, jump, running, and wrestling (Crowther, 1996). Boxing in ancient Greece had fewer rules than boxing today. There were no rounds and boxers fought until one of them was knocked out, or admitted he had been beaten. There was no rule that prevented a boxer from hitting an opponent when he was down. There was no weight class in either the mens or boys divisions and the contestants were chosen randomly. The boxers did not wear gloves but wrapped their hands and wrists with leather straps called himantes.and this meant that their fingers were left free (Vassill, 2004). Equestrian events were divided into classes of chariot racing and riding. The chariot races consisted of both the 2-horse chariot and the 4-horse chariot and there were separate races for chariots drawn by foals. There was a race of carts included in this event that consisted of competition between carts drawn by teams of 2 mules. The length of the chariot races was 12 laps around the stadium track which was approximately 9 miles (Vassill, 2004). Riding was the other equestrian event and the course was 6 laps around the stadium track which equaled 4.5 miles. The jockeys rode without stirrups and the races were broken down into competition between foals and full-grown horses. Because it was so expensive to train, feed and equip the participants the owners were awarded the olive wreath of victory instead of the riders (Wei, 1996). The most physical event of the Ancient Olympic Games was the pankration. This grueling event consisted of both boxing and wrestling. The hands were not wrapped in the leather himantes. The only limitations on physical brutality were the rules against biting and gouging the opponents eyes, nose, or mouth with fingernails. Kicking in any part of the body was allowed. There were separate divisions for men and boys, but like in boxing there was no weight division and the opponents were chosen at random (Vassill, 2004). The pentathlon, like the modern event, consisted of a 5-event combination. The 5 events of the Ancient Olympic Games were discus, javelin, jumping, running and wrestling. The Greeks considered this the most beautiful of the contests as it combined the endurance of the race course and the bodily strength necessary for the other physical events. The discus was made out of either of iron, stone, bronze, or leads and was shaped to resemble the discus of today. The sizes varied and the boys competed with a lighter weight than the men. The ancient Greeks thought the precision and rhythm of an athlete throwing the discus as important as his strength (Wei, 1996). The javelin was a throwing event as in the modern games and like the discus the competition was based on the distance the object was thrown and in the case of the javelin the precision. The javelin was made of wood, with either a sharpened end or an attached metal point. The javelin had a thong for the throwersfingers that was attached close to the center of gravity of the instrument that increased the precision and distance of the throw (Wei, 1996). The jump event was similar to the modern long jump but with a major exception. The jumpers carried stone or lead weights called halteres. These weights, shaped like telephone receivers, were carried out in front of the jumper when they jumped the weights were thrust backward and dropped during the descent to increase the distance of the jump (Fineley , 1976). Running was broken down into 4 types of races in the Ancient Olympic Games. The stadion was the oldest of the events and consisted of a sprint covering one stade (192 meters) which was the length of the stadium. Other races were the 2-stade race and the long distance runranged from 7 to 24 stades. The most grueling of the races was the warrior race designed to build and test the speed and stamina Greek men needed for military service. The race was 2 to 4-stades in distance and was run by an athlete wearing armor. The standard armor of that time weighed approximately 50-60 pounds and of course included a helmet and shield (Fineley, 1976). Wrestling was similar to the modern sport in that the athlete was required to throw his opponent to the ground landing on a hip, shoulder, or back for a fair fall. To win a match required 3 fair falls or throws. Genital holds and biting were not allowed and breaking your opponents fingers was also not permitted (Vassill, 2004). The art and sculpture of ancient Greece is alive with the depictions of the Olympics and the events described in this article. One can feel the excitement and spirit of the Ancient Olympic Games in that art. In modern games the spirit of the Olympism of old is recreated in the ceremonies and competitiveness of the event (Fineley, 1976) In conclusion the Ancient Olympics were held to honour Zeus. There were 13 events in the Ancient Olympics compared to the 32 events in the modern Olympics. Most of the events that were held at the Ancient Olympics are still part of the modern day Olympics. In the ancient Olympics only men were allowed to compete whereas nowadays men and women are allowed to compete in all of the events. The athlete who won gold medals at the Ancient Olympics had sculptures with their picture on them so that people could celebrate their victory. Nowadays, there are some traditions that are still valued and for many athletes, winning an Olympic gold medal is still the main highlight of their career. Reference Page Crowther, N, (1996), athlete and state: qualifying for the Olympics games in ancient Greece, journal of sport history, 41 800-688 Finley, I, (1976), Olympic Games the first thousand years, London, Chatto Windus. Reese, J, C, (2005) Gender identity and sport: is the playing field level, Journal of Sports Medline, 39 695-699 Rhizopoulou, S, (2004), Symbolic plant (s) of the Olympic Games Journal of Experimental Botany, 46, 620-588 Vassill, G, (2004).The Olympic Games explained a student guide to the evolution of the modern Olympic Games, London, Routledge. Wei, Y, (1996), The Olympic image the first 100 years, Edmonton, Alberta, QuonEditions. Young, D, (1987), The origins of the modern Olympics a new version, International Journal of the History of Sport, 39 695-699

Essay --

Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite and Internet Explorer web browser. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies. Microsoft dominated the personal computer operating system market, until the early 2000 when Apple, Google, and Facebook came about. (Microsoft) This is when the company started to lose its credibility. In December of 2008 Microsoft decided to kill off Windows Mobile because it couldn’t compete with the iPhone and Android. They decided instead to develop Windows Phone a completely new mobile operating system. In October of 2010 Microsoft's first phones running Windows Phone was established, but the sales were low. The company was not coming up with a firm product to successfully sell to the consumer because it was not meeting the wants and need of them as well. Microsoft had to find a way to boost sales. Microsoft later decides to buy Nokia cell phone business for 5.4 billion euros or $7.2 billion. The two companies have had a development agreement since 2011. The combination of the two companies would help increase their sales on the Window Phones. Microsoft CEO said, â€Å"Clearly, greater success with phones will strengthen the overall opportunity for us and our partners to deliver on our strategy to create a family of devices and services for individuals and business.â⠂¬  (Zeman) Microsoft was determined to increase its strengths ... ... smartphone. The company has improved increasingly because the combination with the Nokia company. Away to insure that the company can stay on top is to increase the innovations to their devices. Nokia was once a mobile telephone powerhouse, but has struggled since smartphones hit the market. As part of Microsoft, it will have better footing to compete there, however Ballmer noted that Nokia remains a leader in non-smart with phones sold in developing regions. The company’s ultimate goal is growth for the platform. After years trying to regain relevance in the mobile industry, Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system narrowly nudged ahead of theird-place BlackBerry in global smartphone shipments, now sitting somewhere in the neighborhood of five percent globally. In the end Microsoft has accomplished their goal as a company and plans to stay there for a while.

The Change of Baseball Over the Years Essay -- Baseball Sports Athleti

From the sandlot to stadiums seating over fifty thousand people, the game of baseball has provided people of all ages with a common foundation; a sport we can all call our national pastime. Though its concept sounds simple, a game using a ball and a bat, millions of people all over the world have sought involvement in it by either playing at some level, or just sitting back and watching a game. With professional baseball attracting more and more fans each season, no one knows what limits this sport can reach. For the time being though, it has been a real "home run." Like any other sport, baseball developed over an extended period of time spanning way back to the 1600’s. The first evidence of the sport was a game called rounders, which was played in England (Lewine 27). Players hit a ball with a bat, which is parallel to today’s game, but the method’s to how the defense put the runners out was the big difference. Similar to dodge ball, an infielder or outfielder had to throw the ball at the runners. If the ball hit a runner who was off base, he was out. This formula was called plugging and soon after, its popularity ceased as did the game’s (29). Soon after, a transition occurred and the name rounders changed to town ball and then to Massachusetts’s game, and finally the name baseball, developed by American colonists, stuck. Rules did change over the period of them the names did, such as the number of players, distance between bases and etc. Around 1840, the Americans solidified the rules and rounders had become baseball. Even with evidence that baseball developed from rounders, it is believed that a United States Army general named Abner Doubleday invented the sport in Cooperstown, New York, current home of the Hall of Fame (30). After many disputes, Albert Spalding, a sporting-goods manufacturer and player of baseball, decided to have a commission decide who originated the game. In 1908, the commission credited Doubleday with creating the game and it was based on a letter from Abner Graves, a friend of Doubleday’s. In this document, Graves stated that he had been present as Doubleday conceptualized the game in 1839 (30). As a result of this decision, historians research concluded that Doubleday had little to do with the discovery of baseball and his friend Graves described plugging in the letter, that being a major fundamental in rou... ...ood as a record for 38 years until these two men belted 70 and 66 home runs respectively. Can this major record-breaking predict what professional baseball players have to offer us in the future? Well, we can safely assume that baseball into the new millenium can only bring us the same excitement that it has for the past hundred or so years. After all, it is still designated as our national pastime. For centuries, baseball has changed drastically whether it be the players, teams, records, and all the like. While all things change though, and as it is stated "the only thing that is constant is change," one thing has remained the same throughout its duration as one of the major sports (McCarver 209). It has united people in times of good and bad, and for that reason was coined our national pastime. You can find thousands of kids each Saturday during the spring at little league games. You can see a stickball game proceeding at a local park. You can even sit in an air-conditioned room in front of the television watching the "Game of the Week." With the millions of people involved in baseball in some way or another, there is no wonder why it is called our national pastime.

Superhero and Comic Book

Superhero By Numbers – Lisa Watson and Phil Stocks January 29, 2009 by angelan Abstract: This paper reports on results of a statistical analysis correlating superhero characteristics such as powers, motivations, weaknesses, and costumes with commercial viability as represented by comic book sales and number of appearances in new media such as cinema and television. Results indicate that features of a character have little impact in the comic book market, and that new media trends support a move away from god-like, untouchable heroes to heroes displaying more human frailties and highly visual super abilities.Introduction The superhero is an ingrained part of popular culture that has seen resurgence in the last decade through the introduction of prominent characters to new audiences through expanded media. There was a time when superheroes were entrenched firmly in the comic book medium. However, advances in technology and changes in distribution channels have changed the superh ero industry considerably. With comic books barely achieving a fraction of early sales volumes, publishers are trying to revive their comic book heroes by taking them from the â€Å"Silver Age† to the silver screen and other fora.However, with greatly advanced media come great financial risks. In order to secure their investments, the sponsors of these types of ventures must have a solid understanding of the modern superhero audience and what it is looking for in an iconic protagonist. Heroes and villains express cultural values regarding what society reveres as admirable and fears as deviant (Klapp 1962). Bradford Wright’s (2001) book â€Å"Comic Book Nation† outlines the evolution of comic book stories and characters mimicking cultural change; however, this discussion was done retrospectively (as were others).These types of observations tell us that what was popular during the golden age of comic book heroes will surely not be desirable in today’s socie ty. It would be useful if publishers were able to determine what readers are drawn to now so that they might better meet the demands of this generation of reader. Empirically studying the popular appeal of superhero traits can give us insight into our society and trends within its development. What makes a character popular or prominent as we enter the Aquarian age? How important is boundless virtue or courage in the face of insurmountable odds?How relevant is the softer, vulnerable side of a character? Do readers have preferred super powers? Is an Achilles’ heel necessary? Moreover, what characteristics are enduring? Answers to these sorts of questions should provide the insights that will tell companies which avenues should prove the most lucrative and least risky to pursue in bringing superheroes back to the masses. The aim of this study is to analyse trends in superhero characteristics empirically in order to establish current popular superhero traits.Following standard p ractice for writing academic articles in the applied social science of marketing, study findings are then used to develop a series of managerial implications for businesses. In this instance, findings may be used to reduce risk in choosing existing heroes to introduce to modern audiences, or to create a new breed of hero that is better able to reach the target readers, viewers and players of the future. Literature Review Superheroes made inroads into popular culture in the 1930s at newsstands around America.The â€Å"Golden Age† of comics set a precedent of seemingly indestructible superheroes who held secret identities and were dedicated to upholding truth and justice (Bongco, 2000). After struggling to maintain reader interest through the early 1950? s, the â€Å"Silver Age† of comics saw revamping and reintroduction of characters thought to be buried deep in the archives at the Hall of Justice, this time bringing some more human qualities to the fore. Now, â€Å"wh en you think of Superman, you most likely think of the Superman that was in vogue when you were a child.There’s been a Superman for every decade since the character was created† (Fingeroth, 2004, p. 20). Even today, one man’s Dark Knight is not necessarily another boy’s Batman. The eighties and nineties saw a bold break from tradition as comic publishers started directly targeting more mature readership by introducing not just human struggles within the characters, but hints of amoral and anti-heroic tendencies as well (Bongco, 2000). Do superhero fans of today prefer the altruistic heroes of yesteryear like Spiderman, the bad-boy good guys like Wolverine, or looking into the darkest depths of the Dark Knight?The comic book companies that own our superheroes have used in-your-face tactics to increase sales figures before. The Justice League of America and The Avengers were, after all, â€Å"the fictional result of the real world commercial desire to gathe r the company’s most popular heroes into one magazine or animated series† (Fingeroth, 2004, p. 104). However, when companies are betting multi-billion dollar budgets on public interest in particular superheroes, they should be sure they are choosing wisely. Only the most popular of the comic book superheroes can make it to the silver screen or video game monitor.Which character is the right one? Which iteration is the right one? Or should we abandon our superheroes of yesteryear and create new ones, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, exclusively through new media to show us the way? It is impossible to have a discussion of superheroes without the issue of gender being raised. Superwomen generally are parts of super teams rather than stand alone characters, and often they are in relationships with male counterparts. However, both partners need not be super, and significant others can be used as plot devices in stories.Therefore, it is worth exploring whether being in these s orts of relationships increases a character’s popularity. What do we look for in our superheroes? Kevin Smith (2003) has a simple view: â€Å"altruism and clothes† (p. unknown). On a more serious note, Fingeroth (2004) asserts that strength of character, positive values, and a determination to protect them start the list. So what separates superheroes from our other heroes? Bongco (2000) offers a costumed, secret identity (p. 102). Fingeroth (2004) argues that they have to possess skills and abilities that normal humans do not.Physical, mental and sensory attributes may be heightened. They may have superhuman powers that can range from magical gifts, to scientifically engineered mutations, to high-tech equipment or weaponry combined with an inexplicable ability to walk away from every battle unscathed. But most importantly, they always have to win in the end. By considering a wide range of these characteristics, we hope to be able to determine which combinations of the se characteristics are related to commercial success in a modern market. Method A database of superheroes was constructed incorporating a wide range of superhero characteristics.The purpose of this article is to determine what characteristics are most popular and commercially viable in today’s market. Marvel and DC Comics make up two thirds of the comic book market; thus it was decided that limiting characters to those in these comics would not be detrimental to sampling frame representativeness. An initial breakdown of character attributes and super abilities, including numerical rankings, was derived from information from fantasy role-playing games written for the Marvel and DC universes, specifically Marvel Super Heroes by TSR, Inc. , and DC Heroes by Mayfair Games.Independent variables included attributes and powers listed in the role playing games, as well as variables for their secret identities, weaknesses, motivations, costumes, significant others, and whether they ar e human, not human or mutant. The Marvel Super Heroes template and numeric scale was used and DC characters were translated from the DC Heroes system into the Marvel one. Both systems relate their numeric rankings to feats accomplishable in real-world terms (e. g. , able to lift 100 tons) and the attributes and powers are similar enough that this translation is formulaic and involves negligible speculation.Costume variables consisted of whether the heroes wear a cape and whether their costumes are primarily spandex. Significant other variables included whether the significant other is aware of their secret identity and whether he or she is used as a plot device; however, because not enough information was readily available about this variable it could not be used in the final analysis. Cape and secret identity were dichotomous (yes/no) variables. Weaknesses, motivation, humanness and spandex were short scales. Weakness scaled from none to debilitating (0-2). An example debilitating weakness is Superman’s vulnerability to Kryptonite.An example intermediate weakness is Iron Man’s alcoholism. Motivation ranged from none-given (0) to vigilante/revenge (1) to sense of duty (2) to desire to serve (3). Humanness extended from not human (0) to mutant (1) to human (2). Spandex ranged from no spandex (0) to sometimes appears in spandex (1) to all spandex all the time (2). Because the majority of superpowers are unique, they were grouped according to common attributes: powers derived from weaponry or equipment, the power to manipulate matter or energy (external to oneself), powers that are inherent to one’s physical body, powers of the mind, and magical powers.The very common powers of being impervious to harm and being able to fly were given separate entries. These variables were regressed on dependent variables representing commercial popularity to see which combinations of characteristics should prove most successful in the current marketplace. Tw o dependent variables were used to determine characters’ commercial success. The first was the collective number of movies, television programs and video games in which they have featured as main characters. The sampling frame for this data was the Internet Movie Database (http://www. mdb. com, 2005). The second variable was an estimated comic book sales figure for 2004. It used the monthly Top 300 comic sales lists published by ICV2. com (2004) to calculate the total number of Top 100 comic issues sold in 2004 that featured each of the heroes as central characters (based on title characters for individual titles and feature characters in the case of group titles). While these data can not be entirely accurate, they should provide reasonable estimates of heroes’ market popularity in popular media.Results There are 75 heroes in our database; some individual data points are missing for some characters. This sample is small for the number of independent variables in our a nalysis. Therefore, the first step was to conduct a factor analysis to group individual measures together to create a smaller, but still representative, variable list. A principal components analysis with a varimax rotation was used. It yielded 9 factor components. Factor loadings above 0. 400 may be seen in Table 1.The first factor was labelled â€Å"Physical Attributes,† incorporating health, strength, fighting ability, endurance and agility. Wearing a cape also loaded onto this factor, suggesting that particular fashion item is reserved for only the most powerful of superheroes. Apparently the new cape-less trend started by top superhero designer Edna â€Å"E† Mode has not yet caught on with the big boys. The second factor, â€Å"Sensory Attributes,† included karma, intuition and psyche, which may represent such characteristics as â€Å"spidey senses. † The third factor included resources, reasoning ability, popularity and motivation.This combination s uggests someone who is smart, rich, resourceful, charming and philanthropic, and was thus labelled â€Å"Appeal. † The fourth factor seemed to consist of the most stereotypical traits of a superhero: being bullet proof or indestructible, the ability to fly, and a desire to help protect mankind. As such, it was decided to call this factor â€Å"Golden Age† attributes. Factor five consisted of powers derived from weapons and/or equipment and the power to manipulate matter and/or energy, and was thus labelled â€Å"External Powers. † The sixth factor was labelled â€Å"Secret Identity. Powers associated with the body loaded negatively with secret identity, suggesting that characters without superhuman defences are more likely to require secret identities to protect themselves. The next factor, labelled â€Å"Mysticism,† included magical powers and powers of the mind. These powers were also associated with capes, which are still used by such modern media mag ical superheroes as Harry Potter. At first glance, factor eight appeared to be a bit of a mosaic of collected variance; however upon further inspection it is quite enlightening.This factor encompasses a weakness combined with powers related to the character’s body and high endurance. This factor captures the Achilles heel of the character, along with the struggle to overcome it; thus it was assigned the label of â€Å"Tenacity. † The ninth factor demonstrates the humanness of the character. Amusingly, wearing spandex is positively related to being human. It must just fit better under a wider variety of everyday street clothes. [pic]These factors were used as independent variables in two regression models relating the factors first to appearances in movies, TV shows and video games (new media), and then to comic book sales volumes (as outlined in the method section). Neither of the dependent variables was normally distributed, so natural log transformations were conduct ed on each of them before analyses were conducted. When the superhero factors were regressed on the new media variable, residual analysis uncovered a non-random error distribution that suggested weighted least squares was required.Thus, a weighted least squares regression analysis was conducted using unstandardized residuals as the weighting factor. The model returned an adjusted R? value of 0. 77, meaning that 77% of the variance in new media appearances for superheroes could be explained by the nine superhero factors (Table 2). Four factors had significant effects on how often a character appeared in new media. Sensory abilities, external powers and humanness had positive relationships with new media appearances. It is easy to see why external powers would be desired in today’s visually focused media.Interestingly, the Golden Age factor had a negative relationship with new media appearances, with Golden Age characteristics making a character 35% less likely to appear on scr een. Some of our favourite superheroes have been recreated and revamped over the years. An example of a Golden Age character shedding these stereotypical powers in new media would be the television program Smallville, in which Superman can’t fly and has not yet devoted his life to saving mankind. This example is also an apt one for demonstrating the appeal of the other two factors, humanness and sensory attributes.Directional results indicate that audiences want characters to be less untouchable and more human and to have an innate ability to understand their fellow man. They want to empathize in some way with the protagonist in the story. These results could describe the hardened street smart Batman or the gentler Tobey Maguire version of Spiderman, both of whom are due to make reappearances at the box office, and both of whom will be sporting spandex. Alternatively, these results could be used as a skeleton around which to build new characters to debut in video format. [pic ]A second regression analysis was conducted using comic book sales figures estimates as the dependent variable. The mass audience for movies is a much broader one than the comic book niche market, and as such is looking for more sophisticated superhero stories. Thus, what these two audiences are looking for in superhero characteristics may also be very different. As in the first analysis, the 9 superhero factors were regressed on the transformed dependent variable, in this case Top 100 comic book sales. Linear regression results did not require weighting. Results can be seen in Table 3.Only one of the measured superhero factors, tenacity, played a significant role in determining comic book sales. The ability to overcome weakness in the face of insurmountable odds is something that comic book fans have come to expect from their superheroes over the decades. When writers gave their characters flaws in the Silver Age it was meant to make them look even better when they beat the bad guy (Lang and Trimble, 1988). Apparently the formula still works. These results indicate that changing superhero characters, or developing new ones, will have little effect on sales. pic] This stagnancy with respect to characters may be caused by a general shift among comic book fans away from emphasizing characters and more towards purchasing issues based on their artists (Brown, 1997). Alternatively, this is a small market that is steeped in tradition. Fans involve themselves heavily in these products and are quick to point out inconsistencies. They may simply not be open to change, meaning that the superheroes themselves are hardly considered at this point, so long as they are consistent.In short, this small market is not where growth will happen and is not representative of a broader audience so pursuing alternative characters in this medium could prove to be a waste of resources. Managerial Implications Apart from shedding light on current cultural values, these findings can be ap plied commercially. While results suggested that the comic book market is not strongly character driven, results indicated that characters have a major impact on on-screen popularity.Television and movie audiences seem to want to see heroes that are intuitive human beings that have powers that are external to themselves, whether they stem from equipment or the ability to manipulate matter or energy outside of themselves. They are no longer interested in god-like characters that can fly and can’t be killed. This combination includes mutant characters. Results can be applied to choosing existing characters to introduce into these media, developing new characters specifically for those media, or altering existing characters to better suit the wants of the audiences viewing those media.For example, Iron Man fits these criteria, making him a perfect choice for an upcoming silver screen venture. Findings also suggest that Professor X would be a more popular character if he were to develop the ability to move things with his mind. Alternatively, an entirely new breed of superhero could be introduced to the world. A league of new and improved, culturally customized superheroes to rise from the wake of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter, never having been restricted by the walls of a comic book panel.Limitations There are several issues that require the reader to interpret these results with caution. First, for reasons of practicality, we use quite a small sample of the most well established characters created by the two biggest comic book publishers for our analysis. Therefore, innumerable other superheroes developed by them, smaller companies and independents, as well as those that did not originate in comics, but in some other medium such as television or movies, are not accounted for.Next, much of our analysis was based on comic book sales figures, the overwhelming majority of which were published by Marvel and DC; however, these sales figures were us ed as a surrogate measure of character popularity. It must be recognized that collectors now often consider the comic book artists rather than the characters that they create when purchasing issues, as well as purchasing multiple copies of those they believe will be valuable (Brown, 1997).Thus, character popularity may not be as highly correlated with comic book sales figures as we assume in our analysis. Similarly, Marvel, DC and the majority of the new media depicting those superheroes come from North America. As such, our results may not be generalizable across cultures. Finally, audience demographics for Marvel Comics, DC Comics and the various other superhero media discussed here are proprietary, so we are unable to consider how the audiences for these media are similar or how they differ in our analysis.Instead we are making an assumption that there are differences and inferring that comic book producers have been successful in their bids to increase the superhero audience thr ough the use of new media channels. Future Research This study could be expanded to include a more representative sample of heroes from a wider range of publishers and media if a consistent system for quantifying many of the superhero traits could be agreed upon. Findings would be much more robust and reliable if this were achieved. Demographic or cross-cultural comparisons of preferred superhero traits and media could also be introduced.Villains should also be included in any future analyses. These additions would make the findings more inherently interesting because â€Å"comic book evildoers†¦help define the comic book hero† (Fingeroth, 2004, p. 15). Should further sociological analysis be of interest, a longitudinal study of these characters’ traits, their associated artists and their evolutions could be compared empirically to the observations provided to date and used to attempt to predict current popular trends and their changing sociological implications f or now and into the future.Little empirical work exists in the realm of superheroes as they relate to popular culture, leaving endless opportunity to test the many sociological theories being advanced about them. References Bongco, M. 2000. Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books. New York, NY: Garland Publishing. Brown, J. A. 1997. Comic Book Fandom and Cultural Capital. Journal of Popular Culture 30 (4): 13-34. Fingeroth, D. 2004. Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society. New York, NY: Continuum.Grinfeld, M. J. 1997. Superheroes Impart Life’s Lessons. Psychiatric Times 14. Klapp, O. E. 1962. Heroes, Villains, and Fools: The Changing American Character. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Lang, J. S. , and Trimble, P. 1988. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? An Examination of the American Monomyth and the Comic Book Superhero. Journal of Popular Culture 22 (3): 157-173. Smith, K. 2003. The Superhero. Rolling Stone, May 15. Wright, B. W. 2001. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.