Intellectual Property Rights On Sino Us Economic And Trade...

In the 1990s, the two countries have since undergone three intense intellectual property disputes, each to the brink of a trade war. Intellectual property issues in Sino-US economic and trade relations in the 1990s to become one of the major outstanding issues. With the signing of the Sino-US memorandum of understanding on the protection of intellectual property rights in 1992, and the signing of two bilateral intellectual property agreements in February 1995, and June 1996, China and the US intellectual property disputes have been eased. China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), which greatly contributed to the development of Sino-US economic and trade relations. In 2003, China became the third largest trading partner of the†¦show more content†¦International protection of the vital interests of the countries involved in the development of enterprises, and the relationship between national intellectual property rights. In the late 1980s, facing recession, the United States dropped its international competitiveness because its intellectual property rights could not be protected in the world, that its biggest competition in the economic resources and with the advantage of technology and invention, effective protection of intellectual property rights is critical to the US economy overseas. Therefore, the US spared no effort to initiate the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations n 1986, and put intellectual property protection into the framework of the GATT, known as the trade-related intellectual property rights. With the signing of 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), the international multilateral mechanism to protect intellectual property and international trade - the WTO closely together. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act in the conduct of unfair trade retaliation 301 adds a Special 301, and the intellectual property rights as an individual, do not protect US intellectual property or intellectual property rights hinder US companies to enter their national markets to investigate and impose trade sanctions. Thus, protection of intellectual property has

The Decline of Honeybees Implications, Causes, and Responses

The lives of humans and honeybees have been intertwined for millennia. For at least 8,000 years, humans have sought honey for applications in disciplines ranging from medicine to the culinary arts. But while humans love honey, honeybees provide a much more valuable service: pollination. As the world’s most prolific pollinator, honeybees are essential to the reproduction of many plant species, which in turn benefits other animals and plants. In fact, humans heavily rely on honeybees to pollinate our own food source, a service that is worth billions of dollars a year. Unfortunately, the honeybee population is in a severe and prolonged decline, often in the form of colony collapse disorder, in which entire colonies are seemingly abandoned by†¦show more content†¦However, many countries are not so fortunate. Ssenoga (2014) wrote, In Uganda, honey bees provide pollination services to such crops as coffee, cotton, beans, peas, mango, citrus, avocado, tomatoes, passion fruits, apples, soya beans, water melons, and several others. Any collapse in the services will have detrimental effects to the livelihoods of the 65.5 percent of rural farmers, who also depend on agriculture for food security. In 2013, nearly half of Ugandans were food energy deficient, 5% suffered from extremely unbalanced diets, and 33% of Ugandan children were stunted (World Food Programme, 2013). In countries like Uganda, which is relatively well-off in comparison to many other African nations, a honeybee shortage resulting in decreased food production could mean starvation for many people. Colony Collapse Disorder The current downward trend in honeybee populations has been punctuated by wide occurrences of colony collapse disorder (CCD). This is not a new phenomenon; the first recorded incident occurred in 1869. Since that time, there have been occurrences of CCD in locations as diverse as Oregon, Australia, and Great Britain, to name a few. In instances of colony collapse disorder, the colony is almost completely absent of adult bees, and there are few if anyShow MoreRelatedDeformed Wing Virus Of Honeybees1698 Words   |  7 PagesFannon – Week 7 Report PhD Project Title: Deformed Wing Virus of Honeybees Supervisor: Prof. David Evans, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick. Background. Insect pollinators play a vital role in the majority of terrestrial ecosystems and the survival and productivity of many wild and agricultural plants depends upon successful pollination by insects [1,2]. In a 2005 assessment of the potential impact of pollinator decline, it was estimated that the total economic value of insect pollinationRead MoreAgriculture Is An Essential Component That Supports The Lives Of Many Individuals Essay1816 Words   |  8 Pagesresult this paper seeks to demonstrate that, Monstanto’s drive for economic gain has resulted in the creation of genetically modified organisms, which has diminished aspects of food sovereignty within agricultural systems. This has resulted in implications surrounding humans working against nature, potential harm to human health as well as rejecting the values of other farmers/ food providers. In relation to humans working against nature research has demonstrated that Monsanto’s GM crops have causedRead More50 Harm ful Effects of Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods14312 Words   |  58 Pagesmatchmaker and inviting two people to a dinner party, to meet and see if they are compatible. This differs essentially from forcing their meeting and union or a violent date rape. The former act may be divine, and the latter considered criminal. The implication is that biotechnology involves vital moral issues in regard to the whole of life in nature. With biotechnology, roses are no longer crossed with just roses. They are mated with pigs, tomatoes with oak trees, fish with asses, butterflies with worms

Virtual Merchants Free Essays

A Virtual merchant is any website which offers the sale of goods or services in a return for remuneration. [ (Tatum, 2010) ] Virtual merchants are essentially the same as a retail outlet, except they only operate online, example Amazon. They allow the consumer easy and instant access to view/purchase merchandise at the click of a button anytime and anywhere. We will write a custom essay sample on Virtual Merchants or any similar topic only for you Order Now Online stores are now being called e-tailers as they are highly popular with the general consumer. For example in 2008 Amazon had over ‘’76 million active customers accounts and order fulfilment to more than 200 countries’’. [ (DaveChaffey, last modified 13-03-2008) ] Amazons success and domination in the market place is well known. Customers tend to stay loyal to the e-tailer as they are extremely reliable on delivery, have an easy and user friendly online interface and are constantly learning and establishing trading relationships with its customer’s example possible likes e-mails. This loyalty aspect is one problem which most virtual merchants face and in Amazons case the customer orientated strategy they employ seems to be very effective at maintaining brand loyalty. ‘’Relentlessly focus on customer experience by offering our customers low prices, convenience, and a wide selection of merchandise’’ [ (DaveChaffey, last modified 13-03-2008) ] Many trading merchants offer the virtual trading aspect to their existing physical business to stay competitive and diverse within in the market place. This retail outlet coupled with the virtual merchant allows the business to appeal to a larger target market of potential customers, example the convenience shopper (online) and the physical shopper. This type of merchant can be referred to as bricks and clicks merchant example Wal-Mart. The value proposition defines how a company’s product or service fulfils the needs of customers (Kambil, Ginsberg and Bloch 1998). In Amazons case the value proposition is quiet simple as it aims to offer the world’s biggest choice of certain goods and be extremely customer focused and orientated. Amazon offers a personalised and customized service at a very competitive cost to their customers at the click of a mouse. According to Kambil 1997 and Bakos 1998, offering personalization, customization of product offerings and a reduction on product search costs are extremely important factors in developing a company’s value proposition. A company’s revenue model defines how they intend to generate profit and return on investment. In the virtual merchant market place there are several ways where profit can be generated. Firstly there is the direct sales profit margin and in amazons case they don’t have to rent retail outlets in busy high streets etc only merchandise warehousing storage etc, this accompanied with its online trading medium means that overheads, example direct contact with customer and reduction in sales support costs, are kept to a minimum allowing Amazon to offer an unrivalled selection and value for money. This places Amazon extremely competitive within the market place. Secondly they offer other businesses space to advertise on their webpage for example Hewlett pacard, Thompson holidays, Travel lodge etc. Virtual merchants are constantly looking to be dynamic and diverse in their service which they provide and different ways in targeting new customers. The e-tailer market is constantly growing as new users and accounts are set up every day. Amazon began in 1995 and have gained there competitive advantage within their market, they generated over 5 billion in sales in under a decade. When we compare this statistic with Wal-Mart (a bricks and clicks merchant) it took them twenty years to hit this sales figure. This is an indicator of how big and expanding the e-tailer market is. How to cite Virtual Merchants, Papers

Resource Management and SLA Management

Questions: 1. Discuss the requirements for remote administration, resource management and SLA management. It may be useful to consider Morad and Dalbhanjans operational checklists for DSIs OSDS. This section should be no more than two to three pages in length. 2. Discuss briefly how you will consider application resilience, backup and disaster recovery for your chosen provider in relation to OSDS. This section should be no more than two to three pages in length. 3. Use Erls SLA guidelines to assess the SLA for your chosen provider. This section should be no more than two to three pages in length. 4.Provide a covering one to two page executive summary of these two assessments to DSI Executive Management and summarise the major opportunities and risks that have been identified in your assessments. Answers: Executive Summary Online Spatial Delivery System (OSDS) is a suite of web services and applications for the Department of Spatial Information (DSI). DSI has decided to shift OSDS to a cloud provider and the chosen model is Platform as a Service (PaaS). The major risks that come up in the migration of services to the cloud are to the data protection and information security. Access controls and use of proper authentication and authorization methods can act as important and impactful countermeasures. The report discusses the six components that are necessary in the migration process that is involved with OSDS. Remote administration has a few shortcomings associated with it in terms of multi-platform support and scalability. Resource management can be done with ease through managing the resources at all levels such as top, middle and low. SLA management for OSDS is recommended to be done at the service level. Application resilience focuses on the High Availability requirements that are associated with DS I and OSDS. Data back up and disaster recovery are of prime importance to yield protection to the data and recover the same in case of an attack or loss of the same. Data protection and information security risks are the two prime risks that are associated with OSDS and may result in adverse impacts if the measures to prevent and handle these two are not undertaken with utmost perfection. Introduction Online Spatial Delivery System (OSDS) has to be migrated to a cloud provider. The most applicable model to execute the same is Platform as a Service (PaaS). PaaS provides the platform and environment to build the applications upon the same. Each and every entity plays a crucial role and a phased approach needs to be followed for achieving the best results out of them. Remote Administration Remote Administration is the act of handling and processing the system from any of the remote locations (cbigconsulting.com, 2016). The use of Remote Administration is however, discouraged owing to the shortcomings that it comes with. There are multiple tools that do not scale properly. It becomes tedious for the administrators to simultaneously work upon the network with varied speeds and that too in a secure manner. Multi-platform support is another issue that is seen with the implementation of Remote Administration in the architecture. Organizations make use of different operating systems such as Linux, Windows, iOS and many other and all of them need to be supported in an efficient manner. Mobile devices are also being used by most of the organizations and the OS of those devices need support too. Use of varied tools and devices with different platforms and operating systems is difficult to manage by the remote administrator. Regulatory requirements such as encryption, authentication and access controls also appear as an issue in the implementation of remote administration (sans.org, 2016). Resource Management Resource Management is the second components for OSDS that is required for successful implementation and migration of the services and applications on the cloud. There are multiple resources across various departments that are associated with OSDS. The key resources are as listed below. Business owners Database admin and team Operations head and team Development team Design team Network team Network admin Support and maintenance team DSI needs to develop strategies to efficiently mannage resources and other departments. The basic step in achieveing the same is to find answers to the following list of questions. Is there an already implemented resource tagging strategy in place? What is the internal resource management team that is associated with DSI and how does it link to the overall company model? What is the process that is used in the allocation of resources to a particular project or department? Are there required metadat and service instances available or need to be included? SLA Management SLA is a term for Service Level Agreement and it is a written legal contract that is agreed upon and signed between the service user and the service provider. A service along with all of its aspects is formally defined in this contract. There are a certain particular aspects such as scope, quality and responsibilities that are present in SLA in complete detail. One of the most important feature that is present in SLA is an agreed-upon delivery time. For OSDS, it will also include the time it would be required to completed migrate the services and applications on the cloud provider and also the details on every phase. This would be in terms of percentage that is how much percent of the entire service will be completely migrated in a specified time period. Other details that are defined in SLA are Mean time to failure (MTTF), Mean time between failures (MTBF) and Mean time to repair or recovery (MTTR). It would help in the identification os the parties that would be responsible for han dling the failures and dealing with the costs associated with the same. Levels in SLA Management Shared resources is a phenonmenon that is common in case of cloud computing. The most applicable SLA level in case of OSDS would be at the service level (Bose et al., 2011). The following factors play a major role in designing of SLA for OSDS: The services that have been agreed upon between DSI and the cloud provider Supply chain management team Accurate assignment of roles and responsibilities to the resources Complete analysis of the cost and description for each of the component Broad level flow chart highlighting the critical features Performance indicators (mitsm.de, 2016) Service Levels Agreements are output based in nature which means that the results that will be recived by the customers would be the subject and source of the agreement. The (expert) service provider can demonstrate their value by organizing themselves with ingenuity, capability, and knowledge to deliver the service required, perhaps in an innovative way. OSDS can also explain the details and specifications of these services agreed with the provider in a specification document. The major services and details that will be covered in the SLA for OSDS would be as listed below: Primary resposible source for all the services along with the secondary points of contact. What all services will be covered? What would be the time constraints that would apply on these services? Will there be any extrenal entities that would be required in the service Completion? What will be the design that would be followed and will it apply to all the services or on a particular section of services? For every service, the contribution ot be made by DSI and the one to be done by the cloud provider would also be contracted to avoid the disimilarties and differences in opinions later on. Application Resilience Every application has a set of critical and high on priority requirements. OSDS also has a set of the same which are termed as High Availability (HA) requirements. There needs to be a step-by-step approach to be developed for the complete execution of such requirements. The strategy would include the following: A fault tolerant application in cloud that would help in maintenance of availability and reliability of the services Adherence to the guidelines Applicable and required data storage options Architecture of cloud Data Storage Backup Storing and managing the huge data is a task in itself and there are Big Data tools that can be utilized for this purpose (Goes, J. 2016). There is database named NoSQL for performing this task and it also provides additional features such as easy visualizations, flexibility and creation of reports. Predictive analysis on the data to correctly manage and store the same is also possible through NoSQL (Pentaho, 2016). Mongo DB, Elasticsearcg, CouchDB, AmazonSimpleDB and Terrastore are some of the NoSQL databases that provide good storge and indexing features (Big Data Made Simple - One source. Many perspectives., 2014). Disaster Recovery Disaster Recovery (DR) comes in to the picture when the attack or any such event takes place and the data needs to be recovered. These are the measures that should be adopted to avoid the risks at the first place and recover from the same. Preventative Measures for firsthand security like use of antivirus, firewalls and deployment of physical security guards fall under this one. Reactive They are the ones that are adapted once the event already takes place. Detective Measures such as intrusion detection and motion detection fall in this category of countermeasures Administrative These are used to make the processes adhere to the defined guideleines. DR, as already stated is the set of processes that is used to recover as much data as possible and is required for maintenance and management of the same. DR would allow the recovery process to be enabled in multiple locations (Kiblin, 2011). Many strategies are present to have an application recovered (aws.amazon.com, 2016). Cloud for disaster recovery is a viable option for DSI both from the financial perspective and from the control perspective as well (Dix, 2016). Conclusions Opportunities and Risks OSDS needs the components as Remote adminstration, SLA management, data storage and back up along with the disaster recovery during its migration to a cloud provider. Remote administration suffers from a few drawbacks related to scalability and multi-platform support. Resource management is necessary for accurate utilization of resources and their skills. Critical requirements, data storage and recovery also play an important role for OSDS. Cloud suffers from certain potential and probable risks as well that mainly revolve around data protection and information security. These risks include loss of data, accessing of the data by an unauthorized user, denial of services, attack of malicious software, spoofing, phishing and inadequate due diligence. Such risks possess a threat to the confidentiality, integrity and authneticty of the information, Use of authorizations measures along with proper access controls are mandatory to protect the data belonging to OSDS. The data associated is private and confidential in nature and the landing of the same in unauthorized hands could be extremely adverse for DSI. ("Risks of cloud computing | Queensland Government", 2016). References Bose, S., Pasala, A., Ramanujam A, D., Murthy, S. and Malaiyandisamy, G. (2011). Big Data Made Simple - One source. Many perspectives. (2014). Dix, J. (2016). Cloud computing causing rethinking of disaster recovery. Goes, J. (2016). How to choose a NoSQL analytics system. Innotas. (2016). Project Resource Management Benefits | Innotas. Executive Summary

The Cave and the Matrix Essay Example For Students

The Cave and the Matrix Essay Movie critics and philosophers alike agree that the movie The Matrix is indeed based upon certain Platonic themes from Book VII of The Republic. In this story entitled The Allegory of the Cave, he describes a dark underground cave where a group of people are sitting in one long row with their backs to the caves entrance. Chained to their chairs from an early age, all the humans can see is the distant cave wall in from of them. The shadows of statues held by unseen puppet handlers reflect on the walls from the light of a fire that is also out of sight of those in the cave. The theme of the allegory is that their reality is a poor copy of the real world. According to Plato, our world is nothing but shadows, imperfect manifestations of the forms. Similar to the prisoners of the cave, the humans trapped in the matrix (the cave) only see what the machines (the modern day puppet-handlers) want them to see. They are tricked into believing that what they hear in the cave and see before them is the true reality that exists. Furthermore, they accept what their senses are telling them and they believe that what they are experiencing is all that really existsnothing more. The movie not only incorporates these same ideas, the story line of the movie parallels that of the allegory. The most important character is who Plato calls the Philosopher or the Intellectual. In the allegory, Plato hypothesizes that one of the prisoners eventually be released or escape from his chains and flee the cave. The philosopher/intellectual would then be able to see the real objects as well as the puppet-handlers who are holding these objects. In the movie, The Matrix this scene directly parallels with Neos scene in the matrix pod. Looking around in shock, Neo sees, for the first time, his true surroundings. He is actually living in a human factory. At first, Plato says that the Freed Prisoner would be confused at what he saw. As for Neo, when he is finally confronted with the truth surrounding the matrix, he is in a state of confusion and denial. In fact, he is so overwhelmed that he throws up and passes out. Plato wrote that the Freed Man might even feel that what he was seeing now was the illusion and the shadows on the wall were actually more real. There is a line in the movie where Cypher tells Trinity, I think the matrix can be more real than this world. Plato also goes on to suggest that the freed prisoner would not only be shock over the realization of his true existence, but that he would suffer physical pain. Like Neo, who says I cant go back, can I? the freed prisoners first reaction would be to return to false reality because it is less painful and more familiar to him. Plato wrote that the Philosopher must have started to question what he saw in front of him and wondered about the origin of the shadows and if there was anything else beyond the cave wall that he saw before him. The only way that a prisoner is able to escape is because he made a choice, wanting to learn the truth. This appears in the movie when Morpheus tells Neo, Youre here because you know something. What you know you cant explain. But you feel it. Youve felt it your entire life. That theres something wrong with the world. You dont know what it is but its there, like a splinter in your mind driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. According to Plato, enlightenment would come to one from being taken out of the cave, and thrust into the light of the real world. He writes that this would not be an easy transition and that the bright and good light of the Sun would seem blinding at first. When Neo first awakes and escapes from the slime pod, he asks why his eyes are sore and is told that he has never really used them before, meaning he has never seen reality. .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 , .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .postImageUrl , .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 , .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53:hover , .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53:visited , .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53:active { border:0!important; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53:active , .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53 .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ua936212d5cf1e6c907882ab3359d7e53:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Holden Essay We will write a custom essay on The Cave and the Matrix specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now

Much Ado About Nothing Quotes

'Much Ado About Nothing' Quotes Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeares comedies, with one of the most popular romantic duos of all time. The play has wit, twists, turns - its a comedy. Here are a few quotes from the play. Act I He hath indeed better bettered expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how. (1.1) He is a very valiant trencher-man. (1.1) I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books. (1.1) In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke. (1.1) Act II Lord! I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face: I hath rather lie in the woollen. (2.1) He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. (2.1) Speak low if you speak love. (2.1) Friendship is constant in all other thingsSave in the office and affairs of love:Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues;Let every eye negotiate for itselfAnd trust no agent. (2.1) There was a star danced, and under that was I born. (2.1) Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,Men were deceivers ever,-One foot in sea and one on shore,To one thing constant never. (2.3) Act III Our talk must only be of Benedick.When I do name him, let it by thy partTo praise him more than ever man did merit:My talk to thee must be how BenedickIs sick in love with Beatrice. Of this matterIs little Cupids crafty arrow made,That only wounds by hearsay. (3.1) Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. (3.1) If I see any thing tonight why I should not marry her tomorrow, in the congregation, where I should wed, there will I shame her. (3.2) I tell this tale vilely- I should first tell thee how the Prince, Claudio, and my master, planted and placed and possessed by my master Don John, saw afar off in the orchard this amiable encounter. (3.3) Act IV There, Leonato, take her back again:Give not this rotten orange to your friend;Shes but the sign and semblance of her honor. (4.1) Your daughter here the princes left for dead,Let her awhile be secretly kept in,And publish it that she is dead indeed (4.1) She dying, as it must be so maintaind,Upon the instant that she was accusd,Shall be lamented, pitied, and excusdOf every hearer (4.1) I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest. (4.1) O that he were here to write me down an ass! But masters, remember that I am an ass: though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass. (4.2) Act V I say thou has belied mine innocent child;Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart,And she lies buried with her ancestorsO! in a tomb where never scandal slept,Save this of hers, framd by thy villainy! (5.1) I have deceived even your very eyes: what your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light, who in the night overheard me confessing to this man, how Don John your brother incensed me to slander the Lady Hero. (5.1) I have drunk poison while he utterd it. (5.1) Though and I are too wise to woo peaceably. (5.2) And when I livd I was your other wife;And when you lovd, you were my other husband. (5.4) One Hero died defild, but I do live,And surely as I live, I am a maid. (5.4) In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it; and therefore never flout at me for what I have said against it; for man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion. (5.4)

Relationship Between Iran and China in Light of Economic Sanctions Essay

Relationship Between Iran and China in Light of Economic Sanctions Imposed on Iran - Essay Example India, like many other countries, has invested billions of dollars in Iranian oil fields towards business oil trading purposes as well as research and development of oil refineries in Iran. The Economics Times reported that the Indian government-owned ONGC along with the private sector Ashok Leyland Project Services Ltd of the Hinduja group won $10 billion bid for investing in Iranian oil company, Naftiran Intertrade Co and Petropars Ltd in 2008. However, India eventually lost this deal to China after the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) offered to contribute towards NICO's share of the $ 2.5 billion cost for developing the field that holds an estimated 42 billion barrels of oil reserves, one of the world's largest finds in the last 30 years according to The Economics Times news report. Iran’s conduit towards India’s proposition and favoring China is a result of international business relations between the countries, which are further shaped by their cultures, busin ess negotiations and political positions. It is important to note that both India and China have high demand for oil in both domestic and commercial sectors (Oil Prices, 2). Moreover, China is a larger and greater potential for business compared to India. Reports from investigation agencies revealed that inward FDI into China is at least two to three times higher than what is reported; and FDI is majorly from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other European nations. Yet, China’s high corruption and regulations still discourage FDI by significant amount (Wei, 200). Sources also report that corruption has been tackled to a great extent in China compared to India, where corruption still continues to haunt its economic progress (Ragunathan, para 1). Reduction in Chinese corruption... This essay offers a comprehensive analysis of the impact, that international sanctions imposition on Iran would exert on the nature of the relationships between China and Iran. While most of the other nations that traded with Iran before the imposition of the sanctions, have stopped or minimized their trade, China still seemed to be inclined towards Iranian oil reserves, owing to its huge investments in Iran. In fact, Iran dismissed its deal with India’s oil company and confirmed the same with China’s oil company few years before the sanctions were announced. China did not heed to the warnings of sanctions from the US and succeeded in this and many other business deals in order to secure its oil reserves. With China already investing in oil business at international level with Iranian companies, the proposed sanctions on Iran will result in serious consequences for China. The Iran-China relationship has only intensified during last decade, despite warnings from the US to China to stay away from Iran because of Iran’s advent into nuclear program and refusal to support peace projects in neighboring countries. The US had delayed sanctions on Iran for many years because of China’s involvement with Iran, which was an obstacle to putting international pressure on Iran. China should continue to abide by its principles and norms of not seeking control, upholding principles of sovereignty, engaging in peaceful development and in being a responsible stakeholder in the international system.

Work placement report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Work placement report - Essay Example Structurally, ARP consists of a senior group of directors which govern the activities of mid-level managers. It is typically a top-down hierarchy where decisions about how to provide community support and the internal activities of workers and volunteers are created. ARP consists of a centralised business structure where decision-making is generated in middle-layers and higher levels of management. The senior leadership coordinates the different programmes in use to provide alcohol treatment and housing services and these decisions outline the generic activities of lower-level support employees on a daily basis. Middle level managers generally gather insight from the lower level support groups for any internal changes to programmes which are of concern, making the organisation more efficient internally. ARP also provides training to its workers in the areas of alcohol prevention so that they are equipped with the social and psychological skills necessary to assist what are considered to be at risk groups. In the process of providing alcohol treatment and housing support services, generic community counselling is necessary which suggests the importance of having a positive view on racial, age and gender diversity as well. These support workers also provide the majority of the prevention literature when those in need of treatment need statistics or encouragement. What does all of this spell out? ARP seeks to be creative in its efforts to provide treatment to those in need by creating an environment where care is an organisation-wide initiative in order to assist people in becoming independent of reliance on alcohol. This is done through innovation, a company which appears to be focused on surpassing excellence in this area, and efforts to enhance community relationships. The clients of ARP include certain at risk groups and groups which are currently seeking alcohol treatment or support housing, including ex-military citizens. In many ways,

Presentation, overview, timeline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Presentation, overview, timeline - Essay Example Ptolemy, who headed a considerable number of Alexander’s former troops, proposed they divide the empire among the generals, which was convenient for his ambition. When Alexander died after being ill in Babylon in the year 323 BC, his general (Ptolemy) led a fraction of Alexander’s army back to Egypt where Ptolemy pronounced himself pharaoh. Ptolemy successfully fought off his competing generals’ armies; hence, establishing the Ptolemaic dynasty that persisted for 300 years in Egypt: Ptolemy I to XV (305 – 30 BC). Cleopatra VII (51-30 BC) inherited Egypt from her father; Ptolemy XII (80-51BC) married her older brother Ptolemy XII, who later drowned in battle against Julius Caesar. Cleopatra then married her younger brother Ptolemy XIV; however, she bore a son with Caesar who became Ptolemy XV for the period (44 – 30 BC). After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, Ptolemy I nominally acted as a satrap for some time under the successors of Alexander; howe ver, the successors were not strong enough and the empire began to break up (Aufderheide 247). For Ptolemy dynasty to survive heirs had to be produced; hence, Ptolemy I married four wives with the last wife producing his heir Ptolemy II (Rolle 33; Collins 68). Fourteen kings of the dynasty were referred to as Ptolemy and numbered from I – XV, with the remarkable aspect of the monarch being the prominence of women, who rose to power when their brothers or sons were very young (Bugh 41). Ptolemy XII was king of Egypt from 80 to 51 BC officially known as Neos Dionysos although popularly known as Auletes. Auletes was the illegitimate son of Ptolemy IX Lathyrus, who died without designated heir; hence, with the help of political parties, the young Ptolemy became heir to the throne taking the name Ptolemy XII. The accession took place without the blessing of powerful a powerful Roman diplomat, which engendered the thoughts of possible Roman seizure of the country; however, the thre at was partially resolved in 59 BC. Through the help of Julius Caesar Ptolemy gained full status of recognised head of Egypt through the Roman senate in 59 at a price of 6,000 talents of gold, and pay the bribe he had to enforce ruthless taxation program to the easily enflamed subjects; besides, his children included Cleopatra, Absinoe, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV (Bunson 351). Ptolemy XIII, the son of Ptolemy XII, brother of Cleopatra tried and failed to win the throne of his nation from his sister and Julius Caesar; nevertheless, they both ruled together. Their rule was tough since both of them were surrounded by a group of ambitious counsellors, which resulted in tense political struggle in the palace. The young king departed from the palace to join his army and although he showed real military talent, he was no match for Caesar who faced him in battle resulting in the defeat of Ptolemy XIII. After the demise of Ptolemy XIII, Julius Caesar placed Ptolemy XIV (the younger brother to Cleopatra) in the throne together with Cleopatra. Officially Ptolemy XIV was to be her sister’s consort, but because he was about 10 to 12 years old at the time, Cleopatra was the true power within the land and presumably killed her brother after Caesar was assassinated (Bunson 351). When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Cleopatra supported Mark Antony against Octavian who became Caesar Augustus and when Octavian declared war on the duo, Cleopatra raised and commanded army that

Preventing Youth Offending through Social Work

Preventing Youth Offending through Social Work Introduction to Social Work. David Gower and Jackie Plenty. S134487 The area I have chosen to discuss is Youth Offending and intend to look at options that will help prevent re-offending and how we, as Social Workers, work as part of a team within Youth Offending. I intend to look at what areas of society are more likely to offend or re-offend. A young offender is defined as someone under 18 years of age who has committed an offence. The legal age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales, is ten years old, therefore anyone under the age of 10 cannot be held responsible for their actions. Anyone aged between 10 and 14 years old is presumed to understand the difference between right and wrong, so they can be convicted of a criminal offence if found guilty. Teenagers between 14 and 17 years old are fully responsible for any crimes they commit, but they are sentenced differently in relation to adults. Young offenders are assessed by the (1) Youth Justice System (YJS). There are a number of risk factors which may make a young person more likely to become involved in committing crime or anti-social behaviour. Whilst not exhaustive these include a lack of education, poor family relationships, having family members or peers who have offended, and misuse of substances. The YJS aim to tackle these problems (www.yjb.gov.uk) According to the Children Act 1989, the childs welfare shall be the courts paramount consideration. Therefore why do we lock so many children up, but allow terrorist to walk free under a control order? (Part 1 Welfare of the child) In the United Kingdom we lock up more children than any other country in Europe. 90% of young offenders put in prison will reoffend within two years of release. The UKs (2) Youth Justice Board spends 70% of its budget on custody, 5% on preventive methods; leaving just 25% for restorative and other methods. The age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 10 years old. In Scotland its eight. Interviews with young offenders revealed litanies of jailed mothers, abuse at home, street living, and failed foster care. Almost all such children are excluded from school, and other attempts to divert them are laughable: youth clubs with a pool table, one TV and one PlayStation to fight over. (radio-youth justice)   The Crime and Disorder Act was legislated in 1998 for the first time. Working together as part of the new Multi-agency (3) Youth Offending Team under section 39(5) a Youth Offending Team (YOT) would now consist of a Social worker, a police officer, a probation officer, a nominated person from the education department a nominated person from the health authority. Working as part of a YOT involves being a member of possibly the most diverse and wide ranging multi-agency team within Social Care. Under the (4)GSCC code of practice Social workers have 6 standards (5)that need to be maintained within Social Care settings ensuring that you can build up a relationship with your client and their carers, whilst using this we also need to take into account the National Occupational Standards and use these to provide a benchmark within our practice. Within Youth Justice the National Standards are set by the Home Secretary and issued by the YJB. The Standards provide a benchmark to measure good practice whilst working with children and young people who offend, as well as their families and victims. Social work has little to contribute and little wish to contribute to the effectiveness of prisons if one takes the view that their primary purpose is to punish and humiliate their inmates. If, on the other hand, prisoners are there as a punishment, not for additional punishment, Social Work has an important role, prison based Social Workers can play a vital part in helping prisoners maintain contact with communities, preparing them for constructive activities after their release, and providing opportunities for reflection on their offending and planning for a better life. Social Work is based upon a belief in dignity and worth of all human beings, and in individuals ability to change. (Williams cited in) The role of social work may be more effective if partnered with a service user using a Care Control system, thus avoiding more custodial sentences. The service user would be well aware they had narrowly avoided a custodial sentence and would be guided by the Social Worker if they do not conform to the agreement that they could end up back in court and eventually back to Prison. Having a basic understanding of the Human Development as well as a good knowledge of Social Work Codes of Practice will help us to understand the service users role within society. We need to help empower the service user into making the right decision for them, by giving them the means and help to do it. By treating them with dignity and respect at a level they can understand without them feeling inferior or pressurised to make a decision by the Social Worker. Within this we can offer help with past problems they have suffered using (6)S.W.O.T. analysis, counselling, curfews, boundaries, mentoring, restorati ve work, talking to parents and working with multiple agencies to ensure the service user gets the service and support they need. Helping the service user to promote positive change and help reduce risk. A service user is a term used to emphasis a professional relationship. Service user involvement is putting the people who use our services in control of the lives offering support they may need, to help them overcome their issues and empowering them to lead more fulfilling lives. The anti-social behaviour orders were introduced by Tony Blair in 1998 and by 2005 55 per cent were being breached (cited in article-1228445 Daily Mail) is this because the courts and the police are making the (7)ASBOs unrealistic , Setting out for the Young person to fail and break the order, so they can then go back to court to get the young person of the streets. Working as professionals within the Multiagency setting of YOT we should be looking for opportunities to empower the young person into meeting realistic targets and not setting ASBOs which we know they will be unable to comply with for various reasons. Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) State Parties recognise the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognised as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the childs sense of dignity and self worth.(Youth Justice and Social Work ) Piaget distinguished three stages in childrens awareness to rules by playing   games, 1st ages up to 4-5, rules not really understood,2nd stage 4-5 up to 9-10, rules were seen to be coming for a higher authority (e.g. adults, god, town council) 3rd stage 9-10 onwards rules could be mutually changed by others. (cited Understanding childrens development) Many young people who become involved in violence and crime have experienced this type of behaviour from a parent or a peer, if they have learnt that this is the accepted way of dealing with a problem and have seen or experienced this kind of abuse they may have little self esteem and perceive this to be the correct way of dealing with an issue. As discussed by Paiget about children learning and understanding rules, if a child is taught the wrong moral standings by an adult in stage 2, it could lead to them following the wrong path in life. Using this theory we can benchmark where a child should be. There was a drop in the number of children entering the justice system for the first time in 2007/08. Numbers of first time entrants aged 10 to 17 entering the Youth Justice System in England and Wales were around 87,400, a fall of about 7 per cent on the previous year. Slightly more than 2,700 of children in this age group were in custody in England and Wales in December 2008, including around 500 children aged 15 and under. The majority of young offenders in custody were boys (94 per cent). More than four-fifths (86 per cent) of young offenders were held in Young Offenders Institutions, 8 per cent were in Secure Training Centres and 6 per cent were in Secure Childrens Homes. Around 51,000 children aged 10 to 17 were found guilty of indictable offences in 2007 and a further 75,000 were cautioned. Of those found guilty of an indictable offence, more than a third (36 per cent) were found guilty of theft and handling stolen goods and around 14 per cent were found guilty of violence against the person. Boys aged 15 to 17 accounted for 69 per cent of all children found guilty of indictable offences in 2007 including theft and handling stolen goods (11,200 offenders), violence against the person (5,500 offenders), drug offences (4,600 offenders) and burglary (4,500 offenders). (Source: Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Youth Justice Board ) In Order to help prevent this from happening the government launched a program called Youth Inclusion program (8)(YIP) which was established in 2000, and tailor-made programmes for 8 to 17-year-olds, who are identified as being at high risk of involvement in offending or anti-social behaviour. Whilst the programs are run for the identified children, YIPs are also open to other young people in the local area. The programme operates in110 of the most deprived/high crime estates in England and Wales. YIPs aim to reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods where they work. Young people on the YIP are identified through a number of different agencies including youth offending teams (YOTs), police, social services, local education authorities or schools, and other local agencies. YIP receives a grant each year from the Youth Justice Board annually via its Youth Offending Team and is required to find the same amount of funding via Local Agencies. (Cited YJB/Prevention YIPS) Working in genuine partnership with other agencies and being able to access more information will enable the social worker to assess the service users needs quicker and have a detailed history of the client, which will help everyone involved within the multiagency partnership. Most referrals will come via a common assessment form (9) CAF which is used to highlight the areas each individual agency feels the service user is at risk and working within the comprehensive framework for assessment. An independent national evaluation of the first three years of YIPs found that: arrest rates for the 50 young people considered to be most at risk of crime in each YIP had been reduced by 65% of those who had offended before joining the programme, 73% were arrested for fewer offences after engaging with a YIP of those who had not offended previously but who were at risk, 74% did not go on to be arrested after engaging with a YIP. (Cited YJB/Prevention YIPS) Even though these results prove YIP to be an effective project it struggles for the necessary funding. If YIP had more readily available funding there would be more opportunity to intervene early with the affected children.   Earlier invention would help to refocus the energies of children. This could mean that eventually that we can have early intervention programmes running in all areas where children are more at risk and this could potentially prevent my children becoming involved in crime. The evidence shows that intervening early with the most challenging families in this country works. Ed Balls MP, Childrens Secretary (cited Children Young People Now) The conflict between Social work ethics and the legal systems is arguably more distinct in the practice of youth justice than any area within the Social work field. Positive, constructive achievement through social work intervention for a young person will encourage the young person to take responsibility for their actions and empower them to reflect their options whilst making decisions. For a young person, age discrimination and labeling often occur, which could give the young person an attitude and make them feel quite defensive, paranoid sometimes. I think Society possibly needs to change its way of thinking, our New Labour government has passed over 900 new laws since coming to power. This has had an effect on how we view children and young people, 20 years ago we had 339 children in prison, today we have over 3000, does this mean that children have become 10 times more dangerous?. I dont believe that children and young people have really changed as much as statistics say, I believe it is because we have too many laws and because some people live in such a dysfunctional manner, that they prefer to be in prison as they are warm, safe, can get qualifications, they have friends and they get 3 meals day and it is a routine for them, whereas living within a family that is dysfunctional could mean living with violence, drug or alcohol abuse and not having their basic needs met on a regular basis. Everything that happens within a service users life is logical to them. A positivist believes that crime is not chosen but caused largely by factors beyond the offenders control. In essence, the belief is that offenders simply cant help themselves, certain genetic, psychological or environmental factors have influenced their behavior and the existence of these factors means that offenders are almost pre-programmed to become criminals. This is one of the great contradictions of the positivist approach to crime is its focus on reformation and rehabilitation. (Taylor et. Al. (1973) cited in Youth Justice and Social Work Appendix YJS- Youth Justice System YJB Youth Justice Board YOT- Youth Offending Team GSCC General Social Care Council GSCC-   6 Standards S.W.O.T Strength, Weakness, Opportunities Threats. ASBO- Anti Social Behaviour   Order YIP- Youth Inclusion Program CAF- Common Assessment Form General Social Care Council Standards: Code of practice. As a social care worker, you must protect the rights and promote the interests of service users and carers. As a social care worker, you must strive to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of service users and carers. As a social care worker, you must promote the independence of service users while protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm. As a social care worker, you must respect the rights of service users while seeking to ensure that their behaviour does not harm themselves or other people. As a social care worker, you must uphold public trust and confidence in social care services. As a social care worker, you must be accountable for the quality of your work and take responsibility for maintaining and improving your knowledge and skills. Referencing http://www.yjb.gov.uk/en-gb/yjs/Prevention/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/feb/15/radio-youthjustice Oxford: Blackwell. Davies, M. (2000) The Blackwell Companion To Social Work,Oxford: Blackwell. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1228445/We-rein-ASBOs-Tories-plan-instant-penalties-control-yobs.htm Dugmore, P. and Pickford, J. (2006) Youth Justice and Social Work,Exeter: Learning Matters. Smith, P.K. and Cowie, H. (1996)   Understanding Childrens Development (2nd ed.),  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Oxford: Blackwell. Page 198 Source: Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Youth Justice Board http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=2200) http://www.yjb.gov.uk/en-gb/yjs/Prevention/YIP/ Ed Balls quote (Children Young People Now) 3-9.12.09 Dugmore, P. and Pickford, J. (2006)  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Youth Justice and Social Work,  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Exeter: Learning Matters. Page 49 Taylor

A Comparison of Sei Shonagon and Marie de France Essay -- comparison c

A Comparison of Sei Shonagon and Marie de France         Though more than two hundred years have separated Sei Shonagon and Marie de France, the scene is much the same. A courtly lady sits in a candle-lit room, with her writing hand poised above a book of parchment. Her face brightens in an instant of inspiration and she scribbles furiously onto the paper. This woman is closely associated with the royal court and is something of an anachronism, a woman author in a male-dominated world. The scene pictured here could have taken place in either Shonagon's late tenth century Japan or the twelfth century France of Marie de France. The differences that exist between these two authors are a result of their differing cultures and personalities. Marie de France writes as a product of her time, expressing herself through her characters, while keeping in mind the mandates of the church. Sei Shonagon is ruled by no such mandates and as a result wrote with merciless honesty. Accordingly, the structure, diction and imagery used by each author r eflects her own distinct personality and values.    Sei Shonagon is most well known for her Pillow Book, a collection of her personal thoughts and observations during her time at court. The structure, or lack thereof, in this work gives the reader a peek at Shonagon's personality. She writes in short bursts, giving the mini-chapters such titles as "The Sliding Screen in the Back of the Hall," "Hateful Things," and "Oxen Should Have Very Small Foreheads." The titles are representative of her tendency to write at length on subjects that may seem inconsequential, or as the author admits in the last segment of the Pillow Book, "most trivial." In fact, these so-called trivial observations provide a s... ...es and cultures. One author is governed by her strict faith and adherence to the church, the other by her own strongly-held opinions. Each woman's writing clearly reflects her own distinct personality and temperament: Marie de France, more eager and spiritual, Sei Shonagon, more satirical and opinionated. Both courtly ladies seem faithful to their own beliefs and reflective of their time and culture.       Works Cited    Sei Shonagon. The Pillow Book. Trans. Richard Bowring. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Expanded Edition. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1995. 2191-2218. All quotations are from this text.    De France, Marie. "Eliduc". Trans. John Fowles. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Expanded Edition. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1995. 1680-1692. All quotations are from this text.   

Analyse of “the Darkling Thrush”

Analyse of â€Å"The Darkling Thrush† Thomas Hardy presents a theme of hope in his poem The Darkling Thrush. In the poem winter season has brought about death and despair. A tired old man leans over a coppice gate in a desolate area, to see the ghosts of the past and little hope for the future. Hardy uses imagery to evoke ideas and images in the readers mind. â€Å"The land's sharp features seemed to me. The Century's corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind its death-lament. † In describing the landscape he refers to the landscape as an intimate object as if it were human. He compares the landscape to a dead body laying all around him and the clouds becoming the coffins top, and the wind his death lament. The man also describes the landscape to have as much life and spirit as he does. Hardy choose his words carefully using negative words such as gray, desolate, broken and haunted. This negatively leads us to believe that this is how Harper feelings are; alone and frightened out in the cold. While still using a negative tone Harper tries to turn the poem to a somewhat positive tone. He continues to use wording such as frail, aged, gaunt and small but adds in wording like full-hearted and joy illimited. The change of wording suggests a shift in the tone of the poem. A songbird has entered, spreading warmth and hope into the earlier desolate and dead landscape. The theme of hope is introduced with the appearance of a songbird in stanza three. The bird is meant to resemble hope and that things are not quite over yet even though it may seem so. In the winter months death is brought forth yet in the coming of spring restores that life once again. The poem suggests that if one doesn’t give into the negative a positive can and may come forth; whether one is aware of this or not. In the poem’s last stanza the man reveals his thoughts as if his thoughts as if he has see a glimpse of hope as the life songbird colours the air with its song. â€Å"So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew, And I was unaware. † The stanza suggests that there may be hope after all. Is it the spring coming once more? Or is it just the ghost messing with him? Hardy’s poem as well as its overall theme is a reflection of the time period he lived in. The poem takes place on New Year’s Eve, the last day of the 19th century. The queen is barely breathing her last few breaths and the Victorian Era is coming to an end. Waiting just around the corner is a new era, a new king, and a new Period completely different from the Victorian Era. The theme of hope is presented in a fashion that even though something may seem dark and shadowy that one needs to have a little faith in such matters. Things in the world and life are going to be unclear because nothing is ever sure. Hardy wants readers to have reliance in the world and the transformation of the times. Stanzas . The gate which the speaker is leaning on represent the threshold of the new century. The spectral quality of frost suggests the ageing and the ghostly quality of the landscape. The scene has the mere trace of life, in which natural and human presences are ghostly. The figure of the â€Å"weakening eye† symbolizes the ending of the day along with the ending of the century. The â€Å"tangled bine-stems† represent a harp which all the strings have been broken emphasizing the â€Å"winter’s dregs†. The stanza ends with the speakers awareness that he is alone, the people who usually occupy the land have returned to their home. . This stanza also marks the end of a century. The landscape’s features become like an immense body layed out. The first sentence shows the speaker’s mind enclosing the huge space of land and sky into the frightening display of the Century’s corpse in its coffin. The sky is the lid. The second sentence emphasizes that the ending of the century is not just closing to the speaker, but an end which seems to separate it from any relation to the future. Every spirit of vegetal and human life is under the pall of this death. 3. The darkling thrush, in all its homeliness and diminutiveness, is the corporeal voice of the real world. The bird’s song is spontaneous and unpremeditated. It â€Å"fling[s]† its â€Å"soul† into the â€Å"gloom† in contrary of the speaker’s previous flinging of his spiritless soul upon the landscape. The bird’s joyful act appears to the speaker as a choice, and not for mere survival in the â€Å"growing gloom†, but for the enthusiastic and full-hearted participation. 4. The speaker has not been convinced or transported out of the â€Å"growing gloom†, but his response to the birds song is to think. Although the â€Å"blessed Hope† is a knowledge only the bird has and of which the speaker is yet unaware, the speaker accepts the birds song as a sign that there is hope for the future. Analysis of â€Å"The Darkling Thrush†, by Thomas Hardy As the title has already mentioned, this assignment will be an analysis on a poem by Thomas Hardy. The poem is called â€Å"The Darkling Thrush†, also known by another title, â€Å"By the Century’s deathbed†. My analysis will include elements such as the poems’ setting, structure, imagery, diction, rhyme scheme and theme. I will go into one element at the time, and them give examples from one stanza only in that element. I will not come back to the same elements in the other stanzas, even though they are there. Therefore, this will not be a complete analysis of every element in each of the stanzas. I’d rather prefer to give a thorough description of what the different elements are and then give a few examples of each of them. In then end I will try to come up with a conclusion. The poem takes place on New Years Eve, the last day of the 19th century. It’s also the end of the Victorian Age. Winter is bringing death and desolation with it. A tired old man leans over a coppice gate in a desolate area, seeing ghosts of the past and little hope in the future. This poem has 4 stanzas, each with 8 lines. This is what we call an octave. The lines changes between having 4 and 3 stressed syllables in them, which is called tetrameter (4) and trimeter (3). Since the lines also follow a form of having one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable etc, we also call it iambic. As an example I use the poems 1st stanza. Line number 1, 3, 5 and 7 each have 4 stressed syllables, therefore called iambic tetrameter ( / – / – / – / – ). Line number 2, 4, 6, and 8 each have 3 stressed syllables, therefore called iambic trimeter ( / – / – / – ) The tangled bine-stems scored the sky5 And all mankind that haunted nigh7 Had sought their household fires. 8 Through the use of personification, symbols, metaphors, alliteration (this last element may also refer to the poems structure) and a selected sort of words, he produces images in the readers mind, when all he really does is just speak from his inner state of mind, as modernists are soon to do. To show the use of imagery in this poem, I’ve taken its 2nd stanza as an example. Here he uses personification on the landscape, thereby referring to an inanimate object as if it were human. He compares the landscape to a dead body lying all around him, and the clouds becoming the coffins top, and the wind his death lament. The poet also makes use of alliteration in this poem. An example from this stanza is corpse, crypt, cloudy, canopy etc, where you easily notice the same sounds repeated several times. This has mostly a decorative effect, but it also makes you focus on these words, thereby revealing parts of the poem’s nature and temperament. The land’s sharp features seemed to be1 The Century’s corpse outleant, 2 The ancient pulse of germ and birth5 The choice of words in this poem has been carefully selected, leaving little to coincidence. If you look carefully, you notice him using lots of negatively loaded words such as grey, desolate, broken, haunted etc. He himself is all alone out in the cold with all his negatively loaded words. But this changes further on in the poem. In stanza number 3 you will notice a change in the poets use of diction. In stead of keeping mainly to negatively loaded words, he suddenly makes use of positively loaded words too. Words like frail, aged, gaunt and small still remains, but you also get words like evensong, full-hearted and joy illimited. This change in diction shows the reader that something new has occurred in the poem. A song-bird has entered, spreading warmth and hope into an earlier desolate and dead landscape. Another thing to bear in mind (in a more of a general matter concerning his poems) as you read Hardy’s poems, is that he chooses to avoid following a â€Å"jewelled line†. He doesn’t care for writing just pretty poetry. He breaks with conventions concerning the normal use of language. An aged thrush frail, gaunt and small5 Had chosen thus to fling his soul7 As you read it through, you easily find its rhyme scheme to be regular. There is only one irregularity in it, and this always means that it’s put there on purpose, and that it has a special meaning. He operates with end-rhyme, but both in masculine and feminine endings. The major theme is introduced in the poems 3rd stanza, in the appearance of a song-bird. It is probably supposed to resemble â€Å"hope†, and that things are not quite over yet although it may seem so. Like winter always brings death along with it, the coming of autumn restores some of it to life once more. Although things may look pretty negative right now, don’t give in to it, life will return sometime, even though you are not aware of it yourself. This theme can be seen as a kind of reflection on the time Thomas Hardy lived. It was the end of an era, and end of a Period and almost the end of a Queen. And when a new Period is called for, it’s often a reaction to the old one. Now was the time for a reaction. Things looked dark and not so promising. People didn’t know what hope there lay in the future, but as this poem says, there may be hope coming although you don’t know of its coming. In the poems last stanza, the man revealing his thoughts to us sees a glimpse of hope, as the song-bird colours the air with its singing. There may be hope after all. Is it the spring coming once more? Or are his â€Å"Demi-Gods† just playing with him? So little cause for carolings 1 Was written on terrestial things3 That I could think there trembled through5 Some blessed Hope whereof he knew7 If you’ve followed me through these 5 pages, you will probably not only feel that your understanding of the poem is enhanced, but also your understanding of poems in general. I’ve tried to guide you through some of the main elements of poetry, giving a brief explanation as to what they are and how to find them. Because I’ve chosen to spend so much time on this, I didn’t use them all in each and every stanza. But now that you have it in front of you, why not try to look for signs of the different elements in the other stanzas? If I were to give my own opinion of this poem, then I think I like the other title of the poem better. It is more fitting, considering the context around the writer at the time. You are in the last day of the 19th century, the queen is breathing her last few breaths, and so is the Victorian era. Awaiting just around the corner is a completely new era, a new king, and an entirely new Period entirely different from the Victorian.

Exporting Democracy essays

Exporting Democracy essays Since its inception, America has been steeped into the view that it is an extraordinary nation, a city on a hill, a beacon of hope and continues to this day to bask in the glory. What began as Puritan declaration and Jeffersonian thought aimed at promoting a societal reconstruction has now been coupled with economic and militaristic superiority to represent a much more complicated ideology. At the forefront of this consciousness stands the American democracy, and after Alexis DeTocqueville published Democracy in America in the 1800s, America became the envy of the world, or at least thats what the high school history teachers said. The close of World War II marked the end of global imperialism and ushered in a policy that called for systemic decolonization of some of the heftiest land-grabs in history. America never prided itself as an empire, at least not publicly. Post-Cold War politics, however, left the United States as the worlds only remaining superpower- an unchecked force that regularly exercises imperial privileges, all in the name of democracy. Between 1989 and 1999, we invaded Panama, smashed Iraq, intervened in Somalia, invaded Haiti, launched air strikes on Bosnia, fired missiles at Baghdad, Sudan, and Afghanistan and destroyed Serbia. We also imposed embargoes on Libya, Iran, Iraq, and dozens of other states. In every single conflict, America portrayed itself as the protector of the free world...a protector of democracy. In a speech to his constituency, Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1963: Dont let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be, a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, Youre too arrogant. And if you dont change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power. ...Forty years la...

Tocqueville essays

Tocqueville essays In the book Democracy in America, Tocqueville describes why he believes democracy, especially in America, is going to turn into a despot. Tocqueville believes that despotism is going to rise in America because when the inhabitant of a democratic country compares himself individually with all those about him, he feels with pride that he is the equal of any one of them; but when he comes to survey the totality of his fellows and to place himself in contrast to so huge a body, he is instantly overwhelmed by the sense of his own insignificance and weakness (Tocqueville v2, p10). This insignificance and weakness makes the inhabitant rely on the government more and thereby the government turns into a despotic one. This is why Tocqueville believes that despotism will be the end result of democracy. Democratic nations, such as America, pride themselves on equality of conditions. The first and most tense passion that is produced by equality of condition is the love of that equality (Tocqueville v2, p94). Men love equality because it gives everyone equality of opinions and equality of worth, which means that no one person, is any better than anyone else. Americans do not believe just one person because their opinion is equal to that one persons opinion; but if the majority holds that same opinion then that one person will conform to the majority. At periods of equality men have no faith in one anther, by reason of their common resemblance; but this very resemblance gives them almost unbounded confidence in the judgement of the public (Tocqueville v2, p10). This equality on an individual basis leads to a sense of individualism. Equality of condition leads to a sense of individualism. Since everyone is equal and on an individual basis no one needs or wants anything from anyone else, a sense of individualism or isolation arises. Democracy makes every man forget his ancestors and it hid...

Child Physical Performance The Concept of Motor Development Essay

Child Physical Performance The Concept of Motor Development - Essay Example Whatever the case, it is apparent that some specific motor habits and activities are expected of children between a certain age group, that is surely linked with their expected neuromotor development. Expected Activities: the age group under consideration for studying the link between neuromotor development and movement mechanics in humans has been from children of ages 5 to 12. The basic neurological functions have by now developed enough in children between these age limits to enable them to perform certain activities that are universal in this context and form the basis of the study of movement science. Any abnormalities can then be examined easily as we already have the established and the expected activity range for these children. The method of data collection may differ among the scientists, but it is unanimously agreed that there are a total of eleven basic activities that should be performed by children of this age group. These activities are known as fundamental motor skills (NSW 1997), and they form the basis of all the other and more advanced activities that an individual performs later in his life (NSW 1997). Six of these activities would be discussed in this paper. The first among those activities is running. Through studies it has been established that among both boys and girls, this skill is expected to be mastered by the age of 10, however, if any child has not learned to perform it properly till the age of 6, it is unlikely that he or she would learn to do so ever in the future (NSW 1997). Running is one of the most common fundamental skills performed by children in this age group. The skill of kicking has shown to increase and improve drastically with age, from the limit of 5 to the limit of 12, with much more boys performing the skill than girls, and the general trend of increased proportions in the learning of this skill, too, had a steeper gradient among boys than among girls (NSW 1997). This trend in itself reflects upon the differences in the physical activities expected of boys from girls based clearly upon the differences between their physical make up and neuro-muscular development. Behavioral traits and differences might come into play here, too. The skill of the catch is expected almost at an equal level and statistical proportions from both the boys and the girls in the towards the lower limit of the age group under study, however, with the advancement of age towards the upper limit, there is a marked increase in the number of boys who can perform it as compared to the number of girls who can perform it at the same age limit, and even the ratio of increasing skill acquisition of the catch among the boys with age is much higher than

Rhythm and Blues Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rhythm and Blues - Research Paper Example This essay declares that  the increasing fame of Rhythm and Blues among the African Americans resulted in the genre becoming popular as work songs, gospel songs, and church hymns, ballads, and lyrics as well as secular music. Combining the two styles of music into one genre instilled strong emotions among the singers and lead instruments thereby reflecting soulful and melodic blues with rhythmic force and concentration.According to the report findings the recent years have witnessed Rhythm and Blues music receiving widespread criticisms for various reasons. Although singers have been praised for being soulful and capturing emotions of the audiences, the genre has been associated with negative activities in the society like sex, selling drugs, and domestic violence. Most of the early artists who performed Rhythm and Blues were associated with drugs and sex. Even the terms used to identify the stars portrayed the aspects of sex and drugs. For instance, some of them were identified as hard-living and hard-drinking characters. As the fame of musicians increased, the number of followers increased. Male musicians had a big number of female followers, who spent time together and were willing to engage in sexual activities. The dance styles and style of dressing among musicians and other characters in the music videos has been described as lewd, due to its explicit contents.  The behavior of most artists has been considered as strange. In fact, there are other artists who have confessed being addicted to alcohol and other drugs like heroin and cocaine.

A Memoir tells a story of an important moment in our lives and its Essay

A Memoir tells a story of an important moment in our lives and its significance to us - Essay Example Many of them were standing here and there, talking in groups. Some of them expressed the dislike and arrogance to the new comers. As a student who, at the first time coming out of the security of home, I was homesick and worried very much. I did not see any one really. How can I, since I was blind with tears? Many of them were using English fluently. They asked something to me also. I did not give a reply since I was unable to open my mouth. At that moment I noticed one girl standing among the old students of the hostel. They were asking her many questions .It was not a dialogue, but it was an interview that I heard. From there conversation I came to know that her name was Treesa. I did not see a tint of fear or agitation on the face of that girl. She was bold and courageous. I also felt a slight admiration for her at any corner my heart. Sometimes I wished to become someone like her. Treesa became the favorite one for all among the new comers. She talked well and also became friendl y with all the students within one day. I found her consoling some other students who were bitterly crying for keeping themselves away from their kith and kin. I heard many others talking about Treesa. Though I felt friendly with her I did not show that forwardness to her. That day came!, the day on which we wanted to self –introduce to the inmates of the hostel . Usually it was after one week of the entry. I heard many stories about that day from some of the seniors who were friendly to me. Among them there was a girl who had fainted during the question hour. But now she was the chief among those fellows to interview the new ‘preys ‘. The session was divided into three. During the first part which lasted for three or four minutes, we wanted to introduce ourselves. The second part which was also lasted for three or four minutes, they would ask some questions to us. In the last session, we wanted to present a programme, a song, mono act ,dance or any other item whi ch they felt, would entertain them . I had already learned one song. All of us were expressing each other the worries and thoughts about the ‘impending disaster ‘, which would envelop them at any moment. All were prepared well with at least some programme and I overheard some of them even practicing the same secretly in their rooms. But our Treesa was very confident all the time. Some prickly girls even commented that since Treesa was the pet of all she would not have to face a tough time with the inmates. Somehow it started!!. Those who finished their session expressed the relief in many different ways. It was the time for Treesa. Everybody pierced through the sides to see what would happen on stage. Treesa introduced herself. The audience asked her to sing a song. She sang melodiously and the applause lasted even for one minute. Suddenly everybody heard a piercing sound. â€Å"Will you sing a fast number?† Yes, very coolly she accepted. Everybody enjoyed it well . For the second time another question came,† a rock please†. She did that also well. The chief among them came with a different one â€Å" What about a raga†, To the amazement of all, with same unstirred mind, Treesa sang a beautiful raga. Treesa confronted with another question now. â€Å"Who taught you these songs†. â€Å"My DAD†, the answer came soon. What is your father? , â€Å"He is a business man†. Where is your Dad doing business, What kind business is he doing? There were many questions ... but the answer was â€Å"

The employment of women in industry during the First World War Essay Example for Free

The employment of women in industry during the First World War Essay Use Source G and your own knowledge to explain why some men opposed the employment of women in industry during the First World War. Source G is a personal account written by a women worker, which demonstrates the prejudice that women were shown in the work place during the First World War. It describes scenes of resentment from the womens male colleagues and made it harder for women to do a good job, over and over again the foreman gave the wrong or incomplete directions. There are many reasons why some men may have opposed the work of women in industry during the First World War however I think that one of the main reasons was for fear of loosing their own jobs or receiving less pay at the end of the war because women may have done a good or better job than them in their absence. Trade unions were one of the reasons why some men opposed the work of women in industry during the First World War. The government had to make sure that the factories could keep up with the needs of the war. Lloyd George was concerned about the issue of demarcation which was when only skilled workers could do certain jobs. Demarcation meant that there was not enough production in certain areas. In March 1915, Lloyd George developed the Treasury Agreement. This Agreement allowed specialised work could be done by semi skilled or even unskilled workers. He also promised the unions that this change was only a temporary arrangement until the end of the war. He also agreed that the workers doing the skilled jobs would be paid the same regardless if they were skilled or unskilled. He also banned strikes and the workers could be fined for going on strike or missing days of work. If the worker wanted to leave and find a job elsewhere, they had to inform the employer and the employer had to issue them with a leaving certificate. Without this certificate they would have to wait six weeks before they could get another job. Up until this time, trade unions were mainly made up of men however in 1914 there were 357,000 female members and this increased to more than 1 million members in 1918. I think the reason why so many men opposed women working in industry is that the trade unions thought Lloyd George was trying to lower the mens wage during the First World War. During the First World War many men were afraid of being paid less or even loosing their jobs. They thought this because women were willing to be paid less for doing the same job as they had done. They were afraid that after the war their employers would pay them the same as the women or even give their jobs to the women. Unskilled workers were allowed do skilled workers jobs by the end of the war and they were afraid that this low paid work for skilled work was going to continue after the war. This idea is shown in Source G because it says none of the men spoke to me for a long time, and would give me no help as to where to find things. My drawer was nailed up but the men, and oil was poured over everything in it through the crack. This suggests that the men felt threatened by the woman and wanted to make it as difficult for her as they possibly could. In source D it also shows a picture of unhappy women in the work place. It also has a board in the background that said when the boys come back we are not going to keep you any longer girls, suggesting that they were not wanted there and were just filling in the vacancies until the war was over and the men could return to their own jobs. I think that this is the other reason why some men opposed the work of women in industry during the First World War. Not all men opposed the work of women during the First World War. Many men supported it as they were pleased about the effort the women made and believed that without their help there would not be enough production of munitions to feed the needs of the war. Some of the men that supported women working were the husbands of those who were employed in industry. This meant that they were bringing more money home to the family which was much needed during the First World War. Others supported it because they believed in equality for both men and women and this was a way of proving that women could do the same work as men if they were given the same opportunities. This idea is shown in Source E where there is a poster from the government asking women to help in munitions. If women were not wanted to work they would not have advertised for their help. In Source C, which is written by an owner of a factory, he says women prefer factory life. The children are better off than before, this suggests that he thinks that women who worked not only helped themselves but also it helped their families. There were a lot of good things that came out of women working in industry during the First World War. Overall there were many reasons why some men opposed the work of women in industry during the First World War but I think that fear of loosing jobs and dilution of their standards when they returned were the main reasons. Men also realised that women were doing a good thing and helping the war effort.

High Rise And High Density Buildings Sociology Essay

High Rise And High Density Buildings Sociology Essay The subject of this research developed from a personal interest in the dichotomy between quality and the provision of housing in the U.K. In an interview with BBC Two news night the Planning Minister, Nick Boles, criticised the recent provision of housing. He states People look at the new housing estates that have been bolted on to their towns and villages in recent decades and observe that few of them are beautiful. Indeed, not to put too fine a point on it, many of them are pig-ugly (the Guardian, 2012). This is a valid point and is at the core over the provision of housing as literature provides sufficient evidence based on negative feedback on housing especially with houses built in the post war periods of the 1960s. However using the term pig ugly to describe the effort of others is perhaps too much of an exaggeration. Nevertheless, this develops interest in exploring further what the Minister considers to be pig ugly and what can be done to make these buildings better. With regards to providing housing for the community, Boles was pin pointing with particular criticism to the recent Harrison Wharf development in Purfleet, Essex, which he describes as an insult to the community. The Planning Minister states that whilst more land is needed for development, the right to houses is a basic moral right, like health-care and education, theres a right to a home with a bit ground around it to bring your family up in (the Guardian, 2012). With this criticism on a high density type of development consisting of 103 flats, not buildings of the 1960s either but a more recent development, raises curiosity as to what new developments offer in terms of quality in housing despite all the new policies and regulations in place. Exploring further research into the rights to houses will develop further evidence as to what extent a right to a home with a bit of ground is a necessity. Other evidence pointing towards the ideology of an ideal home being that with a garden includes that of the town planner Professor William Holford, whom on a report of symposium posits the view that in British housing, a tacit assumption is that the ideal house for young family with children is a cottage, a villa, or a semi-detached house with a garden. From this, it can be argued that high rise and high density flats in particular have come to be regarded as what Sir William Holford describes as a regrettable necessity, forced upon us by the shortage of land to accommodate the unfortunate who have to live in them Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Taking this into account, with consideration of the growing increase in high-rise and high density housing in the UK builds up controversy and develops the keenness to investigate further whether high-rise and high density housing really is a regrettable necessity or more satisfying projects can be achieved. The ideology of an ideal home being that with a garden described above may just be one characteristic of what the consequences of high-rise and high density housing seem to have. Literature provides other numerous consequences associated with high-rise and high density housing whereas at the same time, other literature reviews suggests that high density housing is increasingly being seen as a solution for the high demand for housing. The Planning Policy Guidance note 3 (PPG3), which sets out the governments policy on different aspects of planning requires local authorities to avoid inefficient use of land, hereby referring to developments that provide less dwellings per given area (PPG3). It is therefore evident that the government does encourage accommodating more using less space, whether it is encouraging developments which are considered as failures according to some literature sources, is a question that prompts further investigation. There is much debate about what the future housing is offering as a solution with consideration to the governments restrictions on land use. With the main drivers to high density housing being high house price inflation, a cultural shift bringing about the desire to live alone and several other drivers discussed further in a later chapter of this study, there has been an increased rate of household establishment (Bretherton Pleace, 2008). The effect of these price inflation in houses has led to what Hills (2007) terms as residualisation, where it is mainly the poor people adapting in the social rented tenure of housing. With this occurring in the last 20 years there is now a need to bring down this compactness of poverty and social exclusion. Evidence suggests that this solution can be brought about through high density housing that are affordable and of mixed tenure. (Bretherton Pleace, 2008). With particular reference to high-rise and high density development in the provision of housing as they are both designed on the basis of accommodating more in less space, the debate on whether better designed, affordable and mixed tenure housing can provide a solution that tackles the demand for housing to accommodate without derogating quality is the essence of what has developed interest in doing this research. Aims and Objectives The Aim of my research is to investigate whether high-rise and high density housing can provide good quality homes while providing housing to cater for the increasing demand. To aid my study of this aim, I will use the key question noted below. The following objectives will help in achieving the aim. Objectives: To provide an overview of the Increase in high-rise and high density housing in the U.K To identify factors that affect the quality of homes that will be used in this research To explore the negative and positive design features with high-rise and high density buildings and their effect on occupants Key question: Can better designed, affordable mixed tenure high-rise and high density housing provide a solution for quality homes for the future? Literature Review Scope of chapter This chapter will critically appraise the literature review, identify similarities of statements, commonalities and contradictions of the body of evidence. It is divided into the following five main sections Definition of high-rise and high density buildings (300) History and growth of high rise and high density buildings (500) High rise debate Evaluating the literature on the drivers and barriers of key features of good design in high-rise and high density buildings(2000) Definition of high rise and high density buildings High rise buildings: While the most prominent name for tall building remains high rise, in Britain and several other European countries high rise buildings are sometimes referred to as tower blocks. Various definitions are used to define high rise buildings as the terms do not have agreed definitions recognised internationally. Langdon and Everest et al (2002) affirm that it is not possible to define high rise buildings using absolute measures. Most sources define high rise building to suit the subject being studied, the definitions not always expressed in terms of number of storeys but rather in linear height feet and meters. According to the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (1969), a high rise building can be defined as a building of 10 storeys or more. Craighead (2009) defines a high rise building as that which extends between 75 feet (23metres) and 100 feet (30 meters) or about seven to ten storeys depending on slab to slab distance between floors. For the purpose of this research the defi nition of high rise buildings is considered that of Langdon and Everest et al (2002) who believe that; In relative terms tall buildings are best understood as buildings whos planning, design construction and occupation is influenced by height in ways that are not normally associated with more typical, local developments. High density buildings ( might need adding more) Literature suggests that measuring density figures is problematic as there are many differences in the approximations of determining density figures. A wide variety of measurements to density have been used since 1918 including: dwellings per hectare, persons per hectare, habitable rooms per hectare, floor spaces per hectare and bed spaces per hectare (Woodford et al., 1976 cited in Jenks 2005). Although the common unit recommended by the research for the government is the dwelling per hectare the rest of the measurement are also frequently used (DETR, 1998). To give a base for the purpose of this study, density in housing is considered the ratio between the number of households or people and the land area they occupy, the government considers 60 and above dwellings per hectare and 140persons per acre to be high density. As mentioned above the planning policy guidance 3(PPG3) encourages high density building by setting requirements for more efficient use of land stating that new developments should aim for a density which is not less than 30 dwellings per hectare (Ibid). Therefore where high rise housing is mentioned throughout this study, it is referred to that of which is considered to be of high density. History and growth of high rise and high density buildings According to Reddy (nd), the growth of a city is closely linked with the growth of high-rise buildings. In England, the tallest buildings that were above the skyline were always the cathedrals, churches, palaces, castles and public buildings. The stable skyline in England was primarily contributed by the locally applied height restrictions and lack of demand for housing. In Britain, high rise buildings were first developed after the Second World War in the 1930s (). The high rise buildings construction went hand in hand with the demolition of Georgian and Victorian housing. The destruction of houses and drastic population growth were among the main reasons that led to the construction of high rise buildings. High rise buildings seemed to be a quick fix to the population problem in order to accommodate more people at that time. Built in central locations with excellent views, high-rise buildings were welcomed as were seen as modern living. The construction of high-rise buildings was r eckoned as the modern and most effective way to handle the demand for more housing issue and the shortage of land issue. In addition to population growth after the war, the ageing 19th century houses also led to the growth of high rise buildings in the United Kingdom. High rise buildings seemed unpopular in Britain as the English houses concept had dominated most parts of the country. However, the situation seemed to be different in Scotland, as tenements (staircase-access blocks of any height, but most usually 3 or 4 storeys) appeared to be the common urban type for most people. Along the 19th century, different types of flats arose in London and other English towns. The four to six-storeyed tower blocks became popular among the lower classes of people and was subsequently seen developing in the west end of London as well (Glendinning Muthesius,1994). Up until the 1990s, an estimated 400,000 flats in 6500 multi-storey blocks were built in Britain, with the most booming period being the late fifties to the early seventies. To that end, about 20% of all public housing constructed post-Second World War was provided in tower blocks primarily with 6 or more storeys (Ibid). Glendinning and Muthesius (1994) contend that the high-rise construction trend continued during the post-war years in London and the majority being built by the local authorities. High rise and high density debate The debate arising from whether high rise and high density buildings have brought more harm or benefits to its occupants and society is rather challenging. Tall buildings seem to be an important topic of debate in London more than any place in the United Kingdom. A scheduled debate to discuss the planning decision for a tower near Vauxhall Bridge was held in June 2005 after the House of Lords reckoned it to be as a possible threat to the London skyline. Both the benefits and the unpleasant outcomes of high-rise buildings were discussed. To begin with, several reviews and early studies seem to have concluded that high rise and high density buildings have not had pleasant outcomes to their occupants as compared to their advantages (Cappon cited in Gifford 2006). Some major contributions to the high-rise debate are the reports commissioned by the Corporation of London, Tall buildings and sustainability (Pank 2002) and by Development Securities PLC, Tall Buildings: Vision of the Future or Victims of the Past? (LSE Cities Programme, 2002). The two reports both concur that high-rise buildings could for sure bring about an outstanding contribution to the inevitable new wave of redevelopment. However, the LSE report emphasises the need of highest standards of design for high-rise buildings whilst the Corporation of London report seems to be emphasising more on sustainable design. ADD DEBATE ON HIGH DENSITY HOUSING In terms of the societal level, high-rise buildings have been accused of exacerbating traffic problems, burthening existing services and infrastructure and in some ways inflicting damage on the character of neighbourhoods (Broyer cited in Gifford 2006). The attack that occurred in the United States of America in September 11th 2001 inflicted fear within occupants of multi storey buildings (Gifford, 2006). The fear that they may be attacked at any particular time raises questions as to whether high-rise buildings are good for people. This, according to sources, describes high-rise buildings as bad for its occupants people living fear of attack makes high rise buildings bad. As for the positive side of high rise buildings, they offer excellent views especially to the upper-level occupants and not forgetting urban privacy. As mentioned above in the growth of high rise buildings, the views that high-rise buildings offered its occupants was one of the primary reason they became popular among the working class in London, therefore this terms high rise as good for its residents. High rise and high density buildings are often although not always located in central urban location, therefore their location seems to point out that they are preferable to those who like central locations. Churchman (1999) highlights that the location of high rise buildings in central areas indicates that services and public transport systems are more likely to be near as well as a significant number of close neighbours therefore one may have greater choice of friends and acquaintances for support. High rise buildings, according to Kunstler and Salingaros (2001) have to some degree deformed the function, the quality and the long-term health of urbanism. The public realms of the streets are being clogged by the infrastructure of high rise buildings. Krier (1984 cited in Kunstler and Salingaros 2001) referred to this as urban hypertrophy. He further asserts that they prevent the organic development of new healthy, mixed urban fabric anywhere further than the centre. On the other hand, Broyer (2002) suggests that high rise buildings which are at times thin buildings leave more room for green space and parks. High rise buildings have smaller footprints than the low-rise houses, therefore take up less land area than the low-rise housing units. He further points out that the unused land near high rise buildings has been seen to be a no-mans land and frequently used by dangerous elements. ADD DEBATE ON HIGH DENSITY HOUSING As seen from the above points, the high-rise debate has raised many questions as to whether they are good or bad. High rise buildings have both the good and bad side of them. However, the negative side of high rise buildings seem to outweigh the positive sides of high-rise buildings. Drivers and barriers of key features of good design in high-rise and high density buildings The increase of population has been considered to have negative outcomes from the past when cities and towns in the UK experienced rapid growth and urbanisation. The seriousness of the state of high population density now can be seen by looking at how far back density brought about consciousness to the government and the public in general. According to Jenks (2005), it was since the 1840s where London was considered a huge city with a population of 21/2 million. More recent statistics from the Office of National Statistics indicate that the UK population is already at its fastest rate in growth and is estimated to increase from 62.3million in 2010 to 67.2million in the next ten years, taking into account higher birth rates than deaths. A further increase of 73.2million is projected in the next 25years, an estimated figure which makes up an average increased growth rate of 0.6%. (National trust). Migration figures also published by the Office of National Statistics show figures in the year 2010 to be 575,000 immigrants, a figure which is said not to have broadly changed since 2004, shows the effect of rising population due to migration into the UK. (HBA, 2011) = Population Increase is regarded by many sources as the core driver towards the demand for housing thus as the UK population continues to increase the demand for housing grows strongly. In London, where population is predicted to grow to 10million, a 2milion increase of Londoners will need housing over the next 20 years which means that 1million new homes will have to be built (Housing and planning consultant). Despite this, the National Housing Federation (NHF) (representatives and campaigners for better housing in England) point out that fewer houses are now being built than at any point since the Second World War. This gap between supply and demand in housing is a prominent issue in UK has instigated vast amount of research in this field. With regards to space required for these new homes and taking into account the restrictions of protecting the green-belt, Colin Wiles, a house and planning consultant implies that London has simply run out of space and its out-of-date green belt is the culprit(The Guardian). With only 4,000hectares of Brownfield land, it provides barely a fifth of the space required to build 1million new homes in London(The Guardian). To be able to house Londoners, Colin Wiles insists London must either build upwards or outwards hereby highlighting the demand for high-rise developments to solve the housing issues (Ibid). Many other sources including Mark Fairwether (2000) agree on the increase in population factor with planning policies that encourage development on Brownfield sites to protect the green as major influences to the market for high-rise and high density housing. Demographic changes in everyday living is yet another factor that is seen by many sources to be influencing the demand for housing. Without going further beyond the scope of the research, the following other factors are worth iterating when identifying the drivers to more housing in a place where land is very limited (parliament)= Increasing number of one-person households Life Expectance Rates Desire for city Living Cost of housing Housing trends Overseas influence Housing rights and Eligibility Add on more drivers Increasing number of one-person households Cost of housing Research Methodology Statement of research Aim It is vital to analyse the different strategies of research therefore understanding the difference between quantitative and qualitative, knowing the different sources and techniques of data collection and the ethics involved is what this chapter aims to cover. Having identified a topic and considered the purpose of study, a way of which this study is going to be performed has to be identified. It is important to determine the appropriate methodology and how to use it in order to carry out an investigation into living in high-rise and high density housing. It is by conducting this methodology that a conclusion will be arrived at (Peter, 2001). Getting to this conclusion however has to go through several steps which include collecting and analysing data that is relevant to the purpose of study (Naoum 2007). The choice of the methodology will depend on the kind of subject which has to suit the methodology that goes with it. As it may be possible to conduct the research for the subject of study without having knowledge of the various methods, having detailed knowledge of planning an investigation will give you an insight into different ways of doing so and also enhance your understanding of the literature (Bell 2010). The main importance is to make sure that the research maximises the chance of realising its objectives (Fellows 1997). It is important to first understand what research is about before actually conducting and planning the research. Although research can serve many purposes, the most common and effective ones are exploration, description and explanation (Babbie 2010). Exploratory research is used when only limited amount of knowledge is known for a particular subject or when a new interest is examined by the researcher. Research therefore is being done to explore more about the topic (Naoum 2012). Description serves the purpose of observing situations and events and then describing what was observed by answering questions such of what, where, when and how while explanation in the other hand tends to explain things answering questions of why (Babbie 2010). Foundations in Research As the type of research in this case is that of social research, it is essential to first consider the underlying of social research in order to prepare the way into which the research will be approached. Understanding and considering the two elements of science which are logic and explanation will mean that the findings have to first make sense and also correspond to what has or can be observed. These two important elements relate to three major aspects of social science representations; theory, data collection and data analysis. The theory deals with the aspect of logic in science, data collection deals with observations while data analysis analyses patterns achieved in the observations and compares what was logically expected to what was actually observed where necessary (Babbie, 2010). The order in which these three aspects can be approached is what differentiates the two important methods of reasoning in research which are; inductive and deductive. Inductive and Deductive Deductive theory takes the process of having a theory, reasoning it by deducing it into a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis which then gives you a pattern of observation which will help you confirm whether or not the theory is right or wrong (Deduction and Induction, 2006). Whilst deductive theory breaks down from the more general to the more precised, inductive reasoning works out the opposite. It moves from measured patterns of general observations which lead to the formation of tentative hypothesis that can then be explored into a general conclusion or theory. In understanding the social effects of living in high rise buildings, these two approaches both are effectual approaches which when both work together can provide more accurate and complete understandings. Quantitative Research Quantitative research uses a scientific approach and is objective in nature. Naoum (2007, p.37) defines quantitative research as:- An inquiry into a social or human problem, based on testing a hypothesis or a theory composed of variables, measured with numbers and analysed with statistical procedures, in order to determine whether the hypothesis or theory hold true. Quantitative research therefore based on the above definition is strong and can be reliable. When there is presence of a theory and testing is needed to determine whether it holds true, a quantitative approach is to be considered (Naoum, 2007). It can also be used in the collection of known facts and studying the relationship between one set of facts to another evaluating them in numerical data (Bell, 2010). In the case of investigating living in high-rise and high density housing, whilst finding research from data and facts that have been collected previously, testing and analysing the variables and measuring it in numbers may contribute to achieving a conclusion. Whether the findings only achieved from this method of research will be enough is highly doubtable thus other strategies of research may need to be considered. Qualitative Research Qualitative research is more concerned and seeks to understand the purpose of study based on opinions and feelings of individuals perceptions of the world (Bell, 2010). Qualitative research is subjective by nature. It emphasises meanings, experiences (often verbally described), description, and so on.'(Naoum, 2007, p.40). The information obtained from this strategy of research falls in two categories; a) Exploratory research b) Attitudinal research. In order to explore more about a subject, Interview technique is usually used to collect data so as to diagnose a situation, screen alternatives and discover new ideas. Attitudinal research is used to evaluate opinions of people towards a particular object. The Object in this case refers to an attribute, a variable, a factor or a question. (Naoum, 2013). Babbie (2010) defines variables as logical groupings of attributes whereas attributes are characteristics of a person or things. The two ways in which data can be collected are primary data collection and secondary data collection. To investigate the living in high rise and high density buildings, using exploratory research would be beneficial to the study to personally question the residents using interview techniques hence getting their opinions of the effect of living in the schemes. Naoum (2012) describes primary data as that of which is collected at first hand coming directly from the source, while secondary is data that is obtained from other sources using desk study approach. Using both primary and secondary methods of collecting data may be useful, with secondary data helping to back up the views and opinions of people collected from primary sources which may be in question. Whilst the primary research method technique will be interviewing personnel, an awareness of any restrictions or requirements to be considered is worth knowing. Lutz (cited in Bell 2010) who writes about ethnographic research suggests that some type of contract should be established with the associated field, contract in this case referring to the set of restrictions and requirements that a researcher is to consider. Many professional bodies and organisations have set their own ethical guidelines as Lutz (cited in Bell 2010) stresses, it may well be that whilst investigating about living in high rise buildings issues such of care needed when involving children, manner of conducting the interview, rights of the interviewee, voluntary participation, what subject may or not be examined and more need to be considered before research is being done. The research being done in this case will represent an intrusion into peoples lives, knocking on peoples doors for them to participate in inte rviews perhaps is a disruption in the persons regular activities. Moreover, the information required may be personal and often not known to people associated to them let alone a stranger intending to research. Therefore it is worth reiterating that understanding the importance of ethical agreements about what is proper and improper when conducting research need to be considered beforehand. (Babbie, 2010, p.63) The studies were carried out by Joanne Bretherton and Nicholas Pleace who were greatly supported by Kathleen Kelly and Alison Darlow who managed the project on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree foundation. Case Studies This chapter will discuss three case studies. One in the North West of England, one in London and one in Scotland. The case studies will briefly describe the characteristics of the case study schemes, their design, location, number of storeys and their tenure mix. Subsequently, the case study schemes will also consider the following: Reasons as to why the occupants of the case study schemes moved in. The report findings on the attitudes of occupants towards living in the case study properties. Finally analyse the lessons learnt from the study that can towards establishing quality housing for the increasing demand. Case Study 1: Case study one is located in the North West of England and was completed in 2001. The developer of the scheme was a housing association. The size of the whole site was 0.49 hectares while the whole scheme was of 120 units per hectare built between four-to-six storeys including both accommodation and work sites. This scheme provided 75 flats set around a communal courtyard including: 14 one-bedroom flats 42 two-bedroom flats 19 three-bedroom flats. An on-site meeting room was also available on site. The primary focus of the scheme was providing social housing for rent and had a high level of involving the occupants in management. The main aim of the scheme is connected to urban regeneration as the entire area was being redeveloped. Other developments have come up around the area since the construction of the scheme. The design, however, is rather uncommon in trying to adhere to an outstanding architectural style in a user-friendly modern development (Bretherton Pleace, 2008). Case Study 2: Case study 2 is located in London and was completed in 2003. The developer of this scheme was also a housing association. The size of the whole site is 0.53 hectares with 122 dwellings per hectare; this had the highest density compared to the other case studies. The site had about 70 units per hectare, made up of: 31- one bedroom flats 12-two bedroom flats 16- three bedroom houses 6- Four bedroom houses. This scheme was built on brownfield and a large shared communal area around it. The whole site was affordable, providing social rented housing, key worker Low Cost Home Ownership (LCHO) and renting and LCHO. Accommodation for people with support needs was also available which was designed for easy access. The scheme was fundamentally designed as an example of low-cost housing in a very pricy part of the country within the remit of it being high density, energy economical and advanced in construction with a balanced sustainable mixed community (Bretherton Pleace, 2008). Case study 3: Case study 3 is located in a large urban area in Scotland and was completed in 2000. The size of the whole site is 1.6 hectares while the whole scheme was of 75 units per hectare in a two-to-four storey perimeter block with a community centre, surrounded by terraced gardens and enclosed by allotments for use by the occupants of the scheme. The development was made up of 120 flats including: 35-one bedroom flat 46-two bedroom flat 39-three bedroom flat. The tenure mix was chiefly balanced towards social renting, covering 70% of the flats, with most of the remainder being LCHO through shared possession. Some of the flats had been constructed for market sale owner occupation. Similar to case study 2, some of the flats were particularly designed for people with support needs. In contrast to the other case studies, this one was designed to be car free, ther