Human aggression

Human aggression is innate; others say that it has biological roots. Looking at the biological standpoint, similarities between non-primate, animal aggression and human aggression seem to present that human aggression stemmed from animal aggression. Testosterone levels in animals, which are related to aggression, also seem to contribute in the aggressive behavior of animals. This, however, is not the case. Considering another biological aspect, the neurology of humans, seems to play a crucial role in human aggression.However, the arguments presented by the view that human aggression has biological roots are not entirely without fault and repercussions. Biological Roots of Human Aggression The meaning of human aggression varies from person to person. Human aggression is the competitive form of social behavior among Homo sapiens (Go, 1983). It is also defined as the behavior wherein the underlying objective is to cause pain, harm, physical distraction or injury (Net Industries, 2008; B aron & Richardson, 1994).Using the definition of aggression in which pain or harm is the motive to act violently or hurt others and the self, aggression may be classified in several ways. Aggression may be classified as either passive or active. It may also be categorized as direct or indirect, physical or verbal or any combination of the three classifications (Net Industries, 2008). Some also classify aggressive behavior into three – social aggression, predatory aggression and threatening aggression. Social aggression is considered as unprovoked aggression towards another for establishing power and dominance.Predatory aggression refers to killing and murder. Threatening aggression pertains to attacks delivered when an aggressor is present (Schaffhausen, 2008). In a way, the classifications narrow the definition of aggression. The subject of human aggression has been the topic of debates, especially its cause (Go, 1983). Some suggest that human aggression is innate and cannot be changed. They believe that aggression is within humans and that humans respond to it naturally and spontaneously by releasing aggressive energy.If this energy is not released, humans explode into violence. This implies that releasing aggressive energy in a constant and healthy manner would make humans less aggressive since their aggressive energy is dissipated part by part. It also implies that aggression can be purged out of a human being’s system by continuously engaging in activities that vent out the aggressive energy such as sports (Kohn, 1988). However, the theory of aggression as innate is being critically questioned, especially by the Seville Statement.It states that it would be scientifically incorrect to say that human beings have inherited the aggression present in animals. It is also scientifically incorrect to state that aggression is embedded in the genetics of humans. There have been no scientific evidences showing that genes produce individuals that are pr edisposed to violence. It is also not correct to say that aggression is caused by instinct or just a single intent (Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, 1986). To debunk the theory that aggression is innate, others say that it is due to some biological causes.To understand the roots of human aggression from a biological perspective, scientists study the behavior of the origins of the humans. This is because human aggression has a number of substantial features similar to animal aggression. Surviving in the wild has become a necessity for animals. Human aggression has stemmed from that also; it became normal because of the need for survival and adaptation (Gordon & Smith, 2000). Also, similar to animal aggression, human aggression is present at all age levels and is displayed by both male and female.It is also not dependent on seasonal changes and in fluctuating hormone levels or pragmatic events like sexual activity. These data support the inference that human aggression has its roots in the defensive aggression of non-primate animals (Alber, Jonik & Walsh, 1993). One of the earliest attempts to discover the biological roots of human aggression occurred in the 1960s. The researchers tried to link human aggression to genes by considering the extra Y chromosome in males. The researches thought that the extra Y chromosome gave males more inclination towards violence and aggression.However, this was not the case and the studies shown that there was no significant difference between males with the extra Y chromosome (Schaffhausen, 2008). The origin of human aggression, from a biological view, was then inferred from studies of the testosterone levels of non-primate animals and its affect in the animals’ aggression. Testosterone is linked to social aggression in animals. Reducing testosterone in the male leader or a male of high position by castration eliminates the male’s dominant social status.But restoring testosterone by means of injection may al low him to regain his social status as the male leader. However, there have been studies that show that the correlation between the testosterone levels in animals has no bearing in humans. Testosterone levels between high-physical aggression and low-physical aggression do not have a significant difference. This is also supported by the fact that physical aggression does not increase during puberty wherein the testosterone levels of both males and females dramatically increase.Also, castration and anti-androgen administration, in which testosterone levels decrease, does not correspond to a significant decrease in aggression (Alber, Jonik & Walsh, 1993). The neurological roots are also necessary to understand the biological roots of human aggression. The brain activities of a group of adolescent kids, considered as reactively aggressive, were studied to determine the neurological processes related to aggressive behavior. At the exact moment when the boys have reacted aggressively, the teenagers seem as if they cannot help but do so, at least for the moment.To monitor their brain activity at the precise moment of aggression, researchers used a functional magnetic brain imaging. They also deduced that similar to aggression, fear is considered as a trait, which appears to teenagers at an exact moment, and the teenagers cannot help but feel fear given certain stimuli. In the study, the stimuli used were images of threatening faces. Using the brain-imaging instrument, the amygdala, the part of the brain associated with fear, had a significantly greater activity and the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in decision making and reasoning, had a relatively lower activity.This indicate that that affected teenagers feel fearful, as implied by the overactive amygdala, but have less capacity to control their reactions, due to a less than reactive prefrontal cortex (Singer, 2007). The study points to the prefrontal cortex as the part of the brain involved in a ggression and violence. However, other studies also support that the prefrontal cortex is related to aggression and violence. EEG and other instruments for monitoring brain functions have long suggested that violent criminals have impaired neurological processes (Singer, 2007).A study, using positron emission tomography, monitoring brain activity of murderers and anti-social people, people considered as having relatively aggressive traits, as subject showed that the subjects’ prefrontal cortices were significantly smaller and there was also heightened activity in the sub-cortical regions such as the thalamus. A meta-analysis also showed the same results. It also showed that people with a history of violent behavior have functional and structural impairments in the prefrontal cortex, which impairs the decision-making and increases impulsive behavior (Raine, Buchsbaum, & LaCasse, 1997).Other neurological studies show that serotonin may play a key role in aggressive and violent behavior. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter in the brain that plays a key role in processing emotions and sleep. It transmits nerve signals between the nerve ends and acts as a chemical messenger as well (Schaffhausen, 2008; Mann, 1999). Experiments show that enhancing the level of serotonin leads to a reduction in aggressive behavior. It also shows that knockouts of certain serotonin receptors cause an increase in aggressive behavior of mice. Decreasing levels of serotonin also shows an increase in aggression of vervet monkeys.Because of the similarities of aggression between animals and humans, the connection between serotonin and aggressive behavior in humans was studied. The studies regarding humans showed that serotonin is related to human aggression. People with history of violent and aggressive behavior such as violent criminals show low levels of serotonin in their cerebral spinal fluid. The studies also show that serotonin related inductions in aggressive psychiatric patien ts led to reduction in violent outbursts and hostile sentiments. Neurosis is also linked to the cause of human aggression, based from the biological outlook.Neurosis consists of acts that cause significant harm to other people as well as the self. Neurosis, however, is brought about by the frustration due to obtaining the basic human needs (Wollstein, n. d. ). However, the claims that human aggression is caused by biological causes are not without faults and repercussions. Human aggression, although it has similarities with animal aggression, is not necessarily the same. For one, drawing conclusions from the aggressive behavior of animals to state arguments about human aggression is not correct.The force of culture and society and the human being’s capability to think and reason out sets a big difference between human aggression and animal aggression. In addition, animal aggression may not be in the same context as human aggression. Aggression that is carefully planned rarely occurs in animals as compared to humans, except when it comes to killing for food (Go, 1983). In addition, extremes were present in some of the studies done to show that the amygdala and some other parts of the brain are related to aggression.Using murderers and psychiatric patients represent the extreme end of human aggression. Aggression may also be done in means less violent such as punching a person or beating up a person. There are also plenty of people who may have brains with damaged prefrontal cortex but do not inevitably show aggressive behavior or commit violent, or possibly, hideous acts. Using instruments for mental activity and brain imaging such as the PET scans cannot be automatically used to support the claim that the prefrontal cortex is associated with human aggression (Singer, 2007).Moreover, as interesting as the findings regarding the neurotransmitter serotonin may appear to be, the direction of the effect is not clear. Aggressive behavior could possibly be the effect of a decrease in the serotonin levels or vice versa, the serotonin levels decrease because of the aggressive behavior. Testosterones are also not very good indicators of aggression. Some evidence is present that males with high testosterone levels are more likely to be socially aggressive compared to ones with lower levels of testosterone but there is no proof that these men are necessarily more violent.These men are usually in the top of the corporate ladder are competitive ones. Women, who are typically associated with having low-levels of testosterone, might not necessarily be less aggressive than men. Women engage more in non-physical aggression. Thus, the testosterone levels may indicate that it has no connection between physical aggression but the other forms of aggression cannot be clearly deduced from the testosterone levels present in a human’s body (Schaffhausen, 2008).However, even though researchers have successfully linked some of the biological factors s uch as serotonin, etc with human aggression, they have yet to figure out if these are the concrete biological roots that cause aggressive behavior in humans. There are no neurological markers that might determine which people has more aggressive tendencies or when an aggressive behavior is determined by the mind. The brain has yet to be completely figured out and definitive tests have yet to be managed and done.Also, different forms of aggression, other than physical aggression, are yet to be linked to some of the biological links being studied by researchers (Schaffhausen, 2008) The scientific agreement regarding aggression is that it is a combination of many different factors. The biology part related to aggression – the amygdala, the limbic system, the hypothalamus, etc. only plays a small role in aggressive behavior (Marsh, 1984). References Alber, D. J. , Jonik, R. H. , & Walsh, M. L. (1993) Aggression in humans: what is its biological foundation? Neuroscience and Biobeh avioral Reviews.17(4):405-25. Vancouver. Baron, R. A & Richardson, D. R. (1994) Human Aggression. (2nd Ed. ) New York: Plenum. Go, J. L. (1983). Aggression. In Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. (Vol. 1, pp. 236-237). Rand McNally & Company. Marsh, F. (1984)Biology, Crime and Ethics: A Study of Biological Explanations for Criminal Behavior. Anderson Pub Co Gordon, L. & Smith, D. (2000). The Nature of Human Aggression. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from http://jrscience. wcp. muohio. edu/reflections/FinalArticles/TheNatureOfHumanAggressio. html Kohn, A. (1988). Are Human Innately Aggressive?Retrieved April 6, 2008, from http://www. alfiekohn. org/miscellaneous/aggression. htm Mann, JJ. (1999) Role of the serotonergic system in the pathogenesis of major depression and suicidal behaviour. Neuropsychopharmacology, 21 (2): 99S-105S. Net Industries. (2008). Aggression – definition. Retrieved April 7, 2008 from http://social. jrank. org/pages/25/Aggression-Definition. html Raine, A. , Buc hsbaum, M. , LaCasse, L. (1997). Brain abnormalities in murders indicated by positron emission tomography,† Biological Psychiatry, 42: 495-508. Schaffhausen, J. (2008).The Biological Basis of Aggresssion. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from http://www. brainconnection. com/topics/printindex. php3? main=fa/aggression Singer, E. (2007). The Neurological Roots of Aggression: Recent findings shed light on the brain deficits that underlie aggression and could aid in the development of preventative treatments. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from http://www. technologyreview. com/Biotech/19679/ Spanish National Commission for UNESCO. (1986). The Seville Statement on Violence. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Seville_Statement_on_Violence.

Mary Prince Essay

1. To what extent does the autobiography of Mary Prince tell her own story?. The following essay shall asses to what extent Mary Prince’s story was published in her own words after being recorded down by Susanna Strickland and then edited by Thomas Pringle for publication. With the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act by the British parliament in 1807, the attention of the campaigners against the slave trade switched to the issue of slavery itself. Although the trading in slaves itself had been banned , nothing had been done to free those already enslaved within the British Empire. In 1823 several religious groups, politicians and abolitionist supporters came together to form the Anti- Slavery Society who campaigned on behalf of those enslaved to the right of freedom. It wasn’t until august 1833 that the Slave Emancipation Act was finally passed, giving all slaves currently living in bondage within the British Empire their freedom after a set period of years. The 1833 Act did not actually come into force until the 1st of August 1834 and although the many enslaved people in the British West Indies were no longer legally slaves, they were still exploited, inhumanly treated and often forced to work for low wages and inadequate housing by former masters. The text ‘The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian slave. Related by herself. ’ was one of many slave narratives used by religious abolitionist 2. groups such as the Quakers to promote their campaign and rally public interest and support. It was also the first slave narrative by a black female from the British Caribbean. Mary Prince was a Bermudan woman that was born into slavery through her parents who where also slaves. She was sold away from her mother and siblings when she was 12 years of age. After many years in slavery with different masters and in various locations she finally arrived in England where she was technically classed as a free woman and left her then owners Mr and Mrs Woods after being threatened with being thrown out into the streets. With nowhere to go Mary took shelter with a couple from the Moravian church she had been attending and within a short period of time was introduced to Thomas Pringle an active abolitionist writer, a poet and the secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society within whose household she was then employed. A request was made to Pringle by Prince to have her story recorded so that ‘good people in England might hear from a slave what a slave had felt and suffered‘. Pringle agreed to this request and asked Susanna Strickland to recorded Princes narrative so that he may edit and publish it. Pringle makes it clear in the preface of the text that Mary requested this herself by stating ‘The idea of writing Mary Prince’s history was first suggested by herself. ’ he states this as he felt it important that the reader was absolutely clear that Prince was not in anyway coerced into telling her story, possibly knowing that he would receive heavy criticism from pro-slavery groups declaring he had taken advantage of Prince being in his 3. employment and in a venerable position and convinced her into helping him create a religious propaganda pamphlet serving only to guilt Christians into supporting his campaign. Throughout the text Prince continuously challenges the ideals of enslaved woman. Prince shows us that she was not as typically submissive as most people in England may have thought, and, that she has an assertive nature and a sense of agency giving us exact examples of the times she had confronted masters and stood up to them ‘I then took courage and said that I could stand the floggings no longer; that I was weary of my life’ it could be said these examples were put in to show Prince clearly has enough agency to put her in a position to ask for her story to be published by an employer . The problem is would a Slave after running away for several days and being brought home by her father to her master, dare speak to her master in this way. Prince even goes onto say ‘He did not flog me that day. ’ this seems highly unusual as most runaways were harshly punished by their masters as an example to other slaves, of the consequences, of running away. We could take into consideration the use of language as Prince states she was not flogged ‘that day’ perhaps meaning the punishment came later but in order to keep the momentum of the story moving along the memory was cut short upon editing. Something that is quiet unusual about Princes narrative is the lack of content of the issues surrounding sexual abuse. This is peculiar as sex abuse 4. of slaves seemed to be a distinctive feature of West Indian life for slaves in the 18th and 19th century. Sandra Paquet argues that ’social and religious prohibitions surrounding sexually explicit material in nineteenth century Britain and legal liabilities attached to the publication of such tracts placed further constraints on Mary Prince’s individual voice. Thomas Pringle being part of the Evangelical movement was fully aware that middle aged white Christian housewives would not want to read about sexual abuse as this would have been distasteful and black slave women already had a reputation for being sexually promiscuous so this would have discredited Prince as a witness. That said, Mary carefully gives details of incidents that have a rather sexual overtone, speaking of her old master Mr D_ she says; He had an ugly fashion of stripping himself quiet naked and ordering me to then wash him in a tub of water. This was worse to me than all the licks. Sometimes when he called me to wash him I would not come, my eyes were full of shame. But it does not end there, prince goes on to inform the reader ‘for he was a very indecent man -very spiteful, and too indecent; with no shame for his servants, no shame for his own flesh. , here Prince has managed to keep this part of her story in the text by either knowing to tread carefully or by Pringle helping to prune it. Whilst Prince does not state that she has been sexually abused she hints an alludes to the idea that there was something very sexual in nature about the relationship between Mr D_ and the slaves he 5. owned. The preface of the text written by Thomas Pringle testifies to the truthfulness and authenticity of the narrative by saying ‘The narrative was taken down from Mary’s own lips’ also he states ‘ No fact of importance has been omitted, and not a single circumstance or sentiment has been added. this is a rather bold statement when put into the context that the narrative is being told by someone heavily reliant on memory. Sometimes things are remembered differently in hindsight. It is clear from the evidence of scars on Princes body (something Strickland claims to have seen with her own eyes) that she has been through a somewhat traumatic experience of slavery, so we have to question how that may have affected her memory and how much did Pringle fill in the blanks with his own input. An example is Princes memory of being sold off at the slave auction by her mother ‘I was then put up for sale. The bidding commenced at a few pounds, and gradually rose to fifty-seven,’ how can a girl of 12 years old, amongst the chaos of a thriving slave market, with the grief of being ripped apart from her mother and siblings heavy on her heart and after 30+ years of traumatising abuse, whilst being held in bondage, in all honesty remember the exact amount she was sold for. For it may seem a small detail but it does lead the reader to question the authenticity of the small details within Princes narrative. It could have been added later by Pringle to help the narrative read more flowingly as a story to help keep the reader interested. Pringle being a writer himself knew that 6. people were not interested in reading patchy stories that lacked sentiment and that are hard to follow ,so, he had to make it appealing to his audience. Drawing to conclusion the evidence that has been examined shows that the narrative does include Princes own voice, even though there is at times evidence to suggest that it could have been heavily edited and pruned. Despite this, between Prince’s voice and Pringles clever editorial skills the goal for Mary to tell her story and make it public knowledge in order to gain freedom for all slaves was a successful one. So damning and full of sentiment was her narrative that it helped push forward the Slave Emancipation Act, which in turn earned thousands of enslaved people their freedom and changed the shape of industry forever. The fact that that Mary Princes story is still studied, analysed and used as an example by writers, teachers and students alike adds testament to the authenticity of her voice and the fact that her narrative reflects the self made herione that she was.

Petro-Canada's Total Compensation Strategy and Program Research Paper - 1

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Audit&Assurance - Essay Example Therefore the international institutions and the accounting bodies have recognized the need for streamlining the Auditing practices to meet the emerging challenges. International Accounting Standards have been the first step in the right direction to address the issues evolved over a period of time, considering the international implications imposed by the cross border transactions worldwide. Not only the shift in methods of operations and the procedures involved in financial services, but also, the developments that have been continuously taking place in the production processes, information technology, media and the latest technological innovations such as mobile telephony, Global Positioning System (GPS), Social Networks, etc. necessitated revisiting the techniques adopted in auditing as well. The methodologies adopted in relation to auditing need to take into account these industrial and technological developments to enhance the efficacy and lend flexibility to the procedures in line with the fast changing environment. The international Federation of Accountants (IFAC) was set up during 1977 with a view to bring about uniformity in the profession on a global scale. The concept of ‘Assurance’ is of recent origin, has generally come into existence after the companies have resorted to computerization of accounting during1980s. The various accounting scams in the corporate history have only strengthened the resolve to improve the professional standards in line with the technological developments and to enhance the level of transparency, and this paper seeks to study the development of auditing over the period of time. When computerization gathered momentum, the important problems identified in the auditing process were mainly related to the understanding of the concept of the system adopted (especially the software), compatibility of the program with the established accounting practices or the guidelines, the efficacy of the program to discern the pitfalls

Malicious Software, Unknown Threats & Potential Solutions Research Paper

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The Rhetoric of Pork Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Rhetoric of Pork - Essay Example Then he proposes some opinions and arguments to clarify making the avoidance from pork-consumption a commandment – they consume and stagger in smut, their flesh transmits disease – then enlightens why they mustn’t fulfill the logic. If there is a dire necessity, other farm animals will consume feces, moreover all undercooked meats have the possibility for scattering disease. The clarification he puts forth takes a methodology that has more to do with the economics and the assets needed to raise pigs for getting meat. Beasts that have ruminating bellies do quite fine with ingesting hard plants and grasses that human cannot consume, whereas pigs have bellies that resemble more with human beings and need to stake in the same food source. Pigs also need shadow or some exterior method of cooling their bodies, which is the reason they are observed to lurch in filth. Even the space is not well-matched for raising pigs, particularly with developing human inhabitants. Pig s flourish better in dense forests; whereas the needs of more human population causes woodlands to be wiped off to make room for harvesting fields. The area then starts to look more like a desert, plus it gets pricier to raise swine since their necessities are tougher to provide. In brief, Harris’ concept is that the prohibition of pigs arises out of the unwieldiness of nurturing them. It is very unlike the commonly supposed and argued cultural characteristic of not eating pigs. Jewish community in the United States, for instance, has no environmental need to keep abstinence from eating pork since the meat is supplied figuratively on a shoestring and American people on the whole are also not contending with pork for particular diets. Arguments of Mary Douglas Douglas proposed that food proscriptions sanctioned by religion as cited in Deuteronomy and Leviticus are amongst the resources by which particular groups uphold their preservations and exclusiveness, therefore providing them a robust identity or social emblems.  More tangibly, when a person declares his association with a certain group that he/she respects as his self-enclosed universe and outside whose boundaries he sees risk, menace, and hostility, he concurrently summons—openly or covertly—the many emblems of his social identity. There must be compactness between outrages that will make complete sense of all specific limitations. These prohibitions contaminate the individual, so by not consuming the vile animals, one can be clean or 'Holy', so these eating guidelines one way or another demonstrate holiness. Holiness is extensiveness, harmony, amalgamation, excellence. Holiness connotes protecting discrete classes of design. It includes specific definition, discernment and direction. The animals presented in sacrifice must be without imperfection, just like females must be cleaned after giving birth, so must the lepers be parted and ceremonially cleaned.  For instance, in the t ime of Leviticus, filthy lifestyles of a warrior prohibited him from combating. Animals that are hoofed and chew cud (sheep, cattle, goat, etc.) are  farm  animals used by the early Hebrews, therefore they are the appropriate food of these folks and a fragment of the social command. These are the means of support of the Israelites, so they are deliberated pure. The pig is also vile since it does not produce milk like cattle, yarn or hide like sheep so there is

Legal Perspective of International Football Essay - 1

Legal Perspective of International Football - Essay Example Sports are considered as apolitical in the sense of being neutral and value-free in terms of cultural values, but it plays different roles in relation to different cultures. It is able to reproduce power relations as sports is a reflection about the dynamics of social change in society and organizations like FIFA and IOC are more influential than many countries. With the significant changes in the sphere of competitive sport, the law also has assumed increasing importance in regulating the sport. It is argued that commercialization of sport has brought incremental change and today it is increasingly commodified and developing as an integral part of the leisure industry. In this perspective, Sports Law reflects the dynamics of power relations in society and changes, as social, political and economic relations shift, and the law is not a neutral mechanism, separate from social values. Therefore, the use of law in regulating sport has to be understood in the context and recognition of i t being used in a contingent and ideological way.Sports may be distinguished by its characteristics of standardized rules, official regulatory agencies, the importance of organizational and technical aspects and the learning of strategies, skills, and tactics by participants. The nature of competition in sports is special since it depends on the concepts of equal opportunity, fair play, and solidarity, and there is an interdependence of interest between participants in the sporting competition. Competition is a fundamental prerequisite for sport and when sporting activity is motivated by money and fame, and at the same time there is commercialization and commodification, together with the spectacularization, it is likely to create competition and conflicts among organizers and participants. To quote Howard M. Stupp, Director of Legal Affairs, The International Olympic Committee â€Å"Sport has continued to grow as a global phenomenon, and the impact of the law on sport and sports e vents has increased significantly†. According to Blackshaw (2003) â€Å"Sport is big business accounting for more than three percent of world trade and one percent of the combined GNP of the 15 member states of the European Union (EU).† Numerous job opportunities are created, directly or indirectly, in Sport related activities involving sports sponsorship, endorsement, licensing, merchandising, image rights and broadcasting arrangements. The commercial importance of sports led to the creation of nodal agencies for control and monitoring of sports activities.

Annotated bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Annotated bibliography - Essay Example This civil war is a significant historical element and thus helps educate and enlighten readers. This source explores the influence slavery had on the civil war. It examines the role of slavery especially in influencing politics in the south. Of significant emphasis are the submissions of major political players and society from the southern region of America in relation to slave ownership. The author also highlights the role of black soldiers in the civil war and in what way they influenced the side that lost and that which lost the civil war. The author of this book dwells on the period before the civil war. He asserts that there were troubles over slavery that was slowly building up to a national phenomenon. He acknowledges that there were skirmishes along the North and South Border in relation to fugitive slaves. They were what shaped up politics and culture leading to the civil war. This source is instrumental in showing the build up to the war. It helps people know that political factions started forming a long time before the actual war started. It contributes to research by giving a wider scope of events leading to the civil

Green Computing Essay Example for Free

Green Computing Essay Green computing or green IT, refers to environmentally sustainable computing or IT. It is the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems—such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. Green IT also strives to achieve economic viability and improved system performance and use, while abiding by our social and ethical responsibilities. Thus, green IT includes the dimensions of environmental sustainability, the economics of energy efficiency, and the total cost of ownership, which includes the cost of disposal and recycling is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently. To comprehensively and effectively address the environmental impacts of computing/IT, we must adopt a holistic approach and make the entire IT lifecycle greener by addressing environmental sustainability along the following four complementary paths: †¢Green use reducing the energy consumption of computers and other information systems as well as using them in an environmentally sound manner

Business environment facing lafarge cement of UK

Business environment facing lafarge cement of UK Introduction Lafarge has been a major player in the UK construction sector since entering the British market in 1987 acquiring Redland in 1997 and Blue Circle in 2001. Today, Lafarge is the market-leader in cement and holds top-ranking positions in aggregates, concrete and plasterboard. Lafarge has three sister companies in Britain Lafarge Cement UK, Lafarge Aggregates Concrete UK and Lafarge Plasterboard UK. Lafarge is passionate about customer care and proud of its active approach to sustainability and safety (Lafarge.co.uk 2009). This piece of work will explore the business environment facing Lafarge and establish a few strategic priorities going into the future. A Summary Statement of Findings This summary statement of findings analyses the UK construction industry, which is a major sector in the UK economy. The industry has a high political and social profile due to it key role in providing housing, its impact on the environment and its part as a major employer. It accounts for approximately 10% of the UK GDP and provides for over half its fixed capital investment. The industry experienced rapid growth in the 1980s but a recession in the early 1990s had severe repercussions resulting in its output plummeting, as show is Appendix . However, the volume of work already in progress cushioned the impact. The output of the UK construction industry increased from 55 million in the mid 1980s to an excess of  £110 million by 2007; a remarkable increase in real terms when considering the relative low levels of inflation. However, this increase all changed in 2008 as problems in the US sub-prime mortgage market triggered a catastrophic crash in the US banking sector, which in turn created problems in UK financial markets. This triggered a huge recession in the UK which sent the output of the UK Construction industry to fall 1.1% in 2008. The downside of the economic recession hit construction industry the hardest. This is as this industry runs on credit, more than others, and a credit squeeze affected it badly. Moreover, from the other side customers we re trying to spend as little as possible, squeezing the margins that construction companies were working on. Lafarges performance within the UK business environment during 2008 saw a decline as discussed in Appendix ?. This decline was caused by the recession that hit the UK market in early 2008; the construction sector shrank at its fastest pace since records began. This reduced government and public spending which had a major impact on Lafarge as less government spending meant less money went on the new infrastructure schemes which reduced Lafarge Contracting sales which in turn reduced material sales This had a big effect on Lafarge UK figures as they seen an immense slump in 2008 figures compared to what they were in 2007. A Review and Analysis into the Business Environment of the UK Construction Industry Business environment at Lafarge UK The best method to discover the happenings of a business environment around a company is to undertake a PESTEL analysis. By undertaking a PESTEL analysis it will help one to understand the environment within which Lafarge works better. Looking at the construction industry in general, some of the political issues surrounding them are: Political factors * The UK government is clearly pushing for more affordable housing within the country and this includes both public sector and private sector housing. So it can be said that good or decent housing needs to the people of the country is quite an important political issue. * The Government is involved with housing projects through private finance initiatives and public private partnerships, as these tend to be key aspects of housing projects involving financing, building and operating for these projects. This level of government involvement does mean that it has political implications like selecting projects or choosing partners as well as financial implications. * The UK construction industry is very large in terms of employment, revenue generation and importance to the economy. This high profile nature of the company means the Government usually takes its concerns very seriously and cannot afford to not be empathetic towards the industry. * The constantly spiralling prices of housing within the country points to the need of having affordable housing. Affordable housing schemes means more houses will be built and thus definitely have an impact on all parts of the construction industry including that of Lafarge. * The problem with a high profile industry is that it brings about a lot of regulations with it, thus needs like planning permission and so cause a lot of delay in projects involving a lot of debate and to some extent bureaucracy. Economic Factors  · The construction industry has a more than  £100 bn turnover and this making it one of the largest sectors of the country. This clearly specifies scope for Lafarge, especially as it has the reach and resources to be a big player within the industry.  · The downside of the economic recession has hit construction industry the hardest. This is as this industry runs on credit, more than others, and a credit squeeze affected it badly. Moreover, from the other side customers were trying to spend as little as possible, squeezing the margins that construction companies were working on. Although the economy is recovering but coming out of a long recession, the industry will take time to reach its pre recession levels.  · One of the implications of being part of the construction industrys that the Government is tightening the environmental norms all the time thus it adds to the financial burden of the company as they have to deal with directives, clauses and other pieces of legislation. Social Factors  · There is some skill shortage within the construction industry hence an effort is being made by all companies to hire young, talented people. This can affect Lafarge as they will need to invest time and money into the training of these individuals but as a long-term investment it is good for the company.  · The changes in society have been bringing about a change in the housing needs for people and fast. As more people are living alone, marrying later and old people living longer, distinct changes in housing pattern can be seen. This will increase the need for single occupancy housing thus this needs to be thought of by all constituents of the construction industry.  · With the ever increasing need for sustainable development, housing projects are affecting nearby retail, commercial and public buildings too. This again changes the way the industry functions or will do in the future. Technological Factors  · Regulations regarding buildings continue to add towards bettering energy efficiency and putting demand on other such technological factors in relation to buildings. This again adds to the financial burden of the companies like Lafarge and a major investment in RD results due to this.  · New and improved building materials are also a major research within the industry. The need of the hour is to come up with materials that are sustainable, good for the environment but still functional. Hence work is being carried out to satisfy the next generation of demands.  · Methods that are being used within the industry to build houses are giving rise to new methods of assembly and modulation. New improvements include developing structured insulated panels that provide thermally insulated sheet materials. For further information, Appendix offers a further review and analysis into the business environment of the UK construction industry. Lafarge does operate within the larger construction industry sector; however this section will explore the building materials sector, which is Lafarges core operating territory. This section will look at the environment for that particular sector. Sector overview As hinted in the last section that construction industry is undergoing a lot many changes and the building materials sector is no different. As emerging markets become urbanized and their demand for materials grows, so does the need to align to these markets. Within the more developed economies, environment and sustainability have become major points and as people gain awareness, companies like Lafarge will need to take those demands into consideration. Some of the key strategic directions taken by Lafarge are: Expansion of emerging markets There has been a thorough realignment in favour of emerging economies both in Europe and abroad. Around the world, cement production is growing at 5% each year which means that every year 100 million tones of cement is being consumed. Reports show that 70% of world demand is going to come from these sectors hence Lafarge will need to make itself a leading player in these markets. Lafarges current strategy in this regard is quite good, as it has acquired a lot of Cement companies in every region around the world. In fact including Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, this region contributes to 37% of its turnover and nearly half of its cement turnover. Lafarge is without doubt moving towards a strategy of more value creation. To elaborate, its programs are creating nearly 50 million tonnes of additional cement capacity by 2012. This is in addition to the aggregates and gypsum business. Reducing costs There are a lot of general costs associated with the manufacture of building products and can be broken down as follows: Energy accounts for 33% of the cost of producing cement, Raw materials (more than 50% of which are cement) represent 75% of the cost of ready-mix concrete Delivery expenses account for approximately 20% of the cost, raw materials (primarily gypsum and paper) represent 40% of the cost of plasterboard, energy, raw materials and labour represent 50% of the cost of producing aggregates. Lafarge will need to reduce all costs associated with material manufacture, especially considering the economic crisis in general. It has already started a program that reduces costs by à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬200 million by the start of 2010 and over a period of three years, a cost cutting of nearly à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬400 million. (see appendix ?) This is in addition to the cost cutting exercise over 2006-08 of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬400 million. It has also put a cap on expenditure at à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 2 billion for 2009. These new financial initiatives have completely set Lafarge in a new strategic direction. Cost cutting will definitely improving the companys financial health and enable it to operate on better margins. Reducing environmental footprint of Lafarge operations If one looks at the industry in general there is a lot of waste production along with pollution, dust and other harmful ingredients in the atmosphere. Those materials that are waste derived are actively needed by the cement industry. These are used as replacement for fossil fuel and other raw materials. This measure is only taken forward if the materials can be safe to use and are of high technical quality. Along with all of this if the regulatory norms are met then these materials can be used and are a boon for the industry. The entire industry is now using over 1.4 million tonnes of waste this way and a major contributor in helping the UK government to meet its environmental targets. Coming back to Lafarge, it has been trying to reduce CO2 it produces and emits in accordance to the regulations set by governments all around the world. The current strategy of Lafarge is to improving its material making processes including modernizing plants. It also is rapidly propagating the use of alternative fuels for its production. Another important step taken by the company is moving towards sustainable construction. Building or construction of any sort does lead to consumption of huge swathes of energy and nearly 40% of all CO2 can be attributed to it. Lafarge is working hard at making better buildings using better materials and processes. Lafarge is looking at changing the lifecycle of making building products and incorporating using recyclable materials and renewable energy in order to reduce pollution. Evaluating the future impact of the UK business environment on Lafarge Some important themes have emerged from the previous sections of this piece of work that will help one to recommend future strategies to Lafarge. As far as strategic direction goes Lafarge has to align the company in two directions: First, it needs to keep investing in the emerging markets by strategically acquiring cement companies or starting Greenfield projects if needed. Its taking over of Orascom cement clearly shows that organic growth is important for the company and needs to continue in the same vein. (see appendix ?) Second, innovation via investment in RD is crucial for its long-term benefit. As companies and people grow more aware of the issues surrounding the environment, recyclable and sustainable practices, including materials processes, production needs to be incorporated. This will require a lot of effort and investment as well as a new way of thinking. Other than these main priorities the company can look at other strategic priorities for its operations. These include reducing costs further to enhance the value of the company. Lean operations within this sector will it streamline its operations. In addition, Health safety remains a big area to improve on and such activities will definitely strengthen its position in the market. Conclusion This piece of work looked at the construction industry in the UK and Lafarge materials in particular, to understand the way in which its business environment affects its operations. The work conducted a PESTEL analysis to understand the main challenges facing the construction industry in general. It then went on to conduct a sector overview of the building materials industry, where Lafarge truly operates. One also explored the strategic initiatives started by Lafarge. Finally, based on the current and future trends recommendations were made on Lafarges future strategy. REFERENCES: * Accountancy Ireland (2006), February, Vol. 38, No.1 * Anonymous Contract Journal (2006), September, ABI/INFORM Trade Industry Contract Journal, February, Vol. 442, No. 6664 * Druker, J. and White, G. (1995), Misunderstood and undervalued? Personnel management in construction, Human Resource Management Journal, 5:3, pp. 77-91. * Hollinshead, G., Nicholls, P. and Tailby, S. (1999), Employee Relations, Financial Times/Pitman, London. * Lafarge (2009). www.lafarge..co.uk [Online].[Accessed 12th Januray 2010]. * Mineral Products Association(2008). Performance 2008: A sector plan report from the cement industry. * Oxley R., Poskitt J. (1996), Management Techniques Applied to Construction Industry, Blackwell Publishing, Fifth Edition. Identifying and applying suitable business performance measures to Lafarge Lafarge had an average current ratio in 2007 in relation to its market but this decreased in 2008. Lafarges low current ratio indicates that it barely has sufficient assets available to pay its liabilities. There are many things Lafarge could do to raise there current ratio which are increasing its current assets from loans or other borrowings with a maturity of more than one year, convert non-current assets into current assets or putting profits back into the business could help. Lafarges debtor ratio represents a longer then average duration in obtaining payment for its debts owed compared to that of rival company Aggregate Industries Ltd. This indicates a struggle to obtain payment for work completed, or highlights a need to offer costly credit terms to compete with its rivals. Imposing stricter credit controls can help reduce Lafarges debtor days and improve cash flow. Alternatively, creditor ratio suggests Lafarge are paying there creditors to promptly the creditor ratio is below the market average and Lafarge are not taking advantage of the free cash flow the creditors offer. This could cause working capital issues. Lafarges weak working capital results over the past two year indicate they do not have the liquidity to meet outstanding obligations. Lafarges cash outflow is quicker than its cash inflow. However the debt to equity ratio suggests otherwise. Lafarge has no long term debt indicating strong financial strength as they can always take up debt in future to fund potential projects. A strong interest cover over 2007/2008 indicate that Lafarge has enough equity to pay its loan interest and meet its legal obligations. A zero dividend yield indicates that Lafarges shares have not matured over the past two years. Potential share holders may be discouraged by this. Its strong acid test ratio proves that current assets are not dependable on inventory-which shows strong financial integrity. A negative return on capitally employed questions Lafarges performance, although they have a strong equity base they are still making a loss. Its declining trading profit margin solidifies this by suggesting a potential loss of competitive advantage. A healthy year on year performance in return on equity indicates a strong level of profitability, high market valuation and utilization of its invested capital. A steady low dividend figure along with stable profit levels indicate a good record of using its retained earnings to generate future growth and profits. For further information, Appendix offer a complete evaluation, as well as the subsequent results of Lafarges business performance.

Importance of Mobile Government Systems

Importance of Mobile Government Systems Introduction Civilization can only be consisted of civilized people, with an organization governing it with all the public services. This organization is known as government. Government in modern days has to face more challenge than any other organization to perform its tasks and meet the goals. The more technologies are being discovered, the more citizen needs are created. ICT provides the governments with the ways of meeting the ever growing needs of the citizens. In developed countries, Internet Technologies have already become an easily available service to the citizens while the rest of the world still keeps on hoping for it. The developing and under-developed countries, as an example Bangladesh is legging well behind to catch the pace of the ever developing technologies and the benefits which the citizens of developed countries are enjoying. Basically when government activities take place by digital processes over a computer network, usually the internet between government and the members of public and regulated entities of private sector, then it is called e-government. And m-government would be an extension of e-government to mobile platforms, as well as the strategic use of government services and applications which are possible using the mobile phones, laptops, PDAs and other wireless technologies. M-government concept normally helps make public information and government services available anytime, anywhere (Emmanuel Lallana, 2008) and that the ubiquity of these devices mandates their employment in government functions, simply as an example of the usage of mobile wireless technologies could be the sending of mass alerts to registered citizens via short messaging services (SMS) in case of a national emergency. Though m-government is at its early age, it seems to have a substantial influence on the generation of a set of complex strategies and tools for e-government efforts and on their roles and functions. It is quite clear after the studies that the number of people having access to mobile phones, PDA and wireless internet connections is increasing rapidly. M-government is already a manifold concept as being mobile or simply being capable of having the mobility options is generally associated with a positive, dynamic and seemingly indispensable form of lifestyle and a productive behaviour. The main advantage of m-government as an extension of the platform of e-government, would be this drastic change in our dynamic societies as well as peoples mind which is always influenced by new technologies and their affect, which also in a sense announced being mobile all the time as a great feature. In this context, the study of the various categories of contribution of m-government in developing co untries provides a great deal of insight into how the ICT can improve their governments yield a good service to the public. Statement of the problem Developing countries, such as Bangladesh, are always struggling towards developing the infrastructure of its communication and technology sector. E-government has been implemented in developed countries and is in all sense easily available to their citizens. It needs a lot of power consumption and proper fibre optic connection to ensure full deployment of the system. On the contrary, in Bangladesh the need of electricity of 40% more than the total national production, with nearly 70% of the rural population have not yet have an electricity connection at their homes. Compared to that, nearly one third of the population occupies a mobile phone and this number is increasing every month by an average of 1.5 million mobile phone users. Hence the current study intends to analyze the pros and cons in implementing m-government options in Bangladesh with a feasibility study done after a complete research. Purpose of the Study Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be considered as the backbone of modern day civilization. And m-government is one of the brightest assets of wireless ICT, feasible contributions of which could be inevitably numerous. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. People of that country suffer from a good number of troubles all year round. And the private sector of Bangladesh is not as strong as that of the western world. So in case of any national or social trouble, the public have to rely almost solely to government arrangements. The dependency on the government is too high among the people of Bangladesh. As the author is from Bangladesh himself, there has been an honest purpose of finding a possibility of deploying an m-government system which might come out as truly beneficial for the common public of the country. Importance of the Study The study analyzes the importance of m-government in todays world and also scrutinizes through the technical implementation of the various aspects f establishing a beneficial m-government system in Bangladesh. It has also worked on three case studies and made an attempt to find out about the results. The whole overview of the m-government framework has come out of this study which might benefit any one who wants to know about the implementation of m-government and its various aspects and impacts. Rationale of the Study There is a vast amount of literature available on the fields of m-government and e-government though there are only a few noticeable studies on the feasibility of deploying ICT in all sectors of Bangladesh government. The study proves its rationale by making it an honest and logical approach to find out the positive impacts and benefits of deploying m-government in Bangladesh. Also by analyzing the case studies taken from the practical fields of Bangladesh, the research identifies that m-government would be a lot more efficient than e-government and has a strong likelihood of becoming a success on taking the country a huge step further ahead from the other developing countries. In this study, it has also been tried to hold a simple overview of various m-government applications which might easily be possible to implement in developing countries. Definition of Terms M-government stands for Mobile E-government, which are an extension of e-government and a matter of getting public sector IT systems geared to interoperability with the citizens mobile devices. Mobile devices are the devices using wireless ICT such as mobile phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDA) and wireless internet infrastructures. ICT stands for information and communication technologies, which can be considered as the backbone of modern world information flow. Decentralization is allocating the tasks of a central government to local authorities to govern a particular area in all aspects. Overview of the Study The current research paper intends to observe the emerging trends and the technologies establishing the trends in the field of m-government. The study also collects data on the benefits and challenges involved in the implementation of a full-functioning m-government in Bangladesh. The paper examines various scopes of m-government to become economically and democratically beneficial for Bangladesh as well as the developing countries basing on the data collected for this purpose. In this way, the paper finally analyzes the real impact of m-government on the public sector processes in Bangladesh and an attempt of proving this system being a better option rather than e-government has also been made. Literature Review Introduction In this study, there would be attempt to see through the potential of various fields of the implementations of m-government. And this research is going to ride a number of steps of deeper insight of the most promising sector of public administration for a smart 21st century country. M-government is a very much practiced and discussed issue in running local administration and the focus of connecting regular public with the administration has never seen such an easier option in order to establish proper democracy as well. The review in this section would first try to understand the different functions of government and the long hand of administration to run a country. Thus, the possible integration of ICT in the facilitation of these functions would also be studied thoroughly with a view of finding the dignified contribution of the system where e-government and m-government are playing a vital role. The comparisons and reasoning would always be focused on our main topic, which is the implementation potential of m-government in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country representing the third world, with poor infrastructure and low communication facilities. The study intends to face the challenges in such present condition of the country and studies the possible issues of meeting them. Government Functions Mobile-government is basically the system of running government actions by using the utmost facility of mobile technologies. For this purpose it is not unreasonable to find out what actually are the basic functions of a government. Mobile technology might be sought into the stream of the various actions of a government. Let us see how below. In a democratic country, the government is the core wheel-power of the system on which the country runs. The main functions of a democratic government could be listed as: Providing protection of the citizens and their property Ensure the enforcement of law at all parts around the country Keeping in order with the rights and contributions of each and every citizen Connecting with people, as the people is the maker and decider of the government Create and maintain good foreign relationship focusing the welfare of the country, etc. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, we are now looking forward to the acceptance of democracy in almost every country in this world. Though the list of the duties of a democratic country in not exhaustive, the above are quite the same for all the independent territories and countries. The facts that we are in the 21st century now; upon the boom in the technological sector at the end of the last century the contribution of new and innovative technologies in modern government system is inevitable. In this study, it tries to see how various government functions can get facilitated by fitting in the new technologies that can be offered. As it has been experienced in Bangladesh that mobile technology and at a wider prospect, we can e-technology has spread to be in use at a broader scale in the commercial sector already; yet the government of Bangladesh has not adopted the technology that way. Especially when speaking for Bangladesh, connection with the public as being a Peoples Republic has not yet considered as the most important factor so far or the steps to be taken to strengthen this connection. But it is not expected for establishing proper democracy at all. ICT Support Associating Government Functions First to say, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is without a doubt the driving factor of the wheel of modern economy, financial, commercial and even administration systems. A system which has not yet adopted this technology lagged a lot behind than its competitors. It is not untrue to say that the invention and innovation of electronic technology has made the world faster and easier as well. There was an age say about a hundred years ago, when the only medium of communication was by sending letters or telegrams. For this one had to go to the telegram office or a post office for trying to contact others. Although the postal systems or telegram were quite fast at those days, but after the invention of wired land-phone or wireless mobile phone or even the Internet, who would have thought that the communication system would grow this faster. The flow of information got so much easier and faster that it has become a matter of seconds now, not days compared to those posting-le tter-days. A government is the centre organization of a country. It has the empowerment to rule the country and the power is been given by the citizens of a country. So needless to say that, the government functions are always about the welfare of the public. In order to strengthen this relation between the public and the government, we could not think anything else other than ICT for its contribution. Towards a process of evolving e-government system for the lift-up in the performance of government systems, ICT plays the core role in its own innovative quality. One of major positive impacts that ICT brings into a government system is transparency in government actions. ICT can reduce corruption of government officials as well, which is a necessary issue in improving the government system in Bangladesh, as it has become the top most corrupted country quite a number of times. Technology can automate some processes which could have bared possibility of officials to involve in corruptions. Even the information access becomes possible easily to public. Government projects can also be planned properly and realistically by the use of ICT. The expenses for a development projects can be monitored continuously so that there might not be any gaps or illicit misuse which is a major problem currently residing in Bangladesh government projects. Roads, bridges or any other infrastructure projects are often stopped halfway through because of the shortage of fund which was initially passed to be underway with full funding. These sorts of corruptions are a r egular incident in Bangladesh, which could see a light on resolving these problems by the innovative use of ICT. And mobile-government system here re-enforces e-government benefits of making the public administration system more transparent, open, accessible and better connected to the public, being supported by ICT. Being Mobile, Being Smarter The most notable advantage of being â€Å"Mobile is that it is being mobile. Mobile technologies enable the improvement of communication without a lot of infrastructural development, which might become a pretty much expensive project for most of the countries. This study will discuss the various projects of m-government taken throughout the world and tries to pay a deep thought about the prospect of those projects if being taken in Bangladesh. So what is m-government and how can it become the new revolution towards a 21st century smart government? This study found after a lot of research that it is not a very difficult question to answer, as the contributions of m-government are pretty much crystal clear all around the world. M-government has often considered for developing e-democracy. E-democracy can be defined by keeping the connection of the government with the public at the first line of consideration. Especially in developing countries where internet facilities are not available enough to really plan for public connection though web technology on its own. Without using mobile technology, the expectation for this would clearly see a failure. It has been a glowing fact that mobile phone users are running a pretty high number in developing countries. So the government could always think about mobile technology as a channel towards the citizens. With enhanced security and transparency, mobile systems may see a huge success in this context. M-services under screening Let us start with various pilot projects and existing systems using the service of mobile technology in different countries. The study would go on with the feasibility of the systems if to be implemented in Bangladesh. This part of the study starts by stepping into China which is one of the most prominent countries in the world. China has seen some projects in order to improve the interaction between the government and the public. Such as, in China people can send text messages to the local member of their respective legislature. The local representatives can then be aware of their actions and continuously getting the feedback. This is a great opportunity for the citizens to keep in touch with the person they have elected themselves to play on behalf of their local area. Mobile technology here holds a vital role by providing the SMS technology available. If we go for a cross-section of this service, say for example upon being elected as a representative of an area, the elected person has been given one or more mobile phone number which might be available for keeping communication from the citizens. Whenever there are problems arising or people are suffering in the remote rural areas, they can send their plea in a short informative form to the representative via SMS to take urgent steps about the matter. The representative could then be aware fully of this matter and take relevant actions as necessary. There might be a lot of communicational and/or technical gaps or complications needed to be solved, but we could just take this as simple awareness information. At least the representative would know what is g oing on with the people within the constituency. In Bangladesh, issues related to the matter of clear and firm communication between the local parliament or union members and the public is not always dealt with adequate importance. The lack of this attitude is not acceptable in a country which has been struggling for over 30 years to establish democracy. It is not going to be babbling about if we say we could establish strong relationship between the public and their representative and reduce the distance between them. Grameen phone is the leading mobile phone company in Bangladesh. Whenever the talk about the mobile phone technology in Bangladesh arises, Grameen phone would definitely appear with its solid base built upon its contribution towards setting up such a wonderful mobile network base in Bangladesh. Right now, about 98% of the population of Bangladesh are under the coverage area of Grameen phone. There has been already over $1.6 billion investment just to build and improve the network infrastructure with 10000 base-stations over 5600 locations in the country. And there is still, according to the last estimate in 2001, 79% of the population live in rural areas. Also as of September 2006, from an estimate only 38% of the population in Bangladesh have access to electricity. This means that even if the people from a remote rural part of Bangladesh do not have electricity, without which running a computer or a laptop is quite impossible; people would still be under the coverage of Grameen mobi le network. The introduction of Grameen phone here at this part of the study has a significant meaning. Considering the amount this company has invested developing the mobile telephony network infrastructure and the huge popularity it gained with over 20 million subscribers, this study keeps a preferable position for this company in mind while discussing about the feasibility of implementing m-government systems and its various applications. Going back to the topic of building and strengthening the communication between the public and their political or social representative, having a strong mobile telephony network like Grameen phone has established in Bangladesh would come really handy for the case of remote rural areas. Even the people from far deep inside the hills and jungles could also be able to not be â€Å"lost at least by their local representative to the government. Now lets spot a light on what the experts in m-government systems are saying about the various features of this system. There were several seminars during the years of 2002 and 2003 on m-government and expert talks about this system came widely out at light. The experts defined m-government as a combination of two sets of features. There was the creation of the famous 24/24, 7/7 concept by Zalesack (2002) which gives importance on building the freedom of mobile access and services that can be delivered from anywhere at any time. It holds the core meaning of being actually â€Å"mobile. Roggenkamp (2004) also emphasized mobility; device mobility, service mobility and user mobility. All these opinions of the experts support the idea here which is the distinguished advantage of the technology on the move. It is not irrational to mention that with a mobile phone in a persons pocket means a communication with that person is almost always possible as long as the mobile phone is in the persons pocket. No other device has made it possible and it holds a lot of significance while considering m-governance system. Any citizen could be connected to government services 24/7 if appropriate systems are there. The government outreach can be expanded unimaginably based upon this fact of mobile telephony system. In between 2002 and 2003, as a part of a Swiss national research project within the framework of COST A14, MIR-CdM-EPFL carried out an evaluation and comparison of e-government projects in six European contexts (Rossel, P Finger, M and Misuraca, G, 2006). Some of them were regional or national, others municipal, especially the cases of Bologna (Italy), Issy-les-Moulineaux (France), Tampere (Finland), Estonia, Ireland and France (Buser, Cotti, Rossel and Finger, 2003). The services which have been implemented were: In lssy-les-Moulineaux (France), the possibility to pay parking or reserving a parking slot using a mobile phone, to make a reservation for a local hotel room, to make a reservation for a local hotel room, to make a reservation for books, records, DVD at the media library or a game in the game library. In Tampere (Finland), the possibility to check availability and make reservations at the local library, to have access to bus schedules and to map service for addresses, road work or any zoning issue, as well to social service information, medical services. In Estonia, the facilitation of payment by internet and SMS. In Estonia and In Ireland, administrative data access, for the citizen, on a 24/24 and 7/7 basis and national database access, for businesses. These above implementations were not as fruitful as expected after a revisit of the programs. According to the situation in Bangladesh, the possible impact that may be brought by these services being implemented would also come with a few question marks. Especially speaking of the information being sought after by mobile phones would require a strong and secure database at the service end which is not on its best condition in Bangladesh at the moment. But about the context of paying by SMS from a mobile phone is already been implemented in a number of notable projects: Grameen phone has started a service of â€Å"bill-payment which enables subscribers to pay the utility bills via SMS. The bill amount will be simply deducted from the users mobile phone account and going to post-offices or bill payment centres are not necessary now-a-days as it can be done from home simply by a text message. Cell-bazar is another innovative shopping idea that been introduced also by Grameen Phone. A customer can ask for a list of products in the area of interest by sending a text message. Upon receiving the list, the subscribers can then bid for the product by sending SMS and the bidding system is not a lot different than that of eBay instead the bidding is coming via a text message from a mobile phone. A subscriber can also sell by sending short description within the limited space of an SMS by sending a text message. When someone wins the bid, gets a text message containing the winning notification and even the customer then pay for the item via SMS as well. The product is then shipped by traditional portage though. But a lot of work here has been done simply by using a mobile phone from the rest of the customers phone. Most recently there has been an inauguration by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh of a new university admission project where m-technology has also been implemented. Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) have announced that student can now book for admission tests simply via sending SMS. Students will have to send their Higher Secondary Certificate exam results via SMS to the university. The university database will justify the students ability to sit for the exam and will send them their roll-number and the date f the exam, even with a short form of seat-plan. All the students have to do is paying the fees for the exam via SMS which will be deducted from the students mobile phone account and then appear at the exam bringing an attested copy of their photograph along with them. The complicated admission process is been simplified this way only by using m-technology even by sending the student results for their exams via SMS. The hassle of travelling to university to co llect the admission forms and then going to the bank to pay the fees and come again to sit for the exams used to take half of the students stamina even before the exams. Now hopefully a student from a rural area wishing to attend the admission test at SUST will not have to sweat to even get a final registration number for the test by coming to the city. Thus we could see that mobile-payment systems can be utilized at more widespread areas upon seeing these projects which are coming out to be pretty handy. So on considering the six European contexts, mobile payment method could be a feed for the thought of implementing m-government system in Bangladesh. Another feature of m-governance that can be put into consideration is getting the public opinion in an easy way. It has been quite a regular practice at the newspapers in Europe. In the UK, popular newspapers regularly put up a poll about several government decisions and actions. People can easily express their clear opinions by sending SMS to the newspapers and they are getting published like broad daylight. Opinions of the citizens are not suppressed yet the government could easily get into peoples minds and be cautious on taking any steps against the will of majority. Sometimes it has not been proved handy though. Just to mention the huge protest in British newspapers along with a huge number of citizens opinion against the singing of British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary for the re-introduction of European Union Constitution which could not be stopped eventually. But the opinions of general British public were being brought out into lights by the newspapers which gave the readers an option to send opinions via SMS. Surprisingly true that the newspapers in Bangladesh has not yet adopted this method of receiving public opinions on various issues and matters related to the country or even their society. They still rely on letters being sent by the readers. Some of the newspapers do accept emails but they are very few in number. Keeping the huge number of mobile phone subscribers in consideration, it could become a widely accepted form of expressing citizens thoughts via national newspapers and could have a positive impact on even changing the society a lot more constructively. Mobile technology can also be used innovatively in voting campaigns (Emmanuel C. Lallana, 2008). Mobile-voting has been a regular practice in television programs and new product feedbacks to the releasing companies for quite a long time. By connecting a database, SMS votes sent by mobile phones could possibly turn around the current scene voting reality. In a national election, it can encourage better voter registration and voter turn-out at the poll at the election days. There is a case of this in Spain 2004 election where voter turnout was at the highest rate.1 Even in Macedonia, mobile phones been used as election campaign tools when an organization sent two SMS to encourage women to vote for women in the 2006 national elections. And the result came out as an increased 29% of representatives at the parliament of Macedonia are women.2 1. http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/03/23/a11_16.php 2. http://www.newtactics.org/en/node/1685 These above facts are a clear indication of the ability of mobile technology of increasing public involvement in government elections. Bangladesh can obviously see the benefits from these projects and the outcomes of them as it is a democratic country that sees a national election in every five years. A country consisting of population over 100 million and having a voter number of almost 60 million voters, it experiences one of the biggest democratic elections in the world. Following the success of the use of mobile phones in the two countries mentioned above, Bangladesh can also use the same technology for the purposes. Although by taking a huge and almost incredible project for voter registration by providing the voters a National Identity Document (NID) in the year of 2008, Bangladesh showed its positive struggle towards becoming a successful democratic country. The project has gone for almost 18 months with tens of thousands of computer trained personals working hard to complete working for it, which is the first biometric voter registration process in South Asia. The voters data have been stored in a national database and each voter has been given a national ID number. This successful project can help in a lot of ways in the implementation of m-governance and e-governance. Since there is a secure national database now setup already, it should not be a problem to have a citizens mobile phone number added into the database along with the ID number as well. It is a matter of governments duty to aware the citizens about the importance of it. Even the Non-government Organizations can also play a big part in helping the government in this matter. The outreach of the government would then be increased at a level when any useful information could easily be sent to the citizens via SMS technology. Moreover, women in Bangladesh have also been experiencing a second class citizens respect still. Because of the conservative nature in the society, most women would not s tep out of their homes to the polls for casting their votes. They are not even familiar with a widely accepted nature of women in power though Bangladesh herself has had two female Prime Ministers in the past and the current Prime Minister is also a female. Steps can be taken following those in Macedonia by sending awareness text messages to women to involve in the democratic process of electing a government with the same rights as men and even empower women of their choice with dignity as a democratic citizen. Potential Problems on the way Problems that may rise during the implementation of m-government system in Bangladesh are identified below: Infrastructure: The government of Bangladesh have to be aware of proper infrastructural development of ICT all around the country. Though mobile phone networks has 98% coverage of the country population, still the service-end infrastructure such as the PC which would send out information to mobile phones and to which the mobile phones will get connected to, should be set up with a secure database protected by a secure server. Right software should be installed and a trained manpower is needed. Secure Payment System: When considering m-payment as a future most widely accepted version of payment, the government should come up with a series of serious security regulations for online and mobile payment transactions and should put all attempts to enforce these regulations strictly to gain public confidence in freely use this convenient system without any mental stress or hassle. No Spam: There could be a new law about mobile phone numbers as there is now about email addresses. That is, the government should ensure that citizens mobile phone number or any information will be kept safe and secure and will not even face risks to go in the hands of third parties. User-friendliness: As long as the government keeps the services provided through m-government easily acces

Who Should Be the Determining Factor? Essay -- Gay Marriage Homosexual

Who Should Be the Determining Factor? In today’s society more people are getting engaged in gay marriages and becoming more open to society. From our society changing from a highly conservative rate to a more liberal state, this will increase the amount of open mindedness towards gay marriages. These two short arguments represent the pros and cons of gay marriage; and why gay marriages should be allowed. Andrew Sullivan will be discussing why gays should be allowed to be married. In contrast to Sullivan, William Bennett wrote a response to give a heterosexual perspective. Throughout this paper there will be numerous summarizing and synthesizing for the two arguments. Because there is two such different points of views this helps the contrast of both. In my synthesis there are topics that relate to Bennett and how he doesn’t have a strong enough back up to say who should and shouldn’t get married. In the essay, â€Å"Let Gays Marry,† by Andrew Sullivan, there were a few main arguments stated. In the document, Sullivan claims that gays and lesbians want the government to enable the law so it lets gays get married. They presented themselves in front of the Supreme Court and in fact, this was the first time they actually got some acknowledgment. Gays and lesbians are going to want to be together (some are lucky enough to meet that special someone), basically why not give them the right to be an equal citizen? The fact that churches do not want them to get married is not the focus; the difference is that Sullivan wants the government to take action. He’s simply asking for the government’s approval to allow a civil marriage. No one has the choice to be white, black, female, male, gay, hetero, etc. As a response to Bill Bennett,... ...on different scenarios. In the beginning half of the paper there is a summary of both stories, â€Å"Let Gays Marry† and â€Å"Leave Marriage Alone.† Basically in â€Å"Let Gays Marry,† it discusses how gays feel towards the society and how they don’t want to be second- class citizens. Also, it explains you cannot choose to black, white, gay, etc... In â€Å"Leave Marriage Alone,† Bennett believes that it will hurt the heterosexual marriage institution. Within the essay the focus was mainly on how same sex unions go against Church and God. Lastly, based on a 4,000 year tradition nothing should be adjusted. I believe that the contrast and summarizing was the main outcome of the essay. Clearly this represents two people who have very strong and different perspectives/personalities. In the end there will be the good/bad aspects of gay marriages, people will always feel uncomfortable.

The Color Purple - Character Analysis of Celie :: Alice Walker

In the color purple, we can see how Celie develops an identity for herself throughout the novel. At first we can appreciate how Celie does not longer believe in herself and looses all trust she had on herself. When Nettie gets older, about 12 years old, their father Fonso tries to get to Nettie, but Celie protects her and lets Fonso rape her instead of him raping Nettie. This at the beginning shows that Celie has enough strength to take decisions that will affect other people, however, this strength starts to disappear as the story continues. Celie is at most 14 when Mr.____ marries her. She does no talk about "making love" but instead refers to sex as "he gets on top of me and does his business". That shows how little Celie believes on herself as she thinks that Mr.____ could do sex without her. Then the story changes direction and the discrimination against Celie starts to be present. When Mr.____ beats her she does not try to fight back, but instead she remains passive to what is happening. On the other hand, Celie continues to work as the perfecto maid of the children and keeps the house perfectly clean and tidy. This shows that indirectly she does not like being beaten (obviously) but she does not say anything because of the fear she feels for men, she instead reacts to it in a way which shows the big heart Celie has. When Shug comes to Mr.____Â ´s house Celie starts to feel something that she had never felt. She start to feel emotions for Shug. As the relationship between Celie and Shug develops, Shug shows Celie that life, freedom and having an identity should be the best present for a black woman which is condemned and trapped for ever after on the cruel and racist society of those times. To begin with, Celie obtains freedom as she escapes from Mr.____ with Shug, then, she realises that life can be much better when you do not depend on any one else, and so Celie does no longer depend on any one but on herself.