World Wide Web and Business Community Essay Example for Free

World Wide Web and Business Community Essay The World Wide Web (abbreviated as WWW or W3, commonly known as the Web), is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia, and navigate between them via hyperlinks. Using concepts from his earlier hypertext systems like ENQUIRE, British engineer, computer scientist and at that time employee of CERN, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, now Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), wrote a proposal in March 1989 for what would eventually become the World Wide Web. At CERN, a European research organisation near Geneva situated on Swiss and French soil, Berners-Lee and Belgian computer scientist Robert Cailliau proposed in 1990 to use hypertext to link and access information of various kinds as a web of nodes in which the user can browse at will, and they publicly introduced the project in December of the same year. The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used in everyday speech without much distinction. However, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not one and the same. The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. In contrast, the Web is one of the services that run on the Internet. It is a collection of text documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs, usually accessed by web browsers from web servers. In short, the Web can be thought of as an application running on the Internet. The internet not only is a perfect medium for communication between people across the globe but also is fast becoming a preferred medium of business transactions. E-commerce is thus the tool to which big business giants of the globe are resorting to conduct their business. This does not mean that the smaller businesses are at a disadvantage. They too make full utility of it. It does not difficult to imagine the potential of the web to identify the vast market potential available. The Internet and, more particularly, the WWW are attracting businesses in their thousands, with the following appearing to be the main application areas: Publicity, Marketing and Advertising The WWW appears to be an ideal medium for businesses attempting to promote themselves and their wares. Setting up a site on the WWW, and thus gaining instant access to millions of people all over the globe, can be achieved at  a small fraction of the cost using more conventional methods (Watson, 1994). Direct On-line Selling It is already possible to visit ‘virtual malls’ full of ‘virtual shops’, browse through catalogues and examine various products in vast detail, all courtesy of the Web. This has all been made possible by the multi-media capabilities that the Web provides (Minio, 1994). Research and Development Companies, especially those involved in research and development can use the Internet as an additional resource for collecting information. Tetzeli (1994) explains how it is possible to post a query on a bulletin board or join a discussion group and receive advice on how to solve the problem. Alternatively, there are millions of Web pages, some of which contain access to searchable databases of information relating to particular subjects. Communication The use of low-cost electronic mail (e-mail) is the Internet service used most extensively by businesses (Rosen, 1994). Kehoe (1994) illustrates the strength of e-mail with the example of ‘Digital Equipment’ which has over 31,000 computers linked up to the Internet and exchanges about 1.7 million e-mail messages each month with people external to the company. INTERNET The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government  networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. EXPLORING CYBERWORLD INTERNET WORKING CONCEPTS Computers, which are connected with internet, can communicate because of protocols. There are two protocols for working with the internet. These are: * Internet Protocol (IP) * Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Each and every computer system has an internet address to connect with internet. The computers are linked with a centralized storage medium, which is called server. This server stores all software programs and data. The computers linked with this server are called clients. When a client sends data / message over the internet, this is broken into small pieces using the TCP protocol. These small pieces are called packets. Each packet contains the information (address) of the destination and sender, this address is called IP address. These various packets are sent to the destination by the fastest possible path using devices called routers. The destination TCP software assembles all the packets to form a complete message. Hardware/Software Requirement for Internet connection The following hardware and software requirements should be met with for an internet connection. * Pentium computer with 128 MB, 256 MB or 512 MB RAM. Higher the RAM, faster is the connectivity. * Modem with 56 KBP data transmission speed * Windows interface like windows98, windows2000, windows XP etc. * CD ROM drive. * High storage hard disk 80 GB or more. * Telephone connection * TCP/IP internet account from internet service provider * Antivirus program to scan the viruses, which may come into your computer while downloading software or data from internet. Baud Baud is the unit of measuring speed of data transmission. It is measured in bits per second the higher the baud rates the more data the device can transmit per second. The amount of data that can be transferred in a single pulse/symbol will depend on the type of data transmission system being used. Bandwidth Bandwidth is the information carrying capacity of a communication channel. The channel may be analog or digital. In electronic communication, bandwidth is the width of the range of frequencies that an electronic signal uses on a given transmission medium. In this usage, bandwidth is expressed in terms of the difference between the highest frequency signal component and the lowest frequency signal component. Since the frequency of a signal is measured in hertz, a given bandwidth is the difference in hertz between the highest frequencies the signal uses lowest frequency it uses. A typical voice signal has a bandwidth of approximately three kilohertz; an analog television broadcast video signal has a bandwidth of six megahertz – some 2,000 times as wide as the voice signal. Data Transfer Rate The data transfer rate is commonly used to measure how fast data is transferred from one location to another it is the amount of digital data that is moved from one place to another in a given time. The data transfer rate can be viewed as the speed of travel of a given amount of data from one place to another. In general, the greater the bandwidth of a given path, the higher the data transfer rate. In telecommunication, data transfers in bit are usually measured per second. Measuring data transfer rate Bits are typically used in data transfer rates and bytes are used to indicate storage space. A lowercase b is used to signify bits and uppercase B is used to represent bytes. Data transfer rates on computer networks are measured in bits per second or bytes per second, with a byte equalling 8 bits. Megabits per second is written as Mbps and gigabytes per second is denoted as GBps. An Ethernet local area network (LAN) can feature data transfer rates of 10 Mbps, while some internet server boast data transfer rates measuring in GBps. Bits and Bytes Bits and bytes are the units of measure for data transfer rate and storage capacity. We generally use bits for measuring the speed of data transfer. All standard devices show the speed in bits per second. Wireless Network Wireless network refers to any type of computer network that is not connected by cables of any kind. It is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and enterprise (business) installations avoid the costly process of introducing cables into a building, or as a connection between various equipment locations. Wireless telecommunications networks are generally implemented and administered using radio communication. This implementation takes place at the physical level (layer) of the OSI model network structure. Wireless internet is the easy way to access internet without the need for a landline. It allows you to stay in touch whilst being on the move. Just plug your USB modem into your computer for an instant internet connection to take with you on the move. Mobile IP The Mobile IP protocol allows location-independent routing of IP datagram on the Internet. Each mobile node is identified by its home address disregarding its current location in the Internet. While away from its home network, a mobile node is associated with a care-of address which identifies its current location and its home address is associated with the local endpoint of a tunnel to its home agent. Mobile IP specifies how a mobile node registers with its home agent and how the home agent routes datagrams to the mobile node through the tunnel. Mobile TCP Mobile TCP is software for forwarding SMTP server connections to the correct server, made for people travelling with a laptop, connecting to different networks. This program features the ability to check either external IP number or internal and forwarding SMTP connections to the correct SMTP server. With this program it is easy to copy your current IP numbers to the clipboard and the status window shows witch networks you have been connected to and when you sent e-mail. GPRS General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data  service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication systems global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet-switched cellular technologies. It is now maintained by the3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). GPRS usage is typically charged based on volume of data transferred, contrasting with circuit switched data, which is usually billed per minute of connection time. GPRS data may be sold either as part of a bundle (e.g., up to 5 GB per month for a fixed fee) or on a pay-as-you-use basis. Usage above the bundle cap is either charged per megabyte or disallowed. GPRS is a best-effort service, implying variable throughput and latency that depend on the number of other users sharing the service concurrently, as opposed to circuit switching, where a certain quality of service (QoS) is guaranteed during the connection. In 2G systems, GPRS provides data rates of 56–114 Kbit/second. 2G cellular technology combined with GPRS is sometimes described as 2.5G, that is, a technology between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile telephony. It provides moderate-speed data transfer, by using unused time division multiple access (TDMA) channels in, for example, the GSM system. Web Service A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the World Wide Web. A Web service is a software function provided at a network address over the web or the cloud, it is a service that is always on as in the concept of utility computing. The W3C defines a Web service as a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine-process able format (specifically Web Services Description Language, known by the acronym WSDL). Other systems interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed by its description using SOAP messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards. The W3C also states, We can identify two major classes of Web services, REST-compliant Web services, in which the primary purpose of the service is to manipulate XML representations of Web resources using a  uniform set of stateless operations; and arbitrary Web services, in which the service may expose an arbitrary set of operations. Search Engines A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are generally presented in a line of results often referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs). The information may be a specialist in web pages, images, information and other types of files. Some search engines also mine data available in databases or open directories. Unlike web directories, which are maintained only by human editors, search engines also maintain real-time information by running an algorithm on a web crawler. Examples on Search Engines 1. www.google.com 2. www.yahoo.com 3. www.altavista.com 4. www.excite.com 5. www.search.com 6. www.dogpile.com Keyword Searching A Keyword search looks for words anywhere in the record. Keyword searches are a good substitute for a subject search when you do not know the authorized subject heading form. Keyword may also be used as a substitute for a title or author search when you have incomplete title or author information. You may also use the Guided Keyword search option to combine search elements, group terms, or select indexes or fields to be searched. Concept based Searching Unlike keyword search systems, concept based search systems try to determine what you mean, not just what you say. In the best circumstances, a concept based search returns hits on documents that are â€Å"about† the subject you’re exploring, even if the words in the document don’t precisely match the word you enter into the query. Excite is currently the best known general purpose search engine site on the web that relies on concept based search. This is known as clustering which is essentially means that words are examined in  relation to other words found nearby. There are various methods of building clustering systems, some of which are highly complex, relaying on sophisticated linguistic and artificial intelligence theory that we won’t even attempt to go into here. Excite sticks to a numerical approach. Excites software determines meaning by calculating the frequency with which certain important words appear. When several words or phrases that are tagged to signal a particular concept appear close to each other in a text, the search engine concludes, by statistical analysis that the piece is â€Å"about† a certain subject. Refining Your Search Most sites offer two different types of searches – â€Å"basic† and â€Å"advanced†. In a â€Å"basic† search, you just enter a keyword without sifting through any pull down menus of additional options. Depending on the engine, though, â€Å"basic† searches can be quite complex. Advanced search refining options differ from one search engine to another, but some of the possibilities includes the ability to search on more than one word, to give more weight to one search term than you give to another and to exclude words that might be likely to muddy the results. You might also be able to search on proper names, on phrases and on words that are found within a certain proximity to other search terms. Many search engines now automatically recognize company names and can direct a searcher to a corporate website when such a name is entered as a query. Phrase recognition is also becoming more common; i.e. , you might expect to get relevant hits for the term cold war if you enter it without the quotation markets that typically denotes a phrases. Downloading These are tools that keep track of many web sites around the world and let you search for particular items whenever you want. The result of search is a custom list of links, pointing to whatever items the search engine found that met your criteria.

Atropine Uses and Side Effects

Atropine Uses and Side Effects Atropine is a competitive antagonist of acetylcholine which binds to the muscarinic receptor in order to inhibit the parasympathetic nervous system. It causes a reversible blockade of the action of acetylcholine and it can be overcome by increasing the concentration of acetylcholine at receptor sites of the effectors organ (e.g. by using the anticholinesterase agents which inhibit the destruction of acetylcholine). Atropine is an alkaloid or an extremely poisonous drug derived from a plant called atropia belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade. Belladonna is Italian word which means beautiful woman. In the Renaissance, woman used the juice of berries of atropia belladonna to dilate pupils as it was perceived as more attractive. Eye Atropine acts in the eye to block the action of acetylcholine, relaxing the cholinergically innervated sphincter muscles of the iris. This results in dilation of the pupil (mydriasis). The cholinergic stimulation of accommodative ciliary muscle of the lens in the eye is also blocked. This results in paralysis of accommodation (cycloplegia). Besides, the elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) occurs when the anterior chamber is narrow. It will further raise IOP in glaucoma patients because it will obstruct evacuation of aqueous humor by the Schlemm channel. Atropine is thus contraindicated in these patients. Another effect of antimuscarinic drugs is to reduce lacrimal secretion which produces dryness in eyes. Atropine has a slower onset and more prolonged effect in eye as maximum mydriatic effect occurs around 30 to 40 minutes and maximum cycloplegia takes several hours. Mydriasis usually lasts 7 to 12 days and cycloplegia may persist for 14 days or longer. Cardiovascular system The vagus (parasympathetic) nerves that innervate the heart release acetylcholine (ACh) as their primary neurotransmitter to slow the heart rate. ACh binds to muscarinic receptors (M2) that are found on cells comprising the sinoatrial (SA) and atrioventricular (AV) nodes. Atropine has a potent and prolonged effect on the heart muscle. It inhibits the effect of excessive vagal nerve activation on the heart like sinus bradycardia and AV nodal block (delay in the conduction of electrical impulses at the AV node of the heart) by binding to muscarinic receptors in order to prevent ACh from binding to and activating the receptor. Thus, atropine speeds up the heart rate and increases conduction velocity as it very effectively blocks the effects of parasympathetic nerve activity on the heart. There are little effects on blood pressure since most resistance blood vessels do not have cholinergic innervations. Small doses of atropine used may decrease the heart rate, yet, large doses used definitely causes increasing of the heart rate. Central nervous system Atropine has minimal stimulant effects on the central nervous system, especially medullary centers, and a slower, longer-lasting sedative effect on the brain. Low doses atropine may produce mild restlessness and higher doses may produce agitation and hallucination. With still larger doses, stimulation is followed by depression leading to circulatory collapse and respiratory failure after a period of paralysis and coma. Respiratory tract The parasympathetic nervous system regulate bronchomotor tone and secretionary glands of the airway. Since atropine is an antagonist muscarinic drug, it inhibits the secretion of nose, mouth, pharynx and bronchi, and thus dries the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. And it also relaxes bronchial smooth muscle, producing bronchodilation and decreasing airway resistance. The effect is more important in patients with airway disease like asthma. Gastrointestinal tract Motility and secretions of gastrointestinal tract are declined by atropine. GI smooth muscle motility is affected from the stomach to the colon by decreasing tone, amplitude and frequency of the peristaltic contractions. However, the gastric secretion is only slightly reduced. Genitourinary tract The antimuscarinic action of atropine relaxes smooth muscle of the ureters and bladder wall in order to decrease the normal tone and amplitude of contractions of the ureters and bladder. Atropine has not significant effect on the uterus. Sweat glands Small doses of atropine inhibit the activity of sweat glands, producing hot and dry on the skin. Sweating may be sufficiently depressed and this will elevate the body temperature if using the larger doses in adult or at high environmental temperatures. For the infant or children who are administered large doses or even ordinary doses may cause atropine fever. Atropine is rapidly and well absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, mucosal membrane, conjunctival membranes, and to some extent through intact skin when given by oral route, solution, ointment or injection route (directly goes into muscle or vein). Pharmacological activity of paranteral administration is 2-3 times greater than enteral route. Distribution Atropine is rapidly cleared from the blood and is distributed throughout the body. It crosses the blood-brain barrier and placenta. Peak plasma concentrations of atropine are reached within 30 minutes. The duration of action of atropine administered by general route would be approximately 4 -6 hours. Metabolism After administration, atropine disappears rapidly from the blood with a half-life of 2 hours. The half-life of atropine is slightly shorter in females than males. Then it is metabolized in the liver by oxidation and conjugation to give inactive metabolites. Excretion The drugs effect on parasympathetic function declines rapidly in all organs except the eye. Effects on the iris and ciliary muscle persist for more than 3 days. About 50% of the dose is excreted within 4 hours and 90% in 24 hours in the urine, about 30 to 50% as unchanged drug. Therapeutic uses As preanaesthetic medicationts Atropine is used to block two effects in particular during anaesthesia, secretions in the respiratory tract in response to the irritating nature of some inhalant anaesthetics, and bradycardia (slowing of the heart) which accompanies most anaesthetics due to the block of muscarinic receptors in the heart. Overall, atropine can reduce the risk of airway obstruction and increase the heart beat when anaesthetic drug is going to be used. Ophthalmological uses Topical atropine is used as a cycloplegic (temporarily paralyze the accommodation) and as a mydriatic (dilate the pupils) for accurate measurement of refractive error in patients. A second use is to prevent synechiae (adhesion) formation in uveitis and iritis. After local administration in the form of ophthalmic solution, the onset of atropine is around 30 minutes and it effects last very long: dilation of pupil can persist several days. Cardiovascular disorders Injection of atropine is used in the treatment of bradycardia (an extremely low heart rate) due to excessive vagal tone on the SA and AV node. It accelerates the cardiac rate by reduction of vagal tone and suppression of reflex bradycardia during arterial hypertension. In addition, atropine is also used primary for sinus node dysfunction (inappropriate atrial rates) and symptomatic second-degree heart block (irregularities in the electrical conduction system of the heart). Respiratory disorders Parenteral atropine can be used as a preoperative medication to suppress bronchiolar secretions when anaesthetics are used. It can be used to treat asthma, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Gastrointestinal disorders Atropine is seldom used to treat pepti-ulcer nowadays. Atropine can provide some relief in the treatment of common travelers diarrhea (irritable bowel movement). It is often combined with an opioid antidiarrheal drug in order to discourage abuse of the opioid agent. Urinary disorders Atropine is used to relieve bladder spasm after urologic surgery and for treating urinary urgency caused by minor inflammatory bladder disorder. Hyperhidrosis It is an excessive and profuse perspiration. Atropine can reduce the secretion of sweat glands by inhibiting the Ach binds to the muscarinic receptors. Cholinergic poisoning By blocking the action of ACh, atropine also can be used as an antidote for organophosphate poisoning caused by inhibition of cholinesterase and nerve gases. The atropine serves as an effective blocking agent for the excess ACh but does nothing to reverse the inhibition of cholinesterase. Troops, who are likely to be attacked with chemical weapons often carry autoinjectiors with atropine and obidoxime which can be quickly injected into the thigh. It is the only known antidote for VX nerve gas. Some of the nerve gases attack and destroy acetycholinesterase (an enzyme hydrolyzes ACh to give choline), so the action of acetylcholine becomes prolonged. Therefore, atropine can be used to depress the effect of ACh. Parkinsons disease Atropine is used to treat the symptom of Parkinson such as drooling sweating rigidity and tremors. However, with the wide array of uses and side effects that atropine has, it has been replaced by several other medicines that are more effectively in treating Parkinsons. Adverse effect Atropine and its possible side effect can affect individual people in various ways. The following are some of the side effects that are known to be associated with atropine. Not all the patients using this antimuscarinic drug will experience the same effects. These effects are intensified as the dosages are increased. General chest pain, excessive thirst, weakness, dehydration, feeling hot, injection site reaction, fever. Eye dilation pupil, pupil poorly reactive to light, photophobia, blurred vision, decreased accommodation, decreased contrast sensitivity, decreased visual acuity, dry eyes or dry conjunctiva, acute angle closure glaucoma, irritated eyes, allergic conjunctivitis or blepharoconjunctivitis, heterophoria, red eye due to excess blood supply (hyperaemia). Psychiatric hallucination, mental confusion, agitation, restlessness, anxiety, excitement especially in elderly, fatigue. Central nervous system headache, nervousness, dizziness, drowsiness, muscle twitching, abnormal movement, coma, difficult concentrating, insomnia, amnesia, ataxia (loss of the ability to coordinate muscular movement). Cardiovascular tachycardia (increasing in heartbeat), acute myocardial infarction, cardiac dilation, atrial arrhythmias, paradoxical Bradycardia (if low does Atropine used), asystole (absence of heart beat), increased blood pressure or decreased blood pressure. Respiratory slow respiration, breathing difficulty, pulmonary edema, respiratory failure. Gastrointestinal nausea, abdomen pain, vomiting, decreased bowel sounds, decreased food absorption, delayed gastric emptying, reduction of salivary secretions, loss of taste, bloated feeling. Genitourinary urinary retention, urine urgency, bed-wetting, difficult in micturation. Dermatologic dry mucous membrane, dry warm skin, flushed skin, oral lesion, anhidrosis (absence of sweating), dermatitis, rash, hyperthermia (elevated of body temperature) Overdose and Treatment Widespread paralysis of parasympathetically innervated organs can characterize serious over dosage with atropine. Dry mucous membranes, widely dilated and nonresponsive pupils, tachycardia, fever, hallucination and flushed skin are mental and neurological symptoms which may last 48 hours or longer. Severe intoxication, respiratory depression, blood pressure declines, coma, circulatory collapse and death may occur with over dosage of atropine.

The sustainable development

The sustainable development Sustainable Development has become the ‘buzz word in the present times. It is being used in every field right from environment to economy and politics. It is seen as the right kind of development, a solution, that is going to free the world from the dangers of environmental catastrophes triggered by the economic activities of man. On the one hand, sustainable development is perceived as the means to achieve a balanced civilization that exists in sync with its environment while at the same time progressing economically, and on the other hand, it is subject to endless debates on what exactly are its goals and how they can be achieved. This essay is a review of the chapter by Michael Jacobs, â€Å"Sustainable Development as a Contested Concept† which is a part of the book, Fairness Futurity: Essays on Environmental Sustainability Social Justice (Dobson, A., 1999). In this chapter, Jacobs expounds the radical theory of sustainable development and argues against the section that proclaims the principles of Sustainable Development (SD) to be redundant. He puts forward several interesting arguments stating the usefulness and absolute necessity of Sustainable Development in the present society. The aim here is therefore to underline some of the key issues and arguments put forward by Jacobs and to critically analyze the article. The author starts out with emphasizing the popularity of SD in the present times and its importance in context of the problems faced by the world. He highlights the two main definitions that have been generally used for sustainable development. One by the Bruntland Commission, states â€Å"Sustainable development means development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs†. The second definition by caring for the earth states that, â€Å" Sustainable Development means improving the quality of life while living within the capacity of the supporting ecosystems†. The author has in a systematic manner, explored the key issues pertaining to sustainable development. These can be summarized as follows: KEY ISSUES The first issue pointed out by the author is that the concept of SD has not yet been universally accepted. There are various forces of opposition that resist the concept. He highlights three important resistances. The first is that SD is an insufficiently defined term and hence some doubt its incorporation into policy-making, as the objectives are not quite clear. Secondly, the section of populace known as the ultra-greens absolutely rejects the notion of SD. According to them, SD provides an excuse to the business and development interests to carry on their economic activities without considering the environment as much as it should be. According to them, SD runs the risk of getting sucked into the capitalist milieu. And thirdly, opposition comes from the academia who state that the concept of SD stems from the same set of ideals i.e. ‘modernism, scientific positivism and realism, which were the foundation of modern economic growth and society. The second issue lies in the lack of a precise definition of SD. The author points out that the meaning of SD lies at two levels. At the first level, the definition is universal and consists of a set of ‘core ideas that are accepted as an integral part of the concept. At the second level comes the debate on how it should be interpreted in practice leading to alternative conceptions of the meaning. Certain sections call for a more precise meaning for the concept to become operational. ‘The technocrats for example, state that SD can be functional only when one single meaning is agreed upon. There is a ‘gallery of definitions and it is not exactly clear as to what it means by the terms ‘development or ‘needs or what must be exactly sustained and how ‘quality of life can be measured. Then the environmentalists concerned about the concept getting politicized claim that unclear definition can lead to misuse of the term Sustainable Development (SD). It is in danger of becoming a clichà © used by businesses in order to show their support to the environmental concerns whilst actually carrying out unsustainable activities. The Third issue highlighted by the author is the rift between the ‘radical sustainable development model and the ‘conservative sustainable development model. The author starts out with putting out the six core ideas of sustainable development that are integral part of it no matter which model one advocates. These six core ideas include: Environment-economy integration Intergenerational equity Intragenerational equity Environmental protection Quality of life Participation. The key argument of the author is that despite of the fact that SD contains some drawbacks in terms of ambiguity at the second level, the core ideas of SD make it unequivocal at the first level of meaning itself. He explains that the core ideas are neither meaningless nor redundant because each of them makes up a very important objective requiring firm changes in every field of policy making. Secondly, he reasons that these core ideas were never a part of the ‘developmental goals of the countries in the past 50 years. Hence incorporation of these core ideas into governmental objectives has put development on a different flight altogether. And thirdly, the scope of SD is very broad consisting of not only environmental protection but also other issues that are social and economical. These issues spring out from the environmental roots and branch out into various sectors. Hence, SD helps in building a society whose, social, economic and political agendas are underpinned by the env ironmental agenda. The author brings out the rift between radical and conservative models of SD by exploring the opposing interpretations of SD along four faultlines drawn from its core ideas. The first faultline pertains to environmental protection where SD is divided between weak SD and strong SD. The weak SD lies on the principle that economic activities cannot be carried out under the limits of environment. Environment has to be protected ‘where possible only after assessing the economic benefits availed from protecting it. It does not consider the intrinsic or existence value of the environment. The strong SD, is totally opposite, as in, it lies on the principle that economic activities should not exceed the carrying capacity of the environment whatsoever and takes the help of tools such as ‘maximum sustainable yield to govern extraction of resources. The second faultline is in terms of equity, which is again divided between the North and South interpretation. The southern view calls for a redistribution of global resources and the release of northern domination upon the resources of the world. However, the north is still uncomfortable about this viewpoint and stresses very little on issues of global distribution of resources or intra-country equality. The third faulline pertains to participation. Here the implementation of SD can be divided into ‘top-down approach or the ‘bottom-up approach. In the ‘top-down approach the governments make the decision and public participation is only limited to implementation levels and personal changes such as recycling, energy saving etc. in the ‘bottom-up approach, participation occurs at the objective setting and the implementation stages. It seeks the participation of public in shaping the objectives of SD and how it can be achieved. And finally, the last faultline pertains to the scope of the subject area. Government and businesses restrict the scope of SD to only environmental concerns. They claim that the efficiency of SD decreases as its breadth increases, as it only becomes a generalized approach to ‘progress. However, advocates of the broader conception state that SD is about the total quality of life and is valid for the entire societal concerns. The radical SD model is based on the egalitarian, strong, bottom-up and broad interpretation of SD while the other set of ideas characterize the conservative model of SD. Here it would suffice to say that the author clearly advocates the radical model of sustainable development and refutes the criticism that SD is vague and unsuitable for application. He argues that implementing SD no matter what its weaknesses are, would lead to the slow diffusion of radical SD without making the political and economic organizations jittery and uncomfortable. He argues, that even though SD is blamed to provide an excuse to the governments and businesses to carry on their economic activities, it has at the least, put up environment on the map of the business agenda. SD has created considerable debate on what should be done to protect the environment and how it should be done. It has raised awareness and increased pressure on the government to deliver. After highlighting these key issues and arguments, the following part of the essay shall consider the strengths and weaknesses of the article. It would delve into how the author has convincingly advocated the implementation of radical SD model and what are the issues he has missed out on. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE ARTICLE The author has applied a very structured methodology to put forward his argument in support of sustainable development convincingly. His approach is to first define the concept of sustainable development. He uses the two most common ones that are widely accepted. These include the brundtland definition and the caring for the earth definition. These have been given at the beginning of this essay. Then he gives out the six core ideas of SD, which make up its essence. He uses these core ideas to explain the rift between the radical and conservative sustainability and finishes off with the conclusion that radical sustainability forms the core of the definition of sustainable development. As the author clearly states â€Å"There is nothing underhand about this: though contested at the second level of meaning, the radical model is drawn directly from the uncontested first level concept of sustainable development†. The major strength of the article lies in the fact that it clearly stresses the importance of sustainable development in spite of its various drawbacks. It is of a common opinion that sustainable development is the most appropriate existing approach to bringing policy changes in every phase of the society. The author puts forward alternative interpretations of the concept of SD and expounds that the kind of interpretation defines the perception of usefulness or uselessness of SD. SD has suffered from severe criticism in terms of its definition and objectives as have been clearly stated by the author in the form of the three kinds of resistances. The article is refreshing in the sense that, the author puts a positive view in support of SD and reestablishes its critical role. Many critics state that SD is incapable of changing the path of development. That economic growth will continue no matter what. The author is quick to point out the political significance of SD in this context. He states that SD has allowed adoption of international documents such as Agenda 21 by various countries putting SD and environmental protection on their objective list. ‘There are much greater levels of activity and debate in the environmental policy field. The author highlights the various ways in which SD has been able to bring a change in the approach to things. Firstly, governments are faced with an obligation to fulfill their commitment by signing documents such as agenda 21. As participation forms an integral part of SD, it has revived the participation of the public who are demanding for greater initiatives by the government. Secondly, it has increased the pressure of the media and pressure groups on the government and has become a valuable tool to make the government and businesses accountable. And thirdly, it has led to redefining the policy framework of institutions and put environmental protection on the table. Many critics are of the view that SD runs the danger of commercializing environmental protection. The author refutes the argument saying that if it were not for SD the governments would not even have been ‘pretending. SD binds the governments to new commitments and makes them more responsible even if it is at a b eginners level. The author very nicely puts forward that the strength of SD lies in the fact that every community has endorsed it. It is supported not only by the radicals but also by the conservatives. In the words of the author, â€Å"SD appears to have the remarkable capacity to articulate, nourish and propagate quite radical political ideas while appearing respectably non-political†. The author uses the four faultlines very effectively in order to bring out the ambiguity created by differing conceptions. While one interpretation, i.e. the conservative interpretation, limits the effectiveness of SD, the other interpretation calls for an overhaul of the existing policy making infrastructure. Hence before being critical of how sustainable is sustainable development, it is important to judge the interpretation taken into account for that particular scenario. Although all the ideas suggested by the radical model as put down by Jacobs, are relevant and address the core problems directly, one very important issues highlighted by Jacobs has been the North-South issue. This issue deserves more thought as it plays an important role in garnering international cooperation for SD. However, the issue does not solely lie in the global redistribution of the resources but also on the blame-game played by each other. While the North blames the poor of the south for environmental degradation, it doesnt take into account issues such as subsistence lifestyles of the very poor in the south and local scale of the degradation caused by them as compared to the global scale of degradation caused by the activities in the north (Timothy Boyle, 1998). Unless the North recognizes the consequences of its own activities and the need to change them, SD will mainly remain ideal in nature. Another important point that has been missed out is that economic growth forms the basic premise of SD. SD does not stop economic growth but only changes the way in which this growth is achieved. It has been implied that economic growth is needed to remove poverty, which is a major cause and effect of global environmental problems (WCED). However, the fact that has gone unrecognized is that economic growth per se has not been able to remove poverty till now. In the words of Sharachchandra, â€Å"if economic growth itself leads to neither environmental sustainability nor removal of poverty, it is clearly a non-objective for SD†. And finally, the notion of equity differs from place to place. What is equitable in the north may not be equitable in the south. There has been literature in the developing countries especially by authors like Jodha, who have pointed out evidence that inequity has actually ensured sustainable usage of resources. The standards governing equitability differ and hence cannot be made universal. Hence to conclude, Jacobs has done a good job at propounding the usefulness of sustainability and dismissing its critics. However, there are many minute points of digression in the concept that need to be looked at. SD as a concept cannot be run across the breadth of the globe but has to adapt itself to the microscopic differences between region to region. This is not to undermine the fact that SD has and will continue to play an important role in modifying global economic and political scenarios.

Private Schools vs. Public Schools Essay -- School Reform, Education Re

Would you change your school? Would you go to a private school instead of a public school? Or to a public school instead of a private school? Private and public education is different in many ways such as their performance, enrollment, and the overall education taught but yet they have somewhat similar teachers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Students’ performance in public and private schools differ a lot. Private schools often have better grades and test scores. It is proven that kids who go to a public school and attend a private school perform better (Williams 17). Student performance varies but the advantage would probably have to go to the private schools.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Teachers in private and public schools are similar yet have some differences. There are about 2.7 million teachers and other faculty members in public schools (Klieg 22). There are about 400,000 teachers and other faculty members in private schools (Klieg 22). Of all these teachers only about 71% of private school teachers are licensed where 97.4% of public teachers are licensed (Williams 61). That makes the public teachers sound good, but there is also this little fact that they’re leaving out. Public school teachers aren’t even qualified to be teaching the subjects that they teach a lot of the time (Williams 46). Perhaps this is why the private school students are doing better than the public school students are. Or maybe it is because the average student to teacher ratio is better than public schools. This ratio is 17 students to 1 teacher in public schools where it is 14.9 students to 1 teacher in private schools (Williams 46). A good reason why private education is made out to be so much better than public schools is not necessarily because of the teachers, but the way private schools are able to hand pick each one of their students (Phillips Internet). Most likely they are going to pick the richest and smartest students they can. Why the richest and the smartest? Well if they pick the richest students it’s going to help the school financially. While the smarter students make the school and their teachers look good. So all in all teachers are all pretty equal besides maybe a few differences. How about teachers and their salaries? Teachers who are getting paid less are probably going to do a worse job right? WRONG! Private school teachers are usually paid about 12,000 dollars less than public school teachers ... ...ver child they want into their school. Who know, but it seems that public education can and needs to be improved maybe slightly more than private education.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Is money really the answer to everything? Some may think that their school does not have enough money and that’s why their students are doing so poorly. But more than likely money doesn’t play such a big part in the academic achievement of the students in school. For example: New Jersey is rated number 1 in terms of money per a student but yet they’re rated 29th in the basic student achievement (Williams 192). So before you blame your poor education on insufficient funds next time stop and think of these little facts. So what’s this saying? Maybe money is not the answer to everything.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  So therefore private and public education is similar to an extent. However they do show many differences also. As shown they were different in their performance, enrollment, and the overall education taught. Private and public schools don’t have that much in common, but are their things that they do have in common but just didn’t get mentioned? Yes there are many more topics that are similar and different that we didn’t get into.

We Need Stricter Laws for Drunk Driving (DUI) :: Argumentative, Persuasive Essays

Drunk driving is when an individual drives a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level over the legaly permited limit. Driving under the influence of alcohol is a major health problem in the United States as it accounts for a high number of road fatalities; hence, there is a need for stricter drunk driving rules in the United States in order to reduce drunken driving fatalities. There is a need for the introduction and implementation of new drunk driving laws by the legislature, because presently the united States drunk driving laws are too lenient. The continuous rate of drunken driving fatalities makes a case that the united States drunk driving laws are too lenient and makes a call for stricter laws. According to Valenti â€Å"countries with strict drunk driving penalties have a far lower incidence of accidents than the United States (1). The United States being a first world country is weak in enforcing strict punishment for drunk drivers. Valenti is emphasizing on the fact that the united States need to improve their present laws and be firm in enforcing these new laws. There is a need for the United States to improve on their severity of its drunk driving penalties just the way the other part of the world have done and this is giving them a reduced rate of drunk driving fatalities. The claim of the leniency of the United States drunk driv ing laws is further stated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), this is a prominent body when it comes to the issue of drunken driving fatalities. It claims that the drunken driving laws are severe enough. â€Å"Despite great strides in awareness, education and enforcement in the last two decades the United States still has one of the most lenient drunken driving standards in the world†. (NHTSA of existing laws. There is a need for stricter laws to be introduced as the United States ranks behind the world when it comes to effort to combat drunk driving and more efforts need to be put in place by the implementation of harsher laws so as to reduce the high rate of repeat offenders and first time offenders. The rate of repeat offenders is rising and the need to suppress this rate should be attended to immediately. Statistics supports the implementation of stricter rules, as the continual rate of the repeat offenders increases.

Business Industry Essay

Protection is being the number one reason on why gadget accessories have been growing in a fast phase. Both small size gadget to big size gadget need protection from the harsh outside environment, and therefore many companies have been trying to solve the problem by making a suit or body protector for the gadget lover to keep their devices functional even with severe impact to the ground or other hard objects. The mobile phone accessories itself accounts for 36 billion dollar which is a very unexpected number because of the forecasted number was 20 million by the end of 2012. This proven that the industry has been performing very well that even the prediction to the real value ratio is almost doubled. The trend of using smartphone and newest laptop has taken protection of those items to the next level. High protection for expensive gadget is very important nowadays, this is proven by the amount of money people spent on having the best protection for their devices. There are 2 types o n consumers in this business, people who actually put accessories on their smartphone to add esthetic value to their gadget and people who buy accessories for the protection of their gadget. This trend is supported by several studies that shown people who have gadget spent more than 55 dollars alone for the accessories. Smartphone industry is very popular among the age group of 18-44 and therefore the accessories come along with the age group of people who have smartphone. This research is done and concluded with more than 55% of the age group have smart phone. Otterbox Otterbox is a private company which is founded in 1998. It has been producing the protection for gadget ever since. Otterbox is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado and it’s trademark is to build a waterproof electronic cases for mobile devices. Otterbox product lines are mainly focus on the protection of the product and not focused on the esthetic side of the product. Functionality has been the front line of the product. Mainly it is as waterproof boxes and device-specific smartphone and tablet cases designed for outdoor enthusiast. Unique selling point Over the years, Otterbox has earned a reputation for the best protection for portable devices which offer high impact protection, water protection, etc. The Otterbox premium feature is offered by the premium price that comes along with it. Leaving its competitor behind, Otterbox sells their product from a competitive price of $25 to a whopping $70 for the defender series that offer the best protection for portable devices. Target Market Otterbox targets mainly on outdoor enthusiast who usually go out to rough terrains. Given the product main unique selling point of protection, Otterbox can relieve the fear of destroying their devices during their activity outside. SWOT Strength| Weakness| Strong brand nameDiversified ProductsStrong logistic| Lack of promotion| Opportunities| Threat| Growing market of smartphone| Intense competitionImitation start coming to the market| Strength Strong brand name People who know Otterbox know that the product is a very high quality product. The customers know that they are getting what they paid for. Even though Otterbox release a new product line, the customers will already know that the product will offer protection like no other brand. Diversified Products: The product lines of Otterbox varies from small smartphone to big smartphone even tablet, and therefore customers find it is nice to have the protective case that made specifically for that type of device that they have. Strong Logistic: It is easy to find Otterbox all over the world. Otterbox have channel distribution almost all over the world with the main phone accessories distributor in that country and therefore, getting our hand on Otterbox is relatively easy. Weakness: Lack of promotion People who know Otterbox know that it is a good product, but a lot of people don’t know Otterbox because their lack of promotion compared to other brand such as Targus. Opportunities: Growing market of Smart phone As it is described in the market Industry analysis, the market has been growing unexpectedly high compared to the forecast, and therefore by using this opportunity, Otterbox can boost up the sale of their product alongside with the growing industry market. Threats Intense competition: Competition has been very tough and it is not getting easier for Thule, more companies are coming to step in to the way in the protective case market. Fierce competition is on the eyesight and newcomers such as Balistic, Hardcore, and Casemate Imitation comes to the market Even though it is still hard to get, imitation has been swarming the market because Otterbox such a good product. However, if Otterbox just let it go, the problem will get much bigger and imitation could cannibalize the real product. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. https://www.abiresearch.com/press/accessories-get-smarter-as-smartphones-drive-more- [ 2 ]. http://velositor.com/2012/03/14/smartphone-accessories-market-growing-while-feature-phone-accessories-market-forecasted-to-decline/ [ 3 ]. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2012/survey-new-u-s-smartphone-growth-by-age-and-income.html [ 4 ]. http://www.inc.com/inc5000/201109/otterbox-curt-richardson-how-i-reinvented-m

Desert Economy Struggling To Stay Afloat Essay

When America’s economy fell into a recession in 2008, it took down mexico along with it. America is by far the largest buyer of Mexican products, last year alone doing $400 billion in business. The Economist article, â€Å"Making The Desert Bloom,† brings to light the condition that Mexico’s economy is currently in, restricted by cartels, monopolies and its unfortunate situation with America. When stocks plummeted and jobs were lost in america, Mexico’s economy as a whole fell by 6.1%, the northern state of Coahuila getting hit the worst with a drop of 12.3%. Until the recession, Mexico was on schedule to have a reasonable decade but with personal income growth now at only 0.6% , some of the worst in the world, it doesn’t look promising. Mexico’s unemployment rate peaked at 6.4% in 2009 and is only slowly getting better. The foundation of Mexico’s economy is based on its exports. With americans share of Mexico’s exports falling from 89% to 78% and expecting to get worse, mexico has a problem on their hands. At the beginning of the decade, Mexico claimed the largest Latin American economy but since has been over taken by brazil with a GDP grow to more then 2 times that of Mexico’s. In 2010, the murder rate was 17 out of every 100,000 people, expected to cause a 1% drop in Mexico’s annual growth rate. Foreign direct investment has fall from $30 billion to just half that over the last 5 years. With so many problems limiting Mexico’s potential, the country needs to get everything in order to to revive itself from the current recession. Mexico has been hit by the steepest recession of any latin american country. A recession can be explained by a significant decline in activity across the economy effecting in industrial production, employment, income and trade. Between 2008 and 2009, 700,000 jobs were lost in Mexico. In certain parts, 4 in 10 business shut down. The head of economic planning in Mexico’s fiancee ministry, Miguel Messmacher, has seen a major shift in the direction of exports out of his country. Sales to latin America and asia are growing twice as fast as those to America. Mexico’s largest export is the automotive industry, although its exports to America make up only 65%. Eduardo soils head of the industry’s national association thinks this is a good sign because it always Mexico to establish markets in other countries, opening up more opportunities. His goal is to get it down to 50%. Others argue that Mexico can not become a â€Å"commodity exporter.† just because countries like china have a demand for soy beans, doesn’t mean that Mexico should start growing and export this product. They believe the economic future still lies in America’s economy. They way out of the recession is to gain a bigger piece of America’s slowly growing economy.