Characteristics of Malcolm Rivers Essay

Which is more powerful, the human mind or body? And, how can a mental illness like dissociative identity disorder effect the way we connect our mind and physical body? Malcolm Rivers, a convicted murderer in the movie Identity, is on death row, awaiting his execution for several brutal murders he had orchestrated. Due to that fact that Rivers had been diagnosed with a mental illness, D. I. D, he has no control and did not receive any medical/psychological help, he cannot be held accountable for his actions. In the movie, Malcolm has blackouts which sometimes last for days at a time. These blackouts cause him to have no control over his mind or body. He believes that he is one of the characters that have been created in his head. An example of this would be when Dr. Mallick hands him the mirror to see his reflection, Rivers does not expect to see what he saw, he was expecting to see who he thought he was at the time (the cop). This shows that he has no control over who he thought he was. This also relates to control over his actions, if in his mind he was not who he believed to be, then he cannot be responsible for the actions portrayed by a fake internal personality. A second example which shows that he has no control, is when he fades in and out of character at random times. During the same mirror scene, Malcolm bizarrely fades back into the internal personality of the cop. There is no mental or physical control over these fade backs, leaving Mr. Rivers helpless in the situation. Mr.  Rivers was not offered any medical treatments or help, meaning, Malcolm was helpless; he was definitely suffering mentally caused by many traumatic incidents he was put through as a child. In the beginning of the movie, for example, we hear (from the tape recorder) Dr. Mallick asking Malcolm about his childhood. The things that had been said about his mother being a prostitute and stories about his childhood where he was left at a motel, are sure to cause any child psychological trauma, and with no one to confide in or to speak to about his problems, he was bound to get D.  I. D; this mental disorder proves that he cannot be responsible for the murders. Dr. Mallick only helped to prove that it was the ten personalities controlling Malcolm’s actions, and not Malcolm himself, but he failed to help him seek treatment or psychological help before any of this happened. If only Malcolm had been given the attention he needed, he would not have built up all this repression. Furthermore, the last personality, timmy, who is like a reflection of his brutal upbringings as a child, turns out to be the real murderer. Malcolm Rivers is not responsible for the murders and should not be held accountable for any negative actions done while his state of mind is in that of one of the internal personalities. Mr. Rivers is unable to control his mind and body; shown when he has uncontrollable black outs and fade backs into one of the made up personalities. Malcolm is not mentally stable and probably has post traumatic stress syndrome; He has not received any real form of psychological help, which is another reason as to why he is so helpless, and therefore not responsible

Why Agriculture Spread During the Neolithic Revolution

Around 10,000 years ago, a dramatic transformation occurred in parts of the Near East that forever affected the human experience. These were the economic and social changes from hunting and gathering subsistence strategies, which characterised over 99 per cent of our long tenure on Earth, to ones emphasising food production and settling down in small villages. This was not an easy transition, nor was it a universal one. Once it occurred, though, it changed the course of human history. Usually known as the â€Å"Neolithic Revolution†. (Simmons 2007: 1)There has been much speculation by academics in many disciplines as to the reasons why agriculture was developed and employed throughout the Neolithic revolution; and how the agricultural developments dispersed across the globe. However, I believe that there are unanimous definitions on both the Neolithic Revolution and agriculture. Both key to the answer of this essay. I believe the Neolithic Revolution to be the first agricultur al revolution to take place globally, which led to people becoming sedentary, resorting to agriculture instead of hunter gathering and mobile communities. Gupta 2010) Cohen (1977: 1) has a similar attitude towards the definition of the Neolithic revolution as he believes it to be, â€Å"the economic and social change [] which witnessed the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture as man’s major mode of subsistence. † Agriculture, as defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1973), is â€Å"the science and art of cultivating the soil, including the gathering n of the crops and the rearing of livestock†. However, I believe that agriculture includes other aspects, which link in with it to create a fully operating agricultural system.These include, ‘farming’ and ‘domestication’, both pivotal for agricultural success. Farming is described as, â€Å"the business of cultivating land and raising ‘stock’† whilst domestication is â€Å"described as the action of ‘farming or bringing under control’. (More specifically, domestication can be defined as ‘the evolutionary process whereby humans modify, either intentionally or unintentionally, the genetic makeup of a population of plants or animals to the extent that individuals within that population lose their ability to survive and produce offspring in the wild’: Blumler and Byrne 1991: 24). (Barker 2006: 2) Simmons (2007) concurs that the Neolithic revolution was a transformation of the economic system at the time, but it was also a social change in how food was used and viewed in differing ways. To fully understand the impact of agriculture to Neolithic societies, I will use case studies to highlight my points. These will include the Fertile Crescent of the Near East, believed to be the first place where the use of agriculture has been found as Barker (ibid: 11) suggests ‘that the first farming would ha ve started in the ‘Near East’.However, I will also be using case studies from Africa, specifically the Ethiopian Highlands and the Kuk Swamp in Papua New Guinea. As Cohen mentions that â€Å"the most striking fact about early agriculture, however, is precisely that it is such a universal event† (1977: 5) therefore, it will be interesting to discuss the reasons why such rapid dispersion of agricultural development occurred across the Neolithic world. Why did the people around 10,000 years ago resort to a new way of life and with new ways of feeding?A way of life that was completely different from the people before them who had undertook hunting and gathering to feed themselves; a way of life that led to the beginning of agriculture and turning from mobile to non-mobile communities; forager societies that had been, â€Å"relatively unchanged since the depths of the Ice Age†. (Bogucki 1999: 191) There are many reasons that archaeologists have discussed about why this transition occurred in what has been coined as ‘The Neolithic Revolution’. There are many reasons why this transition occurred and I will explore many of these reasons.I will be looking at the reasons that are incorporated in Barbara Stark’s (1986) three main model types, which show the transition of foraging to the production of food in an agricultural sense. â€Å"Push†, â€Å"Pull† and â€Å"social’ models are used by Stark which create an ‘umbrella’ effect on the main underlying reasons which can be incorporated to fully explore the reasons why agriculture began and how it spread across the globe. When there is stress on a population, it can lead to the population being pushed to protect themselves to ensure that the stress does not damage them.These stresses, in the cause of agricultural causation include population pressure and/or climate change. The stress imposed on the population could have led to the beginning of agriculture being used. (Stark 1986) Many archaeologists have discussed reasons why agriculture began under this umbrella of a ‘push’ model. Childe (1936) began much of the work on the origins of agriculture by developing the Oasis-Propinquity theory; a theory that incorporated a significant climatic change at the end of the Pleistocene, which had a major effect on how animals, plants and humans operated to feed.Childe created the Oasis-Propinquity theory because he believed that this climatic change caused the areas, beginning in the Near East, especially the Fertile Crescent, to become arid and dry, thus becoming deserts. Simmons (2007: 11-12) thought that the new desert conditions of the Near East was causing â€Å"plants and animals [to die] or [they were] becoming scarce. † Without the presence of water nearby to most of the humans, plants and animals in the Near East and North Africa, it led to the congregation of these creatures to areas where water wa s available, such as the desert oases in the Near East.The close proximity that the plants, animals and humans had to undertake daily, it eventually led to the domestication of plants and animals. (Simmons 2007; Bogucki 1999; Pluciennik and Zvelebil 2009) Childe (1936: 77) considers that humans, plants and animals all became â€Å"united in an effort to circumvent the dreadful power of the drought†. The Oasis-Propinquity theory by Childe is only half of the story as to why agriculture began in the Near East. With this theory in mind, the domestication of plants would have been tending to and re-planting year after year.This would have led to the creation of some form of agricultural ideas and system that would have to be used to ensure that the domesticated crops can be utilised to their optimum. This early system of agricultural development would have had to be moulded into the systems that provided significantly greater quantities of food that would be able to sustain a pop ulation that would have been growing because of the change into a sedentary lifestyle. When Childe produced the theory in 1936, his investigations would have been one of the key reasons as to why agriculture developed.Despite still being a key argument in the origin of agriculture, other academics and evidence that has come to light since Childe’s Man makes Himself. Bogucki (1999: 186-187) mentions, â€Å"The difficulty is there is no evidence of widespread desiccation during the period in question between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago. † Paleoclimatic and geomorphological evidence of Braidwood’s Iraq-Jarmo project came to the conclusion supporting Bogucki’s (1999) claim that of no evidence of widespread desiccation. (Watson 1995) As Simmons (2007: 13) suggests that â€Å"these projects [] found no support for Childe’s claim of desiccation. This lack of evidence produces a significant amount of doubt to the Oasis-Propinquity. If there wasn’t a global change in climatic behaviour, it cannot be assumed that dry conditions occurred which resulted in the congregations at oases. Also, Childe’s work puts emphasis on the domestication of primarily animals at the oases and does not hold the beginnings of plant domestication, which inevitably lead to agriculture, in high regard and it was not accredited in his work. (Watson 1995; Bogucki 1999)Despite Simmons (2007: 12) mentioning that â€Å"Childe’s model is frequently acted as one of the origins of agriculture†, I believe that due to the climatic evidence of the time disagreeing with the theory of major climatic change resulting in dry and arid conditions, the Oasis-Propinquity theory does not hold as much regard with the origins of agriculture. I feel that other reasons incorporated in the push model have a much greater impact than Childe’s theory. I believe that the evidence found throughout the Fertile Crescent proves a lacking of substance for th e Oasis-Propinquity Theory and could provide evidence against it.Through the Fertile Crescent, establishments and the societies built up within have no been on major waterways (apart from Jericho), which diminishes the theory. This is because the domestication of all the wild resources occurred without the need for a congregation of plants, animals and humans in a small area surrounding oases’. The speed of domestication of Einkorn for example, showed that this congregation did not need to occur. Einkorn could be domesticated easily due to a number of genetic loci that it was able.Wild cereals and Einkorn had very similar ancestors, which allowed domestication to occur quite easily in the Crescents. (Zohary and Hopf 1993) This shows how significant other theories were in understanding the origins of agriculture. The Hilly Flanks Theory was produced to directly contest Childe’s theory. Braidwood was not enthused with the Oasis-Propinquity theory and did not hold it in h igh regard despite it being one of the significant and key models for the origins of agriculture, and pursued answers for the agricultural origin elsewhere. Braidwood 1960; Braidwood and Howe 1960) The Hilly Flanks Theory was created because â€Å"Braidwood thought that the best place to look for early domestication was where the habitats of the wild precursors of wheat, barley, sheep and goats overlapped. [] With desiccation and other widespread climatic changes discounted as a proximal cause of agriculture, Braidwood sought an explanation in human behaviour. He suggested that food production in the Old World emerged in certain â€Å"nuclear zones† in the arc of the Taurus and Zagros mountains of the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent†. Bogucki 1999: 187) I believe that his view on agricultural origins held a decent basis, as it feels natural for first cultivations by farmers on cereals within their natural habitat. (Miller 1992: 49) Braidwood’s theory was based, quite simply, on that the habitats of the Hilly Flank became so familiar to the people who lived there, that they started to domesticate the plants and animals that lived there in their natural habitats. Archaeological sites in Papa New Guinea, especially in the Upper Wahgi Valley, hold evidence for this theory.The importance of the sites in this region cannot be understated because the evidence that has been found as it showed agricultural developments without any significant evidence to suggest social transformations. Therefore, it can be assumed that people relocated to areas of natural wild resources to undergo â€Å"animal and plant exploitation† (Denham 2011). Without evidence for climatic change, this highlights significant headway in the Hilly Flanks theory. As Simmons (2007: 14) suggests that the people on the Hilly Flank had to become â€Å" [settled] in by groups who came to understand and manipulate plants and animals around them. From Braidwood’s work on the Hilly Flank Theory, there are many assumptions to be made about the origins of the first agricultural systems and I believe that the Hilly Flank Theory holds significant worth to the argument. I believe that it would be sensible for the first farmers to begin cultivating land that they foraged on and/ or lived on as mobile communities. I think this because the ‘raw materials’ were already en situ and the farmers did not have to relocate anywhere else. However, with this idealist notion of ‘being sensible’ views can only be mentioned due to indsight and the difference in culture that we see in our western cultures today. It must be noted that with over two millennia of the populations on earth being hunter-gatherers and foragers, the idea of becoming a sedentary farmer would have been very alien to them. Braidwood’s work on the Hilly Flanks Theory and the subsequent dismissal of Childe’s Oasis-Propinquity theory resulted in a signif icant change in the way agricultural origins were looked at and discussed. However, I believe that the push model had a significant result on why the origins of agriculture were continually discussed.I also must consider population pressure as an important argument for the origins of agriculture. In the early transitional period that occurred during the Neolithic Revolution could have been that many of the populations that existed changed from being mobile communities to becoming sedentary; non-mobile communities. The population that the mobile communities had was in relation to the â€Å"mobility and flexibility of hunter-gatherer organisation† (Green 1980; Lee 1972). Green (1980) discusses that population pressure is because of the decrease (or lack of) logistical mobility.When the population causes an effect on the mobility and flexibility, it can be assumed that the sedentary lifestyle was adopted. It could be argued that with a sedentary lifestyle, the population of the community could increase exponentially as Bellwood (2005: 23) says, â€Å"any major increase in the degree of sedentism [] would have encouraged a growing population, via shorter birth intervals, and would also have placed a greater strain on food supplies and other resources in the immediate vicinity of the campsite or village†.This resulted in the development of Binford’s (1968) Population Pressure model, which; Argued that once people (the early Vatutian in the Levant) became sedentary, populations inevitably increased, leading to an increasing use of locally available plant foods, such as cereals, that had previously been considered marginal. From this intensive use of cereals, and the technology ass65ociated with this processing, a regular cycle of plants and harvesting occurred, ultimately resulting in domestication. (Simmons 2007: 15)This increase in the population could have been down to a number of reasons including; an improved and more regularity in diets, i ncreased life expectancy and fertility, greater protection from diseases and â€Å"the need for more people to assist in seasonal harvests of wild plants† (Simmons 2007: 14-15; Bellwood 2005). Flannery (1969) elaborated further on Binford’s Population Pressure model, as Miller (1992: 49) mentions that Flannery â€Å"suggested that subsistence changes that took place prior to agriculture – during the â€Å"broad spectrum revolution†, could have been a response to population growth in the marginal zone†.A significant population increase can cause dramatic effects on the resources of the surrounding area. It would have come to the point that a foraging and hunter-gathering society no longer has the ability to provide resources for the whole population and leads people to try and find other sources for the resources. These resources, which provide the basis for sustaining life, could be pushed into competitions for the resources. With such competition, I believe that with the knowledge that resources would eventually run out, the population would have resorted to basic domestication of plants and animals for more reliable sources of resources. Neilson 2006) In times where pressures on the population seem great, the adoption of agriculture can lead to too much stress being inflicted on the availability of resources on the population. Stark (1986) emphases that this could create a pushing factor onto the population into agriculture. Without the push into agriculture, the population would have ceased to exist. Despite population pressure having a obvious impact on the ability for sufficient resources to be gained from hunter-gathering, it could have lead to the adoption of agriculture.However, some do not value the Population Pressure theory and believe it â€Å"inadequate as an explanation [because] for it necessary the increased population must be a purely local phenomenon which cannot exist without [locational] factors [or const raints]† â€Å"(Bronson 1975: 74). Sauer (1952) also believes with Bronson that a resource crisis due to pressures on the population due to a significant increase was not a highlighted reason for the genesis of agriculture. Sauer makes it known that the transition that occurred in the Neolithic was due to an altering relationship and the interaction between culture and the environment.This could lead to assumptions that Sauer did not believe that the transition developed out of a lack of food and resources to the ever-growing population. Green (1980) also argues â€Å"that population growth does not necessarily precondition either innovation or increased economic productivity†. As innovation would have to be the precondition to agricultural development, Green’s argument provides significantly altering evidence, which could lead to a different viewpoint on the origins of agriculture.This change in the relationship with culture and environment led to Stark’ s pull model. This cultural change that Sauer discussed had the ability to pull people into adopting the agricultural way of life, discarding the old hunter-gathering way of life. The pull model was based on a shift towards an unprecedented reliance on specific resources, which led to an alteration in the relationship between humans, animals and plants. This reliance ensured that the population was pulled into agriculture (Stark 1986).The pull model also put emphasis on the technological innovation that was developed pre-agriculture and such technology ‘pulled’ the population into the uses of agriculture and to benefit from such implementation of agriculture. The pull model â€Å"prevents a group from reverting to its earlier pattern of resource use† and this can be why, in the eyes of those who believe the pull model was the reason for agricultural development, that the pull model was so successful, effectively pulling those in further along in advancement. Dona ld Henry (1989) proposed a â€Å"pull† model for agricultural arising in the Near East.In his view, there were two key moments in the process of agricultural origins in the Levant. The first occurred around 10,500 BC when a global temperature increase promoted long-term settlement and necessitated a shift from what Henry calls â€Å"simple† foraging to â€Å"complex† foraging. A variety of high-yield resources, including wild cereals, were exploited, and restraints on population growth were relaxed. About 2000 years later, this complex foraging system collapsed possibly as the result of a second climatic change, and the foragers had two options, depending on where they lived.In the highly productive areas of the Levant, where the highest populations were, they began to cultivate cereals. In the marginal areas, people reverted to a simple foraging system. (Bogucki 1999: 190) Henry’s continuation on Stark’s pull model shows that he believes that envi ronmental pull factors resulted in the origins of agriculture. This is especially clear in the Levant where location dominated the resource development, for example: either hunter gathering and foraging or cultivation and domestication – resulting in agriculture.It can be assumed that the majority of highly populated areas of the Levant went to cultivation and that led to the growth of domestic dwellings. Those in marginal areas would have shifted towards domestic dwellings instead of staying as a mobile community. I also believe that technological advancement had a significant impact on the origins of agriculture and the further development of agricultural ways of life. Diamond (1997a) hold technological advancement as one of three linked developments which can be included within Stark’s pull model to try and develop a reason for the agricultural genesis.Technological development allowed people greater ways to â€Å"collect, process and store foods† (Simmons 20 07: 21), which is crucial when harvesting and cultivating is used to process foods and store the years amount of food. Without this development ensuring significantly greater storage capabilities, it causes hunting and gathering daily obsolete. Technological advances created developments, which could be used to â€Å"kill or displace hunter/gatherers† (ibid: 21-22). With violence being a consequence of technology, it would have force those hunter-gatherers into some form of agricultural developments just to survive.Technological advances started to produce greater items for warfare that were superior to what hunter-gatherers were using, mainly for the collection of resources, not fighting. Also, the other variables within Diamonds reasons for the origins were that there was a significant drop in species that used to be wild and resulted in the â€Å"human occupation of available habitats in order to decrease the risk of unpredictability† (ibid: 21). With the decline of wild species, the only option for the population would be to occupy their habitats to ensure that food could be hunted.However, by moving into the habitats were wild species were growing and living, it would have led to significant domestication of the species to ensure that the food is always present. However, there is some opposition to pull models, as Green (1980) says that â€Å"invention-pull models, which attributed agricultural change to technological innovation [which resulted in] considerations of agricultural change being dependent on technological innovation were considered non explanatory because they did not deal with the causes of innovation†.By being pulled into a change, populations would not be able to revert back to their earlier systems of gathering and hunting for food. However, others believe that social changes had a significant impact on the agricultural origins and were developed as one of Stark’s models for agricultural origins – the so cial model. Within the social model, there are numerous theories as to the origin of agriculture, however, all the theories, as Bender (1978) emphasised and â€Å"found that social changes acted independent of technology and economy to create pressures in production† (Simmons 2007: 18).Similar to Bender, Tilley (1996) also believes that greater social and ideological beliefs and their significance played an overwhelming part in the domestication of food rather than economic reasons. The theories that are under the umbrella of the social model are based on social development and competition. Competition feasting was a key theory set forward for the social model.It represents food as power and has been categorised as the â€Å"â€Å"food fight† model† (Simmons 2007: 18) by both proponents and critics (Hayden 1995: 282; Smith 2001: 218-221) With certain individuals accumulating surpluses of food, these could be transformed into items with value. With the accumulati on of surplus food, it would allow people to create feasts for the population. The individuals creating the feast would be held in higher regard in the community because it shows people who were generating the most food for the population.Feasting is a key part of the social model â€Å"given that the Neolithic revolved around food in one way or another; it seems somehow appropriate that feasting be considered as a reasons for its origin† (Simmons 2007: 18-19). By feasting, it was the first aspect of competition within communities. Competitive feasting would have been used as a method for the development and consolidation of power. Competition is a very important aspect of human society as it leads to the best being in positions of power. Within the Neolithic, extra resources must be utilised to ensure that power, influence and status is promoted and competed for. Feasting, gift exchange, trade, and other forms of codified, often ritualised contact† (Pluciennik and Zvel ebil 2009: 469) are the main ways for people to promote their own standings. This promotion of people’s own standards resulted in the need for extra resources beyond their dietary needs in the immediate timescale. This would result in overproduction. Overproduction by hunting and gathering would have got significantly harder with the climatic ever so slightly changing during the early Neolithic.Therefore, agriculture, a â€Å"more intensive system of exploitation† (ibid: 469) must be adopted to ensure overproduction can occur. Hayden (1995) believes that the need for competitive feasting lead to the first domestication of both plants and animals for the production of extra foodstuffs. With the use of food designated as prestige items, the accumulators could exceed their rivals in the consolidation of power (ibid). Runnels and van Andel (1988) have suggested that social customs, such as trade and competitive feasting would have led to motives for food production.Cowgill (1975) mentions that the more food an individual produces, the greater social and political power they possess. This analogy perfectly shows how important food was within a competitive environment and was used significantly to gain the upper hand. Without the implementation of agriculture, the excess food would not have been able to be produced and the ability to gain competitive edge over other individuals would have been diminished. As Miller (1992: 51) says, â€Å"[cultivation was] to ensure a reliable food supply or to increase their food supply to satisfy growing social or dietary needs†.However, Hayden has also put an argument across that does not believe the social model to be a significant reason for agriculture to begin. Hayden (1990: 57-62, 1992: 13) mentions that the social model could not have resulted in a Neolithic revolution to occur immediately as a lot of arguments believe happened. Hayden comments include the fact that a new culture of sharing food would ha ve taken a large amount of time to implement and the fist domesticated plants and animals would not have been appropriate for daily consumption due to his belief that they would have been delicacies.Despite this, I find this argument extremely thin and in my opinion, find it difficult to dismiss such a inquisitive social model, which, due to the change in social behaviour in the Neolithic, could have been very likely to occur, especially when the Neolithic â€Å"was an ideological phenomenon, a new way of thinking† (Simmons 2007: 20). I find that the Neolithic was an era where new ideologies and cultures were being developed and implemented globally throughout the Neolithic on an unprecedented scale.The arguments about how and why agriculture was developed and adopted throughout the globe in the Neolithic have produced very different and sometimes contradictory reasons why the origins of agriculture occurred. However, no one can deny the importance that agriculture had on the world as a whole and the impacts that it had to society as a whole. The impact that agriculture had, in my opinion, is unprecedented and extremely important to how we live in the society today. I can assume that most academics on the topic of agriculture believe that the impact of its adoption during the Neolithic was massively important to the world.Cole (1967: ix) made this quite clear by saying, â€Å"the development of full food production was an evolution rather than a sudden revolution; yet there is no doubt that the consequences of this change were revolutionary in the fullest sense of the world† and as Pluciennik and Zvelebil (2009: 467) also put forward the idea that the adoption of agriculture was one of revolutionary proportions, a â€Å"quantum leap in human history, and the basis for the development of widespread societal characteristics, both good and bad. †There are many main impacts that can be connected to the implementation of agriculture as the main characteristic of subsistence. By domesticating both plants and animals, it led to â€Å"increased sedentism, smaller social units, individual domiciles, investment in burial ritual and trade† (Bogucki 1999: 191), â€Å"specialisation in diet [was] also encouraged by the localisation of agricultural production† (Rindos 1984: 270) and â€Å"populations practicing agriculture come to be more successful relative to both domesticating and on-domesticatory. These populations not only will be generally larger but will also be dispersing at far greater rates [than populations that are not practicing agriculture]† (ibid: 267). Pluciennik and Zvelebil (2009: 467) mention that the impacts include â€Å"sedentism, population growth, certain endemic diseases, social and political hierarchies, literacy, cities, specialised arts and crafts, widespread environmental degradation, extensive trade, property, laws, morality, and more generally civilisation. It could be very easy to use these and suggest the impacts that agriculture had on today’s society, without thinking about the immediate impacts that occurred to the Neolithic society when agriculture was implemented. When agriculture was implemented in the early Neolithic, it can be assumed this would have led to a population increase due to the majority of early farmers becoming settled and becoming sedentary, resulting in a decrease in mortality rates due to better diets and better immune systems.With improved sedentary conditions, population numbers would begin to increase at a much quicker rate, putting significant pressure on food stores, resulting with the need for improved agricultural efficiency and crop numbers. This continues the cycle of population increase, greater sedentary conditions and thus, more agriculture. However, in the background of this cycle, an evolution of social, economic and religious (Bogucki 1999) norms would have occurred changing the culture of the Neolithic signi ficantly.With the culture changing constantly to include agriculture, it would have led to the societies having a greater involvement with agriculture especially when it became the main and/or only way for food to be acquired. The agricultural revolution led to the societies throughout the globe being hit by these impacts and resulting in a totally different world, and in the grand scheme, the beginnings of agriculture and the beginning of the Neolithic revolution could be argued to be the beginnings of civilisation, as we know it today.The impacts that agriculture had on societies throughout the last 10,000 years are unprecedented and the effects of which are still seen today – with some arguing that without agriculture, the world, as we know it in the modern time would not be the same. â€Å"Social, economic, and political complexity [] would not have emerged without the existence of agriculture† (ibid: 203)To conclude, â€Å"in the last 30 years, archaeologists hav e made considerable progress towards understanding the origins of agriculture, but the question of why prehistoric people made the transition from foraging to farming is still elusive† (ibid: 191) pinpointing one reason for why agriculture was adopted would be impossible. However, in my opinion, I believe that understanding why agriculture was developed, a number of reasons must be acknowledged and inter-link to fully determine the true reasons why agriculture was developed during the Neolithic revolution.The â€Å"push†, â€Å"pull† and social models that were established by Stark (1986) provided the most efficient way of trying to understand why agriculture was developed and it led to a significant advance in the way of thinking for its origins. However, â€Å"in the 1990s, social factors [had] begun to assume prominence in attempts to explain the origins of agriculture, although â€Å"push† and â€Å"pull† models still have considerable importan ce† (Bogucki 1999: 190).I believe that the social model provides more all-round reasons for agricultural origins, especially competitive feasting which provided an activity for the whole society to undertake together, thus, producing the beginnings of a society, and trade. This would increase in importance with the development and the increase of more sedentary populations. Despite this, I also feel that the push and pull models are very important. Without population pressures and some climatic change, agriculture would never have been produced.In my opinion, agriculture created the easiest and most efficient way for agriculture to spread and disperse across the globe through trade. Socially, trade was very important within a society, but in the greater picture, it played a much more important role in its dispersal. With the increase in trade, societies would have improved in prosperity and developed. Without agriculture, this would not have been possible. This leads to how mu ch of an impact agricultural development and its adoption had on societies across the globe.Without food production from agriculture, cultural advancements leading to the growth of urban areas, including technological, economic and political developments, which eventually led to the modern societies, we know today (Simmons 2007; Diamond 1997a). The impact that agriculture had on societies cannot be measured electronically, scientifically or any other way because the impacts are on an unprecedented scale; impacts spanning from one corner of the globe to the other and affecting everything.With the beginning of agriculture came the beginning of the New World, a world of new culture, beliefs and ways of life, economic, political and technological change and developments, resulting in the way we are today. Food production triggered the emergence of kings, bureaucrats, scribes, professional soldiers, and metal workers and other full time craftsmen. Literacy, metallurgy, stratified societi es, advanced weapons, and empires rested on food production. (Diamond 1997b) Word Count: 5298 Bibliography: Barker, G. (2006) The agricultural revolution in prehistory: why did foragers become farmers?UK: Oxford University Press Bellwood, P. (2005) First farmers: the origins of agricultural societies. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd Bender, B. (1978) ‘Gatherer-Hunter to farmer: a social perspective’ in: World Archaeology 10: 204-222 Binford, L. (1968) ‘post-Pleistocene Adaptations’ in: New Perspectives in archaeology. Eds: Binford, S. and Binford, L. USA: Aldine Publishing Company Blumler, M. A. and Byrne, R. (1991) ‘The ecological genetics of domestication and the origins of agriculture’ in: Current Anthropology 32: 23-54 Bogucki, P, (1999) The origins of human society.UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd Braidwood, R. (1960) ‘The agricultural revolution’ in: Scientific American 203: 130-141 Braidwood, R. and Howe, B. (1960) Prehistoric inve stigations in Iraqi Kurdistan. USA: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Bronson, B. (1975) ‘the earliest farming: demography as cause and consequence’ in: Population, ecology and social evolution. Eds: Polgar, S. Netherlands: de Gruyter Mouton Childe, G. (1936) Man makes himself. UK: Oxford University Press Cohen, M. N. (1977) The food crisis in prehistory: overpopulation and the origins of agriculture.USA: Yale University Press Cole, S. (1967) The Neolithic Revolution. UK: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) Cowgill, G. L. (1975) ‘On causes of ancient and modern population changes’ in: American Anthropologist 77: 505-525 Denham, T. (2011) ‘Early agriculture and plant domestication in New Guinea and island southeast Asia’ in: Current Anthropology Vol 52, No 4: 379-395 Diamond, J. (1997a) Guns, gems and steel: the fates of human societies. USA: Norton Diamond, J. (1997b) ‘location, location, location: the first far mers’ in: Science Vol 278, No 5341Flannery, K. (1969) ‘origins and ecological effects of early domestication in Iran and the Near East’ in: The domestication and exploitation of plants and animals. Eds: Ucko, P. J. and Dimbleby, G. W. USA: Aldine Publishing Company Green, S. W. (1980) ‘towards a general model agricultural systems’ in: Advances in archaeological method and theory. Eds: Schiffer, M. B. USA: Academic Press Gupta, A. K. (2010) ‘origins of agriculture and domestication of plants and animals linked to early Holocene climate amelioration’ in: Current Science Vol 87, No 1: 19 Hayden, B. 1990) ‘Nimrods, Piscators, Pluckers, and Planters: The emergence of food production’ in: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 9: 31-69 Hayden, B. (1995) ‘an overview of domestication’ in: Last hunters, first farmers: New perspectives on the prehistoric transitions to agriculture. Eds: Price, T. D. and Gebauer, A. USA: School of American Research Press Henry, D. O. (1989) From foraging to agriculture: the Levant at the end of the Ice Age. USA: University of Philadelphia Press Lee, R. (1972) ‘the intensification of social life among the ! Kung Bushmen’ in: Population growth: anthropological implications. Eds: Spooner, B.USA: MIT Press Little, N; Onions, C. T; Friedrichsen, G. W. S; Fowler, H. N; Coulson, J. (1973) Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. UK: Oxford University Press Miller, N. (1992) ‘the origins of plant cultivation in the Near East’ in: the origins of agriculture: an international perspective. Eds: Cowan, C. W. and Watson, P. J. USA: Smithsonian Institution Press Neilson, R. (2006) The little green handbook: seven trends shaping the future of our planet. USA: Picadore Pluciennik, M. and Zvelebil, M. (2009) ‘The origins and spread of agriculture’ in: Handbook of archaeological theories. Eds: Bentley R. A. and Maschener, H. nd Chippindale, C. UK: Alt amira Press Rindos, D. (1984) the origins of agriculture: an evolutionary perspective. UK: Academic Press Ltd Runnels, C. and van Andel, T. H. (1988) ‘trade and the origins of agriculture in the Eastern Mediterranean in: Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 1: 83-109 Sauer, C. (1952) agricultural origins and dispersals. USA: American Geographical Society Simmons, A. H. (2007) The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: transforming the human landscape. USA: The University of Arizona Press Smith, B. (2001) ‘the transition to food production’ in: Archaeology at the Millennium: A sourcebook.Eds: Feinman, G. and Price, T. D. USA: Plenum Publishing Company Stark, B. (1986) Origins of food production in the New World. USA: Smithsonian Institution Press Tilley, C. (1996) An ethnography of the Neolithic: Early prehistoric societies in Southern Scandinavia. UK: Cambridge University Press Watson, P. J. (1995) ‘Explaining the transition to agriculture’ in: Last h unters: first farmers; New perspectives on the prehistoric transition to agriculture. Eds: Price, T. D. and Gebauer, A. USA: School of American Research Press Zohary, D. and Hopf, M. (1993) Domestication of plants in the old world. UK: Oxford University Press

Baseball Essay Research Paper I chose the

Baseball Essay, Research Paper I chose the subject baseball, because it # 8217 ; s a game I have loved since I was a small child. I have played baseball since I was five, and followed professional baseball since I was approximately nine. That is when I started roll uping baseball cards and watching the games. Although I had neer truly cared about baseball # 8217 ; s origin and history, recently I have been seeking to happen out every bit much as I can about it. Baseball # 8217 ; s beginning is unknown. Peoples believe many theories. One is that baseball originated from the British game of cricket. Another theory people believe is that baseball started when a immature male child was being chased by a group of older childs and they were throwing stones at him. All the male child had with him was his school books and a walking stick. When one of the childs threw a stone at him he hit it right back at him. When the childs saw this they were amazed. That gave the childs an thought. They got out their walking sticks and started to throw stones at each other. The victor was the 1 who hit it the farthest. Another theory is that in 1831 a male child named Abner Doubleday had his mas make him a ball out of bit leather and pieces of old narration and yarn. Abner and his brother Tim would travel in the pace and drama # 8220 ; catch. # 8221 ; Abner got tired of merely throwing the ball, so he thought of hitting the ball excessively. He would hold a # 8220 ; pitcher # 8220 ; # 8221 ; lob # 8221 ; the ball to the hitter who had a # 8220 ; hittin # 8217 ; stick. # 8221 ; The hitter would hit the ball every bit far as he could. Most people believe this narrative to be true. Around the 1850s recreational baseball squads began to jump up all over in the United States. During the early 1840s the first baseball game was recorded. Harmonizing to the New England regulations, if a hitter was hit by a ball thrown at him he was called out. Today a hitter needs to be either tagged by the participant with the ball, or have the first, 2nd, or 3rd baseman measure on the base if they had the ball in their manus. Although baseball has changed a batch, many things have stayed the same. Baseball used to be considered a gentlemen # 8217 ; s game. Merely the upper category played baseball. Since Baseball was a gentlemen # 8217 ; s game, # 8220 ; cussin # 8217 ; # 8221 ; wasn # 8217 ; T allowed. If you were caught # 8220 ; cussin # 8217 ; # 8221 ; you would hold to pay a six cent mulct. By the late 1860s everyone was playing baseball # 8211 ; from food market packers to concern proprietors. The amateurs formed a conference called the National League Association. If a squad wanted to go a portion of the NLA, and was good plenty, it would be accepted. The conference would form games, and do certain the squads had a topographic point to play. In 1881 the first professional baseball squad was formed. The NLA would non let them in because they wouldn # 8217 ; t let squads to pay its participants. Because of this, the Red Stockings set up their ain conference. They called it the American League Association. The National Association finally had to let professional squads in the conference because the American Association had so many more squads in their conference. Because baseball # 8217 ; s popularity had grown so much, the presidents of the ALA, and the NLA started to bear down admittance to games. Soon gamblers got involved. The NLA allowed chancing but the ALA banned it because the participants thought baseball was for amusement intents merely. In the NLA gaming got out of manus. The participants got involved with the gaming, and would intentionally throw a game. That happened more than one time. When the NLA tried to censor chancing in 1892 the conference became really unstable. Directors were seeking to discontinue, and the participants wanted to play in a just game, non a game that was lost on intent. In the early yearss of baseball Charles Comiskey pioneered many basicss of the game. He had the participants back-up each other # 8217 ; s throws, and catch the ball with two custodies. In the early old ages, foremost basemen played in disgusting district. Comiskey changed that. He had the first baseman drama on the left side of the disgusting line so that if the ball was hit his manner he could acquire to the ball, and do the drama. Charles was a # 8220 ; playing director # 8221 ; for the Washington Blue Caps. He played hurler, and developed the pitching manner called, # 8220 ; The Stretch. # 8221 ; A pitch where the hurler does non weave up, he merely stairss and throws the ball. Another pioneering participant was Denton True Young. Most people know him as Cy Young. The Cy is short for cyclone. He got that moniker because of his alone pitching manner. Because of Cy # 8217 ; s great ability to flip there is a fliping award named after him. The award is called the # 8220 ; Cy Young Award. # 8221 ; The award is given to the hurler who leads the conference in work stoppage outs and earned run average. In 1900 the National Association eventually became stable. The gaming had for the most portion stopped, and squads were willing to play once more. In 1908 backstop # 8217 ; s face masks and shin guards were invented. A individual could purchase a face mask for six dollars, and shin guards for seven dollars. During a game in 1909, an outfielder bruised his thenar on a fly ball he caught. He left the game but returned two innings subsequently with a brace of soft leather baseball mitts. He played the remainder of his calling with those baseball mitts. Everyone thought he was a chicken, but shortly everyone had a brace of the baseball mitts. Although baseball has changed a batch, many things have stayed the same, such as simple basicss. I think most professional baseball participants don # 8217 ; t cognize much about baseball # 8217 ; s past. If they took the clip to read about it they # 8217 ; vitamin D likely truly bask it. I learned a batch about baseball # 8217 ; s history while researching this study. I thought baseball had ever been around, and that all the regulations had been the same. I thought the same squads had been about since the beginning, but they have non. Thingss have changed, from the unvarying manner, to the type of wood the chiropteran is made of, to the type of narration used in the balls. I chose to compose about baseball # 8217 ; s beginnings because baseball is my favourite athletics. I learned a batch about who did what, and when they did it. I am glad I chose baseball, because I learned a batch about baseball # 8217 ; s history in America. Shapiro, Milton J. , The Day They Made The Record Book, New York: Julian Messner,1968. Dunham, Montrew, Abner Doubleday, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co. , 1965. Rosenburg, John M. , The Story of Baseball, New York: Random House, 1973. Schenck, Earl M. , Baseball, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1969.

Police Brutality Law Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Police Brutality Law - Research Paper Example Besides, various states and regions have come up with their own police brutality laws. For example, in Minnessotta, Police brutality not only entails excessive use of force by police, but also entails; unnecessary gun use, beating civilians with fists, using batons to beat civilians, choking, unnecessary and inappropriate use of pepper spray, using police dogs inappropriately, body slamming against hard surfaces, abuse of the rights of a prisoner, and the unnecessary and inappropriate use of tasers by police (Johnson 26). Police brutality laws Police brutality laws not only apply to police officers, but also apply to sheriffs, detectives, security guards and many deputies. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denotes that violations by law enforcement officers may be categorized under use of unwarranted excessive force, verbal abuse, racial-profiling, harassment and discrimination; however, all these subsections denote police abuse and brutality. Any police officer in the US who uses undue excessive force on civilians violates the 5th and 14th Amendments of the US Constitution. The Fifth Amendment is used by US courts when guarding against unreasonable searches and seizures in various police brutality cases. The 5th Amendment guarantees that civilians have freedom from any unreasonable searches and seizures. Using this amendment, judges and advocates have argued that law enforcement officers need not cause harm to citizens. The US Supreme Court states that the word ‘reasonable’ implies that various situations need various amounts of force, and as a result of this excessive force should in all circumstances be avoided. Apart from protecting against police brutality, the 5th Amendment also requires that no individual should be compelled to be one’s own witness in criminal proceeding (Mary 47). The Fourteenth Amendment requires that no state in the US shall enact and enforce laws that are repugnant to the privileges and immunities of Ameri can citizens. The 14th Amendment further states that no State has the right of depriving American Citizens liberty, life or property without following lawful procedures. This implies that all citizens are required to appear before judicial bodies whenever they are suspected to have contravened the law. Therefore, use of excessive force by police violates the 14th Amendment because it is a way of punishing civilians before they are actually tried before judicial systems (Walker, Spohn & Delone 49). Apart from the 4th and 14th Amendments, there are other laws that have been passed in the past, and these have ensured that police brutality should not be condoned. The 6th Amendment stipulates that people accused of criminal activities are accorded rights to an attorney, rights to speedy trials and impartial jury and right to confront or even cross-examine accusers. The 6th Amendment is helpful where the accused is beaten or forced to make a confession so that he can be prosecuted. This a mendment also protects individuals who are accused by use of evidence that culminated from illegal searches and seizures. The Eighth Amendment is important in that it protects all inmates from excessive force and unusual punishments. Therefore, whenever one is convicted of a crime, police brutality invokes the application of

Denvor Airport Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Denvor Airport Case - Essay Example The primary source for analysis of the project will be an article which was originally published as a Harvard Business School Case Study. After analysis of the planning and resource management capabilities of BAE in carrying out the Baggage Handling System and its consequences, workable recommendations will be made for further improvement in the company’s efficiency in the areas of planning, control and resource management. Performance of a project depends greatly on its planning and resource management capabilities since these capabilities play a vital role in success or failure of any project. The present study will strive to investigate the relationship between the planning and resource management capabilities of BAE Automated Systems Inc. in installation of an automated baggage handling system and the problems faced by the stakeholders in implementing the project which ended up into a failure. Thus, the focus of the study will be on planning and control aspects of the automated baggage handling system project. To analyze the planning and control aspects of the company it is important to understand what the project was and what expectations were attached with the completion of the project. The automated baggage handling system project was part of the greater Denver International Airport project. Denver International Airport (DIA) is considered to be one of the world’s largest airports. The DIA project was a huge and involved enormous construction and installation tasks. The construction began in 1989 but it was only in the 1992 that the Project Management Team (PMT) realized that an airport-wide integrated baggage-handling system should be included in the project in order to improve the efficiency of luggage delivery (p. 23). The objective of installing the new system was to improve ground time efficiency and to reduce the time which is spent in manual baggage sorting and handling. The

Regent Park Mosque Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Regent Park Mosque - Coursework Example The Muslim community in the United Kingdom was officially presented with the Masjid as a gift from the government of Britain. This was aimed at enabling Muslims in London to create a centre for Islamic culture and build a mosque with an aim of providing an opportunity to carry out affairs related to their Islamic faith (Hodges, 2009, p. 57). This gift was greatly accepted by a mosque committee which comprised distinguished Islamic diplomats and Islamic residents living in the United Kingdom. This gift was presented to the Muslim community with the intent of paying tribute to thousands of Indian Islamic soldiers who had passed on while fighting for the British Empire. The British Empire at this time had more Muslims than Christians. In 1947, the London Central Mosque was registered by the mosque committee as a trust corporation named London Central Mosque Trust Limited. To date, the board members of the trust committee comprise Muslim countries’ diplomatic representatives whom the Court of St. James’s has accredited. The main objectives of the mosque committee included: first, to build a mosque on the provided site and secondly, to establish a cultural and religious centre for Muslims who resided in the United Kingdom at that time, and future generations. ... The cost of building the mosque was partly covered by Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal’s contribution of â‚ ¬2 million. In 1977, the mosque was finally completed with a total cost of â‚ ¬ 6.5 million. According to Hodges (2009), Regent’s Park Mosque is the United Kingdom’s centre for Islamic focus for Muslims and Islam. Apart from the mosque being a place where Muslims offer daily prayers, it also provides several services that include offering education to children located in central London and its environs. It provides conference facilities and serves as a convention centre. The centre also offers counseling and wedding halls for hire as well as fairs among other services. Regent’s Park Mosque symbolizes the presence of Islam and Muslims in London and the United Kingdom as a whole. The mosque is distinct from other buildings in London due its golden dome shape and the minaret (Hodges, 2009, p. 62). The prayer hall is designed in such a way that it is facing Mecca. It also has a distinguishing red carpet feature with a vast mosaic decorated dome as well as a huge chandelier located at the centre. In one prayer session, the mosque has the capacity to accommodate up to 1400 worshippers. The mosque can be extended to accommodate additional 4,000 worshippers during festivals and even more when the worshippers overcrowd in the main court yard (Hodges, 2009, p. 79). The London Central Mosque receives up to fifty thousand Muslim visitors during the two main Islamic festivals. During these periods, the mosque is overflown with Islamic worshippers from within London and outside. The central mosque of London is an active place receiving visitors and worshippers on a daily basis (Hodges, 2009, p. 79). The

How Information Technology impact in business world Research Paper

How Information Technology impact in business world - Research Paper Example Current trends in Information Technology include; cloud computing and information security. Alternatively, the view of Daintith John (2009) is that â€Å"Information Technology is the use of computers and telecommunication facilities in business; to collect, manipulate, transmit, store and retrieve data. Information Technology refers to computers plus computer networks, but can also include information transmitting equipments like satellites, phone, televisions and radios. IT infrastructure involves the framework on which information networks operate.† The infrastructure include; computers, networks, database management systems and a regulatory framework. In the field of Information Technology, infrastructure refers to physical hardware which connects computers and users, for example, telephone lines, satellites, television cables and antennas. To some people, infrastructure is anything that supports the processing of data and information. Erick Miley (2014) explains that â€Å"Information Technology is an occupation or profession that identifies with computer technology." He stresses that modern businesses use computers to ensure high standards of customer service and efficiency. The benefits if information Technology to businesses many. Computers process information at very high speeds, for examples emails deliver messages instantly. Business information can be updates on market. Increased computer speed ensures efficiency in information processing. Computers are also able to multi-task accurately and quickly, for example, solving complex mathematical equations. IT ensures low business costs; this is due to the fact that as technology becomes more common it also becomes affordable. It has led to more entrepreneurship opportunities; this is because many people nowadays work at home using the internet. (Allen and Morton 37). According to Chirantan Basu, Demand

Sweatshops And Violation Of Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sweatshops And Violation Of Human Rights - Essay Example The opponents of sweatshops argue that under no circumstance, the rights and dignity of human beings should be violated by exploiting poor people’s labor and forcing them to work under dangerous conditions at low wages. On the other hand, proponents assert that without jobs in sweatshops, there are only far worse alternatives such as prostitution, crime, or even starvation. Are sweatshops and slave labor acceptable or even justifiable? In most ways, considering moral judgments, the answer would be a conclusive no; however, it also depends on the economic and cultural contexts of individuals and countries, making it acceptable in some ways. Stopping the poorest people from working in dangerous environments as an excuse for protecting them from low wages, hazardous circumstances, and abuses are not the ultimate solution for them; instead, they should be provided with better choices and alternatives that would eventually allow them and their country to stand on their own feet. When it comes to the matter of slave labor or sweatshops, it is difficult to determine precisely what sweatshops actually mean. The U.S. General Accounting Office defines a sweatshop as â€Å"an employer that violates more than one federal or state law governing minimum wage and overtime, child labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and health, workers compensation, or industry regulation.† However, it seems very unreasonable and unrealistic to apply this standard to people in poor countries, as they have a very low standard of living and are desperately in need of jobs to sustain their daily livelihood. Hence, it is vital to understand the concept of sweatshops from their point of view, to ascertain what they actually need to survive, and what can practically benefit them in the long term. Opponents of sweatshops believe that buying products from sweatshops is immoral.

Nursing as a Profession Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Nursing as a Profession - Research Paper Example Information literacy describes the ability to find and gather critical and accurate information as required in any practice to provide quality services. This relates to skills needed to maneuver efficiently through the burst of data available and decisively acquire relevant information (Bonnel and Smith, 2010). In nursing, information is regarded as a key attribute that facilitates efficiency with regard to the scope of the duties. Nursing officers assist other medical practitioners in patient care interventions as directed and according to the plan of care. They also contribute to the collection of accurate healthcare information as well as maintaining accurate health care records. The general duties include attending to patient’s personal hygiene needs such as showering and toileting and assisting with patient mobilization and repositioning. In addition, nurses observe the patient's physical and psychological status, as well as responses during the course of treatment, which entails monitoring patients’ vital signs and recording them accordingly. The duty of care seeks to stress the need for selflessness among healthcare personnel, especially those involved in providing direct basic care to patients. Consequently, nurses are placed at a patient’s personal service through the expression of kindness, moral worth, and dignity of the self and others. This is irrespective of one’s cultural similarities and differences, thus placing more value on the accessibility of health care services to all.... Consequently, nurses are placed at a patient’s personal service through expression of kindness, moral worth and dignity of the self and others. This is irrespective of one’s cultural similarities and differences, thus placing more value on accessibility of health care services to all. Presently, information technology has found a home in most institutions in the society and the healthcare sector has had positive results with technological integration. Health care organizations are rapidly adopting and implementing health information technology such as the electronic health record systems. Electronic health recording aids in enhancing efficiency within the health provider’s organization. This translates to improved patient handling and effective treatment to ensuring appropriate patient management. This creates a smooth carryover of the patient by a new health care provider following referral for further management since the patient’s medical history is rea dily available. In addition, it reduces medical errors where the electronic prescribing applications would alert health care providers in case of any anticipated drug reaction. Cases of illegible handwriting have also been eliminated as progress notes are directly indicated in the electronic system. In addition to the efficiency, electronic records cut back on the risk of mix-ups in patient files where a patient is treated for the wrong condition. This is often the results of archival problems where leafs from patient files are pooled together before sorting. The use of electronic medical records saves hospitals and patients from this by securing the records appropriately that only the records of the required patient can be accessed, thus mix up are evaded (McGonigle and

Main Responsibilities in the Nursing Profession Essay

Main Responsibilities in the Nursing Profession - Essay Example In 2008, the National Survey of Registered Nurses conducted research and found out that over 3 million nurses were registered. There are only 2.6 million nurses who have been employed out of the 3 million registered nurses. Out of these 2.6 million which is an equivalent of 84%, 50.0% are nurses prepared from Baccalaureate programs, 36.1% from Associate Degree programs while 13.9% were from Diploma Nursing Programs. The NCLEX-RN licensing examination is taken by those who are to be recognized as certified nurses. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation made a proposal in a report. This report on The Future of Nursing suggested that 50.0% of BSN should be increased to 80%. Many types of research have also been conducted, and the findings reported that BSN in most care centres has realized a reduced rate of mortality deaths. American Organization of Nurse Executives called for all nurses to undergo the Baccalaureate programs. This program is to make them competent enough to handle the challengi ng task ahead of their careers. The U.S Army requires nurses that are competent specifically with a degree in baccalaureate nursing so that these nurses can be given the position of a commissioned nurse. A study was conducted showing that a large number of people preferred nurses who were trained for the duration of four years and over. It is only fair that the life of a patient is entrusted on a competent nurse. This paper will explore the difference in competencies that are notable between associate-degree nurses and nurses who have been prepared at the Baccalaureate-degree level in nursing. Baccalaureate nursing program is inclusive of all the course work that is taught in diploma and associate degree level. The four-year training they go through is seen in the care they extend to patients. Baccalaureate nurses are taught on theoretical and practical aspects. These theories incorporate the various fields outside medicine. Nursing knowledge includes theories in humanities, science s, as well as, Biblical concepts.

Deforestation in Costa Rica Essay Example for Free

Deforestation in Costa Rica Essay Costa Rica is famous for it’s rainforests and vast biodiversity and ecosystems, including 12,000 species of plants, 1,239 species of butterflies, 838 species of birds, 440 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 232 species of mammals (Wikipedia), which overtime have become under threat due to deforestation. Since the end of World War II, 80 percent of Costa Rican forests have disappeared (Wikipedia). Various companies are cutting down forests, to provide land for there fruit plantations and cattle ranches. During the 1990s, Costa Rica had one of the worst deforestation rates in the world. Clearing out forests is causing flooding, desertification, sedimentation in rivers, loss of wildlife diversity, and is the number one contributor to global warming. The country has laws protecting certain areas of the forests, but only 25 percent of Costa Rican forests are completely protected from companies due to lenient laws (Viva Costa Rica). Businesses that are clearing out Costa Rican forests are contributing to the destruction of the earth’s environment. Beef production is the largest cause of deforestation in Costa Rica. Approximately 60 percent of Costa Rica has been cleared out to make room for cattle ranching (Algee, â€Å"Cattle Ranching†). During the 1960s, problems worsened when the United States offered Costa Rican cattle ranchers millions of dollars in loans to produce beef (Viva Costa Rica), so all the ranchers had the forests cleared for space for more cattle. After Costa Rica stopped shipping cattle to the U. S. , the country was left with bare spots, where trees were cleared out, and most of the cattle was moved to the Pacific Northwest side of Costa Rica. Fruit plantations are the second largest cause of deforestation in Costa Rica, specifically banana plantations. Banana plantations now cover 130,000 acres of previously forested land in Costa Rica (Guadua Bamboo). Bananas are Costa Rica’s main moneymaking industry. While certain conservation laws have been passed to protect areas from banana farming in Costa Rica, the government lacks the resources to enforce them. The banana industry is known for its dangerously high use of pesticides, which in the 1970s, caused thousands of plantation workers to become sterile (Guadua Bamboo). These pesticides used to maintain fruits, may enter the water systems and contaminate the water. Nutrient balance in the soil is also disrupted by the removal of the rainforests to make way for fruit plantations, by exhausting the soils and leaving them weak. Weak soil makes it challenging to maintain the land for agriculture. When a ground surface is stripped of vegetation, the upper soils becomes helpless to water erosion. Costa Rica loses about 860 million tons of valuable topsoil every year (Mongabay). Forests have a natural ability to absorb water when it rains, and release it slowly into rivers. Without the vast amounts of vegetation, flash floods are caused, the water rushes into the rivers, taking the sediment with it. Once the sediment builds up, the water no longer flows, and it floods the areas. The increased sediment load of rivers suffocates fish eggs, causing lower hatch rates, reducing the fishing industry. Erosion also destroys roads and highways that cross through the forest. The government does not shut down the roads, but must rebuild them repeatedly, using money that could be used more productively elsewhere. Deforestation is the number one cause of global warming. In his article â€Å"Deforestation: The Hidden Cause of Global Warming†, Daniel Howden explains â€Å"Carbon emissions from deforestation far outstrip damage caused by planes and automobiles and factories deforestation accounts for up to 25 percent of global emissions of heat-trapping gases, while transport and industry account for 14 percent each; and aviation makes up only 3 percent of the total† Deforestation results in the immediate release of carbon stored in trees as carbon-dioxide emissions. Trees are 50 percent carbon. When they are felled or burned, the carbon dioxide they store escapes back into the air. Carbon dioxide helps absorb heat; therefore too much carbon dioxide results in global warming. Costa Rica has an amazing conservation program that protects more than 10 percent of the country (Mongabay). One protected strip of forest runs for 40 miles, through nine ecological zones. The country presented a plan in 1995; to protect 18 percent of the country in national parks and another 13 percent in privately owned preserves. The country is targeting to protect the areas with the most biodiversity. The government funds the project by issuing landowners forest protection certificates, which will annually pay landowners about $50 for every 2. 5 acres of forest, with the agreement that the forest will be protected. In 2005, another program added Costa Rica to which wealthy nations were called to compensate poor nations for rainforest conservation. The amount of Costa Rican land deforested annually has declined since 1977, by 118,158 acres (Wikipedia). Around two-thirds of Costa Ricas remaining rainforests are now protected. Companies that are felling trees in Costa Rican forests are destroying the earth’s environment. These companies that contribute to deforestation are killing various species, and are ultimately harming the earth itself through greenhouse gas emissions. Costa Rica is doing a great job repairing their forests, and making sure that certain areas will remain untouched. Last year, the country passed a law that will decentralize their decision-making. The efforts the country is making to stop deforestation, is causing Costa Rica to stand out and show their commitment toward environmental and natural resources issues.

Mix Design Procedure And Principles Engineering Essay

Mix Design Procedure And Principles Engineering Essay 1. Introduction In the following coursework we are going to take look at the steps that must be taken into account for performing a concrete mix design. When we talk about mix design, we are going to deal with two categories of property requirements: one category specific for fresh concrete (fresh properties of concrete); and another category specific for hardened concrete (Neville 1995). The aim of this coursework is also to analyze the properties of the freshly formed concrete due to the design performed, and not of the hardened concrete. As outlined in Lecture 2, the two types of property categories are not independent from one another, more likely they are directly linked, and failure in compliance with fresh properties will lead to poor concrete quality in hardened state. Basically, concrete mix design is performed by a careful selection of quantities for concrete ingredients with the aim at producing cost effective concrete having a minimum set of properties such as: workability, compressive strength and durability (Neville 1995). For the purpose of this coursework, we are going to design concretes which will contain mixes of classic ingredients like ordinary Portland cement as a bonding material and, either 100% Gravel or 100% Recycled Aggregates, as a filler material. Also, we are going to design mixes by replacing a part of the Portland cement with cementitious materials such as Silica Fume (10% SF) or Fly Ash (30% FA) and the reason of using these fine materials is that they will limit the amount of energy consumed in the mixing process, which ordinary Portland cement is not capable of doing. Having 4 types of concrete mixes, we are going to deal with different properties between these mixes, each set of concrete properties being governed by the properties of the materials used. For example, recycled aggregate presents an increase in porosity compared with gravel, so it is no surprise that concretes with recycled aggregates will demand more water content than ordinary, natural aggregates. Eventually the workability will be affected by the higher water demand (Dhir et al. 1998). Also, as comparison between the effects on concrete determined by SF or FA we must state that concretes with FA will experience a decrease in water demand, reduced bleeding and good cohesiveness, while concrete with SF will bring an increase in water quantity. Because they were 4 different types of mixes to be designed and tested in the lab, 4 groups, each designing their own mix, were created. Our group had the task of performing the mix design for the 10% SF mix and this was done according to BS 1881: Part 125: 1983 Testing concrete Methods for mixing and sampling fresh concrete in the laboratory. Silica fume has certain characteristics that make the handling, when we make the mixing of components, to be a difficult task. This is due to the small particle size and high fineness of the silica fume, so slurry is going to be prepared, by combining silica fume with water, when performing the mixing and also we should make sure that the slurry will be fully dispersed into the mix. By having a high fineness, the SF particles will demand a large surface to be covered with water, bringing an increase in water demand as stated above. Mixes having silica fume as ingredient will give us high performance concretes., and the presence of SF in the mix design process will not only affect the quantities of the mix proportions to be used as ingredients of concrete, but also will lead to an improvement in the fresh properties of the concrete like: high cohesiveness, little to none bleeding, suitable for pumping (Neville et al. 1995). In the lab, after we performed the mix, we made some tests in order to have quality control over the product: Slump Test, according to BS EN 12350-2:2000 Testing fresh concrete Part 2: Slump test, to determine the workability of the concrete and the Plastic Density Test, according to BS 12350-6, 2000 Testing concrete Method for determination of density of compacted fresh concrete, to determine the actual plastic density of the concrete. 2. Mix Design Procedure and worksheets. 2.1. Procedure principles. It should be stated that this method is not an exact method of quantity assessment mainly, because of the variability of the parameters affecting the constituents of this procedure. Trial mixes are made with the purpose of guessing which combinations of ingredients will be suitable for the desired concrete properties and we can modify these mixes to correspond to our requirements (Neville 1995). 2.2. Description for performing concrete mix design. Mix design follows several steps according to BRE Report 331, in which the flow chart of steps takes into consideration all parameters of the mix constituents and also shows us how they are linked together. The results of the computation are going to be written on a Concrete Mix Design Form. For performing this procedure a number of initial specifications must be given, specifications which include: Cement type 52.5 N; Aggregate type Gravel; Maximum aggregate size 20 mm; Fine aggregate grading 44%; Aggregate relative densities 2600 kg/m3; 10% Silica Fume 0.45, 0.6 and 0.75 w/c, 180l/m ³ water content, Slump of 30-60 mm (achieving S3 with SP) The stages which govern this procedure, as specified in BRE Report 331 are: Stage 1 water/cement ratio Stage 2 water content Stage 3 cement content Stage 4 total aggregate content Stage 5 fine aggregate proportion Stage 6 trial mixing Having the 3 free-water cement ratios, the slump and the maximum size of the aggregates given, we can skip the first stage and the amount of water needed can easily be determined. As we can see, 3 mixes will be prepared for which we can determine the amount of bonding material needed if the quantity of water is known. In this total amount of bonding material, 10% is Silica Fume, while 90% is ordinary Portland cement. In stage 4 we shall determine the total quantity of aggregate present in the mix. Because we have the grading of the fine aggregate, we can determine the quantity of the coarse aggregates by subtracting from the total quantity of aggregate the fine aggregate quantity. From the total quantity of coarse aggregate we know that 1/3 is for 10 mm Gravel and 2/3 for 20 mm Gravel. After we have determined all the mix proportions, we have to make specimens from the resulted concrete mix, specimens which will be subjected to different tests and conditions in order to determine the suitability of hardened concrete. These concrete specimens result from trial mixes for which batch weights are computed for a batch size of 0.02 m3. One aspect hasnt been discussed so far: the use of admixtures in the concrete mix design. Admixtures are regarded as secondary ingredients of concrete, and not in the same class of importance like water or cement. There are different types of admixtures, depending on their effect on concrete, and, also their use is regarded from an economical and an increase in concrete quality point of view. For the purpose of our assignment, the admixture type which we are going to use is Superplasticizer (Glenium 51) and the British standard that regulates and controls their use is BS 5075: Part 3: 1985. Superplasticizers are water reducing admixtures, and their effect on concrete is related to an improvement in fresh properties, mainly an increase in workability. 4. Batch quantities allowing for absorption. 4.1. Porosity, Absorption and their link. Porosity and absorption are aspects concerning the aggregates, so the following discussion will take into account the way in which the presence of pores will affect the concrete. There are 2 types of pores: internal and external pores, which vary in size- the external pores, can even be seen sometimes with the naked eye. Because of its viscosity, cement paste cannot fully cover the pores of the aggregates, but water is able to do that, which eventually will lead in an increase of water demand (Neville 1995). It might seem that because its only related to aggregate, porosity and absorption will not affect concrete, but lets not forget that the weight of aggregates represents approximately 75% of the weight of concrete. Also, by doing the mixing of concrete in the lab, the moisture content of the aggregates decreases, so an adjustment for absorption of aggregates must be done: we fully dry the aggregates in an oven, after which we put the aggregates in water, for 24 hours. An increase in weight occurs, meaning that all the pores are fully saturated (Neville 1995). The absorption is expressed as a ratio between the moisture content increase observed in the dried aggregates to the mass of the dried aggregates. The following absorption values for aggregates are used for our designed concretes: Gravel 5/20 1.0% Sand 0/5 0.5% RA 5/10 3% RA 10/20 4% 4.2. Adjustments for absorption. The adjustments for absorption, determined in accordance with BS 812: Part 2, are performed on the aggregate types which are going to be used in the mixture. The aggregates which we are going to use for the 10% SF mix concrete are: sand 0/5 and gravel 5/20. The method allows computing the additional quantity of water required for absorption by the following formula: Material batch weight (kg) x absorption value (%) = additional water required Having found the additional water quantity, the adjustment for absorption of aggregates can be performed by: Aggregate batch weight (kg) absorbed water (kg) = adjusted aggregate batch weight 5. Mixing procedure and tests carried out in Lab 1. 5.1. Mixing procedure. Relevant Standards: BS 1881: Part 125: 1983 Testing concrete methods for mixing and sampling fresh concrete in the laboratory. The mixing procedure is the combining of all concrete ingredients, with the purpose so that the aggregates surface is covered by cement paste, and it follows 2 steps: a) Sample preparation; b) mixing. At the previous topic, the adjustment of aggregates for absorption was explained. Its one of the requirements for the sample preparation step, and was the last one that needed to be carried out before the proper mixing of all concrete ingredients can be performed. When discussing about sample preparation, we also must take into account that we should produce at least 10% more quantity of concrete than the required quantity for the tests that have to be done; Follows a series of tasks: initially, the aggregates should be added in the following order: coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, sand after which we mix for 30 seconds. 1/2 of the water quantity must be added next, mix for another minute, after which we thoroughly mix by hand. Water absorption by the aggregates takes place when we leave covered the mixer for 8 minutes. Silica fume is mixed with water for 1 minute before adding it to the mix, after which we add the cement and mix it for 1 minute. We clean the paddles; we add the remaining water and superplasticizer and mix for other 4-5 minutes, after which we ensure homogeneity by mixing the sample by hand. 5.2. Tests carried out in Lab 1. Before starting the discussion about what tests must be done, we should note that all these tests on fresh concrete should be carried out within 15 minutes of mixing. Two tests will be done: slump test and plastic density. After the tests are carried out, we must put the used concrete in the mixer and mix for other 30 seconds. The Slump test has the aim of analysis of the workability of the fresh concrete, and it regulated by BS EN 12350-2:2000 Testing fresh concrete Part 2: slump test standard. When performing this test we must have some basic equipment: a slump cone with foot rests and a metal rod (16 mm diameter, 600 mm long). First, we must moisten the slump cone, after which we pour the concrete in the cone, while it is hold firmly into position. The pouring of the concrete must be done in 3 equal layers which are tamped 25 times with the steel road. The excess of concrete at the top and around the slump cone is removed, after which the cone is removed, inverted and placed next to the slumped concrete in order to enable us to measure the vertical distance from the top of the cone to the highest point of the slumped concrete. The measured vertical distance has to be reported for the nearest 5 mm, and shows us the nature of the slump that we deal with: true, collapse and shear slump. Fig. 5.2: True, shear and collapse slump (Neville et al. 1987) If the shear or collapse of the sample concrete occurs, we must perform the slump test once again. Plastic Density is determined on a compacted concrete sample in the lab, and is regulated by BS 12350-6, 2000 Testing concrete Method for determination of density of compacted fresh concrete standard. When performing this test we must have some basic equipment: 10 liter steel container (200 mm internal diameter, 320 mm internal height, and 4 mm wall thickness), vibrating table and 300 mm steel rule. The test is carried out as follows: we measure the mass of the empty container after which we measure the mass of the container filled with 10 liter of water. The concrete is poured in the empty container, in six equal layers which will be compacted on the vibrating table and the excess concrete at the top will be removed. We record the mass of the container with the concrete in it; we return the concrete to the mixer and clean the equipment. The computation can now be performed with the following formula: Plastic density, D = m / V Where, m = mass of concrete in container (To the nearest 10 g) V = volume of container = mass of water in container (from calibration) /1000. During the mix design we have found a plastic density for each water-cement ratio. Having found that plastic density, the new lab computed plastic density must not differ by more than  ±20 kg/m ³ then the actual plastic density (mix design). 7. Yield: corrected mix proportions and differences between design/plastic and volumetric method. Because in the mix design we have taken into account only those parameters that have a major impact on concrete characteristics, and we disregarded those that have a minor role, some errors might occur during the mix design. Such errors might include: faulty maneuvering of concrete ingredients, errors in performing the mixing procedure. These errors are visible when the total weight of the concrete ingredients is different than the lab computed wet concrete density (plastic density). Having computed in the lab the actual plastic density of the mix, we can make corrections to the mix proportion weights so that some of the residual errors might be able to be corrected. One of the ways by which this can be done is adjusting for yield. Yield is the ratio between the actual density and the total density, and the adjustment is performed by multiplying this ratio with the weight of each constituent, giving us corrected mix proportions. As an example we shall perform the correction of the mix proportions for the 0.45 w/c ratio mix: During the mix design we have found that the wet density of concrete (plastic density) is 2380 kg/m3. Cement+10% SF 360+40 kg/m ³ Water 180 kg/m ³ Sand 650 kg/m ³ 10mm Agg 385 kg/m ³ 20mm Agg 770 kg/m ³ TOTAL DENSITY 2385 kg/m ³ ACTUAL PLASTIC DENSITY 2410 kg/m ³ (tested in labs) The correction is done with the following formula: Corrected = (Actual density/ Total Density) x each constituent = 2410/2385=1.0105 Cement+10% SF (365+40) kg/m ³ Water 180 kg/m ³ Sand 655 kg/m ³ 10mm Agg 390 kg/m ³ 20mm Agg 780 kg/m ³ CORRECTED DENSITY 2410 kg/m ³ Another method by which we can adjust the mix proportions is the volumetric method. The main feature of this method is that, when performing the adjustment, we will take into consideration the particle density of each constituent taking part in the mix design. We shall also make an example for the volumetric method of correction of mix proportions. Cement 360 kg/m ³ / 3150 kg/m ³ = 0.114 SF 40 kg/m ³ / 2000 kg/m ³ = 0.02 Water 180 kg/m ³ / 1000 kg/m ³ = 0.18 Sand 650 kg/m ³ / 2600 kg/m ³ = 0.25 10mm Agg 385 kg/m ³ / 2600 kg/m ³ = 0.148 20mm Agg 770 kg/m ³ / 2600 kg/m ³ = 0.296 ACTUAL 1.008 THEORETICAL 1.0000 The correction formula: Correction factor = (Theoretical/Actual) x each constituent = 0.992 Cement 355 kg/m ³ / 3150 kg/m ³ = 0.1133 SF 40 kg/m ³ / 2000 kg/m ³ = 0.020 Water 180 kg/m ³ / 1000 kg/m ³ = 0.180 Sand 645 kg/m ³ / 2600 kg/m ³ = 0.2474 10mm Agg 380 kg/m ³ / 2600 kg/m ³ = 0.1461 20mm Agg 765 kg/m ³ / 2600 kg/m ³ = 0.2932 ACTUAL 1.0000 THEORETICAL 1.0000 The main difference between the two methods which we have shown is that the yield method requires computing the lab plastic density, and comparing it to the plastic density taken into account in the design phase of the mix, while for the volumetric method is not necessary to make that extra effort in order to make the adjustment. As far as to which method is more appropriate to be used, from a first look at our example, we can consider that the volumetric method is more appropriate, at least from an economic point of view, because the adjustments made gave us smaller weights of materials than the adjustment for yield weights. But my opinion is that the plastic density method is much more appropriate to be used, because its more reliable, and you have a superior certainty about the elimination of the errors that appear in the mixing phase and also a better control of quality of the concrete. 8. Comments on fresh properties. The discussion about the fresh properties of concrete might seem to be not as important as the hardened concrete properties from a structural point of view, but as we have previously noted, there is a direct link between the two types of properties: for example the strength of hardened concrete is greatly improved when a sufficient compaction of the fresh concrete was established (Neville 1995).The objective of this discussion is to see the degree by which different concrete components affect the fresh properties of concrete, and we shall do this by comparing the mixes presenting silica fume, fly ash and recycled aggregate with the ordinary Portland cement mix (100% Gravel). The influence of aggregate type: by comparing the fresh properties of the 100% Gravel mix and 100% RA mix. Due to the fact RA have a higher porosity, a larger amount of water is needed in the mix which will eventually affect the workability of the fresh concrete. Because we have considered an absorption value for RA which was too high (RA density was larger than 2400kg/m3), the RA mix presented collapse slump, thus poor workability, also a slight bleeding, and segregation of the concrete constituents is present, leading to a poor cohesiveness. In the 30% FA and 10% SF mixes we have used as aggregate, gravel, so the influence of aggregate type on fresh concrete is the same in all 3 mixes, the only differences occur from the influence of other parameters. The cement type that we have used was either ordinary Portland cement (CEM I 52.5 N) or composite Portland cement, by combining the Portland cement with a cementitious material like silica fume or fly ash. As we can see from the comparison of the composite Portland cement mixes with those having only Portland cement, the 30% FA mix presents no bleeding or segregation of materials, a good cohesiveness and finishability. Fly ash reduces the amount of water to be used in the mix, having a similar effect as a superplasticizer, so at larger water cement ratios we have collapsed slump, poor cohesiveness, and a slight bleeding and segregation is present but the compactibility and finishability is still good, making it suitable for pumping . That is not the case with silica fume. Silica fume increases the water demand, and generally the mixes with silica fume present good cohesiveness, no bleeding and segregation, true slump giving us a good workability. The usage of both silica fume and sup erplasticizers has a good effect on concrete. The amount of fine material is directly linked to the cost of both silica fume and fly ash. The cost of production is quite large, so the use of silica fume and fly ash is no longer a cheap, viable solution for Portland cement replacement. As far as their consequences on fresh properties, for the 100% Gravel mix, at lower water-cement ratios we deal with a stiff mix, having less finishability and compactibility than when the amount of Portland cement is decreased, while the cohesiveness, lack of bleeding and segregation is kept the same on all mixes. We could use higher amounts of SF and FA but after a certain amount they cease to have any effect on the fresh properties of concrete. The water-cement ratio is one of the main factors affecting the concrete fresh properties, simply because water and cement are two of the main constituents of concrete. In the 100% RA mix, because of the use of RA, it was necessary to have a higher amount of water than in the other 3 mixes, which in return gave us a poor cohesiveness, a collapsible slump resulting in a poor workability. Also some segregation and bleeding was observed, which was not present in the other mixes. As a general rule, when the w/c ratio is decreased, the ratio between the other concrete constituents is kept constant, so the workability increases (Neville 1995). The SP amount required for workability. Superplasticizers greatly affect the slump of a mix. For the 100% Gravel mix we used approximately 0.12% amount of superplasticizers for all w/c ratios, which gave us a true slump. When we look at the 30% FA and 10% SF mix we can see that we have increased the amount to about 0.31% which gave us a collapse in slump when we used FA, so too much SP, and a true slump for SF, because SF works much better with SP compared to FA. 9. Conclusions This coursework has to be looked at as being divided in two parts: a part about the concrete mix design and establishing all the mix proportions of the concrete constituents and another part relating to the fresh properties of the resulted concrete. During this coursework we have successfully designed 4 types of concrete, and as a result the fresh properties of the 4 concretes were individually established and assessed. The mix of concrete ingredients, the determination of slump and the computation of plastic density were all done in the lab according to the relevant standard governing each task. The designed concrete types were: 100% Gravel, 100% RA, 30% FA and 10% SF. By assessing the concrete fresh properties we have seen which mixes had problems and were not suitable for using on site, but excluding some problems found (a high amount of superplasticizer than the one needed in the 30% FA), in general the mixes presented good workability without segregation or bleeding, were suitable for pumping so they could be used on site, in real conditions.

Natural Output Levels: Fiscal and Monetary Policy Impact

Natural Output Levels: Fiscal and Monetary Policy Impact In this essay I discuss whether the fiscal and monetary policy has impact on the natural level of output. Natural level of output, in other words potential output is a total gross domestic product (GDP) that could be produced by an economy if all its resources were fully employed. This means if the economy is at natural level of output, the unemployment rate equals the NAIRU or the natural rate of unemployment and other factories, such as technology and capital are kept at optimal capacity level. We can derive the natural level of output function. It is given by: Yn=Nn=L(1-un) where natural level of output is equal to natural level of employment and it is equal to the labor force L times 1 minus the natural rate unemployment rate un. In addition, the natural level of output satisfies this equation: F((1-Yn)/L,z)=1/(1+ÃŽÂ ¼) The natural level of output is such that, at the associated rate of unemployment, the real wage chosen in wage setting the left side of equation is equal to the real wage implied by price setting the right side of equation. However, it is hard to change the natural level of output as it is difficult to change the natural level of unemployment. Lets consider why natural unemployment rate cannot be changed by government policies. Famous economists Friedman and Phelps explained that using Phillips curve. They opposed this idea on theoretical grounds, as they noted that if unemployment was to be permanently lower, some real variable in the economy, like the real wage, would have changed permanently. Why this should be the case because inflation was higher, appeared to rely on systematic irrationality in the labor market. As Friedman remarked, wage inflation would eventually catch up and leave the real wage, and unemployment, unchanged. Hence, lower unemployment could only be attained as long as wage inflation and inflation expectations lagged behind actual inflation. This was seen to be only a temporary outcome. Eventually, unemployment would return to the rate determined by real factors independent of the inflation rate. According to Friedman and Phelps, the Phillips curve was therefore vertical in the long run, and expansive demand policies would only be a cause of inflation, not a cause of permanently lower unemployment. The policy implication is that the natural rate of unemployment cannot permanently be reduced by demand management policies (including monetary policy), but that such policies can play a role in stabilizing variations in actual unemployment. So, we should find out what exactly impact the government policies have to the countrys economy. Firstly, we should consider monetary policy and whether it has affect to the natural level of output. Monetary policy is the process a government, central bank, or monetary authority of a country uses to control the supply of money, availability of money, and cost of money or rate of interest to attain a set of objectives oriented towards the growth and stability of the economy. Monetary policy is referred to as either being an expansionary policy, or a contractionary policy, where an expansionary policy increases the total supply of money in the economy, and a contractionary policy decreases the total money supply. Expansionary policy is traditionally used to combat unemployment in a recession by lowering interest rates, while contractionary policy involves raising interest rates to combat inflation. Lets look how the monetary policy is working and that is then happening to equilibrium output. Suppose that government is running the expansionary monetary policy and increase the level of nominal money from M to M. Assume that before the change in nominal money, output is at its natura l level. So now we will try to find out does the monetary policy affect the natural level of output. In the Figure 1 we see that aggregate demand and aggregate supply cross at point A, where the level of output is equals Yn, and the price level equals P. Figure 1. Suppose the nominal money level increase. Remember the equation Y=Y(M/P,G,T). For a given price level P, the increase in nominal money M leads to an increase in the real money stock M/P leading to an increase in output. Aggregate demand curve shifts from AD to AD. In the short run economys equilibrium goes from A to A, output increases from Yn to Y and prices increases from P to P. Over time, the equilibrium changes. As output is higher than the natural level of output, the price level is higher than was expected so the wage setters revise their expectations which cause AS curve to shift up. The economy moves up along the aggregate demand curve, AD. The adjustment process stops when output is returned to the natural level of output. In the medium run the aggregate supply curve is AS, the economy is at point A and the price level have rose and is equal to P. So the only effect achieved by monetary policy in medium run is price level rise. The proportional increase in the nominal money stock is equal to the proportional increase in prices. So we can see that expansionary monetary policy did not affect the natural level of output. We should consider why it did not succeed. As we know that stabilizing inflation will also stabilize output at its natural level, so it suggest assumption that monetary policy does not affect natural level of output, but only changes real level of output and returns it to the position of natural level of output. So, in the short run, monetary policy affects the level of real output as well as its composition: an increase in money leads to a decrease in interest rates and a depreciation of the currency. Both of these lead to an increase in the demand for goods and an increase in output. In the medium run and the long run, monetary policy is neutral: changes in either the level or the rate of growth of money have no effect on output or unemployment, so it cannot affect the natural level of unemployment and the natural level of output. Changes in the level of money lead to proportional increase in prices. Changes in the rate of nominal money growth lead to corresponding changes in the inflation rate. Secondly, we should consider the fiscal policy and whether it affects the natural level of output. Fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and revenue collection to influence the economy. Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of economic policy, monetary policy, which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and the supply of money. The two main instruments of fiscal policy are government expenditure and taxation. Changes in the level and composition of taxation and government spending can impact on the following variables in the economy: aggregate demand and the level of economic activity; the pattern of resource allocation; the distribution of income. Lets consider the fiscal policy impact to countrys economy and natural level of output. Take an example the government is running a budget deficit and decides to reduce it by decreasing it spending from G to G and leave taxes T unchanged. Assume that output is initially at the natural level of output so that the economy is at point A in figure 2 and output equals Yn. Figure 2. The decrease in government spending from G to G shifts the aggregate demand curve from AD to AD: for a given price level, output is lower. In the short run, the equilibrium moves from A to A: output decreases from Yn to Y, and the price level decreases from P to P. As we can see the deficit reduction leads to lower output. In the medium run as long as output is below the natural level of output, the aggregate supply curve keeps shifting down. The economy moves down along the aggregate demand curve AD, until the aggregate supply curve is given by AS and the economy reaches point A. By then, the recession is over, and output is back at Yn. Like an increase in nominal money, a reduction in the budget deficit does not affect output forever. Eventually, output returns to its natural level. However there is an important difference between the effect of a change in money and the effect of a change in deficit. In this case output is back to the natural level of output, but the price level and the interest rate are lower than before the shift. So we can conclude that fiscal policy cannot affect the natural level of output it only affects the real level of output which in the medium and long run comes back to its natural level. Thirdly, we should consider whether government has any other policy that can affect the natural level of output. We have find out neither fiscal nor monetary policy cannot affect the natural level of output by itself. However, using both of these policies together in appropriate way can cause a desirable result and a change the natural level of output. Lets look in Figure 3, which shows the mix of monetary and fiscal policy. There are two ways to stabilize income at Y*, which is the natural level of output. First, there is expansionary or easy fiscal policy. This leads to a high IS schedule IS1. To keep income in check with such an expansionary fiscal policy, tight monetary policy is needed. Government choose a low money supply target, which is represented by LM1 schedule in the Figure 3. Equilibrium E1 is at output Y*, but has the high interest rate r1. With high government spending, private demand must be kept in check. The mix of easy fiscal policy and tight monetary policy implie s government spending G is a big part of national income Y* but private spending (C + I) is a small part. Alternatively, government interested in long-run growth may choose a tight fiscal policy and easy monetary policy. In this case target income Y* is attained with a lower interest rate r2 at the equilibrium E2. With easy monetary policy and tight fiscal policy, the share of private expenditure (C + I) is higher, and the share of government expenditure lower, than at E1. With lower interest rates, there is less crowding out of private expenditure. It rises the investment level and high investment increases the capital stock more quickly, giving workers more equipment with which to work and raising their productivity. In the long run it will cause the growth of the natural output level. Figure 3. Income Y* Interest rates r1 r2 E1 LM1 LM0 IS0 IS1 E4 E3 E2 So we can make a conclusion, that neither the fiscal nor the monetary policy can affect the natural level of output working separately. Though, if the government uses both policies, this mean use the mix of monetary and fiscal policies, for example for expanding the government spending on such things as basic research, public health, education, and infrastructure, this will cause the long-term growth of potential output. EGovernment: History, Causes and Trends EGovernment: History, Causes and Trends BENCHMARKING EGOVERNMENT SERVICES Abstract: Governments around the world have embraced the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This represents a relatively new branch of study within the IT field. EGovernment Services are provided through many different means of access and to a variance of audiences, citizens, businesses or even other governmental entities. After clarifying the definitions and differences among similar terms (i.e. eGovernance and Digital Government, eDemocracy) this paper examines how eGovernment is measured by analyzing the dominating methodologies that are used. Furthermore, following specifically the eGovernment benchmarking methodology that is used by the European Commission, a greater focus in the evolution of eGovernment in Greece has been made. The finding through this assessment was far from satisfactory. Particularly, comparing the 20 Basic eGovernment Services offered in Greece, from 2007 to 2009, no development in terms of improvement, has taken place. Finally, the measures tha t governments need to undertake are discussed. Introduction In the past years, assisted by the invasion of Information Technology in everyday lives, governments all over the world have begun widely using information technologies for increasing the effectiveness and quality of the services they provide. These initiatives have become known as â€Å"electronic government† or eGovernment services. In most cases, when words gain that attractive â€Å"e-â€Å" in front of them, the popular belief is that they have become â€Å"electronic†, whatever that means, even though in some cases it does not make much sense. This confusion is much more obvious when the original word itself has conceptual and abstract meanings. Words like Government and Governance. Section I presents the most popular definitions, choosing the one that describe each term the best, and clarifies boundaries between the most common terms. Furthermore, the different ways that eGovernment can be classified, depending on the delivery model or the audience, is outlined. Although the definitions of eGovernment may vary widely, there an obvious shared theme emerges; eGovernment involves using information technology, and especially the Internet, to improve the delivery of government services to citizens, businesses, and other government agencies. It acts as enabler for citizens to interact and receive services from governments twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Monitoring eGovernment development and evaluating its effectiveness is a complex and challenging task, as the phenomenon is new and dynamic. In Section II, the basics of Benchmarking are presented and its structural elements are analyzed. Focusing on specific examples of methodology used, a set of four dominant practices that represent the longest running efforts for measuring eGovernment is chosen to be explored further. Using the reports publish by each one of them, on a periodical basis, their inner workings are analyzed and the various developments, changes and evolutions in the methods employed by each one are mentioned. Section III focuses at benchmarking of eGovernment Services in Europe. In order to recognize how eGovernment has evolved and matured within the European Union, the relevant European directives, initiatives and frameworks for the development of eGovernment Services in the region since 1999 are examined. Following that, the methodology used for benchmarking eGovernment the European Union is examined in detail. All measuring elements, including some that were used for the first time in the most recently published report are evaluated. Having established what eGovernment is, what Benchmarking is and how its methodologies function, Section IV uses the data from the latest European eGovernment Benchmarking Report, which was published in November 2009, to assess how the Greek eGovernment landscape evolved since the previous report in 2007. The results are disappointing. When comparing the 20 Basic eGovernment Services offered in Greece, there was no improvement, what so ever, from 2007 to 2009. Following that, Greek performance in the two new indices introduced in the latest report (EProcurement and User Experience) is reported and compared to the respective EU27+ average. Finally, in Section V, a general overview is provided along with the conclusions about the (lack of) progress in eGovernment in Greece. Scope and aims The scope of this project is to analyze how the meaning of eGovernment has evolved in the past few years and then review the current trends in benchmarking the penetration sophistication of eGovernment services in Europe and the rest of the world. Furthermore, this project reports and analyses the level of eGovernment services offered in Greece. The basic aims of this project are: Define the eGovernment ecosystem, typology and taxonomy. Analyse the dominant methodologies of benchmarking eGovernment services Gather and process existing results about eGovernment in Greece, regarding service penetration and sophistication, along with other relevant metrics. Resources This project relies heavily on research. In particular, a lot of research on what the different and sometimes contradicting terms that define eGovernment as well as the rest of the relevant terms in academic papers throughout the previous decade was made. Following that, further research about the current and past trends in benchmarking in general and eGovernment benchmarking in particular are is conducted. From there on, having established what eGovernment is and what the provided services should be, along with how they are measured, more research was conducted in order to reveal what the actual current level of provided eGovernment services is. To accomplish this, reports from many different parties are used. These include reports published both by well knows analyst firms or government bodies in various levels as well as reports issued at a global level such as the United Nations to local reports issued by the authorities of each country such as the IT Observatory in Greece. Typology Convention Throughout the bibliography, or any other sort of resource for that matter, â€Å"electronic† terms do not have a consistent representation. So, just like electronic mail can be found abbreviated in quite a few forms, â€Å"electronic† Government is abbreviated to eGovernment, e-Government, E-Government etc. To avoid this inconsistency, through this project the term eGovernment will be used (changed to EGovernment only in the beginning of sentences). This convention will apply to â€Å"electronic† terms that will be used such as eGovernance. I. EGovernment, eGovernance and Digital Governance EGovernment is one more of the recent years â€Å"buzzwords†. It is usually either paired with the word â€Å"services† at the end or other words like eGovernance and Digital Government. Like every other (relatively) new and cool â€Å"buzzword† they are used widely by a broad spectrum of individuals who represent mostly two different backgrounds. Information technology and politics. The first because it is a technological issue, the later because they have come to realize, even though a little late, that they represent an excellent vehicle for them to provide a better experience to anyone who interacts with the Government. But, what do these terms mean? Do they collide or conflict each other? How about covering or including one another? A. EGovernment Definitions There is not one, unique and commonly accepted definition for eGovernment. It is quite difficult to decide over a specific one but after the research made, the following definition from the World Bank (ÃŽ  ÃŽâ€˜ÃŽ ¡ÃŽâ€˜ÃŽ  ÃŽÅ¸ÃŽÅ"ÃŽ  ÃŽâ€") describes it best: â€Å"Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions ((AOEMA), 2004). Although other definitions have been provided, this definition is preferred. The reason is that it is the most concise and the easiest to be understood since apart describing in simple words how eGovernment is utilized, it goes on to offer a very brief, yet to the point, reference to its main advantages. EGovernment definitions various other sources as follows:  · United Nations definition ((AOEMA), 2004): â€Å"E-government is defined as utilizing the Internet and the world-wide-web for delivering government information and services to citizens.† * Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce GBDe definition ((AOEMA), 2004): â€Å"Electronic government (hereafter e-Government) refers to a situation in which administrative, legislative and judicial agencies (including both central and local governments) digitize their internal and external operations and utilize networked systems efficiently to realize better quality in the provision of public services.† * Gartner Groups definition: â€Å"the continuous optimization of service delivery, constituency participation, and governance by transforming internal and external relationships through technology, the Internet and new media.† * Definition of the Working Group on eGovernment in the Developing World: E-government is the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote more efficient and effective government, facilitate more accessible government services, allow greater public access to information, and make government more accountable to citizens. E-government might involve delivering services via the Internet, telephone, community centers (self-service or facilitated by others), wireless devices or other communications systems.† EGovernment is in the first stages of development. Most governments have already taken or are taking initiatives offering government services online. However, for the true potential of eGovernment to be realized, government needs to restructure and transform its long entrenched business processes. EGovernment is not simply the process of moving existing government functions to an electronic platform. Rather, it calls for rethinking the way government functions are carried out today to improve some processes, to introduce new ones and to replace those that require it. The range of services that may be provided by e-government spans from simple information sites to fully interactive experiences where users and government engage in a dialog mediated by information technology. Internal information systems of Government agencies, information kiosks, automated telephone information services, SMS services and other systems all comprise e-Government services. All these are applications of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to improve the services of the Government towards its primary clients: the citizens. In the last few years, there has been much talk of mobile government or m-government. MGovernment refers to the use of wireless technologies like cellular/mobile phones, laptops and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) for offering and delivering government services. MGovernment is not a substitute for e-government, rather it complements it. 1. Benefits of eGovernment E-Government initiatives contribute to citizen empowerment by making information about government processes and decisions easily available, and allowing information-sharing among people and organizations, and between citizens and the civil service (Accenture and the Markle Foundation, 2001). Well-informed citizens are better able to hold their governments accountable. Governments are then compelled to improve the quality of services, expand accessibility of these services, and increase responsiveness to their constituents. Many Government services rely on information passed among different offices within a department or across departments. The large amount of information and paperwork required results in an environment where for red tape rips, the workforce is inefficient and bureaucratic, and the delivery of services is ineffective. With the usage of ICT, the government bureaucracy and citizens are both winners in the battle against the paper trail. eGovernment allows government kno wledge and data exchange to be accessed more easily (whether public or secure) by the appropriate offices or individuals. By this, it reduces redundancies of information flows, and resulting in overall increased productivity. Another result of the integration of operations of government agencies is the improvement of transparency in government. EGovernment minimizes redundant information flows, helps to eliminate duplications of functions, and improves the adherence of public servants to proper government procedures, thereby reducing opportunities for corruption. This, provided it is accompanied by well-informed and active citizens, will assist in limiting the relationship between bureaucracy and corruption and will help lead to a higher sense of accountability among officials. B. EGovernment Taxonomy EGovernment can be classified according to different criteria. It can be classified according to its level, its audience and last but certainly not least, according to the delivery mechanism used. 1. Reach EGovernment can be categorized in the following five distinct levels depending on how broad it is. The levels are: * International * National * Regional * State/Provisional * Local These levels are illustrated below (see 1 adapted from Heeks, 2006) 2. Audience The question of where eGovernment originates is pretty much self-explanatory. Nevertheless, the same does not apply when wondering about who is in the receiving end. The answer that first comes to mind is, the citizens. But isnt so. Apart from citizens, there are other entities that are benefited by eGovernment services. According to Backus, â€Å"the three main target groups that can be distinguished in eGovernment concepts are government, citizens and businesses/interest groups. The external strategic objectives focus on citizens and businesses and interest groups, the internal objectives focus on government itself† (Backus, 2001). a) Government to Citizens (G2C) Government to Citizen activities are those in which the government provides, on-line, one-stop access to information and services to citizens. G2C applications allow citizens to ask questions of government agencies and receive answers, such us: * File income taxes * Pay taxes * Arrange driving tests or renew drivers licenses * Pay traffic tickets * Make appointments for vehicle emission inspections and * Change their address In addition, a government could: * Distribute information on the web * Provide downloadable forms online * Conduct training (e.g., in some US States, the classes for the drivers tests are offered online) * Assist citizens in finding employment * Provide touristic and recreational information * Provide health advice about safety issues (e.g. warnings for epidemics like the recent H1N1 virus) * Allow transfer of benefits like food coupons * File natural disaster relief compensation electronically through the use of smart cards; and the list goes on. b) Government to Business (G2B) Government to Business activities refers to those where the government deals with businesses such as suppliers using the Internet and other ICTs. It is a bidirectional interaction and transaction: Government to Business (G2B) and Business to Government (B2G). B2G is about businesses selling products and services to government. The most important G2B areas are eProcurement (which essentially is actually a reverse auction) and the auction of government surpluses. c) Government to Government (G2G) Lastly, Government to Government refers to those activities that take place between different government organizations/agencies/entities. Many of these activities aim to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of overall government operations. One such example is the Intelink, an intranet that carries classified information shared by different U.S. intelligence agencies. 3. Delivery Mechanism EGovernment services are provided not only via the Internet. Instead, many other means are often used. In fact, studies and reports indicate that these â€Å"other† means of eGovernment services provision show in some cases extremely high utilization. For example: * Telephony dominates channel usage in some situations: Accenture (2005) reports 63% of industrialized country respondents contacting government by telephone; compared to 31% using the Internet over a 12-month period. * In-person visits dominate in other situations: an Australian survey reports half of government contacts to be face-to-face compared to one-fifth undertaken via the Internet (AGIMO 2005). * Survey data also reflects an ongoing preference for telephone or in-person channels especially for transactional, problem-solving, urgent and complex interactions (AGIMO 2005, Horrigan 2005). a) Multichannel Examples Some Governments have embraced this reality and adopted a multichannel approach to the services they offer. In its Progress Reports, the European Comission includes some specific examples: * In Malta, citizens can access their personal social security records and payments via the internet, and may also opt to be notified about their social security payments via SMS rather than receiving printed payment advice by post. However, the most innovative initiative is the introduction of eGovernment Agents that act as intermediaries to those without access. (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Malta, 2009) * In Austria, all websites that belong to the .gv.at domain are available free of charge or connection fees via wireless hotspots (WLAN), and via public kiosks, thanks to an excellent cooperation between the Austrian Government and two major telecommunication providers. Similar to Malta, Austria also has legislation in place allowing officials to act as intermediaries for citizens who do not have online access or a citizen (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Austria, 2009) * In Spain, 060 is the magic code providing a single access point. Many services provided by different administrations can be accessed via the 060 network, whether they are office-, internet-, or phone-based. Citizens can access the networks 2800 points of presence in the street or their office on the web, by the phone (060) or SMS. The 060 phone number is intended to replace over 1000 phone numbers available for citizens to access information of the General Administration of the State. The network is available 24/7 and currently offers 1225 national, regional and local public services. It is worth noting that In August 2007, only 15 months after its creation, the citizen information phoneline 060 had already dealt with 700000 enquiries. (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Spain, 2009) C. EGovernance Definitions Just like eGovernment, there is not a single common definition to describe eGovernance. However, the UNESCO defines it best: â€Å"E-governance is the public sectors use of information and communication technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective. E-governance involves new styles of leadership, new ways of debating and deciding policy and investment, new ways of accessing education, new ways of listening to citizens and new ways of organizing and delivering information and services. E-governance is generally considered as a wider concept than e-government, since it can bring about a change in the way citizens relate to governments and to each other. E-governance can bring forth new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of citizen needs and responsibilities. Its objective is to engage, enable and empower the citizen.† Other definitions include * â€Å"EGovernance, meaning ‘electronic governance is using information and communication technologies (ICTs) at various levels of the government and the public sector and beyond, for the purpose of enhancing governance.† (Bedi et all, 2001, Holmes , 2001 and Okot-Uma, 2000). * Whereas according to Backus (2001), eGovernance is defined as the, â€Å"application of electronic means in (1) the interaction between government and citizens and government and businesses, as well as (2) in internal government operations to simplify and improve democratic, government and business aspects of Governance.† D. Digital Government The term Digital Governance was introduced more than 7 years ago (McIver Elmargarmid, 2002). Notions such as eGovernment, eGovernance and any future technology of ICT (e.g. Web 2.0 applications), should fall under the Digital Governance umbrella (Schellong, 2009). This term has been preferred by other researchers as well, due to the excessive usage of adding letters like â€Å"e† (electronic), â€Å"m† (mobile), â€Å"u† (ubiquitous) or â€Å"2.0† to government-related terms. Schellong goes further to suggest a specific typology (2008) as illustrated below in 2: EGovernment contains the terms: * EAdministration Internal use of ICT * EServices. External use of ICT * EDemocracy. Use of ICT for direct public participation in government (decision making or voting) EGovernance is a completely different branch and deals with government, society and economy. E. Open Government In the last decade, there have been many efforts to promote eGovernment. A new initiative has emerged though, Open Government, or OpenGov as it is usually abbreviated. OpenGovernment efforts have begun not only in the US but also in other countries, like Greece. Although OpenGovernment and eGovernment have similar characteristics and share common goals, the greatest one being the promotion of transparency, they are not the same. Open Government can be argued to be an evolution of eGovernment (GUSTETIC, 2009), since the only reason that it exists as an initiative today is because of advances made by eGovernment along with various technological improvements and innovations. II. Benchmarking A. Definition Benchmarking is defined as the process of measuring the performance of an organization along with the practices it applies in key areas and subsequently comparing them to other organizations. It is widely accepted in the private sector and is being used as a practical tool in order to achieve positive results with unlimited potential. EGovernment benchmarking means undertaking a review of comparative performance of eGovernment between nations or agencies. These studies have two purposes: * Internal: Benefit the individual and/or organization undertaking the benchmarking study * External: Benefit achieved for users of the study. This project falls into the first category, as described in the Scope and Aims paragraph earlier in the document. B. Goals With new expectations about their performance, government entities are being encouraged to look at ways of implementing changes in their practices. Benchmarking provides them with one of their most useful options. In every industry, there are ways of doing things that are broadly recognized as standard practices for that industry. However, every industry has its leaders. These leaders are organizations that over perform when measured against those standards. They have achieved â€Å"best practices† as demonstrated by their results in quality, cost, customer satisfaction and responsiveness. Benchmarking aims to discover what the â€Å"best practices† are that lead to superior performance. In greater detail, the process of benchmarking e-Government : * Fosters accountability for eGovernment projects. * Helps meeting rising public expectations * Enables government officials to take more informed decisions and corrective actions * Validates the generated public value * Fosters projects interchange Moreover, benchmarking can be distinguished from other traditional forms of evaluation by its attempt to visualize â€Å"best practices† through normalizing comparison and by urging public entities to ask themselves what they can do to promote them. Benchmarking enables and motivates them to determine how well current practices compare to others practices, locate performance gaps, experience best practices in action, and prioritize areas for improvement or other opportunities. It is quite important to note that â€Å"Benchmarking is not the same as benchmarks. Benchmarks are performance measures and benchmarking is the action of conducting the evaluation.† (Yasin, 2002). C. Data Sources After establishing what benchmarking is, the most common data sources are evaluated.. 1. Calculated Indicators Quite a few benchmarking reports use composite indicators, for example, for the purposes of national rankings. Because it is not always clear how they are calculated or researched, composites have been criticized (UIS 2003) for their lack of transparency along for their subjectivity. Fortunately, a guide for good practice in use of composites has been developed (eGEP 2006a:45) and includes: * Developing a theoretical framework for the composite. * Identifying and developing relevant variables. * Standardizing variables to allow comparisons. * Weighting variables and groups of variables. * Conducting sensitivity tests on the robustness of aggregated variables. Other than the composite calculation of national rankings, there seems to be little use of calculated indicators in the benchmarking of e-government. The most commonly used indicators include: * Benefit/Cost Ratio. * Demand/Supply Match. * Comparative Service Development. * National Ranking Some examples along with the methods used for each indicator are illustrated in Table 1below (adapted from Heeks, 2006). Calculated Indicator Example Method Benefit/Cost Ratio Expected financial benefit (impact) / Financial cost (input) (NOIE 2003) Interview (internal self-assessment / internal administrative records) Demand/Supply Match Preference for online channel in particular services versus Online sophistication of that service (Graafland Essers Ettendgui 2003) Mass citizen survey Comparative Service Development Stage model level of citizen services versus business services (Capgemini 2005) Stage model level of different service cluster areas (Capgemini 2005) Third party Web assessment National Ranking Composite of features and stage model level for national websites (West 2005) Composite of ICT and human infrastructure with stage model level for national/other websites (UN 2005) Composite of stage model level, integration and personalization of national websites (Accenture 2005) Third party Web assessment Table 1 Calculated Indicators Used in eGovernment Benchmarking (Heeks, 2006). 2. Standard Public Sector Indicators Apart from calculated indicators, others (Flynn 2002) suggest using a standard indicator set for public sector performance. This set is displayed in Table 2 below (adapted from Flynn 2002). Indicator Explanation eGovernment Example Benchmark Economy The amount of inputs used Expenditure per capita on IT None Internal efficiency The ration of input intermediates Cost per website produced per year Minimization External efficiency The ratio of inputs: outputs (use) Cost per citizen user of government websites per year Minimization Internal effectiveness The fit between actual outputs (use) and organizational objectives or other set targets The extent to which underserved communities are users of e-government services Maximization External effectiveness The fit between actual impacts and organizational objectives or other set targets The extent to which citizens are gaining employment due to use of an eGovernment job search service Maximization Quality The quality of intermediates or, more typically outputs (use) The quality of eGovernent services as perceived by citizen users Maximization Equity The equitability of distribution of outputs and impacts The quality of time/money saved by eGovernment service use between rich and poor Maximization Table 2 Standard Indicators for eGovernment Performance (Flynn 2002) D. Methodologies Having described the methodologies used more commonly when benchmarking eGovernment services, the next step is to illustrate how the necessary data is gathered. There are a number of official methods (eGEP 2006b): * Focus groups * Internal administrative records * Internal self-assessment * Mass user surveys * Official statistics * Pop-up surveys * Third part web assessment * Web metrics and crawlers Each of these methods can be compared in four different and distinct factors (Heeks, 2006). Those are: * Cost: The time and financial cost of the method. * Value: The value of the method in producing data capable of assessing the downstream value of e-government. * Comparability: The ease with which data produced can be compared across nations or agencies. * Data Quality: The level of quality of the methods data. In particular, Heeks suggests using the CARTA (Complete, Accurate, Relevant, Timely, Appropriate) check list when assessing data quality (2006). There is also a set of methodologies that are not used as frequently as the ones mentioned earlier. These are: * Intermediary Surveys. * Intranet Assessment. * Public Domain Statistics. * Public Servant and Politician Surveys. 1. Automation With new eGovernment services being introduced by Governments every day, benchmarking is gradually becoming a more and more important mechanism for identifying best practices and keeping track of developments, but as the number of the offered services increase, data collection becomes more and more difficult. Apart from that, since eGovernment is being expanded to other eGovernment levels, as illustrated earlier in 1, it is only natural that the number of benchmarking studies is increasing fast. Thus, the traditional approach of fata collection has not only become a very challenging but also a very resource intensive task. In order to address this matter, there are projects (eGovMon) which attempt to automate the data collection (Research Council of Norway, 2009). In particular, the eGovMon project is co-funded by the Research Council of Norway and â€Å"is developing methodology and software for quality evaluation of web services, in particular eGovernment services, concerning four areas:†  · Accessibility  · Transparency  · Efficiency  · Impact Additionally eGovMon will provide a policy design tool