Friday, May 15, 2020

THE AIR BEHIND OUR PRISON WALLS- Prisons and rights - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 3148 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? THE AIR BEHIND OUR PRISON WALLS Introduction We all have for long taken for granted ways of punishing which have relieved us the burden of thinking deeply about punishments, as a results we narrowly formulate ideas and channels of effecting this process which eventually later we fail our target of deterrence and reform for which penal systems are meant to achieve. I want us to address the punitive process and particularly its purpose for which it is meant to achieve and still in a particular way observe trial and judicial process which as result penal systems are based upon. For decades the fate of offenders have been always falling in the hands of the state. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "THE AIR BEHIND OUR PRISON WALLS- Prisons and rights" essay for you Create order The state has a developed judicial system which justice is entrusted to serve. Upon apprehension of an offender majority suspects of crime are remanded to await trial for conviction or acquittal to that effect if the suspect does not afford or meet cash bail constraints. CASUALTIES OF EUROPEAN PRISONS Noticeably Africans inherited prisons from their colonial masters, structurally and penal frameworks which as well has a fundamentally European origin. Our legends for African liberations being our great grandparent, grandparents, and our elderly living were victim of the first African prisons. The best definition for torture can be best defined by the despicable prospects of European prisons our men faced during the fight for freedom. My big question is; after our liberation from the whites, did we by any chance inherit the same the current prison system was subsumed as other administrative and political arena took African control retaining European face. If Maumau movemen t for example would be re-established, the target would be leaders of our own who unfortunately have served and continues to serve with disguised European prospects where their colour have concealed their ridiculed iniquities. We must at all cost make sure our political systems serve humanity without any speck of hypocrisy, have leaders who keeps the interest of all people at heart. I know it is much to ask from the new millennium era à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"digital eraà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ but anyway failure to comply will in all days raise criticism and we who have seen a shred of hope will be activist for this fundamental reforms. Today my concern target our prisons extensively after realization of fundamental rights which have been for a long time undermined despite international convections which we are signatory to and our newly promulgated constitution 2010 which guarantee rights to persons put in custody, detained or awaiting trial. More importantly since pan Africanism and Afr ican liberation there are no noticeable developments within our penal system or prison structures despite the fact that they have been adopted from our colonial masters. We at all times celebrate our national freedom without the realization of the existence of our own self colonialism which we suffer from by embracing neocolonialism and facilitating European colonial à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"landmarksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. Our prisons are the living evidence. Without mentioning Hague proceedings which have ambushed our only leaders and in addition and what appear more disturbing the despicable torture of our own liberation legends by our own leaders at Nyayo chambers. I understand some inequity is us Africans to blame but also Europeans have always with their disguised strategies manipulated our African ideals by all means. PRISONS AND RIGHTS To begin with; our penal system and prison system being a central subject in identifying African decency and free will in self Governance should be r eformed and assume new structural development and new penal system which are effective to our African heritage for practicability and humane and dignity accountancy as guaranteed by our constitution 2010 article 28. It is of vital importance to address the fate of a remandee whose individual liberties and human life features are deprived. Being a remandee/prisoner makes one eligible to be treated as a homogeneous group in a solitary confinements worthless of the society. It is irrevocable that this is the least status that a human being can acquire. Prisons are institutions which to their capacity limit most of the fundamental rights [1]which include locking up offenders for a lengthy period of time against their will during pendency of their criminal proceedings. A wide range of constraint are placed on their freedoms on what they can and cannot do. There are a few questions which we need to explore concerning individual rights of people faced with criminal charges. It is not in dispute that offenders have got their rights which are warranted by our constitution and other international humanitarian organization which we are signatories. Justice to be served to the accused the presumption of innocence until proven guilty is a prerequisite measure thus every prisoner who awaits trial in a solitary confinement with his fundamental rights deprived has his rights infringed. Constitution of Kenya 2010 Article 49-51 3(b[2]) seek humane treatments of persons detained, held in custody, or imprisoned. This include a good dietary, shelter, and clothing and conducive favorable environment for that purpose. This havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t been met by our penal system despite our Kenyan constitution fundamentally expressly guaranteeing its practicability in our constitutional reforms. This is a constitutional bleach and contravention of its provisions which need to be observed to the latter. All these rights are forsaken at the first sight in our legal judicial p rocess, to my knowledge our Kenyan prison structures are the least tolerable one as far as hygiene, health decency and sanitations are concerned. In addition international convections on civil and political rights as adopted by general assembly in international standards and regulationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ under article 10 stated that all persons deprived off their liberties shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. Stale prison developments; There have been numerous developments in all realms of lives in our globalized economy; politics, social and scientific revolutions which have taken numerous drifts in all continents which have made the whole world a global village. Unfortunately prisons have been held dormant in their structural and operational framework since its inception, despite the fact that they are serving humans in a globalized settings. Our penal systems rarely embrace other penal procedures effectively, th is explains why our prisons are overcrowded beyond control. It have been a failure made by our penologists persistently made indeed forming the current dysfunctional characterized modern prisons.[3] Lawrence stone in addressing the problems of punishments today characterize twentieth- century prisons as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"vestigial institutions which are less useful for system maintenance than an appendix in an individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ [4] twentieth century prisons existence; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å" they have simply survived because they have taken on a quasi-independent life of its own, which enables them to survive the overwhelming evidence of their social dysfuntionalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ [5]in addition he re-establish this problematic prisons as the contemporary intuition that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"nothing worksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ extends with the slightly less force to probation, fines and community corrections[6]. We consider how best to run prisons, organize probation or enforce fines, rathe r than question why these measures are used in the first place. There havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t been any active researchers to categorically work on the effective results of our punitive systems, whether the research methods and data collected illuminate truth isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t my concern today since the existence of these research programs are questionable in the first place, all we have to note is that our system treat offenders like aliens, outcast, deviants losers etc. this notions and perceptions existed in early 15th -gt;centuries. We still hold some of the arbitrary draconian and orthodoxy extreme measures of crime control[7]. Our systems predominantly have always been focusing on the offence and not the offender. The reforms which were essentially adopted during the neoclassical era, Holmes describe offenders as morally diseased and wicked and as a general cause of crime who deserve segregated confinement. We still hold this sentiments of our early penologist to serve a different crime structure. This are merely the ill-fated strategies of crime control. Other different authors have taken notice too that the new era prisons has most of the continuing crisis and disruption in their penal systems which has no longer been taken seriously the rehabilitative values and ideologies upon which it was originally based upon. PURPOSIVE PUNITIVE SYSTEM There have been numerous proposals for advancement for new penal policies in the past which seek to reform prison framework and penal policies of sentencing; the humane containment, conception of imprisonment, probation and community service. These all policies have different purpose for which they are meant to achieve which include; moral reform, training, treatments, correction, rehabilitation, deterrence and incapacitation among others. This makes it clear that a prison provide an opportunity for reform and thus should be decent and austere.[8] It have been evident that our current system makes our p unitive system the most remote process to achieve deterrence. It is of much doubt that any of practical punitive procedures that we embrace now is meant to achieve any of the above purpose. The whole system have failed to consider the main objective for which any penal policies are meant to achieve which makes the whole process dysfunctional. It is dysfunctional to have two primary objectives which are not compatible due to poor functional and structural set up. It is not possible to maintain a balance between the object of deterrence which implies a punitive coercive environment with that of rehabilitation which need not adverse sanctions but rather a simple re-correction formula. In fact as result of this coercive punitive measures; it makes the offender tolerant to this unbearable environment which build resistance to change. Tallack defines offenders as morally responsible individuals worthy of a chance to reform and thus there is need for them to be treated with respect and humanity.[9] It is also important to understand the distinction of the two results (deterrence and reform) and the other irrelevant results which seem morally right but irrational among them being retribution for vengeance which solve a criminal act with another as a pay back. Eventually as a result the outcome which is being aimed at is wrong in the first place, then improving the process will simply mean that one achieves the wrong outcome more effectively. When the offender serves and completes his jail term, the friendly welcoming environment there after upon release will have no significance to his social life change, moreover the offender will treat every individual with bitterness for vengeance due to adverse irrational punitive procedures. Detention and complete segregation alone serve no purpose except physically lifting opportunities of perpetuating acts of crime which ultimate results does not met the purpose for which this punitive measure are meant to achieve. The institution of punishments conveniently provide us with narrowly construed answers to questions which crime in our society would otherwise evoke with haste. At this juncture this systems fails to address any long-term major problem that may arise in solving a subsequent minor problem. Our institutions are shallow, they tell us what criminality is and how should be sanctioned, how much punishment is appropriate and what emotions can be expressed, who is entitled to punish and where in lays the authority to do so. The major problems nevertheless are ignored or authoritatively settled or overshadowed. Our penal system in its very existence as a result end up helping us to forget that other answer exist to these problems and their settlements are possible and coherent to our overwhelming developments plans and strategies for change. And good prison institution is one which protect the ideal, personality and respect for human dignity and conscious and as well main good order in priso ns, Provide prisoners with opportunities to develop their personalities talents and skills in a positive manner, encourage prisoners to face up to the consequences of their actions in a manner which recognizes the harm which they have committed and which makes it less likely that they will act in a similar way in future and to that effect the system must also prepare prisoners for integration in to society upon release. Better prison structures which protect rights to privacy thus not converging inmates in a warehouse groupings which promote cruelty within prisons unlike secured cubicles which promote mutual trust and sense for respect and dignity. This does in anyway change the punitive prospects of the prisons since seclusion and confinements as well as cheap labor is equally punitive. There is a depth of untapped potential in our prisons which could be realized for the benefit of our communities and for reform purposes those ensuring crime control is effective at its beneficia l limits which include engaging prisoners in meaningful work;- Teesside university 2003;4à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..researchers reported after a project to evaluate the work carried out by three prisons in north- east of England to help Middlebrough council renovating a large Victorian park in the middle of the town that prisoners work best where they serve the community among them being the family of the prisoners which as a result buys trust and sense of pride and achievements. The pride does not only arise from the quality of work only but also because of who the beneficially of such projects would be, e.g. orphans, the poor, family and the entire society.[10] Justice at stake In our Kenyan criminal trials, it is evident that criminal proceedings takes at least 2rys to commence. Appeals situation is despicable; appeals takes at least 5yrs. At these level the scale of justice tilt at all material time is contested but in the long run ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the jury whose hands are tie d by law deliver à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"justiceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ based on witnesses, evidence and material facts presented before honorable court. Witness summoning by the prosecution in criminal cases have been the baseline for the ultimate delay of criminal proceedings, office of the D.P.P have been blamed for this hiccups which on the other hand the offender is the one who feel the pinch. Eventually these becomes a long-term investments to the judicial staffs and advocates who are the beneficiary of this delay. In addition to all above miseries our courts layouts are limited, improperly furnished with their structural settings squeezed to the edge. The offender at all material times are crowded and squeezed together; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"the ill-fated onesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ to compete for their last breathe of freedom until the commencement of their trial. At this level we all agree that justice can fit a better definition and thus it is our initiative to re-evaluate prisonersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ social status. It is irrevocable that the prison warden too who spend more time within the prison walls with prisoners; significantly for a longer period of time than the majority of the prisoners thus are more effectively encroached within the same poor prison structural and environmental settings. This environs based on the poor sanitations are hazardous to both prison staff and inmates as well, this answer the question why ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the profession that attract the least public interest. The profession credentials are way too low to serve the least knowledgeable crew. This is as a result of inhumane and intolerable working environment which most graduates are not willing to bear. Our environmentalist rarely overstretch their duties to serve prisons which is an initiative NEMA should take to improve prison hygiene and sanitations which marks as one of the most cherished humane features. Revolution for change There have been humanitarian reform movement s which connect with classical criminology and some of the foundations of eugenic ideology as further classified by William Tallack and Thomas Holmes who were at different time secretaries to these movements. [11]Tallack acknowledged poverty as a significant contributory factor to crime and underlines the need for a thoughtful and discerning use of penal discipline.[12] Alongside other movements, Church of England temperance society had a remarkable stake in introduction of probations in United Kingdom as an alternative punitive measure for minor offences. John Augustus is referred to as the first probation officer whose initiative for probation inception cannot be watered-down. Our penal system has a quite wide range of penal procedures which on application would give a glowing face to our justice system and our crime control units. Thus there would be no justifications of our overstretched prison population for that matter. Prison reforms and sentencing strategies need to be revived to embrace other penal measures and relieve imprisonment which have been totally dominant for decades. It is possible for us to change this unbearable prison system to achieve the same purpose but in a favorable humane way. Most offenders are individuals with carriers; formal skills which can be utilized in a prison setup. I do understand it have been in practice for a good while but it have not been effected to its exhaustion. Our prisons do not provide a wide range of varieties of practical skills in jail. most prisoners as forced to abandon their formal skills to learn and adopt others which are outdated and least dependable skills despite the fact that there are prisoners who have adorable skills which are not recognized at this level. A good prison structure is that that accommodates individuals of all levels with humanity, treat them with respect and dignity, honor their opinions religious believes, political affiliations, their rational judgments and warrant th eir fundamental right. Their freedom limits should be exercised with austerity. The system should help prisoners To use their expertise to serve the nation as a payback for their actions;- Teachers, engineers, drivers, architect, medical practitioners and other formal or informal skills to be utilized to the maxim; it is the best way penal system can achieve its main purpose of reform and deterrence more effectively. This will make all remandees/prisoners a resourceful asset and not a liability to our economy and a more rational and socially fitting and dependable being. I may not have addressed every penal process and explored its lucrative results but essentially it is important to note that, even though imprisonment is a punitive measure of last resort.it is necessary we embrace other punitive and reform methods and honor right of individuals in custody because ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a prerequisite tool to administer justice within and outside prisons. Suppose our institutions are meeting normal expectations and overall directions or basic legitimacy are unchallenged then there wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be such failures in our penal systems and if there would be any, no great consequences would be eminent. [1] David Gurland; punishment and the modern society(1990) pg 5 [2] Constitution of Kenya 2010 Article 49-51 3(b) [3] Michel Foucault [4] Lawrence stone(London 1987)failure of punishments [5] Lawrence;-D.Rothman à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"prisons; failure model.(1974) .pg 647 [6] David Gurland; punishment and the modern society(1990) pg 5 [7] Classical theory criminologist; Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham(Taylor 1973) [8] General report of the general board of directions of prisons in Scotland 1840,pg23 [9] William tallack (1882). [10] The crisis in crime and punishment and the search for alternatives;-Cayley, D [1998] [11] Peter Raynor and Maurice Vanstone; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"understanding community penaltiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (2002) pg 25. [12] Tallack à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"in a paper presented to a meeting of American prison officers in New Yorkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. (1871)

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Napolean Bonaparte Considered to be the Savior of the...

An important period in the history of France, was the French Revolution, covering the years of 1789 to 1799 (French Revolution cite). During this period of time, Napolean Bonaprate was considered to be the savior of the French Revolution and of France itself; Napolean ended the revolution while putting it in the hands of a government that brought stability and equality throughout the country (Napolean Bonaparte cite). The main cause of the French Revolution was because of the constant failure of the governments and their ability to manage the country. However, when Napolean became a leader he made sure that Frances current conditions would change. This individual had a tremendous impact on the region, which many believe saved Frances conception and government. The inveterate legacy from this individual is the Napoleonic Code (NBS). Napolean based this code mainly on the idea of equality, that way the region wasnt divided among the rich and poor or wealth status; inequality played a m ajor role in the French Revolution since people were treated based on their affluence. The Napoleonic Code divided Civil Law into three categories, thus being: Personal Status, Property, Acquisition of Property (NBS). Even though there were conflicts among this code, it ensured that everyone would have a chance to gain personal wealth and status, instead of pursuing off of family sovereignty. This code, interestingly, is still in use to this day in former French colonies such as Quebec and

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

System Engineering for Managers Smart City

Question: Discuss about the smart city and find the complexity in the system using the system dynamics methodology. Answer: Introduction The idea of smart city has turned into the focal thought to which urban communities are currently swinging to confront their difficulties and seek after the requests put on them. This is outlined by a European Commission study to survey how a wide assortment of shrewd city activities add to the skyline 2020 objectives and assets being made accessible for such activities (Boateng, Chen and Ogunlana, 2016). In any case, numerous meanings of a savvy city exist and the utilization of "smart" is utilized as a part of a self-salutary style. Smart Cities In both connected and experimental production the idea 'smart city' is utilized as a part of an assortment of courses: as a capacity that urban areas have, as a holder to mean different activities and developments, and as a name utilized by urban communities themselves (de Vries and Han 2015). Particularly this last utilization of the savvy urban communitys idea has gotten significant feedback (Caponio et al. 2015). Being "smart" is by definition seen as a positive property. Lastly it is hard to separate build-up and showcasing on one side and helpful developments and a basic viewpoint on the eventual fate of urban areas on the other. Now in the examination we have increased some knowledge in what sorts of smart city activities exist and why they may be utilized. A detailed analysis is done on the smart city to gauge the brilliance of the city advancement and accumulation of information about the infrastructure. In light of writing a wide system of six qualities framed and that measure the capacity of a city to be shrewd, (Das 2013) such as: Smart people Smart living Smart Environment Smart Economy Smart Mobility Smart Governance The study puts underline on various parts of activities including a "comprehensive" methodology. The smart mobility is chosen from the six components of the smart city and discussed in details. Smart Mobility Smart Mobility depicts the city openness both by various methods of transport and ICT. A vital viewpoint that decides the measure of movement in the city is the financial imperativeness (Raj and Dwivedi 2016). Urban arranging quality can lessen the measure of activity by decreasing urban sprawl and making urban areas open by foot or bicycle. Figure 1: Casual Loop diagram of Smart Mobility (Source: Created by author) Concept of Smart mobility Transportation problems cannot be solved by solutions that merely deliver smoothness on its own or sustainability on its own. Rather than optimizing the various different modes of transportation independently, a balanced smooth and sustainable approach is possible by optimizing the overall system (Sukarno, Matsumoto and Susanti 2016). Architecture Currently, each transportation company provides its own services. The provision of transportation in a way that realizes the smart mobility concept requires building a network for the coordination of transportation companies (Tsolakis and Anthopoulos, 2015). It collects and analyses information from the various companies that operate in the city and supplies each company with information they can use to optimize the overall system. Five layers of transportation functions (1) Transportation user experience layer (domain of transportation service users): Layer in which users receive transportation, information, and other services from transportation companies as they travel from place to place (2) Transportation services layer (domain of transportation companies): Layer in which transportation companies supply services to users (3) Information collection layer (domain of transportation companies): Layer in which usage information is collected, such as on how users use the services supplied by transportation companies (Veldhuis, van Scheepstal and Vink 2014) (4) Information management and control layer (domain of transportation companies): Layer in which information management and control is performed to ensure that transportation companies supply their services smoothly (5) Transportation company coordination layer (domain of transportation companies): Layer in which information from all the transportation companies is collected and analysed, and information is provided to guide the operation, control, and other functions of the transportation companies with the aim of optimizing the citys overall transportation system (Tsolakis and Anthopoulos, 2015). Some examples of Transportation Service The following describes the commuters experience and the operation of the systems run by the transportation companies, which are invisible to the commuters. Multi-modal navigation service: In response to the user entering his desired destination and indicating that his priority is to travel cheaply and quickly, his mobile handset displays a route comprising the optimum mix of transportation companies that will deliver him there quickly and cheaply, and in an energy-efficient way (Sukarno, Matsumoto and Susanti 2016). Integrated fare collection service: If getting the commuter to his destination involves travel by different bus and train companies, this service allows him to use a smartcard to pay a single fare calculated based on departure and destination instead of paying each company separately at each change of vehicle. Service to smooth transfers between bus and train: This service coordinates the arrival times of buses at the railway station to connect with the train schedule (Veldhuis, van Scheepstal and Vink 2014). This eliminates waiting time when changing from bus to train. Electric Vehicle bus charging management system: In this system, the EV (electric vehicle) bus power management system provides information to the bus operation management system via the analysis functions of the urban management infrastructure indicating where, on what route, and when it should be recharged based on its current state of charge (Raj and Dwivedi 2016). As a result, the solution contributes to sustainability (another of the values of smart mobility) by encouraging efficient use of the EV buses and helping reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. Conclusion The essential objective of our work was to build up a re-usable model that could serve as a device for examining and growing new smart city activities by deciding how these activities impact smart city objectives. We have shown how way and circle examination can be utilized to this end. Together with city authorities, we are presently talking about how the model can be utilized as a part of their practice. So far we have connected the model on one event and a second bigger task is planned. Numerous current investigations of keen urban areas concentrate on specific sorts of intercessions, frequently ICT driven, or on yield measurements depicting how well a city scores on criteria, for example, global get to or level of instruction. What these studies don't give is a systemic depiction of how diverse qualities of a brilliant city are interrelated. In the gathering task research program 'Smart Cities' we picked the idea in an all encompassing way. References Boateng, P., Chen, Z. and Ogunlana, S.O., 2016. A dynamic framework for managing the complexities of risks in megaprojects.The Fifth Edition of the International Journal of Technology and Management Research,1(5), pp.1-13. Caponio, G., Massaro, V., Mossa, G. and Mummolo, G., 2015. Strategic Energy Planning of Residential Buildings in a Smart City: A System Dynamics Approach.International Journal of Engineering Business Management,7. Das, D.K., 2013. Using system dynamics principles for conceptual modelling of smart city development in South Africa. de Vries, B.B. and Han, Q.Q., 2015. HOW TO CREATE A SMART CITY?. Raj, A. and Dwivedi, G., 2016, January. SMART City: An Integrated Approach Using System Dynamics. InInternational Conference on Smart Cities, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Sukarno, I., Matsumoto, H. and Susanti, L., 2016. Transportation energy consumption and emissions-a view from city of Indonesia.Future Cities and Environment,2(1), p.6. Tsolakis, N. and Anthopoulos, L., 2015. Eco-cities: An integrated system dynamics framework and a concise research taxonomy.Sustainable Cities and Society,17, pp.1-14. Veldhuis, G.A., van Scheepstal, P.G.M. and Vink, N., 2014.Development of a generic Smart City model using MARVEL. Albany, NY: The System Dynamics Society.

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Year Without Oil Essays - Petroleum Politics, Energy Crises

Year Without Oil Opec Oil Embargo / 1973, The Year Without Oil OPEC Oil Embargo There are several things that come to mind when presented with the picture and topic, but the one that stands out most is shortage. However, shortage is an ironic word to use for it. It wasn?t really a shortage in the fact that the world is out of oil, which being a non-renewable resource will be one day, but it was an incredible 130% increase in price by OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This forced the petroleum market to head into a tailspin. OPEC, started by the major oil producing countries in the Middle East, was designed to give price control to the oil producers, instead of the oil manufacturers. Formed in 1960, OPEC was only a middleman for 10 years, but in the 1970?s, they found the right time to drive up the price of gas. One viewpoint can say it was about time that we started paying these countries for what they were up to that point, giving us, but from the other standpoint, OPEC is no more than a cartel and monopoly. A cartel is two or more parties, the oil producing countries, hurting an innocent third party, oil consumers. OPEC was created to hurt the oil manufacturers who were taking advantage of the oil producers, but unfortunately the one that got hurt from the agreement are the oil selling stations and us, the consumer. Page 2 There are several reasons why it isn?t the manufacturers didn?t get affected by any of the price raises. First of all, no matter how high the price of crude oil goes, the world still has to keep buying oil products. In fact, the world is using more petroleum products now than it ever has before, and can only get it from a few manufacturers, which means a monopoly is feeding an oligopoly. Monopolies are when the economy relies on one source for all of a product, also called a trust. Monopolies are banned in the United States by Anti-Trust Laws. Oligopolies are products, that the economy relies on, that are only available from a few sources. In a large market, the oil market, these companies can raise prices for consumers and receive massive increases in their profits. To really understand the hardships that happened in the 1970?s, and not being around in that time, we can look at the situation we are experiencing today. Although we are not having the shortages, we are still having the problems with inflated oil prices. However, not all things have resulting from the oil embargo have been bad. Cars are being designed to get better gas mileage, and buildings to be more energy efficient. Page 3 There have been some economic analysts predicting that oil prices were going to rise like they did again this year, due to the low price of oil last year. Unleaded gasoline prices were down to around a dollar per gallon, and with the surge of gas buying last summer when prices were down, the surplus of oil became a shortage, therefore driving the price up to new levels. The picture of the gas pumps is a small picture, but trying to put the whole picture into three pages of text was a difficult thing to do. For there are many topics that the oil market covers, but can best be summed up as this. Don Roberts was out of gas at his station because the oil manufacturers cheated the oil producers, and when the oil producers finally got together to get back at the manufacturers, they ended up taking their problems out of consumers. Page 5 Endnotes Economics Essays

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Tension and suspense within Scream (Wes Craven) essays

Tension and suspense within 'Scream' (Wes Craven) essays Even before the audience is led into the scene a horrific scream is heard which lets us know that something awful is going to happen. The scream focuses the genre by using recognised conventions of the genre. This scream then leads is into the opening scene of the film. The director uses mid close up shots of Kacey on the phone to represent the importance of the calls and this is continued throughout the opening scene. The camera then cuts to a shot outside of the house where it is dark and windy, representing a stereotypical horror film and also letting us know that the garden has a relevance to the scene. The camera follows Kacey as she goes from the kitchen to once again answer the phone, this builds the tension because we feel as if we are following her and it also creates the idea of her being stalked. Kacey is represented at this point in the scene as very laid-back and the talk of horror films and the way she grabs the knife creates a chilling irony which builds the suspense because we know that something bad is going to happen. The director then cuts to a mid shot of the popcorn expanding which makes the audience visually aware that the story is like a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode. Once again we follow Kacey into the living room listening to the friendly phone call until the killer slips up by asking who hes looking at, it is at this point that the camera zooms in on Kaceys face looking petrified and intrigued. We then see Kacey turn on the outside light to show the garden which has a thick layer of fog slithering over the surface which creates an eerie atmosphere. The shot once again cuts back to the popcorn which is near enough ready to explode which lets the audience know that something big is going to happen and its going to happen soon. As Kacey walks back into the kitchen the lights have faded and shadows have appeared representing her vulnerability and consequently her fate. As Kacey ans ...

Monday, February 24, 2020

The Channel Tunnel Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Channel Tunnel Project - Essay Example The tunnel cost almost $16 billion which was more than twice of the initial cost estimates. The primary focus of the project was to ensure that safety, defence, security and environmental issues do not go unnoticed. The key finding of the assignment is that the entire channel tunnel project was inaccurately scheduled and thus led to all the issues. Therefore the most challenging task of the project was to complete it within the stipulated time frame. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Project Background 4 Project Management Issues 5 7 Discussion and Analysis 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The channel tunnel project was carried out to create a link between France and England through underground tunnels. The channel tunnel also referred to as the Euro tunnel is basically a railway link between United Kingdom and France under the English Channel (7wonders, n.d.). The purpose of the report is to highlight on the areas such as backdrop of the project, the iss ues pertaining to the project and some of the risks which are associated with the project. In other words the report will try to illustrate the exact happenings about and will provide all the relevant details regarding management of the project. Apart from this the report will also highlight on some of issues pertaining to the operation management of the project. The issues will relate to the designing phase, approval phase and the manufacturing phase. However the dissertation will also try to analyse the case and based on which some propositions and recommendations will be also presented. The recommendation and the propositions will be strictly based on governance and management of the project. The report will try to minimize and solve the business management challenges and risks associated with the project. In order to do so some of the operation management tools and techniques such as work breakdown structure, risk management will be consulted. Project Background The project of c hannel tunnel was undertaken in order to link United Kingdom and France through Railways. The project was supposed to be carried out beneath the English Channel between Folkestone of United Kingdom and Calais of France (Construct my future, n.d.). In the context of its development process the project was simply divided into the design phase, manufacturing phase and testing phase. Eurotunnel was chosen as the organization to carry out the entire operation of developing the project. Eurotunnel has contracted the project to Transmachine Link (TML) that has again sub contracted other manufacturers for manufacturing the shuttle wagons. The core reason which has been cited for its outsourcing was the tight timescale factor and companies having to bear heavy liquidity damages. Therefore it minimizes the chances of penalty and risk gets shared. Now to initiate the project there were requirements of a large number of approvals from the Intergovernmental commission (IGC) in the context of des ign, construction and operational phase. Intergovernmental commission was established or recognized under the article 10 of the agreement for managing all the operational activities of the channel tunnel on behalf of the French and UK government (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: European Union Committee, 2011, p.20). The major focus of the project was on safety, security,

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Economic Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economic Analysis - Essay Example GDP is the increase in the amount of goods and services produced by an economy over time. According to the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI), more than three years ago, the 2008 financial crisis already triggered studies on longstanding pattern of slowing growth, characterized by higher cyclical volatility and lower trend growth. In layman’s terms, in the short run, we may be having higher upswings of economic growth but at the cost of having equally strong downswings which are hard to anticipate. However, when you try to see patterns as far as from 1970, the long-run trend is down. A part of this trend is shown on the graph below: As one can notice, there was a steep upward change in GDP growth by the end of the 3rd quarter in 2009. The GDP growth figures for 2011 is 2.2% and 1.6% for eth 1st quarter and the 2nd quarter respectively. The graph above may be misleading insofar as it suggests an upward sloping imaginary trend line, but as far as the ECRI is concerned, two implications are possible: First, the fall of GDP will even be steeper than perhaps the -5% in the 2nd quarter of 2009. This means that it’s only a matter of time before GDP growth hits a -5%. If this is the case, since the economy has its own lags and assuming that this debt problem has no clear end, the US economy will be flirting within -5% range or even lower by next year.The second probable case is that though the dip in GDP will only be slight, it will be more frequent resulting in persistent recession perhaps every 2-3 years as the interval of the 2008 crisis with the current crisis. Given that GDP will be fallin short, another index that significantly goes together with this is employment, which can be expected to decrease as well. The index that is commonly used for this is the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate then is defined as the number of unemployed divided by the total labor force while the labor force can be defined as the number of people employed plu s the number unemployed and is seeking work. This on the other hand was expounded on by Okun’s law, which verifies that employment, a factor of production, affects output, albeit with a lag. Okun’s law states that a one point increase in the unemployment rate is equated with two percentage poonts of negative growth in real GDP. So if this the case, if GDP falls in the near future, the unemployment rate may be breaching the 10% line. The unemployment rate is pictures below with the graph showing an upward trend from the start of 2006 to the 2nd half of 2011. As one can see, the unemployment rate has been very high, close to 10%, since mid-year of 2009. Alas, this is a signal that the economy is not producing goods and services the best that it could or at full capacity, because of the many jobless citizens. This is the reason why the Fed, with Bernanke at the lead, is using monetary to expand the economy through the use of interest rates. Monetary policy operations incl ude controlling some overnight or short-term interest rates and these rates to lend money to commercial banks influencing mortgage rates and other types of loans. The logic of controlling interest rates is this: lower interest rates means lower costs for companies who wish to borrow money. The lower cost for borrowing is an incentive for more companies to borrow money and invest in capital expansion and businesses. More capital put up would mean not only