Ancian Roman Arcitecture :: essays research papers

Ancient Roman Architecture The ancient Romans are famous for many things. One thing is their adaptation and development of architecture. From the Etruscans and early tribes the Romans found most of their basic architectural skills. From the Greeks some components of Roman architecture were adapted. Which gives some early Roman architecture some characteristics of oriental architecture because of Greek contact with the Orient. The heart of Roman architecture was the Roman forum, which was really being constructed under the rule of Octavian (Augustus) Caesar. As time progressed the Roman architecture went into a stage of Greek like buildings. After this Roman architecture as we know it today was starting to take form. Etruscan architecture was really the beginning of Roman architecture. For example in Etruscan tombs people would find many types of architectural traits found in many Roman buildings. Like the fact they had vaulted entrances. Some cities had an influence, such as the fortified city of Norba. After this Greece started to gain control in Italy that greatly affected the Roman architecture of this time but not as much as Etruscan does in the future. When the Greeks came in Rome was building their new buildings in the classic Greek vaulted construction with Doric style columns. The start of this was in 179 B.C., it started with the planing of the Temple to Fortuna Virilis. This was completed in approximately 100 B.C. Then shortly after the completion of the Tabularium built in the time of Sulla. In this period under the dictator Sulla, Hellenistic architecture flourished in Rome, with the buildings Lindos, Cos, the acropolis at Pergamon, Fortuna at Praeneste, the sanctuary of He! rcules Victor at Tibur, and the temple of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina. Though all these buildings were noticeably Hellenistic, they retained the Roman’s own unique architectural style. Such as the cylindrical shape of Forum Boarium, this was an original shape for the Romans along with the roof. Eventually the Hellenistic architecture was being pushed out by Romanization. When Rome gained leadership over Neighboring countries and was starting to unite the cities, in about 300 B.C. Rome started to gain it’s own unique architectural culture. When Rome was expanding they build grids of roads, and with this advance Rome had a much greater ability to build massive projects. Such as Octavian (Augustus) Caesar’s Forum, aqueducts, temples, jetties, safe ports, bridges, marsh drainage and the first truly planned cities. These cities were truly planned to certain specifications and were built and optimized for certain purposes. After the Hellenistic period was nearing an end in Rome Octavian (Augustus) Caesar took control of Rome and started to start some major development programs. A tribute to the god of Mars called the Ultor for the death of Ancian Roman Arcitecture :: essays research papers Ancient Roman Architecture The ancient Romans are famous for many things. One thing is their adaptation and development of architecture. From the Etruscans and early tribes the Romans found most of their basic architectural skills. From the Greeks some components of Roman architecture were adapted. Which gives some early Roman architecture some characteristics of oriental architecture because of Greek contact with the Orient. The heart of Roman architecture was the Roman forum, which was really being constructed under the rule of Octavian (Augustus) Caesar. As time progressed the Roman architecture went into a stage of Greek like buildings. After this Roman architecture as we know it today was starting to take form. Etruscan architecture was really the beginning of Roman architecture. For example in Etruscan tombs people would find many types of architectural traits found in many Roman buildings. Like the fact they had vaulted entrances. Some cities had an influence, such as the fortified city of Norba. After this Greece started to gain control in Italy that greatly affected the Roman architecture of this time but not as much as Etruscan does in the future. When the Greeks came in Rome was building their new buildings in the classic Greek vaulted construction with Doric style columns. The start of this was in 179 B.C., it started with the planing of the Temple to Fortuna Virilis. This was completed in approximately 100 B.C. Then shortly after the completion of the Tabularium built in the time of Sulla. In this period under the dictator Sulla, Hellenistic architecture flourished in Rome, with the buildings Lindos, Cos, the acropolis at Pergamon, Fortuna at Praeneste, the sanctuary of He! rcules Victor at Tibur, and the temple of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina. Though all these buildings were noticeably Hellenistic, they retained the Roman’s own unique architectural style. Such as the cylindrical shape of Forum Boarium, this was an original shape for the Romans along with the roof. Eventually the Hellenistic architecture was being pushed out by Romanization. When Rome gained leadership over Neighboring countries and was starting to unite the cities, in about 300 B.C. Rome started to gain it’s own unique architectural culture. When Rome was expanding they build grids of roads, and with this advance Rome had a much greater ability to build massive projects. Such as Octavian (Augustus) Caesar’s Forum, aqueducts, temples, jetties, safe ports, bridges, marsh drainage and the first truly planned cities. These cities were truly planned to certain specifications and were built and optimized for certain purposes. After the Hellenistic period was nearing an end in Rome Octavian (Augustus) Caesar took control of Rome and started to start some major development programs. A tribute to the god of Mars called the Ultor for the death of

A belief is knowledge if it coheres with other accepted beliefs Essay

Explain and illustrate one criticism of the view that a belief is knowledge if it coheres with other accepted beliefs Coherentism is the Philosophical idea that truths should not be looked at individually. They should rather be looked at, as a whole. The coherence theory can be put into two parts. These are the coherent theory of truth and the coherent theory of justification. The coherent theory is that truth is different to justified belief. Truth is infallible. It is, what it is, that being correct. Whether it is contingent truth, which may, or may not, be true at a certain time; or a universal truth, which is taken to be always true, everywhere. In contrast the theory of justification, only involves beliefs; although these beliefs have to be coherent when looked at together as a whole. As an example of this, we can look at the example of my Aunt Dotty. An envelope comes to my House. However, there is no letter inside of it. I come to the conclusion that the only person absent-minded enough to forget to put the letter inside the envelope is my Aunt Dotty. However, she lives in Exeter; when looking at the postmark, I see it comes from Edinburgh; also the handwriting on the envelope is not that of my Aunt Dotty. My theory that the envelope came from my Aunt Dotty, who just forgot to put in the letter does not cohere. The separate beliefs do not seem to form together in a coherent way. However, I also remember that my brother was taking my Aunt Dotty to Edinburgh. Furthermore, the writing on the envelope seems to be that of my brother. From this I come to the conclusion that my Aunt Dotty forgot to put the letter in the envelope, and then asked my brother to write the address for her. I would be justified in my son you’re a whale belief of this, as all of my beliefs relating to it fit together in a coherent way. However, that is not to say that my coherent belief is the truth. It may not be the truth. It is just a justified belief. This theory of coherent beliefs perceived and regarded as a whole is called holism. Coherentism dictates that if we want the greatest understanding of what could be considered to be the real world possible, then our beliefs need to be as comprehensive as possible. Furthermore, for Coherentism to work successfully, our beliefs must be non-contradictory and consistent. In traditional Coherentism it is not the set that is justified, but rather the beliefs that make them up. It is from this that the most common flaw, with Coherentism is found. There may not be just one set of justifiable beliefs, relating to a certain number of beliefs. There can be multiple sets. Furthermore, internally all of these beliefs may be individually coherent. One example of this is the science fiction film. In such a film there can be many coherent worlds. However, these worlds are far from the reality of the perceived real world. The problem with the theory of coherence is that if we can only take one thing to be true – as if there were more than one they would undoubtedly we contradictory – it then follows that only one thing can be completely justified as being adequate to believe. In contrast in Coherentism, there can apparently be many sets of justified beliefs. In response, Coherentists argue that there can only be one coherent set. F.H. Bradley, the noted Coherentist, writes: ‘My object is to have a world as comprehensive and coherent as possible, and, in order to attain this object, I have not only to reflect but to perpetually have to recourse to the materials of sense. I must go to this source both to verify the matter which is old and also to increase it by what is new. And in this way I must depend upon the judgements of perception.’ This shows that it is Bradley’s aim to find the most coherent and therefore, hopefully, the only truly coherent set. Richard Wollheim late goes on to say that Bradley thought that Coherence should be a test of justification, rather that a test of any individual belief. Although, only ‘those that have some initial inclination or motive to believe in,’ so as a result of this coherence has the ‘function†¦ to discriminate within those judgements and to eliminate some in favour of others’. In line with Bradley’s defence of Coherentism is that of Jonathan Dancy. He says ‘in general, if we find ourselves scrutinising something we believe, we retain it unless we find something against it, just on the grounds that it is a belief already’. So, if we take Bradley’s response, together with that of Dancy, we are shown that Coherentists do not intend for there to be multiple sets of coherent beliefs, as a result of the coherent theory. Rather, Coherentism is intended as a means of testing existing beliefs, as well as those that can be later added. Donald Davidson, another noted Coherentist, also attempted to defend Coherentism. To do so, he gave as an example, the case of the Radical Interpreter. Imagine that there is a speaker of English, who comes across a group of people speaking a language that no one outside of that group understands. The language is called L. How can our speaker of English, the Radical Interpreter, be able to understand L. Davidson’s answer is that he will have to use what is called the Principle of Charity. The Principle of Charity dictates that the Radical Interpreter will have to assume that what the speakers of L say are true. That is to say, true by the standard of the Radical Interpreter. The speakers of L and the Radical Interpreter have to share the same standards of truth in order to have something in common. If this were not the case, it would be difficult for the Radical Interpreter and speakers of L to see where they disagree. Although, even if they do share the same standards of truth, they may, however both be wrong. The question then arises of what guarantee the Radical Interpreter has, that his and the speakers of L’s standards are not mistaken. Davidson gives the answer to imagine an interpreter to our Radical Interpreter. This interpreter is the Omniscient Interpreter. If the Omniscient Interpreter is to successfully interpret our Radical Interpreter, then he must use the same standards of truth used by our Radical Interpreter and the speakers of L. So the Omniscient Interpreter, like our Radical Interpreter, will have to assume that they use the same standards of truth. However, because the Omniscient Interpreter knows everything, it must follow that his standard of truth is true. Therefore, it follows that if the standards of truth used are roughly common to all parties, then neither the Radical Interpreter nor the speakers of L can be completely mistaken. As a result of this, our interpreter can assume that the majority of his basic beliefs are justified, as are those of the speakers of L. It then follows that there can be no place to believe that there can be more than one set of coherent Beliefs. From this, Davidson believes the Coherentist can dismiss the argument against him. It seems that in the previous defences of Coherentism, the Coherentists have adapted there argument, to suit the criticism of those attempting to undermine it. That is to say, that they are adapting the argument to suit the focus of the criticism. For example, when criticised that Coherentism allows for multiple sets of belief, Bradley, showed that the aim is to have only the most coherent belief. This may show the simple sophistication of the argument. It allows for only the most coherent argument and therefore the most likely to be the truth, to be accepted. Rather, the Coherentist would normally only accept the most coherent argument, rather than the least. To give an example of this; say I woke up one morning. My window was smashed and my television was gone. One set of coherent beliefs is that I have been burgled and my television stolen. My Dad has gone, so he may be contacting the Police. Another set of coherent beliefs, may be that my dad has lost his mind and jumped out of the window with the television. One of these beliefs is more coherent that the other. My father has not history of mental illness, so I can suppose that we have been burgled. Although, both sets are coherent, one is more coherent than the other, so I accept the most coherent as my Belief.

Evaluating E-Commerce Strategy Development within Organisations Essay

Background The news about the â€Å"New Economy† has triggered many entrepreneurial ventures to exploit on the electronic commerce (e-commerce) opportunities. Ventures such as Amazon and eBay have received significant media attention and investor optimism about the potential of e-commerce. Now that the smoke has settled, both management and academic research have become interested on the impact of e-commerce on those companies that have supplemented their brick-and-mortar outlets with e-commerce initiatives. Several researches have emerged on effect of e-commerce on organisational strategy. Tapscott et al (1998) discusses the organisational changes created by B2B e-commerce and the benefits of deploying e-commerce within the organisation. O’Connell (2000) discusses the effect of e-commerce in the organisational structure in light of the resource-based view and transaction cost theory. E-commerce has been seen as improving efficiency, communication and lowering costs across business processes (O’Connell, 2000; Krovi et al., 2003; Garicano and Kaplan, 2001). In addition, researches have also shown the influence of e-commerce on brand management. Wind & Mahajan (2001). discuss how the competitive environment is changing with the increasing number of Internet users and how the new technology is redefining the marketplace. The research presented a conceptual framework delineating the drivers and outcomes of marketing strategy in the context of competing in both physical and electronic marketplace. Part of the emergence of electronic marketplace is the ability of organisations to offer highly customized products to consumers, and the capability to build and to manage customer relationships (Brown, 2000). The aim of the research is to investigate the way in which an organisation develops its electronic commerce strategy over time in light of existing strategic approaches and development found within related literature. The research particularly looks into Marks & Spencer e-commerce strategy as the case study for the research. The research looks into how Marks & Spencer has developed and implemented its e-commerce strategy. Drawing from strategic management theories, the research specifically focuses on the how an e-commerce strategy is grounded on reducing transaction cost within the organisation and across the value chain. Furthermore, the research also looks into the importance of relationship marketing and how e-commerce is providing organisations with the necessary technology to achieve seamless exchange of information and reduced costs. Strategically, the adoption of e-commerce within an organisation hinges on these two important strategic management theories. In addition, the research is confined within the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, since business-to-business (B2B) relations are frequently characterized by a small number of customers and a strong emphasis on personal contacts between customers and salespeople as their means of marketing communication. Therefore, the research focuses on how consumers view their shopping experience within an e-commerce site, particularly Marks & Spencer. The Overview of the Study   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The remainder of this study is as following statement:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chapter 2, Literature Review, will provide a concise concept and explanation of electronic commerce within retail organisation. The review of related literature discusses the concept and application areas of e-commerce within organisation. The review will also tackle the important strategic management concepts such as transaction cost theory and relationship marketing and how e-commerce is enabling organisations achieve increased efficiency, improved communication, and lower costs across its value chain. Chapter 3, Methodology, will describe the research design of this study. The research design of this study is empirical research method using secondary data for quantitative analysis. Chapter 4, Results, will demonstrate the results of this study.   At first, the descriptive statistical data such as maximum, minimum and mean, on the consumer’s perspective on the different service attributes of e-commerce site for Marks and Spencer. Chapter 5, Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations, the â€Å"Summary† section will first provide a comprehensive summary of the major findings of this study. The â€Å"Conclusion† section will highlight the implications of the research findings. Finally, â€Å"Recommendations† will be proposed to help companies to utilize the importance of electronic commerce in their strategic assessment.   In next chapter, related researches in electronic commerce will be reviewed CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Electronic Commerce According to the International Engineering Forum, e-commerce is â€Å"an emerging model of new selling and merchandising tools in which buyers are able to participate in all phases of a purchase decision, while stepping through those processes electronically rather than in a physical store or by phone (with a physical catalog). (online International Engineering Forum)† E-commerce enables a customer to access product information, select items to purchase, purchase items securely and have the purchase settled financially.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While the notion of e-commerce as the ability of organisations or a person to sell over the Internet is very popular, the research paper will adopt the definition of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). E-commerce can be defined as â€Å"the total of all applications that pertain to online communications and transaction (OECD, 2000).† The definition better suit our purpose of discussing e-commerce in the context of strategic management. The research views e-commerce holistically, which encompasses the communication between organisations and customer over the Internet, the completion of one-time or on-going online transactions, and e-CRM systems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The emergence of e-commerce in the retail sector is one of the most widely adopted and anticipated development in the industry. Following the success of Amazon, many brick-and-mortar retailers jumped into the dot com bandwagon and established their online presence in the World Wide Web. Many have adopted e-commerce capabilities out of a fear of falling behind competitors or as a result of the general momentum to expand the use of an existing Internet presence. Nonetheless, the main value proposition for organisations adopting an online presence is the prospect of increasing revenue from new markets and using a lower-cost, electronic-distribution channel (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With a strong demand from organisations in creating an online presence, internet service providers (ISPs) have begun to offer electronic-commerce hosting services. ISPs often position as a outsourced service provider of the customers’ electronic-commerce capabilities, managing the networking and server aspects of the initiatives. Such services are important consideration for the roll-out e-commerce sites as it allows organisations to leverage on the expertise of ISPs and allows organisations to concentrate on their core businesses (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the customer’s perspective, the main benefit of an e-commerce system is the convenience it brings to consumers, who are constrained by busy schedule and numerous activities. The e-commerce system enables a customer to locate and purchase a desired good or service over the Internet when the customer is ready to make the purchase. Its function is synonymous to a virtual store (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the merchant’s perspective, the e-commerce system enables the organisation to take advantage of the strengths of online store and increase revenues. One of the key benefits of implementing an online store is the capability to cover greater market reach and a complementary distribution channel to its existing brick-and-mortar stores. However, in order to effectively implement an e-commerce strategy, the e-commerce system must recreate or utilize existing data and business processes. The merchant must recreate the same shopping experience in its online store providing in-store assistance, secure payment process, catalogs and prices about the products and services, inventory management, and transaction capabilities (including credit authorization, tax computation, financial settlement, and shipping) (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Furthermore, e-commerce not only allows merchants to take advantage of market reach, but it also enables merchants to redefine and enhance an enterprise’s brand strength, customer-service capability, and supply-chain efficiency. An e-commerce site is one of the areas of an enterprise infrastructure that is open to customers via the Web, but it is linked with other information system of the enterprise value chain (online International Engineering Forum).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In implementing an e-commerce site, provision of the basic system requires an Internet connection, a Web-application server and e-commerce application software, and a personal computer for the shopper. Figure 1 illustrates the basic economic drivers and application requirements of an e-commerce marketplace. On the buyers side, consumers are driven to the online retail store through advertisements, interesting features, needed information, and directory. On the sellers side, merchants are driven to the online space because of its ease of entry, increasing website traffic, ability to sell and integrate marketing messages (online International Engineering Forum). Figure 1. Business Drivers in e-commerce strategy E-Commerce Strategies and Business Drivers A number of initiatives implemented within an organisation are driven by a market need. All industries are characterized by trends and new developments that gradually or speedily produce changes important enough to require a strategic response from participating firms. The popular hypothesis about industries going through a life cycle helps explain industry changes but is still incomplete (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). The life-cycle stages are strongly keyed to changes in the overall industry growth rate (which is why such terms as rapid growth, early maturity, saturation, and decline are used to describe the stages). Yet there are more causes of industry change than an industry’s position in the life cycle (Porter, 1980 p. 157-162). While it is important to judge what growth stage an industry is in, there’s more analytical value in identifying the specific factors causing fundamental industry and competitive adjustments. Industry and competitive conditions change because forces are in motion that create incentives and pressures for change (Porter, 1980 p. 162). The most dominant forces are called driving forces because they have the biggest influence on what kinds of changes will take place in the industry’s structure and competitive environment. The Internet and e-commerce opportunities are unquestionably spawning a sweeping business revolution that altered industry boundaries, opens up all kinds of new business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) market opportunities and threats, sparks competition from new and entirely different breed of enterprises and mandates fundamental changes in business practices (Thompson and Strickland 2001).   In his book The Business of E-Commerce: From Corporate Strategy to Technology, Paul May discusses four business drivers for adopting an e-commerce strategy. First, organisations have the compulsion to catch up with competitors or to gain competitive advantage by being early adopters of the new technology. Organisation’s constant pursuit to gain competitive edge in the marketplace is a primary concern and part of a survival component in the business strategy. Second, organisations need to develop a credible e-commerce channel from its current online portfolio. Third, organisations are constantly looking for ways to reduce cost and increase efficiency within its value chain. E-commerce can be a creative force in delivering reduced transaction cost, increased communication and coordination, and improve business processes. Fourth, e-commerce enables organisations to improve its value chain by creating strategic supplier partnership and delivering customized customer solutions. It allows organisations improve business’ infrastructural capabilities to play as an extended enterprise and not merely a single business entity delivering greater value to its customers (May, 2000). Each of these drivers can be harnessed as a propulsive force for the business, rather than a deflective or immobilizing one (May, 2000). Application areas of E-commerce Six key emerging application areas in electronic commerce can be identified. It can be organized into two important domains: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). The application areas include categories in consumer retailing to real-time business-to-business collaboration (May, 2000).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retailers were the first adopters of the business-to-consumer e-commerce. Retailers found selling products and services online as a promising channel of distribution for its products and reaching new markets. Nonetheless, B2C e-commerce is now more diversified and classified into three application areas which include retail, auction, and advice (May, 2000). The three application areas of B2C e-commerce are retail, auctions, and advice. Although each has its own distinguishing characteristics, and dynamics, a consistent theme underlies the development of all three. This is the increasing â€Å"busy-ness† of consumer lifestyles: the extension from work life into private life of a culture of ever-decreasing time-frames and ever-increasing obligations. Lack of time and complexity of choice drive the growth of products and services in each of these areas (May, 2000). Business-to-consumer is a term that stresses the direction of delivery: B2C e-commerce is supposedly something done by business to consumers. Yet this domain is founded on intense customer focus. Insight into the conflicting desires and pressures affecting consumers is a powerful ally in building successful strategies in this highly competitive area (May, 2000). Business-to-business, on the other hand, is the umbrella term used to refer to transactions between businesses conducted online, and the business networks and supply chains that make these transactions possible. While B2B activity has always, taken place, the Internet brings with it a new framework, B2B companies no longer need to depend on the traditional one-to-one model for business transactions (Michel, 2003). Procurement, inventory exchange, and real-time collaboration are relatively obscure categories of application, which have the potential to flip many businesses inside-out. Procurement introduces process improvements in the buying functions of organisations and also points the way to a more competitive environment in inter-company trading. Inventory exchange introduces the mechanism of the market to smooth out supply and demand inefficiencies across entire value chain, potentially lowers transaction and carrying costs, and focuses on improving exchange of supplier information. Real-time collaboration allows organisations to cooperate as fluid colonies of actors, undermining the stability of companies who prefer hands-off relationships or who prefer their reality-checks to be presented monthly (May, 2000). e-Commerce application in Retail Industry Retailers are now increasingly adopting electronic commerce as another distribution means of selling products and services. Online channels have also proved increasingly popular amongst retail companies within other formats such as hypermarkets or catalog retailers, who have attempted to expand into the sector to escape from stale growth within their respective markets (Datamonitor 2006). Datamonitor estimates the global Internet retail sector valued at $656.4 billion in 2005, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.3% over the 2001-2005 period. The estimate is based on the total revenues generated through the sale of retail goods via online channels, valued at retail selling price, with any currency conversions calculated using constant 2005 annual average exchange rates (Datamonitor 2006). With the number of Internet users increasing exponentially year-on-year, the industry has experienced strong global growth within the global Internet retail sector. Much of the demand for online purchases is due to the escalating number of working mothers and time-starved consumers who are conveniently seeking ways of shopping without the hassle of driving to a retail store and falling in-line (Datamonitor 2006). At present, drugs and health & beauty aids are the sector’s most lucrative segment in 2005, accounting for a total of $154 billion in total revenues or 23.5% of the retail sector’s total value. Computer, hardware, software, and supplies contributed significant revenues in 2005, generating $114.9 billion in revenues or 17.5% of the sector’s total value (Datamonitor, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While analyst do not see a similar spectacular growth in the global Internet retail industry, experts still is optimistic the pace of revenue expansion for the next four years. Industry experts project to the expansion of industry to remain strong valuing the industry at $1.169 trillion by 2010. This translates to 12.2% CAGR over the 2005-2010 period (Datamonitor, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In terms of revenues generated per region, Datamonitor reports that Europe has the largest market share in the global Internet retail sector with 44.4% of total value, followed by the United States and the Asia Pacific with 22.5% and 21.7% respectively (Datamonitor, 2006).

Individual Rights Vs. National Security Essay

I negate the resolution, â€Å"Resolved: When the United States is engaged in military conflict, national security ought to supercede conflicting claims of individual rights. My value for the round is Human Dignity, or what can be defined as a respect for the individual and his or her rights and virtues. John Stuart Mill states that â€Å"Everyone who receive the protection of society owes a return for the benefit†¦ but not to the point that it violates constituted rights.† Thus those rights which are the fundamentals of human dignity must be maintained. No fundamental goal should ever undermine this fundamental goal. The criteria which must consistently achieve is the maintenance of a legitimate government, or a govt. that maximizes the rights of its citizens My sole contention proves that a government’s legitimacy is contingent upon its preservation of individual rights. According to Charles Ogletree, Professor of Law at Harvard University, â€Å"The U.S. has not been a fertile breeding ground for terrorism†¦ diversity, religious and ethnic tolerance, a reliance on legal proceedings open to public scrutiny†¦ are all values make it hard to nurture in the U.S. the ethnic or religious hatred that fuels much terrorism.† Unfortunately, sacrificing such virtues for temporary security would undermine these values. The impact is clear, that a removal of individual rights, such as freedom of speech or freedom of press, would uproot key American ideals and neglect the value of the individual within the United States. . The government would no longer protect the foundation upon with it was built, and such actions would illegitimatize the government. As reported by Susan Stanberg, political analyst for National Public Radio, â€Å"Muslim communities throughout Florida have placed complains in the FBI’s strategy in placing undercover agents in mosques to find our terrorists.† This type of drastic action has also been taken up by new laws that grant police powers to search people travelling on public transportation without notifying them of their right to refuse the search and without sufficient evidence or suspicion; a severe incursion on the right to privacy. Police acknowledge this fact, stating that they have nothing else to go on. This impact is that investigations based upon ethnicity encourage citizens to do the same thing. This arouses xenophobia and hostility towards foreign groups of American society. Secondly,  Prioritizing national security gives the govt. license to violate human worth in 3 ways: i. Dictating life choices – relocating people/Japanese internment camps ii. Dictating moral choices – whether to fight in war (draft) iii. Actually taking liberty and property – violating the rights of innocents in war/taking prisoners of war. The impact is that denying worth w/in borders is wrong because it defeats the purpose you’re fighting for, and denying worth outside of borders is wrong b/c it’s hypocritical. The government no longer serves its role as a protector of the people, but rather a big brother like institute that dictates to its people their own moral codes. Finally, security loses its worth if not accompanied by rights. Benjamin Franklin states that â€Å"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither liberty or safety† Without Liberty, Security is purposeless. The entire purpose of national security is to protect the American way of life and what our nation stands for. Thus, if upholding national security comes at the cost of sacrificing those rights that it is fighting to protect, it does nothing but erode the very purpose for its existence and become a self-defeating pursuit. OVERVIEW: I offer an overview against the affirmative case. In order for the affirmative to affirm, (s)he has to prove three things. Firstly, that security is able to be achieves, secondly, why there is an imperative need to sacrifice individual rights, and thirdly, (s)he must address all instances and types of military conflicts. Failure to do any of these things means that (s)he is upholding her burden as the affirmative. (s)he doesn’t prove this because: 1) (s)he assumes that she will be able to provide for national security, however, there is no guarantee for this safety. We might have implement heavier security measures in airports, but our chemical factories are just as vulnerable as they used to be. 2) (s)he just discusses the possible benefits that come from prioritizing national security, (s)he doesn’t show how it is fundamental. Just because  national security is important, doesn’t mean that it is absolute. The benefits achieved on the affirmative, such as unification, maintenance of sovereignty, still exist on the negative side. (s)he isn’t showing why we have to sacrifice our rights. Moreover, benefits don’t determine fundamentality. Just because we might be able to hunt down an extra terrorist or two, doesn’t mean that random lock downs and strip searches will win the war on terror or that an inability to do so will lose us the war on terror. 3) All of the affirmative arguments premised on the relative size of the conflict, but a military conflict does not assume a small or large proximity. Most conflicts such as the Persian Gulf are entirely within the United States ability as a superpower to control through alternative methods than violation individual rights. So this argument does not determine the fundamentality of prioritizing national security above individual rights.

William Wordsworth’s poem Upon Westminster Bridge is a sonnet

William Wordsworth's poem Upon Westminster Bridge is a sonnet, it creates a pleasurable passage that is easily read and understood while still accessing a great deal of emotion and image form. It gives different readers, many different interpretations of what the poem is about, the images and emotions felt, yet still maintaining the secret of what Wordsworth himself would have had in mind about the meaning of the poem. Upon Westminster Bridge creates for the reader that sense of awe that was felt by William Wordsworth whilst gazing upon the view of London and this awe can also be felt by the readers themselves. This sense of awe can be seen from the very beginning of the passage, â€Å"Earth has not anything to show more fair:† just the language used is like a spell cast upon the reader giving off a sense of calmness and tranquillity. This feeling in the language is reflected in the atmosphere of the time in which the poem is set, early morning, just as the sun is starting to show above the horizon. Where the citizens of London are still in bed, the busy city still asleep and motionless. The impression of religious symbology can also be felt in this poem. â€Å"Dull would he be the soul who could pass by†¦Ã¢â‚¬  the word â€Å"soul† in this line gives the reader the impression of a reverential tone. Soul is a word that is used mostly in a religious context and having it in the poem lets off the feeling of the peace, and heavenliness. â€Å"Dear God! the very houses seem asleep†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this can be taken as an emphasis on the reverential tone of the poem. â€Å"Dear God!† this reference to God fits in and confirms the â€Å"soul† and heightens the religious atmosphere. The first stanza in this poem is like an opening to the rest, an appetiser. â€Å"A sight so touching in its majesty:† The use of sight, so, its, majesty, is to put emphases on the soft sound of the â€Å"s†. This softness is linked to â€Å"touching†. This magnificent view is only softly touching him, the poet, with all this to take in he hasn't yet absorbed the full beauty. This can be seen as one of the most important and meaningful lines in this passage, it uses stillness and serenity, creating the mood, and linking the setting to the poet's feelings at the time. William Wordsworth uses similes in this poem to connect a lifeless thing like the city of London, to humanity, and the natural world to create a unity of all three. â€Å"This City now doth like a garment wear The beauty of the morning†, humans wear clothing, gowns to make us look more beautiful. What this line is saying is that the city wears the morning like a beautiful gown, and the morning is making the city look more splendid, giving it the connection to humans and making it come to life. The use of words with short syllables can make the reader feel informed. It helps capture a huge amount of detail in very little words. â€Å"†¦Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie open unto the fields, and to the sky†¦Ã¢â‚¬  looking at this the reader would start slow and read faster and faster as the list progresses, this is the influence of short syllable words. This paints a mental image in the reader's head as if watching a movie, an elaborate scene with beautiful scenery, and the camera pans across slowly at a constant rate capturing every flower, every tree, hill and a small bee flying across the screen. â€Å"†¦Open unto the fields, and to the sky.† â€Å"In his first splendour valley, rock or hill† and amongst all this artificial beauty of towers and ship the beauty of nature still manages to show through and enhance the whole image. The last stanza raps up the whole of the poem; it recreates the mood of awe and also puts in a little shock. â€Å"Dear God! the very houses seem asleep†; this time the â€Å"Dear God!† is used in a different way. It serves the purpose of heightening the religious feeling, but also heightens the awe and pushes it into shock. It is used almost in a blasphemous way; using God's name in vain. William Wordsworth's appreciation of beauty is revealed not only in the images and similes he chose to use, but also in the gracefully modulated sentences. The rhyming of the last word in the first and last stanza reinforces the reverence Wordsworth felt all his life to the God he understood to be in all nature. Wordsworth's personality and poetry were deeply influenced by his love of nature, romanticising what he saw in the natural world.

Gay marriage should be legalized and accepted Essay

Gay marriage (also known as same-sex marriage) generally refer to the marriage between two people with same sex can be either both male or both female. Imagine this, you and your beloved person walking on the street, everyone look at you in a strange way and mumble about you. How will you feel? That is how homosexual people feel these days. Remember this, they are just human beings like us but have different sexual orientation and that is the one and only difference. They can feel pain, happiness, sadness and lost just like how we feel, both physically and psychologically. It is one of our liberties to pursue happiness, which homosexual people are not able to chase, because they cannot marry the person they love. Who give you the right to take away others’ happiness? The happiness which did not and will not harm you. Are you racist? Are you sexist? Reasonable people will know that discriminate against anyone for any reason is rude and uneducated. And denying same-sex marriage sends the message of it is acceptable to discriminate against them. Some people may say that the institution of marriage has traditionally been defined as between a man and a woman, and allowing gay marriage will weaken the institution of marriage. This is absolutely nonsense. To not to change the institution is like to tell the court to not to change the law even when the law does not fit the modern world anymore. Nowadays, everything is changing as time passing by, so why not the institution of marriage. The legalization of gay marriage will also make it easier for same-sex couple to adopt, and provide stable home for children who otherwise be left in orphanage which hardly makes kids feel like home. Even gay marriage will lead to children being raised in same-sex household that lots of people may refer as not an optimum environment because children need both mother and father. However, according to a research by University of Melbourne lead by Doctor Simon Crouch which surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children. The research shows that children who were raised in same-sex parents scored an average of 6% higher then general population on both health and family cohesion. Clearly the evidence shows that the children who grown up in same-sex couple family won’t grow unhealthily, in fact sometimes it is even better for kids to gain more resilience, because all the kids need is no more than two loving parents. So how many lives should be ruined, how many happiness should be  taken away before we take actions?

Relevant furniture piece or other interior design element in the Assignment

Relevant furniture piece or other interior design element in the Victorian period (1850-1890) - Assignment Example He acquired the idea of decorating the Armoire from his mother. The above piece of furniture had an approximated cost of thirty four thousand dollars (Online Garallies, p.1). The Fine Armoire above has a lot of significance to the Victorian period. Among its importance, include; it provide an inspiration of the fine arts that were being produced during the Victorian period. It also provides other designers a fundamental basis for their design given that the idea was invented earlier. The furniture above help to encourage innovation and creativity among the designers of the current era. The Fine Armoire is significant because it indicates the type of materials that were used by the designers during that period. It also provide an important reference of what the previous artist used to do during the Victorian period (Online Garallies,