In 2013 the world was generati... free essay sample

In 2013 the world was generating more than 2.5 billion gigabytes of data every day, and 80% of it was unstructured (IBM, 2013). This is interesting that there would be such a gap in how much data is used and how much of it is unstructured. One would think that by 2013 many entrepreneurs would have been better able to take this market niche and capitalize on it. It is interesting that even IBM who is said to be one of the leading technology-based companies in the world with the deepest analytics portfolio in the industry hasnt closed this gap and been able to provide consumers with more of an ability to produce structured data platforms. Another interesting aspect of IBM had been that they are not just a computer manufacturing company. Most people in the consumer market believe that IBM is just a computer software/ hardware company that produces computers for retailers (and of course Watson), when they actually have operations and investments in places like decision management, content analytics, planning and forecasting, discovery and exploration, business intelligence, predictive analytics, data and content management, stream computing, data warehousing, information integration, and governance (IBM, 2013). We will write a custom essay sample on In 2013 the world was generati or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Even more interesting to this would be the amount of money IBM has invested into this growth, for instance, IBM has more than $24 billion dollars invested to acquire more than 30 of these investments and to bring on more employees to manage them (specifically 15,000 consultants and 400 mathematicians) and make them more efficient (IBM, 2013). It was particularly interesting had been the amount of interest IBM is showing to cloud computing. The company is planning on investing seven billion dollars into this industry (IBM,2013) as they predict it to be a growing marketplace. IBM continually has predicted that by 2016 about a quarter of the worlds electronic applications will have cloud computing capabilities to them. This is further reasoning for them to keep investing money to research and development and acquiring more smaller companies for this market (as they have already acquired fifteen) (IBM, 2013) to further expand their cloud operating capabilities.IBM Data ReportsCommon I ncome Statement Common Balance Sheet Balance Sheet Ratios What the Numbers Say The numbers from the balance sheet and common size income statement show that there are areas in which IBM should be concerned about. These areas would be their service, financing, and even sales. According to the charts, there had been a significant drop in each of these three areas at IBM. Sales dropped about $4 billion, services about $3 billion, and financing about 85 million in the year 2013 in contrast to 2011. However, it would appear from the charts that IBM is getting better about sales costs overall. In the year 2013, the company (IBM) was able to reduce these expenses by about $2.5 billion in comparison to 2011. It seems that IBM did stay maintain a stable growth overall in the rest of the categories (minus the ones just pointed out as concerning). It did appear however that a major strength in the companys investment portfolio would be their most recent (as of 2013) venture in cloud computing, computer and security markets. Seemingly these areas saw a slight increase in these categories on the balance sheet. With regard to the balance sheet ratios it appears that IBMs Improved all across the board in areas like short-term liquidity, operation, and gross margins from what it had been in the year prior, however inventory turnover has also increased significantly It also looks as if pretax and net income ratios have fallen in from the previous year along with pre and post-tax ratios and return on equity.Thoughts on IBM financial Performance from others In the year 2013 IBM lost much of their revenues becoming less profitable and shacking investors causing an increase in the sale of their stocks and subsequent drop in stock value IBM had a higher debt ratio in 2013 and have caused them to finance many of their assets with debts. In 2013 IBM shares had dropped 2.1% (Fay ; Bukovinsky, 2013) in comparison to the 26% gain of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DOW) (Denina, Mang, ; Jawaher, 2016). Couple this with the fact the revenues for IBM had also fallen for six straight quarters (Denina, et al, 2016) in this time frame IBM is seemingly not a company that investors had wanted to invest in. IBM had been constantly losing revenues since 2011 on service, sales, and financing across the board further causing a drop-in investor confidence in the companys performance causing for trading to be lower than expected early in 2013. In contrast to other competitors in the marketplace, it was found that overall IBMs stock share performance remained flat throughout the year. However, IBMs working capital had increased considerably to $11,196 million from $8,805 million in 2011 not to mention they were able to generate more revenue per dollar in this same time frame. This is somewhat like similar what had been indicated in the charts above about IBMs financial performance. In some instances, items were increasing in cost causing for greater financial loses while there were also items in which were increasing IBMs revenues. The charts did indicate that there had been a reduction in sales and to financing which then leads to lesser amounts of revenues, however, one difference had been that there had been an increase net income at the end of 2013 in contrast to the years 2011 and 2012. Not only this, but the charts indicated that sales were a steadily on the uprising for the company and not just moving about in spurts or remaining flat as some may have reported. Seemingly, IBM was able to reduce costs, and increase their revenues while also acquiring multiple businesses to further spread their investment portfolio in the effort to diversify and build a market niche cloud computing.

Copernicus Essays - Copernican Revolution, Ancient Greek Astronomy

Copernicus Essays - Copernican Revolution, Ancient Greek Astronomy Copernicus Nicolas Copernicus Nicolas Copernicus 1473-1543 Physics February 8, 2000 Nicolas Copernicus Nicolas Copernicus 1473-1543 Copernicus was born in Poland in 1473, he started his education at Cracow University. There he studied mathematics and optics. From here he went to Italy, where he was appointed as a canon in the cathedral of Frauenburg, where he spent a comfortable academic life studding. Copernicus had some small hobbies while at the cathedral, he painted, and frequently translated Greek poetry into Latin. One other hobby that just wasn't small enough to be called a hobby to most of us was astronomy. He made investigations quietly and alone, without any help. He observed from a turret on a protective wall around a cathedral, he also looked with his naked eye rather than with a telescope. He was one of the founders of modern astronomy. Copernicus died in 1543 of a cerebral hemorrhage. In 1530 right before Copernicus died he managed to published his work, De Revolutionibus. Which said that the earth rotated on its axis once daily and traveled around the sun once yearly. This might no sound very controversial but at this time the church and its followers believed in the Ptolemiac theory, which stated that the universe was a closed space bounded by a spherical envelope beyond which there was nothing. (Landry 1999) Copernicuss works went against the church, and most scientific beliefs. This may be one reason why Copernicus didnt publish his work until his deathbed. Another reason may be that Copernicus was a huge perfectionist, and continuously redid his works over and over to get them right. (Field 1995) So you can see why Copernicus wasnt in any big rush to have the world know about his theory. On one hand he would cause a Nicolas Copernicus tramoundous stir in the church, and all the scientific community. He wouldve most likely have been fired from the comfortable church position he had for many years, and couldve given him a bad name. If it hadnt been for George Rheticus, a 25-year-old German mathematics professor Copernicuss might have never publiched his work. (Field 1995) Rheticus stayed with Copernicus for two years, and convinced him to release his work. His work the Copernicus's heliostatic cosmology involved giving several distinct motions to the Earth. It was consequently considered implausible by the vast majority of his contemporaries, and by most astronomers and natural philosophers of succeeding generations before the middle of the seventeenth century. Its only defenders included Johannes Kepler (1571 -1630) and Galileo Galilei (1564- 1642). Strong theoretical underpinning for the Copernican theory was provided by Newton's theory of universal gravitation (1687). (Field 1995) So Copernicuss whole argument stated that the planets and the Earth were in orbit around the sun, and the moon was in orbit around the Earth. This is called the The Heliocentric System: Nicolas Copernicus In conclusion Copernicus said that the Sun was the center of the universe, and went against all known knowledge, religion, and teachings. He took all his observations with the naked eye and with no help. Many disregarded his book and his theory, which went against everything that the church believed in. However if it wasnt for Copernicus, modern astronomy would have never made advances as far as it has to today. Copernicuss hard work and strength is why he is one of the most important founders of modern astronomy. Bibliography Field, J. V. (1995 August). Home page. [Online]. [2000, Feb. 8]. Astronomy 161 The Solar System . [Online]. University of Florida. [2000, Feb. 8]. Landry, Peter (1999 June). Home page. [Online]. Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. CANADA. [2000, Feb. 8].

MGT499 MOD 5 CA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MGT499 MOD 5 CA - Essay Example The management is feeling the heat of this issue as the brand ranking slipping down at a pace which requires immediate revisit of concerned strategic guidelines. Acknowledging the situation, Riki Inuzuka the Managing Officer, Corporate Planning Division and Research Division for Toyota states, â€Å"We will continue to make concerted and unified efforts to ensure quality as well as to achieve a higher level of safety.† (Inuzuka, 2011). An in-depth analysis into the structure of the organization, controls applied to ensure implementation of strategies and organizational culture can help to trace the root causes of the safety scandals currently facing Toyota. In seventy-five years of history, the company is predominantly governed and steered by â€Å"Toyoda clan† with some regimes of non-family top level management. This obviously, suggests some structural and strategic flaws as far human-resource management is concerned. In the first place, keeping the steering seat reserved for Toyoda family suggest that performance is not the only merit to reach the heights one may aspire in his career with Toyota. Obviously, when this favoritism and nepotism travels down the path and creates serious unrest and concerns among sincere performers. Secondly, it creates rift among family and non-family managers and creates a stressed environment, where non-family manager will feel insecure and therefore may go for some out of the box options to prove their worth and impress the higher management. Last two non-family presidential regimes; 1995-1999 Hiroshi Okuda and 2000-2009 Katsuaki Watanabe have successfully expanded the global share of the car-maker but not without a changed focus of strategic controls from quality to quantity and goodwill to profitability. (Shirouzu, 2010). The Toyoda family regained the leadership at Toyota when Akio Toyoda was announced as the president of the Toyota. Akio is now trying to shift the focus of the company from

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Art - Essay Example He had stated the same six years earlier, in his rather personal manifesto in the catalogue of his 1855 exhibition: To word, to make a living art, that is my aim.’ This is a very important idea that artists must contend with in the contemporary world since it’s the basis of pop art. Secondly, Pop Art was created in New York and London, and its view is on the very special world of the mid-twentieth-century metropolis. Unmistakably, Pop is rooted in the urban environment. Additionally, Pop looks at special aspects of that environment which because of their associations and cultural level seemed impossible as subjects of art. These included: comics and picture magazines, the world of popular entertainment, Hollywood movies, pop music and fairgrounds; consumer durables, foodstuffs and even money. Thirdly, pop artists treat this subject matter in a special manner. For instance, they insist that a soup can or comic strip is simply a ‘motif, an excuse for a painting, like an apple in a still-life by Cezanne. Roy Lichtenstein, for instance has said before that: ‘Once I am involved with the painting I think of it as an abstraction. Half the time, they are upside down anyway when I work.’ On the contrary, while in a Cezanne the motif is a familiar one, and it’s easy for the viewer to ignore it and focus on the formal qualities of the painting, in Pop Art this motif is by no means familiar and thus strongly engages the viewer’s attention (Rubin 162). Not only is the motif new, its presentation was startlingly literal and looked more like the real thing than ever before in art’s history. The outcome was a kind of art combining the abstract and the figurative in a new way. It was realism, though done in the full knowledge of all that happened i n modern art since the time of Courbet. The next part of the discussion focuses on the major Pop artists, namely Roy

Eastern Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Eastern Philosophy - Essay Example The word Buddha refers to ‘the awakened one’ who has been enlightened. The philosophy of the Buddhist is that every on stands a potential of Buddhahood whether aware or unaware. Though this religious believe traces its origin among the Hindus, its fundamental believes are different from that of the Hindu. According to the Hindu, Buddhism is viewed as unorthodox (nastika). The history of this religion can be traced back in the early 566 B.C. through the royalty prince Siddhartha Gautama. Being a son to Indian Warrior-King, Gautama (the founder of Buddhism) led a very extravagant life from childhood to adulthood following the privileges associated with the uppers caste of prince-hood . When prince-hood living proved boring, he went off his way in search of understanding. In his external search, Gautama was finally made to believe that suffering awaits come end time. On believing the old man’s words, Gautama renounced his princely privileges and joined the monkhood, which deprived him of worldly possessions with strong hope of comprehending underlying truth of the surrounding environment. It was a tree that he finally believed that the end to suffering was ultimately salvation. Following his epiphany, Gautama became popular to the people of the same faith as ‘Buddha’, meaning "Enlightened One." Throughout his life, Buddha (Gautama) spent his entire life journeying about India, while preaching and teaching his understanding of the real world. This religion is based on four fundamental noble truths about suffering. These teachings are; the truth of suffering, the truth of causes of suffering, the truth and believe about the end of suffering, and the truth about the paths that leads believers off suffering. In the simple terms, Buddhists believe in the existence of suffering, suffering has its root cause; suffering would come to end via certain path. According to them, sufferings exist and we only need to navigate our ways through to attempt rectifying the situation. The first truth seeks to recognize the existence of suffering, the Second Truth determine the root causes of suffering. According to the Buddhists, ignorance and desire lie deep on the route to suffering. They also strongly believe that craving for material wellbeing, pleasure and immortality are human wants which can never be fulfilled. As a result, desire to have them satisfied would be more detrimental and would cause more suffering than good. With limited capacity for insight and mental concentration, Buddhists believe that development of the mind would be limited, thus unable to fairly grasp the truth about nature. Vices such as envy, greed, anger and greed, are due to ignorance. Though they also believe on the concept of leisure, but to them leisure fleets. They argue that pursuit of pleasure and leisure leads to unquenchable thirst. The same analogy is given on happiness. In the end, aging, death and sickness are inevitable for the entire hum an race. In the third Noble Truth, Buddhists believe that there is an end to suffering either by death or through achieving Nirvana spiritual position. The Fourth Noble Truth highlights methods that are deemed significant in achieving an end to suffering, commonly referred to as Noble Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Noble Paths are; Right Thought, Right Understanding, Right Speech, Right Livelihood, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Concentration, and Right Mindfulness. In addition, the path to overcoming suffering is divided into three themes: good moral conduct (Thought, Understanding and Speech), mediation and mental growth (Action, Effort, and Livelihood), and insight or wisdom (Mindfulness and Concentration)3. Hinduism Beliefs Hinduism is one of the historically old religious beliefs that is said to have originated basically from the Indian subcontinent. Philosophers and other religious scholars have always treated it as being more of a law or eternal path (Santana Dharma) than a

Analysis of the Human Rights Act, 1998

Analysis of the Human Rights Act, 1998 Human Rights Law ‘Despite the Human Rights Act 1998, the courts have failed appropriately to limit the scope for the exercise of breach of the peace powers.’ The Human Rights Act 1998 received royal assent on November 9, 1998 and came into force on October 2, 2000. The objective of said Act was to harmonize the domestic law of the United Kingdom with the European Convention on Human Rights. To reaffirm the commitment of the UK to human rights and civil liberties, it is now possible under the said Act to file a claim for violation of the ECHR without going to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Says Weinstein: This ability to transcend national law, and to compel revision of such law to comport with rights guaranteed by the European Convention in a broad range of areas, most often within the exclusive purview of national and local courts, is of historic note. Generally, nation states have been the final arbiters of most issues affecting their citizenry and within their borders. By treaty, the signatory nations of Europe have granted the ECHR binding authority to decide cases affecting their citizenry and other persons subject to their authority. In instances where state law is found inconsistent with an ECHR judgment, the nation at issue is obliged to amend its national law to comport with the ECHR decision. These cases illustrate the concept of what is increasingly being referred to as an evolving European supranational identity. The ECHR grants jurisdiction to any individual, non-governmental organization, or group claiming be a victim of a violation of the European Convention by a ECHR signatory nation, and to bring cases before it, as does, in applicable cases, the European Court of Justice (the ECJ), the court of the European Union, based in Luxembourg. Equally important, it prohibits any public body from behaving in a manner that is incompatible with any of the rights guaranteed under the ECHR. The Human Rights Act has gone a long way in limiting arbitrary actions from public bodies, in particular, police officers. It cannot be denied, however, that the laws on â€Å"breach of the peace† grant have historically been so vast in scope that in some occasions, human rights violations arise. The definition of â€Å"breach of the peace† (also known as breach of the Queen’s peace) has been discussed in the Court of Appeal decision of Howell, where it was stated as follows: We are emboldened to say that there is a breach of the peace whenever harm is actually done or is likely to be done to a person or in his presence his property or a person is in fear of being so harmed through an assault, an affray, a riot, unlawful assembly or other disturbance. It used to be that the prospect of violence alone would not be enough to be considered a â€Å"breach of the peace†, as in the comment of Farqhuarson LJ that â€Å"The act which puts someone in fear of violence taking place entitles a police officerto detain the actor but it is not a breach of the peace, for the violence has not yet occurred.† There has been scant support for this view, such that in the present time, â€Å"breach of the peace† also embraces â€Å"behaviour likely to cause a violent reaction†, even if such behaviour is not of itself violent. The policy of the law has been recently discussed in the case of Humberside Police v. McQuade, where it was held that: â€Å"the policy of the law relating to arrest for breach of the peace is plain enough. Its purpose is to deal with emergencies. The power of arrest may be exercised without a warrant and belongs to the ordinary citizen as much as to the constable.† In a handful of cases, the European Court of Human Rights has found that there is no contradiction between the concept and the Human Rights act of 1998. The most cited case is the case of McLeod v. United Kingdom , where the Court held as follows: â€Å"The concept of breach of the peace has been clarified by the English courts over the last two decades, to the extent that it is now sufficiently established that a breach of the peace is committed only when an individual causes harm, or appears likely to cause harm, to persons or property, or acts in a manner the natural consequence of which would be to provoke violence in others.† There are several powers that underlie a â€Å"breach of the peace†. The first power is the power of arrest. In Howell the conditions for making an arrest on this basis were laid down, to wit – â€Å"Where: (1) a breach of the peace is committed in the presence of a person making the arrest or (2) the arrestor believes that such a breach will be committed in the immediate future by the person arrested although he has not yet committed any breach or (3) where a breach has been committed and it is reasonably believed that a renewal of it is threatened.† Another power is the power to enter premises. The leading case for this is the case of Thomas v. Sawkins which involved a meeting to protest the Inciting to Disaffection Bill. Wary that seditious and inflammatory statements would be made, the policemen stormed in and attended the meeting, even though they were aware that they were unwelcome. In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled that the presence of the police officers was lawful. Stone explains why this is an alarming prospect: A point of uncertainty, however, arose from the fact that the meeting took place on private premises. Did the power of entry recognised in the case only apply to meetings to which the public were invited, or are the police entitled to enter any premises on which a breach of the peace is occurring or is likely to occur? The judges in Thomas v Sawkins appeared to attach importance to the fact that they were dealing with a public meeting, but the general law of trespass makes no distinction of this kind. If those attending a public meeting on private premises do so on the basis of a licence from the occupier, then that licence may be withdrawn, from the police as much as anyone else. If the police have the power to override the withdrawal of a licence, then there seems no reason why that power should not exist on all occasions. The result is that Thomas v Sawkins had the effect of giving the police a power to enter any premises to prevent or deal with a breach of the peace. Another power police officers have is the power to control/restrict/compel an individual’s movement. The seminal case for this is the case of Moss v McLachlan , which involved militant striking miners prevented by policemen from joining the ranks of more â€Å"moderate† miners. The Court upheld the actions of the law enforcement agents, saying as follows: â€Å"If the police feared that a convoy of cars travelling towards a working coal field bearing banners and broadcasting, by sight or sound, hostility or threats towards working miners might cause a violent episode, they would be justified in halting the convoy to enquire into its destination and purpose. If, on stopping the vehicles, the police were satisfied that there was a real possibility of the occupants causing a breach of the peace one-and-a-half miles away, a journey of less than five minutes by car, then in our judgment it would be their duty to prevent the convoy from proceeding further and they have the power to do so.† There are many human rights issues that are affected by an overly-broad interpretation of â€Å"breach of the peace.† The first principle that they may invoke is the principle regarding Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion which is enshrined in Article 9. There is no dearth of cases that they may cite in order to support their position. For example, in the case of Arrowsmith v. United Kingdom, it was stated this right refers to acts that are an expression of a religion or belief. This right was raised before the ECHR for a variety of reasons, such as employment and prisoners’ rights. While certainly, the courts have taken quite a restrictive approach in applying the provision and granting relief under it, it has been restrictive when the acts sought to be justified are acts that are patently illegal and morally wrong, such as assisted suicide or the distribution of cannabis. These acts cannot be compared to the simple act of dancing or organizing. The dangers of cannabis and euthanasia simply cannot compare to the conjectured danger in the case at hand, and thus, the latter should fall under the ambit of freedom of religion. There is also the freedom of assembly and association argument (Article 11) that may be raised. Aside from imposing a negative obligation on law enforcement agents not trample on protected rights, they must secure the effective enjoyment of these rights. In the case of Plattform ‘Arzte fur das Leben v. Austria the ECHR held that â€Å"Genuine effective freedom of peaceful assembly cannot be reduced to a mere duty on the part of the state not to interfere†¦ Article 11 sometimes requires positive measures to be taken, even in the sphere of relations between individuals, if need be.† Freedom of Expression which may be found in Article 10, can likewise be cited. There can be no doubt that freedom of expression is of paramount importance. While the right to free speech is a crystallized principle that has been place almost since the beginning of time, enjoying a cherished position in the bill of rights of virtually all civilized legal systems, the interpretation of what constitutes free and protected speech still has yet to be perfectly refined. This provision has been invoked many times over in the course of history, whether within the European Union or outside, successfully and unsuccessfully; and Courts have had many opportunities to set standards and devise guidelines to determine if the speech in question should be protected or not. It is important to note that Article 10 protects not merely the substance of the idea but also the form that they are conveyed. This was the ruling in the case of Oberschlick v. Austria and it could be applied here. The form of the expression should also be considered protected speech. This is bolstered by the fact that in the case of Stevens v. United Kingdom, the concept of expression covers even â€Å"actions†. It becomes more difficult when the right to free speech competes with another right, in this case, the right of the public to order, or to put it more classically, the right of the Queen to her peace. In â€Å"easy† cases, all that should be done is look through jurisprudence until one finds the applicable case with similar facts. In â€Å"hard† cases with novel facts, the role of the judge becomes infinitely more difficult. The boundaries are ever-shifting; and internally, the judge will be trying not only to apply the law, but to subject the text or speech in question to her own subjective inquiry in order to determine the intent of the message-bearer and what the material was trying to say. Social and political values inevitably come to the fore. To quote legal writer Thomas Streeter, â€Å"It is in the character of language, in other words, that a judge will never be able to look at the text of the Bill of Rights and legal precedents to decide whether or not flag b urning is protected by the First Amendment; he will always in one way or another be forced to make a choice about whether or not he thinks it should be protected, and will always be faced with the possibility that a reasonable person could plausibly disagree.† What distinguishes the area on free speech from other â€Å"legally-indeterminate† areas is that it is inextricably intertwined with and largely dependent on language which, as many eminent linguists have said, is arbitrary in the sense that meanings cannot be derived from anything logically-inherent in the words. These meanings are merely â€Å"assigned meanings† born of the collective experiences of people in a community and this system of interpretation is never static. As stated by Streeter, â€Å"Aside from language in general and perhaps some very deep-level aspects of syntax, there is very little that is universal, neutral, or mechanical about human languages.† Another issue is the right to due process. Legal systems in the civilized world – whether in civil or common law jurisdictions have, at least in theory, given primacy to the rights of the accused, understanding that ambiguity should be resolved in his or her favor. This, however, does not mean that one must let down his or her vigilance and stop guarding against possible infringement of constitutional guarantees by overzealous judges, particularly at a time when human rights advocacy for the accused has been made unpopular by the rising rate of crime. It used to be that the primacy of the State is the core principle of the international legal regime as it is traditionally known. This, however, has been challenged by the alarming rise of state-sponsored human rights violations that has prodded the community of nations to recognize that its more pressing duty is to protect the individual from systemic and institutional atrocity, even at the expense of its legal fictions. To quote from Hersch Lauterpacht, in his article International Law and Human Rights, An international legal system which aims at effectively safeguarding human freedom in all its aspects is no longer an abstraction. It is as real as man’s interest in the guarantee and the preservation of his inalienable rights as a rational and moral being. International law, which has excelled in punctilious insistence on the respect owed by one sovereign State to another, henceforth acknowledges the sovereignty of man. For fundamental human rights are superior to the law of the sovereign State. This is the raison d’etre behind the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights which entered into force in 1966 and the Human Rights Act of 1998. State parties were cognizant of the need to protect civil and political rights of citizens from possible encroachment by the state. The ICCPR explicitly declares: â€Å"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.† It is undeniable that this includes protection of citizens from agents of the state such as members of the police force. And yet, we see how police officers routinely violate the human rights of those they apprehend. The implicit message is that these are criminals anyway – thugs, petty thieves, gangsters, punks, drug addicts, alcoholics – and they are doing society a favor by treating them brusquely. An oft-heard justification is that you cannot treat hardened criminals with kid gloves or you will be perpetrating crime even further. However, it cannot be gainsaid that the legal restrictions on evidence make police brutality inimical to law enforcement, rather than the opposite. Given the propensity of law enforcement agents to manhandle an accused or use unnecessary force to restrain and subdue him, they should be taught that such behavior only bolsters crime instead of eliminating it. First: it emboldens criminals to seek revenge and go on â€Å"vendetta killings† and perpetuates a vicious cycle of crime that exacerbates the situation even further. Second: evidence procured by vi rtue of such rough manhandling will not be admissible in evidence and the criminal they seek to put behind bars will be allowed to go back to the streets. Most importantly, however, even hardened criminals are covered by the human rights guarantees in the Constitution and in human rights conventions. Human rights are inalienable and imprescriptible, and they apply to everyone. But perhaps the most recent caselaw on breach of the peace with respect to the concept of human rights is the recently concluded Fairford Coach Action where the police detained 120 protesters on their way to an anti-war demonstration in Gloucestershire. The Public Order and Criminal Justice Act was used by the policemen. The Law Lords eventually ruled in favour of the protesters. In 2004, it made this crucial point: The rights to freedom of expression, and assembly and association, which are protected by Articles 10 and 11 of the ECHR respectively, are of the greatest importance to the proper functioning of any democracy. Any intrusion upon the rights, either by the developing common law or by the intervention of statute law, has to be jealously scrutinised. In conclusion, while certainly there are significant inroads brought about by the Human Rights Act of 1998, these still must be reckoned with the laws on breach of the peace. It is the duty of the courts and of every citizen to be vigilant against encroachments by police officers. The law is there to provide refuge, but education and awareness are primary.   Bibliography Hoffman, D. Rowe, J. (2003). Human Rights in the UK: An Introduction to the Human Rights Act 1998. London: Pearson Longman. Lauterpacht, Hersch. 1950. International Law and Human Rights. Connecticut: Archon Books. Stone, R. (2001) Breach of the Peace: The Case for Abolition. 2 Web. JCLI. Streeter, T. (1995) Some Thoughts on Free Speech, Language and the Rule of Law. In Jensen, R. and Allen, D. (Eds.) Freeing the First Amendment: Critical Perspectives on Freedom of Expression.31-53. New York University Press. Weinstein, B. â€Å"Recent Decisions from the European Court of Human Rights.† American Society of International Law. May 2000. visited 21 January 2007. http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh45.htm

Distance Learning Essay -- Essays Papers

Distance Learning In recent years, there has been a trend in the way that many major institutions of higher learning have been teaching their students. This change of pace in the education world is what is known as distance learning. Distance learning is the form of schooling that can be done over the Internet, and never actually being forced to be present in a classroom or even on the campus. According to Joel Snell, correspondence courses were the predecessors to what we now know as distance learning (258). Many people say that distance education is the future of our nations’ education, however there are many arguments against the wide spread establishment of distance learning programs. Although distance learning may seem like a bright future for education, nevertheless, it will never be as successful as campus learning, because every student must be self-driven and also highly motivated, the lack of access to libraries and other sources of information, and also face-to-face inter action is necessary for a good education. Many people think that distance learning is a perfect fit for men and women working on their master’s while still maintaining a job. When a person enters the real world and gets a job, they will not always have a lot of time on their hands that would allow them to go to classes. The ability to take their classes at anytime possible is one of the most appealing factors for distance learners (Flanagan). Another reason as to why distance learning is a perfect match for men and women taking classes while working is the motivation factor. Both Snell and Mariani agree that in order for a person to succeed in distance education, they must be highly motivated, which does not describe the ... ...he newest equipment today will just give you out-dated equipment a few months after the initial implementation (Porter 41-42). Based entirely upon the facts that are presented in so many academic sources, distance education programs are hard to implement as well as to maintain, so that it why that many fail, and they are not widely accepted in today’s day. Works Cited Flanagan, Robert. Personal Interview. 27 Oct. 2001. Mariani, Matthew. â€Å"Distance Learning in Post-Secondary Education: Learning Whenever, Wherever.† Occupational Outlook. 45. 2 (2001): 2-10. Minoli, Daniel. Distance Learning Technology and Applications. Boston: Artech House, 1996. Porter, Lynette. Creating the Virtual Classroom: Distance Learning with the Internet. New York: Wiley, 1997. Snell, Joel. â€Å"Distance Learning: Observations.† College Student Journal. 35. 2 (2001): 258- 259.