Led Zeppelin: A Decade That Changed Rock Music Essay

Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. During that interval there were dramatic changes in rock music, its mythologies, the industry, and its audience. Through circumstance, design, and luck the band occupied a central position in some of the most significant of these developments. The band’s impact on rock was music was noteworthy: Led Zeppelin rewrote all the record books. All subsequent bands were measured by the standards it set. As with few other popular bands, the truth depends upon the perspective one takes. Since Led Zeppelin’s demise popular music and its institutions have changed significantly, in this paper, I will attempt to give both sides their due by sketching a measured image of the band and the role it played in the development of seventies rock music. It will be seen that the band emerged at a transitional period in popular music, and that partisans and critics alike hold it responsible for changes that characterized rock music in the seventies. Led Zeppelin was formed by Jimmy Page in late-1968. It rose from the ashes of the Yardbirds, a blues-rock band that, along with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, was one of the first-generation British groups. Despite the fact that it had been extremely successful in the United States, the group had little success in its native country. One of the band’s central claims to fame was that it employed in succession Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. Today, these musicians are revered as the holy trinity of white, English, rock-blues guitarists (Cole and Trubo 13-14). Page, a highly regarded session guitarist who played on numerous British hits, selected the musicians that would form his band. He first recruited another accomplished session musician, John Paul Jones, to play bass and keyboards. Discovering that his first choice for vocalist, Terry Reid, was unavailable he selected the relatively unknown Robert Plant. Plant, in turn, suggested a friend and former band-mate, John Bonham — â€Å"Bonzo† affectionately — to play drums. In their first rehearsal together, the four played the Yardbirds’ â€Å"The Train Kept a ‘Rollin. † The session has been described as â€Å"magic† by all present. The rest, as they say, is history (Yorke 21-3). Led Zeppelin, along with Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, and Grand Funk, was a progenitor of the musical style known as â€Å"heavy metal† rock. As the name suggests, the genre features loudly amplified music that emphasizes the bottom register. Live or on a good stereo, its heaviness has a distinct somatic component — the throb of the guitar, bass, and drums can all be felt the in listener’s gut. Commentators interpret the genre as one of a number that emerged from the decomposition of psychedelic music in the late sixties (Straw 97-110), According to Straw, early heavy metal had three dominant stylistic traits; first, was the â€Å"cult† of the lead guitarist. Heavy metal bands were formed around guitar playing â€Å"geniuses† who were revered by fans for their instrumental prowess. As Weinstein reminds us, this extended to their use of, â€Å"A wide range of electronic gadgetry, such as wah-wah pedals and fuzz boxes† (Weinstein 23). Second, was the notion of the â€Å"power trio,† and other references to musical virtuosity. Unlike â€Å"pop† or commercial bands, whose relationship to musicianship was accidental at best, metal bands were made up of highly proficient musicians. Third, was the â€Å"supergroup† phenomenon, and the importance of extended solo playing that discarded the temporal limits of the pop song (Straw 97). As Weinstein observes, many of these attributes could also be discerned within pre-metal acts such as Hendrix or Cream (16-17). Later, the genre’s characteristics would sediment into distinctive stage shows, album cover designs, and audience dress and life styles. The success of this style has been interpreted as reflecting the emergence of a new rock audience, composed in Davis’ view, of, â€Å"Boys and young men between fifteen and twenty-four, an audience who like their rock to be loud, Anglo-Saxon, violent, 4/4, martial. The girls weren’t really at this party. It wasn’t a dance† (Davis 63). Audition tapes in hand, Led Zeppelin’s manager, Peter Grant, negotiated a five-album, ? 200,000 package with Atlantic Records in late 1969 (Lewis 45). In addition, the band was given complete artistic control over its music and album cover design. This was an unprecedented deal for a band that had yet to release a single album, and said as much for the negotiating skills of the principals as it did for the label’s expectations of the group’s potential for commercial success. In a move bound to raise more than a few eyebrows, the band removed the â€Å"a† from Lead Zeppelin, reportedly so that American fans would not mispronounce it. The magnitude of the deal would lead to charges that the band was based on â€Å"hype† rather than solid musicianship (Weinstein). Led Zeppelin’s early musical output fits squarely within the above stylistic categories. As Rockwell argues, its music was, â€Å"Essentially a prolongation of the nineteen-sixties British blues-rock tradition† (Rockwell n. p. ). Rather than offering a reinterpretation of the path laid down by its predecessors, the band’s music mutated the genre, creating a new offshoot. Two direct examples may be found on the band’s first album, Led Zeppelin: Willie Dixon’s â€Å"I Can’t Quit You† and â€Å"You Shook Me. † No mere covers, each song served as a point of departure for amplified, distorted, and shrieking musical efforts. Equally characteristic was the way Led Zeppelin offered up portentously expanded variants on American and British folk music. Songs such as â€Å"Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You† from the first album, or â€Å"Gallows Pole,† from the third, start with a vocal accompanied by an amplified acoustic guitar, building to complex tapestries of electrified sound and crashing drums (Yorke 72-4). These effects were realized by the way that Page used his guitar and electronic wizardry to explore the coloristic possibilities of distortion. Plant, on the other hand, used his voice like an instrument. This upset the vocal technique traditionally used by blues singers, which had required them to project emotion. Writing of this practice, Christgau argues, â€Å"Its influence on popular singing has been so widespread that, at least among males, singing and emoting have become almost identical — it is a matter of projection rather than hitting the notes† (n. p. ). Thus, singers like Bob Dylan or Neil Young who, by their own admission possessed little vocal talent, could be excused, or even revered, because of their ability to communicate not only lyrical content, but feelings. Plant’s vocals, in contrast, were devoid of feeling in the traditional sense. The expressive possibilities were found in the sound of his voice rather than in the lyric’s meaning (Lewis 67). No longer chained to lyrics, Plant used his voice as a sound rather than to express emotion, which often meant that a song’s lyrical content was often obscure or indecipherable. Led Zeppelin’s music did not emote in the traditional sense. Even the band’s acoustic work — sounds traditionally coded as â€Å"sincere† and â€Å"warm† — was sometimes interpreted as lacking feeling. The often meant that critics would interpret the band’s music as cold, or charge that it was just undifferentiated noise. With his characteristic penchant for hyperbole, Lester Bangs referred to Led Zeppelin’s music as, â€Å"The tonal equivalent of a 1933 Nuremburg rally (â€Å"Mighty† 62). An analysis of the band’s lyrical themes reveals a variety of topics and sources of inspiration. In Led Zeppelin’s early music, lyrical content, vocal style, and instrumental attack, often exemplify an aggressive, swaggering, male sexuality. All are found within the band’s â€Å"Whole Lotta Love,† one of its early hits. Recorded in 1969, the song has a â€Å"dirty† sounding, three-note riff, that has become one of rock’s most recognizable. Plant sung the lyrics, â€Å"borrowed† from Willie Dixon’s â€Å"You Need Love,† with his best histrionic ardor (Davis). Accompanied by the vocalist howling in orgasmic frenzy, the song’s middle section has churning, swirling, electronic sound effects that move from left to right speakers. On the same album, however, one finds â€Å"Ramble On,† a song that embodies and presages Robert Plant’s fascination with Tolkien-inspired imagery and Celtic themes. Undoubtedly, its lyrics owe a debt to traditional, blues-based tales of ‘ramblin men, who â€Å"have no time for spreading roots. † Ultimately, however, the song breaks from that mold by restating the narrative within the vernacular of an unrelenting, mythical quest for â€Å"the queen of all my dreams† (Lewis). Such songs are characteristic of Led Zeppelin’s output, and provide insight into what differentiated the band from its precursors. For Straw, one of the characteristics of their music was a, â€Å"Consistent non-invocation of rock history or mythology in any self-conscious or genealogical sense† (103). While he views this as a generic quality, it is particularly relevant to the analysis of Led Zeppelin’s music. Put differently, when Plant copped blues lyrics for a song it was rarely to evoke a specific musical mood or period. Instead, they became part of a larger musical dynamic. True, a song such as â€Å"Bring it on Home,† may have begun with the harmonica and voice mannerisms of an old, black, blues singer, but its inclusion was based primarily on architectural considerations rather than of a desire to pay homage to American urban music of the twenties and thirties. This misunderstanding is part of the reason that someone like Lester Bangs would write that Led Zeppelin’s, â€Å"Albums refine the crude public tools of all dull white blues bands into something awesome in its very insensitive grossness, like a Cecil B. DeMille epic† (â€Å"Review of Led Zeppelin† n. p. ). Rather than understanding the mechanics of the effect, or perhaps understanding but still not won over, critics found it easier to interpret the means Page used to achieve it. As it employed â€Å"inflated† or â€Å"excessive† means to achieve dynamic contrasts, Led Zeppelin’s music was often accused of being cartoon-like, the perfect intellectual nourishment for its young and uninformed audience (Cole and Trubo 49-50). According to Rockwell, â€Å"As it evolved from 1968 onward, Led Zeppelin became the first and greatest mass audience band built up through FM radio-play and live concerts rather than AM singles† (â€Å"Led Zeppelin and the Alchemy† 24). Christgau compliments this view, by observing that the band never â€Å"woodshedded† like Cream, that it had a mass audience from the start (n. p. ). Both facts reflected the changing structure of the music industry in the late-sixties and early-seventies. Traditionally, rock bands started at the ground floor. They toured in small venues and received local radio airplay, which they would then parlay into a local or regional base of support. Despite its commercial success, Led Zeppelin positioned itself as a band that lay outside the mainstream. Though it had a mass audience, the band’s fans felt as if they were members of a secret society. When their early albums were criticized by reviews in the Rolling Stone and other national music publications, they recoiled from contact with the music press. Unlike other bands, its members were rarely in the pages of music magazines (Lewis). Consistent with contractual stipulations, Led Zeppelin exercised absolute control over their artistic direction. They became known as a band that wouldn’t take shit from anyone. Tales of their contrariness have taken on mythic proportions. At a time when other popular bands were required to cut singles or engage in more subtle or obvious forms of merchandising, they were one of the few that had the power to abstain from these sordid affairs (Yorke 114-5). Despite many lucrative offers, the band refused to perform on television. These stories lent the band a distinctive mystique. Rockwell comments, â€Å"Led Zeppelin is a band that is almost a ritual among teen-agers and blissfully alien to the over-21-year-olds† (24). This combination of mass appeal and cult-like allegiance is an unusual and interesting phenomenon. In structure if not in meaning, the group was the musical equivalent of the Volkswagen Beetle. Even today, its status as a â€Å"people’s band† remains largely uncontested (Cole and Trubo 102). The hullabaloo surrounding the release of Led Zeppelin’s fourth album provides insight into how the band’s unique status was constructed. In 1971 it released its fourth album. Its jacket contained no words that would identify it as a Led Zeppelin album to â€Å"outsiders. † Inside, one found four â€Å"runes† at the top of the liner sleeve (Yorke 133). When asked to explain the rationale for this unorthodox packaging, Page replied, â€Å"We decided that on the fourth album we would deliberately downplay the group name and there wouldn’t be any information on the outer jacket. Names, titles, and things like that do not mean a thing. †¦ What matters is our music. We said we just wanted to rely purely on music†( quoted in Davis 141-142). Within the industry, confusion ensued over what to call the album. Critics labeled it â€Å"the fourth album,† or referred to it by catalog number, â€Å"Atlantic SD 7208,† while fans often referred to it as â€Å"Zoso,† a rough transliteration of the first rune. One does not have to challenge the sincerity of Mr. Page’s remarks to see how a belief that only music mattered, and that â€Å"Names, titles and things† had no relevance, might also function as an effective marketing tool. It played the game both ways: on the one hand, it affirmed the band’s distance from merchandising itself, while, on the other, it created an aura that drew suburban teens to record stores in droves (Cole and Trubo 73). Led Zeppelin toured North America every year from 1968 through 1973, returning in 1975 and 1977. The band had scheduled concert dates for 1980, although John Bonham’s untimely death halted their plans. The tours since 1973 were conducted with military-like precision. The band even went as far as leasing their own private jets to ferry them to and from shows (Yorke 142). The size of Led Zeppelin’s attendance and gate receipts were to become almost as legendary as its performances. In July 1973 the band broke the Beatles’ record for single concert paid attendance. The Beatles had drawn 55,000, with a $301,000 gross, to Shea Stadium in 1965. Yet that night 56,800 people paid $309,000 to see Led Zeppelin in Tampa, Florida (Robins 116). In 1977 the band played before 76,229 fans in Pontiac, Michigan, billed as the largest paid crowd for a single attraction in the history of rock. The band’s gross for the evening was $792,361, a record at that time (Swan Song Press Release). While its fans would proudly identify with the band’s â€Å"outsider† status, they also took a great deal of satisfaction in the band’s commercial success. This contradiction suggests that the rock ideology had mutated since the late-60, and that its oppositional stance had softened some, reflecting institutional changes that the genre and its audience had undergone during that time (Lewis). Plant and Page, around whom most of the show revolved, presented starkly different characters. On stage Plant was the front-man. He introduced the songs and chatted with the audience between them. The singer’s appeal was primarily to girls and young women. On stage he was, by turns, coquettish and phallic (Cole and Trubo 66-7). At one moment, he was a golden-curled, teeny-bop dream, provoking fantasies of castles and knights, at another, he was a groaning, pushing, back-door man, ready to break down the door to get what he wanted. Robins characterized his stage presence as, â€Å"Spirituality mixed with sexuality† (Robins 117). Unlike the singer, Page’s appeal was primarily to boys and young men. While the driving force behind the band, he almost never spoke to the audience. His is the silence of young boys, vulnerable and aloof. A waifish, Edwardian figure, Page’s guitar playing was accompanied by dramatic and grandiloquent gestures. On stage he often resembled a wizard marshaling the dark electronic forces at his disposal, an impression heightened by his reported dalliance with Satanism. He appeals to those who feel they have something important to say, but doubt their ability to say them (Davis). Led Zeppelin’s music always exceeded generic heavy metal boundaries. In the mid-seventies, however, these boundaries were eroding from developments within and without rock music. The stylistic diversity that marked its third and fourth albums was pushed even farther in later albums such as Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti. In each, the blues played a less prominent role, and the band’s lyrical concerns began to shift, in a generic sense, overlapping the terrain occupied by progressive groups such as Yes, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. In the mid- to late-seventies the distinctions between the audiences for heavy metal and progressive rock began to fragment (Weinstein 29). By the mid 70s, Led Zeppelin’s audience had become more varied. While still holding much of its traditional audience base, new groups such as Boston, Aerosmith, or Kansas, competed with the band for the allegiance of young listeners. By contrast, its music became part of the mainstream. In 1976, for example, the daughter of the president, Susan Ford, said on the Dick Cavett Show that Led Zeppelin was her favorite group. Not able to let its historical commitment to youth be outshone, the Democrats responded in kind. Speaking at the National Association of Record Manufacturers convention, Jimmy Carter â€Å"reminisced about listening to Led Zeppelin records during all-night sessions when he was governor of Georgia† (Davis 296-7). While anecdotal, both accounts suggest that Led Zeppelin had become something of an institution. As a signifier of youth, one needed only to refer to it to become cool. As is common in politics, however, the symbolism rang hollow. Although the undisputed ruler of America’s high school parking lots in the early seventies, by the dawn of the eighties Led Zeppelin was no longer able to unite different youth factions under its sonic umbrella. Instead, these same parking lots were the sites of tribal warfare, with one area given over to New Wave, another to Disco or dance music, and still another to Metal (Straw 101-3). Led Zeppelin was, arguably, the most commercially successful rock band of the seventies, all the while maintaining an aura that made its young audience feel as if it were part of a secret society. From their standpoint, fandom was an entry into a â€Å"community† the size of which has not been seen since. It was also, arguably, the most significant and influential rock band of the seventies. Emerging from the decomposition of 60s psychedelia, the band played a leading role in the development of the decade’s musical, performance, and business practices. Works Cited Bangs, Lester. Review of Led Zeppelin III, Atlantic SD 7201. Rolling Stone. (November 26,1970): NP. Bangs, Lester. â€Å"Mighty War Machine, Familiar as a heartbeat,† Creem. (February 1972) 62-63. Christgau, Robert. â€Å"A Power Plant† Newsday. (June 15,1972): NP. Cole, Richard and Richard Trubo. Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored. New York: Harper Collins, 1992. Davis, Stephen. Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga. New York: Ballantine Books, 1985. Lewis, Dave. Led Zeppelin: A Celebration. Omnibus Press, 1991. Queenan, Joe. â€Å"Bookshelf: Sex V Drugs ‘n’ Rock ‘n’ Roll. † The Wall Street Journal. (August 28,1992): NP. Robins, Wayne. â€Å"Led Zep Zaps Kidz. † Village Voice. (February 3,1975): 116-118. Rockwell, John. â€Å"Led Zeppelin Excites Crowd at Garden But Somehow Delirium Wasn’t There. † New York Times. (February 4,1975): NP. Rockwell, John. â€Å"Led Zeppelin and the Alchemy of a Rock Group. † New York Times. (June 5, 1977): 19-24. Straw, Will. â€Å"Characterizing Rock Music Cultures: The Case of Heavy Metal,† in Frith, Simon and Andrew Goodwin (eds. ) On Record: Rock, Pop, and the Written Word. New York: Pantheon, 1990, pp. 97-110. Weinstein, Deena. Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology. New York: Lexington Books, 1991. Yorke, Ritchie. Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Biography. London: Virgin, 1993.

Apple’s Success, Service and Innovations

CASE: â€Å"The Success of the iPod and iPhone raises the licensing question for Apple†¦. Again† 1. Use the Cyclic Innovation Model figure to illustrate the innovation process in this case and provide a brief description? Apple started in 1977 when it’s first personal computer was designed by Steven Jobs and Steven Wozniak. The thing that was different about the Apple Macintosh personal computer was that it used a mouse driven operating system, which was not being used by other computers at the time.Microsoft were using a Microsoft Disc Operating System, which they licensed to all other PC manufacturers, Apple refused to do this which limited it to only people who bought Apple computers, this led to Apple’s shares falling significantly. Although Apple had an arguably better operating system they were losing in the market, because Microsoft licensed other manufacturers to use their operating system it became the common household system. This stubbornness alth ough at the time seen to be foolish at the time, has helped with their success today (Trott, P 2012).Apple’s technological research over time (and the return of Steven Jobs) led to the creation of the iPod. In 2001 the iPod was launched, from 2003 the sales of the iPod heavily increased, generating massive profits for Apple, and giving the brand more exposure. To help Apple deal with the market competitors they kept improving and modifying the iPod, whilst still being able to lower its price. They did this by making modified versions such as the iPod Shuffle, and upgrading other models. Apple has continued to upgrade and invent new products to keep its customers and attract new ones.This has been done through the iMac, iPod, iPad and iPhone, adding new technological features, such as giving phones other multipurpose uses such as an iPod substitute as well as the invention of the ‘apps store’. Their technological developments to make these products do all sorts of amazing new things has given them a huge upper hand in the market (Trott, P 2012). Apple have made a positive shift in the market transition since they first started, from the debut of the Apple Macintosh in 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club which was barely taken seriously.To now where the release of the iPad which was criticized for being too big for an iPhone but too small for a laptop which has made considerable profit, is astounding. The brand image they have built is superior to any other technological brand in the market, in my opinion. 2. With Sales of iPod falling and Apple facing fierce competition from all quarters such as Sony, Dell, Samsung and other electronics firms as well as mobile phone makers who are incorporating MP3 players into their devices, can the iPod survive?The iPod has become the standardized form of MP3 players in the market, taking up 50% of market share in the MP3 market (Trott, P 2012). Although Apple has recorded a fall in iPod sales in recent yea rs, they have been substituted for other apple products which have had a huge increase in sales such as the iPhone which is commonly used as an MP3 player. Other companies have tried making and matching and bettering the iPod with their own MP3 players but have been unsuccessful in knocking off the number 1 MP3 player of the decade.Apples brand is so strong in that market with so many different versions of the iPod, making them an affordable and safe choice when choosing an MP3 player. Still competitors will keep trying to better the iPod through MP3 technology in their own devices, the iPod will have to keep on improving if it wants to keep the upper hand in the market. To keep their spot Apple with have to keep improving the quality and technology of their iPod and keep its sleek original design, while still keeping the prices competitive with other brands.Even newer technology will need to be presented by Apple if it wants to keep MP3 market shares high, futuristic technology wil l have to be designed possibly holograms technology and increasing the uses that the iPod MP3 already has. Although I believe it is inevitable that iPods and MP3 players will soon be a very small market in today’s society with so many other devices having the same technology plus more, that is still a fair while away and more profit is definitely yet to be made through the iPod.New fashionable unique covers can make the iPods more attractive to consumers, as well as all the accessories; such as jogging/fitness straps to hold them while the consumer participates in physical activity. Also upgrading the headphone design so it sits in more comfortably. I think some kind of hologram technology will become evident in the future of the mobile phone or iPod technology. Also a backup storage where the whole device is always backed up to a computer device so absolutely nothing is lost if a phone breaks, or is lost. 3.How can Apple influence future technology developments or establish strategic alliances to ensure it is a dominant force in the hand-held device that will incorporate both the cellphone and the MP3 player? Apple must continue to maintain a positive and trusting strategic alliance with other companies in the future to ensure that their plans for future technologies aren’t leaked, or copied. If they are able to create that kind of a strategic alliance, and with a major technical company (e. g. HP) they could create some mind blowing new technology in the future.The possibilities if Apple were able to team up with a technology giant could mean massive $$ for both companies, and new technology which could come out of that type of alliance could set the standards for the next generation of the industry. With the ability Apple have to keep upgrading and improving their products this would give them a huge advantage over their competitors. However for now, Apple must make sure they maintain their brand image, as the producers of the newest and best technology.The only way they will be able to do this is by keep upgrading their current products, while they wait for new technology’s to be developed. They must also keep designing new and upgraded products, so when new generation technology’s become available, people look to buy their product first. This will help keep them as a dominant force in the future hand-held device of MP3, cellphone industry. References: Trott, paul. 2012 innovation management and new product development 5th edition. prentice hall/pearson

Histroy 101 Western Civ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Histroy 101 Western Civ - Essay Example Athens as a democratic state was much emphasized during the 4th century BC although many historical documents have shown that democracy as a way of life was very much practiced as early as 5 B.C. The word Demos connotes two important things for Athenians- â€Å"village† and â€Å"people†. Village was the smallest unit of government at that time. People belonged to a certain village; in fact, men who are at least 18 years of age could participate in the Assembly. The Assembly was attended by anyone from the village that wants to have their voice heard. This included Demosthenes who tirelessly rebukes citizens to recall certain events since the people were always present in such Assembly (Blackwell, 2003, p6). It was of grave importance to always attend to the concerns being discussed during the said meeting. The characteristics of such a meeting showed the democratic ideals of Athens. First, anyone can speak regardless of trade or position in society, especially if the i ssue at hand is about governance. For other concerns that needed specialized knowledge, a craftsman is called forth to shed opinion on such matters (Blackwell, p7). These rules during an assembly imply that democracy was highly-valued and actively practiced. Democracy is not just a lofty ideal since it was practiced by the citizens. The assembly just shows how wealth is considered inferior to the democratic rights of its citizens (Lewis and Lewis,p.219). The practice of democracy was further heightened by Pericles during 460 B.C. Previously, public officials were appointed based on wealth or birth status. Such criteria for public office were promulgated by Solon or Cleisthenes. Pericles made the selection more democratic by allowing patrons to represent slaves and resident aliens, which is referred to as equality of opportunity. Although such practice earned criticism of historians since they believed it promoted â€Å"aristocracy†, the important to consider was the fact that representatives were chosen based on merit. Merit does not include wealth nor birth status which allowed men from all walks of life to have a say in matters of the state. This philosophy of Pericles is again an example of how democratic ideals permeated the political structure and governance of Athens. Interestingly, art became a willing medium of democratic ideals for this civilization. The assembly provided enough fodder for playwrights to create plays that can be considered political satire. In the same manner, the epic Iliad which is a gory depiction of battles is also said to have an underlying tone of political satire. According to Stewart, The Battle Between Frogs and The Mice is actually a satire with a pacifist theme. Again, the relevance of political satire when it comes to democratic ideals is that such art forms express how vigilant Athenians are over issues that concern their homeland. Pacifism is a philosophy adhered to by Athenians for they were not men of war like S partans. Although critics may disagree with such stand, this emphasizes to students of history that this society respected the opinion of its citizens. Lastly, the choir setting in Greek plays also demonstrates the ideals of democracy in Athens. Studies relating performing arts assert that â€Å"Performance reflects, encodes cultural models† (Goldhill and Osborne, 27). Democracy is expressed by the choir’

Discharge and planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Discharge and planning - Essay Example admitted to the ward due to chest pain which is an indication of complete or partial disruption of arterial blood flow to the myocardium (Dowd 2007, p. 251). Mr. Brown will use an informal care package. The informal care package depends on informal care providers as the givers of important support such as personal assistance, nursing and help with daily chores (Da Roit 2010, p. 83). In this kind of a care package, the family members play the biggest role in taking care of the patient. Mr. Brown will depend on his two children living nearby for care, who will be assisted by supplementary informal assistants. The social services and paid assistants can complement the informal assistants. The ischemia heart disease package of care is the most appropriate for Mr. Brown’s case. The package of care states that efficient intervention and prevention strategies rely on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and basic care needs. The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs includes pain relief, social support, sleep, nutrition, hydration and oxygenation. Also, the Maslow’s needs include prevention of adverse medical response, environmental comfort and cognitive stimulation. The best management package for Mr. Brown will comprise of control of the hypertension to avoid pressure overload on the ventricle (Henein 2010, p.10). The antihypertensive medication is the correct treatment for hypertension. In addition, the chest pain and shortness of breath will be managed to minimise the occurrences of heart attacks and pain management. The patient will be given assistance to be able to participate in hobbies as a way of exercise (NHS Choices 2014, para 18). Discharge planning is the component of continuity of care procedure that is created to prepare the patient for the nest level of care. It also helps in making the significant plans for the care whether it may be care by an organised health care provider, self-care or care by family. The discharge planning is an affair involving

Emotional Labour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Emotional Labour - Essay Example In addition, they also use environmental context in regards to relationships and physical location to prompt emotion. On the other hand, men depend on the internal physiological changes to access how they feel and determine the appropriate emotion.  Emotional labour is the management of feelings by employees when providing organizations service and is required to display some set of emotions which are either verbal or nonverbal with the sole purpose of inducing specific feelings and responses to those whom the service is being rendered. Therefore, employees are expected to use their emotions to influence the emotional state of others (Glomb &Tews, 2004). This concept came about in 1983 by a sociologist by the name Arlie Hochschild who created the term ‘emotional labour’. She described the activities that employees do that are beyond mental or physical duties (Hochschild, 1983). This means employees showing a genuine concern for the needs of customers. This includes smi ling, shaking customers’ hands while greeting customers as well as making a positive eye contact while providing services to clients ( Jansz & Timmers, 2002).  Organizations should always place strategic importance on service orientation to both the external customers, workmates and internal clients as well (J.A & Feidman, 1996). When employees face clients when they are angry or when they are unpleasant, emotional labour can be challenging because it is difficult to hide emotions and continue to smile even when getting negative feedback.

Claims and reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Claims and reflection - Essay Example My analysis majors on citizenship and identity in a European context. A lot of arguments concerning this area led to the development of the law pertaining to the freedom of movement of people within the Union. This will allow the citizens from other member states have equal rights and treatment as the domestic citizens. As I was writing my essay on what should be contained in EU and UK Bill of Rights, at first I thought that it may be a difficult paper to write since we have no written Constitution in the country, hence, it may be difficult finding a basis for my paper. UK being one of the world’s democracy without a written constitution, this does not mean one cannot find any documented rules and regulations in use by the British government and which is supreme over ordinary law in comparison to, I got some information from this website http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/rights-of-immigrants/european-union-nationalisits-and-european-union-assiations-agreements/difference s-of-approach-between-eu-and-uk-law.shtml. I found the information concerning the critical understanding of the interactions between UK and EU law’ in MLO1. It’s clear that the British legal system has laws that are a combination of statute law and the principles of the common law that are developed by the courts. It is based on the constitutional principles of Parliamentary sovereignty and the Rule of Law, compared to the EU whose laws are written in a Constitution. As I found in the website http://www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/PDF/Oxford%20Ver4%20July10%20HB.pdf, the British legal system is based on the idea of outstanding rights that

The General Images and Perceptions of Liverpool from an outsider Essay

The General Images and Perceptions of Liverpool from an outsider (tourist or international student) - Essay Example This paper discusses the many areas of development which Liverpool undertook to grow its economy. The various features of its development have also been elucidated. These, plus those made within her tourism industry has greatly contributed to Liverpools economy and what we see as modern Liverpool of today. As shown in the UK map above, Liverpool, a coastal city lying alongside the north shore of river Mersey, is an important city and seaport of England. The centre of the city forms the nucleus of Merseyside County, and constitutes a part only of the greater Lancashire. The proper city of Liverpool, therefore, makes up for a borough of the metropolitan county of Merseyside forming an irregular crescent along the estuary of river Mersey, only a few miles away from the Irish Sea. The population of Liverpool is 439,476 and its met. area population is 1,362,034. Liverpool city is a large manufacturing and commercial place in England and is the major city of the metropolitan area of Merseyside. Liverpools City Centre district is one the biggest shopping centres in the United Kingdom. Since it lies on the banks of river Mersey it has many buildings that form UKs important landmarks. These conspicuous buildings include the Royal twin-tower Liver Building with each of the tower crested by the "liver bird" sculpture. It was after this mythical bird that the city is known to have been named. The other notable buildings within the premises of commercial area include: Liverpools inner city area is located at the outskirts of commercial center. The centre of inner city, which in the past was considered a suburban area, abounds with many old buildings and houses. Nevertheless, one part of the inner city area also has the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral; the Liverpool University, and the Anglican Church, while the suburban area now lies outside the inner city. There is a Walker Art Gallery within the Liverpool city, which has one of UKs remarkable collections of

American Industrialization during the 19th century Essay

American Industrialization during the 19th century - Essay Example For female Eastern European workers the transition from the age of handicrafts to the era of machines presents a picture of greed. Most of the former sharecroppers hoped for better life in the city, but in reality wages always work toward minimum level. To assert some control over the changes they jointed into labour unions. The populism movement of Arkansas protestant farmers had a great influence on cooperatives on a national scale. In general, industrialization helped them to improve production, but on the other hand they were faced with new problems caused by industrialization. Researchers suppose that social and economic conditions of American society created an ideal platform for industrialization. The protestant ethic and a belief in free business and an influence on technological innovation and economic growth. Labor-saving devices and new technologies freed workers to enter the factories, which also drew upon immigrant labor. Aided by the spread of the transportation network, the boom period in American industrialization came in the second half of the 19th century. "In the 1890s, groups of Americans seemed to be estranged from each other as they rarely had been before. A few were enjoying the fruits of astonishing wealth, building for themselves magnificent, multimillion-dollar "summer cottages" reminiscent of glittering European palaces" (Created equal, Ch.18, 2005). The most important event was that the working American class was shaped. This process was closely connected with introduction of machinery into manufacturing caused changes in the organization of work. The economies of organized wholesale production were soon made apparent, and the tendency to increase the size of the factory and to merge the various spheres of industry under control of big corporations has continued to the present. The complexity of business operations also increased with the development of transportation and trade facilit ies. Taking into account industrial innovations it is evident that the new industry needed more labour forces to progress, and immigrants, former slaves and women became the source of labour. All industrial changes had a great influence on the American social class structure affecting the lives of people. Primarily, these changes were closely connected with the break-up of the system. "European and American efforts to colonize and explore the far reaches of the globe brought whites face to face with darker-skinned peoples, whom scholars in the new discipline of anthropology studied and classified. The "New Immigration" from eastern Europe raised concerns about conferring citizenship on non-Anglos, such as Russian Jews, Poles, and Italians" (Created equal, Ch.18, 2005). Nevertheless, not all the benefits of industrialization were advantageous for social classes. After industrial Revolution such processes as "the emancipation" of women, the rise of women' self-consciousness became apparent. That understanding of rights always draws together women of similar ambitions and tasks now began to work significant changes in the economic order. Nevertheless, "many minority women, s uch as Hispana activist Adeiina Otero Wairen, supported the suffrage movement even though white leaders kept their distance and refused to embrace the antiracist campaigns of their nonwhite sisters" (Created Equal, Ch. 19, 2005). Eastern European factory women

Health care reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Health care reform - Essay Example hon $350 billion per year, or 20-25 per cent of American citizens hard earned dollars away from its doctors, its hospitals as well as its patient care into the pockets of their executives, administrative employees, shareholders and politicians.1 U S medical reforms should allow all Americans (including Veterans) as well as the 40 million or so uninsured American citizens into the Medicare Health Insurance Corporation. Since almost all American physicians, Hospitals, and clinics in the Country already accept the current operations of the Medicare Insurance Company, hardly any infrastructure investments on the health care delivery end will be necessary. 2 A much required medical reform in the U S would be to allow Medicare, much like the current Veterans Administration System and every private health insurance company and government health care system around the world, to bid on medications from pharmaceutical corporations for its Medicare drug formulary. Every physician or doctor, not to mention pharmacists recognizes that the U S does not actually require a choice of a dozen needless medicines in each pharmaceutical category. For instance, American citizens require only 2-3 statins for countering the adverse affects of high cholesterol, a few types of antibiotics for common sorts of infections, two kinds of beta-blockers for hypertension / high blood pressure, and several generic types of painkillers.3 The present quality of contemporary medical records software lags at least two decades behind business software used for similar purposes. Thus, the U S government should attempt to fund as well as to challenge America’s best software corporations to finally develop standardized electronic medical records software. Up to date and fully functioning computer software for use in doctors’ offices and hospitals is required in order to increase the efficiency as well as the over all productivity levels of physician charting, billing and prescribing.4 In the

Corporate Social Responsibility and Mass Media Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility and Mass Media - Essay Example The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility (2006), Dunne said that corporate social responsibility has eventually come to mean â€Å"responsiveness†. â€Å"Responsiveness† does not imply any particular action but a range of actions or range of possible responses based on a company’s perception of social or consumer needs and the company’s role in responding either to society’s or the consumers’ needs. Carroll (1999, p. 268) explained that meaning of corporate social responsibility has undergone an evolution from its â€Å"beginning in the 1950s, which marks the modern era of CSR.† Carroll (1999, p. 268) pointed out that the â€Å"alternative themes† in corporate social responsibility â€Å"included corporate social performance (CSP), stakeholder theory, and business ethics theory.† Against the Dunne (2007) viewpoint, the Carroll (1999, p. 268) viewpoint is that corporate social responsibility is â€Å"a core construct that yields to or is transformed into alternative thematic frameworks.† On investigating whether corporate social responsibility adds to financial return, Cardebat & Sirven (2010) concluded that the results of their study do not provide evidence that the adoption of corporate social responsibility improves corporate financial performance. Cardebat & Sirven (2010) used statistical and econometric methods in testing hypotheses on the role of corporate social responsibility on company financial performance. On the other hand, the work of Ali et al. (2010) indicated that the practice of social responsibility may or may not promote the retention of consumer. Based on the study, it can nevertheless be argued however that the practice of corporate social responsibility can promote the retention of the customer base. In my study, I have chosen two cases: the case of the Aviva plc and the case of Thames Water Company. For reasons that will be explained later, Aviva appears to be a lead ing example of a company based in the United Kingdom that espouse corporate social responsibility consistently and diligently for the last several years and has gained additional prominence for the espousal as well as practice of that responsibility. Aviva claims to have â€Å"300 years of insights† which can be interpreted as having 300 years of engagement in the same or similar business (2011). Alternatively, the company â€Å"300 years of insights† is also described as â€Å"300 years of heritage† (2011). In contrast, Thames Water, a water company appears to have experienced a period in which its public image was at its worst. Lately, however, data are suggesting that Thames Water has invested in corporate social responsibility and may be profiting today in the said investment. Nevertheless, it appears that there are still avenues through which Thames Water’s practice of corporate social responsibility can be improved and which the company can exploit for greater profitability. II. Case 1: Aviva plc Aviva claims to the â€Å"world’s sixth largest insurance group and the biggest in the UK, with 36,100 serving around 44.5 million

Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity Essay Example for Free

Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity Essay Education and experience in the secular set-up or the what we call here as Athens wisdom believes differently from the biblical standpoint in whatever aspect of life. Psychology in general, though embraces somewhat a neutral position according to some proponents, is not able to do justice to a balanced view of human behavior and most if not all of the individual’s activities. Indeed, Author Dr. Entwistle (2004) argues about the general tendency to dichotomize or what he said as â€Å"to buy into the dichotomy between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’ which is what seeing Jerusalem and Athens as â€Å"mutually exclusive categories. † From the outset I would like to say my piece regarding the point where Dr. Entwistle is coming from without sounding arrogant in the same vein. He has mentioned a lot about presupposition while at the same time sounds like he doesn’t anything about presuppositions. When he separated â€Å"Jerusalem† and the â€Å"Church† in his book, I immediately detected his lack of background in the realm of biblical theology. At the heart of Christianity or the Church that Dr. Entwistle is referring to, there is no such dichotomy. The Church in every dimension of it (or Christianity as we aptly put it) does not do any separation unless what Christ has separated. Meaning, our premise or presupposition starts with the fact that the Church and Christian spirituality or faith if one would put it simply, stands on the Judaeo-Christian context not a choice between â€Å"Jerusalem† or â€Å"Church. † The fundamental difference lies in the great divide between Christianity and Athens or secular wisdom. It is only between the secular wisdom and biblical knowledge does the Bible place a dichotomy. Let me state what led me to this view: it is because, theologically speaking, biblical authors explicitly wrote in their letters from the Old to the New Testament Scriptures that God has His own laws and statutes through which life in general must be regulated. The same knowledge explicitly and implicitly runs through the fabric of the whole Scripture (Old New), which means that the presuppositions of all of the Biblical authors, all fall into one primary presupposition: that there is one God, and that this One God has revealed Himself through His laws and statutes. Without the laws of God, man alone, with all of his learning, if they are all apart from the revelation of God, is mere natural or secular. This is the reason that every man ought to know these laws or statutes or biblical principles and only then can he apply these into all aspects of his secular life. This could have been what Dr. Entwistle intended to mean. One cannot come from the opposite side as what Dr. Entwistle had done instead as he hinged the argument from secular to the theological; though he tried to get his ideas from the likes of great men like Dr. A. W. Tozer and others. All those people’s arguments come from biblical presupposition: they have thorough knowledge of the Scriptures that they applied to various realms of life which in turn caused them to spur their readers to do the same. Trying to oppose the standpoint of apologist Tertullian, Dr. Entwistle seemingly misunderstands all of their positions, thus complicating what could have been an uncomplicated and unified stream of thought. The main contributing factors that led me to this viewpoint are my personal study of the Bible, and some works (massive) of Biblical scholars. The following discussion of renewing the mind then is a by-product of my own presupposition derived from the influence of these Biblical Scholars which include contemporary theologians like Dr. Vincent Cheung, Dr. Philip Johnson, and the father of Presuppositional apologetics Cornelius Van Til, to name a few. This thorough discussion of counsel of the wicked (representing secular or Athens wisdom) and the discriminative counsel which embraces all of Judaeo- Christian principles (as all contained in the Bible) captures best the essence of faith-spirituality molded from this basic presupposition. The dichotomy is between what the Bible says all throughout as the Wicked or ungodly counsel versus that of Godly wisdom. Dr. Entwistle unintentionally pursued a trichotomous delineation of Judeao-Christian theological thinking from secular. This is not proper. Discussion Christians know that a big portion of God’s work in their lives is concentrated on renewal of the mind. Our born again experience signaled the beginning of a new life for us rather than, as have been used by many figuratively, the end of our life’s quest for truth. It is the start of an individual’s real life in that it is the time when a person experiences the quickening work of God through His Spirit (Ephesians 2:1-7). Let’s think for a while our past life as portrayed to us in the Bible: 1. ) We were once dead spiritually – in trespasses and sins; 2. ) We once walked (lived our lives) according to the course of this world; 3. ) We once lived our lives (knowingly or unknowingly) controlled by Satan; 4. ) We once behaved in a way that in everything we do, we only fulfill our desires and what – in our minds – looked good and pleasant. Now, knowing that we are naturally (without the saving power of God) unresponsive to God and fully responsive to the things that are not of God, we recognize our great need to be renewed or our minds oriented to the things of God – things that really matter to Him and in this life (Romans 12:1-2). I. Discriminative Counsel. 1. ) Biblical/Godly Counsel – Its Necessity. There is a trend being proliferated in the area of guidance or direction in one’s life. The premise, if looked at the surface, seems to be sound and Biblical. It is somehow taken from the Bible. They are from the book of Proverbs. â€Å"Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. † – Proverbs 11:14. â€Å"Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established. †Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Proverbs 15:22. These verses, however, when balanced with other portions of the Scripture, do not say that believers should heed suggestions from others without discrimination. Let’s take for example Psalms 1:1-6. â€Å"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, or sin- ners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. † It says here that the â€Å"blessed man† is he whose delight is in â€Å"the law of the Lord. † He meditates on it â€Å"day and night† (v. 2). What the Bible calls as â€Å"blessed† are not those who just swallow every information or trends who happen to be around. The blessed man’s â€Å"delight† is in the law of the Lord, and his pleasure to God’s law/word is made evident in his â€Å"meditating† on it â€Å"day and night. † â€Å"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. † – Psalms 1:1-2. On the other hand, this is also a warning. A warning to those who are not careful and would let down their guard with regards to their upholding the habit of meditating or checking everything with the teachings of the Scriptures. When someone starts to entertain the seemingly harmless conventional â€Å"advices† of the world without allowing the Bible (God’s Word) to filter those opinions/suggestions, the lurking danger sets in and the undiscerning is on his way to the wrong direction for he has already given thought to â€Å"ungodly counsel. † He entertained and has given a benefit of the doubt to counsel other than God’s counsel. This is a classic case of God’s word versus Satan’s lies. The enemy succeeded in tempting the first couple – Adam and Eve. â€Å"Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. † – Genesis 2:15-17. Going back to our immediate text in Psalms 1:1, let’s try to divide its wordings in three divisions and see what does it say? It says: â€Å"Blessed is the man who does not (1) walk in the counsel of the wicked (2) stand in the way of sinners (3) sit in the seat of mockers. These three expressions are actually three stages of wickedness, or three steps towards spiritual deterioration. They illustrate the progressive stages of wickedness into which one who strays from God enters. According to the Word of God, this is what will happen to people who stray from the sound teachings of the Scriptures – they will go from bad to worse. And note that, with each stage, the ungodly (anybody who ventures on this path is called â€Å"ungodly†) becomes more resolute and his hostility against the counsel of the inspired scriptures and righteousness intensifies (Cheung, 2007).

Group Excluded from International Human Rights

Group Excluded from International Human Rights Human Rights Human rights, as explained by the great English philosopher and thinker John Locke, are natural and unalienable rights (life, liberty, and property) inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, sex, color, religion or language. All men are created equal, everyone is entitled to the human rights without any discrimination. Most human rights are guaranteed by the Constitution, state laws, and international treaties. International human rights law promotes and protects human rights by laying certain pressure upon governments. But even though there are many laws created to protect everyones human rights, certain people are being excluded from their rights by different levels of government, such as the poor homeless whose liberty is limited by the state government, Zapatistas whose life and property is taken by the Mexican National Government, and French Muslims whose freedom of religion is violated by the French National Government. Los Angeles is once a beautiful and luxurious heaven. But now Los Angeles state government is fighting war, a war with its own citizens living inside the state. Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space (Davis, 1), this is the title Davis gave to his research paper, but it is also his feeling toward the state of Los Angeles. Everywhere in the city is the frontline of war. Stop building toilets, special designed bus benches, fancy garbage to protect fishheads and stale French fires, and outdoor sprinklers, those are all policy decision made by the government to fight the citys war on the poor homeless. They tried their best to eliminate or remove homeless from the city by violating the human rights that homeless should be entitled to. But while the government is violating the human rights, they claim that they are promoting human rights by protecting people from danger, but they exclude homeless from the definition of word people. Collective human rights, those are what government is claiming about. They always try to protect majoritys rights by excluding certain peoples human rights. Rights and Human Rights, huge differences, but government never recognizes it, they just called them human rights regardless of the differences. They make the policy that will discriminate and deny the liberty of homeless to protect majority from possible danger. The government should not define homeless as dangerous just because some homeless people are dangerous and harmful. For public-housing tenants and inhabitants of narcotic-enforcement zones, the loss of freedom is the price of security (Davis, 6) As stated by the author Mike Davis, one of the three primary human rights, liberty is taken by the government from the homeless to ensure other peoples safety from possible danger, this should not be called collective human rights, but the power of government to protect people who make profit for the government. Similarly, people, especially children, in Central and S outh America are excluded from the protection of human rights imposed by the law. Their organs will be taken without their permission and sold to other rich countries, leave them with a horrible body for the rest of their life. The organ-stealing stories were told, remembered, and circulated because they were true at that indeterminate level between the real, the surreal and the uncanny (Scheper-Hughes, 36) Even though organ stealing is so wide spread and known by everyone, Government never tried to stop it, or maybe it is even promoting it to make profit. So it is clear that poor homeless is excluded totally from the protection of government for their human rights, even if the constitution, and international laws expressly guarantee everyone will be treated equally by the government. Only liberty is taken by the state government from homeless, but in some area even life and property is taken by the national government. On New Years Day, 1994, Zapatista rebels in Chiapas, Mexico, confronted the Mexican government with demands for basic human rights (Messer, 319). That is the start of the revolution inside the border of Mexico and the reason why Zapatistas fight against the Mexican government. People in Chiapas were discriminated against, their only property, land is also taken by the government. With nothing to lose, they started revolution, and created a border within the Mexican border. In the video, a place called Chiapas, the life of Chiapas people was presented. They were poor before revolution, but with the land they own, they can still live. But the Mexican government took the land from them to develop modern cities which cause Chiapas people to be abused by riches. Again, it is the problem of collective human rights conflicting with individual human rights. This time national government claims that they are protecting the benefit and rights of people inside Chiapas while taking away everythi ng they own and force people there to become terrorists. Maybe war is not a right choice, but it is Chiapas peoples only choice. Without revolution, they are all going to die due to the poor condition there. Collective Human Rights, as claimed by the national government, is just a joke. Without individual human rights, no collective human rights can be achieved. Without those lands, all Chiapas people are going to hunger to die, then what would be the use of collective human rights toward the dead people? Life, liberty and property, only those three primary human rights being protected well, then other things can be done by the government. Similar conditions occur in the process of progress. People and place which are being progressed have lost many. People would lose the right to their every day practice because the land is taken by the government. They are forced to change their diet which causes new diseases to appear in the local places, and reduce the health condition of the lo cal people. Overall, the available data seem to indicate that the dietary changes that are linked to involvement in the world-market economy have tended to lower rather than raise the nutritional levels of the affected tribal peoples (Bodley, 3) Progress is great thing, but with great prices. Freedom of choosing food and life of local people are taken during the process of progress. So individual rights should be considered first, and then collective rights can be done. So again, even though the international treaties lay down the obligation of protecting everyones human rights upon governments, some people are excluded from them because of collective human rights. Similar problem, but different salutation has occurred in France, this time it involves freedom of religion. Muslims in the France is always treated different, not only because of their religion, but also because of their dressing. So French government created laws that banned any Muslims to wear headscarves that have religious meanings. The reasons French government gave for this law is that For many non-Muslim French, they (headscarves) represent multiple dangers to the Republic: the oppression of women, urban violence, international terrorism, and the general refusal of Muslim immigrants to integrate into the broader society (Bowen, 31). So this seems to be a problem about collective human rights and individual human rights, but is it? It is not. A republic can exist with symbols of different religion. Freedom of religion, this should be guaranteed by any kind of republic. So this time there is no collective human rights involving at all. It is purely that French government taking away rights from Muslims without any legitimate reason. Liberty, one of the three primary human rights is vi olated by the French government. Not only that, the law they make actually may create diversity inside the nation since only Muslims are treated differently by the government. So with all those violations, Muslims in French are forced to change their way of life. They stop going to Mosques and practicing their religious activities. While all those rights are being violated, French government is still claiming they are promoting rights of the citizen living inside the republic. France is now outlawing Muslims and treats Muslims not as citizens of France, but a group of people who may cause diversity and terrorism inside France. French Republic is the official name of France, but is it a true republic? Before French government stop outlawing certain group of people inside the nation, France is never a true republic. So again individual human rights should always be the primary thing any government should think about before imposing laws or making decision. But there are always some pl aces where law cannot reach, thus create exclusion or discrimination. Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments of constitution created as the supreme law of the land to protect human rights in U.S. and other countries have similar laws. Above all, international human rights law is created to ensure everyones rights in the whole world. But it only lays down the obligation upon the government, if government will not enforce it, then human rights of people will not be protected. French Muslims, Zapatistas, and urban homeless are the examples of government exclusion. So even though every government claim that everyone will be treated equally and everyones human rights will be protected by the government, some people are not under the protection of government and suffering. Work Cited Bodley, John. The Price of Progress. Victims of Progress 1998, 137-151 Bowen, John. Muslims and Citizens. Boston Review Feb/Mar. 2004: 31-35. Davis, Mike. Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space. City of Quartz, Fortress LA Messer, Ellen. Anthropologists in a World with and without Human Rights. Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Lines. Ed. Jeremy MacClancy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2002. 319-337 Scheper-Hughes. Nancy. Min(d)ing the Body: On the Trail of Organ-Stealing Rumors. Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Lines. Ed. Jeremy MacClancy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2002. 33-63 A Place Called Chiapas. 2006. online video clip. Google Video. Accessed on 05 December, 2009.

Strategies For The Tourism Industry Of Spain Tourism Essay

Strategies For The Tourism Industry Of Spain Tourism Essay Tourism is of strategic importance to country as an export commodity to generate foreign currency earnings and a potential generator of taxes for local authorities. Government investment and development of tourism infrastructure benefits all sectors of tourism industry, foreign and domestic tourists, as well as the local in habitants in a tourism destination area. (Jamal, T. and Robinson, M., 2009) Well conceived development of a critical mass of attractions by the combined efforts of private and public interest directly benefits to all the industry sectors involved in the tourism system, which improves the attractiveness and competitiveness of the destination. For a country to have a successful tourism it is highly essential to maintain the sustainability of its tourist destination. Tourist destination is a place that a traveller chooses to visit for a stay of at least a night in order to experience some feature or characteristic of a place perceived as a satisfying leisure time experience. (Jamal, T. and Robinson, M., 2009) Destinations are regarded as a popular aspect of tourism as they encourage visitors by delivering valuable experience through various locations, resources and service. On the contrary they even attract disasters caused by natural hazards or by human activities. Disaster is stated as a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. (Ritchie, Brent W., 2009) Natural disasters is the result of caprices of nature which includes earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, etc where as manmade disasters are a cause of terrorism, war or industrial action. After comparing these disasters it can observed that, both have immediate threat, danger and the potential for ongoing disruption but manmade disasters to some extent can be preventable and controllable. (McDonald, R., 2003) This paper will illustrate the effects of Man-made disasters resembling Terrorist attacks and Hotel collapse in Spain, including the marketing strategies that could be adopted to mitigate these disasters for retention of tourism in the destination (Word Count 2) Spain is the package holiday capital of Europe and second most popular tourist destination globally, for specialising and maintaining the countrys image of sun, sand and sangria. In terms of tourism Spain has gained marvellous victory being one of the worlds top five destinations which offers over a million bed spaces in serviced accommodation sector .As per latest research Spain is the second European country after France which holds a market share of 11.4% in terms of international arrivals (UNWTO, 2010). Being famous for its summer holidays, it attracts most of the tourists from countries such as United Kingdom, France, Germany and Scandinavia. (Spain Travel Guide, 2011) The Spanish economy has generated one and a half million jobs supported by tourism, contributing to one-third of the countrys export earnings and which accounts for 12 percent of GDP. However this achievement has been earned at the cost of society and the environment. The result of this has led to massive expansion through development of apartments and holiday villas as well hotels near the coastline. (Boniface Brian, G. and Cooper, C., 2005). Similarly by gaining popularity, the destination has created huge traffic jams and has the highest amount of cars as compared to Europe. (TV Choice, 2000) But the major disaster to be considered in Spain is of Majorca which faced Series of Bomb Explosion that occurred in 2009 by Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) terrorist organisation (BBC News,2009) and the hotel collapse in 2008(Expatica, 2008) which created severe havoc in the region by affecting the life of the tourists. The blast had affected the itinerary of thousands of visitors as most of the flights were either turned back or diverted for safety. The Spanish economy is highly reliable on tourist for its source of income and tourism trade; but this attack has frightened the localities and has challenge the travellers and tourists security beliefs, enabling them to give a second thought of whether to fly back to the destination. On the Contrary, the incident of hotel collapse which occurred due to negligence of the construction has taken lives of many construction workers. After all these disasters occurred the first priority of the Spanish government was to cut down further repetition of the crises for which the government had implemented certain Counter Terrorism Strategies. The government started providing appropriate training to local police and actors in the civil society for identifying signs of terrorism in the vicinity, by ensuring efficient collaboration between the relevant bodies and front line staff and developing regular contact with local communities. A software named as Check the Web (CTW) was introduced to monitor regular activities of the militant Islamic websites of Europe to avoid future threats. Various information systems such as Schengen Information System and the Visa Information Systems were developed for protection of citizens and infrastructure by ensuring an area of freedom, security and justice. The Spanish Presidency adopted an Action Plan to combat Cyber Crime foreseeing the short-, mid- and long-term threats on European network and information security. (Council Of The European Union, 2010) After the car bombings that occurred in 2009 in Majorca the government took additional securities in all the modes of transport including passenger and air cargo for prioritising the safety of the tourist. For reducing the terrorism threat it is very essential that public and private sector work hand in hand, for data exchange and information sharing relating to Passenger Name Records, processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data and the information distributed within the local area. The concept Marketing Strategy refers to an organisational function and a set of process for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationship in ways that benefit the organisation and its stakeholders. (Ferrell, O.C. and Hartline Michael, D., 2008). The problems faced by Spain in terms of tourism requires a market led response for which certain marketing strategies if adopted by the Spanish government, can facilitate in times of considerable unease and market turbulence to maintain its tourism. Firstly the Spanish government has encouraged the Australian tourists visiting Madrid in 2011 for World Youth Day to register at their website, in order to take advantage of insurance facilities and accommodation benefits along with preventing cautions and monitor developments. (Smart Traveller, 2011) Being the initial country outside Italy to promote this event for the second time it can facilitate better promotions by offering discounts on attraction, restaurants and theatres. The event being conducted on a wider scale in the capital state, it essential that the government should form an alliance with the Airlines, hoteliers, wholesale tour operators and other sources for effective marketing management. (Beirman, D. 2003) This event will last for a week (Catholic Pilgrim Office, 2011) which if managed properly, can generate income for the country from sources such as additional usage of public transport in that period, expenditure by visitors in tourism and leisure area. Being an island in the Mediterranean it is essential that Spain develops new holiday styles to reduce seasonality, encourage higher spending visitors and to spread tourism more evenly throughout the country. Madrid being the political and financial capital of Spain serves as the principal transportation hub including centre of technological education, training and development and as a cultural and business centre. Additionally the city is renowned for conducting venues in recent years for international conferences and being the headquarters of World Tourism Organisation (WTO). (Perret, S. and Bijaoui, P., 2006) In order to promote the destination Spain and its most recognised football club Real Madrid have signed a pioneer agreement. This agreement will promote and enhance the tourism brands of the destination globally using its slogan Visit Spain, Visit Madrid. However the capital city has effectively developed its public- private collaboration through the citys marketing agency Promocion Madrid and has pioneered its network of strategic alliances with various tourist destinations, including New York, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Mexico and Tokyo. (Andaluz, 2011) These international alliances will foster the culture and attractions of the destination to the rest of the world. Thus Sports Tourism signifies a great platform for the Region of Madrid to encourage international travellers. This strategy of intensive marketing will feature temporary discounts or incentives as tactics that can be applied to recover losses incurred by the destination due to disasters occurred earlier. Similarly establishment and maintenance of effective media coverage and public relations will play a major role in driving the tourist back to the destination. Furthermore, the Madrid region is given the opportunity to host the 2018 Ryder Cup. This will create an excellent platform for encouraging Golf tourism at a global level which in return will generate a high business volume for the region due to vast arrival of spectators. In order to maintain sustainability in the Sports Tourism the Government of Spain has signed a Treaty with sports bodies such as Spanish Royal Football Federation and Real Madrid in order to boost the brand image of the destination in international countries. (The Guardian, 2010). Secondly, Spanish National Tourist Organisations (NTO) has started various promotional campaigns such as Passion for Life and Spain Marks, for promoting the brand image of Spain. The campaign highlights the appeal of the Spanish Lifestyles and the cultural heritage, emphasising on the different regions. (Boniface Brian, G. and Cooper, C., 2005) Spain Marks describes the various attractions and activities available to tourists in different parts of the country, additionally positioning the destination in terms of lifestyles and attractions. Turespaà ±a, the Spanish National Tourism Authority reveals that buying patterns in major markets are changing and leisure visitors are becoming more independent, preferring self tailored holidays to packaged tours. The changes are fuelled by low cost and changing preferences of activities. Today the Spanish major islands provide low fare services and independent beaches/islands are growing. Spain Marks is intended to show the countrys flexibility to adapt to this changing market. Hence both its branding and marketing strategy are intended to respond to these trends. (Lennon John, J.et al, 2006) Such promotional campaign will reduce the barrier of threat created by terrorism in the minds of tourists visiting Spain due to the following criteria. It will help to maintain its reputation of the topmost tourist destination within the target markets. Generate more revenue to the countrys tourism business as a direct result of the campaign activity by retaining and increasing the number of domestic and international tourists visiting the destination. Similarly the campaign will assist in identifying the key consumer insights for domestic and major European markets. Finally it will even improve the relationships with non tourists sectors. All the above criteria state that the capital is open for business through assortment of events to provide the countrys tastes and fashions. (Ladkin, A. et al., 2007) However Spain can even encourage the third age tourism where Spanish senior citizens can reside in resort hotels at reduced rates outside the peak season (Boniface Brian, G. and Cooper, C., 2005) Lastly for designing the hotels, the Spanish government can adopt a value chain strategy from coordinating and programming of architecture, towards site security design and risk assessment by maintaining a sustainable collaboration between public and private sector in order to increase local contribution. (Luman Ronald, J., 2011) The Spanish hotel market can promote itself by being more focus towards leisure oriented than commercially oriented. This can be possible by encouraging the local commercial market and increasing the number of high spending European weekend break visitors. In order to make this strategy successful the local government will have to incur high spending on its infrastructure investments and beaches. As the hotel sector becomes more internationally reputed it will be an attractive target for international investors, developers, banks and operators to expand their representation in the destination. Additionally, development of boutique hotels and extended stay products will generate revenue for the economy. (Perret, S. and Bijaoui, P., 2006) Eventually more approaches towards conferences, golf tourism, winter sports facility and activity holidays will increase the brand value of the destination. After analysing and implementing the concerned marketing strategies, we will now glance at the pros and cons of these strategies. Firstly, Madrid being the capital has become the major hub of various events and thus acts as a brand ambassador for the destination. Various short, mid and long term marketing strategies for promoting tourism, has been implemented in the respect to Sports, conferences, public welfares and attractions. This generates a huge income for the economy and promotes the brand image of the country. But after applying such strategy, the threat it will attract is the unpredictable terrorist attacks which create a sense of fear in the environment and in the mind of tourists. Similarly there are chances that huge involvement of media in such events might work in favour or against the situation in case of sudden calamity. As Spain is highly bound to face terrorist attacks in future, it needs to take precautions over expansion of its promotional campaigns which unite all the international tourists together at a specific location. The fear of such disaster reduces the profit margin of the economy finally leading to a decline in the expected annual budget. Secondly, the next strategy of promoting various campaigns such as Spain Marks have been quite effective in promoting the countrys brand image as similar strategies have been proved effective in promoting London where Total London Month (TLM) and Total London Tour (TLT) was structured in encouraging the Londoners for using tourism facilities by offering discounts on attraction, restaurant and theatres.( Ladkin, A. et al., 2007)The only side effect of this is that where on one side it generates more revenue for the country on the side it increases traffic jams and pollutes the environment due to increasing arrivals of tourists. Finally the rapid development of hotels on the island attracts the involvement of international companies to invest in the destination which imports more international currency and builds a strong economy. However this will affect the environment as it reduces the land for plantation, affecting the ozone layer. After analysing the above strategies, the best approaches that will work in favour of Spain is of the high interest shown in the field of sports, conferences, public welfares, unexplored attractions along with promotion of various campaigns. This is essential as the current trend demands experiences, fulfilment and rejuvenation rather than promotion of destinations and commodities.If these targets are implemented successfully then Spain stands an excellent chance of being the top most tourist destination in future. To make a final conclusion for this paper it is recommended that the various stakeholders engaged in the tourism sector, need to maintain effective collaboration between public and private organisation as tourism being their basic economic activity and consider additional prevention measures against the problems created from the external environment. Similarly there is a need to reinvent various strategies for attracting tourist due to the changing revolution. Hence there is a need to practice and remember the saying Prevention is better than cure.

Saladin :: Essays Papers

Saladin In his De Laude Novae Militiae (1128 - 1131), Bernard of Clairvaux exhorted young Christian knights to take up the calling of spiritual chivalry and fight pagans without fear of eternal damnation since when he kills an evildoer, he is not a homicide, but ...a malicide, and it is plainly Christ's vengeance on those who work evil. Though Bernard's words served as a precursor to the Second Crusade they are important when examining the life of Saladin, for in his life and actions this man, destined to become the greatest of the aforementioned pagans, would exemplify none of the traits one would expect of a horrible infidel. Rather, one could say that, aside from religion, Saladin embodied many of the ideals held dear by the chivalric Christian warrior of the age. Saladin, or Salah al - Din, was born in 1138 into a Kurdish military family at Takrit in present - day Iraq. Saladin's origins were fodder for many Europeans chroniclers of the Crusades. The Latin Itinerarium regis Ricardi compiled in the 13th Century described Saladin as a pimp, the king of the brothels, who campaigned in the taverns, and devoted his time to gaming and the like. Far from these conjectures we now know with a fair amount of certainty that Saladin grew up at Baalbak and various other outposts where his father served as governor. In 1152 he joined his uncle in the service of sultan Nur ad- Din and by 1156 he had become his uncles deputy in the military governorship of Damascus. Saladin became a close companion of Nur ad- Din . He also accompanied his uncle on three separate expeditions to Egypt between 1164 and 1168. In 1169 Saladin's uncle, Shirkuh, took over the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt and became Vizier of Egypt with Saladin as chief administrator. Shirkuh died nine weeks into his rule and Saladin seized power. By 1171 Saladin had abolished the Fatimid caliphate and placed it under Nur ad-Dins rule. Nur ad-Din died in 1174 and Saladin promptly married his widow and began to establish his sway over the sultans empire. In 1175 Saladin seized Central Syria with his victory at the Battle of Hama. By 1181, with the death of Nur ad-Dins son, Saladin had become the leader of a unified Muslim state.

Aldous Huxleys novel, Brave New World. Essay -- English Literature

Aldous Huxley's novel, Brave New World. In Aldous Huxley's novel, Brave New World, John the Savage is a combination of the two societies in which he exists. He is also an outsider in both. By having such a removed character, Huxley is able to create the perfect foil that brings out the flaws within the societies. As an outsider, John sees some of the paradoxes that exist in the New World. Upon coming to the New World, John sees religious influence in certain objects and customs although Mustapha Mond says that religion has become unnecessary. Mond claims that the society is "independent of God," (p. 233) however there are still strong undertones of religious sanctity and ritual within the society. In essence, the sign of the T that is made with reverence is the same ritual as crossing oneself with the sign of the cross. The symbolism of the T in accordance to Ford may be in honor of the assembly line and efficiency that produced the Model T. The very act of crossing oneself with a T over the stomach, as opposed to the heart, implies that the act is performed in homage to greed and desire. Another seemingly religious act is the usage of the word "Ford." As with the T, the word "Ford" is connected to Henry Ford and is used as a term of expression or blasphemy. The word is used throughout the text in the exact same context that the old society uses "Lord" or "God." And, it just so happens that the word "Ford" rhymes with the word "Lord," which further relates the two sayings. Within the New World, the rites of the Solidarity Group resemble the Christian communion rites. The President begins the ceremony, as would a priest, with a hymn and begins passing the communal cup of soma along to the members of th... ...ery change is a menace to stability" (p. 224) and one "can't make tragedies without social instability." In a world like this, there seems to be no hope for change. Even though The Controller admits to Helmholtz that "I like your spirit as much as I officially disapprove of it," (p. 229) it is a private admiration that will never have the courage to let itself be known to the obeying public. By trying to preach to the new society about freedom, John became a martyr in a society where there should be no martyrs. John essentially fulfilled his desire to be sacrificed when he realized that "they might be killed if he didn't help them, and that he might be killed if he did," (p. 214). Essentially, John became a figure similar to Jesus Christ in a society that refused to admit His presence. Sadly, the cost of a life was not enough to change a stubborn society.

Thin is Beautiful Essay -- Beauty and the Media

How many times have you looked in a magazine and envied the models pictured? Have you ever watched a TV show or a movie and wished you looked like one of the stars? Many teenage girls are often targeted by magazines, movies, and TV and are made to believe that â€Å"thin is beautiful†. The media has negatively affected teenage girls’ self-image. From sit-coms to magazines, thin, beautiful girls can be spotted, and this can cause a girl to feel that she is not thin enough to be accepted by society. Many shows on TV can cause a teenage girl’s self-image to be a very negative one; that she is too fat. Sit-coms are examples of this. On the hit TV show â€Å"Friends†, there are three thin, beautiful girls starring in it, who wear skimpy, stylish clothes, have beautiful hair, and always look gorgeous. In a few episodes, there are flashbacks to when Monica, one of the characters on the show, was in high school and was a little bit overweight. Monica’s friends on the show make fun of her because she was much heavier than she currently is. Surely, any girl who is slightly heavier will feel negative about her image because the â€Å"popular† and â€Å"cool† characters on the show are making fun of her weight. Most any other sit-com has the same gorgeous style of women. On Will & Grace for example, the star playing Grace has a beautiful slim body and flaunts it from time to time. On Dharma and Greg, the star also has a thin body and wears smaller clothe s as well. Search mostly any sit-com and surely,...

Delhi Metro

Delhi Metro (Hindi: Dilli Me? ro) is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region of India. It is one of the largest metro networks in the world. The network consists of six lines with a total length of 189. 63 kilometres (117. 83  mi) with 142 stations of which 35 are underground. It has a combination of elevated, at-grade and underground lines and uses both broad gauge and standard gauge rolling stock. Four types of rolling stock are used: Mitsubishi-ROTEM Broad gauge, Bombardier MOVIA, Mitsubishi-ROTEM Standard gauge and CAF Beasain Standard gauge. Delhi Metro is being built and operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC)under Akshay Mittal. As of November 2010, DMRC operates around 2,700 trips daily between 6:00 and 23:00 running with an interval of 2 minutes 30 seconds between trains at peak frequency. 3][8] The trains are mainly of four coaches, but due to increase in passengers numbers, six-coach trains are also added on the Red Line (Dilshad Garden to Rithala), Yellow Line (Jahangirpuri to HUDA city centre), Blue Line (Dwarka sec ? 21 to Vaishali/NOIDA city centre) and Violet Line (Central Secretariat to Badarpur). [6][7][8][9] The power output is supplied by 25-kilovolt, 50 Hertz alternating current through overhead catenary. The metro has an average daily ridership of 1. 6 million commuters,[2] and, as of July 2011, had carried over 1. 25 billion commuters s ince its inception. 10] The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has been certified by the United Nations as the first metro rail and rail-based system in the world to get â€Å"carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions† and helping in reducing pollution levels in the city by 6. 3 lakh tonne every year. [11] Planning for the metro started in 1984, when the Delhi Development Authority and the Urban Arts Commission came up with a proposal for developing a multi-modal transport system for the city. The Government of India and the Government of Delhi jointly set up the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in 1995. Construction started in 1998, and the first section, on the Red Line, opened in 2002, followed by the Yellow Line in 2004, the Blue Line in 2005, its branch line in 2009, the Green and Violet Lines in 2010 and the Delhi Airport Metro Express in 2011. | | History [edit] Background The concept of a mass rapid transit for New Delhi first emerged from a traffic and travel characteristics study which was carried out in the city in 1969. [12] Over the next several years, many official committees by a variety of government departments were commissioned to examine issues related to technology, route alignment and governmental jurisdiction. 13] In 1984, the Delhi Development Authority and the Urban Arts Commission came up with a proposal for developing a multi-modal transport system, which would consist of constructing three underground mass rapid transit corridors as well augmenting the city's existing suburban railway and road transport networks. [14] While extensive technical studies and t he raising of finance for the project were in progress, the city expanded significantly resulting in a twofold rise in population and a fivefold rise in the number of vehicles between 1981 and 1998. 14] Consequently, traffic congestion and pollution soared, as an increasing number of commuters took to private vehicles with the existing bus system unable to bear the load. [12] An attempt at privatising the bus transport system in 1992 merely compounded the problem, with inexperienced operators plying poorly maintained, noisy and polluting buses on lengthy routes, resulting in long waiting times, unreliable service, extreme overcrowding, unqualified drivers, speeding and reckless driving. 15] To rectify the situation, the Government of India and the Government of Delhi jointly set up a company called the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on March 5, 1995 with E. Sreedharan as the managing director. [16] [edit] Construction Physical construction work on the Delhi Metro started on Oct ober 1, 1998. [17] After the previous problems experienced by the Kolkata Metro, which was badly delayed and 12 times over budget due to â€Å"political meddling, technical problems and bureaucratic delays†, the DMRC was given full powers to hire people, decide on tenders and control funds. 18] The DMRC then consulted the Hong Kong MTR on rapid transit operation and construction techniques. [19] As a result, construction proceeded smoothly, except for one major disagreement in 2000, where the Ministry of Railways forced the system to use broad gauge despite the DMRC's preference for standard gauge. [20] The first line of the Delhi Metro was inaugurated by Atal Behari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India on December 24, 2002[21] and thus it became the second underground rapid transit system in India, after the Kolkata Metro. The first phase of the project was completed in 2006[22] on budget and almost three years ahead of schedule, an achievement described by Business Week as â€Å"nothing short of a miracle†. [23] [edit] Network Main article: List of Delhi metro stations The Delhi Metro is being built in phases. Phase I completed 65. 11  km (40. 46  mi) of route length, of which 13. 01  km (8. 08  mi) is underground and 52. 10  km (32. 37  mi) surface or elevated. The inauguration of the Indraprastha–Barakhamba Road corridor of the Blue Line marked the completion of Phase I on October 27, 2006. 22] Phase II of the network comprises 128  km (80  mi) of route length and 79 stations, and is fully completed, with the first section opened in June 2008 and the last line opened in August 2011. [24] Phases III (112  km) and IV (108. 5  km) are planned to be completed by 2015 and 2021 respectively, with the network spanning 413  km (257  mi) by then. [25 Red Line Main articl e: Red Line (Delhi Metro) The Red Line was the first line of the Metro to be opened and connects Rithala in the west to Dilshad Garden in the east, covering a distance of 25. 09 kilometres (15. 59  mi). 27] It is partly elevated and partly at grade, and crosses the Yamuna River between Kashmere Gate and Shastri Park stations. [30] The inauguration of the first stretch between Shahdara and Tis Hazari on December 24, 2002, caused the ticketing system to collapse due to the line being crowded to four times its capacity by citizens eager to have a ride. [31][32] Subsequent sections were inaugurated from Tis Hazari – Trinagar (later renamed Inderlok) on October 4, 2003,[33] Inderlok – Rithala on March 31, 2004, and Shahdara – Dilshad Garden on June 4, 2008. [34] [edit] Yellow Line Main article: Yellow Line (Delhi Metro) The Yellow Line was the second line of the Metro and was the first underground line to be opened. [35] It runs for 44. 36 kilometres (27. 56  mi) from north to south and connects Jahangirpuri with HUDA City Centre. The northern and southern parts of the line are elevated, while the central section through some of the most congested parts of Delhi is underground. The first section between Vishwa Vidyalaya and Kashmere Gate opened on December 20, 2004, and the subsequent sections of Kashmere Gate – Central Secretariat opened on July 3, 2005, and Vishwa Vidyalaya – Jahangirpuri on February 4, 2009. 34] This line also possesses the country's deepest Metro station at Chawri Bazaar, situated 30 metres (98  ft) below ground level. [36][37] On 21 June 2010, an additional stretch from Qutub Minar to HUDA City Centre in Gurgaon was opened, initially operating separately from the main line. However, Chhatarpur station on this line opened on August 26, 2010. Due to delay in acq uiring the land for constructing the station, it was constructed using pre-fabricated structures in a record time of nine months and is the only station in the Delhi metro network to be made completely of steel. 38][39] The connecting link between Central Secretariat and Qutub Minar opened on September 3, 2010. [40] Interchanges are available with the Red Line at Kashmere Gate station, Blue Line at Rajiv Chowk Station, Violet Line at Central Secretariat , and with the Indian Railways network at Delhi and New Delhi railway stations. [41][42] [edit] Blue Line Main article: Blue Line (Delhi Metro) The Blue Line was the third line of the Metro to be opened, and the first to connect areas outside Delhi. 43] Partly overhead and partly underground,[44] it connects Dwarka Sub City in the west with the satellite city of Noida in the east, covering a distance of 47. 4 kilometres (29. 5  mi). [43] The first section of this line between Dwarka and Barakhamba Road was inaugurated on December 3 1, 2005, and subsequent sections opened between Dwarka – Dwarka Sector 9 on April 1, 2006, Barakhamba Road – Indraprastha on November 11, 2006, Indraprastha – Yamuna Bank on May 10, 2009, Yamuna Bank – Noida City Centre on November 12, 2009, and Dwarka Sector 9 – Dwarka Sector 21 on October 30, 2010. 34] This line crosses the Yamuna River between Indraprastha and Yamuna Bank stations,[30] and has India's first extradosed bridge across the Northern Railways mainlines near Pragati Maidan. [45] A branch of the Blue line, inaugurated on January 8, 2010, takes off from Yamuna Bank station and runs for 6. 25 kilometres (3. 88  mi) up to Anand Vihar in east Delhi. [46] It was further extended up to Vaishali which was opened to public on July 14, 2011. [47][48] A small stretch of 2. 76 kilometres (1. 71  mi) from Dwarka Sector 9 to Dwarka Sector 21 was inaugurated on October 30, 2010. 49][50] Interchanges are available with the Yellow Line at Rajiv Cho wk station,[44] and with the Indian Railways network at the Anand Vihar Railway Terminal. [51] [edit] Green Line Main article: Green Line (Delhi Metro) Opened in 2010, the Green Line was the first standard-gauge corridor of the Delhi Metro. [28] The fully elevated line connects Mundka with Inderlok, running for 15. 1 kilometres (9. 4  mi) mostly along Rohtak Road. [52] An interchange with the Red line is available at Inderlok station via an integrated concourse. [53] This line also has the country's first standard-gauge maintenance depot at Mundka. 54] [edit] Violet Line Main article: Violet Line (Delhi Metro) The Violet Line is the most recent line of the Metro to be opened, and the second standard-gauge corridor after the Green Line. The 20. 2  km (12. 6  mi) long line connects Badarpur to Central Secretariat, with 9  km (5. 6  mi) being overhead and the rest underground. [29] The first section between Central Secretariat and Sarita Vihar was inaugurated on October 3, 20 10, just hours before the inaugural ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and connects the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium which is the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the event. 55] Completed in just 41 months, it includes a 100  m (330  ft) long bridge over the Indian Railways mainlines and a 167. 5  m (550  ft) long cable-stayed bridge across an operational road flyover, and connects several hospitals, tourist attractions and a major industrial estate along its route. [29] Services are provided at intervals of 5 min. [55] An interchange with the Yellow Line is available at Central Secretariat through an integrated concourse. [29] On January 14, 2011, the remaining portion from Sarita Vihar to Badarpur was opened for commercial service, adding three new stations to the network and marking the completion of the line. Airport Express The Airport Express line runs for 22. 7  km (14. 1  mi) from New Delhi Railway Station to Dwarka Sector 21, linking the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The line is operated, by the Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt. Limited (DAMEL), a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, the concessionaire of the line. [56] Constructed at a cost of [pic]2,885 crore (US$548. 15 million),[57] the line has six stations (Dhaula Kuan and Delhi Aerocity became operational on August 15, 2011), with some featuring check-in facilities, parking and eateries. 58] Rolling stock consists of six-coach trains operating at intervals of ten minutes and having a maximum speed of 135  km/h (84  mph). [58] Originally scheduled to open before the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the line failed to obtain the mandatory safety clearance, and was opened on 24 February 2011, after a delay of around 5 months. [59][60] Finances [edit] Funding The capital cost of Phases I and II has been estimated to be [pic]14,430 crore (US$2. 74 billion) at 2004 prices. [73] However, more recent estimates have placed the cost of construction at [pic]200 crore (US$3 8 million) per kilometre. 74] Thirty percent of the total investment for Phases I and II has been raised through equity capital with the Government of India (GoI) and Government of Delhi contributing equal shares,[73] and approximately another 60 percent has been raised as either long-term or subordinate debt, through soft loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. [75] The rest of the investment is proposed to be recovered from internal revenues through operations and property development. [73] The Metro also received [pic]1,914. 3 crore (US$363. 7 million) as grant-in-aid from various agencies for the financial year ending March 2009. 76] As of August 7, 2010, Delhi Metro has paid back an amount of [pic]567. 63 crore (US$107. 85 million), which includes loan amount for Phase I and interest amounts for Phases I and II, to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). [77] [edit] Revenue and profits In 2007, the Delhi Metro claimed to be one of only five metro sys tems in the world that operated at a profit without government subsidies. This was enabled by keeping maintenance costs to a minimum and harnessing additional revenue from advertisements and property development, apart from ticket sales. 78][79] The Metro also generates revenue by leasing out its trains and stations for film shoots. Due to its increasing association with Delhi as an image of the city's everyday life, it has been a popular filming location for production houses, and several films and advertisements have been shot on board. [80][81] Producers have to pay as much as [pic]1 lakh (US$1,900) for every hour of filming, besides a security deposit and insurance. [80] For the financial year ended March 2008, the Metro reported operating revenues of [pic]305. 27 crore (US$58 million) and a profit before tax of [pic]19. 8 crore (US$3. 8 million),[82] which rose to [pic]723. 77 crore (US$137. 5 million) and [pic]90. 43 crore (US$17. 2 million) respectively for the financial year ended March 2009. [76] Operations Trains operate at a frequency of 3 to 4. 5 minutes between 6:00 and 23:00. Trains operating within the network typically travel at speeds below 80  km/h (50  mph), and stop about 20 seconds at each station. Automated station announcements are recorded in Hindi and English. Many stations have services such as ATMs, food outlets, cafes and convenience stores. Eating, drinking, smoking, and chewing of gum are prohibited in the entire system. The Metro also has a sophisticated fire alarm system for advance warning in emergencies, and fire retardant material is used in trains as well as on the premises of stations. [83] Navigation information is available on Google Transit. [84] The first coach of every train is reserved for women. [85][86] [edit] Security Security on the Delhi Metro is handled by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), who have been guarding the system ever since they took over from the Delhi Police in 2007. 87] Closed-circuit cameras are used to monitor trains and stations, and feed from these is monitored by both the CISF and Delhi Metro authorities at their respective control rooms. [88] Over 3500 CISF personnel have been deployed to deal with law and order issues in the system, in addition to metal detectors, X-ray baggage inspection systems and dog squads which are used to secure the system. [89] Intercoms are pr ovided in each train car for emergency communication between the passengers and the Train operator. 90] Periodic security drills are carried out at stations and on trains to ensure preparedness of security agencies in emergency situations. [91] [edit] Ticketing For the convenience of customers, Delhi Metro commuters have three choices for ticket purchase. The RFID tokens are valid only for a single journey on the day of purchase and the value depends on the distance travelled, with fares for a single journey ranging from [pic]8 (US$0. 15) to [pic]30 (US$0. 57). Fares are calculated based on the origin and destination stations using a fare chart. 92] A common ticketing facility for commuters travelling on Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses and the Metro will be introduced in 2011. [93] Travel cards are available for longer durations and are most convenient for frequent commuters. They are valid for one year from the date of purchase or the date of last recharge, and are availabl e in denominations of [pic]100 (US$1. 9) to [pic]800 (US$15. 2). A 10% discount is given on all travel made on it. [94] A deposit of [pic]50 (US$0. 95) needs to be made to buy a new card. [92] Tourist cards can be used for unlimited travel on the Delhi Metro network over short periods of time. There are two kinds of tourist cards valid for one and three days respectively. The cost of a one-day card is [pic]100 (US$1. 9) and that of a three-day card is [pic]250 (US$4. 8), besides a refundable deposit of [pic]50 (US$0. 95) that must be paid at the time of purchasing the card. [92] As the network has expanded, high ridership in new trains have led to increasing instances of overcrowding and delays on the Delhi Metro. [95][96] To alleviate the problem, orders for new 6 coach trains have been placed and an increase in the frequency of trains has been proposed. 95] Infrequent, overcrowded and erratic feeder bus services connecting stations to nearby localities have also been reported as an area of concern. [97][98] In 2010, severe overcrowding on the Yellow Line, which connects the north and south campuses of Delhi University, was reported to be a reason for students missing or reporting late for classes. [99] [edit] Ridership Delhi Metro recorded the highest ever ridership figu re of 2,066,925 on 20 August 2011, which surpassed the earlier record set on 01 August 2011, when 1,830,944 people traveled by the Metro. 100] Currently, DMRC has a pool of 200 train sets with 69 of these being six coach formations. At present; the Delhi Metro is operational on six lines where more than 2500 train trips are made each day traversing over 69000 KMs in a day. With Phase-III of the network expected to cover about 108 kilometers, the Delhi Metro network will become 295 kilometers by 2016 making it one of the fastest expanding Metro networks in the world carrying about 4 million (40 lakh) passengers. [101] [edit] Accidents On October 19, 2008, a girder launcher and a part of the overhead Blue Line extension under construction in Laxmi Nagar, East Delhi collapsed and fell on passing vehicles underneath. Workers were lifting a 400-tonne concrete span of the bridge with the help of a crane when the launcher collapsed along with a 34 metres (112  ft) long span of the bridge on top of a Blueline bus killing the driver and a labourer. [102] On July 12, 2009, a portion of a bridge under construction collapsed when its launching girder lost balance as it was being erected at Zamrudpur, near East of Kailash, on the Central Secretariat – Badarpur corridor. Six people were killed and 15 others injured. [103] The day after, on July 13, 2009, a crane that was removing the debris collapsed, and with a bowling pin effect collapsed two other nearby cranes, injuring six. [104] On July 22, 2009 a steel beam fell on a worker at the under-construction Ashok Park Metro station, killing him. [105] Over a hundred people, including 93 workers, have died since work on the metro began in 1998. [106] [edit] Rolling stock The Metro uses rolling stock of two different gauges. Phase I lines use 1,676  mm (5. 499  ft) broad gauge rolling stock, while three Phase II lines use 1,435  mm standard gauge rolling stock. [108] Trains are maintained at seven depots at Khyber Pass and Sultanpur for the Yellow Line, Mundka for the Green Line, Najafgarh and Yamuna Bank for the Blue Line, Shastri Park for the Red Line and Sarita Vihar for the Violet Line. [29][109][110][111][112] [edit] Broad gauge The broad gauge rolling stock is manufactured by two major suppliers. For the Phase I, the rolling stock was supplied by a consortium of companies comprising Hyundai Rotem, Mitsubishi Corporation, and MELCO. The coaches were initially built in South Korea by ROTEM,[113] then in Bangalore by BEML through a technology transfer arrangement. [114] These trains consist of four 3. 2-metre (10  ft) wide stainless steel lightweight coaches with vestibules permitting movement throughout their length and can carry up to 1500 passengers,[115] with 50 seated and 330 standing passengers per coach. 116] The coaches are fully air conditioned, equipped with automatic doors, microprocessor-controlled brakes and secondary air suspension,[117] and are capable of maintaining an average speed of 32  km/h (20  mph) over a distance of 1. 1  km (0. 68  mi). [116] The system is extensible up to eight coaches, and platforms have been designed accordingly. [115] The rolling stock for Phase II is being supplied by Bombardier Transportation, which has received an order f or 614 cars worth approximately US$ 1100 million. 118] While initial trains were made in Germany and Sweden, the remainder will be built at Bombardier's factory in Savli, near Vadodara. [119] These trains are a mix of four-car and six-car consists, capable of accommodating 1178 and 1792 commuters per train respectively. The coaches possess several improved features like Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras with eight-hour backup for added security, charging points in all coaches for cell phones and laptops, improved air conditioning to provide a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius even in packed conditions and heaters for winter. 120] [edit] Standard gauge The standard gauge rolling stock is manufactured by BEML at its factory in Bangalore. The trains are four-car consists with a capacity of 1506 commuters per train,[121] accommodating 50 seated and 292 standing passengers in each coach. [116] These trains will have CCTV cameras in and outside the coaches, power supply connections inside coaches to charge mobiles and laptops, better humidity control, microprocessor-controlled disc brakes,[122] and will be capable of maintaining an average speed of 34  km/h (21  mph) over a distance of 1.   km (0. 68  mi). [116] [edit] Airport Express Eight 6-car trains supplied by CAF Beasain of Spain were imported. [123] CAF holds 5% equity in the DAME project, Reliance Infrastructure holds the remaining 95%. [57] The trains on this line are entirely different from the existing ones and have in-built noise reduction features for a noise-free ride with padded fabric seats. The coaches are equipped with LCD screens for entertainment of the passengers and also provide flight information for convenience of air travellers. The trains are fitted with an event recorder which can withstand high levels of temperature and impact and the wheels have flange lubrication system for less noise and better riding comfort. [124] [edit] Maglev On 7 December 2011, the government informed the Rajya Sabha that it was planning to introduce magnetic levitation wheel-less trains on the Delhi Metro. Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy said: â€Å"The Delhi Metro proposes to introduce the wheel-less trains. The introduction of Maglev technology of Metro connectivity by DMRC is only at a conceptual stage for the present. â€Å"[125] The Maglev technology uses magnetic levitation to suspend, guide and propel mass rapid systems. [edit] Signalling and telecommunication The Delhi Metro uses cab signalling along with a centralised automatic train control system consisting of automatic train operation, Automatic Train Protection and automatic train signalling modules. 126] A 380  MHz digital trunked TETRA radio communication system from Motorola is used on all 6 lines to carry both voice and data information. [127] For Line 3,4 Siemens Transportation Systems has supplied the electronic interlocking Sicas, the operation control system Vicos OC 500 and the automation control system LZB 700 M. [128] An integrated system comprising optical fibre cable, on-train radio, CCTV, and a centralised clock and public address system is used for telecommunication during train operations as well as emergen cies. 129] For Line-1 and Line-2 ALSTOM has supplied signalling system and for line 5,6 Bombardier has supplied signalling system. [edit] Environment and aesthetics The Delhi Metro has won awards for environmentally friendly practices from organisations including the United Nations,[130] RINA,[131] and the International Organization for Standardization,[131] becoming the second metro in the world, after the New York City Subway, to be ISO 14001 certified for environmentally friendly construction. [132] Most of the Metro tations on the Blue Line conduct rainwater harvesting as an environmental protection measure. [133] It is also the first railway project in the world to earn carbon credits after being registered with the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism,[134] and has so far earned 400,000 carbon credits by saving energy through the use of regenerative braking systems on its trains. [135] The Metro has been promoted as an integral part of community infrastructure, and community artwork depicting the local way of life has been put on display at stations. 136] Students of local art colleges have also designed decorative murals at Metro stations,[137] while pillars of the viaduct on some elevated sections have been decorated with mosaic murals created by local schoolchildren. [138] The Metro station at INA Colony has a gallery showcasing artwork and handicrafts from across India,[139] while all stations on the Central Secretariat – Qutub Minar section of the Yellow Line have panels installed on the monumental architectural heritage of Delhi. [