Judicial Response to Environmental Issues in India

Environmental protection during the last few years has become not only a matter of national concern but of global importance. It is now an established truth beyond all doubts that without a clean environment the very survival of mankind is at stake. Decline in environmental quality has been evidenced by increasing pollution, loss of vegetal over and bio-diversity, excessive concentration of harmful chemicals in the ambient atmosphere and food chains, growing risks of environmental accidents and threat to life support systems. This has drawn the attention of entire world community and therefore they resolved to protect and enhance the environment quality. How could the judiciary remain a silent spectator when the subject has acquired high importance and become a matter of caution and judicial notice. In a developing country like India, with uneducated masses, conditions of abject poverty, where the awareness of socio-economic and ecological problems in lacking, the judiciary has to play an active role to protect the people’s right against the anti-people order by infusing confidence in people as a whole for whom it exists, for as rightly put by Justice Lodha, â€Å"Judiciary exists for the people and not vice-versa. † Judiciary therefore cannot sit in silence and helplessly but must come forward actively to make good the deficiencies of law and provide relief wherever and whenever required. The Judiciary remained as a spectator to environmental exploitation until recently. But now judiciary assumed an effective role of public educator, policy maker, super-administrator, and more generally, amicus environment. In India Environmental law is judicial response to the queries of its citizens against environmental exploitation and administrative sloth and also role played by the public interest litigation. Since 1985 most of the environment cases in India have been brought before the court as writ petitions, normally by individuals acting on pro bono basis. While numerous legislative steps have been taken to give effect to the significant right of man to live in a sound environment and the corresponding duty of the state and individuals to ensure environmental preservation and conservation, our present endeavor is to analyze the steps taken by judiciary to forward this goal. To achieve this end, the judiciary had evolved certain principles to provide effective remedy in case of violation of constitutional and legislative mandate. In the subsequent sub divisions, several concepts which the judiciary has evolved in order to give force to the right of man to a healthy environment would be briefly dealt with. Right to a Wholesome Environment Judicial recognition of environmental jurisprudence, in the backdrop of industrialization, reached its peak with the pronouncement of the Supreme Court that right to wholesome environment is a part of Article 21 of the Constitution. In Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar, the court observed that Article 32 of the Constitution has been designed to enforce the fundamental rights of the citizen. The said articles provides for extraordinary procedure to enforce the right of a person. The right to life under Article 21 includes the right to enjoyment of pollution free water and air for full enjoyment of life. Judicial concern regarding right to wholesome environment has been reflected in subsequent pronouncements. It has issued appropriate directions where the government machinery has failed to perform its statutory duty, and thereby undermined the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. In Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action and Other v. Union of India and Others, the chemical industries surrounding Bichhri Village in Udaipur (Rajasthan) contaminated the water, soil and air through the discharge of highly toxic effluents, particularly iron-based and gypsum based sludge. The court interfered to give proper remedy to the destitute villagers. It opined that the social interest litigation under Article 32 of the Constitution was a weapon in the hands of the people to enforce their right to wholesome environment, when it was blatantly disregarded by industries. In other words, the court reaffirmed that right to clean environment is an important facet of the right to life. In RLE Kendra Dehradun v. State of Uttar Pradesh, the apex court declared that right to life includes ‘the right of the people to live in the healthy environment with minimal disturbance of ecology and without avoidable hazard to them and to their cattle, home and agriculture land and undue affection of air, water and environment’. Also, the Supreme Court, in Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board v. MV Naydu, has put forward the view that matters relating to environment are of equal significance with those of human rights. In its own words: Environmental concerns arising in this court under Article 32 or under Article 136 or under Article 226 in the High Courts are in our view, of equal importance as Human Rights Concerns. In fact, both are to be traced to Article 21 which deals with fundamental right to life and liberty. While environmental aspect concern ‘life’, human right aspect concern liberty. Principles of Common Law In 1980, the Supreme Court held that clean civic life is the right of the inhabitants who reside within the municipal area. In Municipality Ratlam v. Vardichand, the petitioner, a municipal council, filed an appeal against the direction of the magistrate under section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The judicial magistrate, on application by the people of the area passed certain directions against the civic corporate body to bring cleanliness within the municipal area, as it had been polluted by open drains, human excreta, in absence of proper sanitation, and discharges from alcohol factories. The High Court affirmed the directions issued. Thereafter, the civil corporation filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court on the ground that the magistrate had no powers to pass order against the municipality. The Supreme Court took a very serious note of the miserable condition of the municipal area which posed health hazards for the people. Additionally the discharges from the alcohol plant overflowed the open drains making the condition more miserable. The Supreme Court issued certain directions, in addition to the magisterial directions, and fixed the time limit within which those were to be implemented. The significant contribution of this judgment, from the point of view of environmental criminal law was that, if any officer of the corporation failed to discharge his duties, then he could be punished under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Subsequently, in Ram Baj Shing v. Babulal, the Allahabad High Court tried to read atmospheric pollution within the broad spectrum of private nuisance, and issued permanent injunction against the polluting brick-grinding factory. The court enumerated that the dust emitting from a grinding machine factory created public hazards and injured the health of individual members of the society. ‘Any act would amount to private nuisance which caused injury, discomfort or annoyance to a person. ’ PIL with Reference to Environment Protection Since the last decade, PIL has played a unique role by which people belonging to different walks of life and especially the down trodden are getting social justice from the Supreme Court as well as the High Courts. The PIL is now recognized as an effective instrument of social change. It is because of this new strategic of pro bono litigation that the poor and the down trodden have been able to seek justice from courts. As a result of this development, a spate of environmental cases has been brought before the courts through public interest litigation. They have been filed either by individuals, voluntary organization or by letter/petitions sent to judges. In the following passages an attempt is being made to examine some of the leading judicial pronouncements on the point. i. Delhi Gas Leak case M. C. Mehta v. Union of India, popularily known as Delhi Gas Leak or Oleum Gas Leak Case, is the historic one in the field of environmental justice. The Supreme Court besides laying down substantial principles of law, embarked upon some important questions of law and policy which need to be answered. The Supreme Court laid down two important principles of law; First, the power of the Supreme Court to grant remedial relief for a proved infringement of a fundamental right (in this case Article 21) includes the power to award compensation, albeit in exceptional cases. Thus, the court not only widened the scope of the Article 21 by including in it protection of environment but also included a liability in tort for those harmed others by pollution. Second, the judgment opened a new frontier in the Indian jurisprudence by introducing a new â€Å"no fault† liability standard (absolute liability) for industries engaged in hazardous activities which has brought about radical changes in the liability and compensation laws in India. The new standard makes hazardous industries absolutely liable for the harm resulting from its activities. It is a standard which on its terms, admits of no defences. The case is significant from other points. The court further expanded the scope of â€Å"epistolary jurisdiction† when it reiterated that â€Å"a public spirited individual or a social action group acting pro bono public would suffice to ignite the jurisdiction of this court† and that hyper technical approach that defeated the ends of justice was inappropriate in PIL cases. ii. The Ganga Pollution Case The Ganga pollution cases are the most important water pollution cases in India to date. The brief facts being, in 1985, M. C. Mehta, an activist advocate and social worker, by way of a public interest litigation, filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution inter alia, for the issue of a writ/order/direction in the nature of mandamus, directing Kanpur Municipality to restrain itself from discharging waste water into the river Ganga, and governmental authorities and the tanneries at Jajmau near Kanp ur to stop polluting the river with sewage and trade effluents till such time that they put up necessary treatment plants for treating these effluents. The court in Mehta case I made order against the tanneries, while in Mehta case II ruled against municipalities and other governmental authorities. In Mehta case I, the court realizing the importance of water of the river Ganga in particular, and concerned over the continuing pollution of it by the industries and municipal wastes, reminded the conviction of environmental protection as enshrined in the directive principle in Article 48-A of the Constitution which provides that state shall endeavour to protect and improve environment and to safeguard the forests and the wildlife of the country. Article 51-A which imposes a fundamental duty on the citizens to protect and improve the natural environment. The court also invoked the Water Act as an indication of the importance of the prevention and control of water pollution. The court emphasized that notwithstanding the comprehensive provisions contained in the Water Act the state boards had not taken effective steps to prevent the discharge of effluents in the river Ganga. The court ruled that the fact, as was asserted on behalf of the some of the tanneries, that the effluents were not directly discharged into the river but first discharged in to the municipal sewers, did not absolve them from being proceeded against under the provisions of the law in force, since ultimately the effluents reach the river Ganga from Municipal Sewers. The ourt also invoked Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 as further indication of the importance of prevention and control of water pollution and noted that not much has been done even under the Act by the Central Government to stop the grave public nuisance caused by the tanneries at Jajmau, Kanpur. Mehta Case II related to the action taken against Kanpur Municipality and other Government entities for their failure to prevent waste water flowing to the river Ganga as was asserted in the original petition by the petitioner. Accordingly the Supreme Court directed Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika to: a. Complete the works to improve sewerage system within the target dates mentioned in the counter affidavits and not to delay the completion of those works beyond those dates. b. Take action against the dairies for either removing the waste accumulated near the dairies or to get them shifted to a place outside the city. c. Take immediate steps to increase the size of the sewers and wherever sewerage line is not yet constructed, to get it constructed. d. To construct sufficient number of latrines and urinals for the use of poor people in order to prevent defecation by them on open land. . The practice of throwing corpse and semi burnt corpses be brought to an end immediately. The Municipality and Police should take step to ensure that dead bodies or half burnt bodies are not thrown into the river Ganga. The remarkable thing about this judgment is that thought, it was a case against Kanpur Nagar Mahapalika but the court directed that this will apply mutatis mutandis to all other Mahapalikas and Municipalities which have jurisdiction over the areas through which the river Ganga flows and accordingly directed to send the copy of judgment to all municipalities. ii. Dehradun Quarrying Case Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, Dehradun v. State of Uttar Pradesh, or Dehradun Valley Litigation as it is commonly known, is one of the most complex environmental case handled by the Supreme Court. It is the first momentous decision of the apex court wherein it was required to balance environmental and ecological integrity against industrial demands on forest resources. The main question before the Supreme Court for consideration was whether the mine lessees could be allowed to mine quarrying operations. In its order of 12 March, 1985, the Supreme Court, after considering the recommendations of the Bhargava Committee, ordered immediate closure of most dangerous mines and those falling within Mussoorie city’s board limits. The court finds that due to working of lime stone quarries there is imbalance to ecology or hazard to healthy environment, then in that case the court will order their closure. The court thus impliedly recognized right to a wholesome environment as implicit in Article 21 of the Constitution. iv. Calcutta Taj Hotel Case Sachidanand Pandey v. State of West Bengal, is an important town planning case which in categorical terms reiterates the court’s duty to protect environment. In this case, the Government of West Bengal gave on lease to the Taj Group, four acres of land belonging to the Calcutta Zoological Garden for the construction of a five star hotel. This garden was located in Alipore, the heart of Calcutta. It was this giving away of the land that w as challenged by a PIL petition, filed originally in the Calcutta High Court by two citizens of Calcutta-one the secretary of the Union of Workmen of the Zoological Garden and the other, a life member of the zoo. The Calcutta High Court upheld the lease in favour of the hoteliers. In appeal the Supreme Court held that ecological balance shall be maintained by the court in spite of the fact that such duty imposed on the government is merely a directive principle of state policy under Part IV of the constitution. The court further held: â€Å"Whenever a problem of ecology is brought before the court, the court is bound to bear in mind Article 48-A of the Constitution and Article 51A(g). When the court is called upon to give effect to the Directives Principles and fundamental duty, the court is not to shrug its shoulders and say that priorities are a matter of policy and so it is a matter for the policy-making authority. The least that the court may do is to examine whether appropriate considerations are borne in mind and irrelevancies are excluded. In appropriate cases the court may go further, but how much further must depend on the circumstances of the case. In view of the above approach the court adopting a liberal approach in favour of the development held that the Government has acted perfectly bonafidely in granting the lease and its action was not against the interests of the zoo or migrant birds visiting the zoo. On the contrary as the proposed hotel is a garden hotel there is every chance of the ecology and environment being improved as a result of planting of numerous trees around the premises and removal of the burial ground and dumping ground for rubbish . Conclusion Thus, the Supreme Court of India had taken into account the right to a healthy environment along with the right to sustainable development and balanced them. This concept of right to a healthy environment and sustainable development are the fundamental human rights implicit in the right to life, which has been constructed as such in many countries. The entire judicial construction by the Supreme Court and the High Courts also reveal the humanitarian approach to these environmental laws with the help of public interest litigations. The Indian Supreme Court was the first to develop the concept of right to healthy environment as a part of life under Article 21 of our constitution. This principle is now been adopted and followed in various other countries now. Suggestions In this paper the researcher wants to recommends the following suggestions. 1)The problem can be very well addressed to masses with the help of clinical environmental education, as there will be specialized treatment to sensitize people about environmental problems. Moreover, innovative minds can come out with very real solutions. 2)There should be separation of funds for issues related to environmental protection and international financial institutions should leap forward to take care of nation. 3)Governments of the nation should make provisions for environmental protection officers, those who should have the power to accept grievances against the public authorities who are not responding to legislative policies of environment protection. )The judiciary should go for dialogic activism i. e. through judgments it should enter a dialogue with several agencies of states to implement the agenda of environmental protection. 5)There should be an environmental census i. e. a questionnaire should be made about the general awareness on environmental protection and to distribute it to the people which would be helpful in the collection of data on prevailing conditions.

Booking System Essay

1.Product Description Gamici is one of Singapore’s most prestigious and stylist Italian restaurant which served authentic Italian cuisine. With its simple, elegant yet friendly and vibrant environment, Gamici has become a common social gathering place for many friends and families. Therefore, this has helped to boost the growth of its business. Currently, Gamici is using a completely manual based system to carry out some of their day to day operations. Due to the business growth, this system has become inadequate to meet its business requirements. Some problems it encountered using a manual system when its business is getting busier each day: †¢ More manpower is needed to serve the customers which lead to space constraint in the restaurant. †¢ Servers complained that they have too much to do within the fastest time possible else customers will get impatient with their service. This may lead to more human error such as carelessness. †¢ Inefficiency caused returning customers to decrease as the wait time for seats, food to be served, servers’ response and billing are getting too long. †¢ Food quality degrades as food processing time is shortened to satisfy customers’ impatience. †¢ Customers can only reserve seats and order food through phone calls and this means that payment cannot be made beforehand. Some of the food ordered by customers may have special ingredients that need advance purchasing. Last minute cancellation by customers or customers who do not turn up, result in wastage of food and staff effort is put to a waste. Thus, the restaurant will eventually make loses. †¢ High expenses incurred. With the aim for solving the above problems, Gamici has decided to engage UPz to develop a portal to 1) Reduce the workload of the staff. 2) Have online payment via credit/debit card. 3) Receive order in real time Therefore, UPz software development team will introduce an Online Reservation and Food Ordering System (ORFO) whereby customers can browse the food menu online, which order can be placed and payment can be made through the system and reserve seats based on restaurant floor plan to pick the exact seat location in the restaurant that the customers prefer to dine at. 1.1Product Vision The new system (ORFO) aims to increase efficiency to smoother work flow of the restaurant so as to provide top-notch dining experience and service to the customers. It also aims to reduce overheads caused by the manual system and solve the current problems mentioned in Section 1 – Product Description. 1.2Business Requirements The first version of the ORFO must be available within three months. ORFO must demonstrate cost saving of at least 20% on labor within a year after the introduction. The reduction of manpower would mean that the restaurant need not have to activate as many staff as before during peak hours or days of the week. Labor productivity must be improved by 15% at least. Revenue must result in 20% increase after a year. New and existing customers patrolling the restaurant must result in 15% increase at least. 1.3Stakeholders and Users Management – The Board of Directors as the controlling interest in ORFO. Weekly status update meeting will be held to communicate the progress of the project to the management. Purchaser – Upz who invest money to develop the system. User – Customers who use ORFO to interact with Gamici. Developers – The eight-member development team which includes one project manager, two programmers, two software engineers, two database analysts and one designer. Staff – Restaurant Manager and Restaurant Supervisor who maintain and update the portal such as adding new items to the menu, making changes to the prices, introducing promotions. Administration Clerk and Waiters are only able to retrieve information. 1.4Project Scope The scope of this project is to develop an Online Reservation and Food Ordering System which will be integrated on Gamici website. This system allows reservation making and food ordering services that will provide a convenient dining experience to the customers. Customers can also raise special requests to cater to their needs. In addition, the ORFO system allows customers to choose their desire seats online based on the restaurant floor plan and order food. Then, payment can also be done online through ORFO system. Database will be created to keep track of customers’ information and requests. 1.5 Assumptions Order ID will be issued to customers after each transaction with Gamici. The payment modes will be through credit/debit cards or internet banking. An invoice will automatically be generated after each transaction. 6 Constraints The system should support various payment modes. Functional Requirements 1. General 1. The user shall only be able to perform the following operations: i. For customer: a. Make a reservation b. Browse menu c. Special request d. Make payment e. Modify/cancel reservation ii. For restaurant personnel: a. View database 2. The ORFO must have a â€Å"Back button† to go back to previous page. 2. Make a Reservation 1. When the user initiates ‘Make a Reservation’, he/she must be taken to the ‘Make a Reservation’ page. 2. The user must be able to enter the following information a. Time and date b. Number of people 3. Once the user submits the information, he/she will be taken a page that shows the floor plan of the restaurant. 4. The page must show all the available table(s) that fit the requirements in 2.2.2 in yellow. Unqualified table(s) will be in red. 5. The user must be able to choose the table(s) in yellow only and using the mouse by clicking on the table. The selected table will be in green. 6. The user must be able to deselect the table by clicking the selected table again and the table will be in yellow again. 7. Once the requested table(s) is selected, the user must be able to click the ‘Confirm’ button to proceed. 8. The user must be able to enter the following information: a. Name (between 1 to 32 characters) b. Contact number 9. Once the information is submitted, the selected table(s) and the information must be updated in the database. 10. If the update fails, the ORFO must show an error message to the user notifying him/her of the failure. 3. Browse Menu 1. The ORFO must display the menu that is updated to the current day and must be coherent to the menu used in the restaurant. 2. The menu page must display the menu in tabs with the following categories: i. Main course ii. Appetizers iii. Beverages iv. Dessert 3. Each tab page must display a list of 10 items at a time. 4. User must be able to navigate through the items using various navigational links provided at the bottom of the page: a. Clicking â€Å"next† will list the next 10 products in the menu. (If more available) b. Clicking â€Å"previous† will list the previous 10 products in the menu. (If previous exists) c. Click on individual page numbers will display the selected page. 5. The ORFO must allow the user to view the following about a single item from the menu by clicking on the item: a. Item name b. Item image c. Item description d. Item price 6. The user must be able to select the item by double clicking on the item and the item will be added to cart, refer to 2.3.7. 7. The ORFO must display a cart that contains the items selected by the user at the bottom of the page. 8. The cart must contain the following information a. Item name b. Item price c. Total price (with GST) d. Total price (with GST) 9. The user must be able to delete the item from the cart by selecting the item and click on the â€Å"Remove† button at the side. 10. If there is at least one item in the cart, the user must be able to click the â€Å"Proceed† button to proceed. 11. Once the â€Å"Proceed† button is clicked, the selected items information must be updated in the database. 12. If the update fails, the ORFO must show an error message to the user notifying him/her of the failure. 4. Special Request 1. The ORFO must display a list of default special request with tabs with the following categories: a. Birthday b. Date c. User defined 2. For tabs a and b, the page must display a list of 10 items at a time. 3. User must be able to navigate through the items using various navigational links provided at the bottom of the page: a. Clicking â€Å"next† will list the next 10 products in the menu. (If more available) b. Clicking â€Å"previous† will list the previous 10 products in the menu. (If previous exists) c. Click on individual page numbers will display the selected page. 4. The ORFO must allow the user to view the following about a single item from the menu by clicking on the item: e. Item name f. Item image g. Item description h. Item price 5. The user must be able to select the item by double clicking on the item and the item will be added to cart under refer to 2.3.7. 6. To delete the selected item refer to 2.3.9. 7. For tab c, the user must be able to enter in a short description of the special request and must provide the following information: i. Item name ii. Place to buy 8. If there is at least one item in the cart, the user must be able to click the â€Å"Proceed† button to proceed. 9. Once the â€Å"Proceed† button is clicked, the selected items information must be updated in the database. 10. If the update fails, the ORFO must show an error message to the user notifying him/her of the failure. 11. The ORFO must inform the user via the contact provided in 2.2.8 within 24 hours about the user defined special requests. 5. Make Payment 1. The ORFO must allow the user to look through all the items in the cart with information provided in 2.3.8. 2. The user must be able to confirm the order(s) by clicking the â€Å"Confirm† button. 3. The ORFO must display the modes of payment as shown: i. By cash at the restaurant ii. By credit card via online 4. If the user selects a, proceed to 2.5.5. If the user selects b, proceed to 2.5.8. 5. The ORFO must generate a transaction ID, the user must produce this ID at the restaurant for verification during the day of reservation. 6. The user must click the â€Å"Proceed† button to verify that he/ she has noted the transaction ID. 7. The ORFO must proceed to 2.5.14. 8. The user must be brought to a secured page to make the payment via credit card. 9. The user must be able to enter his/her credit card number. 10. After valid credit card number is entered, the user must be able to proceed by clicking the â€Å"Proceed† button. 11. Once â€Å"Proceed† button is clicked, the ORFO must verify the credit number. 12. If verification fails, the ORFO must show an error message to the user to notify him/her of the failure. 13. If verification is successful, the ORFO must generate an invoice and a link must be provided to the invoice for printing. 14. The ORFO must display the following information. a. Transaction ID b. Invoice ID (if any) c. Time and Date d. Number of people e. Table(s) reserved f. Food ordered g. Special request(s) (if any) 15. The reservation is completed, the user must be able to exit the page or proceed with another transaction by clicking the â€Å"Finish† button. 6. Modify/ Cancel Reservation 1. The ORFO must allow the user to modify or cancel reservation at â€Å"Modify/Cancel Reservation† Page. 2. The user must enter the following information for verification: a. Transaction ID b. Credit card (for payment via credit card only) 3. If the verification fails, the ORFO must show an error message to the user notifying him or her of the failure. 4. If the verification is successful, the ORFO must check the time of this adjustment and the time of reservation. 5. If the duration is more than 24 hours, the ORFO must show a message to the user notifying him/her that it is too late for the adjustment and 2.6.20. 6. If the duration is shorter than 24 hours, the user must be able to proceed to the page to make the adjustment. 7. The ORFO must display the following: a. Modify reservation b. Cancel reservation 8. If the user selects a, proceed to 2.6.9. If the user select selects b, proceed to 2.6.17. 9. The ORFO must allow the user to modify the reservation as shown below: i. Change reserved table, refer to 2.2 ii. Modify ordered food, refer to 2.3 iii. Modify special requests, refer to 2.4 10. If the net payment after the adjustment is less than the previous payment, no refund must be given. 11. If the net payment after the adjustment is more than the previous payment, additional payment must be made, refer to 2.5. 12. The ORFO must update the database with the adjustments. 13. If the adjustment fails, the ORFO must show an error message to the user notifying him or her of the failure. 14. If the update is successful, the ORFO must display the following information. a. New Transaction ID b. Invoice ID (if any) c. Time and Date d. Number of people e. Table(s) reserved f. Food ordered g. Special request(s) (if any) 15. The ORFO must display the following information of the reservation: a. Transaction ID b. Invoice ID (if any) c. Time and Date d. Number of people e. Table(s) reserved f. Food ordered g. Special request(s) (if any) 16. The user must be able to cancel the reservation by clicking â€Å"Cancel Reservation†. 17. Once the user selects â€Å"Cancel Reservation†, the ORFO must update the database with the adjustments. 18. If the adjustment fails, the ORFO must show an error message to the user notifying him or her of the failure. 19. If the update is successful, the ORFO must inform the user how to get the refund. 20. The adjustment is completed, the user must be able to exit the page or proceed with another reservation by clicking the â€Å"Finish† button. 7. View Database 1. The user must choose the time and date in a drop down menu. 2. The ORFO must display the database in tabs with the following categories: a. Tables reserved b. Food ordered c. Special Orders 3. If the user selects a, proceed to 2.7.4. If the user selects b, proceed to 2.7.6. If the user selects c, proceed to 2.7.9. 4. The ORFO must display the floor plan showing the status of the table: a. Green table means reserved b. Red table means not reserved 5. The ORFO must allow the user to view the following about a reserved table from the floor plan by clicking on the table: a. Customer name b. Customer contact number c. Number of people d. Link to the ordered food e. Link to the special request f. Mode of payment 6. The ORFO must display the ordered food in tabs based on the reserved tables. 7. When the user selects one of the tabs, the ORFO must display the ordered food in a table, with the following format: a. Main course b. Appetizers c. Beverages d. Dessert 8. The ORFO must display the quantity of the ordered food beside the item in the table. 9. The ORFO must display the special requests in tabs based on the reserved tables. 10. When the user selects one of the tabs, the ORFO must display the special requests in a table, with the following format: a. Birthday b. Date c. User define 11. The ORFO must display the quantity of the special requests beside the item in the table. 12. Once viewing of the database is done, the user must be exit the database by clicking on the â€Å"Exit† button. 3.Data Requirements Data requirements describe the format, structure, type, and allowable values of data entering, leaving, or stored by the product. 1. The system will only accept data which are correct and not ambiguious. E.g Mobile number should only be 8 digits long and credit card numbers should be 16 digits long. 2. The booking can only be submitted and processed by the system when all required fields of data have been filled up. 3. The system should display all times in the 24-hour clock format. 4. The system must store customer names in fields recording first and last name. 5. When a customer has selected a table of choice for booking but has not yet confirmed his booking, the system will lock out that particular table to other customers. 4.Non-functional requirements There are requirements that are not functional in nature. Specifically, these are the constraints the system must work within. 1. Compatiblity 1. The website should be compatitible with both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, the 2 most widely used browser currently. 2. User interface 1. The user interface should be as familiar as possible to users who have used other web applications and Windows desktop applications. E.g., we will follow the UI guidelines for naming menus, buttons, and dialog boxes whenever possible. 3. Security 1. Access will be controlled with usernames and passwords 2. Only administrator users will have access to administrative functions, average users will not. 3. Database should be reasonably secured to prevent leak or loss of confidential information such as credit card details from customers.. 4. Performance 1. The system should be up and running 24/7. 2. It should support at least 100 users using the online booking concurrently without any lag. 5. Backup and Recovery 1. There should be a backup server and database to prevent service interuption or loss of data when the main server and database are down. 2. Downtime should not last more then 30sec when switching from main server to the backup server in case of a breakdown. 6. Reliability 1. The whole online booking system should achieve a 99% sucess rate. i.e downtime should not be more then 1% of its total operating time. 2. System review will take place monthly. Any lack in performance or reliability will be addressed and improved on after each review. 7. System Maintainence 1. Maintainence of the system will be conducted weekly. Maintainence will be conducted during off-peak hours e.g between 12am – 6amz 5.Interface Requirements Overview The user interface of this restaurant booking system is a web site which can be viewed using popular web browsers. This high accessibility made it easier and more convenient for users to use the system. Users don’t need to set up any additional software for the purpose of running the system. As long as an Internet co nnection is available, the system can be easily accessed using their mobile devices. Multi-platforms operation is also an additional advantage of this design. One more advantage of this design is the power of the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). HTML provides nicer features with simple modification and configuration compared to the GUI of other languages. HTML language supports the use of other languages and technique to make dynamic objects, which can improve the vividness of the application. 5.1User Interfaces These are the fundamental features of the GUI that should be included in the websites: A login box comprises of an account and a password textfield. Users can sign in using their NRIC to check their bookings. We can provide the sign up function for long-term users so that they don’t have to refill the information everytime booking is made. A dynamic menu including the links to the homepage, the menu page, the booking page and the information page. the menupage will have the list of food with its respective image.It can be divided into many pages to ease up the navigation. The booking page will have a shopping cart function for the booking of food and a clickable map for the reservation of seats. After booking is submitted, the webpage will automatically redirect to the payment page. The information page will provide additional information about the restaurant. A slideshow or a flash of the images of the restaurant. Images of the top ordered dishes and their respective information (e.g price, ..). A panel for advertisements coming from our own restaurant or from other parties. 5.2Hardware Interfaces Describe how the software application interfaces with hardware that exists outside the scope of the system. 5.3Software Interfaces The use of web design tools such as Adobe Dreamweaver is employed to make a more professional and nicer design of the system. The code editor and the design editor is integrated in one tool, which allows easy modification as well as addition of elements onto the web pages. Interactive and dynamic objects can be created more easily within a few clicks. The platform to implement the webpage is php and mysql with the support of Apache. Another platforms to be considered are jsp, serverlet using netbean, asp.net and C# using Visual Studio. However, PHP is chosen due to its popularity, ease in coding and the availability of free scripts online. To edit the images and make the flash, it is recommended to utilize Adobe Photoshop, Flash SlideShow maker and Adobe(Macromedia) Flash Player. This requires some Actionscript code to make the dynamic contents. It’s also used to create icons and graphics to enhance the interface. 5.4. Difficulties Encountered and Solutions Applied Since most of the languages used is new to the development team. It takes time to get familiar with these languages. Another problem confronted by the team is the inconsistency in designs and layout since different components and different pages are developed seperately by different people. These components are later merged together to form the complete system. Confronting these problems, our team has come up with appropriate solutions and applied it successfully. For instance, we have searched online and found plenty of free pieces of code and software that is applicable to our system. This simplifies the process of coding and developing some interactive components. To name it, we use Flash SlideShow maker to generate the slideshow in the flash format simply by adding pictures and choose the skin of the layout. A lot of PHP codes, Javascript to do some complicated tasks or to make dynamic menus features can be found easily on the websites and tutorials. They give us an idea of how the job is done and save us a lot of hard work. About the inconsistency matter, the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) is applied to enhance the flexibility and accessibility of the elements by defining the common element property seperately and concretely. These properties are specified in the style sheet, which determines the appearance of all the pages that are linked to it. The point is that these properties only need to be entered once and then they are applied automatically to all the elements, which save a lot of coding. Another remarkable advantage displays itself when it comes to managing big and sophisticated websites. CSS make it possible for the whole systems and organizations to share and reuse a small number of style sheets. Beside ensurement of consistency across the site, CSS also favors the updating and modifying of the web layouts to conform to the changes in system requirement. Instead of editting individual components, we can edit all together in one go by modifying the style sheet. 6.Use Case Model Provide the top-level use case diagram, followed by the use case description for each use case. 6.1Use Case Diagram 6.2Use Case Description 7.Glossary Define all terms and acronyms required to interpret the SRS properly. This is the (problem) domain dictionary. 8.References Provide a list of all documents and other sources of information referenced in the SRS and utilized in developing the SRS. Include for each the document number, title, date and author. |Document No. |Document Title |Date |Author | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 9.Revision History Identify changes to the SRS. |Version |Date |Name |Description | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Art of Cooking Essay Example for Free

Art of Cooking Essay I have a passion for culinary art. My double culture, and family background was behind this love . I always thought that being half French , half Moroccan is a great mixture , but starting to cook approved it to me . I remember when I used to sneak in my mom’s kitchen, and play with the ingredients. It was a great time where I learned how to mix, and make new dishes by improvising new combinations. For example, I mixed flavors and textures that were usually never combined. Or even add new colors in my dishes that raise their beauty. I was not the only one fascinated by food. My dad a professional chef got me into the world of pastry, and Moroccan traditional food ex: â€Å"Tagine,† which is primarily used to slow-cook savory stews and vegetable dishes. Because the domed or cone-shaped lid of the tagine traps steam and returns the condensed liquid to the pot. Morocco is the culinary star of North Africa; it is the doorway between Europe and Africa. Much imperial and trade influence has been filtered, and blended into this culture. Moroccan cooking is characterized by rich spices that combine anywhere from 10 to 100 spices. French and Moroccan cooking cuisines have been subject to Berber, Moorish, Arab, and European influences. Most French dishes are known for their complex, and rich flavors, we love bread, and wines. Most of people tried some French recipes, or food without knowing that is even French. You may find them all over the world. Ex: * Crepes: a very flat pancake typically stuffed with fruit or cream. * Baguette: a long French bread loaf. * Chocolate mousse: this lighter than air dessert originated in France. * Eclair : a pastry stuffed with cream and topped with icing. * Creme Brulee : Custard topped with hard caramel. â€Å"One cannot think well, love well, and sleep well, if one has not dined well. † Art of Cooking. (2017, Mar 24).

Haptic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Haptic - Essay Example Haptic is used in supporting cognitive tasks performance e.g. in children with low attention, mental problems and brain injury, by enhancing mental imagery and verbalization systems. Furthermore, haptic can be used in communication as it gives feedback at the point of interaction by the user (Hatzfeld and Kern 21). It also enables conveying of information in demanding environments. Haptic can also be used in tactile interfaces to help in navigation by the visually impaired and blind people (Henderson ‎and Pehoski 77). For haptic devices to be effective, there are functional and data requirements. These include reliability and uniformity so that consistent perceptual effects are obtained. Haptic devices should have sensing requirements for easy and faster input (Siciliano and ‎ Khatib 726). The sensing requirement helps in determining the state of the device. Haptic devices should have high power to weight ratio for excellent performance and good feedback. Also, to sense the user’s action, the haptic device should have high force or torque. A vending machine applies touch on a user interface for payment to be made. After payment is made, customers are provided with what they require for example a drink. Vending machines support a variety of payment methods such as coins, debit and credit cards, pay phones and online accounts such as Payoneer and PayPal. ii. Credit and debit cards provide more convenient ways of making payments as a customer does not have to worry about carrying cash or having it in the right denominations accepted by the machine. A card can be tapped or inserted into the machine to make the payment. iii. The use of pay phones is a recent development. Mobile service providers have come up with different applications that allow business transactions to be conducted using phones. This is also a convenient way of making payments without physical cash. iv. Online payment methods are increasingly being adopted in the modern

International Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Business Strategy - Essay Example Capital investments of Shangri-La is chiefly in Asia- Pacific regions. Apart from extensive hospitality and marketing strategies, some part of growth and expansion of Shangri-La is also due to increase in travelling tendencies of people. The fact that international traveling has become more hazardless has also contributed to this fact. Shangri-La is known for its business focus and capital investments. Like most other hotel chains in Asia, Shangri-La hotels do not engage in multiple business provisions. Shangri-La hotels and resorts are situated in 29 locations and have over 23,000 rooms. In order to compete in global market, Shangri-La has ventured beyond its business activities in Asian markets, and has entered other nations especially into China. Expansion was made in luxury segment as well as in business relationship between owner and operators. This was achieved by extension and well management of contracts. As per their extension programs, Shangri-La has established as many as thirty- five hotels in different and popular tourist destinations of Asia. Some of these destinations include Singapore, India, Malaysia, Japan, etc. Shangri-La has its branches in almost all prominent cities in these continents, like Chicago, Miami, London, Vancouver, Paris, Las Vegas, etc. These achievements have made Shangri-La one of the largest chains of deluxe hotels that are based in Asia. Business activities of Shangri-La, in fact, have not been constrained to Asia only. Over time Shangri-La branches has been established in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates first, and then to Muscat, Oman. Later on it was expanded to other Middle East, Europe, and North America as well. Shangri-La has also expanded in Australia. In 2006, the organization had approximately 40 future projects. (Campbel and Kazan, n.d., pp. 432- 438) However, as far as its expansion to China is concerned, Shangri-La has experienced huge benefits from China’s growing economy. Since 2006, Chinese economy h as turned towards a new growth. This has made China one of the most important concerns of Shangri-La. this concern is evident from the fact that since 2006, most of the projects regarding establishment of new hotel branches were set in China. The figure is estimated to be somewhere around 188 hotels. Another reason why Shangri-La has invested a major part in China is because, in recent times, China has introduced much relation in travel, and has withdrawn some travel restrictions also. It has resulted in significant growth in domestic and outbound travel in China. Also, international events like Olympics in 2008, held in Beijing have not only given China more exposure internationally but have also boosted the country’s economy. All these factors, combined, have prompted Shangri-La to invest more in China. (Campbel and Kazan, n.d., pp. 433) Shangri-La has been following a differentiation strategy as far as international competence is concerned. This chain of hotels had differe ntiated itself by establishing itself as a cultural brand. That is to say, overall brand strategy of Shangri-La is based on Asian hospitality and cultures. The chief aim is to please and delight the customers. Other objectives include consistent top- notch service that would keep up the brand image. Shangri-La Care is the best example of this. This unit has been set up by Shangri-La Hotels as a measure to ensure customer service. This program also included training and developmental

Love and time Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Love and time - Essay Example Likewise, the second which will be analyzed is Andrew Marvell’s â€Å"To His Coy Mistress†. Even though these two points were written in roughly the same timeframe, the key differential which will be analyzed is with regards to the way in which the respective authors understand love and somewhat of an asymmetrical manner. As will be discussed within the preceding analysis, John Donne’s point focuses upon love existing outside of the con strains of time whereas Andrew Marvell’s point focuses upon the immediacy, urgency, and physical necessity of love existing within the very moment. Through an analysis and discussion of these facts, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed understanding with respect to the way in which love was understood in different ways by different authors; even within the same era. Firstly, with regards to Andrew Marvell’s poem, â€Å"To His Coy Mistress†, the reader can quickly come to unde rstand that the approach that this particular poet utilizes is one that places a profound level of emphasis and importance upon what can only be described as a â€Å"carpe diem† approach to life. Within this particular approach, the poet encourages the Mistress to accept his sexual advances and to discontinue her coy behavior. However, by much the same token, rather than merely seeking to break down the walls of seeming rejection that the woman places as an impediment for the subject to overcome, a further focus is placed upon insisting that the love and devotion that he shares for her is not as fleeting and short-lived as a mere sexual fascination. Instead, the author focuses a great deal of energy on examining the fact that even though the time to act is now and an urgency, tension, and immediacy defines the love and passion that the subject has for the Mistress, a deeper and more profound realization of what defines love and the eternity of passion and interest that the su bject could direct for this Mistress if only she opened her heart and her body to the subject is reflected in a variety of different ways. For instance, after the exhortation to stop dismissing the advances of the suitor, Marvell references the fact that in so doing the woman would be able to experience love as she had never before seen it. Ultimately, what is presented to the reader is an argument for the immediacy, passion, and necessity to experience love in the moment. However, due to the fact that a woman would likely find the emotion of immediacy and the need to seize the day as alarming and definitive of a passing craze or crush, the poetry goes to great lengths to prove that the nature of the emotions that are being defined are not short-lived but will instead last for far longer than life itself is able to exist. By means of contrast, John Donne spends almost the entirety of his point in discussing the fact that love does not require a public profession and easily understoo d emotions. Ultimately, the key differential between these two poets is with regards the fact that John Donne’s poem focuses upon the fact that time in and of itself is unimportant to love and love exists beyond and outside of this temporal concept/construct (D'addario 421). Completely contrary to Andrew Marvell’

Winning customers for life with relationship marketing Essay

Winning customers for life with relationship marketing - Essay Example Marketing was quite interesting me due to the fact that relationship marketing is a technique that can increase the sales figures of a company. Many companies are able to generate first time sales, but retaining customers is the key to having a successful business model. It is said that 80% of your sales are generated by 20% of your customers. Finding and retaining good customers can help companies build a business that can succeed in the long run. The use of a relationship marketing plan can help companies identify customers that are valuable to the firm. When a firm can identify its best customers companies can create targeted marketing campaigns. An interesting finding from the article was the fact that marketing has become processized. Using technology can help marketers analyze information better which can help firms achieve greater results. Marketing automation can be used in order to analyze data faster and to obtain update data and information. This can help companies make be tter operating and strategic decisions. The ten steps require for executing relationship marketing automation are: build your database, segment your list, design your communication, build your microsite, include a survey, schedule and send your campaign, follow-up on leads, nurture prospects, analyze campaign results, and repeat the process (Vtrenz, 2007). The purpose of marketing is to is to satisfy the customers’ needs better than the competition. ... The ten steps require for executing relationship marketing automation are: build your database, segment your list, design your communication, build your microsite, include a survey, schedule and send your campaign, follow-up on leads, nurture prospects, analyze campaign results, and repeat the process (Vtrenz, 2007). Chapter Five Summary The purpose of marketing is to is to satisfy the customers’ needs better than the competition. Companies that are able to serve the needs of the customers are the ones that are achieve greater market penetration and a higher level of success. Customer behavior can be defined as the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, sell, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and desire. Customer behavior is influenced by a variety of factors. Both marketing and environmental stimuli enter into the buyer’s consciousness. Cultural factors are very influential in customer’s decisi ons. Culture is considered the fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behavior. Cultures are composed of different subcultures that provide specific identification and socialization for their members. There are different social classes within the different societies across the world. They are relative homogenous and enduring divisions in society. There are seven ascending levels of social classes. The seven levels are: 1) lower lowers; 2) upper lowers; 3) working class; 4) middle class; 5) upper middles; 6) lower uppers; 7) upper uppers. People from the same social class tend to behave similarly then people from different social classes. Some of the things that differentiate social classes are dress, speech patterns, and recreational preferences.

Proofreadoing of Teenage Character Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Proofreadoing of Teenage Character Paper - Essay Example Marie answered without turning her face towards Noreen and said, â€Å" I am going to try-out for the Dance Team.† Noreen looked in amazement at Marie. Marie’s gaze was still fixed on the poster but now she had her hands resting on her heavy hips. Marie turned towards Noreen and nodded her head in anticipation of Noreen's inquiry. With an affirmative nod she said, â€Å"Yep that is just what I am going to do, I am trying out for the dance team.† Marie twirled around looking at herself in the mirror. She was wearing brown spandex ® tights and a gold leotard. She wrapped the dainty chiffon skirt that looked like it was infused with glitter around her full hips. She liked the way the fabric slid over her curvy body. Marie glanced at the clock. â€Å" Oh man, I’m going to be late.† She put on her thick sweater that fell just below her hips, about mid-thigh level. Marie opened the front door and stepped outside. The crisp fall air greeted her face and then acknowledged her body. She felt the cool air on her legs and glanced across the street to where Noreen lives, hoping for once Noreen would be standing outside waiting for her. Marie turned back to make sure she locked the door by jiggling the doorknob. She looked back towards Noreen's house as she walked down the steps and started across the street, warning out loud to no one, "Noreen, if you make me late ...† Just before Marie placed her foot on the first step of Noreen's porch, Noreen appeared at the door. She flung the door open and, in her usual bluster, almost half-out-of-breath said, â€Å"I’m sorry I am running late. Nellie would not get out of the bathroom†¦ and I had to fix my grandmother something to eat†¦ and I did not have time to eat myself, I will just have to eat my egg sandwich on the way†¦Oh, girl, let me make sure I have my keys.† Marie was not listening anymore, she had heard countless excuses as to why Noreen always seemed to be running late. Suddenly, it reminded her of the first time she met Noreen. Marie’s family had just moved to Merrill Street. The movers were bringing the last of the boxes into Marie’s new home and Marie's mom asked her to try to stay out of the way of the movers. So, Marie walked outside to take a look around her new neighborhood. She did not expect to see any older kids hanging out since it was a weekday and the kids would be in school. Marie was just standing outside on the porch looking at all her new neighbor's homes. The sound of a door opening caused Marie look across the street at a yellow house with a green door that suddenly flew open. A short and stout girl that looked to be around her age with big brown eyes and thick hair came rushing out of the door. Marie waved and said hello to the girl. The girl walked over and said, â€Å"Hi my name is Noreen, what’s your name?† â€Å" Hi, I’m Marie.† The two girls chatted on for a whil e, and then Noreen abruptly stopped mid-sentence and said, â€Å"Sorry, I have to run, I am late for school.† Marie yelled to Noreen, â€Å"Say, what time does school start anyway? â€Å" Noreen turned back in reply, â€Å" 8 o’clock!† Marie looked down at the time on her cell phone. It read 8:45 am. She watched Noreen storm down the sidewalk towards the school. Back in the present, Noreen interrupted her thoughts again. "I forgot to get some lunch money, can you loan me

Discussion 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Discussion 3 - Essay Example To mean, it takes me back in time to an era when sculpting as an art form was in its artistic infancy. The sculpture has a raw look that boggles the human mind. Cady Noland provided us with an extremely descriptive look at an installation art piece with her installation piece â€Å"This Piece Has Yet To Be Titled† from 1989 on page 173 of our book. Her work defines the parameters by which an installation is defined as artwork. It is installed at an exhibition site that used materials of physical features that already exist on site into the art piece. Nolands piece is a modern artistic expression that the sculptor wished to convey by using modern materials such as beer cans and the like which comprise the whole of the structure including the American flag. You have a very easily understandable definition for a sculpture in the round. Indeed it is a free standing art piece and the fact that you chose Obus as the accompanying physical definition shows that you have a deep and clear understanding of a sculpture in the round. By showing the little girl running under the art work, you clearly define that an art form in the round is one that has to be viewed from many angles and is defined from each angle that we look at it from. It is such a coincidence that we both chose to define an installation with the same art piece. Your unique connection between the location and the materials used clearly illustrate the definition of the word. Your definition of a sculpture in the round is a cut a paste job.The mere fact that you were able to define both the sculpture in the round and an installation in the same sentence proves that you did not take our lesson as seriously as you should have. Although you also chose to define Obus, you did not say anything that proves that you studied the art piece. You did not care to explain the three dimensional aspect unique to the round sculpture. Did you

Mary Shelly Essay Example for Free

Mary Shelly Essay Compare the way Susan Hill and Mary Shelly Create tension in extracts from their novels The Woman In Black and Frankenstein Gothic Horror was born with the arrival of the book Frankenstein by the author Mary Shelly in 1816. This book fuelled the future wring of horror and changed the future of horror forever. The book Frankenstein came about after Mary had a horrific dream one night. Marys writing was influenced by many factors in her life. Her father used to take her along with him to demonstrations, showing that electricity had the potential to bring people back to life, also science was largely unknown about then, there were many endless possibilities and unanswered questions. She also visited a village of clockwork dolls, which she was very impressed by. All this and the hurt of the loss of her premature baby added to the birth of the most popular book of its century. The book The Woman In Black by Susan Hill was written about 150 years later. At this time science had progressed and many things that were once a mystery were now explained. There was less of the unknown; Yet Susan still managed to create this chilling tale. The extract from Frankenstein is set in a dreary basement, used as Victor Frankensteins laboratory. The very first line starts off with It was on a dreary night of November which adds to the creepy atmosphere, because the night, darkness and cold weather of the November month are usually associated with bad scary things, like chilly weather and shadows in the dark. It then mentions that its one in the morning with heavy rain pattering against the pains, and his candle nearly burnt out, which tells you it was a barely lit room, with a dark chilling atmosphere in the middle of the night, when most are normally asleep, dreaming or having nightmares. This setting and atmosphere very much fits the gothic horror genre, leaving you with a very particular sense of tension. In The Woman In Black extract, we find out in the first small paragraph, is set in a small dilapidated graveyard, this is scary within its self because of a graveyards ossociation with death, ghosts and all things evil. The second paragraph starts with In the greyness of the fading light again adding to the dark, gloomy atmosphere with a feeling of tension of what is to come. The language used in both extracts is very sophisticated and quite complex, as is typical to the gothic horror genre, but while they both use big words Frankenstein is much more old fashioned in wording, obviously due to the time it was written in. Whereas in The Woman In Black the language used is much more modern while still keeping to the more complex wording of the gothic horror genre. Its the first time Victor meets his creation alive in the extract of Frankenstein. His reaction to the monster he has created very much sets up your opinion of it. The way he describes this creature clearly gives you the impression it is evil with its watery eyes and His shrivelled complexion. In The Woman In Black her appearance is not described very much, the focus is more on the feelings she provokes within Arthur. He does however describe the look on her face as as a desperate, yearning malevolence; it was as though she was searching for something she wanted, needed- must have, more then life itself, and which had been taken from her. Through Arthurs thoughts and feelings being explained to you, you feel, or are supposed to feel, what he is feeling. I think the writer is very good at making you experience these dramatic emotions through the character Arthur Kipps, and I certainly was affected by how Arthur is affected when he sees the woman in black. Frankenstein was written at a time when science was new, strange, exciting, and threatening. Much was unexplained and seemed scary and illogical. Strange new ideas were being explored, some far fetched and some that just seemed far-fetched but were the start of vast new scientific knowledge. People began to travel all around the world and experience many new things, different social and cultural attitudes. All this obviously had a profound affect on Mary; she began questioning things and was very aware of the reality of the world around her. In her book it sends out the message of what would happen if people started playing god with life. She obviously felt strongly about this and maybe feared this is what was to come. The Woman In Black was written about 150 years later, in a much more developed time. When science was accepted and we are used to travel, we are less religious and life is very different. The paranormal is less unexplained and the unexplained scares people, this is why Susan has chosen the form of a ghost in her story, as it is more believable then a monster like Frankensteins creature, as we know that wouldnt be possible knowing more about the way things work through science, yet a ghost is still unknown and unexplainable. Both extracts are very typical of the gothic horror genre. They both use complex language with big words and long flowing sentences, with only a few short ones for dramatic affect. They both tell a story about a creature and the unknown at the times they were written. I personally like the extract from The Woman In Black the best, as I can understand the more modern language and I can relate to the story line better because the paranormal is a lot more believable to me then the creation of a creature from dead parts. By Jemma Burke Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

The Applicability Of The Clausewitzian Trinity Politics Essay

The Applicability Of The Clausewitzian Trinity Politics Essay Once considered a vital source of ageless strategic thought, the theories of Carl von Clausewitz have recently come under attack because of the changes in the nature of warfare, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is not disputed that his theories are thought provoking, but it will be argued that his writings can no longer be applicable universally in todays growing methods of warfare such as insurgent terrorism. Modern theorists such as John Keegan, have discredited the Clausewitz theories of war as invalid and having minor to no value in todays study of modern warfare when attempts are made to apply them to prevalent groups such as Al Qaeda.1 It is argued that the primary focus is on the Westphalia model of states and as a result Clausewitzs writings cannot be applied to insurgencies nor can they be applied to identities other than nation-states who wage war. Clausewitz may not have addressed specifically to insurgents warfare and non-state actors but looking closely at t he war on terror indicated that perhaps Carl von Clausewitzs theories may still be relevant because of the phenomenon of globalization. As is often the case with western civilizations way of thinking, problems are only looked at from their own points of view. If the international community were to broaden its perspective to engross the oppositions point of view, it could be seen how Clausewitzs theories of the trinity and the center of gravity remain relevant today and useful in todays method of so called fourth generation warfare. This approach can also identify potential vulnerabilities in the current conflicts with non state actors such as Al Qaeda and the general handling of Warfare in the 21st Century. Warfare has changed much over the past few centuries, especially since Carl von Clausewitz first wrote his manuscripts, which took the form of the book, On War. The world is now in the time of fourth generation warfare. Fourth Generation warfare is a term that was described William Lind and Thomas Hammes. This developed under the new wars thinking. They state that the warfare throughout history has progressed in distinct stages and that the world is currently in its fourth generation warfare. In this form of warfare, advanced western armed forces have to face hard to find and technologically inferior opponents who, through guerrilla warfare, terrorism, and campaigns focused at attacking and undermining western public support, are able to pose quite a significant threat to western security and civilization. Hammes and Lind believe that western forces struggle to capitalize on their military potential because they operate under outdated principles and doctrines of earlier modes of warf are that focused on maneuver warfare which was immortalized by the concept of the blitzkrieg.2 The generations that ran in between are as follows; first generation of warfare, which ran throughout the life of Clausewitz, from 1648 to the 1860s, was characterized by state-run wars. There were Orderly battlefields and militaries fought in formations of lines and columns against one another. As weapon technology, production and effectiveness improved, the order of battlefield began to break down. War I epitomized the second generation, that of attrition warfare. The next generation of warfare which lasted until the outbreak of World War II was trench warfare which evolved, becoming the third generation of warfare; maneuver warfare as stated above. In this scenario, the battlefield became a non-linear entity. Opponents of the concept of forth generation warfare such as Lawrence Freedman criticize the theory due to its selective nature in historical sources defined historical periods. Similar to Lawrence Freedman, Michael Evans found that this thinking had stages too neat and linear. Modern warfare is in fact a merger of forms. Perhaps these critics ascribe too much outward variations of warfare as fundamental changes to its nature. This has led to critics to assign demarcated generations where they are not valid. War has most definitely morph and always will yet these are contextual changes instead of fundamental changes.3 Globalization and the 21st Century It can be argued that Clausewitzs theories remain relevant today because of how globalization has blurred the definition of a nation-state. Clausewitz theorized in On War that war was only possible between nation-states because nation-states were the only forms of identity capable of conducting policy, and war was a continuation of policy by other means.4 John Keegan and others have argued that the international community does not recognize groups such as Al Qaeda as a state and Clausewitzian theory cannot apply to such groups, therefore his theories must be irrelevant in the current form of insurgent warfare. Non-state actors can display major characteristics traditionally associated with the Westphalia definition of a state. Clausewitzs theories were based on the definition of a nation-state as assigned by the treaties of Westphalia.5 these treaties formed the sovereignty of a nation-state in the absolute sense6. These treaties established borders for each nation-state, but gave ri se to the international recognition of the right for the nation-state to exist. After the Peace of Westphalia treaties, scholars and theorists categorized conflicts as internal civil wars or as wars between states. Regarding how Globalization has enabled the rise of the non-state actor to levels of organization that rival that of the traditional state, T. L. Friedman provides a very credible definition of globalization in his book as, the inexorable integration of markets, nation-states, and technologies to a degree never witnessed before in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before.7the ability now for people all over this globe to establish communications by voice, text, trade and commodities, recruitment, the ease of sharing of ideas and beliefs, and the influencing of communities and nations swiftly surpassing the emphasis on recognized borders. Globalization has given people the opportunity for to join the pursuit of common goals. Due to communication limitations in the past, movements or events was isolated to their geographic region. With todays media, those limitations do not apply or do not have to. On a side note however, it can be argued that globalization was always in existence, the nature of it however has changed. Reza Aslan argues in his book, How to Win a Cosmic War, that Globalization is not a new phenomenon, as we have seen in history. Empires and trade routes tried to tie the world together into a tighter network of culture and economy. The way modern technology has changed the way globalization has occurred is what paints it in a unique light. Warfare required the organizational ability and capacity of nation states to conduct and wage war prior to the phenomenon of globalization. The advances of the past century have radically changed that. The technology revolution and globalization has enabled non-state actors to be to acquire the knowhow, equipment, and tools required to wage war effectively against a nation state. For example, Al Qaeda, in order to spread its message and recruit, equip and train around the world, they have that ability, and the ability that previously was unavailable to non state actors; influence and resource is now in their reach. Non-state actors compete with the states in the international realm. Given the power and influence the non-state actor can show in todays international field, Clausewitz may recognize them as actors able to wage war. The Trinity Clausewitz claimed that in war exists a paradoxical trinity consisting of a link between the government, the army, and the people. He claimed that there must be a balance maintained between these three identities for the state to be successful in war.8He claimed that these all three are dependent on one another, and change in one affects the others.9 confusion arises from the exact translation of this part of his work and what Clausewitz actually meant when he described the trinity. Christopher Bassford and Edward J. Villacres in 1995 provide a description of the relationship claiming that Clausewitzs on War is describing three categories; non-rational forces (chance and luck irrational forces (violent emotion), and rationality (War as an instrument of policy). They go into further detail of these categories claiming that the people are paired with irrational forces, i.e. the emotions of primordial violence, enmity and hatred (perhaps even without as wars can be fought without care o n both sides for the reasons). The army and the commander are assigned the forces of friction, chance, and probability. This is under the creative guidance of the commander. Creativity shown by the commander can be based on the talent or genius he/she has. The government is assigned with the rational force of calculation; by reason driven policy.10 With regards to absolute and real war we find that this concept led 11 led Liddell Hart to claim that Clausewitz was an advocate of unlimited warfare, and claims by him could be held as responsibility for the devastation that occurred during First World War.12 The apostle of a revolutionary philosophy of war making was how John Keegan described Clausewitz claiming that he was a proponent of unconstrained warfare as being in the best interest of the state. 13 On War may start off looking as if Clausewitz supports these views, Liddell Hart and Keegans criticism may not have that much basis. As Clausewitz defines war as an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will and further states that to introduce the principle of moderation into The theory of war itself would always lead to logical absurdity; he then claims there is no logical limit to the application of that force this in turn must lead, in theory, to extremes.14 We can see that based on these sayings Clausewitz was indeed writing about war in a theoretical sense. Later on in his work Clausewitz points out that if you go from from the abstract to the real world the whole thing looks quite different.15 Clausewitz was basically exploring the philosophical nature of war as opposed to advocating absolute and unlimited nature of warfare. He was describing it as something not bound by limitations of reality. When looking at war and the wars absolute tendencies along with factors that limit it in reality, Clausewitz demonstrates that war is not ruled by a particular logic, but a combination of elements demonstrating diverse characteristics. According to Christopher Bassford, confusion occurs due to Clausewitzs use of a dialectical method of presenting his arguments. Therefore Clausewitzs talk about war as an abstract phenomenon should be seen as part of a much larger argument. Clausewitz after describing what is known as the primary trinity, he further describes and defines a secondary one, claiming that the first of these three aspects (violence and hatred)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦concerns the people. The second (chance and luck) the commander and his army; the third (war as a policy) the government.16 This is where Clausewitz has brought on himself a barrage of criticism and is a focal point to target for authors who are advocates of the new war age and 4th generation warfare model. This second trinity, critics argue, implies that war is waged only among states because these political entities are the only entities to have a clear distinction between the government, the people, and the armed forces. With regards to a post world war 2 era, Clausewitzs detractors claim that since most modern wars are conducted or waged by non-state actors, this has led to Clausewitzs theories being mundane and out of date. A state-centric outlook now has become obsolete due to the rise and prevalence of non-state warfare in recent years.17 Bassford in his works has pointed out that Keegan and Kaldor disregard the main point that Clausewitz ascribes to war as a character consisting of violence, chance, and rationality and that these are related to the secondary trinity of people, armed forces, and government primarily as an example, not the rule. There is no sociopolitical nature described in the primary trinity and it is this distinction which is critical to show to critics of Clausewitzs work.18 Entities such as the state, communist revolution movements, tribal warlord, or any international terrorist organization are all subject to the relationship of the forces of violence, chance, and rationality. It can even be said that Clausewitz devoted a chapter in On War specifically to warfare waged by non-state actors as noted by Herberg-Rothe, 19. Daniel Moran claims that the trinity consists of abstractions and that basically viewing it as the 3 distinct arms of the government, army and people is wrong.20 If we are to look at the issue of whether Clausewitzs ideas of Rationality disable his work from being permitted in todays environment of non-state conflicts in which violence itself may be regarded as the only goal, it can be claimed that the primary trinity shows that he assigned to the waging of war no specific rationale. Hatred has as much of a place as reason does and is claimed by Robert Baumann the reasons to push states to declare war are similar to those which motivate tribes or insurgents. 21 Clausewitz himself stated that, policy is nothing in itself; it is simply the trustee for all these interests against other states. That it can err, subs serve the ambitions, private interests, and vanity of those in power, is neither here nor there. 22It can be deduced that Clausewitz did not necessarily enforce the notion that war had to follow a particular noble high and mighty form of rationality. Clausewitz can be seen as being neither an advocate of unlimited warfare nor is his analysis of warfare fully state-centric. His work can be seen as having use with regards to analyzing conflicts where actors other than states participate. Looking at insurgents and groups such as Al Qaeda, it can be argued that their Goals are working towards a cause they perceive perfectly rational and obvious just as the use of force carried out by a state actor would spark violent emotional reactions. Every player in an armed conflict, whether it be current or past has Been subject to the nature of chance and luck. His work is therefore just as relevant in canalizing conflicts of the twenty-first century conflicts and rise of multiple insurgencies across the globe just as he remains valid in the studying traditional interstate warfare. 23 In the primary trinity it is emphasized that the forces governing how warfare is conducted extends beyond the irrational to the rational influences of human emotion and the non-rational effects of chance and luck. It is in the second trinity where a link is formed between the abstract elements of the nature of warfare and warfare in reality by providing an example of how these forces can come together in society as it was at the time of writing. In the modern situation of states being democratic; the demarcation into the government, the people, and the armed forces that the Prussian theorist describes is currently valid and applicable. Clausewitz proves his validity in the current age when he claims that the general character of an era can have a drastic influence on the aims and goals pursued in warfare and importantly the methods used in order to do so. This does not signify a fundamental change in the nature of warfare itself. He stated that the aims a belligerent adopts, and the resources he employs must be governed by the particular characteristics of his own position; but they will also conform to the spirit of the age and to its general character. Certainly this provides a good example to which Clausewitz has clung on to validity in the modern age. The three elements can account for an unlimited number of variations of conflicts which shows how the trinity rejects the concept of demarcated historical periods by showing how the variable relationship gives warfare a particular character based on specifics in context. This notion provides us with historical consistency when it comes to the study of war and shows us that we must remain critical of claims that assign a certain development as a new phenomenon. M. L. R. Smith poignantly wrote; Call it what you will; new war, ethnic war, guerrilla war, low intensity war, terrorism, or the war on terrorismà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in the end, there is only one meaningful category of war, and that is war itself.24 The primary trinity can enable modern scholarship to go beyond the violent aspect of terrorism and focus on the rational motives behind their actions. The second trinity can enable research to be able to point out and analyze the sociopolitical relationships within the movements such as terrorist groups or insurgencies and look at the wider social context i.e. the dynamics that determine the relationship between the combatants and the people who provide their popular base and strength. Studying such aspects is vital when it is the popular base of insurgencies and terrorist groups that are identified as the main aspect to target in order to win a modern conflict. Targeting terrorist groups legitimacy would also demonstrate how brute force with highly advanced weaponry alone is not sufficient to defeat terrorism. As stated before, the central aspect of a terrorist groups strength is with the population behind them which they depend on for legitimacy and recruits. If the terrorism in modern day conflicts is to be defeated, then western leaders will have to focus on the public support that is so vital to insurgents and terrorist groups worldwide. On closer examination of the war on terror now gone and president Obamas current fight against terrorism, it can be demonstrated that the theories of Carl von Clausewitz remain as relevant today in a climate of asymmetrical warfare as they did in the Napoleonic era. His theories provide a theoretical framework with which modern warfare and its aspects can be studied. When the western political and military leader scrutinize the trinity from the point of view of those they are up against, weaknesses in its own approach in the military and political aspects of the conflict can be addressed. Clausewitzs concepts, allowing for the multiple and evolving forms of conflict, remains valid today for the study and evaluation of most forms of warfare. NOTES: 1John Keegan, History of Warfare (New Yorke: Vintage Books 1996), 2. 2 William S. Lind, Keith Nightengale, Joseph W. Sutton, and Gary I. Wilson, Changing Face of War: Into the Fourth Generation, in Terry Terriff, Aaron Karp, and Regina Karp, eds., Global Insurgency and the Future of Armed Conflict: Debating Fourth-Generation Warfare (New York: Routledge, 2008) 3 Lawrence Freedman, War Evolves into the Fourth Generation: A Comment on Thomas X. Hammes, in Terriff, Karp, and Karp, 82 4 Carl von Clausewitz, On War, eds. and trans, Michael Howard and Peter Paret. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976), 81. 5 Peace of Westphalia, available from http://www.schillerinstitute.org/strategic/ hzl_t_of_w_0599.html; 6 Ibid. 7 T.L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, 1999 (New York: Anchor, 1999), 7-8; available from http://www.sociology.emory.edu/globalization/glossary.html; Internet; accessed 12 January 2008. 8 Carl von Clausewitz, On War, eds. and trans, Michael Howard and Peter Paret. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976), 88 9Ibid. 10 Christopher Bassford and Edward J. Villacres, Reclaiming the Trinity, Parameters (Autumn 1995); available from http://www.clausewitz.com/CWZHOME/Trinity/TRININTR.htm; Internet accessed 22 September 2007. 11 Carl von Clausewitz, On War, eds. and trans, Michael Howard and Peter Paret. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976), 100 12 Christopher Bassford, John Keegan and the Grand Tradition of Trashing Clausewitz: A Polemic, War in History, 1 (November 1994), 319-36. 13 John Keegan, A History of Warfare (New York: Vintage Books, 1993), 17-18. 14 Clausewitz, 82-84. 15 Ibid., 86. 16 Clausewitz, 104. 17 Martin van Creveld, On Future War (London: Brasseys, 1991) ix 18 Villacres and Bassford, 9-19. 19 Herberg-Rothe, 165. 20 Daniel Moran, Strategic Theory and the History of War (Paper, US Naval Postgraduate School, 2001), 6-7. 21 Robert F. Baumann, Historical Perspectives on Future War, Military Review, 77 (March/April 1997),40-46. 22 Clausewitz, 729. 23 Van Creveld, 60-66, 97; Kaldor, A Cosmopolitan Response to New Wars, 505-14. 24 M. L. R. Smith, Strategy in the Age of Low Intensity Warfare: Why Clausewitz Is Still More Relevant than His Critics, in Duyvesteyn and Angstrom, 41-53

cloning :: essays research papers

Cloning humans and organs could only yield new technologies that will be beneficial to society. Organ cloning is something that would be extremely beneficial to society. For example, if we could clone human organs there would be no need for waiting lists for people looking for donors. Scientist could make a clone of a patient’s organ, that their body would be more likely to accept, without the imperfections of their previous organ. This way, another person who was on the waiting list could receive the organ. In America there are thousands of people on waiting lists to receive new organs that will help prolong their life. Many of these people will die because there is not a suitable donor that matches their needs. Imagine the lives that will be saved if an individual can clone their own liver, or any other organ that is needed to survive an illness. The process is fairly uncomplicated. When a child is conceived, doctors will take a few cells from it and clone them. These cells will then be placed in a national tissue bank until needed. There they are readily available. If the child gets hurt, or contracts a disease, it will have a â€Å"repair kit† to fall back on. Most of the controversy is over whether or not we will be killing another human in order to get these parts. In a sense, we would. The frozen embryo would be placed in a surrogate mother. There it needs only a mere week to grow. It can then be removed, and the needed organ singled out. Then, this organ can be grown in a lab, where scientists can speed up the process greatly. Yes, we did create the beginnings of a human, but it was only one week old. Whether or not people believe in the "art" of cloning you have to agree that there are definitely good things that can come from all of this research. Researchers say that within 5-10 years we will actually be able to grow headless human clones. I’m not saying that this should be ethical to everyone, but just imagine the possibilities. No more waiting lists, and nearly uliminating organ rejection should be and exiting prospect to everyone. This type of technology could save thousands of lives. Using just the embryonic cloning, we could drastically improve many people’s chance to live. . Cloning has the ability to change the face of the planet forever. cloning :: essays research papers Cloning humans and organs could only yield new technologies that will be beneficial to society. Organ cloning is something that would be extremely beneficial to society. For example, if we could clone human organs there would be no need for waiting lists for people looking for donors. Scientist could make a clone of a patient’s organ, that their body would be more likely to accept, without the imperfections of their previous organ. This way, another person who was on the waiting list could receive the organ. In America there are thousands of people on waiting lists to receive new organs that will help prolong their life. Many of these people will die because there is not a suitable donor that matches their needs. Imagine the lives that will be saved if an individual can clone their own liver, or any other organ that is needed to survive an illness. The process is fairly uncomplicated. When a child is conceived, doctors will take a few cells from it and clone them. These cells will then be placed in a national tissue bank until needed. There they are readily available. If the child gets hurt, or contracts a disease, it will have a â€Å"repair kit† to fall back on. Most of the controversy is over whether or not we will be killing another human in order to get these parts. In a sense, we would. The frozen embryo would be placed in a surrogate mother. There it needs only a mere week to grow. It can then be removed, and the needed organ singled out. Then, this organ can be grown in a lab, where scientists can speed up the process greatly. Yes, we did create the beginnings of a human, but it was only one week old. Whether or not people believe in the "art" of cloning you have to agree that there are definitely good things that can come from all of this research. Researchers say that within 5-10 years we will actually be able to grow headless human clones. I’m not saying that this should be ethical to everyone, but just imagine the possibilities. No more waiting lists, and nearly uliminating organ rejection should be and exiting prospect to everyone. This type of technology could save thousands of lives. Using just the embryonic cloning, we could drastically improve many people’s chance to live. . Cloning has the ability to change the face of the planet forever.

Analysis of The Open Boat by Stephen Crane Essay -- The Open Boat Step

Analysis of The Open Boat by Stephen Crane Story: â€Å"The Open Boat,† 1897 Author: Stephen Crane (1871-1900) Central Character: There is no real central character in this story. All the men on the boat are spoken about more or less equally and no prominent character jumps out at the reader as being the central character. Although more emphasis is put onto the correspondent, and Billie the oiler. Other Character: The cook: bails water from boat. Billie the oiler: steers and rows boat, is the only of the men that does not make it alive to land. The correspondent: Also helps steer and row boat. Injured captain: gives commands to the crew as he lies against the water-jar speaking with a low and calm voice. Unnamed people on land: Coat swinger, naked man, etc. Setting: A 10 foot dinghy floats upon a rowdy ocean near the coast of Florida in January in the late 1800’s. It seems that everything on the sea is grey weighing heavily on the feeling of the men. There is a tired and frustrated feelings among the men as they want to leave the boat and return to land, although, Billie and the cook provide some humor when referring to the blasted oars and to pie. Narrator: The author, 3rd person, omniscient point of view. Events in summary: (1) Four men have survived from a sunken steamer and are stuck in a 10 ft steamer out at sea some where near the coast of Florida.(2)The Injured captain lay over the water-jar giving orders to the correspondent and Billie the oiler letting them know how to steer and row the boat. The crew makes its way to Mosquito Inlet light where they believe that there will be a house of refuge. (3) Seagulls taunt the crew, one in particular trying to land on the captain’s head. This kills the crew’s optimism about the wind blowing ashore. The oiler and the correspondent continue to row switching off when the other is tired. (4) The captain then spots a lighthouse on the horizon, like a small dot. The captain decides to use his jacket and an oar to make a sail to let the men rest. No one spots the boat and they find it curious, assuming that no one must be looking out the window out to the sea. They deicide to got back to sea to avoid the risky surf. (5) The wind d ies down and the men spot some more people on the shore. There is a van or a boat of some sort, and a man that is swinging his coat. They don’t actually try to help the crew they just ... ... sit comfortably in groups on the water while the sea tries to attack the men. The shark finds no use for the men, the correspondent views the windmill as a symbol of nature in that it is neutral and unconcerned by the men’s destiny sitting on the lonely shore. The characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings. The correspondent remembers a rhyme from his childhood, and he feels pity for the dying soldier mentioned in that verse. This verse never seemed important to him before, but now being menaced my nature and being alone in the cruel world he understands the soldiers situation. Evaluation: I enjoyed this story, because it had many different kinds of criticism that could be applied to it. Especially that of biographical criticism because it based off at true story that actually happened to the author himself. It was also nice to see the characters grow, as friends and as men. I also really enjoyed the style of writing and the use of similes, imagery, and detail. These really painted a picture in my head. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. â€Å"The Open Boat.† An Introduction to Fiction. X. J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. New York: Longman 2005.215-233.

History Of Cable Television :: Television TV

The History Of Cable Television The 1940's and 1950s Cable Television originated in 1948 as a service to households in mountainous or geographically remote areas where reception of over the air television signals was poor. Antennas were erected on mountaintops or other high points, and homes were wired and connected to these towers to receive the broadcast signals. By 1950, 70 cable systems served 14,000 subscribers nationwide. In late 1950s, when cable operators began to take advantage of their ability to pick up broadcast signals from hundreds of miles access to these "distant signals" changed the focus of cable's role from one of transmitting local broadcast signals to one of providing new programming choices. The 1960s by 1962, almost 800 cable systems serving 850,000 subscribers were in business. Not surprisingly, the growth of cable through the importation of distant signals was viewed as competition by local television stations. In response to broadcast industry concerns, the FCC expanded its jurisdiction and placed restrictions on the ability of cable system to import distant television signals. This action had the effect of freezing the development of cable systems in major markets. In the early 1970s, the FCC continued it's restrictive policies by enacting regulations that limited the ability of cable operators to offer movies, sporting events, and syndicated programming. The freeze on cable's development lasted until 1972, when a policy of gradual cable deregulation led to, among other things, modified restrictions on the importation of distant signals. Throughout the 1970s, concerted industry efforts at the federal, state and local levels resulted in continued lessening of cable restrictions. These changes, couples with cables pioneering to satellite communications technology, led to a pronounced growth of services to consumers and a substantial increase in cable subscribers. In 1972, Charles Dolan and Gerald Levin of Sterling Manhattan Cable launched the nation's first pay-TV network, Home Box Office (HBO). This venture led to the creation of a national satellite distribution system that used a newly approved domestic satellite transmission. Satellites changed the business dramatically, paving the way for the explosive growth of program networks. The second service to use the satellite was a local television station in Atlanta that broadcast primarily sports and classic movies. The station, owned by R.E Turner, substituted its existing microwave distribution with satellite distribution, and soon became known as the first "super station" WTBS.By the end of the decade, nearly 15 million households were cable subscribers. The 1980s while the delivery of programming via satellite was evolving, the 1984 Cable Act effectively deregulated the industry, stimulating investment in cable plant and programming on an unprecedented level.