Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Selecting a Political Party Essay - 1070 Words

There is one right given to americans that seems to stand for all of the rights and that is voting. The right of voting is the right given to all Americans who are at least eighteen years old. Voting is the foundation in which Americans can gain more rights. For most being American and voting is a big deal. Most will say it’s our constitutional right. Voting is knowing that the person or people that one decides to choose represents him or her. The people who are voted into a office will ultimately be making governmental decisions for Americans. These decisions represent and reflect the American people whether they like them or not. Nevertheless if one is voting he or she has to make a choice between what political party will best†¦show more content†¦Still, I did have to see the very options that democrats provided for Americans. Who were the faces of democrats? Then I began to notice people like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were the faces of a democrat. Honestly, I took a liking to them; they didn’t look like ones typical politician. They were both minorities in their positions in government; Hillary a female who ran for president, Barack Obama I man whose skin wasn’t of the majority and is now president. Democrats seemed to be making history and that caught my eye. The democrats seemed to be all full of new ideas and movements it became apparent that they might be for me. But even so I needed to know what was great about the other political party. Republicans or people who believes in or supports the republic form of government, was the next political party that I looked at. Subsequently, I had to take a look at the word â€Å"republic,† to understand what it meant. According to Merriam-Webster.com, it means â€Å"a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader (such as a president) rather than by a king or queen.† After reading that definition I began to think to myself what republicans stand for also has to do with the American idea. Republicans had history withShow MoreRelatedThe Electoral College Is A Democracy1012 Words   |  5 Pagesthe components of our system of government? For example, the Electoral College is used when selecting the president of The United States, but the founders developed the Electoral College based on a theory of how it should work with no practical, real-world example of how it realistically works. Based on the three core principles of democracy whic h are popular sovereignty, political equality, and political freedom, the Electoral College falls short when assessed using these democratic values. TheRead MoreDemocratic National Committee : The Democratic Party1433 Words   |  6 Pagesas the political party organization that I want to study. I selected the Democratic National Committee because it sets the core values of the Democratic Party and Democrats in the United States. Political parties, such as the Democratic Party, are a vital way of representing concerns of the public as well as an outlet for voters to express their values and competencies (Stonecash, p. 83 84). Therefore, the Democratic National Committee is responsible for creating an agenda and selecting candidatesRead MoreEssay on Walmart Recruiting and Selection668 Words   |  3 Pagesis do to its recruitment and selection method. Recruiting and selection is vital to a company’s growth, because without selecting and recruiting the right workers with the right talent for the job and placing them in the right position, there is no way a company can earn the trust and loyalty of the consumers. Knowing t his, Walmart developed a method for recruiting and selecting the right employees for the job. The Walmart recruitment is done through online websitehttp://walmartstores.comstatementsRead MoreReforming The United States Presidential Electoral Process1233 Words   |  5 Pagesto gain political momentum. The presidential electoral process requires extensive reform in the areas of primary election and caucus structures, along with campaign finance regulations, in order to make presidential candidates more responsive to the legitimate needs and concerns of the majority rather than fixating on the interests of specific and strategically important groups. The ultimate goal of reform will be to aid candidates with abandoning the parochial interests of polarized party politicsRead MoreThe Country of Thailand1315 Words   |  5 Pagesthat has been illuminating the people of Thailand for centuries. Havoc and chaos has become a normal scenario in the political culture of Thailand since early 90’s. Many prime ministers has come and gone since that period but the political condi tion in Thailand is still as worst as it looks. Thailand is our nearest neighbour that has many similarities in culture and even the political background. Lets forget about the riot that has been happening even long before Thaksin regime. Lets focus on whyRead MoreHow The Six Steps To Preparing A Walk List For Precinct Delegate Election947 Words   |  4 Pagesregister voters can run for. The position is unpaid, partisan, and it is rather common among both Republican and Democratic parties. Every state election laws and regulations include the definition of precinct delegate roles. Moreover, depending on the state, a party may decide on additional rules and regulations for precinct delegate positions. In addition, the county parties also bear the authority to regulate the rules for precinct delegates. Registered voters who wish to become candidates forRead MoreHistory of the Electoral College Essay705 Words   |  3 Pagespeople and it was also a way to control the power of the people. Although the Electoral College is still used today, it has undergone several changes and still contains certain weaknesses. When the Constitutional Convention chose a method of selecting a president, they took several problems into consideration. The first problem they had to solve was the lack of information that the people had due to poor communication. At the time the U.S. contained approximately 4 million people who lived spreadRead MoreThe Electoral College: How It Has Shaped the Modern Presidential Election Since 19681175 Words   |  5 Pagesintroduced within the framework of various proposals introduced at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 (Neale, 2004). The Mcgovern-Fraser Commission in 1969, which was known formally as the Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection, played a crucial role in amending the practices of political parties in their work within the Electoral framework, in particular changing the way in which states were allowed to select delegates to national conventions (Stricherz, 2003). This would result in candidatesRead MoreThe First Method Or Mode For The Appoi ntment Of Judges758 Words   |  4 Pagesthat the election will be appointed through party election; whereby various political party contests in a direct election or poll. During this period of election, each political party may nominate a candidate for the position of judge. Besides than provide support in term of political party image or ‘brand’; political party also provide other assistance such as financial support, campaign and others. The assistance and support given by the political party is crucially important to ensure that the candidatesRead MoreJudge Law And Common Law System912 Words   |  4 Pageslaw and common law system 1-Judges’ position in civil law system In civil law system, the judge has different role in courtroom for running cases. In civil law systems, civil cases are actually run by the judge, with subordinate involvement by the parties advocates, indicates of this conception of the judge s role is that traditionally it was thought to be up to him to decide the issues in dispute, and finally formulate the judgment according to the law and the proof, in such a system, the lawyers

Monday, December 16, 2019

Essay on Names in Song of Solomon - 1485 Words

The Importance of Names in Song of Solomon Abstract: In Toni Morrisons Song of Solomon, names have great implication. Language is extremely personal and deeply rooted in culture. Names are an integral part of language, and they help to establish identity, define personality, and show ownership through formal and informal usage. Tis but thy name that is my enemy; / Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. / Whats Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, / Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part / Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! / Whats in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet; / So Romeo would, were he not Romeo calld, / Retain that dear perfection which he owes /†¦show more content†¦The concept of naming in Song of Solomon was first introduced through a local road known as Not Doctor Street. The streets title was commonplace after years of colloquial reference from locals, but never truly official: Town maps registered the street as Mains Avenue, but the only colored doctor in the city had lived and died on that street, and when he moved there in 1866 his patients took to calling the street, which none of them lived on or near, Doctor Street. Later, when other Negroes moved there, and when the postal service became a popular means of transferring messages among them, envelopes from Louisiana, Virginia, Alabama and Georgia began to arrive addressed to people on Doctor Street. The post office workers returned these envelopes or passed them on to the Dead Letter Office. Then in 1918, when colored men were being drafted, a few gave their address at the recruitment office as Doctor Street. In that way, the name acquired a quasi-official status. (4) However, the status did not last long because city legislators disapproved and posted numerous bulletins in local establishments stating that the road, had always and would always be known as Mains Avenue and not Doctor Street (4). Locals were then able to both obey the local ordindances and satisfy their interests by referring to the road as Not Doctor Street. The residents were able to take some control of the areas situation byShow MoreRelated Essay on Song of Solomon: The Names of a Society1164 Words   |  5 PagesSong of Solomon: The Names of a Society    Think of a time when the black society was still getting used to the word freedom and the white society hated the thought of it. The book Song of Solomon, written by Toni Morrison in 1977, takes place in Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior. The book emphasizes the racial and social tensions between blacks and whites between the 1930s and the 1960s. The Dead family goes through many phases of self-discovery throughout the story. In an effort to hideRead MoreSong of Solomon - Whats in a Name? Essay909 Words   |  4 Pagesaward-winning novel Song of Solomon is full of very interesting, deep symbolism. Macon Dead III, nicknamed Milkman, is a very symbolic character throughout the novel. His character is not only symbolic, for so is his name. Also, Milkmans paternal aunt, Pilate, has an extremely significannot and symbolic role in the novel. To her father, she represents the child who killed her own mother and took away her fathers wife. Seeing that Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death, the name Pilate seems toRead MoreEssay on Song of Solomon: A Bildungsroman of Milkman 1092 Words   |  5 PagesIt can be said that Song of Solomon is bildungsroman which is defined by The Encyclopedia Britannica as â€Å"a class of novel that deals with the [coming-of-age or] formative years of an individual†. Furthermore, in a bildungsroman, a main protagonist usually undergoes some transformation after seeking truth or philosophical enlightenment. In Morrison’s novel, the plot follows the main protagonist Milkman as he matures within his community while developing relationships with others and discovering hisRead MoreWell-known American Author Toni Morrison1182 Words   |  5 Pagescharacterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American realit y. Her novels are amazing themes, vivid dialogue, and detailed African-American characters; among the best known are her novels The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved, which helped her in 1998 as she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in. In 2001 she was named part of The 30 Most Powerful Women in America by Ladies Home Journal. In 1949 Morrison entered Howard University, where she receivedRead MoreA Comparison Of The Tanach And Bible1380 Words   |  6 Pagesin worship, daily living and conduct. While Christianity and Judaism have numerous similarities because of the mother-daughter link, differences still exist. The sacred text for Judaism is the Tanach while for Christianity the Bible is used. This essay will explore the structure of each sacred text, the type of literature is in each canon, authorship of the text and how it is used in daily practice such as food, interpretation of the commandments and how a Torah is used in a synagogue. STRUCTURERead More Essay on Flight in Song of Solomon1579 Words   |  7 PagesTheme of Flight in Song of Solomon    Clearly, the significant silences and the stunning absences throughout Morrisons texts become profoundly political as well as stylistically crucial. Morrison describes her own work as containing holes and spaces so the reader can come into it (Tate 125), testament to her rejection of theories that privilege j the author over the reader. Morrison disdains such hierarchies in which the reader as participant in the text is ignored: My writing expects, demandsRead More Essay on Multiple Voices in Morrisons Song of Solomon1942 Words   |  8 PagesThe Significance of Multiple Voices in Morrisons Song of Solomon  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Of the various manifestations of voice that participate in the interplay of voices in Song of Solomon, I would like to name three - the narrative voice, the signifying voice, and the responsive voice - each of which is dialogized within itself and in relation to the others.    In the opening scene of the novel, the third-person omniscient narrative voice [emphasis added] informs us that at the time of day thatRead More A Comparison of Christian Symbols in Song of Solomon, Sula, and Beloved2397 Words   |  10 Pagesitself: religion and spirituality. Religious structure is built upon dogma, rituals, history, and tradition; spirituality exists as the unchanging foundation to that religious structure. Carolyn Mitchell explains both concepts most clearly in her essay titled, Biblical Revisions in Beloved: Religion is the worship of God; spirit is God; spirituality is the individual manifestation of God in everyday life and experience. Spirituality creates an authentic relationship to one’s own life, callingRead MoreThe, Mexican Feminist Theorist Gloria Anzladua s An Analytical Framework For Considering The Relationship Between Minority Faces,3216 Words   |  13 Pagesthe American 1800s more largely, a â€Å"black gift,† a form of â€Å"black nationhood,† and have used music to historicize slave experience in a larger racial and cultural context (DuBois; Epstein, 103). Taking the form of religious spirituals, sorrow songs, work songs, and even instrumental performance, black music serves to humanize black production to their white masters and to themselves during a period where blacks were considered nothing more than chattel. As agents of musical production, blacks confrontedRead MoreThe Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding2117 Words   |  9 PagesCopyright: Martina Diehl June 2012 The Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding Celie’s road to trusting and loving herself Abstract This essay is about the love affair in The Color Purple, a novel by Alice Walker in which, thoughts on racism, incest, rape, love and family affairs are provoked. The reader learns about these subjects through the letters that Celie, an uneducated black woman, writes to God and through the letters that her sister Nettie and Celie write to each other. I would

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Therapeutic Cloning to Obtain Embryonic Stem free essay sample

Therapeutic Cloning to Obtain Embryonic Stem Cells Is Immoral The point is to cause each of us to think deeply about whether there is any essential difference between the reality of [World War II] Nazi experiments and therapeutic cloning. In this two-part viewpoint, David A. Prentice and William Saunders discuss the science and the ethics of therapeutic cloning. In the first part, Prentice argues that creating clones for the purpose of embryonic stem cell research, called therapeutic cloning, is no different from reproductive cloning, which creates a living human child. Also, he points out, therapeutic cloning is not therapeutic for the embryo. In the second part of the viewpoint, Saunders builds on Prentices argument and goes even further. He argues that therapeutic cloning is really no different than the horrific experiments performed by the Nazis during World War II. Saunders notes that supporters of embryonic stem cell research contend that the research is beneficial to humankind; however, Saunders argues, the Nazis used this same reasoning to Justify research on the mentally ill, the disabled, and the feeble-minded. Prentice and Saunders are senior fellows at the Family Research Council, a onservative Christian think tank and lobbying organization. As you read, consider the following questions: 1. Why does Prentice claim that therapeutic cloning will lead to reproductive cloning? 2. What was the point of the Nuremberg Code, according to Saunders? 3. Why does Saunders say that therapeutic cloning violates the Nuremberg Code? Part I Cloning always starts with an embryo. The most common technique proposed for human cloning is called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). This cloning is accomplished by transferring the nucleus from a human somatic (body) cell into an egg cell which has had its chromosomes removed or inactivated. SCNT produces a human embryo who is virtually genetically identical to an existing or previously existing human being. Proponents of human cloning hold out two hopes for its use: (1) the creation of children for infertile couples (so-called reproductive cloning), and (2) the development of medical miracles to cure diseases by harvesting embryonic stem cells from the cloned embryos of patients (euphemistically termed therapeutic cloning). All Human Cloning Produces a Human Being All human cloning is reproductive. It creates†reproduces†a new, developing human intended to be virtually identical to the cloned subject. Both reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning use exactly the same technique to create the clone, and the cloned embryos are indistinguishable. The process, as well as the product, is identical. The clone is created as a new, single-cell embryo and grown in the laboratory for a few days. Then it is either implanted in the womb of a surrogate mother (reproductive cloning) or destroyed to harvest its embryonic stem cells for experiments (therapeutic cloning). It is the same embryo, used for different purposes. In fact, the cloned embryo at that stage of development cannot be egg and sperm. Trying to call a cloned embryo something other than an embryo is not accurate or scientific. Biologically and genetically speaking, what is created is a human being; its species is Homo sapiens. It is neither fish nor fowl, neither monkey nor cow†it is human. Created in Order to Be Destroyed Therapeutic cloning is obviously not therapeutic for the embryo. The new human is specifically created in order to be destroyed as a source of tissue C, as Robert P. Lanza and colleagues report in a 2000 JAMA article]: [Therapeutic cloning] requires the deliberate creation and disaggregation ofa human embryo. Most cloned embryos do not even survive one week, to the blastocyst stage, when they are destroyed in the process of harvesting their cells. Experiments with lab animals show that even these early embryos have abnormalities in genetic expression. Beyond the abnormalities caused by the cloning procedure, embryonic stem cells from cloned embryos will still face problems for their use, including the tendency to form tumors, and significant difficulties in getting the cells to form the correct tissue and function normally. Therapeutic Cloning Leads to Reproductive Cloning Because there is no difference in the nuclear transfer technique or the cloned embryo, allowing therapeutic cloning experimentation to proceed will inevitably lead to reproductive cloning. The technique can be practiced and huge numbers of cloned embryos produced. In fact, the lead scientist of the South Korean team that first cloned human embryos in February 2004 in a press conference on their experiments that the cloning technique developed in their laboratory cannot be separated from reproductive cloning. His statement affirms what others have pointed out before: allowing therapeutic cloning simply prepares the way for eproductive cloning. Human cloning is unsafe and unnecessary. There are no valid or compelling grounds†scientific or medical†to proceed. A comprehensive ban on human cloning is the only sufficient answer. Part II As Dr. Prentice has shown, cloning indisputably destroys innocent human life. This basic truth should lead the world to reject human cloning. However, in an effort to extricate human cloning from this ethical vise grip, its supporters attempt to draw a distinction between human life, which begins at conception, and human personhood, which begins only at their say-so. Unfortunately, the arbitrary denial f personhood to human beings has a long and cruel history. The Nuremberg Code, formulated in the years after World War II, is particularly instructive with regard to the current debate on human cloning. For instance, when the principal author of the report on human cloning issued by the National Academy of Sciences testified before the Presidents Council on Bioethics, he stated that reproductive cloning would violate the Nuremberg Code: The Nuremberg Code, with which I am in full agreement, outlines those kinds of things you would not simply [do] for the sake of knowledge that involve human subjects. The Nuremberg Code The Nuremberg Code is a body of ethical norms enunciated by the Nuremberg Tribunal, which, after World War II, had the responsibility of Judging the actions of the Nazis and their allies. The point of the code was to restate and apply the established ethical norms of the civilized world. Nazis Deemed Some Life Unworthy Nazi laws had defined Jews and other undesirables as non-persons. Eventually, camps and killed. However, before the killing in the camps began, the Nazis had engaged in an extensive campaign of euthanasia against the mentally and physically handicapped, which not only foreshadowed but also prepared the way for the xtermination camps. In his book The Nazi Doctors, Robert Jay Lifton draws our attention to a book titled The Permission to Destroy Life Unworthy of Life, written during the campaign. Lifton writes: [It was] published in 1920 and written Jointly by two German professors: the Jurist Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche, professor of psychiatry at the University of Freiburg. Carefully argued in the numbered-paragraph form of the traditional philosophical treatise, the book included as unworthy life not only the incurably ill but large segments of the mentally ill, the feeble-minded, and retarded and deformed children. T]he authors professionalized and medicalized the entire concept; destroying life unworthy of life was purely a healing treatment and a healing work. The Nazis were determined to cleanse the genetic pool to produce better Aryans. Nazi officials announced that under the direction of specialists all therapeutic possibilities will be administered according to the latest scientific knowledge. The result of this therapeutic treatment of inferior lives was that eventually a network of some thirty killing areas within existing institutions was set up throughout Germany and in Austria and Poland. In their book, The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code, George Annas and Michael Grodin reveal that: At the same time that forced sterilization and abortion were instituted for individuals of inferior genetic stock, sterilization and abortion for healthy German women were declared illegal and punishable (in some cases by death) as a crime against the German body. As one might imagine, Jews and others deemed racially suspect were exempted from these restrictions. On November 10, 1938, a Luneberg court legalized abortion for Jews. A decree of June 23, 1943, allowed for abortions for Polish workers, ut only if they were not Judged racially valuable. Later, the Nazis created the extermination camps for the Jews and other inferior races. In the camps, Nazi doctors engaged in cruel experiments on the Jews, Gypsies, Poles, and others. They exposed them to extreme cold to determine the temperature at which death would occur. They injected them with poisons to see how quickly certain lethal elements moved through the circulatory system. They subjected twins to all manner of disabling and brutal experiments to determine how genetically identical persons reacted to different conditions. Some of the experiments were nonetheless designed to preserve life†not of the subject, but of, for example, German pilots who were forced to parachute into freezing ocean waters. Everyone agrees the Nuremberg Code prohibits reproductive cloning. What relevance does it have for therapeutic cloning? If human embryos are human beings, then therapeutic cloning, which creates an embryo only to destroy it in the process of exploiting its stem cells, violates a cardinal principle of the Nuremberg Code: There is to be no experimentation on a human subject when it is known that death or disabling injury will result. Regardless of the good that might be produced by such experiments, the experiments are of their very nature an immoral use of human beings. Subverting the Meaning of Healing Recall how the Nazis subverted the meaning of heali ng. Recall how they used the them. Recall that the Nazis eliminated those unworthy of life in order to improve the genetic stock of Germany. Recall how the Nazis undertook lethal experiments on concentration camp inmates in order, in some cases, to find ways to preserve the lives of others. The point is not to suggest that those who support therapeutic cloning are, in any sense, Nazis. Rather, the point is to cause each of us to think deeply about whether there is any essential difference between the reality of those Nazi experiments and therapeutic cloning. As we have shown, each case involves a living human being, and that human being is killed in the aim of a perceived higher good. Cloning proponents try to distinguish between the two cases by saying that the cloned human being has no potential. But in each case, it is the actions of other human beings that rob the first of potential (in the first case, the actions of Nazi executioners; in the second, the laboratory technicians). In either case, the human ubject is full of potential simply by being a living human being. Of course, almost miraculously, many of the inmates of the camps did survive when the allies rescued them. Equally miraculously, frozen embryos have been implanted in a womans womb and brought to live (and healthy) birth. As we have shown, every embryo is not merely potentially a life, but [is an] actual life, a human being from the first moment of existence. Furthermore, any living human embryo has the inherent potential to develop into a healthy baby. It is disingenuous for supporters of cloning to claim the cloned human embryo is only potential life because they plan o mandate by law that it be destroyed before it can come to birth. Regardless of its location, the human embryo, by its nature, is full of potential, unless the actions of adult human beings deprive it of the opportunity to realize that potential. Guard Against Inhuman Acts [Russian author] Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a man who chronicled and suffered under another ideology that denied the dignity of each and every human being, observed, Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right hough every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates. Solzhenitsyn did not regard the perpetrators of brutal crimes in his own country as inhuman monsters. Rather, he saw the essential truth†they were human beings, engaged in immoral acts. They engaged in those acts by dehumanizing the persons on whom their brutality was inflicted, and they did so in the name of (perhaps in the passionate belief in) a greater good. But Solzhenitsyn reminds us that, unless we are willing to admit that, for the best as well as for the orst of motives, we are also capable of inhuman acts, we will have no guard against committing them. No one is safe from brutality so long as we think that it is only inhuman others who are capable of inhuman acts. Rather, we will be secure when we are willing to look honestly at the objective reality of our acts, while realizing that we, too, are capable of acts that violate the inherent dignity of another, and refuse to engage in such acts despite the good we believe would result from doing otherwise. In the debate over the cloning and destruction of embryonic human beings, this essential truth must be our guide. Books Brian Alexander Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Taekwondo Essay Example For Students

Taekwondo Essay Do you know what Taekwondo is? Do you know how Taekwondo benefits the practitioner? Do you know Taekwondo is also considered a sport and is an event in many major competitions? When these questions are asked, the majority of the people who answer do not know the correct answers or the complete answer. Although many people do not know much about Taekwondo, there are hundreds of thousands of people worldwide getting involved. Taekwondo is the worlds fastest growing martial art, with currently over fifty million practitioners and growing everyday. The majority of the practitioners who get involved do so to learn self-defense. Not only do the practitioners learn self-defense, but they also learn many helpful things and receive the benefits that Taekwondo has to offer. Also, Taekwondo has become a sporting event in many major sporting competitions. But mainly, Taekwondo provides people with sporting and self-defending ability and gives that person an edge in daily life, with its merits as a martial art sport of self-discipline. We will write a custom essay on Taekwondo specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now First of all, Taekwondo teaches the practitioner self-defense, which can be used for a lifetime. Many of the self-defense techniques taught stimulate many real life situations so the person would know what to do when caught in a similar situation. Also, because not everything can be taught for all situations that arise, many basic techniques, rules, methods, and concepts are taught and emphasized. On the other hand, self-defense practice includes doing everyday drills, forms, and sparring. Self-defense training does not always have to be 100 percent self-defense training. Although, you really do not get instruction on self-defense when doing drills, forms, or sparring, those practices are just another way of learning self-defense and improving your skill of self-defense. Basically, all the instruction concepts, techniques, and rules of Taekwondo teach a person self defense in one way or another. Second of all, Taekwondo is classified as a sport along as being a martial art. Because Taekwondo is classified as a sport, Taekwondo is sometimes referred to as a martial art sport. There are many reasons why Taekwondo has become a sport. A few reasons are because the popularity that Taekwondo has received is overwhelming, the organized athletic competition (similar to boxing), and the push to consider Taekwondo as a sporting event by many practitioners, masters, instructors, and officials of organizations worldwide. Many athletic competitions are starting to or already have included Taekwondo as an official event. Such competitions/games are the Olympic Games, Pan-American Games, Goodwill Games, Asian Games, and the World Military Games. Although people join Taekwondo to learn self-defense, they are also getting themselves involved in a international sport. Finally, the benefits that person receives from learning Taekwondo will stay with that person for the rest of their lives. The benefits that the practitioner receives from Taekwondo are mental, physical, and philosophical. Mentally, a person improves concentration, focus, self-image, self-confidence, and self-discipline. All these benefits you receive mentally helps build inner strength, self-control, character, and a positive mental attitude. Physically, a person becomes stronger, quicker, flexible, physically fit, and learn self-defending ability. And philosophically, a person will create, set, and strive to meet goals, increase respect and honor, and develop social relationships. The benefits that a Taekwondo practitioner receives from Taekwondo gives that person an edge in their daily life and assists the person with everyday tasks. In conclusion, getting involved in Taekwondo is a lifetime investment. The people involved in Taekwondo learn self-defense, become involved in a sport, and gains the mental, physical, and philosophical benefits that Taekwondo has to offer. Taekwondo is a sporting and self-defending martial art that helps people excel in their daily lives and is for everyone, no matter who they are. Possibly, Taekwondo may become extremely popular and just might become as popular as many sports that exist today.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Managing the successful design process of HVAC systems The WritePass Journal

Managing the successful design process of HVAC systems Introduction Managing the successful design process of HVAC systems IntroductionHistory of HVAC SystemDesign Process and ManagementConclusionReferencesRelated Introduction A good HVAC system design plays a critical role in creating an optimal building environment.   The design process of a HVAC system is complex process involving client’s needs, building regulation compliance, energy efficiency, environmental impact and sustainability. A lot of different professionals with distinct disciplines, such as clients, architects, structural and service engineers are involved in a building construction project. The design process involves constant communication and clarification between the different team members. By working together at key points in the design process, participants can often identify highly attractive solutions to design needs that would otherwise not be found (1). The effectiveness of the design process in the building industry has a great influence on the success of subsequent processes in the construction of projects and also on the quality of the environment (2). Several studies have also pointed out that a large percentage of de fects in building arise through decisions or actions taken in the design stages (3). It is also said that poor design has a very strong impact on the level of efficiency during the production stage (4). In recent years, the increasing complexity of modern buildings in a very competitive market–place has significantly increased the pressure for improving the performance of the design process in terms of time and quality. Despite its importance, relatively little research has been done on the management of the design process, in contrast to the research time and effort which has been devoted to production and project management (5). This essay will concentrate on various issues related to the management of successful design process of HVAC system and put forward arguments to reflect the above. History of HVAC System HVAC is an acronym that stands for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning. HVAC is based on the principle of thermodynamics and heat transfer. The functions of heating, ventilation and air conditioning are interrelated. HVAC systems provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. Like many great innovations, earliest heating and plumbing systems originated with the Romans. A hypocaust(6) was an ancient Roman system of central heating / under floor heating; they were used for heating public baths and private houses.   English historian Edward Gibbon mentions â€Å"stupendous aqueducts, when describing the building of public baths in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire(7). The Romans built an aqueduct that carried water for many miles in order to provide a crowded urban population with relatively safe, potable water. In modern buildings the design, installation and control systems for these functions are integrated in to HVAC systems. Design Process and Management Throughout the history of mankind, people have always designed things; it is human nature. It may take years to design a new system but it could be made in a matter of hours. When one is trying to design something, drawing is widely used as a most understandable form of communication. Designers sit down and brainstorm a lot of ideas, discard most of them until a suitable one is found for investigation at a more detailed level enabling the best to be chosen (8). In the past the HVAC system was given less priority in term of design on the basis of sub-optimal consideration, such as preferences for certain types of systems, or equipment budget or space constraints imposed by architects (9). Design and construction were carried out by two different parties. Designers used to design the system and walk away. The contractors carried out the HVAC installation and commissioned the systems. Poorly designed HVAC systems pose health hazard and discomfort to the building occupants. The emergence of â€Å"sick building syndrome† led to the realization that the HVAC system itself acts as a breeding and concentration site for pathogens and allergens (9). The duct net work of a central air handling system poses fire hazard as these are ideal path for fire, smoke and explosive gases. They are also prime target for terrorists to release chemical and biological agent into a building. Nowadays, traditional professional practices are replaced by multi-disciplinary practices. A fresher approach is needed to the planning and co-ordination for multi disciplinary buildings and their system designs to facilitate integration and communication across the disciplines (10). It has been pointed out that poor communication, a lack of documentation, missing input information, a lack of co-ordination between disciplines and erratic decision making is the main problem in design management (3). Designers try to achieve satisfactory or appropriate solutions. The design tends to take place through a series of stages during which design components are continually trialled, tested, evaluated and refined. Therefore, most design processes involve much feedback from the different individuals employed to design the system. It can be seen that defects in a finished building also shows the failure to communicate the known technological factors that have been accepted for many years during the design process. The problems caused seem to be due more to the deficiencies in managing communication during the design process, rather than technology failure (3). HVAC systems for the modern buildings must become fully optimized. Comfort, health and safety function required for each area in the facility must be executed perfectly. Performance of a good HVAC system makes economic sense. Optimized HVAC systems reduce the capital cost and equipment space. They provide the best comfort and health which increases productivity (9). Life-cycle cost is greatly reduced because optimized systems operate with the least possible energy. In recent years, the HVAC industry has been under immense pressure to reduce the energy consumed by HVAC plants and increase energy efficiency to conserve fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions. HVAC systems in typical commercial buildings are responsible for more than 40 percent of the total energy output (11). Low and zero carbon technologies can be integrated into the HVAC systems to achieve sustainability. Properly designed HVAC systems run at peak efficiency maximising energy used without compromising thermal comfort or indoor air quality.   It requires an integrated design approach. It has been pointed out that by adopting this type of design, high performance with multiple benefits can be achieved at a total cost lower than all the components used in the project (1). The design process needs to be well planned and controlled, in order to minimise the effects of complexity and uncertainty (12). As the involvement of interdependent professionals’ disciplines with conc urrent design processes is now the norm, well managed design processes with effective communication is the key to minimising errors that could lead to defective buildings or systems in the future (3). A successful HVAC design process involves interactive efforts, Co-ordination and project programming Conclusion HVAC systems play an important role in keeping a building comfortable. The design of HVAC systems involves working with a team of professionals demonstrating various disciplines. Design errors should be prevented or identified during the design process. These design errors are costly in time, rework, money and lost reputations. Effective design of sustainable HVAC system is needed to make buildings survivable in a current climate of very high energy costs. Managing the HVAC design process successfully saves considerable time and money as well as delivering projects on time and within budget. References 1. Building Design. Fedral Energy Management Program. [Online] US Department of Energy. [Cited: 17 April 2011.] http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/29267-4.1.pdf. 2. Formoso, C. T., Tzotzopoulos, R., Jobim, M. S. A Protocol for Managing the Design Process in the Building Industry. London  : Spon, 1999. 3. Cornik, T. Quality Management for Building. Rushden  : Butterworth, 1991. p. 218. 4. Ferguson, I. Buildability in Practice. London  : Mitchell, 1989. p. 175. 5. Manipulating the Flow of Design Information to improve the Programming of Building Design. Austin, S., Baldwin, A., and Newton, A. London  : spon, 1994, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 12 (5), pp. 445-455. 6. Fagan, Garrett G. Bathing in Public in the Roman World . Michigan  : The Unversity of Michigan Press, 2002. pp. 56-66. 7. Gibson, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London  : Strahan Cadell, 1837. p. 433. Vol. 1, chapter XXXL. 8. Cross, N. Engineering Design Methods: Strategies for Product Design. Third Edition. London  : John Wiley and Sons Limited, 1994. 9. Donald R. Wulfinghoff, P.E. The Future of HVAC. Energy books. [Online] [Cited: 19 April 2011.] energybooks.com/pdf/Future_of_HVAC_for_EIP_Website_071025.pdf. 10. A data flow model to plan and manage the building design process. AUSTIN, S., BALDWIN, A. NEWTON, A. No. 1, 1996, Journal of Engineering Design, Vol. 7, pp. 3-25. 11. Energy Consumption in the United Kingdom. DECC. [Online] [Cited: April 15 2011.] decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Statistics/publications/ecuk/file11250.pdf. 12. Pennycook, K. Design Checks for HVAC. Second edition. s.l.  : BSRIA, 2007.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Plural But Singular in Construction

Plural But Singular in Construction Plural But Singular in Construction Plural But Singular in Construction By Mark Nichol In the dictionary, when you’re looking up a noun that ends in s, you’re apt to find a notation like this: â€Å"noun plural but singular in construction.† What does that mean? This description refers to words like news that appear to be plural but take a singular verb (hence the word construction, meaning â€Å"sentence structure,† not â€Å"appearance†). One category of words plural in appearance but singular in use is that of intellectual pursuits and their associated academic disciplines: For mathematics, physics, and the like, we use a singular verb: â€Å"Mathematics is difficult for him†; â€Å"The physics is staggeringly complex.† However, similar terms may use singular or plural verbs depending on the sense: â€Å"Statistics is not my favorite subject†; â€Å"The statistics are valid.† In other contexts, usage varies. Gymnastics is treated singularly (â€Å"Gymnastics is an Olympic sport†), but calisthenics takes a plural verb (â€Å"Calisthenics are boring†). Both words refer to a routine of physical activities, but noun-verb agreement is inconsistent. Some words that are plural but refer to a unified pair of objects, such as (eye)glasses, pants, and scissors, are nevertheless associated with plural verbs: â€Å"My glasses are missing†; â€Å"These pants have gotten too tight†; â€Å"The scissors are dull.† Words in several other categories are categorical exceptions: Proper names, composition titles, and words used as words are always singular, even if they are plural in form: Acme and Sons is a highly rated company. Spats is a downtown bar. Demons is a terrible movie. Shades is a best-selling novel. Hits is an informal word meaning â€Å"search returns.† Aussies is a nickname for Australians. A few words appear to be plural but are in fact taken directly from other languages in which s at the end of a word does not denote a plural form. For example, biceps (from Latin) is singular, though many people refer to the muscle in the front of one upper arm as a bicep, and kudo (from Greek) is widely employed as the singular form of kudos meaning â€Å"praise† or â€Å"prestige† though the latter form is singular. (Bicep and kudo are back-formations linguistic innovations of varying legitimacy but are not advisable in formal writing.) Rarely, you’ll see a word that is plural in both appearance and usage, though the literal meaning of the word is singular. For example, whereabouts means â€Å"location,† but one writes that a person’s whereabouts are unknown (even though a person can be in only one location at once). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:45 Synonyms for â€Å"Food†The Six Spellings of "Long E"50 Synonyms for "Song"

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Illegal Immigration in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Illegal Immigration in America - Essay Example Throughout most of American history, America has portrayed an existence of invasion, and has stepped foot into almost every battlefield and continent in the world. Taking this aggressive stance towards diplomacy, America should not be able to forget its past, and say that after destroying so much land and taking over so many peoples, it is now not going to let immigration happen. After all, this country was built on immigrants, and to not allow immigrants into this country is simply against all past policies of the United States. To invade so many lands, and then turn the other check and not allow other people into our own country is hypocrisy, and should not be the stance America takes. Even at the start of our own history, Americans looked towards the West. The idea of Manifest Destiny grew up in popular opinion, and people began to push the boundaries of the United States further and further West. This feeling of territorial claim that the United States has to the rest of the fron tier was used to justify many of our territorial expansions. Manifest Destiny "has also been used to advocate for or justify other territorial acquisitions. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny")" (Manifest, 2007). This idea is still relevant today, when people feel that America has the right, or even the calling to police other areas of the world. However, America tends to expand without thinking or care towards the native people of the land. When America was first being colonized for example, some historians estimate that up to 80% of some Native populations died due to European diseases"(Native, 2007). This apparent lack of disregard continued through American history, as we took over Native American lands and put them on reservations, all trying to further expand our power. But now, when other peoples look to move into this country, we are not allowing them to do so. Even if this country was one taken on behalf of other people. As America continued to grow, so did its outward policies of getting involved in other countries. However, today we will not return the favor by allowing other counties to send their immigrants to our land. For instance, in 1989 the United States intruded upon Panama, disposing a leader we did not approve of. The United States "incursion into Panama began on December 20, 1989, at 0100 local time. The operation involved 27,684 U.S. troops and over 300 aircraft -including the AC-130 Spectre gunship, OA-37B Dragonfly observation and attack aircraft, and the F-117A Nighthawk stealth aircraft and AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, the AH-64 and the F-117A both seeing their first combat deployment. These were deployed against the 16,000 members of the Panama Defense Force" (United,2007). We also set up a new President, a President we approved of. However, we were really justified in taking action in this region Or was the 'father' idea of the United States getting the best of us Either way, i f we were to invade a country, one would think that we would then allow immigrants from that country. However, one can see today that that is not the case, and that America is

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Newsletter Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Newsletter - Assignment Example nding and unique abilities, understanding their natural inquisitiveness, managing and monitoring their learning, and designing their instruction to address children’s learning are all skills that must be part of an effective professional development program†. It is acknowledged that the family is a crucial factor in enhancing learning skills through engaging in activities perceived as virtually enjoying and informative, at the same time. â€Å"For Grades 1 – 3: Money’s Worth: Coin clues. Ask your child to gather some change in his or her hand without showing what it is. Start with amounts of 25 cents or less (for first-graders, you can start with pennies and nickels). Ask your child to tell you how much money and how many coins there are. Guess which coins are being held. For example, "I have 17 cents and 5 coins. What coins do I have?" (3 nickels and 2 pennies). For Grades K-2: Newspaper numbers. Help your child look for numbers 1 to 100 in the newspaper. Cut the numbers out and glue them in numerical order onto a large piece of paper. For children who cannot count to 100 or recognize numbers that large, only collect up to the number they do know. Have your child say the numbers to you and practice counting up to that number. Grades 3 – 5: Shop around. Have your child search for advertisements in the newspaper for an item they have been wanting, such as a piece of clothing or tennis shoes, in order to find the lowest price for the item. After your child finds the best buy, have him or her compare the best buy to the rest of the advertised prices. Are this stores prices lower for everything or just items in demand? Value of Learning: This activity helps children see how much math is used in everyday life. It also helps in the variety of ways in which math is used to tell a story, read a timetable or schedule, plan a shopping list, or study the weather† (Helping Your Child Learn Math,

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Essay Example for Free

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Essay Toyota Motors Manufacturing (TMM) faces increasing problems with its seat supply. TMM’s single seat supplier, Kentucky Framed Seat (KFS), is responsible for the majority of the problems with material flaws and missing parts as the major encountered defects. These problems are increasingly occurring with an increase in varieties of and demand for the seats. Toyota currently addresses these problems offline; however, this is a deviation from the policies and procedures under the Toyota Production System (TPS). Now, as TMM ramps up for the production of the Camry Wagon, it must address the seat issue before seriously impacting production performance. This is Caused by 3 Factors: 1.Seats need to match each particular car, therefore stock parts cannot be used 2.The supplier process operates under Just In Time (JIT) 3.KFS cannot readily supply replacements for defective seats. Purchase Department Suggestions to Top Level Management Q1: Buying Quality Material at Low Prices: Solutions : 1.Purchase Department has suggested following ways to procure material at low price andw with best quality 2.Downward Integration: As Toyota is huge industry and requires large number of stock, so if it can go for downward integration it would be a good idea as than it can very well control the inventory for JIT and it will also have a total quality control and will save the cost. 3.Quality Control: Quality check Teams can be formed which would work in close collaboration with suppliers so to check on quality of materials supplied by them and suggest them measures to overcome any defect in their manufacturing process.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Moses Mendelssohn :: essays research papers

Moses Mendelssohn lived between the years 1729 and 1786. He was known as the " father of Haskalah " because of his contributions to the Haskalah movement. Mendelssohn was a Jewish philosopher, and got much of his education from his father, the local rabbi, David Frankel. Mendelssohn studied the philosophy of Maimonides. He had written the " Principally Leibnia ",as an attack on the national neglect of native philosophers. Also published by Mendelssohn was the " Philosophical Conversations " in 1755. Between the years 1756 and 1759, Mendelssohn became known as the " leading spirit of the Bibiothek " and ran some risk by freely criticizing the poems of the king of Prussia. In 1762 he won the prize offered by the Berlin academy for an essay on the application of mathematical proofs to metaphysics. On October 1763, the King granted Mendelssohn the privilege of Protected Jew (Schutz - Jude), which assured his right to undisturbed residence in Berlin. Mendelssohn devoted his life to the culture and emancipation of the Jews. He began by his German translation of the pentateuch and other parts of the bible. From this, the Jews learned the German language, German culture, and got a desire for German nationality. Mendelssohn put forward his plea for tolerance in Jerusalem " Oder Uben Religios Macht und Judenthum ". Mendelssohn was a great philosopher, and his contributions to the Jews were and still are great. Samson Raphael Hirsch lived between the years 1808 and 1888. He was the leader of Orthodoxy in Germany in the nine-teenth century. Hirsch was known as the " Jewish religious thinker ", and the " founder of Trenniley-Othodixie " (separatist Orthodoxy). He was the leading spirit in the establishment and of modernized Orthodox Jewish congregation and school system. The slogan of the growing " neo-orthodox " group was " torah combined with wordily wisdom ". They believed in schools that the Hebrew language, Jewish subjects, secular studies, and the school curriculum should be taught. Prussia adopted a law permitting Jews to secede from the general Jewish community and establish separate religious societies. Hirsch wrote " Nineteen Letters "," Horeb ", commentaries on the Pentateuch, Psalms, the Hebrew prayer book, and edited the monthly " Jeshurun ". Hirsch showed Judaism as a community based on faith, aiming at the sanctification of life, the spiritualization of man, and the attainment of an awareness of G-d's presence on Earth. He rejected biblical criticism, and the application of scientific methods to the study of Judaism. Moses Mendelssohn and Samson Raphael Hirsch were different in that Mendelssohn believed in secular education,assimilation within your country, and learning the language of the country ( in his case, it was Germany ) .

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Artificial Intelligence, Are the Machines Taking over Essay

While a machine is just a machine made of metal, plastic, silicone and computer chips, it is only as smart as the human that programmed it right? The strides made thus far are only be the beginning of the huge impact and achievements of the computer revolution , and technological advances are creating machines, usually computers that are able to make seemingly intelligent decisions, or act as if possessing intelligence of a human scale. It is only a matter of time before we live in a world of robots that serve humans as portrayed in the 20th Century Fox movie â€Å"I Robot†, because researchers are creating systems which can mimic human thought, understand speech and even play games with us. As our minds evolve, so does our imagination and the creations we come up with. Artificial intelligence may have been first imagined as an attempt at replicating our own intelligence, but the possibilities of achieving true artificial intelligence is closer than any of us have imagined. Computers, when first invented were fast at computing data, but now they communicate and calculate data much faster than most human beings, but still have difficult fulfilling certain functions such as pattern recognition. Today, research in artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, and many people feel threatened by the possibility of a robot taking over their job, leaving human beings without work. When computers were first developed in the 1950’s, the hype about how machines could think like human beings took the scientific world by storm, but the truth of the matter was that computers were very slow, and not capable of what inventors thought they could be. A few years later, an IBM computer defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov at a game of chess and the hype was reborn. People immediately believed that computers would take over the world and robots would be here to stay. When thinking of Artificial  Intelligence (AI), we have to look at what is considered both strong AI and weak AI. Strong AI makes the bold claim that computers can be made to think on a level at least equal to humans; that they are capable of cognitive mental states. This is the kind of AI that is portrayed in movies like â€Å"I Robot†. What this means is that the computer thinks and reasons like a human being. This then becomes the human-like AI. Also a form of strong AI is the non-human like AI in which computer program develops a totally non-human sentience, and a non-human way of thinking and reasoning. Weak AI simply states that some â€Å"thinking-like† features can be added to computers to make them more useful tools; that machines can simulate human cognition, in other words act as if they are intelligent. This has already started to happen, for example, speech recognition software. Much of the focus during the development of AI research draws from an experimental approach to psychology, looking at things such as mood and personality and emphasizes what may be called linguistic intelligence. In an article from the University of Zurich titled â€Å"Experimental Standards in Research on AI and Humor when Considering Psychology† Laughter is a significant feature of human communication, and machines acting in roles like companions or tutors should not be blind to it. So far, the progress has been limited that allows computer-based applications to deal with laughter and its recognition in the human user. In consequence, only few interactive multimodal systems exist that utilizes laughter in interaction† (Platt et Al 2012). Laughter is partly a contribution to moods in human beings and in research this is just one element that is being attempted to be recreated in AI. â€Å"Understanding the psychological impact of the interface between computer and human allows for the evaluation of the AI’s success† (Platt et Al 2012). Linguistic intelligence is best explained or shown in the Turing test. Named for Alan Turing who in 1937, being one of the â€Å"first people to consider the philosophical implications of intelligent machines† (Bowles 2010), the Turning test was designed to â€Å"prove whether or not a computer was intelligent† (Bowles 2010). The test consisted of a judge having a conversation with both a person and a computer, both hidden behind curtains to determine the difference between the person and the computer. If the determination could not be made then the computer was considered to be intelligent. â€Å"The Turing Test became a founding concept in the philosophy of artificial intelligence â€Å"(Bowles 2010). AI development also draws information and theories from animal studies, specifically with insects. By studying insects, it has been shown that insect movements are easier to emulate with robots that those movements of humans. It has also been argued that animals, also simpler than humans should be easy to mimic as well, however insect study has proven to be more productive. Practical applications of such computers with artificial intelligence could really be endless in the world. One such application was presented in 1997 with the creation of Deep Blue a chess playing computer by IBM. In that same year, â€Å"Deep Blue was able to beat Garry Kasparov, the world’s highest ranking chess player, in a series of six matches† (Bowles 2010). Deep Blue was a highly powerful computer that was programmed to solve the complex, strategic game of chess. But IBM’s goal behind Deep Blue was a much grander challenge. Other applications include optical character recognition such as that in a license plate reader that is used on police cars. License Plate Reading (LPR) Technology uses specialized cameras and computers to quickly capture large numbers of photographs of license plates, convert them to text and compare them quickly to a large list of plates of interest. LPR systems can identify a target plate within seconds of contact with it, allowing law enforcement to identify target vehicles that might otherwise be overlooked. This technology is not only used for locating violators of registration and licensing laws but also for the use of Amber Alerts when children are abducted and the vehicle plate that the perpetrator is operating is known. Another widely known practical application that many people of the world know and use is speech recognition such as â€Å"siri† of the Apple IPhone fame. This type of software is designed to learn how the operator speaks and from listening to a sample of the operator’s voice can determine whether to call â€Å"home† or â€Å"work† just by saying the command. Despite the conflicting opinions on the whether human beings will be successful in creating an artificial intelligence, the possibility is very real and must be considered from both ethical and philosophical perspectives. Substantial thought must be given not only to if human beings can create an AI, but if they should create an AI. Certainly we have crossed over the question of â€Å"if we should create AI† and in some forms it does exist today. Isaac Asimov wrote, in his book â€Å"I Robot† in 1923 the â€Å"Three Rules of Robotics† which are as follows: â€Å"1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws† (Bowles 2010). The legal and ethical dimensions of AI are strongly linked. Scientists and researchers argue that ethical considerations, such as making sure AI is programmed to act in an ethical way, making sure the ethics of people who design and use AI technology are sound, and ensuring people treat AI agents (robots) in an ethical manner are increasingly being seen in terms of legal responsibilities. If self-aware AI agents do indeed become more ubiquitous in the future, legal theory provides the framework for considering responsibility and agency. There are those who argue that these agents will need to have legal rights, the more they become advanced. Questions are being asked such as, should AI agents be given partial responsibility for their actions? Another consideration is how responsibility is transferred between humans and AI agents. This thought process consists of us considering how to prevent humans from unjustly attributing responsibility for their actions onto AI agents or deciding whether to charge an AI agent’s programmer or owner with negligence if an AI agent causes damage or breaks the law. Most of us have seen the movie, â€Å"I Robot† from 20th Century Fox. The lead robot in the movie â€Å"Sonny† was designed to look and move like a human. Will Smith’s character even asks then question â€Å"why do you give them faces†. There have already been great strides in producing a computer that is faster than the human brain and for that matter much more accurate as well. There are robots that exist today, not that they could walk down the street and not be noticed or pointed out as a robot because of their movements, but they do exist and they do function based on their programming. In conclusion, we are seeing more and more technology that is making our lives easier. From our cell phone assistants such as â€Å"Siri†, to our Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAV’s) that are not only saving pilots but also saving the need to put boots on the ground. These machines or agents are just that, machines right? They are made of metal, plastic, silicone and computer chips. If I tell a UAV to turn left it will listen, right? I don’t believe that the machines are taking over just yet, but with computers such as â€Å"Deep Blue† being the founding father of AI, and human curiosity to see if true AI can be created the possibility exists.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Employment and Family Essay

This paper is about Family Related Issued: Family and Medical Act, in studying the case where it matters that a parent literally had nothing to do with a biological child in order for the child to take advantage of the Family and Medical Act (FMLA) to care for that parent. The motive in this paper is to determine the size of the business can have any effect on whether Toney is eligible for family leave under the FMLA. I will discuss whether Herman can or cannot imply that if Tony takes a leave of absence under the FMLA, he may not have a job when he comes back. In this paper I will give describe who is covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993? In this case I will explain the extent to which an employer can make his or her own determination as to the eligibility of an employer under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Explain if it matters that a parent literally had nothing to do with a biological child in order for the child to take advantage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to care for that parent. The Family and Medical Act is a law endorsed by the United States that needs big companies top management team to offer its employees, the coverage to (FMLA) for their job compensations due to a short term or long term serious health illness that effect the employee to be off from work because they need to assist a family member, spouse pregnancy, or care of children. In the case it did not matter if Tony was his biological son or not. In the Family and Medical Leave Act there is a limit on the amount of sick and vacation time that can be used and it is apparently stated in this law. Also, if there is enough time they are allowed to by law. With a lot of companies they now used PTO days that include vacation and medical days at work that employees can use after six months or one year depending on the business. In was not specified in the video how long Tony had been employed with the company, as the request was for three weeks off. Under normal circumstances the business would ask foe a written request for the leave of absence or medial leave on the FMLA form. And the company would also like to have at least a two week notice in most causes so the employee would have time to get a substitute while Tony is out on leave. Explain whether the size of the business can have any effect on whether Tony is eligible for the family leave under the FMLA. Herman thinking and his thoughts was a concerned for the company, but the business size does not matter. Herman is utilizing Tony as a business prerequisite from medically taking care of his father that is in need of his assistance. This companies has more that enough employee that could cover Tony while on leave, though Herman shows concern about the sales of automobiles being sold due Tony absence. Herman main issues of Tony taking time off is because of the affect it will have on their business. Even more this makes Tony eligible for the FMLA during this time. (Halbert, Ingulli 2010) Explain whether Herman can or cannot imply that if Tony takes a leave of absence under the FMLA, he may not have a job when he returns. Herman cannot imply if Tony takes a leave under the FMLA, but he must make Tony aware that there is not guarantee that he will have a job when he is able to come back to work. This kind of action or treatment is not fair at all and the FMLA Act protects the employees if they are eligible to take a leave to assist their family of serious illness, to take care of newborn, or accommodate other family responsibilities. Because Tony is a valuable employee, one of the companies top auto salesman by word of mouth as number one marketing strategy. Herman has a great concerned, that he may not have another strong salesman that could fulfill the service like Tony provided for the company and to the customers (2010). Describe who is covered by the Family and Medical Act (FMLA) of 1993. The Family and Medical Act of 1993 were put into place to promote the stability and economic security of families as well as the nation’s interest in preserving the integrity of families. The Family and Medical Act applies to any employer in the private sector who employers 50 or more employees each working at least 20 calendar seeks in the current or preceding calendar year. This law covers all state, local governments, and local education agencies. Title II of FMLA covers most federal employees, who are subject to regulations issued by the Office of Personnel Management. Also, the employer can not use the practice if forcing employees to behave in an involuntary manner such as threats or intimidation of their jobs should they chose to take a leave under the FMLA. (Halbert, Ingulli 2010). Explain the extent to which an employer can make his or her own determination as to the eligibility of an employee under the Family and Medical Leave Act. An employer determines the eligibility of the employees based on the annual worked hours by the employee. Human Resource also request that a written FMLA form is completed with end two weeks of the request leave. Should an employee have not been notified within a 30 day the employer can make a decision of eligibility, causing a deferral of the FMLA? In addition, an employer is providing medical certification which would prove the leave would clarify eligibility for leave. If there is reason to believe by the employee that the employer does not plan to return to work at the end of the leave the employee has the right to terminate the FMLA request. Employer also has the right to terminate the FMLA as well if there falsified information given by the employer. Halbert, Ingulli 2010). The Family and Medical Leave Act is a benefit for companies, employees and families in the place of work to allow ones job functions, and personal responsibilities to be taken into consideration. During the time of leave the employees receive an income and security doing the time off. Other benefits to employees is receiving aide from relatives in the time of need, and the organization have an advantage from yearly d ecrease in staff earnings, which will lower the preparation and employment costs, and improves the performances of the employees. There have been thousands of employees that have used the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and business programs of essential to developing effective impact reporting that is positive or concentrating on improving the performance of their employees, and allowing the employees to know that there are limitation in the law for exclusion of more than thirty percent of employees that do not meet the criteria for the leave, which would prevent the employees who meets the criteria from going on any leave due to there is no extra funding or budget to cover the cost. Halbert, Ingulli 2010). Conclusion In conclusion of the Family and Medical Leave Act the matter that a parent literally had nothing to do with a biological child in order for the child to take advantage of the law was enacted by the United States and requires large business to provide their employees with this coverage to protect the employment for family related issues such as a serious health illness or care of children. Secondly, this law is also effective with companies that employers that have at least 50 or more employees on staff. Thirdly, Herman cannot imply if Tony takes a leave under the FMLA, and in this law he must make Tony aware that there is not guarantee that he will have a job when he is able to come back to work. Fourth, in this case in the year 1993 the FMLA was presented to employers for employees that are eligible for the leave of absence and met the criteria required for the companies. And last we have explain the extent to which an employer can make his or her own determination as to the eligibility of an employee under the Family and Medical Leave Act when the hours worked in a year time, written notice submitted to human resource has been submitted in a timely manner and medical certification has been documented will allow the employee to have the time off on leave.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Windows 2000

Introductory Windows 2000 has four operating systems. The four operating systems in Windows 2000 are: Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. There are three file systems that support Windows 2000; they are FAT16, FAT32 and NTSF (NT File System). In order for Windows 2000 to run, each operating system has several requirements met by Microsoft. Windows 2000 was released by Microsoft on February 17, 2000. Windows 2000 Professional It is an operating system designed to replace Windows 9x. It includes Plug and Play, is by definition is a standard designed to make installation of new hardware easier by automatically configuring devices. IT is supported by Windows 9X, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. There are many different features in Windows 2000 professional. The Microsoft Corporation has listed several features on their website. Windows 2000 Professional is reliable, easy to use and comes with the Internet. Microsoft states that â€Å"Windows 2000 is very good for mobile users. Windows 2000 Windows 2000 Professional is a lot faster than Windows 98. Windows 2000 Server Windows 2000 Server is an improved version of the Windows NT Server (Andrews A+ Guide to Software 212). Windows 2000 Server is a server that is used for networking and has different features from Windows 2000 Professional. A research study done by Microsoft says that Windows 2000 server cost less than the Linux operating system to operate. The Microsoft Corporation lists the top ten reasons to switch to Windows 2000 Server. They are listed below. 1. Business Value 2. You have a choice of how to deploy Windows 2000 Server 3. Reliability 4. Availability 5. Performance 6. Scalability 7. Manageability 8. Internet Ready 9. Hardware 10. Prepare for .NET... Free Essays on Windows 2000 Free Essays on Windows 2000 Introductory Windows 2000 has four operating systems. The four operating systems in Windows 2000 are: Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. There are three file systems that support Windows 2000; they are FAT16, FAT32 and NTSF (NT File System). In order for Windows 2000 to run, each operating system has several requirements met by Microsoft. Windows 2000 was released by Microsoft on February 17, 2000. Windows 2000 Professional It is an operating system designed to replace Windows 9x. It includes Plug and Play, is by definition is a standard designed to make installation of new hardware easier by automatically configuring devices. IT is supported by Windows 9X, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. There are many different features in Windows 2000 professional. The Microsoft Corporation has listed several features on their website. Windows 2000 Professional is reliable, easy to use and comes with the Internet. Microsoft states that â€Å"Windows 2000 is very good for mobile users. Windows 2000 Windows 2000 Professional is a lot faster than Windows 98. Windows 2000 Server Windows 2000 Server is an improved version of the Windows NT Server (Andrews A+ Guide to Software 212). Windows 2000 Server is a server that is used for networking and has different features from Windows 2000 Professional. A research study done by Microsoft says that Windows 2000 server cost less than the Linux operating system to operate. The Microsoft Corporation lists the top ten reasons to switch to Windows 2000 Server. They are listed below. 1. Business Value 2. You have a choice of how to deploy Windows 2000 Server 3. Reliability 4. Availability 5. Performance 6. Scalability 7. Manageability 8. Internet Ready 9. Hardware 10. Prepare for .NET...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Requirements to Become a Supreme Court Justice

Requirements to Become a Supreme Court Justice There are no explicit requirements in the U.S. Constitution for a person to be nominated to become a Supreme Court justice. No age, education, job experience, or citizenship rules exist. In fact, according to the Constitution, a Supreme Court justice does not need to even have a law degree. What Does the Constitution Say? The Supreme Court was established as a body in Article Three of the Constitution, signed in convention in 1787. Section I describes the roles of the Supreme and Lower Courts; the other two sections are for the kind of cases that should be examined by the Supreme Court (Section 2, since amended by the 11th Amendment); and a definition of treason.   The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. Article 3, U.S. Constitution However, since the Senate confirms justices, experience and background have become important factors in the confirmations, and conventions have been developed and largely followed since the first selection of the court during the first presidents term of office. George Washingtons Requirements The first U.S. President George Washington (1789–1797) had, of course, the most number of nominees to the Supreme Court- 14, although only 11 made it to the court. Washington also named 28 lower court positions, and had several personal criteria that he used to pick a justice: Support and advocacy of the U.S. ConstitutionDistinguished service in the American RevolutionActive participation in the political life of a particular state or the nation as a wholePrior judicial experience on lower tribunalsEither a favorable reputation with his fellows or personally known to Washington himselfGeographic suitability- the original Supreme Court were circuit ridersLove of the country Scholars say his first criterion was the most important to Washington, that the individual had to have a strong voice in protecting the Constitution. The most any other president has been able to nominate is nine, during the four terms of office of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1932–1945), followed by six nominated by William Howard Taft in his single term from 1909 to 1913. Qualities That Make a Good Judge Several political scientists and others have attempted to assemble a list of criteria that make a good federal judge, more as an exercise of looking at the past history of the court. American scholar Sheldon Goldmans list of eight criteria includes: Neutrality as to parties in litigation  Fair-mindedness  Being well-versed in the lawThe ability to think and write logically and lucidly  Personal integrityGood physical and mental health  Judicial temperament  Able to handle judicial power sensibly Selection Criteria Based on the 200 year history of selection criteria actually used by United States presidents, there are four which most presidents use in varying combinations: Objective meritPersonal friendshipBalancing representation or representativeness on the court (by region, race, gender, religion)Political and ideological compatibility   Sources Abraham, Henry Julian. Justices, Presidents, and Senators: A History of the U.S. Supreme Court Appointments from Washington to Clinton. Lanham, Maryland: Roman Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999. Print.Goldman, Sheldon. Judicial Selection and the Qualities That Make a Good Judge. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 462.1 (1982): 112-24. Print.Hulbary, William E., and Thomas G. Walker. The Supreme Court Selection Process: Presidential Motivations and Judicial Performance. The Western Political Quarterly 33.2 (1980): 185-96. Print.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Business plan of online business Research Paper

Business plan of online business - Research Paper Example Party Safaris seeks to be a leading global business in the field of event management and organization, specializing in two types of products. The first service provided and undertaken by Party Safaris Event Management Company is actual event management from the start to the end of the event. These events range in wide varieties from weddings, to funerals, to birthdays, as well as corporate and cocktail parties. This service will also incorporate provision of party kits for the participants in the event, and the company will undertake the sole task of planning and executing the entire event from start to finish. The second service provided by the company will be the sale of party kits through an online platform. The company will produce and stock several types of party kits then sell them to customers who are planning or organizing parties, or to those who come to us to organize their parties. These party kits will range from party kits for adults’ birthdays, to party kits for kids birthdays. The company will also provide original party kits for other parties that might not fall necessary under the two categories of parties mentioned above. From the onset of the business, the operations and management of the business will be the sole prerogative of the four founders of the company. These four directors came up with an idea of setting up an events management company in Monaco. Therefore, they will have to put their best efforts into the operations of the company in order to save on costs of operations before the business picks up and expands. However, the directors plan to hire more staff depending on the needs and demands of the business. The first most likely member of staff for the team of four to hire will be an Information and Technology (IT) manager who will be in charge of operating the online operations of the company. From the start, the basis for remuneration for the IT manager will be on an hourly basis

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Roe v wade Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Roe v wade - Research Paper Example Conversely, proposition for abortion is most intense in New England. One case in the US attributed to greatly influence abortion was the Roe v. Wade 1973. In this case, the US Supreme Court overruled the trimester framework argument and promoted abortion as a fundamental right. In Roe v. Wade (1973)2 case, the Supreme Court’s decision disallowed numerous states and federal restrictions on abortion and declared it as a fundamental right. The court ruled that abortion should not be allowed in all states where the fetus had the potential to survive outside the mother’s uterus. Consequently, the Supreme Court required that no state denies abortion for women in their first trimester, while abortion was only allowed on grounds of medical conditions during the second and third trimester3. Additionally, only the grounds of protecting the life of the fetus were acceptable for abortion in the third trimester. Upon the Supreme Court’s decision at Roe’s time, numerous states passed severe restrictions on any abortion practices as pro-lifers increasingly contended that life began at conception, thus making abortion unethical murder of acquitted humans. Additionally, other states passed laws that imposed hurdles on all women seeking abortion in defiance with the Roe decision. Defiance of Roe also saw the enactment of the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act4 by the US government to protect the unborn fetus from being killed and assaulted. According to the US federal constitution, the protection of the unborn resulted in punishment for those intentionally attempting or committing murder of the unborn. A child is also declared as a full member of the Homo sapiens species for being a child in the uterus. Through the promotion of abortion, human life is deemed to be disposable on the basis of the mother’s fundamental rights. Kovnvitz5 reveals that rationally, human life has nothing known as

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Critical analysis of ''The National Council for Voluntary Essay

Critical analysis of ''The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)'' - Essay Example His vision has multiplied and is felt all over the world. Individuals such as S.P.Grundy could be accredited with the success and the loyalty that he has shown his friend from the commissioning before he died .He told him, Grundy â€Å" If I am scuppered I’m leaving $ 1,000 to do some of the things we talked about†. It is from this inheritance that the organization has grown to be what it is today. This is a big challenge to many organizations and they should be encouraged to partake in such kinds of acts. This has been the spirit since its inception with many companies have coming up as a result.( National Council For Voluntary Organizations) . The organizations which would essentially be regarded as projects of the NCVO include;- 1. Citizens Advice Bureaux 2. Age Concern 3. Charities Aid Foundation, 4. ACRE 5. Community Matters 6. Marriage Guidance Councils 7. SIA 8. Standard Committee of Women’s Social Services 9. Young Hostels Associations 10. Young Farmersâ €™ Club among many others These are some of the main projects that through which the NCVO has seen considerable change and impact. Most of these movements for instance the Young Farmers’ Club has gone global to reach continents such as Africa and to be incorporated into the curriculum of these schools. The company conducts its operations from its head office at Regent’s Wharf, London. NCVO as began by Edward was to do its operations in the spirit of helping the community. The organization has over 8300 organizations or members under its umbrella and makes to be the largest organization in the world to have such following. (National Council For Voluntary Organizations ) In the year 2009, the organization celebrated 90 years of serving the world in voluntary and community service. During the celebration, the company indicated that it looks forward to serving the people for another 90 years. The organization has various numbers of functions. These functions are specif ically a reflection of its vision and mission statement. The company’s vision is that whereby all people are influenced and in fact driven to make a positive impact in their diverse communities. The organization’s mission on the other side is such that it aims at being the voice of the people and to provide support for the people especially the voiceless in their communities. The organization also has certain values that it upholds and considers that for every organization under its umbrella has to observe. These values are Independence , it encourages the independence of all organizations under its umbrella, Innovation, in this the organization believes that its members are creative and it will help and uphold this value, collaboration in the sense that NCVO believes that if these organizations interact and do work as a team , then this will aid in the achievement of the goals, Inclusiveness, the NCVO appreciates that these organizations are diverse and it helps this in the sense that it focuses on including all these aspects in the work of the organization, Passion ,the NCVO believes that success of these members is driven by their passion and in so doing it shall uphold ,promote and enhance this value.( National Council for Voluntary Organizations ). Some of the aims of the organizatio

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning

Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Interactive planning of Dutch infrastructural project A case-description of Mainport Schiphol and the A12 national expressway Interactive Planning of Sustainability 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the ‘90s, the implementation of new infrastructural projects in The Netherlands became increasingly problematic. Related environmental issues had a lot of societal attention. The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, responsible for maintaining a high quality of mobility in the Netherlands, identified three major problems with earlier attempts to solve the infrastructural problems; little social acceptance for new projects, procedures for realizing new projects took too long, and the proposed solutions were not really original and often ‘more of the same’. For solving these problems, this Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management proposed a change from top-down decision making to a more open and interactive form of policy making for planning, developing, and implementing new infrastructure (Enthoven and de Rooij, 1996). With interactive policy making, the main goal is to make more creative and effectiv e plans, by involving all stakeholders like citizens, (local and/or national) governments and experts. For this paper, 2 cases are selected, related to a Dutch infrastructure issue and dealt with on an interactive way; Mainport Schiphol near Amsterdam and the A12 national expressway near The Hague. The first one is selected because of its elaborated description in Susskind et al. (1999), its high degree of complexness and the fact the outcomes were fairly positive, the second one is selected also because of its suitable description in Glasbergen en Driessen (2005), but with a more straight-forward problem definition and its positive outcomes. Discussing these two Dutch cases, we will focus on four critical issues, related to interactive planning and often discussed in literature: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. Although more critical issues can be defined, like Roles op participants, Modes of evaluation and Use of outcomes by policy makers, only these four are chosen because of the fact that these are clearly discussed in the selec ted case-descriptions and these seemed to be crucial for the success of these cases. Chapter 2 will discuss each critical issue shortly. Chapter 3 will discuss the two cases in the light of the four different critical issues, and chapter 4 will give a conclusion. To structure this research the following research question is formulated: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? 2. Critical Issues This chapter will elaborate a bit more about what is actually meant with the four different critical issues: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. 2.1 Participant selection The question of which parties to involve is answered by a set of four considerations that should be taken into account when selecting the participants (De Bruijn et al., 2002). Firstly, parties with blocking power in the decision-making are important. Involving these parties in the process may keep them from using their blocking power in ways that are unforeseen. Secondly, parties with productive power should be part of the process. These parties will actually have to implement the decisions that are taken, and can influence the decision making with their control over the productive resources. Thirdly, parties that have an interest in the decision-making should be considered. These are parties that do not have substantial power in the decision making process (like blocking power or resources), but nevertheless are confronted with the outcomes of the group process and therefore can provide important information and moral considerations. Finally, this moral aspect of decision-making ca n by a reason to invite certain parties to join the process. Moral and ethical considerations can be important to embody the voice of those who are affected by the potential decision, but are not invited to the process for different reasons (De Bruin, 2002). 2.2 Power and access One of the key goals of interactive policy making is that it should reduce the influence of dominant elites and enable the less powerful groups to give input. Those parties or actors, who do not have access to formal decision-making processes or who cannot exert enough influence by the way of discussion and negotiation are more likely to initiate legal proceedings. Public’s ability to participate in decisions can be assessed according to three elements (as defined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992): access to information, access to the decision-making process, and access to redress or change decision. These three elements will shortly be explained below. ‘Access to information’ can be seen as the first foundation of access and also one of the most passive forms of access seen from the perspective of the public. With access to information is meant the ability the public has to easily get access to forms of relevant information in which they are directly or indirectly involved, such as environmental impact assessments, reports from industries about their emissions etc. But one also can think about getting informed about potential relevant activities, which possibly can affect the public’s environment. ‘Access to the decision-making processes’ wants to give the public a more active role. Once this form of access is attained, one can even speak of a certain form of power. One must not focus on only the opportunity to provide input on specific subjects, but also the ability to influence more general decisions, such as the making of new laws or national policies. ‘Access to redress or change a certain decision’ is also related to a form of power, since the ability to change a certain decision gives a citizen the power to influence the decision-making process. This form of access can be translated into making judicial or administrative remedies accessible to the public, when officials fail to do their work in a proper manner (Mock et al., 2003). 2.3 Roles of facilitators The roles that a facilitator can play in group decision processes constitute of consistent packages of specific tasks within the group process combined with a more general ‘attitude’ towards the group members and the process. In literature, three major roles of a facilitator are commonly distinguished: a role as process architect or process manager, a mediating role and a convening role. As a process architect, the facilitator lays down the backbone of the group process. The process should be structured in such a way that all relevant insights from the participants will play a role in the process. Four core principles for designing a group process can be discriminated: openness, protection of core values, speed and substance (De Bruijn et al., 2002). These four ‘core elements of process design’ should be included and safeguarded in any process design in order to satisfy all the participants. The facilitator focuses on the process so that group members can focus on the substance and can suggest different ways of discussing problems, ensuring that all group members can freely express there comments and are free of any abuses of power or personal attack (Susskind et al., 1999). Especially in environmental issues, the interests, values and problem perceptions of different parties may often be far apart form each other. With such large contrasts of interest within the group, a facilitator often is faced with disputes and conflicts within the group process, that are hard to solve with mere changes in the structure of the process. In such case, the role of the facilitator can be very closely related with a mediating role in which the facilitator is mediating between parties, even to establish a general structure of the process. In addition, an external mediator can be asked to solve the conflicts. An external mediator is a neutral person that specializes in solving disputes between different participants in the group process, often using a variety of negotiation techniques and (psychological) methods of reframing problems and solutions (Acland, 1995). In a convening role, the facilitator has a say in which parties should be involved in the group process, and at what roles they will have. The convening role of a facilitator is sometimes not far apart from the role that a facilitator has as a process designer. Proper management of a group decisions process clearly has a very import influence on the effectiveness of that process. The facilitator can influence that process to quit a large extent. The consensus of all group members on the final decision depends for a large part on the level of agreement within the group with the approach that facilitators takes in structuring and managing the process. 2.4 Role of knowledge Knowledge is a crucial ingredient of interactive planning. However, the significance of the use of knowledge depends on one’s view. Over the years, the view on the role of knowledge has changed. The rational actor model has gradually been replaced by adaptive decision and learning strategies interacting with the environment. Before, planning would be perceived as proceeding in an orderly and linear fashion (Friend Hickling, 2005). Today some authors state that knowledge is a result of collective social processes. This implies that knowledge is a social construct, rather than an objective entity. In the new approach, linear progression of the process is seen as unrealistic. Instead, the uniqueness, ambiguity and unpredictability of real world processes are emphasized. With the recognition that planning is an interactive and communicative process, the notion of the interrelationship between expert and experiential knowledge has become more and more crucial. Interactive planning is now seen as ‘organized rituals’ where ‘deliberating participants’ listen to one another, search for new options and learn to find new ways of going on together (Khakee et al., 2000). 3. Case description For a complete description of each of the two cases, see appendix 1 and 2. This section will only discuss the previously mentioned four critical issues related to interactive policy making (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge), related to the experiences of these two cases. 3.1 Mainport Schiphol Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol will cause an increase of nuisances of noise, pollution, and safety). These two opposite interests caused a stalemate to occur since the 1950s. In the 1980s, one of the government authorities took the initiative to change the ‘common way of working’ and activated the policy network, to address the issues (Driessen, 1999). 3.1.1 Participant selection The most important actor in this case was the Dutch Government, who made the prefigured decision to expand the airport into an international hub. All other participants had to find their ‘win-win’ outcomes within this context of developmental growth. From the beginning, various government organisations have been involved in the development of Schiphol Airport. The main players are three ministries. The ministry of Transport and Public Works is by far the most important actor, responsible for the economic development of the airport as well as the abatement of noise nuisance. Second, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment is also involved, responsible for physical planning in The Netherlands and implementing policies regarding the rest of the environmental effects of the activities of the airline industries, namely air pollution, stench and hazard. Finally, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plays and important role, pursuing further economic development in the region of Schiphol (Driessen, 1999). Lower tiers of governments involved were the province of North Holland, responsible for environmental policy and planning for the region, and the municipalities surrounding the airport, both benefiting (by increased employment and tax-incomes) and enduring the aggravation (caused by noise, stench, air pollution, and other activities that degrade the environment) of having the airport close by. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer is a special case, because this municipality is authorized to create a land use plan for the airfield. Additionally, two enterprises play a crucial role: NV Luchthaven Schiphol (operating the airport and completely state owned) and KLM (the major Dutch carrier and partly owned by the state) (Driessen, 1999). Because the Ministry of Transport and Public Works occupied a pivotal position, being both responsible for the economic development of Schiphol and the abatement of noise nuisance, it was agreed that noise regulation would be regulated by the Aviation Act, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Nevertheless, little actions were made to reduce noise nuisance, because all participants believed that technical solutions would solve all noise-problems in the near future. Because no agreement could be made between these participants on how much the airport should be allowed to grow, or how to tackle the environmental problems, the Dutch government asked the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment to make an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. In the following process, a project group and a steering committee were established. The steering committee was comp osed out of all above-mentioned parties, while the project group contained all interest groups. Any party with interest in the case could join the project group (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it must be concluded that parties with blocking and productive power were strongly involved in the interactive planning process, by joining the steering committee. Other parties with interest were also involved, by joining the project group, but their influence was relatively small. If parties were involved, based on moral considerations, does not become clear from this case-description. 3.1.2 Power and access The three different Governmental agencies (the ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs) with jurisdictional authority over airport expansion, had accepted the mandate for airport expansion, but each with more at stake than achieving this outcome. Interagency rivalry and power played a critical part in the positions the ministries adopted and the coalitions they build during negotiations. The creation of a project group composed of all interest groups and of a steering committee of essential power brokers gave much power to the steering committee alone. From the case description, it does not become clear that the members of the steering committee, who were eventually excluded from the decision-making, were those who could not benefit in a ‘win-win’ situation, or were simply not powerful enough to block or advance progress. Nevertheless, the exclusion of interests cannot lead t o a ‘win-win’ solution and has encountered difficulties building consensus and achieving compliance (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the three elements described in section 2.2, it must be concluded that ‘Access to information’ does not form an obstacle. Perhaps the overload on information and the opposed and contradicting information gave bigger problems. The public was given some access to the decision-making process when they joint the project group, by commenting the ideas of the steering committee. However, the steering committee made all final decisions, so there was certainly no access to redress or change a decision. 3.1.3 Roles of facilitator After the developed deadlock between the initially participants, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was made primary responsible for the task of making an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. The fact that this ministry had a strong affiliation with environmental issues raised initial suspicion among the other governmental bodies. They wondered whether this ministry would be able to take a neutral position in the ensuing discussions. However, their initial wariness soon gave way to a realistic attitude, and actively joined the process (Driessen, 1999). The Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment designed an organizational framework for the discussion whereby the coordinated approach would be given a concrete form by activating the policy network. With this, the ministry acquired a dual function in the project, because it was the convenor, chair and facilitator of the planning process, and had to secure the input of environmental interest in the decision-making (Driessen, 1999). In the initial stage, the strategy of the project leaders of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was to bring the various parties closer together by conducting investigations and exchanging information, assuming that this might contribute to a better understanding and more appreciation for each different standpoint. The was no need for a professional facilitator, because all information was being collected, analyzed, and disseminated in an orderly way, although a professional facilitator could have helped structuring the problem. At the end of this stage, the project leaders formulated a plan, which could not be released because of the rain of criticism it caused (Driessen, 1999). Because of this setback, the project leaders decided to recruit a professional facilitator, with the task not to increase the supply of information, but to let parties sought to digest what they had and to arrive at a decision. From the case-description, it does not become clear if this facilitator had staff support and whether he/she had analytical, problem solving skills. The approach taken by the facilitator was aimed at bringing the main bottlenecks to the fore, in order to reach agreements at least on key points. The approach was characterized by the creation of a strong interaction between the project group and the steering committee. The later reviewed the issues that the project group had pared down in size, and either approved the solutions offered by the project group or send them back to the project group for reconsideration (Driessen, 1999). After this process, the facilitator presented the choices made by the project group and the steering committee to the public. The central aim of this was, to gain social and political legitimacy; the plan was opened up to the public discussion and the reactions were taken into account in the final version. Unfortunately, the public was hardly informed about the process preceding the plan and therefore it was generally received with great suspicion. Adding to this, the public discussion did not proceeded in a coordinated fashion, but each government resorted to its own method of public discussion. At the same time of these public hearings, the facilitator had to focus on the steering committee, because each party could take criticism of the plan as a lever to reopen discussion on subjects already discussed. At the end, the facilitator wrote the final text of the plan, shaping the final agreements also including the difficult topics of a reduction of noise nuisance and hazard (Driessen , 1999). From this description of the facilitator, it becomes clear that the facilitator had both the role of process architect, and mediator. The facilitator designed the entire framework of decision-making and mediated when problems occurred. If the facilitator also had a convening role is unclear. Which stakeholders could join the steering committee was already decided before the facilitator got involved. How actually the project group was formed, stays unclear from this case-description. 3.1.4 Role of knowledge Especially in issues related to airfield, experts disagree on numerous crucial uncertainties. This makes the role of knowledge both important but not of the same tenor. Research plays a key role in these controversies. This relates to research on, for instance, the need to build a new airport or expand the existing one, it may concern the most desirable infrastructure in and around the airport, it may deal with the profitability of operation, it may investigate the economic impact of the airport, or it may consider possible negative effects on the environment. However, this research must never be judged as ‘objective’ and will always play a role in the conflict of interest, expressed in this case, in the frequency of requested ‘second opinions’ (Driessen, 1999). In the case of noise nuisance, it took long time to be acknowledged as a problem and to find a way of calculating the level of distress. In the mid-1960s, a system was developed to measure noise nuisance, but no agreement could be made on how it should be applied. For instance, there was discussion about how to determine the threshold value for maximum admissible noise nuisance. Furthermore, options differ on setting a specific norm for night flights. The disagreement revolves around the degree to which departing and arriving airplanes disturb the sleep of nearby residents, and whether such disruption is detrimental to public health. There was also uncertainty about, the rate air traffic would increase, and the degree to which technical developments in aeronautics could help reduce noise levels by changing the aircrafts design (Driessen, 1999). Therefore, as also stated in section 2.4, knowledge is very important in decision-making processes, but as these processes get more interaction with a broad scale of actors, knowledge becomes more a result of collective social processes and loses its objective entity. From this case-description, it does not become explicitly clear if the decisions were based on knowledge provided by ‘experts’ or that it was formed in an interactive learning process. Implicitly, one could state that the agreement on noise nuisances could only have been established, when such interactive knowledge development occurred. 3.2 A12 national expressway The ease of accessibility of The Hague depends to a large extent on the A12 national expressway. Its final 30 km stretch is marked by many access and exit ramps, and the intensity of traffic in this area has increased dramatically in recent decades. This is partly thanks to the enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, and partly to the proliferation of new urban development locations around The Hague. Much of the traffic is ‘destination traffic’ which enters the city in the morning and leaves at night. As a result of the higher volumes, congestion became a big problem (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). 3.2.1 Participant selection The planning agency initially saw itself as the owner of the problem at stake and formulated a classical solution of road widening. This approach failed because of public resistance and of a budget problem at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Because of this, the ministry stepped back, which un-deliberately created opportunities for other parties to take initiative. The government authorities of The Hague took the initiative to develop a new architecture for interaction among the different stakeholders. They organized a public dialog and a series of workshops involving local politicians and private businesses from the region, resulting in a new definition of the problem, focussing on the underutilization of existing capacity. The role of the planning agency changed from orchestrator of the infrastructure project to a partner in the wider regional consultation on issues of mobility and livability. They also made subsidies available to the business community , enabling them to work out individual, sometimes innovative, mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Before concluding the analysis of participant selection in this case, the fact that there were no objections to the planes made by this interactive planning-process is probably the best evidence that all relevant stakeholders were included in the process. Nevertheless, from the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it does not become clear how all relevant stakeholders were defined, if all parties with blocking and productive power were added to the process, or if parties with moral and ethical considerations were included. 3.2.2 Power and access This case can bee described as a restricted interactive process, because it was intended to promote the cooperation of public authorities with the private sector. Civic organizations and individual citizens were kept informed through a public relations center. The governmental authorities of The Hague decided which stakeholders were included in the process. Despite this fact, no opposition to this project did arise (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). The access to information was well looked after, in the form of the public relations center. They kept civic organizations and individual citizens informed about the plans and progress. More power was not given to the public in this case. 3.2.3 Roles of facilitator In order to link the government agencies (where the plans were developed), and the business community, a ‘godfather’ was appointed. This honour was given to the director of the public transport company in the region, and he served as a contact between the project and the private sector. He kept all relevant firms informed about the development of the project and called these firms to task with respect to their responsibilities for the region’s accessibility, by reminding them that they might be lagging behind other firms in the development of their mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). From the case-description, it must be concluded that the government authorities of The Hague acted as a convener, initially selecting the different stakeholders. Facilitating the process and mediating in conflicts were partly done by the ‘godfather’ and partly by the government authorities of The Hague. The precise division of responsibilities does not become clear from the case-description. 3.2.4 Role of knowledge According to this case-description, it was the government agencies of The Hague who decided what knowledge was used in the decision process. The only organization consulted for information was the planning agency, also participating in the planning process (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Although knowledge is crucial in interactive planning (see section 2.4), the role of knowledge in this case is not very big. This probably has two reasons. One is the relative simple problem at stake (congestion) and secondly the fact that all parties agreed on the content of the relevant knowledge. Nevertheless, the fact that only one party provided the relevant knowledge could potentially have caused major problems afterwards. 4. Conclusion This research started with the question: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? How each criterion added to the success of the case is described at the end of each subsection in chapter 3. Overall, it can be concluded that the success of interactive planning depends on the care each criterion is taken care of. If one of these criteria is neglected, it will be reflected in the outcomes. If, for example, participants are forgotten, power is not distributed evenly, facilitators are not adequate, or knowledge is not as objective as possible, the process will take much longer time and the change of good end-results and thus consensus will diminish. Both cases make clear that solutions were impossible to reach in the traditional way of policy making and that interactive policy mak ing contributed to good end results. Nevertheless, in future comparable processes, more attention should be given to the four discussed critical issues, and probably to the seven mentioned in the introduction. Only than, the rate of success of these kind of processes will increase. References Acland, A.F. 1995. Resolving Disputes without going to Court. London, Century Business Books. Bruijn, H. de, E. ten Heuvelhof and R.J. in ’t Veld. 2002. Process management: Why Project Management Fails in Complex decision making Processes. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Driessen, P. 1999. Activating a Policy Network; The Case of Mainport Schiphol. in Susskind et al., 1999, The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. Enthoven, G.M.W. and A. de Rooij. 1996. InfraLab; Impuls voor open planvorming en creativiteit.Bestuurskunde, Vol. 5, Issue 8, p. 1-8. Friend, J. and A. Hickling. 2004. Planning Under Pressure, The Strategic Choice Approach. Oxford, Buttorworth/Heinemann. Glasbergen, P. and P.J. Driessen. 2005. Interactive planning of infrastructure: the changing role of Dutch project management. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol. 23, p. 263-277. Khakee A., A. Barbanente and D. Borri. 2000. Expert and experimental knowledge in planning. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 51, No. 7, p. 776-788. Mock, G.A., W. Vanasselt, and E. Petkova. 2003. Rights and reality: Monitoring the public’s right to participate. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 9, p. 4-13. Suzzkind, L.S., S. McKearan and J. Thomas-Larmer. 1999. The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. London, SAGE Publications. Appendix 1 – Case sheet Mainport Schiphol (Driessen, 1999) 1. Position Initiative: several governmental ministries Time period: 1980-present Level of used policy process: regional/national Phase in policy process: in process 2. Background This case is about plans to expand Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and the disputes related to it. Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol Airport would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol Airport will caus Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Interactive planning of Dutch infrastructural project A case-description of Mainport Schiphol and the A12 national expressway Interactive Planning of Sustainability 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the ‘90s, the implementation of new infrastructural projects in The Netherlands became increasingly problematic. Related environmental issues had a lot of societal attention. The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, responsible for maintaining a high quality of mobility in the Netherlands, identified three major problems with earlier attempts to solve the infrastructural problems; little social acceptance for new projects, procedures for realizing new projects took too long, and the proposed solutions were not really original and often ‘more of the same’. For solving these problems, this Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management proposed a change from top-down decision making to a more open and interactive form of policy making for planning, developing, and implementing new infrastructure (Enthoven and de Rooij, 1996). With interactive policy making, the main goal is to make more creative and effectiv e plans, by involving all stakeholders like citizens, (local and/or national) governments and experts. For this paper, 2 cases are selected, related to a Dutch infrastructure issue and dealt with on an interactive way; Mainport Schiphol near Amsterdam and the A12 national expressway near The Hague. The first one is selected because of its elaborated description in Susskind et al. (1999), its high degree of complexness and the fact the outcomes were fairly positive, the second one is selected also because of its suitable description in Glasbergen en Driessen (2005), but with a more straight-forward problem definition and its positive outcomes. Discussing these two Dutch cases, we will focus on four critical issues, related to interactive planning and often discussed in literature: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. Although more critical issues can be defined, like Roles op participants, Modes of evaluation and Use of outcomes by policy makers, only these four are chosen because of the fact that these are clearly discussed in the selec ted case-descriptions and these seemed to be crucial for the success of these cases. Chapter 2 will discuss each critical issue shortly. Chapter 3 will discuss the two cases in the light of the four different critical issues, and chapter 4 will give a conclusion. To structure this research the following research question is formulated: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? 2. Critical Issues This chapter will elaborate a bit more about what is actually meant with the four different critical issues: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. 2.1 Participant selection The question of which parties to involve is answered by a set of four considerations that should be taken into account when selecting the participants (De Bruijn et al., 2002). Firstly, parties with blocking power in the decision-making are important. Involving these parties in the process may keep them from using their blocking power in ways that are unforeseen. Secondly, parties with productive power should be part of the process. These parties will actually have to implement the decisions that are taken, and can influence the decision making with their control over the productive resources. Thirdly, parties that have an interest in the decision-making should be considered. These are parties that do not have substantial power in the decision making process (like blocking power or resources), but nevertheless are confronted with the outcomes of the group process and therefore can provide important information and moral considerations. Finally, this moral aspect of decision-making ca n by a reason to invite certain parties to join the process. Moral and ethical considerations can be important to embody the voice of those who are affected by the potential decision, but are not invited to the process for different reasons (De Bruin, 2002). 2.2 Power and access One of the key goals of interactive policy making is that it should reduce the influence of dominant elites and enable the less powerful groups to give input. Those parties or actors, who do not have access to formal decision-making processes or who cannot exert enough influence by the way of discussion and negotiation are more likely to initiate legal proceedings. Public’s ability to participate in decisions can be assessed according to three elements (as defined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992): access to information, access to the decision-making process, and access to redress or change decision. These three elements will shortly be explained below. ‘Access to information’ can be seen as the first foundation of access and also one of the most passive forms of access seen from the perspective of the public. With access to information is meant the ability the public has to easily get access to forms of relevant information in which they are directly or indirectly involved, such as environmental impact assessments, reports from industries about their emissions etc. But one also can think about getting informed about potential relevant activities, which possibly can affect the public’s environment. ‘Access to the decision-making processes’ wants to give the public a more active role. Once this form of access is attained, one can even speak of a certain form of power. One must not focus on only the opportunity to provide input on specific subjects, but also the ability to influence more general decisions, such as the making of new laws or national policies. ‘Access to redress or change a certain decision’ is also related to a form of power, since the ability to change a certain decision gives a citizen the power to influence the decision-making process. This form of access can be translated into making judicial or administrative remedies accessible to the public, when officials fail to do their work in a proper manner (Mock et al., 2003). 2.3 Roles of facilitators The roles that a facilitator can play in group decision processes constitute of consistent packages of specific tasks within the group process combined with a more general ‘attitude’ towards the group members and the process. In literature, three major roles of a facilitator are commonly distinguished: a role as process architect or process manager, a mediating role and a convening role. As a process architect, the facilitator lays down the backbone of the group process. The process should be structured in such a way that all relevant insights from the participants will play a role in the process. Four core principles for designing a group process can be discriminated: openness, protection of core values, speed and substance (De Bruijn et al., 2002). These four ‘core elements of process design’ should be included and safeguarded in any process design in order to satisfy all the participants. The facilitator focuses on the process so that group members can focus on the substance and can suggest different ways of discussing problems, ensuring that all group members can freely express there comments and are free of any abuses of power or personal attack (Susskind et al., 1999). Especially in environmental issues, the interests, values and problem perceptions of different parties may often be far apart form each other. With such large contrasts of interest within the group, a facilitator often is faced with disputes and conflicts within the group process, that are hard to solve with mere changes in the structure of the process. In such case, the role of the facilitator can be very closely related with a mediating role in which the facilitator is mediating between parties, even to establish a general structure of the process. In addition, an external mediator can be asked to solve the conflicts. An external mediator is a neutral person that specializes in solving disputes between different participants in the group process, often using a variety of negotiation techniques and (psychological) methods of reframing problems and solutions (Acland, 1995). In a convening role, the facilitator has a say in which parties should be involved in the group process, and at what roles they will have. The convening role of a facilitator is sometimes not far apart from the role that a facilitator has as a process designer. Proper management of a group decisions process clearly has a very import influence on the effectiveness of that process. The facilitator can influence that process to quit a large extent. The consensus of all group members on the final decision depends for a large part on the level of agreement within the group with the approach that facilitators takes in structuring and managing the process. 2.4 Role of knowledge Knowledge is a crucial ingredient of interactive planning. However, the significance of the use of knowledge depends on one’s view. Over the years, the view on the role of knowledge has changed. The rational actor model has gradually been replaced by adaptive decision and learning strategies interacting with the environment. Before, planning would be perceived as proceeding in an orderly and linear fashion (Friend Hickling, 2005). Today some authors state that knowledge is a result of collective social processes. This implies that knowledge is a social construct, rather than an objective entity. In the new approach, linear progression of the process is seen as unrealistic. Instead, the uniqueness, ambiguity and unpredictability of real world processes are emphasized. With the recognition that planning is an interactive and communicative process, the notion of the interrelationship between expert and experiential knowledge has become more and more crucial. Interactive planning is now seen as ‘organized rituals’ where ‘deliberating participants’ listen to one another, search for new options and learn to find new ways of going on together (Khakee et al., 2000). 3. Case description For a complete description of each of the two cases, see appendix 1 and 2. This section will only discuss the previously mentioned four critical issues related to interactive policy making (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge), related to the experiences of these two cases. 3.1 Mainport Schiphol Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol will cause an increase of nuisances of noise, pollution, and safety). These two opposite interests caused a stalemate to occur since the 1950s. In the 1980s, one of the government authorities took the initiative to change the ‘common way of working’ and activated the policy network, to address the issues (Driessen, 1999). 3.1.1 Participant selection The most important actor in this case was the Dutch Government, who made the prefigured decision to expand the airport into an international hub. All other participants had to find their ‘win-win’ outcomes within this context of developmental growth. From the beginning, various government organisations have been involved in the development of Schiphol Airport. The main players are three ministries. The ministry of Transport and Public Works is by far the most important actor, responsible for the economic development of the airport as well as the abatement of noise nuisance. Second, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment is also involved, responsible for physical planning in The Netherlands and implementing policies regarding the rest of the environmental effects of the activities of the airline industries, namely air pollution, stench and hazard. Finally, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plays and important role, pursuing further economic development in the region of Schiphol (Driessen, 1999). Lower tiers of governments involved were the province of North Holland, responsible for environmental policy and planning for the region, and the municipalities surrounding the airport, both benefiting (by increased employment and tax-incomes) and enduring the aggravation (caused by noise, stench, air pollution, and other activities that degrade the environment) of having the airport close by. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer is a special case, because this municipality is authorized to create a land use plan for the airfield. Additionally, two enterprises play a crucial role: NV Luchthaven Schiphol (operating the airport and completely state owned) and KLM (the major Dutch carrier and partly owned by the state) (Driessen, 1999). Because the Ministry of Transport and Public Works occupied a pivotal position, being both responsible for the economic development of Schiphol and the abatement of noise nuisance, it was agreed that noise regulation would be regulated by the Aviation Act, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Nevertheless, little actions were made to reduce noise nuisance, because all participants believed that technical solutions would solve all noise-problems in the near future. Because no agreement could be made between these participants on how much the airport should be allowed to grow, or how to tackle the environmental problems, the Dutch government asked the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment to make an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. In the following process, a project group and a steering committee were established. The steering committee was comp osed out of all above-mentioned parties, while the project group contained all interest groups. Any party with interest in the case could join the project group (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it must be concluded that parties with blocking and productive power were strongly involved in the interactive planning process, by joining the steering committee. Other parties with interest were also involved, by joining the project group, but their influence was relatively small. If parties were involved, based on moral considerations, does not become clear from this case-description. 3.1.2 Power and access The three different Governmental agencies (the ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs) with jurisdictional authority over airport expansion, had accepted the mandate for airport expansion, but each with more at stake than achieving this outcome. Interagency rivalry and power played a critical part in the positions the ministries adopted and the coalitions they build during negotiations. The creation of a project group composed of all interest groups and of a steering committee of essential power brokers gave much power to the steering committee alone. From the case description, it does not become clear that the members of the steering committee, who were eventually excluded from the decision-making, were those who could not benefit in a ‘win-win’ situation, or were simply not powerful enough to block or advance progress. Nevertheless, the exclusion of interests cannot lead t o a ‘win-win’ solution and has encountered difficulties building consensus and achieving compliance (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the three elements described in section 2.2, it must be concluded that ‘Access to information’ does not form an obstacle. Perhaps the overload on information and the opposed and contradicting information gave bigger problems. The public was given some access to the decision-making process when they joint the project group, by commenting the ideas of the steering committee. However, the steering committee made all final decisions, so there was certainly no access to redress or change a decision. 3.1.3 Roles of facilitator After the developed deadlock between the initially participants, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was made primary responsible for the task of making an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. The fact that this ministry had a strong affiliation with environmental issues raised initial suspicion among the other governmental bodies. They wondered whether this ministry would be able to take a neutral position in the ensuing discussions. However, their initial wariness soon gave way to a realistic attitude, and actively joined the process (Driessen, 1999). The Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment designed an organizational framework for the discussion whereby the coordinated approach would be given a concrete form by activating the policy network. With this, the ministry acquired a dual function in the project, because it was the convenor, chair and facilitator of the planning process, and had to secure the input of environmental interest in the decision-making (Driessen, 1999). In the initial stage, the strategy of the project leaders of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was to bring the various parties closer together by conducting investigations and exchanging information, assuming that this might contribute to a better understanding and more appreciation for each different standpoint. The was no need for a professional facilitator, because all information was being collected, analyzed, and disseminated in an orderly way, although a professional facilitator could have helped structuring the problem. At the end of this stage, the project leaders formulated a plan, which could not be released because of the rain of criticism it caused (Driessen, 1999). Because of this setback, the project leaders decided to recruit a professional facilitator, with the task not to increase the supply of information, but to let parties sought to digest what they had and to arrive at a decision. From the case-description, it does not become clear if this facilitator had staff support and whether he/she had analytical, problem solving skills. The approach taken by the facilitator was aimed at bringing the main bottlenecks to the fore, in order to reach agreements at least on key points. The approach was characterized by the creation of a strong interaction between the project group and the steering committee. The later reviewed the issues that the project group had pared down in size, and either approved the solutions offered by the project group or send them back to the project group for reconsideration (Driessen, 1999). After this process, the facilitator presented the choices made by the project group and the steering committee to the public. The central aim of this was, to gain social and political legitimacy; the plan was opened up to the public discussion and the reactions were taken into account in the final version. Unfortunately, the public was hardly informed about the process preceding the plan and therefore it was generally received with great suspicion. Adding to this, the public discussion did not proceeded in a coordinated fashion, but each government resorted to its own method of public discussion. At the same time of these public hearings, the facilitator had to focus on the steering committee, because each party could take criticism of the plan as a lever to reopen discussion on subjects already discussed. At the end, the facilitator wrote the final text of the plan, shaping the final agreements also including the difficult topics of a reduction of noise nuisance and hazard (Driessen , 1999). From this description of the facilitator, it becomes clear that the facilitator had both the role of process architect, and mediator. The facilitator designed the entire framework of decision-making and mediated when problems occurred. If the facilitator also had a convening role is unclear. Which stakeholders could join the steering committee was already decided before the facilitator got involved. How actually the project group was formed, stays unclear from this case-description. 3.1.4 Role of knowledge Especially in issues related to airfield, experts disagree on numerous crucial uncertainties. This makes the role of knowledge both important but not of the same tenor. Research plays a key role in these controversies. This relates to research on, for instance, the need to build a new airport or expand the existing one, it may concern the most desirable infrastructure in and around the airport, it may deal with the profitability of operation, it may investigate the economic impact of the airport, or it may consider possible negative effects on the environment. However, this research must never be judged as ‘objective’ and will always play a role in the conflict of interest, expressed in this case, in the frequency of requested ‘second opinions’ (Driessen, 1999). In the case of noise nuisance, it took long time to be acknowledged as a problem and to find a way of calculating the level of distress. In the mid-1960s, a system was developed to measure noise nuisance, but no agreement could be made on how it should be applied. For instance, there was discussion about how to determine the threshold value for maximum admissible noise nuisance. Furthermore, options differ on setting a specific norm for night flights. The disagreement revolves around the degree to which departing and arriving airplanes disturb the sleep of nearby residents, and whether such disruption is detrimental to public health. There was also uncertainty about, the rate air traffic would increase, and the degree to which technical developments in aeronautics could help reduce noise levels by changing the aircrafts design (Driessen, 1999). Therefore, as also stated in section 2.4, knowledge is very important in decision-making processes, but as these processes get more interaction with a broad scale of actors, knowledge becomes more a result of collective social processes and loses its objective entity. From this case-description, it does not become explicitly clear if the decisions were based on knowledge provided by ‘experts’ or that it was formed in an interactive learning process. Implicitly, one could state that the agreement on noise nuisances could only have been established, when such interactive knowledge development occurred. 3.2 A12 national expressway The ease of accessibility of The Hague depends to a large extent on the A12 national expressway. Its final 30 km stretch is marked by many access and exit ramps, and the intensity of traffic in this area has increased dramatically in recent decades. This is partly thanks to the enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, and partly to the proliferation of new urban development locations around The Hague. Much of the traffic is ‘destination traffic’ which enters the city in the morning and leaves at night. As a result of the higher volumes, congestion became a big problem (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). 3.2.1 Participant selection The planning agency initially saw itself as the owner of the problem at stake and formulated a classical solution of road widening. This approach failed because of public resistance and of a budget problem at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Because of this, the ministry stepped back, which un-deliberately created opportunities for other parties to take initiative. The government authorities of The Hague took the initiative to develop a new architecture for interaction among the different stakeholders. They organized a public dialog and a series of workshops involving local politicians and private businesses from the region, resulting in a new definition of the problem, focussing on the underutilization of existing capacity. The role of the planning agency changed from orchestrator of the infrastructure project to a partner in the wider regional consultation on issues of mobility and livability. They also made subsidies available to the business community , enabling them to work out individual, sometimes innovative, mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Before concluding the analysis of participant selection in this case, the fact that there were no objections to the planes made by this interactive planning-process is probably the best evidence that all relevant stakeholders were included in the process. Nevertheless, from the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it does not become clear how all relevant stakeholders were defined, if all parties with blocking and productive power were added to the process, or if parties with moral and ethical considerations were included. 3.2.2 Power and access This case can bee described as a restricted interactive process, because it was intended to promote the cooperation of public authorities with the private sector. Civic organizations and individual citizens were kept informed through a public relations center. The governmental authorities of The Hague decided which stakeholders were included in the process. Despite this fact, no opposition to this project did arise (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). The access to information was well looked after, in the form of the public relations center. They kept civic organizations and individual citizens informed about the plans and progress. More power was not given to the public in this case. 3.2.3 Roles of facilitator In order to link the government agencies (where the plans were developed), and the business community, a ‘godfather’ was appointed. This honour was given to the director of the public transport company in the region, and he served as a contact between the project and the private sector. He kept all relevant firms informed about the development of the project and called these firms to task with respect to their responsibilities for the region’s accessibility, by reminding them that they might be lagging behind other firms in the development of their mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). From the case-description, it must be concluded that the government authorities of The Hague acted as a convener, initially selecting the different stakeholders. Facilitating the process and mediating in conflicts were partly done by the ‘godfather’ and partly by the government authorities of The Hague. The precise division of responsibilities does not become clear from the case-description. 3.2.4 Role of knowledge According to this case-description, it was the government agencies of The Hague who decided what knowledge was used in the decision process. The only organization consulted for information was the planning agency, also participating in the planning process (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Although knowledge is crucial in interactive planning (see section 2.4), the role of knowledge in this case is not very big. This probably has two reasons. One is the relative simple problem at stake (congestion) and secondly the fact that all parties agreed on the content of the relevant knowledge. Nevertheless, the fact that only one party provided the relevant knowledge could potentially have caused major problems afterwards. 4. Conclusion This research started with the question: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? How each criterion added to the success of the case is described at the end of each subsection in chapter 3. Overall, it can be concluded that the success of interactive planning depends on the care each criterion is taken care of. If one of these criteria is neglected, it will be reflected in the outcomes. If, for example, participants are forgotten, power is not distributed evenly, facilitators are not adequate, or knowledge is not as objective as possible, the process will take much longer time and the change of good end-results and thus consensus will diminish. Both cases make clear that solutions were impossible to reach in the traditional way of policy making and that interactive policy mak ing contributed to good end results. Nevertheless, in future comparable processes, more attention should be given to the four discussed critical issues, and probably to the seven mentioned in the introduction. Only than, the rate of success of these kind of processes will increase. References Acland, A.F. 1995. Resolving Disputes without going to Court. London, Century Business Books. Bruijn, H. de, E. ten Heuvelhof and R.J. in ’t Veld. 2002. Process management: Why Project Management Fails in Complex decision making Processes. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Driessen, P. 1999. Activating a Policy Network; The Case of Mainport Schiphol. in Susskind et al., 1999, The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. Enthoven, G.M.W. and A. de Rooij. 1996. InfraLab; Impuls voor open planvorming en creativiteit.Bestuurskunde, Vol. 5, Issue 8, p. 1-8. Friend, J. and A. Hickling. 2004. Planning Under Pressure, The Strategic Choice Approach. Oxford, Buttorworth/Heinemann. Glasbergen, P. and P.J. Driessen. 2005. Interactive planning of infrastructure: the changing role of Dutch project management. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol. 23, p. 263-277. Khakee A., A. Barbanente and D. Borri. 2000. Expert and experimental knowledge in planning. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 51, No. 7, p. 776-788. Mock, G.A., W. Vanasselt, and E. Petkova. 2003. Rights and reality: Monitoring the public’s right to participate. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 9, p. 4-13. Suzzkind, L.S., S. McKearan and J. Thomas-Larmer. 1999. The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. London, SAGE Publications. Appendix 1 – Case sheet Mainport Schiphol (Driessen, 1999) 1. Position Initiative: several governmental ministries Time period: 1980-present Level of used policy process: regional/national Phase in policy process: in process 2. Background This case is about plans to expand Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and the disputes related to it. Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol Airport would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol Airport will caus