Battered Women as Court Defense Essay Example for Free

Battered Women as Court Defense Essay One of the theoretical frameworks present, which is explains the rationale for battered women killings as a supplement to a self-defense court appeal is the condition of battered woman syndrome (Ogle and Jacobs, 2002 p. 51). Battered women who kill are often limited to pleading incapacity or provocation because the circumstances of the homicide do not fit into the narrow confines of self-defense law. Even when permitted to go forward with a self-defense claim, many women do not succeed. However, using the battered woman syndrome as a defense has troublesome implications. In practice, the battered woman syndrome defense echoes the old incapacity defense – she was acting out of learned helplessness rather than necessity – and fails to adequately consider the terrible experiences and choices these women face (Forrell and Matthews, 2001 p. 203). The cycle of battering theory posits that battering involves an identifiable pattern, which possess three phases as according to Walker (1979) (Ogle and Jacobs, 2002 p.51-52): (1). Tension building, in which the batterer seeks to create tension through intimidation, degradation, and threats in order to build a case for his next episode of violence and during this time, the victim is attempting to forestall the next battering incident; (2) acute battering incident, in which the batterer becomes violently abusive toward the victim in order to make his point, regain complete control of both the relationship and the victim, and prevent the victim from tying to leave; lastly, (3) contrition, in which the batterer, early in the relationship, makes gestures of apology, promises desistance, asks for forgiveness, and seeks reconciliation in order to keep the victim from fleeing (Ogle and Jacobs, 2002 p. 52). The proportionality, imminence requirements and the mare standards by which they are measured virtually preclude traditional self-defense for most battered women who kill their violent partners. For example, a 1995 U. S Department of Justice study, Spouse Murder Defendants, determined that 44% of women accused of murdering their husbands had been threatened with a weapon or physically assaulted at or around the time of the murder; of these, 56% were convicted. Not surprisingly, in states that relax the imminence and equal-force requirements when battered women kill and admit evidence on domestic violence and its consequences, more women are found to have killed n self-defense (Forrell and Matthews, 2001 p. 203). Battered Woman Syndrome does not explain how a woman suffering from learned helplessness (resigned to dying, hopeless, sure that nothing she does will have any influence on the outcome) suddenly becomes proactive and defends herself lethally. Learned helplessness creates a psychological and behavioral stereotype of the battering victim that can then be turned around and used against her in court if she does not exactly fit the typology of a battered woman suffering from this psychological problem. When such condition occurred, the battered woman is often not permitted to present certain testimony on the battering since she is believed not to be battered woman. In other words, if psychologists, through interviews and testing, cannot make a diagnosis of learned helplessness, then the woman does not fit the typology of a battered woman and cannot use that as a supplement to self-defense (Ogle and Jacobs, 2002 p. 52-53). Battered woman syndrome has been used for purposes beyond supporting the claim of self-defense. Such syndrome testimony has been admitted as relevant evidence into a broad range of criminal cases, such as fraud, drug running, child homicide and homicide of an adult other than the batterer. As part of the defense in these criminal cases, battered woman syndrome testimony has been offered to accomplish one of these three things: (a) to bolster the woman’s claim that she engaged in a criminal act under the duress/coercion of her abusive partner; (b) to support the notion of mitigation for the woman at the time she pleads guilty; or (c) to bolster a claim of diminished capacity in the sentencing phase of case (Freedheim et. al. , 2003 p. 485). Today, despite the concerns of a number of legal scholars, most jurisdictions permit testimony in criminal court about battered woman syndrome and a number actually guarantee its legitimacy through legislation. Twelve states provide for battered woman syndrome testimony by statutory law. In 1992, President George Bush signed the Battered Women’s Testimony Act, which specifically authorized a study of this type of testimony and required training materials to be developed to assist the courts. Moreover, this act also strongly encouraged state officials to accept battered woman syndrome testimony based on recognition that many women are victims of physical violence (Freedheim et. al. , 2003 p. 485). The conditions of battered women are still at risk knowing the fact that self-defense is still not considered as ground consideration of homicide; instead, the individual needs to be diagnosed with psychological defect before granting any possible excuse from the crime committed. The Case of Court Defenses. Probably, the most famous case of postpartum psychosis is that of Andrea Yates, a Texas woman who, in 2001, downed her five children – including a six-month old – in a bathtub (Cassidy, 2006 p. 242). Ms. Yates chased the last victim, her 7-year-old boy, as he tried to run away; however, she caught him and submerged him in the tub as she had done with the others. After wrapping the five bodies in sheets and placing them on the bed, she called the Houston Police and, upon their arrival, confessed (Dorne, 2002 p. 122). Prosecutors called for the death penalty, arguing that as long as she could distinguish between right and wrong, having postpartum psychosis is no excuse for murder. Since Yates testified that she knew it was a crime to kill her children, a jury convicted her of capital murder in 2002, triggering debate about whether the standard for mental illness was too rigid and whether the courts understood the nature of postpartum mental illness. However, an appeals court overturned that conviction die to erroneous testimony, and after a new trial in 2006, a jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity. Rather than sending her to prison for life, the judge committed her to be locked mental hospital until she deemed no longer a threat (Cassidy, 2006 p. 242). In response to the second verdict, legal experts said that, in the four years since the Yates case had been in court, the American public had become more understanding – even forgiving – of postpartum depression (Cassidy, 2006 p. 242-243). In Indiana, the case of Judy Kirby attracted national attention to the post-partum defense. Ms. Kirby, a 31-year-old mother of 10 had recently given birth. With four of her children in her car, she drove down a one-way highway the wrong way. Driving against traffic, she passed 16 â€Å"Do Not Enter† signs. Her vehicle eventually hit a minivan head on, killing the driver and his two teenage children. The four Kirby children, ages 5 to 12, were also killed; however, Ms. Kirby survived the crash. A distress note written by Ms. Kirby was found in her vehicle indicating that she was having problems coping and was experiencing relationship problems with her ex-boyfriend, who was also the father of two of her children. She was charged with seven counts of homicide, aggravated battery, and child neglect causing bodily injury, and was sentenced in 2001 to 215 years in prison (Dorne, 2002 p. 122). Another case that depicts the situation of battered women in the sense of self-defense includes the confrontation case of Commonwealth v. Stonehouse (Pa. 1989). Carol Stonehouse killed William Welsh after a series of events that the appellate court characterized as bizarre but believable because they were corroborated by disinterested witnesses. Stonehouse reported many instances of abuse, battery, assaults and threats to the authorities, but with no response issued. With all the efforts provided by Stonehouse; however, she was still charged with criminal homicide, convicted of third degree homicide, and sentenced to seven to fourteen years imprisonment (Ogle and Jacobs, 2002 p. 97). Conclusion The law provides absolute rule in terms of homicide and criminal offenses, although, certain conditions are granted with exemptions. Postpartum depression is one of the psychological defects that can be used ion order to excuse one’s self from committed murder granted the fact of evidence and reliable basis, such as with Yates. On the other hand, the case of Stonehouse’s battered experience was not excused despite of cruel and brutal experience that led her in killing for sake of self-defense. References Cassidy, T. (2006). Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born. Open City Books. Dorne, C. K. (2002). An Introduction to Child Maltreatment in the United States: History, Public Policy and Research. Criminal Justice Press. Forrell, C. A. , Matthews, D. M. (2001). A Law of Her Own: The Reasonable Woman as a Measure of Man. NYU Press. Freedheim etal, C. K. (2003). Handbook of Psychology. John Wiley and Sons. Ogle, R. S. , Jacobs, S. (2002). Self-Defense and Battered Women Who Kill: A New Framework. Greenwood Publishing Group. Schwartz, L. , Isser, N. (2007). Child Homicide: Parents Who Kill. CRC Press. Spinelli, M. G. (2003). Infanticide: Psychosocial and Legal Perspectives on Mothers Who Kill. American Psychiatric Pub, Inc.

Understanding What Is Psychiatric Injury Law Essay

Understanding What Is Psychiatric Injury Law Essay Psychiatric injury has traditionally been known by courts as nervous shock which then has brought much confusion in the area of law by being completely misleading. This term implies that claimants can seek damages because they are shocked as the result of the defendants negligence, upset, or frightened. In order to claim for nervous shock, the claimants have to prove that they have suffered from a genuine illness or injury. In some situations the illness or injury may be a physical, brought as a result of mental shock. For example in Bourhill v Young  [1]  , a woman had a miscarriage as a result of shock caused by witnessing a terrible road accident. If the shock has not caused a physical illness or injury, the claimant must prove that it caused a positive psychiatric illness as described in McLoughlin v OBrian  [2]  . Some examples of these include, clinical depression, personality changes and post traumatic stress disorder, which mostly occurs in reaction to the violent or unexpected death of a close person. However this does not include people who are simply upset by a shock no matter how bad it is, they have to recognize psychiatric illness and medical evidence will be needed to prove that. Therefore claimants who can prove such injury can only claim in negligence if they can be able to establish that they are owed a duty of care by the defendant in regarding the psychiatric illness, and the defendants negligence caused the injury. The case law then has developed a set of rules covering different situations of a claimant depending on their relationship with the event that caused the shock. These categories have varied at different stages of the law, however since the most recent case of Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire  [3]  as well as White v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire  [4]  there are now three categories: Those who are physically injured in the event caused by the defendant and psychiatrically injured as a result of it (primary victims) Those who are put in danger of physical harm but actually only suffer psychiatric injury (primary victims), and Those who are NOT put in danger of physical injury but only suffer psychiatric injury as a result of witnessing such injury to others (secondary victims) Primary Victims A primary victim is one who suffers psychiatric injury after being directly in an accident and is either himself physically injured or put in a fear of injury. An accident victim who suffers physical injury due to the negligence of another person can recover damage not only for the physical injuries but also for the psychiatric injury. The case of White v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire  [5]  confirms that if a person negligently puts another to a risk of injury, then they will be liable for any damage. This was established by the leading case of Dulieu v White Sons  [6]  where the defendant negligently drove his van into the premises, the victim feared for her safety, although she was not actually struck, she was frightened and suffered miscarriage as a result. The defendant was regarded liable even though there was no physical impact as he could have foreseen that the claimant would have suffered such shock. Therefore we can see that the issue of foreseeability has been taken into account regarding the primary victims, where if psychiatric injury is foreseeable in such a situation then the claimant can claim and be compensated. The leading case of primary victims who are exposed to injury, but not actually physically hurt, is the case of Page v Smith  [7]  where the victim was involved in an accident but was not injured, however he later suffered a serious illness called myalgic encephalomyelitis. Before the accident, this illness was in remission but after the accident the symptoms began to occur and he claimed it was caused by the shock of the accident. It was held in such a case there was duty of care and it was not necessary that the psychiatric injury itself was foreseeable because the defendants behavior would expose the victim to a risk of physical injury. This approach was followed in Simmons v British Steel plc  [8]  where the claimant was physically injured in a workplace accident. He developed a severe skin condition as a result of shock and anger that happened to him. He had to take a lot of time off work, which then led him to develop a depressive illness. It was decided that the defend ants were liable for his skin condition and depression that he suffered. It did not matter that the type of injuries was not foreseeable or that the victim who was more psychologically healthy might not have been affected in this way, as they had exposed him to a foreseeable risk of physical injury. Although the claimant can claim for psychiatric illness caused by fears for their own safety even though no physical injury occurred, there has to be some basis for the fears. In McFarlane v Wilkinson  [9]  , it was held that the fear has to be reasonable given the nature of the risk as well as the claimants situation. However what is unclear is whether the claimant can be considered as a primary victim if they were not actually in physical danger but had reasonable grounds for thinking that they might be. The two leading judgments in the case of White v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire  [10]  differ a bit in this situation: First it was discussed that the claimant must have objectively exposed himself to danger or reasonably believed that he was doing so; on the other hand it was referred to primary victims being in the position of foreseeable physical injury. Obviously in many cases the reasonable belief that the claimant was in danger arises from the fact that they actua lly were. Moreover in CJD Group B Claimants v The Medical Research Council  [11]  it was suggested that there might be a group which could not be considered as primary victims in an actual sense but nevertheless should be treated the same way. Claimants in this case had growth problem as children and were treated with injections of growth hormone which later was discovered to have contaminated with virus which causes a fatal brain condition (Creutzfeldt Jakob disease referred to as CJD) and they were regarded to be at risk of developing CJD. The claimants then had to live with fear of knowing that they might develop the disease and some of them suffered psychiatric injury as a result. The defendants were held liable as they had been negligent in allowing the injections to continue even after the risk of contamination was suspected. The claimants also claimed they were owed a duty of care as primary victims regarding psychiatric injury. However they were not considered to be primary victim s in a real sense because the psychiatric injury was not actually initiated by the physical act of the injections, but by the fact that they might be at risk of developing CJD. Their claim was allowed although basing on the relationship of proximity between the parties that the psychiatric injuries were foreseeable, therefore no reason to exclude them from compensation. Secondary Victims A secondary victim is the one who suffers psychiatric injury as a result of witnessing or being informed about an accident which involves another. It is a bit difficult to begin with when the plaintiff himself is neither physically injured nor threatened with injury but can suffer psychological illness and claim for compensation. Among them there are groups of people who suffered psychiatric injury as a result of witnessing the death or injury of friends, relatives or work colleagues; those whose psychiatric injury has been caused by them bringing about death or injury to others where the ultimate cause was someone elses negligence; and those who have suffered psychiatric injury as a result of acting as rescuers, both those who have voluntarily given assistance to others in danger, and those who have done so as a result of their jobs for example police officers. Up until the case of White v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire  [12]  , each of these groups were treated differently but after the above said case, they are all subject to the same rules developed in McLoughlin v OBrian  [13]  as well as Alcock v Chief Constable of Yorkshire  [14]  which is that secondary victims could only claim for psychiatric injury in very limited circumstances. In McLoughlin v OBrian  [15]  , the claimant was not with her family when they were involved in an accident. One of her daughter was killed and her husband and two other children were injured badly. The claimant then rushed to the hospital when she was told about the accident and when she saw her family she then suffered psychiatric injury as a result, including clinical depression and personality changes. When she made a claim it was allowed although only witnesses who were present at the scene of a shocking incident were allowed to recover the psychiatric injury. The decision is a bit confusing though, however it was still suggested that the sole issue is still reasonable foresight, and she can claim because her psychiatric injury was foreseeable. The other judges though looked at it in another way and what they suggested seemed to be found in favor. The issue was that, psychiatric injury did not have to be reasonably foreseeable as itself it is not enough to create a duty of care towards the secondary victims. Secondary victims will have to satisfy a series of other requirements including their relationship with the primary victims of the shocking incident and their position with regard to the accident. Alcock v Chief Constable of Yorkshire  [16]  involved 10 appellants who suffered psychiatric injury as a result of a disaster in 1989 at Hillsborough Stadium, in which as a result of the admitted negligent defendants, 95 people were crushed to death, and over 400 people were physically injured. None of the appellants had suffered any physical injury, or being in any danger. In fact most of them were not at the ground though they saw part of the events on television. There was a need for the law to place some limitation beyond reasonable foreseeability and medical proof of causation. Due to that, Alcocks case gave specific groups of people who could claim because between them there were those who had a special relationship with the dead or injured, and positions in relation to the incident (includes parents, grandparents, brothers, fiancà ©s and friends) who either were at the stadium and witnessed the tragedy, seen it on television or being told the news by the third party. Havi ng the claimants made claims concerning them suffering psychiatric injury due to that, the courts had to look at it in a different point of view since it was generally the policy of the common law not to compensate third parties. However there were some exceptions which were made. In order to recover psychiatric harm, it is necessary to consider the following; First, the secondary victim must prove that psychiatric injury was a reasonable foreseeable consequence of the defendants negligence, and once that has been proven, three further tests have to be taken into account including, the nature and the cause of the psychiatric injury; the class of person into which the claimant falls in terms of their relationship to the primary victim(s) and the claimants proximity to the shocking incident in terms of time and place. The nature of the psychiatric injury A claimant must prove that their psychiatric damage amounts to a recognized psychiatric illness. Moreover the psychiatric damage must have been caused by the claimant suffering a sudden and unexpected shock caused by a horrifying event. This excludes those who suffer psychiatric illness as a result of suffering form loss of their beloved ones, or the stress of having to look after a disabled relative injured by negligence of another. In Sion v Hampstead Health Authority  [17]  , the claimant developed a stress related psychiatric illness due to watching his sun slowly die in intensive care as a result of negligent medical treatment. As his psychiatric illness was not caused by a sudden shock, then he could not recover damage for it. However in contrast with the case of North Glamorgan NHS Trust v Walters  [18]  where the claimant was a mother of a baby boy who died after receiving negligent treatment for which the defendants were responsible. The mother was asked to consider switching off the life support machine because the boy was regarded to have severe brain damage and was in a coma. She and her husband agreed to it and as a result of the events, she suffered a psychiatric illness. The courts said that the horrifying event could be made up of series of events, that is witnessing his son chocking and coughing blood, hearing news that her son was brain damaged after being told that he was not, and watching him dying. Each had their own immediate impact and could be differed from cases where psychiatric illness was caused by realizing that the child was dying. Therefore as long as a sudden shock is at least partly responsible for the claimants psychiatric illness, one can be able to claim for damage. A Class of person If a secondary victim can prove they suffered psychiatric illness due to a sudden shock caused by the defendants negligence, then they will also have to prove that they fall within a class of people which the law allows them to claim for compensation for such injuries. The key cases have focused on three possible classes of people Rescuers at the scene of accidents; Employees of the party causing the accident; and Unwitting Agents Rescuers These are people who suffer psychiatric injury as a result of helping the primary victims of a shocking incident. In the case of Chadwick v British Railways Board  [19]  the claimant spent 12 hours helping victims of terrible train disaster which occurred near his home and over 90 people were killed. Due to the experience he suffered psychiatric illness and it was successful. Rescuers are not to be considered as a special category of secondary victims, but have to be subject to the normal rules on secondary victims. There is no pre-existing close relationship between them and the primary victims. However this does not much apply to special officers who act as rescuers since it is already their job, but rather voluntary rescuers can claim as secondary victims if at all they have not suffered any physical injuries but psychiatric illness as a result. Employees Employers are regarded to owe a duty of care towards employees to ensure that they are safe at work. Before the case of White, it was established that an employee had a right to recover for psychiatric illness caused by witnessing or fearing injury to fellow workers as a result of an employers negligence. However after the case, it was held that there was no such right. An employers duty to safeguard employees was not different from the duty of care owed by all people to others whom their conduct might affect. The employers duty to employees is an aspect of the law of negligence and its then subject to the normal rules of negligence. There is no special duty of care regarding psychiatric damage caused by employers to employees, just the normal rules. However one can claim if at all the psychiatric illness was a foreseeable consequence of the defendants negligence as given in the case of Dooley v Cammell Laird Co Ltd  [20]   Unwitting Agents Although the case of White makes it clear that employees are not to be regarded as special group of psychiatric illness claimants, what remains unclear is those who witness a shocking accident caused by someone elses negligence, and while they dont suffer any physical injury themselves, they might be considered bystanders because some of their actions caused injury or death to others. For example in Dooley v Cammell Laird  [21]  , the claimant without his fault, a load dropped into the hold of the ship being unloaded. He was able to claim for psychiatric injury caused by fearing for the safety of his colleague working below. However the case of White still doesnt find the right to exist although up until the case of Hunter v British Coal  [22]  , there seemed to be suggestions that unwitting agents may have a claim if they satisfy requirements of proximity of time and place. (How close they are to the shocking event in terms of time and place) Conclusively, due to some areas of law being harsh and difficult under this, the Law Commission published reforms to make changes in relation to the rules for secondary victims being restrictive, requirement for a close tie between primary and secondary victims to be justified and remain, the requirement of proximity should be abolished and the requirement for psychiatric injury caused by sudden shock should be abandoned.

Types of Logistics Strategies

Types of Logistics Strategies Logistics Logistics is the art and science of managing and controlling the flow of goods, energy, information and other resources like products, services, and people, from the source of production to the marketplace. It is difficult to accomplish any marketing or manufacturing without logistical support. It involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging. The operating responsibility of logistics is the geographical repositioning of raw materials, work in process, and finished inventories where required at the lowest cost possible. 1- Overwiew of Logistics The word of logistics originates from the ancient Greek logos (), which means ratio, word, calculation, reason, speech, oration. Logistics as a concept is considered to evolve from the militarys need to supply themselves as they moved from their base to a forward position. In ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires, there were military officers with the title Logistikas who were responsible for financial and supply distribution matters. The Oxford English dictionary defines logistics as: The branch of military science having to do with procuring, maintaining and transporting material, personnel and facilities.Another dictionary definition is: The time related positioning of resources. As such, logistics is commonly seen as a branch of engineering which creates people systems rather than machine systems. Military logistics In military logistics, experts manage how and when to move resources to the places they are needed. In military science, maintaining ones supply lines while disrupting those of the enemy is a crucial-some would say the most crucial-element of military strategy, since an armed force without food, fuel and ammunition is defenseless. The Iraq war was a dramatic example of the importance of logistics. It had become very necessary for the US and its allies to move huge amounts of men, materials and equipment over great distances. Led by Lieutenant General William Pagonis, Logistics was successfully used for this movement. The defeat of the British in the American War of Independence, and the defeat of Rommel in World War II, have been largely attributed to logistical failure. The historical leaders Hannibal Barca and Alexander the Great are considered to have been logistical geniuses. 1. Logistics Management Logistics Management is that part of the supply chain which plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers requirements. Business logistics Logistics as a business concept evolved only in the 1950s. This was mainly due to the increasing complexity of supplying ones business with materials and shipping out products in an increasingly globalized supply chain, calling for experts in the field who are called Supply Chain Logisticians. This can be defined as having the right item in the right quantity at the right time for the right price and is the science of process and incorporates all industry sectors. The goal of logistic work is to manage the fruition of project life cycles, supply chains and resultant efficiencies. In business, logistics may have either internal focus(inbound logistics), or external focus (outbound logistics) covering the flow and storage of materials from point of origin to point of consumption (see supply chain management). The main functions of a logistics manager include Inventory Management, purchasing, transport, warehousing, and the organizing and planning of these activities. Logistics managers combine a general knowledge of each of these functions so that there is a coordination of resources in an organization. There are two fundamentally different forms of logistics. One optimizes a steady flow of material through a network of transport links and storage nodes. The other coordinates a sequence of resources to carry out some project. Logistics as a concept is considered to evolve from the militarys need to supply themselves as they moved from their base to a forward position. In ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires, there were military officers with the title Log istikas who were responsible for financial and supply distribution matters. Production logistics The term is used for describing logistic processes within an industry. The purpose of production logistics is to ensure that each machine and workstation is being fed with the right product in the right quantity and quality at the right point in time. The issue is not the transportation itself, but to streamline and control the flow through the value adding processes and eliminate non-value adding ones. Production logistics can be applied in existing as well as new plants. Manufacturing in an existing plant is a constantly changing process. Machines are exchanged and new ones added, which gives the opportunity to improve the production logistics system accordingly. Production logistics provides the means to achieve customer response and capital efficiency 2. Commercial vehicle operation Commercial Vehicle Operations is an application of Intelligent Transportation Systems for trucks. A typical system would be purchased by the managers of a trucking company. It would have a satellite navigation system, a small computer and a digital radio in each truck. Every fifteen minutes the computer transmits where the truck has been. The digital radio service forwards the data to the central office of the trucking company. A computer system in the central office manages the fleet in real time under control of a team of dispatchers. In this way, the central office knows where its trucks are. The company tracks individual loads by using barcoded containers and pallets to track loads combined into a larger container. To minimize handling-expense, damage and waste of vehicle capacity, optimal-sized pallets are often constructed at distribution points to go to particular destinations. A good load-tracking system will help deliver more than 95% of its loads via truck, on planned schedules. If a truck gets off its route, or is delayed, the truck can be diverted to a better route, or urgent loads that are likely to be late can be diverted to air freight. This allows a trucking company to deliver a true premium service at only slightly higher cost. The best proprietary systems, such as the one operated by FedEx, achieve better than 99.999% on-time delivery. Load-tracking systems use queuing theory, linear programming and minimum spanning tree logic to predict and improve arrival times. The exact means of combining these are usually secret recipes deeply hidden in the software. The basic scheme is that hypothetical routes are constructed by combining road segments, and then poor ones are eliminated using linear programming. The controlled routes allow a truck to avoid heavy traffic caused by rush-hour, accidents or road-work. Increasingly, governments are providing digital notification when roadways are known to have reduced capacity. A good system lets the computer, dispatcher and driver collaborate on finding a good route, or a method to move the load. One special value is that the computer can automatically eliminate routes over roads that cannot take the weight of the truck, or that have overhead obstructions. Usually, the drivers log into the system. The system helps remind a driver to rest. Rested drivers operate the truck more skillfully and safely. When these systems were first introduced, some drivers resisted them, viewing them as a way for management to spy on the driver. A well-managed intelligent transportation system provides drivers with huge amounts of help. It gives them a view of their own load and the network of roadways. Components of CVO include: Fleet Administration Freight Administration Electronic Clearance Commercial Vehicle Administrative Processes International Border Crossing Clearance Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) Roadside CVO Safety On-Board Safety Monitoring CVO Fleet Maintenance Hazardous Material Planning and Incident Response Freight In-Transit Monitoring Freight Terminal Management 3. CONTAINERIZATION Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport cargo transport using standard ISO containers (known as Shipping Containers or Isotainers) that can be loaded and sealed intact onto container ships, railroad cars, planes, and trucks. Containerization is also the term given to the process of determining the best carton, box or pallet to be used to ship a single item or number of items. ISO Container dimensions and payloads There are five common standard lengths, 20-ft (6.1 m), 40-ft (12.2 m), 45-ft (13.7 m), 48-ft (14.6 m), and 53-ft (16.2 m). United States domestic standard containers are generally 48-ft and 53-ft (rail and truck). Container capacity is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes teu). A twenty-foot equivalent unit is a measure of containerized cargo capacity equal to one standard 20 ft (length) Ãâ€" 8 ft (width) Ãâ€" 8 ft 6 in (height) container. In metric units this is 6.10 m (length) Ãâ€" 2.44 m (width) Ãâ€" 2.59 m (height), or approximately 38.5 m ³. These sell at about US$2,500 in China, the biggest manufacturer. Most containers today are of the 40-ft (12.2 m) variety and are known as 40-foot containers. This is equivalent to 2 TEU. 45-foot (13.7 m) containers are also designated 2 TEU. Two TEU are equivalent to one forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU). High cube containers have a height of 9 ft 6 in (2.9m), while half-height containers, used for heavy loads, have a height of 4 ft 3 in (1.3 m). When converting containers to TEUs, the height of the containers typically is not considered. The use of US measurements to describe container size (TEU, FEU) despite the fact the rest of the world uses the metric system reflects the fact that US shipping companies played a major part in the development of containers. The overwhelming need to have a standard size for containers, in order that they fit all ships, cranes, and trucks, and the length of time that the current container sizes have been in use, makes changing to an even metric size impractical. The maximum gross mass for a 20-ft dry cargo container is 24,000 kg, and for a 40-ft, (inc. the 2.87 m (9 ft 5 in) high cube container), it is 30,480 kg. Allowing for the tare mass of the container, the maximum payload mass is there reduced to approx. 21,600 kg for 20-ft, and 26,500 kg for 40-ft containers. Shipping Container History A container ship being loaded by a portainer crane in Copenhagen Harbour. Twistlocks which capture and constrain containers. Forklifts designed to handle containers have similar devices. A container freight train in the UK. Containers produced a huge reduction in port handling costs, contributing significantly to lower freight charges and, in turn, boosting trade flows. Almost every manufactured product humans consume spends some time in a container. Containerization is an important element of the innovations in logistics that revolutionized freight handling in the 20th century. Efforts to ship cargo in containers date to the 19th century. By the 1920s, railroads on several continents were carrying containers that could be transferred to trucks or ships, but these containers were invariably small by todays standards. From 1926 to 1947, the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railway carried motor carrier vehicles and shippers vehicles loaded on flatcars between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois. Beginning in 1929, Seatrain Lines carried railroad boxcars on its sea vessels to transport goods between New York and Cuba. In the mid-1930s, the Chicago Great Western Railway and then the New Haven Railroad began piggy-back service (transporting highway freight trailers on flatcars) limited to their own railroads. By 1953, the CBQ, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois and the Southern Pacific railroads had joined the innovation. Most cars were surplus flatcars equipped with new decks. By 1955, an additional 25 railroads had begun some form of piggy-back trailer s ervice. The first vessels purpose-built to carry containers began operation in Denmark in 1951. Ships began carrying containers between Seattle and Alaska in 1951. The worlds first truly intermodal container system used purpose-built container ship the Clifford J. Rodgers built in Montreal in 1955 and owned by the White Pass and Yukon Route. Its first trip carried 600 containers between North Vancouver, British Columbia and Skagway, Alaska on November 26, 1955; in Skagway, the containers were unloaded to purpose-built railroad cars for transport north to the Yukon, in the first intermodal service using trucks, ships and railroad cars. Southbound containers were loaded by shippers in the Yukon, moved by truck, rail, ship and truck to their consignees, without opening. This first intermodal system operated from November 1955 for many years. A converted container used as an office at a building site. The widespread use of ISO standard containers has driven modifications in other freight-moving standards, gradually forcing removable truck bodies or swap bodies into the standard sizes and shapes (though without the strength needed to be stacked), and changing completely the worldwide use of freight pallets that fit into ISO containers or into commercial vehicles. Improved cargo security is also an important benefit of containerization. The cargo is not visible to the casual viewer and thus is less likely to be stolen and the doors of the containers are generally sealed so that tampering is more evident. This has reduced the falling off the truck syndrome that long plagued the shipping industry. Use of the same basic sizes of containers across the globe has lessened the problems caused by incompatible rail gauge sizes in different countries. The majority of the rail networks in the world operate on a 1,435mm (4ft 8 ½in) gauge track known as standard gauge but many countries like Russia, Finland and Spain use broader gauges while other many countries in Africa and South America use narrower gauges on their networks. The use of container trains in all these countries makes trans-shipment between different gauge trains easier, with automatic or semi-automatic equipment. Some of the largest global companies containerizing containers today are Patrick Global Shipping, Bowen Exports and Theiler Sons Goods, LLC. Loss at sea of ISO Containers Containers occasionally fall from the ships that carry them, something that occurs an estimated 2,000 to 10,000 times each year. For instance, on November 30, 2006, a container washed ashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, along with thousands of bags of its cargo of tortilla chips. Containers lost at sea do not necessarily sink, but seldom float very high out of the water, making them a shipping hazard that is difficult to detect. Freight from lost containers has provided oceanographers with unexpected opportunities to track global ocean currents. Double-stack containerization A Railroad car with a 20 tank container and a conventional 20 container. Most flatcars cannot carry more than one standard 40 foot container, but if the rail line has been built with sufficient vertical clearance, a well car can accept a container and still leave enough clearance for another container on top. This usually precludes operation of double-stacked wagons on lines with overhead electric wiring (exception: Betuweroute). Double stacking has been used in North America since American President Lines introduced this double stack principle under the name of Stacktrain rail service in 1984. It saved shippers money and now accounts for almost 70 percent of intermodal freight transport shipments in the United States, in part due to the generous vertical clearances used by US railroads ISO Container types Various container types are available for different needs General purpose dry van for boxes, cartons, cases, sacks, bales, pallets, drums in standard, high or half height High cube palletwide containers for europallet compatibility Temperature controlled from -25 °c to +25 °c reefer Open top bulktainers for bulk minerals, heavy machinery Open side for loading oversize pallet Flushfolding flat-rack containers for heavy and bulky semi-finished goods, out of gauge cargo Platform or bolster for barrels and drums, crates, cable drums, out of gauge cargo, machinery, and processed timber Ventilated containers for organic products requiring ventilation Tank containers for bulk liquids and dangerous goods Rolling floor for difficult to handle cargo Determining the best carton, box or pallet While the creation of the best container for shipping of newly created product is called Containerization, the term also applies to determining the right box and the best placement inside that box in order fulfillment. This may be planned by software modules in a warehouse management system. This optimization software calculates the best spatial position of each item withing such constraints as stackability and crush resistance 4. CROSS DOCKING Cross-docking is a practice in logistics of unloading materials from an incoming semi-trailer truck or rail car and loading these materials in outbound trailers or rail cars, with little or no storage in between. This may be done to change type of conveyance, or to sort material intended for different destinations, or to combine material from different origins. Cross docking is used to decrease inventory storage by streamlining the flow between the supplier and the manufacturer. Typical applications Hub and spoke arrangements, where materials are brought in to one central location and then sorted for delivery to a variety of destinations Consolidation arrangements, where a variety of smaller shipments are combined into one larger shipment for economy of transport Deconsolidation arrangements, where large shipments (e.g. railcar lots) are broken down into smaller lots for ease of delivery. Factors influencing the use of cross-docks Customer and supplier geography particularly when a single corporate customer has many multiple branches or using points Freight costs for the commodities being transported Cost of inventory in transit Complexity of loads Handling methods Logistics software integration between supplier(s), vendor, and shipper 5 .DISTRIBUTION Distribution is one of the four aspects of marketing. A distributor is the middleman between the manufacturer and retailer. After a product is manufactured it is typically shipped (and usually sold) to a distributor. The distributor then sells the product to retailers or customers. The other three parts of the marketing mix are product management, pricing, and promotion. Traditionally, distribution has been seen as dealing with logistics: how to get the product or service to the customer. It must answer questions such as: Should the product be sold through a retailer? Should the product be distributed through wholesale? Should multi-level marketing channels be used? How long should the channel be (how many members)? Where should the product or service be available? When should the product or service be available? Should distribution be exclusive, selective or extensive? Who should control the channel (referred to as the channel captain)? Should channel relationships be informal or contractual? Should channel members share advertising (referred to as co-op ads)? Should electronic methods of distribution be used? Are there physical distribution and logistical issues to deal with? What will it cost to keep an inventory of products on store shelves and in channel warehouses (referred to as filling the pipeline)? The distribution channel Channels A number of alternate channels of distribution may be available: Selling direct, such as via mail order, Internet and telephone sales Agent, who typically sells direct on behalf of the producer Distributor (also called wholesaler), who sells to retailers Retailer (also called dealer), who sells to end customers Advertisement typically used for consumption goods Distribution channels may not be restricted to physical products alone. They may be just as important for moving a service from producer to consumer in certain sectors, since both direct and indirect channels may be used. Hotels, for example, may sell their services (typically rooms) directly or through travel agents, tour operators, airlines, tourist boards, centralized reservation systems, etc. There have also been some innovations in the distribution of services. For example, there has been an increase in franchising and in rental services the latter offering anything from televisions through tools. There has also been some evidence of service integration, with services linking together, particularly in the travel and tourism sectors. For example, links now exist between airlines, hotels and car rental services. In addition, there has been a significant increase in retail outlets for the service sector. Outlets such as estate agencies and building society offices are crowding out traditional grocers from major shopping areas.. Channel members Distribution channels can thus have a number of levels. Kotler defined the simplest level, that of direct contact with no intermediaries involved, as the zero-level channel. The next level, the one-level channel, features just one intermediary; in consumer goods a retailer, for industrial goods a distributor, say. In small markets (such as small countries) it is practical to reach the whole market using just one- and zero-level channels. In large markets (such as larger countries) a second level, a wholesaler for example, is now mainly used to extend distribution to the large number of small, neighbourhood retailers In Japan the chain of distribution is often complex and further levels are used, even for the simplest . Channel structure To the various `levels of distribution, which they refer to as the `channel length, Lancaster and Massingham also added another structural element, the relationship between its members: Conventional or free-flow This is the usual, widely recognized, channel with a range of `middle-men passing the goods on to the end-user. Single transaction A temporary `channel may be set up for one transaction; for example, the sale of property or a specific civil engineering project. This does not share many characteristics with other channel transactions, each one being unique. Vertical marketing system (VMS) In this form, the elements of distribution are integrated. The internal market Many of the marketing principles and techniques which are applied to the external customers of an organization can be just as effectively applied to each subsidiarys, or each departments, internal customers. In some parts of certain organizations this may in fact be formalized, as goods are transferred between separate parts of the organization at a `transfer price. To all intents and purposes, with the possible exception of the pricing mechanism itself, this process can and should be viewed as a normal buyer-seller relationship. Less obvious, but just as practical, is the use of `marketing by service and administrative departments; to optimize their contribution to their `customers (the rest of the organization in general, and those parts of it which deal directly with them in particular). In all of this, the lessons of the non-profit organizations, in dealing with their clients, offer a very useful parallel. Channel Decisions Channel strategy Product (or service)CostConsumer location Channel management The channel decision is very important. In theory at least, there is a form of trade-off: the cost of using intermediaries to achieve wider distribution is supposedly lower. Indeed, most consumer goods manufacturers could never justify the cost of selling direct to their consumers, except by mail order. In practice, if the producer is large enough, the use of intermediaries (particularly at the agent and wholesaler level) can sometimes cost more than going direct. Many of the theoretical arguments about channels therefore revolve around cost. On the other hand, most of the practical decisions are concerned with control of the consumer. The small company has no alternative but to use intermediaries, often several layers of them, but large companies do have the choice. However, many suppliers seem to assume that once their product has been sold into the channel, into the beginning of the distribution chain, their job is finished. Yet that distribution chain is merely assuming a part of the suppliers responsibility; and, if he has any aspirations to be market-oriented, his job should really be extended to managing, albeit very indirectly, all the processes involved in that chain, until the product or service arrives with the end-user. This may involve a number of decisions on the part of the supplier: Channel membership Channel motivation Monitoring and managing channels Channel membership Intensive distribution Where the majority of resellers stock the `product (with convenience products, for example, and particularly the brand leaders in consumer goods markets) price competition may be evident. Selective distribution This is the normal pattern (in both consumer and industrial markets) where `suitable resellers stock the product. Exclusive distribution Only specially selected resellers (typically only one per geographical area) are allowed to sell the `product. Channel motivation It is difficult enough to motivate direct employees to provide the necessary sales and service support. Motivating the owners and employees of the independent organizations in a distribution chain requires even greater effort. There are many devices for achieving such motivation. Perhaps the most usual is `bribery: the supplier offers a better margin, to tempt the owners in the channel to push the product rather than its competitors; or a competition is offered to the distributors sales personnel, so that they are tempted to push the product. At the other end of the spectrum is the almost symbiotic relationship that the all too rare supplier in the computer field develops with its agents; where the agents personnel, support as well as sales, are trained to almost the same standard as the suppliers own staff. Monitoring and managing channels In much the same way that the organizations own sales and distribution activities need to be monitored and managed, so will those of the distribution chain. In practice, of course, many organizations use a mix of different channels; in particular, they may complement a direct salesforce, calling on the larger accounts, with agents, covering the smaller customers and prospects. Vertical marketing This relatively recent development integrates the channel with the original supplier producer, wholesalers and retailers working in one unified system. This may arise because one member of the chain owns the other elements (often called `corporate systems integration); a supplier owning its own retail outlets, this being forward integration. It is perhaps more likely that a retailer will own its own suppliers, this being backward integration. (For example, MFI, the furniture retailer, owns Hygena which makes its kitchen and bedroom units.) The integration can also be by franchise (such as that offered by McDonalds hamburgers and Benetton clothes) or simple co-operation (in the way that Marks Spencer co-operates with its suppliers). Alternative approaches are `contractual systems, often led by a wholesale or retail co-operative, and `administered marketing systems where one (dominant) member of the distribution chain uses its position to co-ordinate the other members activities. This has traditionally been the form led by manufacturers. The intention of vertical marketing is to give all those involved (and particularly the supplier at one end, and the retailer at the other) control over the distribution chain. This removes one set of variables from the marketing equations. Other research indicates that vertical integration is a strategy which is best pursued at the mature stage of the market (or product). At earlier stages it can actually reduce profits. It is arguable that it also diverts attention from the real business of the organization. Suppliers rarely excel in retail operations and, in theory, retailers should focus on their sales outlets rather than on manufacturing facilities ( Marks Spencer, for example, very deliberately provides considerable amounts of technical assistance to its suppliers, but does not own them). Horizontal marketing A rather less frequent example of new approaches to channels is where two or more non-competing organizations agree on a joint venture a joint marketing operation because it is beyond the capacity of each individual organization alone. In general, this is less likely to revolve around marketing synergy. LOGISTICS IN FOOD DISTRIBUTION Food distribution, a method of distributing (or transporting) food from one place to another, is a very important factor in public nutrition. Where it breaks down, famine, malnutrition or illness can occur. During some periods of Ancient Rome, food distribution occurred with the policy of giving free bread to its citizens under the provision of a common good. There are three main components of food distribution: Transport infrastructure, such as roads, vehicles, rail transport, airports, and ports. Food handling technology and regulation, such as refrigeration, and storage, warehousing. Adequate source and supply logistics, based on demand and need. Information logistics In general, it is exactly logistics of information. The field of information logistics aims at developing concepts, technologies and applications for need-oriented information supply. Information-on-demand services are a typical application area for information logistics, as they have to fulfil user needs with respect to content, location, time and quality Information Logistics consists of two words information and logistics. Information can mean a lot of things, but usually is text (syntax with a semantic meaning) and logistics which is the transportation of sth from point A to point B. In a simplified sense is a newsletter information logistics, also an e-mail or even the ordinary mail you receive. Information logistics is concerned with the supply of information to individuals and Types of Logistics Strategies Types of Logistics Strategies Logistics Logistics is the art and science of managing and controlling the flow of goods, energy, information and other resources like products, services, and people, from the source of production to the marketplace. It is difficult to accomplish any marketing or manufacturing without logistical support. It involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging. The operating responsibility of logistics is the geographical repositioning of raw materials, work in process, and finished inventories where required at the lowest cost possible. 1- Overwiew of Logistics The word of logistics originates from the ancient Greek logos (), which means ratio, word, calculation, reason, speech, oration. Logistics as a concept is considered to evolve from the militarys need to supply themselves as they moved from their base to a forward position. In ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires, there were military officers with the title Logistikas who were responsible for financial and supply distribution matters. The Oxford English dictionary defines logistics as: The branch of military science having to do with procuring, maintaining and transporting material, personnel and facilities.Another dictionary definition is: The time related positioning of resources. As such, logistics is commonly seen as a branch of engineering which creates people systems rather than machine systems. Military logistics In military logistics, experts manage how and when to move resources to the places they are needed. In military science, maintaining ones supply lines while disrupting those of the enemy is a crucial-some would say the most crucial-element of military strategy, since an armed force without food, fuel and ammunition is defenseless. The Iraq war was a dramatic example of the importance of logistics. It had become very necessary for the US and its allies to move huge amounts of men, materials and equipment over great distances. Led by Lieutenant General William Pagonis, Logistics was successfully used for this movement. The defeat of the British in the American War of Independence, and the defeat of Rommel in World War II, have been largely attributed to logistical failure. The historical leaders Hannibal Barca and Alexander the Great are considered to have been logistical geniuses. 1. Logistics Management Logistics Management is that part of the supply chain which plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers requirements. Business logistics Logistics as a business concept evolved only in the 1950s. This was mainly due to the increasing complexity of supplying ones business with materials and shipping out products in an increasingly globalized supply chain, calling for experts in the field who are called Supply Chain Logisticians. This can be defined as having the right item in the right quantity at the right time for the right price and is the science of process and incorporates all industry sectors. The goal of logistic work is to manage the fruition of project life cycles, supply chains and resultant efficiencies. In business, logistics may have either internal focus(inbound logistics), or external focus (outbound logistics) covering the flow and storage of materials from point of origin to point of consumption (see supply chain management). The main functions of a logistics manager include Inventory Management, purchasing, transport, warehousing, and the organizing and planning of these activities. Logistics managers combine a general knowledge of each of these functions so that there is a coordination of resources in an organization. There are two fundamentally different forms of logistics. One optimizes a steady flow of material through a network of transport links and storage nodes. The other coordinates a sequence of resources to carry out some project. Logistics as a concept is considered to evolve from the militarys need to supply themselves as they moved from their base to a forward position. In ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires, there were military officers with the title Log istikas who were responsible for financial and supply distribution matters. Production logistics The term is used for describing logistic processes within an industry. The purpose of production logistics is to ensure that each machine and workstation is being fed with the right product in the right quantity and quality at the right point in time. The issue is not the transportation itself, but to streamline and control the flow through the value adding processes and eliminate non-value adding ones. Production logistics can be applied in existing as well as new plants. Manufacturing in an existing plant is a constantly changing process. Machines are exchanged and new ones added, which gives the opportunity to improve the production logistics system accordingly. Production logistics provides the means to achieve customer response and capital efficiency 2. Commercial vehicle operation Commercial Vehicle Operations is an application of Intelligent Transportation Systems for trucks. A typical system would be purchased by the managers of a trucking company. It would have a satellite navigation system, a small computer and a digital radio in each truck. Every fifteen minutes the computer transmits where the truck has been. The digital radio service forwards the data to the central office of the trucking company. A computer system in the central office manages the fleet in real time under control of a team of dispatchers. In this way, the central office knows where its trucks are. The company tracks individual loads by using barcoded containers and pallets to track loads combined into a larger container. To minimize handling-expense, damage and waste of vehicle capacity, optimal-sized pallets are often constructed at distribution points to go to particular destinations. A good load-tracking system will help deliver more than 95% of its loads via truck, on planned schedules. If a truck gets off its route, or is delayed, the truck can be diverted to a better route, or urgent loads that are likely to be late can be diverted to air freight. This allows a trucking company to deliver a true premium service at only slightly higher cost. The best proprietary systems, such as the one operated by FedEx, achieve better than 99.999% on-time delivery. Load-tracking systems use queuing theory, linear programming and minimum spanning tree logic to predict and improve arrival times. The exact means of combining these are usually secret recipes deeply hidden in the software. The basic scheme is that hypothetical routes are constructed by combining road segments, and then poor ones are eliminated using linear programming. The controlled routes allow a truck to avoid heavy traffic caused by rush-hour, accidents or road-work. Increasingly, governments are providing digital notification when roadways are known to have reduced capacity. A good system lets the computer, dispatcher and driver collaborate on finding a good route, or a method to move the load. One special value is that the computer can automatically eliminate routes over roads that cannot take the weight of the truck, or that have overhead obstructions. Usually, the drivers log into the system. The system helps remind a driver to rest. Rested drivers operate the truck more skillfully and safely. When these systems were first introduced, some drivers resisted them, viewing them as a way for management to spy on the driver. A well-managed intelligent transportation system provides drivers with huge amounts of help. It gives them a view of their own load and the network of roadways. Components of CVO include: Fleet Administration Freight Administration Electronic Clearance Commercial Vehicle Administrative Processes International Border Crossing Clearance Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) Roadside CVO Safety On-Board Safety Monitoring CVO Fleet Maintenance Hazardous Material Planning and Incident Response Freight In-Transit Monitoring Freight Terminal Management 3. CONTAINERIZATION Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport cargo transport using standard ISO containers (known as Shipping Containers or Isotainers) that can be loaded and sealed intact onto container ships, railroad cars, planes, and trucks. Containerization is also the term given to the process of determining the best carton, box or pallet to be used to ship a single item or number of items. ISO Container dimensions and payloads There are five common standard lengths, 20-ft (6.1 m), 40-ft (12.2 m), 45-ft (13.7 m), 48-ft (14.6 m), and 53-ft (16.2 m). United States domestic standard containers are generally 48-ft and 53-ft (rail and truck). Container capacity is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes teu). A twenty-foot equivalent unit is a measure of containerized cargo capacity equal to one standard 20 ft (length) Ãâ€" 8 ft (width) Ãâ€" 8 ft 6 in (height) container. In metric units this is 6.10 m (length) Ãâ€" 2.44 m (width) Ãâ€" 2.59 m (height), or approximately 38.5 m ³. These sell at about US$2,500 in China, the biggest manufacturer. Most containers today are of the 40-ft (12.2 m) variety and are known as 40-foot containers. This is equivalent to 2 TEU. 45-foot (13.7 m) containers are also designated 2 TEU. Two TEU are equivalent to one forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU). High cube containers have a height of 9 ft 6 in (2.9m), while half-height containers, used for heavy loads, have a height of 4 ft 3 in (1.3 m). When converting containers to TEUs, the height of the containers typically is not considered. The use of US measurements to describe container size (TEU, FEU) despite the fact the rest of the world uses the metric system reflects the fact that US shipping companies played a major part in the development of containers. The overwhelming need to have a standard size for containers, in order that they fit all ships, cranes, and trucks, and the length of time that the current container sizes have been in use, makes changing to an even metric size impractical. The maximum gross mass for a 20-ft dry cargo container is 24,000 kg, and for a 40-ft, (inc. the 2.87 m (9 ft 5 in) high cube container), it is 30,480 kg. Allowing for the tare mass of the container, the maximum payload mass is there reduced to approx. 21,600 kg for 20-ft, and 26,500 kg for 40-ft containers. Shipping Container History A container ship being loaded by a portainer crane in Copenhagen Harbour. Twistlocks which capture and constrain containers. Forklifts designed to handle containers have similar devices. A container freight train in the UK. Containers produced a huge reduction in port handling costs, contributing significantly to lower freight charges and, in turn, boosting trade flows. Almost every manufactured product humans consume spends some time in a container. Containerization is an important element of the innovations in logistics that revolutionized freight handling in the 20th century. Efforts to ship cargo in containers date to the 19th century. By the 1920s, railroads on several continents were carrying containers that could be transferred to trucks or ships, but these containers were invariably small by todays standards. From 1926 to 1947, the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railway carried motor carrier vehicles and shippers vehicles loaded on flatcars between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois. Beginning in 1929, Seatrain Lines carried railroad boxcars on its sea vessels to transport goods between New York and Cuba. In the mid-1930s, the Chicago Great Western Railway and then the New Haven Railroad began piggy-back service (transporting highway freight trailers on flatcars) limited to their own railroads. By 1953, the CBQ, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois and the Southern Pacific railroads had joined the innovation. Most cars were surplus flatcars equipped with new decks. By 1955, an additional 25 railroads had begun some form of piggy-back trailer s ervice. The first vessels purpose-built to carry containers began operation in Denmark in 1951. Ships began carrying containers between Seattle and Alaska in 1951. The worlds first truly intermodal container system used purpose-built container ship the Clifford J. Rodgers built in Montreal in 1955 and owned by the White Pass and Yukon Route. Its first trip carried 600 containers between North Vancouver, British Columbia and Skagway, Alaska on November 26, 1955; in Skagway, the containers were unloaded to purpose-built railroad cars for transport north to the Yukon, in the first intermodal service using trucks, ships and railroad cars. Southbound containers were loaded by shippers in the Yukon, moved by truck, rail, ship and truck to their consignees, without opening. This first intermodal system operated from November 1955 for many years. A converted container used as an office at a building site. The widespread use of ISO standard containers has driven modifications in other freight-moving standards, gradually forcing removable truck bodies or swap bodies into the standard sizes and shapes (though without the strength needed to be stacked), and changing completely the worldwide use of freight pallets that fit into ISO containers or into commercial vehicles. Improved cargo security is also an important benefit of containerization. The cargo is not visible to the casual viewer and thus is less likely to be stolen and the doors of the containers are generally sealed so that tampering is more evident. This has reduced the falling off the truck syndrome that long plagued the shipping industry. Use of the same basic sizes of containers across the globe has lessened the problems caused by incompatible rail gauge sizes in different countries. The majority of the rail networks in the world operate on a 1,435mm (4ft 8 ½in) gauge track known as standard gauge but many countries like Russia, Finland and Spain use broader gauges while other many countries in Africa and South America use narrower gauges on their networks. The use of container trains in all these countries makes trans-shipment between different gauge trains easier, with automatic or semi-automatic equipment. Some of the largest global companies containerizing containers today are Patrick Global Shipping, Bowen Exports and Theiler Sons Goods, LLC. Loss at sea of ISO Containers Containers occasionally fall from the ships that carry them, something that occurs an estimated 2,000 to 10,000 times each year. For instance, on November 30, 2006, a container washed ashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, along with thousands of bags of its cargo of tortilla chips. Containers lost at sea do not necessarily sink, but seldom float very high out of the water, making them a shipping hazard that is difficult to detect. Freight from lost containers has provided oceanographers with unexpected opportunities to track global ocean currents. Double-stack containerization A Railroad car with a 20 tank container and a conventional 20 container. Most flatcars cannot carry more than one standard 40 foot container, but if the rail line has been built with sufficient vertical clearance, a well car can accept a container and still leave enough clearance for another container on top. This usually precludes operation of double-stacked wagons on lines with overhead electric wiring (exception: Betuweroute). Double stacking has been used in North America since American President Lines introduced this double stack principle under the name of Stacktrain rail service in 1984. It saved shippers money and now accounts for almost 70 percent of intermodal freight transport shipments in the United States, in part due to the generous vertical clearances used by US railroads ISO Container types Various container types are available for different needs General purpose dry van for boxes, cartons, cases, sacks, bales, pallets, drums in standard, high or half height High cube palletwide containers for europallet compatibility Temperature controlled from -25 °c to +25 °c reefer Open top bulktainers for bulk minerals, heavy machinery Open side for loading oversize pallet Flushfolding flat-rack containers for heavy and bulky semi-finished goods, out of gauge cargo Platform or bolster for barrels and drums, crates, cable drums, out of gauge cargo, machinery, and processed timber Ventilated containers for organic products requiring ventilation Tank containers for bulk liquids and dangerous goods Rolling floor for difficult to handle cargo Determining the best carton, box or pallet While the creation of the best container for shipping of newly created product is called Containerization, the term also applies to determining the right box and the best placement inside that box in order fulfillment. This may be planned by software modules in a warehouse management system. This optimization software calculates the best spatial position of each item withing such constraints as stackability and crush resistance 4. CROSS DOCKING Cross-docking is a practice in logistics of unloading materials from an incoming semi-trailer truck or rail car and loading these materials in outbound trailers or rail cars, with little or no storage in between. This may be done to change type of conveyance, or to sort material intended for different destinations, or to combine material from different origins. Cross docking is used to decrease inventory storage by streamlining the flow between the supplier and the manufacturer. Typical applications Hub and spoke arrangements, where materials are brought in to one central location and then sorted for delivery to a variety of destinations Consolidation arrangements, where a variety of smaller shipments are combined into one larger shipment for economy of transport Deconsolidation arrangements, where large shipments (e.g. railcar lots) are broken down into smaller lots for ease of delivery. Factors influencing the use of cross-docks Customer and supplier geography particularly when a single corporate customer has many multiple branches or using points Freight costs for the commodities being transported Cost of inventory in transit Complexity of loads Handling methods Logistics software integration between supplier(s), vendor, and shipper 5 .DISTRIBUTION Distribution is one of the four aspects of marketing. A distributor is the middleman between the manufacturer and retailer. After a product is manufactured it is typically shipped (and usually sold) to a distributor. The distributor then sells the product to retailers or customers. The other three parts of the marketing mix are product management, pricing, and promotion. Traditionally, distribution has been seen as dealing with logistics: how to get the product or service to the customer. It must answer questions such as: Should the product be sold through a retailer? Should the product be distributed through wholesale? Should multi-level marketing channels be used? How long should the channel be (how many members)? Where should the product or service be available? When should the product or service be available? Should distribution be exclusive, selective or extensive? Who should control the channel (referred to as the channel captain)? Should channel relationships be informal or contractual? Should channel members share advertising (referred to as co-op ads)? Should electronic methods of distribution be used? Are there physical distribution and logistical issues to deal with? What will it cost to keep an inventory of products on store shelves and in channel warehouses (referred to as filling the pipeline)? The distribution channel Channels A number of alternate channels of distribution may be available: Selling direct, such as via mail order, Internet and telephone sales Agent, who typically sells direct on behalf of the producer Distributor (also called wholesaler), who sells to retailers Retailer (also called dealer), who sells to end customers Advertisement typically used for consumption goods Distribution channels may not be restricted to physical products alone. They may be just as important for moving a service from producer to consumer in certain sectors, since both direct and indirect channels may be used. Hotels, for example, may sell their services (typically rooms) directly or through travel agents, tour operators, airlines, tourist boards, centralized reservation systems, etc. There have also been some innovations in the distribution of services. For example, there has been an increase in franchising and in rental services the latter offering anything from televisions through tools. There has also been some evidence of service integration, with services linking together, particularly in the travel and tourism sectors. For example, links now exist between airlines, hotels and car rental services. In addition, there has been a significant increase in retail outlets for the service sector. Outlets such as estate agencies and building society offices are crowding out traditional grocers from major shopping areas.. Channel members Distribution channels can thus have a number of levels. Kotler defined the simplest level, that of direct contact with no intermediaries involved, as the zero-level channel. The next level, the one-level channel, features just one intermediary; in consumer goods a retailer, for industrial goods a distributor, say. In small markets (such as small countries) it is practical to reach the whole market using just one- and zero-level channels. In large markets (such as larger countries) a second level, a wholesaler for example, is now mainly used to extend distribution to the large number of small, neighbourhood retailers In Japan the chain of distribution is often complex and further levels are used, even for the simplest . Channel structure To the various `levels of distribution, which they refer to as the `channel length, Lancaster and Massingham also added another structural element, the relationship between its members: Conventional or free-flow This is the usual, widely recognized, channel with a range of `middle-men passing the goods on to the end-user. Single transaction A temporary `channel may be set up for one transaction; for example, the sale of property or a specific civil engineering project. This does not share many characteristics with other channel transactions, each one being unique. Vertical marketing system (VMS) In this form, the elements of distribution are integrated. The internal market Many of the marketing principles and techniques which are applied to the external customers of an organization can be just as effectively applied to each subsidiarys, or each departments, internal customers. In some parts of certain organizations this may in fact be formalized, as goods are transferred between separate parts of the organization at a `transfer price. To all intents and purposes, with the possible exception of the pricing mechanism itself, this process can and should be viewed as a normal buyer-seller relationship. Less obvious, but just as practical, is the use of `marketing by service and administrative departments; to optimize their contribution to their `customers (the rest of the organization in general, and those parts of it which deal directly with them in particular). In all of this, the lessons of the non-profit organizations, in dealing with their clients, offer a very useful parallel. Channel Decisions Channel strategy Product (or service)CostConsumer location Channel management The channel decision is very important. In theory at least, there is a form of trade-off: the cost of using intermediaries to achieve wider distribution is supposedly lower. Indeed, most consumer goods manufacturers could never justify the cost of selling direct to their consumers, except by mail order. In practice, if the producer is large enough, the use of intermediaries (particularly at the agent and wholesaler level) can sometimes cost more than going direct. Many of the theoretical arguments about channels therefore revolve around cost. On the other hand, most of the practical decisions are concerned with control of the consumer. The small company has no alternative but to use intermediaries, often several layers of them, but large companies do have the choice. However, many suppliers seem to assume that once their product has been sold into the channel, into the beginning of the distribution chain, their job is finished. Yet that distribution chain is merely assuming a part of the suppliers responsibility; and, if he has any aspirations to be market-oriented, his job should really be extended to managing, albeit very indirectly, all the processes involved in that chain, until the product or service arrives with the end-user. This may involve a number of decisions on the part of the supplier: Channel membership Channel motivation Monitoring and managing channels Channel membership Intensive distribution Where the majority of resellers stock the `product (with convenience products, for example, and particularly the brand leaders in consumer goods markets) price competition may be evident. Selective distribution This is the normal pattern (in both consumer and industrial markets) where `suitable resellers stock the product. Exclusive distribution Only specially selected resellers (typically only one per geographical area) are allowed to sell the `product. Channel motivation It is difficult enough to motivate direct employees to provide the necessary sales and service support. Motivating the owners and employees of the independent organizations in a distribution chain requires even greater effort. There are many devices for achieving such motivation. Perhaps the most usual is `bribery: the supplier offers a better margin, to tempt the owners in the channel to push the product rather than its competitors; or a competition is offered to the distributors sales personnel, so that they are tempted to push the product. At the other end of the spectrum is the almost symbiotic relationship that the all too rare supplier in the computer field develops with its agents; where the agents personnel, support as well as sales, are trained to almost the same standard as the suppliers own staff. Monitoring and managing channels In much the same way that the organizations own sales and distribution activities need to be monitored and managed, so will those of the distribution chain. In practice, of course, many organizations use a mix of different channels; in particular, they may complement a direct salesforce, calling on the larger accounts, with agents, covering the smaller customers and prospects. Vertical marketing This relatively recent development integrates the channel with the original supplier producer, wholesalers and retailers working in one unified system. This may arise because one member of the chain owns the other elements (often called `corporate systems integration); a supplier owning its own retail outlets, this being forward integration. It is perhaps more likely that a retailer will own its own suppliers, this being backward integration. (For example, MFI, the furniture retailer, owns Hygena which makes its kitchen and bedroom units.) The integration can also be by franchise (such as that offered by McDonalds hamburgers and Benetton clothes) or simple co-operation (in the way that Marks Spencer co-operates with its suppliers). Alternative approaches are `contractual systems, often led by a wholesale or retail co-operative, and `administered marketing systems where one (dominant) member of the distribution chain uses its position to co-ordinate the other members activities. This has traditionally been the form led by manufacturers. The intention of vertical marketing is to give all those involved (and particularly the supplier at one end, and the retailer at the other) control over the distribution chain. This removes one set of variables from the marketing equations. Other research indicates that vertical integration is a strategy which is best pursued at the mature stage of the market (or product). At earlier stages it can actually reduce profits. It is arguable that it also diverts attention from the real business of the organization. Suppliers rarely excel in retail operations and, in theory, retailers should focus on their sales outlets rather than on manufacturing facilities ( Marks Spencer, for example, very deliberately provides considerable amounts of technical assistance to its suppliers, but does not own them). Horizontal marketing A rather less frequent example of new approaches to channels is where two or more non-competing organizations agree on a joint venture a joint marketing operation because it is beyond the capacity of each individual organization alone. In general, this is less likely to revolve around marketing synergy. LOGISTICS IN FOOD DISTRIBUTION Food distribution, a method of distributing (or transporting) food from one place to another, is a very important factor in public nutrition. Where it breaks down, famine, malnutrition or illness can occur. During some periods of Ancient Rome, food distribution occurred with the policy of giving free bread to its citizens under the provision of a common good. There are three main components of food distribution: Transport infrastructure, such as roads, vehicles, rail transport, airports, and ports. Food handling technology and regulation, such as refrigeration, and storage, warehousing. Adequate source and supply logistics, based on demand and need. Information logistics In general, it is exactly logistics of information. The field of information logistics aims at developing concepts, technologies and applications for need-oriented information supply. Information-on-demand services are a typical application area for information logistics, as they have to fulfil user needs with respect to content, location, time and quality Information Logistics consists of two words information and logistics. Information can mean a lot of things, but usually is text (syntax with a semantic meaning) and logistics which is the transportation of sth from point A to point B. In a simplified sense is a newsletter information logistics, also an e-mail or even the ordinary mail you receive. Information logistics is concerned with the supply of information to individuals and

The War in Iraq is Not Justifiable Essay -- Bush War Democracy Argumen

The War in Iraq is Not Justifiable Thousands of young men and women are sent overseas to be killed or injured only to return crippled for life or in a coffin. I commend all in the military for their service and I would never disrespect any soldier. In fact, my best friend?s brother entered the United States Navy out of high school and has served three years so far; he is in active duty serving on an aircraft carrier. I have the same feelings about the war in Iraq. I continually ask myself why thousands of men and women, injured or dead, may not know the purpose of this war. Like many Americans, I understood the reason for the invasion of Afghanistan, but the purpose of this war has been faulted from the beginning. An innocent woman?s fiancà © does not deserve to die in a foreign country for false motives. At first, our President told the citizens of the United States that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. This has now been proved false. This leaves troops thousands of miles from home fighting in an unfamil iar land for no purpose. Millions of Americans were led into this war under phony pretenses. I am in, and will always be in, support the United States Army and troops from every nation, but when thinking of the question ?What was our purpose I cannot mull any answers. In the very heartbreaking documentary Last Letters Home, the parents, friends, and wives of deceased soldiers, read the letters they received from their loved ones. This documentary, produced by The New York Times in conjunction with HBO, tells the demoralizing stories of killed soldiers in Iraq. It gives an idea of what regular men and women in the armed service go through on a daily basis. Shelly, a twenty-year-old from New Berlin, Wisco... ...y the Answer?. MIT Press: 1997. ?Farenheit 9/11.? Dir. Michael Moore. Columbia Tristar. 2004 Hamilton, William. Who Voted for Hitler?. Princeton University Press. 1982. ?Hero.? Dir. Yimou Zhang. Buena Vista Home Vid. 2004. Kaiser, Davis. American Tradegy. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 2000. Logevall, Fredrik. Choosing War. Berkeley: University of California Press. Mearsheimer, John and Stephen Walt. ? Iraq: An Unnecessary War.? FP January, February 2003. Postel, Danny. ?Realistpolitik.? Dispatches. May 2004: 11-13. ?Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election.? Dir. Joan Sekler. Sony Pictures. 2002. Walt, Stephen. Revolution and War. Cornell University Press: 1997. E-reserve Texts 1. Chalmer?s Johnsons?s Blowback 2. Lawrence Corb ? Rumsfeld?s Follies 3. Martin Peretz ? Without Sin

Resolving Personal Conflicts Through Assertive Communication Essay

Introduction â€Å"Conflict is a problematic situation that occurs between interdependent people who seek different goals or means to those goals (Cahn & Abigail, 2014).† Perceived differences can affect the relationship adversely if not addressed and is one of the characteristics of conflict. A sense of urgency about the need to resolve the differences are is another characteristics of conflict. While conflict occurs in many places – the workplace, between friends, parents and children, etc., one of the most difficult areas for conflict to occur is in a romantic relationship. Not resolving the conflict can cause resentment and a dampening of the feelings towards one another, and the urgency to resolve the differences is palpable. I have shared the last five years of my life with a friend and former boyfriend, Rob, living in a 40 foot boat. Living in these cramped quarters with someone that you love and get along famously with would be difficult, but living with someone that causes daily conflicts is next to impossible. Rob has been married twice and had been divorced for 13 years when I met him. His general attitude towards relationships is that if you do not like what he does, â€Å"you know where the door is.† I was told this several times during my first year with him. But I thought the good outweighed the bad. I was a full time boater myself, traveling in an older boat before I met Rob and I loved the lifestyle. Traveling with someone else and sharing the expenses made it possible for you to go many more places than you could traveling alone. Dating a man that had some truly good qualities – love and compassion for animals, good sense of humor, enjoying the boating lifestyle as well , love of family - and living in a ... ...at, my situation Rob was resolved by my taking assertive communication steps and requesting that he seek counseling to help deal with his misperceptions about women. I now know about Relational Transgressions, Forgiveness and Reconciliation. But those can only occur between two people willing to work things out. He refused and I moved out. And life is much, much better outside of an atmosphere of constant conflict. Works Cited Cahn, D. D., & Abigail, R. A. (2014).Managing conflict through communication(5th ed.). Boston: Pearson. O’Connor, A. (2009). Lee Marvin’s partner gave the world ‘palimony’. The Age/World. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au Tavris, C., & Aaronson, E. (2007). Mistakes were made (but not by me): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts. New York: Harcourt.

The Appeal of Television Chat Shows Essay -- TV Media Papers

The Appeal of Television Chat Shows Chat shows are a very popular and successful modern day television program. Why? It is probably because as humans we are naturally nosey and curious about the lifestyles of others, especially those of the rich and famous. It is this common characteristic that makes the neighbors peep through the curtains to see what the Jones' are up to next, the reason that village gossip spreads so quickly and the cause of the growing number of reality television programs. Whether we admit or not, many have a fascination with those in the public eye. We want to know about their secret to success, the skeletons in their closet and if they really are human like the rest of us. When this curiosity is applied to heroes, idols and people that others look up to and want to be like, that is when the appeal of chat shows is brought to life. Chat shows are the ultimate way of finding out the truth about celebrities not from badly taken paparazzi photos or twisted quotes in magazines but from the celebrity themself. Chat shows are not just popular with the public but also with the celebrities. It is a great way of advertising themselves if they have a new film or book out for instance. Another example is if they have had a lot of bad press recently, maybe over a crime they have committed. The celebrity may appear on a popular chat show to win back the sympathy and popularity of the public. Chat shows are sometimes confused with talk shows but are very different in the style they are run. Chat shows are interviews with celebrities and are considered more promotional television whereas talk shows are basically public ... ...rs Merton who is an old lady is actually a young woman dressed up as on old age pensioner. She cracks jokes to the audience about false hips and dentures and northern accent and dialect add to the humour. I have established that chat shows are very popular and that the appeal from them is becoming more than just the guests. This is because chat shows have turned from just the basic interview to a programme with characters (The Ali G Show) audience participation, for example anecdotes or games (Graham Norton) and performances and humour (The Kumars at Number 42). Entertainment is getting harder to fulfill as each show has to bring something new to appeal and compete with other chat shows to gain and maintain its audience however the base for any chat show will always remain the celebrities that appear on the show.

Propaganda Theory Essay

All over the world, the wheel of propaganda keeps churning. Governments have launched propaganda blitzes to mold public opinion and further their political objectives. In certain instances, they have failed. In other cases, like global wars, they have caused mass deception and destruction. People employ numerous propaganda techniques for a variety of reasons. It may be to cushion the impact of a crisis, soften antagonistic sentiments of people governed, reinforce friendly relations between countries, or foil attempts to usurp power. Propaganda in recent years has been used in a derogatory sense, characterized by doublespeak, coupled with endorsements from individuals capable of influencing others, to win public support for an idea or doctrine. When employed by nations as an act of aggression, it can unleash a never-ending series of counterpropaganda measures, and become counterproductive. Learning about propaganda — how it works, and actual examples across cultures — provides many interrelated insights. Propaganda Theory I. The Meaning and Types of Propaganda Propaganda is defined in many ways. It is â€Å"a systematic effort to persuade a body of people to support or adopt a particular opinion, attitude or course of action† (Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary, 1963). Propaganda is something resorted to since ancient times, and has assumed many connotations through the years. It is commonly understood as the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist. Propaganda is a term culled from the Latin word propagare which â€Å"means to propagate or to show† (Jowett and O’Donnell, 2006, p. 2). French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul, who conducted a thorough study on propaganda, propounded that it is a â€Å"sociological phenomena, not as something made or produced by people of intentions† (Jowett and O’Donnell, 2006, p. 4). Ellul did not discount the fact, though, that while it may have negative impact, particularly in discouraging critical thought, people have a need for it. Propaganda is characterized by certain characteristics. It has to be total, seamless, with a target audience that is â€Å"self-acting and capable of screening out contrary messages for themselves (or) partial to the thrust of the message and willing to listen to it, and†¦ works best when it prepares symbols that the public will understand, and then manipulates those symbols to achieve a desired effect† (Thompson, 2004, pp. 6-8). Propaganda, as widely used today, connotes â€Å"a coordinated strategy to minimize negative information and present in a favorable light a story that can be damaging to self-interests† (Jowett and O’Donnell, 2006, p. 3). This is blatantly shown by many news organizations and governments today. In most cases, â€Å"propaganda themes are produced not because the relationship between the state and the media is antagonistic and incompatible but because they serve a common purpose† (Wilcox, 2005, p. 4). To achieve the propagandist’s intent, there are several types and techniques employed. In the corporate world, one type of propaganda is a simple testimonial. Testimonials may utilize celebrities and other people of prominence or credibility, or symbols like a flag or a respectable institution, in advertisements prodding and enticing people to purchase goods and services. Most advertisements that instill brand recall by being constantly aired on all forms of media are also a form of propaganda. Usually, the propagandist conceals his main agenda in a deliberate attempt to win public favor. Propaganda may be classified then as white, or â€Å"from a correctly identified source and is not intentionally deceptive† (Brahm, 2006, parag. 4) or black, which is the exact opposite. As for the techniques, propagandists employ age-old techniques to influence or win over people to their side, like name-calling, whereby the object is to make a person see an object, person or idea in a negative light without carefully assessing evidences; use of glittering generalities that uses abstract terms, especially ideals like freedom, justice, and truth to appeal to the listener’s emotions or valued principles; card stacking, which highlights only one view to an argument while downplaying or totally repressing the dissenting or contradictory opinions in order to manipulate the sentiments or change the mindset of the audience; transfer technique, in which case the propagandist uses an object or symbolism that is generally revered or respected to win over people; testimonials, which uses prominent, authoritative or famous people to appeal to listeners’ emotions or in some instances, both the emotions and logic; and bandwagon, which presupposes that since majority of people are doing or supporting something, then that general trend must have merits worth considering. The propagandist, in this case, expects the audience to conform to the general will and reap the benefits offered (â€Å"The Art of Propaganda,† n. d. ). II. Propaganda Through the Years Propaganda’s various meanings and connotations have evolved through the years. In the modern world, the most common conduit or mouthpiece of propaganda is the news media, whether print, television, radio or online. Many governments have used media as disseminator of propaganda, especially during crisis moments or to win major support for conflict intervention. Milestones that have been part and parcel of the history of propaganda go way back to 1622, when the Vatican, under Pope Gregory XV, â€Å"established the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, meaning the sacred congregation, for propagating the faith of the Roman Catholic Church† (Jowett and O’Donnell, 2006, p. 2). Succeeding events led to the loss of impartiality in the term propaganda. In the present information age, some people who are well-read and aware of issues and news developments are able to discern whenever their government has set into motion a major information campaign to gain public support for an electoral campaign or even a war effort. There are also insidious ways individuals or governments use propaganda, like in the case of terrorist groups enlisting people to support their cause, or military leaders trying to outmart the enemy by overstating the size of one’s fleet or amplifying the sophisticated weaponry at their disposal. Propaganda has been used countless times for political warfare. History is replete with cases of governments swaying the populace to gain support for their cause or political ends. An example of 20th century propaganda are the anti-German propaganda materials widely disseminated by British agencies. Former US President George Bush’s propaganda machine emphasized an anti-terrorism stance. Ironically, he had denounced numerous propaganda tactics directed at the US which he thought to have vilified the country’s image in the global community. The US government employed similar propaganda techniques during the Gulf War and Kosovo Conflict in the 1990s. Many political rulers, like Joseph Stalin, used propaganda in a damaging sense. Another clear-cut illustration of 20th century propaganda is Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror. Everyone knows how the charismatic dictator won over people to his side not only with his eloquent speeches but with his military tactics and well-oiled propaganda machinery. Naxi propaganda bordered on censorship. Books and films that ran counter to the beliefs of the rulers were burned. In their stead, radio communications called â€Å"People’s Receiver† were offered at a cheap price. There were also organized rallies that succeeded in gaining the public’s loyalties. â€Å"In Nazi publications and German newspapers, newsreels, posters, ‘educational’ materials, etc), much use was made of cartoons from Julius Streicher–the Nazis’ vitriolic and foremost hate monger† (Thompson, 2004, parag. 11). On the other hand, there have also been countless examples of propaganda back in the 18th century. Propaganda was employed, to promote the cause of independence, through the dissemination of pamphlets during the American Revolution. In France and Europe, there was widespread criticisms for the ruling class by learned men. It was an age when anti-enlightenment ideas proliferated, and propaganda was at its peak. III. Propaganda in the Arab World Propaganda has found strong use in the Arab world. â€Å"The anti-Semitic literature published by the Arabs since World War II has been voluminous†¦Arab propagandists and sympathizers have persisted in the charge that Israel is a foreign outpost of Western civilization, the intruding offspring of Europe inhabited by European survivors of Nazi brutality† (Peters, n. d. ). Consumed by the overriding belief that Israel does not have the right to exist, most Arab and Muslim states engaged in propagandist tactics, including biased reporting and use of language that detracts from the true meaning. Propaganda was also applied through the use of official newspapers that tackled how Jews manage all the world’s governments. In similar manner, the US government has launched anti-Arab propaganda material, much to its own detriment and reputation in the international community. References Brahm, Eric. (2006). â€Å"Propaganda. † Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Retrieved May 31, 2009, from http://www. beyondintractability. org/essay/propaganda/ Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary. (1963). New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. Jowett, Garth S. and Victoria O’Donnell. (2006). Propaganda and persuasion (4th ed. ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Peters, Joan. (n. d. ). â€Å"From time immemorial – the origins of the Arab-Jewish conflict over Palestine. † Retrieved May 31, 2009, from http://gospelpedlar. com/articles/Church%20History/jews. html