Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Technology Changes in 1850-1900s

The American economy has boosted, in such a way where positive and negative impacts can reflect on how the society is handled and seen as. New political ideas and inventions come to place, and our economy starts to shift and handle bigger changes. As a result, America used and developed new customs to help progress and grow to our necessities. One of the greatest impacts of technological inventions was the railroad. Railroads were the nation’s first â€Å"big business† and was a source of rapid transportation. Resources needed to build the nationwide network of railroads led to growth in other industries, for example, the coal and steel network.By making the technological changes, it increased and branched off into new jobs and products. For example, the railroads allowed farmers to sell their crops to a larger market, yet the railroads were more powerful than individual farmers or farm collectives. They were able to charge the farmers large fees, expenses that farmers barely had enough to cover, in order to transport their goods throughout the expansive country. Much of the technology was either expensive and/or needed large spaces to work effectively and sufficiently. Similar essay: Was the West a Land of Opportunity or Oppression?In order to promote western expansion, the federal government provided railroad companies with huge subsidies in the form of loans and land grants. Around 80 companies received over 170 million acres of public land and the railroad companies received more than three times the land given away by the Homestead Act. This was when they were offering 160 acres of land free to any citizen who was head of the household. This expanded land ownership and attracted foreigners to settle in these areas. Another huge invention which impacted the lives of people communicating across the country.This invention was called the Telegraph, created by Samuel Morse in 1844. By 1900 telegraph lines linked all continents in a global network of cables. This helped the communication travel around and when wars struck, they were able to stay in contact. The invention of the telegraph branched off to a new invention of the telephone, invented by A lexander Graham Bell in 1876. It opened the way for a worldwide communications network. The economic ideas of Laissez-faire capitalism and Social Darwinism, contributed to the rapid industrialization of the late 1800’s.Economists found in Social Darwinism, a way to justify the doctrine of laissez faire. Laissez-faire capitalism argued that business should not be regulated by the government and that they should be regulated by supply and demand. They would also offer goods at low prices and out of their self-interest. In the 1880’s trusts and monopolies started to undercut the natural regulation of the market. The second economic idea of Social Darwinism was based on Darwin’s theory of natural selection. This theory of natural selection and survival applied to the standards of the business world.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Risk Management: Trends and Developments

As time evolves organizations must continue to grow and evolve. The demographics and territories of organizations change as time evolves. As a result the risk management trends and developments become extremely important to the long-term success and survivability of organizations. Risk management trends exist at the corporate, business, and project levels of organizations. At each level of the risk management process stakeholders are identified and encouraged to actively participate in the process (Merna & AL-Thani, 2008).This has a positive effect on any future challenges that may arise and helps insure that the risk mitigation of trends and developments are beneficial to everyone involved. In this assignment three new trends and developments such as technology, culture, and government regulations will be examined, along with their future challenges. Each trend, development, and challenge will be summarized and the pros and cons and implications of each in the business environment w ill be discusses as well.The use of technology and e-commerce has become widespread especially for organizations that conduct business over the internet. Many organizations have adapted to selling their products to consumers and distributors through the internet. This helps businesses grow by reaching international customers or customers in different territories. Online sites such as PayPal have created a faster and safer way to pay bills online virtually at any location and at any time. This feature has allowed consumers and organizations to pay their bills in a more efficient way.More consumers have adopted e-commerce to pay for personal bills such as car payments and utility bills. The benefits of this technology perk are the efficiency and convenience of having the ability to transact anywhere, anytime, and in any way, it saves consumers time and fees. The immediate transfer of funds benefits businesses because buyers are more willing to make purchases if the process is quick an d easy. The downside of paying bills online is the security hazards. Businesses will not be able to protect themselves against all the security threats when creating an online payment system.Businesses should be aware of malware and other various hacking attempts that can track their keystrokes stealing usernames and passwords to access financial information. This trend could lead to challenges for risk management because of the security threats the trend poses. The challenge for risk managers would be keeping up with security threats and keeping their systems secure from hackers. Every business strives to be successful, and keeping up with the ever-changing cultural habits is an important risk management trend businesses should take into consideration while working on international projects.Globalization has increased the importance of cultural risk management, and if this trend is not taken seriously it could prove to be very costly for organizations. Cultural differences can affe ct many parts of an organization. One example is the difference in managerial approaches between an international and domestic management team. A proactive approach in the beginning of an international project will help mitigate the differences in managerial approaches. Networking and negotiations are two main issues that should be taken into consideration when deciding on an international project.Networking is a critical stage for organizations looking for international business opportunities. The process of bidding for potential projects worldwide seem to be similar, the difference is in the lead-time given to bidders in certain countries. Domestically projects are advertised openly, giving anyone interested a fair opportunity to bid on the project. Projects in some international cultures are first spread by word of mouth, giving some bidders time to prepare and research their bid.This would give international bidders a heads up on potential future projects and would give them ade quate time to prepare before the bidding became public. Negotiations were found to have different meanings in different cultures, the styles were culture dependent. Different cultures may perceive the definition of negotiation differently so it is important to risk managers to understand the different cultures and how they perceive the term negotiation in business. Understanding cultural differences will help businesses become successful when operating internationally.On the other hand if risk managers are not aware of the cultural differences it may lead to misunderstandings and could have negative effects on the business. The U. S. government sets business regulations to hold organizations accountable for the amount of power they have; they also protect employees and the environment. Businesses are expected to abide by governmental regulations and should do so to stay out of trouble. Business regulations are different for different industries. It is important for organizations to be aware of the business regulations affecting their industry.Government regulations should always be considered when running a business. There are regulations for state, local, and federal taxes as well as financial reporting requirements presented by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Business regulations for international organizations include an additional range of rules regulating international trade. Importers must deal with regulations relating to import quotas, tariffs, and prohibition. Business regulations could be a challenge for businesses that do not which regulations to follow; they could be faced with costly fines if they do not comply.Because of business regulations consumers can feel safe about the products they are purchasing off of store shelves. If there is a product that could be a threat, government regulators would take quick action to remove it from the marketplace. Government regulations can cause disadvantages for both consumers and businesses. If busin esses do not comply with government regulations they could be faced with large fines, and because of the increased cost of doing business consumers would be affected by paying higher prices.Businesses may not always be able to manage every risk they run into but being aware of the trends and developments will help eliminate most risks. For those involved with managing risk, risk management should be used to generate new ideas and to promote good business practices. The business trends and developments discussed in this paper relating to technology, culture, and business regulations are just a few business trends that should not be ignored.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Argumentive Essay on Age Differences in Relationships

You may have similar interests, backgrounds or have the same  sense of humor, but through it all one question sticks out among many folks out in the world today. Does age have a bearing on whether or not to enter a relationship? Some feel that you will eventually fall in love with someone half your age but the thing is how can you tell? And is that a deciding factor in getting in a relationship? Many are opposed to this as they feel the gap could cause a great deal of issues within the relationship itself. There are many different opinions about whether age factors play a huge role in a relationship. Some people say it does not matter and others say it is everything. Some people are like me, sort of in the middle. Age is just a number, or is it? One might think that if a man has been alive for forty five years, than he should possess be somewhat mature as far being experienced in relationships. Well in some cases, while the forty year-old may be experienced, when it comes to being mature he may not be all the way there. While a person may have experienced a lot of different things in their life, it does not necessarily mean that they have learned from them. It is a sad fact that some people just never grow up. This may be fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you look at it. However, it is a fact of life. If you date this kind of person you are more than likely in for a rocky relationship Maturity is more a matter of personality than age. According to journalist Vidhi Agrawal, the question of age and relationships is really difficult to answer, especially when the Cupid’s arrow strikes and you fall in love with a person who is 10 years your senior or 15 years younger to you. In historic times, it was common for a man of 30 or 40 years to marry a teenage girl. Then came the period where the difference ranged between two and seven years, with the man being older. Back then there was a simple logic was simple:  the man would be the bread winner while the wife would provide babies. (Agrawal, 2012) In my opinion, I feel that age does matter in relationships. While, it’s not the most important factor it does play a key role in whether or not the relationship sustains a lengthy period or it’s just a seasonal fling. There are issues that need to be considered with relationships that have a noticeable difference in age. These issues are not insurmountable, yet they are obstacles that must be considered and dealt with if the relationship is going to be successful and meaningful to both parties. I feel this way because in these days in time relationships are like the wind. Everyday it seems like most couples break up as fast as they fall in love. While numerous married couples who differ in age now ended up married, they also end up having a divorce due to either: financial problems, fights, or cheating spouses so spending a long time growing old together seem impossible in this day and age. Most relationships today only start with physical attraction or infatuation like magnets but we all know that we are people so we will have desires and attractions to the opposite (or same sex). Choosing someone that is right for the age is probably a suitable solution to lessen breaking hearts and emotional distress. Another reason I feel that age matters is because people nowadays create labels. When a young man or woman dates an older man or woman he/she is commonly called â€Å"cougar†, on the other hand, when an old man or woman dates younger ones he/she is commonly called a â€Å"pedophile†. These two labels doesn’t apply to people who dates 1 year to 4 years older or younger, it only applies to people who are really old like five to ten years age gap. Also in some cultures, age gap are still approved when the parents of two persons are close friends and they talk about the future of their children and starting to pre-arrange their son and daughter’s marriage when both parents know that they are at the right age. Marsh, 2010) In addition, we define our goals, experiences and milestones in life by age. For example, by 21, most people will be a graduate, will have worked for five years and then completed a MBA by 28 and started their own company. Marry and settled with kids by 32, work hard for the next 15 years and then begin retirement plannin g. See, this is how the average person generally planned their life. So when an older man marries a woman much younger to him, there can be conflicts over preferences and goals. She will want to be go out more and engage in active pursuits while he will have that, â€Å"been there, done that† feeling/attitude and may not participate eagerly. Similarly, the balance of power and dominance would always be on the side of the older spouse because he/she is more matured, wise and experienced. To them, younger spouses’ need for indulgence may appear histrionics and attention-seeking behavior. The difference in age could also deepen with time after many years with the partner, thus causing problems. At first, they have a lot of common interests but after many years somewhere between 5 and10 years, while one of them is getting old, the other one is still young in body and spirit. Because of this it would be hard to cope with and keep up with one another because they have simply grown apart. This may lead to break ups. Also, an age gap can have an influence on a relationship by the fact it could lead to three main problems which are the sickness and health, different opinions and the child issue. Sometimes the age gap could be very embarrassing. For example, when a couple goes out to do shopping to buy clothes and things for them and their children and suddenly the sales assistant talks to the woman/man and tells him/her is that person your daddy/mommy?. That would be very embarrassing and not acceptable even though the person does not mean what he says because in the first place he does not know that this person is her husband. The embarrassment that comes from such relationships with age difference makes the younger partner thinking about why he is putting him/herself in such situation, while he could be with person who looks exactly like his age without any embarrassments. This makes lots of marriages fail. Therefore, having healthy relationship without age gap will tackle this problem and makes the couples live happily without embarrassments forever. (Twoface, 2009) An example for these kinds of relationships is that of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. The recently divorced couple was married with an age gap of thirteen years (Demi being around forty and Ashton being around twenty-seven). In these age gap relationships, there were real differences in their interest in physical activities that eventually resulted to the divorce. While many feel like I feel on this subject, there are those who differ with me on this issue. While many feel age will play a deciding factor in a potential break-up, on the contrary, you have those who feel age does not matter in a relationship because in most cases they want someone to match their level of maturity, having a strong commitment to each other, and having someone serious to talk in a personal way. You have those who feel they have either outgrown their age range or are just mature for their age (whether it’s due to circumstances or surroundings) so they seek companionship with mates older than they are. You have those who feel as long as both are mature and are making their own choices than age should not really matter. Another factor one will state in the case of age matters is that the younger person would benefit from the older person’s wisdom and experience and the older person feels as if he has been given new life by the ego boost they get from having someone so young finding them attractive. With that the relationships would be based on only having benefits from each other. These kinds of relationships that based on having benefits from each other have never worked before and will never work (Vilbert Lloyd, 2010). In conclusion, age does really matter in a relationship in some degree and that’s based on whether the two individuals can handle their relationship with a sense of responsibility and commitment based on their level of maturity in sharing their personal outlooks and goals from their life experiences. (Realsexfacts, 2006) Age gap relationships will always be frowned upon mainly due to their abnormality. Most people would look at a 50 year old and a 25 year old together and think â€Å"that’s just  not  right†. I would say for the most part age does matter in a relationship. While you do not want the age gap to be too significant due to practical reasons like how long the person might have until they die or at what age they will stop having sex and procreating. Also, lifestyle and cultural differences might emerge if there is a significant age difference. There will in most cases be a lot of protests from friends and family, so opt for something like this only when you are ready to stand against them. This in turn depends upon whether you are sure about what exists between the two of you and its all that you really want in life. This is not to say that there are no exceptions. Those are always out there and I guess you should get to know your partner well and know what you are getting into before taking any chances with your life. Follow your gut. The heart wants what the heart wants in the end. It does not matter how ridiculous it may look to other people. References (2006). Relationships and Age Difference. Realsexfacts. com. Retrieved 10 March, 2013 from: http://www. realsexedfacts. com/relationships-age-difference. html Agrawal, V. (2012). Age Factor in Marriage and Relationships. BollywoodShaddis. com Retrieved 10 March 2013 from: http://www. bollywoodshaadis. om/article/lifestyle–health/relationships/age-factor-in-marriage-and-relationships Marsh, T. (2009). Does Age Really Matter In Relationships?. Love, Life and Relationships: Terrymarshworld. blogspot. Retrieved 10 March, 2013 from: http://www. terrymarshworld. blogspot. com/2010/03/does-age-really-matter-in-a-relationship. html Twoface. (2009). Does Age Matter. Socyberty. Retrieved 10 Marc h 2013 from: http://socyberty. com/relationships/does-age-matter-age-gap-relationships/ Vilbert, D Lloyd, A (2010). Does A Big Age Difference Doom A Relationship?. Living. MSN. Retrieved 10 March 2013 from: http://living. msn. com/love-relationships Argumentive Essay on Age Differences in Relationships You may have similar interests, backgrounds or have the same  sense of humor, but through it all one question sticks out among many folks out in the world today. Does age have a bearing on whether or not to enter a relationship? Some feel that you will eventually fall in love with someone half your age but the thing is how can you tell? And is that a deciding factor in getting in a relationship? Many are opposed to this as they feel the gap could cause a great deal of issues within the relationship itself. There are many different opinions about whether age factors play a huge role in a relationship. Some people say it does not matter and others say it is everything. Some people are like me, sort of in the middle. Age is just a number, or is it? One might think that if a man has been alive for forty five years, than he should possess be somewhat mature as far being experienced in relationships. Well in some cases, while the forty year-old may be experienced, when it comes to being mature he may not be all the way there. While a person may have experienced a lot of different things in their life, it does not necessarily mean that they have learned from them. It is a sad fact that some people just never grow up. This may be fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you look at it. However, it is a fact of life. If you date this kind of person you are more than likely in for a rocky relationship Maturity is more a matter of personality than age. According to journalist Vidhi Agrawal, the question of age and relationships is really difficult to answer, especially when the Cupid’s arrow strikes and you fall in love with a person who is 10 years your senior or 15 years younger to you. In historic times, it was common for a man of 30 or 40 years to marry a teenage girl. Then came the period where the difference ranged between two and seven years, with the man being older. Back then there was a simple logic was simple:  the man would be the bread winner while the wife would provide babies. (Agrawal, 2012) In my opinion, I feel that age does matter in relationships. While, it’s not the most important factor it does play a key role in whether or not the relationship sustains a lengthy period or it’s just a seasonal fling. There are issues that need to be considered with relationships that have a noticeable difference in age. These issues are not insurmountable, yet they are obstacles that must be considered and dealt with if the relationship is going to be successful and meaningful to both parties. I feel this way because in these days in time relationships are like the wind. Everyday it seems like most couples break up as fast as they fall in love. While numerous married couples who differ in age now ended up married, they also end up having a divorce due to either: financial problems, fights, or cheating spouses so spending a long time growing old together seem impossible in this day and age. Most relationships today only start with physical attraction or infatuation like magnets but we all know that we are people so we will have desires and attractions to the opposite (or same sex). Choosing someone that is right for the age is probably a suitable solution to lessen breaking hearts and emotional distress. Another reason I feel that age matters is because people nowadays create labels. When a young man or woman dates an older man or woman he/she is commonly called â€Å"cougar†, on the other hand, when an old man or woman dates younger ones he/she is commonly called a â€Å"pedophile†. These two labels doesn’t apply to people who dates 1 year to 4 years older or younger, it only applies to people who are really old like five to ten years age gap. Also in some cultures, age gap are still approved when the parents of two persons are close friends and they talk about the future of their children and starting to pre-arrange their son and daughter’s marriage when both parents know that they are at the right age. Marsh, 2010) In addition, we define our goals, experiences and milestones in life by age. For example, by 21, most people will be a graduate, will have worked for five years and then completed a MBA by 28 and started their own company. Marry and settled with kids by 32, work hard for the next 15 years and then begin retirement plannin g. See, this is how the average person generally planned their life. So when an older man marries a woman much younger to him, there can be conflicts over preferences and goals. She will want to be go out more and engage in active pursuits while he will have that, â€Å"been there, done that† feeling/attitude and may not participate eagerly. Similarly, the balance of power and dominance would always be on the side of the older spouse because he/she is more matured, wise and experienced. To them, younger spouses’ need for indulgence may appear histrionics and attention-seeking behavior. The difference in age could also deepen with time after many years with the partner, thus causing problems. At first, they have a lot of common interests but after many years somewhere between 5 and10 years, while one of them is getting old, the other one is still young in body and spirit. Because of this it would be hard to cope with and keep up with one another because they have simply grown apart. This may lead to break ups. Also, an age gap can have an influence on a relationship by the fact it could lead to three main problems which are the sickness and health, different opinions and the child issue. Sometimes the age gap could be very embarrassing. For example, when a couple goes out to do shopping to buy clothes and things for them and their children and suddenly the sales assistant talks to the woman/man and tells him/her is that person your daddy/mommy?. That would be very embarrassing and not acceptable even though the person does not mean what he says because in the first place he does not know that this person is her husband. The embarrassment that comes from such relationships with age difference makes the younger partner thinking about why he is putting him/herself in such situation, while he could be with person who looks exactly like his age without any embarrassments. This makes lots of marriages fail. Therefore, having healthy relationship without age gap will tackle this problem and makes the couples live happily without embarrassments forever. (Twoface, 2009) An example for these kinds of relationships is that of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. The recently divorced couple was married with an age gap of thirteen years (Demi being around forty and Ashton being around twenty-seven). In these age gap relationships, there were real differences in their interest in physical activities that eventually resulted to the divorce. While many feel like I feel on this subject, there are those who differ with me on this issue. While many feel age will play a deciding factor in a potential break-up, on the contrary, you have those who feel age does not matter in a relationship because in most cases they want someone to match their level of maturity, having a strong commitment to each other, and having someone serious to talk in a personal way. You have those who feel they have either outgrown their age range or are just mature for their age (whether it’s due to circumstances or surroundings) so they seek companionship with mates older than they are. You have those who feel as long as both are mature and are making their own choices than age should not really matter. Another factor one will state in the case of age matters is that the younger person would benefit from the older person’s wisdom and experience and the older person feels as if he has been given new life by the ego boost they get from having someone so young finding them attractive. With that the relationships would be based on only having benefits from each other. These kinds of relationships that based on having benefits from each other have never worked before and will never work (Vilbert Lloyd, 2010). In conclusion, age does really matter in a relationship in some degree and that’s based on whether the two individuals can handle their relationship with a sense of responsibility and commitment based on their level of maturity in sharing their personal outlooks and goals from their life experiences. (Realsexfacts, 2006) Age gap relationships will always be frowned upon mainly due to their abnormality. Most people would look at a 50 year old and a 25 year old together and think â€Å"that’s just  not  right†. I would say for the most part age does matter in a relationship. While you do not want the age gap to be too significant due to practical reasons like how long the person might have until they die or at what age they will stop having sex and procreating. Also, lifestyle and cultural differences might emerge if there is a significant age difference. There will in most cases be a lot of protests from friends and family, so opt for something like this only when you are ready to stand against them. This in turn depends upon whether you are sure about what exists between the two of you and its all that you really want in life. This is not to say that there are no exceptions. Those are always out there and I guess you should get to know your partner well and know what you are getting into before taking any chances with your life. Follow your gut. The heart wants what the heart wants in the end. It does not matter how ridiculous it may look to other people. References (2006). Relationships and Age Difference. Realsexfacts. com. Retrieved 10 March, 2013 from: http://www. realsexedfacts. com/relationships-age-difference. html Agrawal, V. (2012). Age Factor in Marriage and Relationships. BollywoodShaddis. com Retrieved 10 March 2013 from: http://www. bollywoodshaadis. om/article/lifestyle–health/relationships/age-factor-in-marriage-and-relationships Marsh, T. (2009). Does Age Really Matter In Relationships?. Love, Life and Relationships: Terrymarshworld. blogspot. Retrieved 10 March, 2013 from: http://www. terrymarshworld. blogspot. com/2010/03/does-age-really-matter-in-a-relationship. html Twoface. (2009). Does Age Matter. Socyberty. Retrieved 10 Marc h 2013 from: http://socyberty. com/relationships/does-age-matter-age-gap-relationships/ Vilbert, D Lloyd, A (2010). Does A Big Age Difference Doom A Relationship?. Living. MSN. Retrieved 10 March 2013 from: http://living. msn. com/love-relationships

IT601-0903B-07 Information Technology in Business Management - Phase 3 Essay

IT601-0903B-07 Information Technology in Business Management - Phase 3 Discussion Board - Essay Example For the wholesale customers, it would be most beneficial to use the extranet to help improve the relations. FYC can provide complete access of the extranet to the customers and allow for online account management and allow for updating the requirements online. The customers should also be provided with details of the inventory levels and the company requires implementing a system where if the level of inventory falls below the safety level, automatic orders are placed with FYC (Kennedy & Dysart, 2007). The company should also allow each store to log into the system and share their details of the existing stocks, the trend of sales, exchange documents and make comments. This can be referred to as a ‘Store Extranet’. Numerous companies usually utilise the intranet however they do not make complete utilisation of the intranet and this is mainly due to the reason that it does not work in sync with the objectives of the company (Kennedy & Dysart, 2007). The company can utilise the extranet and intranet for various purposes which include: b) Production Teams: The utilisation of high levels of Information technology will allow the production teams to be easily connected to the suppliers. This will help the company reduce the inventory carrying costs and the intranet will also permit the communication to be much quicker to the other teams like the sales, especially for the sales forecasts. c) Sourcing and Supply Chain Departments: The Extranet will permit higher volumes of data to be communicated regarding the raw materials requirements direct to the suppliers. This will help improving the procurement process. Also the extranet allows for better communication plans to the suppliers and also timely deliveries of all supplies. d) Human Resources Team / Finance Departments: The HR teams for each store need to be linked with Thomas. The intranet will allow for centralised recruitment and training and will act as a measure for the human resources teams. This

Sunday, July 28, 2019

The Divine Command Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Divine Command Theory - Essay Example The stronger version holds that moral behavior is good in itself, as such, we should live in a particular manner since God wills it. Similar to the weakest version, this entails the only religious believers need to concern themselves with moral accountability. The strongest version asserts that moral behavior is good because it is willed by God. ("Faithnet") The divine command theory is said to have been disproved by the Euthyphro dilemma, dubbed after Plato's dialogue, which goes: "Are morally good acts willed by God because they are morally good, or are they morally good because they are willed by God" ("Philosophy of Religion") If one accepts the first argument that morally good acts are willed by God because they are morally good, the independence problem arises. This means that the argument itself is inconsistent with the theory since moral value becomes independent of God's will. ("Philosophy of Religion") On the other hand, should one hold the second argument that morally good acts become such because they are willed by God, then problems pertaining to arbitrariness, emptiness, and repugnant commands are contended with? The arbitrariness problem stems from the argument that the divine command theory seems to attribute morality only on God's whims.  Ã‚  

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Cross Border Investment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Cross Border Investment - Essay Example Investors need to identify these issues and act wisely to minimise the risks involved in cross border investment while maximising the expected returns out of the investment. This paper identifies and elaborates major issues related to cross border investment and viability of this tool in portfolio diversification. Europe is known to be one of the pre-eminent real estate investment destinations for foreign investors. Western European countries such as France, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy etc have remained to be the most favourable real estate markets; however, properties in these countries are extremely high-priced. This is directing attention of foreign investors to the Eastern European countries. These emerging and new markets offer various investment attractions to the foreign investors. Investors from all parts of the world in particular from the UK are taking keen interest in exploring these countries' investment potential. Furthermore, as these countries move towards EU accession, significant growth in their commercial and business activities can be observed. This further adds up to the attraction of these countries as a tool for international portfolio diversification. ... Myer et al. define the term diversification as, "the complete removal of unsystematic risk in an effort to minimize the fluctuations of a portfolio's return in excess of what the market will reward" (1999, p. 163). Diversification in the form of investment portfolio has remained popular among investors for the last several decades. Through portfolio diversification companies and investors invest their funds in several dimensions such as shares, securities, bonds, derivatives and real estate etc. One such strategy becoming substantially appealing to investors in present times is diversification of risk through investment in international financial and real estate assets. Under cross border investment, companies and investors look for investment opportunities around the world and make the most of favourable situation in foreign countries. Investors might opt for either a complete international investment portfolio or a combination of domestic and international financial assets and real estate. Investors are supposed to attain maximum returns out of their invested funds when they diversify the investment over a range of different countries with significant investment opportunities. Research demonstrates that cross border diversification of investment portfolio carries substantial benefits for the investment with respect to risk reduction as well as return maximisation (for example, Addae-Dapaah & Loh (2005); Cheng et al. (1999); Gordon et al. (1998); Sirmans and Worzala (2003) etc.). Cheng et al. affirm this point as, "significant diversification benefits are available when investments are spread out over many different countries" (1999, p. 463). Investors can not only take advantage of favourable situation prevailing in

Friday, July 26, 2019

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Research Paper Example This decision of making the truth known to the public is based on the ethical principle of transparency, which is an important part of communication â€Å"...based on the notion of an honest exchange† (Plaisance 44). It was mentioned in the commentary that despite Wilson’s transparency and honesty in verifying that Niger was not actually capable of exporting uranium ores due to stringent measures in the whole process, the Bush Administration decided to keep the public blind to this truth, and even dismissed Wilson’s report. This lack of transparency in reporting about the status of the uranium imports of Iraq from Africa abused the trusting nature of the public and kept them away from the issues that Wilson actually experienced first-hand, and this prompted him to air out his concerns regarding the misconception of most people with the real issues in Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The act of transparency is also rooted in the belief that people have a right to know abo ut the truth, and that the distortions of information could cause not just misinformation in the audience but also unprecedented troubles such as panic and disorder (Plaisance 47). Wilson chose not to keep quiet about how the information he knows got dismissed for the sake of the public, and he wrote it out in his commentary under the ethical principle of transparency. Question 2: Place yourself in Wilson’s position. What kinds of decisions/choices would you make if you were in the same situation? Would you have written the piece? Which philosopher and/or ethical philosophy help guide your decisions? The act of being transparent in communication is not just involved with some issues like whether or not there are hidden motives for transparency, but also the trust of the people involved in these communications is also at stake. Wilson banked on this ethical guideline in giving the public true information in creating his commentary on how his report regarding the true status of the Iraq-Niger uranium connection was silenced by the administration, which consequently perpetuated the fears within people about the potential danger that Iraq poses. His defiance of the information dispersed by the government was shown in his commentary, and while it might have cost him his life, it was worth knowing that at least somehow he did not simply stand and keep his silence. If I was in the same position as Wilson was, I would have done the same and have written a similar piece, maybe add additional and credible information for the reading public. Since this is important information that the public has a right to know but the government keeps from them, I feel that as a public servant I have a duty to the people of delivering them the truth. I would also do the same thing that Wilson did, by writing his own account of what really happened, and letting the people decide on the authenticity of my work. If I put myself in Wilson’s place on writing the commentary abo ut the reality of Niger not really having the ability to bring uranium ore illegally to Iraq, I would have chosen to be transparent with what I know, not just to regain the public’s trust on some members of the government, but also to assure them that not all threats are real, and that

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Leadership and Employee Morale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership and Employee Morale - Essay Example While it may not help the company in the long term, the short-term benefit will be that the company will experience growth. Once the company starts to pick up, the company needs to come up with values that mean something to the corporate culture of the company. This could best be done by including employees’ thoughts in this process. If employees are the force behind the company’s values, then they are more likely to adhere to them. Once the values of the Leadership today have been formed, the leadership can then start planning where the company wants to go in the long term. This can be done by the company looking back at its past and planning for the future by getting thoughts from the outside (Kouzes and Posner 15). The relationship between the leadership and the employees will be central to the implementation of these plans. Because the workers are the driving force of the company, they should be able to dictate where they want to take it. The best type of working re lationship is one where there is a 50/50 split—the leadership works in conjunction with the employees to work out what is best for the company in the long term. Trust will be essential to this kind of relationship, because â€Å"trust is the social glue that holds individuals and groups together† (Kouzes and Posner 15). The best types of leaders know that to gain the trust of their employees, they first have to give trust. Part of this could be by giving mid-level managers more freedom when dealing with their clients. This kind of trust is reciprocal because employees will feel empowered in their work efforts. The management of Leadership Today needs to be innovative because the company has been losing shares to its competitors. The solution to this problem will be to come up with new ways to capture the target market. Great leaders are able to create whole new markets by providing services that have

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 27

Reflection - Essay Example I therefore decided to stop depending on this scholarship anymore. It’s not taken long yet, I’m already feeling like I ruined one of the best opportunities that I’ve had in my life. It’s a feeling that continuously haunts me and sometimes I do not actually know what to do about it. I realize that such opportunities are very rare and many just wish to have the chance I got, to further their studies, but they haven’t been as lucky as me. I’ve therefore come to learn that I hurriedly made a wrong decision without having some good time with myself to know the worth of this scholarship opportunity. It is the most inappropriate decision I consider to have made in my entire life. In a nutshell, I’ve just lost the scholarship that I was lucky to have won. Right now I regret to have made such an irrational decision. It’s haunting me, but, so far, there’s nothing I can do to get it back. Just like the saying, I truly didn’t realize the value of my scholarship until now that I’ve lost

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Short and long term returns on overseas market Essay

Short and long term returns on overseas market - Essay Example Many firms, like large oil or chemical companies, operate in industries with large economies of scale and their operations spill across national boundaries simply to be competitive. Cost considerations (e.g. transport) are important in choosing whether to increase exports or invest overseas. Equally tariff barriers to trade can encourage direct investment, but non-tariff barriers are also important. Many services are not exportable in any direct sense and have to be delivered in the overseas market through direct investment. They need to respond to the changing demand considerations of overseas markets - especially where product specifications are different from the home market. This may make it sensible to locate closer to the main centres of demand, to enable easier adaptation without disruption to production in the domestic market. Other disincentives to direct trade could be that competition takes place on grounds other than price and quality of output. For example, competition in some product markets may be mainly in terms of after sales service. Most direct investment, as with trade, occurs between similar industrial countries. direct investments will take place without displacing trade. They may even encourage greater trade flows, because intermediate inputs of production will need to be exported to support the overseas plants. In this instance, as in some others, direct investment is complementary to trade. On other occasions, it may substitute for it. Another explanation for overseas investment with parallels in trade theory is a version of the "product cycle" theory. Here production initially begins in the domestic country where the product was developed, with good access to the skilled designers and technicians responsible for "inventing" the product. As the product matures, these inputs become less important and production shifts to a country with a cost advantage in the production of the now standard good. Production overseas is cheaper and goods are exported back into the domestic economy. A further explanation for firms' investment in a foreign market rather than exporting goods to it is that there are external benefits (or spillovers) from overseas investment. These are most likely to stem from location in markets which set trends in demand, or are the "centers of excellence" in terms of production techniques, design, marketing or organization. Why overseas investment The prime motivation for investment in the international market must be that the stream of earnings is expected to exceed that which could be earned in the domestic markets. This could often be attributed to lower production costs in other countries. This investment will ultimately benefit the economy as a whole. The stream of income from overseas investments changes the composition of the current account of the balance of payments. Most directly, it does so by increasing the economy's earnings from abroad. But it may also indirectly promote a net trade improvement. Portfolio Investment In portfolio investment, there is no attempt by portfolio investors to actively control the management of a firm, rather it aims to seek out

What Is Literature Essay Example for Free

What Is Literature Essay I am grateful for help with this book from many people, especially Julian Wolfreys, Jason Wohlstadter, and Barbara Caldwell, my â€Å"Senior Editor† and invaluable assistant at the University of California, Irvine. I thank Simon Critchley for ? rst suggesting that I might write this book for the series he edits, as well as for his careful reading of the manuscript. I am grateful also to the co-editor of the series, Richard Kearney, for a helpful reading of the manuscript. Muna Khogali and Tony Bruce, of Routledge, have been unfailingly generous and courteous. Tony Bruce read the manuscript with care and made useful suggestions. A preliminary version of some of the ideas in this book, especially those in Chapter 4, was presented as a lecture for the Koehn Endowed Lectureship at the University of California, Irvine, in Febuary 2001. The lecture was called â€Å"On the Authority of Literature. † Subsequently, the talk was given as the ? rst annual Lecture on Modern Literature for the Department of English at Baylor University in April, 2001. The lecture was then printed there as a pamphlet for local circulation. I am grateful to my host and sponsor at Baylor, Professor William Davis, for his many kindnesses. Di?  erent versions of the talk were given at two conferences, in August 2001, in the People’s Republic of China: at a triennial conference of the Chinese Association for Sino-Foreign Literary and xi On Literature Cultural Theory, held in Shenyang, and at an International Symposium on Globalizing Comparative Literature, sponsored by Yale and Tsinghua Universities. I thank Professor Wang Ning for arranging these invitations and for many other courtesies. A German translation will be published as my contribution to a research project on â€Å"representative validity,† sponsored by the Zentrum fur Literaturforschung in Berlin. I especially thank Ingo Berensmeyer, as well as other colleagues in Berlin, for the chance to try out my ideas on them. A Bulgarian translation will be published in a Festschrift for Simeon Hadjikosev, of So? a University. I thank Ognyan Kovachev for inviting me, and for other kindnesses. Altogether, my preliminary ideas for Chapter 4 and for some other germs of this book have had the bene? t of many helpful comments and reactions. Finally, I thank the dedicatee of this book for su? ering once more through my ordeals of composition. She had to endure my faraway look, my dreamy absentmindedness. I was dwelling again in imagination on the other side of Alice’s looking-glass or on the deserted island where the Swiss Family Robinson made such an enchanting home. It has taken me a good many months to ? gure out what to say about that experience. Sedgwick, Maine December 15, 2001 xii Acknowledgements What is Literature? One FAREWELL LITERATURE? The end of literature is at hand. Literature’s time is almost up. It is about time. It is about, that is, the di? erent epochs of di? erent media. Literature, in spite of its approaching end, is nevertheless perennial and universal. It will survive all historical and technological changes. Literature is a feature of any human culture at any time and place. These two contradictory premises must govern all serious re? ection â€Å"on literature† these days. What brings about this paradoxical situation? Literature has a history. I mean â€Å"literature† in the sense we in the West use the word in our various languages: â€Å"literature† (French or English) â€Å"letteratura† (Italian), â€Å"literatura† (Spanish), â€Å"Literatur† (German). As Jacques Derrida observes in Demeure: Fiction and Testimony, the word literature comes from a Latin stem. It cannot be detached from its Roman-ChristianEuropean roots. Literature in our modern sense, however, appeared in the European West and began in the late seventeenth century, at the earliest. Even then the word did not have its modern meaning. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word â€Å"literature† was ? rst used in our current sense only quite recently. Even a de? nition of â€Å"literature† as including memoirs, history, collections of letters, learned treatises, etc. , as well as poems, printed plays, and 1 On Literature  novels, comes after the time of Samuel Johnson’s dictionary (1755). The restricted sense of literature as just poems, plays, and novels is even more recent. The word â€Å"literature† is de? ned by Johnson exclusively in the now obsolescent sense of â€Å"Acqaintance with ‘letters’ or books; polite or humane learning; literary culture. † One example the OED gives is as late as 1880: â€Å"He was a man of very small literature. † Only by the third de? nition in the OED does one get to: Literary production as a whole; the body of writings produced in a particular country or period, or in the world in general. Now also in a more restricted sense, applied to writing which has claim to consideration on the grounds of beauty of form or emotional effect. This de? nition, says the OED, â€Å"is of very recent emergence both in England and France. † Its establishment may be conveniently dated in the mid-eighteenth century and associated, in England at least, with the work of Joseph and Thomas Wharton (1722–1800; 1728–90). They were hailed by Edmund Gosse, in an essay of 1915–16 (â€Å"Two Pioneers of Romanticism: Joseph and Thomas Wharton†), as giving literature its modern de? nition. Literature in that sense is now coming to an end, as new media gradually replace the printed book. WHAT HAS MADE LITERATURE POSSIBLE? 2 On Literature What are the cultural features that are necessary concomitants of literature as we have known it in the West? Western literature belongs to the age of the printed book and of other print forms like newspapers, magazines, and periodicals generally. Literature is associated with the gradual rise of almost universal literacy in the West. No widespread literacy, no literature. Literacy, furthermore, is associated with the gradual appearance from the seventeenth century onward of Western-style democracies. This means regimes with expanded su? rage, government by legislatures, regulated judicial systems, and fundamental human rights or civil liberties. Such democracies slowly developed more or less universal education. They also allowed citizens more or less free access to printed materials and to the means of printing new ones. This freedom, of course, has never been complete. Various forms of censorship, in even the freest democracies today, limit the power of the printing press. Nevertheless, no technology has ever been more e? ective than the printing press in breaking down class hierarchies of power. The printing press made democratic revolutions like the French Revolution or the American Revolution possible. The Internet is performing a similar function today. The printing and circulation of clandestine newspapers, manifestoes, and emancipatory literary works was essential to those earlier revolutions, just as email, the Internet, the cell phone, and the â€Å"hand-held† will be essential to whatever revolutions we may have from now on. Both these communication regimes are also, of course, powerful instruments of repression. The rise of modern democracies has meant the appearance of the modern nation-state, with its encouragement of a sense of ethnic and linguistic uniformity in each state’s citizens. Modern literature is vernacular literature. It began to appear as the use of Latin as a lingua franca gradually disappeared. Along with the nation-state has gone the notion of national literature, that is, literature written in the language and idiom of a particular country. This concept remains strongly codi? ed in school and university study of literature. It is institutionalized 3 What is Literature? in separate departments of French, German, English, Slavic, Italian, and Spanish. Tremendous resistance exists today to the recon? guration of those departments that will be necessary if they are not simply to disappear. The modern Western concept of literature became ? rmly established at the same time as the appearance of the modern research university. The latter is commonly identi? ed with the founding of the University of Berlin around 1810, under the guidance of a plan devised by Wilhelm von Humboldt. The modern research university has a double charge. One is Wissenschaft, ? nding out the truth about everything. The other is Bildung, training citizens (originally almost exclusively male ones) of a given nation-state in the ethos appropriate for that state. It is perhaps an exaggeration to say that the modern concept of literature was created by the research university and by lower-school training in preparation for the university. After all, newspapers, journals, non-university critics and reviewers also contributed, for example Samuel Johnson or Samuel Taylor Coleridge in England. Nevertheless, our sense of literature was strongly shaped by university-trained writers. Examples are the Schlegel brothers in Germany, along with the whole circle of critics and philosophers within German Romanticism. English examples would include William Wordsworth, a Cambridge graduate. His â€Å"Preface to Lyrical Ballads† de? ned poetry and its uses for generations. In the Victorian period Matthew Arnold, trained at Oxford, was a founding force behind English and United States institutionalized study of literature. Arnold’s thinking is still not without force in conservative circles today. Arnold, with some help from the Germans, presided over the transfer from philosophy to literature of the responsibility for Bildung. Literature would shape citizens by giving them 4 On Literature knowledge of what Arnold called â€Å"the best that is known and thought in the world. † This â€Å"best† was, for Arnold, enshrined in canonical Western works from Homer and the Bible to Goethe or Wordsworth. Most people still ? rst hear that there is such a thing as literature from their school teachers. Universities, moreover, have been traditionally charged with the storage, cataloguing, preservation, commentary, and interpretation of literature through the accumulations of books, periodicals, and manuscripts in research libraries and special collections. That was literature’s share in the university’s responsibility for Wissenschaft, as opposed to Bildung. This double responsibility was still very much alive in the literature departments of The Johns Hopkins University when I taught there in the 1950s and 1960s. It has by no means disappeared today. Perhaps the most important feature making literature possible in modern democracies has been freedom of speech. This is the freedom to say, write, or publish more or less anything. Free speech allows everyone to criticize everything, to question everything. It confers the right even to criticize the right to free speech. Literature, in the Western sense, as Jacques Derrida has forcefully argued, depends, moreover, not just on the right to say anything but also on the right not to be held responsible for what one says. How can this be? Since literature belongs to the realm of the imaginary, whatever is said in a literary work can always be claimed to be experimental, hypothetical, cut o? from referential or performative claims. Dostoevsky is not an ax murderer, nor is he advocating ax murder in Crime and Punishment. He is writing a ? ctive work in which he imagines what it might be like to be an ax murderer. A ritual formula is printed at the beginning of many modern detective stories: â€Å"Any 5 What is Literature? resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. †This (often false) claim is not only a safeguard against lawsuits. It also codi? es the freedom from referential responsibility that is an essential feature of literature in the modern sense. A ? nal feature of modern Western literature seemingly contradicts the freedom to say anything. Even though democratic freedom of speech in principle allows anyone to say anything, that freedom has always been severely curtailed, in various ways. Authors during the epoch of printed literature have de facto been held responsible not only for the opinions expressed in literary works but also for such political or social e?ects as those works have had or have been believed to have had. Sir Walter Scott’s novels and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin have in di? erent ways been held responsible for causing the American Civil War, the former by instilling absurdly outmoded ideas of chivalry in Southern gentry, the latter by decisively encouraging support for the abolition of slavery. Nor are these claims nonsensical. Uncle Tom’s Cabin in Chinese translation was one of Mao Tse Tung’s favorite books. Even today, an author would be unlikely to get away before a court of law with a claim that  it is not he or she speaking in a given work but an imaginary character uttering imaginary opinions. Just as important as the development of print culture or the rise of modern democracies in the development of modern Western literature, has been the invention, conventionally associated with Descartes and Locke, of our modern sense of the self. From the Cartesian cogito, followed by the invention of identity, consciousness, and self in Chapter 27, Book II, of Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, to the sovereign. I or Ich of Fichte, to absolute consciousness in Hegel, to the I as 6 On Literature  the agent of the will to power in Nietzsche, to the ego as one element of the self in Freud, to Husserl’s phenomenological ego, to the Dasein of Heidegger, explicitly opposed to the Cartesian ego, but nevertheless a modi? ed form of subjectivity, to the I as the agent of performative utterances such as â€Å"I promise† or â€Å"I bet† in the speech act theory of J. L. Austin and others, to the subject not as something abolished but as a problem to be interrogated within deconstructive or postmodern thinking – the whole period of literature’s heyday has depended on one or another idea of the self as a selfconscious and responsible agent. The modern self can be held liable for what it says, thinks, or does, including what it does in the way of writing works of literature. Literature in our conventional sense has also depended on a new sense of the author and of authorship. This was legalized in modern copyright laws. All the salient forms and techniques of literature have, moreover, exploited the new sense of selfhood. Early ? rst-person novels like Robinson Crusoe adopted the direct presentation of interiority characteristic of seventeenth-century Protestant confessional works. Eighteenth-century novels in letters exploited epistolary presentations of subjectivity. Romantic poetry a? rmed a lyric â€Å"I. † Nineteenth-century novels developed sophisticated forms of third-person narration. These allowed a double simultaneous presentation by way of indirect discourse of two subjectivities, that of the narrator, that of the character. Twentieth-century novels present directly in words the â€Å"stream of consciousness† of ? ctional protagonists. Molly Bloom’s soliloquy at the end of Ulysses is the paradigmatic case of the latter. 7 What is Literature? THE END OF THE PRINT AGE Most of these features making modern literature possible are now undergoing rapid transformation or putting in question. People are now not so certain of the unity and perdurance of the self, nor so certain that the work can be explained by the authority of the author. Foucault’s â€Å"What is an Author? † and Roland Barthes’s â€Å"The Death of the Author† signaled the end of the old tie between the literary work and its author considered as a unitary self, the real person William Shakespeare or Virginia Woolf. Literature itself has contributed to the fragmentation of the self. Forces of economic, political, and technological globalization are in many ways bringing about a weakening of the nation-state’s separateness, unity, and integrity. Most countries are now multilingual and multi-ethnic. Nations today are seen to be divided within as well as existing within more permeable borders. American literature now includes works written in Spanish, Chinese, Native American languages, Yiddish, French, and so on, as well as works written in English from within those groups, for example African-American literature. Over sixty minority languages and cultures are recognized in the People’s Republic of China. South Africa after apartheid has eleven o? cial languages, nine African languages along with English and Afrikaans. This recognition of internal division is ending literary study’s institutionalization according to national literatures, each with its presumedly selfenclosed literary history, each written in a single national language. The terrible events of the mid-twentieth century, World War II and the Holocaust, transformed our civilization and Western literature with it. Maurice Blanchot and others have even argued persuasively that literature in the old sense is impossible after the Holocaust. 8 On Literature In addition, technological changes and the concomitant development of new media are bringing about the gradual death of literature in the modern sense of the word. We all know what those new media are: radio, cinema, television, video, and the Internet, soon universal wireless video. A recent workshop I attended in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) brought together American literary scholars and representatives of the Chinese Writers Association. At that meeting it became evident that the most respected and in? uential Chinese writers today are those whose novels or stories are turned into one or another television series. The major monthly journal printing poetry in the PRC has in the last decade declined in circulation from an amazing 700,000 to a â€Å"mere† 30,000, though the proliferation of a dozen or more new in? uential poetry journals mitigates that decline somewhat and is a healthy sign of diversi? cation. Nevertheless, the shift to the new media is decisive. Printed literature used to be a primary way in which citizens of a given nation state were inculcated with the ideals, ideologies, ways of behavior and judgment that made them good citizens. Now that role is being increasingly played, all over the world, for better or for worse, by radio, cinema, television, VCRs, DVDs, and the Internet. This is one explanation for the di? culties literature departments have these days in getting funding. Society no longer needs the university as the primary place where the national ethos is inculcated in citizens. That work used to be done by the humanities departments in colleges and universities, primarily through literary study. Now it is increasingly done by television, radio talk shows, and by cinema. People cannot be reading Charles Dickens or Henry James or Toni Morrison and at the same time watching television or a ? lm on VCR, though some 9 What is Literature? people may claim they can do that. The evidence suggests that people spend more and more time watching television or sur? ng the Internet. More people, by far, probably, have seen the recent ? lms of novels by Austen, Dickens, Trollope, or James than have actually read those works. In some cases (though I wonder how often), people read the book because they have seen the television adaptation. The printed book will retain cultural force for a good while yet, but its reign is clearly ending. The new media are more or less rapidly replacing it. This is not the end of the world, only the dawn of a new one dominated by new media. One of the strongest symptoms of the imminent death of literature is the way younger faculty members, in departments of literature all over the world, are turning in droves from literary study to theory, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, media studies (? lm, television, etc. ), popular culture studies, Women’s studies, African-American studies, and so on. They often write and teach in ways that are closer to the social sciences than to the humanities as traditionally conceived. Their writing and teaching often marginalizes or ignores literature. This is so even though many of them were trained in old-fashioned literary history and the close reading of canonical texts. These young people are not stupid, nor are they ignorant barbarians. They are not bent on destroying literature nor on destroying literary study. They know better than their elders often do, however, which way the wind is blowing. They have a deep and laudable interest in ? lm or popular culture, partly because it has done so much to form them as what they are. They also have a proleptic sense that traditional literary study is on the way to being declared obsolete by society and by university authorities. This will probably happen not in so 10 On Literature many words. University administrators do not work that way. It will happen by the more e? ective device of withdrawing funding in the name of â€Å"necessary economies† or â€Å"downsizing. † Departments of classics and modern languages other than English, in United States universities, will go ?rst. Indeed, they are in many universities already going, initially through amalgamation. Any United States English department, however, will soon join the rest, if it is foolish enough to go on teaching primarily canonical British literature under the illusion that it is exempt from cuts because it teaches texts in the dominant language of the country. Even the traditional function of the university as the place where libraries store literature from all ages and in all languages, along with secondary material, is now being rapidly usurped by digitized databases. Many of the latter are available to anyone with a computer, a modem, and access to the Internet through a server. More and more literary works are freely available online, through various websites. An example is â€Å"The Voice of the Shuttle,† maintained by Alan Liu and his colleagues at the University of California at Santa Barbara (http://vos. ucsb. edu/). The Johns Hopkins â€Å"Project Muse† makes a large number of journals available (http:// muse. jhu. edu/journals/index_text. html). A spectacular example of this making obsolete the research library is the William Blake Archive website (http:// www.blakearchive. org/). This is being developed by Morris Eaves, Robert Essick, and Joseph Viscomi. Anyone anywhere who has a computer with an Internet connection (I for example on the remote island o? the coast of Maine where I live most of the year and am writing this) may access, download, and print out spectacularly accurate reproductions of major versions of Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and some 11 What is Literature? of his other prophetic books. The original versions of these â€Å"illuminated books† are dispersed in many di? erent research libraries in England and the United States. Formerly they were available only to specialists in Blake, to scholars with a lot of money for research travel. Research libraries will still need to take good care of the originals of all those books and manuscripts. They will less and less function, however, as the primary means of access to those materials. Literature on the computer screen is subtly changed by the new medium. It becomes something other to itself. Literature is changed by the ease of new forms of searching and manipulation, and by each work’s juxtaposition with the innumerable swarm of other images on the Web. These are all on the same plane of immediacy and distance. They are instantaneously brought close and yet made alien, strange, seemingly far away. All sites on the Web, including literary works, dwell together as inhabitants of that non-spatial space we call cyberspace. Manipulating a computer is a radically di? erent bodily activity from holding a book in one’s hands and turning the pages one by one. I have earnestly tried to read literary works on the screen, for example Henry James’s The Sacred Fount. I happened at one moment not to have at hand a printed version of that work, but found one on the Web. I found it di? cult to read it in that form. This no doubt identi? es me as someone whose bodily habits have been permanently wired by the age of the printed book. WHAT THEN IS LITERATURE? 12 On Literature If, on the one hand, literature’s time (as I began by saying) is nearly up, if the handwriting is on the wall, or rather if the pixels are on the computer screen, on the other hand, literature or â€Å"the literary† is (as I also began by saying) universal and perennial. It is a certain use of words or other signs that exists in some form or other in any human culture at any time. Literature in the ? rst sense, as a Western cultural institution, is a special, historically conditioned form of literature in the second sense. In the second sense, literature is a universal aptitude for words or other signs to be taken as literature. About the political and social utility, import, e? ectiveness of literature I shall write later, in Chapter 4, â€Å"Why Read Literature? † At this point my goal is to identify what sort of thing literature is. What then is literature? What is that â€Å"certain use of words or other signs† we call literary? What does it mean to take a text â€Å"as literature†? These questions have often been asked. They almost seem like non-questions. Everyone knows what literature is. It is all those novels, poems, and plays that are designated as literature by libraries, by the media, by commercial and university presses, and by teachers and scholars in schools and universities. To say that does not help much, however. It suggests that literature is whatever is designated as literature. There is some truth to that. Literature is whatever bookstores put in the shelves marked â€Å"Literature† or some subset of that: â€Å"Classics,† â€Å"Poetry,† â€Å"Fiction,† â€Å"Mysteries,† and so on. It is nevertheless also the case that certain formal features allow anyone dwelling within Western culture to say with conviction, â€Å"This is a novel,† or â€Å"This is a poem,† or â€Å"This is a play. † Title pages, aspects of print format, for example the printing of poetry in lines with capitals at the beginning of each line, are as important in segregating literature from other print forms as internal features of language that tell the adept reader he or she has a literary work in hand. The co-presence of all these features allows certain collocations of  13 What is Literature? printed words to be taken as literature. Such writings can be used as literature, by those who are adept at doing that. What does it mean to â€Å"use a text as literature†? Readers of Proust will remember the account at the beginning of A la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past) of the magic lantern his hero, Marcel, had as a child. It projected on Marcel’s walls and even on his doorknob images of the villainous Golo and the unfortunate Genevieve de Brabant, brought into his bedroom from the Merovingian past. My version of that was a box of stereopticon photographs, probably by Matthew Brady, of American Civil War scenes. As a child, I was allowed to look at these at my maternal grandparents’ farm in Virginia. My great-grandfather was a soldier in the Confederate Army. I did not know that then, though I was told that a great-uncle had been killed in the Second Battle of Bull Run. I remember in those awful pictures as much the dead horses as the bodies of dead soldiers. Far more important for me as magic lanterns, however, were the books my mother read to me and that I then  learned to read for myself. When I was a child I did not want to know that The Swiss Family Robinson had an author. To me it seemed a collection of words fallen from the sky and into my hands. Those words allowed me magical access to a pre-existing world of people and their adventures. The words transported me there. The book wielded what Simon During, in Modern Enchantments, calls in his subtitle, â€Å"the cultural power of secular magic. † I am not sure, however, that secular and sacred magics can be all that easily distinguished. This other world I reached through reading The Swiss Family Robinson, it seemed to me, did not depend for its existence on the words of the book, even though those words were my only window on that virtual reality. The 14 On Literature LITERATURE AS A CERTAIN USE OF WORDS Literature exploits a certain potentiality in human beings as sign-using animals. A sign, for example a word, functions in the absence of the thing named to designate that thing, to â€Å"refer to it,† as linguists say. Reference is an inalienable aspect of words. When we say that a word functions in the absence of the thing to name the thing, the natural assumption is that the thing named exists. It is really there, somewhere or other, perhaps not all that far away. We need words or other signs to substitute for things while those things are temporarily absent. If I am out walking, for example, and see a sign with the 15 What is Literature? window, I would now say, no doubt shaped that reality through various rhetorical devices. The window was not entirely colorless and transparent. I was, however, blissfully unaware of that. I saw through the words to what  seemed to me beyond them and not dependent on them, even though I could get there in no other way than by reading those words. I resented being told that the name on the title page was that of the â€Å"author† who had made it all up. Whether many other people have had the same experience, I do not know, but I confess to being curious to ? nd out. It is not too much to say that this whole book has been written to account for this experience. Was it no more than childish naivete, or was I responding, in however childish a way, to something essential about literature? Now I am older and wiser. I know that The Swiss Family Robinson was written in German by a Swiss author, Johann David Wyss (1743 –1818), and that I was reading an English translation. Nevertheless, I believe my childhood experience had validity. It can serve as a clue to answering the question, â€Å"What is literature? † word â€Å"Gate,† I assume that somewhere nearby is an actual gate that I can see with my eyes and grasp with my hands to open or shut it, once I get in sight of it and get my hands on it. This is especially the case if the word â€Å"Gate† on the sign is accompanied by a pointing arrow and the words â€Å"? mile,† or something of the sort. The real, tangible, usable gate is a quarter of a mile away, out of sight in the woods. The sign, however, promises that if I follow the arrow I shall soon be face to face with the gate. The word â€Å"gate† is charged with signifying power by its reference to real gates. Of course, the word’s meaning is also generated by that word’s place in a complex di? erential system of words in a given language. That system distinguishes â€Å"gate† from all other words. The word â€Å"gate,† however, once it is charged with signi? cance by its reference to real gates, retains its signi? cance or signifying function even if the gate is not there at all. The sign has meaning even if it is a lie put up by someone to lead me astray on my walk. The word â€Å"Gate† on the sign then refers to a phantom gate that is not there anywhere in the phenomenal world. Literature exploits this extraordinary power of words to go on signifying in the total absence of any phenomenal referent. In Jean-Paul Sartre’s quaint terminology, literature makes use of a â€Å"non-transcendent† orientation of words. Sartre meant by this that the words of a literary work do not transcend themselves toward the phenomenal things to which they refer. The whole power of literature is there in the simplest word or sentence used in this ? ctitious way. Franz Kafka testi? ed to this power. He said that the entire potentiality of literature to create a world out of words is there in a sentence like, â€Å"He opened the window. † Kafka’s ? rst great masterpiece, â€Å"The Judgment,† uses that power at 16 On Literature the end of its ? rst paragraph. There the protagonist, Georg Bendemann, is shown sitting â€Å"with one elbow propped on his desk . . . looking out the window at the river, the bridge, and the hills on the farther bank with their tender green. † Stephane Mallarme gave witness to the same amazing magic of words, in this case a single word. In a famous formulation, he pronounced: â€Å"I say: a ? ower! and, outside the forgetting to which my voice relegates any contour, in the form of something other than known callices, musically there rises, the suave idea itself, the absence of all bouquets. † Words used as signi? ers without referents generate with amazing ease people with subjectivities, things, places, actions, all the paraphernalia of poems, plays, and novels with which adept readers are familiar.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Kaleidoscope Strategy Resume Essay Example for Free

Kaleidoscope Strategy Resume Essay Pursuing success can feel like shooting in a landscape of moving targets: Every time you hit one, five more pop up from another direction. We are under constant pressure to do more, get more, be more. But is that really what success is all about? Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson interviewed and surveyed hundreds of professionals to study the assumptions behind the idea of success. They then built a practical framework for a new way of thinking about success—a way that leads to personal and professional fulfillment instead of feelings of anxiety and stress. The authors’ research uncovered four irreducible components of success: 1.- happiness: (feelings of pleasure or contentment about your life); 2.- achievement (accomplishments that compare favorably against similar goals others have strived for); 3.- significance (the sense that you’ve made a positive impact on people you care about); and 4.- legacy (a way to establish your values or accomplishments so as to help others find future success). Unless you hit on all four categories with regularity, any one win will fail to satisfy. People who achieve lasting success, the authors learned, tend to rely on a kaleidoscope strategy to structure their aspirations and activities. This article explains how to build your own kaleidoscope framework. The process can help you determine which tasks you should undertake to fulfill the different components of success and uncover areas where there are holes. It can also help you make better choices about what you spend your time on and the level of energy you put into each activity. According to Nash and Stevenson, successful people who experience real satisfaction achieve it through the deliberate imposition of limits. Cultivating your sense of â€Å"just enough† can help you set reachable goals, tally up more true wins, and enjoy lasting.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Exhaustion Online with regard to Database in the EU

Exhaustion Online with regard to Database in the EU Sandro Sandri   EXHAUSTION Before explaining exhaustion online with regard to database in the European  Union, we should first start by explaining what exhaustion in an Intellectual Property  context is. 1. a) Definition The exhaustion of intellectual property rights is one of the limits of Intellectual  Property (IP) Law. After a product has been sold under the authorization of the IP owner,  the reselling, rental, lending and other third party commercial uses of IP-protected goods in  domestic and international markets is protected by the principle. Once a product is covered  by an IP right, such as by a patent right, has been sold by the Intellectual Property right  owner or by others with the consent of the owner, the Intellectual Property right is said to  be exhausted. It can no longer be exercised by the owner. This limitation is also referred to  as the Exhaustion Doctrine or First Sale Doctrine. For example, if an inventor obtains a  patent on a new kind of umbrella, the inventor (or anyone else to whom he sells his patent)  can legally prohibit other companies from making and selling this kind of umbrella, but  cannot prohibit customers who have bought this umbrella from the patent owner from  reselling the umbrella to third parties. There is a fairly broad consensus throughout the  world that this applies at least within the context of the domestic market. This is the  concept of National Exhaustion. However, there is less consensus as to what extent the  sale of an Intellectual Property protected product abroad can exhaust the IP rights over this  product in the context of domestic law. This is the concept of Regional exhaustion or  International Exhaustion. The rules and legal implications of the exhaustion largely differ  depending on the country of importation, i.e. the national jurisdiction.   The paternity of the exhaustion theory is ascribed to the German jurist Joseph  Kohler.2 The word  ´exhaustion` seems, however, to have been first used by the German  Reichsgreicht in a number of judgments in the early years of the twentieth century. In a  judgment of 26 March 1902 the Reichsgericht held, for example, that the effect of the  protection conferred by a patent (i.e. the exclusive right to manufacture products covered  with regard to Database in the European Union  by the patent and to put them on the market) was exhausted by the first sale.3 In other  words, once the patent holder had transferred legal ownership of goods made in  accordance with the patent, by selling them to another person, he lost the power to control  the further destiny of those goods subsequently. 1. b) Exhaustion in the European Union   The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has taken serious steps to harmonize the rules  of a Community-wide/regional exhaustion doctrine in the field of copyright law since the  1970s. Schovsbo called the harmonization by the ECJ as 1.-phase development of  exhaustion or negative harmonization, and the creation of directives by the competent  bodies of the EEC (and later the EU) as 2.-phase development or positive  harmonization. The first-ever decision on the exhaustion of distribution rights was handed over in  the famous Deutsche Grammophon case. Here, the ECJ based its decision on different  objectives of the EEC Treaty: the prohibition of partitioning of the market, free movement  of goods, as well as the prohibition of distortions of competition in the common market.   The European Court of Justice highlighted that prohibitions and restrictions on trade  might be applied by Member States, also in cases of copyright law, if they do not constitute  a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade between Member  States6. Based upon these, the European Court of Justice concluded that [i]f a right related  to copyright is relied upon to prevent the marketing in a Member State of products  distributed by the holder of the right or with his consent on the territory of another  Member State on the sole ground that such distribution did not take place on the national  territory, such a prohibition, which would legitimize the isolation of national markets,  would be repugnant to the essential purpose of the Treaty, which is to unite national  markets into a single market. That purpose could not be attained if, under the various legal  systems of the Member States, nationals of those States were able to partition th e market  and bring about arbitrary discrimination or disguised restrictions on trade between Member  States. Consequently, it would be in conflict with the provisions prescribing the free movement of products within the common market for a manufacturer of sound recordings to exercise the exclusive right to distribute the protected articles, conferred upon him by  the legislation of a Member State, in such a way as to prohibit the sale in that State of  products placed on the market by him or with his consent in another Member State solely  because such distribution did not occur within the territory of the first Member State.7  In the EU, the principle of exhaustion of IP rights is as follows. The holder of an  Intellectual Property right loses his absolute right with the first sale in the EU territory. In  other words, the first commercialization of a good in a territory of the European Union  made by the holder of an industrial property right, or by a legitimate licensee, has as a  consequence that that good may freely circulate in Europe, and the legitimate IP holder  may not oppose the successive acts of reselling. Using the wording of the Centrafarm Case:   It cannot be reconciled with the principles of free movement of goods under the  provisions of the Treaty of Rome if a patentee exercises his rights under the legal  provisions of one Member State to prevent marketing of a patented product in said State  when the patented product has been brought into circulation in another Member State by  the patentee or with his consent Again, this is a good example of the function of the law  as a system to solve conflicts: on one side the traditional principle of territoriality of IP  rights; on the other side the aspiration to a common market in favour of international  trade. The aim of the exhaustion theory is to strike a balance between the free movement  of goods on the one hand, and the proprietors exercise of exclusive intellectual property  rights to distribute his goods on the other hand. The holder of an IP right holds therefore   the right to choose where, under which conditions and at which price his goods are put on  the market for the first time. No need to say that international exhaustion allows parallel  imports. The theory of exhaustion obviously improved in the course of time. In order to be  applicable, various conditions have to be met. It requires the consent of the legitimate  holder (consent that may be express or implied). And it also requires that the legitimate  holder receives, with the first sale, a reasonable remuneration. Depending on the  jurisdiction concerned, one often distinguishes between national exhaustion and  international exhaustion. In the European Union the term regional exhaustion is  frequently used. Regional exhaustion, in the EU member States, means that IP rights are  considered exhausted for the territory of the EEA when the product has been put on the  market in any of the EEA Member States.   Once the principle of exhaustion was established, the EU Law incorporated it in  regulations, directives and conventions. For example, art. 7 n. 1 of the First Council  Directive of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to  trade marks (89/104/EEC states that The trade mark shall not entitle the proprietor to  prohibit its use in relation to goods which have been put on the market in the Community  under that trade mark by the proprietor or with his consent9. Art. 13 of the Council  regulation (EC) n. 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark states that   A Community trade mark shall not entitle the proprietor to prohibit its use in relation to  goods which have been put on the market in the Community under that trade mark by the  proprietor or with his consent10.   The Information Society Directive (Directive 2001/29/EC) on the harmonization  of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society refers to this  principle in paragraph 28 and 29. The Directive is a little old in relation to the high speed  of technology, but is still there.11   1. c) The principle of exhaustion in EU Case Law   In Germany, the German Supreme Court (BGH) has repeatedly acknowledged the  exhaustion principle as a precautionary principle for the entire IP law (BGH, 22 January  1964, Maja Case; BGH, 10 April 1997, Sermion II Case).   In France a large number of decisions were reported to deal with the exhaustion  principle (Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation, 9 April 2002 n ° 99/15428,   Cass. Com., 20 February 2007, n ° 05/11088; Cass. Com., 26 February 2008, n ° 05/19087;   Cass. Com., 7 April 2009, n ° 08/13378; CA Paris, 15 June 2011, n ° 2009/12305).   In Austria the principle of exhaustion within the EU was applied even before it was  explicitly mentioned in the Austrian Trade Mark Act (Austrian Supreme Court October 15,  1996).   9 89/104/EEC First Council Directive of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States  relating to trade marks   10 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 207/2009   11 Directive 2001/29/EC   Exhaustion Online with regard to Database in the European Union 2- DATABASE   The protection of electronic databases was first considered by the EC Commission  in the 1998 Green Paper. An initial proposal was adopted on January 29, 1992, and was  greeted, at least in the United Kingdom (which has the largest database industry in the  Community) by a considerable degree of opposition, due to the perceived reduction in  protection for many factual and numerical databases.12   Regarding the concept of database, we should say that it is a collection of  independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic or methodical way and  individually accessible by electronic or other means which can include literary, artistic,  musical or other collections of works or collections of other material such as texts, sound,  images, numbers, facts.13 Databases in the European Union are regulated through Directive  96/9/EC, also known as the Database Directive. It is an European Union Directive in the  field of Intellectual Property Law, made under the internal market provisions of the Treaty  of Rome. It harmonizes the treatment of databases under copyright law and the sui generis  right for the creators of databases which do not qualify for copyright.   The exhaustion principle does not allow the reproduction of data. The German  Supreme Court has confirmed this: it held that if there is extraction of a substantial part of  the database, there is no exhaustion as exhaustion covers the right of distribution and not  extraction.14 Online electronic databases cannot benefit from the exhaustion principle. The  database must have been sold. If it is given free of charge, the principle of exhaustion does  not apply. The CJEU held this to be so in the field of trademarks in Peak Holding v Axolin-  Elinor and later confirmed it in LOreal v eBay.15 There is no reason why these decisions  would not apply here by analogy as the term used in Article 7(2)(b) is sale. The same  applies to Article 5(c) in the copyright chapter of the Database Directive.   Article 7 furthermore specifies acts of temporary or ephemeral copying as  extraction.112 In contrast to the initial draft, which required a commercial intention,   12 E.C. Intellectual Property Materials, Sweet Maxwells, 1994, 1 (F) Amended Proposals of 4 October 1993  for a Council Directive on the legal protection of databases (COM (93) 464 final SYN 393) [1993] O.J.  C308/1, p. 36 13 Article 7(1) DDir (96/9/EC)   14 Marktstudien (Market Surveys), 21 April 2005, Case I ZR 1/02[2005] GRUR 940; [2006] IIC 489   15 Case C-16/03 Peak Holding v Axolin-Elinor [2004] ECR I-11313 and Case C-324/09 LOreal v eBay [2011]   ETMR 52   Exhaustion Online with regard to Database in the European Union  consent is required for loading a database into a computer RAM, as this will copy the entire  database. The consequences of prohibiting acts of temporary or even ephemeral copies   such as caching is an inconsistency between online and offline databases. Whereas an  offline database such as a CD-ROM or a smaller database technically requires RAM  storage of a substantial part, accessing a large online database normally merely requires the  copy of the entries accessed to be copied.16   Exhaustion only applies to databases in tangible format. If someone lawfully  acquired a tangible copy of the databases, the right holder will not be able to control its  resale within the European Union. However, in two cases, there will arguably not be  exhaustion. The reason is the use of the narrow word sale and resale. First, there will not  be exhaustion when the right holder gave rather than sold the database. In this case, the  right to control distribution remains. Thus, the sale of a copy of a database distributed  freely by the maker, may infringe.17 The second case is when the purchaser wishes to give  the database instead of reselling it. It seems that, in that case, the gift of the database by the  person who acquired it can also be controlled by the right holder.   It must be noted that, in a recent case, 18the Versailles Court of Appeal surprisingly  held that, for a database producer to benefit from her rights of extraction and reutilization,  she must have asserted it previously, before any infringement act is committed. The  mention of the interdiction to extract or reutilize contents from the database becomes a  condition of opposability of the sui generis right granted to the database maker by Article L.  342-2 of the IPC. The claimant lost her case since she did not make such mention on the  website she created. This decision seems to add a condition which does not exist in the  Directive. The sui generis right is not dependant on any formality.   Two German courts held that the creation of deep links is not an infringement of  the sui generis right19. This is not surprising since it is difficult to see how a deep link is an act  of extraction or reutilization.   Under Article 3, databases which, by reason of the selection or arrangement of  their contents, constitute the authors own intellectual creation are protected by copyright  16 Guido Westkamp, Protecting databases under US and European law methodical approaches to the  protection of investments between unfair competition and intellectual property concepts, 2003   17 Bently Sherman 2004, p. 303   18 Rojo R. v Guy R., CA Versailles, 18 November 2004, available on http://www.legalis.net.   19 SV on line GmbH v Net-Clipping, OLG Munich, 9 November, 2000 [2001] ZUM 255; Handelsblatt v Paperboy,   OLG Cologne, 27 October 2000 [2001] ZUM 414; BGH, 17 July 2003 [2003] Cri.   as collections: no other criterion may be used by Member States. This may be a relaxation  of the criterion for protection of collections in the Berne Convention for the Protection of  Literary and Artistic Works,[2] which covers collections of literary and artistic works and  requires creativity in the selection and arrangement of the contents: in practice the  difference is likely to be slight. Any copyright in the database is separate from and without  prejudice to the copyright in the entries.   Copyright protection is not available for databases which aim to be complete,  that is where the entries are selected by objective criteria: these are covered by sui  generis database rights. While copyright protects the creativity of an author, database rights  specifically protect the qualitatively and/or quantitatively [a] substantial investment in  either the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents: if there has not been  substantial investment (which need not be financial), the database will not be protected  [Art. 7(1)]. Database rights are held in the first instance by the person or corporation which  made the substantial investment, so long as: the person is a national or domiciliary of a  Member State or the corporation is formed according to the laws of a Member State and  has its registered office or principal place of business within the European Union.   The holder of database rights may prohibit the extraction and/or re-utilization of  the whole or of a substantial part of the contents: the substantial part is evaluated  qualitatively and/or quantitatively and reutilization is subject to the exhaustion of rights.   Public lending is not an act of extraction or re-utilization. The lawful user of a database  which is available to the public may freely extract and/or re-use insubstantial parts of the  database (Art. 8): the holder of database rights may not place restrictions of the purpose to  which the insubstantial parts are used. However, users may not perform acts which  conflict with normal exploitation of the database or unreasonably prejudice the legitimate  interests of the maker of the database, nor prejudice any copyright in the entries. The  same limitations may be provided to database rights as to copyright in databases (Art. 9):  extraction for private purposes of the contents of a non-electronic database; extraction for  the purposes of illustration for teaching or scientific research, as long as the source is  indicated and to the extent justified by the non-commercial purpose to be achieved;  extraction and/or re-utilization for the purposes of public security or an administrative or  judicial procedure. Database rights last for fifteen years from the end of the year that the database was  made available to the public, or from the end of the year of completion for private  databases (Art. 10). Any substantial change which could be considered to be a substantial  new investment will lead to a new term of database rights, which could, in principle, be  perpetual. Database rights are independent of any copyright in the database, and the two  could, in principle, be held by different people (especially in jurisdictions which prohibit  the corporate ownership of copyright): as such, database rights can be compared to the  rights of phonogram and film producers.20   3- CONCLUSION The idea of digital first sale doctrine imploded into the mainstream copyright  discussion only a few years ago, although it has already been discussed for almost two  decades. The problem was reflected by academia, case law and legislature as well. Although  notable sources take the view that the concept of digital exhaustion deserves support, the  majority of commentators refused to accept this idea. Likewise, legislative proposals that  were submitted to the German Bundestag and the Congress of the United States, were  ultimately refused by the relevant national parliaments (or were not even discussed by them).   Under the traditional, positivist vision of copyright law, any similar ideas are condemned to  death at the moment, especially in the light of the WCT Agreed Statement. Similarly, the  CJEUs constructive interpretation of the international and regional copyright norms led to  flawed argumentation. However, significant economic, social and technological arguments  support the view that it is time to reconsider at international legislative level.   It looks like it is time to adapt the principle of exhaustion on an online perspective.  Technology goes faster than law, so when the law goes a step forward, a new problem  arises. Streaming and cloud computing are good examples. The majority of Reports  acknowledge the problems, and underline various aspects. The first is that the principle of  exhaustion of intellectual property rights was elaborated and developed in a time when  goods and services were mainly material and sold and distributed through material and  traditional channels. This approach is overturned by the new technologies. The second is  that it is no longer possible to distinguish, as far as the principle of exhaustion is  concerned, but also in general, among industrial property and intellectual property.   Copyright is expanding. The third is that it is more and more difficult to separate and  distinguish traditional industry and online industry as well as material and immaterial goods   20 Intellectual Property Law, Trevor Cook, 2010   Exhaustion Online with regard to Database in the European Union  and services. The majority of the Reports are of the opinion that on-line infringement of  intellectual property rights is normally dealt with the ordinary rules of civil procedure, and  that there is no particular necessity of elaborating new ones. The difficulties of enforcing  decisions abroad against foreign on line infringers in copyright cases are the usual ones,  common in the legal praxis when a decision must be enforced against foreign infringers.21  Dennis S. Karjalas thoughts serve as a great point to finish with. He stressed that  either we believe in the first-sale doctrine in the digital age or we do not. If we no longer  believe in it, we should discard it openly and not through verbal gymnastics interpreting the  definition of copy for the purposes of the statutes reproduction right. Nor should our  definition of copy force systems engineers into unduly intricate or artificial designs simply  to protect the right of the owner of a copy of a music file to transfer that file, provided that  no copies derived from the transferred file are retained.22   21 To what extent does the principle of exhaustion of IP rights apply to the on-line industry? Avv. Prof.   Vincenzo Franceschelli, 2014.   22 Dennis S. Karjala: Copying and Piracy in the Digital Age, Washburn Law Journal, 2013: p. 255.   Exhaustion Online with regard to Database in the European Union   BIBLIOGRAPHY à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Bently Sherman 2004, p. 303 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · David T. Keeling, Intellectual Property Rights in EU Law Volume 1 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Dennis S. Karjala: Copying and Piracy in the Digital Age, Washburn Law Journal, 2013 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Guido Westkamp, Protecting databases under US and European law methodical approaches to the protection of investments between unfair competition and intellectual property concepts, 2003 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Jens Schovsbo: The Exhaustion of Rights and Common Principles of European Intellectual Property Law. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Sweet Maxwells, E.C. Intellectual Property Materials à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · T. de las Heras Lorenzo, El agotamiento del derecho de marca, Editorial Montecorvo, Madrid, 1994, p. 47; à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Trevor Cook, Intellectual Property Law, 2010 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Vincenzo Franceschelli, To what extent does the principle of exhaustion of IP rights apply to the on-line industry? 2014. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Centrafarm B.V. and Adriaan de Peijper v. Sterling Drug Inc., in 6 IIC 102 (1975). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · 89/104/EEC First Council Directive of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft mbH v Metro-SB-Großmà ¤rkte GmbH Co. KG. 8 June 1971, European Court Reports à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Guajakol-Karbonat RGZ 51, 139. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · LOreal v eBay à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Marktstudien (Market Surveys), 21 April 2005, Case I ZR 1/02[2005] GRUR 940; [2006] IIC 489 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Peak Holding v Axolin-Elinor à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Rojo R. v Guy R., CA Versailles, 18 November 2004, available on à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 207/2009 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Directive 2001/29/EC à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · International Exhaustion and Parallel Importation 1 International Exhaustion and Parallel Importation http://www.wipo.int/sme/en/ip_business/export/international_exhaustion.htm 2 T. de las Heras Lorenzo, El agotamiento del derecho de marca, Editorial Montecorvo, Madrid, 1994, p. 47; F.-K.   Beier,  ´Grenzen der Erschà ¶pfungslehre im Markenrecht; zur Beurteilung des Vertriebs umgepackter und neu  gekennzeichtner Originawaren in den Là ¤ndern der Europà ¤ischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft.   Exhaustion Online   3 Guajakol-Karbonat RGZ 51, 139. 4 Intellectual Property Rights in EU Law Volume 1, David T. Keeling, p. 75-76 5 Jens Schovsbo: The Exhaustion of Rights and Common Principles of European Intellectual Property Law. In: Ansgar Ohly: Common Principles of European Intellectual Property Law, Mohr Siebeck, Tà ¼bingen, 2010: p. 170. 6 Case 78/70 Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft mbH v Metro-SB-Großmà ¤rkte GmbH Co. KG., 8 June 1971, European Court Reports, 1971: pp. 499 500., para. 5-11. Compare to Article 36 of the EEC Treaty. On the application of Article 36 of the EEC Treaty see: Nial Fennelly: Rules and Exceptions: Freedom of Movement and Intellectual Property Rights in the European Union. In: Hugh C. Hansen: International Intellectual Property Law Policy, Volume 5, Juris Publishing, Huntington, 2003: pp. 33-4 33-11. Exhaustion Online with regard to Database in the European Union 7 Case 78/70, supra note 64, p. 500., para. 12-13.   8 verbatim Centrafarm B.V. and Adriaan de Peijper v. Sterling Drug Inc., in 6 IIC 102 (1975).   Exhaustion Online with regard to Database in the European UnionÂ