Vitamin D And Hypothyroidism Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Talk about the Vitamin D And Hypothyroidism. Answer: The task manages the conversation on the subject nutrient D and hypothyroidism supporting with the distinctive significant exploration articles. According to the writing survey, nutrient D insufficiency is related with immune system ailment. This nutrient assumes a key job in keeping up the harmony between cell intervened (Th1) and the humoral (Th2) invulnerable framework by managing the Th3 cells. In an exploratory investigation, nutrient D inadequacy brought about low thyroid hormones. It implies the nutrient has direct effect on the thyroid gland[1]. As indicated by the hereditary investigations both the thyroid hormone and the nutrient D tie to a similar steroid hormone receptors. This outcomes in the immune system maladies, where an alternate quality in Vitamin D receptor has been found to incline patients to Hashimotos thyroiditis and Graves ailment. Graves illness is related with the polymorphism in the nutrient D quality. Its inadequacy legitimately tweaks the Graves hyperthyroidism which may have been instigated by the thyrotropin receptor inoculation in a mice model. In the human mole it was discovered that the prov ocative reactions in T cells and human thyroid cells was restrained by the Vitamin D analog[2]. Numerous scientists contemplated the effect of the nutrient D on the thyroid physiology. It was discovered that the immune system thyroid sickness is connected to nutrient D lack. This nutrient is found to profit the immune system intervened thyroid brokenness. The nutrient is found with little job in the guideline of insulin discharge and insulin obstruction. Nutrient D is likewise connected with the adjusting of glucose. Thyroid physiology is unfavorably affected with the dysglyemcia and insulin resistance[3]. Mackawy et al, inspected the connection between nutrient D insufficiency and hypothyroidism. The examination results demonstrated that the patients determined to have hypothyroidism were found to have nutrient D insufficiency and hypocalcaemia. These insufficiencies were thusly connected with the seriousness and level of hypothyroidism. To put it plainly, these outcomes indicated the linkage of hypothyroidism in patients with calcium and nutrient D levels. When contrasted with the controls the serum levels of both the components were found to bring down in hypothyroid patients that implies a positive relationship among hypothyroidism and nutrient D just as calcium. Be that as it may, there was a negative relationship of these components with the TSH levels[4]. Singh et al., in comparable investigation underscored on the imunomodulatory job of the nutrient D on the endocrine framework. In this examination 40 solid individuals and 40 hypothyroidism patients were enrolled for estimating the Serum nutrient D (25-OH) levels and Thyroid hormones (TSH, T3 and T4) levels. The outcomes utilizing the ELISA and spectophotometric technique, it was discovered that the degree of every one of them was altogether lower in the hypothyroid patientswhen contrasted with the solid subjects. There was distinction of these levels among guys and females with later demonstrating lower levels of these components. These outcomes demonstrated that the hypothyroid patients experienced the hypovitaminosis D. The hypovitaminosis D iss essentially connected with degree and seriousness of the hypothyroidism[5]. Hypothyroid patients with nutrient D indicated improvement in the condition by accepting Vitamin D as it caused TSH suppression[6]. All in all, the writing audit shows the relationship between nutrient D inadequacy and hyperthyroidism. According to these discoveries, the patients with hypothyroidism ought to be pushed for nutrient D supplementation. List of sources Mackawy, Amal Mohammed Husein, Bushra Mohammed Al-Ayed, and Bashayer Mater Al-Rashidi. Nutrient d insufficiency and its relationship with thyroid disease.International diary of wellbeing sciences7.3 (2013): 267. Musa, I. R., Gasim, G. I., Khan, S., Ibrahim, I. An., Abo-alazm, H., Adam, I. (2017). No Association between 25 (OH) Vitamin D Level And Hypothyroidism among Females. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2017 Apr 15; 5 (2): 126-130. Singh, Vivek, Sunita Singh, and Yogesh Kumar Rai. Nutrient D Induced Hypothyroidism.Indian Journal of Public Health Research Development7.3 (2016). Talaei, Afsaneh, et al. The Study the Effect of Vitamin D on Hypothyroidism.ISMJ20.3 (2017): 301-307. Yasuda, Tetsuyuki, et al. Serum nutrient D levels are diminished and connected with thyroid volume in female patients with recently beginning Graves disease.Endocrine42.3 (2012): 739-741.

NSA Spying free essay sample

The NSA is the United States security organization. It has many spying abilities and numerous individuals are stressed over them. I for one am not that stressed over the NSA. The NSA is guarding the United States from outside aggresors and furthermore securing household psychological warfare. Edward Snowden, a previous agenency temporary worker, released some data about the NSA and has gotten individuals disturbed about their privileges. They have been breaking people groups rights since 1952, however in those days nobody was whining. In any case, they are continually keeping an eye on them. It sincerely doesn't concern me on the grounds that because of the reality I am not a fear based oppressor or anybody that harms. In the event that the NSA is attacking your privileges, you can attempt to stop them however as a general rule, you are sitting idle. Regardless of whether the U. S. chooses to stop the National Security Agency they will at present be keeping an eye on you. We will compose a custom article test on NSA Spying or on the other hand any comparable subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page The NSA won't nose about your messages and take a gander at your selfies. They are securing the U. S from outside and local issues. Despite the fact that they missed the bombings as of late doesn't mean it isn't helpful. On the off chance that the U. S evacuated the NSA totally, we would be available to intrusion and more issues. The article is one-sided and is attempting to take a gander at all the awful things. Okay rather have assurance in the trading of your privileges or would you have no security in return for your life? The NSA causes me to feel safe and doesn't stress me much. In The Open Window the temperament begins lovely and brimming with neighborliness, yet then the state of mind turns evil as perusers learn of a dull sickness that evidently lies in the auntie yet when it is uncovered that the niece was lying it turns the disposition by comprehending infringement in light of the fact that the story truly has the peruser accepting the niece up to the peak. In â€Å"swimming to Antarctica† †the state of mind starts of with the perusers feeling the expectation of the swim. There is dread mostly of the obscure however when the swim begins the temperament turns frantic the virus water sapping her quality gradually commandeering her nerves, which transforms the mind-set into an all the more disturbing state, yet when she gets through the disposition transforms into triumph Swimming to Antarctica, by Lynne Cox, the writer utilizes a First-individual perspective. What this is a story gadget whereby the storyteller is representing and about oneself. The story is set in the English nation place of Mrs. Sappleton. The home has an immense window which permits Vera to make up the whimsical story of how Mr. Sappleton and his chasing party left one day, never to return. Framton Nuttel has been sent to the nation to rest his nerves, however Veras story and resulting occasions make that incomprehensible. The setting of Swimming to Antarctica is the sub zero Salt water of the Antarctica Surrounded by ice sheets. With close experiences with untamed life, for example, penguins. The Open Window, by Saki, the creator utilizes a third-individual omniscient perspective. This means the storyteller is a not a piece of the story but rather can share what the characters are thinking and feeling. The peruser finds out about the characters from the third-individual storyteller as the storyteller passes on what the characters are thinking and feeling in the short story: For the most part, the storyteller shares Framton Nuttels perspective. He is the person who is anxious, calling upon outsiders. He is the person who sits and tunes in to Veras fanciful story, not realizing it is an implausible story. He is the person who trusts Veras fanciful story. In the short story, In The Open Window, Piece is when Mr. Nuttel is contemplating internally and Introducing himself and his explanation of visiting the Sappelton home Rising activity happens as Frampton Nuttel shows up at the Sappleton home and is recounted to the story by Vera, Mrs. Sappletons niece. She discloses to him in incredible detail that the window stays open as a remembrance in pausing. Her auntie expects the arrival of her spouses chasing party which was lost in the bog. Vera is exceptionally persuading in her story, she has Mr. Nuttel terrified to death and persuaded that Mrs. Sappleton is crazy. Peak of the story is when Mrs. Sappleton declares that she sees her better half and siblings coming towards the house. Goals of the story happens as Mrs. Sappleton, baffled by Mr. Nuttels hurried takeoff from her house, is told by Vera that he came up short on the house on account of the canine that was moving toward the house. Said Vera in the goals, he disclosed to me he was alarmed of pooches. IN Swimming to Antarctica Exposition-Lynne Cox presents herself and the errand she is going to embrace Rising Action-Lynne Cox enters the sub zero water and starts feeling despair Climax-She arrives at the Beach in the midst of all chances Falling Action-She is being gived a shout out to by her fans and supporters Resolution-she has now swam a mile in the Freezing waters of the Antarctic In the Open Window-Mr. Nuttel has a fact that the Sappleton family unit had confronted an appalling occasion where the loss of Mr. Sappleton and his chasing party. However, as a general rule the chasing party had left that morning and was in reality alive In Swimming to Antarctica, Lynne Cox Believes that she cannot do physical mischief promotion the risks of swimming the Antarctic was irrelevant, Later does she discover that the Cold water has done nerve harm and the threat were

Music in Springtime and MIT

Music in Springtime and MIT [by Ken Haggerty 11] Last Thursday was THE perfect day. The sky was cloudless and the temperature was 73 degrees Fahrenheit. I had only two recitations to go to, so I decided, being the music lover that I am, to head over to Baker House to hear the wonderful sounds a piano can make on a beautiful spring day when pushed off the roof of a 7-story dormitory. The answer: a loud and resounding thud. EPIC FAIL!!!! But Im being harsh. It was certainly entertaining, and the fake-out was funny, but they should have tossed the upright piano onto the baby grand instead of the other way around. Dont they know that baby grand pianos are structurally much stronger than upright pianos? I thought MIT students were smarter than that, but I guess I was wrong :P Just kidding. Nevertheless, my friends and I gathered around the frazzled remains of both the upright and baby grand and took advantage of the opportunity to have our photos taken next to the shattered fragments. We also took a few mementos. (For these photos check out Paul Baranays blog which should have them up soon. Hes a fellow Poriferan who was at the drop with me.) Unfufilled by the lack of dissonance the piano drop should have caused, I decided I needed to hear some real music. I checked the MIT Arts Calendar and saw that there was a Jazz Singer named Sheila Jordan who would be performing that night with the Harvey Diamond Trio from the Vermont Jazz Center; so at 8:00pm that night, I headed over to Killian Hall (Building 14, just outside of Hayden Library) to hear her sing her stuff. (From L to R): Harvey Diamond, Sheila Jordan, and Tal Gamlieli perform jazz in Killian Hall on April 24th. Not pictured: Scott Goulding, on drums. She was really good. She sang songs by Irving Berlin and Abby Lincoln, to name two. I liked how she was extremely comfortable performing in front of a group [kind of to be expected] but more specifically, I liked how she improvised and had fun and made it conversational, chatting it up with Harvey Diamond (on piano), Tal Gamlieli (on bass), and Scott Goulding (on drums). It was great not only to hear her sing but to hear some of her history: about the good ol days when she lived on 52nd Street in Manhattan and spent her days with Jazz greats like Fats Waller and Miles Davis and also how its been tough work making a living off of jazz. It really made me want to get back into music; Ive played the viola since the fourth grade and I only stopped this year because I anticipated, MIT being MIT, not having enough time for viola; and, both fortunately and unfortunately, it turned out that I definitely could have made time for it. Im going to practice over the summer and audition next fall, either for MITSO or Chamber Music Society. I think if theres any little piece of advice Ive gained from my MIT experience thus far, its that you can definitely do anything you want so long as youre willing to make time for it and commit to it. By the end of the concert (sponsored by the Council for the Arts), it was 9:15pm, and I decided that, after a day of celebrating music in all its forms, it was probably time to head back and finish my 7.013 PSet.

The Disaster Cycle

The disaster cycle or the disaster life cycle consists of the steps that emergency managers take in planning for and responding to disasters. Each step in the disaster cycle correlates to part of the ongoing cycle that is emergency management. This disaster cycle is used throughout the emergency management community, from the local to the national and international levels and it is: Mitigation: Minimizing the effectsPreparedness: Planning the responseResponse: Efforts to minimize hazards that were created by the disasterRecovery: Returning the community back to normal with relief Starting the Disaster Cycle Again Finally, using the lessons learned from the response, recovery, and mitigation phases of the disaster the emergency manager and government officials return to the preparedness phase and revise their plans and their understanding of the material and human resources needs for a particular disaster in their community.

The Idiots Handbook to 1982 Ap Lit Scene of Violence Essay Samples Revealed

The Idiot's Handbook to 1982 Ap Lit Scene of Violence Essay Samples Revealed Though the idea of violence has ever intrigued philosophers, psychologists, and literary artists, it's only in the 20th century it has gained currency in the majority of cultural discourses. Many reasons might become a boost of an aggressive behaviour of the kind much like unfavourable conditions or societal scenarios that occur daily in the life span of individuals. This proved that the objective of the act was somewhat profitable. Instead, they remove a normal law abiding citizen's capacity to safeguard themselves from these folks. What Everybody Dislikes About 1982 Ap Lit Scene of Violence Essay Samples and Why No state needs to be different from another. The report advocates that teachers ought to be trained on how best to predict this sort of behavior and overcome the challenge. Secondly, on account of the large-scale severity and the international impact that crime has in some regions of the planet, global cooperation is important. Violence in schools has come to be an increasing problem throughout the country in the past couple of years. Financial difficulty is a critical problem to marriage. It says there are factors that may induce development of violent behaviors like drug abuse, strain and financial constraints and others. A similar situation happened in Washington D.C.. Such a situation available on the market is anticipated, for each business has to earn money. Possessing delinquent friends in school is connected with violence in young individuals. However they operate, third parties can be beneficial in lots of respects. Third parties operate in several of means. Get the Scoop on 1982 Ap Lit Scene of Violence Essay Samples Before You're Too Late The conclusion seems a small weak and out of placed compared to the remainder of the novel. As a consequence, Gandhi became a famous figure and symbol of nonviolent resistance for King and several of the individuals of Montgomery. Studies which have been conducted ought to be scrutinized, guiding additional research. There were many scenes of the little tow n of Millbrook that did not wind up in the last release of the movie. Anyone may be the casualty of school violence. Nonetheless, violence is frequently a portion of intractable conflicts at the same point or another in their histories. School violence is a social problem, thus there's something which all individuals are able to do to help put a stop to the violence among out youngsters. The majority of the violence is directed mainly many kids and adolescents. Economic coercion is part of domestic violence. Intervention should begin with the casualty of the violence. Self violence is another sort of aggression that's expressed in self assault or suicide commitment. Violence in a sort of suppression makes one particular rebel against it. Most Noticeable Ap Lit Scene of Violence Essay Samples Svidrigailov overhears this information and attempts to rape Dounia. Some took their very own lives before the authorities could even answer the scene. Due to the quantity of families affected directly and indirectly by gun violence, this has come to be a subject of debate for absolutely any ordinary citizen of America. The murder rates in places where the residents aren't permitted to own handguns are higher. Additionally, there are simply no limits for downloads! It is intriguing to note, however, that despite this rather intelligent spin on gun usage, there are those who go beyond the set perimeters. Other folks argue they need firearms since they use it for self-defense. One of the major explanations for why gun control is necessary is the boost in shooting situations, especially in schools. It's called short essay in the feeling that the manner a certain topic is presented is congested but still focuses on the purpose of making the audience understand the entire point of the essay. The company involved with the creation of the film thought that these scenes weren't significant in bringing out the overall subject of the film. In a well-organized essay, explain the way the scene or scenes lead to the significance of the whole work. 1 theme of the novel may be the thought of the superhuman. The writer should not presume that the reader is already knowledgeable about the topic. Besides, for every type of writing, you can come across many examples in our database. There are quite a lot of methods to compose an essay so you'll hardly locate an all-included recipe for a great many essay occasions. When you compose a brief essay, you must try to remember that there are not any elements to be sacrificed.

Pttls Unit 1 Free Essays

1. Summarise key aspects of legislation, regulatory requirements and codes of practice relating to own role and responsibilities The key legal and regulatory requirements relating to my role as a teacher are:- †¢ Children Act (2004) – Every child matters †¢ Copyright, Designs Patents Act (1988) †¢ Data Protection Act (1998 amended 2003) †¢ Equality Act (2010) †¢ Freedom of Information Act (2000) †¢ Health Safety at Work Act (1974) †¢ Human Rights Act (1998) Protection of Children Act (1999) †¢ Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) There will be Codes of Practice, either generic or specific, that will need to be followed such as the Code of Professional Practice (2008) introduced by the Institute for Learning. 2. We will write a custom essay sample on Pttls Unit 1 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Explain own responsibilities for promoting equality and valuing diversity It is important that students are able to attend, and participate in their choice of course or learning event, for it to be accessible on equal terms. To support this ideal, I must adhere to the equal opportunity legislation in place, which ensures that learners are not discriminated against in terms of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, pregnancy or maternity, religious or other belief, marriage, civil partnership or gender reassignment. Whilst this is an ideal situation we are not able to treat everyone exactly the same. It is important to understand the needs of learners so that we can give them the best experience in the learning environment. If I have a student who uses a wheelchair, then I must ensure that access to the learning venue is suitable and that any portable ramps etc are available. Where I have students that are from diverse cultural backgrounds I should encourage an environment where differing opinions are respected and prejudice or stereotyping are challenged. Where further support is required by a learner, it should be offered 3. Explain own role and responsibilities in lifelong learning Firstly, I need to identify the needs of the organisation, individuals and me personally. I will ensure that any forms are easy to complete and cater for different languages or print size and are available in hard copy or electronically. I will need to make an initial assessment of the needs of learners and agree learning plans. I need to prepare a scheme of work to include session plans, learning materials to meet the needs of the syllabus and liaise with other interested parties. I will need to facilitate learning using a variety of approaches including formulating ground rules, record keeping, incorporating different teaching and learning materials and even knowing who and where the nominated first aider is. I will need to assess the learning, ensuring that the awarding body rules are met. I must ensure that relevant documentation is completed and kept safe and confidential. I will need to check the students lerning outcomes have been met and that they have gained the necessary skills and knowledge. I need to evaluate my teaching experience by obtaining feedback from others. I can obtain this from the student, awarding body and organisation I am working for. I will also evaluate my own work in order to make improvements to my teaching ability and the learning experience. 4. Explain own role and responsibilities in identifying and meeting the needs of the learners I can identify the learners needs at the application stage, by interview, questionnaire, or at a student 1to1 session, or at the beginning of the session or programme. I must give clear guidance on the process and information to ensure the course meats their personal learning needs. Once I have the information this will help me with my planning. I need to ascertain the required learning support (help with ITC, numeracy, literacy), or student support (help with personal issues, general guidance or advice), and again use the information in my planning and course execution. 2. 1Explain the boundaries between the teaching role and other professional roles It is important to understand where my role as a teacher ends and where I need to involve other professionals. These might include Heads of Dept, HS officers, technicians, support workers or admin staff. Within the ACO I may need to refer to parents/guardians Wing, Region or Head Quarters specialists. I, for instance as a teacher am not qualified to repair a broken plug socket so I would refer to an electrician, similarly I am not a social worker therefore any issues that are of a personal nature (to the student)I would pass over to the relevant specialist rather than trying to deal with it myself, potentially causing more harm. 2. 2Describe points of referral to meet the needs of learners It is possible that I will encounter students with a variety of degrees of needs so I need to remain impartial and sensitive to individual situations. I will not be able to deal with every situation that arises. I must be aware of where I can refer students for help both within and externally to the organisation. Below is a table containing example points of referral. |INTERNAL |EXTERNAL | |accommodation officers |awarding organisations | |careers advisers |banks or building societies | |colleagues carers | |Counsellors |charities | |examination officers |childcare agencies | |financial services staff |Citizens Advice Bureau | |first-aiders |employers | |health and welfare officers |health centre. , slimming clubs, general | |information , advice and guidance staff |practitioners, hospitals | |interpreters |Job Centre Plus | |learning support staff |motoring and transport organisations | |mentors |police | |student support staff |telephone help-lines and agencies such as abuse, alcohol, bereavement support, | |student union representatives |Childline, Crimestoppers, debt, drug, lesbian and gay switchboard, gambling, | |teachers |NHS Direct , parentline, Samaritans, victim support | | |websites which are relevant | Table from ‘Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Learning Sector’ by Ann Gravells – Pg 53 2. 3Summarise own responsibilities in relation to other professionals My main responsibility is to my students, however I need to be aware of the impact my actions will have on other groups or individuals. I will need to be conscious of how I work with other managers on site as well as my peers, with awarding bodies including internal and external verifiers Ofsted inspectors and other external agencies. Within the Air Cadet Organisation (ACO). I will also have responsibilities with regard to parents/ guardians and other members of the ACO. I must remain professional and not exceed my role boundaries 3. Explain own responsibilities in maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment It is imperative that the environment is safe. The room or area for teaching must be large enough to support the activities being undertaken and the number of people involved. A risk assessment should be carried out to highlight and eliminate (so far is practicable) any potential dangers. Consideration must be given to lighting, heating, ventilation and toilet facilities to ensure the comfort of learners and teaching staff. I must inform the group regarding procedures for housekeeping, and emergency evacuation. 3. 2Explain ways to promote appropriate behavior and respect others I would establish with the group some ground rules both for the learners and myself to promote the appropriate safety, behaviour and respect of everyone. It is important that these rules are negotiated and agreed with the group. These rules can be reviewed and changed as the course progresses as needed. For the group – what they should expect from each other, things like courtesy, respecting others views etc. For myself – What the learners can expect from me. Some rules may be imposed – health and safety, no smoking, no anti-social behavior. Some more negotiable – standard of dress, break timings, turning off mobile phones. Reference Book Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Learning Sector’ by Ann Gravells How to cite Pttls Unit 1, Papers

The Crucible for its historical aspect Essay Example

The Crucible for its historical aspect Paper The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1952. It was set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and tells us of the Puritan community. Puritans were extremely religious and felt it very important that their children learned to read the bible as soon as possible. To be judged a good person, you had to know your commandments and have a good knowledge of the bible and respect it. All the communities laws and teachings were based around the bible. The atmosphere in Salem is described in the book as acrimonious and joyless and was threatened by imaginary devils and the Indians. The inhabitants of Salem had to work very hard for their money and the communitys laws did not permit them to have fun. Even reading a novel was described as having fun and so novels, along with many other things, were banned, they were also obsessed with sin and damnation. As Salem had a theocratic society peoples sins were a matter of public concern. So prying into others lives to expose their sins was encouraged; this is why Abigail was praised for speaking out. The title, The Crucible is interesting because a crucible is a container used to heat metals at a high temperature. We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible for its historical aspect specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible for its historical aspect specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible for its historical aspect specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The main reason for this is to remove impurities from substances. This is used as a continuous metaphor throughout the book. Some of the characters attempt to rid themselves of their impurities by undertaking heroic and brave decisions and actions. John Proctor refuses to name others who trafficked with the devil in Act 4: They think to go like saints. I like not to spoil their names. This also emphasizes my point of the importance of a person reputation in the community. Giles Cory also refuses to give the name of the person who signed the deposition against Thomas Putnam and is killed for contempt. This is told to us by Elizabeth Proctor in Act 4: He were not hanged. He would not answer aye or nay to his indictment; for if he denied the charge theyd hang him surely, and auction out his property. So he stand mute, and died Christian under the law We are told how he died the next time she speaks: They press him John. Also the community, especially the judges, thought that the hanging of the witches was preserving the towns purity. The time the book was written, 1952, it was the time of the McCarthy Anti-Communist trials. These trials are the main reason that Miller decided to write the play as he felt that what was happening now was exactly the same as the events which took place in Salem in 1692. Miller himself describes the McCarthy trials as a modern parallel. He says that McCarthy had been ruthlessly determined to hunt out communists as the judges of Salem had been in 1692. During the trials, McCarthy, like the Salem judges, asked the people who confessed to bring others down with them. If the named nobody then they would be punished for contempt. This is like the Salem witch trials. Miller himself was called up and underwent a long interrogation three years after the book was written. Miler told them that he had attended a meeting of communist writers nine years previous yet when asked to give the names of those also present, Miller acted as John Proctor did some three hundred years earlier and refused to give the names of others. Arthur Miller did not just write The Crucible for its historical aspect but he used it to inform the public of the events in America. The Essay. One of the first themes of The Crucible is intolerance. People who did not follow the communitys laws or went against what was normal were seen to be a threat to the public and against their religion. The communitys beliefs stated that everyone belonged to God or the Devil. (There be no road between). Anybody who had a conflicting opinion were said to be with the Devil. Intolerance did seem to affect the judges arbitration of the trials. Miller makes this apparent in Act 3, when Danforth says A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it. This shows a distinct intolerance to people who had different opinions and if they did so then they were against God. The overlapping of speech and interruptions are the dramatic devices which really bring out a characters intolerance. Parris continually interrupts and we are shown that Danforth is intolerant, if not impatient, by the way he interrupts Parris and orders him to be silent. In Act 3: (In his first real outburst, in which his contempt for Parris is clear) Mr Parris I bid you be silent! I think that this is a good move by Danforth because the way the book is written, people automatically dislike Parris and so by doing this Danforth earns a bit of respect for himself and shows the audience and the rest of the characters that he is still in charge of proceedings. Despite this, Miller tells us that he is not sure whether he made Danforth evil enough. Another example of intolerance is when Proctor grabs hold of Mary Warren in a bid to urge her to say what she knows, or at least what he has told her to say. This physical contact is another dramatic device that Miller uses in order to portray a characters feelings and in this case Proctors urgency and desperation. This action could also have been put in to show Proctors more aggressive side which Mary Warren informs Danforth does not exist. Another theme of the book is hysteria. This theme is probably the most important and prominent one. The trials only continue because people choose to believe what they are hearing about people despite the fact they may have known them all their lives. In The Crucible the hysteria escalates because people choose to accept the accusations of others, not just out of religious belief but out of revenge. (Sparknotes. com) A good example of this is Abigail Williams who uses the hysterical situation to accuse Elizabeth Proctor to try and have John Proctor to herself. She was sacked from her job as a servant to the Proctors because she committed adultery with John Proctor and Abigail wants him back. She seems extremely desperate to get him back and I think that she would go to any lengths in order to get what she wanted. Unfortunately for Abigail, Proctor refused to let her have her way and eventually died knowing he had purified himself. Mr. Parris also uses the situation to his advantage by managing to join the court and tries to get the condemned hung so that he can claim their land. He ends up a part of the court and uses his newly found status to attempt to alter Danforths mental path or in other words he attempted to make Danforth think as he did. Thomas Putnam also uses the hysteria to his advantage.

The Name of the Rose; Movie vs Essay Essays

The Name of the Rose; Movie vs Essay Essays The Name of the Rose; Movie vs Essay Paper The Name of the Rose; Movie vs Essay Paper Differences from the movie to the book can make a huge difference in a arsons outlook toward It; if the plot has drastic changes then the movie is rarely better than the book. Set in 1327, The Name of the Rose by Umber Echo will grab your attention from the first sentence and keep you entertained throughout the novel. The movie, which Is Introduced as a palimpsest of Umber ECHO novel has many drawbacks from making It as spectacular as the novel Itself. The Name of the Rose has two main characters, William of Basketballs and Dads of Milk. Dads is the first character to be introduced, but it is Dads in the future calling the events of William and his six days spent at the Abbey. William and Dads are brought to the Abbey to participate in a debate with a papal legation over the poverty of Christ as well as the status of the Franciscan order. However, upon their arrival, Addled, a young illustrator of the manuscripts, had been murdered and they are asked to help investigate the crime. During prayer the next morning, another body is discovered; Venetians, a young translator of the manuscripts, was found in a vat of pigs blood. William and Dads begin looking for a book that they believe both Addled and Venusians were reading. The only people allowed in the library are the librarian and his assistant, which makes the Investigation even harder. Bernard, the librarians assistant, goes missing on the third day. Continuing the Investigations, William deciphers a code that Venetians had left behind, which will help William and Dads get further into the library. On the fourth day, they found the Finis African, which is the room where they believe the book is hidden. The fifth day Severing, the herbalist of the Abbey, was found dead and the book that William had trusted him tit has been stolen. Malachite, the chief librarian of the Abbey, is blamed for the taking of the book. After Malachite died in prayer on the sixth day, it seemed as though William was going to solve the case, but the abbot then informed him that he did not want him investigating the crimes of the Abbey anymore. William and Dads find Jorge, a blind elderly monk who knows a great deal about books and the library, with the book In the Falls African and discovered the truth behind all of the murders. Jorge refused to let the book be read by anybody and ate all of the poisonous pages, knocked over a lamp and started the library on fire. When the library started on fire, there was little hope for the Abbey ever being as admired as it once had been (The Name AT ten Rose). When a book is created into a film, there are always details of the plot that are changed. The film The Name of the Rose, directed by Jean Jacques Unhand, has a similar plot as the novel but gives Off different effect. As said by David Wisteria, While the novel was a satisfying and complex mystery that inspired the intellect, the film is a satisfying and complex mystery that inspires indigestion (Wisteria). This statement makes clear the difference of movies and books; Books can give more in depth details about the characters, setting, and emotions while movies create a picture to see the details. I personally like reading books better than watching movies because of the detail the books give. In the book, Dads of Milk is a Benedictine novice whereas in the movie he is a Franciscan novice; the whole story can be altered when changes in the plot are made. With the novel being lengthy, it is hard to fit every single event into a movie without it being multiple hours long. One hinge that was cut out of the movie is a long dream that Dads had towards the end of the sixth day. Another thing that is obsolete from the movie is how the Abbot clearly assigns William to be the investigator of the murders that have been happening in the Abbey and the Abbot tells William that the difficult is forbidden at night. I think knowing that William is in charge of the murder case is key to understanding the plot, but if that is not shown in the movie it may be difficult for some viewers to understand what is happening until the movie progresses. To help reduce the Engel of the movie, the main characters discussions about the time period and heretics was drastically cut down; also dialogue concerning comedy and religion is nonexistent in the film. Little changes like these can change the major effect of a story and it can sometimes even change the whole story itself. The Abbot himself is a strange character, both in the film and the book. He never seems to know what is truly going on, and he seems to change sides of the murder cases throughout the story. In the book, the Abbot becomes the sixth victim by Jorge trapping him in a ethereal, ultimately suffocating him to death; in the film, the Abbot Just stops making appearances. There could be many reasons why the Abbot Just stops appearing in the film: money costs, the movie would have been too long to make him a victim also, or the actor himself had health problems. Another character that never even makes an appearance in the film is Benny of Pascal. Benny was also a suspect in the murders and even helped William and Dads in the investigation for a short period of time. As the library is burning, Benny is suspected to die from running in and having he floor of the library collapse. Jorge is another character who keeps things interesting. The history of the Abbey librarians, who traditionally become Abbots later on, is cut out of the film. By cutting out the history of the librarians and the history of how Jorge was chosen for this position, Gorges motivation for revenge is cut down drastically. Gorges speech that is given in the book about the apocalypse and the ruin of the Abbey because of its pursuit of knowledge is cut down to merely an exclamation in the film, due too panic of Malachites death. The most notable change room the novel to the movie was the ending. In the novel, Bernard Gut, a Judge in the Inquisition, does not die and he takes Remixing, the cellarer of the Abbey, Salvatore, member of a heretical cult, and a peasant girl, from the village below the monastery, with him and his escorts. Remixing is taken to Avignon, which is the seat AT ten pope, Tort Nils trial Detour en Is Turned. Ass tan Bernard Gull will burn the girl on the way and that Salvatore, who is forgiven, may or may not be burned as well. The film has Remixing and Salvatore being burned at the stakes by Bernard Gut. Bernard Gui is then killed by the peasants and is not able to burn the girl, who escapes during all the chaos of the library burning (The Name of the Rose). Not set out to please a vast crowd of book buyers, Umber Echo wrote The Name of the Rose to amuse him with a tale of church politics and murder. As Said by Peter Burke from History Today, The Name of the Rose is worth reading for the literal sense alone, as a well constructed thriller, though even here intellectuality makes its appearance in the form of references to Cowan Doyle. The book can also be read as n allegory, a book about structuralism (Burke, Peter). There are many different ways to look at the book, as pointed out by Burke. Not expecting his novel to be a best seller in Europe and the United States, Umber Echo was shocked when in 1983 he found out his book was going to be turned into a movie. Elaborate sets, dim lighting and misty landscapes, created by director Jean-Jacques Unhand, gives the movie a kind of atmosphere that had no single mood. Announced as a palimpsest in the opening credits, shows how Unhand used plot synopsis to create this film. As Vincent Canny of The New York Times says, As Brother William, the voice of reason in an age of superstition, Sean Concern does his best to find the films proper tone, which should have been provided by Mr.. Unhand and the four people who wrote the screenplay. Mr.. Concern doesnt have an easy time of it (Canny, Vincent). With this review, I think most people were shocked with the popularity of the book, thinking the film would have been much better. Other reviews have some similar and some different opinions of the film. For instance, Mac from Time Out New York says The monks themselves are marvelous, a gallery of grotesques straight out of Burgher, and if the film has faults, they are quibbles: the murder mystery is solved too soon, and rather too much plot is crammed into the available space. (Mac). I agree with what Mac has to say, I think that the novel is too lengthy with too many important details to be left, making this a recipe for a disaster when trying to create a film. I also agree with Mac when he credits the monks on being marvelous and a gallery of grotesques straight out of Burgher because the monks were very well depicted in he film. Sheila Benson from The Los Angels Times says, From the moment the credits announce that Jean-Jacques Naiads film is a palimpsest of Umber Echos novel, you know that youre in for a heavy cultural weather (Benson, Sheila). This clearly states that Benson agrees with Canny and Mac when they say, too much plot for too little time. From the beginning, Unhand had many challenges when he took on the responsibility of fitting a 500-page novel into a two-hour film. There was no question that there would be changes in the plot, with the characters, and minor detail changes. Even though the movie was a palimpsest of the novel, Unhand still made his point and created a decent film.

Examples of Diffusion

Examples of Diffusion Diffusion is the movement of atoms, ions, or molecules from an area of higher concentration to one of lower concentration. The transport of matter continues until equilibrium is reached and there is a uniform concentration through the material. Examples of Diffusion Perfume is sprayed in one part of a room, yet soon it diffuses so that you can smell it everywhere.A drop of food coloring diffuses throughout the water in a glass so that, eventually, the entire glass will be colored.When steeping a cup of tea, molecules from the tea cross from the tea bag and diffuse throughout the cup of water.When shaking salt into water,  the salt dissolves and the ions move until they are evenly distributed.After lighting a cigarette, the smoke spreads to all parts of a room.After placing a drop of food coloring onto a square of gelatin, the color will spread to a lighter color throughout the block.Carbon dioxide bubbles diffuse from an open soda, leaving it flat.If you place a wilted celery stick in water, water will diffuse into the plant, making it firm again.Water diffuses into cooking noodles, making them bigger and softer.A helium balloon deflates a little bit every day as helium diffuses through the balloon into the air.If you place a sugar cube in wat er, the sugar will dissolve and evenly sweeten the water without having to stir it.

E-Commerce in Project Integration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

E-Commerce in Project Integration - Essay Example These applications use electronic communications systems and technology of internet (world wide web) and local area networks.1 These depend on computer and non computer technologies. The usage of non computer technologies can be speed up using the e commerce applications. For example the sales and transportation activities can be speeded up by timely communication using computer technologies. According to a survey the ecommerce business applications generated $12.3 billion sales in 2003. this sales is apart from the general sales. The concept of electronic commerce was not same as it was now when compared to 30 years back. The concept has changed with the change of technology. In the present day usage and the needs the e - commerce applications usually integrate various activities in the project management. 30 years back, the interchange of data and funds transfer used to be the meaning of e commerce. They included the transmission of purchase orders and invoices electronically. The process of integration is not present in the beginning. E - Commerce is combination of technology and business. The name itself will represent that combination. It can be defined as the set of processes that execute the business. The analysis of the information available also is part of e commerce. 20 years back, the initiation of credit cards and ATMs occurred. This increased the speed of transaction. After that the e commerce introduced the enterprise resource planning systems. These included data mining and ware housing of data. The increase of databases resulted in increasing the capacity of analysing by the e commerce applications. At present the e commerce includes a wide range of business activities. These activities include number of processes like e banking, offshore manufacturing and e logistics. The growth of the economies of the countries started to speed up when the industries in those countries used e commerce for the integration of their activities. The reason is that it speeded up the execution of transactions and deliver y and production of goods. In this paper the application and advantage of using e commerce for integrating the construction project management will be discussed. 2. E-Commerce in Construction Business Like any other business, the construction business involves the sales, purchase, cash and information transfer and transportation of goods. Along with the aforesaid topics, the process of tenders was also involved. All the above mentioned activities, transactions and processes involved in them can be speeded up by the integration using the e commerce applications. As the groceries are ordered online by customers, similarly the construction material also can be ordered online using e commerce applications. This is possible if the vendor of the construction material also have e commerce applications and using them. This entry of e commerce into number of sectors removed the barriers of selling in number of types of goods. This decreased the investment in establishment of showrooms for many small sized and big sized businesses and industries. As the usage of e commerce decrease the flow of customers to the showroom along with

Memorial to Imaginary Choson King Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Memorial to Imaginary Choson King - Essay Example The largest population of Korea comprises of secondary people with the citizens being recognized as the owners of the country, since they influence the future. In this case, discrimination can result to rebel against the king, which may lead to undesired outcomes. Therefore, the secondary status groups act as a buffer between the ruling aristocracy and the numerous numbers of commoners; thus, they are significant for facilitating social stability. Prohibition against Remarriage of Women Marriage has been considered as an affair between two people, which should last beyond the death of the husband. In fact, the Confucians have an emphasis on exclusiveness of marital relationships; the legislators argue that there is need to prohibit remarriage of women, as a custom, during the Koryo. This is a form of discrimination, since there is no sound base for barring women from remarrying after the death of their husband. Moreover, there is the law that constraints the sons and grandsons of wom en, who have been married thrice from attaining a bureaucratic position, taking national examinations and receiving a post in administrative offices. This hinders them from effectively contributing to the economic development of the country. Discrimination can be considered sensitive, given that it is addressed in the State Code of 1485 without a direct outlaw of remarriage in women. In fact, sons and grandsons of remarried women are denied a chance to be eligible for civil military office. Therefore, the law hinders them from involvement in higher or lower civil service examinations. Consequently, it results to legal implications and facilitate the impossibility for remarriages in women. Nevertheless, women who have been remarried twice are not mentioned in this law, since the law is based on the basic law and ritual decorum related to human feelings. Therefore, this law is discriminating against poor women who live without supportive relatives, whereby they have trouble in maintai ning their chastity in a situation of being windowed in their early years. In this case, they are bound to make a decision of marrying for the second time, and there is no harm on ritual decorum. Therefore, laws barring their sons and grandsons from receiving high office should be expunged. Discrimination against Secondary Sons Since the beginning of the dynasty, there was a distinction between the main wife and concubines, which led to severe implications on the social status of the concubine’s sons. Consequently, the sons have been regarded as superfluous member in relation to the main descendant line, since their mothers are in the lower status in the society, which is attributed to being socially despised. They have been barred from examinations and becoming officials due to their personal initiatives; there are structural constrains of lineal consideration because of social imbalances. Barring secondary sons and their descendants from taking civil service examination and attaining a bureaucratic position is not a traditional law in Choson society. In fact, the law was compiled along with the State Code [1485], and since then, the law has been passed for a century. In fact, this form of discrimination has never been experienced in other counties such as China or other territories surrounding Choson society. Nevertheless, the reason behind barring of secondary sons from taking bureaucratic position is inappropriate maternal line in their generations. Consequently, they end up being frustrated and dying in the countryside, whereby their talents end up being wasted to the society. Peasants and Slaves Social differentiation has been accepted by the Confucians, whereby there are four categories comprising of

Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM)

Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) Organizations worldwide are continuously trying to develop new and innovative ways to enhance their competitiveness. Bacallan (2000) suggests that some of these organizations are enhancing their competitiveness through improvements in their environmental performance to comply with mounting environmental regulations, to address the environmental concerns of their customers, and to mitigate the environmental impact of their production and service activities. Green supply chain management as a form of environmental improvement is an operational initiative that many organizations are adopting to address such environmental issues. Currently, the green concept is a critical issue for companies, but when the majority of businesses are cost focused, the idea of implementing and moving toward green practices is often seen as a costly strategy. Bowen et al. (2001) state that organizations will adopt green supply chain management practices if they identify that this will result in specific financial and operational benefits. According to Routroy (2009), Greening the manufacturing supply chain may result in one or more benefits, in terms of cost reduction, operational efficiency improvement, flexibility improvement, sales enhancement, customer value enhancement, and societal image improvement. Green supply chain management is also to enhance firms environmental performance through inter-organizational collaboration with business partners and increase efficiency by cost saving programs and proactive risk management practices (Hervani et al., 2005; Rao and Holt, 2005; Zhu and Sarkis, 2007). We will review the literature about Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) concept and then we will see how it is translated within the supply chains. Then, the common purpose of this research will be to identify the link between GSCM and overall firm performance. We decided, based on the literature and on a specific framework (Rao Holt, 2005) applied in Asia, to tackle the concept of green supply chain management in Western Europe by including environmental initiatives in: (1) Inbound logistics; (2) Production or the internal supply chain; (3) Outbound logistics, including reverse logistics. Nowadays, how organisations are implementing GSCM and what are the impacts on their business? At the end of this research we will identify the best practices, and the way they are they measured. Moreover, we will see in what extent an effective Green Supply Chain Management could be a driver for innovation and business performance in manufacturing firms? Finally, we will see if Green Supply Chain Management lead to profitability and competitiveness. Our study will consider manufacturing companies in Western Europe. II Literature review Definition Green supply chain management Several studies have considered the concept of ecological sustainability as a framework for studying management practices in both operational and strategic contexts (Sarkis and Rasheed, 1995; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996; King and Lenox, 2001). As part of this effort, other studies have examined the greening of supply chains within various contexts including in product design (Allenby, 1993; Gupta, 1995), process design (Porter and Van der Linde, 1995a; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996), manufacturing practices (Winsemius and Guntram, 1992), purchasing (Handfield et al., 2002) and a broad mixture of these elements (Bowen et al., 2001a). It is not surprising that GSCM finds its definition in supply chain management. Adding the green component to supply chain management involves addressing the influence and relationships of supply chain management to the natural environment. Motivated by an environmentally-conscious mindset, it can also stem from a competitiveness motive within organizations. In this paper GSCM is defined as: Green Supply Chain Management GSCM = Green Purchasing + Green Manufacturing/Materials Management + Green Distribution=Marketing + Reverse Logistics Figure 1 shows this GSCM equation graphically, where reverse logistics closes the loop of a typical forward supply chain and includes reuse, remanufacturing, and/or recycling of materials into new materials or other products with value in the marketplace. The idea is to eliminate or minimize waste (energy, emissions, chemical/hazardous, solid wastes). This figure is representative of a single organizations internal supply chain, its major operational elements and the linkage to external organizations. A number of environmentally conscious practices are evident throughout the supply chain ranging from green design (marketing and engineering), green procurement practices (e.g. certifying suppliers, purchasing environmentally sound materials/products), total quality environmental management (internal performance measurement, pollution prevention), environmentally friendly packaging and transportation, to the various product end-of-life practices defined by the Res of reduction, reuse, remanufacturing, recycling. Expanding this figure, a number of organizational relationships could be found at various stages of thismodel, including customers and their chains, as well as suppliers and their chains, forming webs of relationships. Figure 1. GSCM graph The development of industrial ecosystems would be greatly supported by GSCM practices. Korhonen and Niutanen (2003) in their study of material and energy flows in the local forest industry in Finland suggested these flows were comparable to other economic and industrial systems. In the last two decades, the product-based systems perspective and the geographically defined local-regional industrial ecosystem have Porter (1991) argues the pressure to innovate from an environmental perspective comes from regulatory pressure, as firms respond in creative and dynamic ways to environmental regulation by introducing innovations improving environmental outcomes. Other studies concluded environmental innovation is the result of market pressures causing firms to become more efficient. Porter and Van der Linde (1995a, b) concluded firms respond to competitive conditions and regulatory pressure by developing strategies to maximize resource productivity, enabling them to simultaneously improve their industrial and environmental performance. Furthering this issue, Greffen and Rothenberg (2000) suggest suppliers can be an important source of enhanced competency for radical environmental innovation, which, in relation to an integrated technological system, demands capabilities beyond those likely to exist within a single company. The added competency brought by the supply chain partners is important. Other external pressures do exist and include environmental compliance, liability, issues of business continuity, the call for benchmarking to national, international, or industry standards, customer attitudes toward product take-back, and even pressures from inter-organizational information technology/data management systems. The innovation of GSCM/Performance Measurement is necessary for a number of reasons in response to external pressures. For example, business performance measurement, for purposes of external reporting, is fundamentally driven by the creation, maximization and defence of economic rents or surplus. These surpluses or rents in business come from distinctive capabilities such as brands and reputation, strategic assets, innovations, and the distinctive structure of relationships firms enjoy both internally with their employees and/or externally with their customers and suppliers. External reporting is also necessary to maintain organizational legitimacy with respect to environmental issues (Harvey and Schaefer, 2001). Sustainability. One of the major definitions of sustainability and certainly most well known is that of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p.8): development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This short definition includes the interest of understanding the environmental impact of economic activity in both developing and industrialized economies (Erlich and Erlich, 1991); ensuring worldwide food safety (Lal et al., 2002); ensuring that vital human needs are met (Savitz and Weber, 2006); and assuring the protection of non-renewable resources (Whiteman and Cooper, 2000). Unfortunately, the societal aspect of sustainability is complicated for firms to apply and provides little explanation regarding how organizations might recognize future versus present needs, determine the technologies and resources necessary to meet those needs, and understand how to balance organizational responsibilities to numerous stakeholders such as shareholders, employees, society and the natural environment (Hart, 1995; Starik and Rands, 1995). Sustainability has been also investigated in the fields of management, operations, and engineering. Within the management literature, most of the current conceptualizations of organizational sustainability have focused on ecological sustainability (the natural environment), with little recognition of social and economic responsibilities (Jennings and Zandbergen, 1995; Shrivastava, 1995a; Starik and Rands, 1995). Sustainable refers to the triple bottom line, for economic, social and environmental. An approach to competitive advantage. A particular organization has competitive advantage when it achieves a higher return on investment than its competitors, or it is able to do so (Grant, 1996). Therefore, in order to have competitive advantage organizations must have the ability to obtain higher profit margins than other companies in the industry. Organizations with competitive advantage, however, might show not the highest profit rate. For example, competitive organizations might prefer, for one or another reason, to sell their products and services at a lower price than the maximum price it could mark. Two major types of competitive advantage can be enjoyed by organizations (Porter, 1985): cost advantage, which is the result of supplying similar products and/or services to low prices; and differentiation advantage, which comes from offering differentiated products and/or services to customers, who, in turn, are ready to pay an additional price which overcomes the additional differentiation costs. While the cost advantage position implies to have the lowest costs in the industry, differentiation advantage refers to offering something unique which is valued by customers. Competitive advantage can derive from one or more factors or sources. Firstly, literature on strategic management suggests the following major sources of cost advantage (e.g., Porter, 1985; Grant, 1996): scale economies, learning economies, production capacity management, product design, cost of inputs, process technology, and management efficiency. Secondly, sources of differentiation advantage include tangible and intangible aspects which are significantly valued by potential customers as to be ready to pay an additional price for them (e.g., Porter, 1985; Grant, 1996); tangible aspects refer to observable characteristics of the products and services, their performance, and complementary products and services; intangible aspects, in turn, include social, emotional, psychological and aesthetic considerations which are present in any choice of products and services. Recently, a major theoretical framework has been developed in strategic management literature which seems to be particularly appropriate for identifying the characteristics that a particular resource or capability must show in order to be a major source of competitive advantage. This theoretical framework is the resource based view of the firm theory. Performance Corporate performance measurement and its field application continues to grow. The diversity and level of performance measures are linked to the goal of the company or the individual strategic business units features. For instance, when measuring performance, organizations have to think about existing financial measures such as return on investment, profitability, market share and revenue growth at a competitive and strategic level. Other measures are more operationally focused, but may inevitably be linked to strategic level measures and issues. This is the case of customer service and inventory performance (supply, turnover). GSCM implementation Where to begin? Viable environmental sustainability programs require meaningful action across a broad range of processes. Some of the most impactful areas include: Production planning: The most valuable members of a supply chain are able to provide accurate forecasts and deliver reliably so as to help reduce over purchasing, over-production and waste Manufacturing: The adoption of techniques such as lean process improvement should result in less over processing as well as reduced energy intensive storage and waste Distribution: Network redesign. Smart routing, backhauling, fill optimization and mode switching à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  all are likely to result in fewer freight miles Green design: The electronics and related high-tech industries practice collaboration as a means of optimizing the green aspects of their components and end-products; proactive and/or influential members of a supply chain can promote/pursue similar collaboration/ innovation Packaging: The greenest firms seek to minimize the environmental impact of packaging, not only by using less, but also by evaluating the energy, waste, recovery and other life cycle impacts of their packaging choices Recycled content: Companies score green points by maximizing their use. of these materials as well as by using materials in products that are in turn easily recyclable Warehousing: Challenge existing assumptions in light of higher energy costs and the need to reduce carbon footprints Green energy: More green points are available by using green or renewable energy sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  although this can be difficult in regulated energy markets (and a factor in future location decisions) IT: Videoconferencing and remote servicing can reduce business travel; Energy Star rated PCs along with optimized power consumption settings can significantly pare energy costs Server farms: Energy efficient servers arrayed according to state-of-the-art cooling practices can generate enormous energy savings Ridesharing/telecommuting: A growing number of companies are working with municipalities to better optimize public transportation to their facilities. More companies are also enabling more workdays at home as well as providing incentives for carpooling Estates: Investments in building air tightness, insulation and energy efficient heating, cooling, lighting, plant and equipment can significantly reduce carbon footprints Green procurement: It is possible to reduce your carbon footprint by paying more attention to your own procurement. Supplier carbon footprint, ISO certifications, procurement distance have to be part of the selection criterias. Conceptual framework Greening the inbound function It is argued that greening the supply chain has numerous benefits to an organization, ranging from cost reduction, to integrating suppliers in a participative decision-making process that promotes environmental innovation (Bowen et al., 2001; Hall, 1993; Rao, 2002). Critical parts of the inbound function are the purchasing and supply field. Green purchasing strategies are adopted by organizations in response to the increasing global concerns of environmental sustainability. The Green purchasing should be able address reduction of waste produced, material substitution through environmental sourcing of raw materials, and waste minimization of hazardous materials. (Rao Holt, 2005) The involvement and support of suppliers is crucial to achieving such goals. (Vachon and Klassen, 2006). Furthermore, organizations are managing more and more their suppliers environmental performance to ensure that the materials and equipments supplied by them are environmentally-friendly in nature and are produced using environmentally-friendly processes. Min and Galle (1997) explore green purchasing to determine the key factors affecting a buying firms choice of suppliers, the key barriers and the obstacles to green purchasing initiatives. They also investigated the impact of green purchasing on a corporations environmental goals. Below listed subjects to get information on the green inbound phase of a supply chain: (1) Guiding suppliers to set up their own environmental programs; (2) bringing together suppliers in the same industry to share their know-how and problems; (3) informing suppliers about the benefits of cleaner production and technologies; (4) urging/pressuring suppliers to take environmental actions; and (5) choice of suppliers by environmental criteria. Greening the production phase or the internal supply chain In this phase, there are a number of concepts that can be explored, such as cleaner production, design for environment, remanufacturing and lean production. Hong, He-Boong, Jungbae Roh, (2009) highlight through their research that strategic green management needs the combination of integrated product development (IPD) and supply chain coordination (SCC) for desired business outcomes. Thanks to a survey on 580 manufacturing plants in the US, adopting cleaner production techniques, Florida and Davison (2001) showed that green corporations are innovative in their environmental practices, and these strategies emerge from a real commitment towards reducing waste and pollution. Lean production/manufacturing is also an important consideration in reducing the environmental impact of the production phase. In their research King and Lenox (2001), concludes that lean production is complementary to improvements in environmental performance and it often lowers the marginal cost of pollution reduction thus enhancing competitiveness. In addition, Rothenberg et al. (2001) identify that lean plants aim to minimize waste and buffers, leading not only to reduce buffers in environmental technology and management, but also in an overall approach to manufacturing that minimizes waste products. (1) Environment-friendly raw materials; (2) substitution of environmentally questionable materials; (3) taking environmental criteria into consideration; (4) environmental design considerations; (5) optimization of process to reduce solid waste and emissions; (6) use of cleaner technology processes to make savings in energy, water, and waste; (7) internal recycling of materials within the production phase; and (8) incorporating environmental total quality management principles such as worker empowerment. Greening the outbound function On the outbound side of the green supply chain, green logistics comprises all links from the manufacturer to the end users and includes products, processes, packaging, transport, and disposal (Skjoett-Larsen, 2000). Rao, (2003) and Sarkis, (1999) argue on the fact that green marketing, environment-friendly packaging, and environment-friendly distribution, are all initiatives that might improve the environmental performance of an organization and its supply chain. Reverse logistics and waste exchange and ore generally management of wastes in the outbound function can lead to cost savings and enhanced competitiveness (Rao, 2003). In order to address these environmental impacts of packaging, many countries now have programs and legislation that aims to minimize the amount of packaging that enters the waste stream, such as the Packaging Directive in the EU. The distribution, for the whole supply chain is a huge stake for green management. In fact the distribution results of a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness firm strategy. For this reason is difficult to handle As part of outbound logistics, green marketing has an important part to play in the link between environmental innovation and competitive advantage (Menon and Menon, 1997). Encouraging suppliers to take back packaging is a form of reverse logistics that can be an important consideration in greening the outbound function, with a study by Dorn (1996) identifying an increase in market share amongst companies that implemented an environmentally-friendly packaging scheme. The product design step is more and more integrated within green supply chain issues because 80% of the environmental burden and cost of a product is fixed during this phase (Carbone, Moatti, 2008). Strategic variables to take in account for an empirical study; (1) Environment-friendly waste management; (2) environmental improvement of packaging; (3) taking back packaging; (4) eco-labeling; (5) recovery of companys end-of-life products; (6) providing consumers with information on environmental friendly products and/or production methods; and (7) use of environmentally-friendly transportation. Competitiveness Economic performance Bacallan (2000) suggests that organizations are enhancing their competitiveness through improvements in their environmental performance to comply with mounting environmental regulations, to address the environmental concerns of their customers (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). However, an interesting point to notice is that, as long as the market does not seek environmental value-drivers in the products and services it purchases, environmental issues are not necessarily considered by organizations and consumers. (Rao Holt, 2005) Fortunately, over the last few years there has been a growth in environmental awareness of consumers in general. Clearly a growing number of corporations are developing company-wide environmental programs and green products sourced from markets around the world. Therefore, environmental issues are becoming a source of competitiveness. All these efforts aim to improve environmental performance, enhance corporate image, reduce costs, reduce risks of non-compliance and improve marketing advantage. Nevertheless, some organizations are still looking upon green initiatives as involving trade-offs between environmental performance and economic performance. The financial performance of firms is affected by environmental performance in a variety of ways. When waste, both hazardous and non-hazardous, is minimized as part of environmental management, it results in better utilization of natural resources, improved efficiency, higher productivity and reduces operating costs (Rao Holt, 2005). Nowadays and in the future, a good green player could expect to increase its brand image and its market share and then improve its profitability against company without enough green concern while saving costs by innovative processes. To investigate the link between green supply chain management and economic performance we could refers to those key aspects: (1) New market opportunities; (2) product price increase; (3) profit margin;(4) sales; and (5) market share. And competitiveness: (1) Improved efficiency; (2) quality improvement; (3) productivity improvement; and (4) cost savings. Methodology To validate our research, an empirical, survey-based research approach will be taken. Based on the empirical studies through the literature, and a meaningful framework used in the relevant research of Rao Holt in 2005 applied on Asian companies. We choose to follow a common technique to validate the framework presented in the preceding section, a linear SEM (Stochastic Expectation Maximization) approach is used (JÃÆ' ¶reskog and SÃÆ' ¶rbom, 1993) to validate the causal relationships between the different latent constructs of: greening the inbound function; greening production; greening the outbound function; competitiveness and; economic performance. The questionnaire will be distributed to the supply chain managers and/or environmental management representative (EMR) or the chief executive of manufacturing organizations in Western Europe. In order to have both MNCs and SMEs ( Responses will be collected on a four-point and five-point Likert scale, and open-ended questions. The four-point scale served to force the respondents to check either on the negative side or on the positive side. The choice not to focus only on the leading edge ISO14001 accredited organizations (running environmental management) allow us to broader our research and then make a comparison between those without formal environmental management accreditation, and best players accredited. In terms of financial performance, this strategy will be interesting for identifying benefits and again do comparisons. Expected results. As this type of research was already done in South-Est Asia, our results will allow us to compare our findings and trend with those in South-Est Asia. We expect a response of 10%, therefore we will send to a consequent sample to get sufficient and tangible return. We will probably be able to confirm that greening the supply chain also has potential to lead to competitiveness and economic performance. As the current environmental concern in Europe is high, including governmental and customers pressures these research findings would probably show that firms that are greening their supply chains not only achieve substantial cost savings, but also enhance either sales, market share or exploit new market opportunities. The cost aspect will be important to assess as it is directly connected to the overall performance. The main limitation of this research will be probably the small sample of organizations, but the lack of empirical research in Europe will be also one of the main strengths of this paper. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to all organizations in this region or around the world. Finally, future research should empirically test the relationships suggested in this paper in different countries, to enable comparative studies. For further research, a larger sample will allow detailed cross-sectoral comparisons and establish international patterns regarding benefits from GSCM. Performance Measurement for Green Supply chain management: Context In supply chains with multiple actors, (vendors manufacturers, distributors and retailers) whether regionally or globally dispersed, it is difficult to attribute performance results to one particular entity within the chain, by the way performance measurement is really challenging. There are difficulties in measuring performance within organizations and even more difficulties arise in inter-organizational environmental performance measurement. The reasons for lack of systems to measure performance across organizations are multidimensional, including non-standardized data, poor technological integration, geographical and cultural differences, differences in organizational policy, lack of agreed upon metrics, or poor understanding of the need for inter-organizational performance measurement. (Hervani, A. Helms, M. Sarkis, J., 2005) Performance measurement in supply chains is difficult for additional reasons, especially when looking at numerous tiers within a supply chain, and green supply chain management performance measurement, or GSCM/PM, is virtually non-existent. With these barriers and difficulties in mind, GSCM/PM is needed for a number of reasons (including regulatory, marketing and competitiveness reasons). Overcoming these barriers is not a trivial issue, but the long-term sustainability (environmental and otherwise) and competitiveness of organizations may rely on successful adoption of GSCM/PM. The basic purposes of GSCM/PM are: external reporting (economic rent), internal control (managing the business better) and internal analysis (understanding the business better and continuous improvement). These are the fundamental issues that drive the development of frameworks for business performance measurement. It is important to consider both purpose, as well as the interrelationships of these various measurements. Supply chain management Supply chain management is the coordination and management of a complex network of activities involved in delivering a finished product to the end-user or customer. It is a vital business function and the process includes sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing and assembling products, storage, order entry and tracking, distribution through the various channels and finally delivery to the customer. A companys supply chain structure consists of external suppliers, internal functions of the company, and external distributors, as well as customers (commercial or end-user). Firms may be members of multiple supply chains simultaneously. The management and coordination is further complicated by global players spread across geographic boundaries and multiple time zones. The successful management of a supply chain is also influenced by customer expectations, globalization, information technology, government regulation, competition and the environment. Performance management and measurement Corporate performance measurement and its application continue to grow and encompass both quantitative and qualitative measurements and approaches. The variety and level of performance measures depends greatly on the goal of the organization or the individual strategic business units characteristics. For example, when measuring performance, companies must consider existing financial measures such as return on investment, profitability, market share and revenue growth at a more competitive and strategic level. Other measures such as customer service and inventory performance (supply, turnover) are more operationally focused, but may necessarily be linked to strategic level measures and issues. Overall, these difficulties in developing standards for performance measurement are traced to the various measurement taxonomies. Example taxonomic considerations include: management level to measure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" strategic, tactical, or operational; tangible versus intangible measures; variations in collection and reporting; an organizations location along the supply chain or functional differentiation within organizations (e.g. accounting, versus marketing or operations). Similar to the performance measurement used, the performance measurement system may be unique to each individual organization, or unit within an organization, reflecting its fundamental purpose and its environment. Several studies have investigated the universal principles of performance measurement (Adams et al., 1995; Gunasekaran et al., 2001; Sink and Tuttle, 1990). These studies arrived at a number of conclus Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) Value of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) Organizations worldwide are continuously trying to develop new and innovative ways to enhance their competitiveness. Bacallan (2000) suggests that some of these organizations are enhancing their competitiveness through improvements in their environmental performance to comply with mounting environmental regulations, to address the environmental concerns of their customers, and to mitigate the environmental impact of their production and service activities. Green supply chain management as a form of environmental improvement is an operational initiative that many organizations are adopting to address such environmental issues. Currently, the green concept is a critical issue for companies, but when the majority of businesses are cost focused, the idea of implementing and moving toward green practices is often seen as a costly strategy. Bowen et al. (2001) state that organizations will adopt green supply chain management practices if they identify that this will result in specific financial and operational benefits. According to Routroy (2009), Greening the manufacturing supply chain may result in one or more benefits, in terms of cost reduction, operational efficiency improvement, flexibility improvement, sales enhancement, customer value enhancement, and societal image improvement. Green supply chain management is also to enhance firms environmental performance through inter-organizational collaboration with business partners and increase efficiency by cost saving programs and proactive risk management practices (Hervani et al., 2005; Rao and Holt, 2005; Zhu and Sarkis, 2007). We will review the literature about Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) concept and then we will see how it is translated within the supply chains. Then, the common purpose of this research will be to identify the link between GSCM and overall firm performance. We decided, based on the literature and on a specific framework (Rao Holt, 2005) applied in Asia, to tackle the concept of green supply chain management in Western Europe by including environmental initiatives in: (1) Inbound logistics; (2) Production or the internal supply chain; (3) Outbound logistics, including reverse logistics. Nowadays, how organisations are implementing GSCM and what are the impacts on their business? At the end of this research we will identify the best practices, and the way they are they measured. Moreover, we will see in what extent an effective Green Supply Chain Management could be a driver for innovation and business performance in manufacturing firms? Finally, we will see if Green Supply Chain Management lead to profitability and competitiveness. Our study will consider manufacturing companies in Western Europe. II Literature review Definition Green supply chain management Several studies have considered the concept of ecological sustainability as a framework for studying management practices in both operational and strategic contexts (Sarkis and Rasheed, 1995; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996; King and Lenox, 2001). As part of this effort, other studies have examined the greening of supply chains within various contexts including in product design (Allenby, 1993; Gupta, 1995), process design (Porter and Van der Linde, 1995a; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996), manufacturing practices (Winsemius and Guntram, 1992), purchasing (Handfield et al., 2002) and a broad mixture of these elements (Bowen et al., 2001a). It is not surprising that GSCM finds its definition in supply chain management. Adding the green component to supply chain management involves addressing the influence and relationships of supply chain management to the natural environment. Motivated by an environmentally-conscious mindset, it can also stem from a competitiveness motive within organizations. In this paper GSCM is defined as: Green Supply Chain Management GSCM = Green Purchasing + Green Manufacturing/Materials Management + Green Distribution=Marketing + Reverse Logistics Figure 1 shows this GSCM equation graphically, where reverse logistics closes the loop of a typical forward supply chain and includes reuse, remanufacturing, and/or recycling of materials into new materials or other products with value in the marketplace. The idea is to eliminate or minimize waste (energy, emissions, chemical/hazardous, solid wastes). This figure is representative of a single organizations internal supply chain, its major operational elements and the linkage to external organizations. A number of environmentally conscious practices are evident throughout the supply chain ranging from green design (marketing and engineering), green procurement practices (e.g. certifying suppliers, purchasing environmentally sound materials/products), total quality environmental management (internal performance measurement, pollution prevention), environmentally friendly packaging and transportation, to the various product end-of-life practices defined by the Res of reduction, reuse, remanufacturing, recycling. Expanding this figure, a number of organizational relationships could be found at various stages of thismodel, including customers and their chains, as well as suppliers and their chains, forming webs of relationships. Figure 1. GSCM graph The development of industrial ecosystems would be greatly supported by GSCM practices. Korhonen and Niutanen (2003) in their study of material and energy flows in the local forest industry in Finland suggested these flows were comparable to other economic and industrial systems. In the last two decades, the product-based systems perspective and the geographically defined local-regional industrial ecosystem have Porter (1991) argues the pressure to innovate from an environmental perspective comes from regulatory pressure, as firms respond in creative and dynamic ways to environmental regulation by introducing innovations improving environmental outcomes. Other studies concluded environmental innovation is the result of market pressures causing firms to become more efficient. Porter and Van der Linde (1995a, b) concluded firms respond to competitive conditions and regulatory pressure by developing strategies to maximize resource productivity, enabling them to simultaneously improve their industrial and environmental performance. Furthering this issue, Greffen and Rothenberg (2000) suggest suppliers can be an important source of enhanced competency for radical environmental innovation, which, in relation to an integrated technological system, demands capabilities beyond those likely to exist within a single company. The added competency brought by the supply chain partners is important. Other external pressures do exist and include environmental compliance, liability, issues of business continuity, the call for benchmarking to national, international, or industry standards, customer attitudes toward product take-back, and even pressures from inter-organizational information technology/data management systems. The innovation of GSCM/Performance Measurement is necessary for a number of reasons in response to external pressures. For example, business performance measurement, for purposes of external reporting, is fundamentally driven by the creation, maximization and defence of economic rents or surplus. These surpluses or rents in business come from distinctive capabilities such as brands and reputation, strategic assets, innovations, and the distinctive structure of relationships firms enjoy both internally with their employees and/or externally with their customers and suppliers. External reporting is also necessary to maintain organizational legitimacy with respect to environmental issues (Harvey and Schaefer, 2001). Sustainability. One of the major definitions of sustainability and certainly most well known is that of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p.8): development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This short definition includes the interest of understanding the environmental impact of economic activity in both developing and industrialized economies (Erlich and Erlich, 1991); ensuring worldwide food safety (Lal et al., 2002); ensuring that vital human needs are met (Savitz and Weber, 2006); and assuring the protection of non-renewable resources (Whiteman and Cooper, 2000). Unfortunately, the societal aspect of sustainability is complicated for firms to apply and provides little explanation regarding how organizations might recognize future versus present needs, determine the technologies and resources necessary to meet those needs, and understand how to balance organizational responsibilities to numerous stakeholders such as shareholders, employees, society and the natural environment (Hart, 1995; Starik and Rands, 1995). Sustainability has been also investigated in the fields of management, operations, and engineering. Within the management literature, most of the current conceptualizations of organizational sustainability have focused on ecological sustainability (the natural environment), with little recognition of social and economic responsibilities (Jennings and Zandbergen, 1995; Shrivastava, 1995a; Starik and Rands, 1995). Sustainable refers to the triple bottom line, for economic, social and environmental. An approach to competitive advantage. A particular organization has competitive advantage when it achieves a higher return on investment than its competitors, or it is able to do so (Grant, 1996). Therefore, in order to have competitive advantage organizations must have the ability to obtain higher profit margins than other companies in the industry. Organizations with competitive advantage, however, might show not the highest profit rate. For example, competitive organizations might prefer, for one or another reason, to sell their products and services at a lower price than the maximum price it could mark. Two major types of competitive advantage can be enjoyed by organizations (Porter, 1985): cost advantage, which is the result of supplying similar products and/or services to low prices; and differentiation advantage, which comes from offering differentiated products and/or services to customers, who, in turn, are ready to pay an additional price which overcomes the additional differentiation costs. While the cost advantage position implies to have the lowest costs in the industry, differentiation advantage refers to offering something unique which is valued by customers. Competitive advantage can derive from one or more factors or sources. Firstly, literature on strategic management suggests the following major sources of cost advantage (e.g., Porter, 1985; Grant, 1996): scale economies, learning economies, production capacity management, product design, cost of inputs, process technology, and management efficiency. Secondly, sources of differentiation advantage include tangible and intangible aspects which are significantly valued by potential customers as to be ready to pay an additional price for them (e.g., Porter, 1985; Grant, 1996); tangible aspects refer to observable characteristics of the products and services, their performance, and complementary products and services; intangible aspects, in turn, include social, emotional, psychological and aesthetic considerations which are present in any choice of products and services. Recently, a major theoretical framework has been developed in strategic management literature which seems to be particularly appropriate for identifying the characteristics that a particular resource or capability must show in order to be a major source of competitive advantage. This theoretical framework is the resource based view of the firm theory. Performance Corporate performance measurement and its field application continues to grow. The diversity and level of performance measures are linked to the goal of the company or the individual strategic business units features. For instance, when measuring performance, organizations have to think about existing financial measures such as return on investment, profitability, market share and revenue growth at a competitive and strategic level. Other measures are more operationally focused, but may inevitably be linked to strategic level measures and issues. This is the case of customer service and inventory performance (supply, turnover). GSCM implementation Where to begin? Viable environmental sustainability programs require meaningful action across a broad range of processes. Some of the most impactful areas include: Production planning: The most valuable members of a supply chain are able to provide accurate forecasts and deliver reliably so as to help reduce over purchasing, over-production and waste Manufacturing: The adoption of techniques such as lean process improvement should result in less over processing as well as reduced energy intensive storage and waste Distribution: Network redesign. Smart routing, backhauling, fill optimization and mode switching à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  all are likely to result in fewer freight miles Green design: The electronics and related high-tech industries practice collaboration as a means of optimizing the green aspects of their components and end-products; proactive and/or influential members of a supply chain can promote/pursue similar collaboration/ innovation Packaging: The greenest firms seek to minimize the environmental impact of packaging, not only by using less, but also by evaluating the energy, waste, recovery and other life cycle impacts of their packaging choices Recycled content: Companies score green points by maximizing their use. of these materials as well as by using materials in products that are in turn easily recyclable Warehousing: Challenge existing assumptions in light of higher energy costs and the need to reduce carbon footprints Green energy: More green points are available by using green or renewable energy sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  although this can be difficult in regulated energy markets (and a factor in future location decisions) IT: Videoconferencing and remote servicing can reduce business travel; Energy Star rated PCs along with optimized power consumption settings can significantly pare energy costs Server farms: Energy efficient servers arrayed according to state-of-the-art cooling practices can generate enormous energy savings Ridesharing/telecommuting: A growing number of companies are working with municipalities to better optimize public transportation to their facilities. More companies are also enabling more workdays at home as well as providing incentives for carpooling Estates: Investments in building air tightness, insulation and energy efficient heating, cooling, lighting, plant and equipment can significantly reduce carbon footprints Green procurement: It is possible to reduce your carbon footprint by paying more attention to your own procurement. Supplier carbon footprint, ISO certifications, procurement distance have to be part of the selection criterias. Conceptual framework Greening the inbound function It is argued that greening the supply chain has numerous benefits to an organization, ranging from cost reduction, to integrating suppliers in a participative decision-making process that promotes environmental innovation (Bowen et al., 2001; Hall, 1993; Rao, 2002). Critical parts of the inbound function are the purchasing and supply field. Green purchasing strategies are adopted by organizations in response to the increasing global concerns of environmental sustainability. The Green purchasing should be able address reduction of waste produced, material substitution through environmental sourcing of raw materials, and waste minimization of hazardous materials. (Rao Holt, 2005) The involvement and support of suppliers is crucial to achieving such goals. (Vachon and Klassen, 2006). Furthermore, organizations are managing more and more their suppliers environmental performance to ensure that the materials and equipments supplied by them are environmentally-friendly in nature and are produced using environmentally-friendly processes. Min and Galle (1997) explore green purchasing to determine the key factors affecting a buying firms choice of suppliers, the key barriers and the obstacles to green purchasing initiatives. They also investigated the impact of green purchasing on a corporations environmental goals. Below listed subjects to get information on the green inbound phase of a supply chain: (1) Guiding suppliers to set up their own environmental programs; (2) bringing together suppliers in the same industry to share their know-how and problems; (3) informing suppliers about the benefits of cleaner production and technologies; (4) urging/pressuring suppliers to take environmental actions; and (5) choice of suppliers by environmental criteria. Greening the production phase or the internal supply chain In this phase, there are a number of concepts that can be explored, such as cleaner production, design for environment, remanufacturing and lean production. Hong, He-Boong, Jungbae Roh, (2009) highlight through their research that strategic green management needs the combination of integrated product development (IPD) and supply chain coordination (SCC) for desired business outcomes. Thanks to a survey on 580 manufacturing plants in the US, adopting cleaner production techniques, Florida and Davison (2001) showed that green corporations are innovative in their environmental practices, and these strategies emerge from a real commitment towards reducing waste and pollution. Lean production/manufacturing is also an important consideration in reducing the environmental impact of the production phase. In their research King and Lenox (2001), concludes that lean production is complementary to improvements in environmental performance and it often lowers the marginal cost of pollution reduction thus enhancing competitiveness. In addition, Rothenberg et al. (2001) identify that lean plants aim to minimize waste and buffers, leading not only to reduce buffers in environmental technology and management, but also in an overall approach to manufacturing that minimizes waste products. (1) Environment-friendly raw materials; (2) substitution of environmentally questionable materials; (3) taking environmental criteria into consideration; (4) environmental design considerations; (5) optimization of process to reduce solid waste and emissions; (6) use of cleaner technology processes to make savings in energy, water, and waste; (7) internal recycling of materials within the production phase; and (8) incorporating environmental total quality management principles such as worker empowerment. Greening the outbound function On the outbound side of the green supply chain, green logistics comprises all links from the manufacturer to the end users and includes products, processes, packaging, transport, and disposal (Skjoett-Larsen, 2000). Rao, (2003) and Sarkis, (1999) argue on the fact that green marketing, environment-friendly packaging, and environment-friendly distribution, are all initiatives that might improve the environmental performance of an organization and its supply chain. Reverse logistics and waste exchange and ore generally management of wastes in the outbound function can lead to cost savings and enhanced competitiveness (Rao, 2003). In order to address these environmental impacts of packaging, many countries now have programs and legislation that aims to minimize the amount of packaging that enters the waste stream, such as the Packaging Directive in the EU. The distribution, for the whole supply chain is a huge stake for green management. In fact the distribution results of a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness firm strategy. For this reason is difficult to handle As part of outbound logistics, green marketing has an important part to play in the link between environmental innovation and competitive advantage (Menon and Menon, 1997). Encouraging suppliers to take back packaging is a form of reverse logistics that can be an important consideration in greening the outbound function, with a study by Dorn (1996) identifying an increase in market share amongst companies that implemented an environmentally-friendly packaging scheme. The product design step is more and more integrated within green supply chain issues because 80% of the environmental burden and cost of a product is fixed during this phase (Carbone, Moatti, 2008). Strategic variables to take in account for an empirical study; (1) Environment-friendly waste management; (2) environmental improvement of packaging; (3) taking back packaging; (4) eco-labeling; (5) recovery of companys end-of-life products; (6) providing consumers with information on environmental friendly products and/or production methods; and (7) use of environmentally-friendly transportation. Competitiveness Economic performance Bacallan (2000) suggests that organizations are enhancing their competitiveness through improvements in their environmental performance to comply with mounting environmental regulations, to address the environmental concerns of their customers (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). However, an interesting point to notice is that, as long as the market does not seek environmental value-drivers in the products and services it purchases, environmental issues are not necessarily considered by organizations and consumers. (Rao Holt, 2005) Fortunately, over the last few years there has been a growth in environmental awareness of consumers in general. Clearly a growing number of corporations are developing company-wide environmental programs and green products sourced from markets around the world. Therefore, environmental issues are becoming a source of competitiveness. All these efforts aim to improve environmental performance, enhance corporate image, reduce costs, reduce risks of non-compliance and improve marketing advantage. Nevertheless, some organizations are still looking upon green initiatives as involving trade-offs between environmental performance and economic performance. The financial performance of firms is affected by environmental performance in a variety of ways. When waste, both hazardous and non-hazardous, is minimized as part of environmental management, it results in better utilization of natural resources, improved efficiency, higher productivity and reduces operating costs (Rao Holt, 2005). Nowadays and in the future, a good green player could expect to increase its brand image and its market share and then improve its profitability against company without enough green concern while saving costs by innovative processes. To investigate the link between green supply chain management and economic performance we could refers to those key aspects: (1) New market opportunities; (2) product price increase; (3) profit margin;(4) sales; and (5) market share. And competitiveness: (1) Improved efficiency; (2) quality improvement; (3) productivity improvement; and (4) cost savings. Methodology To validate our research, an empirical, survey-based research approach will be taken. Based on the empirical studies through the literature, and a meaningful framework used in the relevant research of Rao Holt in 2005 applied on Asian companies. We choose to follow a common technique to validate the framework presented in the preceding section, a linear SEM (Stochastic Expectation Maximization) approach is used (JÃÆ' ¶reskog and SÃÆ' ¶rbom, 1993) to validate the causal relationships between the different latent constructs of: greening the inbound function; greening production; greening the outbound function; competitiveness and; economic performance. The questionnaire will be distributed to the supply chain managers and/or environmental management representative (EMR) or the chief executive of manufacturing organizations in Western Europe. In order to have both MNCs and SMEs ( Responses will be collected on a four-point and five-point Likert scale, and open-ended questions. The four-point scale served to force the respondents to check either on the negative side or on the positive side. The choice not to focus only on the leading edge ISO14001 accredited organizations (running environmental management) allow us to broader our research and then make a comparison between those without formal environmental management accreditation, and best players accredited. In terms of financial performance, this strategy will be interesting for identifying benefits and again do comparisons. Expected results. As this type of research was already done in South-Est Asia, our results will allow us to compare our findings and trend with those in South-Est Asia. We expect a response of 10%, therefore we will send to a consequent sample to get sufficient and tangible return. We will probably be able to confirm that greening the supply chain also has potential to lead to competitiveness and economic performance. As the current environmental concern in Europe is high, including governmental and customers pressures these research findings would probably show that firms that are greening their supply chains not only achieve substantial cost savings, but also enhance either sales, market share or exploit new market opportunities. The cost aspect will be important to assess as it is directly connected to the overall performance. The main limitation of this research will be probably the small sample of organizations, but the lack of empirical research in Europe will be also one of the main strengths of this paper. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to all organizations in this region or around the world. Finally, future research should empirically test the relationships suggested in this paper in different countries, to enable comparative studies. For further research, a larger sample will allow detailed cross-sectoral comparisons and establish international patterns regarding benefits from GSCM. Performance Measurement for Green Supply chain management: Context In supply chains with multiple actors, (vendors manufacturers, distributors and retailers) whether regionally or globally dispersed, it is difficult to attribute performance results to one particular entity within the chain, by the way performance measurement is really challenging. There are difficulties in measuring performance within organizations and even more difficulties arise in inter-organizational environmental performance measurement. The reasons for lack of systems to measure performance across organizations are multidimensional, including non-standardized data, poor technological integration, geographical and cultural differences, differences in organizational policy, lack of agreed upon metrics, or poor understanding of the need for inter-organizational performance measurement. (Hervani, A. Helms, M. Sarkis, J., 2005) Performance measurement in supply chains is difficult for additional reasons, especially when looking at numerous tiers within a supply chain, and green supply chain management performance measurement, or GSCM/PM, is virtually non-existent. With these barriers and difficulties in mind, GSCM/PM is needed for a number of reasons (including regulatory, marketing and competitiveness reasons). Overcoming these barriers is not a trivial issue, but the long-term sustainability (environmental and otherwise) and competitiveness of organizations may rely on successful adoption of GSCM/PM. The basic purposes of GSCM/PM are: external reporting (economic rent), internal control (managing the business better) and internal analysis (understanding the business better and continuous improvement). These are the fundamental issues that drive the development of frameworks for business performance measurement. It is important to consider both purpose, as well as the interrelationships of these various measurements. Supply chain management Supply chain management is the coordination and management of a complex network of activities involved in delivering a finished product to the end-user or customer. It is a vital business function and the process includes sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing and assembling products, storage, order entry and tracking, distribution through the various channels and finally delivery to the customer. A companys supply chain structure consists of external suppliers, internal functions of the company, and external distributors, as well as customers (commercial or end-user). Firms may be members of multiple supply chains simultaneously. The management and coordination is further complicated by global players spread across geographic boundaries and multiple time zones. The successful management of a supply chain is also influenced by customer expectations, globalization, information technology, government regulation, competition and the environment. Performance management and measurement Corporate performance measurement and its application continue to grow and encompass both quantitative and qualitative measurements and approaches. The variety and level of performance measures depends greatly on the goal of the organization or the individual strategic business units characteristics. For example, when measuring performance, companies must consider existing financial measures such as return on investment, profitability, market share and revenue growth at a more competitive and strategic level. Other measures such as customer service and inventory performance (supply, turnover) are more operationally focused, but may necessarily be linked to strategic level measures and issues. Overall, these difficulties in developing standards for performance measurement are traced to the various measurement taxonomies. Example taxonomic considerations include: management level to measure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" strategic, tactical, or operational; tangible versus intangible measures; variations in collection and reporting; an organizations location along the supply chain or functional differentiation within organizations (e.g. accounting, versus marketing or operations). Similar to the performance measurement used, the performance measurement system may be unique to each individual organization, or unit within an organization, reflecting its fundamental purpose and its environment. Several studies have investigated the universal principles of performance measurement (Adams et al., 1995; Gunasekaran et al., 2001; Sink and Tuttle, 1990). These studies arrived at a number of conclus