Introductory Accounting Assignment

ACCT 2060 Introductory Accounting Assignment – Semester 2, 2011 This assignment is designed to get you to locate the Annual Reports for a company and become familiar with the contents of an Annual Report, particularly the financial statements and the notes to the financial statements. While we have looked at very basic formats of the financial statements, the financial statements for a company contain a little more detail and information on some items you may not have been introduced to yet.Pay particular attention to the information provided in the notes to the financial statements as you will find a lot of useful information in them that may help with some of the questions. REQUIRED: You are required to obtain the 2010 Annual Report of Blackmores Limited and then answer the questions that follow in Part A and Part B. PART A – THE COMPANY (8 x 1 = 8 marks) Question 1 Describe the company’s principal operating activities. Ans: Blackmores Limited manufactures & de velops health products. [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 2]Question 2 An auditing firm will have received remuneration for their services. What services did the auditing firm provide for this company in 2010? Ans: The auditing firm, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU, audited the Remuneration Report included in pages 41 to 48 of the directors’ report for the year ended 30  June 2010. Their  responsibility is to express an opinion on the Remuneration Report, based on their audit conducted in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards. [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 41 to 48, Page 50 and 51] Question 3Using the 2010 Annual Report, identify the number of the note that deals with Significant Accounting Policies and identify the method of depreciation the company uses to depreciate property, plant and equipment. What is the underlying assumption of this method in relation to the usefulness of property, plant and equipment? Ans: Total numbers of notes dealing with Significant Accounting Policies are 22. [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 58 – 64]. The method of depreciation the company adopt onto depreciation of property, plant and equipment is the straight-line method.The underlying assumption is that the residual value is estimated based on the cost of asset over the expected useful life. Freehold land is not depreciated. The following estimated useful lives are used in the calculation of depreciation: †¢ Buildings 25–40 years †¢ Leasehold improvements 3–13 years †¢ Plant and equipment 3–20 years [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 59]. Question 4 The annual report contains a number of reports with only some of these being ‘financial reports’. Name all of the financial reports in the 2010 annual report shown for this company in their annual report.Ans: The financial reports in the 2010 annual report are Statement of Financial position as at 30 June 2010, Statem ent of Comprehensive Income for the. Statement of Changes in Equity and Statement of cash flows. [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 53-57]. Question 5 Directors of the company will often own shares in the company as well. Identify the name of the chairman of the board of directors and identify the number of shares the chairman held in the company at the end of their 2010 financial year (financial year ends June 30, 2010). Ans:Chairman of the board of directors is Marcus C Blackmore AM [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 36]. The number of fully paid ordinary shares he has is 4,479,278 [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 38]. Question 6 Describe the purpose of the external auditor’s report. Ans: The external auditor’s report is to ensure that the financial reports produced by Blackmores internally are true & fair, complete & accurate. [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 51]. Question 7 With reference to the consolidated entity: †¢ What is the total amount of revenue and other income in 2010? What are the two revenue items? †¢ What is the ‘other income’ comprised of? (You must refer to the relevant note to find the answer to this. ) Ans: The total amount of revenue and other income in 2010 is $217,093,000 The two revenue items are Sales and Royalties. The ‘other income’ comprises of bank deposits / Net foreign exchange gains. [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 53 and 67]. Question 8 Again with reference to the consolidated entity: †¢ What is the amount of cash receipts from customers in 2010? †¢ Why does this amount differ from the 2010 sales figure? Ans:The amount of cash receipts from customers is 2010 is $237,522,000 The amount differ from the 2010 sales figures as not all customer pay cash on payment, some may pay on credit which result in account receivable. [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 57]. PART B – Analysis of financial informa tion (12 marks) Question 1 (4 marks) Using the consolidated figures for Blackmores Ltd, calculate the following ratios for the years 2009 and 2010. Ratios are to be shown at one decimal place. You must show all your workings. (Where no workings are shown you will receive zero for this section): . Current ratio ii. Acid test ratio iii. Gearing ratio iv. Interest cover ratio Ans: Current ratio = Current assets / Current liabilities Acid ratio = Current assets (excluding inventory and prepayments) / Current liabilities Gearing ratio = Long-term liabilities / (Share capital + Reserves + Long-term liabilities) Interest cover ratio = Profit before interest and taxation / Interest Expense [Ref: School of Business, MBA 2011, ‘Introductory accounting’, Course Notes from ACCT2060_1160, ‘Lecture 6, Unit 6 – Financial Ratio Analysis’, Page102-107 , RMIT University, Melbourne] |Yr 2009 (Working) |Yr 2009 Ratio |Yr 2010 (Working) |Yr 2010 Ratio | |Current ratio |6 9,544 / 31,903 |2. 2 |82,985 / 34,457 |2. 4 | |Acid Test ratio |(69,544-16,072) / 31,903 |1. 7 |(82,985-22,555) / 34,457 |1. 8 | |Gearing ratio |48,043 / (58,563 + 48,043) |0. 5 |48,102 / (71,790 + 48,102) |0. | |Interest cover ratio |30,335 / 1,372 |22. 1 |36,746 / 2,442 |15. 0 | [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 53 and 55]. Question 2 (2 marks) You have been provided with the following information about another company, Company X, in the same industry as Blackmores Ltd: |COMPANY X | |Ratio |2010 |2009 | |Current ratio |2. |1. 8 | |Acid test ratio |1. 2 |1. 5 | |Gearing ratio |1. 2 |0. 8 | |Interest cover ratio (times) |10. 9 |13. 1 | Using the information above and the calculations in Part B Question 1, you are required to analyse the liquidity and financial gearing (leverage) of Blackmores Ltd and Company X by providing: ) a description of the movement in each of the ratios for Blackmores Ltd; b) a description of the movement in each of the ratios for Company X; c) an explanation of what each of these ratios tell you about Blackmores Ltd; d) an explanation of what each of these ratios tell you about Company X; Ans: A) The current ratio for Blackmores Ltd indicates that the company is experiencing a slight increase in current asset over current liability. The acid ratio for Blackmores Ltd indicates that the company has slight increase in current asset over the current liability excluding inventories.The gearing ratio for Blackmores Ltd indicates that the company has marginal increase in long term liability over equity. The interest cover ratio for Blackmores Ltd indicates that the company has increase in interest expense. B) The current ratio for Company X indicates that the company is experiencing a slight increase in current asset over current liability. The acid ratio for Company X indicates that the company has slight decline in current asset over the current liability excluding its inventories.The gearing ratio for Company X indicates that th e company has marginal increase in long term liability over equity. The interest cover ratio for Company X indicates that the company has increase in interest expense. C) In Blackmores Ltd current ratio, we see a 20cents increase in liquidity to repay for every 1 dollar of obligation in the next operating cycle. By zooming further into acid ratio test, it becomes clearer that the company has only a 10cents increase in liquidity to repay for every 1 dollar of obligation within 90days as it excludes inventories and prepayment.In gearing ratio, we can conclude that Blackmores Ltd has lowered their long term by 10cents per 1 dollar obligation. As for interest ratio, it reflects that Blackmores Ltd has to pay more interest on outstanding debt. D) In Company X current ratio, we see an increase in 30cents in liquidity to repay for every 1 dollar of obligation in the next operating cycle. Looking further into the acid ratio test, it becomes clearer that the company actually have a 30cents d ecline in liquidity to repay for every 1 dollar of obligation within 90days and we also can assume that the company has a lot of inventories or prepayments.In gearing ratio, we can assume that Company X has increased their long term liabilities in certain aspect. In interest cover ratio of Company X, it also reflects that Company X has to pay more interest on outstanding debt. Question 3 (2 marks) Assume you are considering becoming a creditor for Blackmores Ltd or Company X (from Part B Question 2 above). That is, you will only be providing credit to one of them. Explain which company you would prefer to provide goods to on credit and why you have chosen this company. You may consider both financial and non-financial information in making this decision.Ans: I would provide goods on credit to Blackmores Ltd because Blackmores Ltd has a higher ability to pay off obligations as compare to Company X reference from their current and acid ratio. Also, Blackmores Ltd shows that the compan y is relatively low in term of leverage shown from gearing ratio. Question 4(4 marks) Prepare a table similar to the table below. Complete the table by inserting information from Blackmores’ financial statements (consolidated figures). Calculate each item as a percentage (%) of sales revenue. Financial Item |2010 ($) |% |2009 ($) |% | |Sales |214,934,000 |100. 0 |200,314,000 |100. 0 | |Total expenses |180,347,000 |83. 9 |171,380,000 |85. 6 | |Promotional and other rebates |19,054,000 |8. 9 |18,581,000 |9. | |Raw materials and consumables used |65,748,000 |30. 6 |71,338,000 |35. 6 | |Employee benefits expense |48,179,000 |22. 4 |42,212,000 |21. 1 | |Selling and marketing expenses |19,134,000 |8. 9 |21,078,000 |10. 5 | |Net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent |24,297,000 |11. |20,782,000 |10. 4 | Refer to the table above to explain the performance of Blackmores in 2010 compared to 2009. Ans: Based on the above table, Blackmores Ltd performance in 2010 is has inc rease in sales by 7. 3% compared to 2009. By looking at the table, we can determine that the company has cut down on expenses. Particular area is the buying of raw materials and other consumables and marketing expenses. With these we can assume that marketing is successful. The other reason is because the company’s equity has increased as well.This means more dividends for the shareholder. [Ref: Blackmores AR Report August 2010, Page 53 and 55]. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION Format and Presentation: The assignment needs to be presented and formatted according to the guidelines shown in this semester’s Course Guide. You need to ensure that the numeric answers you provide are accurate. For example, some figures are shown in thousands while others are not; showing an answer as $102 instead of $102,000 will result in a mark of zero for such a question as there is obviously quite a difference between these two figures.Also ensure that you read each question carefully as some questions will ask for a figure for a particular year and for either the Group (Consolidated) Financial Reports or the Parent Entity (Company). Referencing: As you will be using a company’s Annual Report as the basis for answering many of the questions asked in this assignment, you need to ensure that you acknowledge this in your assignment. In fact, any sources that you use need to be acknowledged in order to avoid plagiarism. Information on referencing can be found in the Guidelines for Referencing and Presentation at the RMIT website using the following address: (http://www. mit. edu. au/bus/students). A copy can also be found on the Blackboard under the Course Documents folder. From the Blackboard site there is also an online referencing resource that you might find useful. It can be found by following these links: External Links / Study and Learning Centre / Study Skills/Referencing/Referencing for Business Students. In-Text Referencing and the Reference List: Sources of information must be cited both in the body of the text (in-text referencing) and the end of the assignment (reference list). Failure to do so will result in penalties.Remember that when referencing an Annual Report it is a corporate document that does not have a particular author but it will still require referencing any time you use information from it. Any other documents or books or other references you use will also require referencing. Penalties Regarding Referencing: No in-text referencing – deduct 1. 5 marks Some in-text referencing only – deduct 1 mark No reference list – deduct 1. 5 marks Incomplete reference list – deduct 1 mark Policy on Late Submissions: The policy on late submissions can be found in the current semester’s course guide. ASSIGNMENT TOTAL – 20 Marks

Model Law on International Contracting Essay

Introduction E-commerce in commodity goods has existed for decades. Electronic contracts provided a new mechanism to form a relationship via Internet and now we see many commodity products being exchanged daily on the Web. The contract can respond not only to the parties but to changing conditions of some kind and then inform the parties of these new events or conditions. The electronic contract, in other words, connects the parties to each other and, if desired, to other people and to other sources of information in ways that are difficult to imagine with paper. Time, like space, seems to be out of place or even absent in the internet environment. Consequently, different jurisdictions and different laws have challenged some contract issues. Therefore, with the advent of the Web as the new commercial medium, traders and buyers alike should be aware of some basic principles of contract formation and how they apply to Web transactions. Mostly, the approved rules of paper contract continue to hold up in a purely internet exchange between parties to an agreement. The law does, however, draw the line at certain kinds of transactions which must be fulfilled. It is important before considering the particularities of the online world, to take a step back and examine contractual formation via Internet which is the background against which the relevant rules to the online world were established. Today all developed countries try to create a ‘uniform commercial code’ for business over the Internet. The purpose of this is to design a uniform legal structure for electronic commercial bargains world-wide. Steps in this direction have been taken by the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Contracting, English Law, and the CISG Convention, which has developed a â€Å"model law on electronic commerce† for international contracts in electronic commerce. This work will consider rules and standards for electronic contract performance, define what constitutes valid electronic writing and the acceptability of electronic signatures for legal and commercial purposes under abovementioned laws. It will also discuss the main forms of contracts via Internet and define problems that appeared in the formation of electronic contract today. 3. Formation of contract over Internet 3. 1 The offer 3. 1. 1 Under English Law In English law an internet contract via a website is formed after an offer – a determinate indication of the terms on which the offeror is prepared to be legally bound – is accepted by the offeree – the person to whom the offer has been made . If the email of acceptance does not vary the terms fixed in the email of offer, a contract will be formed by the second email. An offer may be to the world in general – in which case anyone may accept it – or to a particular person – in which case only they can accept it . At English law, a contract is concluded when an offer is accepted. Although this rule appears simple, there have been many conflicts over how to distinguish and identify invitations to treat, offers and acceptances. English common law traditionally classifies an offer as a statement by one party of his or her willingness to enter into a contract on stated terms, provided that these terms are accepted by the party to whom the offer is addressed; whereas an invitation to treat is simply an expression of willingness to enter into discussion which, it is hoped, will lead to the conclusion of a contract at a later date . Therefore advertisement of goods on the website will come only to an invitation to treat. Only when a buyer notifies about his intention to buy something from the site, the offer will only be formed. After this the seller can accept or refuse that offer. Under English Law an offer must be clear and complete and afford a distinct indication of the offeror’s intents . The offer must contemplate acceptance and a consequent obligation or obligations. An advertisement is considered as a mere invitation to do business and it is not an offer. An offeror is legally bound by the terms of the contract once his offer is accepted; while one who makes an invitation to treat is clearly free to accept (and thus form a contract) or to reject any offers that result from it, without any legal consequences.

Land law in ksa and uk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Land law in ksa and uk - Essay Example The Rules of land Laws in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia In Saudi Arabia, the greater percentage of total land is owned by the government. Private individuals own only the property in the urban area and land which is cultivated in the rural areas. The law stipulates that all land titles deeds must be registered. However, accurate information on the extent of land registration does not exist (Sait & Lim, 2006). Initially, the law stated that real estate could only be owned by the native citizens until when the property laws were amended to give the right to foreigners to also own property. However, for individuals who are not citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to invest in property there is a need for them to seek council of ministers approval. Three categories of land exist in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These include developed land, undeveloped land, and protective zones. Developed land constitutes constructed environment of towns and villages and land, which has been agriculturally developed. The law states that this land may be sold, bought, or inherited. Land, which is not developed, constitutes grazing pasture and wilderness. Grazing land and pasture is a common good. As such, the law authorizes every citizen to use it. However, the wilderness is a state property, which may be open to all unless the state imposes some restrictions. The Saudi land law uses the Waqf. This is a form of land ownership in, which a Saudi national has the right to transfer property to an organization or foundation for long term charitable or religious reasons. Once land or the property has been transferred under Waqf, the law does not allow further transfer or alienation of the same property. The Rules of the Land Law in United Kingdom The United Kingdom law is the law of real property in Wales and England. This law entails acquisition, priority and content of rights and obligations among people with land interests (Gray & Gray, 2009). The old content of English land law is relate d to property rights that come from common law, the registration system and equity. Normally, ownership of land in the United Kingdom is acquired through a sale contract where the buyer acquires the land through a written agreement with the seller, and there is an exchange of money. In order to complete such a purchase, the law states that the purchaser of the land must formally register his intention to buy the land in land registry. Apart from sale contracts, the law stipulates that individuals may acquire interests in land through contribution to home acquisition price, or to family life if the courts of the land can find evidence of a common purpose that this should occur. The law also recognizes a constructive or resulting trust over the property, and in credit of individuals of social interest in their households, these do not need to be registered just like a lease whose duration is less than seven years (Gray & Gray, 2009). Further, the law stipulates that individuals can ac quire land through propriety estoppels. This refers to a situation where an individual is assured to receive land or property, and relied on this to their detriment, the court may acknowledge it. Adverse possession is a form of ownership which allows a person who

Final Thoughts on Argument ( 8 ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final Thoughts on Argument ( 8 ) - Essay Example One could claim that marketing cigarette products to the youth is simply too much to handle. First let us examine what prompted cigarette companies to come up with this decision. â€Å"Younger adults are the only source of replacement smokers† (RJ Reynolds). This means to say that as people age – while smoking – signs and consequences of this decision will begin to show. As a result, they wouldn’t be as enthusiastic as they were when they started smoking. This is what many cigarette companies try to avoid. If they want to keep their business thriving and prospering, they need younger adults which will require brand new form of marketing. True – from the industry’s point of view, this may just be the right thing to do. After all, they just mean business and this is nothing personal for them. Without overanalyzing and putting things under simple perspective, cigarette companies are just doing what they need to do to keep up with the current market. But nothing justifies the consequences that will happen in the future. On the surface, this may be an acceptable proposition for many cigarette companies though on second thought they are just taking advantage of our youth – the hope of the future. Why do teens smoke? "Kids are vulnerable to smoking because the transition to adulthood is fraught with stress, insecurity, and the need to be accepted by peers. If kids see smokers who they think are cool or look grown-up, they may strive for that image, too† (Lang and Marks). Judging from this, kids are innocent victims of the adult driven world. Cigarette companies know this vulnerability and weakness and this is the reason why they target this specific market. They know they can earn money from them more than they can from adults who know what they are doing and have other priorities in life already. However, kids don’t realize they are vulnerable and weak. They often have these overly positive views about

Corrections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Corrections - Essay Example In some cases, corporal punishment s used, but in the modern era, prison is the most desired type of punishment. This paper will look at the various forms of correctional philosophies in the prison system and various issues in correctional management. Throughout historical times most societies have been known to have some places where they hold criminals. Confinement in form of prisons is a new thing since in ancient times corporal punishment was the best kind of punishment; beheading, hanging, whipping and rack stretching to take a few examples. Early jails were overcrowded, dark and filthy and there was no separation of the inmates. In America, imprisonment was realized in 1600s after the abolishment of death penalty (Simonsen, Allen, & Latessa, 2004). The federal prison system was established to hold inmates who are sentenced to time in prison and those who await trials. It contains of prisons and detention facilities. The organizational structure of American correction systems gives the department of justice the authorization to control all operations in the system. The governor, who is the second in rank, is in charge of supervision of the activities in correctional facilities (Todd, George, & Michael, 2011). There are four directors who are mandated to supervise the legislative affairs, information, quality assurance, medical docket and public communication; all these in the attempt to make the correction system a perfect place for reformation. The hierarchy follows to the support administration in charge of matters relating to field operations, operations support, community development, and correctional facilities administrations. Under them there are junior officers who oversee research, parole, human resources, operations, and security and general inmate’s welfare. Correctional management considers several philosophies for corrections. This paper will look into five main philosophies namely, rehabilitation, restorative justice,

International Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

International Business Strategy - Essay Example To thrive in international business, a firm needs to have excellent international business strategies. These strategies will determine and guide the commercial transactions between firms located in different countries (Hill and Jones, 2012). There are several theoretical models that have been advanced to explain the significance and impacts of international business strategies. The three most used ones, according to Peng (2013), are the industry-based view, the resource-based view, and the institution-based view. Depending on which model was adopted, different strategies can be arrived at by firms to gain a competitive advantage over competitors in an industry (Frynas and Mellahi, 2011). This paper examines the operations, performance and strategies used by SolarWorld USA. It identifies the competitive forces affecting global solar energy, evaluates the resources and capabilities of SolarWorld USA, determine the institutional forces that shape the emergence and the evolution of the industry and, finally, recommend strategic measures that SolarWorld USA can implement to maximize its profitability in light of its declining global market share. This is a view that explains that the firms in a particular industry are influenced by competitive forces in that industry (Peng, 2013). As such, the firm’s strategies will be influenced by the presence of these forces, or lack thereof. These forces were identified and identified by Porter as the bargaining power of suppliers, buyers bargaining power, threats of new entrants, rivalry among firms already in existence, and the threats posed by substitutes (Porter, 2008). Figure 1 shows how these forces interact to determine the firm’s decisions. The global solar industry, just like any other industry, is influenced by these five forces. The bargaining power of the customers determines pricing

Week2 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week2 - Term Paper Example When brand attachment occurs, the consumer will often participate in brand communities, such as discussing the merits and benefits of the company and its products in social media. This is free word-of-mouth advertising that is highly valuable to a business brand. When a business includes social responsibility and ethical behavior as part of its strategic plan, trust in the company’s integrity is developed. According to Riegelsberger et al. (2005, p.383), trust is built on â€Å"reliability and predictability† of an organization. As one example, a company that contributes a small margin of their profit toward urban development can use press releases and promotional advertisements to illustrate their sponsorship or investment support in building a better local infrastructure. When consumers witness that the business believes in improving the human condition and lifestyle, trust in their brand, product and leadership is developed especially when these activities happen recurrently. Thus, having an ethical focus and a belief in social responsibility can assist in developing promotional strategies, charity as competitive advantage, and better consumer relationship development. One example of a company that overstepped ethical boundaries is Pulte Homes, a major national home and commercial builder with a significant profit margin. In 2006, the former president of Pulte Homes, Steve Seymoure, determined it would be a positive strategic decision to develop a variety of first-class, luxury vacation getaways in Mexico. Pulte Homes conducted considerable ethical and responsible preliminary research and legal negotiations to ensure that a disputed area of land cleared all ownership and construction laws for development of high-class condominiums for American tourists. However, well into the construction phase, a variety of expired commercial leases on the existing property where Pulte was building were

Operations management (see assignment requirements) Essay

Operations management (see assignment requirements) - Essay Example 2. The Range of Technologies in the Modern Retail Industry An efficient supply chain involves better inventory management and reducing the time from the procurement to the final delivery. For these purposes both supply chain strategies and supply chain technologies are integrated into supply chain management to result in an efficient network of logistics. These technologies include transportation, management and communication technologies which work hand in hand to lead to an evolution of the supply chain. Information technology and decision support system are some of the common technologies being used in today's supply chain management. IT is implemented in the supply chain for strategic planning, virtual enterprise and knowledge management. Another reason why IT is frequently used is the E-Commerce factor of businesses these days(Ngai, 2004).These technologies ensure that a sophisticated analysis of the abundant available data is made possible and the results are used to obtain a c ompetitive edge in the market(Simchi-Levi, 2003). Business redesigning and the implementation of technology in business are often considered to be complimentary with each other. Therefore the integration of technology is bound to change the face of retailing operations. IT is a design tool used for knowledge and business management to produce tangible results such as time reduction, cost reduction and an improvement in the output quality. (Michael Lewis, p. 103) These innovations in Information Technology include Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Electronic data Interchange (EDI), Pints of sales (POS) and other Data Mining (DM) technologies. These have radically changed the way retailers do their business and brought about efficiency by reducing labour costs, improving inventory accuracy, reducing lead time and increasing the rate of order fill. Points of sales (POS) POS has been in use since the 1980's and it facilitates the sale of products by entry and access of products in stores. POS allows for automatic and dynamic updates of inventory and sales data when sales occur. Thus this system is frequently used for store transactions, refunds, cash authorizations, exchanging issues and inventory tracking. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) RFID is a generic name for technologies which use radio waves to identify and track objects. It identifies the items by reading a tag and a considerable amount of information is transmitted by just reading of the tag by the reader. This technology can capture product information which can be up to 40 times more than the typical barcode technology. RFID works as an information facilitator which can directly help in developing and aiding decision making in the supply chain. The main features of RFID are real and automatic data capture, enhanced information quality and support for business transactions. Data Mining (DM) Data mining is a process of extracting knowledge from a large database to build predictive models for b usiness decision making. It is used to make strategic and tactical decisions such as sales forecasting, customer acquisition and retention. From the supply chain point of view, they can also be used to make operational decisions like supplier

Prochaskas Stages of Changes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Prochaskas Stages of Changes - Essay Example The stage preparation is different from contemplation. While developing ideas there arise solutions to develop changes. During the preparation phase a long term planning which is practicable is to be considered predominantly. In this plan there must be technicalities to reveal how harmful old habits can be avoided successfully. There must also be certain tips to show how these technicalities can be employed properly. In the preparation stage people must provide more considerations for changes in the life. Anxiety is the killer element at this preparation stage. By employing small steps the anxiety can be counterchecked perfectly. People can arrange a specific time for doing commitments in a very suitable and reliable way. It is better to make a master plan for the utilization of the time allotted to perform commitments. Another way to make the process more vigorous is to tell other individuals about the master plan and its application. People must learn to utilize the time properly i n the preparation stage because the aim to create a change in people’s lifestyle is a long term process. The peculiarity of the preparation stage is that it focuses on the future of individuals in all respects. It also analyzes reliable solutions for future benefits while accommodating changes in the lifestyle of people. Hence this is different from contemplation. The existence of a problem is given more importance in this stage and the plans designing sort such problem must be highly realistic. The expecting change will not take place instantly. It will take considerable time to achieve the result as per the planning. Since this is a gradual transformation the time frame requires to fulfill the desired result is nearly one year. Hence people have patience to practice the solutions mentioned in the planning. It needs tremendous effort which consumes time. Once a plan is prepared to boost changes, then the next step is action. Action can never equalize the change with respect to the planning. If anybody is in action, it provides the implication that he has been processing to accommodate changes in life. It doesn’t mean that the change is over. Action is one of the steps in total changes. By concentrating on action stage one can change his behavior and nature of life style. People utilize time and energy at this action stage for bringing changes in their life.  

Explain the Differences Between Panglosss Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Explain the Differences Between Panglosss Philosophy Essay Pangloss’s philosophy of life is that all is for the best in the â€Å"best of all possible worlds. † This optimistic philosophy actually is the key element of Voltaire’s satire. Pangloss’s philosophy is against the ideas of the Enlightenment period. Pangloss believes that a powerful God had created the world and that, therefore, the world must be perfect. When creatures of the world, see something as wrong or evil, it is because they do not understand the ultimate good that will come out of it. Voltaire satirically shows the reader that Pangloss is not a believable character. Voltaire illustrates this by showing us that he keeps his optimistic thought even when he is imprisoned. Pangloss ignores any evidence that contradicts his initial opinion. He also uses illogical arguments to support his beliefs. Pangloss’s philosophy tries to impose a passive attitude toward all that is wrong in the world. If the world is the best one possible, then there is no reason to make any effort to change things. Martin is more believable than Pangloss, not because he is more sophisticated, but because he is smarter and more likely to draw conclusions with which we can identify. Martin had been robbed by his wife and beaten by his son and deserted by his daughter and also lived financial setbacks, and therefore he’s a pessimist whereas Pangloss is an optimist. He uses his experiences to judge the world whereas Pangloss was merely using a theory. As a result, Martin is more insightful than Pangloss to foresee events that will happen. Even though Martin’s philosophy is more believable than Pangloss’s, he’s still not good at predicting how some people will behave because his philosophy is coming from extreme pessimism. Therefore it might not be wrong to say that Voltaire is trying to prove that we need flexible thought in our lives based on real evidence. Both philosophers will ultimately fail because there’s no room for exceptions in their beliefs. Candide starts his journey with the influence of Pangloss’s belief of â€Å"best of all possible worlds†. Pangloss and Candide, suffer and witness a wide variety of horrors and tragedies together. During these tragedies, Pangloss’s s philosophy proves to be useless and even destructive at the end, because it prevents them from making realistic judgments. For example while Jacques was drowning, Pangloss doesn’t let Candide save him by saying that the bay of Lisbon had been formed for this Anabaptist to drown in. Also when Candide was buried under the rubble of the Lisbon earthquake, he asked for oil and wine because he was dying, but Pangloss ignored him and still tried to reason with the causes of the earthquake. At the end Candide rejects his philosophy of optimism and as he and his servant Cacambo travel and go through more horrors, Candide starts believing a pessimistic view of life. When Candide meets Martin, they set sail together and Martin is just the opposite of Pangloss. He does not believe that everything is for the best in this world. Even though Candide tries to oppose Martin by talking about free will but it does not solve the problem of presence of evil in the world. In general, Martin’s arguments seem more reasonable than Pangloss’s ideas. But, like Pangloss, Martin believes so firmly in his own view of the world that he is not flexible and usually dismisses real evidence that contradicts his philosophy. When Candide cannot find Cunegonde, Martin shows the bad influence of his pessimism. Instead of attempting to comfort his friend, Martin uses Candide’s distress to further confirm his own world-view. Just like Pangloss’s optimism, Martin’s pessimism also keeps him from taking initiative to improve the world.

Effect of Motion on Facial Recognition Skills

Effect of Motion on Facial Recognition Skills Introduction Humans have a remarkable capacity to learn and use facial motion to extract personal characteristic to recognize another individual’s facial motion which is considered is one of the most active areas of research in the field of computer vision and pattern recognition and numerous algorithms have been proposed to handle various aspects of the problem such as illumination, pose, expression, age (Aggarwal, Biswas , Flynn, Bowyer, 2011), and even smile and human identity (Ning Sim, 2010; Avarguà ¨s-Weber , 2012).Facial motion is able to provide identity-specific dynamic facial signatures that benefits the perception of identity (Roark, et. al, 2003). For example, study has shown that people who are famous, their faces were able to be recognizes by the participant better when it is a moving image which involving several kind of facial motion rather than static images (Ning Sim, 2010). Similar observation has been made by Thornton Kourtzi (2002) too. Pilz, et al. also further e xplains that moving images not only help human subjects to improve their rate of recognition but also time of reaction too (Ning Sim, 2010). This clearly shows that faces are a special type of visual pattern for which we haveunique expertise (Avarguà ¨s-Weber , 2012). These findings may means that facial motion may contain considerable identity-specific information and that humans are probably using these to recognize each other in daily life (Ning Sim, 2010). In short, when increased response times or error rates of faces are shown in an inverted, but not upright orientation, the recognition performance of an individual will be impaired as it required strenuous amount of effort in recognition, this occurrence is known as the face inversion effect (FIE) (Martin Macrae, 2010). This  Ã¢â‚¬Å"face-inversion effect† (FIE) has become one of the standard tools for exploring face processing, in particular the roles of configure or relational versus feature (Thornton, et. al, 2011). Macrae and lewis have shown evidence that face recognition is caused by individuals’ orientation to global or due to local facial features during encoding of stimulus (Martin Macrae, 2010). To add on, individuals’ propensity are different in order to identify complex visual stimuli in a global or local manner (Martin Macrae, 2010). Looking at the research question, there are actually a total of four hypotheses, to show a further understanding. The first, it is hypothesized that the mean scores of low static upright orientation are equal to that of the mean scores of the low static inverted orientation. Second, the mean scores of the low dynamic upright orientation are lower than the mean scores of the low dynamic inverted orientation. Third, the mean scores of the high static upright orientation are higher than the mean scores of the high static inverted orientation. The four and the last is that the mean scores of the high dynamic upright orientation are higher than the mean scores of the high dynamic inverted orientation. Methods Participants 150 participants from a University, including 39 males and 111 females. The students’ ages ranging from 19 to 51 with the mean age of 22.2. Students were supposed to complete the experiment, as part of an academic requirement of a tutorial class. All participants given written consent prior before commencing the research study. Materials In order to measure the level of facial motion in affecting face inversion effect, a Match- to- Sample task was used. Participants were required to fill up and complete the sequence of trials, identifying the right faces which was presented to them at the beginning of the experiment, followed by a blank screen of 5 seconds. Next step to do, they were to identify the right upright or inverted static and dynamic faces shown in each trial. The images of the faces will stay on screen till a response was given. Procedure Participants were instructed in the beginning of the experiment how trial sequences will be presented. Four different sequence of trial types was randomly assigned in the presentation. The first trial type is an upright static image of the target face was presented to the participants. Second trial type, an inverted static image of the target face. Followed by the third trial type, an upright dynamic footage of the target face and the fourth trial type; an inverted dynamic footage of the target face. In each and every trial sequence, participants were presented with the image for 5 seconds, then followed by a blank screen for 5 seconds. Participants, next, were shown with two test images choices and there is only one of them matched the actual shown earlier which is correct. Images in the test will appear until the point of a response is being clicked on. The next trial test will then began with another new image right after a response was made. Design The independent variables in the research study were Motion, being it dynamic or Static, Face Recognition skills either High or low recognition of faces and Orientation of the face, be it Upright or Inverted. The dependent variable in the research study will be the proportion of matches of the images that were deemed correct. Results The results on the test were calculated based on accuracy of data collected and the performance to respond to test images and footage in an upright static condition using a one- way repeated measures analysis of variance test. These results were according from the top and bottom, participants’ result was evaluated based on the performance of the participants on the test in the static upright environment. The mean proportion of correct matches in the low group participants who has poor facial recognition (FR) skills in the upright static environment (M= 0.82, SD=0.052) and inverted environment (M= 0.78, SD=0.134) was compared to high group participants who have high FR skills in the upright static environment (M= 1.0, SD=0.00) and inverted environment (M= 0.89, SD=0.096). Figure 1. Mean proportion of correct matches made in the low and high groups under Static orientation The result shows that the low group participants reflected poor FR skills in the upright static environment (M = 21.6 years, 6 males), t (48) = 16.88, p Table 1 Paired Sample Statistics for Low and High Facial recognition in upright and inverted orientations with static or dynamic conditions. Table 1 above has shown that the mean proportion of correct matches made in the low and high facial recognition groups with static or dynamic condition. Based on the first hypothesis, it is not true as the results has shown in Table 1 that it does not support the overall studies done on the facial recognition and visual orientation. However, The mean scores of the high static upright orientation were higher than the mean scores of the high static inverted orientation which resulted that the third hypothesis which was mentioned earlier in the introduction is true. Figure 2. Mean proportion of correct matches made in the low and high groups under Dynamic orientation. Figure 2 above has shown that the mean proportion of correct matches made by low and high groups participants under Dynamic orientation. Based on the second hypothesis, it stated that mean scores of the low dynamic upright orientation were lower than the mean scores of the low dynamic inverted orientation. However, it seems that the graph in Figure 2 has shown differently where actually the mean scores of the low dynamic upright orientation was higher than the mean scores of the low dynamic inverted orientation. Therefore, it seems that second hypothesis which is based on the results shown on table 1 above is also not true and subsequently does not support the overall studies done on both facial recognition and visual orientation. The means proportion of the graphs in the high static upright orientations is higher than the mean proportion of the graphs in the high static inverted orientation which is also reflected in Table 1. In the results of the final hypothesis as shown in Figure 2, the mean scores in the high dynamic upright orientation appeared to be higher than the mean scores of the high dynamic inverted orientation. This further concludes that the third and fourth hypothesis is true as reflected in Figure 1, 2 and Table 1 and supports the overall studies on facial recognition and visual orientation. Table 2. 2 Paired Sample t test for Low and High Facial recognition in upright and inverted orientations with static or dynamic conditions. Above Table 2 shows the results of mean proportion of correct matches made in the low and high groups of the participanta under the several types of visual orientation. Discussion The aim of the study was to see how motion improved performance for people who have poor face recognition skills. The Participants were asked to complete the tests which involved series of trials that consist of differentiating the images of faces in upright and inverted orientations under static and dynamic conditions. Four hypotheses were created in conjunction to the research question given, to show further understanding of research question. The first hypothesis is that motion and recognition are proportional in terms of identifying faces, the dynamic movements able to help the people with poor recognition skills to identify motion. This meant that the upright condition is similar to the inverted condition, where both were static and the condition of low FIE, prove that it is not true. The second hypothesis where the mean scores of low dynamic upright orientation is much higher than the low dynamic inverted orientation in recognizing the faces in the trials, but the low dynamic i nverted orientation group, the mean scores are higher. Therefore, the second hypothesis was proved to be not true, in terms of the low dynamic inverted orientation. Thus, it helps those poor recognition skills participants to perform better in an inverted orientation instead. Using the result, the third and the last hypothesis shows that both upright orientations with static and dynamic conditions are greater than the inverted conditions which shows that facial recognition is assisted by the images in the upright orientation. The last hypothesis which the mean scores of the high dynamic upright orientation is proved to be true to be true that the scores were higher than the means scores in high dynamic inverted orientation, based on Longmore Tree, 2013, this was demonstrated to be a benefit in aiding the process of face processing and facial recognition. Thus this concludes that motion does have a significant effect in the facial recognition process of people. On contrary to the study done in discussion of the strengths and limitations of this study, it is found that the number of participants were a total of 150 which satisfy the general requirement of a study in having at least 30 participants. Therefore the criteria on sample size were fulfilled. As this study was done based on the focus that if motion was helpful, in terms of the targeting the right audience, this study was helpful in terms of helping individuals understand the issues with facial recognition and how the difference in orientation would affect our visual perception. The limitations of the study is that it was conducted in the way for individual to understand that how motion actually helps in individuals’ recognition skills, involving studies of individual who have different cognitive perceptual disorders. Therefore, making the study seem unhelpful in giving information on how can motion be fully utilized in terms of treatment of the disorders. Another limitation would be the age ranges of participants, where it is between 19 to 51 ranges of age. It was proven that younger observers were proven to be better than older observers in multiple motion. Older observers usually require practice to be better due to controls of optical blur and retinal image even though they show similar learning function as the younger ones. (Legault, Allard, Faubert, 2013). To conclude, the result shows that motion do have an impact to in visual processing and facial recognition. However, Future studies should be conducted in a way where by the age range is conducted along with a balanced number of participants in term of gender. It would be better if future studies were to focus on specific audiences with more research and academic information as to understand better of the issues treating disorders. Last but not least, there is a level of significance showed in the student, proving that there are important information provided in regards to facial recognition skills.

What is a technical language :: essays research papers

What is technical language? Scientists have tried to come up with a definition since the beginning of the 18th century, therefore many interpretations have been made. They started to discuss terms and vocabularies in order to define technical language. A couple of years later they emphasized the importance of text and nowadays they are talking about text from a communication aspect. The Anglo-Saxon society regarded a language to be a system, therefore they found little interest in technical language. This is one of the reasons why technical language often has remained scattered. However, this was not the case within the School of Prague. They found socio linguistics as well as technical language very interesting. The School of Prague used a horizontal dimension to describe the classification of technical language areas. A vertical dimension was used to describe the different layers of usage. The third dimension was based on expressions and communication, oral as well as written. The dimension dealing with communication is frequently used to find out whether a text should be classified as technical language or not. The result can be seen as a cube. A negative aspect when studying this model is that it can easily be misunderstood. When a sender and a receiver are experts in the subject discussed, they will probably use technical language. On the other hand, they might have different knowledge and it is possible that they will discuss new information. The main idea is that they have the possibility to use the established technical language. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to separate strict technical language from colloquial language. A scale has been made to classify the different levels of technical language in the area of geography. We are clearly dealing with technical language when the sender and the receiver have the same knowledge about a specific subject e.g. communication between geographers. The next level is when the sender has to introduce the subject to the receiver e.g. when a geographer communicates with a student. And the final level is when the sender has to explain everything to the receiver e.g. when a geographer communicates with an amateur. Text type, a sort of style pattern, is a term that can be found in technical language. A textbook is one example. Technolects are found in heavy scientific material for example reports whereas text types occur in less complicated compositions such as business letters.

Ghana And Mali :: essays research papers

Before Columbus sailed to the New World and before Europe reached their â€Å"Enlightenment Era† two significant kingdoms flourished on the west coast of what some refer to as the motherland: Africa. The name of these two mighty states are Ghana and Mali. Ghana was the first West African state of which their was any record. After the downfall near the end of the eleventh century, Mali rose up to take their place as the economic, religious, and cultural hub of West Africa. These two states are very similar yet differ in many ways also.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The economy of the two states are very similar. Ghanaians were primarily an agricultural community. Most of the people were substance farmers who lived off of their own farms and livestock. Many people choose to trade with neighboring villages through their chief town, Kumbi Saleh. The people of Mali were also predominately agricultural. Most people who did not engage in farming, worked as artisans. The rich mines of Bure also served as income for some people of Mali. The economies of both states were related in that they both were primarily agricultural.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Religion is another topic of comparison for the two enormous kingdoms. The Religion of Ghana during the eleventh century was a religion based on the belief that every earthly object contained good or evil spirits that had to be satisfied if the people were to prosper. However in 1076, Muslims invaded the state and converted their religion to Islam. The people of Mali were firm Muslims. These people took at least one pilgrimage a lifetime to the holy city of Mecca. They traveled in caravans across hundreds of miles of dessert to kiss the Kabba (a black stone believed to have religious powers). Both kingdoms were primarily Islamic because it allowed them to trade freely with other Islamic states.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although both kingdoms flourished, their reign of West Africa had to come to an end. The decline of Ghana began with the invasion of Muslims. Ghana still held on shortly after this, but was finished by a series of droughts that dried up important life giving rivers.

Cultural Implications of a “Brave New World”

Aldous Huxley’s â€Å"Brave New World† relates a fictional society in which freedom is dead, morality is forgotten, and man’s future is bleak indeed. His work employs many parallels that can be drawn to society’s culture today, possibly even serving as a prediction of the future 500 years from now. With that said, a close look will be taken into several of Huxley’s themes within a â€Å"Brave New World† to best determine the impacts of his fictional society in regards to current cultural trends, and trends for the future. Huxley’s â€Å"Brave New World† is set far into the future, in 632 AF, or 2540 AD.Plotted in this extreme, Huxley has liberated himself from any confines of modern literature and opened up the doors for a future entirely of his making, with his own rules, and own utopian predictions. For, written in 1931, Huxley was essentially inventing a society some 600 years into the future, one in which he has created a â €˜negative utopia’— [a society] in which utopian dreams of the ‘old reformers’ have been realized, only to turn out to be nightmares† (Booker, 16), which, with the Utopian books of his time, was his very intention.With that said, Huxley’s work should be â€Å"read primarily as a warning against runaway capitalism and as an anticipation of coming developments in Western consumer society† (Booker, 20). Further, in a direct parallel from Huxley’s work to modern society, capitalism could, very easily, take the same turn in an attempt to create a better, more stable economy. The story itself is a frightening version of the future that could be, all the while containing social and cultural issues of the early 1900’s.The cultural impact of the Industrial Revolution alone highlights a major theme within the work that the world is moving at too fast a pace for survival tempered by the loss of intellectual individuality. In Huxle y’s world, reproduction has no use as it is easier, and more economical, to essentially create new individuals via a hatchery process. Sex is no longer the means for reproduction but has been relegated the role of pleasure, where any man can have any woman, and there are no relationships based upon such intimacy.There are no emotional ties to family, loved ones, or friends, and death is accepted as the natural cycle of life, not to be mourned, but not really to be thought about either. Huxley’s world is separated into a large caste system: with Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. In this society, the upper-castes are given more time in the hatchery to develop intelligence and physical prowess, whereas the lower castes are essentially poisoned to have lower intelligence and lesser physical endowment.Huxley’s employment of these plot conditions marks his greatest theme: that of the loss of individual identity. In his â€Å"brave new world,† people are mere products of creation, relegated into their castes, who live out their lives as they are supposed to, never questioning, never wondering, never living. With this basis, Huxley initiated the â€Å"reinforcement of desired behavior by reward rather than by punishment† (Fjellman, 3), with the â€Å"[prediction] that we might be tamed instead by desire and pleasure† (3).Then, perhaps for balance, Huxley introduces the character of Bernard Marx, a psychologist and an Alpha Plus. Despite his caste rank, Bernard is an outcaste in their society, based mostly on his physical condition, which socially marks him as a lower caste because of his smaller size. Bernard, of course, falls for a Beta Plus, Lenina, who is so far in the societal doe that she cannot even question her own actions and is tormented by her â€Å"friends† for not being promiscuous enough.As for Lenina, Huxley â€Å"reserved especial bile for the female of the species, whose presence provokes eve n more heated rhetoric† (Higdon), and her character the ultimate parody of the female species. Further, Huxley â€Å"offers a remarkably sexist vision which suggests—if it does not outright say—that only Alpha men are capable of being unhappy, of being unorthodox, of being rebels. Only once, in a remark by Mustapha Mond, does the work suggest that women can become as troublesome to the State as men and suffer exile for their unorthodoxy† (Hidgon).This rebel nature and ability to see the world for the reality of what is can be seen â€Å"through the actions and thoughts of its four male rebels: Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, John the Savage, and Mustapha Mond—each of whom has been driven in one way or another to question and to rebel against the not-to-be-questioned values of the Fordian/Freudian world of 632 A. F. Each of these men has wandered dangerously far into unorthodoxies that threaten the community, identity, and stability of the World Sta te† (Higdon).From this basis, Bernard is the first male character to begin his rebellion when he realizes that there is something very wrong within their society—that everyone has been given â€Å"memories† from the hatchery based on subliminal suggestions and not actual events. Moreover, many critics refer to this rebel nature as Huxley’s â€Å"response to early cinema†¦[it] was far-reaching in its implications, recognizing cinema’s stimulation of the body as well as the mind and imagining cinema's potential to be either an instrument of social and political reform or a medium of cultural degeneracy† (Frost).Indeed, Huxley considered music a powerful medium, once writing that â€Å"‘the darkness of the theater, the monotonous music induce in the audience a kind of hypnotic state’† (Frost), exactly like Huxley’s soma does to the characters. Further, Huxley’s narrative form â€Å"[shows] the individual i n society, serves to heighten the sense of his helplessness and vulnerability† (Ferns, 132). Moreover, Huxley’s world â€Å"is an unsettling, loveless and even sinister place. This is because Huxley endows his ‘ideal’ society with features calculated to alienate his audience.Typically, reading BNW elicits the very same disturbing feelings in the reader which the society it depicts has notionally vanquished – not a sense of joyful anticipation. [Huxley himself] describes BNW as a ‘nightmare’† (Pearce). Indeed, Huxley writes in his Forward that his work is â€Å"a book about the future and, whatever its artistic or philosophical qualities, a book about the future can interest us only if its prophecies look as though they might conceivably come true† (Huxley, ix).For his part, Huxley avoids any real technological advancements (like computers, aviation, or even the evolution of the automobile) within â€Å"Brave New World,â₠¬  instead focusing on the evolution of the human being and the social cultural advancements that 600 years into the future might bring. More, Huxley writes that the â€Å"only scientific advances to be specifically described are those involving the application to human beings of the results of future research in biology, physiology, and psychology† (ix-x). Indeed, in choosing this form, Huxley has created a society that could exist in the very near future—and not one 600 years distant.Further, â€Å"it is only by means of the sciences of life that the quality of life can be radically changed†¦the people who govern the Brave New World may not be sane†¦but they are not madmen, and their aim is not anarchy but social stability. It is in order to achieve stability that they carry out, by scientific means, the ultimate, personal, really revolutionary revolution† (x). With this epiphany, Huxley made, for the first time, a purely utopian society in which it is not the technological advances that relegate the future of mankind, but it is mankind themselves who make it for themselves, for the good or for the bad.And it is this ideal that makes a frightening assumption for the future of mankind. 500 years into the future, surely Huxley’s world could come into fruition, but, in an even more frightening realization, Huxley’s world could come into society slowly, and within a period of decades, the current society, in an attempt to create a more safe and stable life for its inhabitants, could instead transform into the dystopian world predicted in a â€Å"Brave New World. † Overall, Aldous Huxley, in a â€Å"Brave New World† demonstrates a dystopian future in which mankind is subjugated by the very essence of being human.Where pleasure is a form of reinforcing punishment and sex is nothing more than an activity of the popular. The future that Huxley predicts is, in reality, a truth that every society may yet face . For, in removing the technological advances that mark many utopian works, Huxley has given the story over to human nature itself. And, in every future, there lies a culture where stability is the goal—and in that ideal, a â€Å"Brave New World† is not so far advanced, after all. Works Cited. Booker, Keith M. The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Fjellman, Stephen M.Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992. Frost, Laura. â€Å"Huxley’s Feelies: The Cinema of Sensation in Brave New World. † Twentieth Century Literature, 52. 4 (2006): 443+. Higdon, David Leon. â€Å"The Provocations of Lenina in Huxley’s Brave New World. † International Fiction Review, (2002): 78+. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Bantam Books, 1958. Ferns, Chris. Narrating Utopia: Ideology, Gender, Form in Utopian Literature. Liverpool, England: Liverpool U P, 1999. Pearce, David. â€Å"Aldous Huxley: A Brave New World. † (2008). BLTC Research. 26 June 2009 .

Criminal Law Revision Notes

Homicide †¢  ·Law: X's actions toward Y may constitute homicide, which pursuant to s 277 is unlawful killing of a person. Depending on the circumstances, under s 277 an unlawful (s268) killing is either murder or manslaughter. Killing is defined in s 270 as causing the death of another directly or indirectly by any means. Death is defined under 13C of the Interpretation Act 1984 (WA) as the irreversible cessation of circulation or brain function. A person capable of being killed is defined under s 269 as a person completely proceeded in a living state from their mother. Y is a person. Y is dead’ †¢ Variable for s269: Where an injury is done to an unborn child who then dies after birth it must be established that the prior injuries are a valid cause of death. In the case of Martin v R it was held that a causal link can be drawn between injury to a foetus and the death of that child after birth. Specific reference was made in the case to s 271 where â€Å"a child di es in consequence of acts done †¦ by any person before or during birth, the person who did †¦ such act is deemed to have killed the child. †¢ Causation – Proof of causation requires satisfaction of both factual and legal elements (Royall; Krakouer) [what you need to look at is the causation between the act and the death, so when you apply the tests, you pick a specific action of the accused. If there is no action, then you look at omission. ] ? Factual – Generally easy to establish factual causation under the ‘but-for' test (Royall). Variable: However, it does not apply in cases of an innocent agent (White v Ridley) or in cases of omission, unless there was a duty and the actions are reasonable in the circumstances (duties ss 262-267). Apply to facts by stating very precisely . ’but for Y doing specifically this, X would not have done this and hence not died] ? Legal – Royall established four tests for legal causation. In difficult ca ses the operative and substantial cause is best. (1) Operating and substantial cause (2) Natural consequence (3) Reasonable foresight (4) Common sense (Campbell) ? Variable for causation: Behaviour of accused need not be sole cause of death (Krakouer) ? Novus Actus Interveniens: (1) Section 272 and Royall: actions of escaping victim will not reak the chain if fear of death or harm is reasonable and well founded. (2) Section 275: medical treatment of victim will not break chain if reasonably proper in circumstances and applied in good faith. Treatment includes all acts and omissions in the management of the patient (Cook). Turning off life support is not novus actus; original assault is still operative and substantial cause of death (Kanish). (1) Section 23B and R v Martyr: Abnormality or weakness in victim will not break chain. Must take victim as you find them. (3) R v Hallet: natural event will not break chain if it is reasonable foreseeable. 4) R v Pagett: Actions of third party will not break the chain if actions are an obvious result of what first person did. (5) Section 261: Consent to death is immaterial to issue of responsibility. †¢ Intention: The fault element in s 279(1)(a) is an intention to kill, and under s 279(1)(b) it is an intention to do bodily injury which endangers or is likely to endanger life. Intention is not defined in the code. In R v Willmot intention is defined as having the consequence of an action in mind. The intention is inferred from the act if the immediate consequences are obvious and inevitable (Parker v The Queen). Code: ? s279(1)(a): intention to kill is murder ? s279(1)(b): Intention to cause bodily injury of a nature that endangers or is likely (Hind v Harwood) to endanger life is murder. ? s279(1)(c): (1) Death is caused by an act; (2) done in the prosecution of an unlawful purpose; (3)which is of the nature to be likely to endanger life. A ‘further' unlawful purpose other than killing (Stuart v The Queen). Li kely is define as a substantial (real and not remote) chance (Hind v Harwood). ? s280: Manslaughter is unlawful killing that is not murder (due to lack of intention). ? 281: unlawful assault (s 222) causing death: Defence against manslaughter (s 23B accident). Only 2 elements must be proved: assault (s 222) and death caused. [you only get to 281 after you have said that there is a defence of 23B. although, maybe not, it could also be lackof causation, but it’s not really correct here with murder/manslaughter]  · Defences: ? 23A: lack of will ? 23B: accident ? 24: mistake of fact ? Mistake of law should be here too, if only to state that it is not relevant ? 27: insanity ? 28: intoxication ? 29: immaturity ? 248: self-defence Stealing, s378, 371 Law: It is an offence to steal under s 378. The elements (s371) to be satisfied are that (1) taking or converting; (2) a thing capable of being stolen; (3) with fraudulent intent. ? A thing capable of being stolen is defined in s 370 . Anything which is the property of a person that is moveable (para 1), able to be made moveable (para 2), wild (para 4)and tame animals (para 3), electricity (s390), use of a computer (s440A), or any thing capable of ownership. Doesn’t matter if belongs to person who’s taking for this element ? Taking is not defined in the Code.It is defined in Wallis v Lane as moving (Clemesha) a thing from the place it originally occupied. Conversion is also not in the Code. In Illich it is defined as dealing with an object in a way that is inconsistent with the right of the owner (not a physical movement). Defence of mistake of fact can occur at this point where there is a mistake as to the identity of transferee (Middleton), identity of thing delivered (Ashwell), and as to the quantity of thing delivered (Russell v Smith), except with money where ownership passes at point of transfer irrespective of mistake (Illich). Fraudulent intent is outlined in s 371(2)(a) to (f). It is: (a) an intent to permanently deprive owner of the thing; [add: and to depreive of substantial value, caselaw] (b) an intent to permanently deprive any person who has any special property in the thing. The intent can be inferred from the circumstances and the manner in which the accused deals with the property (Foster v R). An intent to deprive the owner substantially of its value is equivalent to an outright taking (R v Smails); special property see after (f) (c) An intent to use as security.This applies only where the thing is pledged or given as security to a third party. Does not apply where accused holds property until a debt owed to them by the owner of the property is paid (Parker); (d) An intent to part with it on a condition as to its return; (e) An intent to deal with it in such a manner that it cannot be returned in the original condition – must have changed significantly (Bailey); or (f) An intent to use money at will, even though person taking may intend to repay owne r. Variable: Under s371(5) conversion of lost property is not fraudulent if, at time of conversion, person taking/converting does not know who owner is AND reasonably believes that owner cannot be discovered. †¢ Variable: Doctrine of recent possession allows a jury to draw an inference of stealing or receiving where accused is found in possession of stolen goods soon after their theft and has no reasonable explanation as to how they came into their possession, Bruce v The Queen.  · Defence: Legal claim of right (s22) means accused had an honest, but not necessarily reasonable, belief that the property was theirs ( ).Robbery, s392 †¢ Law: Robbery is a compound offence defined in s392 as (1) stealing; (2) using actual/ threatened violence at/ immediately before/immediately after time of stealing; (3) to obtain thing stolen; OR (4) to prevent/overcome resistance to its being stolen. †¢ Prosecution must prove offence of stealing (as outlined on previous page). †¢ A ctual or threatened violence only has be be small to fulfill this element (R v Jerome). It only needs to be of such nature as to show that it was intended to overpower the party robbed, not merely to get possession (R v Gnosit). At, immediately before or after time of stealing includes the use of violence to escape or overcome resistance (R v Hay). †¢ Stealing has a fault element, but robbery has the added fault element of using the actual or threatened violence in order to obtain thing stolen or prevent resistance. †¢ Circumstances of aggravation under s391 include when (1) the offender is accompanied; (2) offender does bodily harm to any person; (3) offender threatens to kill any person; or (4) person to whom violence used/threatened is over 60. Burglary, s401 Law: Burglary is defined in s401 as (1) entering or beings or is; (2) at a place; (3) without consent of the owner; (4) with an intention to commit an offence OR actually committing an offence. ? Enter or be is def ined in s400 as inserting part of body OR instrument into building. ? Place is defined is s400 as Building, structure, tent, or conveyance, or part of building etc. Conveyance in s1 means vehicle, vessel, or aircraft. [if none of these, you mustlook at statutory interpretation, eg with a garden] ? Without the consent of the owner includes beyond consent of owner (Barker v The Queen). can be implied eg where a gate is open or a door. But only implied for legitimate purpose, not to commit a crime] ? Intention to commit an offence (fault element) can be formed prior to entry, or may be formed after entering building (Barker v The Queen). †¢ Circumstances of aggravation under s400 include when a person (1) has, or pretends to have, a weapon; (2) is accompanied; (3) does bodily harm to another; (4) threatens to kill or injure; (5) knows, or should have known, that there was someone in the place. Criminal Damage and Destruction, s444 Law: Criminal damage is the (1) wilful (s443) and (2) unlawful (s441); (3) damage or destruction (s1); (4) of any property (s1). Start with 4 then 3 then 1 and 2 (4) Property is define in s1 as any animate or inanimate thing capable of being the subject of ownership. (3) Damage or destroy is defined in Zischke as being when something is rendered imperfect or inoperative. Damage that is impermanent, ie remediable, is still damage unless it’s transient like chalk on a jumper. (1) Wilfully (s443) means an act or omission with the intention to damage or destroy, OR with knowledge or belief of likelihood of damage or destruction. Likelihood is (Hind v Harwood; Lockwood) a real and not remote chance, regardless of whether it is less or more than 50 per cent. ? Omission was discussed in Miller. At the point a person becomes aware of the damage occuring, they have a duty to act. (2) Unlawfully (s441) means (1) injury to property of another (i. e. Not own and not abandoned); (2) without consent; AND (3) with no authorisation, justifi cation or excuse. †¢ Defence of person or property (s441(3)) can be used if injury is deemed on reasonable grounds to be imminent. Force used must be reasonable.Common Assault, ss222, 313 †¢ Law: There are two types of assault defined in s222 of the Code: Physical assault and threat of assault. To fulfill the requirements of physical assault there must be (1) striking, touching, moving or otherwise applying force; (2) directly or indirectly; (3) to another person; without the consent of the other OR with fraudulently obtaining consent. An assault is unlawful unless authorised, justified or excused by law (s223). Fault element †¢ According to s 23 no intention is required for an offence unless stated in the offence.However, in Hall v Fonceca it was found that an intention on the part of the assailant either to use force or to create an apprehension in the victim is an element in an assault. †¢ Unlawful: an assault is always unlawful unless authorised, justified or excused by law (s223). It may also be unlawful if the person consents to the assault. †¢ Indirect force: Includes heat, light, gas or any other substance IF applied to a degree to cause injury or physical discomfort. (1) Queen v Jacob – electrical trap (2) Martin – bar across exit (3)DPP v K – acid in hand dryer (4) Gibbon v Pepper – causing horse to run someone over †¢ Without consent: Consent can be express or implied, and it must be freely given (not obtained by fraud). (1) Boughey v R: consent to accidental physical contact of ordinary life is impliedly consented to; (2) Collins v Wilcock: ‘commonplace intentional but non-hostile acts’ are impliedly consented to. (3) Pallante v Stadiums: Sporting context: contact within rules and intention of sports game. (4) Ferguson: Teaching context: touching student to ‘encourage. †¢ Law: To fulfill he requirements of threat of assault there must be (1) a bodily act or gesture (w ords not enough in WA, but sometimes needs to be discussed anyway where there is maybe just a twitch); (2) which represents actual or apparent present ability to apply force; (3) without consent OR with fraudulently obtaining consent.. †¢ Threatening words are insufficient. †¢ A conditional threat is also not a true threat of assault because the victim can avoid the threatened act (Rosza v Samuals; Cf Turberville v Savage).  · The victim need not actually fear the bodily act or gesture (Brady v Schatzel).Fault element †¢ According to s 23 no intention is required for an offence unless stated in the offence. However, in Hall v Fonceca it was found that an intention on the part of the assailant either to use force or to create an apprehension in the victim is an element in an assault. †¢ Unlawful: an assault is always unlawful unless authorised, justified or excused by law (s223). It may also be unlawful if the person consents to the assault. Offences  · s313: common assault  · s317: assault occasioning bodily harm (unlawful assault + harm).Section 1 defines bodily harm as any bodily injury which interferes with health or comfort. No extra fault element required. ? Lergesner v Carroll: broad interpretation. Extends to, for example, black eye from fight. ? Scatchard: pain does not necessarily equate to bodily harm. ? Chan-Fook : psychological harm.  · s317A: assault with intent to: ? commit crime ? do GBH ? resist lawful arrest/detention.  · s318: Serious assault is on a public officer (while they are on duty), a person performing a public function conferred on them by law, or person helping someone in the previous two categories. s304: acts/omissions causing bodily harm require establishing an existing duty (ss262-267), a breach of that duty and resulting bodily harm. If there is no harm, the must be endangerment of another's life/health/safety. Endangering life and health Definitions  · Grievous bodily harm ? s1 – any bodi ly injury that endangers/ is likely to endanger life, or causes/ is likely to cause permanent injury to health. ? R v Tranby: permanent disfigurement that is only cosmetic does not = GBH. ? Consent is not an element of GBH, therefore unlike assault, GBH cannot be consented to (Raabe)  · Wounding ?Devine v R: occurs when injury breaks skin & penetrates below epidermis. ? Consent and wounding: Common law rule says that a person may not consent to bodily harm unless there’s a public policy justification- R v Brown. Offences with no specific intention  · Unlawfully doing GBH, s297 ? Can be direct/indirect act – R v Clark. All that must be proved is that a person negligently breached his/her duty. Proof of intention to harm is not necessary. ? ‘unlawful’ – to be given ordinary meaning of ‘prohibited by law’: Houghton v The Queen †¢ Relevance of s23A, s23B/ negligence  · Unlawfully wounding – s301(1)Offences requiring a spec ific intention †¢ s294, Acts intended to cause GBH or prevent arrest. †¢ GBH + certain intention: ? an intention to maim, disfigure or disable any person; or ? an intention to do grievous bodily harm; or ? an intention to resist or prevent lawful arrest or detention; or †¢ Administering noxious thing – s301(2) ? Cause poison or noxious thing to be administered or taken + ? Intention to injure or annoy Threats, s338 [not in exam] The definition of threat in s338 is very wide and includes any statement or behaviour that might reasonably constitute a threat to: (a) ill, injure, endanger or harm any person; (b) destroy, damage, endanger or harm any property; (c) take or exercise control over any building, structure, or conveyance by force or violence; OR (d) cause a detriment of any kind to any person. The threat must be to do one of the things in s338A:. a) Gain a benefit b) Cause a detriment c) Prevent someone doing something d) Make someone do something What doe s detrimental mean? ? R v Zaphir: ? â€Å"a threat is some sort of indication of intention to cause harm or damage or to punish. † ? Detriment means â€Å"loss or disadvantage, or damage as opposed to benefit. ? To satisfy the offence â€Å"a threat must be of such nature and extent that the mind of an ordinary person of normal ability and courage might be influenced or made apprehensive so as to accede unwillingly to the demand† Offences ? ? s338A Threats with intent to influence s338B Threats Stalking, s338D [not in exam] s338D defines: intimidate, pursue, circumstances of aggravation. Offences: s338E(1) †¢ Pursuing with †¢ intention to intimidate s338E(2) †¢ Pursuing that †¢ Can be reasonably expected to intimidate AND †¢ Does intimidate Legal Capacity (defences) Children Law: A Child is deemed to be incapable of committing a crime, irrespective of what they have done. Under s29 a child under 10 years is presumed incapable (not rebuttable). Between 10 and 14 the presumption of incapacity is rebuttable if it is proved by prosecution that at the time of the offence that child knew that the conduct was wrong according to the standards of ordinary people – M (1977). It is not clear if this test means legally or morally wrong. Child does not need to know act was against the law. They need to know that what they did was seriously wrong as opposed to just naughty. †¢ Following facts should be taken into account: Age: â€Å"the lower the child is on the scale between ten and fourteen, the stronger the evidence necessary to rebut that presumption†: B v R (1958) 44 Cr App R 1 at 3 ? Type of offence: Heinousness, Ferocity, Nature. Was there a victim? L v DPP = the more heinous the crime the easier it is to rebut the presumption. ? Statements by child: Does it really show an understanding ? Expert evidence ? Presumption of normality (what is normal? ) ? Conduct surrounding the act: Luring victim, trying to cove r tracks, running away (= not conclusive, as children will run away if have done something merely naughty). Mode of committing the act: Positive act versus omission, degree of participation, peer influence ? Home background: Abuse at home; physical environment; upbringing. (White (1964) – behaviour the result of socialisation. ? Appearance & demeanour in court ? Past criminal record: can be used if similar fact evidence ? Different culture ? The child has to know that it was wrong at time of act, not when picked up/ questioned. Corporations (look in exam question for â€Å"Pty Ltd† which should indicate whether person or corporation is being charged) †¢ Law: Corporations can commit offences.In the Code corporations come under the definition of a person. And under s69(1) of the Interpretation Act 1984 (WA) all indictable and summary offences apply to bodies corporate as well as individuals. †¢ Identification Liability: (= preferred test) : â€Å"A corporation is an abstraction. It has no mind of its own any more than it has a body of its own; its active and directing will must consequently be sought in the person of somebody who for some purposes may be called an agent, but who is really the directing mind and will of the corporation. † Lennard’s Carrying Co Ltd v Asiatic Petroleum Co Ltd. Vicarious Liability: attributing to employer what an employee does in the course of employment. Torts test, too wide. Defences: Mental Capacity Intention and motive, s23 The result intended to be caused by an act/omission is immaterial, unless intention is expressly declared to be an element of the offence. The motive for an act/omission/intention is immaterial, unless otherwise expressly declared. Voluntariness of will s23A, 23B 23A: Lack of will †¢ Law: A person is not criminally responsible for an act/omission that is independent of his/her will (not available as a defence where there is a duty of care owed under Ch 27). Act: At c ommon law an act can be defined both narrowly and broadly (both should be considered: If narrow view taken, charge under s 266 still possible. ) which ones do the court tend to follow nowadays? ? Narrow definition: any bodily action, e. g pulling trigger of gun: Kaporonovski. ? Broad definition: includes all physical conduct that caused death, e. g. from getting loaded firearm to pulling trigger: Falconer. †¢ Will: Examples of unwilled acts are:An involuntary response to external stimulus (e. g. bee sting) is unwilled. An act done whilst sleepwalking is unwilled (R v Holmes).An act done whilst asleep is unwilled (Michael Jiminez) – although D may be liable for act/omission immediately before falling asleep, eg driving while tired. †¢ Sane Automatism describes a mental state where the D lacks awareness of their actions during the commission of a serious offence. Any act occurring independent of the will of the D whilst in a state of sane automatism is unwilled. In co ntrast to insanity, sane automatism is the result of an external stimulus (eg sudden physical/ psychological trauma, hypoglycaemia). Insanity results from an internal mental disorder (Falconer). Test to distinguish SA from insanity (Falconer): ? Too complicated! ? In an exam, this would not help you, I am sure. It’s ot about who needs to prove what, as when you arguing something in the exam, hardly ever will YOU be able to meet the standard of proof as it’s always ambiguous. You need to set out some of the limbs of the focloner test, eg (and most importantly) the test of the reasonable person. What characteristics does that person have? It’s the reasonable person in the same situation as the accused, but not with their specific weaknesses (eg an additional depression). If they wold have done the same = sane automatism.Another thing you look at is whether one off event (unlikely to reoccur) or they’ve got a screw loose (= will likely do it again cos they l ack some control over their actions generally] ? 1st step: Has Crown disproved sane automatism? (Standard of proof: beyond reasonable doubt. Onus of proof: on Crown). If not, unqualified acquittal. ? 2nd step: If so, has D proved insanity under s 27? (first question is: is there a mental impairment as opposed to an external blow, before you even get to the capacities) Was one of the 3 capacities in s27 absent? Standard of proof: on balance of probabilities.Onus of Proof: on D, since s 26 presumes every person to be of sound mind). If so, acquittal with provision that accused was of unsound mind at the time of the offence. ? If sane automatism is disproved and the D does not prove insanity under s 27, jury must consider whether the other elements of the offence have been proved beyond reasonable doubt. If so, proper verdict is guilty (Falconer). 23B: accident †¢ A person is not criminally responsible for an event which occurs by accident (not available as a defence where there i s a duty of care owed under Ch 27: R v Hodgetts and Jackson). ‘event’ means the ‘result or consequence of an action’ (Van Den Bemd). †¢ ‘accident’: Kaporonovski, Taiters: an event is only an accident if it 1. was not intended 2. was not foreseen by the defendant (subjective element) AND 3. was not reasonably foreseeable by an ordinary person (objective element) Evidentiary burden: on accused. Onus of proof: on prosection to disprove 1, 2 OR 3 beyond reasonable doubt. [they only need to disprove one for the defence to fall] Causation: P must prove that D caused a particular outcome if the outcome is an element of the offence. Causation established by tests in Royall). Can be difficult to distinguish between proof of causation and obligation of P to negative accident (Jemielita). †¢ If death/GBH by a deliberate use of force, the fact that it would not have occurred but for an abnormality/defect/weakness in the victim is not a defense, e ven if the accused did not intend/foresee the death/GBH and even if it was not reasonably foreseeable. Insanity ss26, 27 †¢ Law: Pursuant to s26, the accused is presumed to understand the consequences of their actions and is capable of acting rationally.This presumption must be disproved by the accused (Falconer) on the balance of probabilities (R v Porter). Accused also carries the evidentiary burden of establishing that their mental impairment deprived them of ONE of the THREE capacities in s27 (McNaghten’s Case, approved by R v Porter): (1) understand what they were doing (refers to physical consequences of action, not moral qualities); OR (2) control their actions (e. g irresistible impulses: Moore, Soderman v the King); OR (3) know that they ought not do the act or make the omission (similar to test used to assess children). Mental impairment [comes before the capacities]is defined in s1 as an intellectual disability, mental illness, brain damage or senility. The Co mmon law helps distinguish sane and insane automatism. (1) The state of mind must be one of disease, disorder or disturbance arising from some infirmity, whether temporary or long standing (R v Porter); (2) NO need for physical deterioration of brain; (3) A defect of reasoning caused by physical disease unrelated to mind could be insanity (R v Kemp). (4) Insanity is internal, with no external physical cause (Cooper v McKenna); (5)Insanity caused by medical treatment of physical disease (eg. Insulin) will not be insanity if self induced (R v Quick). Some result are contentious. Hyperglycemia was held to be a desease of the mind (R v Hennessy). Hypoglycemia was not held to be internal (R v Quick). (6) Sane automatism is a reaction to a once-off psychological trauma, test is: Would ordinary person react the same way in the circumstances? (Falconer). Yes = sane automatism, not insanity. [see comments above] †¢ Persuasive burden on prosecution (Falconer). †¢ Variable: Distingui sh from situation where accused unfit to stand trial. Consequence: no full acquittal, but rather ‘not guilty by reason of insanity'. May mean indefinite detention in appropriate institution. Intoxication s28 †¢ Law: Intoxication (by drugs/alcohol/any other means) may be used as a basis for a defence of insanity under s 27 as long as it was not self-induced. Where intention to cause a specific result is an element of an offence, intoxication may be considered when deciding whether intention existed. Onus on prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt: 1. That such intention existed AND 2.That accused was capable of forming the intention, and did in fact form the intention. (R v Crump). Defences: Mistake Mistake of Fact s22 †¢ A person who does/omits to do something under an honest and reasonable, but mistaken, belief in the existence of any state of things is only criminally responsible for the act/omission as if the real state of things had been such as he believed to exist (their delusion were true). ? Mistake must be honest: (Subjective test). ? Mistake must be reasonable: Pearce v Stanton (Objective test). ? There must be a positive belief in the existence of any state of things. Ignorance/inadvertence not enough (GJ Coles v Goldsworthy). Must be present state, not future or consequences (R v Gould and Barnes). ? Evidentiary burden: on accused. ? Onus of proof: on prosecution, beyond reasonable doubt. ? Only a partial defense. †¢ Can be excluded by express or implied provisions of offences. (e. g. s 331, mistake of age cannot be a defence for sexual penetration of minor under 13) Mistake of Law s24  · Law: Ignorance of the law is not a defense to any act/omission, unless knowledge of the law is expressly declared to be an element of the offence.  ·A person is not criminally responsible for an act/omission with respect to any property in the exercise of an honest claim of right and without intention to defraud. ? They must actually believe they have the right at the time of the offence, not that they may get the right in future (R v Pollard). ? Only applies when being claimed as a defence to a property offence (Pearce v Paskov ) under the Crim Code. Defences Duress s 32 †¢ Law: Occurs when a person believes that a threat made against them will be carried out unless they do an act or make an omission. The action dictated is taken by the threatener. The act/omission must be a reasonable response to the circumstances as the person reasonably believes them to be (i. e. the accused must cause less harm than the harm avoided). Emergency s 25 †¢ Occurs when the threat of sudden harm arises from the circumstances in which a person is placed. The accused decides what action to take to avoid the harm. †¢ The act /omission must be a necessary response in circumstances of ‘sudden or extraordinary emergency’ (s 25(3)(a)(i)), and it must be a reasonable response to the circumstances as the person reasonably believes them to be. Self defence s248An act of self-defence is lawful if: †¢ the person reasonably [3: say if that’s reasonable] [objective] believes [2: state that they believed] [subjective] that the harmful act [1: define and then state what they did] is necessary [4: look at what else they could have done and if that would have been equally suitable] to defend themselves or another person AND †¢ the response is reasonable [objective] in the circumstances as the person defending themselves reasonably [objective] believes [subjective] them to be. †¢ Self-defence is a complete defence to homicide. †¢ Technically, self-defence is an excuse.Evidential burden: on accused. Onus of proof: on Crown to negative self-defence beyond a reasonable doubt (not on accused to prove on balance of probs). †¢ Does the initial act have to be unlawful? S 5 = yes, but qualified by s 6 says a harmful act is not lawful just because the person who does it is no t criminally responsible for it (so you can defend yourself against child/insane person etc. ) (s 6 also supported by case law: Zecevic). †¢ Excessive self-defence = a partial defence. Applies when accused has killed to defend self or another but either the use of force was not necessary, or more force than necessary was used.Excessive self-defence means murder will be downgraded to manslaughter. Provocation ss245, 246 Complete defence only to offences in the definition of which assault is an element (Kaporonovski). No longer a defence to homicide. Not a defence to attempted murder (Roche), or to GBH or wounding. The following elements must be proved: †¢ The offence was against a person who offered provocation that amounted to an unlawful or wrongful act or insult. (Does the ‘insult’ also have to be ‘wrongful’? Stevens v Doglione (Qld): ‘wrongful’ applies to act and insult. Stingel (in obiter): ‘wrongful’ applies only to act, not insult.Therefore, not settled). Attempts s4 An attempt is an offence that is somehow incomplete. (If an offence is complete, don’t consider attempts unless, for example, an offence is attempted on one person but succeeds on another, e. g. A tries to shoot B but instead shoots C). not always section 4, some offence, eg assault and murder, have attempted offence in the specific section in which case you don’t look at s4 3 elements: 1. Intention to commit an offence; 2. Putting that intention into action to some extent (must go beyond ‘mere preparatory acts’) AND; 3. Failure to fulfill the intention of committing the offence. . Intention – requires †¢ An intention of bringing about all the elements of the offence OR †¢ The knowledge (to the extent of virtual certainty) that these elements will occur 2. Beyond ‘mere preparatory acts’: whether this is the case is a question of fact for the jury. Don’t just look at w hat the accused did, take into account other factors in the situation (Cutter v R) to decide whether the act that was done is convincing of the intention to commit the ultimate offence. Tests: †¢ Proximity test: (R v Eagleton): How close is the accused to committing the final act that constitutes the offence? Substantial step test: Has the accused made substantial progress towards completion of the offence? Consider how much progress has been made and what is left to do. †¢ Unequivocality test: (R v Williams): requires that there be ‘no possible innocent explanation for the accused’s conduct’. (Any conduct which might have an innocent explanation cannot be brought by the prosecution as evidence). A precise test, but considered too restrictive. †¢ Last step test: (R v Chellingworth): Has the accused taken the last step towards the completed offence? Voluntary desistance (s4, par. ): If the accused does most of the acts required to constitute the off ence but then stops, it is generally no defence (although may be considered in sentencing). Impossibility (s4, par. 3): †¢ Legal: It is impossible for the accused to commit an offence only where there is no offence at law to capture the defendant’s conduct (e. g. if the defendant mistakenly believes that it is an offence to acquire a certain weapon, but attempts to do so anyway = no offence). BUT, †¢ Factual: if the offender tries to commit an offence but the offence cannot be committed for factual reasons, this is still an attempt: English. eg, the offender tries to import drugs, but the ‘drug’ is talcum powder)’ Conspiracy: [not in exam] †¢ takes place before any preparatory action. (An offender is usually not charged with conspiracy and a completed offence. , so conspiracy is not relevant if an offence is actually committed). †¢ No definition in Code, defined in common law as ‘an agreement between 2 or more persons to achieve a common objective’ (R v Campbell). (note: agreement must be reached. Not sufficient that parties were in communication). †¢ There must be an intention to do all the elements of the offence. There must be a positive intention – recklessness will not suffice. †¢ If there is no agreement, there is no conspiracy – BUT, it is not necessary that all conspirators know one another. †¢ When 2 or more conspirators are charged, the fact that A is acquitted does not necessarily mean B will be as well (R v Darby). †¢ You can’t conspire to do something that is legally impossible. †¢ You can conspire to do something that is factually impossible. Aiding s 7(b) and (c) †¢ What is the principal offence and who is principal offender?Deal with them first †¢ Then distinguish from counselling; presence, constructive presence  · Law: Aiding is providing support, help or assistance (R v Beck) to the PO. Aid is generally given to the PO during the commission of the offence, but can be before the offence (Ancuta). If a person aids another in the commission of an offence they will be liable for the primary offence under s 7(b) or (c).  · First, there must be proof of a Principal Offence actually committed, although conviction of a Principal Offender not necessary (R v Lopuszynski). There can be joint Principal Offenders (Mohan v R). define  · (b): requires proof of assistance being given for the purpose of aiding the commission of the offence. Therefore, an accused can act with the purpose of aiding but not actually aid, and still be liable (R v Arnold).  · 7(c): does not specify mental element, but has been held that ‘aids’ means ‘knowingly aids’( Jervis v R: ‘aids’ held to be a word that carries an inherent mental element).  · In both 7(c) and (d), the accessory must have actual knowledge of the future offence they are aiding, as opposed to merely a suspicion (although this knowledge can be inferred from proof of exposure to the obvious).It is sufficient that the accused contemplates the type of crime to be committed by the PO – it is not necessary that its precise details be known (Ancuta). Recklessness, however, is an insufficient mental state for aiding. (Giorgianni).  · Variable: Where the offence is one requiring fault elements, the accused must also have actual knowledge that the principal offender possessed the fault element for the principal offence (Stokes and Difford).  ·Variable: Non-interference to prevent a crime is not an offence BUT the fact that a person is ‘voluntarily and purposely present’ and offers no opposition may be grounds for a jury to find that he aided. Positive action NOT essential (Coney). Passive presence at the scene is aid, IF the accused knows his/her presence is encouraging/supporting the PO (e. g. , combination of prior aid and continued nondissociating presence may constitute implied offer of continuing aid = aid under s7) (Beck).  · Apply to facts  · Conclude Counselling or Procuring: s 7(d)  ·Law: If a person counsels or procures another to commit an offence they will be liable for the primary offence under s 7(d).  · Procure means to provide information or material assistance to the PO, and that the provisions cause or bring about the crime (R v Beck). ‘Procuring’ involves intentionally causing the commission of the offence. Humphry v R: ‘procure’ means to produce by endeavour, and one procures a thing by setting out to see that it happens. The accused must also have an intention to assist (Georgianni v R) the PO and general knowledge of the planned crime (Ancuta).  ·Counselling means advice or encouragement (Stuart v R) before the commission of the offence. The counsel does not need to cause the crime (R v Coney). Section 9 extends liability beyond s7(d). [again, not really helpful here. You need to look at 7(d) direct, and only i f that is not gven, you mention section 9] If it is established that the accused counselled the PO to commit the offence, then a jury must determine if the offence was a probable consequence of the counsel. Probable is defined (Darkan v R) as more probable than not, or of probability less than 50/50, but more than real chance.  · Apply to facts  · Conclude Common purpose, s8Liability under s8 attaches when one of the parties goes beyond the common unlawful design/ plan. (If parties are within common plan, s7 enough for determining liability).  · Law: When two or more persons together form a common intention to prosecute an unlawful purpose the court will regard them as joint principal offenders. The prosecution must establish that; (1) the accused formed an intention to prosecute an unlawful purpose (Brennan v R); (2) the PO committed the unlawful purpose (R v Phillips and Lawrence); and (3) the principle offence must have been a probable consequence of the prosecution of the unlawful purpose.Test of whether ‘probable consequence’ is objective (Stuart v R). Probable is defined (Darkan v R) as more probable than not, or of probability less than 50/50, but more than just a ‘substantial or real chance’. There is no liability if PO unexpectedly departs from the common purpose and commits an offence that was not within the contemplation of the accessory and was not a probable consequence of the common purpose (R v Anderson and Morris)  · Apply to facts  · Conclude Withdrawal s 8(2) †¢ Law: An accessory will not be liable until the PO is actually committed (s 8(2)).The accused can terminate their involvement and escape their liability if they; (1) withdrew from the prosecution of the unlawful purpose; (2) by words or conduct communicate their withdrawal from the unlawful purpose to those invloved in the PO; and (3) take reasonable steps to prevent the commission of the offence (R v Menniti).  · Apply to Facts  · Conclude Fraud (not in exam) †¢ Law: Fraud is when an owner parts with their property under false pretences. It is defined in s409 as (1) any person; (2) with intent to defraud; (3) by deceit or any other fraudulent means; (4) obtains property from another person. An intent to defraud is discussed in Balcombe v De Simoni. It requires an intention to induce, and does induce, another to act  ·  · ? Deceit or other fraudulent means are generally statements of fact that the defendant knew to be untrue (R v Carpenter). But the definition is very broad. ? Obtains is defined in s1 as obtaining possession of property. Possession without ownership is enough (Seiler v R). ? Property in s1 includes everything, animate or inanimate, that is capable of ownership. Apply to facts Cobclusion