History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 61

History - Essay Example The counterculture of the 1960s started in the U.S and spread to countries such as France and U.K. the students in public universities were protesting against the U.S government involvement in the Vietnam War. Similarly, during the same time, there was increased participation in the African American civil rights activism that sought to end racism. As the years passed, the baby boomers or generational gap concerning the Vietnam War, rights of women, and traditional modes of power, human sexuality, and race relations took center stage. Students developed new cultural forms such as hip-hop to fight government injustices and introduce equality in society In the resistance movement, new tactical stages were opened, which were supposed to be used in other campuses. The black students had their demands, which were; cultural recognition rather than paternalistic tolerance, and radical white students awareness of the sinister paramilitary activities carried on in secret by the faculty on many campuses, which were hardly recognized by Columbia (Bloom, Alexander, and Wini 175). The strikes were meant to hear out the students grievances as the black students were complaining of cultural recognition and many other things that were affecting them in society. Moreover, the rules in their campuses were not convenient according to

Interim assessment For PhD research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Interim assessment For PhD - Research Paper Example However, the cultures which are being followed in construction industry is associated with the ineffective communication and coordination among members of project team, sexual harassment, poor mentality and lack of trust among project team members. These features results in negatively affecting the overall performance of the industry (Ankrah, 2007). This research study is being conducted in order to investigate the impact of organisational culture on safety of the project with reference to the construction industry. The study also seeks to explore the impact of culture and safety on project performance. The study is based on the construction industry located in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The researcher in this study also interested in finding the current health and safety policies being adopted by construction industry in Saudi Arabia, the accidental rates in construction sites, and the factors influence in implementing safety culture in construction companies. The research would be he lpful in determining the degree to which culture influence safety and performance of the project. 1.2. Justification: Choudhry, R., Fang, D., and Lingard, H. (2009) conducted research study regarding the safety climate of the construction industry and concluded that the safety is highly important for improving the overall performance of the construction organizations and thus provided a framework for measuring the safety climate of a construction company. Fang, Chen, and Wong (2006) conducted research study on the safety climate of the construction industry in Hong Kong and presented important insights for the organisations operating in the construction industry of Hong Kong. Larsson, Pousette, and Torner (2008) and O’Toole (2002), worked on the relationship of the safety climate with the employees’ behaviour and performance. There have been few or no research studies conducted in order to explore the impact of the different cultural practices in the construction indus try on the safety and eventually the impact of the organisational culture and safety on the project performance with reference to the Saudi Arabia. Therefore this research study would be significant for researchers who would conduct research related to the topic in future. Furthermore, there are some studies conducted in this topic but they did not focus on significance of culture related to safety and performance. This study would be helpful for owners and contactors of the construction company. The study will highlight the factors influencing project performance of the construction companies. The research study will also suggest the safety techniques which should be adopted by construction companies in order to create safety environment during different projects. It will also highlight the weaknesses of the policies being adopted by construction companies in accomplishing a project. The study would also be beneficial for government of KSA in making the safety policies for construc tion industry. 2. Background 2.1. Construction Industry in Saudi Arabia: The progress of construction industry in a country shows the future progress of the country. The construction industry of Saudi Arabia is one of the largest and fast growing markets which encountered the business of $36.5 billion in 2011 and is expected to reach $43.8

Cyber Forensics Essay Example for Free

Cyber Forensics Essay Cyber Forensics by Richard Boddington School of Information Technology Assignment 2 – Research Essay Assignment outline †¢ Assignment 2 – Research Essay is a submission of an essay based on the cyber forensic environment and is worth 30% of the overall unit mark †¢ Internal and external students undertake the same activities and are assessed the same. ICT248 undergraduate students are assessed differently from ICT548 post-graduate students in Assignment 2 †¢ The submission of a research essay based on the cyber forensic environment. The length of the essay should be: †¢ ICT248 Undergraduate students 3,500 words †¢ ICT548 Postgraduate students 4,500 words 2 Research not a ‘free-range essay’ †¢ You are required to complete and submit a RESEARCHBASED essay describing and discussing the processes AND challenges involved in identifying, recovering, securing, examining, analysing and preparing digital evidence from a crime scene †¢ This covers the theoretical part of the unit and should be based on the lecture/workshop material, this guide, the lecture notes and, most importantly your own research endeavours †¢ In my experience, employers are looking for graduates who possess analytical, research and communication (writing) skills above and beyond the components of the degree 3 The essay MUST contain: †¢ Introduction and table of contents Defining your scope of coverage of the essay †¢ Content – To enhance your grades, you MUST include some description and discussion of the following in your essay: †¢ †¢ †¢ Describe digital evidence Explain the key principles of cyber forensics Discuss investigation processes used to: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ preserve locate select analyse validate, and present evidence obtained from a computer for evidentiary purposes †¢ Discuss and the importance of crime reconstruction hypotheses and alternative hypotheses 4 The essay MUST contain: †¢ Conclusion most students overlook and underestimate the conclusion – this is where you summarise the facts described in the body of your essay and add your own conclusions based on what you have read. No new material should be added here. †¢ Grammar and spelling – spell check your drafts – get a friend or relative to proof-read your drafts prior to submission †¢ References that are cited in the essay – use EndNote, if you wish. This is available from the Library, free of charge. Post your draft to Turnitin (see separate instructions) to ensure that you have not inadvertently plagiarised the work of others †¢ Bibliography of other reference material that was used but not cited 5 Essay structure †¢ Use appropriate headings and sub-headings that relate to the chosen topic †¢ The essay should include relevant quotations -properly referenced and examples used to support your discussion within the essay †¢ Please don’t overuse quotations (max 5% of the document and they are not included in the word count) †¢ You will also be assessed on the presentation of your essay, as well as the contents 6 Referencing †¢ The quality and breadth of references used will be taken into account and credit will be given for evidence of wide reading on the topic and use of material from a variety of sources (i. e. , Learning Guide, books, journals, websites, newspapers, etc) †¢ Marks will not be awarded where correct referencing is not used and will also not be awarded where the above instructions are not followed †¢ All assertions by other authors must be correctly referenced. †¢ Please restrict your own comments to observations about the work of authors you are quoting †¢ Your own world view and statements of unsubstantiated facts (that are not referenced) do not earn marks †¢ Please see the Online Resources page on the unit MyLMS homepage. This will provide you with some links to help you with your essay preparation and writing 7 Turnitin †¢ The Research Essay must be fully referenced where the assertions of other authors are being used and must first be submitted to Turnitin before it is submitted to LMS as a completed assignment †¢ The Turnitin account that will have been prepared for you by the Unit Coordinator and available through the Unit LMS site †¢ Late submissions due to delays in submitting assignments through TURNITIN are not grounds for seeking an extension for the assignment. 8 Suggested format of the essay †¢ Essay style may be in report form or an essay – that is your choice †¢ Use of heading and a table of contents makes it easier for you to structure the essay in a logical and cohesive form †¢ It also makes it easier for the reader to navigate your essay and helps prepare the reader for each new major concept that you are introducing. †¢ Refer to the hints and tips on essay writing and referencing that may have already been posted in the MyLMS discussion board. If you are not already making good use of the board by reading the contents, I exhort you to do so †¢ Include a descriptive title – many students do not do this 9 Essay structure †¢ Introduction – an overview of the key issues, concepts, etc. , that you want to share with your reader – some of you may wish to include an abstract †¢ Body of the essay – more details of what you have stated in your introduction – use sub headings – logical flow of information and key and sub-topics – dot points ok, but don’t over use them – quotes should be kept to a minimum and are not included in the word count – extra points awarded for you paraphrasing the work of the authors you quote †¢ Use linking paragraphs to introduce the next topic †¢ Some room for argument in your essay, but restrict this to your opinion of the work of credible authors you include in your essay 10 Reference materials †¢ Referencing – as above – ensure it meets the academic standards of the university. Suspected plagiarism will be reported to the Dean – so take care to avoid it †¢ For an essay of this calibre – I suggest at least 5 quality journal or book articles per topic. †¢ Bibliography to include those references you looked at but did not include as a reference will also enhance your essay’s credibility 11 Searching for materials †¢ Try the new iGoogle feature that incorporates SFX FindIT to enhance your search for quality articles and books on the essay topic: http://wwwlib. murdoch. edu. au/mylibrary/tools. html 12 13 Criteria Assignment Structure Max marks 3 Comments Mark awarded Introduction, objectives, scope, logical flow, headings and subheadings Grammar, spelling 4 Correct English usage Coverage of the Topic 15 Coverage, matches scope. Information not appropriately referenced at best gets no marks and at worse may suggest plagiarism. o o o o Analysis, Conclusion and discussion Describe digital evidence Explain the key principles of cyber forensics. Discuss examination processes used to: ? preserve ? locate ? select ? analyse ? validate, and ? present evidence obtained from a computer for evidentiary purposes. Discuss and the importance of crime reconstruction hypotheses and alternative hypotheses. 4 Draws together discussion, highlights implications, etc. Citations 4 Used correctly in-text, provide examples included in references References Quality, breadth, completeness, matches citations, Bibliography. TOTAL MARKS 30 14 15

Human Resource Recruitment Case Study

Human Resource Recruitment Case Study Over resent decades, a number of studies have shown a positive relationship between high efficiency human resource management (HRM) policies and practices, and organisational performance (Heynes Fryer, 2000:240). HRM is therefore seemed to be the major factor to differentiate between success and failure of the organisations in todays world. This because it involves in how to manage people who work for the company, and whose roles performance as well as quality could eventually achieve organisations aims and objectives. There are many aspects in HRM, including resourcing, performance and developing, and so on (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008). Resourcing is one of the main factor in HRM that consist of planning, recruiting, inducting and bringing a new staff up to the standard of a fully effective worker (Dawson, 1989:28). This essay will focus on the resourcing which includes issues involve in the recruitment. It also contains the case study of Tesco regarding its resourcing strategi es which show how such aspects can help the organisations growth. The concept of HRM It is not easy to define the concept for Human Resource Management as there are two different ways to perceive: personnel management (PM) and HRM (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008:6). However, its overview idea is the approach to manage the people who work for the organisation and are related to the success of the business. The firms are also able to gains the competitive advantage by using its people efficiently and effectively in their skills and competencies. Human resources are different from the other resources which work for the organisation because people have thought, emotions, feelings, aspirations and needs, and they have those thing individually as well. Hence, HRM relates to the way in which the organisation interact with its people; for instance, recruiting the suitable people for right positions, providing training and development opportunities, and so on (The Time 100, 2005). The concept of resourcing Although there are many aspects in HRM, the first main activity of human resource department is to search and bring people who are needed in order for business to be successful. These people could be the employees and also people outside the company such as consultants or subcontractors. Nevertheless, no matter which type of their work the working relationship between the business and them is the employment contract which EntrepreneurÂÂ ® (2009) defines as An agreement entered into between an employer and an employee at the time the employee is hired that outlines the exact nature of their business relationship, specifically what compensation the employee will receive in exchange for specific work performed. What is more, once the organisation recruits its people, they have to be in the series of activity such as motivation, training, developing and regular feedback that could maintain or improve their performance as well as loyalty to the company (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008 :106). Other keys factor of resourcing process including HR planning, recruitment and selection. These are also able to provide the management to have a way to acquire new skills and improve the organisational cultures (Marchington Wilkinson, 2007:157). Recruitment External Recruitment VS Internal Promotion There are two ways for organisation to employ its new staffs whether search for the talent available on the external labour market or to invest within the company to develop existing staffs to fill in the new position (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008). These choices have their own advantages and disadvantages which the HR specialists have to analyse and decide before the recruitment. Internal recruitment is less expensive than external one because the company has no need to spend its revenue on the job advertisements or recruitment agencies. The organisation can also ensure that the candidates are familiar with its regulations, environment and culture. In addition, it can act as one of the motivational tools in the organisation strategies to encourage its staff performance as well. On the other hand, the drawback of home grown method is a limited number of candidates in order for the HR manager to choose and it can demotivate some failed candidates when the outside ones are chosen instead. The other type is external recruitment. Although it is more expensive, there is a wide range of candidate and this is able to provide the creation of a diverse workforce (Ibid). Outsiders might also possess specific skills, abilities or characteristics that suit the firm needs (Chen, 2005). In contrast, this way of recruitment drops the promotion opportunities of the insiders and thus adversely affects their incentives (Ibid). As there are pros and cons for both methods, the organisation should therefore consider some factors such as the economy and labour market before setting its recruitment policies. A company could also use either or both ways. However, it should be concerned with the suitable approach that fair enough for all candidates, giving sincere, honest, accuracy and helpful feedback to unsuccessful candidates as an important part of the process. E-Recruitment Since the world has become globalisation, the Internet was used increasingly for recruitment among the companies worldwide. It provides the effective channel to attract the job-seekers faster and more up-to-date than the traditional ways. There are two basis form of Internet recruitment: employers own website and cyber-agencies (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008). The companies which have their own website could create the career part for the candidates gain both spending less money and time to the right person. However, the agencies allocate the service that supports the HR people to concentrate on the other aspects and have a wider way to reach the candidates. Consequently, the organisation should be concerned not only use the traditional way of recruitment, but also applies the e-recruitment as a technology to support its development. Case studies Tesco, the biggest private sector employer in the UK, has employed more than 360,000 employees worldwide and it is continually growing every year (The Time 100, 2005). The way to support Tesco to handle the adequate resourcing of the suitable workforce to serve its widen market might be the efficient and effective resourcing strategies. There are three main factors in Tesco resourcing: workforce planning, attracting and recruitment, and selection. Firstly, the workforce planning is the process for analysing the company concerned with the need of workforce in terms of numbers, skills and locations. Tesco uses a workforce planning table to create the approximate demand for new staff. This table allows Tesco flexibility and sufficient time to meet its staff demands and lead the business to achieve its strategic objectives; for example, to open new stores and maintain customer service standards. Another important element is to have clear job descriptions and person specifications. Job description defines what it want people to do in this role while person specification describes the qualification of people in required position. Tesco uses both to help job applicants and post-holders to know what is expected from them. Secondly, Tesco applies both internal staff development and external recruitment methods to fill its vacancies. It is concerned about the staff motivation and uses its practises called talent planning to encourage their internal employees through an annual appraisal scheme. This could therefore lead them to apply for higher position. Furthermore, Tesco avoid the demonization among the staffs who fail the promotion as it provides the privilege such as the longer preparation time. On the other hand, for external recruitment, Tesco invest in advertises vacancies via its website or through vacancy boards in stores. The short lists have an interview followed by some processes at an assessment centre. Lastly, the selection process involves choosing the most suitable candidate from those who apply for a position by keeping the employment laws and regulations. According to figure 1, Tesco also use screening to filter candidates to ensure that those selected for interview have the best fit with the job requirements. An assessment centre is the next step for the candidates and it take place in store and is run by managers. Consequently, an interview is the last step in the process. To summarise, Tesco is an enterprise with many job opportunities from the frontline staff to high level manager. Tesco therefore needs to encourage its growth and development with the right people, skills and behaviours. It shows the organisational structures clearly, and provides obvious job descriptions and person specifications to create easy ways of applying for jobs. These could eventually lead Tesco to have its efficient approach for recruitment and selection, and support its changing demand for employee. Conclusion Tesco case study could demonstrate how resourcing helps the organisation to reach its need of staffs in the right place, with the right skills at the right time. Furthermore, it might be a useful example for another company to analyse and apply to their strategies. Recruitment topic contains the important issues comprise internal and external recruitment, and e-recruitment. These could provide the benefits and drawbacks as well as a variety of channel for recruitment. Resourcing is crucial for a business needs to meet its staff demands and match the position with the right people, and also maintain such valuable workforce. The company should analyse its structure and synergise the factors including workforce planning, recruitment and selection, and so on to set the organisation resourcing strategy. This could result in the efficient and effective resourcing as part of the human resource management.

The Cultural Front Essay examples -- essays research papers

The Cultural Front   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the USA, it seems as though there is always a revolution going on. The world is changing everyday. Everyday there is something new going on. Everyday there are people fighting for what they believe in, from social movements to political movements. Everyday people are working hard for their future. People are just trying to make it in the real world. In the the 1930’s, there was so much going on, from WWI to the depression. The world was in a slump, and people were doing everything they could to make it. The cultural front involves history on the ordinary person, politics, and literature. I wish to compare some of the problems of today, with the problems of the past, discussing politics, culture, hegemony, and the working class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  USA is the richest country and has the most poor people in numbers. Our money isn’t spent on education, health, or housing projects for poor people. Recently most of our money has been going to Iraq or weapons for soldiers so they can keep the peace. Our money doesn’t go to the ordinary person. Rich people keep getting rich, and the poor keep getting poor! I don’t feel our money is put into any investments. How come our gas prices are so high? Wouldn’t it make sense to invest in oil, so the average person can have some spare change to spend on something other than gas to get from point A to B? Our system is unjust and the only way to fix it is to fight for it, and hope that someone in power hears you. When people in power say something, people automatically believe them, even if there is no basis to their knowledge. President Bush had repeatedly said that John Kerry had changed his positions about our war many times. Kerry said it wasnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t true, but people believed Bush anyways, because he is a man of power, which is a form of communism. There are ways to change our system fundamentally instead of going to war with other countries. Most of our money right now goes to our National Defense and Social Security. It’s nice the money will be there later for us when we retire, but what about those of us who need social security benefits now? There have and always will be problems with the system, and no matter what you do, you can never make everyone happy! In the 1930’s the big political movement was the power of the CIO, The congress of Industrial Organization. They came to power at the beginning of ... ...side had Ghetto pastorals, which were books about people growing up in the ghettos, Harlem, Chinatowns, Little Italy, etc. Ghettos are usually classified as projects for African Americans. They are run down housing projects, where the poorest of the poor live. People there usually are on welfare, and have many kids. People enjoyed reading these stories, because they were stories of everyday people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This Cultural front was a revolution in the United States. The Cultural front is part of our history and it is very important to read all perspectives of history. The Cultural front reshaped history through the everyday people, the writing, play wrights, politics, and social movements. The cultural front shows the perspectives of the poor; it isn’t things you will find in a history book. When you read history books you find falsification. White men wrote history, they designed it the way they wanted people to remember it, making past presidents heroes, justifying Christopher Columbus taking land that was not his, justifying slavery, and writing only about people in power. The book the Cultural front shows a perspective from the every day average American just trying to survive.

Kustom Kar Kommandos :: essays research papers

The movie Kustom Kar Kommandos is an intriguing look at the relationship between a man and his car. The film, being only about 3 minutes long, is filled with many points of thought involving the nature of this relationship. The short itself is about a man simply buffing and admiring his car, but with the use of music, fades, and slow pans this becomes an erotic event.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Playing â€Å"Dream Lover† from the start, Kenneth Anger has found the sensual side of communicating with an automobile, while still keeping the movie free of blatant symbolic imagery. The scene of the short is a very plain stage. A pink backdrop with no props other than the car, our attention is already focused to the action to be presented. The shots are very slow and very smooth, with fade’s and dissolves used abundantly for the transitions. The panning is done at a very slow pace, with the polishing being done at about the same speed. What could be only a few quick shots of a man have been dragged out into 3+ minutes of care and love to the car. The buffing rag itself is virginally white, having never seen any dirt on the car. Everything in the scene leads to a very innocent, sensual theme that Anger expresses so well in his cinematography.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The hints of sexuality appear as soon as the first shot comes onscreen. The fluffy white buffing rag caressing the body of the car ever so slowly, it then finds its way to two shiny circular (and very breast-like) objects that are part of the car’s engine. Moving from the body to these two â€Å"breasts†, the buffer never wavers, never slipping up in its quest to polish every inch of the car’s body and engine. Immediately afterwards, and in the same pan, the camera finds a hood ornament of a man sitting down (and apparently fishing) with a very phallic fishing rod projecting out in the silhouette. It is shots like this that give the short its erotic undertone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another interesting aspect of the film is the ambiguity of the man polishing the car. The shots are all done very carefully, so that the man’s face is never seen until the very end of the short. At one point it goes to a close up of the body being buffed, with a fairly revealing reflection of the man, but not his face.

Smog as Air Pollution

utNowadays pollution is becoming more and more serious problem, particularly air pollution. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the chemical elements of the atmosphere have changed. Along with the development of industrialization, air pollution has spread and now it is a global issue. There are many kinds of air pollution, one of them is smog. Smog can come from many areas, particularly factories and transportation systems, but there are some differences between developed and developing countries. In developed countries, highly developed industry is the main reason that smog is serious, they mostly use fossil fuels.However, developing countries started to industrialize, so increasing number of factories is the most important cause of smog and they always use the coal or wood burning. More and more people using cars and motorcycles also is a reason about that. Those of us who live in large cities are familiar with smog air pollution; the familiar brown haze resting over the city on a still day. We need to know what smog contains and where it comes from, as well as the health and environmental impacts of this hallmark of industrialization.There are two categories of smog to be covered: classic smog and the more recently described photochemical smog. Classic Smog In its most primitive and basic form, smog air pollution is the result of the burning of fossil fuels. It has several major components: 1) Smoke, which is tiny particles of ash, is released from the smokestacks of coal fired power stations. Coal power plants are now on the whole designed to trap this ash, called fly ash, which can be used to great effect in the concrete industry.These tiny particles contain not only carbon residue, but also silicon dioxide, calcium oxide and traces of heavy metals. If inhaled these can pose significant health risks. The silicon dioxide in the fly ash alone can cause lesions, scarring and inflammation of the lungs. 2) Sulfur Dioxide. Sulfur is present in allà ‚  fossil fuels  and is released as Sulfur Dioxide when the fuels are burned. Sulfur Dioxide reacts with oxygen gas to give Sulfur Trioxide. This then can react with water to give Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4).Another possibility is that the Sulfur Dioxide reacts immediately with water to give Sulfurous Acid (H2SO3). Either way, the acid produced is highly reactive and capable of causing significant damage to crops, soil, buildings and more. Several industrialized nations now employ technology that captures approximately a third of Sulfur Dioxide from the emission gases of power stations, greatly reducing the problems of acid rain. Photochemical Smog This is a far more noxious mixture of chemicals than classic smog air pollution. Significant inroads have been made to reduce the main contributors to classic smog.Such efforts in relation to photochemical smog are still in their early stages. Photochemical smog air pollution is a mixture of various chemicals that react with sunlight to produ ce new chemicals. This is where the name comes from;  photo  means  light  and  chemical  means chemical, or product of a chemical reaction. The chemical reactions involved are complex and while they are important, we need to know the  source  of these pollutants and their effects. The chemicals involved need to be addressed separately. The three main ingredients are Nitrous Oxides, volatile organic compounds and Ozone.Carbon Monoxide is a toxic byproduct of fossil fuel combustion but is considered separate to photochemical smog. London smog disaster One of the famous smog with all bad effects is London Smog which was caused by heavy coal combustion during the winter of 1952, The weather in Greater London had been unusually cold for several weeks leading up to the event because of the cold weather, households were burning more coal than usual to keep warm. The smoke from approximately one million coal-fired stoves, in addition to the emissions from local industry, wa s released into the atmosphere.Increases in smoke and sulfur emissions from the combustion of coal had been occurring since the Industrial Revolution and the British were familiar with these types of smog events. At times, the smoke and emissions were so heavy that residents referred to the events as ‘pea soupers’ because the fog was as dense as pea soup. However, while the area had experienced heavy smog in the past, no event had caused such problems as the weather event in December, 1952. Thousands of tons of black soot, tar particles, and sulfur dioxide had accumulated in the air from the heavy coal combustion.Estimates of PM10 concentrations during December, 1952, range between 3,000 and 14,000? g/m? with the high range being approximately 50 times higher than normal levels at the time. PM10 is particulate matter less than 10 micrometers in diameter. Conditions for Londoners today are much better with PM 10 concentrations around 30? g/m?. Estimates also suggest that sulfur dioxide levels during December of 1952 were 7 times greater than normal at 700 parts per billion (ppb). The weather preceding and during the smog meant that Londoners were burning more coal than usual to keep warm.Post-war domestic coal tended to be of a relatively low-grade, sulphurous variety (economic necessity meant that better-quality â€Å"hard† coals tended to be exported), which increased the amount of sulphur dioxide in the smoke. There were also numerous coal-fired power stations in the Greater London area, including Battersea, Bankside, and Kingston upon Thames, all of which added to the pollution. Research suggests that additional pollution prevention systems fitted at Battersea may have actually worsened the air quality, reducing the output of soot at the cost of increased sulphur dioxide, though this is not certain.Additionally, there were pollution and smoke from vehicle exhaust—particularly from diesel-fuelled buses which had replaced the recent ly abandoned electric tram system—and from other industrial and commercial sources. Prevailing winds had also blown heavily polluted air across the English Channel from industrial areas of Continental Europe. There was no panic, as London was renowned for its fog. In the weeks that ensued, however, statistics compiled by medical services found that the fog had killed 4,000 people.Most of the victims were very young, elderly, or had pre-existing respiratory problems. In February 1953, Lieutenant-Colonel Lipton suggested in the House of Commons that the fog had caused 6,000 deaths and that 25,000 more people had claimed sickness benefits in London during that period. Most of the deaths were caused by respiratory tract infections from hypoxia and as a result of mechanical obstruction of the air passages by pus arising from lung infections caused by the smog. The lung infections were mainly bronchopneumonia or acute purulent bronchitis superimposed upon chronic bronchitis.More re cent research suggests that the number of fatalities was considerably greater, at about 12,000. The death toll formed an important impetus to modern environmentalism, and it caused a rethinking of air pollution, as the smog had demonstrated its lethal potential. New regulations were implemented, restricting the use of dirty fuels in industry and banning black smoke. Environmental legislation since 1952, such as the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1954 and the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968, has led to a reduction in air pollution.