Smartphones Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Smartphones - Annotated Bibliography Example There are a thousand parts of the smartphones that cause a range of concerns. Such issues range from freezing to the force closing of application and booting attached problems just like computer or tablet problems. The warranty coverages halt after some years and hence the customer remains responsible for the hardware or software replacement. In addition, cost a chief setback to smartphones with respect to owning and operating smartphones (Perlow 34). It is interesting to uncover that one’s monthly cell phone bill for the smartphone is higher as compared to ordinary cellphones. Chief Cellphone carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile and Sprint users pay up to 75 and 120 dollars monthly for Smartphones excluding taxes and fees. The initial costs of acquiring smartphones are also high with a minimum $600. However, it is beneficial to signing on with carriers to due to discounts after signing a contract service. Smartphones provide capabilities such as those of Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Phone and Android that far much compared to basic clamshell and flip-style phones. Smartphones presents users with ability to check for social media sites, email conversation and transaction performance like read books and instant messages. As the smartphones provide capabilities that ordinary cellphones, a sense of convenience crops in those basic cells cannot provide. The GPS application capabilities offer users turn-by-turn directions to anywhere from all location. Bank account balance can be accessed; social networking further helps users keep close ties with relatives, friends and families (Perlow 52). The used smartphones will cost less relative to new ones but still perform the functionality required. They are purchased on auction sites such as eBay as well as when advertised in local newspapers classifieds sections and Craigslist. However, one must assess the smartphone for any past

Challening Role of Nurses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Challening Role of Nurses - Essay Example There are three different models of assessment in vogue of which Roper et al's model is adopted in the study. By also having a review of few published case studies, it is has been demonstrated that nurses are indispensable and they should conduct themselves in a responsible manner failing which the whole health care delivery system would collapse. one of the essential skills required of nurse clinicians is that of health assessment, including physical assessment. The nurses' role care of care starts from putting the patients and family members at ease on arrival and immediately beginning her health and physical assessment of the patient along with information provided by family members and past records of medical history. The Nurses should adopt a holistic approach as if they are one of the members of the community in delivering health care Nurses have a challenging role in the delivery of health care and are required to be skilled and knowledgeable clinicians; one of the essential skills required of nurse clinicians is that of health a... They undergo minimum three years of graduation like any other profession requires before they can practice as an indispensable link between doctors and patients. They are the first point of care in the absence of doctors and even in their presence. In fact nurse is a mini-doctor. Doctors look up on nurses as valuable source of information about the patients and expect them to fill the vacuum between the doctors and patients in their health care delivery to patients as the doctors can not be always be at the latter's bedside. Besides, Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), U.K. established in April 2002 has stipulated standards of proficiency for nurses which have come into force from 1 August 2004. Some of important standards of proficiency for nursing students prescribed by the NMC are that they should practice within legal and ethical limits keeping in view the patient's welfare, that they should not practice in a discriminatory manner between individuals and interest groups, that they should establish therapeutic relationships and withdraw from them appropriately, and that they should document the assessment of the patients systematically and accurately. (NMC) Health Assessment Basically an assessment of health involves collection of data and arriving at a judgement of status of a person's health, requirements, desires to serve as guide for future course of treatment.(Heath 2000) Nursing process starts with the said assessment. When the nurse meets the patient on being admitted to a hospital, visiting a clinic or at the patient's residence, she gathers information of the patient to decide on a care delivery. The assessment may be even conducted on day to day basis to monitor improvement

Child Sex Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Child Sex Tourism - Essay Example On the other hand, international laws and legislation were found to have yet to meet ends with the fight against child sex tourism. Since it has become a global dilemma, laws on commercial sexual abuse among children in each country must recognize and adhere to a unified agreement on legislation as well as its implementation to ensure success in combating child sex tourism. Child sex tourism (CST) is the commercial sexual exploitation of children by persons who travel from their own country to engage in sexual acts with children (Fraley, 2005). The United Nations has basically the same definition such that it is an organized tourism (the nature of which encompasses many activities) that facilitates the commercial sexual exploitation of anyone under18 years of age (Patterson, 2007). Travel and tourism, for which involves the associations between and among countries are significant factors that play in the prevalent success of this sex trade of minors. Consequently, even as one country becomes more rigorous in implementing its laws against the commercial sexual exploitation of children, they may not be just as successful without the cooperation of the other. Non-committal among nations who even had the most number of victims were found to be one among these factors affecting the prevention of the occurrence of such horrendous criminal acts. The United Nations and various Non-government organizations (NGOs) had synergized with the developed nations in order to strengthen the need to stop child prostitution. This collaboration had been intended to promote various provisions and campaigns towards an intensive and stringent implementation of appropriate and effective strategies against child sex tourism. The United States has been found to be one of the most frequent child sex tourists preying especially on the less developed countries. Studies have revealed that twenty-five percent of sex tourists are Americans (Andrews, 2004;

Role of the Entrepreneur in Setting Up a Business Essay Example for Free

Role of the Entrepreneur in Setting Up a Business Essay Entrepreneurs are the individuals who start new businesses in the economic marketplace. These individuals may start businesses for a variety of reasons, including working for their own self-interest, making more money, improving their local community or enhancing their quality of life. While entrepreneurs may face a number of issues when starting a business, they usually have the psychological resolve and positive outlook to overcome these issues. Other People Are Reading * Help With Setting up a New Business * How to Start an Entrepreneur Cosmetic Business 1. Facts * Entrepreneurs usually offer the vision, goals and objectives for their start-up companies. Goals and objectives oftentimes are simple during the early stages of the company; goals typically include building a strong customer base and making enough money to break even. As entrepreneurs continue to establish their businesses, the importance of goals and objectives typically increases. Once employees are hired to work in the business, an entrepreneur must be able to translate the company’s vision and objectives to new employees. Function * Start-up companies usually require a business plan to begin its operations. Entrepreneurs are usually the individuals responsible for writing the business plan and developing specific information related to the start-up company. The business plan is often used to secure external financing for starting the company and expanding its operations during the early stages of operation. Entrepreneurs may also use the business plan as a road map to direct the business as it continues to grow and expand in the business environment. * Sponsored Links * Trademark Registration Worldwide Trademark Registration Protect your brand internationally! www.MARCARIA.com Considerations * Entrepreneurs may choose to hire individuals during the early stages of business to complete specific technical business responsibilities. Accounting, production techniques, corporate finance or payroll may be positions entrepreneurs need to fill when starting the company. Individuals with these technical skills help the entrepreneur to create a solid foundation for the new business. Because entrepreneurs often are responsible for building the customer base or attracting new clients to the business, they may not have time for these internal business functions. Misconceptions * Setting up a new business is not always an easy task. Depending on the type of business or the current economic environment, entrepreneurs may need to spend copious amounts of time or money when starting businesses. Entrepreneurs also may not be successful in every business they attempt to start. However, their internal resolve and desire to succeed often leads them to new and better business opportunities. Expert Insight * The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency entrepreneurs may use to research important economic and demographic information. The SBA provides start-up companies with various amounts of business, financial and economic information for starting new companies. The SBA also operates local business offices to help entrepreneurs obtain specific information relating to local markets. The SBA usually operates the local offices in conjunction with local community or state colleges and universities.

Accounting Ratio Analysis for Finances

Accounting Ratio Analysis for Finances Ratio analysis is a useful tool for analyzing financial statements. Calculating ratios will aid in understanding the companys strategy and in understanding its strengths and weaknesses relative to other companies and over time. They can sometimes be useful in identifying earnings management and in understanding the effect of accounting choices on the firms reported profitability and growth. Finally, the ratios help in obtaining a better understanding of a firms current profitability, growth, and risk which can improve forecasts of future profitability and growth and estimates of the cost of capital. In reviewing the basic financial ratios, we will examine the ratios of Best Buy for the fiscal years ended March 2, 2002 and March 3, 2001. Excerpts from Best Buys financial statements are included at the end of this document. Best Buy is a growing company. The following table reflects the growth in sales and income during the year ended March 2, 2002: Reference: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4290867/calculating-ratios A number of accounting ratios are used to measure different aspects of performance. Many of these are derived from a single ratio known as the return on capitol employed. Any business would want high return on their capitol as this is the return on of investments made. But also they want the return to be as high as possible against their competitors. If we look at the results of Marks and Spencer over the five years the ROCE fell from 24.88% to just 14.44% thats a fall of 10.44% however. Compare that to the ROCE of next which was 65.54 in 2005 and it stayed around until 2008 when it went upto 84.73 however in 2009 that figure come down to just 40.10 in 2009 despite the big fall Next look like they are outperforming marks and spencer on the return of the capital invested All businesses want to get as high profit as possible marks and spencers gross profit margin over the period of five years it has been stable if will look at between 2006 and 2008 the gross profit margin stayed around 38% that figure saw a fall of just under 1% in 2009 however marks and spencer is doing better than Next as the gross profit margin of next is lower that ms and comparing over the five years they continue to experience a fall in gross profit margin but between 2007 (27.77) and 2008 (28.51) they experienced an increase of just under 1% in 2009 that did not improve because it started to fall again lower than 2008 The net profit margin of ms was looking was looking good up until 2009 as in 2008 it was 12.51 up from 9.38 in 2005 so it was good period however in 2009 that figure was 7.79 lower than the net profit margin of 2005. more worryingly for ms next is outperforming them over the five years not only are they getting high net profit margin but also it is stable at around 14% between 2005 and 2008 Sales per employee The asset turnover is how well the firm is putting its assets to work. The ratio indicates that the asset turnover of Next is better that MS if we compared between 2005 and 2008 however ms look like they gained ground in 2009 when their asset turnover was 3.41 up from 1.74 in 2008 compared this to next in 2008 Nexts asset turnover was 5.66 this was higher than ms 2008 asset turnover but in 2009 next that figure fell down to just 3.06 and this lower than ms if we compared the same year. The stock turnover of ms has been experiencing downward trend in the past five years the 2005 stock turnover was 23.38 but continouos fall in the next four years meant ms stock was turning over 16.91 however the decrease in stock turnover ms will be encouraged that their competitor next is doing worst than them as their stock turnover was just 10.27 Debtors turnover and debtors collection period This ratio indicates the speed with which debtors/accounts recievable are being collected, thus it is indicative of efficiency of trade management. The higher the ratio and shorter collection period the better the trade credit management and the better is the liquidity of the debtors and visa versa. we can see that the control of credit operating by MS is far better than Next. The debtors turnover being 108.53 and the debtor collection period being approximately 3 days compare to 5.77 for the debtors turnover and 63 days for the debtor collection period for Next. Businesses usually operate on a 30, 60 or 90 days policy in terms of debt of payment. Creditor collection period This ratio reflects the time it takes the company to pay its suppliers. Thus, the longer you can hold off payment the longer you have cash on disposal. We can see that the creditors collection period is low (roughly 14 days) compare to next (approximately 22 days) to pay their debts. So marks and spencer might want to look in to ways of improving relationship with suppliers so that they have enough time to pay them. Current ratio The current ratio is the ratio of total current assets to total current liabilities. The current assets of a firm represents those which can be in the ordinary business, converted in to cash within short period of time. Marks and spencer current ratio decreased in the past five years from 0.65 in 2005 to 0.60 in 2009 and the company is below the national average which is 1.8:1, next is doing better than ms even though they are also still below national average with a current ratio of 1.54:1 in 2009 but that is far from national average like ms. Acid test this ratio specifies whether your current assets that could be quickly converted into cash are sufficient to cover current liabilities. Until recently, a Current Ratio of 2:1 was considered standard. A firm that had additional sufficient quick assets available to creditors was believed to be in sound financial condition. Again just like the current ratio both companies are operating below the national average. MS acid test did not show much improvement over the past five years if we compare it to next in the same period 2005 of the both companies was 0.39:1 for MS and 0.82:1 for next however if we look the difference between the two companies ms is 0.37:1 lower than 2005 but next is improving slightly with acid test of 1.09:1 in 2009. Gearing ratio The gearing ratio reflects the amount of finance raised from the banks in relation to the total capital employed. If the gearing ratio is around 40% it is unlikely that a bank would make any further loans. We can see that both companies are far above the 40% and therefore even though they have good reputations it may cause some problems when obtaining loan. This really needs to be looked at and MS must be concerned about this. However, very large company generally operate above this rate. Reference: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19208907/Financial-Analysis-of-IDEA Part 3 UK is passing through a strong economic downturn and overall spending by the consumers is consistently decreasing. The economic growth of UK over the last three years is slowly and consistently declining[1]with forecasts for negative growth in 2009 and some recovery in 2010. These trends also indicate that almost every sector of the economy will be affected with the slow down in the consumer spending due to credit crunch. It is critical to note that there is a marked difference between the corporate social responsibility of the firm as well as improving the overall corporate image of the firm. Linking corporate social responsibility with the improvement of corporate image therefore is something which most of the companies attempt to achieve. (Moir, 2001). At the moment it looks like ms has escaped from criticism like child labour

Analyzing How Buildings Affect Physical and Mental Health Essay

According to Bokalders and Block (2009) some people spend more than 90 percent of their live indoors. This represents that those who live or work in buildings may be significantly influenced by them. Materials which are utilized in the erection of buildings, also interior design of buildings, providing clean air and intensive light are important issues to be taken into account, because their quality has considerable impact on residents. Rostron (2008) claims that adverse effect of a building can cause a considerable implication for society: many of those who suffered from ‘sick buildings’ have complained that their productivity had reduced by 20 percent. Thus, in order to construct healthy buildings without any unfavorable effect on occupants, complex issues should be taken into consideration. The aim of this paper is to identify how buildings can affect physical and mental health and to find solutions which can create better conditions for living and working in. Firstl y, this paper will unfold the causes of bad welfare of occupants and what harm buildings are able to do to people’s health in general, then implication for society will be mentioned. After that some possible solutions will be suggested and evaluated in terms of effectiveness, cost and availability. Constructing a building is challenging issue which requires many problems to be solved and much decision to be taken. Maintaining the balance between architectural design, engineering design and interior in general is not an easy task. In addition, providing healthy indoor environment to the occupants that enhances their physical and mental well-being should be prioritized. Reinhold, Afshari and Gunnarsen (2005, 29) state there are variety of factors in the indoor envir... ...the loss of sleep, which then outcomes as a poor physical and mental health (Åkerstedt and Nilsson 2003, 6-12) Interior Restorative environment It is believed that nature has a restorative effect on stress. According to Ulrich (1984) patients after surgery quickly become better if their windows viewed the landscape rather than buildings. In addition, it was found that pictures of nature may have effective restoration on patients than images of urban sites (Ulrich et al., 1991). Ulrich (1991) reported that the patients who were designated an image with the view of nature demonstrated less nervousness; also demand for anodyne in comparison with a control group has reduced. Moreover, at Conquest Hospital in East Sussex art sessions for stroke patients have been maintained and it has been noted that visual art assists in relieving the pain both mental and physical.

Satanism

Satanism may signify an organized belief system or religion such as the Church of Satan. It may be seen just as a vague and dramatized concept of extreme insurgence against Western norms and conventions such as the so-called â€Å"Satanism† exhibited by some rock musicians. It may be a mythological sign of medieval religious thinking that still lingers in contemporary times. It may also be a deviant practice used to daunt and control others through ritual abuse (Francis King, 1989b). If Satanism is linked with ritual abuse, one can also say with assurance that not all ritual abuse is Satanic. Many of these abusive occurrences have been present in societies or under conditions where Satan is not a renowned spiritual or demonic entity. In earlier times, it was not uncommon for Western scholars and travelers to sometimes attribute the influence of Satan to primitive religious practices, which to them appeared to be idolatrous or violent. Even now, one occasionally hears the concept that if something is not Christian, it is the effect of Satan's power or seductiveness. The predecessors of Satanism can be found in ancient religions in which gods were worshipped, not because of their intrinsic goodness, but as of their perceived power. For example, the ancient Greek and Roman gods were such an amoral grouping of deities. Few showed many venerable character traits. These gods were often represented with all the foibles and veniality of mere mortals. Many of the cults dedicated to such gods and goddesses allegedly involved traumatizing rituals (e. g. , the mystery cults). On the other hand, some religions particularly worshipped and supplicated obviously evil deities. In other cases, what appears to be the adoration of an â€Å"evil deity† may simply symbolize the worship of a spiritual entity that no longer enjoys privileged status? There are examples in history in which a culture's demons were in fact past divinities, no longer revered, and sometimes given new and less striking roles. Such revolutions amongst the gods sometimes resulted from conquests, whereupon the new gods of the conquerors take the place formerly held by the gods of the conquered. In other instances, evil can be revered or worshipped outright. In cultures in which Christianity is established one might presume that the worship of evil would involve some devotion to Lucifer or Satan, the primary names given to the Euro-American spiritual depiction of evil. To many traditional Christians, Satan and Lucifer are equal but different names for the same demon. However, numerous theologians make the peculiarity that Lucifer is the name of Satan before his fall. The origins of Satanism are positively as obscure as any other occult belief system. One can never be specifically certain when such practices started. Yet, some of the historical accounts of Satanism in Europe may explain some of the evolution of thinking about Satanism. The history of Satanism can be traced to a variety of possible sources: (1) European witchcraft, sorcery, and shamanism, (2) Gnostic-derived religions (e. . , the Cathari) which viewed the established Church as an tyrannical adversary, (3) the general traditions of Western occultism (which are often seen as encircling a â€Å"dark† or â€Å"left-handed path†) and (4) what Francis King calls â€Å"the bad divinity of a minority of Roman Catholic priests† (Francis King , 1989b, p. 219 ). Though, whe n Satan was invented, he was found everywhere. For instance, Satan was attached to Adam and Eve as a sibling rivalry between Satan and the younger creatures of God. This combination of human and celestial opponents of God lastly culminated in the formative stages of the Antichrist legend, which speaks of the human embodiment of Satan (McGinn 1994: 10, 22-25; Pagels 1995: 43, 49; Russell 1977: 188-89). While the orthodox text shared some ideas of the dualistic conflict, particularly in Ezra's formulations, Satan obtained a key role in the conventional worldview only gradually, as an influence of the popular apocalyptic eschatology and a means in struggles for power (political or religious) between human beings ( McGinn 1994: 26). According to Elaine Pagels, Satan never shows in the Hebrew Bible as the leader of an evil empire, as a leader of antagonistic spirits who make war on God and humankind. As he first appears, Satan is not essentially evil. In the Book of Numbers and in Job he is one of God's obedient servants, a messenger or angel. The Satan describes an adversarial role, not a particular character. The Satan was any one of the angels sent by God for the explicit purpose of blocking or obstructing human activity; the root Satan means â€Å"one who opposes, obstructs, or acts as adversary†; the Greek term diabolos means â€Å"one who throws somewhat across one's path. So if the path is bad, an obstruction is good: Satan may simply have been sent by the Lord to protect a person from worse harm (Pagels 1995: 39-40, based, e. g. , on Numbers 22: 23-25). Job's Satan takes a more adversarial role; Satan’s special role in the blissful court is that of a kind of roving intelligence agent, like those whom numerous Jews of the time would have known and disliked from the king of Persia's complex system of secret police and intelligence officers. These agents roamed the realm looking for signs of infidelity amongst the people. God boasts to Satan concerning one of his most loyal subjects; Satan then challenges the Lord to put Job to the test. Job withstands the tests, and the Lord restores the affluences of Job giving him twice as much as he had before (Pagels 1995: 41, based on Job 2: 3, 42: 10). Around the time Job was written c. 550 B. C. E. , other biblical writers invoked Satan to account for sharing out within Israel. One court historian slips Satan into an account regarding the origin of census taking, which King David introduced into Israel c. 1000 B. C. E. or the point of instituting taxation, which aroused fervent and immediate opposition. Aim on condemning David's action without condemning the king openly, the author of 1 Chronicles suggests that a supernatural adversary within the divine court had managed to penetrate the royal house and led the king himself into sin: â€Å"Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to number the people† ( Pagels 1995: 42-43, based on 1 Chron. 21:1) . Most societies have a variety of demons, spirits, or gods, which are morally ambivalent that is to say, the gods can be kind or unkind to humankind. One might argue that this amoral or dimoral polytheism fits the human experience of the universe well: we see things happening mysteriously, without reason, for good or ill, and call it fate, chance, or an â€Å"act of God. † Few religions have one figure particularly symbolizing evil, although Buddha's tempter Mara comes close. No religion has a single individual personifying evil except those of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim (and â€Å"Zoroastrian†) tradition, which have Satan or the Devil. The problem of evil faces every worldview, but none so expressively as great monotheistic religions. Theologically the problem is just stated. God is all-powerful and all-good. But an all-powerful, all-good God would not permit evil in the cosmos he creates. Therefore evil cannot exist. But we view that evil exists. We are therefore forced to refuse the existence of God (at least as great monotheistic religions define it) or meet the criteria of our definition. If we choose the latter, we can save God's pure goodness by restraining his omnipotence, or else save his power by qualifying his goodness. This is a sharp theological choice; few theologians choose to face it that overtly. To avoid this choice, a variety of strategies have been working over the millennia. One solution, however unacceptable philosophically, is to resort to the notion of a spiritual power aggressive to God, such as Satan. The Old Testament has comparatively few references to Satan as a personality. Most Hebrew thought before the second century B. C. E. established destruction and suffering as originating in God's inscrutable will. But some Old Testament passages lent themselves to an interpretation that unexplained spiritual powers, subordinate to a God, often did disparaging things. In some passages — most radically in the Book of Job — this power is portrayed as having a self-governing, malevolent existence. The idea of the Devil, very fuzzy in the Old Testament, becomes clear and pointed in the era from the second century B. C. E. to the second century C. E. One reason is the power of Iranian dualism. The ancient Iranian religion of Mazdaism (sometimes called Zoroastrianism) had its origins in the teachings of Zarathushtra, a prophet whose dates are unknown. It is a dualist religion, elucidating evil by positing a frequent cosmic warfare between the God of Light and the God of Darkness. Mazdaism had some influence in Babylonia, where Hebrew in Exile was liberated by Iranian Shah Cyrus. A propensity toward dualism seems also to have grown indigenously amongst Jews, as they developed a darker view of the world throughout the times they were invaded, enslaved, and persecuted by a diversity of conquerors — Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and finally Romans. The Jews reacted to this anguish partly by blaming it on their own sins (a stance of the great prophets), but partially by blaming exterior forces. The Devil or his deputies were the influential spirits backing evil Gentiles against the Chosen People. Some Jewish sects, such as the Essenes, conceived (like the Mazdaists) of a vast extraterrestrial warfare between the Lord of Light and the Prince of Darkness, a warfare in which each nation and each person was called to stand on one side or the other. For Jewish apocalyptic, the cosmic struggle was coming to its end; there would be one last, vast war between sons of dusk and sons of light, and then the good God would triumph everlastingly. In the context of this profoundly dualistic Jewish thought, Christianity came into being. Ideas similar to those of apocalyptic writers emerge in the Christian Gospels, notably the Gospel of John, with its images of light against darkness, in miracle stories of Jesus' capability to cast out and defeat demons and their leader the Devil, and in the Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse). However, after the obliteration of Jerusalem by Romans in 70 C. E. , and the diaspora of the Jews, Pharisees were left as the surviving leading Jewish group. Their custom downplayed Satan's power so much that he infrequently appears in works of the rabbis, though he does retain a presence in Jewish folklore. Although Judaism downplayed Satan's power, Messianic trends that faded in Judaism after 70 C. E. remained strong in Christianity. For Christianity, Jesus was the Messiah. In Christian thought, God is good. Opposed by the Devil, he sends Jesus his Messiah to obliterate the Devil's power. Unlike many Jewish sects, such as the Zealots, Christians supposed that the Messiah was not a military victory over Satan and gentile nations, but to a certain extent the Suffering Servant, who took upon himself all sins of the people and, in dying for them, broke Satan's power. Almost all early Christian writers granted Satan great power all through the cosmos and also in the life of each human. Christ and Satan vie for each soul, and each person should choose between them. Like Judaism, Christianity is a monotheistic religion. But by using the Devil to explicate the existence of evil, some early Christian groups, such as Gnostic sects of the first two centuries C. E. , pulled powerfully in the way of dualism. For them, Satan was an anti-God of enormous power. This power was to be fought, banished, and struggled against. But as it was so vast, Satan's power could also be influenced, harnessed to one's own will, even, in extreme cases, worshipped. There was no planned Satanism in early Christianity, but some Gnostic sects seem to have verged on it by working orgiastic rites. In the l5th-century, French baron and onetime marshal of France, Gilles de Rais, was found to have affianced in numerous mortal and sadistic acts, some of which were alleged to be associated with strange rituals in which he was assisted by Francesco Prelatti, a Florentine priest and occultist. Gilles de Rais was noted to be a man whose temperament and personality seemed to be extremely erratic at different times. Sometimes noted for his kindness, he was notable for his bravery in his military assistance of Joan of Arc. However, there was a great deal of dependable testimony provided by witnesses as well as material substantiation pointing to his guilt. According to Francis King, Satanism was adequately prevalent in 16th- and l7th-century France that its presence was noted by the police: It is difficult to know how widespread such Satanist activities were among the nonmonastic clergy of the middle Ages, but they seem to have become common in the 16th and17th centuries. Exactly how common, no one knows, but if the rest of Catholic Europe was anything like the ecclesiastical underworld of Paris at that time, then they were very common indeed. For in France Satanism had attained the status of big business, its practitioners forming a kind of occult Mafia, a noisome octopus with tentacles which reached into almost every segment of Parisian society and which was uncovered by Nicolas de la Reynie, the Police Commissioner of Paris. (Francis King, 1989b, pp. 219 – 220) The books of Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey (1969) were actually strongly influenced by this â€Å"occult tradition. † (LaVey also popularized the â€Å"satanic pentagram,† the five-pointed star with one point downward and the head of a goat overlaid. There is a temptation to dismiss antisatanists' claims as illusive; as sociologist Marcello Truzzi says, â€Å"Satanists are better scapegoats than Jews, because they don't exist (in Lyons, 1988:179). Though the vast conspiracy criticized by the antisatanist campaign may be exaggerated, Satanists do exist; there are members of controlled Satanist churches in our society. These Satanist groups are significant to the antisatanist movement: they provide a â€Å"kernel of truth† that antisatanists can expose. Groups such as Anton LaVey's Church of Satan â€Å"prove† that the satanic threat exists. The Church of Satan is not large; estimates range from 2000 to 5000 active members (Melton 1986:77; Lyons 1988:115). Still, the publicity showered on LaVey since he established his San Francisco church in 1966 has made him and his group a part of American popular culture. Almost everyone knows about LaVey's church, even though it is quite small. What the Church lacks in size it has made up for in attention paid to it as well as its activities. Anton LaVey, a bright character with a flair for the dramatic, gained substantial publicity by performing satanic weddings of famous people, satanic baptisms of children, and satanic last rights for a sailor member who died — all intentionally staged as media events. LaVey sought celebrities as members, and for a time claimed such stars as Sammy Davis, Jr. and Jayne Mansfield as dynamic participants, gaining national attention as a result (Lyons 1988). There is substantial debate about what the Church of Satan stands for, and what its members believe. Some analysts treat the Church as a spoof, intentionally designed to upset Christians. Others take it more critically, and look to LaVey's writings, such as his The Satanic Bible (LaVey 1969), to understand his philosophy. The church actively rejects spirituality and mysticism of any sort; it espouses an exclusive, materialist, and essentially atheistic philosophy. â€Å"Satan constitutes a worship of one's own ego†¦. In its major features, the Church of Satan takes a position of Extreme Machiavellianism and cynical-realism on the way to the nature of man†¦. Its major feature†¦ is its emphasis upon the significance of myth and magic and upon their collision in a world of people who can still be influenced through such beliefs and emotions. This Satanist then is the ultimate pragmatist†. (Truzzi 1974:220) Moody ( 1974) discusses the Church of Satan's redefinition of Christianity's seven fatal sins — greed, pride, envy, anger, greed, lust, and sloth — as virtues within satanic religion. Melton (1988:145) describes satanic churches' relationship to Christianity: Satanism is rationally subsequent to Christianity and draws on it in representing an overthrow of the Christian deity approving of his adversary. It stands in polemical relation to Christianity and†¦ Uses Christian elements, which are changed and given new meaning. Although LaVey's Church of Satan is the most observable satanic church, others exist. The Temple of Set, a small off-shoot group planned by Michael Aquino, a former disciple of LaVey, has attracted attention (Melton 1989:805; Lyons 1988:125). The small size of these organized satanic groups is less significant than the cultural meaning attached to them. As a radical rejection of Christian culture, they are representatively significant. Their very presence has put in to the concern about Satanism in America. Satan stories were connected to practical and political issues. As Russell (1977: 222) properly maintains, the figure of Satan in the New Testament is understandable only while it is seen as the counterpart or counter principle of Christ; accordingly, Russell adds, â€Å"the New Testament teaches that the Kingdom of God is at war with the Kingdom of the Devil†. Furthermore, Pagels documents, the vision of enormous struggle were developed by sectarian groups like the Essenes as they struggled against the forces they saw ranged against them. The dualistic cosmology was traited as split society, where sons of light, allied with the angels, and sons of darkness, in league with the control of evil, were in violent conflict. Pagels further retains that followers of Jesus adopted the same prototype in their campaigns. According to Pagels, Mark tells the story of Jesus as the disagreement between God's spirit and the power of Satan. Mark underlines that Jesus encountered this opposition not simply from evil spirit but from evil people as well. Mark's Satan is not an antagonistic power assailing Israel from outside the community but the source and symbol of conflict within the community (Pagels 1995: 12, 17, 34, 38; based on Mark 3: 23-27, 16: 5-7). Satan is described as the embodiment of pure evil. Such a Satanic theology would feature goodness to the Judeo-Christian God, but Satanists worship Satan as perceived to be more powerful or because the cultist might view himself or herself as being past redemption by a benign deity. In this system of thinking, goodness itself is typified as a weak, ineffective, and futile goal. Spence describes a similar dichotomy in views of Satanism and Luciferianism although he defines his terms slightly differently: Concerning the cults of Lucifer, much discrimination is required in dealing with this aspect, the bulk of the literature on the subject being manifestly imaginative and often willfully misleading. The members of the church of Lucifer are of two groups, those who regard the deity they adore as the evil principle, thus approximating to the standpoint of the Satanists, and those who look upon him as the true god in opposition to Adonai or Jehovah, whom they regard as an evil deity who has, with fiendish ingenuity, miscreated the world of man to the detriment of humanity. . (http://www. satanservice. org/propaganda/acad. 80sa. txt ) Though, in contemporary world, satanic symbols and themes are observable and popular features of music, literature, and movies. Increasing numbers of reported survivors are coming forward to assert they are victims of such cults. Are these reports just rumors or fantasies, or are people being harmed by ritual abuse? Unless we seriously consider these reports, we will never know for certain.