Critical Review of the Research of Assistive Technology Essay

Critical Review of the Research of Assistive Technology - Essay Example However, research proves that teachers, as well as school administrations, have not fully addressed this matter. The instruction problem that this paper will address is mathematics, and how students with disabilities relate to it. Even though in the dark, teaching math to disabled students is undergoing radical change. Fresh developments comprise of mechanisms to classify children who have trouble with math in their early grades and ways of helping these students solve mathematical problems (Becks, 2010). Moving from computational math to a conceptual framework, these mechanisms ensure that disabled students are ready to tackle complex subjects such as algebra and geometry. Even though, not all students with disabilities have mastered every computational element of mathematics, these mechanisms have assisted many in developing their mathematical skills. In fact, teachers, in the future, particularly special education teachers, might need to reorganize their entire approach to teaching math (Gillam, 2011). Teachers, in the future, should place more emphasis on understanding the essential principles of math than just teaching, as well as making the subject open and significant to disabled students. Some of the key developments, mathematical-wise, are the screening for mathematics and teaching transference with "hot math" (Council for Exceptional Children, 2011). Word problems are an abomination to a lot of students, with and without disabilities. However, when students with disabilities run into these demons, they experience more challenges than normal students. They have trouble reading the problem, or they might just take the numbers and add them up, ignoring what is to be solved (Schlosser, 2008). Researchers have come up with a technique of screening for mathematics in these students as a way of noting which student can do well in mathematics. Screening students for mathematics

Position paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Position paper - Essay Example However, the Republicans were not admit their trounce and they demand for the recount of votes. Tilden had attained 184 votes that was less than that what is required to get success, whereas the Hayes got only 165 votes. An Electoral Commission was composed of 5 senators, 5 representatives, and 5 justices of Supreme Court; 8 of which were Republicans and 7 of which were Democrats. The commission awarded the Presidency to Hayes (Ralph, 5). Infuriated by this decision, Democrats threatened to block Hayes inauguration. A compromise was arranged in February between Democrats and Republicans over the matter. In exchange for Hayes to become President, the Republicans assured to be more apposite with money for Southern internal improvements, to allow a Southerner to Hayess cabinet, and to pursue a policy of noninterference in southern affairs The election of 1876 was one of the most controversial presidential elections in the history of the United States of America, second only to that of 2001. The result, and subsequent effects, of the election are the main reason why the year 1876 was the last time for nearly a century that states of the south voted Republican. The issue at hand: to continue Reconstruction, or not to continue Reconstruction, that was the question. Southern Military Reconstruction had dwindled considerably over the years after 1869; by the time of the 1876 election, only Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida were occupied (Guttman, 67). Once the troops had been removed from the other once-Confederate states, however, the biracial Republican state governments that had been established under reconstruction soon collapsed and were replaced by white-only (non-sympathetic for freedmen and poor white) democratic administrations. Into this situation entered the two presidential candidates, Samuel Tilden and Rutherford Hayes. The first results on Election Day indicated a clear victory for the

Is Democracy Compatible with Liberal Markets?

Is Democracy Compatible with Liberal Markets? â€Å"Is democracy compatible with liberal markets?† Part I: Introduction: This paper seeks to explore if there is a possibility of coexistence between democracy and liberal markets. This paper argues that these two are compatible; the pillar on which this argument is built is that the two concepts are inseparable because they share the common heritage of being able to flourish under conditions of freedom.[1] Because of this, it becomes impossible for any other form of government to fit so neatly with liberal markets as democracy. The methodologies adapted, the problems encountered in the process, the arguments this thesis question addresses, and the case study proffered to support this thesis question are spelt out in the forthcoming sections. Part II: Summary: The fall of communism in the early 1990’s brought about an economic and political order that replaced the bipolar system. The extent and power of this change has been too dramatic to be described in simple words; the engine that has propelled this change has been democracy, capitalism and with it, liberal markets. While these may not have been the sole factors for the collapse of communism, the world order that came about following this event has certainly been driven wholly by these factors. Despite various arguments against the virtues of capitalism and market-driven economies, it is an ineluctable fact that this is a system that has come to stay. The bedrock on which liberal markets are built is democracy. This is because of the simple fact that communism as well as authoritarianism and liberal markets are as greatly antithetical to each other as is democracy to state-controlled economies. Hence, it follows that if there is an element of compatibility between the p resent political and economic systems, it has to be between democracy and liberal markets. This is not to suggest that each is an easy, automatic and inevitable part of the other; this position encounters enormous stumbling blocks, as listed in Part III of this paper. This leaves the paper its chief difficulty, that of the quandary over which position to assume, in light of equally strident, contradictory viewpoints about the compatibility of the two. One of the ways by which this paper seeks to extricate itself from the task of examining such broad and seamless concepts is in adapting Giovanni Sartori’s method in his book, The Theory of Democracy Revisited (1987), in which one of the ways by which one can arrive at a definition of democracy is in understanding it for what it is not, as much as for what it is. (Sartori, 1987, pp. 183, 184) To simplify this further, one of the approaches to the thesis question has been that of elimination; what this means is that in seeking to arrive at the essence of the thesis, this paper rules out the compatibility of liberal markets with other forms of governance. To demonstrate this, this paper takes up the case of Argentina’s economic crisis as a case study. In this discussion, this case’s detailed history is not made; rather, the important aspects of political profligacy that led to this crisis is illustrated, to show that long periods of political misrule characterised by an absence of democracy, and not liberal markets in themselves, was the cause of the crisis. It also shows up the example, on the contrary, of India, to show how liberal markets can succeed when introduced into a democratic polity. India, too, undertook several structural reforms of its economy under the IMF, but did not go the Argentine way, mainly because the political system was different. Part III: Limitations of this study: The core predicament of this paper concerns an investigation into the possibility of union between two ideas whose ages are incomparable –the concept, however amorphous, of democracy is as old as the hills,[2] while that of free markets, free trade and liberal markets are only decades old. In the attempted marriage of the two concepts, there is a very great possibility, perhaps even a near certainty, that there are sharply divided opinions. Secondly, as is well-known, there is no fixed, single definition of a democracy. This makes any treatment of this debate highly fluid and volatile. Another factor is that the focus of this paper is on liberal markets. This adds another problematic dimension to this paper, since the debate on the compatibility or lack of it, between liberal, free markets and democracy is charged with a feverish emotiveness and lack of dispassionate reasoning as by the core difference between communism and democracy, a dir ect hangover of the situation that prevailed during the height of the Cold War. Accentuating this debate was, as logically pointed out by Giovanni Sartori in his book, The Theory of Democracy Revisited (1987) the fact that while communism could be defined by clearly demarcated terms and meanings set out by its prophet, Karl Marx, no such fixed boundaries could be assigned to democracy. In such a scenario, as the author suggests, there is a tendency for what may be called â€Å"confused democracy†, while none of these applies to communism. (Sartori, 1987, pp. 3-6) This makes this system’s compatibility, or otherwise, with a sharply and narrowly described term even more difficult to explain. In view of this, it is to be conceded that all understanding and judgment of this paper’s position is highly subjective. Yet, since a position has to be taken, this paper proceeds in the full acceptance of the fact that an equally opposite viewpoint can be conceded. [3] Part IV: Discussion: The most important factor that facilitates the harmonious relationship between democracy and liberal market is that both are founded on the same edifice: of their common linkage with freedom. The rapid economic changes taking place in the world today are almost entirely market-driven. Following the death of the Soviet Union, this has been brought to bear even more heavily on the world. During the years following this event of critical importance to the world, there has been an unprecedented growth in the liberal markets of the world. A key point that perhaps best illustrates this dramatic transformation is the migration has been taking place from rural and semi-rural communities to urban centres all over the world, but principally in Third World countries, driven entirely by liberal markets. De Soto (2000) considers this nothing short of a modern industrial revolution, whose scale is quite unmatched, before which the original revolution pales in comparison. Consider the f act that the earlier industrial revolution in England had to support a migration of something like a mere eight million people in the two and a half centuries it took to transit from agriculture to the New Economy. In contrast, today, the world is witness to urbanisation caused by the influx of several million people, out of which some 200 million migrated to liberal market-driven urban centres in Indonesia alone. To accommodate changes of this magnitude, the only viable system of governance is democracy. Western economies were able to cope up with earth-shaking changes only because they had the democratic, legal institutions to absorb these changes; the Third World would today turn chaotic if the same conditions of democracy do not exist to accommodate the marginalised sections. (Soto, 2000, pp. 70-72) Another example, at the micro level, but of nearly equal gravity, of how democracy and liberal markets not only coexist but also promote each other is that of the sweeping changes taking place in the Indian economy. The deeply entrenched caste-ridden Indian mindset could not change its basic fabric in centuries; yet, less than just two decades of market-driven economic changes[4] showed the promise of instilling change at an unimagined speed. For instance, access to computers, a direct result of liberal markets-oriented economic reforms, has brought in democracy at the rural level at hitherto unimaginable speed. Farmers are now able to sell their produce to the user directly, bypassing the centuries-old feudal system by which they had to necessarily sell through the middle man, who used to be from the upper castes. This has been a direct result of the mating of liberal markets with democracy. This phenomenon is not restricted to India; as quoted by the political scientist, Sheri Berm an, shifts to democracy by most of Latin America in the 1980’s were closely related to a corresponding shift to free-market economy. (Bhagwati, 2004, pp. 93-95) Case study: This next section strengthens the thesis topic further by demonstrating that liberal markets have been a great failure when they have been introduced into non-democratic economies. The case study this paper takes up to vindicate this stand is the Argentine economic crisis of the late 1990’s. This paper takes up this case mainly because contrary to popular belief, the Argentine economic crisis was not the result of IMF-prescribed market economy measures; rather, they were the product of decades of economic mishandling characterised by wrong prioritisation, by a succession of dictators, (Peralta-Ramos, 1992, pp. 35-38) which the IMF intervention failed to correct. (Frenkel, 2002) The position this paper takes is that this correction could not come about because the system’s rot had been too deep-rooted, not on account of liberal market-oriented economic policy per se, but because of systematic squandering by the military in the decades following the end of Per onist populism, by which the economy was reduced to bare bones over time. In this transition, the beneficiaries of public spending shifted gradually but firmly from the middle class to the ruling class. (Little, 1975, p. 163) These economic misdemeanours were concomitant with political notoriety spread over the decades during the reign of and following the overthrow of the populist, Juan Peron, that came to be called by the collective epithet, ‘Dirty Wars’. Started initially in the name of fighting Leftist guerrillas, (Marchak Marchak, 1999, p. null27) this phase soon degenerated into state terrorism, marked by innumerable political kidnaps, extortion and disappearances, of people who dared to raise their voices against the military regimes. (Taylor, 1997, p. 258) In line with this, and more importantly, the governments, to support these activities, had built up a highly porous banking system which could easily be exploited by the ruling class with little accountability. The entire economy was built on debts, of which three-fourths was in the public sector, which the dictatorial ruling class could use for its benefit by draining the nation at will. In only 10 years between the mid-1970â€⠄¢s and the mid-1980’s, the interest payments the governments collected had fallen from 17 percent to a puny one percent of the consolidated public sector expenditure. (Ferrer, 1985, p. 6) This is just one example of the ruin the military brought upon the economy. Thus, the basis of the Argentine economic crisis was economic mishandling by the ruling class, and not so much the policies of the IMF, which came into the picture much later, when the economy had crossed the Rubicon. It is fashionable to put most of the blame for Argentina’s economic crisis of the late 1990’s, which snowballed into a full-blown economic catastrophe, on the IMF and its prescriptions for a free market economy. (Frenkel, 2002) While this may be true to some extent, it has to be borne in mind that this was only a last ditch effort to resuscitate the economy, whose causes for decline dated to several decades, as is seen here. In contrast, India, with its deeply ensconced democratic system, could absorb the momentous changes wrought into its economy with relative ease, breaking free from the shackles that had bound the economy in the earlier decades under restrictive policies. It is now admitted that India’s economic recovery from the deep crisis it was in, was the result as much of liberal market reforms as due to the inherent strength of its political system. (Drà ¨ze Sen, 1995, p. 179) Far from going the Argentine way, India is now an economy that is firmly an d surely on the road to liberalisation, from which there seems no looking back.[5] In a matter of just one generation, it is one of the fastest growing economies of the world today. (Cetron Davies, 2006) Part V: Conclusion: The congruence between democracy and liberal markets is indubitable; while admitting that there are several areas that need rectifying, and that this is not the most viable of all possibilities, it has to be admitted that there exist no better alternatives. While it is conceded that this system is far from perfect, the fact is that no system is; had the socialist system been perfect, then all the economic upheavals the world has been going through should have been averted. In this scenario, it makes little sense to argue about the disharmony of the market economy with democracy. If anything, what needs to be put into place is a supporting set of laws and regulation that tempers down some of the inequalities of the system. (Wolf, 2003) Historical experience shows that liberal markets have always flourished in the industrialised nations, which have been democratic, prime examples of which are the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. (Dryzek, 1996, p. 68) However, a ne w dimension has been added to this notion, with India showing that the engine for this growth is not so much a belonging to the group of industrialised nations[6], but the existence of democratic systems as its bulwark. This, rather than liberal markets in isolation, is the prerequisite for achieving economic growth. In the light of these findings, it is meaningless to argue that democracy and liberal markets are incompatible; on the contrary, they are almost inextricably bound to each other and are inseparable, fuelling each other’s development. References Bhagwati, J., (2004), In Defense of Globalization, Oxford University Press, New York. Cetron, M. J., Davies, O., 2006, July/August, â€Å"The Dragon vs. the Tiger: China and India Reshape the Global Economy; India and China Will Vie for Economic and Political Dominance on the World Stage. Heres an Assessment of the Two Nations Short-Term and Long-Term Prospects†, The Futurist, Vol. 40, No. 38+. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM. Dryzek, J. S., (1996), Democracy in Capitalist Times: Ideals, Limits, and Struggles, Oxford University Press, New York. Drà ¨ze, J., Sen, A., (1995), India, Economic Development and Social Opportunity, Oxford University Press, Delhi. Ferrer, A., (1985), Living within Our Means: An Examination of the Argentine Economic Crisis (Alvarez, M. Caistor, N., Trans.), Westview Press, London. Frenkel, R., (2002), â€Å"Argentina: A Decade of the Convertibility Regime†, Challenge, Vol. 45, No. 4, p. 41+. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM. Little, W., (1975), 7 â€Å"The Popular Origins of Peronism†, in Argentina in the Twentieth Century, Rock, D., (Ed.) (pp. 162-178), Gerald Duckworth, London. Marchak, P., Marchak, W., (1999), Gods Assassins: State Terrorism in Argentina in the 1970s, McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal. Peralta-Ramos, M., (1992), The Political Economy of Argentina: Power and Class since 1930, Westview Press, Boulder, CO. Sartori, G., (1987), The Theory of Democracy Revisited, Chatham House Publishers, Chatham NJ. Soto, H. D., (2000), The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, Basic Books, New York. Taylor, D., (1997), Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentinas Dirty War, Duke University Press, Durham, NC. Wolf, M., 2003, September/October, â€Å"The Morality of the Market†, Foreign Policy, 46+. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/ 1 Footnotes [1] An excellent source for an analytical study between democracy and capitalism, or liberal markets, is the book, We the Nation, The Lost Decades, by one of India’s pre-eminent jurists, the late Nani Palkhivala. The book’s paperback edition has been a bestseller, having seen almost two dozen reprints in about two decades. In particular, his eulogy of the free market enterprise and its suitability to the democratic setup as practiced in India is sharp, and is in evidence in several chapters. [2] Here, the reference is to some forms of governance in the ancient world that can be described as being non-despotic. For instance, one of the core ideas on which one of ancient India’s most famous mythological texts, the Ramayana, is built is good governance, in which the king is fair, just and non-arbitrary. The protagonist, Lord Ram, is seen as the exemplar of a perfect democrat and upholder of virtue, who goes to the extent of banishing his wife to the forests to honour a lowly washerman, an example of how the ruler was expected to uphold the wishes of the ruled. Even if one were to dismiss this example as mere mythology, the fact that there is reference to what may be called the forerunner to present democracy in such an ancient text suggests that democracy existed in some or another conceptual form in the ancient world. If one were to entirely omit mythology and take historically recorded facts as the benchmark, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that republican democracy existed in India far before the western concept of Athenian democracy. For more details on the recorded instances of democracy in ancient India, this link may be a good source of understanding: http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/h_es/h_es_muhlb_democra_frameset.htm. And this is by no means a declaration that India’s was the only case of such a system of governance; there may have existed several others in other civilisations of this period. [3] To get a rough idea about how this subject can be interpreted in virtually any manner, this article, posted on the following blogs, in which the idea of compatibility of the two is denounced in the strongest possible terms, may serve as a pointer: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.viewfriendID=12432772blogID=140524780MyToken=5144b54f-2d93-4349-9274-e6526a5a57d6, http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.viewfriendID=12432772blogID=140524780MyToken=cb1631f6-cb16-4a39-85c6-a9b05c6cc9d9 and http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAllfriendID=12432772MyToken=5d4d6701-da69-40c8-adc9-3fb794f3fedbML This is given as a reference here mainly because this is not to be considered a work of erudition, and is just an illustration of the point sought to be made here. [4] India started the process of economic liberalisation under the P. V.Narasimha Rao government in 1991. At that time, it was considered a step over which the government had little alternative, given the nearly moribund state in which the economy was. However, in the period since then, it cannot be disputed that despite its problems, liberalisation has brought about changes of a magnitude India had not seen earlier under the socialist dispensation of the Nehru-Gandhi rule. [5] So entrenched has the programme of liberalisation become that it is now an a priori, with both the Right wing BJP that was voted out of power in 2004, and more surprisingly, a coalition partner in the present UPA government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), too, embarking on a programme of massive market-oriented reforms of the economy. [6] It is easy to see how all the G8 members are democratic; the former Soviet Union had been kept out of this grouping till the end of the Cold War.

Programming Languages Essay -- essays research papers

Programming Languages A programming language is a set of English-like instructions that includes a set of rules for putting the instructions together to create commands. A translator changes the English-like commands into numeric code that the computer can understand. The most common type of translator is a compiler. The compiler is program that reads English-like commands in a file and than creates another file containing computer readable numeric code or commands. I will be talking about some of the major functions and uses six high-level programming languages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Java was developed by Sun MicroSystems and released in 1995. Java is based on C and C++ and incorporates many features object-oriented languages. It is a compiled language, but it’s code output is interpreted. This makes Java ideal for cross-development. The downside to its interpreted code is speed. Java’s object-oriented is fundamental, and all code and data in a Java program exist within the object-oriented class. Java’s exception handiling with try, catch, and throw statements provide the solution for writing reliable code that responds to all possible error conditions. Another advantage of Java is a String class that does away with null-terminated, length byte and other types of strings. It is also multithreaded which a class can easily provide code that runs concurrently with other programing. Another advantage is the lack of a pointer-type data and memory management which tends to be a very bug-prone area. Memory is organized by Javaâ⠂¬â„¢s virtual machine garbage collector. Java provides a rich class library in beavery bug-prone area. Memory is organized by Java’s virtual machine garbage collector. Java provides a rich class library in the forms of packages imported into modules. Since Java is interpreted locally on the user’s system, a security manager can completely control disk access, window creation, and memory management. C was developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labortories in 1972. C was originally designed as symbolic code that formalized programming prasctices used at the time. In 1978 C blossomed into what was to become the most popular programming language ever. C offers programmers three advantages: The first is general pourpose programming which allows you to write games, business software, utilities, mathematical models, wordprocessors, spredsheets,... ...equence. Cobol has a certain minimum amount of code that is required for all programs, this is usually called a shell program. Delphi is a Rapid Application progarm which now progrrammers can use tools which are more intuitive and visual. Delphi uses Object Pascal as its foundation language, which has been one of the fastest compilers in the business. Also object-based extensions has been added to the language to support good programming practices and efficent code. Delphi is capeble of using OCX controls, which is a 32-bit OLE-based custom control. Delphi also allows you to create OLE automation servers and clients. These automation objects give you the flexibility of creating programs that perform tasks in the backround and put the results back to your application. Anoter advantage for Delphi is the ability to write multi-threaaded applications. In a multi-tasking enviorment thi is important, as your applications become more comple, it is necessary to execute your applications in seprate pieces, which are called threads. In conclusion, the following was an overview of six high level languages. Many are similar, but there are very distinct features and advantages to each language

Impact of Technology on Our Society Essay

When we speak of the impact of technology on society, we always talk about the positive effects of technology and about how technology has made life easy. We talk about the Internet as an information resource and a communication platform and conveniently ignore the fact that an overexposure to it leads to Internet addiction. We often discuss how technology has made life easy but easily forget that it has made us overly dependent on it. Have you thought of the impact of technology from this point of view? I am sure, most of you haven’t. Let us look at this aspect of technology here. Think of the days when there were no computers and no modern means of transport. Human life was highly restricted due to the unavailability of technological applications. Daily life involved a lot of physical activity. Life of the common man was not as luxurious as that of modern times, but he was more active. Exercise was integrated into routine physical activities. It was contrary to the sedentary lifestyle of today, which leaves no time for exercise and fills days with inactivity and laze. Today we don’t want to, and thanks to technology, don’t even need to, walk, move around or exert physically to get things done. We have the world is at our fingertips. We think of technology as a boon to society. I am afraid; it’s not completely a boon. The Internet has bred many unethical practices like hacking, spamming and phishing. Internet crime is on the rise. The Internet, being an open platform lacks regulation. There is no regulation on the content displayed on websites. Internet gambling has become an addiction for many. Overexposure to the Internet has taken its toll. In this virtual world, you can be who you are not, you can be virtually living even after you die. Isn’t this weird? Children are spending all their time playing online and less or almost no time playing on the ground. Youngsters are spending most of their time social networking, missing on the joys of real social life. Think of the days when there were no online messengers, no emails and no cell phones. Indeed cellular technology made it possible for us to communicate over wireless media. Web communication facilities have worked wonders in speeding long-distance communication. On the other hand, they have deprived mankind of the warmth of personal contact. Emails replaced handwritten letters and communication lost its personal touch. With the means of communication so easily accessible, that magic in waiting to reach someone and the excitement that followed have vanished. Moreover, we have become excessively dependent on technology. Is so much of dependency good? Is it right to rely on machines to such an extent? Is it right to depend on computers rather than relying on human intellect? Computer technology and robotics are trying to substitute for human intellect. With the fast advancing technology, we have started harnessing artificial intelligence in many fields. Where is the digital divide going to take us? How is our ‘tomorrow’ going to be? ‘Machines replacing human beings’ does not portray a rosy picture, does it? It can lead to serious issues like unemployment and crime. An excessive use of machines in every field can result in an under-utilization of human brains. Over time, we may even lose our intellectual abilities. You know of the declining mathematical abilities in children due to use of calculators since school, don’t you? The impact of technology on society is deep. It is both positive and negative. Technology has largely influenced every aspect of living. It has made life easy, but so easy that it may lose its charm one day. One can cherish an accomplishment only if it comes after effort. But everything has become so easily available due to technology that it has lost its value. There is a certain kind of enjoyment in achieving things after striving for them. But with everything a few clicks away, there is no striving, there’s only striking. With the developments in technology, we may be able to enjoy all the pricey luxuries in life but at the cost of losing its priceless joys.

HR Contributes at SYSCO

Many people in the United States are not familiar with SYSCO, but they see its results because SYSCO is the largest food services and distribution company with almost $24 billion in annual sales. SYSCO supplies food products to customers in restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, hospitals, and other companies. In a firm the size of SYSCO with more than 40,000 employees, HR management is making significant contributions to organizational success. As an indication of this success, SYSCO received the Optimas award for general HR Excellence from Workforce Magazine. Beginning several years ago, the need to revitalize HR activities was recognized by both executives and senior HR staff members. At the time, the SYSCO operating regions had administered many of their own HR practices. To bring change to HR corporate-wide, while preserving the entrepreneurial independence of the regions, a â€Å"market-driven† HR approach was developed. In this approach, corporate HR identified ways it could assist regional operations, and then developed programs and services that met regional needs. However, unlike in many other corporations where corporate HR programs would be â€Å"mandated† to operating units, SYSCO took a different approach. Key to market-driven HR is that managers in the regional operations must be convinced to â€Å"buy† the corporate HR services. For example, if a supervisory training program is developed by corporate HR, regional managers decide if they want to use the program for supervisory training in their regions. Another part of creating HR as market driven was the establishment by corporate HR of a Virtual Resource Center (VRC) to provide services to managers and employees. A key aspect of the VRC is use of HR technology to gather extensive data on HR activities and provide that data to operating managers. One source of data is workplace climate surveys of employees. Using the survey data, HR developed initiatives to increase safety, which reduced workers’ compensation claims by 30%, resulting in savings of $10 million per year. Another problem that SYSCO had was high turnover rates of night shift warehouse workers. Recruiting these workers has been a constant challenge for SYSCO and other distribution firms. By implementing a variety of programs and services, based on employee and managerial input from surveys, the retention rate for these warehouse employees has been increased by 20%, resulting in savings of $15 million per year. These savings are due to reduced time and money spent recruiting, selecting, and training new employees. Also, employees with more experience are more productive and more knowledgeable about SYSCO operations and products. Another area where HR has contributed is with truck and delivery drivers. Data gathered through the VRC has been used to revise base pay and incentive programs, increase driver retention rates, and improve driver safety records. Additionally, customer satisfaction rates increased and delivery expenses declined. All of these changes illustrate that HR efforts at SYSCO have been paying off for the company, managers, and employees. But as the value of HR efforts is recognized by more managers, HR’s role at SYSCO is likely to continue growing and changing.

A Mistake That Taught You an Important Lesson Essay Example

A Mistake That Taught You an Important Lesson Essay Example A Mistake That Taught You an Important Lesson Essay A Mistake That Taught You an Important Lesson Essay Chapter 1: Basic concepts and terms This chapter answers the following questions: What is a dictionary? What are the different types of dictionaries? How can we describe a dictionary? What are the elements of a dictionary? What are the different kinds of information dictionaries provide? What is a dictionary? This is the first question one encounters when learning about dictionary skills or reading any book on lexicography (the art of compiling dictionaries). Defining the term dictionary is important to distinguish it from other reference books, which may look similar, like encyclopedias. Etymologically, the word dictionary comes from the Middle Latin word dictionarium, which means collection of words and phrases. This definition relates to the basic function of dictionaries which is listing the words of a language or a particular field of knowledge. This simple fact is the basis of all the definitions proposed for a dictionary. A dictionary is a book used as a reference source which contains lists of words arranged alphabetically or thematically, with explanations of their meanings (semantic information in monolingual dictionaries) or with their equivalents (in bi-, tri-, or multilingual dictionaries). They may also include more information related to orthography (spelling, alternate spellings), morphology (syllabification, word inflections, derivative forms, morphological paradigm), phonology (pronunciation, stress pattern), etymology (word history and origin), syntax (part of speech, verb type, noun type, etc), pragmatics (usage, frequency of use, style, context), and other semantic information (related words such as synonyms, antonyms). A dictionary may variously be referred to as: word book, lexicon, thesaurus, vocabulary, glossary, and concordance. However, each one of these is slightly different in scope. For example, a thesaurus (also from Latin, and which means a treasury or a storehouse) presents synonyms and antonyms; a glossary usually gives a list of terms confined to a particular domain of knowledge with definitions. What distinguishes a dictionary from these different types is that none of them provides all the different kinds of linguistic information a dictionary provides. Use thesaurus in a Sentence See images of thesaurus Search thesaurus on the Web Types of dictionaries: Dictionaries vary in coverage, size, and scope. They can be classified on the basis of different criteria. Knowing the types of dictionaries available is very important to decide which ones to buy or use. The following criteria are used to classify dictionaries: 1) Number of languages: Monolingual dictionaries are written in one language only. Each word is followed by its meaning or various meanings and probably other information related to pronunciation, grammar, or word history. Bilingual dictionaries are written in two languages. Each word is followed by its equivalent or possible equivalents in another language. Bilingual dictionaries could be uni- or mono-directional; that is, they go in one direction only, from English to Arabic or vise versa. They could also be bidirectional; that is, the dictionary is divided into two parts; the first part is from Language 1 to Language 2, and the second one is from Language 2 to Language 1. Trilingual dictionaries are written in three languages. Multilingual language are written in more than two languages. 2) Age of the users: School dictionaries are intended for school students and they are graded according to childrens age: elementary, middle, and high school students. They are simplified versions of adult references. They may also be referred to as childrens dictionaries if they are intended for very young children. Adult dictionaries, on the other hand, are intended for adults and these are the ones that translators use and they include a variety of dictionary types such as college dictionaries, current language dictionaries, and unabridged dictionaries. 3) Size of the dictionary: This has to do with how fully a dictionary covers the lexicon of a particular language. The number of words is a measure of its relative size compared with other dictionaries in the same language. According to this criteria, dictionaries can be classified into the following. a) Unabridged dictionaries which are believed to include all the words of the English language (400,000 to 600,000 words). They give full coverage to the lexicon in general use and to specialized lexicon, with examples and all other information any dictionary could give. In other words, they provide complete and authoritative linguistic information. They are impractical for desk use because of their size and expense, but they are available in libraries and are important reference sources. Examples: Websters Third New International Dictionary (NID3), and Oxford English dictionary (OED) which has 20 volumes. Semis: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, The Random House College Dictionary, Websters New World Dictionary of American English. They are called college dictionaries because they are often used by college students. c) Desk dictionaries include from 60,000 to 100,000 words. Examples: The American heritage dictionary, Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary. They are called desk dictionaries because they are often kept on desks for frequent reference. College and desk dictionaries are often abridged versions of larger dictionaries. Some publishing houses use the term college to refer to both college dictionaries and desk dictionaries. Some other houses use the term concise to refer to desk dictionaries; e. g. Concise Oxford Dictionary, Longman Concise English Dictionary. d) Pocket size dictionaries, which include from 40,000 to 60,000 words; e. g. Pocket Oxford Dictionary. 4) Scope of coverage by subject: Subject-field dictionaries are confined to a special subject, such as law or medicine. Special-purpose dictionaries are limited to one aspect of language: collocations, slang, pronunciation, etymology, synonyms, usage, offensive and taboo words, spelling, dialect, neologisms, etc. A functional classification of dictionaries: For the purpose of the present course, which ultimately aims at training students to use dictionaries as professional translators, we will adopt the following classification that is based on the functions of dictionaries. Dictionaries are divided into two types: traditional and electronic dictionaries. I. Traditional (or regular) dictionaries: Traditional dictionaries are printed dictionaries (paper /print dictionaries). They are divided into four main categories: linguistic, visual, picture, and encyclopedic dictionaries. 1) Linguistic dictionaries are dictionaries that are concerned with words and provide linguistic information and may contain some pictures or illustrations. They are further divided into four types: general, learner, children, and specialized dictionaries. a) General-purpose dictionaries deal with the common words of a language and are compiled by language experts. They may be mono- or bilingual. They may be explanatory and help readers to understand a word meaning, its pronunciation, spelling, usage, etc. They may be translation dictionaries providing word equivalents. Explanatory and translation dictionaries may be unabridged, college, desk, concise, or pocket dictionaries. General-purpose dictionaries could also be production dictionaries (alternatively called activators) which are very useful in writing; they guide you as to which words or expressions to use to express similar or different ideas. They focus on use or meaning in context and on oral usage, rather than explaining their meanings. The first production dictionary is: Longman Language Activator: The Worlds First Production Dictionary (1993), Longman Essential Activator (intermediate level). The lexical information is organized around approximately 1000 key terms that serve as focal points for crucial sets of concepts. b) Learners dictionaries are aimed at students learning a language. Examples: Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, Collins Cobuild English Dictionary, Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners. c) Children dictionaries are very simplified versions specifically written for children. ) Specialized dictionaries are divided into two types: subject field dictionaries and special purpose dictionaries. Subject field dictionaries are limited to the vocabulary of specific scholarly areas or fields of knowledge such as medicine, law, religion, business and commerce, literature, military affairs and politics, etc. The rapid growth and development, and specifications in all the fields of knowledge has resulted in generating of new words or specialized terms for which the general dictionaries do not provide adequate information. Therefore, it became necessary to compile subject dictionaries which are devoted completely to specific subject fields. As a result many subject dictionaries and glossaries in Humanities, Social Sciences and Science ; Technology are coming out day-by-day. They are compiled by the experts in the different subject fields. Special purpose dictionaries deal with different aspects of language such as collocations, slang, idioms, phrasal verbs, neologisms, abbreviations, language varieties and dialects, synonyms and antonyms, pronunciation, etymology, usage, grammar, word frequencies, etc. ) Visual dictionaries tend to be complete dictionaries and rely on illustrations and photos or pictures; e. g. Merriam-Websters Visual Dictionary Online. 3) Picture dictionaries are often organized by topic instead of being an alphabetic list of words. They include only a small corpus of words because they are often intended for children. They may be mono-, bi-, or multilingual. 4) Encyclopedic dictionar ies has encyclopedic features; their concern is not the words of a language but rather with facts about things, objects, or people; e. . The Hutchinson Concise Encyclopedic Dictionary. II. Electronic dictionaries: An electronic dictionary is an electronic reference resource that contains a library of words and their meanings, spellings, and etymologies. They can be 1) portable (or handheld), battery-operated devices; 2) dictionary programs (on CDs) , or software running on PDAs or computers and which allow words or phrases to be input and translated; or 3) web based dictionaries accessible via the internet. Electronic dictionaries are more convenient than paper dictionaries and much faster to search. Examples of some online dictionaries: AskOxford Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Cambridge Dictionaries Online Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary, Dictionary. com Dictionary. com Unabridged v. 1. 1 and American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Ed, Longman Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Merriam-Webster OnLine Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Oxford University Press Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary Dictionaries Traditional Dictionaries Electronic Dictionaries Portable devices CDs Online dictionaries Linguistic Visual Picture Encyclopedic General Learners Children Specialized Explanatory Production (Activators) Mono, college, desk, concise, pocket Explanatory Production Translation Explanatory Translation (monolingual) (bilingual) unabridged college or pocket college or desk Terminology (religious, literary, political, scientific, medical, etc) (mono and bi) concise Collocation, slang, idioms, phrasal verbs, common errors, neologisms, abbreviations (mono) pocket Synonyms, antonyms, thesaurus, production dic or activators (mono) Pronunciation, etymologies, usage, grammar, word frequencies, (mono) College, concise, pocket monolingual college or pocket Exercise: Find the following words in your dictionary, if you cant find them think of a reason to explain that: car cumdump goo gonzo coasthenia (psy) to smell to high heaven abarticulation (med) howitzer gun (mil) schlub action agent (mil) What type should you buy or use? Dictionaries are used by native speakers, language learners, or translators. Native speakers use dictionaries to help them in writing or in understanding unfamiliar words or phrases. For this purpose they use adult (unabridged or college) monolingual dictionaries. Language learners need learners monolingual dictionaries, whether elementary, intermediate, or advanced dictionaries depending on their level of language proficiency. Translators, on the other hand, need both mono- and bilingual dictionaries. They are advised to choose the most recent editions of college or unabridged dictionaries, as the other types of dictionaries are limited in their vocabulary coverage. They are also advised to have different types of specialized dictionaries of: idioms, collocations, phrasal verbs, usage, specialized terminology (religious, legal, political, medical, literary, military, psychological, scientific, etc). Elements of dictionaries: The elements of any dictionary can be discussed in terms of two levels: the macrostructure and microstructure. The macrostructure is concerned with dictionary features such as the front matter, the end or back matter, entry organization. The microstructure is limited to the structure of entries and the kinds of information they provide. We will discuss these two levels in detail in the following chapter on general monolingual dictionaries.

Equipment of Marks Spencer Essays

Equipment of Marks Spencer Essays Equipment of Marks Spencer Essay Equipment of Marks Spencer Essay Equipment of Marks Spencer and the machinery would increase in productivity as well as the performance and reputation of the business. Marks Spencer would need to have the latest equipment and machinery in order to carry day to day activities correctly. Marks Spencer would use equipment and machinery such as self check-out machines, electronic tills and trolleys to carry products. The machinery in warehouses would be used in order to make items to the highest possible quality.These machines would need to be updated regularly so that they would not break down and cause day to day activities to slow down. Ultimately, if machinery and equipment are looked after and updated regularly then this means Marks Spencer would be able to operate effectively; customers are likely to buy their items and products which would eventually increase in sales and profit. If customers are going to be happy due to the service provided because of good machinery and equipment then they are likely to stay with Marks Spencer by visiting their stores regularly which would mean Marks Spencer’s reputation will grow over time and once again the sales and profits will increase.In addition to this, Marks Spencer stores have got employed security guards which make a store a safer place to work because there is an instant access to help. Having security is important for marks Spencer because products and items have security tags attached to them on the electronic bars; therefore, if people decide to steal a product or an item the alarm is going to go off at the entrance of the store which would mean that a customer has stolen something. Therefore, security guards will take care of this and make sure that the thief does not run away. In addition, CCTV cameras take great care of being secure at work as well. CCTV cameras operate all day through in Marks Spencer recording everything that is going on. Eventually, having security guards and CCTV cameras increases in performance of Marks Spencer as the employees will feel safe and happy at work and as a result carry out tasks to the best of their ability.Marks Spencer normally has quite big buildings that consist of two, three or even four floors, especially in shopping malls. In addition to this, if there are separate floors such as four floors building it allows Marks Spencer to set a particular floor for particular products and items. For instance, one of the shopping malls in Plymouth has got Marks Spencer store of four floors; the first being men clothing, the second is women clothing, the third is lingerie and fourth floor is children clothing and toys, home ware and the cafà ©. Besides, as the floors are quite big in terms of space, this allows Marks Spencer to have room in order to display a range of styles of the products.If Marks Spencer is able to display a large number of products this means that the performance is going to be increased because as the products are promoted the customers that walk around the store would see the product or an item and might get interested. Customer is likely to be attracted by the product because of the suitable displaying of products in Marks Spencer and as a result they would purchase it. In addition, customers that walk pass the store, might see the display of products in the shop windows of Mark Spencer and this would attract them to come in to the store to look at the product in more detail. Therefore, as customers are likely to buy more products due to displaying this is likely to increase sales and make a higher profit. If the business makes higher profit then this would increase the performance of Marks Spencer.Eventually, human, physical and technological resources have a big impact on Marks Spencer as a business. However, the inability that could to use these resources effectively could appear and this will cause many problems and difficulties rather than advantages

Basin and Range Topography Overview

Basin and Range Topography Overview In geology, a basin is defined as a bounded area where the rock within the boundaries dips inward toward the center. By contrast, a range is a single line of mountains or hills forming a connected chain of land higher than the surrounding area. When combined, the two make up basin and range topography. A landscape comprised of basins and ranges is characterized as having a series of undulating mountain ranges sitting parallel to low, broad valleys (basins). Normally, each of these valleys is bounded on one or more sides by mountains and although the basins are relatively flat, the mountains can either rise abruptly out of them or slope upward gradually. The differences in elevations from the valley floors to the mountain peaks in most basin and range areas can range from several hundred feet to over 6,000 feet (1,828 meters). Causes of Basin and Range Topography The resulting faults are called normal faults and are characterized by rocks dropping down on one side and rising on the other. In these faults, there is a hanging wall and a footwall and the hanging wall is responsible for pushing down on the footwall. In basins and ranges, the hanging wall of the fault is what creates the range as they are the blocks of the Earths crust that are pushed upward during crustal extension. This upward movement occurs as the crust spreads apart. This portion of the rock is located on the margins of the fault line and moves up when the rock being moved in the extension gathers on the fault line. In geology, these ranges forming along fault lines are called horsts. Conversely, the rock below the fault line is down dropped because there is a space created by the divergence of lithospheric plates. As the crust continues to move, it stretches and becomes thinner, creating more faults and areas for rocks to drop into gaps. The results are the basins (also called grabens in geology) found in basin and range systems. One common feature to note in the worlds basins and ranges is the extreme amount of erosion that occurs on the peaks of the ranges. As they rise, they are immediately subject to weathering and erosion. The rocks are eroded by water, ice, and wind and particles are quickly stripped and washed down the mountainsides. This eroded material then fills the faults and collects as sediment in the valleys. The Basin and Range Province Within the Basin and Range Province, the relief is abrupt and the basins normally range from 4,000 to 5,000 feet (1,200- 1,500 m), while most of the mountain ranges climb 3,000 to 5,000 feet (900-1,500 m) above the basins. Death Valley, California is the lowest of the basins with its lowest elevation of -282 feet (-86 m). Conversely, Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range to the west of Death Valley has an elevation of 11,050 feet (3,368 m), showing the enormous topographic prominence within the province. In terms of the Basin and Range Provinces physiography, it features a dry climate with very few streams and internal drainage (a result of the basins). Although the area is arid, much of the rain that does fall accumulates in the lowest basins and forms pluvial lakes such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah and Pyramid Lake in Nevada. The valleys are mostly arid however and deserts such as the Sonoran dominate the region. This area also affected a significant portion of the United States’ history as it was a major barrier to westward migration because the combination of desert valleys, bounded by mountain ranges made any movement in the area difficult. Today, U.S. Highway 50 crosses the region and crosses five passes over 6,000 feet (1,900 m) and is considered The Loneliest Road in America. Worldwide Basin and Range Systems Western Turkey is also cut by an easterly trending basin and range landscape that extends into the Aegean Sea. It is also believed that many of the islands in that sea are portions of ranges between basins that have a high enough elevation to break the sea’s surface. Where ever basins and ranges occur, they represent an enormous amount of geologic history as it takes millions of years to form to the extent of those found in the Basin and Range Province.

Management Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Project - Essay Example The paper includes an in-dept analysis of the four important aspects of management (planning, organizing controlling and leading) in the context of PNR. It also provides a brief description regarding the products and operations of the company. The company overview PNR Private Ltd has been involved in the business of tyres that are mainly used in two wheelers. It produces tyres for two wheelers especially for the motor cycles. It is been almost seven years that the company is manufacturing and selling tyres. Its main customers include some of the local as well as global two wheeler manufacturers. Furthermore, there is a strong network of dealers that sell the products to the individual customers. In the last year PNR’s annual revenue reached almost $100M. However the company’s performance was badly hit by the recent global financial crisis that rocked most of the developed economies in the world especially the US and UK economy. As the demand of cars and bikes was signif icantly lowered due to this global crisis, tyre industry was also remarkably affected. Being a part of this industry PNR also experienced a tough time when its annual revenue was gone down by almost 10% in the year 2008-2009. However, with recovery of global economy PNR has also improved its performance. At present the company employs almost 100 individuals. The management of PNR gives significant importance on the quality and innovation of the product. The company’s main objective is to take the customer satisfaction level to a new high that will help the company to meet its annual target of revenue easily on a regular basis. Over the years ‘Innovation’ has been the key to PNR’s success. The company has plans to invest significant amount of resources in the research and development section. A new production plant with state-of-the art technology and advanced research and development facilities is likely to come up in near future. The company’s visi on is to become the market leader in two wheeler tyre industry by means of high degree of innovation and customer satisfaction. In PNR it is believed that management is a concept that is neither solely science nor solely arts, but it is a blend of both. In the present business world which is intensely competitive, organizations fail to succeed if they do not focus on innovation, research and development. Today, most of the managerial decisions are taken after conducting extensive marketing as well as financial research. If management is looked at from this perspective then it can be considered as more of science rather than arts. However, on the other hand management is also about art of convincing and communicating with the staffs. According to Basu, â€Å"management is getting things done through and with others† (Basu, Business Organisation And Management). This statement reflects that art is an important component of management. The management of PNR admits these facts an d believes that management is the combination of both science and art. The next section provides a clear picture of the four important aspects of management i.e. planning, leading, organizing and controlling in the context of PNR. Planning SWOT Analysis SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities) Analysis is a strategic tool that is widely used across all the industry. PNR’s main strength is its strong customer base. Despite

MacroEconomics in Virginia Beach Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MacroEconomics in Virginia Beach - Essay Example Economist and financial analyst determine inflation by finding the difference between the current consumer price index and the previous consumer’s price index (Mankiw, p471). Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impacts and causes of hyper inflation in Virginia area. Impacts of Hyperinflation in Virginia Beach Area The impacts of inflation are numerous whereby, its effects are not only felt by individuals but are also felt by the overall economy. Therefore, hyper-inflation refers to an inflation rate that is above 50 percent, this kind of inflation may be attributed to government actions of printing money in order to finance its expenditure. The act of pritinting money by the Federal government causes an increase in the amount of money in circulation. This may consequently leads to an increase in commodity prices (Mankiw, p382-387). Hyper inflation was first experienced in Germany after the First World War when the German government printed money to reconstructs its e conomy. Additionally, hyper-inflation was first witnessed in Zimbabwe between the year 2004 and 2009 (Smith, paras1-6). In above connection, the United State reported a hyper-inflation after the Federal government tried print money with an aim of suppressing the negative impacts of world war one. However, the U.S government has taken measures to mitigate as well as prevent the occurrence of hyper-inflation. Among the measures employed include; setting a federal reserve system (Kimberly, paras4-6). In above connection, Virginia anticipated economic and political down turn as a result of hyper-inflation. Legislators in Virginia were wondering whether the establishment of a common currency across the commonwealth could have acted as a perfect substitute for currencies supplied by the Federal government (Kimberly, paras3-5).Some of the substitute that were to be utilized as money include; Gold and Silver. However, the United States Federal government was against the idea because most of their wealth was tied up in foreign debts. On the other hand, the Virginia commonwealth believed that both political and economic problems were attributed to the impacts of hyper-inflation. The Legislators asserted that the problems of hyper-inflation could have been addressed into two major ways namely; motivating people to buy legal tender attached on silver and gold (Kimberly, paras5-6). In above connection, citizens could be motivated to carry out capital investment. This could have been done by government through reduction of tax burdens attached on to such investment. Additionally, it was recommended that Virginia could set a side some intangible assets in order to hedge risk associated with hyperinflation (Kimberly, para6). Causes of Inflation There are two major cause of inflation namely demand pull inflation and cost push inflation. Demand pull inflation involves persistent increase prices of commodities due to higher demand (Tucker, p284). Several factors may be attribute d to be the causes of demand push inflation, among the factors include; economic growth, anticipation of inflation in the future, government policies such as fiscal policies, advancement in technology. Whereby, economic growth may leads to an increase in demand for goods and services (Kimberly, paras1-3). On the other han

Economic growth in China and its impact on American economy Essay - 1

Economic growth in China and its impact on American economy - Essay Example The developed nations have understood that after the implementation of the quota free regime, the Republic of China has captured and secured major share of the industrial and production activities. The Golden Age of the China started soon after its amalgamation with World Trade Organization. The membership of World trade Organization has been of economic and industrial benefits for the country. Secondly, the normalization of the Communist China’s diplomatic relationship with United States, have further boosted the momentum of Chinese economic activities. These two events are important because they signify the recognition of Chinese economy by United States and the world economic community as an equal partner. Since its membership, the country has become an important member of the world economic community and plays an important role in the global economy. The partnership with WTO has increased the scope of China’s market for international trade and investment, and has opened up the World economy for unrestricted China’s exports. Economic analysts have viewed the so far progress positively, and considered it as a positive force for China’s economic development, however others believed that the competition of foreign imports and foreign enterprises in China might destroy important domestic enterprises in China’s agricultural, manufacturing and service sectors. WTO membership will hasten the relative decline of the agricultural sector and the relative rise of service sectors dealing with financial services and telecommunication. Secondly, the state sector will decline relatively to the non-state sectors and efficiency in Chinese enterprises will increase with foreign competition when tariffs are lowered and foreign firms can enter the Chinese market. Although the concerns of the analysts have come up to be true, however the Chinese government’s investment friendly policy and availability of local, cheap and skilled labor

Army Representative Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Army Representative - Personal Statement Example It aims at providing more aspects in the life of a soldier. Boss supports the overall quality of life and this is in regard to a single soldier. It works upon identifying the well- being issues in the life of a soldier and aims at improving the same. In addition to this BOSS provides an ideal platform for single soldiers to do community service and help as many people as possible. The BOSS team consists of three major organs namely, the senior military adviser, MWR advisor and the BOSS soldiers. Let me just briefly give an account of each. The senior military advisor has many important roles of which being a mentor to the BOSS soldiers is one of the most important, another important role of the senior military advisor is to approve and support the BOSS committee. The third most important role of the senior military advisor is to educate and inform NCO license channel (Liaison). The MWR Advisor is responsible for assisting the budget, the person is also supposed to do marketing of BOSS, another important role is to train BOSS committee members and the role also demands guidance on volunteer program. Moving on to the third most important organ of BOSS, the soldiers, there is a president, vice president, Secretary, Treasurer and brigade, all the posts come with various responsibilities and only the best soldiers are chosen for the same. This demonstrates my unde rstanding of BOSS and the expectations of the organization out of the soldiers. My Vision and Experience I consider myself a highly equipped professional and I have an experience of 9 years in performing a variety of administrative and staff support duties for different departments, which require a range of knowledge and skills of organizational procedures and policies; resolving administrative problems and inquiries. Interact well with individuals from diverse cultures and all professional levels. I will make sure that when I put the skills I am equipped with to work I achieve the highest quality standards of work. Let me just throw some light upon my core strengths, I am very comfortable working in Administrative Support, creative work attitude, Business correspondence and these are just a handful areas where I am very comfortable in working. I am aware of the fact that BOSS is also looking at experience and let me just give a brief account of my experience. I have served in the US Army for 9 years and during this period I gained a lot of experience. I worked as a record custodian and I was given many important responsibilities like training sailors and this was because the department where I worked was in joint- operation with the US navy. The post which I occupied demanded the management of dual role responsibility and I was selected to provide daily situation reports of the Battalion staff and trainees. I was also responsible for all the paper work and I was given the responsibility of proper filing of finances and personnel records I have also handled the post of Assistant training NCO; I was required to carry out many responsibilities. Some of them included Developing processing procedures and implementing procedures to staff during student in processing, assisted with the daily operations of the Battalion S-3 section, Assisting with maintaining individual

Should China be promoting big business groups Pick several groups to Essay

Should China be promoting big business groups Pick several groups to show why or why not, using contrasts, in the context of th - Essay Example   Smyth et al.,  2004). Within the sector of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) the development of  large scale enterprises has been progressing  (Nolan,  2001; Nolan, 2002). The policy makers in the country and the organizational leaders have made immense endeavour to nurture large  enterprise  groups. These leaders have aspired to upgrade these groups and transform  them  into  internationally  competitive  transnational  corporations (Sutherland, 2007). Such unorthodox development bore fruit and led to the outstanding growth for the country (Nolan, 2001). The China miracle: an overview China has exhibited significant growth for the last three decades, which has attracted attention of the developed countries. The tempo at which the country has transformed itself from being a peasant society to an industrial powerhouse, guarantees that the country has the potential to achieve a growth rate of several times greater than the current rate. If things continue in th is pattern, China might surpass the present advanced countries of the western world (Krugman, 1994). Economic development had been initiated in China around 30 years before and the outcome is miraculous. The GDP growth rate in China on average has reached 9.8 percent in 2010 (Lin, 2010). It has surpassed the rate foreseen by analysts in 1980s and 1980s. These reforms had been initiated by Deng Xiaoping with the goal of increasing the GDP of the Chinese economy by four times within a span of twenty years. The vision with which Xiaoping had launched this reform was to achieve a 7.2 percent annual growth rate for the economy. Since 1979, China’s economic performance has improved at a massive rate. In 1979 the country’s â€Å"trade as a percentage of GDP was only 9.5 percent† (Lin, 2010), while by 2010, China has reserved for itself the position of the highest exporting country in the world and the third largest country in terms of imports. At present the countryâ⠂¬â„¢s trade contributes approximately 70 percent of the country’s GDP. In this span of 30 years, 600 million Chinese residents have been brought out of poverty through this dazzling economic growth (Lin, 2010). The development path followed by China after the reforms of 1979 has been devised by the policy makers keeping in mind the real scenario of the country. It has therefore been possible to implement these policies successfully. While some contemporary economies had tried to bring radical changes or treat the economy with shock therapy, the effects of these changes have not been holistically beneficial for these economies. China has therefore been able to take exceptionally huge strides of performance and has moved ahead of most other developing nations of the world. This rapid growth experienced by the Chinese economy for thirty years at a stretch and the consequent sustainable improvement in the standard of living of its population of 1.3 billion has been termed by res earchers and observers as â€Å"the China Miracle† (Liming, n.d.). By avoiding radical reforms and by following a step by step process of transformation the economy has been able to bypass the negative impacts of change and avoid striking social unrest within the country. The process of China’s transition China has primarily been an agrarian society. With industrial revolution the economy faced a speedy movement away from the traditional agricultural society in which almost 85

Fear and fate in america Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fear and fate in america - Essay Example A week after the attack, one is free to taste the bile of its atrocious ingenuity. It is already trite - but stringently necessary - the writer to emphasise that such a mise en scne would have embarrassed a studio executive's storyboard or a thriller-writer's notebook And yet in broad daylight and full consciousness that outline became established reality: a score or so of Stanley knives produced two million tons of rubble. Several lines of US policy were bankrupted by the events of last Tuesday, among them national missile defence. Someone realised that the skies of America were already teeming with missiles, each of them primed and cocked. The plan was to capture four airliners - in the space of half an hour. All four would be bound for the west coast, to ensure maximum fuel- load. The first would crash into the north tower just as the working day hit full stride. Then a pause of 15 minutes, to give the world time to gather round its TV sets. With that attention secured, the second plane would crash into the south tower, and in that instant America's youth would turn into age. If the architect of this destruction was Osama bin Laden, who is a qualified engineer, then he would certainly know something about the stress equations of the World Trade Centre.

Should China be promoting big business groups Pick several groups to Essay

Should China be promoting big business groups Pick several groups to show why or why not, using contrasts, in the context of th - Essay Example   Smyth et al.,  2004). Within the sector of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) the development of  large scale enterprises has been progressing  (Nolan,  2001; Nolan, 2002). The policy makers in the country and the organizational leaders have made immense endeavour to nurture large  enterprise  groups. These leaders have aspired to upgrade these groups and transform  them  into  internationally  competitive  transnational  corporations (Sutherland, 2007). Such unorthodox development bore fruit and led to the outstanding growth for the country (Nolan, 2001). The China miracle: an overview China has exhibited significant growth for the last three decades, which has attracted attention of the developed countries. The tempo at which the country has transformed itself from being a peasant society to an industrial powerhouse, guarantees that the country has the potential to achieve a growth rate of several times greater than the current rate. If things continue in th is pattern, China might surpass the present advanced countries of the western world (Krugman, 1994). Economic development had been initiated in China around 30 years before and the outcome is miraculous. The GDP growth rate in China on average has reached 9.8 percent in 2010 (Lin, 2010). It has surpassed the rate foreseen by analysts in 1980s and 1980s. These reforms had been initiated by Deng Xiaoping with the goal of increasing the GDP of the Chinese economy by four times within a span of twenty years. The vision with which Xiaoping had launched this reform was to achieve a 7.2 percent annual growth rate for the economy. Since 1979, China’s economic performance has improved at a massive rate. In 1979 the country’s â€Å"trade as a percentage of GDP was only 9.5 percent† (Lin, 2010), while by 2010, China has reserved for itself the position of the highest exporting country in the world and the third largest country in terms of imports. At present the countryâ⠂¬â„¢s trade contributes approximately 70 percent of the country’s GDP. In this span of 30 years, 600 million Chinese residents have been brought out of poverty through this dazzling economic growth (Lin, 2010). The development path followed by China after the reforms of 1979 has been devised by the policy makers keeping in mind the real scenario of the country. It has therefore been possible to implement these policies successfully. While some contemporary economies had tried to bring radical changes or treat the economy with shock therapy, the effects of these changes have not been holistically beneficial for these economies. China has therefore been able to take exceptionally huge strides of performance and has moved ahead of most other developing nations of the world. This rapid growth experienced by the Chinese economy for thirty years at a stretch and the consequent sustainable improvement in the standard of living of its population of 1.3 billion has been termed by res earchers and observers as â€Å"the China Miracle† (Liming, n.d.). By avoiding radical reforms and by following a step by step process of transformation the economy has been able to bypass the negative impacts of change and avoid striking social unrest within the country. The process of China’s transition China has primarily been an agrarian society. With industrial revolution the economy faced a speedy movement away from the traditional agricultural society in which almost 85

Charles Manson and the Tate-Labianca Murders Essay Example for Free

Charles Manson and the Tate-Labianca Murders Essay On August 9, 1969 the seven innocent victims of the Tate-LaBianca murders were senselessly slain by a vicious cult and their leader Charles Manson†¦ Manson’s childhood was a troubled one, he was born Charles Milles Maddox on November 12, 1934 to sixteen year old Kathleen Maddox in Cincinnati, Ohio. Shortly after his birth, his mother married William Manson which gave him the name that is so well known today. Manson never knew his birth father. Not much is known about him other than he was a â€Å"Colonel Scott† of Ashland, Kentucky. In 1939, Kathleen was sentenced to prison for armed robbery, and a young Charlie spent the majority of his youth living in the homes of relatives and numerous boys homes. At the age of nine Charlie started his criminal career by burglarizing homes and stealing cars. Manson’s first violent offense came in 1952 when he sodomized another boy while holding a razor blade to his throat during his stay at a reform school. He was released in 1954 at the age of nineteen and met a young woman  named Rosalie Willis. They married in 1955 and a year later had a son, Charles Manson Jr. One month after the birth of his son, Manson was arrested for stealing cars and sentenced to three years which he served in San Pedro, California; his wife filed for divorce. After his release in 1958, Manson made a living by pimping, stealing checks, and conning women out of money. During this time he met and married a woman by the name of Leona and had a second son named Charles Luthor Manson. Leona divorced Manson after he was arrested yet again in 1960 and sent to McNeil Island Penitentiary. While serving his six year sentence Manson met a man by the name of Alvin â€Å"Creepy† Karpis, who happened to be a former member of Ma Barker’s gang. Karpis taught Manson to play the steel guitar which led to his obsession with music. Manson devoted much of his time in prison to practicing and writing music and held the belief that he would be a famous musician. Upon his release on March 21, 1967, Manson moved to San Francisco, California and began to collect a following of people. In 1968, Manson and several of his followers drove to Southern California where he met Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys. Through Wilson, Manson was introduced to Doris Day’s son Terry Melcher. Manson believed that Terry was just the person that could help further his music career and was very upset when things did not work out. During this time the Manson Family moved into Spahn Ranch where Charles started piecing together his own philosophy based on a number of different religions. According to his interpretations of Revelations 9 and the Beatles’ song Helter Skelter, Manson also believed that there was a race war that was to take place in the summer of 1969 during which all of the black people were going to slaughter the white people. When this â€Å"war† did not take place Manson told his Family that they should â€Å"show the blacks how to do it†. (Rosenberg, 2010) On August 8, 1969, Manson ordered several of his Family members to kill any people inside the house at 10050 Cielo Drive. This house formerly belonged to Terry Melcher but was now being rented by Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski, who happened to be in Europe on business at the time. Manson told his followers to â€Å"do something witchy†. After midnight on August 9th, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian walked up to 10050 Cielo Drive where they brutally shot and stabbed their first five victims; Steven Parent, Voytek Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring and Sharon Tate. Tate was eight months pregnant with both her and Polanski’s first child. Manson criticized his followers on the â€Å"messy job† that was done and took them for a drive later that night to look for more victims. Early the next morning Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were stabbed to death. On the wall and refrigerator was written â€Å"Death to Pigs† and â€Å"Helter Skelter†. It took authorities several months to discover who was behind the attacks. On November 6, 1969, while being held on an unrelated charge, Family member Susan Atkins told a fellow inmate of her participation in the Tate murders. She also admitted to being the one who wrote â€Å"PIG† on the Polanski doo r with Sharon’s blood and a towel. It was not until July 24, 1970 that Charles Manson, along with Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel stood trial for the murders. The women were three out of the five Family members involved in the crime. Manson insisted on representing himself at trial, Ronald Hughes was assigned as assisting council in the case and to represent the girls. In March, Hughes suggested that Manson bring in attorney Irving Kanarek, who was known for his obstructionism tactics. Manson agreed and two weeks before the trial began he introduced Kanarek as his council. Hughes then moved his primary defense to Leslie Van Houten, who was said to be the least devoted to Manson. The prosecution was led by Vincent Bugliosi; his main goal in the case was getting a first degree murder conviction for Charles Manson. He planned to accomplish this by proving that Manson dominated his Family, with the prosecution’s star witness Linda Kasabian. This would prove to be an easy accomplishment. Kasabian agreed to testify when the prosecution made a deal for her immunity. In 1969, Kasabian, the married mother of two who had left home â€Å"in search of God†, met and fell in love with who a friend had described as â€Å"a beautiful man named Charlie† (Linder, 2008). Six weeks after Kasabian had joined the Family, Charlie decided that it was â€Å"time for Helter Skelter† (Linder, 2008). She then rode with Tex and the other defendants to the Tate house and witnessed the horrific killings of Steven Parent, Abigail Folger, and Voytek Frykowski. Although Kasabian was present for the murders,  she did not enter the house nor did she directly participate in them. She was quoted as saying to Manson, â€Å"I’m not like you Charlie, I can’t kill anyone† (Linder, 2008). She later rode with Manson and the others to the LaBianca house where she stayed outside and did not see the murders. Three days after the murders took place Kasabian left the family to rejoin her husband. She later turned herself into police in order to tell her story. Before she was able to return home to her family, Kasabian took the witness stand. While on the stand for eighteen days, she testified to everything that was done or said from the moment they left the ranch until they returned after the LaBianca murders. Prior to the Manson trial, Hughes had never tried a case and it showed early in the trial. Although using his knowledge of the hippie culture, he was able to raise some questions about Linda Kasabian’s testimony by pointing out that she had used hallucinogenic drugs and believed she was a witch. He also questioned her credibility by stating that she believed in ESP and would get â€Å"vibrations† from Charlie. Hughes’ main goal in Van Houten’s defense was to separate her from the rest of the defendants by showing that she was not acting of her own free will but was being controlled by Manson. It was said that Manson was not happy with the defense Hughes was offering Van Houten. In the last weekend of Novem ber, Hughes failed to show up for court and was never seen alive again. His body was not found until four months later and was badly decomposed. At least two of Manson’s Family members claimed that it was a retaliation killing for Manson. On January 25, 1971 a jury found all four defendants guilty of first degree murder in the Tate-LaBianca case. Two months later in March the jury sentenced all four to death. However, the principal actor in these murders, Tex Watson was yet to be tried. After the murders Tex returned to Texas where he was later arrested. He fought the extradition proceedings just long enough to get his own trial. In October 1971 Charles â€Å"Tex† Watson was convicted of seven counts of first degree murder. He would have received the death penalty if it was not for the California ruling that the death penalty was unconstitutional which also converted all four of the previous defendant’s sentences to life in prison. The Tate-LaBianca case has been the topic of controversy since it started in 1970. Some people claim that the trials were biased based on the fact that Manson and his followers chose to live a â€Å"hippie† lifestyle which  included the use of a number of drugs as well as free sex amongst each other. There was also a statement that president Nixon made claiming that Charles Manson was guilty whether it was directly or indirectly. Nixon claimed that he said this in order to criticize the media for glorifying criminals. Whatever the reasoning was behind this remark the defense in the case attempted to use it to have the case thrown out stating that an unbiased jury was now impossible. The judge denied the request however, and the trial continued. Whether the jury was biased or not the fact remains that these five individuals are responsible for the killings of at least seven innocent people and possibly countless others and should be punished for their crimes. Reference: Linder, D. (2008). The Defendants and Other Key Figures. In Trial of Charles Manson. Retrieved from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/manson/manson.html Linder, D. (2008). A Chronology and Selected Images. In Trial of Charles Manson. Retrieved from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/manson/manson.html Rosenberg, J. (2010). Biography of Charles Manson. In 20th Century History [Biography]. Retrieved from http://history1900s.about.com/od/1960s/p/charlesmanson.htm Bardsley, M. (2010). The Trial. In Charles Manson and the Manson Family. Retrieved from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/manson/2.html

Palm oil biodiesel: A source of renewable fuel

Palm oil biodiesel: A source of renewable fuel The demand of increasing price in fossil fuel has prompted the global oil industry to look at the alternative sources of fuel from renewable energy source which is biodiesel. Biodiesel is considered as better option because of its environmental friendly characteristics while giving almost the same functional properties like fossil fuels. This paper will focus on the biodiesel produced in Malaysia. Since Malaysia is one of the leading palm oil producers in the world with palm oil was chosen as the raw stock for the palm oil biodiesel production. There are many advantages and disadvantages in palm oil biodiesel industry in Malaysia from the economy, social and environmental aspect. The aim of this paper is to analyze the past, current and future of palm oil biodiesel industry in Malaysia. This paper will include the technology aspect used in the palm oil biodiesel production and characteristics of pure palm oil biodiesel to meet the international market standard. Malaysia faces tough competition from other biodiesel producers like Indonesia and Brazil. The scope of this study covers the worldwide biodiesel development in brief in continuation with the challenges faced by Malaysia in becoming the top biodiesel exporter in the world with the advantages disadvantage of using palm oil as the feedstock. . Keywords: Alternative, renewable energy, palm oil biodiesel, technology, exporter List of Abbreviations ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials CPO Crude Palm Oil DBKL Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid EU European Union IFC International Finance Corporation ISO International Standards Organization MPOB Malaysian Palm Oil Board MPOC Malaysian Palm Oil Council MYR Malaysia Ringgits NGO Non Government Organization OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration POIC Palm Oil Industrial Cluster POME Palm Oil Methyl Ester PRIME Rebuilding and Improving Malaysias Export of Palm Oil RSPO Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil UK United Kingdom UNFCC United Natons Framework Convention on Climate Change US United States USA United States of America List of Symbols CO2 Carbon dioxide ml milliliter NOx Nitrogen Oxide INTRODUCTION All energy used by humans originates from one of the following sources: radiant energy emitted by the sun (solar energy); geothermal energy from the interior of the earth; tidal energy originating from the gravitational pull of the moon; and nuclear energy. By far the largest source is solar energy, thousands of times larger than all the others and inexhaustible for as long the sun shines (approximately 4.5 billion years). Present energy system, especially based on the use of fossil fuels (not renewable), cannot handle the problem of guaranteeing energy security and that increasing the share of renewable energies is one of the best ways to addressing them. Increasingly, renewable energy in the form of biodiesel is getting attention from the world countries due to the environment friendly characteristics, while still be able to be used in diesel engine without any major modifications. Biodiesel also has its advantage of abundance of raw stock which confirms continuous raw material supply. Biodiesel is an environmentally-friendly, renewable energy source that could also produce cost savings for taxpayers and private businesses which is produced from farmers that grow various fuel crops. Given high gasoline prices and the negative environmental effects of burning fossil fuels, there is intense research on the alternative energy sources, including biofuel. Brazil and the US have been leading the way with ethanol production derived from sugar cane and corn. Recently, there has been increased interest in another biofuel (biodiesel) particularly in Europe (the leading producer). Biodiesel, a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel, can be produced from the transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats. In the US, most biodiesel is made from rapeseed (canola) or soybeans. Other producers have different biodiesel feedstock such as palm oil and jatropha that have great potential as renewable fuels. Malaysia is a leading palm oil producer, therefore Malaysia in the past have focused on palm oil as raw stock used for biodiesel production. This paper takes an in depth look at the palm oil used for the production of biodiesel. 2.1 SCOPE OF THE PAPER Biodiesel production is facing several issues and challenges like tough global competition, feedstock issue, food versus fuel war, sustainability, and limited land for use deforestation. The scope of this paper is to collect and analyze the data of palm oil biodiesel in Malaysia to determine their performance and their position in the world biodiesel industry, the advantage disadvantage of using palm oil as the main feedstock for production, political economic barriers which needs to be overcome, competition between the major producers technological aspects. This study covers the biodiesel technology that is currently being used in Malaysia to produce pure biodiesel that meets international criteria, suggestions for improvements in implementing better method and technologies to be used in Indonesia and Malaysia. Overall, this paper analyzes the past, current and future trend of the palm oil biodiesel industry in Malaysia among world biodiesel industry. 2.2 BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Raw Stock for Biodiesel There are several sources used as feedstock for biodiesel production such as rapeseed and soybean oil. However, compared with other vegetable oil, palm oil has far better advantage and potential as feedstock for biodiesel production. Palm oil is a perennial crop, unlike soybean and rapeseed. Perennial crop means the production of oil is continuous and uninterrupted, though annual production has its seasonal peak and down cycle [6]. In terms of oil production per hectare of plantation, palm oil is the most produced oil seed. The yield of palm oil from palm is a factor of ten higher than oil yields from soybeans, sunflower or rapeseeds [17]. Palm oil production has higher production yield compared to soybean, sunflower seed and rapeseed as shown in Figure 1. Palm oil imports from Malaysia into EU are equivalent to having 4.9 million hectares of soybeans or 1.7 million hectares of rapeseed [17]. 2.2.2 Palm Oil as Raw Stock Palm oil is the most prospective biodiesel feedstock compared to other oilseeds. As discussed earlier, palm oil has higher production yield, low fertilizer, water and pesticide needed for the plantation. Palm oil production takes less sunlight in terms of energy balance to produce a unit of oil as it produces more oil per hectare. However, in terms of the basis of palm oil yield per man in a day, it is not as competitive as other oilseeds because of the difficulty of labor plantation management and harvesting of the fruit. Comparatively in Indonesia, it is less an issue because the extensive labor market readily available in Indonesia compared to Malaysia. Crude Palm Oil and Refined Palm Oil are the most traded vegetable oil in the world today [14]. Palm oils have been established as a dietary nutrient for nearly five thousand years. Palm oils are harvested from the mesocarp of the Elaeis Guineensis fruit, through a refining process that includes; cooking, mashing and pressing. In this process, the seeds are separated and after cracking and removing the shell, the kernel can be processed to yield palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake. Crude palm oil also referred as CPO comes from the mesocarp which is the fleshy portion of the fruit wall. Mesocarp is processed into CPO through refining and kernel processing in steps shown in Figure 2. CPO depends on the variety of the palm tree and the age of the palm. The CPO to bunch ratio is approximately 25 to 28 percentages. 2.2.3 Palm Oil Biodiesel The palm oil harvested and produced from palm trees is referred to as CPO. The crude palm oil is the transported to palm oil refinery to be refined. The factory output is the Refined Palm Oil which is suitable to be used as biodiesel fuel or blended with petroleum diesel. Palm oil converted into methyl ester which then can be used as fuel is called the bio diesel. Blending certain percentage of petroleum diesel with palm diesel is called Envo Diesel. Methyl ester from palm oil has low engine emissions, high oxidation stability apart from the high nitrogen oxide emission which is higher [2]. Refined palm oil; after crude palm oil is refined is referred as Refined Palm Oil and can be used for number of applications including as a substitute for petroleum diesel which is known as Palm Oil Biodiesel. Palm oil is processed into CPO, then into refined oil before being processed into palm oil biodiesel as shown in Figure 3. Palm Oil biodiesel can be blended with petroleum diesel. This type of diesel is known as Envo Diesel. This paper will discuss in detail the Palm Oil Biodiesel. 3. Analysis 3.1 Perspective on Indonesian versus Malaysian Palm Oil A significant change took place in palm oil industry in the year 2006 when Indonesia surpassed Malaysia in production of the palm oil as shown in Figure 4. Malaysia is currently worlds second largest producer of palm oil [6]. Looking at the Indonesias palm oil production rate compared to Malaysia in Table 1, there are high chances of Indonesia surpassing Malaysia and continue to be leading producer for the foreseeable future. In Malaysia, palm oil exports amount to 16.5 million tonnes, representing an increase of near 11 percent in year 2007. The total palm oil planted area in the country increased by 4.3 percent to 4.48 million hectares in 2008 [16]. The expansion in planted area in the country occurred mainly in Sabah and Sarawak with a combined growth of 7 percent compared to 2 percent in Peninsular Malaysia. Sabah remained as the largest palm oil planted state, accounting for 1.33 million hectares of 30 percent of the total planted area in the country. 3.2 Palm Oil Biodiesel vs. Other Feedstock In the year 2008, the government of Malaysia was looking at the possibility of using jatropha oil the raw material for the production of biodiesel in the future. However, this was still at the research and development stage and it has not reached the commercialization stage [2]. The government looked at other potential feedstock for biodiesel production due to the competition on the use of the palm oil either as food sources as fuel. Around the world biodiesel producers are now focusing on using non food based raw materials for the biofuel production. Currently, all the biodiesel projects in Malaysia are based on the use of palm oil as the raw material. During the surface of the reports indicating that EU might ban biofuel derived from crops grown on some sensitive ecosystems, Malaysian palm oil industry feared the worst. Malaysia; as the second largest palm oil producer in the world after Indonesia is the potentially largest palm oil biodiesel producer. Countries like Brazil and the US; biodiesel producer from ethanol are eyeing the EU market giving heavy competition to palm oil biodiesel producers. Biodiesel market are having large market competition after the 27 nation bloc suggested for biofuel to be used at least 10 percentage in transportation by year 2020 [17]. Jatropha is a promising second generation biodiesel feedstock. The government publicity on Jatropha as next potential biodiesel feedstock at the Sabah Development Corridor launch in the year 2008 gave competition to existing palm oil biodiesel. However, the use of Jatropha as biodiesel feedstock requires more research to develop its properties to acceptable level for mass commercial usage [2]. And currently, the research is still ongoing. 3.3 Palm Oil and Malaysia The palm oil industry is an important pillar of Malaysia economy. The palm oil sector have contributed significantly towards providing a continuous flow of foreign investments and earnings through the export of palm oil and its value added products to the global market. In the year 2008, palm oil industry contributed MYR 65.2 billion or equivalent USD 18.1 billion in the export earnings which proves to be a significant contribution from the palm oil industry to the economy [16]. The contribution of Malaysian palm oil to the worlds oils and fats market was very significant in the year 2008, where the palm oil production of 17.73 million tonnes was 11.1 percent of the global production of 160 million tonnes of oils and fats. The sustainable production of palm oil in Malaysia is overseen by the Malaysian Palm Oil Association. Malaysia palm oil production is estimated 18.3 million tonnes in 2009 compared to 17.73 million tonnes in year 2008 [17]. The global demand for palm oil has increased significantly over the last two decades, first for the use in food industry, consumer products and the most recent application for biodiesel. The growing market in India and China; which is the top two important nations, increases the demand for edible vegetable oil [14]. Another major factor in growth of palm oil production is its role in sustainable energy campaign around the world [14]. European countries have promoted the use of palm oil by investing hundreds of millions dollars into the national subsidies towards biodiesel. European countries are major importer of palm oil; subsidization of biodiesels by the European governments has accelerated the demand for the palm oil in Europe and as a consequence, this has increased the conversion of large areas of rainforest in South East Asia. Palm oil plantations are often built after clearing large area of forest land and draining peat swamps. As of the year 2009, the Malaysia palm oil had 26 percent share in the export of oils and fats. The palm oil also comprised 46 percent share of global palm oil and is being consumed in more than 150 countries worldwide [16]. All these were achieved by using 4.5 million hectares of land which is far more less than 1.9 percent of total area in the world utilized for oilseeds. The total area in the world used for oilseeds is 233 million hectares. Malaysia is currently focusing on increasing the productivity by increasing the oil yields from the current average of four tonnes per hectare to eight tonnes per hectare by using genome sequencing. Genome sequencing is a laboratory process that determines the complete DNA sequence of an organism [16]. Using this technique, scientific process and procedures can be done to the palm oil plant to produce more outputs. Using this technique, Malaysia is hoping to continue as the major supplier to global palm oil needs without the necessity to open n ew areas for plantation. The EU need a company to be legally certified to produce palm oil that can be used as an alternative fuel in a sustainable manner before the commodity can be shipped and used in the 27 member bloc countries. Restrictive policies implemented by EU created differences in the marketing of vegetables and grains oil that caused the decrease of the palm oil prices compared to soybean and rapeseed oil. Indonesia and Malaysia, the worlds two biggest producers of palm oil teamed up in November 2008 to reduce the output of the edible oil after he prices slumped. The two countries agreed to replant old plantation, cutting yearly production of approximately 800000 tonnes. In the year of 2009, during the global economic slowdown, Malaysia palm oil industry was facing issue of oversupply. To reduce the oversupply of palm oil and at the same time to support the palm oil prices, Malaysia launched the Palm Oil Replanting Incentive Scheme worth of MYR 200 million to reduce the nations high palm oil stock to ensure the stability of palm oil prices. The objective of this scheme is to chop 200000 hectare of palm oil trees aged 25 years and above, which will reduce the palm oil supply by 700000 tonnes per year in the short term. The government had approved 63000 hectare under this scheme which was closed in June 2009 [16]. Strategies like replanting palm oil tree schemes and impose of the mandate for the palm oil biodiesel use reduces the CPO inventory and helped to sustain its price at MYR 1400 per tonne in the year 2009 [14]. It is important to reduce the oversupply and maintain the CPO price above RM 1400 tonne as the producers will not be profitable in the trade below this price. In March 2008, the CPO prices soared up till MYR 4180 but the price plummeted to low MYR 1403 per tonne in November 2008 [16]. The inventory for palm oil rose to significantly high amount of 2.3 million in November 2008 but reduced to slightly more than 1.8 million tonnes in January 2009 as shown in the Figure 5. Palm oil is the major oil produced in the world; this indirectly helps to lower price of palm oil biodiesel but not significantly. The CPO price range between MYR 1400 and MYR 1900 per tonne in year 2009 was sufficient to sustain the export earnings. However, the earnings from palm oil exports in the year 2009 dropped compared to MYR 65.8 billion in the year 2008 because of the lower prices as well as lower exports. Late in the year 2008, MPOC launched PRIME program. This program is one of the MPOCs palm oil export promotion strategies to encourage exporters to explore new markets and introduce new products in order to develop new areas of business [22]. 3.4 Biodiesel Production Technology Before analyzing the infrastructure and technology required in converting Palm oil into biodiesel, the production process must be understood first. There are three general ways to convert vegetable oils and fats into biodiesel; base catalyzed transesterification of the oil, direct acid catalyzed transesterification of the oil or conversion of the oil to its fatty acid then to biodiesel [12]. Biodiesel producers opt for the option 1 which is the base catalyzed reaction because it is a low temperature and pressure. This method also yields high conversion ration of almost 98 percentages with minimal side effects and reaction time. Another advantage of this method is that it is a direct conversion to biodiesel with no intermediate compounds required and no exotic materials of construction are needed [18]. The chemical reaction for base catalyzed palm oil biodiesel production is shown in the chemical equation shown in Figure 6. Chemical Equation above shows transformation of palm oil into biodiesel which also gives another output; glycerin. The conclusion from the above chemical equation is that when one hundred pounds of fat or palm oil reacted with 10 pounds of short chain alcohol in the presence of a catalyst that has already been mixed with methanol, 10 pounds of glycerin and 100 pounds of biodiesel produced as output. The short alcohol chain is represented by ROH which means methanol or in some cases, ethanol that is used to quicken the conversion process. The catalysts usually are mixed with the methanol. R, R and R represents the fatty acid chains of the palmitic oil or fat [12]. The catalyst mixed with alcohol. The catalyst usually dissolved in the alcohol using a standard mixing machine. The mix is then put into a closed reaction vessel and the palm oil or fat is added. A closed system is done in the process to prevent the loss of alcohol to the atmosphere. The mix is kept at the temperature above the boiling point of alcohol at about 70 degree Celsius so that the reaction takes place. The reaction time varies from 1 to 8 hours and excess alcohol usually used to ensure complete conversion of palm oil into methyl esters. Once the reaction have completed, there will be two outputs which are glycerin and biodiesel. Glycerin and biodiesel output will not be in their purest form. Each has significant amount of excess methanol that was used earlier in the reaction. This is where the neutralization step takes place. The glycerin has more density compared to biodiesel and the two outputs can be separated using gravity by drawing off the bottom of the settling vessel. After the glycerin and biodiesel have been separated, the excess alcohol in each of them will be removed and the mix will be neutralized. The alcohol will be recovered in methanol recovery step using distillation equipment and it will be re-used. After separation from the glycerin, the biodiesel is purified by washing gently with warm water to remove the residual catalyst or soaps, dried and sent to storage. This step may be skipped when the output of the production process is a clear amber yellow liquid with viscosity similar to petrodiesel. Colorless biodiesel is obtained in an additional step of distillation to remove small amount of color bodies. For usage as an automotive fuel, the end product of biodiesel must be analyzed using international standard analytical equipment to ensure it meets specifications. For global biodiesel marketing, it is important for a biodiesel manufacturer to register the biodiesel product with the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency under 40 CFR Part 79 [18]. 3.5 Pure palm oil biodiesel characteristics Biodiesel is a biodegradable and non toxic fuel; free from sulfur. It is produced by transesterification reaction of vegetable oil with low molecular weight alcohol, such as ethanol or methanol. In the industry, biodiesel is produced using homogeneous reaction [10]. Important characteristic of oil to be used as fuel is the solubility of the oil in petroleum. Another way is to emulsify the oil or fat with the ethanol. Most of the vegetable oils are a mixture of different esters such as oleic acid (main portion from olive oil), ricinoeleic (main portion from castor oil) , linoleic acid )main portion from linseed oil), palmitic acid (main portion from the palm oil kernel) and many other oils. Palm crude oil is refined to make a useable automotive fuel that is useable in unmodified diesel engines. As discussed in earlier topics, biodiesel is a clean burning alternative to petroleum based fuel made from renewable energy source which is biodegradable and non-toxic. In recent times, biodiesel issues have drawn lot of interest as increase of depletion of petroleum source in near future is predicted. Biodiesel market is booming in Europe as fuel or fuel additive for most of the diesel internal combustion engines and turbine in Europe as fuel or fuel additive for most diesel internal combustion engines and turbine engines, and it is also available in the US and Asia, as well as in Canada, where it is in its early stages of development. Biodiesel is derived mainly from the byproducts of soybean and other oils, such virgin and recycled vegetable oils derived from crops such as canola, corn and sunflowers and animal fats or spent cooking greases, although it may be obtained from ethanol. Soy-based fuel is the most common used biodiesel in its pure form or mixed with a petroleum-based diesel as an additive to improve the otherwise low lubricity of pure ultra low sulfur petrodiesel fuel. Research was done in Bangkok where palm biodiesel was used for a motorcycle, the emission and engine performance was tested. Research found there was no significant difference in emissions between the biodegradable and the fossil fuel. Comparison of the engine performance and fuel consumption for both lubricants showed no significant difference either [8]. However, since palm biodiesel is a renewable source, it is a lower carbon source and that it offers superior tribological properties (wear scar, viscosity index, etc.) [8]. This is a promising alternative to fossil fuels. This fuel is also important from the economic point of view, considered as one of the possible candidates to replace petrodiesel as the worlds primary transport energy source thanks to its renewable condition and the fact that it can be transported and sold using todays infrastructure instead of old fossil fuels ducts. In fact, it is available to consumers in a growing number of fuel stations, but still makes up a small percentage of fuel sold. Biodiesel has been classified as a non-flammable liquid by the OSHA, although as with most fuels, it may burn if heated to a high enough temperature, but significantly reduced in toxic and other emissions when burned as a fuel. [20] 4. DISCUSSION 4.1. Past and Current Market trend of Palm oil Biodiesel The production of palm oil biodiesel in Malaysia is overwhelming. There are initial researches conducted for the production of biodiesel from waste materials including palm oil. However, this is still in early stage of research and development and so far; the researches shows that the production of biodiesel from waste materials is still very high and not viable for commercial use. Till the year 2008, Malaysia had about 91 percent of palm oil biodiesel projects approved with a total production capacity of 10.2 million tonnes a year [16]. Total of 12 biodiesel plants have been fully completed and are in operation with production capacity of one million tonnes a year [16]. Another two biodiesel plants have been also completed but the operations have not started. These two plants have production capacity of 160000 tonnes a year. According to MPOB, the existing biodiesel plants produces approximately 196363 tonnes for the period of August 2006 till March 2008 while 154791 tonnes were valued at MYR 411 million for the export to US, Europe, Singapore and Australia. Recently, the production cost at biodiesel plants have increased with the rising price of crude palm oil. The average cost of CPO in the year 2006 was MYR 1502.50 per tonne. This price has increased significantly within two years; in the year 2007, the price was MYR 2516.50 per tonne while in the early of 2008, the price was MYR 3433.50 per tonne. This has caused the cost to exceed the profit margin. In March 2008, production cost for palm oil biodiesel was MYR 4330 per tonne; whereas the market price for the palm oil biodiesel was MYR 3632 per tonne. The CPO prices are increasing rapidly as shown in Figure 8. The rising cost of biodiesel have prompted several palm oil biodiesel producers to temporarily stop producing biodiesel as the high producton cost has left an negative impat on their profit margin and the development and growth of the biodiesel industry. Till to date, the Malaysian government has given more than 90 biodiesel licences to various organization and companies which has production capacity of 10 million tonnes per year. However, it is reported in the Reuters survey that on seven biodiesel plants are currently running and most of them are operating well below the capacity. The survey also showed that there were 14 projects with their combined biodiesel production capacity of more than two million tonnes were shelved or delayed. The main reason for the delay is the high CPO prices, which encourages the palm oil industry to produce palm oil for more profitable business or industries instead of the biodiesel which has higher production cost compared to profit. The high cost of investment to setup the biodiesel facilities does not encourage the palm oil industry. It is said that for the priceof biodiesel at MYR 4000 per tonne, even conglomerates in Malaysia such as Sime Darby is not keen to plunge into the biodiesel industry currently [16]. Currently, the company is focusing on the palm oil downstream activities such as bulking and refinery process to be exported [16]. A report by Frost and Sullivan regarding biodiesel showed that the demand for biodiesel has increased in the Asia region over the past few years. For Malaysia, the demand for palm oil biodiesel would increase from current 110000 tonnes to 563000 tonnes in the year 2013. Asia region has a booming market for biodiesel as there are several strong drivers of growth; increased supply and increased demand. Many countries in the Asia region developed domestic markets and at the same time,producers like Malaysia and Indonesia targeted export markets. In several countries in the Asia region, the government introduced mandates for biofuels to develop the domestic market. On March 22, 2006, Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched biodiesel called Envo Diesel. This type of biodiesel blends 5 percent of proccessed palm oil with 95 percent petrodiesel. In EU, there are B5 type of biodiesel that blends 5 percent methyl ester with 95 percent petrodesel. The manufacturers for diesel engine prefer the use of palm oil methyl ester blends as diesel engines are designed to handle 5 percent methyl ester meeting the EN14214 biodiesel standard [16]. In the year 2009, the Malaysian government reassured that there are no plans to remove the current biodiesel mandate of five percent despite high CPO cost. The government encourages the use of biodiesel in the country, although it is not have been mandatory use [5]. Malaysian government are encouraging the use of palm oil biodiesel as they are obliging to Kyoto Protocol. The use of palm oil biodiesel have not been made mandatory due to the fact that at the present,the raw material price is very high . Kyoto Protocol is a protocol of the UNFCC , an international environmental organization. This organization is trying to achieve the stabilisation of the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent the degradation caused by human that would disturb the ecosystem and the climate system. In October 2008, Malaysia put into practice the mandate of five percent biodiesel will be used in vehicles starting with the government vehicles in the year 2009 and planning to implement extensively to industrial and transportation sector in the year 2010. By early 2010, Malaysia is expected to consume 500000 tonnes of palm oil which is 3 percent of national CPO production. This will happen when Malaysia fully implements the blended biodiesel programme where B5 diesel will be made available througout the country through 36 depots [5]. The use of blended biodiesel has started with government agencies and will be extended to industrial and transportation industry in the future. The Malaysian government is working with nations biggest petroleum company; Petronas to enable some retail station to supply B5 to the agencies. I February 2009, Malaysia started the biodiesel programme with Kuala Lumpur City Council and the Armed Forces in the country [5]. The biodiesel producers and the petroleum companies are currently discussing the important aspects and critical issues to the implementation such as logistics and finance. As of the year 2009, the main challenges facing the biodiesel industry in Malaysia are the exports of subsidised US biodiesel to EU that is distrubing the prices and trade, the EU energy directive and overall global economic slowdown. The global economic crisis have caused a sharp drop in the CPO prices, together with global financial crisis had led the develoment of the biodiesel industry to slow down or to be exact halt new investments. The Malaysian biodiesel industry has the production capacity of 1.67 million and feedstock available to satisfy the demand in the domestic and world market. Malaysia and Indonesia has expressed concern over a plan by the EU countries to impose taxes on US biodiesel which potentially might slowdown the outlook for alternative fuels made from vegetable oils and grains. Almost half of Europes biodiesel Apple: A Multinational Corporation Apple: A Multinational Corporation Introduction Apple Inc. it is a well known American multinational corporation that designs most of the famous consumer electronics and widely used softwares. It was established on 1st April, 1976 at that time the company was known as Apple computer, Inc. the word computer was dropped after 30 years of its establishment on 9th Jan, 2007.To mark its expansion in consumer electronic market. Apple nearly has 35,000 employees worldwide and its sales recording nearly US$42.90 billion by 26th September, 2009. It came in a magazine named Fortune that Apple had been most appreciated company in United States in 2008 and worldwide in 2009. Objectives Apples motto, â€Å"Think differently†, a concept which Apple has been following since it started by creating state of the art products that. Other computer manufacturers have tried hard for decades to copy the ideas but none had succeeded as Apple did. It has always manufactured and designed products which no one has even imagined of. They provided the first ever user-friendly laptops and computers. Apple introduced iMac and iBook for the basic computer users such as students etc and Power Book and G series for advanced computer users for graphic designers, business man etc . Ownership Of Business As it is public owned company so it sells its shares. Currently there are around 1,441 shareholders, with total shares held are 652,325,642 and the total value of their holdings is around $134,501,972,866. The top 5 holders are: TOP 5 HOLDERS Shares held FMR LLC 45,173,344 STATE STREET COMPNY 31,980,670 Vanguard Group 31,216,671 Barclays Global 26,449,599 PRICE T ROWE 24,545,605 Board Of Directors: Steven P. Jobs Chief Executive Officer, Director Timothy D. Cook Peter Oppenheimer Chief Operating Officer Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President Philip W. Schiller D. Bruce Sewell Senior Vice President Worldwide Product Marketing Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary Ronald B. Johnson Senior Vice President Retail Bertrand Serlet Senior Vice President Software Engineering Robert J. Mansfield Mark Papermaster Scott J. Forstall Senior Vice President Mac Hardware Engineering Senior Vice President Devices Hardware Engineering Senior Vice President iPhone Software Engineering and Platform Experience Stakeholders Consumers As there will be any kind of changes in Apple company itself consumers will be affected, as the price increases consumer wont be willing to buy apple products or if the price increases consumers will be buying to buy apple products Competitor The biggest example of competitors can be Microsoft, whatever Apple does directly or indirectly affect Microsoft or vice versa. For example if Apple releases any kind of new computer regarding business the result is some new firms might opt to adapt that new system or might go along with Microsoft, thus effecting each other by every means. Steve Jobs Apples CEO He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple. He was the only one who introduced the bright idea to Apple e.g. iPod, iPhone etc. The whole company is affected by his decisions, as his health was affected the companys share lost its value. Stakeholders had a fear that if Steve Job isnt there it will cause Apples downturn causing a great loss. Apples SWOT Analysis Strengths Sales of its notebooks are very strong which represents a large portion of Apples income Apple is considered as one of the most established IT brand in the world. It not only attracts new customers but existing customers also come back for latest products as well as to take advantage of the services they are offering. Weakness Apple is making an end with IBM who was among Apples main chip supplier and switching to Intel for supplying chip which is thought to make consumers confuse as most of consumers have tend to use IBM chips which existed before Intel. It has its own software platform which doesnt allows users to have any kind of flexibility or to run Microsoft softwares on Apple OS which discourages consumers to buy Apple OS based consumer electronic. Opportunities Can offer some software flexibility by open source operating system so it would attract more consumers and making it more user-friendly thus increasing sales. Apple can step ahead by horizontal integration with some other major IT Company like Microsoft to expand its business to a completely new level. Offer Apple OSX to non Apple hardware which can turnout out to be a great advantage as more people will tend to use Apples OS as it is a completely different experience. Threats The biggest threat to Apple is its competitor Microsoft around 90% of the world-wide computers have Microsoft OS installed on them. This in long run can be very dangerous for Apples business. Global recession can likely reduce the sale of high priced consumer electronic; since apple is offering no cheap alternatives the consumer itself tend to switch to other manufactures for cheap prices. Market Research The most shocking thing about Apple Inc is that it never does any kind market research; they never hired any kind of consultants. They hired once in a decade which they considered later as there mistake. Apple itself figures out what people want and then work on it at the end the whole world is just amazed by that work and wants to include it in daily lifestyle. Marketing The marketing concept which Apple Inc uses and has been successful in long run can be divided into 3 categories customer oriented, organization objectives and coordinated market activities. The customer attraction is done by advertising through different media which is appealing to customers, moreover they provide good delivery services all this steps taken is to reach customer orientation concept. For organization objectives concept they set a target for its employees to reach, with that to even move closer to their ultimate goal they improve their quality of product. Apple does marketing management by acknowledging customers needs and wants. Market Mix Product Apple basically sells laptops, iPods, mobiles etc here we are going g to concentrate on their laptops. Apple has different kinds of laptops for different uses. They are quite light, slimmer and highly advanced which can make anyone stand alone in a crowd. It is mostly preferred due to its uniqueness and brand name. In their product range Mac book, Mac book pro which comes in different sizes 13†, 15† and 17† depending on users usage. As student s will prefer small n compact were as a graphic designer will prefer large screen display. Price The prices differs according to how basic or powerful laptop you are purchasing as for students small and compact can be bought cheaper ranging from $999-$1699, where as for high end user is around $2499 above depending on specification Place Apple has very good delivery service so you just buy it online from anywhere in the world the laptop will be delivered right at your door step which encourages most of the people to buy laptop with quality services. Else all famous electronic retailers sell Apple laptops around the world. Promotions Apple promotions are the best deals that can be found anywhere. Apple provides special student concessions and even low interest rate installment so that it is reliable from every aspect. Sometimes free deliveries offers are also available. External Factors That Can Impact The Business Activities: Economic: The economic factor plays an important role in the normal functioning of the business. The fluctuations in the economy directly affect the budget and Apple being a public business entity may face challenges to cope with the fluctuations. Social: Society also plays a major in the flow of the business activities. The customs and trends of a society do affect the way the business is functioning although these customs might be favorable to the businesses. Technological: Apple being major IT Company, has to provide the best services so it has to constantly upgrade its infrastructure and has to bring changes in its technologies.