Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Observation of Mitosis

Observation of Mitosis Introduction: Reproduction is the biological process by which new individual organisms are produced. There are two types of reproduction, which are; asexual and sexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction is creation of offspring whose genes all come from one parent. Sexual reproduction is creation of offspring by fusion of male gametes (sperm) and female gametes (eggs) to form zygotes. Asexual reproduction involves a type of cell division known as mitosis. Mitosis is the scientific term for nuclear cell division, where the  nucleus  of the cell divides, resulting in two sets of identical  chromosomes.Mitosis is accompanied by  cytokinesis  in which the end result is two completely separate cells called daughter cells. There are four phases of mitosis: prophase,  metaphase, anaphase and telophase. The active sites of cell division in plants are known as meristems and they are convenient source of mitotic cells for observation under the light microscop e. In this experiment two different methods had been used. One of the methods that have been used was; Feulgen Reaction, root tips have been fixed and stained using this reaction.This histochemical method is specific for DNA which is stained deep red-purple. Aim: Investigate the stages of mitosis under light microscope. Method 1: Preparation of Root Squash and Observation of Mitosis in Garlic Root Meristems Firstly, one root tip was taken from a container by using a pipette. This root tip was putted on a slide and a drop of 80% glycerol was added, than a coverslip applied. After coverslip was applied, slide was covered with a sheet of blotting paper and squashed gently.Lastly this sample was observed under light microscope both with low power and high power objective. Method 2: Observation of Mitosis in Allium SP. Root Meristems Slides of Allium sp. Root tip squashes was prepared and provided. These ready slides were observed under light microscope both low and high power objectives and stages of mitosis were drawn. Disscusion: Meiosis has many similarities to mitosis. However, there are major differences that it is essential to note. The table below shows the comparison of the stages of mitosis and meiosis. Stages| Meiosis| Mitosis|Interphase| – begins with a diploid cell| – begins with a diploid cell| Prophase| – four chromosomes combine to form two tetrads   – the chromosomes in the tetrad cross over each other, allowing them to exchange genetic material| -four chromatids combine to form two chromosomes linked by a centromere| Metaphase| – the two tetrads line up in the centre| – the two chromosomes line up in the centre| Anaphase| – the two tetrads split up into four chromosomes which go to both poles| – the two chromosomes split up into four chromatids which move to both of the poles| Telophase| – the two sets of chromosomes become enclosed by the nuclear envelope| – the two sets of c hromatids are enclosed by the nuclear envelope| Cytokinesis| – two cells are formed with two sets of chromosomes in each one| – Two cells are created with two chromatids in each one. – Mitosis is now complete. | Prophase II| – DNA replication is skipped and the two cell's nuclear envelope are dissolved and the spindle reformed   – the four chromatids in each cell are connected together to form two chromosomes| | Metaphase II| – the two chromosomes line up in the centre| | Anaphase II| – the two chromosomes are split up into their daughter chromatids and moved towards opposites poles| | Telophase II| –The nuclear envelope is reformed around the two poles on each cell. | Cytokenesis| – the cells are split up again and four haploid cells remain as a result   – meiosis is now complete| | The second table below shows the general difference between mitosis and meiosis. Mitosis| Meiosis| Produces body cells(Somatic c ells) cells for growth and repair| Produces sex cells(Gametes) cells for sexual reproduction| One nuclear division, separating chromatids| Two nuclear divisions, first separating homologous chromosomes and second separating chromatids| Two daughter cells produced| Four daughter cells produced| Chromosome number remains same| Chromosome number halved| No association between homologous chromosomes| Homologous chromosomes associate and form bivalents| No crossing over ccurs| Crossing over many occur at chiasmata| Chromosomes only form single row at equator at metaphase| At metaphase 1, chromosomes form double row at equator| Daughter cells genetically identical with each other and parent cell| Daughter cells differ genetically from each other and parent cell| Daughter cells have two sets of chromosomes(pairs)| Daughter cells have only one member of each pair of chromosomes| In metaphase chromosomes line up singly| In metaphase I chromosomes line up as homologous pairs (synapsis). The t wo double chromosomes are called a tetrad when they are lined| Comparison of the biological significance of mitosis and meiosis: * The Significance of MitosisThe significance of mitosis is its ability to produce daughter cells which are exactly the same as the parent cell. It is important for three reasons†¦   1. Growth If a tissue wants to get bigger by growth needs new cells that are identical to the existing ones. Cells division must therefore be by mitosis. 2. Repair Damaged cells have to be replaced by exact copies of the organism so that it repairs the tissues to their former condition. Mitosis is the means by which this is achieved. 3. Asexual reproduction If a species is good at colonizing a habitat, there might be no point, in producing offspring which are different from the parents, because they might be less effective at survival.Therefore it might be  better, in the short term,  to make a colony which is similar to the parents. In simple animals and most plant s this is achieved by mitotic division. * Significance of Meiosis The long term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to a changing environment. To do this the offspring need to be different from their parents and each other. These are three ways in which variety occurs because of meiosis. 1. Production and fusion of haploid gametes: The variety of offspring is increased by mixing the genotype of one parent with that of the other. It involves the production of special sex cells, called gametes, which fuse together to produce a new organism.Each gamete contains half the number of chromosomes of the adult. It is important that meiosis, which halves the number of chromosomes in daughter cells, happens at some stage in the life cycle of a sexually reproducing organism. Therefore Meiosis is important in order for variety in organisms, and allowing them to evolve. 2. The creation of genetic variety by the random distribution of chromosomes during metaphase 1. When the pair s of homologous chromosomes arrange themselves on the equator of the spindle during metaphase 1 of meiosis, they do it randomly. Even though each one of the pair determines the same general features, they’re detail of the feature is different.The randomness of this distribution and independent assortment of these chromosomes produces new genetic combinations. 3. The creation of genetic variety by crossing over between homologous chromosomes. During prophase 1 of meiosis, equal portions of homologous chromosomes may be swapped. In this way new genetic combinations are made and linked genes separated. The variety which meiosis brings vital for to the process of evolution. By providing a varied stock of individuals it allows the natural selection of those best suited to the existing conditions and makes sure that species constantly change and adapt when these conditions change. This is the main biological significance of meiosis. Gizem KARAGOZLU 19026857.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Focus groups

â€Å"MARKETING RESEARCH †IntroductionBefore traveling farther we must understand definition of Marketing. American Marketing Association defines selling as â€Å"the systematic assemblage, entering and analyzing of informations about jobs associating to the selling of goods and services† . There are many research techniques that can be used for marketing intent, among that we are traveling to discourse about Focus groupFocus GroupA focal point group is a particular type of group in footings of intent, size, composing and process. A intent of focal point group is to listen and garner information. It is a manner to better understand how people think or feel about an issue, merchandises and services. Participants are selected because they have certain focal point group provide qualitative informations features that relate to the subject of focal point group. A focal point group survey is carefully planned series of treatment designed to obtain a perceptual experience on a defined country of involvement in a permissive, nonthreatening environment. Each group is created by six or eight people by skilled interviewer. The treatment are relaxed and frequently participant enjoy sharing their thoughts and perceptual experience. Group member influences each other by reacting to thoughts and remarks of others.A. FeaturesFollowing are the chief features of Focus groups.1. Focus groups involves peoples: –Focus group typically composed of five to ten peoples, but the size can run from every bit few as four to every bit many as 12. The group must be little plenty for everyone to hold an chance to portion penetrations and yet big plenty to diverseness of perceptual experience. When the group exceeds a twelve participants there is a inclination for the group to break up. Participants want to speak but unable to speak because there is merely non a sufficient intermission in the conversation. In this state of affairs participants portion by whispering to the people next to them. This is signal that group is large. Small group of four or five participants afford more chance.2. Peoples possess the certain featuresFocus groups are composed of participants who are similar to each other in a manner that is of import to researcher. The nature of this homogeneousness is determine by the intent of survey. This similarity is footing for enlisting and participants are typically informed of this common factor at the beginning of treatment. This homogeneousness can be loosely or narrowly defined, for illustration suppose an grownup community instruction wanted to cognize more about how to make people who have n't participated in their plan. In this instance homogeneousness could be loosely define as grownups who live in the community who have non yet attend community instruction session. Group member can be vary by age, gender, business, and involvement, but member have the commonalty of being grownups, community members and non members.3. Focus groups provide a qualitative information: –The end of focal point group is to roll up informations that are involvement to the research worker typically to happen the scope of options of people across several groups. This research compares and contrasted informations collected from at least three focal point groups. This differs from other group interactions in which the end is to come to some decision at the terminal of a treatment – range consensus, supply recommendations or do determinations among options. The focal point groups present a natural environment than that of an person because participants are act uponing and influenced by others merely as they are i n life. The research worker serves several maps in the focal point group, moderator, hearer, observer and finally analyst utilizing an inductive procedure.4. Focus groups have a focussed treatment: –The inquiries in focal point group are carefully predetermined. The inquiries are phrased and sequence so they are easy to understand and logical to the participants. Most are unfastened ended inquiries. These inquiries appear self-generated but are develop through considerable contemplation and input. The set of inquiries called oppugning path or interview usher is so arranged in natural and logical sequence. Question near the beginning of the groups are more general. As the groups continues the inquiries becomes more specific and more focussed. The beginning inquiries help acquire people speaking and believing about the subject. Questions near the terminal of group typically yield the most utile information. There is no force per unit area by moderator to hold the group reach co nsensus. Alternatively attending is placed on understanding the feeling, the remark, and through procedure of participants as they discussed the issues.B. Uses of Focus groupFollowing are the utilizations of focal point groups research techniques. 1. Helps in determination devising 2. Helps for merchandise development 3. This information can be used for research intent 4. They are of import for treatment intent.When to utilize focal point group1. To prove new construct 2. To measure advertising/ copy 3. To measure publicity 4. To developed questionnaire 5. To bring forth thoughts or support brainstorming 6. To place product/services 7. To measure merchandise serviceabilityC. Advantages: –1. Malleability 2. Provides observation of existent consumer in an synergistic scene. 3. Involves fewer participants compared to quantitative methods. 4. Can be arranged on short notice and at a lower cost. 5. Statistical analysis is unneeded.D. Disadvantages: –1. Focus group consequences are non quantitative 2. Sample size is little ; consequence are non projectable 3. Participants do non stand for the mark market 4. Subject are way of the treatment are moderator dependant 5. Careful reading of the information is important.E. How to carry on focal point groupA short overview of the literature provides some suggestion for carry oning focal point groups. The figure of groups you should carry on depends on your research inquiry and on the figure of different population subgroups required ( morgan1988, p.42 ) .it is by and large suggested that it is more appropriate to work with unusual alternatively of groups of friends or people who know each other really good, because the degree of ( 1988, p.48 ) .it is besides suggested that you should get down with the group every bit heterogenous as possible and so run a 2nd set if groups that are more homogenous ( 1988, p.73 ) .in each instance it is necessary to get down the group with some sort of warming up.These two gap of focal point groups are really typical and helpful:Before we begin our treatment, it will be helpful for us to acquire acquainted with one another. Let ‘s get down with some introductory remarks about ourselves. Ten, why do n't you get down and we ‘ll travel around the tabular array and give our names and small about what we do for life? Today we ‘re traveling to discourse an issue that affects you. Before we get into treatment, allow me do few petition of you. First, you should cognize that we are tape entering the session so that I can mention back to treatment when I write my study. If anyone is uncomfortable with being recorded please say so and, of class you are free to go forth. Make talk up and Lashkar-e-Taibas try to hold merely one individual speak at a clip. I will pay traffic bull and seek to guarantee that everyone gets turn. Finally, delight state precisely what you think, do n't worry about what I think what our neighbour thinks. We are here to interchange sentiment and have fun while we do it. Why do n't we get down by presenting ourselves?Postal QuestionnaireQuestionnaire is a list of written inquiries, there are two types of questionnaire, foremost were respondent could inquire to finish the inquiry with research worker non present these types of questionnaire is called as postal questionnaire. And secondly respondent could inquire to finish inquiry with research nowadays is called as structured interview ( Sociological Research Skills ) .Questionnaires are restricted two types:Near ended: in this type research worker provides a list of suited response ( Sociological Research Skills ) . Open ended: in this type research worker non supply any suited list of response to the response dent.respondent asked to compose the reply in their ain manner ( Sociological Research Skills ) . For my undertaking I am utilizing postal questionnaire because I am a pupil and I am non able to travel each and every topographic points of Singapore. One of the most dependable methods of research is postal questionnaire because it ‘s really easy for research worker to standardise and analyse the inquiries. Each respondent answered precisely same inquiry. And I am utilizing stopping point ended inquirer in this.AppendixQuestionnaireQ.1a. Among all new theoretical accounts of auto which theoretical account you purchased?Answer: – — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  œQ.1b. When?Answer Day: – _____ , Month: – _______ , Year: – ________Q.2 What primary factors will you see foremost while buying a auto?Answer ( A ) Average ( B ) Speed ( C ) Maintenance ( D ) ComfortQ.3 By what beginning you come to cognize about this auto?Answer ( A ) Internet ( B ) Television( C ) Magazine ( D ) Motor Show Exhibition ( E ) OtherIf other please advert your beginning below: – †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Q.4 How much clip will you pass for determination of buying a new auto?Answer ( A ) Less than two hebdomads ( B ) 2 hebdomads to 4 hebdomads ( C ) 4 hebdomads to 6 hebdomads ( D ) More than 6 hebdomadsQ.5 Time taken by trader from puting order to bringing of order?Answer ( A ) Less than 3 hebdomads ( B ) Three hebdomads to one month ( C ) One month to three months ( D ) More than three monthsQ.6 Among all this companies which companies auto will you prefer?Answer ( A ) Audi ( B ) Lancer ( C ) Mercedes ( D ) SonataQ.7 Excluding any sedimentation how was your vehicle chiefly paid for?Answer ( A ) Loan ( B ) Cash ( C ) Leasing ( D ) OtherQ.8 After subscribing a contract how many yearss did it takes for your vehicle to be delivered?Answer ______________ DaysQ.9 Please place the chief alternate vehicle that you considered?Answer†¦ à ¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ .Q.10 How would you rate your overall buying experience at the franchise?Answer ( A ) Poor ( B ) Met outlook ( C ) Satisfactory ( D ) ExcellentQ.11 Did you receive any benefits for taking an alternate specification to ypur preferable pick?Answer ( A ) No ( B ) Yes If yes please reference below †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ . †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ .Q.12 How did you corroborate your concluding order with trader?Answer ( A ) Phone ( B ) Fax ( C ) Personally ( D ) OtherQ.13 Is this auto is satisfactory to your demands?Answer ( A ) Yes ( B ) No Reason: – †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ .. †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦Q. 14 Do you believe buying auto is really hard process?Answer ( A ) Yes ( B ) NoQ. 15 How satisfied are you with the clip taken to finish the full sale procedure at your franchise?Answer ( A ) Poor ( B ) Average ( C ) Satisfactory ( D ) OutstandingDecision: –†¢ This study inside informations the consequences of a study of new auto purchasers which aimed to understand their purchasing demands and behavior in relation to build-to-order and short bringing lead times. It was portion of a research programme that examined the nature of demand for a Car †¢ Brochures, trader gross revenues staff, auto magazines and friends/relatives were the most common beginnings of new auto information beginnings used. The cyberspace was used by merely under one fifth, and peculiar by those aged 25 to 35 old ages. †¢ Colour or pigment type was the most popular type of specification alteration, and 46 % of those who compromised said they received some signifier of benefit from the trader for making so – preponderantly a price reduction on their new autos, followed by specification ascent. There big differences across the trade names in the benefits offered. †¢ The most common twenty-four hours for doing an order was Saturday, and the most common twenty-four hours for roll uping the new auto was Friday. Most orders and aggregations were made in the afternoon, though about 20 % said they collected their autos in the eventide †¢ On norm, new auto purchasers contacted or visited their trader three times when buying their auto †¢ Key themes that emerged from the consequences included the differences in attitudes and behavior of younger auto purchasers, and differences between volume and specialist purchasers. †¢ Younger auto purchasers are much more impatient than older purchasers and more predisposed to altering their behavior to guarantee they are ‘instantly gratified ‘ . †¢ Specialist purchasers are prepared to wait longer for their autos, with the suggestion that they make a clear nexus between quality and clip – that is, a premium auto by its nature will take longer to do and present. While technically there should be small difference in fabrication and bringing clip for both volume and specializer autos, it can be argued that the current selling and gross revenues system feats and reinforces this out-of-date belief. †¢ Overall, the research suggests that order to bringing clip affairs to new auto purchasers, that consumers expectation are high in footings of a short lead clip.MentionFocus Group As Qualitative Research David L. Morgan Focus Groups Theory and Practice David W. Stewart, Denis W. Rook The Focus Group Research Handbook Holly Edmunds

Monday, July 29, 2019

Graphing Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Graphing - Speech or Presentation Example Original equation is equal to y=3/2 x+ c and the gradient is 3/2. The product of gradient of perpendicular and original line is -1. Therefore, 3/2 (m2) =-1. M2 becomes -2/3. The equation of perpendicular is therefore y=-2/3 x+ c. One line is parallel to another if the lines can never meet when extended in both directions. Parallel lines have the same gradient or slope hence they never meet each other. Parallel lines are easily determined by comparing gradients or slopes of each given lines in their equations. The equations are normally in the form of y=mx+c, whereby y represents the values of y-axis in the line and x represents the values of x-axis. M represents the gradient or the slope of the line while c represents the y-intercept. Y-intercept is a point where the line cuts the y-axis. X-intercept is a point where the line cuts the x-axis. Lines are said to be perpendicular to each other if the product of their gradients is equal to -1. This means that perpendicular lines meet at a right angle, that is, the angle between perpendicular lines is 90Â °. The ordered pair or the coordinate of their meeting point is equal. Given the equation of a line, one can determine the gradient of the perpendicular line by finding the negative reciprocal of the gradient of the original line. Coordinate (0, 0) is referred to as the origin. It is the meeting point of y-axis and x-axis. Coordinates or ordered pair must be enclosed in a

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Link Between Biology and Criminology Research Paper

Link Between Biology and Criminology - Research Paper Example This does not imply that criminologist should not rely on biology as a tool for explaining criminal behavior. Biology is a science that explains human physiology and therefore, it has a chance in human behavior, which incorporates criminology. Nature vs. Nature Most biological theories of criminology rely on hereditary factors as the main source of criminal behavior. Such theories associate social changes and human behavior on genes, which define the relationship between parents and their children. According to Earnest, there is a clear difference between evolution and genetics (2007). Genetics deals with hereditary traits that characterize an individual while evolution focus on the wider scope of changes taking place in the society due to interaction with the societal environment. On the other hand, criminologists focus on criminal behavior or factors that make people to have criminal minds. Evolution and genetic theories are critical elements that link biology and criminology. Acco rding to evolution theories, criminal behavior can be viewed as a form of adaptation. On the other hand, genetic theories associate the presence of an extra Y chromosome among male with crime and criminal activities. Biologists also rely on the formation of the skull to explain criminal behavior among people. The mental state of an individual is also another factor that biologist use to explain criminal behavior. ... Most serial killers have been found to be quiet and introverted types of individuals. Mental abnormality or insanity that is responsible for criminal behavior cannot be detected through ordinary sanity tests such as the Durham and Brawner rules. There is concrete evidence that genes, which are encoded or defined by the DNA, determine certain traits such as skin color. Biologists have extended hereditary factors to include other abstract human traits such as aggression, sexual orientation, and personality. Nature vs. nature debate considers the existence of behavior genes, which influences people’s behaviors including criminality. Nature vs. nature debate is been ruled out as a source of criminal behavior for fear that people will use the theories to justify their criminality. The other controversial phenomenon related to the nature vs. nature debate is the dilemma of fraternal twins. According to the nature vs. nature debate, fraternal twins would have similar characteristics if environment does not play a role in shaping their behavior (Walsh, 2002). Thus, any pair of fraternal twins should have striking similarities in their behavior including their level of criminality. The hypothesis also suggests that twins would have similar behaviors despite having been brought up in different environmental and social conditions. However, this does not necessarily hold true since twins develop individual or personal behavior despite having closely related genetic factors. The fraternal twin phenomenon disqualifies the overall assumption of genes as the main factor that influences criminal behavior. This phenomenon forms the fundamental aspect of the nature vs. nature theory, which considers the environment as the main aspect that influences criminal behavior. According to

Saturday, July 27, 2019

CORPORATE RESEARCH PAPER about US airways Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

CORPORATE about US airways - Research Paper Example The company’s maximum frequency is between New York, Boston and Washington D.C., where it provides hourly services. In order to diversify their operations internationally, the US Airlines decided to merge with American Airlines in February 2013. From the research it was found that if the merger is successful then it has the potential to create the largest airline in the world in terms of global market access. The deal is expected to close by the end of third quarter this year. The key shareholding pattern of the merger is that US Airways would hold 28% stake of merged company where as the American Airlines will hold the remaining 72%. It was also decided between the shareholders’ of both the companies that the merged entity would carry the name and brand of American Airlines and the holding company will be named American Airlines Group Inc. The airline company has reported operating income over USD 425 million for the year ending 2011, with net income over USD 71 millio n. The total asset of the company was found to be USD 8.34 billion for the year ending 2011. The subsidiaries of US Airways are Piedmont Airlines, Inc., Shuttle inc., PSA Airlines, Inc., US Airways Express, Material Service Company, Inc., Airways Assurance Limited, LLC, Mesa Air Group, and Potomac Air, Inc. The following table highlights the breakdown of sales assets and income of US Airways and their involvement in international trades: B. Foreign Exchange (FX) Risk Management Policy The company is centrally managed and the management actively participates in corporate governance. The company also has many subsidiaries that are located in the domestic market as well as the international markets. The subsidiaries of US Airways are Piedmont Airlines, Inc., Shuttle inc., PSA Airlines, Inc., US Airways Express, Material Service Company, Inc., Airways Assurance Limited, LLC, Mesa Air Group, and Potomac Air, Inc. In order to maintain accountability between various divisions, the Board of Directors is represented by the chairman of the company who is the most important individual regarding execution of strategic decisions taken by the Board. The chairman of the company is assisted by vice chairman and many professionals belong to different areas of expertise such as the Finance committee, labor committee, and so on. The parent company of US Airways is the US Airways Group which is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, United States. The company operates in Aviation sector which requires fuel consumption. The underlying of fuel is the crude oil prices that are very volatile and uncertain. This exposes the company to transactional risk. Also, the company has prominent exposure in international markets which implies that US Airways operates in different currencies. Any appreciation or depreciation of home currency with respect to foreign currency may turn out to be favorable or unfavorable, ultimately exposing the company to translational risk when the company would prepare its consolidated financial statements from collecting data from different subsidiaries (Triantis, pp.558-562). In order to manage these risks the company used currency hedge and forward contracts prior to the year 2008 and reported them in their consolidated financial reports using hedge accounting at fair value of hedged assets and liabilities. C. Use of Derivatives for Funding, Investing and Other price Risk After the third quarter of 2008, US

Mullins' Doctrine of Sin Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 1

Mullins' Doctrine of Sin - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that Edgar Young Mullins (1860-1928) has been described as one of the most important theologians and "statesmen" in Southern Baptist life., Although important Baptist leaders such as B. H. Carroll, Lee Scarborough, and George W. Truett were contemporaries of Mullins, R. Albert Mohler claimed that Mullins’s influence as a denominational leader and theologian was more widespread. He served as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in addition to his teaching systematic theology for almost thirty years. Fisher Humphreys identified three theological issues that Mullins faced during his career: the tradition of staunch Calvinism held by Mullins's predecessors at Southern Seminary, the Landmark Baptist interpretation of Baptist history, and the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy. Mullins wrote numerous articles and books on a variety of subjects. In his first work, The Axioms of Religion, Mullins alluded to the doctrine o f original sin in his discussion concerning the inappropriateness of infant baptism. However, his argument against infant baptism did not consist of a denial of original sin or even an interpretation of it. He insisted that baptism required conscious obedience to Christ and denied the principle of vicarious faith. The only works in which Mullins stated his position on original sin were Baptist Beliefs and The Christian Religion in Its Doctrinal Expression. Because of the brevity of Baptist Beliefs, Mullins's description of the "fall of man" was only an outline of his position, In The Christian Religion in Its Doctrinal Expression, Mullins did not provide a systematic presentation of the doctrine of original sin. However, he discussed the important details of the doctrine of original sin in his discussion of providence, in the chapter on the doctrine of sin, and more thoroughly in his description of Paul's doctrine of sin, Components of Mullins's doctrine of original sin are distribu ted throughout this work. This paper will analyze how well Mullins substantiated his doctrine of original sin. Analysis of Mullins's Doctrine of Original Sin In order to analyze Mullins’s doctrine of original sin, this paper will provide a summary of Mullin’s overall argument. The summary will be followed by a critique of the premises upon which the overall argument is built. Summary of Mullins’s Argument Although Mullins did not explicitly define his doctrine of original sin, the components of the doctrine are found within his systematic theology in various places. However, the central claim of his argument is apparent. He contended that although persons inherit a tendency to sin from Adam, condemnation is incurred only through personal acts of rebellion against God. The overall flow of his argument is as follows: All persons are biologically connected to Adam. Thus, a tendency toward sinful behavior is transmitted through the hereditary connection. However, persons are not condemned because of their tendency toward sinful behavior because the death of Christ removed the condemnation accompanying the tendency to sin. Therefore, persons are condemned only on the basis of their personal rebellion against God. Three claims are central to Mullins's overall argument, his assertion that the tendency to sin is transmitted from Adam to his progeny, that persons can be condemned for their tendency to sin, and that Christ's death removed the condemnation resulting from this tendency. This paper will analyze how effectively Mullins substantiated these claims. The Source of the Tendency toward Sinful Behavior Mullins described Adam before the fall as free, moral, and inclined toward righteousness. However, after the fall, humanity is described as depraved, sinful, and inclined toward sin. The fact that Mullins asserted that a hereditary connection exists between Adam and his progeny and that this connection results in a transmission of sinful tendencies, necessitates an explanation of how

Friday, July 26, 2019

Aging in place Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Aging in place - Assignment Example Most of these adults prefer living alone in their residential homes. Therefore, they lack support especially when walking down the stairs, in the shower or even while crossing the road. This has had major implications in housing and neighborhood designs all over the United States and particularly in Canada. It is rather evident that an aging population also requires a change in the housing predilections and necessities. Most seniors require house modifications with grasp bars, nonskid floors, walk-in bathtubs, more lighting and no staircases (Thomas, 2008). In cases where the house has stairs, they would prefer the installation of extra rails or even opt for home elevators instead of the stairways. In Canada, most of the elderly population is based in the urban centers due to better access to sustenance services (Black, 2008). Furthermore, public transportation is also a major issue for the elderly both in the rural and urban areas in Canada. Most elderly people use public transport whose access is scanty in rural areas (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2008). This restricts them from accessing support services and partaking in the community life. Moreover, neighborhoods for the seniors should be separated from busy working people. Health and social services such as police protection should have stronger emphasis in neighborhoods having elderly individuals (Hegland, 2009). This will allow them to live their everyday life without worrying about any form of injury. This promotes a senior-friendly atmosphere. Therefore, the community should come up with strategies to incorporate the senior population by developing houses that are conducive for the elderly, improving the provision of community services and converting unused land into recreational facilities which bring them together (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2008). Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (2008). Impacts of the aging of the Canadian Population on Housing and

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Kodak and Fujifilm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Kodak and Fujifilm - Essay Example In this project a comparative study has been made between these two companies regarding their history, business approaches and management as well as marketing strategies. History and core business Kodak In the year 1888, George Eastman is the first person to put a simple camera on the hands of the consumers. Their innovative slogan was- â€Å"you press the button, we do the rest†. The complicated process of capturing a picture was made easy. From that time Eastman Kodak company engaged itself in making the way of photography easier. Now Kodak is not only known for photography but also for commercial entertainment and scientific application. The ways of communication and business have been changed as it increased involvement of different technology to combine images and information. Eastman had a dream to make photography â€Å"as convenient as the pencil†. Kodak not only fulfilled the dreams of photographers it but also ranked as a premier multinational corporation with highly known brand recognition. With different innovation and incorporation made by Kodak, the concept of photography emerged as a mode of enjoyment to the common people (Kodak, 2013). Fuji Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd was established in the year 1934. The Japan government felt the need to establish a domestic photographic film manufacturing industry. It was inherited from the film operations of Dianippon Celluloid Company Limited. The company started producing photographic film, photographic print paper, dry plates and other photosensitive materials. From the year 1965 the name changed to Fuji color Service Co. Ltd. Next the company started to expand all over the world. It started acquiring the European market as well as the U.S.A. market. Different companies were acquired from different sectors for the diversification process. In every year it can be witnessed that the company is acquiring different types of business. Lastly in the year 2013 it has been found that it established FUJIF LIM COLOMBIA S.A.S. as a subsidiary in Colombia and FUJIFILM LATIN America (PANAMA) S.A. as a subsidiary in Panama (FUJIFILM, 2013). Management Approach Innovation and Relative success Kodak In a continuous process Kodak scientists and engineers are worthy of getting awards for their various contributions in the scientific and technical fields. In case of technology image science, computational imaging, audio signal processing, video analysis & motion processing and mobile communications create several new challenges for imagining technology. In case of material science it is all about Polymer Science, Chemistry Modeling, and Atomic scale Assembly and for micro devices it is about optical Electronic Materials, Micro fluidics and MEMS &MOEMS. In 1912 it first established a research lab which is used for industrial research. By the classical Musicians in the year 1930 Kodachrome film was invented. The first electronic scanner for graphic art was developed in the Kodak labs in the year 1937. Photo resist was invented by the scientist from Kodak. In the mission of Apollo 11in the year 1969, the electronic camera was built by Kodak to sent still pictures from the moon. The first digital camera was invented by Steve Sasson in the year 1975. The earliest practical megapixel CCD figure sensor

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

The effect of immigration on US economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The effect of immigration on US economy - Essay Example This decrease was a result of reduced job opportunities and increased law enforcement. (Giovanni 24) Despite this reduction, researchers found that the reproduction could have contributed the reduction of immigrants. A good number of immigrants have children, who are recognized legally as US citizens, others intermarried gaining their citizenship by marriage. Although it is hard to estimate the actual number of immigrants living in the US, researchers estimated that a third of the total population living in the US is illegal. Recent reports released by the center for immigration studies showed that in the year 2012, 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States temporally using non-immigrants visas. This figure translates to a 50% total population by the year 2000. Significant number of these illegal immigrants was from Mexico. For over a decade, there has been rapid distribution of immigrants in the United States. Georgia reported the immigrant population growth rate of 152% between year 2000 and 2007. California grew by 10.2%, registering the largest number of immigrants in the United States. Consequently, California can comfortably offset its fiscal cost. Although this immigration may be caused by historical and geographical factors, economic growth is achieved. For instance, if a state is experiencing rapid growth in terms of economic conditions, it might end up encouraging immigrants and affect income, output and employment. Analysis by various physiologists says that, reasonable arguments are being raised to protect all American-born workers from competition from immigrants. The United States government is enforcing strict laws to prioritize recognition of American born citizen (Nwosu, Batalova and Auclair 56). Immigrants are allowed to keep transportation, natural resources, construction and maintenance occupation and material moving occupations. On the other hand, the

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Business Plan - Essay Example ............................................page 4-5 5). BUSINESS AIMS..............................................................................................page 5 6). BUSINESS OBJECTIVES..............................................................................page 5-6 7). BUSINESS PRODUCTS AND SERVICE.......................................................page 6-7 8). MARKETING MIX............................................................................................page 7 9). BARRIERS TO ENTRY....................................................................................page 7-8 10). DEFINITION OF TARGET MARKET.........................................................page 8-9 11). BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT..........................................................................page 9-10 12). COMPETITOR ANALYSIS.............................................................................page 10-11 13). MARKETING PLAN.................................................... ....................................page 11-12 14). OPERATIONAL PLAN....................................................................................page 12-14 15). FINANCIAL PLANNING AND FORECASTS..............................................page 14-15 16). RISK MANAGEMENT.....................................................................................pag 15 17). HUMAN RESOURCE ISSUES........................................................................page 15-16 18). ... INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦page 20 22). CONCLUSION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...page 20-21 1). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This business plan is designed to secure funding for my idea, which is basically a restaurant and cookery school in Leicester city and/or surrounding villages in the United Kingdom. It covers the following topics: the business idea, business vision, a mission statement, aims, objectives, the product or service, marketing mix, barriers to entry, a definition of target market, the business environment, competitor analysis, marketing plan, operational plan, financial planning and forecasts, risk management, human resource issues, design strategy, time management, potential five year development plan and intellectual property management. I am seeking money from pot ential investors, business advisors, and bank managers who will see this business plan. Therefore, in this business plan, the following key questions are addressed: 1). How much investment do I require?; 2). What percentage equity am I offering in return for the investment?; 3). How will the investors obtain a return on their investment?; 4). What is the potential financial exit strategy for the investors? The business plan provides the answer to all these relevant topics and questions. 2). THE BUSINESS IDEA The business idea of Extensively British restaurant and cookery school comes from its owner’s dream. It will be a 100 seat restaurant with a 20 seat lounge, and 2 rooms for instruction with a capacity for 30 students yearly. Its specialization is British cuisine with an Italian touch. The students will take classes from the cookery school, so the restaurant and cooking courses will be in the same place. It

Monday, July 22, 2019

Essential elements Essay Example for Free

Essential elements Essay Failure in business ethics is a real threat to the future of every corporation. Business ethics as an issue is a hundred times more powerful than the internet or globalization and can destroy your business in a week. To make matters worse, standards of business ethics are changing rapidly in response to random events which capture public imagination. In business ethics, what was good is becoming bad and what was considered bad is now good. Standards for business ethics that have worked for decades are looking old fashioned or immoral while other practices that raised questions are becoming totally acceptable. So what is going to happen next in business ethics? How can corporations use business ethics to restore confidence and protect themselves against tomorrow’s headlines? What will be the new â€Å"Gold Standard† for business ethics and corporate governance? How much further than legal minimum requirements for business ethics should corporations go to ensure sustainable success? When business ethics goes wrong who gets blamed? Impact of media allegations of dishonesty, fraud or corruption of senior executives or directors – and how to protect business ethics reputation . Why goalposts for business ethics will go on changing, and how to get ready? are all the questions to be pondered upon . Methodology of Inquiry should be able to reflect upon all above mentioned issues. Ethical decision making is about deciding between two rights. Leadership requires doing the right thing for the people of the organization, the organization itself and those the organization supports. But, what is the right thing? When faced with the difficult decision of choosing between two rights, some people seek the easy way out; avoidance, delay, or compromise. Ethical decision making is required when you face a decision about whether to do something that the organization, the profession or society considers right but which conflicts with your strongly held values and principles. What should you do, go with the flow and obey the wishes and pressures of the organization, the profession or society? Or should you act in accordance with your own values, principles and moral or ethical beliefs at the risk of your job, your career and your social standing? Ethical decision making is required to resolve ethical dilemmas or moral ambiguity between your own values and principles for living. Doing our part to create a more just and loving world for all mandates a strong commitment on the part of Ethical Societies and their members to their surrounding communities are something that is actually needed . Applied ethics in effective inquiry system consists of the analysis of specific, controversial moral issues such as abortion, animal rights, or euthanasia. In recent years applied ethical issues have been subdivided into convenient groups such as medical ethics, business ethics, environmental ethics, and sexual ethics. Generally speaking, two features are necessary for an issue to be considered an applied ethical issue. First, the issue needs to be controversial in the sense that there are significant groups of people both for and against the issue at hand. The issue of drive-by shooting, for example, is not an applied ethical issue, since everyone agrees that this practice is grossly immoral. By contrast, the issue of gun control would be an applied ethical issue since there are significant groups of people both for and against gun control. The second requirement for in issue to be an applied ethical issue is that it must be a distinctly moral issue. On any given day, the media presents us with an array of sensitive issues such as affirmative action policies, gays in the military, involuntary commitment of the mentally impaired, capitalistic vs. socialistic business practices, public vs. private health care systems, or energy conservation. Although all of these issues are controversial and have an important impact on society, they are not all moral issues. Some are only issues of social policy. The aim of social policy is to help make a given society run efficiently by devising conventions, such as traffic laws, tax laws, and zoning codes. Moral issues, by contrast, concern more universally obligatory practices, such as our duty to avoid lying, and are not confined to individual societies. There should be an honest and ethical conduct including the handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships ; full , fair , accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in reports that a company files with the Commission . Accountability for adherence to the code hastens the system of inquiry of the paper. The system of inquiry should be so effective and quick that no time should be wasted at any level of inquiry. System of inquiry is thus not a set of hard and fast rules which once made are to be followed blindly. It in fact is a framework which needs to be firstly made seeing all perceptives and then renewed from time to time as per sociological requirements and most importantly rules should be kept flexible as the rules are for the people not that the people are for rules . Essential elements of an ethical frame work – include contextual input , purpose with actions at issue , path finding function , problem solving function , implementing function quality judgment and lastly its output. Thus , systems inquiry incorporates these inter- related domains of disciplined inquiry systems theory. Systems methodology provides us with a set of models , strategies , methods and tools that instrumentalizes the whole systems inquiry. In today’s highly competitive , performance – driven business climate , regulations are not enough ; professional codes are not enough ; the old model of business ethics is not enough – what is required is a framework – that must be able to identify the ends as well as the means. Bibliography: http://www.en.wikipedia.org

The State of Public school integration Essay Example for Free

The State of Public school integration Essay Abstract The public schools, more than any other area of society, received the most attention concerning desegregation in the early 1950s. Fully aware that black had been admitted to white colleges and that numerous cases concerning the public schools were being argued in the federal courts, school officials in many parts. Brown vs. Board of education was the ultimate triumph that placed the rights of blacks before the law, on equal footing with whites. The story of Brown vs. Board of Education is a half-century old now and has been retold many times bye historians, legal scholars, sociologists, and others. A number of social forces during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s continue to shape school social work practice. The 1954 Brown vs. Board of education of Topeka, KS decision concluded that separate educational facilities on the basis of race are inherently unequal and unconstitutional. The State of public school integration In recent anthropological study of a California school, John Ogbu makes the point that relationships between the school and the community are sporadic and limited in scope. Parents and community involvement in the schools, he writes, normally mean participation in such extracurricular programs as PTA, open house, and social entertainments rather than more vital matters such as making decisions concerning the pattern: The extent of community participation or control over the schools may vary, but, in general, parents and other community members are content to leave schooling to the teachers and school administrators. (Fein, 1971). This traditional separation between school and community often breaks down, however, when the schools become actively involved in contemporary social and political issues. Large numbers of parents or other groups may not organize committees or attend meetings when a mathematics or history curriculum is on the agenda, but they are aroused when the topics for decision include drawing school boundary lines or busing pupils. School integration—the deliberate placing of previously separate minority and majority groups within the same school building—is surely the prime recent example of how social and political issues bring the school and its various communities into a more direct relationship. (Amir, Sharan, Ben-Ari, 47) Most of the literature tracing the response of local communities to school integration concentrates on the experience in the United States during the past quarter century. Social scientists have analyzed the complex processes that accompany integrated previously segregated Black and White schools in both the North and the South. Not surprisingly, these studies have primarily explored the political problems and processes arising from school integration. This point is emphasized in a recent study of integrated schools. Rist (1979) states: The most ambitious study along these lines is Crain and Associates monograph entitled The politics of School Desegregation (1968). Focusing on an entire city rather than a particular district or neighborhood, the authors analyze the complex interplay among civil rights advocates, boards of education, school officials, and local political and business elites in 15 U.S. cities, as they struggle and bargain with one another while seeking to implement (or delay) voluntary or court- ordered school desegregation. The authors conclude, for example, that school boards are more important than school superintendents in developing integration policies, and that the political style of the city and its elites is particularly critical. This emphasis upon political processes is also apparent in Gerard and Millers (1975) longitudinal study of the outcomes of Black—White school integration in Riverside, California. Hendrickss describes a rash of meetings, demonstrations, boycotts, and violent episodes (a school building was deliberately set on fire) that accompanied the onset of desegregation in Riverside. However, the Riverside schools were quickly integrated, and the demonstrations and meetings came to an end. Indeed, the Riverside case exemplifies rapid community acceptance and cooperation. (Amir, Sharan, Ben-Ari, 48) The New Millennium Atlanta led the way toward integrated schools in the early 1960s. Under Mayors Hartsfield and Allen, the Atlanta school board complied with federal mandates despite pressures from many in the state legislature to resist integration. In 1960, the general assembly gave some ground and appointed John A. Sibley, a prominent Atlanta businessman and civic leader, to chair a state committee to develop guidelines and more understanding on integration issues in Georgia. The Sibley Committee held numerous meetings during the course of a statewide canvass, and subsequently issued recommendations that Georgia allow local school boards to set their own policies and agenda for federal integration compliance. The effort to achieve integration was a gradual one, beginning with the admission of two African-American students to the University of Georgia in 1961 and the incremental integration of four Atlanta city high schools in 1961 and 1962. In 1963, local high schools, local high schools in Savannah, Athens, and Burnswick followed suit and began integration. Although the move toward compliance took almost a decade, by the early 1970s, public schools in Georgia achieved almost full integration. School integration and the gradual end of segregation in public facilities and accommodations brought a growing white-flight movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Huge numbers of urban whites in cities in Georgia and across the South moved out of the city centers and into growing suburbs. Atlanta was typical during this period. As metro Atlantas population passed 2, then 3, million in the late 1970s and 1980s, its central city population decreased. White migration to the suburbs created an unintended and unanticipated paradox in the march toward full school integration. Inner-city schools in Atlanta and other large southern cities came to have disproportionately high numbers of African-American students, while suburban schools were primarily white. The response to this emerging tend was the federally mandated school busing effort of the early 1970s. Students of both races were bused out of their local neighborhoods to schools in other sections as a most controversial aspect of public education during the period in Georgia and across the United States. Mandated busing to attain balanced public school integration began to subside by 1980, largely due to the overwhelmingly negative response by parents of schoolchildren of both races. The Case of Brown Vs Board of Education (1954): The Inequality of Separate but Equal This landmark Supreme Court decision was actually based on a consolidation of four similar cases from Kansas, South Crolina, Virginia, and Delaware. While they were based on different facts and local conditions, they were considered together because of the common legal question being considered. In each of the four cases, African American children were denied admission to state public schools attended by white children. This racial segregation operated under state laws that permitted or required by the practice. These laws had to that point protected been by the precedent of Plessy v, Ferguson. The schools for blacks and whites in each case had been or were being equalized in terms of buildings, curricula, qualifications and salaries of teachers, and other tangible conditions. The question before the Supreme Court was whether or not the segregation of black children and white children resulted in the children being deprived of the equal protection guaranteed by the fourteenth Amendment. A related question was whether or not the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson could be applied in the area of public education. (Meyer, Weaver, 181) The Supreme Court Rules on Brown v. Board of Education (1954) The event: On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court declared racial segregation illegal in its landmark decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. For more than half a century, since its 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, the high court had upheld as constitutional all separate but equal accommodations and facilities for blacks. Schools, public transport, restaurants, hotels, and other public facilities were rigidly segregated throughout much of the country, especially the South. Beginning in the mid-1930s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) brought a series of suits against segregated school districts. In these early cases the Supreme Court ruled that because the tangible aspect of schools for blacks and those for whites were equal, the laws providing for segregated schools were constitutional. In the case of Brown v. Board of Education, however, the NAACP lawyers, among them Thurgood Marshall, presented expert testimony on the debilitating effects of segregation—testimony that proves to be extremely important in the courts ruling, which this time held that segregated school systems were inherently unequal because of intangible factors. (Axelrod, Philips, 280) Implication for school social works School social workers draw on a number of diverse roles and tasks to meet the unique needs of each school and the priorities of each building principal. Using the ecological framework as an organizing principle, these tasks include advocating for risk students and their families; empowering families to share their concerns with school officials; maintaining open lines of communication between home and school; helping families understand their childrens educational needs; consulting with teachers about students living situations and neighborhood conditions; making referrals to community agencies; tracking students involved with multiple agencies; and working with the larger community to identify and develop resources to better serve the needs of at-risk students of their families.11 Impact of the Brown vs. Board of Education upon the School social work was great. As a result, schools were faced with the daunting task of desegregating classrooms and educating increasing numbers of students whos lifestyle and language differed from the middle-class orientation of the school (Germain. 1999, p.34). At the same time, a flurry of federal educational legislation during the 1960s and 1870s significantly increased in federal governments role in public education. For example, the: Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibited discrimination in federally assisted programs based on race, color, or national origin, assisted school staff in dealing with problems caused by desegregation. Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), through Title I, authorized grand for compensatory education in elementary and secondary schools for children of low-income families. 1972 Education Amendment (Title IX) was the first comprehensive federal law to prohibit sex discrimination in the admission and treatment of students by educational institutions receiving federal assistance. Title IX also prohibited schools that were receiving federal funds from discriminating against pregnant teens and teen mothers. Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) covered students who have a disability and may need special accommodations but not special education and related services as specified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Children with attention deficit disorder with hyper activity (ADHD) and students infected with the AIDS virus are often served under a 504 plan. Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, enacted in 1974, provided federal financial assistance to states that had implemented programs for the identification, prevention, and treatment of child abuse and neglect. A component of this act was the creation of the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect. Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 provided resources to develop and implement programs to keep elementary and secondary students in school (Dupper 10). Focus on school social works responsibility to help modify school conditions and policies that had a detrimental impact on students by incorporating general systems theory and the ecological perspective as frameworks for social work practice (Costin, 1978). It was also during this time that group work methods were incorporated into school social work practice. However, despite this renewed emphasis on school and community conditions as targets of intervention, the vast majority of school social workers continued to focus on traditional casework models (Dupper 10, 17). Brown v. Board: The Ruling In the first three cases, black children were challenging ruling that denied them admission to white-only public schools. In contrast, the Delaware school system was attempting to regain such segregation. In each case, students had at one point or another been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting separate but equal segregation. The court ruled: Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law; for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of children to learn. Segregation with the sanction of the law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of Negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system. (Brown v. Board of Education) (Meyer, Weaver, 309) As a graduate student completing the Master of Social Work degree at Tulane University in New Orleans, I had my first exposure to ADC. I had come to social work through entirely different routes and had no idea that welfare assistance, which we studied and researched, was synonymous for many people discussion; even poverty and disadvantage were rarely mentioned. The assumption appeared to be that all of that was behind the nation after the reforms of the New Deal and the economic development of the World War II and postwar years. But by 1960 and the presidential contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, welfare had become a substantial public issue. Kennedy talked about poverty and welfare assistance in the presidential campaign. He focused on the great needs of West Virginia people and others in Appalachia. One began hearing discussions of Pockets of poverty, rather than hearing need addressed as a pervasive and national human problem. Kennedy also founded the Peace Corps, another effort that raised public consciousness about disadvantage and its consequences. Perhaps the most salient event that brought public attention to the problems of poverty was the publication of Michael Harringtons The Other America (1962). Harrington wrote that during the Depression, President Roosevelt spoke of a nation in which one-third of the people were poorly housed, clothed, and fed. But by the 1960s, he showed, one-fourth of the people were living in poverty. He said that the poor were isolated from people with power, which perpetuated their poverty. Their only contact with people in authority was with social workers who, Harrington suggested, also lacked power. So the roots of welfare reform are found in the early 1960s, and that is true for both sides of the welfare reform efforts—those who want to make welfare more generous and more humane for the recipients and those who want to reduce its availability and its generosity. Some observers might suggest that there were other factors operating in the origins of the welfare reform debates. Although the earliest proposals were those designed to improve welfare from the perspectives of clients, there was a consistent backlash, and the most global pro- client reforms did not pass Congress. Part of that backlash may have been correlated with the advent and growth of the Civil Rights movement. The Brown vs. Board of education school desegregation decision in 1954 spawned the grass roots efforts to end segregation in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Dr. Martin Luther King and many other African American leaders as well as civil rights organizations took various postures and strategies to end the separation and discrimination that operated from the end of official slavery until mid-century. One might speculate that the new concern about welfare was a surrogate for concern about civil rights. The disproportionately large percentage of African Americans who received assistance (although, like the whole population, the majority of recipients were and are white) seemed to serve as a way of criticizing minority group members without doing so directly.(Nackerud, Robinson 3) Conclusion Public school integration became an explosive issue in New Orleans because it forced into conflict both racial and class interests. The city was roughly 40 percent Catholic in 1950 and in 1962, some 39,000, or 47 percent of the citys white students attended Catholic schools. The city had well established private, Catholic, and public schools; all three systems were segregated. Although the quality of schools varied throughout the city, depending upon the affluence of the neighborhood involved, black public schools were acknowledged to be inferior to white public schools. Black children often attended schools on half-day platoon shifts in buildings that were dilapidated and in need of basic supplies. Black PTAs had protested these conditions throughout the 1950s, and the NAACP leadership hoped that school integration would equalize opportunities for the citys black children. But the public schools were the most vulnerable educational institutions in the city. Affluent whites preferred to send their children to elite private or Catholic schools, and ambitious black parents tried to educate their children in rather private institutions like Gilbert Academy, or in the black Catholic system. It was not surprising that working –class segregationists interpreted school integration as class exploitation and victimization in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Many went to drastic measures to avoid the loss of status that racial integration signified. In the fall of 1960, their collective actions included demonstrations, picketing, acts of terrorism, and boycotting of integrated schools. In 1956, Judge J. Skelly Wright rendered a decision on the Bush case. He ordered the OPSB to cease requiring segregation in the citys public schools with all deliberate speed. A lengthy series of appeals followed, while the school board and the state legislature sought to stall school integration. Reference Amir, Yehuda. Sharan, Shlomo. (1984). School Desegregation: Cross Cultural Perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publisher. Pg. 47, 48 Dupper, David. (2002). School Social Work Skills and Interventions for Effective Practice. Wiley .com Publisher. Pg. 13 Marger, Robinson. Nackerud, G, Larry. (2000). Early Implications of Welfare Reform in the Southeast. NY: Nova Publishers. Pg. 3 Meyer, G, Robert. Weaver, M, Christopher. (2006). Law and Mental Health: A Case-Based Approach. NY: Guilford Press Publisher. Pg. 307 Philips, Charles. Axelrod, Alan. (2004). What Every American Should Know about American History: 200 Events That’s†¦. US: Adams Media Publisher. Pg. 280 Rogers, Lacy, Kim. (1993).Righteous Lives: Narratives of the New Orleans Civil Rights Movement. NY: NYU Press Publisher. Pg. 50, 63

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Green Roofs Advantages and Disadvantages

Green Roofs Advantages and Disadvantages Introduction A Green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with live vegetation. The vegetation is usually planted over a waterproof material. The green roof does not refer to the rooftops that are merely colored green. Green roofs may also include additional layers of root barriers and irrigation systems. In the case where plants are grown in pots and then placed in roof tops, these are not considered to be true green roofs. Roof top ponds are another form of green roof and are used to treat grey water (Little, par. 1). Grey water is any water that has been used in the home for the purposes of washing except water from toilets. Water from laundry, sinks and showers is all referred to as grey water. This water usually goes to waste but it may be reused for other purposes, especially irrigation. Grey water may therefore be run to roof gardens. Green roofs are also referred to as roof gardens and eco-roofs. Little says that roof gardens serve several purposes for a bu ilding such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation for the building, creating habitat for wildlife, and also lowering urban temperatures thus lowering the heat island effect (Little, par. 1). There are two types of green roofs: intensive green roofs and extensive green roofs. Intensive green roofs are thicker and can support a wider variety of plants. They are heavier and require a lot of maintenance. They are made in such a way that they are accessible. The other type of green roofs is called extensive green roofs. These types of green roofs are covered by lighter vegetation and are easier to maintain than the intensive green roofs. They are mainly developed for aesthetic purposes, but also have various advantages to the environment. Green roofs can also be used to refer to the types of roofs that can use some form of green technology such as cool roof with photovoltaic modules. Photovoltaic modules are interconnected assembly of solar cells. The main purpose of the solar panel is to convert the solar energy into electricity. Environmental advantages of green roofs Population growth in the world today is happening at a very rapid rate. Many cities in the world are rapidly becoming highly urbanized with the construction of buildings and structures in close contact with each other. Increased construction of concrete buildings has led to the loss of green cover thereby creating a lot of environmental issues such as urban heat island effect. This has generated a substantial increase in air temperature in urban areas. The energy consumption has increased as an outcome of the heat island effect. Plants and vegetations play a very vital role in trapping dirt and dust particles in the air. Plants also utilize carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis and generate oxygen and glucose molecules during the day. This helps in reduction of carbon dioxide in the air as well as increasing the amount of oxygen in the air. In the process of urban development, trees are cut down at a very high rate. This leads to lowering of the air quality as levels of car bon dioxide will increase and oxygen levels decrease. According to Dowdey (para 3), places where there are no rooftop gardens, rainwater flows very fast from the buildings roofs into the sewer and in cases where the sewer cannot cope with the amount of water flowing from the roof tops, floods occur .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main cause of island heat effect in the urban areas is the absorption and retention of solar heat in buildings and other concrete structures resulting in the air temperature in such areas becoming warmer than in the rural areas. Increase in temperature means that the air conditioning load of these buildings will have to be increased. This means that more energy will be needed by the conditioners which will in return release more warm exhaust air into the outdoor thus aggravating the urban heat island effect. Roof gardens have been shown to lower the surface temperature and the air temperature greatly. Little states that the main reason why green roofs lower these temperatures is because, they cover the heat absorbing surfaces of the roof tops as well as the evapotranspiration cooling effects of the plants. Improving Air quality Roof vegetation improves the air quality by acting as a filter to trap air borne dust particles. A roof that has got a high temperature tends to create a thermal draft attracting dust particles from the streets. The green roofs have been found to moderate the thermal draft thus reducing the temperature difference between the roof tops and the streets. Green roofs also help to reduce the formation of smog. Smog is very sensitive to high temperatures and the fact is the higher the temperature, the higher the concentration of smog. According to Dowdey, plants through the process of photosynthesis absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere thus improving the air quality (Dowdey, par. 4). Improving water quality The green roof helps to filter out most of the heavy metals and nutrients present in rainwater. This is very beneficial in urban areas where precipitation is collected for domestic usage. Reduction of storm water Roof gardens retain most of rainwater on the roof through the various layers and significantly reduce the peak discharge flow rate into the storm water drainage system. This helps to reduce the risk of flash flooding. Energy conservation When surfaces absorb a lot of solar heat, urban heat island is the resulting effect. This in turn causes a substantial increase in the atmospheric temperature within the urban centers. This will in turn lead to a lot of energy consumption for cooling loads. Roof gardens help to absorb a lot of solar heat that would otherwise increase the atmospheric temperature. Cooling loads will therefore not be required to such a great extent and hence reduction in energy consumption will be the beneficial outcome. Green roofs also help in reducing heat loss and energy consumption in winter conditions (Kuhn, p 5). The green space Green spaces are very beneficial to people living and working in the urban centers. These spaces help in supporting biodiversity, softening the buildings environment, and aiding peoples mental and physical health. Green roofs improve the value of the green space by providing accessible green space. Green roofs are very appealing to those who look at them. Some green roofs can be designed for people to enjoy (Dowdey, par. 7). Cost benefit If 50% of the roofs in Tokyo were covered with roof gardens, a study showed that air temperature could be reduced from between 0.11 °c to 0.84 °c. Translation of these figures into real dollar value estimated that about $1.6 million per day in electricity bill could be achieved as energy savings. Kuhn (p 6) states that about 15% of annual energy saving can be achieved with roof gardens. Cooling loads can be drastically reduced up to 80% resulting in downsizing of air conditioning systems which would greatly improve savings in capital investments. A reduction of peak roof thermal transfer value of up to 80% make the roof tops a viable substitute for thermal insulation. Extension of roof life According to Dowdey, roof gardens protect the water proofing membrane as well as the roof top surfaces from the harmful effects of the ultra violet rays. Most of the water which would normally reach the roofing material causing dampness and rust is either taken by the plants or retained by the water proof membrane (para 8). Protection of the water proofing membrane and the roofing material extends their life to about four times their average life. The water proof material and the roofing material itself will not be tampered with in the process of regular replacement. This greatly improves the life expectancy of the roofing materials. Green roofs also play a very important role in protecting roofs from human traffic, heavy debris and dust particles. This means that the roofs are safe from being tampered with by people (Dowdey, par. 9). Disadvantages Proper planning for the installation of a green roof greatly reduces the disadvantages that may be accompanied with it. However, some types of green roofs do have more demanding structural standards than others. Some existing buildings cannot be retrofitted with certain kinds of green roofs because of the weight load of the substrates and the vegetation which exceed the permitted static loading, also referred to as the external force applied to a fixed position for a specific period of time. Depending on the type of the green roof, the cost of maintenance could be high. Some types of green roofs especially the intensive green roof require a very strong water proofing material to prevent water and roots from penetrating the water proof membrane. Installation of adequate water proofing materials and root barriers requires a considerable amount of money. The vegetation on the gardens requires special fertilizers which can sometimes be very costly (Kuhn, p 7). Conclusion Green roof are therefore very beneficial to human not only in terms of environmental protection but also in terms of economy. Their advantages are very many as compared to their disadvantages. The roles played by green gardens have a very great impact in our lives. Modification of the environment through lowering the island heat, managing storm water, reducing air and water pollution and creating a wildlife habitat are some of the green gardens environmental benefits. Green roofs have also been shown to increase the roof life as well as reduce energy costs. Bearing in mind the benefits of the roof gardens, the cost factor may be looked at the least in order for roof gardens to be widely adopted. Reference: Dowdey, Sarah. What is a Green Roof? , 2009. Retrieved on November 27, 2009 from http://science.howstuffworks.com/green-rooftop.htm Kuhn, Monica. Roof Gardening, 1996. Retrieved on November 27, 2009 from http://www.nea.gov.sg/cms/sei/PSS23slides.pdf Little, John. Green roof training, 2009. Retrieved on November 27, 2009 from http://www.livingroofs.org/livingpages/greenroofintro.html

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Essay -- Pregnancy Alcoholism Drinking Essays

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome It is a shame that in today’s "enlightened" society so many preventable diseases and disorders are still occurring. Fetal alcohol syndrome is one of these totally preventable disorders. It is one of the most frequent and important causes of mental and physical retardation in childhood today. Only in the past decade or so have scientists identified and named this disorder. However, effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy have been suspected for quite some time. In the Old Testament the wife of Menoh is warned not to drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy (Judges 13, 2-25). Despite all the current information about the negative effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, many people are still unaware of the complications it can cause. In one study it was found that students were aware that alcohol is a teratogenic substance, but had little knowledge as to the nature and timing of the possible negative side effects that alcohol consumption at each stage might cause (Haemmerlie, 1992). Besides those who are unaware of the results of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, there are also those women who are aware of the consequences, but don’t care enough or have enough willpower to stop. These alcoholic mothers may know the consequences of drinking during pregnancy but are unable to stop themselves. The effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol may have a wide range of possible effects; from life--threatening anomalies to mild problems with attention and learning. There are many symptomology’s that are characteristic of FAS children. The diagnosis of FAS can only be made when the patient has at least one abnormality in each of three categories (Sokol & Clarren, 1989): pre- and p... ...sm, Vol. 16, No. 5, Oct. 1992, pp. 1001-1003. Nanson, J. L. "Autism is F.A.S. - A Report of Six Cases". Alcoholism, Vol. 16, No. 3, May/June 1992, pp. 558-565. Nanson, J. L., & Hiscock, M. "Attention Deficits in Children Exposed to Alcohol Prenatally". Alcoholism, Vol. 14, No. 5, Oct. 1990, pp. 656-661. Niemele, O., Helmesmaki, E., & Ylikorkala, O. "Hemoglobin--acetaldehyde Adducts are Elevated in Women Carrying Alcohol-damaged Fetuses". Alcoholism, Vol. 15, No. 6 ,Dec. 1991, pp. 1007-1010. Old Testament, Judges 13, 2-25. Pullerkat, R. K. "Hypothesis: Prenatal Ethanol-induced Birth Defects and Retanoic Acid". Alcoholism, Vol. 15, No. 3, June 1991, pp. 565-567. Sokol, R. J. & Clarren, S. K. "Guidelines for Use of Terminology Describing the Impact of Prenatal Alcohol on the Offspring". Alcoholism, Vol. 13, No. 4, July/August 1989, pp. 597-598.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Alan Bennetts Talking Heads Essay -- Alan Bennett Talking Heads Essay

Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" "Talking heads" by Alan Bennett is a collection of monologues in which the audience are showed into the life of a character and given an insight into the character's personality and situation.peoples lives are portrayed in comic ways leaving the audience feeling sympathy and guilt for the character in laughing at their misfortune. Monologues are a long speech made by one person. This style of script is really effective and has a powerful effect on the audience. These monologues were written for television broadcasting, programmes presented in this way are put under the genre of tragi-comedy. This style of script has a dramatic effect upon the audience because from one statement , several emotions arise, for example Irene writing to someone informing them that their wife is a prostitute it is comic that she would care to write a letter about something that does not concern her of this sort of information but in another way it displays pathos because she is has enough time to spare to have such an interest in finding out information such as this. The talking heads monologues often give an exaggerated story largely influenced by the environment and era in which the characters live in. For example Doris' jaded views of nursing homes which are perhaps stereotypically nursing homes from the era in which she brought up in. This cynical view also emphasises the lack of respect in the ironic way that an elderly person has been influenced by negative views of the older generation. Within this essay I am going to analyse the talking heads scripts and bring about my point of views as well as also using my background knowledge on the era and several other topics which seem to o... ...eotype people which displays irony as they fit into 3 groups of people which are well known to be stereotyped: porn stars, o.a.p's and interfering busy-bodies. "When I saw his vest it had electrician written all over it." Lesley says on meeting a man with a tattoo. I think these stereotypical associations are made due to their ignorance towards different cultures, classes and race. As a conclusion to this essay I feel that Alan Bennett has created these monologues effectively through the use of pathos which is present through all the monologues. He enforces feeling brought about by the pathos with metaphors as well as clichà © phrases.The television episodes are simple but effective in setting an atmosphere appropriate to the monologue. He brings the characters to a level which we can all relate to in some way which makes the impact of tragedy far deeper.

Technology Transfers: Developing Renewable Energy Sources Essay

Technology Transfers: Putting Theory into Practice Climate change is an increasingly demanding issue as global population continues to grow, energy sources are being depleted and cooperation between actors to take action is often difficult to enforce. Renewable energy is a growing technology. With the depletion of fossil fuels as well as increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel burning, energy dependency will have to shift to renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaic, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal. Unfortunately, these technologies are expensive and building new or altering old plants to allow for their use is costly. Because developing countries are in transition and have a growing energy demand, their building of new energy facilities should logically incorporate and implement the new, cleaner technology. Most countries do not have the funds to support the new technology and so resort to purchasing old, inefficient parts from firms in developed countries that have already adjusted their technolog y. The Kyoto Protocol calls for increased energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources as well as limiting emissions of greenhouse gases (UNIDO, 3). Each Annex I country is expected to adhere to reduction commitments while developing countries are not obligated to specific commitments, they still must report their progress and are encouraged to begin reductions of emissions where possible (Cullet, 168). In order to encourage developed countries' emission reductions of greenhouse gases, flexible mechanisms were instituted under the Kyoto Protocol, such as the Cleaner Development Mechanism or Joint Implementation. Cleaner Development Mechanisms involve one country with commitments an... ...s 11: 3, 1-30. Cullet, Philippe. 1999. Equity and Flexibility Mechanisms in the Climate Change Regime: Conceptual and Practical Issues. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 8:2, 168. Duic, Neven, Luis M. Alves and Maria da Graca Carvalho. 2001. Potential of Kyoto Protcol in Transfer of Energy Technologies to Insular Countries. Transactions of Famena 25: 2, 27-37. Lash III, William H. 2000. The Kyoto Climate Change Treaty. Society 37: 4, 43-49. Renewable Energy Technology and Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms. 2003. European Commission. European Commuities, Belgium, pp 6- 30. Service Module 6: Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Overview. Online. United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Available:  HYPERLINK "http://www.unido.org/oc/5071. Updated 2004" http://www.unido.org/oc/5071. Updated 2004. [Accessed May 2004]. Technology Transfers: Developing Renewable Energy Sources Essay Technology Transfers: Putting Theory into Practice Climate change is an increasingly demanding issue as global population continues to grow, energy sources are being depleted and cooperation between actors to take action is often difficult to enforce. Renewable energy is a growing technology. With the depletion of fossil fuels as well as increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel burning, energy dependency will have to shift to renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaic, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal. Unfortunately, these technologies are expensive and building new or altering old plants to allow for their use is costly. Because developing countries are in transition and have a growing energy demand, their building of new energy facilities should logically incorporate and implement the new, cleaner technology. Most countries do not have the funds to support the new technology and so resort to purchasing old, inefficient parts from firms in developed countries that have already adjusted their technolog y. The Kyoto Protocol calls for increased energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources as well as limiting emissions of greenhouse gases (UNIDO, 3). Each Annex I country is expected to adhere to reduction commitments while developing countries are not obligated to specific commitments, they still must report their progress and are encouraged to begin reductions of emissions where possible (Cullet, 168). In order to encourage developed countries' emission reductions of greenhouse gases, flexible mechanisms were instituted under the Kyoto Protocol, such as the Cleaner Development Mechanism or Joint Implementation. Cleaner Development Mechanisms involve one country with commitments an... ...s 11: 3, 1-30. Cullet, Philippe. 1999. Equity and Flexibility Mechanisms in the Climate Change Regime: Conceptual and Practical Issues. Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 8:2, 168. Duic, Neven, Luis M. Alves and Maria da Graca Carvalho. 2001. Potential of Kyoto Protcol in Transfer of Energy Technologies to Insular Countries. Transactions of Famena 25: 2, 27-37. Lash III, William H. 2000. The Kyoto Climate Change Treaty. Society 37: 4, 43-49. Renewable Energy Technology and Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms. 2003. European Commission. European Commuities, Belgium, pp 6- 30. Service Module 6: Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Overview. Online. United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Available:  HYPERLINK "http://www.unido.org/oc/5071. Updated 2004" http://www.unido.org/oc/5071. Updated 2004. [Accessed May 2004].

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Trend in Transport: the Role of Intermodal Transport in the International Logistics

Globalization and the consequently expansion of the geographical firm’s borders led an increase of the international transport’s demand, promoting the develop of transport’s sector. In fact, the growth of the amount of freight being traded, as well as, a great variety of origins and destinations promotes the importance of international transportation as a fundamental element supporting the global economy. In particular, since the trading distances involved are often considerable, there has been an increase of demands on the maritime shipping industry and on port activities. In this process China had an important role, in fact, as its industrial and manufacturing activities developed, it started to import growing quantities of raw materials and energy and export growing quantities of manufactured goods, fostering a surge in demands for long distance international transportation. International transportation system have been under increasing pressures to support additional demands in freights volume and distance at which this freight is been carried. This couldn’t have occurred without considerable technical improvements permitting to transport larger quantities of goods, and this more quickly and more efficiently. Container played, of course, a crucial role, promoting, furthermore, the development of the intermodal transport. Intermodal transport modes recover an important role in international transportation, in fact, because of the involved geographical scale, most international freights movements involve several modes, especially when origins and destinations are far apart. Among the numerous transport modes, two are specifically concerned with international trade: ?Ports and maritime shipping ?Airports and air transports Maritime transportation is very important in international trades, in fact in terms of tonnage it handles about 90% of the global trade. Although in terms of tonnage air transportation carries an insignificant amount of freight(0. 2% of total tonnage) compared with maritime transportation, its importance in term of the total value is much more significant:15% of the value of global trade 70 times more valuable than its maritime counterpart) . This is due to the fact that air transportation, being more expansive, is used mostly to carry rich freights. Road and railway modes tend to occupy a more marginal portion of international transportation since they are above all modes for national or regional transport services. Their importance is focused on their role in the first and the last part of the door to door transportation chain. For this reason they result anyway an important factor that should be considered by a firm in the logistics planning of the distribution of freight to the customer. As said before the driver of intermodal transportation has been the container, which permits easy handling between modal systems, in fact it is designed to be moved with common handling equipment enabling high-speed intermodal transfers in economically large units between ships, railcars, truck chassis, and barges using a minimum labor. The container, therefore, serves as the load unit rather than the cargo contained therein, making it the foremost expression of intermodal transportation. The usage of containers shows the complementarity between freight transportation modes by offering a higher fluidity to movements and a standardization of loads. For logistics managers intermodal transportation offers significant advantages over single mode alternatives. First, intermodal transportation minimizes handling and total transit time, expediting the entire transportation process and thus shortening the customer’s order cycle time. Second intermodal transportation allows to take advantage of the best characteristics of all modes, permitting to offer the most efficient transport service at the lowest possible price to the customer. Third intermodal movement cuts down on theft, loss and transport costs in general by eliminating virtually all handling of individual goods. Another important factor is that intermodal transport uses container and this makes easier tracking the freight during all the transportation process. This is possible thanks to a new technology called RFID (radio frequency ID) a firm (but also a customer) is able to know what assets it has and where they are at every hour. In fact this relatively new technology, that promises to change the way inventories are managed, consists in an RFID device that transmits a signal when it is activated by an RFID receiver. Depending on the device, this signal can have a range as short as 6 feet or as great as 90 feet. The data transmitted can include various product identifiers of value to the manufacturer, shipper or purchaser. So the signal emitted by an RFID device can help company tracking the location and quantity of their inventory . The use of RFID in logistics application is one of the pre-eminent fields where the technology can shine. Products can be tracked from points of manufacturer (and even earlier if source components are tracked using RFID) all the way through the distribution chain, and down to the retail level. This new technology has helped many organization solve the main challenge at every node in their supply chains: the lack of visibility of logistics data. RFID technology is a powerful solution to improves asset visibility, data quality, inventory management, and interoperability in an end-to-end integrated supply chain. In addition the use of this technology allows to reduce costs as replacement costs as well as avoiding shrinkage. It also helps to reduce capital costs, increase customer satisfaction, as well as ensuring the assets are in the correct place at the right time, recovering an important function in the logistics process of a firm. An added advantage is the reusability of these tags, so company, which want greater control over assets and their management, have opted to use RFID and logistics management techniques . Using RFID and logistics management strategies will serve to improve capital utilization, lower the total operational costs as well as improve the availability of assets. The use of these asset management techniques has improved customer retention significantly. This technique will help improve visibility of assets in transit, availability management of much needed assets and transportation management The use of RFID and logistics management techniques are especially useful for manufacturers, where parts bins feed parts in an automated plant, since the placement of the right part in the right place is critical. The company can use these techniques in areas where they have expertise whereas professional help can be sought for areas where they lack control such as transportation, delivery, pick up etc. Companies should consider implementing RFID and logistics management techniques, as they will greatly benefit from it. It will reduce cost, increase control and availability, decrease chances of loss of assets due to various factors as well as prove to be very economical. In conclusion we can affirm that transport is one component of the logistic mix that is undergoing a great deal of change. Intermodal transport is a reflection of the changing nature of transport in general, signifying as it does the logistics managers ability to combine the advantages of two or more modes of transport into one seamless shipment that reaches the customer faster and with less damage than a mode-by-mode routing could providing. Therefore to better control the delivery process of the goods, being able to provide value added to the customer, could be useful for a firm develop a tracking system of the freight from the factory to the final customer. This could be seen as value added logistics service useful to satisfy the customer saving costs at the same time.