Enterprise Resource Planning Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Enterprise Resource Planning - Research Paper Example There are some intangible Services associated with Hadeed products such as Out-sourcing, Transportation and Storage of goods, Logistic, etc. SABIC incorporated Shared Services Organization in 2003, to develop complementary services like Centralized Purchasing, Inventory Management, Supply Chain Management, among SABIC and its affiliates like HADEED to assist attain its strategic objectives from side to side augmented competence. It optimizes their Inventory by utilization of inventory management tools viz., MRP Planning, Inventory Optimization through ABC Analysis and Supply-Chain Management. On the contrary, SSWCC starts their operations from one-on-one i.e., consumers requests and keep in touch with customer and supply them best networking, newest technology, modified services and support for their services. SSWCC operates the customer services following doing the sales. The main dissimilarity among Manufacturing and Service provider can be well recognized by comparing the subseque nt Nature and Consumption of Output, consistency of Input and Output, Measurement of output and Labour Requirement (Lincoln, J.; Hanada, M.; 2001, 93-115). In this research with the literature review about the areas of this study for ERP systems. Next, in sections the study continues with the Research Methodology. Finally, in last section the author suggests his own personal viewsto be made in the area of research. 1. Introduction Enterprise resource planning: (noun); An accounting-oriented information system for recognize and preparation the enterprise-wide resources wanted to take, make, ship, and account for client orders. To asses the assignments we have select two large good reputed organizations from Secondary Sector & Tertiary Sector of Industry within Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. From public sector i.e. Manufacturing, the foremost company being HADEED (A SABIC Affiliate) which offer touchable product i.e. Goods & Commodities Steel Products and extra from Tertiary Sector i.e. Service, is Saudi Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SSWCC), which pleased its customers by offer high standard of insubstantial product i.e. Services Water Convention Network. Saudi developmental policies and plans are draw round in a five-year national plan that directs public investments. The eighth five-year growth plan (2005-2009) speak to lots of the challenges declare above. It has, for the first time, a long-term strategic viewpoint on growth based on the Future dream of the Saudi financial system towards 2025. It underscores a national promise to the people by: (a) put together all the MDGs and seeking to endorse the role of women and the childhood in national growth procedure; (b) supporting Government sector asset as the driver of future enlargement and promoting further diversification away from heavy dependence on usual resources, chiefly oil and natural gas, avoiding unenthusiastic impacts on the environment, chiefly water resources; and (c)

Critically evaluates the process of global harmonisation of financial Essay

Critically evaluates the process of global harmonisation of financial reporting - Essay Example The information furnished by financial statements are aimed at different stakeholders like shareholders, management, regulatory bodies, suppliers, creditors, lenders, competitors, researchers, and the society at large. The International Financial Reporting Standards (also known as IFRS) was conceptualised and developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in 2001. After one year of inception of IASB, the member states of European Union (EU) committed to adapt IFRS standards for all listed corporations under their jurisdiction. Such regulatory enforcements were due to come into effect from 2005. In 2003, the first IFRS was officially issued and by this time almost 19 countries were required to comply with global reporting standards. Nearly 70 countries have since then mandated IFRS for listed companies and further 23 countries have either allowed listed companies to voluntarily adopt IFRS or have mandated IFRS in listed entities (Ramanna and Sletten, 2009, pp.1-5). In the year 1985, Piper and Samuels, defined ‘harmonisation’ as the process of bringing the current international accounting standards into some sort of agreement so that the financial statements of different entities from different nations are prepared as per a common set of principles of disclosures and measurements (Samuels and Piper, 1985). Harmonisation of financial reporting would increase the level of agreement related to presentation of information disclosure in practicing accounting standards between countries. The process of harmonisation will ensure development of a single global community irrespective of the diversity of stakeholders. The process will increase awareness among investors in capital markets and also develop a sense of responsibility in publicly traded firms regarding appropriate financial disclosures (Roberts et al., 1998). Harmonisation of financial reporting will facilitate undisputed international transactions by minimising exchange

The Influence Of Interest Groups In America Politics Essay

The Influence Of Interest Groups In America Politics Essay As we look the history of America we all can see big influence of the interest groups, the interest groups has effected in policy making design in almost every law changing process. The interest group has highly effect of our lives by affecting their views on American government. The interest groups have been complexes dependent upon interaction among individual persons common interest in policy making. The interest group creates formalized only to look after their interest, other word they only function because they to influence policy making movement. The interest group cans lobbying for any cause or reason in any form of law or any regulation. Interest group has access to many types of extra push to make sure they can influence law making process. I think interest groups are one type of the chain which makes influence in policy making .Today, I am going to form interest group and lobbying ageist the local state of Georgia calls the blue law, which is prohibiting any sell of the al cohol on Sunday and also supporting new policy that state government of Georgia should allow to sell alcohol in gas stations and liquor stores. I have lived in Georgia for the last twenty years and I have got several businesses which does sell alcohol. I have work in convince store more than eleven years and almost every Sunday I have to say to my costumers No, sorry I cannot sell beer. As business owner I hate to say that I cannot sell you but I am losing my alcohol sell on every Sunday. People in Georgia have been suffering for really long time that they could not buy beer on Sunday because the governor of Georgia does not sign the bill that was approved by state legislator. The bill went on his desk for two times but he never sine for it just keep saying that he totally believes that Sunday is religious day and people should not buy alcohol. The question of the whether state of the Georgia should allow to sell alcohol on Sunday is very importation issue, allowing alcohol sell on Sunday will bring many positive effects in state of the Georgia. All over in America each state has their own different method of local laws that allow controlling the government. In State of the Georgia we have law of that prohibits sell of any kind of alcohol and beer on Sunday since it is religious day. In this day and time we should not put religious views on our business. The government should not interfere to any types of regulation in business. As I am current owner of the several businesses in Georgia, I have from interest groups which will lobbying ageist the law that prohibits the sell of alcohol and beer on Sunday. The interest group will called Georgia Alcohol Dealers Association and I am going to be president of this group. In short form we can say that GADA which is short name of Georgia Alcohol Dealers Association. As president I will bring all the wholesalers, retailers and people who make the beer and alcohol on one group and we will to fight against this ridicules law that prohibits sell of alcohol in Georgia. Moreover that I wil l bring all the people who will support this group and try to gain local support in state of Georgia. The issue of the not selling alcohol on Sunday is related to public so I will make sure I will try to join everyone who is willing to support my interest group. If I can make it public issue by saying it is totally wrong to people who want to have alcohol drinks. This is going to very strong word because when people here, that this law effects on personal freedom of people they will surely join my group. I will get more people on my side because I will them it is for the public interest, I am sure by doing this I will make my interest group more organized and more stronger. I will also appoint different people different positions like secretary, chief members and board of directors, which will handle different types of task. Talking about how to make interest group I will never forget the words that I read in the book written by Bentley it is called The Process of Government, It is first, last and always activity, action, something doing the shunting by some men of other mens conduct along changed lines, the gathering of forces to overcome resistance to such alterations, or the dispersal of one grouping of forces by another grouping.'(Bentley, 176). In this quote he is trying to show the value of the interest groups. Bentley is trying to say that when you form a group it will make much bigger impact than individual. He is believe in power of the interest group got in system, this is the best example for me and now I will flow his theory and make sure that I will have very strong interest group so I will success in lobbying against the law in Georgia that prohibit the sale of alcohol. In my interest group I will make sure that every individual who is part of the group will band with each other really good and they will help each other out and find the solution of how to change the blue laws in Georgia, by doing this I am sure we will have one effective interest group. Which will make impact on Georgias Governor Sonny Perdue and I will make sure we will reach our goal. I am very confident that my interest group will find large amount of member with same the same cause that I believe in. My main goal is to target the Georgias governor because he is the one who did not sign the bill which he gets on his desk couple times in last three years to allowing sale of alcohol in Georgia. My interest group will prove that a democracy is a system which is rule by the people because the most people in Georgia are against this blue law of state. Sonny Prude will sign this law which will allow selling alcohol in Georgia on Sunday when he see majority of Georgian wants to able to buy alcohol in Georgia. He is public official elected by public and he must acts as name of public on other words he should consider public opinion. Since my interest group is pro business I will get money from all retail business owners who join my interest group. When people or any corporation will contribute any money I will make sure that I will establish a personal relationship and make sure what they want out my interest group. Most likely first I will go to Budweiser and Miller group who got most sell of alcohol in Georgia after that I will get more support of local distributers who will provide alcohol to retailers and last not the least I will go retailers for money to operate and bring all of them together so we will get more outcome of my interest group. If still I need more money I will have couple events where we will try to fundraiser to support all our expenses. I believe that money does not buy power so we have to make ourselves herd we need to get signed by people who support us. I am very sure that more people will support this pro- business policy. Once I make the group I will make them aware of what is wrong with current law and how we need to change it. First, I would let my group know that the current law is effecting on peoples personal freedom who like to buy and drink alcohol on Sunday. This law is because it harms our personal freedom and that why it is un-causational. In America we cannot put churchs law on everyone who lives in state of the Georgia. Moreover that we need to separate the government and church by passing new bill that will allow selling alcohol in Georgia. There is no way this law is making any sense it is just hurting local business. There are also many restaurant owners get in my interest group, they have to pay every year more money just because they have to pay more money to state since they are the only ones who serves alcohol on Sundays. I have talk to many restaurant owners they strongly believe that it is just extra burden on them since they have to pay extra money just to support their sells on alcohol. It is also good when you know what kind of people will argue against your interest group here is one example of one of my customer who strongly believes we should not sell alcohol on Sundays he said that, Many people believe that alcohol consumption is a destabilizing influence in the society harming families and children. Certainly millions of children around the world are negatively impacted by their parents alcoholism. Thousands in the USA are killed every year by drunk drivers. Alcohol sales are not the tax base that funds the city/county infrastructure and community improvements as another poster implied. Rather, they are the beginning point of many burdens on our society. I seriously doubt that the taxes collected on alcohol sales come anywhere near to paying for the negative impacts on our society. This is very true argument but you cannot just stop selling alcohol all over the America or you can not just ban it. I am sure state government is collecting large amount of taxes out of alcohol sell. We should not forget that for those who oppose alcohol sales on Sunday, they too are have a choice just dont buy it. Government of Georgia is dependent on their different tax items to support their state budget. The tax on alcohol is also called sin tax. According to investigation done by MSN money market Georgia is paying highest amount of alcohol tax after Alaska in nation. Normal tax average is around .15 cent on every $ 1 but in Georgia we pay 1.15 cents on every $1 that is more than 100% tax on alcohol. I think it is just not fair who lives in Georgia because they have to pay higher tax on beer and they cannot buy alcohol on Sunday. This law is hurting one of the very key business in Georgia, the club business. One of the biggest clubs of south east is run by my cousin and he said that they could not stay open on Sundays just because they could not serve alcohol. There are more people in Georgia drink in restaurant and drive back home on Sunday just because they do not allow buying alcohol and drinking at their home. These will create unsafe endearment for everyone who is on road on Sunday. There are just more people driving drunk on Sunday than another days of week. If we allow alcohol sale on Sunday most people will drink in their home not in bar and then drive back to home. It will create safe environment for everyone who is on the road. In Georgia we will have less DUI and fewer accidents related to alcohol. It is always win -win situation for the consumers who want to drink on Sunday and local police departments who gets fewer accidents related to alcohol. We live in totally democratic county and we shall not favor any religion over others. The blue law is place based on Christian beliefs. It will show that state of Georgia is supporting Christian religion. I know our country is found on Christian beliefs but our county makes different then rest of others country is that we have allow to follow any religion that we like. Laws like this will create unfairness over other religion. People of the other religion will think that why their belief is not accepted as state law. Thats how our country find it was liberty to all. Just like in Christianity, Hinduism is also prohibit to drink and sell alcohol at all, so people who follow Hinduism will going to ask for the laws that will prohibit and sell on alcohol at all in state of Georgia. I have always wondered why people who have a certain belief feel it necessary to impose their belief on others. As American I always know that we should always look everyone equally and laws like this makes tot ally wrong, and if you Christian and if you do not want to sell or buy alcohol you can do that too. There is no way we can punish entire people of Georgia by not allowing the alcohol sale. I also read in books that people who go in church drinks wine anyways so there is no way they mind over selling or buying alcohol. If state of Georgia allows selling alcohol on Sunday, they get more money as sales tax and it help to cover the Georgias deficit which is around 2 billion dollars according to AJC. Mayor of Atlanta Deke Copenhagen said on one of his interview that if we allow to sell alcohol in Georgia we will have overcome the deficit in budget, which is great thing for state Georgia if we overcome the deficit .We could also boost our tourism because it will be convince for the people who is coming from outside of Georgia who really wants to have fun by drinking beer and wine on Sunday. I know there are people who always go outside of Georgias state borderline like in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee to buy alcohol. This way we are hurting our own business in Georgia because people do go outside of state to get beer and alcohol. It is one of the big drawbacks that businesses are taking in Georgia State. en the state and church. This law effects on peoples personal freedom who like to buy and drink alcohol on Sunday. To push my policy on step further I will make one opinion poll and mail it to everyone in state of Georgia who is related with alcohol business. This way I will also publish my policy to gain more areas that I will not cover and I will get peoples opinion and there is another poll that had been take place before. This is very important key to my interest group because if I get positive poll saying that majority of Georgian people wants to buy alcohol on Sunday. This poll is very important, it will show the strong evidence to prove that people of Georgia is really supporting this policy. In that mailing I will include different question among them I make sure that I will include that if you ever try to buy alcohol on Sunday? And I will also ask that if you go church on every Sunday? Asking question like this makes people think that we do not need to law because it does not have any logic. In this technology era, I will also use computers to also push my policy. I did make a web page where my interest group member can log in and also can blog our achievements. On the web page I will also add petition where you can sign it and it will directly e mail to me and also to governor of the Georgia. I will also make Google group and facebook group to get more support from students from all over the Georgias colleges. This way I can introduce my policy to young people who use computers regularly. Creating groups online will bring more attestations and we get more longtime support, doing this I share my thoughts and other peoples views. I might get some important contacts or important information out of my web page which will help to get succeed in lobbying. I will also have this link that I find where you can go and sine the petition called Sunday Alcohol Sale in Georgia doing this people can put their information on petition and sine it witches will go directly state representative. It will be really effective because when I will have more and more people sine for it so we will have our interest group stronger. Work cited Arthur Bentley, The Process of Government, Page. 176. blog.al.com/breaking/2009/12/limestone_county_church_loses.html. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/best-and-worst-taxes-by-state.aspx

Amino Acid Supplements for Body-building and Exercise :: Science Chemistry Health Essays

Amino Acid Supplements for Body-building and Exercise Contents: This paper is divided into two sections. The first section contains information about research of amino acid supplements found on the Internet. The second section contains published research studies addressing questions of effectiveness and safety of the supplements. Section 1: Internet-based Research Involving Amino Acids General Overview of Section 1 The sports of bodybuilding and fitness are undergoing changes as supplemental products enhance the performance of athletes. With access to the Internet, these products are readily available, but the effectiveness is in question. Amino acids are one form of supplementation that is being used by many people today. Research on the Internet shows that amino acids are available in seemingly countless varieties with most of the information being presented by the companies who sell them. Each form claims to have some enhancing effect, such as better performance, increased strength, or just benefiting results for athletes. However, not all of the amino acid products on the market claim to help the visible physical aspects. Some affect internal or emotional processes. Support for many of these claims are from the users themselves, with little scientific support. Amino Acids and their Functions According to David Spindel, "amino acids are organic molecules that form the basic constituents of protein. " They are the "building blocks" of the body. They build and repair various body parts and aid certain body functions. There are twenty-two amino acids. Eight are essential and fourteen are non-essential. The body does not manufacture the essential acids and does manufacture the non-essential acids. The body contains a free amino acid pool that contains tissues and bodily fluids. Amino acids enter this pool by three ways. Amino acids enter during digestion of foods containing protein, when body protein decomposes, and when carbon sources and NH3 synthesize the non-essentials. When protein intake is insufficient, there are not enough amino acids entering the pool to compensate for the lost ones. This affects the muscle size and strength (4). Amino acids aid the body in many ways, and are definitely needed by the body to function properly. Supplements are needed only when the bod y does not get the required amounts. The purposes of amino acid supplements are to replenish the lacking acid supply and in most sports uses, to stimulate lean mass growth without sacrificing present muscle mass.

Human growth and development-Conception to Birth Essay

Conception This is the very first stage of the making of a human baby which is known as conception. This is when the sex cell or (gamete) from the males sperm and a gamete from the woman’s ovum or egg cell join to form the embryo.Conception can only occur during ovulation, which happens about the middle of the month between menstrual periods. The human baby’s life begins as a single cell which is formed when the sperm and egg cell join and the egg becomes fertilised, creating life. The fertilised egg (zygote) divides into two and continues to do so rapidly, at this stage some cells form the embryo and some of the placenta. These cells now resemble a mulberry, are called morulla and take about 4 days to travel along the fallopian tube and into the uterus. This point it is called a blastocyst. The blastocyst now gets attached to the uterus wall by tiny projections called villi. Once it attached to the uterus it connects to the blood stream, so it is able to absorb oxygen and essential nutrients for fast growth. Around 10 to 14 days after conception the baby is called an embryo. After conception and the embryo is formed development of it begins into a full term foetus. The 3 stages of development are known as trimesters. First trimester ‘Week 3(embryonic stage) – first period missed. Foundation of the brain and nervous system is laid down Amnion sac is formed around the embryo, which floats in a liquid (the amniotic fluid). The placenta is formed, which lies against the uterus wall and acts as the liver, lungs and kidneys for the embryo and the foetus. The placenta is connected to the embryo’s circulatory system by the umbilical cord. Nutrients pass through to the embryo and digestive waste products and CO2 pass from the baby to the mother.’(Btec national early years, Penny tassoni) Week 4 – the neural tube closes( if this does not close spina bifida occurs)The embryo is around 6.4mm in length Week 5 – the baby’s heart be can be detected and the embryo is now the same size as a small seed. Week 8 – the embryo is about 8mm long, and has developed the startle reflex. The formation of the eyes, ears, organs and limb buds is at a rudimentary stage. Foetal stage (week 12) – the baby is now called a foetus and all its body parts have grown they just need to be refined. The foetus can swallow, roll, somersault and has also developed the sucking reflex. The foetus organs are functioning it measures about 7.5cm and has downy hair and fingernails. Second trimester Week 15 – the foetus hears its first sounds Week 16- the genitals of the foetus have formed. From this stage the sex of the baby can be determined all though difficult. A greasy wax substance covers the baby’s skin, this is called vernix. Week 20- the baby weighs around 460g and babies born at this stage have a very low chance of survival. Week 22- baby can dream and feel emotions. It develops reflex to root and grasp, their bones harden and their body grows. Week 24- if born at this stage has a reasonable chance of survival with intensive care as lungs are not yet fully developed. The eyes open for the first time. Week 27- is very active e.g. kicking and moving around, and weighs around 500g and is 33cms long. Third trimester Weeks 28-32- the foetus rapidly grows to about 1700g and is about 35cm long. Developing brain able to process information more and respond to it, like recognising voices especially the mothers. Starts to develop waking and sleeping rhythm. Weeks 33-36 – foetus continues to grow and gains bout 280g a week! Brain develops rapidly and head grows more to allow this. Fine hair covering body disappears. The foetus can now swallow, make breathing movements and urinate. Glycogen forms in liver for energy during birth and soon afterwards. Also the head engages in the pelvis for 1st pregnancies otherwise may not be until labour. Weeks 37-40- amount of amniotic fluid reduces and foetus grows to fill amniotic sac. Foetus is about 3kg and its head is lying down. Birth may take place between weeks 38 and 42. Now that the baby is born, some dramatic changes will take place in all areas of their growth and development, during its first year of life. Below is a month by month guide to how babies grow and develop up until the age of 1 year. 0-1 months- babies express emotion mainly by crying, grimacing, or displaying a bright and alert face. Babies are very open to learning at around 3 to 6 weeks they develop different crying sounds for different needs e.g. hunger. Babies have reflexes which help them to survive and as they start to fade their movements become more deliberate and controlled. E.g. the walking reflex disappears after the first few weeks and they learn to walk at around 12 months. It is important to interact with babies as they gain a lot from it, especially with their family or carers. 1 month- most babies lift their heads, respond to sounds, and stare at faces. Some babies may also be able to; follow objects, ohh and ahh, and can see black and white patterns. Their arms are very active and constantly moving although they do not have much control over them. At this age babies start to recognise their carers face and voice and they become settled if they hear, smell, feel or see their parent or carer. Between now and 2 months of age babies communicate by cooing and use of gestures, this shows their skill to â€Å"take turns† in conversation. 2 months – at this age babies are on their way to realising that they and their carer are separate beings. Babies can hold up head for short periods and they will also follow objects. Babies show a variety of emotions (e.g. hunger) via their facial expressions, arm, leg and finger movements. 3 months- Babies can hold their head up and may roll over when placed on tummy and they will also begin to wave and kick their arms as their muscles are strengthening. Babies will watch their own hands, will press them together and clasp hands together in finger play. They begin to eat and sleep more regularly, respond to voices, smile at faces become more alert and look around for longer, cry and vocalize more. 4 months- at this age babies can hold their head up and put weight on their legs as muscles strengthen. Around now babies develop vowel sounds and then their first consonants sounds are heard, which are learnt through self exploration (this is also know as babbling and usually occurs when babies are alone). Babies at 4 months begin to develop their self image which helps them over the coming months discover the kind of person they are as well as what they can do. 5 months- babies can distinguish between bold colours, roll over, and amuse themselves by playing with hands and feet. They enjoy listening to music, looking at speaker’s lips and mouth to show that they enjoy listening to speech. Babies will show a clear preference for a loved one. Their primitive squeeze appears but their hand movement is uncontrolled therefore finds it difficult to let go of objects. Also they enjoy practising dropping and throwing e.g. toys. 6 months- up until now babies gain an average of 0.5oz (14.2g) to 1oz (28.4g) every day! The babies coo and smiling now proceeds to babbling and chuckling. Between now and 10 months babies will babble (add on consonants and make strings of sound e.g. dah dah dah). Babies’ opportunity to play increases, especially when encouraged by an interested adult. Encouragement to interact and play promotes positive self image. By now most babies have learned all the basic and distinct sounds of their native language. Babies of this age will also: reach out for things and grasp them, sleep in a favourite position, get their first teeth, laugh and squeal, shows pleasure and displeasure through sounds, looks carefully at things they see, recognises carer best may be afraid of others. 7 months- they can sit without support, reach for objects with a sweeping motion and imitate speech sounds. Babies of this age are aware of their emotions or feelings and start to realise that others have emotional responses linked to their interactions; they also begin to develop their understanding that they exist separate to others. 8 months- babies of this age can say â€Å"dada† and â€Å"mama† to both parents (they aren’t specific), begin to crawl and pass objects from hand to hand. Words begin to have some meaning and they form a clear image that those around them are important. 9 months- babies learn hand eye co-ordination to pick up small objects. They handle objects with enthusiasm e.g. passing from one hand to the other. Develops early pincer grip. Babies of this age should be able to combine syllables into word like sounds, stand while holding onto something, sit unsupported for up to a minute, imitate sounds, watch others, feed self, hold bottle, be shy with strangers, smile at own face, and respond to own name. Babies communication becomes increasingly intentional, they may show object as a way to communicate which paves the way for pointing. They begin to understand familiar names of people and objects, and babbling is in longer strings (â€Å"bababa mamama†) 10 months- babies begin to respond to simple commands such as â€Å"up you come†. They are able to wave goodbye, pick things up with developed pincer grasp, crawl well, and cruise. Babies of this age can tell the difference between their own regional accent and foreign ones, and understands her name. 11 months- can say â€Å"dada† and â€Å"mama† to the right parent (is specific), plays patty-cake, stands alone for a couple of seconds, can climb upstairs, can scribble with crayons. At this age babies will begin to speak in â€Å"gibberish† while making a few clear sounds. It is at this age that social skills advance. Imitation also starts, where they love to copy but they learn through doing so. 12 months- at this age babies become more capable of doing things themselves, being independent and more open to things around them. They pick up small objects e.g. crumbs with a confident pincer grip; they use both hands freely but may show preference for one. Children are now aware of themselves as people in their own right. Sometimes this is shown in negative ways of strong will e.g. throwing a tantrum to get required attention. Their first words are linked to familiar things e.g. ‘daddy’, ‘car’. Babies will begin to imitate others activities, jabber word like sounds, indicate wants with gestures. The birth weight will have tripled by this age, and most will have grown a total of around 10 inches in length since birth. Most babies are able to: sit steady for 10 minutes, pull self to a standing position, crawl on hands and knees, understand â€Å"no no†, says two words, become more confident with strangers, show emotions e.g. affection, likes to be with adults, cooperates in dressing, and turns pages in books. First single words are spoken in a child’s version e.g. â€Å"du† for duck. Will understand names of people and objects in a normal context. Will begin to shake head for â€Å"no† and try to â€Å"sing† to music.

Research Proposal: An evaluation of risk management and corporate strategy in low budget airlines. A case study of EasyJet.

Abstract This research paper will be looking at the risk management and corporate strategy approaches taken by low budget airlines and, in particular, by EasyJet. As part of the background analysis, literature in this area will be drawn upon to identify background information that will shape the research aims and questions, as well as identifying the research methodology and timescales that are going to be applicable. Background Introduction In order to gain a background understanding, this section will look at the general strategy and corporate issues experienced by the low budget airlines, before then going on to examine the risk management and corporate strategy that is used, especially by the likes of EasyJet. Consideration will be given as to how this strategy can then be evaluated as, although delineating the actual way in which the strategy operates. Once this has been achieved there is the need to verify whether or not this strategy has bee successful and how exactly success should be defined in this context. During this research proposal one issue that needs to be delineated is why EasyJet is being looked at as a case study and why this is being done after the theoretical background has been looked at. It is contended here that choices of business strategy are theoretical and need to be understood generically before then looking at how this choice plays out in the ‘real world’ through the use of Ea syJet. Understanding the choice of strategy is just one stage of the proposal, with the main value being added by the ability to evaluate the strategy in the context of the industry and to look at ways in which the strategy could be improved or altered, in order to achieve sustainable success, in the future. For this reason, the background literature review and current understanding has been looked at here before setting out the structure for the research paper in more detail. . Literature Review 2.1The Concept of Budget Airline Strategies as Background Understanding  The UK airline industry has, as an industry, gathered considerable pace in recent years, with the number of passengers flying in the last decade increasing to a point whereby it is becoming part of day to day life, rather than an activity that is reserved for the wealthy, perhaps once a year for their annual holiday. According to the CAA Statistics there are approximately 126 million air journeys made a year from the UK This general change in the demographic of those relying on these airlines is such that it has fundamentally changed the budget airline industry. In particular, one of changes is theappearance of budget airlines, such as Ryanair and EasyJet, as well as the growth within the regional airports across the country, again supporting greater access for all. Prior to the growth of the low cost airline industry, commercial flying was something that was reserved for those in a much more financially stable situation, yet the marketing and branding of the budget industry has enc ouraged a much broader range of appeal. There is a question as to which way round this has occurred and as such this will need to be explored during the wider paper. The industry as a whole hit a particular difficulty in 2001, where the trade centre attacks meant that a variety of airlines no longer had the same appeal and a number of airlines went into liquidation (IAA, 2011)Despite this, there has been an increasing pressure on the airline industry from the low cost arena, with more and more people viewing airlines such as EasyJet and Ryanair as a viable travel option, thus attracting a broad range of individuals who will now consider, particularly local and short haul travel, as a means of enjoying cheap holidays, on a regular basis (Gross and Schroeder, 2007) . The budget airlines operate with adifferent strategy from the more traditional commercial airlines in the industry, and are thus able to make cost savings that can then be passed on to the customer base. A considerable amount of literature such as that by Doganis in 2001 has been established to look at the ways in which the low cost airlines have set themselves apart and have changed the airline industry. One of the leading arguments that is presented as part of this background research is that of Porter’s Five Forces model, in 1981, provides a conceptal tool which suggests that a company will look at the five forces on the industry as a means of creating and establishing their own strategy. These five forces are : the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, the threat of potential new entrants, the threat of substitute products and the rivalry within the industry. lThis strategic argument has also been presented by Brandenburger and Nalebuff 1995 t hat indicates game theory is used to support the success of the airline industry. ,This will be explored in considerably more detail in the research itself; however, it provides an important starting point for the discussion here and will form a key part of the ongoing analysis.Corporate Strategy employed by EasyJetEasyJet is being used as a case study in this scenario. Therefore, consideration will be given as to how the specific corporate strategy as indicated by Porter’s model, has worked within the company itself and how this can then be evaluated and the risks associated with the strategy managed, appropriately. As noted by Porter in 1996 (p.62), it was stated that: â€Å"A company can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that can preserve. It must deliver greater value to customers or create comparable value at lower cost or do both†. It is this approach that is used as the fundamental strategy which has been established by EasyJet (Wright 1 987). Porter, as a result of his analysis, created three generic strategies, one of which is relevant here, namely that of cost leadership. In this case, the aim is to be the lowest cost supplier and to achieve profitability based on having a strong price cost margin (Dobson, Starkey and Richards, 2004). This is an extension of the understanding established initially by Porter in 1985, where he stated at p.13 â€Å"Low-cost producers often sell a standard, or no-frills, products and place considerable emphasis on reaping scale or absolute cost advantages from all sources†. Although the discussions here were aimed at those that generically follow these strategies, they are clearly very relevant to the way in which EasyJet has formulated itself. Moreover, for this type of cost leadership strategy, it is suggested that there is a need to be offering roughly the same product as the competitors, but to do so in a way that is cheaper, thus identifying the key element of the produ ct or service that simply must be provided and to remove the frills that are perceived to be unnecessary, in order to attract the appropriate market share. Within the airline industry, it could be argued that an actual airline seat which goes from A to B is a standard commodity and that a seat will be booked in order to allow an individual to travel from one place to another and that aside from this, no substantial differentiation is necessary for the majority of the public. Of course, there are those who might desire more leg room, better food, faster check in, etc., but on the whole, this is a standard commodity which lends itself to an idea that cost leadership can be achieved and is a approach potentially taken by budget airlines such as EasyJet. EasyJet, for example, has looked at the various ways in which it can save costs, such as the cost of landing at central airports, the cost of providing meals to everyone, the cost of check in staff at the airport, all of which has been eliminated as part of its strategy. For instance, by encouraging online check in and allowing all customers to book online and to manage their booking entirely online, this reduces the number of staff required within the airport. Furthermore, the airline typically utilises regional airports, as they charge less than central airports and this then allows the company to provide cheaper flights to the region. This will, of course, reduce the number of people who are willing to travel to that region, as some will place a premium on a direct flight to the centre of the city but, in many cases, an alternative airport within a few miles will be acceptable and is a great way of achieving a cheaper flight. This will also be the approach when providing the fligh t element of cheap package holidays.Concept of Risk Management within the Budget AirlinesBased on this strategy, there are clear needs to look at risk management as a means of maintaining the strategy. When following a cost leadership approach, there is the need to consider that competitors may simply innovate to copy and to be able to do the same, so that companies such as EasyJet need to ensure that they stay ahead of the game and are constantly looking towards improving their position and cost savings and therefore gathering greater market shares. Other risks are generic to the industry, as a whole, such as terrorism or global economic decline; however, the focus of this paper is on the way in which EasyJet deals with the risks that set it apart from the others and the way that this company uses its own strategy to manage the risks that may be present. For example, if there is operational pressure, or there are fewer people looking to travel, EasyJet can look towards the notion of providing greater technological efficiencies or offering its customers to groups of the market share that may improve its position. Risk management is therefore, in this case, about creating a level of dynamism that allows the company to remain ahead of the competition and to further its own competitive strategy, in this case, cost leadership. Generic Industry Background In order to understand the role of EasyJet it is necessary to briefly understand the generic industry situation. The actual notion of a low cost airline can be seen to have emanated in the 1970s, when Southwest Airlines established itself as a cut price airline providing a very basic but nevertheless acceptable service to American internal travellers. It aimed to appeal to those who were interested in price, rather than convenience, comfort or timeframe; it was often aimed at the student market and was referred to by many as the ‘Hippie’ Airline. From this point, several longer haul efforts emerged, but never fully gathered speed in comparison to the short haul equivalents, arguably due to their inability to differentiate themselves across the markets (Porter, 1980). That said, from the late 1990s through to the current day, several short haul no frills airlines have gained considerable success. Others have failed such as Zoom, in 2008, whic h suffered from problems associated with higher costs, most notably in the area of fuel. (Zoom, 2014) Despite certain differences pursued by the various carriers, on the whole, they pursued the approach of having uniform airplanes that reduced purchase and maintenance costs, as well as sticking to those airplanes that have minimal operations requirements and can therefore retain a low level of costs. Other operational benefits are gained through the use of requiring personnel to undertake multiple roles and to ensure that there are less people required to service customer needs, both on the ground and in the air. Whilst this may somewhat reduce the efficiency and the quality of service provided, on balance, it provides a basic service at a cheap price. Certain principles are seemingly consistent across the low cost airline industry, such as the use of secondary airports which are cheaper, the removal of non essential features, the imposition of charges for any added extras, e.g. additional baggage handling, so that individuals can simply pay more for what they actually require or wan t as added extras. The primary example of this is the removal of inflight meals as standard, thus allowing flyers to purchase what they wish, if indeed they wish to purchase food at all. Again, this reduces automatic costs and also offers opportunities for added revenue to be generated through the sale of snacks. These basic principles are common across the entire industry, although certain aspects have been more readily pursued by EasyJet and will form the focus of the main discussions.Research Aim and Research Question The overall research aim is to evaluate risk management and corporate strategy in low budget airlines using Easyjet as a case study.The research will analyse the working methods of the budget airline industry and to consider its overall and generic corporate strategy and positioning as an industry, as well as to look at individual examples within the industry, such as Easyjet. The research objectives are as follows: To gain an understanding of the ethos of the no frills airline industry, as a whole, considering strategies and approaches that are being accepted as the norm within the budget airline industry. A specific consideration of the risks facing low budget airlinesTo evaluate risk management and growth strategies across the industry and identify how these can then be mitigated in the long run. To evaluate the processes and strategies operating within EasyJet . By following this approach, the aim is to look at the industry, as a whole, but then to use the knowledge gained as a means of evaluating the current approach and looking to the future for both EasyJet and others within the same industry. Recognising this will enable a rounded and directed discussion for the management team of both EasyJet and other similar airlines.Research Methodology The research methodology for the paper is considered to be important for the purposes of identifying how the overall aim of evaluating the strategies and risk management available to low budget airlines and, in particular, EasyJet can be acheived. Firstly, it is considered to be necessary to undertake a deductive approach to the literature review, whereby the basic theory of the no frills airline is taken and then explored and observed. For example, there are accepted principles which are part of the no frills airline as a generic cost leadership strategy. Therefore, by taking the essence of the cost leadership strategy and then observing the industry in light of this, it is then possible to create a further theory as to the success of the industry and, more specifically, EasyJet. At this point, it is then necessary to take an inductive reasoning approach and to use observations as a means of developing a further theory of how these approaches can be evaluated and how these can then be better dealt with, in the future, for both EasyJet and the industry, as a whole. With this in mind, there is a shift in reasoning that needs to be clearly delineated in the structure of the research paper and will be looked at in these sections, below. Introduction and Industry Background – this will form the backbone of the deductive reasoning and will take the accepted theories of the no frills airline, with the strategy that is considered to be appropriate for this industry, most notably the cost differentiation, as noted in the introductory section above. Literature Review – this will need to transcend both aspects and will involve a detailed secondary analysis of existing understanding, including the need to look at general strategies that can be employed within the commercial arena. This will then need to be applied more rigorously to the case of the budget airline and how the generic strategies work within the budget airline industry. It will also look to identify specific areas of failure and to use a more deductive reasoning to establish a new theory of how the industry can now evolve. Case Study – these theories will then need to be tested by using a case study as a further form of secondary research, which is then capable of testing the theories raised and also developing them further, with specific examples in mind. A case study is seen to be the most appropriate means of achieving this, due to the need to take theories, test them and then potentially create new theories as to how this matter can be progressed. Analysis and Evaluation – This will then pull together the various aspects of the research, to create an overall evaluation and an ongoing theory that can be used including, recommendations for the future for EasyJet as to how it can use its own strengths to create a new strategy or approach, as well as being able to evaluate its existing approach. This research methodology, which relies entirely on secondary research, may be seen to be limited, due to the lack of primary research; however, it is felt to be appropriate in this case, due to the need to gather such a broad range of opinions, if primary research were to be relied upon. With this in mind and the specific thought that consumers are likely to have in relation to the industry, it was determined unhelpful to collate a large amount of primary research. Although there is a large amount of information available in the general domain, this is not in itself going to provide sufficient depth of understanding and therefore additional databases are going to be required, in order to add the necessary value to the discussion. Economic and financial journals may also prove useful in this regard, as they are readily available in the University library and will provide the background theoretical understanding. The starting points for the references and resources to be used are contained below; however, it is anticipated that this will be increased dramatically, over the course of the first two stages of the research and, in particular, during the literature review.. Key words will include, budget, strategy, airlines and EasyJetTimescale The overall duration of this research is to take place over one academic year, consisting of ten months. This is also a large deciding factor in the determination not to rely on primary research, at all. There would need to be a large amount of primary research gathered and this simply would not be possible with the time frame allocated if a suitable level of reliabilty were to be obtained. The following time frame is to be followed, with a degree of flexibility allowed in order to ensure that all aspects of the research are completed diligently. Month 1 – set out the research question, consider the available literature as well as the access to case study information and delineate any possible limitations that may arise in terms of information available. Months 1 – 2 – establish the introduction and industry background, looking solely at literature relating to the generic theories of business development, as well as the theory of the no frills airline. Months 3 – 4 – undertake case study analysis of EasyJet, which will require detailed information to be gathered from the company, from the commentary relating to the company and from any other source that could offer guidance as to how the company has been successful or, indeed, where the company has failed. Months 5 – 6 – analyse case study, in light of the literature review and evaluation structure set, going forward. A key component of this research is to evaluate the strategy being employed and to evaluate the way that the company may manage its risk. With this in mind, the evaluation process should be considered over a long period of time and with sufficient depth, revisiting issues, if required. Months 7 – 8 – pull together all the research and revisit any areas that seem lacking or where additional questions have been raised; most notably, ensuring that the aims and objectives are fully established and any gaps have been dealt with or, at the very least identified, so as to form part of the limitations and future research statements in the end report. Months 9 – 10 – review and present findings, undertake any other final areas of research that may be required and ensure that the findings of the research paper are presented fully. Any further areas of research will be identified at this stage and laid out for future use by others. Any limitations of the research will also be established.Resources RequiredThe primary research is not being undertaken due to the required timeframe. For the analysis itself, there is a need to have access to a variety of literature data bases, including the standard academic databases and industry information relevant to the airline industry. It has been identified that sources such as Euromonitor may provide a particularly useful insight into the industry itself, but are paid for databases. However, there are certain databases that may present industry information and are provided to the University which need to be looked at, in more detail. Specific databases that are appropriate include : Datastream EconLit JSTOR Datamonitor Conclusions and Next Steps In summary, therefore, the aim is to evaluate the strategies used by the no frills industry, with particular reference to EasyJet. In this context, the next step is to undertake a reasonable amount of background reading, to ascertain the areas that are then going to be pursued as part of the literature review. The main initial stage will be to look at the various aspects of the corporate strategy and to split the areas of reading and literature into sub headings. This will then be pursued when looking at the EasyJet case study; therefore, it is necessary to establish these strands of the argument and the support for this argument, from the outset. Establishing the main aims, strands of analysis and the way in which the findings will be presented will all be part of this initial fact finding and preparatory stage. References –  Brandenburger A.M. & Nalebuff B.J. (1995), â€Å"The Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy†, Harvard Business Review, July-August pp 57 – 71 Calder, S. (2003), No Frills: The Truth Behind the Low-Cost Revolution in the Skies, UK: Virgin Books CAA Statistics (2006) http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airline_data/2006Annual/Table_0_1_6_All_Services_2006.pdf Doganis, R. (2001), The airlines business in the 21st century, London: Routledge Galbraith, C. & Schendel, D. (1983), â€Å"An Empirical Analysis or Strategy Types†, Strategic Management Journal, 4:2 153 – 173 Gross, S and Schroeder, A. (Eds.) (2007) Handbook of Low Cost Airlines – Strategies, Business Processes and Market Environment, Berlin. Hill, C.W.L. (1988), â€Å"Differentiation Versus Low Cost or Differentiation and Low Cost: A Contingency Framework†, Academy of Management Review 13:3 pp 401 – 412 IATA (2011) The Impact of September 11th http://www.iata.org/pressroom/documents/impact-9-11-aviation.pdf Miller, D. (1988), â€Å"Relating Porter’s Business Strategies to Environment and Structure: Analysis and Performance Implications†, Academy of Management Journal 31:2 pp 280 – 308 Mintzberg, H. (1978), â€Å"Patterns in Strategy Formation†, Management Studies 24:9 pp 934 – 948 Mintzberg, H., Quinn, J.B. & Ghoshal, S. (1995), The Strategy Process, UK: Prentice Hall Murray, A.I. (1988), â€Å"A Contingency View of Porter’s â€Å"Generic Strategies†Ã¢â‚¬ , Academy of Management Review 13:3 pp 390 – 400 Porter, M.E. (1985), Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, New York: The Free Press Porter, M.E. (1980), Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors, New York: The Free Press Stabell, C.B. & Fjeldstad, O.D. (1998), â€Å"Configuring Value for Competitive Advantage: On Chains, Shops, and Networks†, Strategic Management Journal 19:5 pp 413 – 437 Treacy, M. & Wirsema, F. (1993) â€Å"Customer Intimacy & Other Value Disciplines’, Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb pp 84 – 93 White, R.E. (1986), â€Å"Generic Business Strategies, Organizational Context and Performance: An Empirical Investigation†, Strategic Management Journal 7:3 pp 217 – 231 Wright, P. (1987), â€Å"A Refinement of Porter’s Strategies, Strategic Management Journal 8:1 pp 93 – 101 Zoom (2014) Zoom – Bankruptcy Filed in 2008 Retrieved from http://www.flyzoom.com/

Buddhist Views on War

Buddhist Views on War To Buddhists, war is akusala- unskillful, evil. Yet Buddhists sometimes fight in wars. Is war always wrong? Is there such a thing as a just war theory in Buddhism? Buddhists at War Buddhist scholars say there is no justification for war in Buddhist teaching. Yet Buddhism has not always separated itself from war. There is historical documentation that in 621 CE monks from the Shaolin Temple of China fought in a battle that helped establish the Tang Dynasty. In centuries past, the heads of Tibetan Buddhist schools formed strategic alliances with Mongol warlords and reaped benefits from the warlords victories.​ The links between Zen Buddhism and samurai warrior culture were partly responsible for the shocking collusion of Zen and Japanese militarism in the 1930s and 1940s. For several years, a virulent jingoism seized Japanese Zen, and teachings were twisted and corrupted to excuse killing. Zen institutions not only supported Japanese military aggression but raised money to manufacture war planes and weapons. Observed from a distance of time and culture, these actions and ideas are inexcusable corruptions of dharma, and any just war theory that arose from them were the products of delusion. This episode serves as a lesson to us not to be swept up in the passions of the cultures we live in. Of course, in volatile times that is easier said than done. In recent years, Buddhist monks have been leaders of political and social activism in Asia. The Saffron Revolution in Burma and the March 2008 demonstrations in Tibet  are the most prominent examples. Most of these monks are committed to nonviolence, although there are always exceptions. More troubling are the monks of Sri Lanka who lead the Jathika Hela Urumaya, National Heritage Party, a strongly nationalist group that advocates a military solution to Sri Lankas ongoing civil war. Is War Always Wrong? Buddhism challenges us to look beyond a simple right/wrong dichotomy. In Buddhism, an act that sows the seeds of harmful karma is regrettable even if it unavoidable. Sometimes Buddhists fight to defend their nations, homes, and families. This cannot be seen as wrong, yet even in these circumstances, to harbor hate for ones enemies is still a poison. And any act of war that sows the seeds of future harmful karma is still akusala. Buddhist morality is based on principles, not rules. Our principles are those expressed in the Precepts and the Four Immeasurables- loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. Our principles also include kindness, gentleness, mercy, and tolerance. Even the most extreme circumstances do not erase those principles or make it righteous or good to violate them. Yet neither is it good or righteous to stand aside while innocent people are slaughtered. And the late Ven. Dr. K Sri Dhammananda, a Theravadin monk  and scholar, said, The Buddha did not teach His followers to surrender to any form of evil power be it a human or supernatural being. To Fight or Not to Fight In What Buddhist Believe, the Venerable Dhammananda wrote, Buddhists should not be the aggressors even in protecting their religion or anything else. They must try their best to avoid any kind of violent act. Sometimes they may be forced to go to war by others who do not respect the concept of the brotherhood of humans as taught by the Buddha. They may be called upon to defend their country from external aggression, and as long as they have not renounced the worldly life, they are duty-bound to join in the struggle for peace and freedom. Under these circumstances, they cannot be blamed for becoming soldiers or being involved in defence. However, if everyone were to follow the advice of the Buddha, there would be no reason for war to take place in this world. It is the duty of every cultured person to find all possible ways and means to settle disputes in a peaceful manner, without declaring war to kill his or her fellow human beings. As always in questions of morality, when choosing whether to fight or not to fight, a Buddhist must examine his own motivations honestly. It is too easy to rationalize one has pure motives when in fact one is fearful and angry. For most of us, self-honesty at this level takes extraordinary effort and maturity, and history tells us that even senior priests with years of practice can lie to themselves. Love Your Enemy We are called upon also to extend loving kindness and compassion to our enemies, even when facing them on a battlefield. Thats not possible, you may say, yet this is the Buddhist path.   People sometimes seem to think that one is obligated to hate ones enemies. They may say How can you speak well of someone who hates you? The Buddhist approach to this is that we can still choose not to hate people back. If you have to fight someone, then fight. But hate is optional, and you may choose otherwise.   So often in human history, war has sewn seeds that ripened into the next war. And often, the battles themselves were less responsible for evil karma than the way occupying armies treated civilians or the way the victor humiliated and oppressed the conquered. At the very least, when it is time to stop fighting, stop fighting. History shows us that the victor who treats the conquered with magnanimity, mercy, and leniency is more likely to achieve the lasting victory and eventual peace. Buddhists in the Military Today there are more than 3,000 Buddhists serving in the U.S. armed forces, including some Buddhist chaplains. Todays Buddhist soldiers and sailors are not the first in the U.S. military. During World War II, approximately half of the troops in Japanese-American units, such as the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Infantry, were Buddhists. In the Spring 2008 issue of Tricycle, Travis Duncan wrote of the Vast Refuge Dharma Hall Chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy. There are 26 cadets currently at the academy who practice Buddhism. At the dedication of the chapel, the Reverend Dai En Wiley Burch of the Hollow Bones Rinzai Zen school said, Without compassion, war is a criminal activity. Sometimes it is necessary to take life, but we never take life for granted.

The Adjective is Immune

The Adjective is Immune The Adjective is â€Å"Immune† The Adjective is â€Å"Immune† By Maeve Maddox I recently saw the word â€Å"immuned† used as an adjective in place of immune. A web search shows that this nonstandard use is proliferating. Am I Immuned to Herpes Muslims immuned from swine flu symptoms Breast cancer awareness month 2009: Men are not immuned How can I be immuned to getting strep? My husband is in the hospital, he does drugs, lowered immuned system,? Merriam-Webster provides an entry for â€Å"immuned† as an adjective, with the notation â€Å"used chiefly of domestic animals† It does not, however, have an entry for a verb that might have produced the form â€Å"immuned.† So far the unfortunate coinage has not found its way into the pages of the OED. The adjective immune is a back formation of the noun immunity. immunity (late 14th century): a legal term meaning â€Å"exempt from service or obligation† immune (mid-15th century): a legal term meaning â€Å"free; exempt.† The verb to immunize and the noun immunization came into the language along with the improved medical technique in the 19th century. immunize:   To make (an organism) immune to a pathogen, disease, or antigen; esp. to administer a vaccine, antiserum, antigen, etc. immunization:   Med. (and Biol.). The production of immunity in an organism; esp. inoculation or vaccination against a disease. Also: the administration of a vaccine, antiserum, antigen, etc When immune is used in the sense of â€Å"exempt,† the particle from follows it: Health-Care Shocker† Shows Nobody is Immune from Insurance Company Abuses Security Contractors Immune from Torture Charges, Judges Rule When the sense is â€Å"not receptive to,† the particle is to: Old People May Be Immune to Swine Flu Strange Creature Immune to Pain Macs no longer immune to viruses, experts say Bottom line: if your goal is to speak or write a standard form of English, you must abjure the use of â€Å"immuned.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of Adjectives36 Poetry TermsWhat’s the Best Way to Refer to a Romantic Partner?

A Brief Look At Feminism English Literature Essay

A Brief Look At Feminism English Literature Essay Feminism is used as a point of reference to make sense of the marginalization of women. Feminism offers an explanation of the political, economic and social situations of women and it puts forward an explanation of their history with oppression. Feminism in literature refers to the nature of the female experience in it. It involves the experiences of the character, the rational, institutional, imaginative capacity of an author and the experience implicit in the language of structure that interrogates the cultural prescriptions. Feminist Writings cover all aspects of writing for women, by women, and about women and the issues that concern them. This seems to be the primary concern of female fiction writers from feminist perspective. A feminist fiction is a work where language and imagery are employed to impart a new vision of reality to perceive reality from woman’s mind. Patriarchal societies favour men over women in matters of decision making, positions of authority, and own ership of property. Johnson (1997), a sociologist who taught at Hartford College for Women, describes patriarchy as: A society is patriarchal to the degree that it is male-dominated, male- identified, and male-centeredà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ it also involves as one of its key aspects the oppression of women. Patriarchy is male-dominated in that positions of authority-political, economic, legal, religious, educational, military, domestic-are generally reserved for men. Heads of states, corporate CEOs and Board members, religious leaders, school principals, members of Legislatures at all levels of government, senior law partners, tenured full professors, generals and admirals, and even those identified as ‘head of household’ all tend to be male under patriarchy. Men who occupy positions of authority are assumed to have attained those positions due to natural dominance. Patriarchy perpetuates male dominance. Throughout history male dominance has been asserted through a set of prac tices that has caused women to be seen as naturally subordinate to men. For example, in a patriarchal system women learn to see themselves from the standpoint of men. Li and Bolaria (1994) say that patriarchy is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a societal phenomenon marked by the domination of certain men over other men, all women and children. A system of ruling where power is exercised as domination over others and stems from the historical emergence of the oppression of women. (84). Li and Bolaria further suggest that because women see themselves from the standpoint of men, they begin to form an internalized view of themselves based on their association with men. This internalized view is the result of adopting patriarchal perspectives, which lead women undervaluing themselves. Generations of patriarchal conditioning are perpetuated as women are socialized to learn they are inferior to men. Betty Friedan says in Feminine Mystique, â€Å"The feminine mystique permits, even encourages, women to ig nore the question of their identity. The mystique says they can answer the question â€Å"Who am I?† by saying â€Å"Tom’s wifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Mary’s mother.† So a woman should possess her independent identity. Woman’s confidence to assert her independent identity without referring to husband or other persons and her efforts to live according to her own ideas and ideals is a goal of feminism.

Explore the different types of media domestication using Roger Essay

Explore the different types of media domestication using Roger Silverstone's media domestication theory - Essay Example It allows for analysis in its economic, social, and sociological concerns. The approach to media domestication is a consideration of the practical as well as the symbolic dimensions for the adoption while using the necessary technologies. It shows how the elements of meanings of different things coupled with their respective materiality, have equal importance in the understanding of how technologies form part of daily life. It remains a consideration of the social theory through highlighting the various negotiations, control and power challenges, rule breaking, and making accompanying any introduction for technologies for different social settings (Silverstone, 2005). Such a domestication approach endures roots within the social studies of media use even though this is well informed through gender studies of household technology, everyday life sociology, innovation and consumption studies, which are widely considered the study components of the mass adoption in mobile phones, internet, and computers. As part of the technological approach towards an understanding of how media technologies come to be, domestication theory highlights the importance of innovation users with the works done through individuals and communities through making technology do practical work outside the standard intentions within the community. This work strand links to the responsibility end and lead users (Bilandzic, Patriarche & Traudt, 2012). In innovation processes, the domestication studies create a general institution through the use qualitative methods while the ethnography and long interviews explore the importance emerging technologies meanings and changing routine s that are usually not accessible to quantitative techniques. The domestication approach applies different concepts in distinguishing different prospects for the process. For instance, the appropriations process includes bringing technologies into households and local social contexts. However, the lead domestication

Exception to the Right to Refuse Treatment Essay

Exception to the Right to Refuse Treatment - Essay Example This paper shall consider the exception to this right, more particularly in instances of emergencies when the patient poses a danger to himself or to others. It shall demonstrate how a health practitioner might justify a violation of the moral rule to treat a patient. It shall explain how such justification is determined and what the ethical implications are of such actions taken by the health professional. This paper is being undertaken with the hope of establishing a comprehensive and scholarly understanding of the subject matter, as well as its specific circumstances and applicability to patient situations and circumstances. Discussion The right to refuse treatment is not an absolute right. It may be restricted in emergency cases when the patient poses a danger to himself and others. This may often be seen among psychiatric or mentally ill patients and among suicidal patients who may enter stages of mental incapacity where they pose a danger to the public and to themselves (Kavale r and Spiegel, 2003). In these instances, the welfare of the public supersedes the right of the patient to refuse treatment. ... Normally, an incompetent person may not be considered capable of caring for himself and of providing for his needs; however, he may also be competent enough to understand the risks which some forms of treatment may pose on his health. In effect, although he is incompetent in some respects, he is still competent in some other purposes (Jeste and Friedman, 2006). It is therefore important to establish an incompetent person’s capacity to make treatment decisions before he can be allowed to refuse treatment. In most US states, the medical profession has recognized and acknowledged the fact that competent, but involuntarily committed individuals have the right to refuse treatment. The courts have even acknowledged the fact that mentally ill prisoners have the right and freedom to refuse unwanted antipsychotic drugs (Jeste and Friedman, 2006). Many states are still however very much divided on the issue of imposing procedural processes to protect such right. Some states have utilize d the decision-maker model which basically allows the medical professional to make the informal assessments of the patient’s competence (Jeste and Friedman, 2006). Others however, require the conduct of a formal hearing before a judge or other decision-makers. In these states, mental disorder and involuntary commitment are not sufficient elements to a determination of incompetence in making medical decisions (Jeste and Friedman, 2006). In which case, before a medical treatment is to be imposed on the patient, the judge must establish that the patient is not mentally capable of making treatment decisions, in other words, he cannot weigh the risks,

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 6

Research Paper Example This created a wave of fear among the other airlines. South west airline continued to top the list of best airlines in America. The success story does not end with these factors. South west airline followed its own corporate culture that imposed certain policies and regulations. The case study aims at exploring the problems faced by the airline. It analyzes and provides a better option to improve the existing situation of the organization. The company that has been serving the people was voted the best airline of the year many a times. This was due to the dedicated service and continuous improvement in all the departments of the organization. (Dess, 2009) The company had the capability to manage any sort of problem and could resolve immediately with the help of highly qualified and trained professionals. Since airline industry involves a lot of risks, Kellinger made sure that none of the problems were left unattended. This added to the company’s status in the market and from then there was no looking back. The company improved at a very fast pace, and it was the most preferred airline among the Americans. This in turn motivated the employees to work in a better manner to serve the customers. A company’s success and reputation is not only decided by its situation in market place. It is based on the company’s management plans and strategies that decide the place of the company in the market. Though the company has gone through various bad patches, it manages to place itself in the list of best airlines. It remains as the most profitable airline in the world. South west airline has faced many problems during the last few years. The fluctuation in the price of the fuel drastically affected the airline industry. (Hill, 2008) South west airline followed unique set of principles and strategies that help them during crisis. One among them is the idea of purchasing fuel well in advance and storing it for future

Manchesters Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership Essay

Manchesters Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership - Essay Example The objective of this paper is to assess the Manchester's CDRP 2005-2008 Strategy through mapping its objectives and current outcomes. This will require the study of the program's rationale, objectives, methods and results. In the course of this study, the research will be able to develop insights regarding the prevalence of crime in the area, its impact to the community and determine future needs regarding the issue. At the end of this assessment, the research will demonstrate understanding and knowledge of criminality in Manchester, provide analysis of the Manchester's 2005-2008 CDRP Strategy and evaluate the significance of "culture of control" to crime and related activities in the area. The significance of the role of society in criminal control has grown in significance in criminal justice systems due to its inclusion in the prevailing management programs for the concern. This view is supported by Garland (2001, pp. 44-48) in his emphasis of the correlation of social order and crime in contemporary societies. He sees in particular the growing directness of the relationship between control and crime which he characterizes as a "culture of control". ... Albert Bandura's (1975, pp. 57-59; 111-117) studies, considered as foundations of modern criminal behaviors studies, highlight the importance of the interactions of individuals and their respective environments. The suggestion is that as one's personality develops, his social experience creates the conditions for behavioral tendencies (Weisner et al, 2003, p. 321). As such, the Crime and Disorder Act has emphasized its perspective that the prevalence of crime or any disorderly behaviors can be then considered as a product of the individual personality traits and one's social experience. In the same manner, the Act has also recognized that deterring crime is dependent on the level of reinforcement socially learned behaviors are in an individual. In a study of juvenile crime behavior, researchers suggested that the focus on control rather than prevention deters the effectiveness of programs directed towards crime (Tarolla et al, 2002, pp. 17-18). Efforts are limited as management measures, reactive rather than responsive to crime issues. This leaves the issue of prevention at a disadvantage, a state which does not deter the impact of crime to society and contributes little to actual reduction of crime (Weisner et al, 2003, pp. 322-323). Management of interventions is then developed from the identification and matching of competencies of the offices involved in the program. Governance is done collectively subscribing to the requirements of Crime &Disorder Act provisions but also in recognition of the need to develop collective insights to crime issues and trends. To be able to create develop insights to crime control strategies there is a need to consider the

European Union Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

European Union Law - Essay Example The UK, having adopted the Directive, has remained silent on the issue of minimum wage while all other stipulations remain the same. Tom is an employee working as a nurse under a local organization by the name of Hoxon Council. Under his employment conditions, he is working an average of 50 hours per week after opting out of the 48 hours per week condition. His hourly wage is 6 pounds and he is entitled to 5 weeks annual paid leave. The overtime has led to deterioration in the health of Tom and even after filing a complaint with his superiors, he did not receive a positive response. This has led to certain implications for Tom which will be discussed within this paper. This paper would attempt to provide a solution for Tom with reference to the existing laws. Could Tom invoke the Directive against his employer? The Directive allows employees to file an appeal against the employer if the conditions of the Directive have not been met. This is done to aid the employees working within th e UK and to prevent too much power in the hands of the organizations (Hartley, 2007). Tom cannot invoke the Directive against the employer for the overtime that he is working. This is because he has willingly opted out of the 48 hour weekly limit by signing a contract with the organization. Since the Directive allows employees to willingly sign out of the agreement, it will not consider the issue of Tom working for 50 hours a week. But in the case of the minimum hourly wage, Tom can invoke the Directive against the employer. The European Union Law has more power over the national law in the case that lesser rights are provided to individuals. The same case is apparent in this issue. The Employee Rights Act as adopted by UK is silent on the issue of minimum wage. However, the Directive stipulates that the minimum hourly wage should not be less than 8 pounds. Tom is only being paid 6 pounds by his employer which is less than the minimum hourly wage. Thus Tom has the advantage of invok ing the Directive against the employee on the issue of the minimum hourly wage. Also in terms of the minimum annual paid leave, Tom can invoke the Directive against his employer. This is because right now he is getting 5 weeks annual paid leave according to the limit set by the Act but the Directive allows for 6 weeks annual paid leave. Here again the Directive has the power to forgo the Act and thus grant Tom 6 weeks annual paid leave. Since Tom is working overtime in order to make ends meet, the increase in hourly wage would positively impact his working conditions. He would not as a result suffer from the health conditions that he is suffering at this point of time. Would it be advisable for Tom to rely on the indirect effect of the Directive? The indirect effect of the Directive refers to the principle that national laws are under reinterpretation if they are inconsistent with the laws of the European Union. The indirect effect is thus a powerful tool that can be applied in orde r to bring about a change in the national laws to take into account the European Union Law. According to the ECJ ‘national courts are therefore under an obligation to interpret national legislation in accordance with the aims and purposes of the Directive’ (Owen, 2000). In this case, it would be advisable for Tom to rely on the indirect effect of the Directive. This is so because the indirect effect would allow him to file a valid case whereby the Employee Rights

Business plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business plan - Assignment Example Our company therefore aims to target this area by producing electrical power that will also fulfill the demands of future consumers. Production cost of solar energy is minimal once our project is operational. Our company will aim to benefit from the shortfall that exists in the area by producing clean electrical energy by the use of solar power. The rising prices of electricity are an additional benefit in terms of earnings for the company that is likely to make the project a huge success in a very short period of time. Reduced cost of production of electricity will also provide us a competitive advantage over the traditional producers of power, thereby making it possible to offer electricity at lowered prices than the current market rates. The society is well aware of the fact that solar energy is the safest form of energy since there is almost no pollution associated with the use of this form of energy. Due to this reason a high degree of acceptability is likely to result for our proposed project. This will reduce our cost for promotional activities (e.g advertising) that are otherwise required to grab the attention of users. Elevated acceptance of our project will definitely provide us an edge over our traditional competitors which we will use to establish our customer base. The previously used solar panels for energy production were efficient in the range of less than 25%. However, with the passage of time, the technology has advanced and now it has become possible to attain an efficiency of close to 50%. Our plan is to use the latest technology for our project which will increase productivity and will continue to serve the purpose for an extended period of time. Moreover, extra production means the ability to expand our market further. Keeping in view the fact that solar energy is green (clean), there is general consensus that the promotion of

European Union Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

European Union Law - Essay Example The UK, having adopted the Directive, has remained silent on the issue of minimum wage while all other stipulations remain the same. Tom is an employee working as a nurse under a local organization by the name of Hoxon Council. Under his employment conditions, he is working an average of 50 hours per week after opting out of the 48 hours per week condition. His hourly wage is 6 pounds and he is entitled to 5 weeks annual paid leave. The overtime has led to deterioration in the health of Tom and even after filing a complaint with his superiors, he did not receive a positive response. This has led to certain implications for Tom which will be discussed within this paper. This paper would attempt to provide a solution for Tom with reference to the existing laws. Could Tom invoke the Directive against his employer? The Directive allows employees to file an appeal against the employer if the conditions of the Directive have not been met. This is done to aid the employees working within th e UK and to prevent too much power in the hands of the organizations (Hartley, 2007). Tom cannot invoke the Directive against the employer for the overtime that he is working. This is because he has willingly opted out of the 48 hour weekly limit by signing a contract with the organization. Since the Directive allows employees to willingly sign out of the agreement, it will not consider the issue of Tom working for 50 hours a week. But in the case of the minimum hourly wage, Tom can invoke the Directive against the employer. The European Union Law has more power over the national law in the case that lesser rights are provided to individuals. The same case is apparent in this issue. The Employee Rights Act as adopted by UK is silent on the issue of minimum wage. However, the Directive stipulates that the minimum hourly wage should not be less than 8 pounds. Tom is only being paid 6 pounds by his employer which is less than the minimum hourly wage. Thus Tom has the advantage of invok ing the Directive against the employee on the issue of the minimum hourly wage. Also in terms of the minimum annual paid leave, Tom can invoke the Directive against his employer. This is because right now he is getting 5 weeks annual paid leave according to the limit set by the Act but the Directive allows for 6 weeks annual paid leave. Here again the Directive has the power to forgo the Act and thus grant Tom 6 weeks annual paid leave. Since Tom is working overtime in order to make ends meet, the increase in hourly wage would positively impact his working conditions. He would not as a result suffer from the health conditions that he is suffering at this point of time. Would it be advisable for Tom to rely on the indirect effect of the Directive? The indirect effect of the Directive refers to the principle that national laws are under reinterpretation if they are inconsistent with the laws of the European Union. The indirect effect is thus a powerful tool that can be applied in orde r to bring about a change in the national laws to take into account the European Union Law. According to the ECJ ‘national courts are therefore under an obligation to interpret national legislation in accordance with the aims and purposes of the Directive’ (Owen, 2000). In this case, it would be advisable for Tom to rely on the indirect effect of the Directive. This is so because the indirect effect would allow him to file a valid case whereby the Employee Rights

Paternalism Essay Essay Example for Free

Paternalism Essay Essay The debate over state interference in personal liberties has been a reoccurring concern since the beginning of the first types of democracies. In John Stuart Mills, On Liberty, Mill addresses the need for little state intervention in order to respect personal liberty and autonomy. In his essay, Mill stresses the importance of the individual and the need for government not to restrain these liberties through paternalistic means. With his firm stance of his Harm Principle, devotion to utilitarianism, and analysis of liberties of thought and action, Mill confidently stresses that state paternalism is never justified. In this paper, I will argue, through Mills Harm Principle that the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. I will emphasize the idea that one is sovereign and the government need not interfere for liberty consists in doing what one desires, so long as it does not infringe on the liberties of others. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign. Mills defense against paternalism lies primarily on the concept that individuals have a better idea of what is good for them than the government or any one else for that matter. While arguing his case, he ensures that these individuals involved are coherent, educated, and well-informed adults. Before further indulging into Mills argument against paternalism, one may wonder what exactly paternalism is. Websters Dictionary describes paternalism as a policy or practice of treating or governing people in a fatherly manner, especially by providing for their needs without giving them rights or responsibilities. To continue further, paternalism is the interference of a state or an individual against the will of another. This interference is justified by claiming what they did is to protect that person from harm. For example, seat belt laws are a form of paternalism. As of May 1st, 2000 New Jersey statute declared that one must wear a seat belt, whereas if one is not wearing a seat belt they will be summoned. Former Governor Whitman signed the statute into effect based on statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The statistics showed that New Jersey could  save forty-seven lives and have fifteen hundred fewer serious injuries a year. In this case, the government of New Jersey is telling the state that everyone must wear a seat belt. Yet, what about those who ride their vehicle into a body of water and cannot get their set belt off; they may end up drowning and death may arise. In this case, the seat belt law is not helpful. Recently, research in Britain shows that British citizens wear seat belts not because they are told to, but because they fear the damage that may result from a car collision. So, is such a law necessary to tell people what to do? A line needs to be drawn with these sorts of regulations and interferences. People know what is morally wrong and right, and personal liberty decisions need to be left autonomous. Mill, as an anti-paternalist argues interference is wrong. Mill indicates that liberty consists in doing what one desires, and he does not desire to fall into the river. He refers to an incidence where an official sees a person about to cross a bridge which has been declared unsafe. Mill supposes that the official has no time to warn the person of the danger of crossing the bridge. At this point, the person is seized and no real infringements of liberty were asserted on the person. This is where Mill would draw the line of paternalism. In this case, it was necessary for the person to be stopped, if not, he may have been killed unwillfully. So, where does Mill urge that interference is wrongful? Mill supposes that if one knows he is in danger, he ought to be only warned of the danger; not forcibly prevented from exposing himself to it. Therefore, if someone knows the dangers of crossing the bridge, he should be left to make his own decision. I would compare this to the sale of tobacco. As a matter of fact, the danger of smoking is stamped across the side of the box. It states, Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health. Just as someone is left to make his own decision to cross the bridge, as is the decision left to the person to smoke tobacco or not. Yet, if the government were to prohibit tobacco sales, they would be parenting society. Mill urges this not to be done and the decision should be left to oneself. Mill draws a different line of paternalism regarding alcohol in respect to  drunkenness. He thinks that alcohol should not be prohibited, yet if someone is known for acting violent when drunk, he himself should be restricted. At this point, one is infringing anothers liberties and he should be stopped. For example, if a man is know to abuse his wife when drunk, then he should be punished and restricted. On the other hand, John Doe, who goes to the local bar once a week, should not be punished because of another mans abusive tendencies when under the influence of alcohol. Today, this can be compared to drinking and driving. If one is intoxicated while driving, and is in an accident, then he will be severely punished, whereas his license may be suspended and other charges may be pressed against him. Yet, if a sober person is in an accident, he would have minimum reparations to pay, usually an insurance deductible and nothing more. Here, the government is stating they will tolerate drinking, so long as there are no effects on anyone else. The government laid down the law on what is to be done if the privilege of drinking is taken advantage of. It is quite similar to the warning label on cigarettes. Both examples allow people to engage in certain activities, and warnings are given. Everything is left up to the person engaging in the activity. There is limited paternalism, and this is what Mill shows to be acceptable. In On Liberty, Mill does a superb job in demonstrating what paternalism is, and he introduces a solution to the problem. In his bridge example, he lucidly states that there are clear-cut places where one can or cannot step in, especially when the liberties of others are at stake. In summation, if one knows of the consequences of his actions let him be without any interference. Yet, if one is ignorant to what may arise from a given situation one may interfere to protect that person from what he may not want to do. This is where the line should be drawn. Mill does conclude that any state interference would end up granting the state more power against the individual and limit the liberties of man. So, should a paternalistic structure dictate what society can and cannot do? This reoccurring problem is solved in On Liberty, and Mill does suggest that man has the intellectual capability to make personal decisions that are in  his own interest. Paternalistic interference is unnecessary. As Mill argued, The worth of a State is worth of the individuals composing it. Moreover, there are no cases when it is acceptable to force an individual to do something for his own good. His principle will never allow for paternalism. Mills principle dictates the freedom to conduct oneself as he sees fit, so long as all others are left unharmed. As he indicated, which I stand firmly by with my argument, liberty consists in doing what one desires, and [one] does not desire to fall into the river.

Spectrum Sensing and Spectrum Sensing Techniques

Spectrum Sensing and Spectrum Sensing Techniques Chapter 1.Introduction In recent years there has been an enormous growth in wireless communication devices and wireless users. The ever increasing demand for higher speed and reliability made researchers think about intelligent radios like Cognitive Radios (CR). But major amount of spectrum is available for licensed users. There are various communication bodies like the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) also European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) who works on standards of communication that defines the use of spectrum for licensed and unlicensed users. 1.1 Background Spectrum is a valuable resource in communication. Over the past few years as the use of various wireless technology is increasing rapidly so we either need more spectrum or make efficient use of current spectrum to satisfy their needs. One way of making efficient use of spectrum is employing spectrum sharing technique. There are many spectrum sharing techniques available like energy detection, cyclostationary feature detector, and matched filter. Of the above technique matched filter and cyclostationary gives more accurate result but they are bit complex and computationally harder as compared to energy detection technique. Energy detection is the simplest of above three and computationally less complex. 1.2 Motivation Survey has shown that at any given time only portion of spectrum is utilized. According to a report published by FCC (Federal Communications Commission America) in 2003 has set a set of rule for efficient use of spectrum for licensed and unlicensed users. Also OFCOM (Office of Communications United Kingdom) has noticed the underutilization of spectrum. At any given time only portion of spectrum is utilized. Even if the system says there are no frequencies available, there is still some frequency available. These available frequencies are known as spectrum holes or white spaces. Some of the bands are completely occupied by users while some bands go unutilized. And that is inefficient use of spectrum. We must have noticed that in cases of emergencies like the train bomb blast in July 2006 in Mumbai, India cellular network actually failed to support huge amount of customer at the same time, this was also the case during 9/11 in USA. If we were having cognitive radios at that time peop les would have been able to talk to their families and inform about their safety. As we are moving from 3G (Third generation) to 4G (Fourth Generation) we need to make certain changes in our wireless technologies. Below shown is the measurement of 0 GHz to 6 GHz at Berkley Wireless Research Center (BWRC). 1.3 Aim and Objective This thesis emphasises on understanding Cognitive radios, the importance of spectrum sensing for todays world, the issues regarding the same. A simplified Matlab code is used to support our thesis. As the thesis follows you will find more about cognitive radios and spectrum sensing with a technique to generate white space at a specific frequency. The main objective of the thesis is to do survey on spectrum sensing and spectrum sensing techniques. Then do plan a model for the same. A model can be supported by a Matlab code. And after all this we need to analyse the model we suggested and further improvements that can be done in that. 1.4 Thesis Organisation Our thesis is organised as follows: Chapter.2 Literature Review This chapter begins with a brief history about cognitive radios .Which is followed by a detail explanation of Cognitive radios and spectrum sensing and some of the spectrum sensing techniques used. At the end of this chapter a business model for spectrum sensing and multi resolution of CR is given. Chapter.3 System Description This chapter basically deals with sampling and its importance to us. Also you will find technique to get your spectrum at specific center frequency under â€Å"generation of White Spaces†. Chapter.4 Simulation/Design Analysis As the name suggests, this chapter deals with simulation model and detail explanation of the code used for spectrum sensing using energy detection. In this chapter we have shown the output of the simulation used. Chapter.6 Future Work This chapter suggests some of the future work to be done with this thesis which could be useful for further research in this field. Chapter.7 Conclusion This gives the concluding part of the thesis. Chapter 2 Literature Review In this chapter we are going to discuss about the cognitive radios, like what are they and why are they so important to us. The chapter begins with a short history of cognitive radios, which is followed by a general discussion on OFDM, some of the challenges faced by cognitive radios in real environment, and also some of the applications of cognitive radios. We have tried to explain spectrum sensing in brief and the techniques used for spectrum sensing in todays world. Finally a business model for spectrum sensing is showed which is preceded by multi-resolution of Cognitive radios. 2.1 History of cognitive radios Dr. Joseph Mitola III was the first to introduce or propose the theory of Cognitive radios in 1999. According to Dr. Joseph Mitola Cognitive radios will be the radios that are smart and intelligent enough to find the available bandwidth in a spectrum. It will also have knowledge of right information that has to be passed to the user. And user does not have to take some extra effort for that. It is supposed to do this automatically. He has also mentioned in his PhD dissertation that CR is natural extensions of software defined radios. In 2002 the FCC published a report prepared by Spectrum Policy Task Force [SPTF] which says that majority of spectrum is underutilized. And there is actually is not shortage of spectrum but rather we need to make efficient use of the current spectrum. Also in same year 2002 Professor Cave from UK presented a report which speaks of the possibility of selling bandwidth to the user depending on their requirement. But it would not be fair to give unlicensed user allow to use licensed spectrum. So in December 2002 FCC issued a Notice of Enquiry (NOI) to see TV channel bands can be made available to unlicensed users. Then in 2003 FCC forms a set of rules and proposed interference temperature model for keep track of interference. Later in the same year Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) tried to see into issues related to cognitive radio technology where it also pointed out Cognitive radios is a advanced technology which could help efficient use of spectrum by licensed users in own network and by sharing spectrum and with unlicensed users by negotiating when required. This encouraged many researchers in the field of cognitive radios. Major progress in cognitive radios took place in the year 2004, where FCC published NRPM which showed possibility of allowing secondary users to use licensed spectrum. FCC opened three bands for unlicensed users which are 6525 to 6700 MHz, 12.75 to 13.15 GHz and 13.2125-13.25 GHz. This allowed cognitive dev ices to transmit six times more. Also IEEE standards are working parallel to the FCCs. Spectrum pooling system by Professor Timo A Weiss from Karlsruhe University Germany), OFDM based Cognitive radios by professor Ian F Akyildiz et al from GIT (USA) are some of the promising works in Cognitive radios. there are many researches are done, many still going on in Europe, Asia, and America, exploring various aspects of cognitive radios. In Jan 2010 first call over a CR network was made in university of Oulu using CRAMNET (Cognitive Radio Assisted Mobile Ad Hoc Network). 2.2 Cognitive radio With the development of wireless communication devices and technologies in WLAN and WAN spectrum is becoming scarcer. Low frequency bands which are near few GHz are very scarce and highly congested. In current wireless system we are using fixed spectrum allocation scheme. In fixed spectrum allocation scheme a part of spectrum is owned by an operator. Unlicensed users are not allowed to use that spectrum. This leads to the problem of spectrum scarcity. Survey has shown that more than 50% of the spectrum is underutilized. This is where Cognitive Radio (CR) is comes into picture. CR is introduced to solve the problem of spectrum sharing. Cognitive Radios actually scans the spectrum and during scanning it looks for spectrum holes. The main objective of the cognitive radios is to look for opportunities or white spaces in spectrum band as quickly and as much as possible. And when we say opportunity, opportunity could be in time or frequency domain. Also when we locate this spectrum holes opportunistically we also need to vacant the occupied spectrum as soon as primary user comes back. Here primary user means the users whose spectrum we are using (licensed user) and secondary means the unlicensed users. Cognitive radio is a pattern for wireless communication technology in which either a network or a wireless node changes its transmission or reception parameters to communicate efficiently avoiding interference with licensed or unlicensed users. These altered parameters are associated with the active monitoring of several factors in the external and internal radio environment e.g. radio frequency spectrum, user behaviour. Cognitive radio can be said as next generation of software defined radio (SDR). They are flexible in terms of their transmission characteristics in terms of frequency, bandwidth, ISP which makes smart decisions to configure the SDR at any point in time to achieve a particular goal. By combining these two technologies makes a radio intelligent and flexible and which helps to adapt it to the variations in the environment, user requirements as per the other radio users. Adaptation to changes and requirements should lead to highly reliable communication whenever and wherever required, while making efficient use of spectrum. Good cognitive radio uses analysis done for long period to know about the environment and also his own behaviour. There are various parameters taken into account to decide transmission and reception changes, we can distinguish certain types of cognitive radio. The main two are as follow: Full Cognitive Radio : It is also known as Mitola radio in which every possible parameter which can be observed by a wireless node is taken into consideration to take decision Spectrum Sensing Cognitive Radio: It is the type in which only the radio frequency spectrum is considered. And Depending on the parts of the spectrum available for cognitive radio, we can distinguish as: Licensed Band Cognitive Radio: It is the type in which cognitive radio is capable of using bands assigned to licensed users, apart from unlicensed bands, such as U-NII band or ISM band. Unlicensed Band Cognitive Radio: This can only utilize unlicensed parts of radio frequency spectrum only or the bands which are free to use. 2.3 About OFDM OFDM stands for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing. It is generally a type of Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) rather a special case in FDM. What makes it special is its orthogonal behaviour. Now the word orthogonal basically means mutually independence. When we say A is orthogonal to B, we mean that A has no vector in direction of B and vice versa or in other words A and B is mutually independent. Or the integral of two signals over one period is 0. In OFDM a single signal is first multiplexed and modulated independently to create orthogonal signals. This means the signal is first divided into number of smaller streams and then modulated further before transmission. For example imagine a slicing of cheese and grilling or cheese. Slicing is like FDM where whole data is sent in a bunch and grilling is like OFDM where the data to be sent is first divided into smaller data and then processed to transmit further like OFDM. Figure shown below is one more way to understand the concept of OFDM. On the left hand side is a big container which carry whole bunch of data at one time and take it to the destination. And on right hand side is four smaller containers where each carry smaller portion of data and take it to the destination. These smaller containers can be assumed as sub-carriers. And in case of OFDM they are orthogonal sub-carriers. The main advantage over here is that even if some of the cheese is lost during grilling, still we have not lost all the cheese. In OFDM input data with high data rate is first passed thorough serial to parallel converter. This parallel divided data is then modulated on individually. And parallel to serial conversion is done before transmission. This parallel divided data is our sub-carriers. These sub-carriers must be orthogonal. 2.4 Cognition cycle Above figure shows the rough model of Cognition Cycle. It reads the surrounding environment and makes decision accordingly. When we say decision we mean cognitive radio sense the requirement or urgency that may be in terms of changing a channel or churning from one technology to another depending upon the scenario. There are different stages where it observes the environment, learns it and then plans its action make required decision and then execute its plans. It is much like a radio with a power of thinking which was not been able before. The figure below shows the cognitive radio architecture suggested by Dr. Mitola. 2.4.1 Some important terms 2.4.1.1Wireless Environment/Outside world- It refers to a communication environment that includes any communication devices and the frequency bands they are working in. 2.4.1.2 Spectrum sensing- It is the technique used by cognitive radios to sense the spectrum. This action involves finding availability of white spaces or spectrum holes in the spectrum. 2.4.1.3 Spectrum Management- It involves catching the best spectrum available so as to satisfy user communication requirements. Cognitive radios should decide on the best spectrum band so that it can meet the Quality of service required for all available frequency bands, therefore these functions are necessary for Cognitive radios. These management functions can be classified as: Spectrum analysis Spectrum decision Spectrum Mobility: It is defined as the process when a cognitive radio device exchanges its frequency of operation. Cognitive radio networks target to use the spectrum in a dynamic manner by allowing the radio terminals to operate in the best available frequency band, maintaining seamless communication requirements during the transition to better spectrum. Spectrum Sharing: providing the fair spectrum scheduling method. One of the major challenges in open spectrum usage is the spectrum sharing. It can be regarded to be similar to generic media access control MAC problems in existing systems 2.5Cognitive Radio Challenges Three main problems experienced by CR are as follows: Interference (Mainly because of Hidden Nodes). Security. Control. They are described as follows: 2.5.1 Interference and the Hidden Node Problem Ideally while designing a CR we should consider that it does not have any impact on existing radio users, but in practically some impact is expected. If a particular user have non-cognitive radios, it is essential to study and make a note that how they would be affected by the interference of CR, mainly with respect to sharing resources such as spectrum, time, space etc. CR adaptive nature could be difficult to predict and thus making it hard to control the behaviour of a CR which will concern for user who faces CR interference issue. In communication industry the main concern about CR is the hidden node problem. This scenario arises when a CR is not capable to detect an interference with any of non-cognitive radios within its range, not only because of CRs own spectrum sensing is ineffective but also due to some non-cognitive radios are hidden. For example, if a transmitting contemporary user is not in the range from the CR, its transmission power may not be strong enough at the CRs location, it may be reduce than the noise floor which makes it more difficult to get detected. As the CR might not be able to detect a transmission by a contemporary user and similarly unaware of availability of the receiving by a contemporary user. Consequently, if it is confirmed as safe to use the contemporary users frequency and CR starts transmitting, at the contemporary receiving end it will create interference. The CR may have a limited view of spectrum provided from wide spectrum measurements which may cause interference with the receiving user. The localised spectrum view denotes that a CR should be potential to find transmitting user those are communicating below the noise level, since the strength of the received signal is very weak at the CRs location. Similarly a situation can occur where the signal attenuate by distance, thus user transmission is blocked by obstacles such as buildings, towers, hills or mountains. For example consider a CR in a valley would have a limi ted picture of the surrounding radio environment, as compared to that if it were located on top of a hill. 2.5.2 Security Concerns CR may be vulnerable to malicious effect, resulting into unexpected or problematic behaviour of individual CRs or complete networks. This problem springs up from the potential to re-program CRs in an unauthorized way. Hacking or placing a vulnerable code, virus on a network might enable criminals to steal valuable information from a CR through electronically, fool a network operator into charging others for services or achieve potentially widespread denial-of-service. A considerable amount of regulatory work will require to be done to clarify who would be responsible for the various security areas of CR, software developers, manufacturers, network operators and CR users themselves may all have a role to play. The CR security issue is closely related to that of SDR, which already discussed and hence not repeated here. Instead, a brief summary of the issues is given. Downloading software updates over an air interface poses some specific problems for security. Several digital signatures will be required for each piece of downloaded software in order to meet likely regulatory requirements. Exactly who is necessary to authorize software downloads must be standardized before any large scale deployment of over-the-air updates can be realized. 2.5.3 Burden of Control and Regulatory challenges A CR in reality will have some effect on different spectrum users the compliance of these new radios is likely to focus on a Policy module defined within a CR, which will determine the boundaries of CR behaviour. It is important while studying CR; to consider how users would not be affected by interference from CR devices and the exact operation and nature of a proposed CR policy system must be understood carefully. It is likely to include a detail case study of the specifications and characteristics of all the contemporary users for a specific CR or complete network of CRs may share the resources. The effort in controlling CR devices, it is necessary to ensure their behaviour is properly or not, even in the case of faulty or tampered devices, that measures are quickly implemented to intense problems. This will involve policies and standards which are created in a universal digitally interpretable policy, so that all CRs can understand the same. Monitoring techniques and powerful alg orithms are required to enable detection and identification of bad CRs and in this way it provides traceability to find or determine who is responsible for the issue. In addition to these challenges, spectrum regulators and spectrum managers will require providing access to licensed spectrum in such a way that is traceable, transparent and highly dynamic. If CRs are allowed to cover international territory additional effort will be required, due to the necessity to provide and collaborate cooperation with other countries. Assuming that acceptable control of CR policy behaviour is technically possible and feasible, it may turn out to be such a great burden that it will be simply not economically viable and the benefits of CR are outweighed by this burden. 2.6 Important Applications for Cognitive Radio are Downloading of audio and video files on mobile handsets. This application requires moderate data rates and near-ubiquitous coverage. Emergency services communications: It requires interoperability and a moderate data rate with local coverage. Broadband wireless networking: Very high data rate required but CR users have option to accept limited coverage, e.g. hot spots. Multimedia wireless and sensor networking: Broad range of data rates may be required. 2.7 Spectrum Sensing Spectrum sensing is the process performing measurements on the part of spectrum and on the basis of measured data making a decision related spectrum usage. As the requirement and quantity of users is getting increased day by day, it is necessary for ISPs to have large amount of spectrum in order to achieve the QOS (Quality of Service). This leads the interest in unlicensed spectrum access and spectrum sensing is vital concept of this. In a situation where there are licensed user and any unlicensed exists, licensed user (primary user) is to be protected and no unlicensed user can interfere any licensed users operation and such cases Spectrum sensing is also useful to detect the existence or non existence of a primary user. Spectrum sensing is an important concept for exploring spectrum opportunities for the secondary spectrum usage in real-time. It detects the unused spectrum and shares it without any noticeable interference with other users. It is an important requirement of the Cogn itive Radio in order to sense spectrum holes. Detecting primary users is the most efficient way to detect spectrum holes. 2.8 Spectrum Sensing Techniques Available Spectrum sensing plays a vital role in cognitive radios. And the type of spectrum sensing techniques to choose more or less depends upon the spectrum sensing technique. A method such as energy detection proves to be one of the simplest of all, but it doesnt works well at low SNR, varying noise levels, fading. On the other hand technique such as Matched filters shows better performance, but they comes complex receiver design. We are going to discuss some of these techniques as we proceed further. 2.8.1 Matched Filter Technique This is the technique which takes minimum amount of sensing time. In this method of spectrum detection, receiver receives a pilot signal along with the data that is sent by the transmitter. A pilot signal is a single frequency that is used for synchronisation. All the secondarys those are struggling for spectrum should have knowledge of this pilot signal. There should` be tight timing synchronisation between primary and secondary. They are also required to know about the kind of modulation being used, pulse shaping. Also secondarys must have another receiver for every primary. This kind of techniques also fails when there is frequency offset. Examples of this technique are TV signals, CDMA with pilot, also used in OFDM. 2.8.2 Energy Detection technique This is the most simples of all techniques. In this the receiver has no knowledge of the transmitted signal. The receivers need not to have knowledge about the modulation type or any kind of pilot signal. Earlier energy detection was done with the help of a LPF (Low Pass Filter), Digital to Analog converter (D/A), and square law device that used to calculate the energy of the signal. Later it is done by making use of fast Fourier transform (FFT). This is known as periodogram method in energy detection. 2.8.2 Cyclostationary Feature Detection Signals are modulated with sine waves or cyclic prefix as in OFDM. And they are periodic. This periodic property of a signal helps it to be cyclostationary. This technique basically uses this principle of spectral correlation to detect the spectrum. Even if signals have similar PSD (Power Spectral Density) but they have do not have similar spectral correlation. 2.9 Multi-resolution for Cognitive Radio Sensing The concept of multi-resolution for Cognitive Radio can be applied with different methods but, the basic idea is the same. The whole spectrum is first sensed by using a coarse resolution. After this first step fine resolution sensing is done on a part of interested bands. In this way CR avoids itself from sensing the spectrum at one time and thus saving time and power. In this way, the sensing time is reduced and the power also been saved from unrequited computations. Also the multiple antenna architecture helps parallel processing and enables to reduce the sensing time. But, it increases the chip area and consumption of power which is not desirable. Also for coarse resolution sensing the mixer has to produce many frequencies and Also it should switch to one frequency for beginning the fine resolution sensing. If the signal is low pass signal then we can use fine resolution to scan the whole spectrum. Because low pass signal has low center frequencies and its sampling is doable. But for pass band signals it is not feasible to scan the whole spectrum. Because, for example say if we have some signal with center frequency of 850 MHz, it is not practically possible to do sample that signal. As according to Nyquist theorem sampling rate should be at least twice that of center frequency. Therefore it is practically not possible to sample a signal at 1600 Mega Hertz. 2.10 Business Model for Spectrum Sensing So far we have discussed about Cognitive radios and spectrum sensing in details. Since this is telecom, and telecom involves huge capital investment. One of the most costly things in telecom is getting the license itself and then comes the infrastructure and installations etc. Currently most of countries work on static spectrum allocation basis. For spectrum sensing to work we need some kind of regulation or set of rules that all will be ready to work with. A team from Brussels University has suggested a model for the same. The same model is discussed in brief below. This model is divided into four main categories. i. Ownership- Ownership simply means the ownership of license. One who has license is authorized to use particular band of spectrum. And if another licensee wants to share a spectrum then it will depends on parameters discussed below. If the operator is unlicensed then there is now issue of ownership. ii. Exclusivity- Exclusivity means whether or not a particular operator is exclusively assigned a band of spectrum. That will be issue of regulator to decide to exclusively assign a spectrum to a specific user. If it is assigned exclusively then nobody can access that band of frequency, and if not then those bands of frequencies will be available for sharing. iii. Tradability- Tradability means whether or not a terminal is allowed to switch between frequencies from different operators. If tradability is permitted frequency band or bands can be auctioned for sale or given on lease. iv. Neutrality- It is possible that some of frequency bands can be accessed by number of RATs (radio Access Technology) or may be limited to a particular RAT. If frequency bands are not available to number of RATs then that band need to address more issues, such as setting technical conditions to access the band and coordinating the cooperation between multiple technologies. Unlicensed: Unlicensed deals with the band of frequencies which are free to use, like ISM band. Common example for this is Wi-Fi which operates in 2.4GHz. This band of frequency is available to all and there is special condition to access this band. Single RAT Pool: This pool is related to a group of licensees which are not exclusively assigned any band of frequency and using same RAT. Multi RAT Pool: It is similar to Single RAT Pool except that it has multiple RATs. Single RAT Market: In this each operator is assigned with a separate frequency, but that can be accessed by the conditionally secondarys. Multi RAT Market: In this the operator is a licensee and is exclusively assigned with a band of frequency, and also with tradability. Flexible Operator and Static Spectrum: If a particular band of spectrum is exclusively assigned to an operator and without tradability. And if there is only one RAT, then it is known as Static Spectrum else Flexible Operator. 2.11 Survey outcome As per the literature review we concludes to use Energy detection technique for spectrum sensing as it is the fastest spectrum detection technique available and also it is simpler as compared to other techniques. There are many researches done in this field and many are still doing. Because of the survey we get knowledge about various techniques available in market. This led us to do a simulation model with one of the spectrum sensing technique. Now as far as selection of spectrum sensing technique is concerned, we selected Energy detection technique. The same could be seen in next part of the thesis which includes its design and implementation in simulation model. Chapter 3 Simulation Design 3.1 Sampling and Its Importance Sampling is a process of converting the continuous analog signal to a discreet analog signal and the samples signal is the discreet time representation of the original signal. If the message is coming from a digital source, then it is in the form to be processed by digital communication systems. But in real life not every signal is digital, message signal can be analog. In situation like these, we have to first convert the analog signal into discreet time signal, this is sampling. For this process to work well, sampling rate should be selected carefully or in other words it should satisfy Nyquist criterion. And Nyquist Criterion says that the sampling frequency should be at least twice the maximum frequency in signal. Fs ≠¥ 2fmax or T=1/ fmax Where â€Å"Fs† is sampling frequency, fmax is maximum frequency in the signal. T=Sampling period. Sampling is like reading a signal in analog form and taking its value at that instant of time. So more the samples we take better the resolution of the signal and, signal can be recovered more accurately. But if we take less number of samples, then resolution of the signal decreases. If we go on reducing the sampling rate, then times comes when it is difficult to recover the original signal from the sampled signal or in other words original information in the signal is lost. This is also known as aliasing. Aliasing is the effect which takes place if the signal is sampled less than twice the maximum frequency. 3.2 Types of Signal 3.2.1 Time limited signal- It is a signal which exists for only certain duration of time. Out of this duration, signal does not exist. A rectangular pulse of duration â€Å"T† seconds can be considered as time limited signal. x(t)=A †¦ for 0 3.2.2 Band Limited signals- It is a signal which has a frequency spectrum which exists only over a certain range of frequency. The value of signal outside this range of frequency is zero. Mod(X(f))=A †¦.-B 3.3 Sampling Of Low pass and Band Pass signal Low pass sampling theorem states that- a) A band limited signal of finite energy, which has no frequency components higher than W Hertz, is c