Analysis of Lidl’s business strategies Essay

Lidl Stiftung & Co is an international discount supermarket that is located in Germany. The company was founded in the early 1940s by one member of the Schwarz family. The company has been operating in most parts of Europe, giving the other competing firms a very tough ground for retail business. Currently, the company has over 10,000 stores, most of which are in the UK. The company is the fifth best retailer in the world with a net income of $82.4 billion (Lidl, 2011). Apart from being active in the retail business, the company also carries out a number of services such as DVD rental, which was launched in 2009 and bakery services launched in 2012. According to Sillince (2006), resource based view in competitive advantage can help Lidl in achieving competitive advantage by looking at the internal factors that are within its system. For instance, the company has used its employees in ensuring that it achieves most of its goals within the shortest time possible. In addition, the company has achieved greater competitive advantage that has led to increase in the amount of profits and market share by internal tangible and intangible factors such as products and values respectively.In addition, the company uses heterogeneous and immobile resource-based views to ensure the achievement of the most effective competitive advantage in the market. Discourse and disruption have also affected the company hence making it work towards ensuring that it produces more to enable it sell better than other firms. The PESTEL analysis directly and comprehensively evaluates the industry’s external environment elements in order to identify the overall available opportunities and dangers of specific procedures, on the grounds that progressions in these elements can prompt the huge change of businesses, particularly as time goes on. Specifically, PESTEL mainly highlights Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental as well as Legal variables. The first aspect of PESTLE analysis is the political aspect. With over 10,000 stores in Europe alone, Lidl needs to manage unique political examples affecting its business operations. One of the major political components influencing the business is natural assurance laws to compel companies to comply with all the government requirements. The second imperative component is UK government vitality advance programs for innovative work of retail products. For this situation, numerous retail companies have been able to greatly undergo structural changes in order to fit in the government policies. In addition Lild uses economic internal and external factors. Financial elements incorporate monetary development in the option vitality commercial enterprises and increment in the expense of utilizing the automobiles fundamentally because of the ascent in fuel costs in the brief time. In this manner, the interest for more-proficient automobiles is higher than in the recent past. Consequently, recuperation of GDP and the rising rate in the majority of the slowly developing nations from the recessionary period that happened in 2008/2009 has a huge effect on the client buying power. The company also has a stable financial system that enables it to communicate effectively and favorably. Moreover, Social components are identified with expansion natural concerns, mentality and stress on items, which are eco-friendly. In addition, without a doubt the current society judge’s individuals focused around the sort of the automobile they buy and the thought of having electric vehicles enhances the societal position of a single person. The company has also considered a number of cultural elements that help in achievement of competitive advantage and in promotion of customer interests. For instance, the company stocks various items used by almost all the religions in Europe. With the rise in technology, Lidl has tried to improve its customer service platform to ensure that the new technological aspects are included in order to avoid any delays. In addition, the company has allowed customers to make purchases using credit cards and checks in order to make purchases easier and faster. Besides, in order to beat competitors and gain competitive advantage against other competitors in the retail industry. Currently, numerous retail stores have confronted the aggressive weight to produce eco-accommodating products. Natural components, for example, expanding attention to environmental change lead to changes in operations and organizations’ items and administrations, in light of the fact that clients are getting more mindful of ecological impacts of generation. Lidl has also ensured that it initiates various environmentally friendly aspects such as the use of the modernized ways of handling waste disposal such as recycling. Additionally, numerous regulations emanate from governments presenting vitality credit projects and putting weight on creation eco-accommodating products, for example, licensing companies to join the new techniques for green business and working towards reducing the effects of wastes from vehicles on the environment (Sillince, 2006). Porters Fiver Competitive forces are some of the most essential tools that Lidl has to use in ensuring that it achieves competitive advantage in the retail sector. The company needs to identify some of the most desirable strategies and use them towards achieving the best part of the market share. The first force is Threat of new entrants. Currently, the retail industry has the highest risk from the threat of new entrants. Having entered the industry in 1940s, Lidl also faced the difficulties of being a new entrant in a market that needed high capital and had increased problems that rose from building a brand name to indifferent distributors. However, Lidl managed to pass through this and is still on the verge to become the highest market holder in the industry. The general bargaining power vested on the buyers is uncertain and Lidl had to rely on their closeness with advertisers in order to please the buyers. These advertisers are some of the buyers of Lidl hence making it achieve competitive advantage in the market. Besides, the threat of substitution is relatively low since very few firms produce can match the market covered by Lidl. This has given Lidl an upper hand in the retail business hence increasing the advantage over other companies. In addition, in its bid to enter the US market, Lidl has to counteract the benefits that Wal-Mart has given to the consumers. Based on Suppliers’ bargaining power despite building strong relations with the main suppliers, Lidl has a hard time trying to win other suppliers. However, its ability to buy products in bulk has helped increase its bargaining power among the suppliers thereby giving it a higher competitive advantage (Clegg Et., al, 2006).Rivalry in the Industry is evident in the presence of competitors in the market.Despite having competitors such as Morison’s in the UK and Wal-Mart in the US, Lidl has managed to counteract rivalry in the market by using the best strategies that are aimed at improving the company’s image among the various international and local customers. References Balogun, J., Jacobs, C., Jarzabkowski, P., Mantere, S., &Vaara, E. (2014).Placing strategy discourse in context: Sociomateriality, sensemaking, and power.  Journal of Management Studies,  51(2), 175-201. Clegg, S. R., Kornberger, M., &Pitsis, T. (2011).  Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice. , : Sage. Clegg, S. R., Hardy, C., Lawrence, T., & Nord, W. R. (Eds.).(2006).  The Sage handbook of organization studies.Sage.Colla, E. (2003). International expansion and strategies of discount grocery retailers: the winning models.  International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management,  31(1), 55-66. Hanf, J., &Hanf, C. H. (2007). Does food quality management create a competitive advantage.  Quality management in food chains, Wageningen, Wageningen Academic Publishers, 489-502.Hill, C., & Jones, G. (2009).  Strategic management theory: An integrated approach. Boston, ME: Cengage Learning. Morschett, D., Swoboda, B., & Schramm-Klein, H. (2006).Competitive strategies in retailing—an investigation of the applicability of Porter’s framework for food retailers.  Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,  13(4), 275-287. Porter, M. (2005).  Strategy as action : Competitive dynamics and competitive advantage: Competitive dynamics and competitive advantage. , : Oxford University Press. Porter, M. E. (1998).  Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. , : Free Press. Sillince, J. A. (2006). Resources and Organizational Identities The Role of Rhetoric in the Creation of Competitive Advantage.  Management Communication Quarterly,  20(2), 186-212. Source document

Data Masking

An Oracle White Paper July 2010 Data Masking Best Practices Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Executive Overview †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 1 Introduction †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 1 The Challenges of Masking Data †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Implementing Data Masking †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 2 Comprehensive Enterprise-wide Discovery of Sensitive Data †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Enforcing Referential Relationships during Data Masking †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4 Rich and Extensible Mask Library†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 Sophisticated Masking Techniques †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 High Performance Mask Execution †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 Integrated Testing with Application Quality Management solutions11 Oracle’s Comprehensive Solutions for Database Security †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 12 Customer Case Studies †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Conclusion †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 13 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Executive Overview Enterprises need to share production data with various constituents while also protecting sensitive or personally identifiable aspects of the information. As the number of applications increases, more and more data gets shared, thus further increasing the risk of a data breach, where sensitive data gets exposed to unauthorized parties.Oracle Data Masking addresses this problem by irreversibly replacing the original sensitive data with realistic -looking scrubbed data that has same type and characteristics as the original sensitive data thus enabling organizations to share this information in compliance with information security policies and government regulations. This paper describes the best practices for deploying Oracle Data Masking to protect sensitive information in Oracle and other heterogeneous databases such as IBM DB2, Microsoft SQLServer.Introduction Enterprises share data from the ir production applications with other users for a variety of business purposes. Most organizations copy production data into test and development environments to allow application developers to test application upgrades. Retail c ompanies share customer point-of-sale data with market researchers to analyze customer buying patterns. Pharmaceutical or healthcare organizations share patient data with medical researchers to assess the efficacy of clinical trials or medical treatments.Numerous industry studies on data privacy have concluded that almost all companies copy tens of millions of sensitive customer and consumer records to non-production environments for testing, development, and other uses. Very few companies do anything to protect this data even when sharing with outsourcers and third parties. Almost 1 out of 4 companies responded that live data used for development or testing had been lost or stolen and 50% s aid they had no way of knowing if data in non-production environme nts had been compromised. 1 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices The Challenges of Masking DataOrganizations have tried to address these issues with custom hand-crafted solutions or repurposed existing data manipulation tools within the enterprise to solve this problem of sharing sensitive information with non-production users. Take for example, the most common solution: database scripts. At first glance, an advantage of the database scripts approach would appear that they specifically address the unique privacy needs of a particular database that they were designed for. They may have even been tuned by the DBA to run at their fastest Let’s look at the issues with this approach. 1.Reusability: Because of the tight association between a script and the associated database, these scripts would have to re-written from scratch if applied to another database. There are no common capabilities in a script that can be easily leveraged across other databases. 2. Transp arency: Since scripts tend to be monolithic programs, auditors have no transparency into the masking procedures used in the scripts. The auditors would find it extremely difficult to offer any recommendation on whether the masking process built into a script is secure and offers the enterprise the appropriate degree of protection. 3.Maintainability: When these enterprise applications are upgraded, new tables and columns containing sensitive data may be added as a part of the upgrade process. With a script-based approach, the entire script has to be revisited and updated to accommodate new tables and columns added as a part of an application patch or an upgrade. Implementing Data Masking Based on Oracle Data Masking , Oracle has developed a comprehensive 4-step approach to implementing data masking called Find, Assess, Secure, and Test (FAST). These steps are: ? Find: This phase involves identifying and cataloging sensitive or regulated data across the entire enterprise.Typically car ried out by business or security analysts, the goal of this exercise is to come up with the comprehensive list of sensitive data elements specific to the organization and discover the associated tables and columns across enterprise databases that contain the sensitive data. ? Assess: In this phase, developers or DBAs in conjunction with business or security analysts identify the masking algorithms that represent the optimal techniques to replace the original sensitive data. Developers can leverage the existing masking library or extend it with their own masking routines. ? Secure: This and the next steps may be iterative.The security administrator executes the masking process to secure the sensitive data during masking trials. Once the masking process has completed and has been verified, the DBA then hands over the environment to the application testers. 2 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices ? Test: In the final step, the production users execute application proces ses to test whether the resulting masked data can be turned over to the other non-production users. If the masking routines need to be tweaked further, the DBA restores the database to the pre-masked state, fixes the masking algorithms and re-executes the masking process.Comprehensive Enterprise-wide Discovery of Sensitive Data To begin the process of masking data, the data elements that need to be masked in the application must be identified. The first step that any organization must take is to determine what is sensitive. This is because sensitive data is related to specific to the government regulations and industry standards that govern how the data can used or shared. Thus, the first step is for the security administrator to publish what constitutes sensitive data and get agreement from the company’s compliance or risk officers. A typical list of sensitive data elements may include:Person Name Bank Account Number Maiden Name Card Number (Credit or Debit Card Number) Busi ness Address Tax Registration Number or National Tax ID Business Telephone Number Person Identification Number Business Email Address W elfare Pension Insurance Number Custom Name Unemployment Insurance Number Employee Number Government Affiliation ID User Global Identifier Military Service ID Party Number or Customer Number Social Insurance Number Account Name Pension ID Number Mail Stop Article Number GPS Location Civil Identifier Number Student Exam Hall Ticket Number Credit Card Number Club Membership IDSocial Security Number Library Card Number Trade Union Membership Number Oracle Data Masking provides several easy-to-use mechanisms for isolating the sensitive data elements. 3 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices ? Data Model driven: Typical enterprise applications, such as E-Business Suite, Peoplesoft and Siebel, have published their application data model as a part of their product documentation or the support knowledge base. By leveraging the published data models, data masking users can easily associate the relevant tables and columns to the mask formats to create the mask definition. ?Application Masking Templates: Oracle Data Masking supports the concept of application masking templates, which are XML representations of the mask definition. Software vendors or service providers can generate these pre-defined templates and make them available to enterprises to enable them to import these templates into the Data Masking rapidly and thus, accelerate the data masking implementation process. ? Ad-hoc search: Oracle Data Masking has a robust search mechanism that allows users to search the database quickly based on ad hoc search patterns to identify tables and columns that represent sources of sensitive data.With all the database management capabilities, including the ability to query sample rows from the tables, built into Enterprise Manager, the Data Masking a can assist enterprise users rapidly construct the mask definition – th e pre-requisite to mask the sensitive data. For deeper searches, Oracle provides the Oracle Data Finder tool during data masking implementation to search across enterprises based on data patterns, such as NNN-NN-NNNN for social security numbers or 16 or 15 digit sequences beginning with 3, 4 or 5 for credit card . numbers.Using the combination of schema and data patterns and augmenting them with published application meta data models, enterprises can now develop a comprehensive data privacy catalog that captures the sensitive data elements that exist across enterprise databases. To be clear, this is not a static list. This is a dynamic living catalog managed by security administrators that needs to be refreshed as business rules and government regulations change as well as when applications are upgraded and patched and new data elements containing sensitive data are now discovered. Enforcing Referential Relationships during Data MaskingIn today’s relational databases (RDBMS), data is stored in tables related by certain key columns , called primary key columns, which allows efficient storage of application data without have to duplicate data. For example, an EMPLOYEE_ID generated from a human capital management (HCM) application may be used in sales force automation (SFA) application tables using foreign key columns to keep track of sales reps and their accounts. When deploying a masking solution, business users are often concerned with referential integrity, the relationship between the primary key and the foreign key columns, in a database or across databases. 4Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices CUSTOMERS EMPLOYEES ? ? ? EMPLOYEE_ID FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME Database enforced Application enforced ? ? ? CUSTOMER_ID SALES_REP_ID COMPANY_NAME SHIPMENTS ? ? ? SHIPMENT_ID SHIPPING_CLERK_ID CARRIER Figure 1:The Importance of Referential Integrity Oracle Data Masking automatically identifies referential integrity as a part of the mask definition creation. This means that when a business user chooses to mask a key column such as EMPLOYEE_ID, the Oracle Data Masking discovers all the related foreign key relationships in the database and enforces the same mask format to the related foreign key columns.This guarantees that the relationships between the various applications tables are preserved while ensuring that privacyrelated elements are masked. In applications where referential integrity is enforced in the database, Oracle Data Masking allows these relationships to be registered as relate d columns in the mask definition, thereby applying the same masking rules as applied to the database-enforced foreign key columns. 5 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Figure 2: Automatic enforcement of referential Integrity Rich and Extensible Mask LibraryOracle Data Masking provides a centralized library of out-of-the-box mask formats for common types of sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, phone numbers, nati onal identifiers (social security number for US, national insurance number for UK). By leveraging the Format Library in Oracle Data Masking, enterprises can apply data privacy rules to sensitive data across enterprise-wide databases from a single source and thus, ensure consistent compliance with regulations. Enterprises can also extend this library with their own mask formats to meet their specific data privacy and application requirements. Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Figure 3: Rich and extensible Mask Format Library Oracle Data Masking also provides mask primitives, which serve as building blocks to allow the creation of nearly unlimited custom mask formats ranging from numeric, alphabetic or date/time based. Recognizing that the real-world masking needs require a high degree of flexibility, Oracle Data Masking allows security administrators to create user-defined-masks. These user-defined masks, written in PL/SQL, let administrators create unique mask fo rmats for sensitive data, e. g. enerating a unique email address from fictitious first and last names to allow business applications to send test notifications to fictitious email addresses. Sophisticated Masking Techniques Data masking is in general a trade-off between security and reproducibility. A test database that is identical to the production database is 100% in terms of reproducibility and 0% in terms of security because of the fact that it exposes the original data. Masking technique where data in sensitive columns is replaced with a single fixed value is 100% in terms of security and 0% in terms of reproducibility.When considering various masking techniques, it is important to consider this trade-off in mind when selecting the masking algorithms. Oracle Data Masking provides a variety of sophisticated masking techniques to meet application requirements while ensuring data privacy. These techniques ensure that applications continue to operate without errors after masking. For example, ? Condition-based masking: this technique makes it possible to apply different mask formats to the same data set depending on the rows that match the conditions.For example, applying different national identifier masks based on country of origin. ? Compound masking: this technique ensures that a set of related columns is masked as a group to ensure that the masked data across the related columns retain the same relationship, e. g. city, state, zip values need to be consistent after masking. 7 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Deterministic Masking Deterministic masking is an important masking technique that enterprises must consider when masking key data that is referenced across multiple applications.Take, for example, three applications: a human capital management application, a customer relationship management application and a sales data warehouse. There are some key fields such as EMPLOYEE ID referenced in all three applications and needs to be masked in the corresponding test systems: a employee identifier for each employee in the human resources management application, customer service representative identifiers, which may also be EMPLOYEE IDs, in the customer relationship management application and sales representative IDs, which may be EMPLOYEE IDs in the sales data warehouse.To ensure that data relationships are preserved across systems even as privacy-related elements are removed, deterministic masking techniques ensure that data gets masked consistently across the various systems. It is vital that deterministic masking techniques used produce the replacement masked value consistently and yet in a manner that the original data cannot be derived from the masked value. One way to think of these deterministic masking techniques is as a function that is applied on the original value to generate a unique value consistently that has the same format, type and characteristics as the original value, e. . a deterministic funct ion f(x) where f(x1) will always produce y1 for a given value x1. In order for the deterministic masking to be applied successfully, it is important that the function f(x) not be reversible, i. e. the inverse function f-1(y1) should not produce x1 to ensure the security of the original sensitive data. Deterministic masking techniques can be used with mathematical entries, e. g. social security numbers or credit card numbers, as well as with text entries, e. g. , to generate names.For example, organizations may require that names always get masked to the same set of masked names to ensure consistency of data across runs. Testers may find it disruptive if the underlying data used for testing is changed by production refreshes and they could no longer locate certain types of employees or customer records that were examples for specific test cases. Thus, enterprises can use the deterministic masking functions provided by Oracle Data Masking to consistently generate the same replacement mask value for any type of sensitive data element.Deterministic masking becomes extremely critical when testing data feeds coming from external systems, such as employee expense data provided by credit card companies. In production environments, the feed containing real credit card numbers are processed by the accounts payable application containing employee’s matching credit card information and are used to reconcile employee expenses. In test systems, the employee credit card numbers have been obfuscated and can no longer be matched against the data in the flat files containing the employee’s real credit card number.To address this requirement, enterprises pre-load the flat file containing data using tools such as SQL*Loader, into standard tables, then mask the sensitive columns using deterministic masking provided by Oracle Data Masking and then extract the masked data back into flat file. Now, the application will be able to process the flat files correctly just as they would have been in Production systems. 8 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices High Performance Mask Execution Now that the mask definition is complete, the Oracle Data Masking can now execute the masking process to replace all the sensitive data.Oracle Enterprise Manager offers several options to clone the production database: ? Recover from backup: Using the Oracle Managed Backups functionality, Oracle Enterprise Manager can create a test database from an existing backup. ? Clone Live Database: Oracle Enterprise Manager can clone a live production data into any non production environment within a few clicks. The clone database capability also provides the option to create a clone image, which can then be used for other cloning operations.With the cloned (non-production) database now ready for masking, the Oracle Data Masking builds a work list of the tables and columns chosen for masking. Other tables that are not required to be masked are not touched. Furthe r, the tables selected for masking are processed in the optimal order to ensure that only one pass is made at any time even if there are multiple columns from that table selected for masking. Typically, the tables with the primary keys get masked first, followed by the dependent tables containing foreign keys.Once the mask work list is ready, the Oracle Data Masking generates mapping tables for all the sensitive fields and their corresponding masked values. These are temporary tables that are created as a part of the masking process, which will be dropped once all data has been masked successfully. Using a highly efficient data bulk mechanism, Oracle Data Masking rapidly recreates the masked replacement table based on original tables and the mapping tables and restores all the related database elements, such as indexes, constraints, grants and triggers identical to the original table.Compare this with the typical data masking process, which usually involves performing table row upda tes. Because rows in a table are usually scattered all over the disk, the update process is extremely inefficient because the storage systems attempts to locate rows on data file stored on extremely large disk s. The bulk mechanism used by Oracle Data Masking lays down the new rows for the masked table in rapid succession on the disk. This enhanced efficiency makes the masked table available for users in a fraction of the time spent by an update-driven masking process.For large tables, Oracle Data Masking automatically invokes SQL parallelism to further speed up the masking process. Other performance enhancements include using the NOLOGGING option when recreating the table with the masked data. Typical database operations such as row inserts or updates generate redo logs, which are used by the database to capture changes made to files. These redo logs are completely unnecessary in a data masking operation since the non-production database is not running in a production environment, requiring continuous availability and recoverability.Using the NOLOGGING option, the Oracle Data Masking bypasses the logging mechanism to further accelerate the masking process efficiently and rapidly. 9 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices In internal tests run on a single-core Pentium 4 (Northwood) [D1] system with 5. 7G of memory, the following performance results with reported. Criteria Baseline Metric Column scalability 215 columns 100 tables of 60G 20 minutes Row scalability 100 million rows 6 columns 1 hour 20 minutes Figure 4: Oracle Data Masking Performance scalability testsAs these results clearly indicate, Oracle Data Masking can handle significant volumes of sensitive data effortlessly both in terms of the number of sensitive columns as well as tables with large numbers of rows. Oracle Data Masking is also integrated with Oracle Provisioning and Patch Automation in Oracle Enterprise Manager to clone-and-mask via a single workflow. The secure high perfor mance nature of Oracle Data Masking combined with the end-to-end workflow ensures that enterprise can provision test systems from production rapidly instead of days or weeks that it would with separate manual processes.Optimized for Oracle databases Oracle Data Masking leverages key capabilities in Oracle databases to enhance the overall manageability of the masking solution. Some of these include: ? Flashback: Administrators can optionally configure Oracle databases to enable flashback to a premasked state if they encounter problems with the masked data. ? PL/SQL: Unlike other solutions, Oracle Data Masking generates DBA-friendly PL/SQL that allows DBAs to tailor the masking process to their needs. This PL/SQL script can also be easily integrated into any cloning process. 0 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Support for heterogeneous databases Oracle Data Masking supports masking of sensitive data in heterogeneous databases such as IBM DB2 and Microsoft SQLServer through the use of Oracle Database Gateways. Figure 5: Data masking support for heterogeneous databases Integrated Testing with Application Quality Management solutions The final step of the masking process is to test that the application is performing successfully after the masking process has completed.Oracle Enterprise Manager’s Application Quality Management (AQM) solutions provide high quality testing for all tiers of the application stack. Thorough testing can help you identify application quality and performance issues prior to deployment. Testing is one of the most challenging and time consuming parts of successfully deploying an application, but it is also one of the most critical to the project’s success. Oracle Enterprise Manager’s AQM solutions provide a unique combination of test capabilities which enable you to: ?Test infrastructure changes: Real Application Testing is designed and optimized for testing database tier infrastructure changes using r eal application workloads captured in production to validate database performance in your test environment. 11 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices ? Test application changes: Application Testing Suite helps you ensure application quality and performance with complete end-to-end application testing solutions that allow you to automate functional & regression testing, execute load tests and manage the test process.Oracle’s Comprehensive Solutions for Database Security Oracle provides a comprehensive portfolio of security solutions to ensure data privacy, protect against insider threats, and enable regulatory compliance. With Oracle's powerful privileged user and multifactor access control, data classification, transparent data encryption, auditing, monitoring, and data masking, customers can deploy reliable data security solutions that do not require any changes to existing applications, saving time and money. Customer Case StudiesCustomers have had a variety of business needs which drove their decision to adopt the Oracle Data Masking for their sensitive enterprise data. These benefits of using Oracle Data Masking were realized by a major global telecommunications products company that implemented the above methdology. Their database administrators (DBAs) had developed custom scripts to mask sensitive data in the test and development environments of their human resources (HR) application. As the company was growing and offering new services, their IT infrastructure was also growing thus placing an increased burden on their DBAs.By implementing Oracle Data Masking, the organization was able to use the role-based separation of duties to allow the HR analysts to define the security policies for masking sensitive data. The DBAs then automated the implementation of these masking policies when provisioning new test or development environments. Thus, the telecommunications company was able to allow business users to ensure compliance of their non-production environments while eliminating another manual task for the DBAs through automation. The need for data masking can come from internal compliance requirements.In the case of this UKbased government organization, the internal audit and compliance team had identified that the nonproduction copies of human resource management systems used for testing, development and reporting did not meet the established standards for privacy and confidentiality. In joint consultations with their IT service provider, the organization quickly identified the Oracle Data Masking as ideally suited to their business needs based on the fact that it was integrated with their day-to-day systems management operations provided by Oracle Enterprise Manager.Within a few weeks, the service provider deployed the mask definitions for their Oracle eBusiness Suite HR application and thereby rapidly brought the internal non-productions systems into compliance. There are organizations that have internally d eveloped data masking solutions that have discovered that custom scripts ultimately have their limits and are not able to scale up as enterprise data sets increase in volume. This Middle East-based real estate company found that their data masking scripts were running for several hours and were slowing down as data volumes increased.Due to the stringent requirement to create production copies available for testing within rapid time-frames, the company evaluated the Oracle Data Masking among other commercial solutions. Upon deploying the Oracle 12 Oracle White Paper—Data Masking Best Practices Data Masking, they discovered that they were able to accelerate the masking time from 6 hours using their old scripts to 6 minutes using the Oracle Data Masking, an improvement of 60x in performance. ConclusionStaying compliant with policy and government regulations while sharing production data with nonproduction users has become a critical business imperative for all enterprises. Oracl e Data Masking is designed and optimized for today’s high volume enterprise applications running on Oracle databases. Leveraging the power of Oracle Enterprise Manger to manage all enterprise databases and systems, Oracle Data Masking accelerates sensitive data identification and executes the masking process with a simple easy-to-use web interface that puts the power of masking in the hands of business users and administrators.Organizations that have implemented Oracle Data Masking to protect sensitive data in test and development environment have realized significant benefits in the following areas: ? Reducing Risk through Compliance: By protecting sensitive information when sharing production data with developers and testers, organizations have able to ensure that non -production databases have remained compliant with IT security policies while enabling developers to conduct production-class testing. ?Increasing Productivity through Automation: By automating the masking pro cess, organizations have been able to reduce the burden on DBAs who previously had to maintain manuallydeveloped masking scripts. 13 Data Masking Best Practices July 2010 Copyright  © 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved . This document is provided for information purposes only and the Author: Jagan R. Athreya contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error -free, nor subject to any other Contributing Authors: arranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchant ability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are Oracle Corporation formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by a ny W orld Headquarters means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior wri tten permission. 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective U. S. A. owners. W orldwide Inquiries: AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, and the AMD Opteron logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. Intel Phone: +1. 650. 506. 7000 and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are Fax: +1. 650. 506. 7200 trademarks or registered trademar ks of SPARC International, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark licensed through X/Open oracle. com Company, Ltd. 0110

Analyzing Pro forma Statements Essay Example for Free

Analyzing Pro forma Statements Essay This financial analysis will define an initiative of what to implement, that would increase sales over the next five years. It can either be, another market, product, or a corporate expansion. A pro forma will be created and used for the XYZ Manufacturing Company of a five year projections. Assumptions will be made to support each line item, to increase or decrease the forecasted statements. There will also be interpretation of the financials, in relation to the initiative. Recommendations are to made on the potential discretionary financing needs. This word analysis is the company’s short term and long term financing needs, and strategies to help the company manage their working capital (University of Phoenix, 2014). Pro forma statements are created by, forecasting and combining the income and balance into a financial statement format. This will determine how the account balances are forecasted by acquiring forces that will influence and project how the accounts will be influenced. These forces are recognizable as restrictive debt agreements, sales, and company policies The following illustrations below is the Pro forma’s process for a five-year projection. This information is based on historical data collected from the sample provide (UOPX, 2014)..There is acquired information of a increase in sales new product as the result of a new product introduction also an increase in the production capacity. The increase in sales will acquire fixed assets with the excess cash (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012) Pro forma Balance Sheet for XYZ Company, INC. Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity-$559,608 $649,251 $848,766 $1,,037,172 $1,183,541 In the above balance sheet the current assets and current liabilities has increased in the ratio of sales (Parrino,Kidwell, & Bates, 2012, p90,91. 92) There is also an additional increase in the fixed assets. The company to take out an additional loan to meet the capital expansion, and the working capital needs (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012) I would recommend that the company The first step in this pro forma financial statements is the forecasting of sales. Sales always influence the current asset and current liability account balances. For example: the account receivable balances would need to become larger increased if the firm needs to carry more inventory. Through the profit margin, and the dividend payout ratio. There is much difficult in forecasting sales, but it is an essential, it only depend on the season of the year, economy and the industry There could also be many other factors as well. Reference Parrino, R., Kidwell, D. S., & Bates, T. W. (2012). Fundamentals of corporate finance (2nd ed.). Hoboken, N. J.: John Wiley & Sons. University of Phoenix material, (2013) â€Å"Analyzing Pro Forma Statements†

Recruiting Diversity Into the Healthcare System Essay

Recruiting Diversity Into the Healthcare System - Essay Example Medicine is more than just surgery and the appropriate prescription. Medicine is the understanding of healing as viewed through the cultural lens of diversity and we need to be pro-active in our search and education of medical students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. The diversity of America brings a wide variety of different needs to the healthcare system. African-Americans are prone to Sickle-cell anemia while Arabic and Farsi speaking people are more apt to suffer from Cardio-vascular disease. McBride insists that training that is dedicated to the prevalence of illness among certain ethnic and racial groups, and their genetic pre-disposition, should be a priority in medical training (181). Some cultures may be practicing herbal remedies or have an aversion to surgery. The range of culture based beliefs are endless in respect to our health and healing. While Americans may wish to treat cancer with a targeted treatment of chemo-therapy and surgery, other cultures may view the disease within the context of religion. Medical staff and healthcare workers need to be aware and sensitive to these diversity issues that other cultures bring to our western style healthcare system. M... There may be a language barrier that prevents the adequate communication of a patient's medical needs. The doctor or nurse may not understand the boundaries or necessity of communicating with family members. Even the colors of the room and the placement of the bed may have significance to some people. The meaning of illness may mean simply that we are sick, or may mean that we are possessed by evil spirits. While Americans are often open and frank about their condition, "People in many cultures believe that informing the patient of a terminal diagnosis may hasten death" (Misra-Hebert, 298). No amount of classroom training can communicate and educate our healthcare system with the vast amount of information necessary to effectively deal with the number of possibilities that exist in today's diverse world. The only way to bring this kind of knowledge and awareness into the healthcare system is to recruit diversity and minority students to become a part of our medical arsenal. The medical education system needs to reach out to minority populations and recruit and cultivate their talents for work in the healthcare system. This would need to begin in high school by working with students to assure they are getting the courses and the academics required to enter college. Tutors and mentors should be made available to these students to offer personal as well as academic guidance. The healthcare system needs to reach out across social as well as economic barriers to enlist these students. By beginning at an early age and cultivating our diverse youth for a career in healthcare we can be sure that we will have the talent necessary to meet the medical

Ethics In The Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethics In The Media - Essay Example In order to establish this concept of ethics in media, the method of self-regulation is used. Self-regulation in essence, aims to set minimum standards on ethics to guarantee that journalists pertain to rules of conduct while representing information through the media. Ethics become necessary in this regard because any source of media would be regarded as untrustworthy by the people if it presents distorted information. In the current generation the high levels of competition in the media industry could result in severe losses. Many problems could arise due to not respecting the ethics in a particular situation. Ethics ensure a reliance on a culture that understands personal boundaries of people, refrains from lies and deceitful dealings and does not use unfair means to achieve personal gains (Chiyamaka 4). Applying ethics to media would obviously mean by extension that no social, moral or professional harm should be caused to those involved. When these ethics are applied in the form of rules, it would guarantee the general public that their private lives are respected and no personal harm is caused to any of them. The spirit of democracy is hampered if a code of ethics is not followed by the media because no freedom is present since, people are controlled through the watchful eyes of the media lurking to catch up on their every move. Therefore, the judgements should always be rational on the part of media, keeping in mind the fact that there are lives and sensitive matters such as the relationships between different countries involved (Chiyamwaka 3). A prominent book basically covered the idea of social and religious factors when it comes to ethics in the research media. A case was the recent publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish Newspaper, which was an offence intended towards all Muslim readership (Ward & Wasserman 142-143).The whole idea that a religion is being disrespected is horrendous and does not respect any of the rules of et hics. This caused a tremendous outcry in the media and people carried out mass protests against this act because it went out rightly against a particular system of belief. This also occurred upon the planning of the international Burn the Quran Day (Ward & Wasserman 143-145). This was shown on different news channels without having a hint of hatred or realization that this act was wrong. The reason why this might be so popular in the United States is because of the reason that media has been given the same freedom as human beings. This is one of the articles in the constitution, which says: â€Å"Congress shall make no law†¦ abridging the freedom of speech or of the press† (Johnson et al 1). This was passed in 1971 as the 1st Amendment, in the Bill of Rights in the U. S. Constitution. According to this concept, the U. S. claims that every system has a presence of checks and balances. This means that the media will try to establish the fact that internal checks and balanc es will control and mishaps in the media (Johnson et al 4). Ethics are synonymous with fairness, justice, impartiality and their presentation of truth just as it is. These ethics play a significant role in shaping a society, especially for its reformation. The media plays a major role in the lives of people today all

Financial Instruments disclosure Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12000 words

Financial Instruments disclosure - Dissertation Example Transparency allows the users to view the implication and results of judgments, estimates and decisions undertaken by the management of an organization. Full disclosure of financial instruments refers to the exposure of all the necessary information followed while taking decisions, which would provide the investors with reasonable assurance and belief on the activities performed by the organization. Financial Statements and instruments published and issued by an organization must be comparable both with the industry standards and cross-sectional among firms over a given period of time (Pownall and Schipper, 1999, pp. 259-280). Eccher and Healy (2000), Gelb and Zarowin (2002) and Lang, Ready and Yetman (2003) investigated the relationship between accounting quality and share prices. Lang, Ready and Yetman (2003) stated from the research evidence that cross-listed firms as compared to non-cross-listed firms have higher accounting quality as the accounting data of cross-listed firms are more highly associated with price (Lang, Ready and Yetman, 2003, p.375). The relationship between share price and accounting quality is also found in different market segments around different culture, since share prices are affected by the financial disclosure of an organization. Gelb and Zarowin (2002) examined the relationship between the level of corporate disclosure of financial instruments and stock prices. This study found that organizations with more financial instruments disclosure attain higher Earnings Response Coefficient [ERC’s] (i.e. greater price information) in future as compared to organizations with less disclosure (Gelb and Zarowin, 2002, p.33). A controversial issue related to financial instruments is its valuation at fair value. Although fair value accounting is considered to be the most relevant information for predicting future cash flows, yet the reliability of the fair value measures has been questioned (Hitz, 2007, pp.323-362). Barth (1994) investig ated and found how disclosed fair value estimates of investment securities of bank, and gains and losses of securities are reflected in share price on being compared with their historical cost (Hassan and Mohd-Saleh, 2010, pp. 246-247). 1.1 Disclosure of Non-Proprietary Information Proprietary information is a type of information whose disclosure affects a company’s future earnings potentially and is beneficial to the shareholders occasionally (Dye, 1985, p.123). Managers are generally reluctant to disclose non-proprietary information about financial instruments since they feel that such disclosure may affect the annual earning and the share prices of the company (Dye, 1985, p.124). As market value of a company’s shares is affected with disclosure, so the shareholders may try to implement incentive contracts which encourage managers to suppress unfavourable information and release that information which could lead to rise in the market value of the shares. In this cont ract, when the investors are

Biomimicry Architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Biomimicry Architecture - Essay Example From the essay it is clear that the increased demand for energy efficient buildings materials has necessitated need to turn to nature for solutions. It is undeniable architects, designers, and engineers are developing biomimicry architecture walls or skins through the same mechanism as the skins of various natural creatures and features to maintain and reduce energy wastage.   Nature provides the best source of ideas in architecture by enabling architects to develop skins that are ecologically friendly due to their unlimited advantages. Nature has many forms that can be referred to by architects to develop structures that are unique and efficient. Moreover, nature provides a solution to the energy problem that has been a major challenge in the construction industry for a long time. It has provided ideas on how the buildings can reduce energy usage and some of the importance of mimicking nature in reducing energy use in the following ways.According to the report findings the imitati on of natural structures provides an opportunity for the use of low energy sources, thus facilitating use of renewable sources. Most of the nature mimicking buildings are powered by solar energy, which is a renewable and eco-friendly source of energy to reduce the consumption of the electricity.  A good example of such a building is the All Season Tent Tower that has been constructed to imitate a volcano.

Managing Quality within the Vale of Glamorgan Council Essay

Managing Quality within the Vale of Glamorgan Council - Essay Example vices, including Housing, Community safety, Community care and health, Economic, development, Leisure and tourism, Planning and transportation, Building Control, Waste management and cleansing, Parks and grounds maintenance, Environmental Health, Trading standards, Emergency planning, Lifelong learning and development, Libraries etc., the Vale of Glamorgan Council has been successfully functioning from past many years. Vale of Glamorgan Council, has proved itself, by providing good services, and has been able to maintain its rapport with good Operational Management Strategies. The Quality of services provided by the Council has been highly appreciable, which has been achieved by its logical thinking and efficient management The Council has 47 elected members, each of whom represents  an electoral division, or ward, and is led by a Leader and Cabinet, a body of 10 Councillors that makes key decisions about policy and budget. Its services are led by a Corporate Management Team, made up of the Chief Executive and five directors.   These directors each head one of the Councils five Directorates. There is a Leader and Cabinet, a body of 10 Councillors that makes key decisions about policy and budget. However, since  May 2008  the council has been controlled by a  Conservative Cabinet. Understand how quality can be achieved and maintained in its operations and services. Quality is the first and perhaps the foremost attribute of the five ingredients of performance objectives prescribed by Slack N. Quality. Vale of Glamorgan Council has two different faces. One is the quality of the final offerings of the council that is the services, which are provided to the public. The other is the quality of the operational activities that the staffs of the council goes through in order to provide any particular service. Both these qualities are interconnected so that one has almost a complete effect on the other. This is the reason for taking quality as the attribute for

Bp solar manufacture of renewable energy technology Essay

Bp solar manufacture of renewable energy technology - Essay Example STRATEGIC DECISION TAKEN BY THE COMPANY: Strategic decisions are generally concerned with the overall policy or strategy of the organisation. These decisions are normally associated with relatively long term and involve high risk. At the same time the results related with strategic decisions are unpredictable and have huge influence on the stakeholders of the company (Ford, Sharfman, & Dean, 2008). The strategic decision taken by the BP Solar Global is to expand the operations of the business in new geographical markets. This will facilitate the company in the process of increasing the sales growth and market share. In this regard, BP Solar can enter into growing solar panel industry at UAE and Middle East. Company is already operating in different countries of six continents, namely Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. TACTICAL DECISION TAKEN BY THE COMPANY: Tactical decision are normally associated with medium term and are supported by considerable qua ntitative data and information. Apart from this, tactical decisions have relatively low amount of risk as compared to the strategic decisions (Keskin, Uster, & Cetinkaya, 2010). The tactical decision taken by the company is the implementation of the Total Quality Management and Lean Six Sigma in the next six months. This will enable the company to improve the quality of the overall process of production and manufacturing. This decision will help the company in the process of providing sustainable green energy to the consumers. Along with this, the implementation of the Total Quality Management and Lean Six Sigma will facilitates the organisation in the process of continuous improving the overall operations. OPERATIONAL DECISION TAKEN BY THE COMPANY: Operational decisions include the day to day basis routine activities and tasks. These are of the least complexity and low risk is associated with them. Apart from this the level of information required for these decisions is generally v ery low and these decisions are made on the basis of experiences (Xu & Birge, 2008). The operational decision taken by the company is to send some of the members of research and development department to a one month learning and training course. Being in the highly innovative industry it is necessary for BP Solar to keep on coming with different innovative products and solutions. This can be achieved by training and developing the research and development personnel. INFORMATION NEEDED FOR TAKING STRATEGIC DECISION: In order to decide for expanding into other geographical regions, company will be requiring different important information and data. The different set of information required for this strategic decision are: 1. Current market condition along with future growth potential 2. Current political and legal condition of the new geographical market Current Market Condition and Future Growth Potential: First of all the current condition of the new target market along with the fut ure growth potential will be required. According to the report of Datamonitor (2010), there is high potential in the renewable energy industry in United Arabs Emirates (UAE). Particularly, the industry of solar panels has been showing considerable growth. It is highly beneficial to enter into this region because of the unlimited supply of the sunlight (Datamonitor, 2010). Current Political and Legal Condition of

Public Memory and Commemoration, Roadside Memorials Annotated Bibliography

Public Memory and Commemoration, Roadside Memorials - Annotated Bibliography Example This article talks about the efforts to police the installation of road memorials. The discussion is brief but it is able to present clearly the two sides of the debate. The Gympie Regional Council, in particular, is ambivalent in its position in the debate. Although proposing to eliminate the roadside memorials that have burgeoned at the sites of different vehicular accidents the Council seems to excuse these roadside memorials as well. Hence, the councilors attempted to put into effect the statute prohibiting the roadside memorials, but simultaneously it will allow flowers or crosses provided that they are looked after and do not cause road dangers. This article demonstrates that the banning of roadside memorials is not an easy decision to make. This article presents a comprehensive discussion of the several factors that contribute to the hazards of roadside memorials for motorists. Some of the identified factors are visibility and environmental conditions. The author depicts how governmental organizations, like the National Fire Protection Association’s Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus, try to lessen the accidents caused by roadside memorials by obliging ambulances and fire trucks in the United States to put signs in different sites and retroreflective markings. This article is relevant to the currently study due to its overarching premise that issues of roadside safety are complicated. Roadside memorials may be one of the reasons for these vehicular accidents but there are other factors to take into account. This article could be use to support the arguments for keeping roadside memorials. This book describes the symbolic sites of the ‘informal’ roadside memorials that have begun to emerge recently, marking rural, suburban, and metropolitan sceneries. Roadside memorials, according to the author, are usually considered as ‘spur-of-the-moment’ occurrence. Nevertheless,

Authoritarian Rule in Latin America Essay Example for Free

Authoritarian Rule in Latin America Essay â€Å"Latin American politics since independence have been characterized by instability, authoritarianism, and violence. In a three page essay please discuss the role of the military in creating such problems using the chapter in the course reader entitled â€Å"The Good Sailor. † Also, discuss whether or not the Argentinean case is typical or unique to Latin America. Provide explanations and analysis from â€Å"The Good Sailor,† lecture, and the textbook. An â€Å"A† paper will use all three. Use size 12 Times New Roman font. The paper must be typed (or word-processed) on standard size paper (8 ? y 11) and double spaced with appropriate margins. Use MLA format with parenthetical citations-i. e. (Rosenberg, 84). † Violence in Latin America is a significant part because so much of it is political: planned, deliberate, and carried out by organized groups of society. It is used to make a point. The above quote supports that the violence and military is interrelated and it is used as tool by the military to instill fear and dominate people of the Latin America. Ranked as the third most unstable region in the world in the post-war era, political instability has been a pervasive problem in Latin America. Whether it is a caudillo, a charismatic boss with an armed following, or a general leading a golpe de estado or an authoritarian institution, Latin America is conceived as an authoritarian region always ruled by either military or civilian leaders. Only three Latin American countries were consistently democratic over the thirty year period from 1935 to 1964: Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela. During this time, there were 56 changes of government by military coups in 20 Latin American nations. In sum, political instability is a persistent and pernicious problem in the region. The question arises how military insurrection remained instrument of ruling in Latin America. It might be because since the time of caudillos, violence when used as a method to rule has brought desired results and authority. So it has become a used and proven instrument in the ruler’s toolbox. Also, it might be possible that the institutional inertia of the violent politics as inherited from predecessor’s success is deep rooted in the psychic of the rulers. Brazil was the first of these Institutional dictatorships. When military rule began in 1964 after the overthrow of Joan Goulart, it was not a long project but hard liners in military demanded more and more until soft liners came into action in 1974 to loosen up the political rein. This military regime was institutionalized and created two political parties to channel political activity [Skidmore, Thomas Pg 358-360]. While in Chile, you will see the example to an institutional regime changing into personalistic one with emerging of a dictator Augustus Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1989. Pinochet staged a very bloody coup in which probably 2,000 people were killed in the coup and in the years immediately afterwards. Most Chileans supported some sort of army intervention, in part ironically because of their democratic history. They felt, It cant happen here. Our military isnt like the other militaries. They meant that the Chilean military cannot be as brutal as Argentinean military was. Our military will come in and restore order and clean house for six months and then leave. Seventeen years later, the military left after carrying on one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in Latin America and becoming a symbol of state terrorism. Argentina presents one of the most acute cases in the period after 1955. In this country during this period there occurred 12 military coups. While Colombias violence had its roots because of the lack of social order and the Government’s inability to place rules on a most chaotic society, in Argentina, the junta that came in power in military created exactly the opposite situation. When the military coup came into power in 1976; it suffocated Argentina with social order. It took over the educational institutions, changed the life style of people even their appearance. [Article â€Å"The Good Sailor† Pg. 13] Alfredo Astiz, a lieutenant general for the Navy who was active in it from 1970 to 1995. [Article â€Å"The Good Sailor† Pg. 24] Astiz was in Task Force 3. 2. 2 which killed more people during the Dirty War than any other group. The Dirty War lasted from 1976 until 1983 and involved people getting disappeared. The term disappeared describes those who vanished during this period and were probably killed by the military before being tortured in inhumanely ways. It is these trocities and the new and brutally creative ways to torture people that made the Argentinean military different from the other regimes in Latin America. The term Dirty War originates in the military junta itself, which claimed that a war, albeit with different methods was necessary to maintain social order and eradicate political subversives. Although the junta claimed its objective to be the eradication of guerrilla activity, the repression struck mostly the general population, and specifically all political opposition, trade unionists (half of the victims), students, and other civilians. Many others were forced to go into exile, and many remain in exile today. When the Dirty War was a year and a half old, it had disappeared more than 6,500 Argentines. [Article â€Å"The Good Sailor† Pg. 12. ] Even though the military knew in 1978 that 90% of the left was eradicated, they kept on fighting against imaginary subversives for 5 more years. Human rights were not important to the Argentines. Despite contrary opinion from the military, the article â€Å"The Good Sailor† by Tina Rosenberg proves that excessive torture occurred. It is evident from testimonies in the article and the experience of Vilerinos. Article â€Å"The Good Sailor† Pg. 15, 16. ] He talked about a torture chamber with an electric shock machine, torturing instruments and sand bags to hit people so no marks would show up. The military General and even the low rank officers believed that they have godlike powers instilled in them and it is their duty to clear all the dirt from the society by killing people they see fit. They had no shame in executing horrendous tortures instead they took pride and enjoyed the process. As compared to Argentina, Mexico had one part rule (PRI ruled since 1929 to 2000) rather than military wars but still there was colossal bloodshed. It is not that only military intervention brings in political instability and violence as Mexico is a live example of both. However, after the study of the article â€Å"The Good Sailor† and reading the book â€Å"Modern Latin America† it seems to me that the extent of atrocities military regimes brought is incomparable to civil dictatorship. It is their hunger for power and vehemence to rule that make them feel they are god and have right to â€Å"punish† people. â€Å"Here we are the only gods† said by a torturer in a chamber after brutally torturing a 52 year old women.

Enewsletter analysis Essay Example for Free

Enewsletter analysis Essay The e-newsletter I chose is the daily newsletter from Saint Louis University that is sent to all students, faculty, staff and alumni via email. The university just started sending this newsletter to students this year, as previously it just went to the faculty and staff. Overall, the content of the newsletter is more pertinent to the faculty, staff and alumni. But with the inclusion of student readers the newsletter now makes some room for student news. The layout of this newsletter has â€Å"News Announcements† at the very top with â€Å"Today’s Events† and â€Å"Upcoming Ongoing Events† right next to it. Something very effective of this newsletter is the picture right below the â€Å"News Announcements† title, as it draws in the attention of the reader right away. Below the event listings is â€Å"SLU in the News†, where it lists blips of SLU and its professors in various media outlets. I thought this was also very effective as it give the readers (people of the SLU community) a reminder that people in their community are doing great things and that the readers ought to be proud of the SLU community. This newsletter doesn’t actually have the article right on there, but has links to the â€Å"full story† underneath each title. Each title also has a teaser to intrigue the reader into reading further and clicking the link, but one cannot read the articles right there on the newsletter. This may be a good strategy if the reader has a short attention span and is only glancing through the newsletter, but I think it lessens the quality of the newsletter overall as the newsletter doesn’t provide much information at face value. An interesting thing about this newsletter is that at the very bottom readers can click a link and â€Å"submit news†. This allows readers to be interactive with the newsletter and with what’s happening in their community. The color scheme just reflects the school colors of the university, and aren’t really anything interesting or creative. Article Revision The article I am revising for a blog/social media announcement is the one entitled: Volunteer for Campus Kitchen Through Mid June. I thought that this article would be the one most likely rehashed onto a blog or social media cite. Need something to do for the summer? Help is still needed throughout the month of June at Campus Kitchens. Shifts are available on Sundays between 1-3 p. m. and Wednesdays between 4-6 p. m. Volunteers can cook or pick up food, organize meals and deliver meals. Call (314) 977-3881 or e-mail Jenny at [emailprotected] org to sign up! Volunteer for one shift or for the whole month of June, it doesn’t matter. People are just needed till the summer volunteers arrive in July. A big thanks to the ITS department for volunteering for every Monday shift! Thank you for your time and hard work.

Urban Regeneration Of The Melbourne Docklands Area Environmental Sciences Essay

Urban Regeneration Of The Melbourne Docklands Area Environmental Sciences Essay It can be a challenge to introduce sustainable mixed-use infill development elements into existing cities because of the density issue. Since the attitude of communities of the public is that; high densities contribute to crime (Dekle and Mofson 1997) While plans are created for the redevelopment of urban centres and former industrial areas in Australia (VicUrban 2006) and around the world, many existing cities, struggle with environmental, and economic problems, shattered urban areas, as well as present of public health social problems of inequality. Sustainability measures can be included as a key part of any infill strategy. to improve social equity (HSP and PIA 2009) The demand for new homes in Melbourne is unsatisfied as elsewhere around Australia. Redeveloping brown-fields to meet part of this demand can add valuable benefits other than meeting the need for homes within the city (Melbourne 2007). It can add to any city vitality, also it can reduce the need to develop  ¿Ã‚ ½green-fields ¿Ã‚ ½ sites. As well as closeness of homes near to centres of activity encourages use of public transport, walking and cycling in addition to reduces the dependency on private cars. (HSP and PIA 2009) Measures of diversity in the SD plan have to taken into concidiration needs are best met by ensuring that an appropriate range of small, medium and large family homes is available. So the market will not over supply of small homes and a shortage of  ¿Ã‚ ½lifetime ¿Ã‚ ½ homes The recent growth of urban brown-field redevelopment and greenfield initiatives is a positive indicator of the redirected priorities of the public and private sectors to re The following case study reveals how the inclusion of sustainable growth in a large-scale urban redevelopment can strengthen a shattered urban area and create an efficient functional and iconic ESD Case Study: Urban renewal of Melbourne Docklands, Australia Pre-conditions leading to infill development: The Docklands Area it is located on Victoria Harbor in South Australia (SA) in the heart of Melbourne city; situated nearby the Yarra River and directly southwest of the Melbourne central business area (DSE 2005). Since 1970 to 1990s the Docklands Area was a major source of pollution to the harbor neighbourhood in Melbourne city due to past industrial activities (DSE 2005) because of that the area has endure from disinvestment. However, the need for quayside areas in developed countries in the 1980 including Australia has reduced due to globalization; Shipping, heavy industry and manufacturing has been repositioned to developing nations such as China (Dekle and Mofson 1997). One of the difficulties to redevelop in Docklands was; land contamination, since most of it has been used for industrial activities for years (Commonwealth 2009). The Docklands area needed major design involvement to renew the vacant land as well as clean up the nearby stream (REF). Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD): Melbourne Docklands In the recent peak oil era and the promote trend of globalisation and sustainability, it was apparently predictable that Melbourne CBD and Docklands area would be converted from heavy industry and shipping activities to a high-rise residential and light commercial areas (VicUrban 2006). In addition to the value of real estates in Australian cities, as in Europe increases; by means of closeness to both the central business quarter and waterfront (REA 2010) While Docklands land is state-owned, it has been developed in partnership between the government and the private sector with national and international developers. (VicUrban 2010a). Docklands redevelopment is one of largest Brown-field urban renewal projects in Australia (Commonwealth 2009). As shown in map below Docklands redevelopment is a 200-acre Brown-Field development (VicUrban 2010a) The Docklands redevelopment began in 1989 with the intention of setting a worldwide precedent to incorporate all aspects of sustainability; social, cultural, economic, and environmental (VicUrban 2006) There are eight ESD principles for Melbourne Docklands as indicated in the ESD Guide 2006: 1. Conserve and protect natural resources 2. Create long-term value 3. Maximise precinct opportunities 4. Balance economic, social and environmental outcomes 5. Set standards, requirements and benchmarks, and continually review 6. Develop a collaborative approach, and capture and communicate knowledge 7. Promote alternative transport opportunities 8. Create a healthy urban environment In 2004 the PIA Victoria Division has awarded the Docklands Development with Planning Excellence in the Community Based Planning Category and Planning for Health and Wellbeing (PIA 2004) The (VicUrban) Victorian Governments sustainable urban development agency has entered the award through a strategic plan that has engaged extensive research and consultation with local residence of Docklands community, local government and developers to deliver; public services and social sustainability at Melbourne Docklands.  ¿Ã‚ ½Place and Community: Implementing Sustainable Communities at Melbourne Docklands 2004-2020 ¿Ã‚ ½ plan (VicUrban 2004) Source: (Melbourne 2010) VicUrban Plan for community wellbeing identifies facilities, superiority of service and presents an on-going monitoring program that keep an eye on execution of the plan (VicUrban 2004). This Practical fresh approach is driven from innovative service organizations to deliver the needs of the existing and future community of Melbourne. The plan has advertise itself as  ¿Ã‚ ½healthy and active Docklands ¿Ã‚ ½ by focusing on variety of strategies and services intended to endorse diversity of community, its development and inhabitants wellbeing as well as workers and visitors (PIA 2004). In addition, the plan aims to create alternative active modes of transportation; such as walking and cycling, road safety (VicUrban 2004). As it is predicted by the Department of Sustainability and Environment in Victoria (DES); in 2030 population of Melbourne will grow by one million people (DSE 2005) as a result the need to redevelop or regenerate more of existing brown-fields sites in inner city is essential to achieve goals of sustainable environment, urban amenity and community development (PIA 2004). This approach has been adopted by Victoria government and VicUrban to change the face of Melbourne traditional CBD and to improve waterfront of the city by creating more compact with higher density developments that is easy to be serviced in a sustainable way. The plan is to create  ¿Ã‚ ½development that meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their own needs ¿Ã‚ ½ (WCED, et al. 1987) pp1 To Achieve a Sustainable Developments (SD) in Docklands that meets present and future needs the plan focuses and balance between three aspects or the  ¿Ã‚ ½three bottom lines ¿Ã‚ ½ Environment, Social (Equity) and Economy (Gilbert et al., 1996). As shown in table below according with state of Victoria strategy population projections of Docklands it is estimated to increase from 6,000 residents in 2009 to 17,000 by 2020 (VicUrban 2010a) Population Start 2009 End 2009 2015 2020 Residents 6,000 6,500 11,000 17,000 Workers 12,000 19,000 30,000 40,000 Visitors 8 million p.a. 10 million p.a. 13 million p.a 20 million p.a. Development investment $5.5 billion $6 billion $9 billion $12 billion TABLE 1: DOCKLANDS POPULATION PROJECTIONS, Source: (VicUrban 2010a) While Docklands land is state-owned, it has been developed in partnership between the government and the private sector with national and international developers. (VicUrban 2010a). Docklands is one of largest Brown-field urban renewal projects in Australia (Commonwealth 2009). It is a mixed-use development includes eight precincts as shown in table XXX late 2009 $6 billion of development is either completed or under construction with a final development value of $12 billion by 2020 that will create a wide variety of jobs for 40,000 people (VicUrban 2010a)

Social Class in George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion and Heartbreak House Es

Social class can be thought of as a very important indicator of who a person is. Social class is defined as a broad group in society having common economic, cultural, or political status. Where somebody comes from can effect somebody's decision to become involved with that person or not, can effect whether that person will be hired for a job or not and can often effect they way one is looked at and treated by society. Either way, class distinction is always evident within society. Using two plays by George Bernard Shaw, the relevance of the statement, ?class distinction is always evident within society,? will be shown through the use of examples, from both texts. The specific categories of examples are, character, style and setting. In these categories, Pygmalion and Heartbreak House will prove to be more different to each other than they are similar. In the plays, Pygmalion and Heartbreak House, it is shown through character?s speech, actions and mannerisms, that class distinction is always evident within society. The characters, Henry Higgins, the Eynsford Hill family, and Colonial Pickering, all show how social class and economic rank are important in the play, Pygmalion. Henry Higgins shows discrimination towards the lower class Eliza Doolittle by addressing her not as a lady but as a ?draggletailed guttersnipe? (Shaw, Pygmalion, 26). When Eliza Doolittle enters the Higgins/ Pickering residence, Henry Higgins is not sure what to do with such a dirty lower class girl, he asks Pickering, ?shall we ask this baggage to sit down, or shall we throw her out the window (Shaw, Pygmalion, 23). These comments towards Eliza Doolittle greatly hurt her self esteem and show that even when somebody is being as polite as they possi... ...plimentary. Using the style of naturalism it was shown that in Pygmalion, current environment is the true indicator of what social class one belongs, whereas in Heartbreak House it was shown that heredity is the more accurate indicator. In the category of style, Pygmalion and Heartbreak House are more different than they are similar. In exploring the setting of nineteenth century England, that was used for both plays, it was shown that even in times of revolution and in times of war, class distinction is always present. In the category of setting, Pygmalion and Heartbreak House prove to be more alike than different. Since two out of three categories show that the two plays are more different, the previous hypothesis proves true: Pygmalion and Heartbreak House are more different than they are alike when it comes to social class and the role that it plays in both texts.

Voices :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Voices What is your worst nightmare? What if the entire human population thought of you as defective and criticized you harshly? How about having several voices screaming at you for any little thing that you did wrong? What would life be like if you couldn't decipher reality from imagination? These are common scenarios that schizophrenics deal with every hour of the day -- they can't wake up from their nightmare. A living hell. A torture chamber devoid of walls. Like a schizophrenic poet wrote, "I live in a closet. Unlike most closets, mine is invisible. No one else can see it or touch it or even come inside to keep me company. Nevertheless, its imprisoning walls and terrifying darkness are very real," (3). The loneliness that this poet, Pamela Wagner, feels is excruciating, yet what is it about schizophrenia that makes the victim so alone? What makes the disease so isolating and detrimental to one's existence? These questions are answered here by the voices of those who have first-hand exp erience as paranoid schizophrenics. Not only are some symptoms of schizophrenia discussed, but also the turmoil one goes through with medication as well. Albeit that their have been many case studies performed by psychologists, the words of a schizophrenic give new meaning to the disease. For paranoid schizophrenia, an increase in recent literature reveals the point of view of the ill person. No two cases are exactly the same, so what follows is a conglomeration of experiences of paranoid schizophrenia survivors. As one schizophrenic has stated: "The schizophrenic experience can be a terrifying journey through a world of madness no one can understand, particularly the person traveling through it. It is a journey through a world that is deranged, empty and devoid of anchors to reality. You feel very much alone. You find it easier to withdraw than cope with a reality that is incongruent with your fantasy world. You feel tormented by distorted perceptions. You cannot distinguish what is real from what is unreal. Schizophrenia affects all aspects of your life. Your thoughts race and you feel fragmented and so very alone with your 'crazine ss,'" (6). Paranoid schizophrenia is a very debilitating disease -- it takes over one's life and creates a downward spiral into one's own surreal world. No longer can one communicate or relate to other people. Reality is distorted to fit the pattern of paranoia inside one's mind.

The Interview Paper -- Sociology

The Interview Paper Description of Stoneman Stoneman is ninetieth-years-old. He is a 5 feet 8 inch Chinese boy. He has a big nose but small eyes with glasses. By looking at his mouth, you will think that he is a talkative boy because of his big mouth, but not. He is a passive person. If you don’t talk to him, he never opens his big mouth because he knows his mouth stinks. Although you maybe hate stink, you will like to talk with him because he is really very kind and he can give you a good reaction and a helpful suggestion when you have any problem you can’t solve by yourself. He is a smart boy and also a fat boy. His abdomen’s length is 37 inch. He can eat 4 Big-Macs in the lunch, therefore he got 185 pound. He don’t like sport, so I think it is very difficult for him when he want to lose his weight. Interview with Stoneman Q: It is very nice to have an interview with you. You came from Hong Kong. How long have you been living in the United States? A: My family came here in 1990 and I came here in 1994. Q: Why did you come here later 4 years than your family? Did you live alone in Hong Kong when your family was here? A: No, I lived with my uncle. The reason why I stayed in Hong Kong was I wanted to study in the Hong Kong University. I had to finish the high school and pass the Hong Kong Certification of Education Examination to get in the Hong Kong University. So I stayed in Hong Kong and studied. Q: Did you pass the exam? A:Yes, I pas...

Natural Environment and Campbell Soup Essay

Why do some business firms pursue a triple-bottom-line outcome while others focus only on profit maximization? Please, use a real company example to illustrate your points. The triple bottom line outcome focuses on the concept where firms are environmentally conscious and socially responsible by achieving a balance between profits, avoiding damage to the environment, and achieving social benefits (Douglas, 2012). Traditionally, firms focused on profit maximization to achieve profits to pay out dividends and capital gains so shareholders can buy things. In a recent article, Nursing Homes are overbilling Medicare $1.5 billion a year for treatments patients don’t need or never receive. When nursing homes where for-profit, 30% of claims sampled were considered improper while non-profit nursing homes estimated only 12% (Waldman, 2012). Jill Horwitz, a professor at the University of California stated that for-profit health care providers are more likely to pursue money in any way possible, even by pushing the legal envelope (Walkman, 2012). There are still for-profit companies who pursue a triple-bottom-line outcome. Campbell Soup Company has been environmentally conscious and socially responsible since 1953. The Campbell Soup Foundation has been supporting local communities where employees live and work financially. Campbell Soup’s headquarters is located in Camden, New Jersey where they donate approximately $1 million each year to impact the local residents in a positive manner (Campbell Soup Foundation). They focus on hunger relief, childhood obesity and youth-related programming. Not only does Campbell Soup invest in its local communities, they also partner is many non-profit organizations like the Boy & Girls Club and the United Way. Customers can influence firms to pay more attention to the preservation of the natural environment by emphasizing how important the community and environment in which they live are. Many organizations are now trying to go green. They are making products that use fewer materials and are less harmful to the environment. If customers refuse to buy products from organization that do not value the environment, organizations will change to customer’s needs. Along with not buying products, customers should not invest with companies who do not value the environment and communities. â€Å"Economists incorporate the triple bottom line into their models of business decision making by assuming that many individuals will buy shares in companies that achieve the triple bottom line outcomes they want and will sell shares in companies that do not† (Douglas, 2012. Pg. 7). References Campbell soup foundation. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.campbellsoupcompany.com/Foundation.aspx Douglas, E. (2012). Managerial Economics (1st ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. This text is a Constellationâ„ ¢ course digital materials (CDM) title. Waldman, P. (2012, December 31). For-Profit Nursing Homes Lead in Overcharging While Care Suffers. Bloomberg. Retreived from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-31/for-profit-nursing-homes-lead-in-overcharging-while-care-suffers.html 1. Firm Objectives Why do some business firms pursue a triple-bottom-line outcome while others focus only on profit maximization? Please, use a real company example to illustrate your points. Guided Response: In 300 words or more, please, provide your response to the above discussion question. Comment on how customers can influence firms to pay more attention to the preservation of the natural environment. Respond substantively to at least two of your classmates’ postings. Substantive responses use theory, research, and experience or examples to support ideas and further the class knowledge on the discussion topic. 2. Decision Making Under Uncertainty To save on gasoline expenses, Edith and Mathew agreed to carpool together for traveling to and from work. Edith preferred to travel on I-20 highway as it was usually the fastest, taking 25 minutes in the absence of traffic delays. Mathew pointed out that traffic jams on the highway can lead to long delays making the trip 45 minutes. He preferred to travel along Shea Boulevard, which was longer (35 minutes), but rarely had traffic jams. Edith agreed that in case of traffic jams, Shea Boulevard was a reasonable alternative. Neither of them knows the state of the highway ahead of time. After driving to work on the I-20 highway for 1 month (20 workdays), they found the highway to be jammed 3 times. Uncertainty is when the potential outcomes are not predictable and/or the probabilities of these outcomes are not estimable ahead of time (Douglas, 2012). * I-20 = 25 minutes w/o delays (25 minutes * 365 days = 9,125 minutes) * I-20 = 45 minutes w/ delays * Shea Boulevard = 35 minutes w/o delays * 1st month of travel there where 3 traffic delays assuming 20 workdays each month 1. Assuming that this month is a good representation of all months ahead, should Edith and Mathew continue to use the highway for traveling to work? * 3 jams (workdays) * 45 minutes = 135 minutes * 17 workdays * 25 minutes = 425 minutes * Total = 560 minutes compared to * 20 workdays * 35 minutes = 700 minutes when taking Shea Boulevard. Edith and Mathew should continue to use the highway because they save 140 minutes each month. 2. How would you conclusion change for the winter months, if bad weather makes it likely for traffic jams on the highway to increase to 6 days per month? * 6 jams (workdays) * 45 minutes = 270 minutes * 14 workdays * 25 minutes = 350 minutes * Total = 620 minutes compared to * 20 workdays * 35 minutes = 700 minutes when taking Shea Boulevard. Edith and Mathew should still continue to take I-20 during winter months because they will continue to save time. They will save 80 minutes of time taking the highway during winter months. 3. How would your conclusion change if Mathew purchased a new smart-phone app that could show the status of the highway traffic prior to their drive each morning, thus reducing the probability of them getting into a jam down to only 1day per month (where on this day, the app showed no traffic jam, but a jam developed in the meantime as they were driving along the highway). The conclusion would change in that Edith and Mathew should take Shea Boulevard on days in which they know there is an accident ahead of time. Either way they should continue to take the highway unless they discover accidents ahead of time. Non-Winter * 1 jams (workdays) * 45 minutes = 45 minutes * 17 workdays (highway) * 25 minutes = 425 minutes * 2 workdays (Shea Boulevard) * 35 minutes = 70 * Total = 540 minutes compared to * 20 workdays * 35 minutes = 700 minutes when taking Shea Boulevard. Winter * 1 jams (workdays) * 45 minutes = 45 minutes * 14 workdays (highway) * 25 minutes = 350 minutes * 5 workdays (Shea Boulevard) * 35 minutes = 175 minutes * Total = 570 minutes compared to * 20 workdays * 35 minutes = 700 minutes when taking Shea Boulevard. 4. Further, comment on how the conclusions of this problem will change if there was no uncertainty and the highway always had traffic jams, whereas Shea Blvd was always traffic jam free? Is this scenario realistic and why? Respond substantively to at least two of your classmates’ postings * 20 workdays * 45 minutes (I-20 w/ jams) = 900 minutes. * 20 workdays * 35 minutes (Shea Boulevard) = 700 minutes. If this was the case, Edith and Mathew would take Shea Boulevard every day. The scenario can be realistic because construction could incur at some point throughout the year cause delays and an increase in accident rates. References Douglas, E. (2012). Managerial Economics (1st ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. This text is a Constellationâ„ ¢ course digital materials (CDM) title.

The CBD (the Central Business District)

The typical CBD is in the commercial and cultural activity in a city. In many large cities, it is immediately recognizable by tall skyscrapers, the neon lights at night and the very high density of buildings, traffic and people. The CBD is usually highly accessible. It is the focus of roads, with bus and railway stations near by. The CBD usually has the highest density of bus services and taxis in the whole of the urban area. Although the residential population is only very small, during the day and evening the CBD is crowded with people working, shopping or seeking entertainment. Main functions of the CBD Shops: The CBD is usually at the top of the shopping hierarchy in a city. It has the widest range of shops and the largest department stores. Shops mainly sell comparison or high-order goods and they draw their customers from a wide sphere of influence. The highest land costs are in the centre of the CBD. In the core of the CBD, there are large department stores and branches of many national chains of shops. Smaller shops, often privately owned, are located on the edges of the CBD in the fringe area called the frame. Some shops, such as clothing, shoe and jewellery shops tend to cluster together to take advantage of competition, while others are more dispersed, such as newsagents and chemists. Offices: Banks, building societies, solicitors, company headquarters, insurance companies and government offices occupy high-rise office blocks or the upper floors above shops in the CBD. Culture & entertainment: Parts of the CBD ‘come alive' at night as the theatres, cinemas, clubs, bars and restaurants attract customers. Certain parts of cities have become famous for their nightlife, such as London's West End. The CBD of a city is not static; it is a dynamic area going through phases of growth and decline. You will see some areas in decay in a CBD of a large city, with closed shops and a rundown appearance, and others that appear lively, smart and successful. The CBD also has problems with traffic congestion, parking and pollution, as well as those caused by lack of space and shortage of land. Local planners have implemented a variety of different schemes to attempt to solve the problems of the CBD. Problems and attempted solutions in the CBD: Traffic congestion: Lots of cars and shops, services and employment in the CBD create massive problems of congestion and parking in the city centres. Roads are often narrow, with little pavement space. Some solutions include: * Ring roads and by-passes to divert traffic not going into the city centre * Urban motorways and flyovers * Public transport schemes such as ‘park and ride', the Newcastle metro, trams in Manchester * Multi-storey car parks * Pedestrianization of high streets Lack of space and the high cost of land: Competition for land has led to high prices, and growing firms find it difficult to find space. In some CBDs the smaller retailers have been forced away from the city centre because of the high costs. Some solutions include: * High-rise buildings to increase the floor area available * New retailing areas in out-of-town shopping centres in the suburbs or rural-urban fringe, in a process called decentralization Pollution: Water, land, air and noise pollution are all common in city centres. Pollution is thought to contribute to the stresses of living in urban areas and to some diseases, such as asthma and bronchitis. Some solutions include: * Laws against litter and dumping sewage in rivers * Improved provision of litter bins and road sweeping * Clean Air Acts that allow only the use of smokeless fuels * Clean-fuel technology and vehicles that run on methane gas or electricity * Banning heavy lorries from passing through city centres * Increased planting of trees and shrubs Urban decline: Parts of some CBDs have declined. Shops and offices have closed down and the empty buildings and vandalized. City centres compete with out-of-town shopping centres to cater for the growing demands of shoppers. Some solutions include: * Redevelopment of zones of decline in the CBD such as King's Cross and Covent Garden in London * Expansion of the CBD into areas of the inner city – old factories and substandard terraced housing have been cleared, rehousing the occupants in the suburbs or New Towns and filling the space with new shopping and office developments

Theme of Responsibility in the Sun Also Rises

Brett Ashley, the main female character, renounces responsibility of her actions regarding romance by her refusal to face the suffering she causes. Finally, a primary method these characters use to excuse their irresponsibility is by Indulging in their alcoholism. This group of people believes that there Is nothing they can do to change their current state of discontent, thus ultimately renouncing their responsibility to themselves. Jake Barney's Irresponsibility manifests In his relationship with others, be It friends or acquaintances.Early in the novel Jake introduces Robert Cohn as his reined. However, he does not take this responsibility of a friend very seriously. When Jake, Cohn and Francis are in a cafe, Jake does not acknowledge the relationship between Francis and Cohn, and proceeds to talk about a trip with Cohn to Strasbourg with a guide girl who is just â€Å"swell† (14). That Jake needs Cohn to explain why the subject is touchy around Francis demonstrates the lack of care Jake has towards Cohn. A friend would understand Conn's situation and avoid topics that could cause inconvenience to him.This uncaring attitude is further portrayed when it is shown hat It Is Sake's plan to get rid of Cohn by offering him a drink as a â€Å"graceful exit† (19) when he needs to clear his head after the drink. Even more telling than the last two events Is the fact that when Cohn and Francis are having a row about Cohn not marrying her, Jake Just sits there and watches. When Francis Is verbally abusing Cohn, Jake does not â€Å"even feel an impulse to try and stop it† (56), he doesn't care that his friend is being attacked nor does it bother him.Sake's only response to the fiasco between Francis and Cohn was that â€Å"there is nothing [he] can do† (55). This cold attitude is evident throughout the novel and reveals that Jake is indeed an irresponsible friend. Moreover, Sake's interactions with acquaintances such as Aggregate and Mrs.. Bra dford further reinforce this characteristic Irresponsibility. When Jack encounters Aggregate Hobble, they are Invited to dance with Mrs.. Breadboard's group. He Introduces Aggregate as his fiance and as Aggregate Labeled, a famous singer, poking fun at both Mrs..Bravado's and Aggregate. With this Introduction he makes fun of both Mrs.. Breadboard's naivetà ©, and Surrogate's lack of importance. The introduction expansible person would not have lied about another person without a warning. This action displays a high level of carelessness and irresponsibility. Although Jake is a sensitive person; he often treats others as inconsequential objects. This is why he often acts so irresponsibly. Beret's romantic interactions between different men reveal another sense of irresponsibility written in the novel.Brett is a beautiful classy woman and is the center of the conflict in this story. She is the primary cause of tension between the characters, but she refuses to acknowledge her part in this conflict. In the cab ride he shares with Jake, she confesses that she feels â€Å"miserable† (32) and that she is going through â€Å"hell† (34), but her actions show no remorse over what she has done. For example, she repeatedly professes that she loves Jake but oftentimes scorns him immediately after.The repetition of such an act begs to question whether she really loves Jake or feels responsible for his pain, as every time she rejects him she hurts him. Even though her upcoming marriage with Mike seems to be the manifestation of a responsible romance, she never writes back to Mike and still approaches Roomer despite her supposed commitment. Furthermore, even though Brett is going to marry Mike, she never says that she loves him. She mentions to Jake that she â€Å"haven't thought about him for weeks† (69) implies that she does not really care for him.Further in the novel Brett states that she hates Conn's â€Å"damn suffering† (186) as if she did not know she was the cause of it. It reflects that even though she causes pain for others, she hates to feel bad about it. This being the case, Jake is the perfect target for Brett because he suffers through her manipulation but never shows it to her. This allows her to cast off her part of the responsibility for his pain. Brett also states that she has â€Å"never been able to help anything† (187), suggesting that she feels that she has no control over how she manipulates the men around her.She does not take the blame for the results of her actions, and casts off her responsibility. Near the end, Roomer gifts a severed bull's ear to Brett. Brett then proceeds to hide it in a drawer and never sees it again. Roomer's act of cutting off the bull's ear is similar to the act of castration which is exactly what Brett does to the men around her. By disposing of the ears it demonstrates how little she cares for what she has done to Jake and Cohn and reveals how Brett is unwilling t o take responsibility and face the gruesome results of her cruel manipulations.The characters in this novel consume alcohol whenever the situation allows, and it is used as an excuse for much of their irresponsibility. Several characters use drunkenness to Justify their inappropriate actions. Brett comes to Sake's house early in the morning and wakes him up for trivial matters. She also misses her appointment with Jake later in the novel because is drunk. Jake wasn't Just the victim though, Jake is happy to be drunk at the dance party with Aggregate because it lets IM be more careless as well as more impulsive in regards to Cohn Prettiness's Mrs..