Is men appear stronger than women in his play “A Midsummer Nights Dream “? Essay

How does Shakespeare make men appear stronger than women in his play â€Å"A Midsummer Nights Dream â€Å"? How does this affect society at the time of writing? â€Å"A Midsummer Nights Dream† was written by William Shakespeare and was rumoured to be written around 1598, when Elizabeth the 1st was on the throne. The reason that it is believed to be written around this era is that at the time there was a few years of bad weather in England. This links to the effects of Titania and Oberon’s argument over the changeling child whereby the fairy and mortal world are changed. Titania is the Queen of the fairies and Oberon is the King of the fairies. In this essay I will be providing evidence that men seem stronger than women in â€Å"A Midsummer Nights Dream† by using quotations and personal reasons. As ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ is set in Athens and there are four main groups of characters, the lovers, the mechcanicals Theseus, the duke of Athens is getting married to Hippolyta, the Queen of amazons. Egeus has chosen a husband for his daughter, Hermia, who has refused to marry Demetrius. Egeus has gone to the Duke to ask him what he can do about his uncooperative daughter. The Dukes solution is to punish Hermia for disobeying her father; to die or to marry Demetrius. This contradicts my essay title that men are more powerful than women, however, this is only one of the very few times when women seem to be more powerful than men. Hermia is actually in love with Lysander and he is in love with her so he refuses to give her up to Demetruis. To avoid punishment from the Duke, they both flee the nearby forest just outside of Athens were they are followed by Helena and Demetruis. The problems start to arise when Puck, the henchman of Oberon places a love potion in the wrong athenians eye. Making Lysander fall in love with Helena and when he tries to resolve the problem he puts the â€Å"love potion† in Demetrius’s eyes. Demetruis and Lysander are now madly in love with Helena leaving Hermia with nobody loving her. Again Puck creates another problem by messing about while a group of work men are rehearsing for a play that they hope to perform at the Duke’s wedding. This creates a very humorous moment in the play. This is also evidence that the play was written for the Queen Elizabeth 1st as she liked comedies. This is ideal for Oberon’s plan to humiliate the Queen of the Fairies to get the changeling boy that he desires so much. During the period of time when the love juice is in effect, there is a lot of misunderstandings and bewilderment. The fairies create a lot of trouble in the play as well as a paranormal element. It is also like a dream when the play is set in the forest and then when it is set in the city of Athens it more realistic. In the play Egeus can not control his daughter so we assume that he is a weak person especially as in Shakespeare’s time it is thought that women were controlled by males and they weren’t suppose to question it. To prove this Theseus says, â€Å"To you your father must be a god â€Å" Egeus goes on to describe how Demetrius is a man who she should marry. He blames Lysander for her change in attitude towards him as the play continues, â€Å"Turned her obedience, which is due to me, to stubborn harshness†. During the time of Shakespeare women were possessions to men, as Egeus says, â€Å"As she is mine, I may dispose of her† Egeus goes on to explain about the law but he needs Theseus to control the situation, as he is the Duke. In this situation the female involved, Hermia, is the more powerful then Egeus, however, the situation changes when they go and speak to Theseus. where they both threaten Hermia with death. To prove to her father that she will not obey him Hermia argues, â€Å"I grow, so live, so die, my lord†¦unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke† This basically means that you can kill me but I will not be happy until I marry Lysander. Oberon is the King of the Fairies and Titania is the Queen of the Fairies. They are both powerful but in different ways and that is what makes the story interesting. When we first meet Oberon and Titania we find out that they are having an argument or a misunderstanding. We know this because the first thing that Oberon states is â€Å"Ill be met by moonlight, proud Titania† Titania replies with â€Å"I have forsworn his bed company† This reply shows that they are in the middle of the quarrel as she won’t do what Oberon wants her to do; to give him the changeling boy. For a long time Titania resists and she even refuses to go to bed with him. Again like Egeus and Hermia women are supposed to obey men and this is another example of disobedience from women. A changeling boy show power to who ever owns one as a changeling boy is a henchman that’s why Titania wont even give him up for the for the Fairy Kingdom. â€Å"Not for thy fairy kingdom† But Oberon response shows his power because he can take revenge â€Å"Well go thy way †¦ till I torment thee for this injury† By saying this he explains to the audience how his strength and control can be used to retaliate against Titania’s infliction. Theseus and Hippolyta were both leaders of a cluster of people. Theseus was the Duke of Athens and had control over all the people that lived in the Greek city of Athens and Hippolyta was the Queen of the Amazons. The Amazons were a group of women that hated men who had fought in battles and also had a ritual to cut their right breast so they could fire arrows. They both had a lot of respect from two very different groups of people. Hippolyta was seen as a trophy wife, she was won in a battle and so became his prize. Theseus shows Hippolyta off to show that he has the power to win battles. As explained earlier Egeus came to Theseus with a dilemma about his daughter and to show his power he threatens her with a death penalty. During the play Hippolyta doesn’t say a lot of things and it is obvious that she has hidden feelings, but as a conclusion Theseus has a lot more power over her, this proving my statement. The first we see of Demetrius is in the forest and Helena is following him. They are both looking for Lysander and Hermia when we notice that Helena is trying to beg for Demetruis’s love, â€Å"I am your spaniel †¦ your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex we cannot fight love, as many men do† Helena seems a pushy character and seems selfish. I think this because it is obvious that he doesn’t love her but she still asks and pleads him to love her. The power is definitely towards Demetrius as he is denying Helena’s love because he loves Hermia. Demetrius shows his strength and takes advantage of her by saying â€Å"leave the city.† The power changes after puck puts love juice in his eyes while he is sleeping. This affects everything as he now loves her so much and doesn’t love Hermia anymore as Demetrius says, â€Å"O Helena, goddess nymph, perfect divine† By saying this he weakens his masculinity to what Helena was before. Queen Elizabeth was a very powerful woman and to show this she once said this very memorable quote, â€Å"I know I have the body of a weak and feeble, but I have the heart and stomach of a king and a king of England at that† This quote reflects how men were perceived as powerful and strong and women as weak and incapable. Queen Elizabeth was about the first woman to show that she was strong and not how women were portrayed as. She somewhat broke the dowry system law, which was that women were not aloud to work or do anything constructive. In conclusion of this essay I feel that men are overall more powerful than women but after further consideration I feel that towards the end of the play the power changes over to the women. This is all down to Puck and Oberon with the love juice. There is certain situations were women appear more powerful than men. That situation is with Egeus and Hermia, as she doesn’t get punished for loving Lysander rather than the chosen Demetrius. Even at the end of the play she still has power over him as they marry. I think the play was the best out of the Shakespeare plays that I have previously studied. I enjoyed it because it was one of the plays that I actually understood and I like the comedy that was included in the play. I also liked how the subplots all rolled in to one or they affected one of the other plots.

Marketing strategy of the organisation

In order for us to understand any administration we have to either cognize about or make some research on it. So in this assignment I have chosen an administration. The administration I am making my assignment on is Polyflor South Africa. The administration will be described, including their products/services and their clients. In order to understand the administration we need to carry on a SWOT analysis, besides looking at barriers. If we have all the needed information from above we will understand the administration better and can get down with the selling program.Question 1The administration I am traveling to depict is Polyflor Gross saless Africa otherwise known as Polyflor South Africa. Polyflor S.A is an industrial flooring company. The South African subdivision was established in 2004 by Denver Coleman and Sheila Coleman. The administration really originates from the United Kingdom where the first Branch of was established in Manchester.Polyflor is all over the universe, they have subdivisions all over the universe. There are subdivisions all over Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. So they are fundamentally on every continent. Polyflor Manchester is the chief caput office. Polyflor S.A is a household concern, where they all work together. The administration believes strongly in â€Å" Team Work † . And is all about profiting the consumer.Polyflor S.A has a figure of different merchandises. All their merchandises are heavy responsibility, industrial merchandises. They do chiefly shocking but they got some other merchandises that is non flooring, it ‘s really got to make with plumbing.Their chief merchandise is heavy responsibility, industrial vinyl flooring. Another merchandise of theirs is industrial meshing gum elastic tiles. They besides do wooden block mosaics. The merchandise that is non shocking related that is comparatively new at Polyflor S.A is specialized industrial drains. As you can see all their merchandises are industrial merchandises so they meant to be used in topographic points where the merchandises will be introduced to a batch of wear and tear. You will happen their merchandises in mills, large edifices etc. The vinyl flooring can really be seen chiefly in infirmaries and in many of the luxury coach line drives. The merchandises are non truly used in a private capacity. Polyflor does n't acquire their merchandises from merely one topographic point, their merchandises come all over the universe. Their vinyl shocking comes from the United Kingdom, from Manchester. That ‘s the majority of their merchandises they do. The specialised drains are imported from Germany. They do hold a local manufactured merchandise and that is the meshing gum elastic tiles that they really get from down the route from them. They do n't truly supply a service as they sell shocking and other merchandises, but they do hold support systems where they will the aid at anytime. They ever there for their clients. They besides got a station sale service where they will help refering their merchandises. If a client is necessitating aid or general aid refering their merchandises, the employees of Polyflor S.A will ever be at that place to assist every bit much as they can.For these types of merchandises there is non a immense mark market, as these merchandises are non used in a personal and private capacity. They are used in a industrial capacity, intending mills, infirmaries and so on. Polyflor S.A does non put in the shocking they sell their merchandises to the administrations who install it.So Polyflor ‘s has non got an limitless sum of clients, but they do hold a big client base. Which the bulk of them are regular, on traveling purchasers of their merchandises. Basically, Polyflor merely sells to shockin g contractors. Polyflor is non allowed to put in their flooring. So other shocking companies who do besides sell flooring and put in it. Purchase from Polyflor. Some of the chief flooring contractors that are regular clients are Peter Bates, Turner Piercing, Kevin Bates, Albert Carpets and many others.Question 2Looking at assorted administrations we need to understand them more. We can make this by carry oning a SWOT analysis. Basically a SWOT analysis is structuring of information, which is collected from the internal and external environment. It gives us a theoretical account in order to get down the selling planning procedure. Shows us the strengths, failings, chances and menaces of the administration. Cloete ( 2010,21 ) So the SWOT analysis of Polyflor is:Strengths:They are a recognized administration, good known in the flooring trade.They are known for holding the best quality merchandises.They are an international administration, so they are recognised all over the universe.Polyflor has one of the best proficient backgrounds in the flooring trade.They are a household concern so the squad of employees work truly expeditiously and good together.Keeping up in the new manner tendencies of today with their new designs on the flooring.They are a really environmentally friendly company.Failings:Finding reps that know about shocking who will be able to sell their merchandises.Finding employees who are able to work with the merchandises and know about flooring.Not holding plenty South African manufactured merchandises.Geting bulk merchandises from abroad states, people need to acquire the merchandises and start assorted occupations utilizing Polyflor ‘s merchandises but they cant because Polyflor has non received the merchandises due to detain being imported from abroad.Opportunities:The manner tendencies are altering all the clip, so Polyflor can hold new manner tendencies in the designs of their flooring.Most people and companies are going â€Å" Green † , so they want to utilize more environmentally friendly merchandises. So Polyflor can sell environmentally friendly merchandises and present new â€Å" Green † merchandises.Besides they could sell more locally produced goods, .Polyflor could non merely merely sell to shocking contractors for industrial usage, but besides opening up a new market for people to utilize it in a private capacity.Menaces:Of class their chief menace is competition ; there are other shocking companies besides Polyflor. So they have to invariably maintain happening ways to remain on top and maintaining competitory advantage.Another menace would be that most merchandises come from other international states, which sometimes the merchandis es are n't delivered in clip. So clients could travel looking other topographic points.Besides coming from abroad, the monetary value of the merchandises could alter easy, due to currency, revenue enhancements, import and export responsibilities.All of these facets can hold deductions on the selling scheme of the administration. Therefore it is of import to make this analysis.

Philips Versus Matsushita: a New Century, a New Round

Philips versus Matsushita: A New Century, A New Round How did Philips become the leading consumer company in the world in the postwar era? What distinctive competence did they build? What distinctive incompetencies? During 1892, Gerard Philips had a small light-bulb factory in Eindhoven, Holland in the same year the factory was failing so the brother Anton, a salesman came abroad. The larger electrical company was very diverse with their products.The two brothers focus on technological prowess to create significant innovations such as scrap old plants and use new machines, or factories for new production technology (Barlett, 2009 p. 332). Philips had created a culture of embracing technical innovation. On the production side, Philips was a leader in industrial research, and scrapped old plants in favor of new machines or factories whenever advances were made.On the product side, strong research enabled the company to broaden its product line, starting with light bulbs but growing int o vacuum tubes, radios and X-ray tubes by the 1930s (Barlett, 2009 p. 332). When the Great Depression happen Philips build local production facilities to protect his foreign sales of product. In the late 1930s, with the anticipation of the war Philips had to transfer overseas assets to British and North American corporation but most of the vital research laboratories to Redhill Surrey, England and top management to United States.The individual country organization was more independent during the war supported by the assets, resources transferred from their parent. The Allied and German bombing had pummeled Philips industrial plant in the Netherlands but management board decided to build postwar organization on National organizations (NOs) that has become self-sufficiency during the war that allowed a valuable asset in postwar era(Barlett, 2009 p. 332). A great advantage in being able to sense and respond to differences is the environmental independent National organizations (NOs).Th e National organizations (NOs) built a technical capability, product development that became a function to local market conditions. During 1954, a board was established call the International Concern Council to form meetings with the heads National organization (NOs). Within the National organization (NOs) management structure the legendary leadership of the two Philips brothers were joint technical and commercial. The technical manager and commercial manager were led by National organization (NOs) (Barlett, 2009 p. 33). Philips was no longer able to act as a single unified company in order to bring new product technologies to market or to react to recent manufacturing trends; instead each of the NOs acted independently in their own self-interest. Top management was no longer able to manage the multi-national company Philips had become. For example, Philips was unable to standardize the company for a global push with its V2000 videocassette format when the U. S. chose to license VHS from Matsushita instead.On the manufacturing side, printed circuits were more efficiently produced in large plants, but the NOs were unwilling to consolidate their local manufacturing facilities. Philips’ attempts to set up Product Divisions (PDs) to balance the NOs were largely a failure, and Philips began a long slide, unable to launch new products or to take advantage of the global manufacturing opportunities in low-cost countries because they were unable to coordinate the NOs (Barlett, 2009 p. 333). The European Common Market eroded trade barriers and diluted rationale independent country subsidiaries were created in the late 1960s.New technologies were in larger demand production runs more than national plants could justify, and Philips competitors started moving electronic production into new facilities with low wages in Asia and South America. However the ability to bring products to market began to falter in 1960s, while they watched Japanese competitors capture a ma ss market with two technologies that was invented audiocassettes and microwave ovens. An about a year later they abandon the V2000 videocassette format superior to Sony’s Beta or Matsushita’s VHS.Philips decides to outsource the VHS product that is manufactured under license from Matsushita (Barlett, 2009 p. 333) The new CEO Hendrick van Riemsdijk had created an organization committee policy on the division of responsibilities Philips Division and National Organization (NOs). The proposed is rebalancing the relationships between Philips Division and National Organization to allow tilting matrix towards Philips Division to decrease the number of products marketed, build scale and increase product flow across National Organization.When the new CEO took over in 1987, Cor van der Klugt , he wanted to continue to strengthen and restructured the Philips Division relative to National Organization around four core global divisions rather than the former 14 Philips Division. Th is will allow him to trim the management board, by appointing displaced board members to a new policy-making Group Management Committee (Barlett, 2009 p. 338). In conclusion they need to invest in developing new products in each operating segments.The key to success is to keep developing new products, reduce costs as volume increase, design products suitable for any market, but can be easily customized for local differences. R&D should be located where each product line can be found. Sales need to reflect the economy of that country or region, matrix with product operations, ensure each regional need are incorporated into the product plans, but individual regions cannot allow heads in different directions.Each companies needs to improve their manufacturing operations and local final assembly needs to be under the control of manufacturing, not local sales operations. If Philips and Matsushita do not have the earnings to support restructuring, then they are going to have to priori tize spending. Reference Christopher A. Bartlett, 2009, Philips versus Matsushita: Competing Strategic and Organizational Choices Transnational Management Text, Cases, and Readings in Cross-Border Management Sixth Edition 2011.

Global Popularity of Brand Playboy Research Paper

Global Popularity of Brand Playboy - Research Paper Example The beginning of Playboy was seen in 1953 by owner Hugh Heffner, at that time known as ‘Stag.† The approach was to offer a magazine for men that included nude female models, journal articles and fiction. The first issue was focused on pictures of the celebrity, Marilyn Monroe and sold an average of 53,991 copies within a few weeks. From here, Hefner began to work with Eldon Sellers in Chicago for enhancing the trend of the magazine. To enhance this, the models were combined with the different components which added to the brand of Playboy, including the Playboy bunny, which was known for being placed in the magazine in a discreet area for men to find. The height of the magazine circulated into the 1970s as the main magazine with the specific content. After this time, pornographic videos, â€Å"Penthouse† and other magazines focused on specific audiences began to compete with the magazine. However, it continues to sell an average of 2.6 million magazines per month.T he intimacy of the magazine led to the development of merchandise, specifically because the magazine wasn’t able to produce the images outside of the magazine. The development of the playboy bunny was able to add into this image in the 1970s to lead to the popularity of the magazine. The merchandise includes t-shirts, caps, household items, cards, cosmetics, jewelry, mobile phone accessories, mugs and posters. However, the merchandise continued to be sold because it worked as a way of advertising the magazine and the overall ideology of the brand. Most of the merchandise grew in the 1980s and 1990s and was introduced globally, specifically to make a defined understanding of the brand name in relation to the magazines which were sold2. Current Condition of Playboy The merchandise which grew into an international brand not only went through a rising popularity. The Playboy brand was known for a continuous rise and fall in the amount of merchandise available to those interested in the brand. After the 1970s, the brand declined because of the other competitors which began to offer the same type of magazine and which combined other options for sales with the Playboy brand. This pushed Playboy into building the brand identity through the merchandise and allowed them to move back into popular rankings at a global level. Today, the concept of adult entertainment has been reinvented through the concept of Playboy, specifically because of the decline which occurred in the 1970s. The Playboy brand has built a stronger reputation with the use of technology and the Internet. At the same time, the merchandise which is available is growing in popularity. It is noted that this is linked specifically to the economic turns. When the economy was booming in the 1980s and 1990s, the magazine was popular and the merchandise worked as a brand identity. However, the downturn in the economy has led more to finding the merchandise and alternative Internet sources for the Playboy magazine. This exchange was combined with the understanding of the Playboy identity as well as what the cultural values and norms are in terms of the entertainment3. The current trends as well as the changes in the economy have

Cost of Capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Cost of Capital - Essay Example Nevertheless, for the companies operating in the high risk industries, it becomes necessary to consider not only the equity-to-debt ratio, but also the ratio of the liquid cash held versus the debt held by the company. The consideration of the debt to cash ratio is important, owing to the fact that it enables such high-risk industry companies to plan on how to insure their R&D projects, depending on the nature of risks that is posed by the research. Balancing the cash that a company should hold in liquid with the debt owed by the company also presents some disadvantages to the high-risk companies, owing to the fact that there is always an opportunity costs (Eilenberger, 2010). For example, a company deciding to insure its R&D for its high risky projects requires to maintain a lot of liquid cash to pay for the insurance premiums, while that cash could have been invested elsewhere by the company, and generated some financial returns. The other notable challenge faced by companies in their determination of the cost of capital and how to apply the capital, is related to the prioritization of projects. Companies require to determine which projects are most likely going to generate high returns compared to others, and then invest in them. The major challenge associated with such prioritization is when a company predicts that a certain project is likely to generate more returns than others, only to find that in reality the case is different. This is a high risk of opportunity costs, because it means that the company will have already foregone the benefits it would have obtained from the foregone project (Eilenberger, 2010). Additionally, companies are also increasingly faced by the challenge of balancing between investing in projects that have a high potential for generating returns for the company, versus the projects that may not generate as much returns, but that are capable of benefiting a large number of people in the society. All these

Current School Finance Issues Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Current School Finance Issues Paper - Essay Example Detroit Public Schools had more than 120,000 teacher days lost to absences in 1980-81. These absences cost more than 6.2 million dollars.† (Woods, Robert C., Montagno, Ray V., Winter 1997) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3673/is_199701/ai_n8747732 Identifying various factors contributing to absenteeism is not easy and considering economic loss faced by the government it is essential to find solution through concerted efforts involving Government agencies, employers, and employees with the help of evaluation and research tools. According to the 2007 CCH Unscheduled absence Survey â€Å" personal illness accounts for 34 per cent or unscheduled absences, while 66 percent of absences are due to other reasons, including Family issues(22 percent); Personal needs (18 percent), Entitlement mentality (13 percent)and stress (13 percent) http://hr.cch.com/press/releases/20071010h.asp. Absence may be defined as the failure of an employee to attend for fork at the scheduled time and measured as the total hours lost compared to the hours they would normally be available for work. While personal illness remains the single most common reason for unscheduled absence, other reasons may be linked with weather or transportation problems. Working environment, mental and health condition of employees, financial benefits and career advancement opportunities, and hazards associated with occupation are other deciding factors of absenteeism. Morale and emotional reasons of an employee also influences in his/her decision to call i n sick at the last minute and absence from duty. Lost manpower due to illness and hospital bills of a work force with poor health condition will definitely create a dent in the budget of their employers. Hence, more attention is needed in maintaining good health of employees of an organization. Regular medical screening of employees as well as family members and calisthenics, before commencing duty everyday, will pave way for reducing absenteeism

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Functional Systems - Case Study Example Basically, the Lynx Company is using the sales information system. In this scenario, this system collects sales data to help the company monitor sale transactions and to help the management understand the status of their organizations, whether their business is running in profit or in loss (Shah, 2009; Beaubien, 2013). The system has been a great success for the company and some of the reasons behind this success are outlined below: 1. The system is designed for a particular purpose (e.g. Sales system). So it specifically deals with sales functions and minimizes confusions with other departments. It is easy for the sales department to understand the functions and carry put tasks effectively using this system. 2. As discussed above, this system is an isolated system. In this scenario, it is not connected to any other system such as human resource system or decision support system. So it is much easier for staff members to operate it independently without requiring the data from other departments. 1. In view of the fact that this functional system is based on a particular function (e.g. sales system) so the flow of work and information between other departments can suffer. For instance, it can be difficult to connect this system with other systems such as decision support system or human resource systems. Or in some cases there can emerge various data integration issues (Beaubien, 2013). 2. Since this functional system operates over the Internet so information security can be a serious challenge. The system can face security attacks from hackers. In addition, the system can also face virus attacks which can destroy the entire data (Henderson, 2013). 4. In order to perform accurate working there would be need to train the staff members. Since this system deals with money matters so a small error can cause serious loss for the company. In this scenario, they must train their staff members so it is an extra burden on the company (Henderson,

Consent and capacity to treatment in medical law of an adult Essay

Consent and capacity to treatment in medical law of an adult - Essay Example 41, 2008). When the law talks about the capacity, it involves the maturity level and understanding and despite that a patient cannot be considered as having lack of capacity only because he made an unwise decision which does not fulfill his own best interests. According to the law, capacity cannot be the regarded as the decision which is reasonable and sensible to another person, perceptions may vary (Coyne, p. 64, 2005). People who have capacity can make their own decisions unless it is proven that they lack capacity. Disability is not a factor which indicates the lack of capacity; in fact a disable person can well take his own decisions without the assistance of anyone else. But in some cases, a person with a disability may require assistance to clarify the issues and understand the choices to ensure and enable autonomous decision making, but the other people may not always find other people’s decisions rights (Jackson, p. 601, 2002). For this, the law says that it cannot be assessed that the person is making a right decision or not, but what should be determined is that the decision is not ‘bad’ and whether it shows the lack of capacity in the person to make decisions or not. ... 171, 2004). Clinical incapacity is not permanent. The people who are severely depressed, intoxicated, comatose, agitated or impaired otherwise lack the capacity to make their medical decisions but for the time being. Later, they may retrieve their capacity. Where a patient has the ability to make a decision, the doctors should assess it (Herring, p. 202, 2012). People with dementia require the evaluation of the person’s level of judgment and memory before proceeding with the medical care. The law says that if the doctors find the person lacking capacity, they may turn to a close relative or friend or anyone appointed by the person to make decisions on his behalf (Wong, p. 445, 1999). However, these kinds of cases where the decisions are made by substitutes for the people who cannot make decisions for themselves are rarely brought into the court. But, if the patient himself objects to the medical decision taken or to the determination of him clinically lacking capacity, it can be brought to the court. The doctors are ordered not to go against the person’s will unless it is declared that he is legally incapacitated (Sturman, p. 963, 2005). Once the capacity is determined, the patient’s consent is equally important. Adults are more commonly categorized in this group and they make their own health decisions. Every adult has the right to accept or refuse medical treatment (Pozgar, p. 320, 2011). In general situations, a doctor asks for the consent of the patient before treating them. This suggests that the patient should be legally able to give his consent. If the patient is under guardianship, his decision will not be made by himself (Appelbaum, p. 1838, 2007). The patient must be mentally able to permit the medical

WGST400 Assignment 4 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

WGST400 Assignment 4 - Research Paper Example In France and England, women have played vital roles during the First World War, and such roles have helped secure victories for the Allied Forces. The thesis statement for this paper is: The participation of French and British women during the First World War laid out the foundation for improved rights for these women following WWI. Empowered women in France and England helped initiate and advance the cause for the First World War and for contemporary feminism. This paper shall first discuss the role of women in France and England during the First World War. It shall then move on to discuss how these women helped advance the cause of the feminism and then of the First World War. A final discussion on how these women have contributed to the causes of contemporary feminism shall also be presented. This study is being carried out in order to help understand feminism within the context of the First World War in France and England. It also seeks to develop a better understanding of the c urrent state of feminism and its development throughout the years. During the First World War, women in France and England played various roles. In France, the women assisted in the war efforts and activities, but mostly as individuals or as members of private organizations1. The French government did not want to mobilize and militarize their women because the French government did not recognize these women as citizens who also had their roles to play in the well-being of the country2. The government believed that if the French women would be militarized, then they were also full-fledged citizens of the country. This would imply that there was a need for the French government to also recognize the civic and suffrage rights of the women3. Allowing women to participate in the war efforts was also seen by the French government as a major threat to the gender construct in their country. Wars and the military

The Government of the Russian Federation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Government of the Russian Federation - Essay Example The transformation in foreign policy thinking profoundly impacted policy making and was based on the realization that the real security threat to Russia came from the deteriorating economy due to excessive military spending. Rather than applying the overt exhibition of military power, Gorbachev chose to apply political influence. He improved diplomatic relations and economic cooperation by such actions as unannounced personal appearances at public events both within and outside Soviet borders. Gorbachev charismatically utilized the world media and made political concessions in the resolution of regional conflicts and arms negotiations that were previously unimaginable under the old regime. The ‘New Thinking’ aided the Soviet Union in garnering wide approval of many nations. Its peace-making policy that released Soviet control over Eastern Europe ultimately led to the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War. Its success would entail radical changes not only in t he way the economy functions, but in social and cultural policy, in Soviet political life, and ultimately, in the way in which the Soviet Union deals with the larger international community. By-products of the ‘New Thinking,’ perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) initiated far-reaching governmental policy changes that affected virtually every aspect of Soviet life. These new concepts were a distant departure from previous Soviet practices. This discussion will focus on the building of the Russia Federation, the competing ideologies within the government along with Russia’s new approach to foreign policy and how it was designed to tie in with internal reforms. It will briefly review recent political history leading up to this new way of thinking including how such a radical departure from past procedures and policies was accomplished and the subsequent consequences this reversal of political thought inspired as well as its far-reaching

Newspaper D1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Newspaper D1 - Assignment Example According to Yuan (2010), the Chinese and American employees are employing a range of strategies to address the conflicting dilemmas. The main issues faced are the differing business etiquettes, corporate culture and employment benefits. Some of the problems encountered by the workforce are integrating with the colleagues, compelling the implementation of one’s recommended solution, making decisions by power, dominating among the team members, avoiding discussion of issues, relationship dissolution and third-party process. Moreover, the Americans are willing to confront the conflict rather than the Chinese people who try to avoid them. In order to understand the conflict, it is better to apply the human psychology concept. The idea behind this framework is that each individual has to be understood so that the personal attributes are evident and it will allow the person to utilise his capabilities efficiently in resolving the conflict. Due to globalisation and strengthening of international business avenues, the intercultural business conflicts will have to be minimised so that the desired organisational objectives can be successfully

The North Face Essay Example for Free

The North Face Essay The majority of the company’s products are sold in premium sporting goods retailers, and specialty backpacking, mountaineering, and skiing retailers. The North Face provides gear for professional and amateur athletes and enthusiasts using high-quality, technical outerwear. This company also sponsors major events to maintain and even increase its public profile. In 2010, The North Face sponsored the Ski Challenge, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in France and the Lava redo Ultra Trail in the Italian Dolomite Mountains (Kennedy, 2012). The North Face has very stiff competition from well known companies such as Columbia Sportswear, and Patagonia. However they have fascinating state of the art technology to distance themselves from their competitors. Despite The North Face filing for bankruptcy in the late 90s, profits have risen by 37 percent the past year. This is mostly because of the popularity of the brand in Asia and its sponsorship for the Winter X-Games. It has earned a reputation as the ultimate, authentic outdoor brand. Their slogan â€Å"Never Stop Exploring,† has become popular amongst all athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. This outdoor apparel powerhouse has a very large and loyal fan base, and the demand for outdoor apparel is on the rise. In North America, performance outdoor apparel has grown 19% from 2004 to 2010. This trend is supposed to continue for at least another five years. As The North Face has been creating products with great quality and endurance, they plan to focus toward a greener supply chain and operations. Partnering with the blue sign sustainability standard for textile production, will help separate The North Face from their main market competitors Columbia Sportswear, and Patagonia. By looking at financial records, The North Face surpasses its second largest competitor, Columbia Sportswear, proving that it is the best in the industry. The North Face is named after the coldest most unforgiving side of a mountain, and has helped explorers reach unbelievable heights in the Himalayas. This remarkably powerful corporation is going to continue to design and provide the best for all outdoor enthusiasts, remaining on top for years to come. The North Face was chosen due to its involvement in both the sport and recreation fields. Their mission statement is â€Å"Never Stop Exploring†. Their vision statement as a business is â€Å"Our passion is beyond setting records and achieving fame. For us, its all about changing lives, not just our lives, but also, the lives of those people who inspire us to aim for extraordinary dreams† (Over 40 Years of Innovation and Exploration, 2012). For more than 40 years, The North Face has been distributing an extensive line of performance apparel, equipment, and footwear. The company’s purpose is to push the boundaries of innovation so their customers can push the boundaries of exploration (Over 40 Years of Innovation and Exploration, 2012). The North Face is extremely proud to be the first choice of equipment and apparel for the world’s most accomplished climbers, explorers, and winter sport enthusiasts. In 1966, Douglas Tompkins and Kenneth Klopp founded The North Face in San Francisco’ North Beach neighborhood. They chose this name of their equipment retail store because the north face of a mountain in the northern hemisphere is generally the most difficult face to climb (Our Story, 2011). By 1968, The North Face was designing and manufacturing its own type of technical mountaineering apparel and equipment. By the end of the 1980s The North Face became the only supplier in the United States to offer a comprehensive collection of high-performance outerwear, skiwear, sleeping bags, packs and tents (Our Story, 2011). The North Face brand was created to give customers exactly what they need and they are concentrating on creating environmental friendly and high sustainability products. They wanted to give the customers huge satisfaction and build trust between them and the brand. By using products, which support better performance and comfort at different locations and climatic conditions, creates a long-term relationship with the customers. In the past innovative product design and consistent development and introduction of new products have always been North Face’s greatest strengths. In 1975 North Face introduced a standard in the outdoor equipment industry with its geodesic dome tent. This design became the standard for lightweight, high-performance tents used in high-altitude and polar expeditions (Our Story, 2011). The geodesic dome also became very popular for general backpacking and camping as well. The same year North Face also introduced another original, sleeping bags incorporating shingled construction of synthetic insulation. Like the dome tent, these sleeping bags have become the industry standard (Our Story, 2011). An â€Å"extreme skiwear† line was later introduced which involved a complete line of severe cold weather clothing. By the late 1980s North Face were the only manufacturer and distributor in the United States of a comprehensive line of premium-grade, high-performance equipment and apparel used in mountaineering, skiing, and backpacking (The North Face Inc, 2009). Currently, Geoffrey D. Lurie leads The North Face team as Chief Executive Officer, and Director (Company Overview of The North Face, Inc. 2011). The North Face is owned by VF Corporation, who is lead by the team of Eric C. Wiseman and Robert K. Shearer (About VF Management Team, 2012). The VF Corporation is a leader in branded lifestyle apparel including jeans wear, outdoor products, image apparel, sportswear and contemporary apparel brands. The principal products and services offered by The North Face are men, women, and children outdoor apparel for hiking, cold weather climates, running, rock climbing, and camping. They offer equipment such as tents, sleeping bags, back packs, and kits for rock climbing, and camping. They offer services such as events throughout the year that give their customers opportunities to enjoy the outdoors while also getting to know the brand. Today, The North Face offers a wide variety of products like outdoor equipment such as thermal tents, and climbing tools. They are very famous on college campuses these days with their outer wear ranging from their jackets to winter hats and gloves. These products meet customers’ needs and wants by providing quality winter and hiking gear. The North Face touches customers emotionally by satisfying their technological needs. Every product they make is made with the thought that â€Å"each consumer is an explorer and they require a product with high quality, comfort and something they would value for the long–term† (Our Story, 2011). They value their customers and stick to their company values of using high quality fabric, testing their products endlessly, and constant improvement (Our Story, 2011). The demand for The North Face products will definitely increase in the future. Global demand for performance outdoor apparel worn by individuals taking part in sports pursuits is outpacing other sectors of the total active sportswear market, according to a new report from just-style, with growth set to soar by 22% over the next six years†(Smith, 2011). In North America, performance outdoor apparel has grown 19% from 2004 to 2010. This trend is supposed to continue for at least another five years. Europe is suppose to have a predicted 18% increase within the next 5 years (Smith, 2011). Outdoor apparel will be very successful in the developed world, but in third world countries they will hardly grow at all. In the past, outdoor retail products were seen more as a luxury rather than a necessity. Lucky for The North Face, the economy hasn’t really impacted the company as a whole compared to the industry in general. The North Face is classified as a â€Å"premium brand†, thus targeting â€Å"high educated individuals†. New stores have continued to open, and plans to grow and expand are emphasized each day. Just like any organization, The North Face has high objectives in regards to their products and services. One objective is to improve the brand value perception from 65% to 85% by the end of the year (2010 Sustainability Report, 2010). Based on a survey that was conducted, 65% of the respondents think that they are getting a great value out of The North Face Products for the amount they pay. Whereas another survey shows that the brand is not too affordable. Another objective for The North Face is to increase customer loyalty from 68% to 85% by the end of 2012 (Over 40 Years of Innovation and Exploration, 2012). Based on the brand research, they found out that only 74% of The North Face customers are more likely to buy its products again. Finally, The North Face plans to expand the product offering of the company from 4 to 6 activities. Their newest targets include runners and bikers. After conducting a survey with their customers, The North Face found that the top activity that respondents participate in, other than hiking, are biking and running. Therefore, The North Face wants to include more gear to accommodate this new market of runners and bikers. In order to reach its goals, The North Face plans on taking steps in order to meet its objectives. To achieve its goals, The North Face plans on creating strong awareness campaigns that emphasize the product technology and value of the products in order to decrease the perception of having prices way too high for a said product (2010 Sustainability Report, 2010). In order to increase customer loyalty The North Face Plans on developing more community outreach programs to engage customers. A simple solution is in place for the running and biking market, just simply begin developing products for that target market. The use of advertisements will help The North Face keep in touch with the customers and constantly remind them of product’s positive values (Over 40 Years of Innovation and Exploration, 2012). Maintaining long-term relationships with happy and satisfied customers will encourage them to continue buying the products. The technology used to make The North Face products is blue sign approved fabric. The blue sign standard guarantees that along the entire production chain products only contain components and pass through processes that are harmless to people and the environment (The Board Room Eco Apparel Environmental Standard, 2012). By supporting the blue sign standard, The North Face can focus not only on creating high performing, quality products but also on assuming greater responsibility for our consumers and the environment by minimizing the ecological impact of their supply chains (Product Responsibility, 2010). In addition to working with their primary suppliers, The North Face works hard to influence additional supply chain partners to partner with the blue sign system in 2010. Viewing the macro-environment surrounding The North Face is very interesting. Many factors influence the production of products, sales, and innovation. Social trends include brand popularity as well as possible body image and health issues. Everyone wants to fit in with the new styles, therefore with The North Face on the rise; sales will increase and become popular among customers. Since The North Face promotes healthy living, healthy lifestyles among consumers will become a huge trend with trying to stay in shape and avoiding obesity. Politically and economically, healthcare bills could determine if people would venture out and do adventurous activities with risk involved. Higher taxes and unemployment rates will pose a huge threat to The North Face due to its high prices. Currently, natural trends that are being used include the use of blue sign fabric technology explained earlier and finding innovative ways to recycle and reuse resources for future products. Technological trends that are being used include partnering with the most innovative leading materials engineers. With this partnership, The North Face creates the technically advanced fabrics needed to develop clothing and equipment that meet their high standards (Our Research, Design ; Development Process, 2011). One great example is the partnership with W. L. Gore, who helped design PacLite, â€Å"the most compressible, lightest weight GORE-TEX shell fabric available† (Our Research, Design ; Development Process, 2011). As The North Face has been creating products with great quality and endurance, they plan to focus toward a greener supply chain and operations. At least 65 percent of the fabric it uses to conform to the blue sign sustainability standard for textile production by 2015 (Guevarra, 2011). After two years of working with major suppliers to apply blue sign guidelines, 27 percent of the fabric used in The North Face products meets the standard (Guevarra, 2011). The further upstream we go, the more impact we have on [easing] the environmental impacts,† Adam Mott, corporate sustainability manager for The North Face (Guevarra, 2011). With that being said, the greatest benefits result by improving the sourcing and manufacturing of prime materials that are used in its products. The North face customers are usually single middle-middle or upper-middle class people, whose main occupation is teaching or having part time summer jobs. They are college or professional customers between 25 to 45 years old (Demographics of The North Face, 2012). Their income ranges between $40,000 to $60,000 dollars. They are consistent users with heavy frequency of purchase and conduct searches on the Internet (Demographics of The North Face, 2012). Surveys and studies show The North Face customers are interested in running in marathons and also environmentally aware. They enjoy being independent and typically purchase high performance products (Demographics of The North Face, 2012). The company targets prospect customers who are trying to explore new locations for outdoor activities like running. The customers are generally people who are trying to fit in the new environment or society. The North Face has very stiff competition from three major well known companies such as Patagonia, Columbia Sportswear, and Nike. Patagonia and Columbia Sportswear are in the same category of â€Å"outdoor† lifestyle brands, and Nike on the other hand targets a much larger variety of customers. Patagonia’s mission statement states: â€Å"Build the best product, do no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis† (Our Reason For Being, 2012). Founded by the mountaineer Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia, like The North Face, is a company that is deeply committed to preserving the earth and creating sustainable products. In 1972, Yvon Chouinard developed the idea of going green mountain climbing after finding out that the climbing gear his company manufactured damaged cliffs (Beginnings and Blacksmithery, 2012). Chouinard later developed aluminum chocks to replace the steel climbing gear. The Columbia Sportswear Company is positioned directly against The North Face and Patagonia. While The North Face and Patagonia target the extreme outdoor adventurers, Columbia Sportswear appeals more to the casual outdoor enthusiast. They believe that â€Å"the outdoors isn’t all about remote expeditions or climbing the world’s highest mountains. Anyone can enjoy the outdoors† (Columbia’s History, 2012). They are definitely aiming to sell to a much larger crowd of customers compared to Patagonia and The North Face. Columbia Sportswear is sold in over 100 countries worldwide. They use state of the art technology known as Omni technology, which focuses primarily on comfort focuses on comfort (Omni-Technology, 2012). Core technologies serve the following functions: thermal comfort, water repellent, lightweight, advanced traction, sun protection, advanced evaporation, advanced cooling, waterproof and breathable (Omni technology, 2012). Nike is the world’s leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel. Each product line they offer is branded such as, Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Air Jordan, etc. Nike’s marketing and branding strategy is a key component to their huge success. Nike’s logo, â€Å"The Swoosh†, is one of the most recognizable logos in the entire world. They target the mainstream athletic crowd with their apparel, commercials and sponsorships. Competitively, all four companies have incredibly strong cultures and each has their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. Out of these sport and recreation apparel powerhouses, Patagonia, is the most serious threat to The North Face. However The North Face has some unique features that gives it an advantage over Patagonia and the rest of its competition. The North Face is a very trendy brand, and very popular with college students. It is available in thousands of retails stores for easy access, creating more of a mass market appeal. trendy brand of the two, hugely popular among college students and widely available nationwide in thousands of retail locations. Thus, The North Face has more mass-market appeal. On the other hand, Patagonia only has a handful of retail locations in areas that aren’t as populated. This happens to be part of their marketing strategy. The North Face’s marketing strategy is to focus on the athlete and their performance in The North Face gear. Patagonia focuses more on the clothing it sells, not the model. They place an emphasis on the fabric technology that they use in their marketing and only display their clothing on their website and catalogs. This is an area where both of these companies could improve on. North Face as a whole company is financially healthy. This is determined through the financial ratios provided by the annual report of V. F. Corporation for the year 2012. The North Face is a subsidiary to the VF Corporation and is represented as the stock symbol VFC on the New York Stock Exchange. In order to determine The North Face’s health, profitability ratios and its subcomponents were analyzed. Profitability ratios show the business’s ability to generate revenue as compared to its expenses and other relevant costs incurred during a specific period of time (Profitability Ratios, 2012). These ratios include profit margin, return on assets, capital structure, and return on investment. The North Face’s financial ratio for profit margin is 47. 9%. This was determined by taking the net income, dividing it by the corporation’s revenue, then multiplying the quotient by one hundred. The return on assets is 9. 5% which is determined by taking the company’s net income and dividing it by their total assets. The capital structure of the North Face is 24. 3%. To calculate the capital structure, you must take their long term debt, and divide it by shareholders equity plus their long term debt. Calculating the return on investment, you must take the gain from interest; subtract it by the cost of investment, then divide by the cost of investment. The North Face’s return on investment is 14%. The current accounts payable is $868,870,000, current ratio is 1. 91%, the working capital is 1. 2B, and their long term debt is 1. 83B (VF Corporation, 2012). The North Face company is healthy because their working capital is only 300 million less than their long term debt and they have a positive $868,870,000. 00 accounts payable balance. Financial records were not available for Patagonia, The North Face’s top competitor. Columbia Sportswear, The North Face’s second largest competitor, financial ratios were looked at instead. Columbia Sportswear as a company is also financially healthy. This is determined through the financial ratios provided by the annual report of COLM for the year 2012. Specifically we focused on the profitability ratios and its subtopics to determine the health of the company. Their financial ratio for the profit margin is 46%, ratio for return on assets is 7. 5, capital structure -5%, return on investment is 9. 6%, accounts payable is $148,700,000, and their current ratio is 3. 9% (Columbia Sportswear Company COLM, 2012). The North Face exceeds Columbia in all four categories. The North Face’s profit margin is 47. 9% compared to Columbia’s 46%. In return of assets, The North Face comes out on top with 9. 50% opposed to Columbia’s 7. 5%. The North Face’s capital spending is at 24. 0%, way above Columbia’s -0. 05%. In the fourth and final category, return on investment, The North Face closes it out with a 14% to Columbia’s 9. 60%. These ratios are so different because The North Face is more successful and sells more inventory than Columbia. They also get a much larger market draw. The North Faces product and clothing line is helping the company meet its objectives. This is because they are very successful and have nearly a 50% profit margin. In conclusion, The North Face, part of the Vanity Fair Corporation, was founded in 1966 later opening its first retail store in 1968. The company, located in San Leandro, California, brings the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished mountaineers, climbers, skiers and explorers. The majority of the company’s products are sold in premium sporting goods retailers, and specialty backpacking, mountaineering, and skiing retailers. The North Face provides gear for professional and amateur athletes and enthusiasts using high-quality, technical outerwear. Their slogan â€Å"Never Stop Exploring,† has become popular amongst all athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. This outdoor apparel powerhouse has a very large and loyal fan base, and the demand for outdoor apparel is on the rise. As stated earlier, in North America, performance outdoor apparel has grown 19% from 2004 to 2010. This trend is supposed to continue for at least another five years. As The North Face has been creating products with great quality and endurance, they plan to focus toward a greener supply chain and operations. Partnering with the blue sign sustainability standard for textile production, will help separate The North Face from their main market competitors Columbia Sportswear, and Patagonia. By looking at financial records, The North Face surpasses its second largest competitor, Columbia Sportswear, proving that it is the best in the industry. The North Face is named after the coldest most unforgiving side of a mountain, and has helped explorers reach unbelievable heights in the Himalayas. This remarkably powerful corporation is going to continue to design and provide the best for all outdoor enthusiasts, remaining on top for years to come.

Prevent A Future Crisis

Prevent A Future Crisis The downturn of the world economy, in light of the present scenario of the global financial crisis, has resulted in the epic failure of multinationals that were once deemed infallible(Ministry Of finance, 2009). The phenomenon of post-industrialism constitutes remote causes of the crisis. Paradoxically, what was once a means to move forward has now turned into a problem that has orchestrated a worldwide collapse resulting in bankruptcy of many corporations (Davis, 2009). It may be interesting to understand how this major change which affected the real economy worldwide, also contributed to the global financial crisis which occurred at the end of this decade. This essay will discuss the main causes of the global financial crisis and then propose various steps that the government of the United Kingdom could take to prevent another crisis According to the statistics, at present only a dwindling 10% of the American population is employed in the agriculture and manufacturing industry as opposed to 60% in the pre-industrial era. The gradual but consistent decline of the working population from manufacturing to the service sector has a substantial repercussion on the global economic front. Furthermore peoples ability to work and earn is no longer dependent on their working skills but more on their intellect. To satisfy the needs of cost effective manufacturing, the jobs were off shored to other developing nations (Davis, 2009). An important feature of these large manufacturers (Davis, 2009) was that they were providing â€Å"job security, health insurance, and retirement benefits† to their employees but now even these â€Å"academy employers† have begun to withhold guarantees, such as their employees pension schemes and retirees health benefits (Davis, 2009) Although it is a quite remote cause of the last financial crisis, the post-industrialisation set some of the indispensable conditions for the crisis to happen. Indeed, the employers will to â€Å"loosen the ties that bound employees to firms† contributed in a significant manner to the development of institutional investment. (Davis, 2009) The introduction of the 401(k) plan saw to the demise of the ‘defined-benefit scheme that induced loyalty among its employees. The new ‘defined-contribution plans on a superficial scale were beneficial to the employers but they further weakened employee ties, adding to the effects of earlier discussed post-industrialization. The investment risks were no longer borne by the employer but by the employees. Consequently the market saw a steady rise from 6% investment in stocks by individual households in the 1980s to an all time high of 52% investment 2001 (Davis, 2009). This substantial increase mainly benefited mutual funds (which consequently invest largely in US corporations), although it served the interests of most of institutional investors categories given their interconnection. Although this ‘roll-over of funds seemed, at first, beneficial to institutions as well as households it eventually had severe consequences with the decline of the market. (Davis, 2009) These two major economic and (subsequent) financial changes contributed to weaken the system by excessively reinforcing the links between the real economy and the financial sphere. These ever-closer ties between institutions and households, between institutions and workers or retirees and between institutions themselves explain how a little spark could result in a highly destructive fire. It seems that the sub-prime crisis can be considered as the â€Å"spark†. (Holmes and Tamara, 2009) â€Å"The Federal Reserves accommodative interest rate policy of the early 2000s is generally seen as what has caused the real estate bubble burst† (Bhalla,2009). The sub-prime problem arose from the fact that buyers without sufficient purchasing power were being funded by the greedy financial institutions because of their objective to maximize profits in the short run (Yandle, 2010). Debtors were also given options by the bank, wherein they could avoid the increase in the mortgage rate simply by refinancing within the stipulated time (Acharya et al., 2009) This, of course, was under the assumption that housing prices would continuously appreciate. However housing prices deteriorated at an alarming rate of 17% per year from the year 2008 and this continued to cause a chain-reaction of multitude of problems that were dependent on the ‘refinancing option (Bhalla,2009). The last main â€Å"ingredient† of the turmoil is directly related to the sub-prime crisis. It may be considered as the most â€Å"poisonous† one. First, because it made the crisis hard to predict and therefore hard to assess and solve. Secondly, because it played the most significant role in diffusing the crisis effects quickly and at a worldwide scale. This â€Å"ingredient† is the complicated â€Å"securitization† process According to Gerald F. Davis, the process of securitization consists of transforming assets â€Å"into securities that are traded in markets†. This practice is linked to the shift in the banking activity, from the traditionalâ€Å"originate to hold† banking model to a â€Å"originate to distribute† model. One type of security which is particularly relevant in the case of the financial crisis is mortgage-backed bonds, an asset-backed security that is secured by a collection of mortgages. The problem is that, if the mortgagor becomes insolvent the value of the security is likely to disintegrate. Securitization processes increased dramatically at the end of the 21st century, in reason of the demand generated by worldwide institutional investors (especially pension funds and mutual funds (Davis, 2009). Therefore the impact of the collapse was eventually significant as in the case of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Butler, 2009) Before discussing the possible steps we have to make two distinctions. First we shall distinguish between the â€Å"emergency measures† which have been implemented in order to help the economy to recover in the short term (e.g.: bail-out packages) and those which should prevent future crises. We shall focus on the second category. Another important point is that we shall only deal with the steps that should be implemented in the United Kingdom. Thus we will not expose solutions to solve the causes which originated in the United States such as the sub-prime crisis. Only the US government is competent to deal with this problem; ideas of changes include, inter alia, requiring licenses and state certification for all loan brokers and individual retail mortgage loan officers (Muolo, 2008) In order to reduce the effects of another financial crisis, the United Kingdom should concentrate their efforts on three main issues: the effects of bail-out policies, the regulation of financial institutions and of institutional investors and the regulation of non-banks. Poole argues that bail-out policies have an enabling impact on the behaviour of companies and financial institutions. According to him â€Å"every economist understands [that] a policy of bailing out failing firms will increase the number of financial crises and the number of bailouts†. (Poole, 2007). Indeed he explains that these practices give incentives for firms to â€Å"take too much risk and hold little capital† (Poole, 2007).In order to reduce the â€Å"safety net†, he proposes to diminish the insurance coverage of financial institutions. Although this proposal concerns the United States and is dedicated to the Federal Reserve System (the author is himself President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), it would certainly suit the UK given the bail-out policy implemented there as well (see the governments emergency  £37bn recapitalisation of the UK banking sector (Wearden and Kollewe, 2008). We have to keep in mind that the diffusion of â€Å"toxic assets† from the US to the world (including the UK) has been possible because of the trade of these assets on financial markets. The FSA may need to impose more severe rules on institutional investors and banks (in regards to their investment activities). It has been argued that risks linked to securities were sometimes difficult to assess. Moreover several banks acknowledged that they were unable to estimate with accuracy the quantity of â€Å"toxic assets† they had acquired. Stephen says that any company having excessive growth due to risky financial investments are the ones on high risk of a collapse (Schwarzman, 2008). The British regulators here have a very important role to play and they should improve their oversight over all the institutions participating in the securities market, as the US regulators should improve theirs over the bonds market (which played a significant part in the sub-prime crisis). The largely unregulated â€Å"Shadow banks† have gradually emerged as new players in the financial intermediation process (Llewellyn, D. 2009). According to Butler and Patrick (2009) the Government of UK is trying to regulate the non-banks through a process called â€Å"shadow banking† for institutions such as hedge funds, private-equity funds and insurance companies. To save tax-payers money it is necessary to have regulations in place and initiate shadow banking, however this practice has still not been implemented because of the complex mechanisms of these institutions (Butler, 2009) In conclusion, this paper discussed the various causes of the financial crisis which started way back from the post-industrial era and led to other severe problems in terms of the defined contribution by the employers. A further factor included premature acceptance and use of securitization, and shifting of risk by major financial institutions. While it is of utmost importance to know the causes of the crisis, more emphasis must be laid on the steps taken to avoid another turmoil. Despite this range of propositions, this discussion cannot omit the paramount need for more international coordination and regulation between political and financial authorities. As Acharya and others explain, â€Å"Although cross-border banking and financial flows have expanded in scale, much of bank supervision remains national† (Acharya et al. 2009). Thus, crisis at the international scale are not likely to be efficiently withstood if national regulations are not accompanied by international ones. Finally, and to refer to President Kennedys quotation, we may assert that a crisis is above all the opportunity to evaluate the dangerous nature of the current system, assessing its strength and flaws, and to improve it, when required. Bibliography: Davis, G. F. (2009). The Rise and fall of Finance and the End of the Society of Organizations. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23 (3), pp. 27-44. Ministry Of finance. 2009. Statement of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. [Online] Available at http://www.mof.go.jp//english/if/g7_090214.pdf [Accessed 16 February 2010] Butler, P. 2009. Learning from financial regulations mistakes. McKinsey Quarterly Business Source Premier issue 3. pp. 68-74. Holmes and Tamara E. 2009. Did they Cause the Credit Crisis? Black Enterprise; 39(6), pp. 74-77) Bhalla, V. K 2009. Global Financial Turmoil. Journal of Management Research 9(1), pp. 43-56 Yandle, Bruce 2010. The lost trust- The real cause of the financial meltdown. Independent Review 14(3), pp. 341-361. Acharya et al. 2009. The Financial Crisis of 2007-2009: Causes and Remedies. FinancialMarkets, Institutions Instruments. 18(2), pp. 89-137 Butler, E. 2009. The Financial Crisis: Blame Governments, Not Bankers In: Booth. P. Verdict on the Crash: Causes and Policy Implications. 1st ed. The Institute of Economic Affairs. pp. 55-57 Muolo, P. 2008. What I Would Do About the Crisis If I Ran the Regulatory Zoo. National Mortgage News, 33(3) , pp. 5-5 Poole, W. 2007. Responding to financial crisis: What role for the fed? CATO Journal, 27(2), pp. 149-155 Wearden, G and Kollewe, J. 2008.How the banking bail-out works | Business|. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/13/banking-banks [Accessed: 18 February 2010.] Schwarzman, S. 2008. Some Lessons of the Financial Crisis. Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition 252(107), pp. 19-19 Llewellyn, D. 2009. The Global financial crisis: The role of financial innovation In: Booth. P. Verdict on the Crash: Causes and Policy Implications. 1st ed. The Institute of Economic Affairs. pp. 129-130

Area Based Regeneration Programmes | Evaluation

Area Based Regeneration Programmes | Evaluation Area based regeneration programmes contribute to managing social exclusion but they do not resolve the problem. Critically discuss this statement. The following is a critical discussion of the statement that area based regeneration programmes contribute to managing social exclusion yet fail to resolve the problem. Area based regeneration programmes were developed for various reasons, such as tackling poverty, economic regeneration, reducing unemployment, and managing social exclusion. That the latter was not the sole or exclusive objective of the area based regeneration programmes may explain whether these programmes have or have not resolved the problem of social exclusion. There are also arguments that social exclusion is not a problem that could be completely resolved by any single political, economic, and social policy operating by itself. Social exclusion could be understood in different ways so that some organisations or individuals may be believe that managing it or resolving it would be harder or easier than other people would expect. The management of social exclusion without resolving the problem as a whole may or may not be a commendable achievement within its own right, even if it still leaves the problem of social exclusion in existence, this to will be critically discussed. Area based regeneration programmes came into existence to counteract the damaging economic and social consequences of industrial decline in Britain’s inner cities like Liverpool, London, or Birmingham; and in some of the country’s most heavily industrialised areas such as North Eastern England, the Clyde, and South Wales from the1970s onwards. These industrial areas were locations were the Conservatives electoral support had often been weak although until the Thatcher government the party had been content to subsidise industries in these areas. Previously, government policies did not specifically attempt area based regeneration programmes to tackle social exclusion. Instead governments aimed to use Keynesian economic policies to maintain full employment, and when necessary would keep factories, coalmines, and shipyards open in run down areas with government subsidies. Where any regeneration had taken place it had usually been the replacement of slum housing with new hou sing estates and tower blocks (Fisher, Denver, Benyon, 2003 p. 12). Government policies were meant to reduce, manage, or resolve social exclusion by helping people upon an individual basis by targeting social security, health, education, and housing policies to those that needed that help the most. Individuals rather than geographical areas, or local communities were the focus of help from the government. To tackle social exclusion governments had also introduced legislation to reduce social and economic discrimination, such as race relations and equal pay legislation (Coxall, Robbins, Leach, 2003 p. 397). Ironically enough the impetus for the development of area based regeneration programmes would occur under the Conservative governments after 1979, which were not initially interested in managing social exclusion or implementing area based regeneration programmes. Running these regeneration programmes was contrary to the Thatcherite ethos of reducing state involvement in social and economic policies. Thatcherite economic policies ended subsidies to the nationalised industries leading to factories, coalmines, and shipyards closing down. Those closures and the collapse of uncompetitive private sector companies lead to high unemployment in former industrialised areas and the inner cities, that in turn increased levels of social exclusion (Moran, 2005 p. 14). The Thatcher government only began area based regeneration programmes as a response to the inner city riots of 1981, which, highlighted the problems that social exclusion and economic decay could cause (Taylor et al, 2000 p.331). At this point the social exclusion and economic deprivations in the former industrial areas and the inner cities reached levels that had not been witnessed since the hard hitting depression of the 1930s (Jones, 1999 p. 8). At first the Thatcher government seemed unable to slow down the increasing levels of social exclusion let alone manage or reduce that problem, which it considered less important than lowering inflation, weakening the trade unions, and rolling back the state. Of course increasing levels of unemployment actually meant that expenditure on social security benefits increased rather than decreased. No doubt the Thatcher government was helped in its decision to start area based regeneration programmes by the availability of European Union regional development funds, that were allocated to the most economically deprived and socially excluded regions within the member states. This meant that the government was able to receive extra funding to regenerate the areas most severel y affected by the recession of the early 1980s, and were by-passed any economic recovery or moves to manage social exclusion (Moran, 2005 p. 100). Area based regeneration programmes were primarily aimed at economic regeneration to reduce unemployment, and its linked social consequences such as rising crime levels and increased incidence of social exclusion. It was believed that reducing unemployment would manage and perhaps eventually remove social exclusion, whilst social security benefits were supposed to help those that did not or could not work. The Conservatives established regional development corporations to carry out regeneration programmes in the inner cities and former industrial areas, for instance regenerating parts of London, Birmingham, and Liverpool. However under the Conservatives the main efforts to manage social exclusion were confined to helping individuals through government training schemes such as Training for Work and the Youth Training Scheme (Fisher, Denver, Benyon, 2003 p. 16). New Labour was keen to extend area based regeneration programmes to proactively manage, and perhaps eventually resolve social exclusion, and increase measures to reduce unemployment. New Labour extended its New Deal initiative to cover deprived areas within the New Deal for Communities programme (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 175). The New Deal for Communities programme was meant to be in a slightly different form to previous area based regeneration programmes as local community groups were supposed to have a greater influence over the projects selected to regenerate their local communities (Fisher, Denver, Benyon, 2003 p. 216). Generally community groups have welcomed being able to have an influence over the projects selected to regenerate their communities. Community groups before New Deal for Communities often felt excluded from the decision-making processes relating to the areas in which they lived in (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 175). Not every New Deal for Communities programme has gone well, most notably the Aston Pride Project which failed due to a poor relationship between the community groups, the local authority, and various government agencies. The project was closed down early amidst allegations of corruption within the community groups and counter allegations of racism within the local authority and government agencies (Dale, May 28 2004). Whilst area based regeneration programmes have been largely effective at managing social exclusion, there are limits to explain why these programmes are unlikely to resolve the problem of social exclusion altogether. When area based regeneration programmes have been completed there maybe new businesses that have moved to that location and sometimes the standard of housing has been improved, certainly positive achievements, yet not likely to resolve social exclusion by themselves (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005, p. 175). Both Conservative and New Labour governments have found through experience that area based regeneration programmes are more likely to succeed in managing and eventually resolving the problem of social exclusion when used in conjunction with other initiatives, such as tackling discrimination, poor housing, health and education services. Social exclusion will also need reduced crime levels to stand a chance of being managed (Jones et al, 2004, p. 619). Schemes such as Training for Work New Deal can lower unemployment, yet there are limits on what they can achieve. Completing those schemes has made people more employable, although they may gain employment outside of the deprived or regenerated areas that they live in. New Deal is probably here to stay as part of New Labour’s welfare to work strategy. New Deal itself targets extra help to those groups that have found it harder to find or keep jobs, such as lone parents and the disabled (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 316). These groups are more vulnerable to suffering from social exclusion without living in areas that are economically or socially deprived. These groups are not only helped by New Deal, they are also helped by tax credits and child tax credits. The government wished to improve the opportunity for all children with better education provision and the Sure-start programme for children from deprived areas or families with low incomes. New Labour has also attempted to tackle social exclusion am ongst pensioners with the introduction of pension credit (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p.315). Therefore it can be concluded that area based regeneration programmes have helped to manage social exclusion without being able to remove the problem itself. Area based regeneration programmes were primarily set up to lower unemployment and reduce social exclusion that was higher in the inner cities, and former industrial areas such as North East England, and South Wales. The Thatcher government in many respects made the problem of social exclusion worse rather than better as it pursued economic and social policies that increased unemployment, crime, and social deprivation. The inner city riots of 1981 got the Thatcher government to start area based regeneration programmes in order to maintain political stability, and economic growth. It however became harder to manage levels of social exclusion due to the sell off of council houses that made it harder for people on low incomes to afford their housing costs. The beginning of EU spending to boost and regenerate the most run down areas in the community provided extra funding for the British government to spend more on managing social exclusion. New Labour has been much more interested in managing and if possible resolving the problem of social exclusion by using area based regeneration programmes in combination with other measures such as Surestart, New Deal, and EU regional development funds. New Labour has tried to increase the amount of area based regeneration programmes in existence with its New Deal for Communities initiatives which have included local community groups in the decision-making process and have contributed to managing social exclusion effectively aside from the Aston Pride Project. Bibliography Coxall B, Robins L Leach R (2003) Contemporary British Politics 4th edition, Palgrave, Basingstoke Dale P – Aston Pride race bias allegation, Birmingham Post May 28 2004 Fisher J, Denver D, Benyon J, (2003) Central Debates in British Politics, Longman, London Jones B, (1999) issues in British Politics Today, Manchester University Press, Manchester Jones B, Kavanagh D, Moran M, Norton P, (2004) Politics UK, 5th edition, Pearson Longman, London Moran M, (2005) Politic and Governance in the UK, Palgrave, Basingstoke Seldon A Kavanagh D, (2005) The Blair Effect 2001 – 5, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Taylor P, Richardson J, Yeo A, Marsh I, Trobe K Pilkington A (2000) Sociology in Focus, Causeway Press Limited, Ormskirk

Anthrax Vaccination :: essays research papers

The anthrax vaccination is the only known defense available for United States Troops against the deadly anthrax virus. Many experts have said it is not effective against inhalation anthrax. Studies have not been conclusive in their findings. The chance of living if you have received the anthrax vaccination seems better. More studies should be conducted outside the Department of Defense, with their cooperation, before the process to vaccinate troops continues. Anthrax is a disease normally associated with plant eating animals (sheep, goats, and cattle) caused by the bacterium Bacillius anthracis. It is now controlled through vaccination programs throughout the world including the United States. Human infection with anthrax usually results from contact with infected animals or products. Anthrax was discovered by Robert Koch in 1876. An effective vaccine for animals was developed in 1881 by Louis Pasteur. In humans, the disease appears in both external and internal forms. The external form is contracted through cuts and breaks in the skin. The internal form is caught by inhaling anthrax spores, which invade the lungs and intestinal tract (Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, 1996). Russian scientists have created a new form of the anthrax virus by genetic engineering. Col. Arthur Friedlander , chief of the bacteriology division at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute states, †The evidence that they presented suggested that it could be resistant to our vaccine† (Riechman, Army Times 03-09-98). When anthrax is used as a biological weapon, people become infected by breathing the spores released in the air. Anthrax is 100,000 times deadlier than the deadliest chemical warfare agent. It is the preferred biological agent because it is easy to produce in bulk and the materials are low in cost. (B.D.Hawkins,Army Times) Dr. Jose Ramero Cruz, of the World Health Organization states,†Because anthrax spores are resistant to dryness and heat, they are relatively easy to grind and store†. U.S. officials say that as many as 12 countries including Russia, Iraq, and North Korea, have established capabilities to produce and load deadly anthrax spores into weapons (D.Funk, Army Times, 3-19-98). An anthrax loaded scud missile could kill 100,000 people in an urban area according to a 1993 study, â€Å"Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing the Risks†, (J. Erlich, Army Times, 9-8-97). No country is known to have released the biological agent during wartime. Anthrax has the potential to cover large areas of the battlefield. It is not known what branch of service, front line, or rear area troops would be at greater risks. Defense Secretary William Cohen stated, â€Å"Anthrax is the poor man’s atomic bomb† (D.

Effects Of Deforestation :: essays research papers

Effects of Deforestation The subject of deforestation and the effects that it has on the environment have been heavily debated for a long time; particularly over the last few years. Governments and large lumber companies see large profits in the mass deforestation of forests and state that their actions are having few, if any, harmful effects on the environment. Most people disagree with this and think that the environmental effects are devastating and will become irreversibly disastrous in the very near future. Whether or not the pros outweigh the cons will be hotly debated for years to come but the fact is that deforestation is harmful to the environment and leads to declining wildlife populations, drastic changes in climate and loss of soil. The loss of forests means the loss of habitats for many species. Current statistics show that as many as 100 species become extinct every day with a large portion being attributed to deforestation (Delfgaauw, 1996). "Edge effects" are the destruction or degradation of natural habitat that occur on the fringes of fragmented forests. The effects for the animals include greater exposure to the elements (wind, rain etc†¦), other non-forest animals and humans (Dunbar, 1993). This unnatural extinction of species endangers the world's food supply, threatens many human resources and has profound implications for biological diversity. Another negative environmental impact of deforestation is that it causes climate changes all over the world. As we learned in elementary school, plant life is essential to life on earth as it produces much of the oxygen that is required for humans and other organisms to breathe. The massive destruction of trees negatively effects the quantity and quality of the air we breathe which has direct repercussions on the quantity and quality of life among both humans and animals alike. With this reduced amount of vital plant life comes the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the earth's atmosphere. With these increased levels of CO-2 come unnatural changes in weather patterns both locally and globally. "The removal of forests would cause rainfall to decline more than 26%. The average temperature of soil will rise and a decline of 30% in the amount of moisture will evaporate into the atmosphere" (Delfgaauw, 1996). This leads to the global warming phenomenon which is also directly related to the declining amounts of forest areas on the earth. Soil erosion caused by deforestation is also a major concern among even the most amateur environmentalists: "When rain falls, some may sink to the ground, some may run off the surface of the land, and flowing down towards the rivers and some may evaporate.

Generation of Electricity Through Coal in Pakistan

At present, the people are facing severe loadshedding/blackout problems due to shortage of power supply. Industries are closing down. Millions of Man hours have been lost leading to an increase in poverty and economic loss of billions of rupees to the country. It is happening despite the facts that about 60% of Pakistan’s population has an access to electricity. And according to World Energy Statistics 2011, published by IEA, Pakistan’s per capita electricity consumption is one-sixth of the World Average.World average per capita electricity Consumption is 2730 kWh compared to Pakistan’s per capita electricity consumption of 451kWh. It is imperative to understand the crises. According to Pakistan Energy Year Book 2011, Pakistan’s installed capacity for power generation is 22,477MW and the demand is approximately the same. The question arises that if the demand and supply has no gap then why we are facing such a crucial electricity crises. To get the answer we need to look into Pakistan’s electricity generation mix fuel wise.Unfortunately, oil & gas has 67% share in electricity generation. Pakistan is generating 35% of its electricity from furnace oil that is mostly imported. Pakistan spends over 12 billion US dollars for the import of furnace oil high speed diesel and crude petroleum that amount is equivalent to 60% of total export earnings and is a serious strain on country’s economy. It was recorded that in year 2011, the import of furnace oil increased by 19% compared to 2010 import.Moreover, the imported furnace oil is high sulphur furnace oil because low sulphur furnace oil is costly. The gaseous emissions from High sulphur furnace oil are polluting the environment and deteriorating the power plants as well. The bitter fact is that the per unit cost of electricity generated from imported furnace oil is high and is expected to increase further due to high forecasted increase in the oil prices. The per unit price of t he electricity generated from furnace oil is neither viable for industrial consumers nor for domestic consumers.At the same time, Pakistan is generating 32% of its electricity from Natural Gas. According to Pakistan Energy Year Book, 2011, Pakistan has 27. 5trillion cubic feet (TCF) balance recoverable gas reserves. Current gas production is 4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) and the demand is 6 bcfd. The gas production is expected to fall to less than 01 bcfd by 2025 due to depletion and demand will increase to 8 bcfd. While depleting the indigenous natural gas reserves, about one third of the natural gas is used for electricity eneration (32%) causing a severe domestic and industrial load shedding. That has significantly damaged country’s export earnings and increased the import bill. The proposed Iran gas pipeline would provide only 01 bcfd at a cost of $ 1. 25 billion. The proposed TAPI gas pipeline would provide 3. 2 bcfd to 3 countries at a cost of $ 7. 6 billion. In r esponse to a demand of 8 bcfd, we will be having 3 bcfd in 2025 if both proposed are completed. The gap will be 5 bcfd. The available gas will have 66% share of costly imported gas.In the light of above elucidated facts, it is evident that it will not be possible to feed gas based power plants in future that contribute 32 % of the power generation. In the light of above discussion, it is evident that electricity generated from Oil and gas is not an economically feasible option and the installed capacity of about 15000MW (67%) out of 22477MW would not be operational. International Energy Agency has forecasted that total electricity demandof the country will be 49078MW in 2025. This is a great challenge to enhance the installed capacity to 50000MW from 7000MW.Currently, Pakistan is generating 6481 MW of electricity from hydel sources that is 29% of the total installed capacity. If country completes all the proposed hydel projects including Bhasha Dam, the hydel contribution would be 1 5000MW until 2025 that is 29%. The biggest challenge is to redesign the electricity portfolio and substitute the oil and gas with an abundantly available indigenous fuel source. Pakistan must develop indigenous energy resources to meet its future electricity needs. Pakistan can overcome this energy crisis by utilising its un-used coal reserves.Coal is a game changer for Pakistan. Currently, 40. 6% of world’s electricity is being generated from coal and it is the single largest contributor in world electricity generation. By looking at the electricity generation mix of the countries that are blessed with coal, it is evident that coal is the largest contributor. For instance, Poland, South Africa, China, India, Australia ,Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Germany, USA,UK, Turkey , Ukraine and Japan are generation 96%, 88%,78%, 78%, 77%, 72%, 69. 9%, 52. %, 52%, 37%, 31. 3%, 27. 5% and 22. 9% of electricity from coal. Pakistan is the only country that is blessed with 185 billion tons of coal and is producing negligible electricity from coal 0. 6%). Thar deposit alone is estimated to be 175 billion tons. It is further estimated that if all the Thar coal is extracted out and converted into electricity through coal fired power plants, it can provide 100,000MW for more than 500 years. There is a dire need to devise a strategy to utilise Thar Coal for power generation.Centre for Coal Technology Punjab University has conducted analysis of 328 samples of coal from all four provinces and AK including Thar coal. A substantial amount of coal in Punjab, Balochistan, KPK, AK and Sindh has high sulphur and ash content that is a challenge to utilise this coal for power generation. All the analysis carried out since 1994 to 2012 by G Couch, geological survey of Pakistan, Oracle coal fields, Centre for coal technology show that Thar coal has a sulphur content up to 1% that is the beauty of this coal that makes it suitable for direct combustion for power generation.At UK-Pakista n coal conference where CEO of world association for Underground coal gasification (UCG ) Julie Lauder and Robert Davidson of International Energy Agency gave presentations and informed the audience that UCG is still in experimentation stage and pilot operations are being carried out at various locations but UCG syn gas is not being used commercially yet. The experimentation is going on since 1928 for the coals that are deeper than 300 meters and not minable. Let me make it clear that I am not against UCG as a technique.My considered opinion is that Thar geology is against the pre-requisites for UCG. Here are some concerns regarding UCG of Thar Coal: 1. The geological structure of Thar block three has been published by geological survey of Pakistan. This structure is against the fundamentals of Underground gasification (UCG) given in every book. First condition for UCG is that the coal should be 300 metre or more deep. Where as in Thar the coal seams are present at a depth of 150 me ter. Secondly, there should be no water around the deposit whereas Thar coal is immersed in water.The aquifer above the coal zone is at about 120 m. then a strata of sand stone and clay stone. The water table ranges between 52. 70 to 93. 27 meter depth. Right below the first coal zone, there are two to three perched aquifers that are aquifers within coal zone with sand horizons of medium to coarse grains. According to experts, the water can also be used for irrigation. Then after the coal seams, a deep aquifer at 200m depth is present. This aquifer is a source of water for tube wells installed in Thar. 2.Moreover, all the analysis carried out by various organisations at different times show that coal itself contains about 46% moisture in it. 3. For complete burning of coal in UCG, a temperature of 1000C is required. It is anticipated that the temperature will not be maintained at 1000 C due to 46% moisture leading to an incomplete burning of coal. The volatile matter will burn and F C content / the most valuable component may remain un-burnt leading to a very low HV gas. 4. About one year ago, Dr. M. Saleem (a member of Dr. Samar Team) predicted that the syn gas obtained will have a calorific value of 106 BTU/cubic foot.Now they claim that they have obtained a gas but have not declared the calorific value yet. This claimed HHV is one-tenth of Natural gas. Due to high moisture content, it would be lower than this claimed value. 5. It is expected to yield production of very low – grade and uneconomic syn gas, bearing high proportions of water vapours, carbon dioxide and sulphureted. 6. The gas with such a low heating value cannot be linked with the national grid. On 25th July, 2012 Dr. Samar briefing Standing Committee on Information Technology said that gas companies have refused to buy this gas. 7.If the heat contained in 46% moisture, compressors energy consumption, energy required for carbon dioxide removal, water removal, H2S, (Hydrogen Sulphide) HCN (Hydrogen Cyanide) removal, tar removal and other operational energy consumption is subtracted from the per unit syngas net heating value (that is vital for power generation) will be further lowered. 8. As the gasification proceeds, the water seepage from the upper aquifer will continue leading to further decrease in temperatures inside the chambers resulting further incomplete burning and yielding much lower HV gas along with un used air. . The sulphur content in the Thar coal will generate H2S (Hydrogen Sulphide) during gasification leading to an environmental catastrophe in Thar as a result of poisonous gases like H2S (Hydrogen Sulphide) and HCN (Hydrogen Cyanide) from the UCG chambers to the surface through the very loose overlying strata and through newly developed or pre-existing cracks etc. 10. There will possibly be contamination of underground water so precious in Thar area, with poisonous chemicals originating from the burn chambers. 11. Proper scrutiny of Thar coal projec t is missing.One cannot find the models of the Thar UCG operation especially the reaction kinetics, heat transfer, gas flow etc ? that are fundamental for every project. 12. For UCG research, experts are of the opinion that the location allotted block V is not a right location because to stop the operation will not be easy and that can destroy the entire deposit. It should have been an isolated location. On the basis above stated concerns, Production of very low – grade and uneconomic syn gas, bearing high proportions of water vapours, carbon dioxide and sulphurated hydrogen due to high water and sulphur contents of the Thar coal is expected.The scope of Dr. Samar Mubarak Mand project was to generate electricity. But after claimed trials, he is now trying to give a new lolly pop to the nation that Diesel and methanol will be produced from Thar coal gas. The question is that India, China and USA and all other countries are generating electricity from coal why they are not prod ucing methanol and diesel? Can you tell the nation how much percentage of global coal is used for these obsoleted routes compared to the coal used for power generation?Pakistan has about 83 sugar mills and methanol can be produced as by product of sugar at much cheaper rate with very little investment compared to the coal route suggested by Dr. Samar. Being a coal technologist and chemical process technologist I can warn that without knowing the process details, economics and economies of scale, a nuclear- political scientist is misleading the nation. If UCG of Thar is a wise option, why commercial organisations like Sindh Engro coal Mining Company, Oracle coal field, UK and Global Mining, China are opting open pit mining at Thar.Definitely, any profit making organisation that believes in â€Å"no free lunch† will go for tested commercial technologies. Only a group of retired hit and trial masters from various fields other than coal can afford this luxury on state expenses. C urrently,8142 trillion watt hour of electricity is being generated from world coal. Out of which how much is generated from UCG? The answer is zero. In response to my post UK-PK coal conference statement of Dr . Samar Mubarak Mand’s lobby through a journalist managed a news item against me in Daily News on 23rd July, 2012.I strongly condemn the highly objectionable language he used. Instead of presenting his view point he tried for character assassination. He declared me as an American agent because I have technically exposed them. I understand that Dr. Samar and his fellows who get heavy Financial benefits from Thar UCG project consider everyone as their personal enemy who criticize the Thar UCG project honestly. Dr. A. Q Khan raised questions on Thar UCG project and declared that Dr Samar intellectually dishonest. Is he an American Agent?Now a days, Dr. Samar Mubarak Mand is running PPP Election Campaign to get heavy funds released. Despite the appearance of Dr. Samar in PP P media campaign on TV for next elections, Federal Minister for water and power Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar has stated in a TV talk show â€Å"Awam ki Adalat† on Geo TV dated 15-07-2012 that there is no truth in Dr. Samar’s claims. Is he an American Agent? Dr. Shahid Naveed, Dean of Engineering, University of Engg& Tech Lahore has similar views on Thar UCG project. Is he an American agent?Daily The Nation in its editorial on 11 august 2012, wrote that Dr Mubarakmand’s has been the lone voice in the country advocating the idea and demanded a team of world class experts to do a feasibility study, covering technical as well as financial aspects prior to pour huge investment in this project that is what I have pointed out. What. The senior journalist with so-called solid knowledge should learn the art of investigation based journalism and note that I have doctorate in the area of coal technology from UK and many international research publications in high impact factor j ournals are on my credit.I am not an alien in the field of coal technology like Dr. Samar Mubarak Mand. As far as the Angren project is concerned, no doubt it’s one of the oldest UCG site but IEA still ranked it as â€Å"pilot project†. It is an admitted fact that UCG as a technique is still not a commercial technology. My considered opinion is that opening pit mining is the right strategy to extract coal. Once the coal is in our hands, there will be many invertors for the establishment of coal-fired power generation plants and our beloved country would enjoy 100000MW cheaper electricity for five hindered years.The writer is the Professor & Director of Centre for Coal Technology, University of the Punjab, Lahore. This news was published in print paper. Access complete paper of this day. Electricity has become an essential part of our lives and its outage adversely affects the country’s economic growth and daily lives of common people. Since the past few decades, there has been an enormous increase in the demand of electricity and no appreciative steps have been taken to cope up this issue. Now the demand has exceeded supply and ‘loadshedding’ has become a common issue.Every day an outage of 3-4 hours has to be faced by the people and in summer season the outage length increases to an unbearable level which is making the lives miserable for everyone. What is the government doing to ensure a sustainable supply of energy resources for economic growth? What strategic steps are being taken to acquire energy resources in future? Is private sector willing to invest in Pakistan’s oil industry? What are the incentives being offered to the foreign players to continue working in the exploration sector? What hurdles are stopping other big players around the world to enter Pakistan?What is the role of gas distribution companies so far? Are the citizens of Pakistan being robbed by energy giants with ever rising utility bills? What sh ould be the real price of petroleum, kerosene and other oil products in Pakistan? When will the nation have â€Å"loadshedding free† electric supply? Have we been able to make long term contracts with the countries to provide uninterrupted supply of energy resources? Will the government be able to provide enough sources to the citizens for a sustainable economic growth? Have we lost the race for acquiring maximum energy resources for future survival?Pakistan has rich reserves of coal. Most of the power generation in many parts of the world is being done by using coal as an energy resource. Thar, Lakhra, Badin etc are some of the mammoth coal reserves in Pakistan. If we talk about Thar reserves only we get astonishing facts. Thar coal reserves of Sindh are about 850 trillion cubic feet, which is more than oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran put together. These reserves are estimated at 850 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, about 300 times higher than Pakistan’s proven gas reserves of 28 TCF.Dr Murtaza Mughal, President of Pakistan Economy Watch, in a statement said that these reserves of coal worth USD 25 trillion could not only cater to the electricity requirements of the country for the next 100 years but also save almost billions of dollars in staggering oil import bill. Just two percent usage of Thar coal can produce 20,000 MW of electricity for next 40 years, without any single second of loadshedding and if the whole reserves are utilised, then it can easily be imagined how much energy could be generated. The coal power generation would cost Pakistan PKR 5. 7 per unit while power generated by Independent Power Projects cost PKR 9. 27 It requires just 420 billion rupees initial investment whereas Pakistan receives annually 1220 billion from tax only. Chinese and other countries’ companies have not only carried out surveys and feasibility of this project but also offered 100 percent investment in the last seven to eight years but the à ¢â‚¬Å"petroleum gang† always discouraged them in a very systematic way. Petroleum lobby is very strong in Pakistan and they are against any other means of power generation except for the imported oil.This lobby is the major beneficiary of the increasing oil bill that is estimated to be above 15 billion dollar this year. Beyond the shadow of any doubt coal energy is the most viable solution to the energy crisis situation in Pakistan. The government should seriously think about it and put untiring efforts to cater to the energy crisis situation in Pakistan by utilising coal reserves. BUSHRA ASIM Karachi Tuesday, May 22, 2012 More Sharing ServicesShare|Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on linkedinShare on stumbleuponShare on emailShare on facebook_like| Thar coal — Pakistan’s hope for energy self-sufficiencyBy Amjad Agha Recently it has been reported that the Planning Commission has decided to stop further financing of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) Projec t at Thar, since no encouraging results are forthcoming. This UCG project is the brainchild of Dr Samar Mubarakmand, who has been working on it for the last couple of years. This news has been given lot of coverage by the media, and a wrong impression is being created as if the Planning Commission has rejected the Thar coal. It is surprising that so far the Planning Commission has not clarified their position.Obviously the objection pertains to underground gasification of the Thar coal and not the mining of the huge deposit of coal. Thar coal deposits are the largest resource discovered in the country, which can provide the much-needed solution for generating large amount of electricity for many many years at affordable price. The estimates indicate that 135 to 175 billion tonnes of lignite coal can be obtained from the deposit, which can produce thousands of megawatts of electricity for decades. Thar coal can be obtained by open cast mining similar to the method used all over the w orld.The UCG is a method of converting unworked coal – coal still in the ground – into a combustible gas, which can be used for power generation. The UCG is at present not extensively used commercially, but research is going on to make it commercially attractive. However, the open pit mining of coal is the normal method being used, and most of the coal is being obtained in this manner. The UCG method is still in the research stage and if found suitable for Thar coal, it will be useful and economical. Therefore, Dr Mubarakmand’s project may be curtailed but should not be stopped until it reaches final outcome.The open cast mining of Thar coal is the project, which the nation has been keenly awaiting, but for some unknown reasons the work on it has still not started. Couple of months ago an article ‘Thar Coal and Energy Security’ by Muhammad Younus Dagha was printed in Dawn newspaper. Dagha is the secretary coal and energy Sindh. In the article, he ha d stated that final arrangement have been completed by Global Mining Company of China for Block-1 and another by Sindh Engro Coal Mining for Block-II. The mining on these projects shall reportedly start by June. Are these dates still valid?The public is desperately waiting for any good news about electricity. The Planning Commission should immediately clarify their statement on Thar coal and inform the public about the real status on start of mining. In my recent paper ‘Electricity Crisis and Circular Debt’, it was explained that real cause of the electricity crisis in the country is due to faulty fuel mix as we are using the highly expensive furnace oil as the main fuel for generating electricity. The fuel cost to generate one Kwh (unit) of electricity through furnace is about Rs 17-18.This does not include the fixed charges for the plant, transmission and distribution costs and losses etc. Since the government cannot afford to buy the oil at this high price, therefore several thermal power plants are shut down or producing much below their capacity. A news item indicated recently that monthly requirement of furnace oil for power plants is 32,000 tonnes but only 10,000 tonnes of oil is being imported. Obviously the generation is accordingly low. The natural gas is another fuel which is being used but is in short supply and very little is available for generation of electricity.The country needs $5 billion for the import of oil, only one-third of the amount will be required if the fuel mix is changed from oil. Globally about 21,000Twh of electricity is consumed per year, 41 percent of this electricity is generated through coal. China generates 78 percent of its electricity through coal, India 68 percent, USA 48 percent but Pakistan only 0. 1 percent. The world does not use oil for electricity, as less than five percent of the world electricity is generated through oil, but Pakistan is using oil for 40 percent of its electricity, which obviously it cannot afford.It’s time that we wake up to these realities, and concentrate on mining Thar coal and start generating electricity through this indigenous resource. Obtaining natural gas through fracturing of underground shale rocks is big news these days. The US is leading in this technology, and China is following very fast. Does Pakistan have any plans for expanding our natural gas production, again no information is passed on to the public. The writer is president of the Associated Consulting Engineers, former managing director of NESPAK, and former chief executive of Pakistan Hydro Consultants for the Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project