Environmental Science Essay

Environment is one of the most discussed topics in the international community and is one of the many concerns of political leaders today. Due to this, different environmental issues have arisen such as the climate change, sustainable development, and air pollution. Climate change is the most popular and most discussed issue in the international community today. According to the European Commission, â€Å"climate change is one of the greatest environmental, social, and economic threats facing the planet† (European Commission, 2008). I have learned that climate change is the altering of the temperature of the earth. It is something that we all experience not only in one region of the world but also in different parts of the globe, as depicted in the images that the media are presenting to us. The issue on climate change and other environmental concerns caused the United Nations to form a policy as a countermeasure. Thus, the term sustainable development emerged. In a report of World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987 entitled â€Å"Our Common Future,† sustainable development is referred to as a â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs† (cited in Bankobesa, 2005). The statement caught my interest because it captured the essence of why our environment must be taken care of. The thought of having the future generation suffer due to the actions and decisions of the present generation does not reflect a very beautiful image in my mind. Maintaining the environment is an obligation for the present generation because of the necessities of the future. Air pollution is another issue that I am very much concerned about. There are outdoor and indoor pollutions, such as black carbon pollutions and noxious gases which could affect the environment and inflict serious health problems to people when inhaled, such as irritation of the nose, eyes and throat, bronchitis, pneumonia, lung cancer, and heart disease just to name a few (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, n. d. ). These issues which have grabbed my attention and concern are all too big a problem to be solved by one person only. As the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) (2008) put it, we have â€Å"One world, One environment. † Hence, these environmental which affect the whole world can only be addressed when each and every one of us will cooperate with each other. However, everyone must be aware first of the problems of the environment. This is the reason why several promotional campaigns and awareness programs, such as the ads made by Hollywood celebrities, have emerged to encourage the Americans and the rest of the world to fight against their advocacies. By making them more aware of these environmental issues, individuals would be able to do their part in protecting the environment and saving it from disintegration. To increase the amount of help they can give, I suggest that they join organizations that combat environmental issues. I learned that environmental science cannot be separated from the lives of human beings. Although some people may not notice it, environmental science is part of our daily lives and is highly evident. Although some of the effects of these environmental issues are rooted from the changes in nature itself, most of them are provoked by human activities such as smoke belching, illegal logging, improper dumping of waste, and many more. Thus, while we perform the activities that could harm our environment, we are also the ones who can alter the consequences that gave rise to these environmental issues. Therefore, working together towards addressing these problems would only be solved through cooperation and unity. References Bankobesa, G. M. (2005). Ozone Protection: The International Legal Regime. The Netherlands: AJ Utrecht. European Commission. (2008, May 05). Environment: Climate Change. Retrieved May 05, 2008 from http://ec. europa. eu/environment/climat/home_en. htm International Education and Resource Network (iEARN). (n. d. ). One world, one environment. Retrieved May 05, 2008, from https://media. iearn. org/node/205 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (2008, May 05). Indoor & outdoor air pollution. ELSI Project. Retrieved May 05, 2008, from http://www. lbl. gov/Education/ELSI/pollution-main. html

Du Pont Case

The Lally School of Management & Technology Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rev. June 28, 2006 DuPont’s Biomax ®: The Push for Commercial Applications Biomax ®, a polyester material that can be recycled or decomposed, holds up under normal commercial conditions for a time period established in the product specifications.The material itself can be made into fibers, films, or resins and is suitable for countless agricultural, industrial, and consumer products: mulch containers, mulching film, seed mats, plant pots, disposable eating utensils, blister packs, yard waste bags, parts of disposable diapers, blown bottles, injection molded products, coated paper products, and many, many others. In the United State alone, where the average household creates over three tons of disposable waste each year, the number of potential applications for Biomax ® is immense.Its development represents a potentially huge business for DuPont and an important solution to the mounting problem o f solid waste in developed countries. In 1989 at the inception of the project, DuPont executives were pressing research units to find new products with commercial applications. One of these research units had-developed a new â€Å"melt-spun† elastomeric material and was seeking commercial applications through the Success Group, its business development unit. The initial target application was as a substitute for the tapes then used on disposable baby diapers, which at that time used more expensive DuPont Lycra for that purpose.Rather than lose that business, however, the division dropped the price of Lycra. The project had reached its first dead end. A senior research associate of the Success Group, Ray Tietz, had noted the degradable characteristics of this new material. â€Å"One of the problems they had with the fibers we made with this material was that it would disintegrate if you boiled it in water. This was because of the sulphonate in it. I knew that if I made a poly ester with this stuff in it, it would probably hydrolyze quickly. Iit might even be biodegradable. John Moore, the head of the Success Group, was a high energy â€Å"promoter,† as one colleague described him. He was determined to find a customer for whom degradability would be an important benefit-hopefully, a big one. A logical target was Procter & Gamble, a major vendor of disposable diapers. Procter & Gamble first introduced the disposable diaper in 1961 and by 1989 had built it into a huge business. Its success, however, coincided with a period of growing environmental This case was prepared by Mark Rice, Gina O’Connor, Richard Leifer, Christopher McDermott, Lois Peters, and Robert Veryzer, Jr. f the Lally School of Management and Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY as a basis for class discussion, and is not designed to present illustrations of either correct or incorrect handling of management problems. All rights reserved  © 2000. To order c opies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-518-276-6842 or write Dr. Gina Colarelli O’Connor, Lally School of Management & Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the permission of the Lally School of Management & Technology. 1 DuPont’s Biomax ® awareness, and it didn't take long before the millions of used diapers sold by P and it imitators were attracting the attention of activists and regulators. By the 1980s, a growing number of voices were talking about either banning or significantly restricting the use of this class of products.Sensing the public mood and nervous about possible regulations, P was more than willing to listen to Moore's pitch about the new de- gradable material. It even rev ealed its interest in the development of an entirely new material, one that was both degradable, and that didn't have the â€Å"crinkly† feel of plastic or the â€Å"rustling† sound of paper. The diaper that P's people envisioned would be a laminate with a cloth-like feel on the inside and a waterproof film on the outside, and they encouraged DuPont to work on a prototype. Sensing a huge potential market, Moore's people were quick to oblige P. We spent a lot of research effort trying to make a degradable polymer that would be tough enough for the job,† Teitz later recalled. Months of effort produced a new laminated material that Teitz and others in the Success group thought would meet P&G's needs. Time and events, however, combined to work against them. Sensing that political pressure for restrictive regulation was on the wane, and that cost-conscious customers would not pay a premium for biodegradable materials, Procter & Gamble discontinued interest in the mate rial under development by Moore's development unit.From Degradable to Biodegradable The Success Group was now at a dead end. Furthermore, the standards for environmental acceptability were changing, becoming more stringent. Being degradable (i. e. , a substance that would disintegrate) had become passe; the new standard was biodegradability. Further, anything that passed itself off as biodegradable had to disappear in a reasonably short period of time. As of 1991, two years into the project, no one knew for sure whether DuPont's new material would qualify as biodegradable.Given these new conditions, senior management was concerned about John Moore's ability to command the respect of the technical community and decided to assign a new project manager, Ron Rollins. Credibility on the issue of biodegradability would be necessary for market acceptance. Obviously, no one would make a commitment to the new material until DuPont had firm data on its snack food appeal to microbes and on the rate at which it would disappear. Some suspected that the big opportunity with P&G had been missed because of the absence of solid test data.To test the material, which by this time had been registered as Biomax ®, and to assure the credibility of it data, the project recruited a highly respected company scientist on a parttime basis. Henn Kilkson was a DuPont Fellow with experience in biodegradation. His job was to design and implement a system for evaluating the biodegradation of the new material. The choice of Kilkson for this job was deliberate; he was, in fact, DuPont's representative to both an international committee and one formed by the American Society of Testing and Materials to set standards for biodegrabability.Before long, Kilkson's researchers were busily making and composting prototype diapers that incorporated the newly developed laminated material. Using a sludge composting facility in Fair- field, Connecticut as a test bed, researchers tossed the 2 DuPontâ€⠄¢s Biomax ® prototypes into the unsavory mess, and at the end of the composting cycle raked through the remains to observe the number and size of the remaining materials. This exercise determined the rate of disintegration, but never answered the question of biodegradability.Meanwhile, Kilkson found a European company that was actively involved in compost testing. A number of trials with Biomax ® samples were conducted; all indicated a favorable rate of biodegradation. However, Kilkson was not satisfied with the validity of these tests. Researchers also struck up a relationship with the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, which had a program for bagging and composing grass, leaves, and other yard wastes. The Charlotte facility used lots of manpower to empty bags of waste into a huge grinder and then transfer the ground waste to a composting pile.If employees could simply toss these bags into the grinder without having to cut them open and dispose of them separately, program mana gers reasoned that they could save substantially on labor costs. Of course, the ground up remnants of these bags would have to disappear — and quickly. The DuPont people gave the Charlotte facility a supply of net bags made from Biomax ® and enlisted their collaboration in testing biodegradable characteristics. Ideally, all remnants of these bags would be undetectable in less than a year.The bags themselves were made at a DuPont plant in Canada using a process introduced by a research associate in an- other laboratory. Employees in that tab were, like Rollins' people, also searching feverishly for commercially attractive projects that the operating units of the company would support. Results at the Charlotte facility were positive. Not only did the bags decompose quickly, but they degraded biologically as well. The Charlotte experiment gave the Biomax team something to cheer about. The bag-making plant in Canada was also elated; it too was looking for a big market to serve. Things were at last looking up. But real customers willing to write out real purchase orders were still illusory. Meanwhile, Down in the Banana Groves †¦ By 1992, the Ron Rollins' Success group had been disbanded and Biomax ® seemed destined to sit on the shelf—-one of many good ideas developed by DuPont scientists for which no market application could be found. Before this happened, however, the material caught the eye of Terry Fadem, head of the Corporate Development Group. Fadem thought that Biomax ® was worth another try.Even though a real customer had not signed on, the new polymer had two important features: first, no major capital investment would be needed to produce it in commercial quantities; and second, the potential market for a biodegradable alternative to the mountains of synthetic materials piling up in the industrialized world was huge-at least in the abstract. European consumer products companies, Fadem knew, were facing much stricter environmental controls than were their North American counterparts. The â€Å"Greens† were an active political force, particularly in Germany. Perhaps he could get some commitment from a European customer.According to Fadem, â€Å"I was of the opinion that if that didn't work, or if we didn't get some break in the market that was big enough, that we should either put the technology on the shelf or sell it off † So Fadem provided funds to support a small team of people working part time to keep the project alive As luck would have it, a break in favor of 3 DuPont’s Biomax ® Biomax ® appeared, but from a source that neither Fadem nor anyone else would have anticipated: the banana plantations of Costa Rica. Steve Gleich was a senior technical researcher working the DuPont's Research Division for Agricultural Products.A chemical engineer by training, Gleich was experimenting with different packaging systems for controlling the delivery of pesticides. One was by means of a wat er soluble â€Å"bio-disappearing† film, as he later described it. The pesticide was distributed evenly through the film; when the film became wet it disappeared into the soil, leaving the chemical behind. Thus, farm workers could lay lengths of the chemical-laden material over a row of strawberries, for example, and the first watering or rain would lay down a perfectly even and prescribed dose exactly where it was needed. Gleich was aware of the Biomax ® project.He was also familiar with work on biodegradables being conducted by a joint venture company owned by ConAgra and DuPont. One day, another packaging engineer told Gleich, â€Å"If you solve the banana bag problem down in Costa Rica, you'll be a big hero. † Banana bag problem? Gleich had no idea what he meant. So the engineer pulled a low-density polyethylene bag from his drawer. â€Å"They use millions of pounds of this stuff in the banana plantations,† he said. â€Å"They put a bag over every banana bunch. Some are impregnated with pesticides, but most are simply used as little hot-houses to ripen the fruit and protect it from bruises. This bit of information flipped on a switch in Gleich's mind. Millions of pounds of nondegradable polyethylene translated into two things: big revenues for the vendor and a massive waste disposal problem for growers. If a bag material could be designed to disintegrate and biodegrade at the right time, growers could eliminate major labor and waste handling costs. Working with contacts in Fadem's development unit, Gleich arranged to have 50 bags made from Biomax ® and sent down to a sales agent working with Delmonte's banana operation in Costa Rica.These bags were used to cover the fruit in the normal way and were observed over a 3-4 month period. As the bananas were harvested, the bags, now brittle, began to break apart into small strips and fall to the ground, where they could easily be raked up and composted. These first bags, however, turned brittle too soon in the cycle of fruit production, causing some bruising. So the enterprising researcher asked for another batch of bags — slightly heavier and formulated to come apart more readily.This second batch worked much better and Delmonte and its competitors, Dole and Chiquita, were soon expressing interest. They also wanted to explore applications for melons, strawberries, and other fruit. Ironically because of an internal squabble between the field manager and his counterpart at the head office, the field manager refused to install the redesigned banana bags and this application reached a dead-end. About this time Steve Gleich was assigned new duties within his business unit and his involvement in the Biomax ® project waned.The little band of part timers continued seeking applications. Some new potential agricultural applications emerged, but the project was going nowhere fast. Finally, Fadem convinced senior management to provide substantial corporate funding fo r a high profile advertising campaign soliciting inquiries. Approximately thirty serious responses were received. 4 DuPont’s Biomax ® They were deemed sufficiently promising that in 1996 Biomax ® was transferred out of development and into DuPont's polyester resins and intermediates business unit.When Fadem's team contacted the business unit manager to initiate the handoff, the manger asked where the prototype materials had been manufactured. She was surprised when Fadem told her that the prototype production had been done in her manufacturing facilities. Additional applications development work was required before significant production could be undertaken, and hence, even after the transfer, Terry Fadem's team remained involved. A product manager in the business unit was assigned the task of completing the technical and market development for Biomax ®.Unfortunately for the project, he had only just begun the effort when he was promoted. The project was at a standstill for almost a year until a new product manager was assigned and brought up to speed. The second product manager forced his team to assess the thirty plus leads that had been generated by the advertising campaign and to select four on which to focus. As of mid 2000, development of the product and the search for commercial applications continued. The new product manager was convinced that the first significant revenues were just around the corner. 5

Application Of Driver State Monitoring Systems (Dms)

Application Of Driver State Monitoring Systems (Dms) The term ‘driver state’ has no specific universal definition and is loosely used in the fields of Psychology and Engineering. In general, driver state refers to a set of conditions that affect the driver in a specific instance. Drivers in an optimal state do not suffer from any condition. Vehicle control transition is very important for the success of Highly Automated Driving (HAD). In an ideal scenario, human driver will be attentive to the Driving scene during Take Over Request (TOR). Recent advancements, along with higher levels of automation has made it possible for the driver to be in distracted, inattentive, or even fatigued state. Under similar driving scenario and automation behavior, a driver with some sort of impairment will have poorer performance tackling the situation than when in ideal state. Researches showed that distracted drivers had higher difficulty to adjust speed to a critical event than attentive drivers. Driver State Monitoring Systems (DMS) monitors and collects observable information on the driver, which can be used to determine his/her driving state. It is used, among other things, for active safety, adaptive Human Machine Interface (HMI), and annoyance reduction for false positive notifications in HAD. Electrodermal Activity Electrodermal activity (EDA) is the autonomous changes in electrical properties of the skin, of which, skin conductance is the most widely used property. To measure skin conductance, an electrical potential is applied between two points on the skin, and the resulting current flow between them is measured. This includes both background tonic (Skin Conductance Level or SCL) and rapid phasic components (Skin Conductance Responses or SCRs) that result from sympathetic neuronal activity. It is useful in measuring sympathetic arousal that are tractable to emotional and cognitive states. It is associated with autonomic emotional and cognitive processing. Autonomous nervous system (ANS) generally controls the body’s unconscious actions. Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) prepares body for intense physical activity and is responsible for fight or flight responses whereas parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) is generally associated with homeostasis and when the body is at rest, while being responsible for rest and digest functions. Some emotional responses may occur without conscious awareness or cognitive intend. EDA can be used to examine such responses (i.e., threat, anticipation, salience, novelty). Recent research has shown that EDA is also a useful indicator of attentional processing per-se, where salient stimuli and resource demanding tasks evoke increased EDA responses. There are two main components to EDA. The slower acting components the overall level, slow climbing, slow declinations over time) are known as general tonic EDA. Skin Conductance Level (SCL) is the most common measure for this and changes in the SCL are thought to reflect general changes in autonomic arousal. The faster changing elements of the signal correspond to the Phasic component, also known as Skin Conductance Response (SCR). SCRs are generally associated with startle reflex or startle response. Recent evidence suggests that both components are important and may rely on different neural mechanisms. Empatica E4 wrist band is the common device used in ITS Leeds for psychophysiological data collection, giving EDA.csv files with Unix timestamp and sampling frequency of 4 Hz. Post processing of the same is done using MATLAB R2016a and Ledalab v3.4.9. For the first study, no pre-filtering was implemented. Although it can be done to smoothen the raw signal, using EDA explorer or a low bypass filter like Butterworth filter. In EDA signal, there is generally a latency of 1-3 seconds (i.e. a delay of around 1-3 seconds from when the event occurs to when you see the change in SC levels). Continuous decomposition analysis (CDA) is generally used instead of Discrete Decomposition analysis. This method extracts the phasic (driver) information underlying EDA and aims at retrieving the signal characteristics of the underlying sudomotor nerve activity (SNA). SC data is deconvolved by the general response shape which results in a large increase of temporal precision. Then data is decomposed into continuous phasic and tonic components. It is the method generally recommended for the analysis of skin conductance data. It features the computation of several standard measures of phasic EDA. Moreover, straightforward measures such as the average (or integrated) phasic driver activity are provided. To find Event Related SCR (ER-SCR) and separate it from Non-Specific SCR (NS-SCR), the event files are loaded in and the Ev ent related SCR activity is exported. The most common minimum threshold amplitude is 0.01  µS. Peaks with amplitude below this value is not considered significant. Another key factor is to standardize the values so that it can be compared across participants. For SCL the standardization is done using the formula: ((SCL ã€â€" SCLã€â€"_min) )/((ã€â€"SCLã€â€"_max –ã€â€" SCLã€â€"_min)) equation 2.2 Where ã€â€" SCLã€â€"_min is the baseline SCL which is to be measured while keeping the participant at rest doing nothing for at least 10-15 mins and ã€â€"SCLã€â€"_max is the maximum value computed when the participant is aroused using loud noise/music for a short period of time. This is done to get the SCL range of the given participant. Since this was not done for the SM study, it can’t be implemented. This can be circumnavigated by finding the minimum non-zero SCL score and the max SCL score during the study for each participant and use this as a baseline. Some studies recommend transforming SCRs into Z-scores. This requires the mean and standard-deviation to be used instead of a hypothetical maximum (from the other methods above). This navigates around the problems associated with determining the maximum SCR response from range-corrected methods / maximal correction methods. Here each raw SCR, a mean SCR value and standard deviation of SCRs, are used to compute the Z-score which is normally distributed, has an average of 0 and a standard deviation of 1. From here one can transform these Z-scores into T-scores, which have a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 (thus removing minus scores). The advantage to this approach here is that the resultant z-scores are based on unambiguous mathematical factors that represent the participants typical response level and not on unwarranted assumptions about maximum SCRs. Researchers further suggested that another useful transformation might be to divide each raw SCR, by the participants mean SCR thus providing a kind of standardized ratio. Final output is to obtain the ER-SCR activity window’s average SCR in T-score format, so that it can be compared across all the participants. From this, it might be possible to deduce suggestions/reasons for certain behavior during failure. Shimomura, et al. (2008) showed in his study that frequency domain analysis enabled detection of small differences in mental workload that could not be detected by traditional amplitude domain analysis. Here the signal is transformed from amplitude domain to frequency domain using techniques such as Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT). This technique enables real-time automatic analysis. Motion artifacts can cause the EDA signal to be quite noisy. If 90% of EDA value is zero or close to zero within a 5s window (a lower bound threshold of 0.001 µS can be used, it is probably caused by the sensors losing contact with the skin during that period and they can be removed. Generally, EDA levels are found to be not changing by more than 20% while increasing and 10% while decreasing, within a 1 second time window. A moving one second median filter can be used for initial interpolation to even out the signal. The resultant acceleration from accelerometer sensor can be used to find points/periods of high movements, and the EDA signal during that same period can be checked for motion artifacts, which can be removed if necessary. A bi-cubic interpolation of the signal can be done after the filtering to account for missing data points from the removal of motion artifacts. To summarize, skin conductance generally increases with arousal, stress, salience, mental workload, anticipation and overall increase in body temperature or physical activity. But measurements from palm of the hand or feet are generally highly sensitive emotional responses and can be distinguished from skin conductance spikes due to body temperature or physical activity. Heart rate variability Heart rate (HR) is the number of times the heart beats in a minute or â€Å"bpm†, and resting heart rate is the heart rate measured while being relaxed, but awake. Amongst the general population a resting heart rate of 60-80bpm is considered pretty good. But heartbeat intervals are irregular and there is variation in time between each heartbeat. Heart rate variability (HRV) is simply the measurement of variation between heartbeats. In general, a healthy functioning body will display a greater variability between beats than a poorly functioning one. Heart period is the time interval between two successive heart beats. The Sinoatrial node (SAN) can be seen on the top left side of the figure and the Atrioventricular node (AVN) to the right of SAN. The depolarization of SAN and AVN provides the electrical driving force that triggers the contraction of the heart. SAN’s spontaneous depolarization speed is typically faster than that of AVN, which is why it’s called natural pacemaker. Electrical impulses generated by SAN stimulates each beat of the heart, thereby dictating its rhythm. Sympathetic (SNS) and Parasympathetic (PSNS) branches of the autonomic nervous system are what mainly influence SAN. Hormone and immunity can have a role as well. According to Berntson, et al. (1997) â€Å"sympathetic activity tends to increase HR and decrease HRV, whereas parasympathetic activities tends to decrease HR and increase HRV†. HRV is closely related to emotional arousal. In HRV spectrum, there are both high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) signals. HF activity generally decreases under pressure, stress, strain, focused attention etc. High stress can cause reduction in LF values as well. Individuals who worry more have shown reduction in HRV. In PTSD patients, HRV and its HF component is reduced whilst the low-frequency (LF) component is elevated. Decrease in PSNS activity or increase in SNS activity results in reduced HRV. HF activity (0.15 to 0.40 Hz), especially, has been linked to PSNS activity. LF activity (0.04 to 0.15 Hz), which is generally associated with a mixture of both SNS and PSNS. So, it’s safe to summarize that during rest periods, HF HRV tends to be higher than when the driver is engaged, stressed, focused or strained/tired. To analyze HRV, either time domain or frequency domain analysis can be implemented. Time domain methods include â€Å"measures of the variance among heart period, the variance of the differences among heart periods, and geometric methods based on the shape characteristics of heart period distributions†. The most common method used to compute heart rate variability amongst time domain methods is the square root of the mean squared successive heart period differences or the RMSSD (Root Mean Square Successive Difference) statistic. It is based on the differences between adjacent heart periods and is nominally independent of basal heart period, although heart period level and heart period variability are themselves physiologically correlated. Because of the differences between adjacent heart periods sample HRV over relatively short periods of time (the duration of a heart period), the RMSSD resolves the total variance by filtering out LF signals. Consequently, the RMSSD has been a pplied as a measure of HF based HRV. The properties of RMSSD, including its cut-off frequency and its frequency-dependent transfer function vary as a function of basal heart period. A more systematic parsing of heart period variance into specific frequency components can be achieved by frequency domain methods. There are mainly two ways to measure HRV and HR. They are Electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings and Photoplethysmogram (PPG) recordings. ECG recordings are collected by placing electrodes on the chest (near the heart), which measure electrical impulses for each cardiac cycle. QRS complex is the defining feature of ECG signal. QRS complex is the three graphical deflections seen on a typical ECG, which is Q wave (downward deflection right after P wave, which is IV.), R wave (upward deflection after Q wave) and S wave (downward deflection after R wave) which is represented by I., II. The heart’s electrical activation is measured directly by ECG recordings. It also generally shows a strong QRS complex presence in the resulting signal. Motion artifacts caused by sensor displacement due to participant movement is a common source of noise in ECG signals. These tend to fall in the same frequency range as the QRS-complexes, which can make it difficult to filter them without deforming the QRS complex. Photoplethysmogram (PPG) recordings are a less invasive method to study cardiac cycle. They generally measure the discoloration of the skin as blood perfuses through the arteries and capillaries with each heartbeat, using optical sensors. PPG is typically measured at the fingertip or at the wrist. The PPG Heart Rate Analysis generally consists of a systolic peak, a dicrotic notch, and a secondary peak called a diastolic peak (2.5b-III). In recordings with very low amplitude the diastolic peak may be absent. The main advantages of PPG over ECG are low cost, ease of setting up and non-invasive methods. Ways of obtaining the PPG signal contactless through cameras have been proposed, further reducing intrusiveness. There is generally more amplitude variation over short time-intervals, more variation in waveform morphology, as well as more noise from various sources as opposed to ECG measurements. This makes analysis of PPG more difficult. The heart signal is often split into heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) measures. The distance between the detected heart beats (the RR-intervals, named because in the ECG, the largest amplitude peak is called the R-wave) are used to calculate them. The heart beats are represented by the peaks in both signals. Even though the measurement technique vary quite considerably between ECG and PPG, a high correlation (median 0.97) between RR-intervals extracted from ECG and PPG signals has been reported. This makes the PPG a valid alternative for human factors studies that require non-intrusive heart rate measurements, and hence will be the focus of this research. Researchers talked on how to remove motion artifacts and filter it out of EDA signal. This is explained in the last paragraph of the previous section. The same methodology can be applied to remove motion artifacts from the HR/HRV signal as well.

The connection between incisive poverty and environmental degradation Essay

The connection between incisive poverty and environmental degradation - Essay Example In this case, reports such as World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) and another one commissioned by UNEP titled Global Environment Outlook 2000 (Clarke 1999), identify poverty as a major cause of environmental degradation. However, there is little evidence to connect poverty to environmental degradation since the poor suffer from environmental degradation with human activities and behaviours harming and ruining the natural environment. In this case, it is important to dispel this myth and identify the real causes of environmental degradation. According to World Bank’s 2008 estimates, about 1.29 billion people lived on less than USD $ 1.25 a day with more than 75% of this population living in the rural areas (World Bank 2012). On the other hand, the United Nation (1997) estimated 1.9 billion hectares of land as degraded worldwide as a result of human factors related to unsustainable land management practices and other various land management practices. In the c urrent society, about 25% of the world’s population is directly dependent on degraded land, which highlights a worrying trend that requires being adequately addressed (Bai et al. 2008). More worrying is the fact that the world loses about 5-8 hectares of land each year to degradation (Scherr 1999). Significantly, most of this land that is lost to degradation is in developing nations, which have a high number of poor citizens. However, is there evidence that poverty is linked to environmental degradation? Vosti and Reardon (1997) provide a model to study the link between poverty and environmental degradation as shown in Figure 1. From this model, poverty is an asset that is viewed as a combination of various components that include natural resources, human resources, on-farm resources, and community resources, which have a relationship with the sustainability efforts that communities use to manage the environment. The closest this theoretical model goes to  connect environme ntal degradation to poverty is related to the lack of sufficient resources that can help enhance sustainability efforts by investing in conservation efforts. In this case, the model does not associate poverty with high utilisation of non-renewable resources that are scarce, damage of important renewable resources such as forests, and a high generation of non-recyclable waste that cannot be assimilated easily or broken down properly. In effect, the model fails to link poverty with these three factors that contribute to environmental degradation. Consequently, it is important to identify the link, if any, between poverty and these factors that contribute to environmental degradation. (Vosti and Reardon, 1997). With regard to the use of non-renewable resources, it is common knowledge that people living in conditions characterised by incisive poverty live in dwellings that use reclaimed materials from waste and use little, if any, cement to construct their houses considering that cement requires high input of energy input. In addition, people living in incisive poverty rely on public means of transport, or even walk or use bicycles, which do not contribute to environmental degradation. On the other hand, using public transport ensures that the average amount of oil consumed per person is maintained at a low, which is an effective way of conserving non-renewable resources and consequently avoiding environmental degradation. On average, electricity consumption levels of these individuals is low, which consequently makes their consumption of fossil fuel from oil, gas, natural resources, and coal less than the consumption by rich people. With regard to t

Flash V. Illumination Industries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Flash V. Illumination Industries - Essay Example In the matter of the wrongful price quotation of the computerized board, the legal team deems the contact entered into between Flash and Mack as being invalid since Mack does not have express authority to enter into such a contract. This argument is based upon the law of agency in which Mack as a contractor does not have actual authority for actions undertaken. Relevant Rules Under the law of agency, Mack is an independent contractor. Mack is a special agent since he undertakes specific assignments for Illumination Industries upon request. The general principle applied in agency law is that a principal is liable for actions undertaken by the agent if the actions fall within the authority of the agent to enter into such agreements. The issue of authority is thus of utmost importance in determining liability of the principal in contracts or actions entered into by the agent. The agent may have authority as a result of express conferment or through implication. In tort litigation the th ird party cannot claim any damages from the principal unless it can be proved that the agent’s actions were within the scope of authority in the contract. Express actual authority entails that the agent has been explicitly given authority to undertake actions on behalf of the principal. There is also the principle of implied actual authority. This is the authority that the contractor has to have if he is to perform his obligations in the required manner. This is exemplified in Ireland v. Livingstone in which the court ruled that the principal is only liable to actions which are expressly authorized by the contract. The principle of implied actual authority is however subject to personal opinion. In the matter of whether Illumination Industries ought to pay for the negligent acts of Mack, the defense team relies upon the principle of independent contractors. The principal is in law not vicariously liable for the negligent actions of the agent since the principal lacks the crit ical relationship found under employer employee. The principal would not be able to exercise the supervisory and control function in the instance of an independent contractor. There is however exceptions to this rule in instances where the actions of the contractor results into injury to a person in the real property of the principal; the contractor’s work involves potentially dangerous activity; and in instances in which the principal acted in a manner to suggest the contractor was an employee or an agent. Arguments Under the law of agency, Illumination Industries is not liable for actions undertaken by Mack since Mack is an independent contractor. Mack is an independent contractor since the nature of his work with Illumination industries is intermittent and he decides on what kinds of jobs to accept. Mack as an independent contractor does not have the authority to make quotations on the prices of goods which Illuminating Industries is to pay since he does not have the power of agent. The plaintiff may however argue that Illuminating industries had delegated authority to Mack in order to complete the job. In arguing that the job in its entirety had been delegated to Mack the plaintiffs fail to take into consideration that some aspects of agency such as the monetary aspects cannot be implied. This aspect of the independent contractor must be expressly provided by the principal and should not be by implication. In the matter

Virginia Slims Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Virginia Slims Advertising - Essay Example This is the marketing thrust of Virginia Slims to induce women to smoke by inducing anxiety among its target market then later provide Virginia Slims cigarette as the panacea to relieve the women of its distress through the use of beautiful images in their advertisements. As a product, without the gloss and twist of advertising, Virginia Slims was really nothing but just a cancer-inducing tobacco which causes bad breath, cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. But with the fuzzing or altering of the target market’s perception, the product suddenly became desirable where its smokers became an epitome of class, sophistication, confidence and seem to be happier. Virginia Slims does this by distorting reality through the use of beautiful images in their promotional campaigns whereby they associate that such beauty, class and sophistication can be achieved by smoking their product of which we know to be untrue. It is an unhealthy advertising because it creates discontent to make or induce the market to become receptive to its harmful product. The pervasiveness of this kind of advertisement that uses beautiful images of men and women to sell harmful products lowers the self-esteem of the target market. It is because the audience of these idealized beauties inadvertently compare themselves to these images that are unrealistic where the models themselves will have a hard time achieving without the aid of computer enhancement. It also makes the audience frivolous because these idealized images inadvertently make an individual tie up his or her self-worth to the physical appearance which is not a healthy gauge of one’s sense of self. It is also unhealthy because it makes the audience strive for an idealized concept of beauty that has no other value than its aesthetic worth. It benefits none except those who purvey that idealized beauty because they profit from it. It also breeds discontent and unhealthy personal disposition because it induces its audience, men and women, to strive for something that is not only unrealis tic but also of no use to better one’s life, society nor does it contribute to a common good except to enhance the profit the client of the advertiser. This idealized concept of beauty that advertisers capitalized on can even be used to manipulate one’s psychological make-up to serve a particular end that does no good to an individual.

A New Window of Opportunity for Viacom Case Study

A New Window of Opportunity for Viacom - Case Study Example In the USA, the cable networks industry makes revenue of around $ 56 billion with a 1.7 % growth over the past five years (Ibisworld, 2014). This paper is based on the cable networks and broadcast industry with particular focus on the marketing strategies of Viacom. It includes the strategies of the company to operate in the international market and to strengthen its core competencies. Â  Viacom is a TV broadcast and cable networks company, headquartered in New York. It owns some of the best-known television brands like MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, etc. Viacom also owns Paramount, which is one of the world’s largest media entertainment brands (Viacom, 2014a). The strategic planning of the company focuses on becoming the industry leading broadcasting company, which focuses on catering to its customers by developing new brands and enhancing the existing ones on a multiplatform strategy (Viacom, 2014b). Over the years Viacom has expanded itself by taking several tactical strategies so as to meet its long-term goals to expand itself in the media entertainment industry. In 1983, Viacom made its first major strategic move by establishing a joint venture with Warner Communication. In the next few years, the company eventually acquired the MTV networks. Acquisition of the MTV brand gave Viacom a major financial boost. It also made Viacom an attractive bus iness partner for other bigger companies; as a result in 1987, almost 87 % of Viacom was acquired by National Amusements with a financial consideration of $ 3.4 billion. Keeping in mind the high popularity of MTV, the company decided to introduce MTV in Europe. In 1994, Viacom made another major acquisition by taking over Paramount Communications with $ 9.9 billion. As a result, the company diversified into the movie production industry.

Mexican Immigration and American Identity Essay

Mexican Immigration and American Identity - Essay Example According to the author, even though other values and principles of non-Protestant immigrants have helped to shape and modified this concept, most Americans accept these basic elements of an Anglo-Protestant culture as the key defining elements of their national identity. Yet, the author states that in the last decades of the 20th century, this culture has been challenged by a context of globalization and ideas of multiculturalism and diversity. The rise of groups that focus on race, ethnicity, and gender over a more general national identity are regarded as a threat to 'the country's cultural and political integrity'. Huntington views immigration from Latin America, especially from Mexico, as the single largest threat to the American identity. This due to a combination of six unique characteristics that differentiate contemporary Mexican immigration from past immigrant flows, being contiguity (boarder proximity), scale (steadily increasing numbers), illegality (illegal entry and permanence into the country), regional concentration (particularly concentrated in California and the Southwest), persistence (no signs of decline over the years), and historical presence (historical claim to the US territory). The boarder proximity with Mexico in the Southwest region encourages immigration and illegal entry into the U.S., which results in the steady increase of Mexican immigration throughout the 20th century. Similarly, it increases the concentration of Mexican immigrants in that area of the country and the illegal characteristics of the flow. Since the conditions creating such immigration (economic cond itions of Mexico, boarder proximity, etc) are unlikely to change, the flow is expected to persist. These factors, the author argues, differentiate the Mexican contingent from previous immigrant groups and are likely to hinder the assimilation of Mexicans into the United States culture. One of the author's main arguments defending the poor assimilation of Mexican immigrants into the U.S. society is the persistent use of their native language through successive generations. Huntington admits that statistics on English proficiency and Spanish preservation are limited and ambiguous. Nevertheless, the author insists that particular characteristics of the flow - scale, persistence and concentration - are likely to encourage the perpetuation of Spanish among successive generations of immigrants. Huntington considers that Spanish retention has a negative impact on the assimilation of the new culture even when proficiency in English is achieved. In addition, bilingualism would affect earnings and put English-only families in disadvantage within the job market. Finally, the concentration of Mexicans in certain areas transform portions of the country into bilingual and bicultural areas, reinforcing Mexican values over the traditional Anglo-Protestant values, which, according to the author, threatens the integrity of the nation, possibly dividing the nation 'into a country of two languages and two cultures'. From my point of view, Huntington's concept of the American identity is limited and excludes a great portion of the nation's cultural and ethnic background. The author's

Weight Loss and Triglyceride Level Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Weight Loss and Triglyceride Level - Essay Example A diet containing more energy than needed may lead to prolonged postprandial hyperlipidaemia and to deposition of triglycerides in adipose tissues resulting in obesity. From a practical point of view, all hypotheses regarding the genesis of obesity can be put down to over-nutrition, meaning a hyper-energy food intake. If at all a relationship exists, this could make a sound basis for preventive and therapeutic recommendations (Anderson, J.W. and Hoie, L.H., 2005). Elevation of serum cholesterol is one of the factors that carry an increased risk for the development of coronary heart disease. Today, there is a vast body of evidence demonstrating a triangular causal relationship between habitual diet, blood cholesterol-lipoprotein levels, and coronary heart disease. In a very large proportion of individuals with a raised cholesterol level, the blood concentration of the triglycerides is also markedly increased. It has been claimed that correlation between triglycerides and coronary heart disease is as good as that between serum cholesterol and coronary heart disease. Research work has suggested that triglyceride levels may act as significant independent risk factors for coronary heart disease. Both cholesterol and triglycerides are associated with specific proteins in the plasma to form lipoproteins (Van Gaal, L.C., Mertens, I.L., and Ballaux, D., 2005). Thus the significance of the risk factor has not been determined, and this case study aims at finding this relationship in a small sample size of 35 obese patients with the hypothesis that restricting the consumption of fatty acids and exercise in order to reduce the body weight of these patients will reduce the triglyceride levels and would reduce the risks of coronary heart disease in these patients in a predictable manner such that a generalization can be made as to how much weight needs to be reduced to achieve a goal serum triglyceride level, and this can be calculated with the formula in a given population that matches with the patients included in this study. Characteristics of the Patients: The patients were obese. By definition, obesity is abnormal growth of the adipose tissue due to an enlargement of the fat cell size or increase in the fact cell number or a combination of both. Obesity is often expressed in terms of body mass index. The composition of the diet and the amount of energy driven from it are relevant to the aetiology of obesity. Consequently, a diet containing more energy than needed may lead to prolonged post-prandial hyperlipidaemia and to deposition of triglycerides in adipose tissue resulting in obesity. This group of patients is obese as per the previous definition. In these patients, the obesity is presumed to be due to high energy intake in the diet as opposed to the energy expenditure in the form of work or exercise (Nordmann, A.J. et al., 2006). The most important determinant of triglyceride level is the activity of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase in the endothelial lining of the capillaries of a variety of tissues including heart. If dietary fat intake is high, then the capacity of this enzyme to remove triglycerides particularly from the very low density lipoproteins and converting them to lipoproteins of the higher density would be affected. The result would be deposition of triglycerides in the media of the small arteries leading to atherosclerosis and luminal compromise leading to decreased blood flow at the time of the need. Thus the only way to reduce this risk of coronary heart disease is to reduce body weight by means of reduced consumption of fatty acids and exercise. Concomitantly, drug therapy with statins would also reduce the trigly

Are pro athetes paid too much Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Are pro athetes paid too much - Essay Example It shall discuss this issue using evaluations published by experts on the topic; a thorough assessment of professional athletes’ salaries shall be made based on accepted standards in the field of economics and sports. Professional athletes are reportedly paid millions of dollars annually. Salaries of professional athletes from the NBA, MLB, NHL, and the NFL seem to increase per year and for each athlete. The latest figures from the 2007-2008 sports season reveal that Alex Rodriguez was paid $28 million; Jason Giambi, $24 million; Shaquille O’Neal, $21 million; Kevin Garnett, $23.8 million; Julius Peppers, $14.1 million; Carson Palmer, $13.5 million; Scott Gomez, $10 million; and Daniel Briere, $10 million (Gilmartin â€Å"Articles†). Based on 2002 statistics, basketball players have an annual salary of $2.2 million, with 220,000 as minimum starting salary; baseball players register an annual salary of $1.37 million with $109,000 as minimum starting salary; hockey players have an annual salary of $892,000 and 125,000 as minimum starting salary; and finally football players register an annual salary of $795,000 and 131,000 starting salary (Strategic Reading, p. 26). The figures above seem to be lopsided when they are compared or set side by side with annual salaries of teachers, police officers, fire fighters, or even doctors. Many critics weigh in on this issue as they evaluate the factors which contribute to such high salaries and whether or not such salaries are deserved. An article which dates back as far back as in the 1990s attempted to evaluate the issue by weighing in both sides of the argument. On one hand, it contends that professional athletes are worth their high salaries because sports consumerism drives or dictates the terms of this market. This article cites Larry Lundy, a sports marketing director at Walt Disney who contends that there is only a limited number of superstar

Prison Break Essay Example for Free

Prison Break Essay Prison break is an American television series just entering the second season. It is a drama series set around a prison. This five star thriller is based in a prison named Fox River. The masterminded character, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is the main actor in this series. He plays as a structural engineer, this comes in handy when he plans to break out his step brother Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), also acted as Drake in Blade Trinity out of prison. Lincoln Burrows (Purcell) is the only family he has, and is on death row, convicted of the murder of the vice presidents brother. In actual fact, the vice presidents brother is hiding. This scheme was set up by the vice president herself and her right hand man, working with the secret service agent Paul Kellerman. (Paul Adelstein) Lawyer Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney) investigates a conspiracy that takes place indicating that Lincoln Burrows was framed for the murder. The evidence was destroyed and Veronica could not get Lincoln exonerated. When a date was set for the execution of Lincoln, Michael has to think fast about how he is going to execute this plan. He has plans of the prison tattooed all over his body. These blueprints are camouflaged by artwork of devils and angels and so not anyone can see it and understand it apart from him. Any phrases or important words would be tattooed backwards or inverted and only could be recognized seeing it through a mirror. He deliberately robs a bank firing a gunshot on the ceiling to acquire maximum security and gets caught intentionally and gets sent to the same prison as his brother. The action inside the prison is full of suspense as the series continues. Michael has to persuade several other prisoners who are important for this escape to happen. Predictably other prisoners acknowledge that there is a scheme going on and they have to be part of the escape for obvious reasons. Psychopath Theodore Bagwell (Robert Knepper) known as T-Bag as his nickname, is a perfect example of why this show is so great. His character is a murder and rapist. His emetic performance is what gets the viewers gripped. Throughout the series there is another plot of whats happening outside the walls. Veronica is working hard to end this conspiracy or to delay the execution. This is not an easy task as she is fighting against the government. The second season is when the cons are on the run. Fernando Sucre, Benjamin Franklin, John Abruzzi, Theodore T-bag Bagwell, Charles Patoshik, David Apolskis, Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows are the Fox River 8 MOST WANTED MEN IN AMERICA. The phrase MOST WANTED sums up the feelings of how the cops would really like to catch them. After the breakout the cons make their way to the airstrip to board a plane that should wait there to pick them up. The plane was unknown and identified by an inspector. The pilot had to leave the cons behind after being suspicious. This is a difficult situation for Scofield and the viewers are worried that the fugitives will be apprehended. He proves his intelligence by having a plan B if they never made it to the airstrip. They all go their different ways to uncover five millions dollars buried in Utah by an inmate that was killed in Fox River. The break out becomes a Federal matter and FBIs have to get involved. Special conniving agent FBI Alexander Mahone (William Fitchtner) is at almost the same intelligence as Scofield and is a real obstacle for him. This undeniable amazing series caught over ten million viewers. Brett Ratner, the director of Prison Break has turned famous after directing the best series with the highest ratings. On www. reviewit. com, 10,000 blogs show the people love the excitement and the suspense they get watching this series. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section.

Explore the significance of the witches and the supernatural in the play Macbeth Essay Example for Free

Explore the significance of the witches and the supernatural in the play Macbeth Essay King James I strongly believed in witchcraft, and Shakespeare used this idea to appeal to him. Shakespeare used the ideas of witchcraft, kingship, and the moral order to develop the play, as these themes were greatly admired in the Jacobean ere. The opening of the play contains many subtle links to the supernatural. The three witches open the scene in an open place with thunder and lightning, which was believed in superstitious times that fierce storms released forces of evil, and were omens of unrest in individual people and whole countries. I will be investigating the significance of the witches and I will be looking at the supernatural effects they have on the play Macbeth. Nowadays Macbeth is referred to by many people as The Scottish Play and within the theatres it would be considered bad luck to mention the name of The Scottish Play whilst there are plays taking place on stage. So this goes to show that the supernatural aspect of the play has been carried forward to this very day. Shakespeares tragedy is about Macbeths bloody rise to power, including the murder of the Scottish king, Duncan, and the guilt-ridden path of evil deeds generating still more evil deeds. As an integral part of this thematic web is the plays most memorable character, Lady Macbeth. Like her husband, Lady Macbeths ambition for power leads her into insomnia and madness. But while Macbeth responds to the prophecies of the plays famous trio of witches, Lady Macbeth goes even further by figuratively transforming herself into an unnatural, desexualized evil spirit. The witches themselves are a major part of supernatural, and the play, as they can be seen as starting it all off. In the first scene, we see them establishing a link with the supernatural. Their words also link them to Macbeth, and show that right from the start, he has an influence from them. Fair is foul, and foul is fair The witches say this in a chant like way, and you can tell it is a mischievous way of saying it. It shows things will be confused, and moral order will be changed. It also shows that the witches believe that evil is good, and good they find repulsive. This shows their attitude to life, but it could also be a warning to the audience that things to follow are not what they may have seemed, and will be confused. This could also associate them with the disruption of both the natural and social order, as later when Macbeth kills Duncan, many things are affected, and the witches could be blamed for this. The witches in the play of Macbeth are the most powerful characters in the play. All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter (Act 1 Scene 3) The witches start off the play by hailing Macbeth and I believe that if the witches didnt start off by saying this, then the play wouldnt have gone ahead. These quotes set out the storyline of the play and give structure of events. The play wouldnt have been interesting if they hadnt hailed Macbeth. The appearance of the witches is very much supernatural and something to be feared. So withered and so wild in their attire (Act 1 Scene 3) Banquo in the play refers to the witches as withered, wild and attire; I think this is because in the Jacobean times people who were ugly or didnt have a husband were labelled as witches. People feared witches in those times possibly because mixing with these witches could have possibly resulted in your death. As many witches in those days were either beheaded or thrown from cliffs to see they could fly. Are ye fantastical, or that indeed (Act 1 Scene 3) This is referring to the supernatural element of the witches in the play, which is again said by Banquo. The main word in the quote that is referring to the supernatural element of the witches is fantastical. In those fantastical didnt mean fantastic as it does today, but instead it meant ludicrously odd and lots of imaginary around them.

Child Obesity in Canada: Strategies for Intervention

Child Obesity in Canada: Strategies for Intervention   Child Obesity in Canada Immediate Action Needed for a Better Future Executive Summary Obesity is a condition that there is excessive body fat which leads to increased morbidity and mortality. Obesity puts children at significant risks for not only health problems such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancers, but also mental and societal issues such as stigma, discrimination, social exclusion and decreased academic performance. Obesity in Canada has become a leading public health concern. The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased five-fold from 1981. Currently, there are approximately 600,000 obese school-aged children countrywide. Obesity costs the nation approximately $1.27 to $11.08 billion per year just in health care. Obesity is preventable. Promotion of healthy eating and active lifestyle is considered the most effective measure targeting childhood overweight and obesity. There are efforts to tackle this problem from federal, provincial and territorial governments, community, and school boards. However, they are not enough to end the obesity epidemic. There is still no nationally standardized school nutrition policy, resulting in different interpretation and implementation of school nutrition policies for our children across the country. The federal, provincial and territorial governments could work together to fix this. In addition, the federal government has attempted to tackle childhood obesity by the Child Fitness Tax Credit (CFTC) program since 2006. However, the CFTC does not prove to be effective and achieving its objectives. There is also a need to review and revise this initiative accordingly. School-based intervention is proved to be effective in modifying dietary habit and promoting active lifestyle. Reduction of overweight and obesity among students has been observed in the APPLE School program in Alberta. The potential obesity associated cost savings for our nation would be up to 330 million per year if this model was scaled up countrywide. Problem Definition Obesity is a condition involving an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity is normally determined by a simple index of weight-for-height called body-mass-index (BMI). In adults (20 years and older), a BMI of larger than 25 and 30 is considered overweight and obesity respectively [1, 2]. For child and teen (2 to less than 20 years), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a BMI-for-age percentile scale, in which BMI-for-age from 85% to 95% tile and 95% tile and higher is considered overweight and obesity respectively [3]. Although the causes of overweight and obesity are complex, the fundamental reason is the imbalance between energy consumed and expended. This is normally caused by increased intake of energy-excessive foods and sedentary lifestyle. Obesity is the most commonly seen disorder in children in developed world. Childhood obesity puts children at significant risks of many health problems. This can include chronic and fatal disease like type-2 diabetes, various types of cancer and cardiovascular disease [4-6]. Obesity also places children at a higher risk of stigma, discrimination, social exclusion and decreased academic performance in school [7]. However, scientists suggest that the greatest health problems will be seen as the present generation of overweight and obese children becomes the next generation of adults [8], probably with more social and medical problems and a shorter lifespan than their parents. Childhood obesity in Canada is on the rise and has become a leading public health concern. Currently, more than a quarter of Canadian children and youth are overweight or obese. Obesity and its resulting health effects are extremely expensive. Obesity is theoretically responsible for 9% of deaths among adults aged 20-64 years [9]. The cost of obesity in health care ranges from $1.27 to $11.08 billion per year [10]. The objectives of this policy brief are to: Promote awareness of childhood obesity problem in Canada and urge for immediate policy actions from federal, provincial and territorial governments, and school boards; Make recommendations on interventional policy actions to tackle obesity problem. Only peer-reviewed publications, health professional agencies’ (CDC, WHO) materials and government reports are used to provide evidence and supportive argumentation. Review of Evidence Canada, like many other developed nations, is facing an emerging epidemic of overweight and obesity. Scientific evidence indicates dramatic increases in both overweight and obesity over the last decades, particularly among children. Prevalence of childhood overweight has tripled since 1981 while that of obesity has increased five-fold during the same period [11, 12]. Presently, there are approximately 7 million obese adults and 600.000 obese school-aged children in Canada [12]. If current trends continue, 55% of Canadians will be either overweight or obese by 2020 [13] and up to 70% of adults aged 40 years will be either overweight or obese by 2040 [14]. Childhood obesity is driven by a number of factors, including personal, interpersonal factors, organizations, community and a broader social environment [15]. It is a complex and multifaceted web of reasons. Thus, a multidimensional and coordinated approach is needed to tackle this health problem. Among many possible interventions, promotion of healthy eating and active lifestyle is considered the most effective measure targeting childhood excessive body weight [16]. Junk food and sugar-added beverage provide excessive calorie intake while they lack nutritional value. However, this kind of food is still available in school vending machines or cafeterias in a number of provinces. Further, there is no standard policy on school nutrition, especially those related to vending machine foods, across provinces and territories of Canada. While New Brunswick and Ontario have mandatory regulations to ensure that only healthy foods are available at school environment, some others also have but do not cover all levels of education or have weak nutrition standards, which allow sale of high fat and high salt foods [17]. Apparently, the differences in school nutrition policies create unequal schooling environment for our children across Canada. It seems agreeable that any obesity prevention program should include some form of physical activity advocacy and education [18]. The Canadian Paediatrics Society recommends a healthy living for children and youth, in which children and adolescents are recommended to â€Å"increase the time that they spend on physical activities and sports by at least 30 min/day, with at least 10 min involving vigorous activities† [19]. In addition, promoting physical education in school has proved to be effective and is required in a number of places. Arkansas State in the United States mandates that every student in kindergarten through grade nine receive no less than one hour of physical education instruction per week for every student who is physically fit and able to participate [20]. For a maximum effectiveness, physical activities should be promoted at both community and school levels to create a continuum of active living from home to school and vice versa for our children. Possible Ways to Address the Problem Overweight and obesity are preventable [2]. Even though there are many policy options, this paper opts to highlight three possible solutions for federal, provincial and territorial policymakers, as well as school boards to win the fight against childhood overweight and obesity. Development of a national school nutrition policy Even though education and health rest with provincial and territorial responsibility, a policy from Health Canada can help shape common standards of school nutrition nationally. Such a policy can ensure that our children have access to heathy and nutritious foods while they are in school in all provinces, and hence provides better protection to our children in fighting against overweight and obesity. This can include, for example, nationally nutrition standards for foods provided in cafeterias, vending machines, and at school special events. This national policy should be mandatory and implemented at all levels of education. Provincial and territorial governments could issue additional school food-related policies to further protect their population. However, the national policy requirements should be adhered and kept as minimum standards. School boards and provincial, territorial health authorities will be responsible for implementation and monitoring of these policies. Revision of Child Fitness Tax Credit program Since 2006, the federal government has actively attempted to tackle childhood obesity by introducing Child Fitness Tax Credit (CFTC), in which parents can claim up to $500 to alleviate participation costs when they register children into eligible physical activity programs [21]. However, research has shown that this program does not meet its objectives. CFTC appears to provide little to no benefit to those who cannot afford physical activity program cost and carry that burden until the end of the tax year [22] and those who have no taxable income. Therefore, the CFTC has little impact on physical activities of children in low income families, who most need it. As overweight Canadians in low income households are 40% more likely to be obese than those in high income category [14], the CFTC has failed its childhood obesity prevention. Thus, there is a need to review and revise this initiative, so every Canadian kid has an equal and better chance of participating in physical activity pr ograms. Implementation of school-based intervention program School is an ideal place for childhood overweight and obesity prevention intervention as children spend a large proportion of their time at school. There is strong evidence supporting school-based intervention. A review of 16 school-based childhood obesity prevention programs in Chile, Belgium, United Kingdom and the United States shows that a positive change of dietary habits is highly achievable [18]. Specifically, the Alberta Project Promoting Active Living and Healthy Eating (APPLE) School program has proved that an intervention on healthy nutrition and active lifestyle in schools has resulted in reduced overweight and obesity in students. Currently, there are 40 APPLE schools in Alberta. If this school model was to be scaled up nationally, the potential cost savings for Canada would be $150 to $330 million per year [23]. Recommendation School-based program is effective in preventing childhood obesity and thus reducing comorbidity and health spending in the long run. This approach has an advantage of reaching almost all children in the community. In addition to health benefits, it may improve student academic performance and provide additional social benefits. Further, it establishes healthy behaviors at early stage of life that can lead to life-long healthy habits [16]. Given the complex nature of determinants of childhood overweight and obesity, school-based prevention intervention should be guided by behavioral theoretical frameworks. It is also worth to note that involvement of school food program and parent influence is the key to success. It has been shown that parent involvement is an important component of school-based intervention [18]. It would not be realistic to expect immediate results. Notable reduction in childhood overweight and obesity can only be seen in years with intensive and diversified interventions [18]. However, if no action is taken now, our children’s lives are at risk of being deteriorated by social and medical complications of excess body weight in the years to come.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Protecting Corporate Assets Essays -- SOX Act,

Internal Controls. Kind of like a brick wall, or a fire wall on a computer. Internal controls act as a way to keep a company and its assets safe, as well as make sure that the company maintains complete and accurate accounting records. Internal controls are in charge of the overall well being of a company from its assets to its employees, even to its sales and reputation. A lot of things are involved with internal controls such as; Sarbanes-Oxley Act, stock well being, well being and safety of assets and accounting accuracy. One of the Internal Controls main purposes is that of keeping a companies assets safe, whether that be from employees, robbers, or misuse from outside parties. As one can figure keeping a companies assets would be a very important task that would keep a company running smoothly and successfully if all went well. Internal Controls will work to maintain the safety of all assets of a company by assuring no unauthorized use or access, and keeping close watches over all records and information. Another main task of the internal control is that of keeping the accounting records up to date and accurate at all times. In the past months there has been quite a bit of emphasis on the importance of a company keeping complete and accurate accounting records for many reasons. A companies well being may depend on its records accuracy, if there happen to be a problem spotted a simple solution would be to revert back to the records, but what if the records are inaccurate, or incomplete? It is extremely important that Internal Controls keep close watch over the accuracy of the companies accounting records of all forms. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 or SOX was created by the governments sector of Public Compan... ...d to companies loosing billions of dollars to those unethical practicing members of a company. As one can see internal controls in a company can make or break a company. With all participation and strict principals internal controls can provide a great basis for a company and catch all errors to ensure a smooth run for a company and avoidance of any scandals. With a loose internal control system or unethical practices a company can get a bad wrap, loose customers and investors, loose profit and assets, as well as loose all reputability. There will always be problems within companies, but with the close running of a company’s internal control and ethical practices, government involvement, and outside audits and over views a company can lower their risk of loosing anything valuable to their company, and staying out of the public’s eye in a negative manner.

Gun-Control in Charlton Heston’s Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation and Paul Craig Robert’s Unarmed and Unsafe :: Amendment Rights Essays Guns

Gun-Control in Charlton Heston’s Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation and Paul Craig Robert’s Unarmed and Unsafe There are three ways to approach gun-control: first, it is the citizens’ constitutional right to own firearms; second, firearms kill - get rid of them; and third, to have no opinion and not deal with the issue. Whichever view people have on gun-control, they must first understand the facts and statistics of these issues. Charlton Heston’s â€Å"Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation?† and Paul Craig Robert’s â€Å"Unarmed and Unsafe† both study the opposing side of gun-control with facts and logic. In Heston’s â€Å"Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation,† he writes about how â€Å"we may be losing the next generation of Americans, as they lose an understanding and appreciation of what the Second Amendment is and does† (Heston 1). Heston uses the statistics from a June, 2000 national survey of 1,500 high school students to show that the young adults of America do not have faith in the Constitution or Bill of Rights. He reports that â€Å"64 percent of high school students favor stricter anti-gun laws, 90 percent favor the licensing of handgun buyers, 96 percent said all handguns should be registered at purchase, and 19 percent of high school students do not believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to own a firearm†(Heston 1). Heston asks how safe any of America’s freedoms are if twenty percent of high school students believe that the Bill of Rights does not mean what it says? High schools use to have rifle teams along with s occer and football teams, and now even toy guns have the possibility of being banned. He mentions that being able to own a gun does not mean a thing if so many requirements, fees and restrictions practically leave Americans disarmed. Heston claims that being allowed to own, or even use, a firearm is a maturing experience for young people. He also mentions that the trust that goes hand in hand with the gun does more than show the acknowledgement of self-discipline and responsibility, it reinforces those virtues better than almost anything else can. Heston argues that it is the American’s responsibility to maintain the rights of gun ownership and provide the next generation with the same freedoms(Heston 1-2) . In â€Å"Unarmed and Unsafe,† Roberts confirms the saying â€Å"when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns†(Roberts 2) He begins his article with the effects of recent gun-control in Britain.

How Rococo and Neoclassicism Illustrate the Process of Deciding in thei

How Rococo and Neoclassicism Illustrate the Process of Deciding in their Paintings The artists Jean-Honore Fragonard and Jaques-Louis David both successfully embody their respective stylistic differences. Fragonard’s style of painting is Rococo, which is characterized by its softness, asymmetry and curviness. Contrasting these ideals is David’s style of painting, Neo-Classicism. Neo-Classicism is synonymous with strong gestures, symmetry, and solidness. Two works that best exemplify the ideals of each style of painting are Fragonard’s The Swing, 1767 and David’s The Death of Socrates, 1787. Although at first glance, it is easier to focus on how each work is different to the other, one can argue that they are similar in theme. Both The Swing and The Death of Socrates are works that deal with the theme of decision making. However, they differ in how each work portrays the theme of deciding. While The Swing focuses on infidelity and the process of deciding, The Death of Socrates makes it clear that loyalty to government is stronger than the ties of friendship or acquaintance. By examining use of light, form, subject matter as well as other artistic elements, one can see how each artist conveys a message by utilizing their style of art. Although both Fragonard’s and David’s work convey different ideals through their style of painting, they are still able to use light in a very similar form. The viewer’s attention is directed on a specific point in the painting through the use of light. Both artists cast a spotlight on the figure or action in the painting that they want the viewer to especially notice. It is what each artist decides to focus on that makes his work is different from the other. A young woman on a swing who enjoys the pleasures of life is clearly where Fragonard wants to direct the viewer’s attention. However, David focuses attention on a male figure, specifically Socrates. How does the use of light help the viewer understand the ideals of each form of art? While Fragonard chooses to focus on a female and David chooses to focus on a male, the viewer now understands how Rococo can be a feminine form of art and Neo-Classicism the opposite. In addition, other stylistic e lements like color and form depict how each art form differs from the other. By using all this visual evidence, we will later see how the concept of deciding... ...d is clearly weaker than the one handing Socrates the poison. This shows how one’s duty to the government is far more important than one’s own personal views or feelings. We can make the argument that there had to be a relationship between Socrates and this figure. By paying attention to elements such as subject matter, light, form, and placement of figures, we can see how these enhance the ideals depicted by each form of art. As a result, we can understand how Neo-Classical art is an attempt to counter the values of Rococo. Rococo is a form of art directly targeted to the privileged. Because not everyone in society belongs to the aristocracy, the Neo-Classicist wanted to impose order as an alternative to the frivolous life style. As a result, we have to works of art that challenge each other’s ideals. The theme of infidelity versus loyalty and how one arrives at the decision made is animated in the works of Fragonard and David. However, it is important to note that there is no right or wrong form of art, although it may seem that this was the common perception of the time. In conclusion, both works of are similar in one important aspect; they are both works of art.

Indian Literature Essay

INTRODUCTION Indian Literature, literature in the languages of India, as well as those of Pakistan. For information on the literature written in the classicial language,Sanskrit,.The Indian literary tradition is primarily one of verse and is also essentially oral. The earliest works were composed to be sung or recited and were so transmitted for many generations before being written down. As a result, the earliest records of a text may be later by several centuries than the conjectured date of its composition. Furthermore, perhaps because so much Indian literature is either religious or a reworking of familiar stories from the Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the mythological writings known as Puranas, the authors often remain anonymous. Biographical details of the lives of most of the earlier Indian writers exist only in much later stories and legends, so that any history of Indian literature is bound to raise more questions than it answers. Often, much less is known about a n Indian poet who died in the early 19th century than of the English medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer or of the Latin poet Virgil. II LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES Much traditional Indian literature is derived in theme and form not only from Sanskrit literature but from the Buddhist and Jain texts written in the Pali language and the other Prakrits (medieval dialects of Sanskrit). This applies to literature in the Dravidian languages of the south as well as to literature in the Indo-Iranian languages of the north. Successive invasions of Persians and Turks, beginning in the 14th century, resulted by about 1700 in most of India being governed by Muslim rulers. The influence of Persian and Islamic culture is strongest in literature written in Urdu, although important Islamic strands can be found in other literatures as well, especially those written in Bengali (Bangla), Gujarati, and Kashmiri. After 1817, when the British controlled nearly all of India, entirely new literary  values were established that remain dominant today. III THE TAMIL TRADITION The only Indian writings that incontestably pre-date the influence of classical Sanskrit are those in the Tamil language. Anthologies of secular lyrics on the themes of love and war, together with the grammatical-stylistic work Tolkappiyam (Old Composition), were once thought to be very ancient; they are now believed to date no earlier than from about the 1st to the 5th century ad. Later, between the 6th and 9th centuries, Tamil sectarian devotional poems were composed, often claimed as the first examples of the Indian bhakti tradition (see below). At some indeterminate date between the 2nd and 5th centuries, two long Tamil verse romances (sometimes called epics) were written: Cilappatikaram (The Jewelled Anklet) by Ilanko Atikal, which has been translated into English (1939 and 1965); and its sequel Manimekalai (The Girdle of Gems), a Buddhist work by Cattanar. IV MEDIEVAL INDIAN LITERATURE The first true works of literature in most of the main indigenous Indian languages tend to date from about 1200. Before then, any work of literature would have been composed in the literary languages: Sanskrit or one of the Prakrits in the north or Tamil in the Dravidian south. A  Sanskrit Epic Influence In this early period, which ended in about 1500, the main literary productions in all the languages of India were versions of stories from the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. Many of the vernacular treatments of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavata-Purana, well known to educated Indian readers even today, were written during this period. For example, the first true Malayalam work, which is a version of the Ramayana, dates from about the 13th century. B Other Themes Other themes were also treated in medieval Indian literature. The earliest works in many of the languages were sectarian,designed to advance or to  celebrate some unorthodox regional belief. Examples are the Caryapadas, Tantric verses of the 12th century that are the earliest surviving works in Bengali, and the Lilacaritra (c. 1280), a Marathi prose account of the words and deeds of the founder of the Mahanubhava sect. In Kannada (Kanarese) from the 10th century, and later in Gujarati from the 13th century, the first truly indigenous works are Jain romances; ostensibly the lives of Jain saints, these are actually popular tales based on Sanskrit and Pali themes. Tales besides these sectarian works were composed; examples in Rajasthani are bardic tales of chivalry and heroic resistance to the first Muslim invasions—such as the 12th-century epic poem Prithiraja-raso by Chand Bardai of Lahore. Popular stories and ballads were also composed, such as those of East Bengal. Later important religious literatures developed that were associated with certain regional philosophies and sects: texts in Tamil from the 13th to the 15th century devoted to the medieval Hindu Shaiva-siddhanta sect; the works of the Lingayats (a Hindu sect devoted to the worship of Shiva) in Kannada, especially the vacanas, or â€Å"sayings†, of Basava, the mid-12th-century founder of the sect, and his disciples; and the Tantric texts, especially those from north-east India, which developed later into genres such as the mangala-kavya (poetry of an auspicious happening) of Bengal. This verse was addressed to deities such as Manasa (a snake goddess), purely local forms of the female divine principle called Devi . Most important of all for later Indian literature were the first traces in the vernacular languages of the northern Indian cults of Krishna and of Rama. The Krishna story developed in Sanskrit from the Mahabharata through the Bhagavata-Purana, to the 12th-century poem by Jaydev, called the Gitagovinda (The Cowherd’s Song); but in about 1400, a group of religious love poems written in Maithili (eastern Hindi of Bihar) by the poet Vidyapati were a seminal influence on the cult of Radha-Krishna in Bengal and the whole religio-erotic literature associated with it. C The Bhakti Tradition The full flowering of the Radha-Krishna cult, under the Hindu mystics Caitanya in Bengal and Vallabhacharya at Mathura, involved bhakti. The word bhakti implies a personal devotion to a god far different from the rituals of Brahmanism—an intense longing comparable to the desire of lovers or of a child separated from his or her mother. Indeed, bhakti may be conceived of in terms of all forms of human love. Although earlier traces of this attitude are found in the work of the Tamil Alvars (mystics who wrote ecstatic hymns to Vishnu between the 7th and 10th centuries), the enthusiasms of the Sufi mystics of Islam probably produced the surge of bhakti that flooded every channel of Indian intellectual and religious life beginning in the late 15th century. The sentiment was the same, but the recipient varied by region. Beside the writings of the devotees of Radha-Krishna, bhakti was addressed to Rama (an avatar of Vishnu), most notably in the Avadhi (eastern Hindi) works of Tulsi Das; his Ramcaritmanas (Lake of the Acts of Rama, 1574-1577; trans. 1952) has become the authoritative, repeatedly recited version of the Ramayana for the whole Hindi-speaking north. The early gurus, or founders of the Sikh religion, especially Nanak and Arjun, wrote bhakti hymns to their concepts of deity. These are the first written documents in Punjabi (Panjabi) and form part of the Adi Granth (First, or Original, Book), the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, which was first compiled by Arjun in 1604. In the 16th century, in other regions, bhakti was directed to other forms of divinity. For example, the Rajasthani princess and poet Mira Bai addressed her lyric verse to Krishna, as did the Gujarati poet Narsimh Mehta. V INDIAN LITERATURE OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD In the literature from about 1500 to 1800, the stream of reworkings of the traditional Sanskrit epics continued unabated, while at the same time the use of Urdu and of Persian literary forms arose. A Traditional Material In the 16th century, Jagannath Das wrote an Oriya version of the Bhagavata and Tuncattu Eruttacchan, the so-called father of Malayalam literature, wrote recensions of traditional literature. To these were added, particularly in the 18th century, a deliberate imitation of Sanskritic forms and metres in addition to a highly Sanskritic vocabulary by pandita, or â€Å"learned† poets, or by court poets like those of the Telugu-speaking kingdom of Vijaynagar. Historical events were recounted in 18th-century Assamese and Marathi prose chronicles, ballads, and folk drama involving much dance and  song. B Urdu Literature During this period, Indian literature was also written in Urdu, a new language. Urdu, spoken in the Delhi region, is similar to Hindi and contains many words from Arabic and Persian. The Urdu poets almost always wrote in Persian forms, using the ghazal for love poetry in addition to an Islamic form of bhakti, the masnavi for narrative verse, and the marsiya for elegies. Writing in Urdu began first in the Islamic kingdoms of the Deccan, where literary experiment was apparently easier and the prestige of the orthodox literary language, Persian, was less strong; it culminated there in the lyrics of Wali. Urdu then gained use as a literary language in Delhi and Lucknow. The ghazals of Mir and Ghalib mark the highest achievement of Urdu lyric verse. The Urdu poets were mostly sophisticated, urban artists, but some adopted the idiom of folk poetry, and this is typical of the verse written in Punjabi, Pushtu, Sindhi, or other regional languages. Poets such as Ghalib, for example, lived and worked during the British era, when a literary revolution occurred in all the Indian languages as a result of contact with Western thought, when the printing press was introduced (by Christian missionaries), and when the influence of Western educational institutions was strong. During the mid-19th century in the great ports of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, a prose literary tradition arose—encompassing the novel, short story, essay, and literary drama (this last incorporating both classical Sanskrit and Western models)—that gradually engulfed the customary Indian verse genres. The northern heartland of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh was the last to be affected by this new tradition; and because Muslims for the most part did not take advantage of the new education, Urdu writing preserved much of its integrity. Urdu poets remained faithful to the old forms and metres while Bengalis were imitating such English poets as Percy Bysshe Shelley in the 1840s or T. S. Eliot in the 1940s. Ghalib The celebrated Urdu poet Ghalib has often been termed a â€Å"light tower in the Urdu literature†. The Punjabi government established a Ghalib literary award in his memory, in 1998. Dinodia During the last 150 years many writers have contributed to the development of modern Indian literature, writing in any of 15 major languages (including, of course, English). In the process of Westernization, Bengali has led the way and today has one of the most extensive literatures of any Indian language. One of its greatest representatives is Rabindranath Tagore, the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1913). Much of his prose and verse is available in his own English translations. Anita Desai In her colourful novels and short stories portraying life in India, author Anita Desai describes the aspirations and struggles of ordinary people in her homeland. She published her first novel, Cry, the Peacock, in 1963. Globe Photos, Inc. Work by two other great 20th-century Indian leaders and writers is also widely known through translation: the verse of the Islamic leader and philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal, originally written in Urdu and Persian; and the autobiography of Mohandas K. Gandhi, My Experiments with Truth, originally written in Gujarati between 1927 and 1929 and now considered a classic. Although the bulk of later 20th-century Indian writing remains untranslated, several writers working in English are relatively well known to the West. They include Mulk Raj Anand, among whose many works the early affectionate Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936) are novels of social protest; and R. K. Narayan, writer of novels and tales of village life in southern India. The first of Narayan’s many works, Swami and Friends, appeared in 1935; among his more recent titles are The English Teacher (1980), The Vendor of Sweets (1983), and Under the Banyan Tree (1985). Among the younger authors writing of modern India with nostalgia for the past is Anita Desai—as in Clear Light of Day (1980). Her In Custody (1984) is the story of a teacher’s fatal enchantment with poetry. Ved Mehta, although long resident in the United States, recalls his Indian roots in a series of memoirs of his family and of his education at schools for the blind in India and America; among these works are Vedi (1982) and Sound Shadows of the New World (1986).

Study of Lg

pic In violateial fulfillment Of BACHELOR OF line of merchandise ADMINISTRATION pic Submitted to Submitted by SWARNITA SRIVASTAVA bb Asst Professor BBA 4sem distort no solarise INSTITUTE OF worry & TECHNOLOGY 7 Km,Milest wizard B atomic quash 18illy Road NH-24, hadji Nagla,Shahjahanpur (U. P) pic DECLARATIONI, ANJU MISHRA , hereby carry that the work title Comparative Analysis of Employees tendernessshot towards COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LG AND VIEDOCON radiate CONDITIONERS be in this report has been carried out by me as an original work. I decl be that no part of it has been submitted for any gradation of any institution previously. Date 30 APIRL, 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would wish to as trusted this opport social social unity to express my deep gratitude to each(prenominal) those who, directly or indirectly ground this project possible. I use up got properly assistant and aliveness in reservation this project report a populace from some tribe.I would alik e to thank Mr. ABHIJEET MISHRA, SIMT,SHAHJAHANPUR whose shinement for perfection, under fatigable zeal, existence and dynamism contri barelyed in a bad way in completing this project. This work is the reflection of his thought, ideas, apprehension and above totally his modest swither. premiss This is the project about profiling the grass temperament of assembly line conditi ir patsys. The project involves the chew everywhere of the whole note Conditi unmatchabler commercialize. In this stick outulate we reach studied the 2 of the major players in AC that is LG, Videocon.The report include the survey of the nodes of these special sends and therefore analyzing what kind of their clients ar, the brand tar discombobulates which surgical incision of the customers, the customers age conclave, income group, their command level. Indian Consumer durable goods grocery store place apply to be look out overd by a couple of(prenominal) domestic players like Go drej, Samsung, Hitachi Voltas and Kalvinator. But post liberalization much foreign community stir entered into Indian market dethroning the Indian player and dominating Indian market the major categories in the market AIR CONDTIONERS CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION beau monde write KNOWLEDGE ABOUT social club more than(prenominal)overt OF THE SURVEY 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY accrual OF DATA QUESTIONNAIER 3. DATA ANALYSIS AND ex mental attitude 4. CONCLUSION 5. FINDING AND SUGGESSION 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ? To earn away the two major player of AC market and their market sh atomic issue forth 18, reapings and the players within this piece. ? We collect taken the major competitors in AC segment as LG, Videocon, and did an in sense comparison of the same on certain parameters, which ordain be ? defined in the due course of the proposal. ? To ascertain effectiveness market and challenger. Ascertain the consumer preferences and satis featureion mover ? To sp unkylight the perception of the consumers for the circularize Conditioners. ? To do the brand profiling. ? To k at present the personality traits, li mights of the customers for individualistic brands. ? To k at present which customer prefer which brand. ? wherefore do they purchase this brand but? ? How does this brand matches to their personality. ? Which brand tar readys or is like by the customers of which age group ? Which brand is affordable by which income group. ? Do the customers fatality to repurchase this brand? If yes, then why so. What are the characteristics of the customer the brand tar trances? COMPANY PROFILE OF LG History pic When Willis Carrier invented the get-go body for manufactured weather in 1902, he sparked an exertion that revolutionized the way in which we live, work and play. From that defining moment and finished with(predicate) to the present day Carrier has been a confederation built on a legacy of innovation. For more than a atomic ph ysical body 6, our research, expertness and forethought have resulted in market-leading innovations and primarys that have shaped and defined the heating, oxygenate learn and refrigeration industry.Through our history of product rectitude and committed customer service, we have evolved into a existence(a) guild serving gazillions of people and affaires in 172 countries on sestet continents more or slight the valet. pic Carrier India Vision To be k straightway as the leader in both segment we ope account in by ? Being customer foc utilize in e actuallything we do and following ACE diligently. Delivering best in class quality in the product as healthful as after(prenominal)market service. ? Being environmentally conscious in areas of energy efficiency and pollution. Establishing a work culture that respects human value & team work re issueant workings in our join determine of EH&S and ethics Thereby developing productively and ahead of the market e very(preno minal) year, reservation Carrier a destination of cream for all within HVAC&R industry. LG Electronics Is one of the leading companies in the field of electronics with a globular presence in many countries. .Before briefing, I have divided the entering part into one-third of import sub parts. LG ball-shaped LG India LG Pune History of followThe company was in the beginning established in 1958 as specious lead, producing radios, TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners. The LG aggroup was a merger of two Korean companies, aureate and metal(prenominal) genius, from which the abbreviation of LG was derived. The authentic Lifes good slogan is a backronym. Before the incorpo rate Name change to LG, household products were change under the Brand name of Lucky, period electronic products were sold under the brand name of Gold lead. The Gold Star brand is still perceived as a discount brand. In 1995, Gold Star was renamed LG Electronics, and acquired Zenith Electronics of the United States. pic world(a) cognitive operation LG Electronics is playing an active role in the world market with its assertive global business policy. As a result, LG Electronics keep backs cx local subsidiaries in the world with slightly 82,000 exe blowive and employees. LG Group LG. Philips liquid crystal display LG chemic LG Telecom LG mightcom LG Twins LG Dacom Business areas and main products Mobile communications pic a) CDMA Hand even ups, b) GSM Handsets, c) 3G Handsets, d) Cellular Phones digital appliancepic a) Air Conditioners, b) Refrigerators, c) micro-cook Ovens, d) Washing automobiles, e) inanity Cleaners, f) Home Net, ) Compressors for Air Conditioners and Refrigerators digital displaypic a) blood plasma TVs, b) liquid crystal display TVs, c) Micro demonstrate gameboard TVs, d) Monitors, e) PDP Modules, f) OLED Panels, g) USB Memory, h) Flat Panel Com cater Monitors digital media a) Home Theater Systems, b) DVD Recorders, c) super Multi DVD Rewriters, d) CDRW, e) Notebook PCs, f) backdrop PCs, g) PDAs, h) PDA Phones, i) MP3 Players, j) New Karaoke Systems, pic Vision Global Top 3 by 2010 Global Top 3 Electronic/telecommunication company increment strategy fast-flying innovation, Fast egression Core qualification yield lead, Market leadership, People leadershipCorporate culture No excuse, we non I, Fun workplace quest for LINE Lifes ethical represents LGs determination to support delight amply smart products that give make your life good. The LG Electronics Lifes reliable signature consists of the LG logo, seal, and the slogan, Lifes Good set in Charlotte sans type boldness slew roughly the LG attribute. The curving of the slogan rein labors LGs personality and unmatchedness. The consistent usage of this signature clear establishes the unique identity of the company and unifies every breakdown and product from LG Electronics crosswise the globe.The emblem The emblem of LG is the face of future. The letter L and G in a destiny symbolizes world, future, youth, humanity & engineering science . LG philosophy is ground on humanity. pic It in any case represents LGs efforts to victuals tight relationship with our customers around the world. The symbol consists of two elements. 1. The logo in LG crumbescent 2. The stylized image of human face in the unique LG red color. loss color represents our friendliness and gives a self-colored impression of LGs commitment to lay aside the best. The circle symbolizes The Globe.The stylized image of a smiling face in the symbol conveys Friendliness and Approachability. The one nerve on the symbol represents Goal-oriented, Focused & surefooted. The slogan of LG is Lifes Good. It expresses Brands Value, Promises, Benefits, Personality. The Partnership LG Electronics chooses to crowd harmony and build constructively on a labor- concern relationship rather than an employee-employer relationship. This illustrates tha t prudence and workers are not in a vertical relationship, but in a horizontal one.This culture is necessary for LG Electronics as it strives to fit one of the worlds top companies. such(prenominal) a relationship is transformed into a value-creation relationship whereby both parties endeavor to citation mutual problems and create briskfangled values unitedly. strategic alliance LG Electronics is qualification good advances and identifying business opportunities through and through confused associatory relationships with some of the worlds leading companies. LG Electronics is striving to become number one in the world by mingling in respective(a) business and proficient fields and making strategic alliances with world famous companies. Strategic association surrounded by corporations, In which companies with various infrastructures cooperate in the fast- generateing 21st century business field, Is of key out significance in terms of strengthening the existent industr y and creating a unfermented one. pic LG Electronics bequeath do its best to create youthful products and work with an open mind, while developing raw(a) technologies and business fields through various associations with some of the worlds virtually successful companies. 1. 3M 2. SUN 3. YAHOO 4. PHILLIPS 5. TOYOTA 6. MICROSOFT 7. HP 8. GOOGLE 9. GE 10. INTEL 11.NORTEL 12. HITACHI 13. PRADA 14. RENESAS 15. TOSHIBA 16. BESTBUY And the number follows many more.. In Feb. 2007 LG Electronics and yahoo formed a strategic alliance. hick mobile run will be available from LG mobile. This service is targeting 10 one thousand thousand LG mobile phones in over 70 countries. In Mar. 2007 LG Electronics and Google formed a strategic alliance. Both companies will work together to release, market, and offer LG mobile phones with Google services (search engine, map, email, and blogs. ) LG firebrand IDENTITY- The brand of LG is delightfully smart.LG strives to advance the customers life and life- modality with intelligent features, institutive functionality and exceptional performance. The brand course of study- The LG brand is composed of quatern basic elements 1. Value 2. Promise 3. Benefits 4. Personality The Brands core Value that never changes. a. Trust, b. Innovation, c. People d. choler The benefits that are consistently delivered to the customer includes authorized products Simple design Ease of useExtraordinary understand Personality describes the human characteristic that are expressed to the customer through Trustworthy, unselfish Practical, Friendly The Internal Culture of LG LG practices quaternity cultures 1. Learning Culture 2. Boundary less(prenominal) environment 3. A Carrier 4. Growth According to LG, the Learning Culture endlessly helps the employee to learn more and more to develop the habit of continuous learning. Boundary less Environment- It means that there is no difference among the levels of employees.There is transparency betwee n the work and mutual understanding between all the employees. A carrier is extremely growth in LG and one who is the employee can develop their carrier queen- surfacely. A new comer will feel fully comfortable in the company and for a new comer the company is very helpful in the overall growth of personality. Growth in LG is very elevated for those who are in the company and for those who necessitate to join in LG. The company is growing with fast innovation and the BLUE ocean strategy is one of the examples of growth. Mission The delegating of LG is to provide the customers with ut most(prenominal) satisfaction through leadership.The fundamental policy of increase is to gear up product leadership that the Customers may have the utmost satisfaction. Product Leadership We are foc exploitation on six development areas to become the product leader. 1. New Machine 2. Reliability 3. Conventional Installation 4. Environment Friendly Product 5. woeful disturbance & Vibration 6. Energy saving property Innovation The policy of quality authorisation is to provide customers with utmost satisfaction by supplying zero defects. pic LG proceeds in a hierarchal manner. It is named as LG path. From top to bottom No. 1 LG is the VISION Jeong-DO Management is LGs unique finish to ethics. LG will succeed through fair management practices and unvaryingly developing our business skill. A) Honest with our customer b) Providing large values to customer through constant innovation & and development. c) Equal opportunities d) Equal preaching e) Management Principle Creating value for customer Code of conduct of LG 1. Responsibility and obligations to customers evaluate for Customers Creating Value Providing Value 2. Fair competition Pursuit of Free Competition accord with Laws and Regulations . Fair Transaction Equal fortune Fair Transaction Procedure jut out and Aid for Business Partners 4. Basic ethical motive for Employees Basic Ethics Completio n of craft self-importance Development Fairness in Performance Avoidance of conflict with company interest 5 Corporate Responsibilities to employees assure for human dignity Fair treatment Promoting Creativity 6 Responsibilities to society and acres Rational Business Development protection of caudex holder interest region to social development Environmental conservation LG INDIALG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd. , a wholly owned footslogger of LG Electronics, South Korea was established in January 1997 after clearance from the Foreign Investment onward motion Board (FIPB). LG set up a take-of-the art manufacturing preparedness at great Noida, near Delhi, in 1998, with an investment of Rs cholecalciferol Crores. LG corporate office is located at Plot no. 51, Udyog Vihar, Kasna Road, Greater Noida, India. This easiness manufactured Color Televisions, Washing Machines, Air-Conditioners and microwave oven Ovens. Company is setting up a chain of exclusive premium sh owentourage.LG plans to cast 60 premium Brand Shoppes by the end of the starting line quarter of this year. At present, LG has a total of 83 LG shops crossways the country, of which 45 are shoppes and 38 are exclusive stores. Brand shoppes will be placed in the premium segment and the target audience will patch up buyers interested in premium and high end products. LG Brand Shoppe goes beyond the pattern of a normal exclusive store by having a more interactional environment and additional lifestyle orientation on display so that the customer can actually experience the LG products in his or her own home settings.LG Electronics India Ltd (LGEIL), consumer durables leader with 27% market share, is prep a brand new image. To run inspirational and young consumers across India, company will roll out a new market strategy. The elaborate will cost the company Rs 360 crore. LG Electronics India is the fleet growing company in the consumer electronics, home appliances, and dat a processor peripherals industry today. LG Electronics is continually providing, superior engine room products & value for money to more than 50 lakh households in India. LGEIL is celebrating the 11th anniversary this year.LG wacky India the innovation wing of LG Electronics in Bangalore is LG Electronics largest R centre outside Korea. We at LGSI charge on niche engine room areas such as mobile application development, digital video broadcast and biostatistics software and support LG Electronics with our expertise. Motivated by a passion for technology, a muscular work culture and loyalty to the organization, we are determined to see LG become one of the top three brands globally. Prominent consumer electronic company, LG Electronics Inc. has said that it expects the sale of its products in India to up by 15 per cent in 2008.Moon Bum contend, managing director of LG Electronics India has said that the company has earmarked 4. 8 cardinal rupees for investment figure in Ind ia this year. The said money will be used to market as well as manufacture new products. LG Electronics, which is originally a South Korean Company with branch in India, cognizant that its gross revenue of GSM mobile phones, color idiot boxs, air conditioners and other household goods in the Indian market was to the tune of 95 billion rupees ($2. 4 billion) in 2007. As per Shins estimate, the sales in 2008 would be around cx billion rupees.In order to achieve its target, Shin said LG Electronics will concentrate on catering to the high-end consumer market which will help boost sales this year. India churns out six (6) per cent of LG Electronics global revenues of $42 billion. The Indian branch of LG exports to 40 countries. India challenges The challenges faced by LG when entered in Indian market 1. Low brand awareness about LG in India. 2. One of the last MNCs entered in India (Samsung, Panasonic entered in 1995 in India). 3. High import calling 4. Compitition from local marke t players and other MNCs in consumer durable segment. 5. Price sensitiveness of the Indian consumerLGEI over comes these challenges to emerge as progressive marketing strategy- 1. Launch new technologies in consumer electronic and home appliances. 2. LG was the first brand to enter in play in big way a way, by sponsoring the 1999 world cup followed it up in 2003 as well. 3. LG brought in four captains of the Indian cricket team to bear its products. LG invested more then US$ 8 meg on advertising and marketing in this sport. 4. LG has distinctiated its product using technology and health benefits. 5. CTV has Golden eye technology Air conditioner has wellness air system and microwave ovens have the Health wave system.Local and efficient manufacturing to castrate the cost. To overcome high import duties LG manufactures TV refrigerator in India at manufacturing installation at Noida and Pune. LGEI had al put in commissioned turn out manufacturing at Mohali Kolkata and Bhopal for CTVs. This has helped LGEI to tighten cost. LGEI implementing the digital manufacturing system (DMS) as the cost cutting innovation this system is follow-up to the six sigma exercise LGEI had initiate earlier. R&D potence LG has the research and development facilities in Bangalore and Pune.Both the unit carry out R&D department for the domestic as well as the parent company it withal dose customize R&D for the specific countries to which it export product. Regional wrinkle and wide statistical distribution network 1. LG has pick out the regional distribution stock in India. All the distributers work directly with the company. This has resulted in quicker whirling of the stock and wear out penetration into B, C, D, class market. 2. LG as well follows the stock rotation policy rather then dumping stock on channel partners. 3. Product muddle- 1. Product fix is the key strategy used by the LG 2.LG came out with Hindi and regional terms menus on its TVs. 3. Introduced the lo w- belld Cineplus and sampooma for the rural market. 4. LG was the first brand to affirm gaming in TVs in continuations of its association with cricket LG introduce cricket game in CTVs major KEY SUCCESS FACTORS Innovative marketing LG was the first brand to enter cricket in a big way, by sponsoring the 1999 World Cup and followed it up in 2003 as well. 1. Local and efficient manufacturing to reduce cost To overcome high import duties, LG manufactures PC monitors and refrigerators in India at its manufacturing celerity at Noida, Delhi. . Commissioned contract manufacturing at Mohali, Kolkata and Bhopal for CTVs. 3. Product localization Product localization is a key strategy used by LG. It came out with Hindi and regional language menus on its TV. 4. Regional distribution model This has resulted in quicker rotation of stocks and better penetration into the B, C and D class markets. 5. Leveraging Indias IT usefulness LG Electronics has awarded a contract to develop IT solutio ns to LG Soft India (LGSI). The project involves development and support for ERP, SCM, CRM and IT-enabled services for LG.Strategies adopted by the organization LG follows 10 commandments which are as follows. 1. Foster full treatment environment-5S Environment 2. Fast execution is key to success 3. Transparent and fast communication-open communication 4. Update market -kat onceledge Demographics 5. promote Win relationship with the trade partners 6. Customer is the king 7. Even Billing Road to ach provider A 8. Be in gibe with the market (70% Market, 30% rack upice). 9. Plan and carry out annual marketing Calendar- cadence to market 10. Display share of 50% -to get 50% consumer share.AIRCONDITIONERS FROM LG INVERTER pic ART COOL Technology that delivers critical cooling or heating ply as per your choice. Where art meets intelligence It works faster and saves energy while ensuring similar temperature. . Fine art is no lasting confined to museums. Grace your interio rs with the finest in technology and choicest of paintings.Decorate pic your rooms with your mood and sense of style pic pic FLOOR STANDING MULTI SPLIT Air Throw that reaches every corner. Time to move on to cooling two rooms with a single outdoor unit. move the advantage of mobility and the purest of air. I muss for homes and small offices and most effective in saving power. The compelling motor can give a reach upto 21 ft too. pic pic naughty AND COLD AC SPLIT AC Optimum indoor weather management 365 days a year. Presenting the wide rove of Star Rated Split Air Conditioner which not hardly save power but alike provide faster cooling, window AC pic Presenting the wide range of Star Rated Window Air Conditioner which not yet save power but alike provide faster cooling pic COMPANY PROFILE OF VIDEOCON Videocon is an industrial conglomerate with interests all over the world and tail endd in India. The group has 1 7 manufacturing sites in India and specifys in chinaware, Poland, Italy and Mexico. It is similarly the third largest television electron tube manufacturer in the world. Corporate visibility The Videocon group has an annual turnover of US$ 4. 1 billion, making it one of the largest consumer electronic and home appliance companies in India.Since 1998, it has expand its operations globally, especially in the nub East. Today the group operates through three key sectors Consumer electronics In India the group carrys consumer products like food coloring Televisions, Washing Machines, Air Conditioners, Refrigerators, Microwave ovens and many other home appliances, merchandising them through a Multi-Brand strategy with the largest sales and service network in India. Videocon Group brands include Sansui, Toshiba, Electrolux, Kenstar, Next etc. Colour picture tube glass Videocon is one of the largest CPT Glass manufacturers in the world, operating in Mexico, Italy, Poland and China. Oil and GasAn important asset for the group is its Ravva oil field with one of the last-place operating costs in the world producing 50,000 barrels of oil per day. Acquisition of Thomson SA Videocon through its Wholly Owned Offshore auxiliary acquired the Color Picture Tube (CPT) businesses from Thomson S. A having manufacturing facilities in Poland, Italy, Mexico and China along with support research and development facilities. Videocon in its followers of mission to become a global major in consumer electronics and home appliances with large home plate and low cost base for critical components, make its first memorial in acquiring global sized color picture tube manufacturing facilities across the world from Thomson SA.It had already formulated a 2010 road map which outlines the groups strategy of beingness one among the top five in both branded consumer electronics and contract manufacturing in the world by 2010. Acquisition rationale The acquisition came at a eon when Thom son was facing a fall in demand in developed markets for television with CPTs and was moving more towards Flat- class and Plasma Television. However, Videocon maxim an opportunity in the emerging countries for CPTs and and so pursued with the acquisition. Besides, the acquisition gave Videocon, the access to advance technology giving the company control over an R facility in Agnani, Italy. The major reasons behind this acquisition were- cost cuttingVideocon was better positioned to shift the activities to low-cost locations and also it could integrate the operations with the glass plug-in facility in India with the CPT manufacturing facilities acquired from Thomson S. A Videocon treasured to leverage its position in the existing parts of the business and this acquisition would give it a strong negotiation position and could reduce impact of glass price volatility. Videocon could also reduce the costs by upgrading and improving the existing issue lines. upright Integration The acquisition helped Videocon in vertically integrating its existing glass-shell business where it had been enjoying considerably high margins. Videocons glass office had the largest glass shell plant in a single location.This gave the company an nonpareil advantage in terms of economies of scale and a leadership position in the glass shell industry. The acquisition also gave Videocon a ready-market for its glass business and it was part of Videocons long-term strategy to have a global vertically-integrated manufacturing facility. Rationalization of Product Profile Videocon modified its product visibleness to cater to the changing market inevitably like moving away from very large size picture tubes to smaller ones. 6 Apart from the overall strategy Videocon also had a plan on the technological front. It valued to improve the setup for the production line and line speed post-merger.Its focus was to increase sales while cut the costs and thereby improving the productivity of t he existing line. The company also wanted to foray in a big way into liquid crystal display panels back-end assembly On the sales front the company wanted to leverage on the existing clients of Thomson and build relation as a prefer supplier to maximise sales. Also, Videocon could benefit from OEM CTV business with the help of Videocons CTV division, invest for new models and introduction of new technologies. Thomsons aspect In 2004 Thomson planned entry into the high-growth digital media and technology business. Also, Thomson wanted to exit consumer and electronics businesses as they were incurring significant losses.After sale of its TV business to Chinese group TCL, and Tubes to Videocon, Thomson divested from the strait/video accessories business which was the last unit of its consumer electronics business. The need to divest are sooner evident from the losses that it incurred in these businesses curiously that the unit that it sold off to Videocon, the optic Modules activ ity, and the Audio/Video & Accessories businesses which totalled around 749 meg for 2005. Moreover Thomson had done some acquisitions that were in line with boosting their revenues in the following years. other Competitors for the Acquisition When Videocon entered the race for the colour picture tubes manufacturing capacity of Thomson SA in November 2004, there were 16 other bidders.Videocon stood slim chances given the fact that it had to battle it out with players like LG,Philips, Samsung and Matsushita, Daewoo and some(prenominal) Chinese manufacturers but finally managed to close the deal. The deal catapulted Videocon into the No. 3 time slot in the global pecking order for CPTs. An semiofficial of Videocon said on the deal The word is out in the world that India and Indian companies are not just a good bet by themselves, but also a hedge a buildst China. Pre-merger negotiations The price that Thomson wanted for the deal was euro 240 million (Rs 1,248 Crore) and Videocon a gree to the same without much negotiations (Under the deal the debt proceed to be of Thomsons). A special pattern vehicle, Eagle Electronics was used to complete the acquisition. As a part of the acquisition, Thomson also hold to acquire 13. % stake in Videocon for 1250 Crore in which 10% was locked for the first three years. Thomson SA has divested the 3. 5% stake that was outside the lock-in clause to abroad institutional investors. For the remaining 10% Dhoots kept up(p) a right of first refusal(recently this 10% has been sold to the Dhoots). During the process of negotiations Videocon was less bear upon by the seat of government cost component. Dhoot believed that Thomson CPTs losses a travel out from high capital cost of its Mexican Plant could be reduced once the television market in India moved to bigger screen sizes and slims .Videocon could import those from its global factories and hence cut on the losses of Thomson. Pre-merger scenario analysisCPT industry is mov ed(p) by many matched factors such as change in the consumer preferences ,the product offer strategy of retailers, the progress made by alternative technology manufacturers ,capacity tolerance facility of competitors etc. Based on all of these factors there were two scenarios that emerged from the 2005 budget of Videocon. The first scenario is a conservative one. It in the first place assumes Price pressures similar to those in the past(-8 to -12%),capacity step-down over a period of two years, a gradual shift to newer technologies like True Flat and good join of growth for liquid crystal display makers. pic The assist scenario is a more aggressive one in term of trends predicted.It assumes that the switch to TrueFlat would be faster, more overcapacity, more competition from liquid crystal display manufacturers and rising price strategy pressures in general. The secondly scenario obviously requires an industrial strategy which is more adapted to the environment. However even if the second scenario arises,Videocon believes there is an opportunity in the cathode-ray tube business. Though it is very obvious that in the developed markets of the western world the demand is shifting towards the flat panel side(FPD it is anticipate to contribute 70% of TV market in these regions),in the emerging markets like BRIC cathode-ray tube still holds fort. CRT holds a overriding 70% share in these markets.When translated into number of units the demand is more than 100 million units. As Videocon is primarily based in these countries, it hopes to harness the value of the Thomson acquisition in the coming years. Post merger diaphragm (2010) Videocon has not been able to turn the plant around in Italy still. However it is get support from the local government(which want to counteract job cuts) in form of grants. The government is in fact trying to set up a Greenfield venture in form of a liquid crystal display manufacturing facility in partnership with Videocon. The swans are also supporting Videocon and with help from all these canton Videocon expects to turn around the plant in Italy.The Thomson plant has not turned around in Mexixo as well and in fact production has been reduced over there. In Poland,the emplacement is more vivid and Videocon hopes that plant over there will get in black in the very near future. However the amazement has been in the Chinese market . in spite of of facing a highly competitive market Videocon has managed to turn a plant around while the other is on its way. In China Videocon is adopting a different strategy for manufacturing CTVs as the local players dominate the market . It plans to supply these players by winning advantage of low-cost nature of mainland(the number targeted by it about 6 million CPTs).Role of local government in the acquired units The liquid crystal display television segment is one of the fastest in terms of growth rate in Italy. The compounded growth rate is projected to be around 7 0% in the next few years. Videocon in partnership with the local government is issue for a Greenfield venture in this segment. The Italian central government is giving a euro 180 million grant whereas the regional authorities are giving a 40 million grant. Videocon would itself pitch in with about euro 300 million whereas bank loans would provide a further 700 million. In the Thomson plant located in China the local Chinese Government is the minority shareholder.When Videocon acquired Thomsons CPT business, it also gained control of Thomsons Mexican plants. However Videocon Industries has a view that it would expand in the country only if the government gives it enough incentives. Videocon is demanding a 25-30% coin benefits from the authorities who are currently ready to give only about 20%. Thomsons exit from Videocon Thomson is looking to sell out its stake in Videocon (a 10 percent stake via GDRs) and in most likelihood it would be bought by Videocon itself. Thomson would be exiting at a loss as it had acquired the stake at around Rs four hundred per share (approximately equal to $10 per share). The deal is expected to happen at current market prices.Videocons GDR is currently traded at around $5. 06 on the Luxembourg investment company Exchange. On the Bombay stock exchange its transaction around Rs 150 against the 52 workweek high of Rs 868 in Jan 2008. Another point to be noted is that this wont attract the market regulators creeping acquisition norm which comes into force once they acquire more than 5% stake,as the deal would be an overseas one. realizable purchase of General Electrics Appliance division On May 23, 2008, Videocon announced that it is study an invitation from General Electric (GE) to bid for its century-old appliances division, which it has put up for sale. pic PRODUCTS OF VIDEOCON pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic pic Split AC pic VS 2C-5233I / VS C-7033B INTEGRA 1. 5/2. net ton 2 Star Power deliver Ioniser Turbo fixity peace elan On/Off timepiece self-importance Diagnosis Hydrophilic applications programme Evaporator LCD Remote 4 demeanor Air Circulation bargain now & get arouse Offers. pic postulation To quotation pic pic VS 3C-2644/ VS 3C-3544 INTEGRA 0. 8/1. short ton 3 Star Power Saving Deodorising get through Turbo Speed sopor direction On/Off Timer self-importance Diagnosis Hydrophilic polish Evaporator & condenser railway car Restart 4 Way Air Circulation Buy now & get Exciting Offers. pic Request To quotation mark pic pic VS 3R-3544/ VS R-5233 knock down 1. 0/1. 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According to Redman & Mory research is a systematized effort to gain new knowledge. Objectives of research To gain familiarity with the phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it. * To award accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group. To determine the relative frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else.To test a venture of a casual relationship between variables. Type of Research Descriptive Research It includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The major think of descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over th