Economics of Risk and Problems Essay

Please, complete the following two applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. Problem II Volkswagen is considering opening an Assembly Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the production of its 2012 Passat, tailored for the US market. The CEO of the company is considering two potential options for the size of the plant: one is a large size with a projected annual production of 150,000 cars, and the other one is a smaller size plant, which is cheaper to build, but can only produce up to 80,000 cars per year. Depending on the expected level of demand for these cars in the US, Volkswagen has to decide which option is more profitable. The discount rate is 6% and for simplicity purposes, the CEO is only evaluating a two-year horizon. The initial factory setup cost, the expected demand scenarios, profit, and probabilities are shows in the below table. Calculate the Net Present Value in each of the two options. Which option should the CEO choose and why? Please, show all your calculations. Business – General Business Economics of Risk and Uncertainty Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. 1. A generous university benefactor has agreed to donate a large amount of money for student scholarships. The money can be provided in one lump-sum of $10mln, or in parts, where $5.5mln can be provided in year 1, and another $5.5mln can be provided in year 2. Assuming the opportunity inte†¦ Find needed answers here – https://bitly.com/1oJN1Cd Select difficult classes that will stimulate your interest instead of conventionally easy classes. Challenge yourself and you will reap the rewards. You’ll be able to learn a lot more and this can help you create a network of people that can assist you later on when you’re seeking out a career. Business – General Business Economics of Risk and Uncertainty Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. 1. A generous university benefactor has agreed to donate a large amount of money for student scholarships. The money can be provided in one lump-sum of $10mln, or in parts, where $5.5mln can be provided in year 1, and another $5.5mln can be provided in year 2. Assuming the opportunity interest rate is 6%, what is the present value of the second alternative? Which of the two alternatives should be chosen and why? How would your decision change if the opportunity interest rate was 12%? Please, show all your calculations. 2. Volkswagen is considering opening an Assembly Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the production of its 2012 Passat, tailored for the US market. The CEO of the company is considering two potential options for the size of the plant: one is a large size with a projected annual production of 150,000 cars, and the other one is a smaller size plant, which is cheaper to build, but can only produce up to 80,000 cars per year. Depending on the expected level of demand for these cars in the US, Volkswagen has to decide which option is more profitable. The discount rate is 6% and for simplicity purposes, the CEO is only evaluating a two-year horizon. The initial factory setup cost, the expected demand scenarios, profit, and probabilities are shows in the below table. Calculate the Net Present Value in each of the two  options. Which option should the CEO choose and why? Please, show all your calculations. 3. An angel investor is considering investing in one of two start-up businesses and is evaluating the expected returns along with the risk of each option in order to choose the better alternative.

Cooper Industries Case

Managerial Policy| Cooper Industries Case | By: Aena Rizvi, Anum Rinch & Rafia Farooqui| | Introduction: In 1833, an iron foundry was founded by Charles and Elias Cooper in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Overtime, Cooper became the market leader in pipeline compression equipment. Cooper Industries was around 150 years old and was mostly involved in the manufacturing of engines and compressors to facilitate the flow of natural gas through pipelines. They began expanding it around 1960s and for that, more than 60 manufacturing companies were acquired in the following 30 years.This came to be known as the process of Cooperization and some re-known companies became a part of the Cooper banner to form a highly successful and profitable business. Timeline of Important events for Cooper: Year| Event| 1833| Charles and Elias Cooper founded an iron foundry in Mount Vernon, Ohio| 1900| Switching to the production of natural gas compressors| 1920| Cooper became the leader in pipeline compression equipment | 1957| Gene Miller was elected as the president| 958| Cooper suffered a cyclical downturn and a corporate raider acquired enough shares to elect two board members| 1961| Miller recruited Robert Cizik as chief assistant for corporate development from Standard Oil| 1965| The company formally adopted the name ‘Cooper Industries’| 1967| Headquarters were moved to Houston| | Diversification began and Cooper acquired Lufkin Rule Company| | Bill Rector was appointed as Corporate Vice President and given capital to develop the Tool Group| 1968| Cooper acquired Crescent Niagara| 969| Cizik became Chief Operating Officer| 1970| Cooper acquired Weller Manufacturing Corporation| | Tool Group set up its headquarters in Apex, North Carolina| | C. Baker Cunningham joined the corporate planning department at Cooper| | Cooper purchased Dallas Air Motive| 1970-1988| Cooper Divested 33 businesses| 1971| Cunningham joined the Tool Group as director finance and introduced a new computer sy stem to manage inventories, sales, shipping and billing for all tool products | 1972| Cooper acquired Nicholson Company| 974| Cooper’s acquisitions had relocated their manufacturing operations to new plants mostly in the South | 1975| Robert Cizik became CEO and formed Corporate Level Manufacturing Services Group| 1976| Cooper purchased Superior, maker of engines and natural gas compressors| 1979| Cooper purchased Gardner-Denver| 1981| Crouse-Hinds was acquired| | Cooper acquired Kirsch| | Cooper sold off its Airmotive Division| | Compression, Drilling and Energy Equipment generated 50% revenues and 60% operating profits| 1984| Purchasing council was established| 1985| Cooper acquired McGraw Edison | 987| Cooper expanded its industrial compressor business by purchasing Joy’s air and turbo compressor business for $140 million| 1988| Cooper was a broadly diversified manufacturer of electrical and general industrial products, and energy-related machinery and equipment| | Electrical and Electronic (E&E) became Cooper’s largest segment, generated 50% corporate sales and 57% operating profits | | Acquisitions in the Tool Group were consolidated and new manufacturing facilities were constructed| | Compression Drilling and Energy Equipment accounted for 21% sales and less than 10% of operating profit|Vision, Mission and Corporate Strategy: Cooper’s success lied in making high quality products that become important input for other products such as turbine compressors. They wanted to be a company with a steady stream of income which is why they always went after ventures that were profitable. They made sure they had no cash flow of liquidity issues just to ensure this. Moreover, they were more interested in being an owning company rather than just a holding company.To make sure of this they made their acquired companies adapt to their benefit plans etc so that the whole organization on a whole is consistent in policy making. They even made su re that they were deeply involved in all the acquisitions they made so that they do not end up making mistakes by acquiring a wrong company. Cooper’s President, Gene Miller’s ideology was to not restrict operations to the production of engines only. This was reflected in the business decisions when Cooper began to diversify and widen its product ranges.Cooper’s acquisition strategies were well planned and they were not left to the professional managers on the grounds that they could do justice to any product categories or manufacturing processes. Great importance was given on understanding the culture and customs of the areas in which Cooper operated and diversification only took place when the prospects looked profitable. There was a limit to diversification and special attention was paid to the timing of acquisitions. Most of the companies that Cooper aimed at acquiring were market leaders who maintained records of high quality manufacturing.Cooper’s jo urney was not about acquisitions and additions only. After a business had served its useful purpose, it was divested because clinging to the past would only reduce chances of future success. Between 1970 and 1988, Cooper divested 33 businesses. Cooper also ventured into the aircraft service business by purchasing Dallas Airmotive which was mainly involved in the repair and lease of jet engines as well as the distribution of aircraft parts and supplies. After this, Cooper turned to its Energy Division and concentrated all its efforts there.Energy Divisions’ rising profits made up for the falling sales of hand tools. Cooper’s biggest merger was the purchase of Gardner-Denver, which was equal in size to Cooper and manufactured machinery for petroleum exploration, mining and general construction. One advantage of this merger was that Cooper’s needs of exploration; production, transmission, distribution and storage for oil and natural gas were met. However there were some problems with Gardner-Denver too as it was a company that lacked planning and control and its sales force was not motivated enough to steer the company in the ight direction. Unlike Cooper, the management style at Gardner-Denver was too centralized. Cooper had to change all these things subsequently in order to align Gardner-Denver with the values and business practices of Cooper industries. By late 1970’s Cooper came up with the ‘acquisition by necessity’ idea when it was acquiring Colorado Fuel & Iron (CF&I) which mainly took place because CF&I has stopped producing 1095 Steel and it was really expensive for Cooper to buy it from another German company.Crouse-Hinds was another crucial acquisition in the history of Cooper and in the words of Mr. Cizik, this was a ‘true diversification’ as compared to that of Gardner-Denver which was more of a complimentary nature. However the Crouse-Hinds acquisition was criticized on the grounds that it reduc ed Cooper’s exposure to the booming oil and gas industry. Cooper built a reputation in the electrical industry such that it came under the ambit of one of the best-managed companies. Some of Cooper’s acquisitions looked decisive such as the purchase of Kirsch (world’s largest manufacturer of drapery hardware).But actually they were not based on impulse and such opportunities are normally short-lived. Had Cooper not taken advantage of such opportunities then some other company would have. Cooper had a very flexible management style unlike other companies and it consolidated most of its acquisitions in order to maintain uniformity. Manufacturing Services Group made Cooper a quality conscious company that had state of the art Management Information Systems. It used benchmarking and cross-referencing to improve the production methods.Manufacturing Services Group also initiated training of engineering school graduates and this equipped the employees at Cooper with th e necessary skills. Cooper followed the Hay system for salaries and people with the same ranks throughout the organization had similar salaries. These salaries were at par with the industry average. EVP’s at Cooper had a management-by-exception philosophy and they only interfered in the management of a division if its performance suffered or when the division violated the boundaries set by the strategic planning process.Cooper believed that ‘cash-flow is king’ because a strong cash flow position enables Cooper to pursue acquisitions. SWOT Analysis Strengths| Weaknesses| * Highly diversified hence lower risk * Acquisition of market leaders was done based on research and not on impulse. * It had a flexible management style * Understood the cultures and customs of the areas in which it operated * Divested businesses that served their useful purpose * Focus on profitability led to the success of the firm * Due to numerous acquisitions, $1. 8 billion of Cooper’ s $1. 77 billion stockholder’s equity was goodwill| * ‘Lean and mean’ cost structure due to which many RTE senior managers left within a year after acquisition * Cooper exercised centralized control over corporate policy * Cooper retained too much control with itself which is evident in its control on working capital * Too much focus on profitability| Opportunities| Threats| * Manufacturing Services Group will make Cooper a leader in manufacturing functions. Due to Management Development and Planning, Cooper has a very rich organizational culture and hence more successful market leaders would be willing to merge with Cooper in the future. | * Downturns in industries such as electrical industry can make Cooper resort to cost cutting and layoffs rigidly. * After a merger or acquisition Cooper requires the new company to adopt its benefits package for medical insurance and pensions which leads to dissatisfaction and may make Cooper known as a conservative company|Co nclusion: Cooper remained a market leader in pipeline compressors and engines. It has always focused on being identified as a quality company and pursued only those companies for acquisitions and mergers that were market leaders, had strong core competencies and were successful in their respective industries. It had an eye for rewarding opportunities and took full advantage of them when came across one of these.

Organizational Communication in Crisis of Diet Pepsi Syringe Scare

INTRODUCTION In the 1993 incident of syringes were found in the Diet Pepsi cans, it is clearly showed that the company had demonstrated an effective halting from the company’s openness with the media. While dealing and handling with the crisis, the PR team of Pepsi focused on both their internal and external publics. It is important for an organization to have a strong internal communication as these internal publics helps to convince the external publics of the organization.The internal publics of Pepsi were consists of the employees of Pepsi like executives, managers, stakeholders, and anyone that has a say in the production of Pepsi’s products whereas the external publics consists of the whole American population, competitors, FDA and the media. Communications among the internal publics were strong among them and the company directed an immediate disclosure of all facts (Anton, 2011). Internal communications is important in an organization as it helps to build bridge s among the employers and employees.Besides it can also help them to deal better with their external public in whatever they are doing regardless of solving crisis or as a tool of communication with its public. Pepsi then targeted the external public differently and chose to focus on television as its media vehicle. Besides, they also took a firm stand and said no to product recall. Alpac Bottling Company, the local canning and distributor of Diet Pepsi was one of the external publics that were involved with the crisis and Pepsi let the company to explain to the media that product tampering was merely impossible.Publics do not believe that the case is over and then a documentation video was released. Pepsi invited media to the production plant and film the process. This video then shows the process of the sodas and that the product was virtually tamper resistant. Other techniques used by the PR of Pepsi include 24 hours hotlines for consumers query and complaints, assigning a specia list to work with the FDA and the legal department were also involved during the communications process (Pepsi case, n. d. ).Videotapes were then sent out as well as memos and the surveillance footage that reaffirmed the Pepsi‘s innocence. As the hoax of the syringe scare goes on, a third video news release was aired by Mr. Weatherup that shows a surveillance camera from a convince store showing a lady purchased the product, opened it and then placed a syringe without anyone noticing. Commissioner Kessler from FDA then help a press release on June 17, 1993 notifying the public that the allegations scare of syringe was false (Yaxaira, 2011).Throughout the crisis, it is clearly showed that communications between Pepsi and both its internal and external publics was very effective as the PR department disclosed all information to everyone as it is needed. They also convinced the external publics that on the proceedings of their investigation on a daily basis to ensure the public t hat the problem is under control. In this case study of Pepsi Syringe scare, the communication flow of the organization can be related with Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid of the human resources approach.In this approach, it maps out different leadership styles compared to other approaches as this model concerns about both people and production. There are five prototypical management styles subbed under this model which are impoverished management, country club management, authority-compliances, team-management and middle-of-the-road management. All these five management styles have to be balance in concerning about people and production.Concern for people in this model simply relates to the degree where a leader considers the needs of employees and team members before deciding on how to accomplish a task (Blake & Mouton, n. d. ). This concern can be seen when the PR team of Pepsi decides on its strategies, tools and techniques in communicating with both internal and e xternal public during the crisis period. The authorities also guide and brief their employees on how they should communicate effectively with the public and customers.Besides, the PR team of Pepsi also assigned a specialist to work with the FDA and to keep the employees on track that what is happening throughout the period and ensure the public that the problem is under control. Concerns for production, defined to the degree which a leader emphasizes production effectiveness and efficiency when deciding how to best accomplish tasks (Blake & Mouton, n. d. ). This concern can be seen when Pepsi emphasize on the effectiveness and efficiency of their production of the product.The authorities even invited media to film the production plant and produce a documentary video news release to ensure the external public that product tampering is virtually impossible in the production. Finally a surveillance video of a convince store proved that Pepsi is free from allegations. Both of the co ncerns in the model can conclude that team-based communication direction is effective in handling such situation. The communication in the organization on handling with the crisis of Syringe found in Diet Pepsi Cans in 1993 was effective in the internal public but was not that efficient towards the external publics.The president of the organization along the management team explaining and updating the employees on everything that is happening and by ensuring to the employees that the corporate office does not think that the tampering is the happening at the plants and by confiding and trusting in the employees abilities increased the employee’s morale at a critical time during the crisis. Employees were treated with the highest consideration. Advisories were sent to bottlers and managers at least once daily but often several times per day to update the situation. This information was to be shared with employees and customers.These actions not only displayed willingness to coo perate but also efforts by the company to give the public any and all information it needed at different stages of the crisis progression. The 1993 crisis of hypodermic syringes reported in Diet Pepsi had effective communication results stemming from the company’s openness with the media. In addition, other technique used by the crisis management team was included 24 hours hotlines for consumers query and complaints, assigning a specialist to work with the FDA and the legal department were also involved during the communications process (Pepsi case, n. . ) (Fearn-Banks, 1996). The communication effectiveness of the company was a success as the crisis lasted for nine days with the crisis communication team working 15-20 hours a day. The team’s efforts resulted in positive media coverage during and after the crisis, which in turn reflected positively for the companies involved. Furthermore, Pepsi distributed instructing information, helping the public to react to the sit uation, making it an excellent example of how to handle a crisis. ( Strurges, n. d. ).The poor communication with the external public can see from the action they did to the public after the incident happened. The first complaint regarding syringe was announced on 10th June 1993 but the company did not took any action to that. Pepsi-Cola Co. said that they could not just tell the public about the incident without having substantial amount of evidence to enforce their claim. Pepsi invited media to capture the canning process then the public relation department demonstrating the bottling procedure.The crisis management team then releases the video news release (VNR) through the media such as television to reach the public eye after a total of 55 complaints about the case in a week. The video shows that is impossible to interfere with the process of the product, the speed of the equipment, and the safety precautions to produce the product. The management team should show the public wit h this video once they receive the first complaint and not to deny that it is not possible to have a syringe in the can. This is to ensure that they can still gain trustworthy from their customers.The vice president of product safety, Jim Stanley said that â€Å"Because you don’t have a lot of time to gather the facts, you’d better take advantage of the first few hours that you do have. If you waste those early hours in trying to deliberate on what you should do, you are going to miss an opportunity to solve a lot of issues that you could best solve immediately†. In this case, the company had applied the Likert’s System IV where decision-making is performed by every organizational member and goals are set by complete work groups (Rensis Likert, 1967).It can see from the unity of the Pepsi-Cola Co. employees’ work together to overcome or helps to solve the crisis in a short period of time. The crisis communication team works 15-20 hours a day in ord er to manage and try to work out the solution. Besides, the Likert’s System IV also emphasize on control of the organization in every level where the Pepsi-Cola Co. practices it during the crisis. The crisis management team had meeting with the internal publics on the ways to communicate with the external public or the way to answer media questions.The way that internal publics answer questions from the external public is very important because they are representing the company to voice out the answer. According to most of the report from the publics including medias, the Pepsi-Cola Co. had handled the crisis effectively and able to rebound and increased its sales after the crisis. However, the organization could handle the crisis more effectively and better. With a better and effective internal and external communication, it will help to reduce the damages strike to their company.Pepsi-Cola Co had showed a video regarding of the canning process and let the public understand how hard it would be to get an object into one of their cans. The company also showed a video of a woman trying to stick a syringe in a Pepsi can at a supermarket. However, they did not release the video on the spot. Public do not believe it although the company state that there were no way to insert the syringe in the bottling process at the plant. This become serious when there were 50 cases reported the following week. This proved their communication to the external public was not effective enough to convince the public when the crisis occurred.They should release the video once the crisis happened and not release after they found out the case become nationally. If they could release the video instantly once they found out they were innocent, the public no matter from internal or external will tend to believe it was a product tampering cases. They external public (consumer) will not under panic attack (worried about the syringe might bring AIDS or hepatitis which it usually relat ed to it) and the media will report the incident and make a clear statement which the product is safe to drink to the audiences.The surveillance camera which caught the women trying to put a syringe into the Pepsi can when the worker turn around sound more solid and easier to gain public convincing than the video which shot about the canning process. The organization can handle the situation differently in the other way was the CEO of the company should stepped out as the spoke person once the first two cases occurred. At first case occurred, the CEO and president of the Pepsi-Cola Co. was not the spokeperson who accepted the interviewed by the reporter.The first spokeperson was the Alpac Bottling Company CEO. As Alpac should be responsible of the incident, due to the external public only knew little about Alpac, they will only pointed their finger to Pepsi-Cola Co. because they were the imminent owner of the bottling company. Therefore, to decrease the damages brought by the crisis , the Pepsi-Cola Co. CEO should appeared in the first place to clarify the crisis and try to gain back public trust. The words from the company’s CEO will be more credible, powerful and convincing.The external communication (consumer, media, government, etc) is important to the company as the internal communication (employee, employers and managers) will also play a crucial role in the organization. For the external communication to the publics who involved, they will tend to believe the words from the leader who was ultimately responsible than a public relations practitioner. The media can get a clear statements, answers or announcements from the CEO directly. As for the internal communication, the CEO who involved themselves into the crisis will gain more trustworthy and support from the employees or subordinates.Different company practices different approach and theory. As for the Pepsi-Cola Co. , it practiced human resources approach during the crisis. The human resources approach was widely adopted by organizations in the 1960s. This participative, team approach to management-employee relations recognized that employees can contribute both physical and mental labor (Berger, 2008). Human resource approach acknowledges contribution of classical and, especially, human relations approaches to organizing (Miller, 2009).According to the human resources theorist, individual labor is an important ingredient to reach organization goal but also must consider individual feelings in the organization. Therefore, human resource approach is the mix of classical approach and human relations approach which emphasize on both meeting organization goal and individual feelings. In human resource approach, communication became multidirectional and more interactive compare to the other two approaches. Feedback was sought to enhance problem solving and stimulate idea sharing and innovation content was added to social and task information in communications (Berger, 2008).C oncepts of employee trust and commitment emerged as important issues, and organizations began to share communication decision-making among employees (Berger, 2008). There are two theories categories in this approach which are Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid that concentrates on how a manager can combine values of the human relations school and the classical school into a leadership style and Likert’s system IV that specify the details of the organizational form that will incorporate the ideals of the human resources movement (Miller, 2006).In the crisis of syringe found in Diet Pepsi cans in 1993, the Pepsi-Cola Co. is using the human resource approach in their organizational communication. During the crisis time, they not only work to solve the crisis but they also treated the employees with utmost consideration. The public relations department contacted the management department on how to communicate with the employees regarding the crisis situation and how to ans wer questions from the public and the employees (Yaxiara, 2008).All 400 field locations were aware at all times of what was going on in the company, what information is being reported, how the government was handling this matter, and how the company is responding to this matter (Yaxiara, 2008). They updating the employees regarding the situation by sending advisories to bottler and manager several time a day. When there is any update from the investigation, the president was also contacting the management department to share the latest information.This show that the company was concerning on employees feelings, therefore had explaining and updating the employees on everything that is happening and by ensuring to the employees that the corporate office does not think that the tampering is happening at the plants and by confiding and trusting in the employees abilities increased the employee’s morale at a critical time during the crisis (Yaxiara, 2008). Besides, they giving all information and teach the employees to respond is to control the information that shared with the external public and able to meet the company goal which is solving the company crisis.The communication of the organization toward external public is also applying the human resources approaches. The company public relations department convinced the external public of the investigation proceeding on a daily basis to ensure to the public that the problem is under control (Yaxiara, 2008) in order to calm the public feeling and control the external situation. We cannot deny that management must exercise control for organizations to succeed. Based on the crisis that faced by Pepsi during the year 1993, we can see that the internal publics were well-handled. The Pepsi-Cola Co. did a very good job with keeping employees up to date with new information about the crisis they faced. This consequently gave faith to the internal publics. The Pepsi CEO also fully utilised his power towards the ext ernal public. During the crisis, Pepsi CEO appeared on every major network to share the message that defect was practically impossible in their products. A  management  function  aimed at achieving defined  goals and usually have three  components which included taking  corrective action, setting standards and measuring actual  performance.The contribution of power is very important in order to exercise control towards management. The power of ideology and hegemony made the employees in the Pepsi-Cola Co. to think that the organization hierarchy is needed to be practiced by the company. The Pepsi-Cola Co. created an ideology to the internal publics that the crisis can never related to the company and keep the employees up to date. The public relations department got in touch with the management department on how to communicate with the employees about the crisis situation.There are also discussion on the way to answer questions from the employees and the public. All 40 0 field locations were aware at all times of what was going on in the company, what information is being reported, how the government was handling this matter, and how the company is responding to this matter. Internally, Pepsi prevented organizational disorder by updating employees with daily advisories to over 400 facilities nationwide. By doing this, the frame of an idea will be built in the internal publics’ mind. This ideology made the internal publics tend to trust the company.In order to convince the external public, the internal public must have faith in the company too. The leader applied the legitimate power in the communication process within the internal public. The crisis management team which leaded by Craig Weatherup, the president and CEO of Pepsi was in charge of the education of the senior management regarding how to answer the questions from the employees and public. The employees were educated by the senior management regarding how to answer the questions from the public. This shows that the company are practicing legitimate power which is the power was emerged from positions and titles.The people on the higher hierarchy have the right to control the lower level. However, the communication can be in formal and informal way. It also can be written and spoken and including all the channels. However, the legitimate power wasn’t excluded. From here, we can see that the Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid of the human resources approach was applied in the internal communication of Pepsi-Cola Co. This approach assumes that leaders will be most effective when it concerns both concern for people and concern for production.The way that Pepsi-Cola Co passed their messages was practicing classical approach which is based on the hierarchy level. The legitimate powers of the leaders successfully control the management and formed an effective communication. On the other hand, they pass the message by using both formal and informal way . This is basically practicing human relations approach. By combining these 2 approaches, Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid of the human resources approach was applied in order to control and the organization and way of communication.Pepsi successfully overcame the crisis by using different communication techniques and management power to show the internal publics and external publics that this scare was not possible. The internal publics were considered as successful in working together. The company guaranteed the external publics that there company does not experience any problems in manufacturing their products. It is now one of the biggest manufacturers in the world. Pepsi is connected with 200 countries and profits of the organization continue to rise per annum. This incident has not been discussed for years.Pepsi-Cola Co. will stay successful if they use the right communication way when facing problems. References Anton. (2011, May 8). Effective communication case stud y analysis: case 9-1 Pepsi Syringe. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://essays24. com/print/Effective-Communication-Case-Study-Analysis/48875. html Berger, B. K. (2008, November 17). Employee/Organizational Communications. Retrieved November 5, 2011, from Institute for Public Relations website: http://www. instituteforpr. org/topics/ employee-organizational- communications/ Blake, R. , & Mouton, J. 2010, May 19). What is Blake & Mouton's managerial grid? Retrieved from http://www. businessmate. org/Article. php? ArtikelId=188 Crisis management/Pepsi syringe scare. (n. d. ). Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://iml. jou. ufl. edu/projects/Spring01/Morrison/Pepsi. html Pepsi case study. (n. d. ). Retrieved November 3, 2011, from http://www. personal. psu. edu/bms5263/Pepsi%20case%20study%20marketing%20310. docx Yaxaira. (2008, February 9). The Diet-Pepsi crisis. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://newsflavor. com/alternative/the-diet-pepsi-crisis/

Juveniles should be tried as adults when committing major felony Research Paper

Juveniles should be tried as adults when committing major felony crimes - Research Paper Example Trying juvenile delinquents as adults for major felony offenses is a response to this distinct category of juvenile offenses. As a sound solution, trying juveniles as adults is a process with legal basis. Moreover, the juvenile justice system is not equipped to handle cases of juvenile felony crimes. In addition, protocols and standards of practice in place ensure the proper handling of juvenile delinquency cases transferred to the criminal justice system by considering the distinct psychosocial characteristics of juveniles. Keywords: waiver, transfer, major felony crimes, juvenile delinquency, juvenile court, criminal court, psychosocial characteristics Juveniles Should Be Tried As Adults When Committing Major Felony Crimes Debate over trying juveniles as adults for committing major felony crimes persists. Those who oppose the treatment of juvenile felony offenders as adults assert the differences in the psychosocial characteristics of juveniles and adults as a justification for tre ating juvenile offenders distinctly from adults as well as the harshness of imposing penalties on juveniles similar to those imposed on adults. Proponents of treating juvenile felony offenders as adults cite the need to firmly address the alarming statistics on serious crimes committed by juveniles and the graveness of the violence involved in these crimes through legal protocols and standards. Both sides offer valid arguments. However, there are valid reasons that justified the enactment of laws and development of policies allowing for the treatment of juvenile felony offenders as adults. Violent crimes committed by juveniles made way for the wider adoption of processes allowing juvenile felony offenders to be tried as adults (Griffin et al., 2011). Moreover, protocols are also in place to ensure that the criminal justice system properly handles the cases of juvenile felony offenders (Nunez et al., 2007). Standards of practice also continuously evolve with developments in laws and jurisprudence that govern the process of transferring delinquency cases to the criminal courts (Keller, 2012). With these in mind, juveniles should be tried as adults when committing major felony crimes within a system of legal protocols and governing standards. Supporting the treatment of juvenile felony offenders as adults is not akin to saying that the system is the absolute solution to juvenile delinquency. Despite developments in recent years, the process of trying juvenile felony offenders as adults remains imperfect. However, it is a developing system. Future developments in legislation, jurisprudence and best practices are likely to enhance the role of this system in addressing juvenile delinquency. Juveniles should not be Tried as Adults Opposition to the practice of trying juveniles as adults when they commit major felony crimes revolve around the assertion that juveniles are different from adults so juveniles should not be adjudicated in the criminal justice system meant for adults. In a study, the psychological maturity of juveniles who just reached 18 was compared with that of adults aged 25 in terms of their assumption of responsibility and foresight of the consequence of their actions. The results showed that those who just reached

Measurement, Statistics, and Appraisal Assignment

Measurement, Statistics, and Appraisal - Assignment Example and Marko Margaritoni, a publication of 2010. The research looked at the mental, physical, and social challenges faced by women who have undergone mastectomy. Ideally the issue of breast cancer has been deemed to be a serious healthcare issue particularly to women. Over the years, cases of breast cancer have increased prompting studies aim at understanding the problem (Oluwatosin & Oladepo, 2006). In order to accomplish this task, a number of issues are critically examined including the purpose of the study, protection of human participants, data collection, data analysis, problem statement, and interpretation of findings. Purpose of study The researchers did an excellent job in introducing the study, giving relevant statistics and identifying gaps in research. According to them, little work concerning physical, emotional as well a other effects related to mastectomy has been done in relation to African women especially those living with limited resources, have little education among others. It is against this background that the researchers clearly presented the purpose of the research towards the end of their introduction. ... From the research, it is evident that the researchers managed to identify and describe the participants. They explained how they were recruited and how they obtained informed consent from the subject. More importantly, ethical clearance for the study was granted by Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital. Although it was indicated that participation was voluntarily, it can be deduced that the subjects took part in the study on their own volition since some of them declined to take part in the study and they were not victimized. The greatest benefit for participants in taking part in the study is related to medical advice they received from oncologist (Odigie, et al., 2010). It is worth noting that no risks were identified, however, there was the risk of participant undergoing psychological emotion when recalling their experiences after mastectomy. Nonetheless, this was not a serious issue compared to the benefits. Data collection All studies should clearly identify and describe bot h dependent and independent variables. In this case, the researcher listed a number of variables that were to be respondent to by participants (Burns & Grove, 2011). For instance, demographic data were collected, similarly, the following variables were identified â€Å"feeling of participants’ femininity, self-esteem, body image, the frequency of conjugal relations per week and the reasons for changes, frequencies of separation or divorce, the effect of treatment on sexual interest, ability to care for children, as well as updated marital status after 3 years† (Odigie, et al., 2010, p. 896). These variables were not fully described. The dependent variable according to the purpose of the study is psychological effect of

Praise the Humble Dung Beetle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Praise the Humble Dung Beetle - Essay Example The media as well as the law makers are biased towards these invertebrates although these creatures are of tremendous importance to the society. It is not the large animals that are feeding the majority of the population. It is these invertebrates that help in the stabilization of soil and help in providing people with majority of their diet. Furthermore they even help in the development of necessary drugs for serious illnesses. Such as the molecules that help in the development of a drug called compound taxol that helps in the treatment of breast cancer and they even help in developing a medicine for patients suffering from leukemia. Their existence is even essential to encourage scientists in developing new elements. For example they have encouraged engineers in developing methods that can help in the extraction of water from fog. These invertebrates are very necessary and the government needs to take measures such as providing them protection under Endangered Species

Company's economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Company's economics - Essay Example ntory 60000 Purchases 200000 Advertising Expenses 20000 Rent 7200 Telephone 1200 Utilities 4800 Payroll 112000 Loan-1 (336x12) 4032 Bal C/d 1392 Loan-2 (8000+4160) 12160 Common Stock A/C Interest A/C Bal c/d 60000 Cash 60000 Cash 4160 Profit/Loss A/c 4160 Loan A/C Pickup Truck A/c Cash 4032 Cash 32000 Cash 2000 Cash 8000 Pickup Truck 10000 Loan 10000 Bal c/d 12000 Bal C/d 29968 Display Equipment A/C Debtors A/C Cash 6000 Bal C/d 6000 Sales 60000 Balc/d 60000 Rototiller A/c Rent A/C Cash 400 Bal c/d 400 Cash 7200 Profit/Loss A/c 7200 Cash Register A/C Telephone Expense A/C Cash 3600 Cash 1200 Profit/Loss A/C 1200 Inventory A/C Utilities A/C Cash 60000 Cost of Sales 240000 Cash 4800 Profit/Loss A/C 4800 Cash 200000 Bal c/d 20000 Payroll A/C Sales A/C Cash 112400 Profit/Loss A/C 112400 Cash 340000 Profit/Loss A/c 400000 Debtors 60000 Advertising Expense Cash 20000 Profit/Loss A/C 20000 THE GARDEN PLACE INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31 2007 $ $ Sales 400,000 Less: Cost of Goo ds Sold Opening stock 60000 Purchases +200000 Stock available for sale 260000 Less: closing stock (20000) Cost of goods sold (240000) Gross profit 160000 Less: Expenses Interest expense 4160 Advertising expense 20000 Rent 7200 Telephone 1200 Utilities 4800 Payroll 112000 (149360) Net Income 10640 Balance Sheet VERTICAL ANALYSIS COMPANY A BALANCE SHEET 2011 2010 Assets $ % $ % Current Assets Cash 4274 1.58% 1270 1% Trade Accounts Receivables 56504 20.95% 41174 22% Inventories 184113 68.26% 132196 70% Deferred tax payment 3384 1.25% 2611 1% Other current assets 11053 4.10% 8795 5% Total current assets 259328 96.14% 186046 98% Advance to supplier, net of imputed interest 4479 1.66% 0 0% Preferential supply agreement 521 0.19% 0 0% Long term financing cost, net of amortization 1360 0.50% 0 0% Property and equipment, net 4060 1.51% 4078 2% Total assets 269728 100.00% 190124 100% Liabilities and shareholders’ equity Current liabilities Notes payable 154424 57.25% 100447 53% Current maturities 160 0.06% 15131 8% Trade accounts payable 50054 18.56% 31482 17% Income tax payable 4060 1.51% 6143 3% Accrued expense and derivative liabilities 4089 1.52% 10537 6% Dividends payable 231 0.09% 0 0% Total current liabilities 213018 78.98% 148760 78% Mortgage payable 1461 1621 1% Subordinated convertible debt net of unamortized discount 9501 0.54% 0 0% Derivative liability for embedded conversion option 1934 3.52% 0 0% Deferred tax payable 212 0.72% 0 0% Stakeholders Equity Common stock$0.1 par value, 20000000 shares authorized and 11749651 issued Dec31 2011 and 2010 117 0.04% 117 0% Additional paid in capital 11937 4.43% 11937 6% Retained Earnings 35271 13.08% 31235 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (214) -0.08% (96) 0% Treasury stock 2511245 and 2490745 shares at Dec31 2011 and 2010 (3509) -1.30% (3450) -2% Total shareholders’ equity 43602 16.17% 39743 21% Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity 269728 100.00% 190124 100% COMPANY A INCOME STATEMENT V ERTICAL ANALYSIS $ % $ % Net Sales 514633 100.00% 465013 100.00% Cost of goods sold 490102 95.23% 434785 93.50% Gross Profit 24531 4.77% 30228 6.50% Selling, general and administrative expense 13336 2.59% 12031 2.59% Operating income before impairment recovery 11195 2.18% 18197 3.91% Impairment recovery 0 0.00% 346 0.07% Operating income 11195 2.18% 18543 3.99% Other income/expense Change in

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethics - Essay Example Egoism is also in conflict with conflict regulation. There are times when a moral choice requires one to act contrary to one’s own interest. The application of egoism would not allow this. UTILITARIANISM   People who prescribe to utilitarianism believe that one should always act in favor of what will provide the greatest amount of happiness for all people involved. The theory challenges one to measure happiness. This is difficult as happiness is subjective to each individual. Furthermore, utilitarianism condones terrible acts such as murder if those acts provide pleasure to the greatest number of people. Another concern is that there is no solid guide to follow and acts are often in conflict. Sometimes it is okay to do things like steal, other times it is not. Individuals must weigh the results of a particular action each time one encounters it in order to calculate the corresponding level of happiness for everyone involved and determine the proper course of action in each u nique scenario. CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE   The Categorical Imperative admonishes people to act the way they would want all other people to act. The theory assumes that people are rational and will act accordingly. Those who are irrational for any reason, including illness, would be exempt from practicing this theory. Moreover, actions taken by an individual may be in conflict when one considers perfect duties and imperfect duties. Bold statements of perfect duties such as never tell a lie govern behavior, but if a lie prevents someone from getting hurt one must do one to support the other when applying the categorical imperative. One could also stretch the rules to allow almost any action, because the rules are already broad in nature. NATURAL LAW   Natural Law theorizes that anything is moral that supports basic rights including survival, procreation, and maintenance of health. People may have trouble defining natural laws and determining how to apply them. In addition, oneâ€⠄¢s views on religion and the role of God in nature intertwine with the definition of Natural Law. Because one’s views on religion and the role of God in nature are determined on an individual basis, the theory is difficult to practice with any consistency across a group of people. Natural Law may also condone specific acts that many would view as immoral or unethical because they are not in conflict with any natural law. For example, many consider rape immoral, but one could argue that the act supports procreation if the intent of the act was to create a child. THEORY OF JUSTICE AS FAIRNESS-MAXI MIN   The theory of Justice as Fairness—Maxi Min suggests that one should balance opportunity with inequality. Equality is difficult to measure and one must reduce equality to embrace the lowest common societal denominator in order to apply this theory. In practice, however, this allows inequality on the other end of the spectrum. In practice, people must apply a veil of ign orance in order to apply the two principles inherent in the theory. People may find the veil of ignorance challenging to achieve. Additionally, the theory is difficult to apply on an individual basis and more aptly applies at a community level. WILL TO POWER - Existentialist Theory of Nietzsche   Nietzsche proposes that all humans naturally exert their will on others. Because each person acts selfishly, there are no altruistic acts. The desire to

American Express Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

American Express - Research Paper Example In business segment, American Express offers options to small business, merchants, and corporations, providing them powerful applications to run small business, card programs and solutions to corporations, and a host of other various merchant products such as merchant accounts and marketing etc. Broadly speaking, customer segment of American Express can be divided into 5 categories, which include U.S. Card Services, International Card Services, Global Network and Merchant Services, Global Commercial, and Corporate & Other services. The customer base of American Express is worldwide; it serves the market wherever it is providing its services through its workforce strength of 58,300 employees (American Express, 2011). American Express is a multi-product firm competing in the financial industry segment with annual revenue of $24.5 billion. Its Cards-in-force are 87.9million in number, and total assets $124 billion. The annual purchase volume of American Express Cards is $620 billion (Am erican Express, 2011). Stock market performance in the NYSE of the American Express for the first-quarter has been declared to the tune of $1.2 billion in net revenue, which is an increase of 33% from 885 million a year back, as reported on 20 April 2011. Diluted income per share was $0.97, recording an increase of 33 percent from $0.73% one year back. The company has reported an increase of 7 percent in the consolidated total income net of interest expense, going up to $7.0 billion from previous year’s $6.6 billion. The company has been able to realize higher income because of increased spending by card members and increased travel commissions and fees, which has offset to some extent reduced interest income because of reduced pay off on loan portfolio (PHX, 2011). Quarters Ended Percentage March 31, Inc/Dec. 2011 2010 ______________________________________________________________________________ Total Revenues Net of Interest Expense $ 7,031 $ 6,560 7 % Net Income $ 1,177 $ 885 33 % Earnings Per Common Share – Diluted: Net Income Attributed Shareholders $ 0.97 $ 0.73 33 % Average Diluted Shares Outstanding 1,198 1,191 1 % Return on Average Equity 27.9 % 18.0 % ______________________________________________________________________________ American Express has gained huge success in bringing regular improvement in the credit quality by reducing its consolidated provisions for losses from $943 million in 2010 to $97 million in 2011. Consolidated expenses also recorded an increase of 19%, going up from previous year’s $4.4 billion to $5.2 billion, which has been attributed towards huge investment in business building and costs incurred on higher rewards. The company recorded an increase in return on average equity (ROE) by 27.9 percent from the previous year’s 18.0 percent (New Release, American Express, 2011). Incidentally, the Board of Directors of American Express Company declared on 23 May 2011 a regular quarterly dividend of $0.1 8 per common share, payable on August 10, 2011 to shareholders of record on July 1, 2011 (American Express, 2011). Major competitors of American Express are Capital One Financial Corporation, Visa Inc., Discover Financial Services, and MasterCard Incorporated, as given below from the stock performance of all of the companies. The American Express Company is leading in TTM sale to the extent of $28,290m while Capital One Fina

ILLUSTRATING THE WAYS WHICH MEDIA COVERS THE EUROPEAN CRISIS TODAY AND Literature review

ILLUSTRATING THE WAYS WHICH MEDIA COVERS THE EUROPEAN CRISIS TODAY AND BEFORE FIVE YEARS IN GREECE AND FRANCE - Literature review Example ia was more concerned about the issues affecting the Greek economy and the possible benefits that Greece as a country would derive from the economic collaboration in the euro zone (Schulmeister 21). As the global economic crisis hit the euro zone in 2008 and subsequently the European crisis that followed, the media in the two countries took divergent trends in the way they covered the crisis (POV news). Particularly, the French media created euphoria with negative rhetoric about the crisis which is believed to have caused public panic especially in France with most of the citizens developing negative perceptions of countries such as Greece and Italy, which the media had overly blamed for the escalating crisis. The echoing of the French president’s sentiments about Greece by the French media heightened the perceptions by French citizens (Picard 59). On the other hand, the media in Greece concentrated more on the position of Greece as a nation in the crisis and especially the measures that the European Union expected the country to undertake in order to avert the crisis (Hope 653). In essence, the media focused more on the expected impact of the measures to the Greek economy and citizenry as a whole. POV news. Greece: International Conference, The Greek Financial Crisis and the European Media. Â  Retrieved from

Perceptions on Death as the Inevitable Cessation of Life in a Living O Essay

Perceptions on Death as the Inevitable Cessation of Life in a Living Organism - Essay Example From nine through adolescence, children begin to comprehend fully that death is irreversible, that all living things die, and that they too will die someday. (www.hospicenet.org). The death of close relatives or other significant persons in an adolescent’s life can be a quite distressing event for teenagers. Most teens conceptualize death as irreversible and universal. They also understand that death is an inevitable part of life. They, however, do not fully realize that death could be a reality for themselves or their peers. There is, therefore, an acute sense of adventure in them during this period and they don’t mind taking risks. They may also act as if they want to challenge death and defy death. As they grow and mature as adults, their concept of death gets modified by the personal experiences they undergo. Some adolescents’ perception of death is not realistic and hence their response to grief also becomes unreasonable or illogical. On the other hand, teens are usually aware that when a person has a fatal illness death is a logical event in the case. If a parent, sibling or other close relative has a terminal illness, some counseling may help the adolescent to cope with the situation better. However, there is no absolutely correct way to educate a teen about the concept of death. The efforts that a family has to make in helping a teen to cope with a relative’s death can reduce the distress and anxiety of a teen. It will be better to allow them to attend the funeral if they wish to do so if the family’s values value and culture permit that. This would give them a reassurance that they are at least doing something for the departed. â€Å"Grief is a very painful process for both adults and children, but grieving should be encouraged. How a child grieves or reacts to the loss will depend  on age, previous experience with death and his/her preparedness for the event.† (http://www.cfc)

Sec1 Literature Poetic Techniques used Essay Example for Free

Sec1 Literature Poetic Techniques used Essay ?TASK IN 5 STAGES: ?1 CHOOSE a song with English lyrics that use at least TWO literary techniques from the six elements we have learnt, namely simile, metaphor, personification, rhyme, alliteration or onomatopoeia. Here are some examples you may choose: 1. â€Å"SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW† BY ISRAEL KAMAKAWIWO’OLE 2. â€Å"100 YEARS† BY FIVE FOR FIGHTING 3. â€Å"SWALLOWED IN THE SEA† BY COLDPLAY 4. â€Å"DIAMONDS† BY RIHANNA 5. â€Å"I AM A ROCK† BY SIMON AND GARFUNKEL 6. â€Å"THE RIVER† BY GARTH BROOKS ?2 PRINT out at least 2 stanzas of the lyrics of the song you have chosen. ?3 IDENTIFY at least 2 literary techniques and LABEL these neatly on the printout. ?4 COMPLETE the given table and answer the following question based on the techniques used in the song. An example (based on â€Å"Firework† by Katy Perry) has been done for you. Please do not use this same song for your holiday homework. ?5 ATTACH the printout of the lyrics to the back of your completed table and submit it (in hard copy) to your Sec 2 Lit teachers in TERM1 WEEK1 2015. ?TAKE NOTE: 1) You may use any one of the given songs above – or – you may choose any other ENGLISH song lyrics for this assignment. Remember to include the name of the singer and source (weblink) alongside the title of the song. 2) CHECK that you have chosen ONLY SONGS that: ? DO NOT contain any rude, insensitive or inappropriate references. Check with your Literature teachers if you are still unsure as to whether you can use a particular song owing to its lyrics. ?DEADLINE: Term 1 Week1 in 2015 ? TABLE OF ANALYSIS of Literary Techniques in Songs? ? TITLE: â€Å" Heart Attack † ? Singer: Demi Lovato ? Literary Techniques used: Simile , Personification and Rhyme. ? INCLUDE at least TWO STANZAS in your printout When I don’t care  I can play him like a Ken doll Won’t wash my hair Then make him bounce like a basketball The feelings got lost in my lungs They’re burning, I’d rather be numb And there’s no one else to blame So scared I’ll take off and run I’m flying too close to the sun And I’ll burst into flames ? Video link and lyrics (source): https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=gLGtKw_UQCk ?1 COMPLETE THIS TABLE based on your chosen song lyrics: Quote Literary Devices (Technique) SIMILE/ METAPHOR/ PERSONIFICATION/ RHYME/ ALLITERATION/ ONOMATOPOEIA? Function (WHICH QUALITY IS BEING COMPARED? ) Effect   (EXPLAIN THE IMPLIEDMEANING IN YOUR OWN WORDS) ‘I can play him like a Ken doll†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Then make him bounce like a basketball’ ‘The feelings got lost in my lungs. They’re burning, I’d rather be numb’ SIMILE PERSONIFICATION Playful Painful, Overwhelmed She toys with other guys’, making them almost like a game with a toy, the Ken doll, She does not want to fall in love though she can get a man easily with her attractiveness. She made use of personification by giving ‘ feelings ‘ the ability to get ‘ lost ‘. And the fact that they got ‘lost ‘in her lungs suggests that these ‘ feelings ‘ are so overwhelming that it becomes hard to  breathe as they seem to linger within each breath that she takes in. Personification is also seen in the phrase â€Å"They’re burning â€Å"which refers back to those ‘feelings ‘that the singer is currently experiencing. The word ‘burning’ suggests that the emotion has an excruciating impact on the singer, to the point that they seem to burn. ‘And there’s no one else to blame So scared I’ll take off and run I’m flying too close to the sun And I’ll burst into flames’ RHYME Love, Romantic Because she is unable to take the pain and suffering, â€Å"I’d rather be numb† suggests the that singer prefers to  not feel anything at all because the emotions are just too much for her to handle. It suggests that the singer views her crush like the ‘sun ‘because he shines so brightly in her eyes. This however has a setback as seen in the last sentence, â€Å"And I burst into flames†. He shines so much that she is unable to contain her own emotions because she likes him so much, to the point where she ‘ explodes’. Also the word ‘flying’ shows the extent of her love for her crush, to the point that she feels like she’s ‘flying ‘. Thus she is unable to get close to him. ?2 What is the overall meaning of the song? (Personal Interpretation based on your answers above :)) I think that in this song, the songwriter is trying to tell us about†¦ T he feeling of a woman who comes to a point where she feels very vulnerable in falling in love. She is also trying to tell us to tolerate even though when going through any emotional struggles. Also, she wants to let us know to consider our choices wisely and carefully. ANALYSIS DONE BY: Isaiah Leong, 2H, 27. (Your Name, Class and Index Number) SUBMITTED ON: 12 January 2015 (Date of submission) Heart Attack by Demi Lovato Putting my defenses up Cause I don’t wanna fall in love  If I ever did that, I think I’d have a heart attack Never put my love out on the line Never said yes to the right guy Never had trouble getting what I want But when it comes to you I’m never good enough When I don’t care I can play him like a Ken doll Won’t wash my hair. Then make him bounce like a basketball But you make me wanna act like a girl Paint my nails and wear high heels Yes you, make me so nervous that I just can’t hold your hand You make me glow But I cover up, won’t let it show So I’m putting my defenses up Cause I don’t wanna fall in love If I ever did that, I think I’d have a heart attack  I think I’d have a heart attack I think I’d have a heart attack Never break a sweat for the other guys When you come around I get paralyzed 5 ? HAVE FUN AND ENJOY ANALYSING THE LITERARY (POETIC) TECHNIQUES USED IN YOUR CHOSEN SONG ? ? Prepared by Ms Banu (AHS 2014 Literature/ Poetry Unit) ? And every time I try to be myself It comes out wrong like a cry for help It’s just not fair Brings more trouble than it all is worth I gasp for air It feels so good, but you know it hurts But you make me wanna act like a girl Paint my nails and wear perfume For you, make me so nervous that I just can’t hold your hand. You make me glow But I cover up, won’t let it show So I’m putting my defenses up Cause I don’t wanna fall in love If I ever did that, I think I’d have a heart attack I think I’d have a heart attack I think I’d have a heart attack The feelings got lost in my lungs They’re burning, I’d rather be numb And there’s no one else to blame So scared I’ll take off and run I’m flying too close to the sun And I’ll burst into flames You make me glow But I cover up, won’t let it show So I’m putting my defenses up Cause I don’t wanna fall in love If I ever did that, I think I’d have a heart attack.

Arguments For And Against Biofuels

Arguments For And Against Biofuels The human body has always needed energy -food for the most important and vital day to day activities. A major role for the production of the energy which keeps us viable and in motion is carried out by the sun. The importance of the Sun as an energy provider was underlined by Stephen (1977): The sun provides these foods, or bio-fuels, that keep us alive, and fossil fuels are in a sense stored bio-fuels, for they were living organisms eons ago. Carbon is the main denominator of bio-fuels, somehow a byproduct of the sunlight is derived from biomass or bio-waste. The entire biomass or bio-waste like renewable bio-fuels as methane, organic waste and liquid fuels are abundant in carbon. This essay will consider the advantages and disadvantages of using bio-fuels and it mainly will refer to renewable biomass or bio-waste. Finally, this study will weigh and conclude if the using of bio-fuels is worth the effort. We live in a world where fossil fuels coal and oil are vital for heat, transportation and electricity. The issue which concerns us the most is the fact that we are going inevitably to run out somewhere in the future. We cannot afford millions of years until the nature provides us with new reserves of coal and oil, therefore the solution would be to use bio-fuels on a current basis. The most effective answer to the energy shortage which lies in front of us is the renewable energy, for instance solar, tidal, wind, geothermal and hydraulic power. The energy sources mentioned above are cost effective and for the most part environment friendly, besides that we are never going to exhaust the sunlight or the wind for the simple fact that those resources are naturally replenished which makes this solution a permanent one. Furthermore, as Kruger (2006) stated Biomass (and the bio-energy obtained from it) comes from agriculture. There is an abundance of plants from which we can produce bio-energy. The most common substances known for their bio-energy producing properties are starch and peat. We can extract starch from plants such as potatoes, rice, corn and cassava; these plants are known for their cost-effective production and they can be found in almost every corner of the planet being cultivated by men from a very long time. In authors opinion peat can be more effective cost effective, for the simple reason that it is found in the nature, compared to the starch which is a byproduct of a cultivated plant than starch in the production of bio-fuels for it can be found on a very large scale around the world. According to the World Energy Council (2007) [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] the total area of peat lands approaches 3 million km ², or about 2% of the total land surface. Nevertheless, there are many oth er plants from which we can produce bio-fuels, especially for transportation. The most well-known bio-fuel used for transportation is the bio-ethanol produced from starch, sucrose (a byproduct extracted from sugarcane and sugar beet), lactose and cellulose. The most important advantage of the bio-ethanol is that besides the fact that this bio-fuel assures the availability of fuel for transportation in the future, it makes an enormous contribution for the limitation of carbon dioxide emissions. For example, as Guderjahn in Handbook of Fuels edited by Elvers (2008) states that bio-ethanol [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] engines have been utilized in buses that have been used for more than 15 years by the municipal transportation companies in Sweden [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]. The number of ethanol-fuelled buses in the country is around 400. Moreover, another source exploited for the production of bio-fuel is animal and human waste such as animal dung, municipal waste and sewage. These wastes by the process of anaerobic digestion in absence of the oxygen are transformed into methane gas, fuel used mainly for heating. Its benefits are incontestable, for it replaces coal, the limited fossil fuel. In addition, the production of biogas can facilitate removal of the human waste and litter from the sewage systems and landfills around the major cities. On the other hand, the production of bio-fuels has some drawbacks concerning the environment, health, safety and energy consumption. As far as concerning the wind power energy, disadvantages that mainly bears on the wind mills such as noise pollution, falling blades and structural problems caused by the vibrations leads to injury and damage to the surroundings and sometimes to employees who are working on the construction and maintenance. In addition, wind mills interfere with the flight paths of birds affecting their migratory habits. There are many other environmental and economic aspects regarding renewable energy, such as fish migration and health that are affected by the temperature changes of water tanks used to produce electricity by hydraulic power. Furthermore, the construction of tidal power plants sometimes can raise question marks considering the extremely high costs and the electrical output generated. Geothermal energy production facilities can lead to land subsidence and pollution caused by the sulfur and ammonia thrown into the waste water. Regarding the use of biomass to produce bio-energy scientists underlined some specific problems, such as: health, safety, air pollution and the large amount of energy consumption for the collection of biomass. Ih-Liu (1998) gave an example: Yunnan Province, in Xuan Wei County in China, has the highest rate of lung cancer in China for both its male and female populations. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]In 1982, [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] scientists discovered that polycyclic organic compounds were being released from coal and wood-burning stoves [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] which are carcinogens, are by-products of incomplete burning of the biomass [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]. This assignment has explained the case for and against the use of bio-fuels. One of the important ideas within this essay is that in the future the planet will run out of the widespread fossil fuels-coal and oil-utilized for almost everything that puts humankind in motion. Despite the fact that in the future bio-fuels are going to be produced on large scale whether if they are harmful or not, there are many advantages of using renewable energy. The most important advantage is the fact that the earth will never run out of self replenished natural resources supplied by nature. From this point of view, the most important assignment for the specialists and scientists working in this field should be to find out how to hedge the negative aspects of using bio-fuels.

London Bombings: Aftermath and Effects

London Bombings: Aftermath and Effects Managing the Aftermath of the London Bombings Introduction The Aftermath European Union Governmental Agencies in the United Kingdom Conclusion Bibliography Introduction The 7th of July 2005 will always be remembered as an infamous date representing the day when a coordinated attack was conducted by terrorists on the public transport system of the city of London during the heavily trafficked morning rush hour period (CNN.com, 2006). The series of attacks occurred aboard three underground trains all within a minute of each other starting at 8:50 a.m., with a fourth occurring on a bus that was traveling in Travistock Square at 9:47 a.m. (CNN.com, 2006). That day saw a death toll of fifty-two civilians, along with the four suicide bombers, and approximately seven hundred and seventy individuals injured (BBC.co.uk, 2006). The incident was reportedly motivated by the United Kingdom’s inclusion in the United States backed invasion and occupation of Iraq (Altermedia.info, 2005). The attack was highly reminiscent of the train bombings in Madrid, with both coming after Spain and the United Kingdom had reduced their troops stationed in Iraq (Dhimmi Watc h, 2005). The events preceding the attacks in London strongly suggested that a similar occurrence might happen in the United Kingdom. With the attacks taking place as the G8 Summit was being held in Scotland, the probability of an attack should have been higher on the British threat assessment scale than it was (World Socialist Web Site, 2005). In addition, London was also in the middle of celebrating the fact that it had made a successful bid for the hosting of the Olympics in 2012, thus the attacks were targeted to achieve maximum effect and exposure (Rasmussen, 2005). But, that view is open to conjecture as the target, timing and nature of the attack could have occurred in any number of possible ways, thus making the potential to suggest its prevention as a rather moot point. The nature of terrorist attacks is their surprise and use of individuals who purportedly can fly beneath the surveillance radar of the authorities seeking to uncover them. Subsequent information and reports have linked the bombings to Al-Qaeda (Philpott, 2005). The developments resulting from the occupation of Iraq, Al-Qaeda and global terrorism have changed the manner in which governments view, react and prepare for potential occurances. What happened on that fateful day could have occurred in any country at any time, and that propensity is still open. This examination will look at the aftermath of the London bombings and the events that transpired as well as the larger implications and actions that it triggered. And while various plans where in place as a result of the events of 9-11, action after such an event can be subject to variables that even the most prepared plan could not make contingencies for. The following will chronicle those events as well as investigations, inquiries, changes, legislation and findings made in the aftermath from varied quarters. The initial reports indicated that there were six explosions which was reported as a result of them occurring between stations, thus causing passengers to exit at points located to the front as well as rear of the train streaming them into two opposite directions thereby creating confusion as to the initial damage and explosion count. That development caused additional confusion for the various agencies responding to the attacks until the situation entailing three train attacks was revealed. After the initial confusion cleared it was determined that (CNN.com, 2006): The first explosion took place on the eastbound Circle Line train traveling from Liverpool Street to Aldgate. Explosion number two occurred on the westbound Circle Line train between Edgware Road and Paddington approximately. The third explosion took place on the southbound Piccadilly Line between King’s Cross Street Pancras and Russell Square The London Underground suspended service throughout the entire network after all trains were brought into the nearest stations thus causing massive displacement for individuals throughout the city. The Tavistock Square double decker bus explosion represented the final of the explosions, where it first passed by Euston as evacuees where exiting from the underground station. It had to divert its route and the final incident occurred (Rasmussen, 2005). The investigation into the bombings uncovered that the bombs went off as another train was passing in the opposite direction, thus leading to the conclusion that the attacks were timed for maximum effect, however for some reason the bombers did not escape (Sky News, 2005). The investigation uncovered that there were possessions found on the bombers that aided in the identification of the attackers as they where carrying identification as well as other information that subsequently led to the discovery of their factory in Leeds where the explosive devices were made (Edwards, 2005). All of the attackers carried â€Å"†¦ return rail tickets †¦ and display car park tickets †¦Ã¢â‚¬  prior to their boarding the trains (Edwards, 2005). Further evidence to supported Edwards (2005) contention, which aligns with of the statements made by Tony Blair (2005) is illustrated by the fact that the explosive devices where contained in large sized rucksacks that could have easily been dumped, and personal effects such as drivers licences, banking cards and other items were found on their remains further supporting his theory that they were deceived by their superiors and the bombs were set to explode in advance as suicide bombers customarily remove all forms of identification and links. The importance of the discovery of the manner in which the events unfolded as well as the origin of the attackers was an outgrowth of the investigation into the affiliations of the attackers. The individuals involved were unknown to authorities by name, however they were caught by surveillance techniques that included a large sweep of activities thus relegating them to lesser status. Through re-tracing their steps based upon the receipts found on their remains it was clear that they traveled to Luton via vehicle, and then onto London by train (Campbell and Laville, 2005). They were captured on the King’s Cross CCTV system at 8:30 a.m.. The Aftermath In a statement released by the Rt. Hon. Paul Murphy, the MP Chairman of the United Kingdom’s Intelligence and Security Committee, he commented as to whether there was any intelligence information that could have aided in the prevention of the attacks (Community Central, 2005). The official statement and position was if there had been prior suspicions or information, then the authorities would have intervened. In all probability the audacity of the attack, even after the events if September 11th in the United States and Madrid, caught authorities by surprise even though planning for the potential of such an occurrence had been undertaken. There were and are scores of reports commenting on the probability of advance knowledge as well as one of the bombers being spotted a full year prior to the event (officialconfusion.com, 2006a). In addition to the preceding, the government is purported to have had advance knowledge that such an attack would be carried out on London’s un derground through information gathered by intelligence services (occificalconfusion.com 2006b). In hindsight it is easy to shift through mountains of information that had been gathered and or observed and put the pieces together after the fact, but the vagueness of data, the many sources and potential endings they suggest makes foresight more difficult. In one report, the London Metropolitan Police had contracted the private company of Visor Consultants to look into planning a simulated drill concerning the potential of multiple explosive attacks being made upon the London underground system (Chossudovsky, 2005). Interestingly enough a drill simulating such an attack was being conducted at 9:30 that very morning with the participants having to switch in mid drill to an active status. These drills represented crisis management on the part of the London Metropolitan Police (Chossudovsky, 2005). The preceding indicates that the varied reports as documented by Officalconfusion.com (2006ab) and other web sites in the aftermath had some validity. As the inquiry into this aspect of the London bombings represents as important an area in crisis management procedures either planned or in place prior to the attacks and hence, further investigation is warranted. A Report to Parliament by Prime Minister Blair concerning the â€Å"Government Response to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005† was presented on May 2006 (Prime Minister’s Office, 2006). The Report stated that the existence of Siddeque Khan was known to authorities, however his identity was not. It, the Report, also stated that Shazad Tanweer was also unknown by name, and that surveillance did pick him up through routine activity, however, since the activity was routine, no special significance was made. Said Report did indicate that the outcome of the 7 July attacks might have been prevented if the Security Service had come to different conclusions concerning the intelligence it gathered before the event. Blair’s Report also covered the subject of the reduction of the threat level and alert systems which was reduced from severe general to substantial (Prime Minister’s Office, 2006). The Report stated that the intelligence gathered prior to and up to the event did not indicate the likelihood of such an occurrence, and that a high alert level reflects a substantial indicator which did not affect the security aspects being lowered concerning transport systems. With regard to police systems the Report recommended their merging information and operative systems to provide increased communication regarding strategic and national issues as represented by terrorism, with more information passed down to lower levels (Prime Minister’s Office, 2006). The foregoing also indicated an increase in police community support officers from 6,300 to 16,000, with further increases through 2008 to heighten the ability to cover more intelligence areas and retrieve information. In conjun ction with the preceding, the Security Service along with Special Forces units have embarked on expansion putting more regional offices in place along with increased fiscal and resource support (Prime Minister’s Office, 2006). Resources from the Home Office were increased by  £30 million, with the level of increase rising to  £60 million for the budget period 2007 through 2008 (Prime Minister’s Office, 2006). European Union On a broader plane, the European Union implemented measures representing key priorities as a response to the bombings in London via the Council of the European Union’s Counter Terrorism Coordinator issued a special report concerning the â€Å"Implementation of the Action Plan to Combat Terrorism† (European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator, 2005). While the Report was one of a regular series issued every six months as the result of an adoption by the Council of the European Union, it made special reference to the London Bombings and that this Report contained a response to that event. The European Union, as the governing body for its member states and the center resource in implementing plans and planning of their behalf that takes into consideration past, present and future considerations, the Declaration of March 2004 to combat terrorism was set forth to be a priority for the European Union. As a direct outgrowth of the London bombing the ‘Money Laundering Dir ective’ was issued and put into action, along with the ‘Directive on Enhancing Port Security’ † (European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator, 2005). Additionally, Europol, Frontex and Eurotrust increased their support to the national law enforcement authorities of member nations as well as increased cooperation with national governmental agencies of other non-member nations. Specifically, the Report gave priority and urgency to the London bombings and various measures as a result of it. The vulnerability exposed by the successful terrorist attacks in London heightened the Council’s sense of urgency to identify, arrest and prevent such occurances. The use of the Internet as a communications medium by terrorists was highlighted, along with their ability to obtain weapons and employ non-conventional explosive devices† (European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator, 2005). Such developments indicated that additional measures, techniques and strategies were needed in the face of the preceding. New directives included the information exchange program to provide criminal record data to appropriate agencies as well as the improvement of mechanisms in consort with the preceding. The directive made it mandatory that information and cooperation be exchanged between member states along with Europol and Eurojust for all pending investigations as well as prosecutions † (European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator, 2005). Important to the preceding is the access to databases under the Schengen Information System which is to be made fully operational by 2007. Present implementations included the Visa Information System and its consolidation to permit faster detection, information, investigation and prevention by virtue of cross data access and matching † (European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator, 2005). A direct implementation coming out of the London bombings was the adoption of biometric identifiers for residence permits along with national identity cards. The implementation of enhanced measures for security regarding explosives, equipment to make bombs and firearms was also put into place (European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator, 2005). Heightened training for police departments in terrorism, and Customs protocols were also adopted. The areas of Port security along with Airport security were increased through the adding of additional screening measures, new technologies in equipment a s well as increased personnel and surveillance systems. Risk management measures were also upgraded through enhanced Civil Protection Mechanisms, along with crisis management techniques to provide guidance in pre attack, in the event of their occurrence, preparedness and post attack response † (European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator, 2005). The London bombings resulted in the Council putting forth a plan to devise crisis coordination as a result of a special adoption of the Council made on 13 July 2005. The foregoing entailed increased information sharing in emergencies and in particular, terrorist attacks when such involves more than one member state, with such measures to be in place by June 2006 † (European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator, 2005). The importance of the foregoing is the increased funding, inter agency cooperation and information sharing for all European Union member states as well as national governments not a part of the EU. Governmental Agencies in the United Kingdom The events of 7 July 2005 involved the following agencies and departments, the Metropolitan Police Service, London Fire Brigade, City of London Police, London Underground, London Ambulance Service and the Gold Coordinating Group, MI5 as well as outside intelligence reports. MI5 represents one of the more important agencies in the preceding list and maintains a web site for reference by the general public. It provides information on response levels and threats, however no update on measures either directly taken or in progress as a result of the 7 July bombings is available on their web site (MI5, 2006). Equally important is the Ministry of Defence which maintains a web site as well. It as well did not and does not contain any relevant information concerning departmental updates in the aftermath of the bombings (UK Ministry of Defence, 2006). The same search was conducted for The Secret Intelligence Service (2006) that yielded the like results. The preceding is understandable in that disseminating internal information regarding the conduct of affairs in relationship to measures in place or being put into place, does not represent an intelligent option. Internal measures and developments on the part of governmental agencies are secretive areas, thus new plans and activities represent aspects that are unavailable to the public. Public sentiment and anxiety in the United Kingdom over the 7 July bombings represent an area of intense concern within the country for all of its citizens. The aftermath of this event resulted in the country developing â€Å"†¦ stronger counter terrorism measures †¦ as represented by legislation (Lawson, 2005). As the attacks were carried out by homegrown terrorists, the difficulty in preventive measures has increased dramatically as the identification means take in individuals already inside the country’s borders. The response by the Emergency Medical Service represents a major component plan that worked from the standpoint of crisis management. With a wounded total in excess of 700 people, the importance of getting medical personnel to the sites, performing emergency services and transporting them to hospitals, coordinating which location was a major undertaking. The London Ambulance Service deployed vehicles throughout the four sites and had to respond accordingly to the level of the incident as developments became known (Heightman, 2005). A situation of this type calls for on the spot reactions, decision making and judgment. As part of emergency preparedness, the London Ambulance Service had researched various plans scenarios to respond to such incidents as a result of the events of September 11th in the United States, briefings with government officials and the threat of such a disaster occurring in London as a result of the country’s participation in Iraq and the train attack in Madrid some sixteen months prior. The personnel total exceeded 250 emergency staff, supplemented by a contingency of volunteers who responded to the situation, with approximately 100 ambulances used to transfer injured individuals to various medical facilities (Heightman, 2005). The total or injured exceeded the London Ambulance Service capacity, so under the contingency plans developed, it called in aid from Bedfordshire, Kent, Essex, Herefordshire and Surrey as well as St. John Ambulance and the British Red Cross (Heightman, 2005). Per the crisis management operational plan the vehicles were staged at locations that had been planned in advance where a large contingent of vehicles could have easy access and departure. Local managers arrived at these locations to coordinated activities and schedule departures as well as points to ferry the injured to as well as aiding in making determinations of whom to carry out first and whom to treat on the scene (Heightman, 2005). In total, the London Ambulance Service oversaw the treatment of 645 individuals, of which 45 represented critical and serious injuries such as burns, amputations, fractured limbs and blast burns, with an additional 300 treated on scene and 300 ferried to various hospitals (Heightman, 2005). Working in conjunction with the London Metropolitan Police the entire operation was seamless and one of the bright spots in a day of disaster. In the immediate aftermath of the bombings the government’s COBRA crisis management team, along with the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center swung into action which combines MI5 and MI6, domestic and foreign intelligence, Government Communications Headquarters and the police together to coordinate response, investigation and management of the situation (Philpott, 2005). The entire operation went global in hours, pulling in intelligence and research from the United States, United Nations, The European Union, and other countries to review briefings, documents, surveillance and other materials. The inter-agency team London Resilience that was put into operation after September 11th, coordinated emergency services, health, fire, transport, utilities and business under its umbrella (London Resilience, 2006). London Resilience ‘Strategic Emergency Plan’ represents a blueprint designed for the effective handling of crisis situations in London as a collaborative effort. The London Metropolitan Police were also prepared for the situation, as stated by Ian Blair, Commissioner, â€Å"This is the biggest crime scene in England’s history †¦ a situation for which we have planned and prepared †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Philpott, 2005). Critical in the immediate investigation of the incident where the 400,000 CCTV cameras throughout London that helped to identify the bombers at King’s Cross when they arrived. (Wikipedia, 2006). It recorded them splitting up and talking, and the investigation team spotted the four bombers on Monday through matching their images with documents found at the explosions (Philpott, 2005). The CCTV system was designed and developed as a result of the 1985 IRA bombings, and the trial program was so successful that it was expanded (Wikipedia, 2006). As one of the most sophisticated CCTV systems in the world, the United Kingdom has one camera for every 14 individuals when home, business, and governmental systems are added to gether (Wikipedia, 2006). The events of 7 July has resulted in all major cities increasing their security efforts with respect to subway bombings, however, the measure of scanning all backpacks, pocketbooks, suitcases and other carry one items is not only impractical, but impossible. Thus, in the aftermath the underground system in the United Kingdom is safer, but still vulnerable, much less so than prior to the incident, but vulnerable nevertheless. In London a major impediment to more security measures on top of the additional personnel which has been put into place is fiscal. The present budget does not allow for security officer patrolling enough trains, as well as having at least one officer per station to eye scan passengers (Philpott, 2005). Funds to provide added cameras, hardening of tunnels, fences, radiation detection and intrusion systems, control and command tools for security and track monitoring along with rolling stock have been estimated at  £1 billion (Philpott, 2005). All in all, the emergency services, police, MI5, intelligence arms and government responded favorably to the largest incident in the country’s history, save for World War II. The planning, preparations, and coordination that the government put into place after September 11th helped to quickly identify the bombers, although the evidence strongly suggests that they were sacrificed in the process by devices that were timed to go off quicker than they were led to believe thus capturing them in the explosions as well (BBC News, 2005). The fact they were carrying their personal identification, bank cards, and the parking ticket points to their belief that they were deceived by their superiors (Edwards, 2005). Conclusion The surprise nature of the bombings could not have been forecast, even in the face of the advance knowledge of the Madrid train attack, as to location, date and timing. Pre terrorist planning by the Metropolitan Police, London Ambulance Service, Fire Brigade and other governmental agencies has not been identified as being sub-standard or negligent. In a Report made to Parliament concerning the â€Å"Government Response to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005†, a full briefing of all of the salient facets were covered. The Security Service did pick up Shazad Tanweer and Siddeque Khan, but their name identities were unknown and they were not identified as significant participants at that time. Said Report made a number of important recommendations regarding the merging of police systems along with increasing police community support officers to heighten departmental capabilities in the future which were enacted. Additionally allocation increases for the police budget were immediately granted. The blasts also prompted the Council of the European Union to adopt a number of measures concerning intra country intelligence and cooperation protocols. The Declaration of March 2004 to combat terrorism was set forth to be a priority for the European Union. Money laundering,, enhanced Port and Airport security measures were increased and various agencies were provided with directives to devise increased security and cooperation methods and measures. The Council Report also increased Civil Protection Mechanisms, crisis management and pre attack preparedness. The London Ambulance Service performed admirably in response to the attack handling in excess of 600 patients and coordinating the activities of a number of regional ambulances services and volunteer units to effectively ferry the injured to hospitals. Their performance lessened the loss of live and was a bright spot in an otherwise dreadful historic day. Internal security measures and inter agency cooperation has been enhanced in the aftermath of the attacks to better coordinate activities in the pre terrorist phase through investigation, detainment and arrest. The system has prevented two such occurances and continues to seek ways to improve upon their operational standards. Thanks to the 400,000 police CCTV cameras in operation in the target area, visual identification was made in short order, resulting in arrests as well as the discovery of the factory where the devices were made. The lessons learned from the 7 July attacks represented severe and costly teachings that the country as well as European Union and the United states have taken to heart. It again provided evidence regarding the need to be ever vigilant in techniques, surveillance and preemptive action to prevent occurances of this type in the future. The loss of live by civilians represents an unacceptable price in a battle of idealism that encompasses the quest of a small group, Al-Qaeda, to impose its will on nations. Bibliography Altermedia.info (2005) Who benefits from the London Bombings? Retrieved on 6 December 2006 from http://us.altermedia.info/news-of-interest-to-white-people/who-benefits-from-the-london-bombings_1033.html BBC News (2005) Police hunt bomb team accomplices. 15 July 2005. Retrieved on 9 December 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4684869.stm BBC.co.uk (2006) What happened on 7 July? Retrieved on 6 December 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_5140000/newsid_5147000/5147004.stm Campbell, D., Laville, S. (2005) British suicide bombers carried out London attacks, say Police. 13 July 2005. Retrieved on 7 December 2006 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1527404,00.html Chossudovsky, M. (2005) Fictional 7/7 â€Å"scenario† of multiple bomb attacks on London’s subway. 11 August 2005. Retrieved on 7 December 2006 from http://www.lonelantern.org/london_terror_drills.html Community Central (2005) Report into the London terrorist attacks on 7 July 2005 published. Retrieved on 7 December 2006 from http://www.continuitycentral.com/news02553.htm CNN.com (2006) Minute-by-minute account. 11 May 2006. Retrieved on 6 December 2006 from http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/07/london.timeline/index.html Dhimmi Watch (2005) UN effectively blames West for London bombings. Retrieved on 6 December 2006 from http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/007156.php Edwards, J. (2005) Exclusive: Was It Suicide? 16 July 2005. Retrieved on 7 December 2006 from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15742951method=fullsiteid=94762headline=was-it-suicidename_page.html European Union Counter Terrorism Coordinator (2005) Implementation of the Action Plan to Combat Terrorism. 12 December 2005. Council of the European Union Heightman, A. (2005) Bombs Enter London: The EMS response plan that worked. Vol. 30, Issue 8. Jems Lawson, D. (2005) The London Bombing Fallout: Negotiating Public Anxiety and Political Gain. 28 October 2005.Centre for Social Change Research, Queensland University of Technology London Resilience (2006) London Prepared. Retrieved on 9 December 2006 from http://www.londonprepared.gov.uk/ MI5 (2006) This is the official website of the UK Security Service. Retrieved on 8 December 2006 from http://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/Page2.html Officalconfusion.com (2006a) Bomber Spotted a Year Before July 7. Retrieved on 7 December 2006 from http://www.infowars.net/~officia/77/priorknow/surveillance/230106timesspottedyearbefore.html Officialconfusion.com (2006b) Spies Warned of Tube Attack. Retrieved on 7 December 2006 from http://www.infowars.net/~officia/77/priorknow/surveillance/181205timesspieswarnedofattack.html Philpott, D. (2005) The London Bombings: New Evidence Points t Al-Qaeda and a New Terror Campaign. Homeland Defense Journal, Special Report Prime Minister’s Office (2006) Government Response to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s Report into the London Terrorist Attacks on 7 July 2005. May 2006. Retrieved on 6 December 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/11_05_06_isc_london_attacks_report_govt.pdf Rassmussen, M. (2005) Some Thoughts on the London Bombs. Vo. 4, Issue 9. Strategic Insights Secret Intelligence Service (2006) The Official Secret Intelligence Service Website. Retrieved on 8 December 2006 from http://www.sis.gov.uk/output/Page79.html Sky News (2005) Interview with Sir Ian Blair. 24 July 2005. Retrieved on 7 December 2006 from http://www.skynewstranscripts.co.uk/transcript.asp?id=117 UK Ministry of Defence (2006) Home Web Page. Retrieved on 8 December 2006 from http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Home/ Wikipedia (2006) Closed Circuit television. Retrieved on Why is Disability Viewed as a Social Problem? Why is Disability Viewed as a Social Problem? TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE SOCIAL PROBLEM THAT IS DISABILITY A MATTER OF PRIVATE CONCERN FOR THE FAMILY? Disability excites interest because disability is seen as a social problem i.e. it is seen either in terms of personal tragedy or of blame. Social problems generate public concern and private misery and call for collective action to remedy this (Worsley, 1972). Disability has been theorised in a number of different ways, most of which locate the problem in the individual rather than the broader social, political, and economic influences. This has implications for the location of the blame for social problems, such that they become depoliticised. The rise in the idea of the politics of minority groups is well documented and implies that in the case of people with disabilities who are unable to work the Government should provide a whole range of services. Because most Governments are unwilling to commit themselves this far, disability is again defined as a social problem, and often the burden of care lies with the family (Moore, 2002). This paper will give an account of definitions of disability and the ways in which they impact on disabled people. There will be an exploration of the concept and history of the family and its contemporary diverse forms, and an examination of the ways in which the ideology of the family has problematised the concept of care. The paper will then assess how the family has been implicated in both solving and defining the problem of disability and to what extent the social problem that is disability is a matter of private concern for families. Models of Disability The medical model of health is the most powerful in western society, doctors introduced a curative model of health that concentrated on the body where the hospital became the space for such models were put into practice (Walsh et al, 2000). This model situates ill health in the individual and ignores the social circumstances that may give rise to ill health, furthermore it has impacted on government healthcare policy throughout the twentieth century. The situation is exacerbated by the medicalisation of many conditions making them into a problem that can only be addressed by experts, as Brisenden(1986) comments: The problem is that medical people tend to see all difficulties solely from the perspective of proposed treatments for a patient, without recognising that the individual has to weigh up whether this treatment fits into the overall economy of their life. In the past especially, doctors have been too willing to suggest medical treatment and hospitalisation, even when this would not necessarily improve the quality of life for the person concerned. Indeed, questions about the quality of life have sometimes been portrayed as something of an intrusion upon the purely medical equation. (Brisenden, 1986:176). The medical model leads to the treatment of people with disabilities as passive objects of medical attention. This is oppressive of disabled people and spreads to other social relationships, it sees disability as pathological i.e. rooted in a persons biology, and thus unchanging. Contained within this model is the perception of people with disabilities as problematic. Disability has also been theorized as a personal tragedy, resulting in individuals with a disability being seen as victims. This results in policy making whereby people with disabilities need compensating for their disability. This model also affects social relationships. The view of disability as personal tragedy individualises disability so that it becomes depoliticised and the disabled person must make his or her adjustments to that disability as best they can (Dalley, 1990). In locating disability within the individual society denies any responsibility to cater for the diversity of their needs (Oliver, 1990). The third way in which disability has been theorized is in the social model of disability. This model is becoming increasingly dominant in research on disability. Vassey (1992) has described it thus: redefining disability in terms of a disabling environment, repositioning disabled people as citizens with rights, and reconfiguring the responsibilities for creating, sustaining and overcoming disablism (Vassey, 1992:44).. Here the person is disabled because of the refusal of society to provide for example suitable access for the wheelchair user. This model stresses that a disabling society leads to the exclusion of people with disabilities. Oliver (1996) contends that this notion has been politically empowering for disabled people, and has allowed a previously contested notion to develop an agenda that has influenced policy making. Some people see disability as entirely a result of social structures and processes while others feel that society compounds the difficulties that disabled people encounter. Disability is not a universal category, people have different types and degrees of impairment, some can function well with technical aids while still others are, to a greater or lesser degree, dependent on the care of other people (Dalley, 1988). The Concept and History of the Family Parsons (1955) argued that the family is the primary place of socialization and serves to introduce and instill the norms and values of society. Parsons model was what is commonly known as the nuclear family, i.e. parents and children living together to provide the mutual love and support that individuals need to be productive members of society (Giddens, 2001). Murdock (1949 cited in Giddens, 2001) maintains that traditional concepts of the family are a universal phenomenon. Others criticise the nuclear model for being too narrow and for neglecting the fact that not all family members experience life in the same way (Abbott and Wallace, 1997). Whether the nuclear family is regarded as universal depends largely on how the family is defined, certainly it is no longer the norm in contemporary society. Gittins (1993) maintains that there are a wide variety of domestic relationships. Thus relationships may be universal but the forms they take can be infinitely variable. There are many single parent families, whether through death, divorce or choice, there are also second marriages that often result in reconstituted families. The nuclear model relates specifically to nineteenth and early twentieth century ideological views of the family (Giddens, 2001). The Family and Ideology Until the late seventeenth century there was little or no distinction between the public and the private sphere, families generally worked the land and they did this together. The rise of industrialization and the growth of the towns brought massive changes to what had constituted family life up until that time. Feminists argue that for centuries women have been the subordinate sex in society and this subordination is largely a result of the fact that they have been born women rather than men. This subordination increased with industrialisation and the separation between public and private spheres (Oakley 1982). The coming of the factory meant that the family was replaced as the unit of production. The growing dependence of children, Oakley (1982) states, led to womens increased dependence on men and their restriction to the private sphere. Throughout the nineteenth century there was a growing idealisation of the feminine. Women were regarded as both physically and emotionally weaker than men and unfit for the same roles. Victorian ideology said that women were created to help men and should thus remain at home. This primarily affected the middle classes but as the century progressed the working class were also influenced by this ideology, locking women into the housewife role (Oakley, 1982). Murdock (1949 in Giddens, 2001) argued that gender roles are the natural result of the biological differences between men and women. Mens superior strength and womens childbearing capabilities make the sexual division of labour the most sensible way of organising society. Delphy (1977) maintains that this results in sexual inequality. Gender differences are not innate but socially constructed to serve the interests of the socially dominant group. Delphy contends that women are a separate class because the categories of man and woman are political and economic, rather than eternal biological categories. Within the family particularly, women form a class who are exploited by men, as Delphy states: While the wage-labourer sells his labour power, the marrie woman gives hers away; exclusivity and non-payment are intimately connected. To supply unpaid labour within the framework of a universal and personal relationship (marriage) constructs primarily a relationship of slavery (Delpy, 1977:15). This relationship has been exploited by successive Governments and is implicit in many social policy initiatives. The Family and the Welfare State The post-war welfare state which promised universal welfare provision, was set up on the assumption of full employment and the notion that men would go out to work while women stayed home (Abbott and Wallace, 1997).. Moore (2002) maintains that this is an ideological view of the family and how it might function. In the late 1970s the Tories actively discouraged alternatives to the traditional family e.g. cohabitation and gay partnerships (Abbott and Wallace, 1997). Since the Thatcher Government public and policy debates on family life, parenting and health have centered around the idea of responsibility (Such and Walker 2004) Moore (2002) maintains that in the thinking of the seventies and also in Labours Third Way, family members have a duty to help each other as it is not the job of the state to look after them. The state takes over when no-one else is around to share the burden. The fact that the State has had to intervene, it is argued, is one of the reasons why the traditional family is on the decline. In a good society members should help each other without regard to personal benefit. The State should be there to provide a safety net when there is no other help available. New Labour advocate a mixed economy of welfare where welfare is provided in part by the state and partly by private companies operating for profit. The shift from public to private has received much publicity and contributed to social problems and to social exclusion. Previously highly subsidized, or universal, services have either become part of the private sector, or have been subject to means testing, some welfare provision has been handed over to voluntary organizations. This has increased the likelihood that welfare and caring are now a private rather than a public responsibility (Giddens, 2001). This tends to stigmatise further those who are forced to rely on benefits, e.g. the disabled and their carers, usually women. The State and Womens Caring Role Marxist feminists e.g. Walby (1990) argue that the gender ideology that has filtered down to the working classes has affected their solidarity as a class and this makes them more easily controllable by the Capitalist system. While Marxism gives an explanation of exploitation by the capitalist system it does not explain the inequalities between women and men. Delphy (1977) maintains that gender and sexual inequality should be the fundamental categories of feminist analysis. Marxism alone does not explain for example why women are seen as responsible for household tasks. Capitalism could still profit if men stayed at home. The Community Care Act of 1990 has imposed further responsibilities on women in the role of informal carers. Dalley (1988) argues that much Governments policy making has been based on ideologies of caring with the assumptions behind the idea of community care being based on outmoded notions of the family. In practice this notion of caring disadvantages women carers and also many disabled or older dependent relatives. Within such an ideology, the caring that women do in the home is considered to be a natural part of womens role within the family. Thus, her caring role become invisible and shouldering the burden increases the likelihood that women will themselves be in need of care (Graham, 1993). This is borne out by the increasing number of women who suffer from disabilities and mental health problems. Womens caring role is further undermined by the idea that any health care that matters is given by professionals. When this is accompanied by Government discourses of self-help, self-reliance and the responsibility of the family this adds to the social stigma that disabled people face. It focuses on the disability, not the person themselves, inevitably this places an added strain on families. The prevalence of the medical model of health and the ways in which families are kept under-informed regarding the disability of a family member, particularly a child, affects family relationships. Gregory (1991) maintains that when a person is diagnosed as diabled this affects the ways in which society and the family respond to and deal with that person. Families themselves can tend to see the disabled family member as sick and different. Gregory (1991) found that having a disabled family member also affected the way in which mothers viewed themselves because ideological images of motherhood focus on having an able child. Thus a woman may feel that she is somehow not a mother because of the ways in which society defines motherhood. Press reports on disabled children and their families usually present them in terms of sacrifice and heroism (Gregory, 1991). This can affect family members response to the disabled person, their forced reliance on the medical model, and the view of disability as a tragedy becomes universalized. This misses the individuals personal needs and circumstances. It seems that increasingly the social problem of disability is becoming a matter of private concern for the family. The NHS appears to take this view. While doctors may diagnose a physical or learning disability families are often left to cope without ei ther sufficient information or professional help. In a number of cases families have reported that hospitals have refused to admit non-emergency cases unless a parent or carer remains on site to provide additional support (http://www.cafamily.org.uk/rda-uk.html). A shortage of nursing staff and the increasing tendency to perform surgery on a day care basis means that many families are left with extra caring responsibilities once they take the disabled child or adult home. (http://www.cafamily.org.uk/rda-uk.html). Conclusion Ideologies of the family and the medical model of disability exacerbate the social problems of disability. Discourses of family responsibility place a much greater burden on many people, particularly women who bear the burden of responsibility of care. Such discourses tend to make women who find it difficult to cope feel that they are a failure. This in turn reflects back on the disabled person who may feel that they are a burden. Clearly current policies and debates over partnership between the Government and families and family responsibility is moving closer to the view that disability is no longer a public concern but a private family one. Dalley (1988) argue that some form of institutional care e.g. supported living should replace care in the family. While there are support structures in place for people with disabilities, the extent to which informal carers have access to such facilities is very limited (Baldwin and Twigg, 1990).. Perhaps supported living arrangements along wit h family involvement in personal care would, arguably, take some strain off of the family and give more independence to the person with disabilities thus making the social problem of disability a shared public and private concern rather than simply a concern for the family. Bibliography Abbott, P. and Wallace, C. 1997. An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives. London, Routledge. 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