Early Civilizations Matrix Essay

Affirmative Action The purpose of this paper is to review the subject of affirmative action, and the policies that go along with it. The paper will be recommending to a board of directors that their business implement affirmative action policies. This argument will be supported by points and facts that are in favor of the implementation. It will also fairly discuss points against the implementation of affirmative action. The paper will cover points about how affirmative action policies relate to compliance with the equal opportunity laws. Before getting to far ahead, it is important to make sure that there is a valid understanding of what affirmative action actually is, and what its policies stand for. What is affirmative action? Affirmative action means that steps are taken to help increase the representation of women, and other minorities in areas like education, employment, and business. These are all areas from which they have typically and historically been excluded. It is when these steps involve preferential treatment or selection based on gender, race, and ethnicity then the concept of affirmative action becomes controversial (Affirmative Action, 2001). History of affirmative action In 1961, then President John F. Kennedy issued executive order 10925 against American Lexicon. The order gave the first mention of affirmative action.  The purpose of the order was to end discrimination within the business (Nittle, n.d.). Next, three years later in 1964, The Civil Right Act came out. The goal of the Civil Right Act of 1964 was to stop employment and public accommodations discrimination (Nittle, n.d.). Following the Civil Right Act of 1964, President Lyndon Johnson, who took office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, issued executive order 11246. This order required federal contractors to practice affirmative action, to help develop diversity within the workplace and help end race based discrimination, and other forms of discrimination (Nittle, n.d.). Before these amendments were signed into action, you had other key events that took place as well. For example, the case of Brown v Board of Education. This case was about an African American girl who wanted to attend a white public school, and was denied admittance. This case helped overturn a prior case Plessy v Ferguson. Plessy v Ferguson stated that a separate but equal America was constitutional (Nittle, n.d.). Brown v Board overturned that case by ruling that discrimination is a key aspect of racial segregation. Which meant that it violated the 14th Amendment (Nittle, n.d.). This decision started the countries goal to promote diversity in schools and various other places (Nittle, n.d.). This was a very important legal, as well as ethical case. It helped kick start the changes to people’s thought processes. Why affirmative action? Now that a bit of history on affirmative action has been covered, it is important to look at why affirmative action policies should be put into action at your company. Affirmative action would be very beneficial to your company for many reasons. It allows for a more diversified workplace, it is a way to allow all races to have equal rights, it shows that everyone has the ability to be great at their job, that people can be more productive by sharing various thoughts, plans, and ideas for the betterment of not only the company, but themselves as well, regardless of their gender, race, or ethnicity. This company should hire people based on things like their level of experience and skill, and whether they have the aspects necessary for that  position. The hiring process should not be based on the person’s racial or ethnic background, or whether they are a male or a female. People should be comfortable enough that when they apply for a position within your company they do not worry about whether or not they are being discriminated against. All that should matter is that they have the skills necessary to do the job to the best of their ability. Not whether or not they are the proper gender or if they are the right ethnicity. If someone applies for a job at your company, and they feel they may have been discriminated against, and then they ask you about it, if you dont give them a reasonable response or answer them correctly it can cause problems for the company. Whether it be through long bitter court battles, or just the company gains a bad name for even potentially being prejudiced or biased. Employment discrimination against women and minorities is something that has gone on for a very long time. Government reports show that the pay, as well as job opportunities for minorities is smaller than that of white or Caucasian ethnicity ( Bohlander & Snell, 2007). If your company implements affirmative action, it can be beneficial from the outside and inside as well. One thing that needs to be done to begin the action, is to develop a plan. Your company needs to have a written statement showing commitment to the idea of affirmative action. You should look at where the company stands in terms of women and minorities that you have employed. By doing so, it will allow for you to see where changes, if any, need to be made. Once you see where the improvements and changes are, you need to take the right steps to make sure these changes are made. While making these changes, you have to make sure that no other race or gender within your employee base was mistreated, or undervalued in any way due to the affirmative action plan. Equal employment opportunity law According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, all businesses have an obligation to uphold. They are not to judge a potential employee based on ones race, gender, age, etc. This is a very important aspect of affirmative action. You have to make sure that your company understands and follows the  policy ( Bohlander & Snell, 2007). The court system is always interpreting the employment law. If changes are made, then it is the manager of your company’s responsibility to change the company’s employment guidelines to follow the court ruling (Bohlander & Snell, 2007). To help make sure that business do comply with the changes, and anti discrimination laws, the Equal Employment Opportunities Council was established to monitor that the guidelines are being followed (Bohlander & Snell, 2007). Benefits of affirmative action There are many benefits for your company to implementing an affirmative action plan. The employee’s themselves will benefit for instance, because minorities that are employed within your company have the chance to advance up the career ladder, and gain opportunities for promotions that they may not have had a chance of getting before. Your company shouldn’t be made up of one race, one ethnicity, or one gender because you think that one is better than the other. If a person has or gets a job, it should be due to their qualifications and abilities to do the job correctly. Not based on race or gender. The downfalls of affirmative action With almost any argument in favor of something, you are going to have opinions refuting the ideas. Some believe that affirmative action leads to reverse discrimination. That instead of being hired for their qualifications and skill, that they are hired based on religion, race, gender, etc. Opponents feel that it can make people turn against one another. Preventing the downfalls of affirmative action The cons of affirmative action can be avoided as long as your company takes the proper steps. The company needs to look for the best people for the unfilled positions, and do the proper training if needed. To help prevent your employees from feeling as if the only reason they got the job with your company was due to their gender or race, make sure that you let them know they were hired because they had the needed experience or qualifications and therefore they were the best match. It is important to make sure that your company sticks to the plan that was laid out in the beginning, to the affirmative action plan that was developed. You watch over all of your employees, and not just those who are impacted more by the plan, the work environment at your company should stay sustainable and comfortable for all employees. Conclusion Affirmative action would be a great idea for your company. The purpose of this presentation was to show both the pro’s and the con’s of implementing affirmative action within your company, which is hopefully what was done. The main thing to remember here is that the benefits to implementing affirmative action, strongly outweigh the pitfalls. Also, the opposition to the plan can be avoided by following your action plan, and the steps provided for avoidance of those downfalls. It is hoped that you will choose to use the affirmative action policy within your company, as it is something that will most definitely help and payoff in your company’s future. References: Bohlander, G. W., & Snell, S. A., (2007). Managing human resources (14th ed.). Florence, KY: Thomson Learning Higher Education. Nittle, N.K. (n.d.). Key events in affirmative action history. Retrieved from http://racerelations.about.com/od/historyofracerelations/a/TheFiveLandmarkEventsWhichLedtoAffirmativeActionsRise.htm Affirmative action. (2001). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/affirmative-action/

Income Inequality Essay

Nowadays, China has become the second largest economy in the world. The GDP (gross domestic product) of china was growing at 9. 7% per year in average since 1978, which the year of Chinese â€Å"open door† politic founded. China also has become the biggest producer and consumer in many key agricultural and industrial markets and the largest FDI recipient among the developing countries. The performance of china in developing of economy is called â€Å"china’s economic miracle†, which be studied by many economists. However, there are also bad results with the development of economy in china such as environment disruption, corruption and income inequality, which have been seen as important issues to Chinese society and its future economic growth. The income inequality in china The rising income inequality in china is seen as the most important issue to Chinese society and its future economic growth by many economists recently. The income inequality in china is complex and multi-dimensional, which is divided to four aspects that rural-urban income inequality, regional inequality, marginalisation and class formation. The rural-urban income inequality actually has been existed in china since 1949. However, with the economic focus from agriculture shift to industry, the rural-urban income inequality gets large increased from 1984. These data which followed significantly showed the huge increasing of urban-rural income inequality in china Figure 1 Urban and rural incomes per capita (1978-2006) Figure 2 Ratio of urban/rural incomes per capita (1978-2006)  As shown in figure 1, the urban-rural income inequality per capita increased from 200 Yuan at 1978 to about 8,000 Yuan at 2006. The figure 2 also showed about the increasing urban-rural income inequality that the ratio of urban to rural income per capita increased from 2. 5 at 1978 to 3. 3 by 2007 though it lower to 1. 8 at 1984. The regional income inequality is mainly caused by the â€Å"open door† policy. The provinces near coast in china such as Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have geographical advantage to get FDI (foreign direct investment) and export products. At the same time, the Chinese government made these places as special economic zones, which provided preferential tax policy to foreign investors to â€Å"make a few people rich first†. As the figure 3 showed below, the east only accounted for 42. 8% population but get 86. 9% FDI and 92. 6% exports in china. The centre and west just get very little FDI and exports. Therefore, this policy tendency and geographical advantage made a deep gap between regional areas, mainly the southeast and northwest areas. Figure 3 Regional income inequalities in GDP, FDI, and exports in China in 2006  Figure 4 Regional income inequalities in per capita GDP, 1992 and 2007 at current prices As shown in figure 4, the regional income inequality in per capita GDP was not significant in 1992 except few cities like Beijing and shanghai. However, the data showed that in 2007, there is an obvious income inequality per capita GDP between east and west, which the highest number is 7 times to the lowest number. The Marginalisation and class formation are the other important aspects of income inequality in China. Economists usually use the Gini coefficients to describe the income inequality in a significant way. The Gini coefficient can range from 0 to 1; it is sometimes multiplied by 100 to range between 0 and 100. A low Gini coefficient indicates a more equal distribution, with 0 corresponding to complete equality, while higher Gini coefficients indicate more unequal distribution, with 1 corresponding to complete inequality. Generally, the income inequality is acceptable if the Gini coefficient range from 0. 2-0. 4, and we can see the Gini coefficients of China bellowed.

Current management issues in the real world Essay

Current management issues in the real world - Essay Example The author made an initial assessment of the underlying concept that was emphasized upon in the article and then looked into other information available on the same matter (Pfeffer, 2010, p.26). This included an understanding of human capital and what it means to organizations, as well as examples of where layoffs have been used to strengthen the financial position of a company but have had negative effects in the long-term. The author reflected on the subject expressed in the article, by using material from other sources of literature, including online articles that have been published on various blogs and e-magazines. This helped the author gain a strong foundation on the subject matter and allow for the expression of views that affect the managerial issue of layoffs. The issue of layoffs is one that evokes public debate in depth. It is normally seen as the ideal way for making an organization cost-effective and tends to be the first step taking by enterprises when faced with tough financial situations (Baker, 2009). Even the recent downturn in the global markets saw financial service providers along with several other institutions take the step of downsizing the workforce in order to retain their profitability. However, it is not easy for management to make this decision as the chances of any downturn remaining for long remain slim; so when the situation returns to normal, recruitment drives will have to be resumed which in turn could cost the organization a lot more than current outgoings. A recent debate that has arisen discusses whether the decision to lay off employees is ideal for any organization, even when the economy appears to be in standstill or downturn (Pfeffer, 2010, p.24). Companies in the United States over the last few decades have shown a tendency to shed jobs; something quite evident from the auto industry. For most managers, the action of retrenchment appears unavoidable, as there is a general consensus in the cost of employees being the

SQL Injection Vulnerabilities Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

SQL Injection Vulnerabilities - Research Paper Example Exploiting SQL injection vulnerabilities enables an attacker to persistently foist dynamic and storage page content generation that would include malicious code in the attacked site. The visitors to the site may thus be redirected to malicious sites. The SQL injection attack vectors are represented by data passed to the vulnerable web application from the user and which is processed by supporting database. Practically, the most common SQL injection attack vectors arise from the data transmitted through HTTP POST and HTTP GET. Other attack vectors are HTTP User-Agent, HTTP cookie data, and Referer header values. The exploitation of some SQL injection vulnerabilities can be effected through the authentication of unprivileged user accounts, all of which depends on where the application fails in the sanitization of the input. This means that the sites that readily and easily allow the users to create new accounts hold additional risks. The automatic detection of the vulnerabilities of th e SQL injections depends on the heuristics of the behavior of the target application in responding to the specially crafted queries. The techniques involved in the detection heuristics are classified into three categories. The Boolean-based blind SQL injection which includes the supply of multiple valid statements that bears evaluation to true or false in the affected area at the request of HTTP. Through the comparison of the response page between both situations, the success of the injection can be inferred by the tool.

Art history ( romanticism art work) research paper Essay

Art history ( romanticism art work) research paper - Essay Example The painting represents the connection and inherent interaction between nature and human activities. Besides the relationship between human beings activities and nature existence, the painting reflects industrial revolution era between 1800 and 1848. The revolution era resulted from human activities including within the construction and manufacturing industry. The main form of transport during the era remained mainly as horse-driven and walking2. The advent of train resulted into great revolution in the transport sector with ability to maneuver through the world with great speed. However, the revolution era resulted into a contrast between the industrial activities and existence of nature. Turner realized the inherent contrast that existed within the revolution era and nature and painted the art of rain, steam, and speed to depict the difference. It is vital to understand that industrial revolution and trains of the 1800s used carbon fuels that emitted large amounts of dangerous gas emissions and smoke that consequently polluted the atmosphere3. Due to the inherent pollution effects of gas emissions mainly from industrial activities including energy consumption from the train, Turner realized the need to sensitize the society of the contrast. Turner paints agricultural fields around the moving train to assists in explaining the inherent pollution effects of industrial revolution on other human activities. The painting consists of mainly of a train moving on a railway line, agricultural fields on the left side with farmers tilting crops, a bridge, and the nature effects including the escaping hare. As aforementioned, Turner aimed at using atmospheric effect as a component of nature in explaining its relationship with human activities including industrialization and agriculture. The painting remained first exhibited at Royal Academy in 1844. Presently, the painting remains part of the current collection in National

USA Patriot Act Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

USA Patriot Act - Research Paper Example Although the act has found its share of critics but it is also acclaimed that the act is a success in its own way. Patriot Act was enacted upon by the congress by enormous, bipartisan margin, which assisted the Federal officials with new ways to protect the nation from terrorist activities. The act was essentially passed with almost negligible opposition by both the senate and the house. It was also significantly supported by members throughout the political world. The Patriot Act permits the investigators to incorporate the tools that were already present to investigate and solve the problem of organized crime and drug trafficking. Amongst the tools that are highlighted in the act, has long been practiced to counter organized crime, and drug trafficking. It was also reviewed and approved by the courts. As Biden acknowledges, â€Å"the FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. The act permits law enforcement to use the procedure of â€Å"surveillance† to reduce terror activities. As acknowledged originally by the department of justice, the act provides a number of essential suggestions to counter terrorist activities. Amongst them, one of the most primary and significant suggestion was the amendments to Federal surveillance laws. This law ensured the governance of capture and tracking of probable terrorists within the boundaries of the USA. The Federal law is comprised of a three tier system. This system was designed for serving two purposes, namely, ensuring the privacy of personal telephone, and computer communication, while assisting authorities to locate and essentially intercept criminal message (Doyle, 2002, p.5). Prior to the Patriot Act, courts could allow Federal officials to carry on electronic surveillances on petty criminals. The Federal agents could also get wiretaps to investigate into crimes that are frequently committed by terrorists . The act enabled the Federal investigators to accumulated information in all kinds of terrorist activities. The activities included the use of chemical weapons, the assassinations of Americans in America or abroad, and even financing terrorism (JUSTICE, n.d., p.1). The act permits the Federal agents to trace sophisticated terrorist, and trained to avoid detection. Since the past decades, the Federal officials have sought the help of â€Å"roving wiretaps† to solve or investigate petty crimes in the state. The usage of â€Å"roving wiretaps† can be certified a judge to apply to a terror suspect, not on a specific communicating device. This was done as foreign terrorists are sophisticated and effectively trained to escape the surveillance measures of the Federal officials. The section 216, of the Patriot Act permits the authorization of trap and traces devices, and also pen registers to be incorporated in tracing and acquiring information in the case of computer convers ations, as well as telephonic conversations. The usage of pen registers and trace devices was once restricted to only judicial districts were it was permitted to be

Healthy Grief Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Healthy Grief - Essay Example son when faced with pain, still lengthened or severe grief may impose negative effects on a person’s health and may also result in some serious issues. As humans we have the ability of building strong affections, attachments and relationships with others. The breaking of these bonds may result in strong emotion reaction. It is the responsibility of the health care professionals to understand in depth the process of grievance and also provide support to the people undergoing this process and work toward bringing such people back to the normal life. This paper takes into account the comparison between the grief process defined by the writer Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and also the relationship that exists between grief process and joy. Finally the paper ends with defining one’s own method of handling grievance and how my experience has helped me to change my view about it. There are five stages of grief that has been outlined by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross which are anger, bargaining, depression, denial and finally acceptance. Kubler-Ross also explains the fact that not every stage is experienced by every person nor do they experience the discuss stages in the same order. The grievance model presented by the Kubler-Ross is considered effective for the purpose of understanding and also dealing with grief. It is also being used in Europe and United Sates from the medical point of view. However there is no doubt about the fact that the whole coping with grief mechanism can be linked to religion and most significantly with faith. The model present by Kubler-Ross effectively explains the psychological and the technical basis of grievance. However, it fails to explain that why some religions and cultures approach grief in their own different and unique ways. For example in the Holy Bible we see that several times the prophets as well as the apostles have turn to God blaming Him, questioning Him and even bargaining with God out of desperation and despair. The Tibetan Buddhists

Muhammad and the faith of Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Muhammad and the faith of Islam - Essay Example Islam, unlike Christianity which believes in the Holy Trinity (three persons in one God), held the belief in only one God. They criticized Christians as blasphemous and heretics because of their belief in the Holy Trinity. Islam, however, also teaches salvation, judgment, and heaven. Salvation according to Islam decided upon the hands of their god. Judgment, although cannot be predicted, is absolute to happen. Heaven, for Muslims, is place of joy which Christians criticize to be sensual. Like any other religion, Islam has its own restrictions that uphold morality and peace. The successful expansion of the Arabs to Southern Europe, Spain, and the rest of the Western world proved how powerful their faith in Allah has become. Their first conquests were laid in Syria, Egypt, and North Africa. They easily disrupted the powerful Byzantine Empire and eventually conquered their kingdoms. The Arabs continued their successful conquests in Spain and parts of Asia. Christian kingdoms, meanwhile, moved southward in search of larger lands on which to place their growing population. The greatest contribution of Arabs to their conquered lands was the innovation in agriculture. Like Greeks, Arabs also promoted advances in science, mathematics, and medicine. The advances in learning were promoted in the Arab cities. The Arabs were the first to use the word algebra is a mathematical sense. They also introduced the use of the number zero (0) which made calculations simpler. In the area of medicine, Arab physicians translated numerous medical books of Greek origin and used them in medical practice.

Climate and Polar Maritime Air Essay Example for Free

Climate and Polar Maritime Air Essay To what extent is the climate of the British Isles a product of the air masses that affect it? Climate is defined as the weather averaged over a 30 year period, with weather being determined by temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation. The climate in the British Isles is described as cool temperate western maritime climate, although there are regional differences in climate across the British Isles; with average temperatures ranging from -0.2 to 20.9 degrees Celsius. The climate of the British Isles is influenced by the movement of five major air masses. However, it is also influenced by other factors, including its topography, ocean currents, latitude, and weather systems. Firstly, it can be argued that air masses play a large part in the overall climate of the British Isles. Air masses are large bodies of air with reasonably uniform temperature, pressure and humidity throughout. There are five main air masses that influence the climate: tropical maritime(TM), polar maritime (PM), tropical continental (TC), polar continental (PC) and arctic maritime (AM). The direction of the air masses can be seen in the diagram below. Tropical Maritime brings warm moist air from the Atlantic Ocean. This warm air hits areas of high relief in western England and Wales, causing the air to rise, which means clouds form. Areas of high relief in the west of England include Dartmoor and Exmoor. The air is very moist as it is from the ocean, so there is lots of precipitation. This wind is warm, which means that is has a warming affect in the winter, however in the Summer because the land has a lower specific heat capacity, it heats up more than the Atlantic ocean. Therefore it has a cooling affect in summer. Tropical Continental air masses bring hot and dry air in summer. This causes high temperatures with very little precipitation, and is the reason for heat waves in the British Isles. For example the heat wave in July 2013, where temperatures reached 33.5 °C . Polar Maritime air masses bring cold moist winds as they originate from a north westerly direction, over the Atlantic Ocean. This therefore causes very cold wet weather in the British Isles, especially in the westerly parts of the British Isles where there is high relief causing precipitation. Polar Maritime air is dominant over the winter season. Polar Continental air masses originate from high latitudes such as Siberia so therefore bring very cold conditions with them, however as they come from land not ocean, the air masses bring dry conditions. Arctic air  masses originate over the Arctic Ocean where high pressure dominates. The air masses bring extremely cold temperatures, however is only dominant in winter, and sometimes in spring. However this air mass is more likely to affect the climate in Scotland, and northern England, as it has come from a northernly direction. Overall this shows that air masses do play a significant role in the overall climate of the British Isles, however some air masses are more dominant than others in different seasons, and some air masses are dominant in different areas of the British Isles. The climate of the British Isles is also greatly affected by weather systems such as depressions. Mid Latitude depressions are formed over the Atlantic Ocean on the Polar front. They move in an easterly direction across the British Isles. The depressions are low pressure systems that are formed when moist, warm â„ ¢ air meets drier, colder PM air. The warm, moist air is forced upwards, by the colder denser air. The Coriolis effect causes the air to rotate in an anticlockwise direction. The jet stream is also involved as it moves the depression from west to east. The climate associated with depressions is strong winds, clouds and precipitation. However the climate is dependent on which air mass is over the British Isles. Polar maritime air brings average temperatures for the season in winter, around 5 °C-8 °C in January, but cooler temperatures for the summer season, at around 16 °C to 18 °C in July. This air mass also brings lots of precipitation. Tropical maritime air brings humid and mild weather in winter, with temperatures averaging at around 12 °C-14 °C in January. Tropical maritime can also bring thunderstorms , due to the humidity and low pressure. An example of when a depression has greatly affected the British Isles was the Great Storm in 1987. This fast moving depression caused wind speeds of up to 81mph. The British Isles experienced lots of rainfall, and there was even an increase in temperature by 6 °C in places, where the warm front was situated. This shows how depressions can have great impacts on the climate of the British Isles, however this large depression is not common, so does not usually affect the climate. Overall, depressions have a great impact on the climate of the British Isles both in winter and summer, however it can be argued that air masses play an important role in the formation of depressions, so this also shows that air masses indirectly affect the climate. The British  Isles has a latitude between 50 °N and 60 °N. This has a great impact on the climate that it experiences, meaning that the latitude is another factor that will influence the climate of the British Isles. The latitude of an area will affect how much insolation it will receive. This is due to the angle of incidence, which can be see in the diagram below. A larger angle of incidence will mean that the insolation from the sun will only disperse over a small area, whereas a small angle of incidence means the same amount of insolation will be spread over a larger area. At a 30 ° angle, a one wile wide ray of insolation will be dispersed over a two mile radius, whereas an angle of incidence of 90 ° with the same ray of insolation will be dispersed over a one mile radius. Higher latitude have smaller angles of incidence, meaning that they will receive less insolation. Therefore the latitude of the British Isles means that there will be temperate conditions. It is not likely that the British Isles will experience a very hot climate due to the fact that id does not receive enough insolation to heat up the surrounding air and ground. This can be seen if you compare the average yearly temperatures of the British Isles compared to Somalia, which is found at a lower latitude of 2.03 °. The British Isles has an average temperatures ranging from 8.5-11 °C. In contrast Somalia has temperatures around 24-31 °C. This demonstrates how that latitude of an area can greatly impact the temperature, which means it affects the overall climate of the area. This shows that latitude is a factor other than air masses that will impact the climate of the British Isles. Altitude is another factor that influences the climate of the British Isles. On average the air temperature falls by 0.65 °C every 100m rise in altitude. This is due to the fall in pressure as the altitude increases, meaning molecules have less kinetic energy. For example Ben Nevis has a height f 1,344 metres, and has an average annual temperatures of -5 °C, compared to the British Isles which has an average annual temperature of around 8.5-11 °C. This shows that altitude has a direct impact on the temperature of the British Isles, so areas of high altitude in the west of the British Isles, such as Cambrian will have lower temperatures. The altitude of the British Isles will also cause precipitation, as when moist air masses move across areas of high relief, the air masses are forced upwards, where the  cool condense and form clouds. For example in Wales the Cambrian mountains receive over 100mm rainfall per month all year round. This is due to the tropical maritime and polar maritime winds bringing moist air. Overall this shows that altitude can have a large impact on the climate of the British Isles, however air masses are also involved in this, which demonstrates that air masses still play a significant role in the overall climate. Lastly, ocean currents are another factor that have a large impact on the climate of the British Isles. The most significant ocean current is the Gulf Stream, which . Gulf Streams are influenced In conclusion, the climate of the British Isles is a product of air masses so a large extent. Although there are many other factors that also affect the climate, air masses are also involved in these factors, such as the formation of depressions, or the movement of ocean currents. Therefore air masses so also indirectly influence the climate of the British Isles, meaning that they play the most significant role in affecting the climate.

Lord Raglan’s & Hercules Essay Example for Free

Lord Raglan’s Hercules Essay Lord Raglan’s gave Hercules an outstanding 17 points on his hero scale pattern. This scale classifies the parallel characteristics of most mythical heroes. Overall, the similarities of Hercules to other heroes is the fact that he is the son of a god, there was an intent of killing him during birth, he once wandered in a place away form his family, and won battles with abominable creatures (Raglan, 1998). William Burkert, in years of evaluating mythical heroes, found a pattern on the makings of a fictional icon. Particularly the idea of a hero being a master or mistress of animals has won over the side of hunters which is possibly of a Paleolithic origin. In the story of Hercules this is apparent in most of the Twelve Labors he battled. Hercules’ first task is to kill the Nemean Lion and to bring back its skin. He later found out that arrows are useless in fighting the mighty beast. With his pure strength, he grasped the lion with his own bare hands and choked him to death. His second labor is to slay the Lernaean Hydra, a monstrous snake with nine heads living in the murky waters of Lerna. Every time Hercules got the chance to cut off one head, another one will grow in its place. He them commissioned the help of Iolaus in holding a torch every time Hercules cut off one head. Then after, Hercules finally disposed of the monster for good. Other examples of Hercules as master of animals can be stressed in the third to eighth labor, as follows: †¢ Capture the Ceryneian Hind †¢ Capture the Erymanthian Boar †¢ Slay the Stymphalian Birds †¢ Capture the Cretan Bull †¢ Steal the Mares of Diomedes In Greeks official religion, this may be deemed as somehow similar to folklore. Burkert detected a recurrent pattern in some of the actions and behavior of Greek heroes. This particular pattern includes youth, defloration, threat by a close relative, finding a partner, giving birth and finally, retribution. Another pattern is a relevant scapegoat in most hero storylines. (Burkert, 1979) Hercules (also referred to as Herakles and Alcides) was a Roman-Greek hero popular because of his strength and bravery. He is the half-god, half-mortal son of the powerful Zeus (Jupiter) and the Alceme. This identity of Hercules is similar to Catholic patron God, Jesus, who is also both human and divine. When Hera, Zeus’ goddess wife, heard about the birth of Hercules she was madly jealous about him. She sent two serpents to kill the young Zeus in his crib. Exhibiting valor and incredible strength, even as a child, Hercules killed the serpents all by himself. This display of power can be compared to the Bible hero Samson. Unlike Samson, who gains his vigor with his long hair, Hercules has an inherent strength that is within him ever since his first breathe. During his youth, an important decision during his lifetime is choosing between the life of virtue and the life of pleasure. A hard question posed to him by the goddess Aphrodite and Athena. The young hero decided to lead a life of virtue. This is a unique path to lead. This is in contrast to revered Indian icon, Gautam Buddha, who lived the life royalty and pleasure in his father’s palace when he was a child. Hercules welcomes struggle and hardships of life, with a strong belief that glory and true happiness comes along with it. Hercules then married Megara and the fruit of their love gave them children. Hera, still enraged about the very existence of Hercules, used all her powers to drive Hercules mad. In his insanity, he unknowingly killed his children and wife. Once he regained his insanity, he asked Oracle and Delphi on how he can compensate for what he did. He was instructed to serve the Eurystheus, the King of Tiryns, for twelve years. He is then ordered to carry out Twelve Labors to attain a peaceful soul again. During his quest, he was endowed with the virtue of courage, strength, and wisdom. His journey was quite similar to the long and tedious adventure of Odysseus. Traveling different land and voyaging the waters. He completed his tasks and redeemed his integrity and good soul. With such an exemplar accomplishment, he was then crowned a seat in the place of gods in Olympus. In his ascend to Olympus, he left all his mortal characteristics on earth and was born again with all divinity. Hercules the reconciled with Hera and lived peacefully as a family with this divine father, Zeus (Loewen,1998). Works Cited Burkert, Walter. Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual. University of California Press, 1979 Loewen, Juvenile. Hercules. Capstone Press, 1998 Raglan, Fitzroy Richard. The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama. Somerset: Courier Dover Publications, 2003

Climate Change Mitigation To Adaptation And Resilience Environmental Sciences Essay

Climate Change Mitigation To Adaptation And Resilience Environmental Sciences Essay Recent studies on climatic science suggest that our climate does not increase or decrease in a steady and slow pace as we once thought (Parry, et al. 2007). Rather, it changes abruptly over a short period due to a combination of natural or external forcing and anthropological factors (Parry, et al. 2007). However, the most compelling issue regarding climate change is not its main contributing agent but the reality that our climate is indeed or will inevitably change and that we have to do something in response to that change. In its fourth assessment report (AR4) in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) acknowledges that by the turn of the century our ecosystem will be overwhelmed by unprecedented combination of climate change and natural disasters such as flooding, wildfire and insect infestation, and other anthropogenic global change drivers such as land-use change, over pollution and over extraction of natural resources. The impact and magnitude of these disru ptions would take a costly toll on food security, water supply, health and the economy especially on settlements in low lying areas such as coastal and flood plains where most rapid urbanization in many developing countries is taking place. This is compounded by the fact that these will leave urban poor communities, which are usually in high concentration on those areas, highly vulnerable and unable to deal with these changes due to their limited adaptive capacity. This research explores the need to shift the current emphasis of climate change agenda on developing countries from mitigation to adaptation and resilience. It also relates the current trends in urban adaption on climate change concerning global perspective of international communities and the perspective of local state actors. It further explores the growing interests on utilizing resilience principles on top of conventional adaptation measures on its potency to address uncertainties that adaptation plans are not able to predict and account for. Research Problem I am studying how the practices and characteristics of low-lying and coastal urban poor communities in Metro Manila, which are perennially exposed to climatic stresses, make them sensitive or resilient to climate change, and to what extent these attributes able to contribute to the communities climate resiliency. While many studies point out that urban poor communities are one the highest vulnerable to climate change and ASLR, very few studies have actually been made that assess their needs for resilience. Without sufficient information regarding adaptation strategies to climate change, urban planners and managers are bound to haphazardly develop action plans in response to climate change. By exploring the strengths and limitations of these practices, this research aims to provide a better understanding on how urban planners and managers could improve upon these practices in addressing the residual effects of climate variability. Research Questions Vulnerability What are the effects of unpredictable climate variability to low-lying and coastal urban communities? Resilience What are the intrinsic characteristics of the barangay that makes them resilient to climate change? What indicators can be used to assess climate resilience at the barangay level? What are the national programs, policies and plans that aim to directly enhance climate change resilience and to what extent do these address issues of resilience at the barangay level? Implications What are the implications of the results of this study to urban planning and management at the city level and, concurrently, at the barangay level? Research Objectives To explore the characteristics of vulnerable urban settlements with respect to unpredictable climate variability To explore the climate resilient characteristics of communities The describe the extent of these characteristics in degrading and/or enhancing the resilience of urban communities To explain the validity of existing literature on generally accepted indicators for climate change resilience at the community level To evaluate how the results of this study could influence decision-making at the local level Scope and Limitations The study will involve the vulnerability and resilience assessment of two urban barangays in Metro Manila or in the Greater Manila Area, one with CBRM and the other with no CBRM. Further, the selection barangays is limited by the availability of required secondary data for the assessment. The study shall cover social, economic and environmental indicators linked to vulnerability and resilience based on the studies of Ibarrarà ¡n et al. (2009) on VRIM and Cutter (2008) on DROP. Limitations are directly derived from the limitations of the assessments models as acknowledged by their authors. Literature Review Responding to climate change necessitates a two-pronged approach: decreasing amount of GHG emissions will while at the same time addressing the impacts that are already manifested on vulnerable populations. Whether by merit good or by the financial prospects of clean development mechanism projects, a significant number of mitigation programs have already been implemented all over the even among countries that are non-Annex I party to UNFCCC (Chandler, et al. 2002) (UNFCCC 2010). Reduction of carbon emissions and carbon footprint are widely associated nowadays with climate change and became new buzzwords in media literature. These positively reflect on the existing attitude towards global commitment in reducing target GHG emissions. Adaptation, on the other hand, receives less media mileage and more or less the same attention from international assistance community in the form of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the bilateral and multilateral donors (Hayes 2006) due to its fu zzy nature. While this study does not discount the fact of the fundamental import of reducing global GHG emissions to their natural assimilation levels, it tries to highlight the increasing urgency of adapting to climate change. Fà ¼ssel (2007) posits four arguments which presuppose the emerging need for climate change adaptation: (1) the effects of anthropogenic GHG emissions are already felt on recent history of climatic extremes and unprecedented variability, (2) climate records from fossil data show that climate changed periodically in the past and will continue to do so indefinitely, (3) GHG continuous to accumulate so do the rate of global warming, (4) the effectiveness of adaptation programs implemented whether locally and/or regionally are not easily influenced by other strategic actions, and (5) there is a growing momentum of interest among development organizations to fund climate adaptation programs as reflected by the growing number of climate change assessment techniques. Hayes (20 06) adds that unlike mitigation measures, adaptation measures have always been practiced by societies and governments in responding to climate variability. While this makes it difficult to separate it from for those done in response or in anticipation to anthropogenic induced climate change, it is also in the realm of familiarity for many related professions and state actors. Many civilizations have learned to deal with the climate constraints overtime, usually in response to lack of water resources during dry periods (e.g., Egyptians Nile River irrigation system, Roman aqueduct, Mesopotamian dams) or the exceeding abundance of it during rainy season (Venetian Grand Canal, floating villages in Thailand and Cambodia). Fussel and Klein (2006) also points out the difficulty in monitoring the results and impacts of adaptation programs in aiding its intended beneficiary. There is a significant degree of uncertainty to what extent is the program able to reduce the impact of climate change . This raises a concern among international funding institutions as development programs necessitate a certain measure that ensures their effectiveness. Moreover, while mitigation measures done local level is generally considered to have a global impact, the same cannot be said for adaptation strategies that have a more localized benefit (Hayes 2006). Ironically, those who are least able to pay for it local communities from poor and under developed countries, suffer the brunt of costs by climate change. UNFCCC estimated that by 2030 the total investment and financial flows needed for adaptation is about $49-171 billion, of which $28-67 billion are needed by developing countries alone (UNFCCC, 2007). Emergence of resilience Climate change adaptation refers to a broad range of initiatives and measures that reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems against actual or expected climate change effects such as (Metz, et al. 2007). Adaptation to climate change occurs as a response to an extreme event that exceeds the normal coping range of a system. It reacts and anticipates to these shocks continuously, given that the system is given sufficient capability, time and resources to cope up increasing its adaptive capacity. The context of adaptation is influenced by the climate-sensitive domain under study, types of climate hazard present, certainty of climate change models, on-climatic conditions in the form of political, economic, cultural and other environmental forcings, purposefulness, timing, planning horizon, form whether technical, institutional, legal or otherwise; and the actors involved. Due to its diverse context, there is no single approach to adaptation. It may take in the form or combina tion of anticipatory and reactive measures, private and public domains, and autonomous and planned measures. As stated before, many forms adaptation measures are not new. It incorporates well-established disciplines already practiced in the realm of regional and urban planning such as coastal resource management, disaster risk management, and integrated flood management. It is also present in public health management and advances in agricultural science research in developing pest/drought/flood resistant crops. However, we should also consider that some aspects of climate change adaptation arose very recently in contemporary history. Further elaborating on this papers introduction, our world have are starting to experience unprecedented climate conditions and extremes at an unprecedented rate of change. This limits the ability of many ecological systems and human communities to cope and adapt with changes. Further, the domain of identified climate sensitive receptors is continually expanding, necessitates the involvement of disciplinary approaches and actors not traditionally involved with regional-local planning and development such as gender, mathematics, communication, sociology, atmospheric sciences. Recent advances in climatic sciences also offer decision-makers and planners critical and timely information on determining the extent, magnitude, origin and, to some extent, the trajectory of climate induced impacts that are not available before. However, these new developments also bring with discoveries also pits traditional approaches to local climate variability with the more complex dynamics global climate change. Access to better prediction models also exposes limitations of adaptation structures in resolving uncertainties which results from sudden and extreme changes. Most urban planners and policy makers take into account the risk of natural disasters such as storms, flood and earthquake and by extension climate change. However, it is often in the light of natural catastrophic disaster such as floods, tsunamis and typhoons. It is less seen in the context of t he multiple hazards of an ever-changing climate to food security, health, disruptions to ecological balance and increasing vulnerabilities of urban centers. At the heart of these issues is the enabling capability to alleviate these uncertainties which is compounded by the nature of climate change: (1) it crosses local, national and global boundaries; (2) its effects are felt for many decades or even centuries; (3) overlaps and interacts with many layers of ecological systems; (4) it is a highly dynamic process whose domain entrenches social, economic and environmental spheres easily a sustainability issue. Adaptation measures are only effective if it is able to account and anticipate the magnitude of shock it is designed to suppress. Effective adaptation policies are developed by decision makers based on available prediction data. Uncertainties in these cases could lead to overestimation, which wastes valuable resources that could be allocated to other tasks, underestimation which exposes them to the risk of overwhelming impact (Barnett 2001), ignorance of a calamity that will hit them or indeterminate and prolonged exposure to climatic stress. There are many approaches to climate change adaptation in current literature; one of the more prevalent approaches is through increasing the resilience of systems, both human and ecological. Strengthening of resilience aims to increase a systems ability to cope with shocks, prolonged disturbances and unknown/wildcard forcings. Resilience is a measure of the ability of systems to absorb changes of state variables, driving variables and parameters (Holling 1973). These systems are able reorganize by undergoing change while retaining essentially the same function, structure, identity and feedbacks (Walker, et al. 2004). Resilience is not simply a return-to-original-state process. In the realm of social-ecological system, by extension the urban environment, Walker et al. (2004) further relates resilience to adaptability and transformability, the capacity to create a fundamentally new system when ecological, economic, or socio-political conditions make the existing system untenable. A citys resilience to climate change is therefore defined by its capacity to continuously respond, withstand the effects of climate variability, and still function organically. Resilience to climate change requires urban governments to display the following characteristics: decentralization and autonomy, accountability and transparency, responsiveness and flexibility, participation and inclusion and experience and support (Tanner, et al. 2009). A study on the role of local government units on climate change adaptation in the province of Albay, Philippines revealed that communities experiencing frequent and severe climate hazards are more aware and responsive to the need climate change adaptation on (Lasco, et al. 2008). This is supported by the presence of political will and the numerous policies, programs and projects (PPPs) that the provincial government has enacted and implemented. Working with adaptation programs at a mesoscale or provincial scale was also found to be more cost-e ffective than having to delegate it to smaller and more numerous municipalities. Place-based resilience vs. person-or-household-based resilience This research body builds upon the arguments presented by Adger (2003) in his paper on social capital, collection action and adaptation. He posits that communities, especially in developing countries, are focal points of social collective action and social capital building necessary for increasing adaptive capacity at the local level. In the Philippines, barangays are the smallest political administration unit entrusted by the government to promote social, economic and environmental welfare. Barangays are also tapped in most local development projects. Moreover, it also forms as the social circle of its inhabitants. However, it should be cautioned that the barangays do not necessarily draw community boundaries. Due to its political nature as an administrative unit, barangay is chosen as the scale for this study due to potential available secondary data from documents and reports from both public and private institutions. Adger (2003) also highlighted three lessons that are further explored in this study: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦adaptive capacityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ has culture and place-specific characteristics that can be identified only through culture and place- specific research. there are the institutional prerequisites for the evolution and persistence of collective action and its relative importance compared to state intervention institutional theories of social capital provide a means to generalize the macro level determinants of adaptive capacity In light of these arguments, while this study shall be looking at the resilience of the community or the barangay as a whole, it will take in to account both place-based and person-based induced resilience as well as the influence of macro level policies that aim to enhance local adaptive capacity. Winnick (1966) and Bolton (1992) discusses the conflict and significance of place prosperity and people prosperity in the development of national policies that aims to assist to individuals and places. Measuring Resilience It is important to note that measuring resilience (and adaptive capacity) is a complicated issue that is largely unresolved. The resilience concepts presented above is just a sample of what is currently available in literature. Differences in data types (physical/social, quantitative/qualitative), temporal and spatial scales, and view on what variable and what receptors are critical produce different approaches to resilience building. Wardekker et al. (2009) summarizes the above characteristics of a resilient system into the following six principles listed in the table below. Table 2à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ: Principles and characteristics of a resilient system Principles Characteristics Homeostasis multiple feedback loops counteract disturbances and stabilize the system Omnivory vulnerability is reduced by diversification of resources and means High flux a fast rate of movement of resources through the system ensures fast mobilization of these resources to cope with perturbations Flatness the hierarchical levels relative to the base should not be top-heavy. Overly hierarchical systems with no local formal competence to act are too inflexible and too slow to cope with surprise and to rapidly implement non-standard highly local responses. Buffering essential capacities are over-dimensioned such that critical thresholds in capacities are less likely to be crossed Redundancy overlapping functions; if one fails, others can take over Source: Adapted from Operationalising a resilience approach to adapting an urban delta to uncertain climate change by Wardekker, et al. (2009) Another method for measuring resilience is proposed by Malone and Brenkert (2008) and Moss et al. (2000) using a vulnerability-resilience indicator model (VRIM). The said model utilizes a comprehensive framework that goes beyond the analysis of hazards exposure at the same time taking into account location based factors of resilience. VRIM is a four-tier model: (1) resilience index from sensitivity and adaptive capacity, (2) vital sectors (human, economy, environment), (3) proxy variables for each sector; and (4) scenario projection. Malone and Brenkert (2008) point out that the said model, as with many indicator based research, is not able to account for the function of demographic and social characteristics. Shaw et al. (2009) also proposed a similar approach but on a city scale. They developed a Climate Disaster Resilience Index that tries to account for the localized effects of climate-induced disasters, such as cyclone, flood, heat wave, drought and heavy rainfall induced landslide. The model assessed overall resilience based on natural, physical, social, economic and institutional resilience. Cutter et al. (2008) provides an attempt in integrating these unaccounted socioeconomic characteristics by proposing a new framework for measuring disaster resilience called disaster resilience of place (DROP) model. The said model improves upon the existing comparative assessment for disaster resilience at the community level. Their seminal paper in 2008 provides an initial candidate set of variables that will be used in the model. The model has three limitations: (1) it is specifically designed to address natural hazards; (2) it focuses on community-level resilience; (3) it focuses on social resilience of places; and (4) it does not into account national policies and legislations that may have significant influence of on community resilience. The model measures inherent vulnerability and resilience of the community using the following indicators: ecological, social, economic, institutional, infrastructure, and community competence. As of the papers publication, the model proposed w as not yet operationalized. The authors also suggest on improving and standardizing the initial set of indicators. Adaptation planning in Southeast Asia Lao PDR, Cambodia, Myanmar Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore National adaptation planning in the Philippines Existing Policies (CAA, CWA, ESWM, Rainwater (RA 6716) Recently passed CC law and recently signed National Framework on Climate Change Initiatives (CCCI Sorsogon, Albay, Malabon) Assessments (EEPSEA, Manila Observatory, IACCC, Sales) Gaps A recent project of UN Habitat in the Sorsogon City, Sorsogon, Philippines on promoting community resilience reflects the still-prevailing needs of many cities in developing countries (1) enabling capacity to implement measures in combating contemporary issues such as climate change; and (2) strong public involvement at all levels of planning, decision-making process and implementation. The latter case being largely solved (or at least in the process of being solved) already at least in countries where there is a strong presence of internationally denominated donor agencies. The former however is still largely unresolved. This is clearly echoed by the development priorities on capacity building and technical assistance from international assistance mentioned. Prioritizing the acquisition of knowledge and skills is clearly the first step in the effort of achieving climate change resilience. This, together with the strengthening of organic links within the city further inspires local cooperative action. Further, while it is one of the most essential parts for climate adaptation action, it is also one of the easiest to implement technically and financially. These effort necessitates only the participation of the vulnerably populations (which is a sufficient incentive given the perceived threat) and political willingness and resolve of local authorities (vulnerable populations are also potential voters). Local governments, such as Sorsogon City, as pointed out by Lasco et al. (2008), which are often exposed to the climate-induced hazards are those who are more readily aware to the needs of climate change, yet are unable to respond due to their limited set of knowledge and skills. Urban Planning Management and resilience Urban planning and management has big role, nay, it has the central role in building urban climate resiliency. Already illustrated in the examples given in the previous section are domains such as effective land use, public transport systems and housing on which urban planning are already championed in the circles of environmental sustainability, equity, economic development and climate change. On the other hand, there are also domains which are new (or whose responsibility is not often relegated or less visible) with urban planning such as energy, water and food security. Sourcing (or outsourcing) of these three sectors are often outside urban governance. These are often nationally or regionally shared resource and are also largely dealt with by such authorities. But then again, with the increasing need for resilience from external shocks brought by oil crisis, prolonged drought, food-biofuel competition, flood and other man-made and natural calamities, cities should start focusing on developing alternative options for these three sectors. This concept evades urban planning and management cultures even in many developed cities that are still highly reliant on resources taken outside (city as a parasite). Urban climate resilience is the marriage of urban management and governance, both old and new, which is of an advantage as it is already in the sphere of familiarity. It is wrong, however, to assume that climate resilience is just about semantics and simply a repackaging of existing concepts. Climate change resilience puts these concepts into perspective. It gives us a framework that guides us coherently toward securing sustained and uninterrupted city development that is responsive to the growing threats of climate change. In an age of unprecedented extremes in climate variability, selective and compartmental adaptation measures for climate change, marred with the inability to respond to uncertainties and ignorance of unforeseen calamities, only give misguided notion of resolution and maybe suspect to failure. Methodology The proceeding section discusses the specific aims and the methodologies of this research. Type of Research This research uses mixed method approach. It is a primarily qualitative study but augmented and validated by quantitative approaches as well. The qualitative approach aims to: Explore the characteristics of vulnerable urban settlements with respect to unpredictable climate variability. Determine the perceived effects of climate change. It aims to map out economic and livelihood fabrics and determine how these dependencies strengthen or weaken the communities resilience. Explore the climate resilient characteristics of communities with respect to their inherent capacities and local practices Describe the extent of these characteristics in degrading and/or enhancing the resilience of urban communities Evaluate how the results of this study could influence decision-making at the local and meso level The quantitative approach of this study aims to: Describe the effects of climate variability on the urban community using indicator-based measurement tools Explain the validity and limitations of existing literature on generally accepted indicators for climate change resilience at the community level Methodological Framework Research Instruments Unstructured interviews Key informant interviews (semi-structured) Review of published reports and public documents Livelihood mapping/zoning Onsite observations FGD Analysis Instruments Research Question Critical Information Set Data Sources Data Collection Techniques What are the effects of unpredictable climate variability to low-lying and coastal urban communities? Flood data Health records Mortality rate Other effects identified/perceived by respondents (exploratory) News articles Journal articles Published reports Key informant and respondents account Communities accounts Public documents and reports Documentation Analyses of published accounts/reports and public documents Unstructured interviews FGDs What makes these communities vulnerable to climate change? Settlement/infrastructure sensitivity Food security Ecosystem sensitivity Human health sensitivity Water resource sensitivity Economic and livelihood fabric Key informant accounts News articles Published reports Public documents and reports Journal articles Documentation Analyses of published accounts/reports and public documents Key informant interviews On site observations Livelihood mapping/zoning What are the intrinsic characteristics of the community that makes them resilient to climate change? Community competence Social networks and social embeddedness Community values-cohesion Institutional capacity Economic capacity Human civic resources Access to vital infrastructure and services Institutional capacity Social capital Indigenous practices Key informant and respondents account Communities accounts Observation News articles Published reports Public documents and reports Documentation Analyses of published accounts/reports and public documents Unstructured interviews FGDs Attitude surveys Key informant interviews On site observations What are the national programs, policies and plans that aim to directly enhance climate change resilience? Number and nature of strategic actions (PPPs) Public documents and reports Authorative reports and analyses regarding these PPPs Key informant interviews with experts Analyses of published accounts/reports and public documents Key informant interviews What are the implications of the results of this study to urban planning and management? Results of the study Expert judgment Study area The study shall be conducted on two communities located in Metro Manila or in Greater Manila Area: (1) urban barangay located on the coastal zone with CBRM and (1) urban barangay located along the coast with NO CBRM. The barangays can be selected from already-identified vulnerable cities or communities from existing studies of Perez et al. (1996), Sales (2009), EEPSEA and others.

Case Study of Bolivar and Contemporary Greek Mythology Essay -- Nikos

The excessive element of the hero in both the poetic and artistic expression of Nikos Engonopoulos: The case study of â€Å"Bolivar† and the contemporary revival of Greek mythology It is, I think, in itself an heroic act to speak today of heroes and heroic excession in an era that is characterized as anti heroic. In earlier times – much earlier than the nineteenth century – the history of human achievement was not conceived of as anything but the history of heroic deeds which the distinguished dared to undertake and successfully managed to execute (J.P.Vernant 1989: 145) and whose memory is still alive. But, nowadays, achievement is considered to be the transient personal flaunting in fields such as politics, economics, athletics and entertainment. Those people, indeed, inspire admiration bordering on deification, reverence, in other words, equal to the admiration for heroes of earlier times, adoration of idols. Our time is antiheroic, a time in which idols have substituted for heroes and the necessity for selfassertion and personal benefit wins over this collective development. However, the question still remains as to the excess in human potential and the choices confronting an adventurous temperament extinguishing or at least neglecting fear in the face of danger. No matter how extraordinary and insane it might be, very often, heroic behaviour continues to enchant. This happens, possibly, because of the element of excess which is characterised, more than at any other time, by a convergence of the desire of modern man not to be hemmed in by individual â€Å"musts† of the technological civilization and a desire to return to the charm of the fairy-tales of his childhood years. This effort to accept the reality is neve... ...nica Mc Goldrick, 1995. 16. Todorov Tzvetan, 1995, Les abus de la memoire, Arlea, Paris. 17. Gellner Ernest, 2002, Nationalism, Alexandria Athens. B. Articles 1. Engonopoulos Nikos, May 1956, Zygos, â€Å"Are there common points of contact between modern art and the ideal of Greek art?†, Athens. 2. Friar Kimon, 1978, Modern poetry, â€Å"Simon and Schuster†, New York. 3. Gonzales F., 1976, Collection Voix, Maspero,  « Battle, N. Engonopoulos, Bolivar, Introduction, traduction et postface », Paris. 4. Vasiliou A ., 1978, Modern thought, 20, â€Å"Engonopoulos – Empirikos and Greek surrealism†, Athens. 5. Diamantopoulou Evangelia, May 2000, Elelef, 3, â€Å" Fear and fearless heroes in Theophilos Hadjimichail’ s paintings†, Athens. 6. Diamantopoulou Evangelia, 2002, Anef, 5, â€Å"Aphrodite, goddess of ancient Greece, goddess of the sea: the artistic proposal of Theophilos†, Cyprus.

Comparing the Nazis and the Party of George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Fo

Similarities between Nazis and the Party of 1984    The government of Nazi Germany greatly resembled the Party, the government in 1984. Both operated similarly and had similar aims. Anything either government did was an action for maintaining power. Both the Nazis and the Party maintained similar ideologies, controlled mass media, educated children in their beliefs, had a secret police force, and had forced labor camps. Both governments used each of these methods maintain power and control over the people. Nazis and the Party had very similar ideologies. Although Nazis eliminated people because of their religion (Sauer 683) and the Party eliminated people because of their anti-Party feelings (Orwell 187), they both tried to eliminate anyone who did not agree with them. This practice was essential for controlling the masses and holding on to power. Retaining power is much easier for a government when the entire population that government rules agrees with its philosophies. No one would attempt to remove the current government from power if he or she agreed with that government. Control of the media was another very effective means of controlling a population. The Nazis established a ministry of propaganda on March 13, 1933 (Sauer 678). This office controlled all media, such as books, newspapers, and films ("Modern World History: Nazi Germany"). The Ministry of Truth was an essential factor in perpetuating the beliefs of the Party and did the same as the Nazis' propaganda ministry (Orwell 39). By controlling any and all mass media, both governments more easily controlled the ideas of the people. If someone were never exposed to a certain idea or belief by the media, most likely he or she would not imagine that idea on h... ...Times 20 October 2001: Overseas News 21. "Modern World History: Nazi Germany." British Broadcasting Corporation. 27 November 2001 < http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/modern/nazi/nazihtm.htm >. Orwell, George. 1984. New York, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1949. Sauer, Wolfgang. "Germany." Encyclopedia Americana. 2001.       OUTLINE The government of Nazi Germany greatly resembled the Party, the government in 1984, as both were very power-hungry governments. I. System of government A. A. Nazi and Party ideology B. B. Propaganda and control of media II. Children A. Education of children B. Youth organizations III. Prisoners and concentration camps A. The Gestapo and the Thought Police B. Disappearance and re-education of people C. Concentration and extermination camps      

Critical Thinking, Apple Inc.

APPLE INC 2 Voted as the most innovative company for three consecutive years during 2006-2008 and voted as America’s number 1 most Admired Company (McGregor, 2008), Apples faces a major challenge to continue growth at this level. Describe two factors you think Apple should consider as the company develops long-term strategy for growth. I think that as Apple continues to move forward with out the guiding force that was Steve Jobs, they have to consider the impact that competitors are going to have on their market share.There are now several competing devices similar to the iPhone, iPod, and iPad in the market place now. Apple will have to continue the tradition of innovation, and homegrown product development to stay on top. With new leadership, comes new ways of doing things. Even though the new CEO of Apple inc, Tim Cook is a Steve Jobs protege, he will have his own style, and it remains to be seen how much of an impact that is going to have in the future. For the moment Appl e seems to be doing just fine. Current earnings over this period a year ago are up. (Apple Inc. 2012)If Apple were to build a balanced scorecard, what two objectives do you think should be included in the learning and growth perspective? â€Å"In a knowledge-worker organization, people — the only repository of knowledge — are the main resource. †(Balanced Score Card Institute, 2012) Apple should continue to ensure the professional development of its managers and engineers. The talents of these people have brought Apple to where it is today. Product development should be another objective. Apple inc. has been doing things right (for them) for quite awhile now.Their ability to innovate, and develop products that are simple to use has been one of the keys to their success. APPLE INC. 3 References: Balanced Score Card Institute. (2012),Balanced Score Card Institute- A Strategy Management Group Company Retrieved June 10, 2012 from: http://www. balancedscorecard. org/ BSCResources/AbouttheBalancedScorecard/tabid/55/Default. aspx Apple Inc. (2012) Apple Inc. Retrieved June 10, 2012 from: http://www. apple. com/pr/library/2012/04/24Apple-Reports-Second-Quarter-Results. html

Online tourism information management system

Introduction Nowadays, tourism Is one of the most Important Industries globally for many social, economic, technological, and geopolitical reasons. It presents an actual high quantitative and qualitative growth dynamics and potential, with substantial contribution to the global economy and employment, as it is the largest Job provider on the planet. Information is very crucial in tourism sector so it has been among the first to exploit new technologies and innovations. 1. 1 Background of the project Tourism Is one of the major contributors In the economy of Cube City.The city appends to be one of the most popular destination for travelers In the Philippines. Cube City Is largely known as Queen City. Cube has plenty of tourist attractions that encourages tourists to enter and explore the city. Some tourists may have a difficult time traveling in the city due to a lack of virtual representations of the city that may lead to an enjoyable stay. Tourists should have a virtual tourist guid e in traveling inside Cube Island to assist them in every destination they ought to go.To assist Tourists in traveling inside Cube, the researchers proposed to develop an inline tourism information management that allows tourists to search their preferred destination and the system will locate it via map. The system will also provide list of accommodations and transportation guides for the tourist In order to provide an easy way traveling in Cube. Also, the system will provide website links of hotels, restaurants, car rentals, and beach resorts companies so that tourists will be able to reserve online. 1. 2 Project objectives 1. . 1 General objectives This study aims to develop an online tourism information management for tourists in Cube to provide an interactive virtual tourists guide that may assist tourists in traveling in the city. 1. 2. 2 Specific objectives Specifically the study aims to: system; To analyses data gathered; 2) To create a system design based on the data gather ed; 3) To develop the proposed system; 4) To test and evaluate the developed system; and 5) To implement the developed online tourism information management system. 1. Significance of the project This project is significant in promoting tourism in Cube and to provide tourists a reliable information that may assist them traveling within Cube. This part of the project discusses about the benefits of creating the system to the following: Students The students can benefit from the system because it will provide additional knowledge in their chosen field. This will also help students in their further projects. Tourists The tourists can benefit from the system because it will provide a decent information and guide for traveling and staying in Cube.Local government The Local government can benefit from the system for it will help to directly boost tourism in the place. Not only that, this will increase the number of people employed. As a whole this will improve the local economy for it wil l become more industrialized. Business The businesses such as hotels, restaurants, beach resorts, and malls can benefit from the system for it will help gaining more customers that can rapidly increase their respective profits. 1. Scope and limitations of the project This project mainly focused on providing travelers and tourists a virtual tourism information management system that would allow them to search their destinations on a virtual map. The proposed system would make tourists find a simpler way to get information and guidance traveling in the city. The project aimed to develop an online tourism information management system to help boost tourism in Cube and to assist travelers and tourists in traveling in Cube.With the proposed online tourism management information system, the user can search and locate their desired destinations. Provided by website links of hotels, car rentals, restaurants, and beach resorts company, they can make reservations directly in a minimal time fr ame in these companies. Moreover, the system will provide a more efficient and interactive way of giving information and assistance to the users n terms of traveling in Cube. The proposed system will provide an overview of the region and its attractions. The weapon is user friendly when it comes to LU design. Assist tourists traveling in Cube.The system does not include online reservations and payments instead it will provide website links of companies that has these kind of transactions to help tourists find accommodations. Chapter II Review of related literature One of the essential factors to consider to have a better view of the project and to have a better evaluation on the project's functionalities, related literature, studies ND works should reviewed, analyses and studied. According to Chou (2004), Tourists need new sources of information in order to help them plan their trips and choose between alternatives tourist destinations.Because it is an information-rich industry, it depends on finding and developing new means to distribute travel and hospitality products and services, marketing information to consumers and providing comfort and convenience travelers. Tourism Management According to Upon (1993) and Sheldon (1997), Technological progress and tourism have been going hand in hand for years. Since the sass, Information Communication Technologies (Acts) have been transforming tourism globally. Developments in Acts have undoubtedly changed both business practices and strategies as well as industry structures (Porter, 2001).The establishment of the Computer Reservation Systems (Cars) in the sass and Global Distribution Systems (Gigs) in the late sass, followed by the development of the Internet in the late sass, have transformed the best operational and strategic practices in the industry dramatically (Bilabials, 2003; business [email  protected], 2006; Emmer, Tack, Wilkinson, & Moore, 1993; O'Connor, 1999). If the past 20 years have seen an emphasis on technology per SE, then since the year 2000 we have been witnessing the truly transformational effect of the communications technologies.This has given scope for the development of a wide range of new tools and services that facilitate global Tourism as an international industry and as the biggest provider of Jobs on the planet boasts a greater array of heterogeneous stakeholders than many other industries. The energetic growth and development of the industry are perhaps only mirrored by the growth of Acts. The accelerating and synergistic interaction between genealogy and tourism in recent times has brought fundamental changes in the industry and on our perceptions of its nature.The significance of crossing the new information threshold of universal, ubiquitous communications access has brought the entire tourism industry to the new levels of interactivity, propelling management by wire. Increasingly, Acts play a critical role for the competitiveness of tourism organizations an d destinations as well as for the entire industry as a whole (UNTO, 2001). Developments in search engines, carrying capacity and speed of networks eave influenced the number of travelers around the world that use technologies for planning and experiencing their travels.Acts have also changed radically the efficiency and effectiveness of tourism organizations, the way that businesses are conducted in the marketplace, as well as how consumers interact with organizations (Bilabials, 2003). There have been many new entrants among the players on the tourism stage, shifts in market share and balance of power, changes in political perceptions of tourism, and a growing recognition of the importance of tourism to an ever-increasing number of national and regional economies.Innovation Trends on Tourism Tourism firms operate in a business environment where innovation is important for their survival (Sorensen, 2007). Thus, the adoption of innovative methods that will aid every country to promot e and support its tourist product, from regional and national tourism organizations to various tourism enterprises can ensure the quality levels and the diversification of services that will lead to the increase of each country's share in international tourism demand. The main modern trends constitute the reference base for the analysis of the current situation in Greece.Destination Management Systems (DMS) The development of DMS can substantially support and enhance the competitiveness of tourism destinations and specifically of the small and medium tourism enterprises (Kigali, 2009). Chem. & Sheldon(1997, p. 159) defined the DMS as an inter- organizational system that links tourist products, suppliers and offers, with consumers and intermediaries in order to enable easy access to complete and up-to- date destination information and allow reservations and purchases.Consumers and demand dimensions Increasingly, Acts enable travelers to access reliable and accurate information as req uired by conventional methods (O'Connor, 1999). Acts can assist in the improvement of the service quality and contribute to higher guest/traveler satisfaction. Acts place users in the middle of its functionality and product delivery. Every tourist is different, carrying a unique blend of experiences, motivations, and desires. To an extent the new sophisticated traveler has emerged as a result of experience.Tourists from the major generating regions of the world have become request travelers, are linguistically and technologically skilled and can function in multicultural and demanding environments overseas. The development of Acts and particularly the Internet empowered the â€Å"new' tourist who is becoming knowledgeable and is seeking exceptional value for money and time. They are less interested in following the crowds in packaged tours and much more keen to pursue their own preferences and schedules.Increasingly, package tours are losing market share in favor of independently o rganized tourism facilitated by dynamic packaging. The contemporary/connected consumer is far less willing to wait or put up with delays, to the point where patience is a disappearing virtue. The key to success lies in the quick identification of consumer needs and in reaching potential clients with comprehensive, personalized and up-to-date products and services that satisfy those needs. Gradually new, experienced, sophisticated, and demanding travelers require interacting with suppliers to satisfy their own specific needs and wishes.Living in a hectic life, consumers in the developed world often have short periods of time to lax their batteries and also to engage in their favorite activities. Leisure time will increasingly be used for â€Å"edutainment†, I. E. The exploration of personal interests for both their personal and professional development. Travel and holidays are one of the most expensive items purchased regularly by households around the world, and it represents a significant proportion of individual's annual budget. The Internet has changed tourism consumer behavior dramatically (Mills & Law, 2004).Prospective travelers have direct access to a much rater wealth of information provided by tourism organizations, private enterprises and increasingly by other users/consumers. From information search, to destination/ product consumption and post experience engagement, Acts offer a range of tools to facilitate and improve the process. Customers search for travel-related information, make online air-ticket bookings, online room reservations, and other online purchases themselves instead of relying on travel agencies to undertake this process for them (Morrison, Jinn, O'Leary, & Lapping, 2001).Due to the popularity of Internet applications, most tourism organizations such as hotels, airlines, and travel agencies have embraced Internet technologies as part of their marketing and communication strategies. Information Search is a significant part of the purchase decision process and was revolutionized as a result of the Internet. Acts not only reduce uncertainty and perceived risks but also enhance the quality of trips (Fodders & Murray, 1997).The more research undertaken on a trip and the more information found, the better customer needs can be met and served. A well-informed consumer is able to interact ere requirements and to take advantage of special offers and reduced prices. According to Snigger, Mugged, Smelling, and World (1990), the four major factors that influence information search in the tourism context are the composition of vacation groups, the presence of families and friends at the destination, prior visits to the destination, and the degree of novelty associated with the destination.Cursory and McCauley (2004) developed a comprehensive theoretical model that integrated all psychological/motivational, economics, and processing approaches into a cohesive hole for understanding tourists' information seeking beha vior. Virtual communities are gradually becoming incredibly influential in tourism as consumers increasingly trust better their peers, rather than marketing messages. The most cited definition of a virtual community was firstly given by Rheingold (1993, p. 8) as â€Å"a virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face-to-face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks†. A Virtual Travel Community makes it easier or people to obtain information, maintain connections, develop relationships, and eventually make travel-related decisions (Steeplechase, Mills, & Kiang, 2007). Pogo and Fisheries (1998) stated that participation and attitude are the primary dimensions of consumer behavior in the virtual communities.Since many travelers like to share their travel experiences and recommendations with others, Was have become one of their favorite areas to post their travel diary. Additionally, online tr avelers are enthusiastic to meet other travelers who have similar attitudes, interests, and way of fife (Wang, You, & Fisheries, 2002). As such, better understanding WAC users' behavior and motivation can assist tourism practitioners and policy makers to establish, operate, and maintain Was in a more efficient way.This, in turn, facilitates consumer centric marketing or relationship marketing (Minnie, March, & Bilabials, 2006). Was, however, may be at risk of losing members if their members are not satisfied with the content, design, security policies, and repercussions for non- compliance with community rules (Allison, Accrual, Moss, & Stuart, 2005; Wang et al. , 002). The emergence of Web 2. 0 or Travel 2. 0 brings together the concept of social networking/virtual communities and applies it to the tourism industry.Trapdoors (www. Trapdoors. Com) is amongst the most successful social networking/virtual community in tourism that facilitates the reviewing of all hotels around the wor ld and brings together individuals in discussion forums. The system provides users with independent travel reviews and comments written from Trapdoors members and expert advisors and provides a powerful platform for interaction between peers Wang & Fisheries, Bibb). User satisfaction is a major factor for evaluating a travel organization.By analyzing Was' content, travel organizations can understand their customers' satisfactions and behavior, and undertake corrective actions to improve their offering. They can also increase brand awareness and strengthen brand association through the assistance of Was. Despite Was' large potential impact on the tourism industry, Prince (2000) stated that research on the topic is still at an infancy stage when compared to other geographical and physical communities.Recommender System receiving indications about what options are better suited in a specific case for specific individuals (Greeter, Mitch, Hang, & Fisheries, 2004; Arsenic & Varian, 1997) . According to Rich (2002), a recommender system can provide valuable information to assist consumers' decision-making process. A recommender system can support travelers in a complex decision-making process by identifying better customer requirements and by correlating those to other consumers and their preferences ( Fisheries, Worthier, & W ¶beer, 2003; Rich & Worthier (2002) and Rich Worthier (2006)).Personality has been related to the selection of vacation destinations, the choice of leisure activities throughout the vacation, and other travel- related decisions. According to LOL, Lorenz, Ashland, & Location (2004), when implementing tourism recommender systems, textual summary is used to classify the database item in themes or categories of the ontology. Although different recommendation technologies have been applied to tourism, Arabians and Rich (2005) argued that the existence of different business models present application challenges.

Child Poverty

Why should we care about child poverty in the UK The term poverty Is used to describe people, Individuals or families who do not have as much money as other people in the society they live In. Poverty and child poverty go hand In hand, looking at the bigger picture If the parent's are living In poverty so will the children, with lots of different elements possibly causing this. They may have a poor diet due to the fact that fruit, vegetables, meat and fish can be expensive especially when you have very little money.They cannot afford to live in the customs society feels are normal for example sky television or the latest clothes or trainers. However it is not always just money that can affect someone living in poverty it can also be having little or no education. Often children who live in poverty will leave school, at sixteen with bad GEESE results or none at all, resulting in no Job or a low paid Job, leaving them unable to provide for their family. Child poverty is not Just famine or children dying In the developing world as television images would have us believe, It Is a big problem in the united Kingdom too (End child poverty,2013).Its time our eyes were opened to the fact that â€Å"at least one out of every six children In the united Kingdom lives In relative poverty' (BBC News, 2013). Child poverty can occur from many different elements â€Å"Is the single greatest threat to the well-being of children and families† (Bombards, 2013). A two parent family with two children needs to earn IEEE. O per week to stay above the poverty line, many families fall under this figure. Unemployment , low paid jobs, uneducated or poorly educated people contributed with high child care costs all attribute to the problem.As does inadequate benefits, the set levels of benefits can leave people below the poverty line (Save the children). Poverty can mean being cold or hungry often they are not able to enjoy a simple holiday as a family. Many miss out on clubs at sch ool or after school and activities because they simply do not have the money. There are two ways to measure poverty, relative; net income that Is below sixty per cent of median net disposable Income and absolute; which Is adjusted to Inflation (BBC News, 2013). Slung relative the governments preferred measure of poverty, figures show here is no change in child poverty.However using absolute measure it shows poverty is a big problem for one in every six children (BBC News, 201 3). Living in poverty can affect the child's goals, expectations and achievements, this also tends to repeat from generation to generation. Resulting in a cycle of poverty (End child poverty, 2013). The consciences of poverty continue through the generations, as adults the children are more likely to be unemployed because they are not qualified to gain a decent Job to earn money for themselves or their families, be homeless, buffer ill health both physically and mentally.Many struggle with social interaction of ten feeling excluded from society. It affects the child/children, the parent's, family and the society around them. It can affect every area of a child's development, social, educational and personal. Many become Involved In drug abuse, alcohol abuse and abusive relationships as they reach adulthood (Barnyards, 2013). The Issue of child poverty and the reoccurring cycle can be tackled by better education to help them achieve more skills and aim tort higher goals.Investing in nigh quality education and hillside for young children and offering support to parent's, could help break the link between being poor and not doing well. The work and pensions secretary lain Duncan smith said â€Å"the government's aim was to get children out of poverty by getting more people into wore( BBC News, 2013). Unemployed parent's should be given every possible bit of help to get a Job, a good well paid one, with flexibility offered and help with childcare costs ( Child poverty action group,2000-2013). People in work should not be paid below the poverty line, increasing the minimum wage would help.The child poverty act legislation ensures action must be taken to tackle child poverty by this and the future governments, by the devolved administrations and by local government and their partners. The act sets out four United Kingdom targets which are to be met by 2020. They are that relative low income will be less than ten per cent. That combined low income and material deprivation (living standards) will be less than five per cent. Absolute low income will be less than five per cent and that persistent poverty (the length of time) will be set in regulations by 2015.The government is required to produce child poverty strategies that run through to 2020 and are refreshed every three years. These strategies will set out what action is needed to meet the targets in the child poverty act (Department for education, 2012). Child poverty is a big issue in the I-J and should be tackled appr opriately so that less children in families with low income or no income suffer, decreasing the long term effects such as no Jobs or low paid Jobs, ill health, mentally and physically, homelessness, poor education, poor diet, being cold because there's to enough money for heating and food.Making sure there is adequate education available to children and encouraging them to achieve good GASES to enable them to gain a well-paid good Job to support their family, support should be offered along the way. More awareness of the issues could help the government in their plight to uphold the targets in the child poverty act. As many people are not aware of the seriousness of the situation partly because of the media and their constant coverage of famine and dying children in the developing world (End child poverty, 2013).

Case study on Online grocery stores in India Essay

This case study involves three retailers that engaged in alternative approaches to eGrocer strategy formulation. The primary goals were to assess the relationship between a company’s business model(s) and its performance in the online grocery channel and to determine if there were other company and/or market related factors that could account for company performance. The first company is BigBasket currently present in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The other one is Aaramshop which is a website that operates in National Capital Region of India and offers FMCG and CPG goods and the last one is Salt n Soap, Online Grocery Store in Kolkata operating out of Kolkata. First, we seek to achieve insight into how uptake of Internet-based eGrocer relates to management orientation and find relationships between the uptake of Internet-based eGrocer and entrepreneurial orientation, competitive intensity, and IT maturity. BIGBASKET see more:old age homes article Overview: BigBasket.com is India’s largest online food and grocery store. It has over 10,000 products ranging from fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Staples, Spices and Seasonings to FMCG branded products, Beverages, Personal care products, Meats and much more. The order is delivered right to the customer’s doorstep, anywhere in Bangalore, Mumbai & Hyderabad. Within a year, the company is planning to start services in Delhi and Chennai as well. Subsequently, it also plans to cater to Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. The customer can schedule their delivery date and time (4 delivery slots per day). Payment options include cash on delivery, credit and debit cards or food coupons. The Company is co-founded by V.S.Sudhakar (Director), HariMenon (CEO and head merchandising), Vipul Parekh (head finance and marketing), Abhinay Choudhari (head customer service and business development) and V S Ramesh (Head logistics and Supply Chain). BigBasket’s Board of Directors include Meena and Ganesh K of Tutorvista. The average monthly order size stands at Rs 1,500. Since its inception, the company has seen demand grow 25-30 per cent on a month-on-month basis. Business Model: Once a customer registers on BigBasket.com he can browse the wide range of products, select the products he wants and place an order online. Internally the products are then picked, hygienically packed and delivered to the  customer in the time slot selected by the customer. BigBasket has tie-ups with manufacturers, wholesalers and importers and the merchandising teamwork on a combination of post order procurement and in house stocking. The service is unique as it lets customers shop for daily essentials from the comfort of their homes, saving them time, effort and money. The company provides high quality products at competitive prices along with an on time delivery guarantee. There are two operating models. It is called just-in-time model. This means that not just perishables but everything they bring against an order. So they consolidate orders for the day, go and buy the products and deliver. When they reach a particular volume, they move from the just-in-time mo del to what is called the warehouse stocking model. That is where they are as far as Bangalore is concerned. They buy products directly from the supplies, like Unilever and Procter & Gamble, they buy from farmers and mills and stock the products in the warehouse. They stock a certain number of days of sales, depending on the product and sales. They are able to set initial inventory levels and then decide what the re-ordering levels are. So it is all completely automated. Analysis: BigBasket’s business model relies on on-time delivery of goods, and in order to manage the operations smoothly and efficiently, it uses the hub-and-spoke mode of distribution. Here wholesalers deliver goods to BigBasket’s warehouses. Branded delivery vans then deliver these goods to the consumers. Perishables are only warehoused for a matter of hours, and in some cases it’s 24 hours from farm to fridge. It handles 1,500 plus orders a day in Bangalore and 700 plus orders a day in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The grocery store banks on technology-driven solutions to track everything from the time an order is placed to delivery. BigBasket uses AssetTrackr RestAPI interface to tightly integrate with the ERP system and handle all movement of trucks and delivery vehicles, notification to customers on estimated delivery times, etc. AssetTrackr’s real time location data helps achieve optimal vehicle utilization. AARAMSHOP Overview: AaramShop is a hybrid retail platform that enables sales and marketing of FMCG / CPG brands to â€Å"short on time – high on stress† consumers. It enables grocery shopping by leveraging the strengths of the  neighborhood retailers and integrates them with opportunities provided by the internet. AaramShop was founded by Vijay Singh, who, as an entrepreneur, has a deep focus and passion for brand marketing. Head-quartered in New Delhi, AaramShop is a small team of techies and marketers that have been operational since a little less than a year. Over 1900 retailers across 26 cities in India use AaramShop as their preferred commerce platform. Their tie-ups with retailers are based on mutual strengths. The retailer has a time-tested local presence, which includes an ability to deliver goods to the doorstep of the consumers in his catchment area. They intend to add to this strength with the increased accessibility of the shop on web and mobile devices. This is don e at no additional cost to the retailer. AaramShop currently lists over 12k SKUs. Only branded products are listed in AaramShop; commodities and private labels are excluded from their platform. The core idea of AaramShop is to enable independent retailers, who have a physical presence, to have a web-store, which allows them to connect better with modern consumers. Business Model: The business model of AaramShop is different from most e-commerce sites, as they do not believe that transaction based revenues is the way to go in the grocery category at the moment. AaramShop does not make revenues on taking part of the margins made by the grocers; rather, they have created a number of premium services that are offered to brands. These services are in various genres like, advertising options, on and off the platform, analytical led marketing and marketing at the retail point. The idea behind this unconventional and unique business model is that AaramShop does not disrupt the existing business practices and thereby ensures no escalation of costs. New Delhi-based AaramShop has partnered with retailers so that customers can shop at these local retailers online. Once logged in to the site, users can choose a local retailer and shop for groceries. AaramShop then sends the order to the retailer in real time. The groceries are delivered to the customerâ₠¬â„¢s doorstep and the customers pay for the goods upon delivery. They don’t keep any inventory and their partner retailers maintain their own inventories. There is no cost for the retailer to join AaramShop, they are basing their ability to get revenues by offering premium opt-in services offered to the brands. Analysis: The model does look scalable and rather interesting as compared to regular ecommerce shopping. There is no logistics cost that the startup incurs and it brings in the comfort of your local store as well. The only issue is predictability of order delivery as live inventory is not available online. The current format is more like providing one more interface to your regular grocery store, with the same issues and comforts. A more of ajax functionality would make the shopping process faster and avoid showing shopping bag page after every item is added. Unlike other online grocery delivery stores that become a threat to the small local businesses, AaramShop puts the ball back into the court of local businesses that had begun to feel underprivileged in this age of Internet. AaramShop has overcome three major hurdles of business. †¢It has convinced kiranawalas about the business model by putting them in touch with customers and being paid directly. †¢Secondly, it has convinced customers by eliminating the need for online payments. Furthermore, since customers can choose their own kiranawala, they can be assured of quality. †¢Thirdly, it has cut its own operational costs by eliminating the need to set up an inventory to stock goods or hire delivery boys. AaramShop is a great example of how you can optimize on the available resources to maximize your gains. AaramShop makes most of its money through ads of the numerous grocery brands it stocks on its portal. With a model like AaramShop, everybody is a winner – the suppliers, the consumers and the business itself! SALT N SOAP Overview: Salt n Soap, a BlueBeaks initiative, intends to provide its consumers a convenient, social, enjoyable and rewarding experience of shopping their daily grocery needs online from the comfort of their homes and offices. Started in November 2012, Salt n Soap (www.saltnsoap.com) is owned and operated by BlueBeaks Solutions LLP (www.bluebeaks.com). Though the services of booking daily grocery needs online and receiving timely delivery at the convenience of home or office are the basic foundations of Salt n Soap, Salt n Soap is more than just another online version of a hyper  mart, supermarket or a local kirana store. Salt n Soap intends to provide today’s busy urban consumers online tools for making their shopping experience social, enjoyable and rewarding. Salt n Soap enables this through the various social features of the website, engaging and interesting games and contests. Salt n Soap comes up with, and, last but not the least, the goldmine of information and analyt ics that facilitate a smarter buying decision. Apart from offering what conventional online grocery sites have to offer (i.e. online purchase, home delivery, discounted products, etc.), they have come up with quite a few innovative and engaging products and services that will catch attention of discerning customers. First, they are positioning online grocery services to â€Å"cash reach, time poor† segment of population, typically SEC A1 and A2 class of people, working couple with busy work schedule and very little time to do daily shopping chore. Hence, Salt n Soap position is more on â€Å"value† a customer derives by saving time rather than being just a â€Å"discount† shop. Business Model: Salt n Soap is a Kolkata-based outfit that has apparently pioneered the concept of â€Å"open analytics† in this space where customers can instantly summon a variety of data on a product like its market share, purchasing trends, and a comparison with what people in the same socio-economic class are buying. The site also lets you know when it thinks a particular product has run out, thanks to some nifty code, and pings you so you’re reminded to buy more of it. Consumers have access to a variety of data like market share of a product, purchase trend of a product, comparison of purchase trend with average pattern of people in the same SEC (Socio Economic Class). Consumers can maintain their budget for purchase and track their consumption compared to the budget. Salt n Soap also seem to have developed an algorithm that predicts (presumably reasonably accurately) the number of days of provision that a user has and thus prompting him/her when he should buy the same product again. Salt n Soap has integrated their product with social media to provide a social experience to their consumers. Consumers are also rewarded with redeemable points for sharing their shopping experience with their friends in social media. The website has been designed to enable users to shop through a â€Å"list† where he/she can select multiple products from one screen instead of having to navigate to multiple screens. Analysis: They seem to operate efficiently with very low capital investment. Plus they provide a lot of innovative value added features to consumers which are typically not available in a brick and mortar store. Some such features are a unique web front that allows customers to shop multiple products without having to navigate to many pages (remember, unlike some other products like books, apparels or jewelry, for groceries, customers buy many products at one time), providing personal shopping assistance, helping customers to plan and monitor their grocery budget and inventory, analytics on market share and sale trend of products, etc. Salt n Soap seemed to have understood that online shopping and especially grocery shopping is not about just providing a web front to the consumer allowing them to book an order and then delivering the goods to the consumer’s doorstep. They have introduced the concept of â€Å"Personal Shopping Assistance† where they promise to provide pe rsonalized assistance to consumers in buying through qualified professionals. Salt n Soap is constantly innovating on the features to ensure a more enriching and meaningful experience for its users. CHALLENGES OF ONLINE GROCERY BUSINESS Grocery is a pretty complex business from the back-end and supply chain perspective. The complexity is one of the biggest challenges. We deal with close to 8,000-10,000 SKUs. Order sizes are large. Typically at the beginning of the month you have 30-60 items in one order. That makes it very different from typical ecommerce businesses where you normally shift one or two products, it could be a camera or a mobile phone and so on. The back-end is complex because the supply chain is not yet efficient. You deal with a large number of vendors and suppliers and not all of them are organized. WHY ONLINE GROCERY RETAIL BURNS CASH †¢Lack of consistency in quality and fill rates †¢Delivery and inventory costs †¢Low repeat customer rates †¢Touch and feel nature of Indian shoppers †¢The supply chain in India is built to help kirana stores †¢Order value is  very low †¢Brands and distributors will not give long-term credit †¢Warehousing needs skill, technology is just a tool †¢Organized retail far from saturated Online grocery business in India: The grocery segment has one of the most predictable consumption patterns and buying these products online has a huge advantage. It follows that online groceries would be big business in India. The truth is no player has broken even and the market is littered with shutdowns across the country. It is estimated online groceries contribute less than one per cent of the total food and groceries market in India and an equally small percentage of the e-commerce market in India is dominated by travel, electronics and apparel. One of the biggest rivals of e-grocers is the local kirana store, which offers home delivery in many cities, often within an hour. But kirana shops lack the cost advantages to offer customers the best price, and cannot stock a wide range of products. CONCLUSION Online grocery has been a late entrant in e-commerce space in general (probably albeit due to early failure stories like Webvan), and in India, in particular. However, since 2011, quite a number of start-ups have launched online grocery stores all across India. They are generating reasonable amount of traffic and interest as well as good amount of venture capital funding. While no one doubts the eventual ascent of this segment, when that will happen and at what cost remain unanswered, primarily because of its single-digit margins, low order values and complex logistics, as well as the high cost of customer acquisition. So, few online groceries have been funded and fewer still will be able to get subsequent rounds of finance. The big difference is that there is a very large population on the Internet today. Today smart phones and smart devices allow customers to use the Internet on the go. More than half a dozen start-ups have launched online grocery stores in recent past. Working people, happy to have rice, sugar and even organic  pepper delivered to their doorstep, may wonder why no one thought of it sooner. There is, of course, room for growth. Within this category, the organised food and grocery market, is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 30 per cent in the next five years. Truly online grocery seems to have come to a different age from the time when the colossal failure of Webvan started by George Sheen hit the headlines in 2000 and someway led to the dotcom burst. Better IT infrastructure, more net savvy customers and leaner warehousing and logistics compared to the early stage start-ups in online grocery will probably make online grocery stores succeed now. Online grocery stores in India seem to have an inherent advantage over those started in the West because of comparatively lower labour costs. However, the flip side is poor logistics infrastructure in India.