The summary of the article for business within two weeks' newspaper

The summary of the for business within two weeks' newspaper - Article Example Without the knowledge of the customers, however, the money was transferred to the accounts of the owners and managers of the online gambling site, who were themselves were seasoned and prominent poker players. On behalf of the players who were cheated out of their money, federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint against the company, for an amount that could well reach $390 million, the amount allegedly acquired by the unscrupulous online game from its unsuspecting clientele. According to the federal prosecutors handling the case, the Full Tilt website was actually not a legitimate poker firm, but an elaborate Ponzi scheme the intention of which was actually to defraud those people whom the managers can entice to sign up with them. The fraud was revealed when the prosecutors had several poker sites shut down in the course of investigating two other poker web sites, which were based abroad. Because the site of Full Tilt Poker was also shut down, customers began asking for their money back, money which was supposed to have been held by Full Tile for safekeeping. When the reimbursements did not come, federal authorities were alerted, and the illegal scheme was discovered. Full Tilt is an online gambling business that exists de facto but the exact legal personality of which has not been determined. It has its headquarters in Ireland. Among those said to have profited from Full Tilt’s operations are Howard Lederer who is said to have received $42 million, and Christ Ferguson who got $25 million and has receivables of $60 million more. Both are considered luminaries in the world of poker. Former patrons of the website said that in the past, they were paid in a timely fashion and there appeared to be no problems if they withdrew money from their account anytime. When the crisis came and players began withdrawing their money all at the same time, Full Tilt’s reimbursements slowed and then stopped altogether, indicating the possibility of embezzlement of money which should have been held in individual accounts for the players. Reaction It is particularly ironic that people who go out of their way to gamble are themselves cheated out of their gambling money – a vice for a vice. During these hard times, gambling should be viewed as particularly wasteful and inconsiderate of others’ plight; in a sense, there is some poetic justice in being cheated out of money they were about to lose anyway. It is determined that the chances of consistently winning in a game of chance are skewed against the customer, and in favour of the gambling operator (Ethier 338). Other than this, there are serious problems about litigation and recovery. Full Tilt being a foreign de facto entity, and the embezzlement being committed in the U.S., there will be difficulty bringing the illicit corporation under the jurisprudence of the tribunal in the U.S. It may also prove difficult to trace the money trail to see who benefitted from the stolen funds a s the internet by its nature protects anonymity. There will therefore be serious problems between the actual embezzlers, and those whose names were merely used to enhance the site’s appeal. The very act of gambling online is against U.S. law, so there may naturally be no international agreements that may have been entered to provide basis of claim between two countries. It

Camille Saint Saens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Camille Saint Saens - Essay Example His intelligence wasn’t just limited to music, for he excelled in such fields as geology, astronomy, and mathematics. Some of Saint-Saens famous works include the â€Å"Piano Concerto No. 2, Symphony No. 3 ("Organ"), and most noteworthy The Carnival of The Animals which he dedicated to close friend Franz Liszt (Cummings). Throughout his life, he produced a variety of expressive and dramatic works including poems, operas, and symphonies. In 1908 Saint-Saens had the honor of being the first composer to write a musical piece for the motion picture The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (Cummings). Inspired by French Classicism, he was especially brilliant at composing piano music like the Variations on a Theme by Beethoven and the Scherzo. His married life proved to be a great tragedy with the death of both of his children. During this lonesome period he produced some of his best works like Danse macabre in 1875 and Samson et Dalila in 1878 (Cummings). Saint-Saens was also very close to his mother and upon her death succumbed to an even lonelier and depressed stage of his life. After this he took to traveling and writing music about exotic places like Algeria and Egypt producing works like Africa and his Piano Concerto No. 5, the "Egyptian" (Cummings).

Torture and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Torture and Ethics - Essay Example Hence, even with prisoners, there can be no excuse to place an individual in a situation wherein his / her rights are violated since the act of penalizing someone is nowhere close to the act of overlooking ones basic rights. As early as 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates, in unqualified terms, that â€Å"no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment† (Evans, R, 2005, The Ethics of Torture). In the following year 1949 â€Å"the Geneva convention not only stipulated the provision for protection of enemy combatants and civilians but also instruct that unlawful combatants must be â€Å"treated with humanity and shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial† (Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 5) (Evans, R, 2005, The Ethics of Torture) . It must be noted that arguments regarding the act of torture that are pro and against it can be presented. â€Å"There is an old Jewish joke about two Y eshiva students who go to the rabbi to settle a heated legal dispute over which they have been arguing all day. Max, the first student, offers cogent theoretical and pragmatic arguments that forcefully make his point. The rabbi listens carefully and declares, ‘Max you are surely right!’ Next the second student, Joshua, presents his side with vigor. He makes clear and concise counter-arguments and demonstrates how his position is supported by precedent. He argues with such passion and persuasion that the Rabbi, after listening closely, says, ‘Brilliant arguments Joshua – you are clearly correct!’ After the students leave, the rabbi’s wife, who was listening in on the exchange, says to her husband, ‘Are you crazy? Max and Joshua had conflicting arguments, how can you say both of them are right? When one is right the other must be wrong!’ The rabbi thinks long and hard on this and finally says to his wife, ‘You know what? You t oo are right!’† (Wijze. S. d., 2005, The Torture Debate in America) Both arguing sides are sure to have valid reasons to support their arguments but what is important that a society understands the moral worth of such an act, the moral duty of every member of the society, as well as result of such an act to society. If a society where to gauge the moral worth of its actions by the consequences that it produces, then the act of torture might be viewed as something acceptable. For instance, torturing a captured alleged terrorist for information that can ultimately lead to the alleviation of terrible events, can be a worthwhile reason to justify the act of torture. Take for example the captured Al-Qaeda members. â€Å"the goal of American officials was chiefly to acquire information that could be used to prevent a future terrorist attack. In particular, the capture of high-ranking al-Qaeda members such as Abu Zubaida, Mohamed al-Kahtani, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed raised the possibility that American officials may have custody of individuals with extremely valuable "actionable intelligence," in the lingo of military intelligence officials. Intelligence personnel naturally made it a high priority to get these detainees to talk. Because many suspected militants had proven to be skilled at resisting traditional, noncoercive interrogation techniques such as promises of leniency in exchange for cooperation, American officials sought advice to see whether it would be legally permissible to use certain coercive techniques on "high value"

Total quality management Literature review

Total quality management Literature review Literature review The world experienced the quality revolution in the early 1990s. From that instance organisations were improving in overall quality of the organisation. The companies around the world competed with their quality of products and services, price and delivery. Organisations believed that by improving the quality, they can achieve lower cost, fewer failures and better marketability. In this period total quality management became popular. TQM is applied in organisations to improve its effectiveness, flexibility and competitiveness, by improving the overall quality of the organisation. It is focused mainly on continuous improvement. TQM is nothing but a philosophy and guide to organisations, which helps them in ways towards continuous improvement. TQM is a combination of system of systems. All the companies have not achieved competitive advantage or benefits using TQM is because of implementation and usage in the organisation. To be successful with TQM the indicators which are to be achieved by an organisation are the leadership, continuous improvements, internal or external co- operation, customer focus, learning, employee fulfilment and process management. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?contentType=ArticleFilename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0291030201.html http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?contentType=ArticleFilename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/1060120604.html http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?contentType=ArticleFilename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0400140507.html http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?contentType=ArticleFilename=/published/emeraldfulltextarticle/pdf/1760030104.pdf According to Hansson and Klefsjà ¶ (2003) TQM can be defined as a management system, which consists of three interdependent units, namely core values, techniques and tools. But the definitions for total quality management are vague. The aim of TQM is Zero defect and it mainly emphasis on quality. The core values of TQM which will lead to better quality in the organisation is summarised from the authors (Boulter and Bendell, 2002, Ehresman, 1995, Ghobadian and Gallear 1995, Hansson and Klefsjà ¶ 2003, 2006 ) it is divided into three parts, first the whole organisation has to committed and work towards common goal i.e. continuous improvement. Secondly the customers are to be focused, through better satisfaction in the products and services. The decisions made with regard to customers are to be given the highest priority by top level management. Thirdly the decisions must be taken with trusted facts and figures. http://demo1.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet;jsessionid=5FBEA684473F22B9FAE30638F23D3534?contentType=ArticleFilename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/1060150201.html Boulter, L., Bendell, T. (2002), How can ISO 9000:2000 help companies achieve excellence? What the company think, Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 6 No.2, pp.37-41. Ehresman, T. (1995), Small Business Success through TQM, ASQC Quality Press, Milwaukee, WI. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg_imagekey=B6VC4-3VW1BRW-8-2_cdi=5944_user=138221_orig=search_coverDate=02%2F29%2F1996_sk=999759998view=cwchp=dGLbVlz-zSkzkmd5=a2afeab00d66a4e64f8e3a30e84385dfie=/sdarticle.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg_imagekey=B6VCT-4MHPHMF-C-5_cdi=5963_user=138221_orig=search_coverDate=12%2F01%2F2007_sk=998169997view=cwchp=dGLbVzb-zSkWzmd5=e471fdc0aece7732196abd9705804b37ie=/sdarticle.pdf http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?contentType=ArticleFilename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0291080901.html From the definition and study it is stated that the environmental management is a part of quality management. When the organisation is moving towards total improvement in performance, the environmental performance has its presence. Governments and agencies around the world created quality systems to help the organisations to achieve their quality objectives through quality management systems and environmental performance in environmental management systems. The QM and EMS share a common aim and values. QM and EMS are integrated now. According to Wilkinson and Dale, 1998 and Karapetrovic and Willborn, 1998 integration can be carried out in many different ways but, the results differ in terms of applying it and it is also called as system of systems. Wilkinson, G., Dale, B.G. (1998), System integration: the views and activities of certification bodies, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 10 No.4, pp.288-92 Karapetrovic, S., Willborn, W. (1998), Integration of quality and environmental management systems, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 10 No.3, pp.204-13. For example the ISO has developed management systems separately for quality management and environmental management i.e. ISO9000 for quality and ISO14000 for environmental management. Integration was done by the technical committee in 2004 between quality and environment systems. They had explored the common factors between two systems and modified ISO 14000-2004 to enable organisations to use both systems at once. This resulted in superior performance in many organisations. They introduced the PDCA which is common for both systems. Bernardo et al, 2008 http://demo1.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?contentType=ArticleFilename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0510200405.html#idb31 Environmental management and quality management are parallel to each other. They have common factors like zero defects and no wastage and the process of implementation with corrective and preventive actions. But some basic value does not integrate, exactly with each other. QMS mainly concentrates on consumer requirements and on the other had EMS focuses on the environment. According to Chinn a new concept was formed in late 90s which was named as QEMS which means quality and environment management system. It has stated the common elements they worked upon. They are planning, objectives, management responsibility, communication, training, control of records and many others. So when an organisation need to equipped with total quality system, the EMS will also must be in place to monitor the environmental sustainability measures from the organisation. What is Benchmarking? In the present business scenario, quality has become a major criterion in all aspects of the organisation, so the managers have taken up quality improvement tools such as total quality management, quality function development and continuous improvement. The exertion of these tools is to discover the flaws in the organisational process. The next step is to convert these flaws and improving the component. Here the question rises of how to fix these inadequacies? Benchmarking is the way to fix them. As benchmarking is a quality improvement process. It is a systematic process of searching and monitoring the best practices in the sector. Benchmarking has been the concept of imitating the best practices in the industry. Organizations have to achieve cost benefits, better operations and better environment by which it induces the company to learn quickly and cheaply from adopting the best practices and performance standards from other companies in order to get better competitive advantage over its competitors. This can be extended anywhere because the ultimate goal is to be best in class. Benchmarking is commonly used tool in the organisations. This technique can be implemented in all sectors and it is due to increasing competitiveness. Benchmark means to a unit on a scale for measurement. It was a fashionable concept for the large manufacturing companies which predominantly uses quantitative economic parameters, such as inventory turnover, set-up times, lead time, direct labour time or working time, return on sales, return on equity are measured.(Miller et al.,1992). Nowadays benchmarking is used everywhere and it is used to measure any process, activity, procedure in an organisation which may be of products or services. Many authors and literatures have given many different forms of definitions for benchmarking. Definitions from Sarkis, Andersen and pettersen and Marosszeky and Karim are benchmarking means comparing the practices, operations, results of an organisation with the best organisation in the sector and adopt and practice the techniques used in there to improve ones own organisation. And it focuses on continuous improvement, in quality and helps to learn from the competitors. Through which the faults and breakthroughs in the organisation can be easily identified and systematically dealt with. It also helps in improving the overall quality and business environment carried out through learning from each other. It forms a continuous and systematic improvement in an organisations processes, products and services which are being monitored and adopted from the best practices globally or nation wide or in a particular sector. Benchmarking is used to achieve and maintain high level of competitiveness. It monitors the continuous improvement by the process of measuring the products, services and business practices against the best practices in the industry. The organisations strengths and weakness can be easily identified and measured with the best and toughest competitors in the industry. Best practices is finding and using the best ways to achieve the desired objectives in the organisation. It is done by imitating the practices and processes of the organisation who are leaders in the sector and measuring the ways it worked with. Benchmarking can be done in five steps for an organisation. Firstly the required data are collected in a planned manner from the organisation and the data is converted into a report format, which make it easy for analyzing the situation. After creating a report the gaps are to be detected and corrective action has to be implemented to fill the gaps. When the gaps in the organisation are corrected, review has to be done in regular intervals and reported. It is compared with best practice in the industry. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/04/02091848/1 Many organisations are not aware of what needed to be benchmarked. because of the lack of management knowledge. A key issue is that what to benchmark in business or an organisation. It is mainly used to compare and measure of business and product performance and how it is extended to the business processes. Determining the issues to be benchmarked is a critical issue. The following questions can aid to the question of what to benchmark with environment (Cassell et. al.., 2001) To find the critical factors which are of organisations success To find the process causing the trouble in the system To find the process which contribute to maximum customer satisfaction and in which the performance is not to the expectation Examine and define the competitive pressures impacting the organisation What the processes which have the greatest potential for differentiating in the business competitiveness? Environmental benchmarking The environmental benchmarking is derived from benchmarking and it mainly focuses on the natural environment. It helps the organisation to become green and eco efficient by adopting the practices from the leaders in industry. It is also a quality improvement tool and has become very essential to an organisation. They are used to achieve environmental performance in the organisation i.e. it helps the organisation to manipulate on the natural environment. It is adapted in many organisations due to the pressure from stake holders, public and authorises. According to Greeno and Robinson 1992, Demands on companies to measure, document and disclose information about environmental performance will become invasive.and environmental performance will become a critical factor to scrutinize. It is been predicted a decade ago, and the governments has now made it mandatory and bought it to the legislations that organisations must be environmental conscious and friendly. According to Szekely, et. al.., 1996, Makrinou et al 2008 and Mandaraka, et. al 2003 Environmental benchmarking is used by various organisation in their practices, process and in business operation to achieve environmental efficiency and environmental performance. The tool framed to rigorously concentrate on every activity of the organisation and examines and compares the process to achieve its objectives. The process is the elimination and rectification of weak activities and processes in the organisation and the objective is to identify and access the abilities and attributes in business to achieve maximum environmental performance. Most of the weak activities cause heavy pollution and burden to the environment. The weak process and activities are very dangerous to the environment and life. The world in has seen many industrial disasters in last two decades due to unhealthy practices and operations by the environment. The best examples are the Efficient and maximum usage of virgin materials in the organisation, recycling of waste, waste, treatment plant to neutralise end pipe discharge, maximum utilization of assets and machinery and power saving equipments and minimum usage of non renewable resource. Minor modifications in the process of operations in the organisations, will lead to lesser impact on the environment and can avoid these kinds of disasters in future. The improved process, practices and operations can be identified from the best practices. Benchmarking tools helps in finding the best practices in national and international level. Environmental benchmarking is an integral part of environmental management systems. This helps in setting up of goals and targets for an organization towards environmental efficiency. It also helps in monitoring the performance of the targets which are to be achieved towards better environment. It is one of the tools used in management systems like EMS (Bolli and Emtairah 2001). Environmental management system EMS is a management type system which aims in managing the environmental aspects of the organisation in a pro active way, and it directly relates to the organisations overall performance. It relates to the process, practices, products and services and day to day operations. The main objective of Ems is to continually improve the environmental performance of the organisation with overall performance. Ems is a collection of policies, statements, assessments, plan and actions which directly or indirectly affects the organisation and its performance. Organisations achieve environmental performance with Ems in a systematic manner. It is a continuous cycle which plans, implements, reviews and improves the practices and processes of the organisation for continuous improvement towards environmental sustainability. Ems mainly focuses on minimizing the environmental impacts of the organisation on the natural environment. The main objectives of Ems for the SMEs are It induces the organisation to have an environmental management system. It assists the SMEs in understanding the concepts of Ems in their operations, in order to help the management to adopt precisely. This reduces the impacts on natural environment and it is easy to comply with the regulation. This helps in cost savings and increased productivity. The third objective is developing a awareness with the SMEs entrepreneurs, regarding the importance of environment and the organisations impact on them. It helps the SMEs in creating a strong foundation to implement the international standards like ISO and EMAS in organisations. According to British standards institute, Ems is defined as the organisational structure, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for determining and implementing environmental policy. According to BSI is nothing but an environmental policy which outlines the organisations commitment to the environmental performance. Many organisation in different countries follow and adopt the environmental management system such as BS8555, ISO 14000 series, EMAS, Green dragon. But in common it works on the Deming Cycle. Plan, what you are going to do, do what you planned to do, check to ensure that you did what you planned to do and act to make improvements. SMEs adopt EMS EMS is an unobserved quality. It can be examined only by the drivers, practices. The organisations are motivated to use EMS and its environmental strategies to increase their efficiency and legitimacy. It is very controversial because from the study of states those SMEs are not only motivated by the rewards and befits such as environmental performance, organisational/business performance and export orientation but they are pressurized to adopt EMS by their stake holders and institutional pressures. According to Khanna and Anton 2002 EMS becomes complete when they are more environmental practices is undertaken in the organisation. The environmental practices are the environmental policy, evaluation, training for employees, regular audits of internal and external in nature, environmental performance and benchmarking with the best practices, goals and targets and public report. Motivation and EMS Motivation is the driving force behind for an organisation to implement a management techniques or tool or system in their operations and business process. The factors and statistics which can be used to motivate the organisations to implement EMS in their organisation and in the same time become environmentally sustainable and reduce the impact on natural environment. The factors are the organisation can achieve compliance with the regulations of the government, it creates an eco friendly image to the stake holders and better marketability options and it also reduces cost with greater organisational performance. Export orientation In the globalised world export and import has taken the centre stage. Export orientation becomes imperative when organisation operates within or depends on the foreign markets. When the goods are carried out of national borders EMS becomes essential to meet the demands of the importing country and the needs of diverse customers. Buyers gain trust of exporters by looking into the operations and eco friendly procedures and facilities implemented in the organisation. EMS and organisational Performance A management system is framed and practiced in the business is to gain from the management practices. The gain or benefit can be in the form of monetary benefit or non monetary benefit. EMS and environmental performance EMS and pressure on SMEs SMEs are exposed to stakeholders pressure to adopt environmental management system. The stakeholders are person, group, organisation or the government which has a direct or indirect stake in the organisation and can or would be affected by the organisations policy, decision and operations. The stake holders for an SME are Regulatory pressure The regulatory pressure is created from the regulators, governments, insurers on the organisation to curb their pollution levels and employ eco friendly operations and which doesnt impact the natural environment. If the organisations fail, it is imposed with fines, penalties, strategic actions or even closure of firms. The regulatory pressure creates an opportunity for the organisation to become more competitive and capitalize of the situation. But when the regulation becomes stricter, the SMEs are compelled to implement costly pollution control technologies. Better pollution control leads to lesser insurance premiums and better credit options from the bank and financial agencies. Market pressure In this competitive world the organisations are concerned about the market share. Customers have become concerned about the natural environment and they have started to use the products and services of the organisations which are eco efficient and sustainable towards the environment. When organisation adopts EMS it increases organisations reputation. The market pressures drive the managers to adopt EMS to survive in the business and to stay competitive. Social pressure An organisation must have a better public image to survive and competitive in the market. To gain the image the organisation need to become environmental friendly and work towards continual improvement. The word social include the environmental organisation, community groups, labour unions and association which regards to trade. There is been a increase in awareness towards the natural environment in recent times because of industrial accident like Bhopal disaster and Exxon oil spill which shock the world. When an organisation does not implement EMS in their organisation the worst scenario of boycott of goods and it may damage the image in the business environment. Ownership pressure This pressure is imposed on the organisation by their share holders. In SMEs the share holders are in the form of partnership within the company. The pressure is on the organisation to adopt EMS with wide-range of tools and techniques to create an environmental friendly organisation. Organisation is prone to financial liabilities when it has a poor reputation in terms of environment and performance. Internal and external barriers to SMEs in adopting EMS Internal barriers are of resources, understanding and perception, implementation and attitudes and company culture. SMEs are lack of time from the management and staff, to concentrate on EMS implementation and maintenance. Staffs in SMEs lack managerial skill and it is not possible for SMEs to give training due to the constraint of limited resources. When there is an inexperienced or unskilled staff force it becomes difficult to implement EMS, because lack of understanding of the procedures, policies and legal compliances. Implementation of EMS is very cumbersome. Minor breaches in the implementation would cause a heavy loss of resources to the organisation and possible deregistration from the standards. SMEs have to concentrate on continual improvement and it is very difficult to adopt in every stage on the process. The external barriers are the obstacles and hindrances which arise from the external environment of the organisation. High costs of recruiting a consultant and verification/ certification is a major barrier to the SMEs. They are limited number of verifiers in each country and it becomes more expensive to hire. SMEs are not beneficial with EMS because of change in economic climate and Uncertainty which prevails within the market for the value of EMS standard. Benefits and disbenefits of SMEs adopting EMS Small and medium scale enterprises around the world share common characteristics. According to - SMEs around the world contribute 70 percent of pollution ie the SMEs cause great impact to the natural environment. So the EMS model was adapted to SMEs from large scales enterprises. SMEs adapting EMS face disbenefits or non materialization benefits from EMS in their organisation. They are being classified into three (i) resources (ii) surprises (iii) lack of rewards. SMEs characteristics are it lacks professionalism, lack of knowledge, is has started with a minimum capital, lack of skills and time. They also have the barrier of specialized staff and skills to co ordinate the EMS activities in the organisation. The SME has to rely completely on consultants for the certification and adaption on EMS. It is evident that, some may misguide and it results in negative results and wastage of resources for the organisation. SMEs have to incur cost of certification and implementation which is of high capital expenditure to the organisation. which is beyond reach for many organisations. The EMS surprises the SMEs with resources and time spent to implement system which are complex in nature. The other surprises are it is difficult to meet the expectations of all stake holders, it difficult to synchronise with other management

Breastfeeding Essay -- Health, Nutrition

Through the years there has been a debate about whether babies should be fed exclusively on breastfeeding or not. One of the most difficult decisions for new mothers is to decide which diet to follow with her babies. Decisions include relying on the natural choices of breastfeeding or following the advice given by relatives, doctors, pediatricians and infant formula manufacturers. Controversies continue over the years. As many more mothers now want to nurse their babies, formula advocates claim that formula is equivalent to the real thing. Furthermore, supporters of supplemented infant formulas claim their products include the same elements present in mother’s milk plus and even will improve babies’ vision and cognitive behavior. This review aims to expose the benefits of breast milk over formula even for babies with special nutritional requirements. The World Health Organization (WHO) (2011a) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) (2008) recommends that breastfeeding continue throughout the first year of life a recommends mothers to of developed and undeveloped countries to exclusively breastfeed infants for the child's first six months. Their recommendation seeks to achieve optimal growth, development and health for babies. After six months of age, the WHO recommends to complement breastfeeding with nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods for up to two years of age or more. As well, the American Academy of Family Physicians (2008) promotes the promotion of breastfeeding among their members independently of their specialization. Moreover, the American Academy of Pediatrics (2005) acknowledged the health and developmental benefits for the child and the mother, advising the mothers to continue breastfeedi... ...is more, Freudenheim (1994) reported that women who were breastfed as infants (even for short time), showed an approximate 25% lower risk of developing premenopausal or postmenopausal breast cancer, compared to women who were bottle-fed as an infant. In order to take advantage of all the benefits of breastfeeding babies for longer periods of time, women should become educated of the advantages of breastfeeding. As well a good education about lactation will warrantee baby and mother will enjoy a longer and healthier breastfeeding period. Lately the World Health Organization (2011) concludes exclusive breastfeeding from birth is possible except for a few medical conditions, and unrestricted exclusive breastfeeding results in ample milk production. As well benefits for the breastfed infant continue even though lactation period is longer than the time recommended.

HOLOCAUST Essay -- Essays Papers

HOLOCAUST As tensions mounted up until the point of World War II and the war stormed through Europe, another battle silently raged. Not only did Hitler and the Nazi party wage war on countries throughout Europe, they also assaulted and purged entire innocent groups. The Holocaust began in 1933 and reached its height in WW II, while coming to an end with the war in 1945. Hitler used the Holocaust as a mechanism to rid his "racially superior" German state of any "inferior" groups (especially Jews) that would be of some threat or sign of inferiority to Germany. As a result of the Holocaust, millions of men, women, and children of various national, ethnic, and social backgrounds died or had their lives impacted forever. In 1933 Adolph Hitler became the Chancellor of the German government, and he and his Nazi regime came into power. At this time, Hitler also instated the Nazi racial ideology. These ideas emphasized that the Germans or Aryan race was superior to the non-Aryan peoples who were not part of the German heritage. Those who were not racially pure were on different levels. Most Slavic individuals were considered "subhuman" as were those who led unconventional lifestyles or were physically or mentally impaired. At the bottom of the list were the Jews who were considered to be a non- human race. The Holocaust began in the year of 1933. Although it effected diverse groups, the Jews received most of the abuse from the Holocaust. In 1933, there were approximately nine million Jews living in the 21 countries that would be occupied by Hitler and the Nazis during WW II ( The Holocaust). Hitler s... ...gled them into neutral territory. By the end of World War II approximately six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, along with hundreds of thousands of Slavs and 250,000 mentally and physically handicapped. The Holocaust left many innocent slaughtered and those who escaped with a lasting imprint of oppression and murder. The impressions of the Holocaust continue to effect these groups and our societal outlook even today. WORKS CITED - Bartoszewski, W. The Warsaw Ghetto. Boston: Beacon Press, 1987. - Bauer, Y. A History of the Holocaust. New York: Franklin, 1976. - Fleming, G. Hitler and the Final Solution. Berkley: University California Press, 1982. - The Holocaust: An Historical Summary. http://www.ushmm.org/misc- bin/add. (28 February 1998).

Comparitive Life Cycle Costing for of a Gasoline and a Hybrid Car

COMPARITIVE LIFE CYCLE COSTING FOR OF A GASOLINE AND A HYBRID CAR Digvesh khot , Narendran Neelagandan ABSTRACT The depletion of the fossil fuels is emerging as a concern for the whole world. The major sources for the consumption of this fossil fuel are our vehicles that use much of the oil for their operation. The need has been felt to devise the alternative fuel for our vehicles which should be the sustainable option so that it does not contribute to the environmental impacts rigorously. The objective of the comparative analysis is to know the feasibility of the hybrid car against the petrol car. The procedure adopted for the comparative analysis is to do life cycle costing of both the engines by considering the cost, benefits, maintenance and repairs for both the engines. The weight scoring model was also developed to analyze the feasibility of both the engines on the grounds of terms like safety, comfort, emissions and incentives. After completing the comparative analysis the life cycle costing model and the weight scoring model yield the results which were analyzed and the necessary recommendations were made. The results of the comparative analysis revealed that though the Hybrid cars initially cost more, but if they are run for more than 20,000 miles than the total cost per mile is less than the petrol cars. Also weighing model for both the cars gives more weightage to hybrid cars in terms of emissions and incentives. KEYWORDS: Life Cycle costing, alternative fuels, hybrid vehicles, petrol engines. LITERATURE REVIEW Today the major problem the whole world is facing is the depletion of fossil fuels. Most of the vehicles run on these fossil fuels. It is estimated that if the consumption of these fossil fuels continues at the same rate then by the end of 2030 the fossil fuels will get reduced by 50% of the current value and the prices will increase by $10/ gallon (Kibert, 2008). To overcome this problem a lot of automobile companies are working on the new design of engine which will work on some other source of energy other than fossil fuels. So hybrid model cars were developed keeping in mind of these problems. The first hybrid car model was developed by Dr Ferdinand Porsche in 1902 using a petrol engine, rotating at a constant speed to drive a ynamo, which charged the accumulators (www. wikipedia. com; 10, 2008). These accumulators fed current to electric motors contained within the hubs of the front wheels. Before this several advancements were made in non-gasoline motors, mainly electric cars (www. wikipedia. com). Such non-gasoline car was invented somewhere around years from 1832 and 1839, by Robert Anderson of Scotland a nd his electric carriage (www. wikipedia. com; 10, 2008). After that several car manufactures have been working on different technology for a long time and recently hybrid cars were developed (www. wikipedia. com; 10, 2008). Hybrid cars are vehicles driven by hybrid engines, which are any engine that combines two or more sources of power, generally gasoline and electricity (Lipman, et. al, 2003). There are two types of gasoline-electric hybrid cars; the parallel hybrid, and the series hybrid. Both of these use gasoline-electric hybrid technology (Lipman, et. al, 2003). In parallel hybrid cars, the gasoline and electric motors work together to move the car forward. In series, the gasoline engine either directly powers an electric motor which in turn powers the vehicle or charges the battery that will in turn power the motor(Lipman, et. l, 2003). Both these type of hybrid cars use another technology called Regenerative braking which stores the kinetic energy that is created while braking. This energy is stored in a battery which runs the electric motor. (Lipman, et. al, 2003) PROJECT SUMMARY This project was based on the life cycle costing and the comparative analysis of the hybrid engines and the petrol e ngines. The goal of the project was to calculate the total cost of both the engines during their life cycle and to analyze their performance and the impacts of environments. The first objective was to develop the life cycle cost model for studying their performance with respect to the annual mileage and the total cost per year spent on both type of cars. The second objective was to develop the weight scoring model for both types of cars to analyze them on the grounds of safety, comfort, emissions, and incentives. Life cycle model for both the cars were developed using the cost components like depreciation, fees and taxes, finance, fuel, insurance, maintenance , and repairs. All the data for these cost components for both types of engines were collected from the company websites and the EPA website. After the collection of these data, the life cycle cost model has been used for calculating the total life cycle cost for hybrid as well as petrol engines. The results were analyzed for both the alternatives and the conclusions were made. Weight scoring model was also developed for the comparative analysis which included the components like safety, comfort, emissions, and the incentives. The relative weights for these components were assigned according to the priorities from the consumer point of view. The rating points were also assigned and both the cars were rated according to the aforesaid components. The sources for the data were the company websites and the EPA websites for the emission data was also cited. The results of the Weight scoring model were then analyzed and the final conclusions were made. The comparative study for both the cars revealed that the hybrid cars are more efficient in terms of long term usage than the petrol cars. CASE STUDY DESCRIPTION Many car manufactures are working on this hybrid technology to improve the fuel consumption and decrease the emission levels and Honda is one of the leading car manufacturers who have released different hybrid models into the market (www. onda. com; 11, 2008). One of the models of Honda is â€Å"The Civic Hybrid 2008† which is the latest model which uses hybrid technology for propulsion, which is taken into study (www. honda. com; 11, 2008). The Civic Hybrid 2008 uses gasoline and electric power train for the propulsion. The engine is a 1399cc, 4 cylinder aluminum-alloy engine which supplies a power of [email  pro tected] (www. honda. com; 11, 2008). The electric motor supplies a maximum of 158 volts (www. honda. com; 11, 2008). The functioning of the system at various stages is different and is explained below. STARTING: The car uses an IMA (Integrated motor assist) system motor to start. If the IMA battery-pack charge is too low or if it’s very cold outside, the system has a separate battery and starter motor to back it up. (www. honda. com; 11, 2008) ACCELERATION: When extra acceleration is needed, while passing or climbing up an inclined region, the IMA System’s electric motor adds its torque automatically to the engine’s to give extra power. (www. honda. com; 11, 2008) CITY CRUISING: At steady speeds below 35 mph on level roads and under light throttle, fuel injection is ceased and the car is propelled olely by the electric motor. (www. honda. com; 11, 2008) HIGHWAY: At higher cruising speeds, the gasoline engine provides the motive power. The motor has been developed in such a way that it reduces the fuel consumption to particular levels. (www. honda. com; 11, 2008) BRAKING: The cars IMA System tap’s the kinetic energy that is produced in the vehicle, when b rakes are applied. During that period, the system’s motor turns itself into a generator, and helps in slowing down the car while at the same time it builds up the energy stored in the batteries. www. honda. com; 11, 2008) AT A STOP: When stopped, the gasoline engine automatically shuts off. When we lift our foot off the brake, and the engine restarts automatically. (www. honda. com; 11, 2008) These setups have been made to increase the vehicle performance and make them fuel efficient. The benefits of the refined gasoline electric power train are fuel economy and environment friendly emissions. This vehicle is certified by Environment protection agency (EPA) and passes all the regulation of EPA 2008 for environment. This car is also equipped with the rating of Advanced Technology of Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (AT-PZEV) which is the most stringent emission standards of United States which in turn is certified by California Air Resource Board (CARB). The technology being new is expensive and the initial cost for hybrid car is high as compared to the petrol engine cars. But if compared the life cycle cost is considerably less as compared to petrol engine due to the benefits of low emissions and fuel economy of the hybrid cars. (www. honda. om; 11, 2008) The petrol version of 2008 Honda civic sedan which is currently out in the market, is a normal car that runs on a gasoline engine. The engine is a 1799cc aluminum-alloy which produces [email  protected] (www. honda. com; 11, 2008). Gasoline or petrol engines are basic internal combustion engines which run on volatile fuels. They use air and fuel mixed together and a spark plug which produces the fire for combustion. The energy that is created i s used to run the drive shaft which in-turn runs the wheel (www. wikipedia. com; 10, 2008). Petrol engines were developed by the engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz (both from Germany) in 1885 who both together started the Daimler-Benz car plant (www. wikipedia. com; 10, 2008). Gasoline engines are the widely used internal combustion engines which have been under constant improvisation to improve their efficiency and to reduce the emission levels from them (www. wikipedia. com; 10, 2008). Different industries have been working towards that and Honda is one of the industries who have taken serious steps to reduce the emission levels from normal gasoline engines. www. honda. com; 11, 2008) These are the two products for which the life-cycle cost model analysis is going to be created. LIFE CYCLE COST MODEL DESCRIPTION The Life Cycle Cost (LCC) model for comparative analysis of hybrid and the petrol cars was based on following cost components: †¢Depreciation †¢Insurance †¢Financing †¢Taxes and fees †¢Fuel †¢Maintenance †¢Repairs The sourc e for developing the model was (Shtub, et. al; 2005). LCCcars = LCCdepreciation + LCCinsurance+ LCCfinancing+ LCCtaxes and fees+ LCCfuel + LCCmaintenance+ LCCrepairs. The LCC model for car is the summation of the all the cost components which will yield the total life cycle cost (Shtub, et. al; 2005). The assumptions that have been made are in terms of time frame and the cost components are as follows: 1. Time frame: The time frame for calculation has been taken as 5 years. All the data for the cost components are based on 5 years. 2. Depreciation: it is the value of the vehicle which declines as the vehicle gets older. The age of the vehicle is related to the number of miles it has travelled. For both the cars it the average of 15, 000 miles per year is being considered. 3. Insurance: It is the average annual insurance that has been taken into account. The premium charged per year for the insurance of the car has been taken from the website of Honda company for the Louisiana state. 4. Financing: This is the interest expense on a loan in the amount of true market value purchase price + destination charge + base sales tax & initial fees (www. honda. com; 11, 2008). The values for these expenses are considered for Louisiana region assuming the 10% down payment and a loan term of 60 months. 5. Taxes and fees: we have included base sales taxes, license and registration fees in Louisiana region (www. dmunds. com, 11/2008). 6. Fuel: Assuming 45% driving on freeways and 55% driving in city we have collected the data for the fuel from www. epa. gov. 7. Maintenance: We have considered both the scheduled and the unscheduled maintenance in this cost components. 8. Repairs: the estimated expenses for repairs that do not come under the manufacturer’s warranty for five years, is taken as repairs. (www. edmund. com;11, 2008) The life cycle costing has been done for three conditions and they are: †¢Condition 1: cost component data for USA †¢Condition 2: cost component data for Louisiana. Condition 3: distance travelled is 10, 000 miles with a 55% driving in city and 45% driving on freeways. CHECK LIST MODEL DESCRIPTION The weighing model that has been created has taken into consideration of few factors which are not taken into account by many car owners. Factors like safety, comfort, and emissions do not play a significant factor for many people who plan to buy a car. This motivated us to create the scoring model for these factors. For the Honda civic Dx (2008 model) and Honda civic hybrid (2008, model) safety, comfort, and emissions are taken into account and the relative weights are given. The safety features are good for the in the midsize segment with disc for the front, 4 wheel ABC and the airbags for the head, and side (www. honda. com; 11, 2008). But these can be improved to the next level by adding the disc brakes to all the wheels and by increasing the number of airbags. The comfort level is taken into consideration as some people spend more time in the car driving around, so the comfort level plays an important part. The next criteria are the emission levels of the car which is taken into consideration for analyzing the environmental impact of them. The last criteria is the incentives that are being offered for the buying a hybrid cars. The source for developing the weighing model was (Shtub, et. al; 2005). On the basis of the above criteria the weighing model has been developed and the results were analyzed to make conclusions. RESULTS Life cycle costing Model 1: Honda Civic Dx 4 door Sedan Condition 1: cost component data for USA Maximum or manufacturer’s suggestion retail price: $ 15, 810. Owner ship: 1-5 years. Cost componentsCost ($) Depreciation 10,112 Fees and taxes 730 Finance 2331 Fuel9945 Insurance8348 Maintenance1720 Repairs643 Total life cycle cost37645 Note: The miles driven are kept constant and the values are tabulated for USA Source: www. autochannel. com, www. honda. com, and www. edmunds. com for cost component data except for the fuel data. www. epa. gov – fuel data. Condition 2: cost component data for Louisiana. Maximum or manufacturer’s suggestion retail price: $ 15, 810. Owner ship: 1-5 years. Cost componentsCost ($) Depreciation 9002 Fees and taxes 1407 Finance 2963 Fuel8478 Insurance10119 Maintenance2934 Repairs625 Total life cycle cost35528 Note: the above values are taken for Louisiana region Source: www. utochannel. com, www. honda. com, and www. edmunds. com for cost component data except for the fuel data. www. epa. gov- Fuel data. Condition 3: distance travelled is 10, 000 miles with a 55% driving in city and 45% driving on freeways. Maximum or manufacturer’s suggestion retail price: $ 15, 810. The car has driven for 10,000 miles (55% city and 45% freeways) Owner shi p: 1-5 years. Cost componentsCost ($) Depreciation 8851 Fees and taxes 1194 Finance 2405 Fuel6568 Insurance6759 Maintenance1176 Repairs564 Opportunity cost2999 Total life cycle cost30, 518 Note: the cost per mile for 10,000 miles is $. 1, for 15,000 miles is $. 48, and for 20,000 miles $0. 46. Source: www. autochannel. com, www. honda. com, and www. edmunds. com for cost component data except for the fuel data. www. epa. gov- Fuel data. Model 2: Honda Civic hybrid 4 door Sedan Condition 1: cost component data for USA Maximum or manufacturer’s suggestion retail price: $ 22, 600. Owner ship: 1-5 years. Cost componentsCost ($) Depreciation 11993 Fees and taxes 1974 Finance 4117 Fuel6155 Insurance10622 Maintenance2932 Repairs625 Total life cycle cost38478 Note: The miles driven are kept constant and the values are tabulated for USA Source: www. utochannel. com, www. honda. com, and www. edmunds. com for cost component data except for the fuel data. www. epa. gov – Fuel dat a. Condition 2: cost component data for Louisiana. Maximum or manufacturer’s suggestion retail price: $ 22,600. Owner ship: 1-5 years. Cost componentsCost ($) Depreciation 13128 Fees and taxes 511 Finance 3331 Fuel6846 Insurance9252 Maintenance1920 Opportunity cost3857 Repairs679 Total life cycle cost39525 Note: the above values are taken for Louisiana region Source: www. autochannel. com, www. honda. com, and www. edmunds. com for cost component data except for the fuel data. ww. epa. gov – fuel data. Condition 3: Distance travelled is 10, 000 miles with a 55% driving in city and 45% driving on freeways. Maximum or manufacturer’s suggestion retail price: $ 22, 600. The car has driven for 10,000 miles (55% city and 45% freeways) Owner ship: 1-5 years. Cost componentsCost ($) Depreciation 12189 Fees and taxes 1157 Finance 3615 Fuel4536 Insurance7491 Maintenance1402 Repairs596 Opportunity cost3212 Total life cycle cost34198 Note: the cost per mile for 10,000 miles is $. 68, for 15,000 miles is $. 51, and for 20,000 miles $0. 47. Source: www. autochannel. om, www. honda. com, and www. edmunds. com for cost component data except for the fuel data. www. epa. gov – Fuel data. Sensitivity analysis The data used for sensitivity analysis was miles per year travelled and the increment taken for it was 5000. For Model 1: Honda Civic Dx 4 door Sedan No of milesCost per mile($)Data source 100000. 61www. epa. gov 150000. 48www. epa. gov 200000. 46www. epa. gov 250000. 47www. epa. gov For Model 2: Honda Civic hybrid 4 door Sedan No of milesCost per mile($)Data source 100000. 68www. epa. gov 150000. 51www. epa. gov 200000. 47www. epa. gov 50000. 45www. epa. gov The initial cost for the petrol engine may be less than the hybrid cars but after 20000 miles of running hybrid cars are more fuel efficient than the petrol engines. After performing the sensitivity analysis we observed that initially the cost per mile for petrol is less than the hybrid cars , but as you increase the number of miles after 20,000 miles hybrid cars become more fuel efficient. The breakeven point on the sensitivity graph shows the changing nature of fuel efficiency for hybrid cars and petrol cars. Weight scoring method (Shtub, et. al; 2005). Weighing model for Honda civic DX 2008: For all criteria and the relative weight the values are assumed according to the priority of consumer. CriteriaRelative weightExcellent 30(assumed)Good 20(assumed)Fair 10(assumed)Poor 0(assumed)Factor score safety. 3v6 Comfort. 2v2 emissions. 4v2 incentives. 1v0 total1. 0010 Source: www. autochannel. com, www. honda. com, and www. edmunds. com for criteria data except the fuel data and www. epa. gov for fuel data. Weighing model for Honda civic hybrid 2008: For all criteria and the relative weight the values are assumed according to the priority of consumer. CriteriaRelative weightExcellent 30(assumed)Good 20(assumed)Fair 10(assumed)Poor 0(assumed)Factor score safety. 3v6 Comfort. 2v4 emissions. 412 incentives. 1v3 total1. 00v25 Source: www. autochannel. com, www. honda. com, and www. edmunds. com for criteria data except the fuel data and www. epa. gov for fuel data. The weighing score model shows that for hybrid cars the factor score is more than the petrol car and the reason is the hybrid cars are more emission free than the petrol car, also the criteria of the incentive for hybrid car makes it more preferable for the customers. The hybrid cars have a 25-100% federal tax credit which could move people towards buying the hybrid cars which are environmentally friendly as compared to petrol (www. honda. com; 11/2008) . 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