Democratisation and Reforms in Singapore and Malaysia Research Paper

Democratisation and Reforms in Singapore and Malaysia - Research Paper Example This paper therefore is to scrutinise and study the process of democratisation and reform in Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore and Malaysia have an aspect of striking similarity which has shaped their process of democratisation. Both countries enjoy strong authoritarian stability because of the strong state apparatuses they possess. Some strong states such as Taiwan and South Korea had emerged before Malaysia and Singapore became authoritarian in the 1960s and would have been instrumental in helping stabilise national politics in Singapore and Malaysia to democratise. Slater observes that the drawback in this state of affair above is that the same state strength that props up stable transitions to democracy is the very force that enables authoritarian rulers and regimes to forestall democratisation and reforms. This is to mean that the chief reason for Singapore and Malaysia’s democratisation is the main reason democratisation and reforms may not transpire thereto. A case whic h underscores the need for Malaysia’s democratisation and reforms is epitomised by the move by the Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak of singlehandedly picking a committee to review the country’s electoral system and the Internal Security Act. While the Prime Minister dishonestly explained such a move as a needful exercise in arresting lawlessness, the entire exercise was a response to the Arab Spring (Slater, 30). The need for Singapore and Malaysia to democratize and reform The need for Singapore and Malaysia to undergo democratisation and reforms is premised on the economic gains and developments that are taking place therein. In the case of Singapore, there has been the registration of rapid and gradual economic growth. For this cause, Singapore has come to be the second highest income earner in Asia, immediately after Japan. As a matter of fact, Singapore is being touted by scholars such as Beng-Haut as the largest non-democracy economy in world history . Because of this status, it is expected that Singapore should be setting the standard for democracy and reforms in the Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, much to the chagrin of many, this is not the case, yet the failure to democratise and reform will stunt economic accruals therein (Beng-Haut, 23). The need for Singapore to democratise is also underscored by the fact that Singapore’s political life and commitment to constitutionalism is doing very badly. According to Beng-Haut, with the exception of the Islamic Brunei sultanate, Singapore remains the only ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member which is excluded from the list of countries that are democratising. The exclusion of Singapore from the ASEAN countries that are democratizing is serious, given that other pseudo-democracies such as Indonesia where institutions (such as the electoral commission) are still too weak to withstand the undue influence of the executive, were included in the list (Beng-Haut, 23). Conversely, Singapore has no recourse to democratise and reform, given that it still has strengths that can facilitate democratisation. Singapore parallels other authoritarian regimes by manifesting commitment to human rights and collective goals. Factors That Impede Democratization and Reforms in Singapore and Malaysia Setbacks that inhibit Singapore’s path to democratisation and reforms are: (a) tension between the presence and influence of

The Viking Age Essay Example for Free

The Viking Age Essay The aim of this essay is to critically describe daily life in Viking Ireland in either Dublin or Waterford. For the purpose of this essay I will concentrate on Dublin, as there is a substantial amount of archaeological evidence that was found and excavated by archaeologists. It has been widely recognised from extensive archaeology excavations that Fishamble Street and Winetavern Street as well as High Street were pivotal centres in which the Vikings took residence and went about their daily life (Hall 1990, 25). This essay will look at many different aspects of Viking daily life in Dublin, including their occupational activity, the types of houses they lived in, their burials and the type of objects they traded on a regular basis. This essay will firstly deal with the houses and types of dwellings that the Vikings of Dublin were accustomed to. The major excavations that took place between the years 1961 and 1981 in the areas of Wood Quay and Christchurch (Rosedahl 1982, 229-230). The excavations reveal to us that the normal everyday Viking dweller lived in houses that were mostly composed of wattle and daub (Rosedahl 1982, 230). Other characteristics of the type of house a Dublin Viking would live in was that the shape would always be rectangular accompanied by rounded corners and end walls (Clarke and Simms 1985, 126). The majority of the houses also had small cubicles at either end of the main house. The presence of animal bone shows us that the people of Dublin ate meat. There have been thirteen levels of preservation located on Wood Quay. This has been dated to 920 A. D These houses once they are no use; are knocked down immediately and a new house is built on top of the old one (Rosedahl 1982, 231). People of Viking Age Dublin were very skilled and well-crafted trades people. Many Dublin craftsmen were highly skilled in areas such as the manufacture of bone and antler combs (Clarke and Simms 1985, 134). The bone that was excavated is known to be of the red deer (Rosedahl 1982, 231). These Dublin craftsmen also worked with leather, wooden objects such as the manufacture of ploughs, bone whorls and needles and pins. Archaeological evidence has also shown that the crafts of ship building, bone carving, carpentry and iron manufacture have taken place (Rosedahl 1982, 231). The majority of Viking men would have spent their own daily life manufacturing these and this would have probably been their main source of income. These craftsmen worked with not only the one style, but with many different ones. The Vikings of Dublin also manufactured broad arm rings. This would have mainly taken place for the circulation and storage if timber (Larsen 2001, 57-59). To illustrate the importance of amber working in Viking Age Dublin an amber workshop has been excavated. A wide range of objects have been uncovered including beads, pendants and rings (Clarke and Simms 1984, 136). For the most part they were highly influenced from outside sources (Hall 1990, 26). However the archaeological evidence of Dublin shows us that it was the metalworkers that were possibly one of the most common and important tradesmen. Tongs and hammers that were manufactured by smiths have been found in numerous burials in Kilmainham and Islandbridge (Hall 1990, 58). Also at a site known as Granby Row there have been other metal objects uncovered such as rivets, an iron spearhead and sword. Also two swords, four spearheads, a shield boss and a copper alloy buckle that was thinned were excavated at the College Green site OFloinn 1998, 134-135). Including these trades occupying the daily lives of those in Viking Dublin, there were other activities that were also taking place. Extensive archaeological evidence has been uncovered to suggest that there was a lot of trade and gift exchange taking place as well (Clarke and Simms 1984, 135). Such items that show this include pieces of porphyry from the Italian capital, an exotic ring made of gold that has a red garnet that appears to be Frankish. Also a carved boss made of wood was uncovered, whose origins are from the northern province of Ireland (Clarke and Simms, 135). This archaeological evidence also proves to us that the Vikings lead a reasonable wealthy life or perhaps a very wealthy life, as trading precious objects took place on a regular ongoing basis. In relation to Viking graves and burial customs, there are two main cemeteries in Dublin. These are that of Kilmainham and Island Bridge. It is known that there are 43 furnished burials in all. However Kilmainham is the largest with 30 furnished burials in all. With the substantial amount of grave goods present in both sites it should be said that the Dublin Vikings thought very much of their dead (Larsen 2001, 67). Weapons such as swords, daggers and other inflicting weapons tend to dominate the female graves (Larsen 2001,68). Also for craft and domestic use tanged knives and a range of different buckles have been uncovered, that people used to keep their clothes on. However the most elaborate and decorative item found was that of the Kilmainham brooch (Larsen 2001, 72). It is widely thought that this item is definitely the single richest Viking Age grave good from an Irish context (Larsen 2001, 72). In conclusion this essay has discussed, analysed and described Viking daily life in Dublin. By using the appropriate archaeological evidence one can see how the Vikings of Dublin went about their routine on a daily basis. Also the main themes that this essay has included are that of the Vikings crafts that they done to make a living. This essay also looked at the type of houses, by taking into consideration their size and shape. When writing this essay I also looked at trade and the type of goods that the Dublin Vikings traded and treasured. Through excellent preservation of Viking graves at Islandbridge and Kilmainham this essay took a brief look at Viking graves and what their attitude was to what goods should be buried with males and females. Bibliography Hall, R. 1990. Viking Age Archaeology in Britain and Ireland. Princes Risborough. Larsen, Anne-Christine, 2001. The Vikings in Ireland Roskilde, The Viking Ship Museum. Rosedahl, E.1992. The Vikings. Harmondsworth. Wallace, P. 1985. The Archaeology of Viking Dublin. In H.B. Clarke A. Simms (eds) The Comparative History of Urban Origins in Non-Roman Europe.

Speech Recognition using Epochwise Back Propagation

Speech Recognition using Epochwise Back Propagation International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887) Volume *– No.*, ___________ 2013 Speech Recognition using the Epochwise Back Propagation through time Algorithm Neelima Rajput S.K.Verma Department of C.S.E. Department of C.S.E. GBPEC, Pauri Gharwal, GBPEC, Pauri Gharwal, Uttrakhand, India. Uttrakhand, India ABSTRACT In this paper, artificial neural networks are used to accomplish the English alphabet speech recognition. The challenging issue in the area of speech recognition is to design an accurate and effective speech recognition system. We implemented a new data classification method, where we use neural networks, which are trained using the calculated epoch values of audio signal. This method gave comparable result to the already implemented neural networks. In this paper, Back propagation neural network architecture used to recognize the time varying input data, and provides better accurate results for the English Alphabet speech recognition. The Epochwise Back Propagation through time (BPTT) algorithm uses the epoch values of input signal to train the network structures and yields the satisfactory results. Keywords Artificial Neural Network, Back Propagation Neural Network, Epoch, Speech Recognition. I INTRODUCTION Speech recognition system enables the machine to understand the human speech and react accordingly. It allows the machine to automatically understand the human spoken utterances with the speech signal processing and pattern recognition. In this approach is the machine converts the voice signal into the suitable text or command through the process of identification and understanding. Speech recognition is emerges as a vast technology in current time. It also plays an important role in information theory, acoustics, phonetics, linguistics, and pattern recognition theory and neurobiology disciplines. speech recognition technology become a key technology in the computer information processing technology as there is rapid advancement in the software, hardware and information technology. The features of input audio signal are compared with the voice template stored in the computer database in speech recognition system by using the computer systems. Recognition results are mainly depends up on the matching techniques used for matching the audio signal characteristics. To improve the recognition rate and better recognition results neural networks are used. A neural network is a powerful tool which used to adapt and represent the complicated input outputs. Neural nets are basically interconnected networks of relatively simple processing units, or nodes that work simultaneously. They are designed to mimic the function of human neuron biological networks. The processing units of neural networks are termed as neurons. A neural network provides better results over the existing approaches in speech recognition systems [1]. 2 BASICS OF NEURAL NETWORKS The basics of neural networks are discussed as follows. There are many different types of neural networks, but they all have four basic and common attributes: †¢ Processing units †¢ Connections †¢ Computing procedure †¢ Training procedure . Processing Units A neural network contains several processing units, which are roughly analogous to neurons in the human brain. All these units activate in parallel and perform the task simultaneously. Processing units are responsible for the overall computation; there is no any other unit for the corporation of their activity. Each processing unit computes a scalar function of all its local inputs at every moment of time and then further broadcast the result to their neighboring units [2]. The units in a neural network are basically classified into input units, which used to receive data from the outside; hidden units, used to internally transform the data; and output units, which serve decisions or target signals. 2.2 Connections All processing units in a neural network are organized in to a defined topology by a set of connections, or weights, shown as lines in a diagram. Each weight consist a real value, which ranging from ∞ to + ∞. The value of a weight represents how much impact a unit has on its neighbor units a positive weight causes one unit to excite another, while a negative weight causes one unit to inhibit another. Weights of the processing units are usually one-directional (from input units towards output units), but it may be two-directional sometimes, especially when there is no distinction between input and output units. Figure 1.Neural network topologies: (a) unstructured, (b) layered, (c) recurrent, (d) modular [3]. The above figure shows the topology of different neural networks. Unstructured Neural Network is mainly used in processor which is operated in parallel to provide the computational power for the speech recognition system. Layered neural net algorithms are self-organizing and their internal speech model maximizes the performance and produces better results comparable to existing systems. Recurrent Neural network are mainly used in pattern sequencing as it follows the sequences changes time to time. Modular neural network are used in designing of complex systems by using simple components. Neural nets offer an approach to computation that mimics biological nervous systems. Algorithms based on neural nets have been proposed to address speech recognition tasks which humans perform with little apparent effort. 2.3 Computation Procedure Computation of neural networks begins after applying an input data to the input units of the network. Then the activation function of all the units is calculated either simultaneously or independently depends upon the structure of the neural network. The computation process in the unstructured network is termed as spreading activation and in layered network is known as forward propagation as it proceed from the input units to the output units. First we compute the net input of the processing unit and then we compute the output activation function of the net input to update a given processing unit. 2.4 Training Procedure Training a network means enable the connections adaptive so that the network shows the actual computational behavior for all the input patterns. In training process usually weights are updated but sometimes the modification of network topology also takes place, i.e., addition and deletion of connections from the network topology [4]. Modification of weight is easy and beneficial than topology modification as a network with bulk connections able to set any of its weight zero, which is equivalent as deleting such weights. 3. RELATED WORK The past research concluded that the use of the neural networks in the speech recognition system provides the better recognition result compared to the other existing approaches. The latest study of neural networks actually started in the 19th century, when neurobiologists first introduce the extensive studies of the human nervous system [5]. Cajal (1892) determined that the nervous system is comprised of some basic units i.e. discrete neurons, which communicate with the other neurons by sending electrical signals down their long axons, which ultimately activated and touch the dendrites(receptive areas) of thousands of other neurons, transmitting the electrical signals through synapses (points of contact, with variable resistance). Firstly, the different kinds of neurons were identified, and then analyze their electrical responses, and finally their patterns of connectivity and the brain’sgross functional areas were mapped out. According to the neurobiologists study the functi onality of individual neurons are quite simple and easy. Whereas to determine how neurons worked together to achieve high level functionality, such as perception and cognition are very difficult.[6] In 1943 McCulloch and Pitts proposed the first enumeration model of a neuron, named as binary threshold unit, whose output was either 0 or 1 depending on whether its net input exceeded a given threshold. There are various approaches proposed by the researchers to design an accurate speech recognition system for various purposes. In [7] Al-Alaoui algorithm is used to train the neural network. This method gives the comparable better results to the already implemented hidden markov model (HMM) for the recognition of the words. This algorithm also overcomes the disadvantages of the HMM in the recognition of sentences. An algorithm based on neural network classifier [8] for speech recognition used a new Viterbi net architecture which is recognized the input patterns and provided an accuracy of recognition rate more than 99% on a large speech database. This system is used for isolated word recognizer. In [9] author accomplishes the isolated word speech recognition using the neural network. The methodology of this approach is to extract the feature of speech signals using the Digital Signal Processing techniques and then classification using the Artificial Neural Network. This algorithm concluded that the better accurate recognition results are obtained from the probalistic Neural Network PNN. In [10] author implemented a pre- trained deep neural network using the hidden markov model (DNN-HMM) hybrid architecture which is used to train the DNN to produce the better recognition results of large vocabulary speech database. 4. PROPOSED WORK Speech recognition using the Epochwise Back propagation through time algorithm is proposed in this paper.In the proposed system neural network training is based on the calculation of epoch of the audio signal and then used these epoch value for the training of the neural network. The input data sets used to train the neural network can be partitioned in to the independent epochs. Each epoch representing a temporal value of the input data. Back propagationneural network used in the system in following steps. First choose and fix the architecture for the network, which will contain input, hidden and output units, all of which will contain sigmoid functions. Assign the weights between all the nodes. The assignments of weights usually between -0.5 and 0.5. Each training example is used, one after another, to re-train the weights in the network. After calculating each epoch for input audio data, a termination condition is checked. In neural network architecture the weights of input and hidden layers are adjusted according to the target output values [11] The input data is considered as E which is propagated through the network so that we can record all the observed values Oi(E) for the output nodes Oi. At the same time, we record all the observed values hi(E) for the hidden nodes. Then, for each output unit Ok, we calculate its epoch as follows: (1) The epoch terms from the output units are used to calculate epoch terms for the hidden units. In fact, this method gets its name because we propagate this information backwards through the network [12]. For each hidden unit Hk, we calculate the epoch as follows: (2) Here, we take the epoch term for every output unit and multiply it by the weight from hidden unit Hk to the output unit. We then add all these together and multiply the sum by hk(E)*(1 hk(E)). Having calculated all the epoch values associated with each unit (hidden and output), we can now transfer this information into the weight changes Δij between units i and j. The calculation is as follows: for weights wij between input unit Ii and hidden unit Hj, and summation of all units are as: (3) Back Propagation Neural Network architecture is shown in below figure Fig.2 Back propagation Neural Network The main steps of this system are defined as follows. Read the input audio Signal. Extract the epoch values Train the neural network on the basis of epoch values. Applied the back propagation neural network for the classification. Matching the input data with the trained data. Recognized the input. The data flow diagram of the proposed system represented in given figure C Figure 2 Proposed approaches for Speech Recognition 5. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS The experiment conducted on the audio database of English alphabets. Matlab R2010a (Math works) in Windows 7 was used to implement the proposed algorithm. The input signal is used to calculate the epoch values and then by using calculated epoch values the neural network is trained.The epoch rate of multi-layered networks over a training set could be calculated as the number of miss-classified data values. There are many output nodes, all of which could potentially misfire (e.g., giving a value close to 1 when it should have output 0 and vice-versa), we can be more sophisticated in our epoch evaluation. In practice the overall network epoch is calculated as: This is not as complicated as it first appears. The calculation simply involves working out the difference between the observed output for each output unit and the target output and squaring this to make sure it is positive, then adding up all these squared differences for each output unit and for each input signal. The calculated epoch values for audio signal A is listed in tabular form. Table: 1 Calculated Epoch values for input data Then epoch values are basically instant of significant excitation of the vocal-tract system during production of speech. Table 1 represented the Epoch values for the input English alphabet A in terms of time in mili seconds. These epoch values are stored in the computer for the further matching by using the neural networks to the recognition purpose. Similarly, epoch values are calculated for each input English alphabet and then train the network through these input patterns and stored in the system for recognition Figure 3 Performance graphs of epoch values. The figure 3 shows the performance of the system based on epoch values. The best validation performance epoch value is selected from the different epoch on the basis of Mean Square error. The graph is plotted on epoch and means squared error values. Table: 2 Performance of the proposed system In Table: 2 the recognition rate is calculated for five input English alphabet which is 98.8%. The new proposed Epochwise Back propagation through time algorithm yields the satisfactory results. 6. CONCLUSION In this paper, we implemented the Epochwise Back propagation through the time varying epoch calculation. The experiment is conducted on the small set of English Language alphabet to calculate the recognition rate of the system. Some different sound samples (i.e., with different sampling frequency) of each alphabet are taken and used for testing the system. The above results show the performance of our proposed algorithm in speech recognition. 7. REFERENCES Jianliang Meng, Junwei Zhang,Haoquan Zhao, â€Å"Overview of the speech Recognition Technology†, 2012 Fourth International Conference on Computational and Information Sciences. L. Fausset, Fundamentals of Neural Networks. PrenticeHall Inc., 1994, ch 4. Jiang Ming Hu, in the Yuan Baozong, Lin Biqin. Neural networks for speech recognition research and progress. Telecommunications Science, 1997, 13(7):1-6. H. Boulard and N. Morgan, â€Å"Continuous speech recognition by connectionist statistical methods,† IEEE Trans. Neural Netw., vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 893–909, Nov. 1993. Mohamad Adnan Al-Alaoui, Lina Al-Kanj, Jimmy Azar, and Elias Yaacoub, â€Å"Speech recognition using Artificial Neural Network and Hidden Markov Model†, IEEE Multidisciplinary Engineering Education Magazine Vol. 3, No.3, September 2008. RICHARD P. LIPPMANN, â€Å"Neural Network Classifiers for Speech Recognition† The Lincoln Laboratory Journal, Volume 1, Number 1 (1988) Gulin Dede, Murat Husnu SazlÄ ±, â€Å"Speech recognition using artificial neural network.† Digital signal processing  © 2009 Elsevier Inc. George E. Dahl, Dong Yu, Li Deng, Alex Acero,† Context-Dependent Pre-Trained Deep Neural Networks for Large-Vocabulary Speech Recognition† , IEEE Transaction on Audio, and Language Processing, Vol. 20, No.1, January 2012. H. Paugam-Moisy, ‘Parallel neural computing based on network duplicating’,in Parallel Algorithms for Digital Image Processing, Computer Vision and Neural Networks, ed., I. Pitas, 305–340, JohnWiley, (1993). Stefano Scanzio, Sandro Cumani, Roberto Gemello, Franco Mana, P. Laface, â€Å"Parallel implementation of Artificial Neural Network Training for Speech Recognition.† Pattern recogonition letters,  © 2010 Elsevier B.V. N. Morgan and H. Bourlard, â€Å"Continuous speech recognition using multilayer perceptrons with hidden Markov models,† in Proc. ICASSP,1990, pp. 413–416. Y. Hifny and S. Renals, â€Å"Speech recognition using augmented conditional random fields,† IEEE Trans. Audio, Speech, Lang. Process., vol.17, no. 2, pp. 354–365, Feb. 2009.

Human Memory Organization. :: essays research papers

Human Memory Organization. Human memory organization, from the outside, seems to be quite a difficult thing to analyse, and even more difficult to explain in black and white. This is because of one main reason, no two humans are the same, and from this it follows that no two brains are the same. However, after saying that, it must be true that everyone's memory works in roughly the same way, otherwise we would not be the race called humans. The way the memory is arranged, is probably the most important part of our bodies, as it is our memory that controls us. I think that it is reasonable to suggest that our memory is ordered in some way, and it is probably easy to think of it as three different sections : short term, medium term, and long term memory. Short Term :  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This is where all of the perceptions we get come to. From the eyes, nose, ears, nerves etc. They come in at such a rate, that there needs to be a part of memory that is fast, and can sift through all of these signals, and then pass them down the line for use, or storage. Short term memory probably has no real capacity for storage. Medium Term :  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is where all of the information from the short term memory comes to be processed. It analyses it, and then decides what to do with it (use it, or store it). Here also is where stored information is called to for processing when needed. This kind of memory has some kind of limited storage space, which is used when processing information, however the trade-off is that is slower than Short term memory. Long Term :  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Long term memory is the dumping ground for all of the used information. Here is where the Medium term memory puts, and takes it's information to and from. It has a large amount of space, but is relatively slow in comparison with the other kinds of memory, and the way that the memory is stored is dubious as we are all knows to forget things. There is quite a good analogy in Sommerfield (forth edition p24-p25). Short term memory is comparable to computers registers, medium term (Working memory) is like a volatile storage place for information, and long term memory is like hard disk storage. I think that this is quite a good way of describing our own memory hierarchy. It seems that when information is being processed, and then in turn stored, it is not being stored as raw information such as black, round etc.

Importance of Physical Fitness

English Assessment 2013 Importance of Physical Fitness Importance of Physical Fitness Physical fitness is one of the most important key to a healthy body. It is the basis of creative artistic activity. Physical fitness means the condition of being physically healthy, especially exercises and proper nutrition. It is the reason, a state of general well-being marked by physical health and mental stability. Physical fitness is not just bending our body.It is about having cardiovascular and overall muscular endurance, as well as a strong immunity system, and most importantly, a satisfied state of your mind. (Manohar, 2011) Past these days when physical exercises were meant for people who are serving in the armed forces or the people those who are having physically demanding jobs. Now a day’s most of the people believe that, having a physically fit body is the most important thing that a person can possess. The importance of physical fitness and exercise customized to the specific r equirements of both young and old. 3fatchicks, 2010) This has led to the quality and use of exercise equipment. The easy access to gyms and fitness centers helps to keep their body physically fit. This has resulted in people leading longer and healthier lives which their predecessors could not have dreamed of before. Physical fitness is important for everyone to stay active throughout their lives. Because of busy work and home lives, more than 60% do not get the best amount of physical fitness daily and these numbers are increase in day by day. Katherine, 2010) Experts recommend working out several times over the course of a week with varying exercises for the most benefit to your health. Collage of Islamic Studies Page 1 English Assessment 2013 Importance of Physical Fitness Health is one of the pre-requisites for a happy as much as well-balanced your life. There are many benefits, if a person becomes physically fit. There are some benefits of physical fitness like cardiovascular e ndurance is one of the advantages the person gets due to physically fit. This is the ability of the body to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your tissues.As much as this will help to remove waste from over sustained period of time and also furthermore the strength deals with the ability of the muscle to exert force for a brief time period, while endurance is the ability of a muscle, or group of muscles, to sustain repeated contractions or to continue to apply force against an inert object. (. iaepa. us, 2009) Flexibility will denote the ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion. Exercise and overall fitness helps you detoxify your body and thus lets your skin breathe. Katherine, 2010) It also helps to tone your body and thus enhances your overall appearance. So in short physical fitness keep you beautiful and glowing. 5. A healthy mind thinks in a healthy body. Any exercise included in your fitness regimen, it will lead to the production of endorphins in the body. Endorphins are the chemicals that make you feel happy and hence a healthy and physically fit body. (John, 2012) It is always accompanied by a healthy mind. Drive-away illness is also a benefit we will get from the physical fitness.Moderated and balanced workout in a fitness regimen helps to boost the immune system of the body. Fully functional and strong body immunity means that your body develops the strength to ward off diseases and infections. Body composition: this will help to consider the components of fitness. Composition refers to the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, vital tissue, and organs) and fat mass. Actually, the optimal ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness. Performing the right set of exercises Collage of Islamic Studies Page 2 English Assessment 2013Importance of Physical Fitness can help people to get rid of body fat as well as to increase and maintain muscle mass. (Hardcastle, 2010) So, in short, to have great of satisfaction in our life, it is not just the materialistic things that we need, but it is our own physical fitness. This will help us in our life as a long run. It is rare to cause a disease if our body is healthy and mind is simply priceless. Even though we have everything like money, high education, family and peers if we are not physically fit we can’t engage and enjoy with them. Deh, 2012) Like our scheduled breakfast and lunch the physical exercise also must be a part of our day to day activities. Collage of Islamic Studies Page 3 English Assessment 2013 Importance of Physical Fitness Reference Iaepa. us. (2009, july 27). Retrieved july 27, 2009, from www. iaepa. us: http://www. iaepa. us/executive-protection-physical-fitness-requirements 3fatchicks. (2010). Retrieved 2010, from www. 3fatchicks. com: http://www. 3fatchicks. com/theimportance-of-physical-fitness-in-your-life/ Iaepa. us. (2012). Retrieved 2012, from www. iaepa. s/executive-protection-physical-fitnessrequirements: http ://www. iaepa. us/executive-protection-physical-fitness-requirements Buddy, T. ( 2012, October 25 ). studymode. Retrieved October 25, 2012, from www. studymode. com: http://www. studymode. com/essays/How-To-Improve-Physical-Fitness1160490. html Deh, T. (2012, October 8). saaraaalto. blogspot. Retrieved October 8, 2012, from www. saaraaalto. blogspot. com: http://saaraaalto. blogspot. com/2012_10_01_archive. html Hardcastle, J. ( 2010, October 4). ezinearticles. Retrieved October 4, 2010, from www. ezinearticles. com: http://ezinearticles. om/? The-Importance-of-PhysicalFitness&id=284434 John. (2012, August 2). witftennis. Retrieved August 2, 2012, from www. itftennis. com: http://www. itftennis. com/scienceandmedicine/conditioning/what-is-fitness. aspx Katherine. ( 2010). fitday. Retrieved 2010, from www. fitday. com: http://www. fitday. com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/the-importance-of-physicalfitness. html#b Manohar, U. (2011, september 30). buzzle. Retrieved septemb er 30, 2011, from www. buzzle. com: http://www. buzzle. com/articles/importance-of-physical-fitness. html Collage of Islamic Studies Page 4

Hubble Studies Giant Gas Bubbles Near our Galaxys Core

Hubble Studies Giant Gas Bubbles Near our Galaxy's Core Its an ancient galactic mystery with a modern explanation: two million years ago, something happened at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Something energetic. Something that sent two huge bubbles of gas billowing out to space. Today, they stretch out across more than 30,000 light-years of space, extending above and below the plane of the Milky Way.  No one was around to see it then at least no humans on Earth. Our earliest primate  ancestors were just learning to walk upright, and astronomy was not likely on their list of activities. So, this major explosion went unnoticed. Yet, it was a titanic event, driving gases and other material outward at two million miles per hour, didnt affect our plane then and it wont likely affect us in the future. However, it does show us what happens when a massive explosion occurs some 25,000 light-years away from our planet. Hubble Sleuths the Cause of the Explosion Astronomers used  Hubble Space Telescope  to look through one lobe of the bubbles toward a very distant quasar. Thats a galaxy that is very bright in  both visible and other wavelengths of light. The quasars passed through the bubbles of gas, which allowed Hubble to peer inside the  bubble to learn more about it- like  looking at a distant light shining through a fog bank.   The enormous structure illustrated in this image was discovered five years ago as a gamma-ray glow on the sky in the direction of the galactic center. The balloon-like features have since been observed in x-rays and radio waves. The Hubble Space Telescope presented a good way to measure the velocity and composition of the mystery lobes.  With the data from HST,  astronomers will work on calculating the mass of the material being blown out of our galaxy. That might also let them figure out just what happened to send all this gas billowing out of the galaxy in the first place. What Caused this Massive Galactic Explosion? The two most likely scenarios that explain these bipolar lobes are 1) a firestorm of star birth at the Milky Ways center or 2) the eruption of its supermassive black hole.   This isnt the first time that gaseous winds and streams of material have been seen coming from the centers of galaxies, but its the first time astronomers have detected evidence for them in our own galaxy.   The giant lobes are called Fermi Bubbles. They were initially spotted using NASAs Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to track gamma-rays.  These emissions are a powerful clue that a violent event in the galaxys core aggressively launched energized gas into space. To provide more information about the outflows, Hubbles Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) studied the ultraviolet light from a distant quasar that lies beyond the base of the northern bubble. Imprinted on that light as it travels through the lobe is information about the velocity, composition, and temperature of the expanding gas inside the bubble, which only COS can provide. The COS data show that the gas is rushing from the galactic center at roughly 3 million kilometers an hour (2 million miles an hour). of the gas at approximately 17,500 degrees Fahrenheit, which is much cooler than most of the 18-million-degree gas in the outflow. This cooler gas means that some interstellar gas could be getting caught up in the outflow.   COS observations also reveal that the clouds of gas contain the elements silicon, carbon, and aluminum.  These are produced inside stars.   Does this mean that star formation or star death is involved in the original event that formed the bubbles? Astronomers think that one possible cause for the outflows is a star-making frenzy near the galactic center. Eventually, those hot, young massive stars die in supernova explosions, which blow out gas. If a lot of them exploded at once, it might spur the formation of a huge gas bubble.   Another scenario has a star or a group of stars falling onto the Milky Ways supermassive black hole. When that happens, gas superheated by the black hole blasts deep into space and that could be what filled out the bubbles.   Those bubbles are short-lived compared to the age of our galaxy (which is more than 10 billion years old). Its possible that these arent the first bubbles to billow out from the core. It could have happened before.   Astronomers will continue to look at these bubbles using distant quasars as illuminators, so it might not be too long before we hear just what it was that caused a huge commotion at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy.  They may well also be interested in studying smaller such bubbles that form as a result of supernova explosions and the actions of hot young stars. Such bubbles actually work to protect systems encased within. One example is the Local Interstellar Cloud, which encases the solar system today. In a few tens of thousands of years, the Sun and planets will move outside of it, exposing our system to radiation levels it hasnt experienced for a long time.

colored people essays

colored people essays Segregated Peace: an essay on Colored People Integration was a main theme or topic in this memoir. It played an important role in the time when Gates was growing up and had a big affect on him throughout his book. Integration changed the way Gates viewed, whites, blacks, restaurants, hairstyles, church, school, etc. He went from a conformist to a rebel to an Episcopal. His community changed with him and the older generation of course did not take to integration as well as most of the younger generation did. Integration was considered a good thing to most people and others believed that Blacks had lost something through the whole ordeal. They believed that they had lost the close knit family ties that segregation indirectly created. Gates sums up the way the community felt about integration in one of his last sentences in his memoir. He writes, All I know is that Nemos corn never tasted saltier, his coffee never smelled fresher, than when these hundreds of Negroes gathered to say goodbye to themselves, their heritage, and their sole link to each other, wiped out of existence by the newly enforced anti-Jim Crow laws.(Gates, 216) It was hard for blacks to integrate into all white schools after being surrounded by blacks for most of their lives. Whites werent the only ones to critique black attitude and black style, blacks did it to themselves. Gates writes that when he was a child he remembered that when blacks were admitted to all white neighborhoods or schools, Negroes were the first to censure other Negroes(Gates, xiii). His father would say things like, Dont go over there with those white people if all youre going to do is Jim Crow yourselves(Gates, xii). Even Gates writes, I always reserved my scorn....for someone too dark, someone too loud, and too wrong.(Gates, xiii). The way Gates writes it, blacks would scrutinize their own kind. ...

Right Against Exploitation Essay Essays

Right Against Exploitation Essay Essays Right Against Exploitation Essay Essay Right Against Exploitation Essay Essay The right against development allows Indian citizens to stand up against any sort of development that he/ she might be traveling through. This cardinal right is described in the fundamental law as: Article 23. Prohibition of traffic in human existences and forced labor. ( 1 ) Traffic in human existences and begar and other similar signifiers of forced labor are prohibited and any dispute of this proviso shall be an offense punishable in conformity with jurisprudence. ( 2 ) Nothing in this article shall forestall the State from enforcing mandatory service for public intents. and in enforcing such service the State shall non do any favoritism on evidences merely of faith. race. caste or category or any of them. Article 24. Prohibition of employment of kids in mills. etc. No kid below the age of 14 old ages shall be employed to work in any mill or mine or engaged in any other risky employment The right against development. given in Articles 23 and 24. provides for two commissariats. viz. the abolishment of trafficking in human existences and Begar ( forced labour ) . [ 30 ] and abolishment of employment of kids below the age of 14 old ages in unsafe occupations like mills and mines. Child labor is considered a gross misdemeanor of the spirit and commissariats of the fundamental law. [ 31 ] Begar. practised in the past by landlords. has been declared a offense and is punishable by jurisprudence. Trafficing in worlds for the intent of slave trade or harlotry is besides prohibited by jurisprudence. An exclusion is made in employment without payment for compulsory services for public intents. Compulsory military muster is covered by this proviso. [ 30 ] Article 23: Right against Exploitation FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS as per Indian Fundamental lawArticle 23: Right against Exploitation ( 1 ) Everyone has the right to work. to free pick of employment. to merely and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. ( 2 ) Everyone. without any favoritism. has the right to equal wage for equal work. ( 3 ) Everyone who works has the right to merely and favorable wage guaranting for himself and his household an being worthy of human self-respect. and supplemented. if necessary. by other agencies of societal protection. ( 4 ) Everyone has the right to organize and to fall in trade brotherhoods for the protection of his involvements. Articles 23 and 24 trade with the right against development. Article 23 which prohibits traffic in human existences and mendicant and similar signifiers of forced labor is comparable to the Thirteenth Amendment of the American Constitution get rid ofing bondage or nonvoluntary servitude. At the clip of the acceptance of the Constitution there was barely anything similar bondage or the widespread pattern of forced labor in any portion of India. The National Freedom motion. since the mid-twentiess of this century. had been a beat uping force against such patterns. However. there were many countries of the state where the â€Å"untouchables† were being exploited in several ways by the higher castes and richer categories. For illustration. in parts of Rajasthan in Western India. which was in pre-Independence yearss a bunch of Princely States. at that place existed a pattern under which laborers who worked for a peculiar landlord could non go forth him to seek employment elsewhere without his permission. Very frequently this limitation was so terrible and the labourer’s dependance on the â€Å"master† was so absolute that he was merely a slave in world. The local Torahs had supported such patterns. Evils like the Devadasi system under which adult females were dedicated in the name of faith. to Hindu divinities. graven images. objects of worship. temples and other spiritual establishments. and under which. alternatively of populating a life of dedication. abnegation and piousness. they were the life-long victims of lecherousness and immorality. had been prevalent in certain parts of southern and western India. Traces of such evil imposts and patterns were still at that place in many parts of the state. The Constitution-makers were eager to proclaim a war against them through the Constitution as these patterns would hold no topographic point in the new political and societal construct that was emerging with the coming of independency. The ideal of â€Å"one adult male. one ballot. one value† . equality before jurisprudence and equal protection of Torahs. freedom of profession and the right to travel freely throughout the state all these would hold no significance if â€Å"one man† was subjugated by â€Å"another man† and one’s life was at the clemency of another. Although any signifier of forced labor is an offense punishable under jurisprudence merely as untouchability is an offense. this constitutional warrant is merely against private persons and administrations. An of import exclusion is made in favor of the State which may enforce mandatory service for public intents. Compulsory military service or compulsory work for nation-building programmes may supply illustrations of such service. The State may for case. go through a jurisprudence by which it may oblige every university alumnus to pass six months in small towns instantly after go forthing the university. on literacy work or other societal service among the small town people. Such a jurisprudence. nevertheless. should non do any favoritism on evidences of faith. caste or category. or any of them.

Business Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Environment - Essay Example Others macroeconomic factors like production, inflation, employment, investment, domestic income, international business relationships etc are discussed in Macro Economics (Childs, D, and Deitrich, S. 2003). P4: Economics can be described as social science. It is a study of how individuals, households, firms, consumers, nations maximizes there profit with limited resources and availabilities. In economics way we can term it as generating characteristics or optimizing their behaviours. Optimizing or maximizing behaviour means generating more gain for the concerned authorities with limited amount of resources. So in this type of economic social science people came to know how to utilize the limited resources to reach the targeted result. For example for an individual household it is like distributing their limited resource (income) into several household goods and services to gain maximum satisfaction for the all family members. It’s very hard for the households to decide (what to buy and how much to buy?) to maximize their satisfaction level. Three economic systems are Capitalist Economy or free market economy, Socialist Economy or state-run economy and mixed economy or public sector economy. Examples of free market economy are United States Economy. For socialist economy or command economy example can be North Korean economy and for mixed economy it can be United Kingdom’s Economy. In a free market economy capitalist society runs with the method of free organization network. Government’s role in this economy is like- Whenever government get a chance to promote competition it does that. Clear all the restrictions for the organizations to operate in a free market. To control the free competitions government should intervene with the market time to time. Sometimes government interventions motivate free market economy so that other way it wouldn’t be possible. In a command economy government role in it is very prominent and strict. For c apitalist economy where government had minimum role in the economy but for socialist one government plays a huge role regarding markets rules and regulations. Nations with this system not only dislike free economic systems but also they made strict law against it. In this system all the productions units and natural resource are controlled by government and no private organizations are allowed to do that. Another economic system where simultaneously free economic system and socialist economic system works is known as mixed economy. There two sectors private and public resides simultaneously. Here private sector can work as a free market entity in broader economic and political restrictions. Main four questions for any economy is ‘what to produce’, ’how to produce’, ’when to produce’ and ’whom to produce’. All the country cannot produce everything by them. Resources are limited and fixed in this world. If a country wants to produ ce everything by them then that country will not going to make a single thing perfectly and because of lack of resources in middle of the work everything will be stopped or jeopardise. P5 To acquire certain economic goal government policies regarding taxation, current account deficits, subsidiaries and other financial matters which are under government’

More Hills Like White Elephants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

More Hills Like White Elephants - Essay Example On one hand, ‘the man’ is for abortion, whilst ‘the girl,’ on the other hand, is strongly against abortion (Hemingway, 2013). As such, in order to procure the abortion against ‘the girl’s† wish, ‘the man’ does all he can to convince he fiancà © to agree to abort the child. In fact, ‘the man’ goes to the extent of telling his fiancà © that abortion is just a simple operation that is necessary for her interest. Even though Hemingway failed to tell readers, whether ‘the girl’ procured the abortion or not, we can only conclude that she did the operation in Madrid. This became apparent at the end of the story, where ‘the girl,’ like her fiancà © became a supporter of abortion, which was not only considered immoral and dangerous, but also illegal (Hemingway, 2013). Hemingway developed the plot in such a manner that interlinks well with the characters in the story. After reading the story, one becomes convinced that the two characters are acting naturally in the story. Naturally, a man will always seek for an abortion in the event that a girl friend becomes pregnant unplanned. On the other hand, woman would always tend to resist performing an operation that she believes to be dangerous. Therefore, the two characters, no doubt, act naturally in the story. Regarding the ending of the story, Hemingway should have ended the story by telling readers whether the abortion was successful. In addition, the author ought to have ended the story by informing readers of the repercussion of performing the abortion considering the fact that abortion was illegal and considered immoral at the time he wrote this short

African American studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

African American studies - Essay Example The evolution of slavery aided in the development of a racist ideology that promoted the belief that blacks are inferior to whites, a myth that persisted long after slavery was abolished, and one that is deeply embedded within our national discourse. Cultural racism, such as this, fosters a â€Å"we† and â€Å"they† mentality, a state of mind that is maintained through the socialization of new generations. The abolition of slavery did not mean that blacks were accepted by the dominant white society. The racist ideology that emerged out of the slavery system continued to influence how whites perceived blacks. Wilson (1973) explains â€Å"Whites rejected slavery as an acceptable institution in the North but were unwilling to endorse the view that blacks should receive social, economic and political equality†, exemplifying how the negative belief systems of the plantations were deeply engrained in American culture after two hundred years of slavery. Unable to accept blacks as equals to themselves, white Americans relied increasingly upon the system of segregation, as a means to communicate the message.Segregation between blacks and whites was reinforced by a system of racial etiquette.The 1896 Supreme Court â€Å"separate but equal† decision failed to clearly define equality, and as a result, the separation of facilities for blacks and whites created a need to clarify the social positions of the dominant white class. ... Lynching was regularly employed as a means to enforce the status quo, with over thirty-six hundred cases recorded between 1884 and 1914. Relations between blacks and whites became increasingly violent in character during the World War I era in America’s history. Black workers were competing openly with whites for jobs and housing, causing tensions to rise between the two groups. Having been denied political participation and strictly segregated in nearly all areas of their social lives, blacks found that their socioeconomic opportunities were severely limited. Race riots occurred in several American cities and discontent among the black population continued to rise. These hostile conditions continued into the World War II period, when more jobs became available to black workers. In addition to the economic opportunities provided by WWII, the conditions under which it was fought allowed Americans to re-examine their own racist logic. The racist ideology practiced at home was in consistent with the ideals they fought for in the war against Nazi Germany, a racist regime. Also, according to Marger (1991) racist policies at home were viewed [Student 3] as an â€Å"international liability† (235) when dealing with non-white nations. These changes in the national racial attitude, along with the 1954 Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, helped push the advancement of black right civil rights. By the early 1970’s, the system of segregation had been fully dismantled and white supremacist groups, such as the Klu Klux Klan, were no longer supported. The historical relations between blacks and whites will remain in the collective narrative for many generations. America’s

Business strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 2

Business strategy - Essay Example Apple Inc., possesses wide base of total assets and this makes them largest technology company across the globe. There is large number of customers who opts for Apple products and this has enhanced brand loyalty. Brand loyalty of the product is due to unusual items manufactured by the company. It is considered to be most admired company in United States. The strategic position of the company is well supported by its understanding about customer’s taste and preferences. iPhone denoted creativity of Apple Inc., in smartphone industry. In this study, strategic analysis would be exhibited on iPhone 6/6+ of Apple. This shall indicate effective utilization of resources and competencies in order to address customer demand and secure high profit margins. The company well segments consumer market so that manufactured product reaches right consumer. High prices of its product line are substituted by innovation and quality which cannot be easily imitated by other players in the market pl ace. The study shall encompass analysis of Apple iPhone 6/6+ in technology industry, along with usage of models to determine its strategic framework. Models such as Porter’s Generic Strategies, Bowman’s Strategy Clock, Pestle analysis, Five Forces Model, Value Chain, Resources and Competencies Audit and Strategic Group Mapping will be included in this research study. There are four kinds of generic strategies such as cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, focus cost strategy and focus differentiation strategy. Products launched by Apple Inc., are unique by nature and are targeted towards a particular consumer market segment. Focus differentiation strategy states that narrow market segment are targeted by the company so as to acquire maximum market share. This form of differentiation strategy is adopted by a company when high priced products are being sold in the market place. Apple iPhone 6/6+ are targeted towards high income

Youve just visited the doctor, and she has given you one week to live Essay

Youve just visited the doctor, and she has given you one week to live. How will you spend your final week on Earth - Essay Example I would begin immediately by visiting the people I know without informing them of my impending doom. I would seek their company for the last time before I begin to retrace my journey across the years and places that helped to shape what I am. A few laughs and some nostalgic conversation is all a man really needs to cheat the thought of impending doom. The next item in the agenda would be to visit the places that helped to fashion both the positivity and negativity inside me. Visiting these places would offer me the opportunity to observe how I have changed over the years as my life progressed. This nostalgic sojourn would also allow me to rediscover myself in new manners that might only be exposed through the juxtaposition of a certain purposelessness and aloofness from material reality. My journey into my past would also present me with the opportunity to recapture and re-experience the sights and sounds that I both cherished and detested. My last week on Earth would more or less be like living life all over again – only fast forwarded into a week’s time

DISCUSSION FOURM 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DISCUSSION FOURM 6 - Essay Example These are normally identified in the early phases of the emergence of a disease, or an epidemiological ailment. The best communication approach is to open a communication line with environmental investigators, during the early phases of the emergence of an epidemic (Monroe, 2011). These communications should be frequent, and the methods used in communicating should be accessible to all. For example, health care experts should use mobile phones and the internet for communicating (Monroe, 2011). Use of mobile phone is an easy method of sharing information between environmental experts and public health officers (Monroe, 2011). It is important to denote that most infectious diseases normally emanate because of poor hygiene and environmental condition. This includes conditions such as contaminated water, poor sewerage system, etc (Monroe, 2011). Liaising with environmentalist will help a health worker to identify the various environmental health hazards, which might be a cause of an infectious disease (Shetty, 2010). Furthermore, there is a need of establishing health hotlines. Mobile hotlines will enable people to communicate directly with health care workers, in case of the emergence of an infectious disease. This is an efficient and easy method of identifying the source of a disease. All that health care workers have to undertake is to inform the public on the existence of the hotline numbers (Monroe,

Business strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 2

Business strategy - Essay Example Apple Inc., possesses wide base of total assets and this makes them largest technology company across the globe. There is large number of customers who opts for Apple products and this has enhanced brand loyalty. Brand loyalty of the product is due to unusual items manufactured by the company. It is considered to be most admired company in United States. The strategic position of the company is well supported by its understanding about customer’s taste and preferences. iPhone denoted creativity of Apple Inc., in smartphone industry. In this study, strategic analysis would be exhibited on iPhone 6/6+ of Apple. This shall indicate effective utilization of resources and competencies in order to address customer demand and secure high profit margins. The company well segments consumer market so that manufactured product reaches right consumer. High prices of its product line are substituted by innovation and quality which cannot be easily imitated by other players in the market pl ace. The study shall encompass analysis of Apple iPhone 6/6+ in technology industry, along with usage of models to determine its strategic framework. Models such as Porter’s Generic Strategies, Bowman’s Strategy Clock, Pestle analysis, Five Forces Model, Value Chain, Resources and Competencies Audit and Strategic Group Mapping will be included in this research study. There are four kinds of generic strategies such as cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, focus cost strategy and focus differentiation strategy. Products launched by Apple Inc., are unique by nature and are targeted towards a particular consumer market segment. Focus differentiation strategy states that narrow market segment are targeted by the company so as to acquire maximum market share. This form of differentiation strategy is adopted by a company when high priced products are being sold in the market place. Apple iPhone 6/6+ are targeted towards high income

DISCUSSION FOURM 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DISCUSSION FOURM 6 - Essay Example These are normally identified in the early phases of the emergence of a disease, or an epidemiological ailment. The best communication approach is to open a communication line with environmental investigators, during the early phases of the emergence of an epidemic (Monroe, 2011). These communications should be frequent, and the methods used in communicating should be accessible to all. For example, health care experts should use mobile phones and the internet for communicating (Monroe, 2011). Use of mobile phone is an easy method of sharing information between environmental experts and public health officers (Monroe, 2011). It is important to denote that most infectious diseases normally emanate because of poor hygiene and environmental condition. This includes conditions such as contaminated water, poor sewerage system, etc (Monroe, 2011). Liaising with environmentalist will help a health worker to identify the various environmental health hazards, which might be a cause of an infectious disease (Shetty, 2010). Furthermore, there is a need of establishing health hotlines. Mobile hotlines will enable people to communicate directly with health care workers, in case of the emergence of an infectious disease. This is an efficient and easy method of identifying the source of a disease. All that health care workers have to undertake is to inform the public on the existence of the hotline numbers (Monroe,

United States and Taiwan Unemployment Rates Essay Example for Free

United States and Taiwan Unemployment Rates Essay This paper aims to compare the unemployment trends of the United States (US) and Taiwan from 1980 to 2007, and briefly discuss the factors affecting the trends of each country. The 28-year time-series data presented are from the World Economic Outlook Database of the International Monetary Fund. Unemployment Trends of the US and Taiwan The figure below shows divergence in the US and Taiwan unemployment rates over the past 28 years. The US has a downward unemployment trend, while Taiwan unemployment rates moved in the opposite direction from low to high level unemployment Fig. 1. US and Taiwan Unemployment Rates, 1980 – 2007, World Economic Outlook Database October 2007. rate. In 1980, the US unemployment rate is about six times the unemployment rate of Taiwan, while in 2007, the gap narrowed to about 0. 8-percentage point. All through out the said period, the unemployment rates of Taiwan are lower than that of the US, except in 2001 where the rates almost equaled. Looking at the US trends during the 28-year period, the peak unemployment rates in 1982, 1992, and 2003 were associated with recessions. The US recession in the early 1980’s was the most severe during the said period. As the US economy started to recover after the first oil shock in 1973, the second oil crisis in 1979 resulted in another recession in early 1980s that moved further up the unemployment rate to 9. 7% in 1982, the highest rate during the 1980-2007 period. As the economy began to grow in 1983, the unemployment rate started to reverse its trend and reached a lower rate of 5. 3% in 1989. The downward unemployment trend could be seen as a product of the free labor markets and the smaller size of welfare packages (Vedder and Gallaway 1), the entry of the oldest members of the baby boom cohorts in mid-1960’s in the labor force at age 16 coupled with their increased labor force participation (Sincavage 36), and substantial contribution of self-employment (Manser and Picot 12-13). The recession in 1991 pinned the unemployment rate at 7. 5% in 1992. But the 1990’s expansion brought about a long-run downward unemployment trend. The unemployment rate dipped at 4% in 2000, the lowest rate over the 28-year period. Katz and Krueger attribute this downward trend to four labor market explanations. The first is the entry of the oldest baby boom cohorts in the labor force at age 16 in the 1990s. The second is the rising proportion of the population in prison during the 1990s. The third is the better matching between workers and jobs resulting from labor market improvements, such as the Worker Profile and Reemployment Services program required in each state and the temporary help service industry. And the fourth is the worker insecurity in demanding wage gains due to the steady decline in union membership. After the 2001 recession, the unemployment rate continued to increase since the economy slowly recovered. The unemployment rate peaked at 6% in 2003, the lowest peak during the 28-year period. Thereafter, the unemployment rates have slowly decreased to 4. 7% in 2007. Taiwan, on the other hand, had different unemployment pattern. It has two distinct peak unemployment rates in 1985, and 2002. Before 1980, Taiwan experienced a very low unemployment rate, owing to its strong labor-intensive manufacturing industries, such as clothing and textile (Wang 26). The two rounds of oil crises in 1970’s had not spared the country’s economic growth. In response, the government broadcasted its twelve major construction projects, which laid the basic infrastructure for the heavy chemical industries and partly averted the negative impact of the oil crises (â€Å"From Poverty†). However, the loss of the international competitiveness of the country’s labor-intensive industries due to rising labor costs in the 1980’s resulted in the exodus of most of these traditional industries to mainland China and Southeast Asia (Wang 27). This pushed up unemployment rate, reaching its first peak at 2. 9% in 1985. Compared with that of US, the impact on the unemployment rate is relatively lesser. After the 1980s and in the first half of the 1990s, Taiwan gradually developed its ICT industries and successfully transformed itself into a major manufacturer of international ICT products (27). This minimized the unemployment problem of the 1980s. However, after 1995, unemployment dramatically increased until it hit its peak at 5. 2% in 2002, the highest during the 28-year period. Wang ascribes this sharp upward trend to three reasons. First, the capital-intensive and high-technology industries pushed most labor-intensive industries to move production to mainland China and Southeast Asia where labor is cheaper. Second, the Southeast Asian overseas workers had continually contributed to the worsening unemployment problem. Third, the slump in worldwide demand for ICT products in early 2000s plunged Taiwan into its first recession in decades. It registered the first ever negative economic growth in 2001, driving unemployment rate at its highest level at 5. 2% in 2002. After 2003, the economy slowly returned to normal. The unemployment rate gradually declined until 3. 9% in 2007, although much higher than in the 1980s and 1990s. This can be partly attributed to the implementation of the government’s Infrastructure Expansion Programme and Programme to Expand Employment of Public Service in 2003 and 2004 (PricewaterhouseCoopers 215). Meanwhile, the East Asian financial crisis in 1997 had a relatively slight impact on Taiwan’s economy since its unemployment rate remained unchanged. The reasons for these included, among others, the excellent economic fundamentals with no foreign debt, and appropriate government countermeasures (â€Å"From Poverty†). Conclusion The US and Taiwan show contrasting unemployment trends. Although their unemployment rates are moving in opposite directions, Taiwan unemployment rates are still much lower than that of the US However, in the medium- to long-term, with the declining rate of the US unemployment, US might attain a lower unemployment rate similar to that of Taiwan, or even much lower. This could be a good subject for further research. The unemployment trends depend on the countries economic stability and ability to adopt appropriate measures in response to structural and exogenous changes. The downward trend of the US employment implies favorable response of the labor market to the measures being adopted. The efficient and effective measure with longer effects is the implementation of a better worker-job matching scheme at the state level. Taiwan, on the other hand, may need to design a scheme to minimize, if not to avoid, labor erosion as it continues to be one of the major global ICT leaders, thereby addressing the social and economic inequality problems. Works Cited â€Å"From Poverty to Prosperity. † Taiwan Government information Office. 1 March 2008 http://www.gio. gov. tw/info/taiwan-story/economy/edown/3-2. htm Katz, Lawrence F. , and Alan B. Krueger. â€Å"New Trend in Unemployment? The High-Pressure US Labor Market of the 1990s. † Brookings Review Fall (1999): 4-8. Manser, Marilyn E. , and Garnett Picot. â€Å"The Role of Self-Employment in US and Canadian Job Growth. † Monthly Labor Review April (1999): 10-25. PricewaterhouseCoopers. â€Å"Taiwan. † From Beijing to Budapest. 4th ed. 2005/2006. Sincavage, Jessica R. â€Å"The Labor Force and Unemployment: Three Generations of Change. † Monthly Labor Review June (2004): 34-41. Vedder, Richard K. , and Lowell E. Gallaway. â€Å"Unemployment and Jobs in International Perspective. † Joint Economic Committee Study April (1999). 1 March 2008 http://www. house. gov/jec/employ/intern. pdf Wang, Wei Ching. â€Å"Information Society and Inequality: Wage Polarization, Unemployment, and Occupation Transition in Taiwan since 1980†. UTIP Working Paper. Texas: Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, 2007. World Economic Outlook Database. October 2007. International Monetary Fund. 28 February 2008 http://www. imf. org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2007/02/weodata/index. aspx

Judges Power to Override Legislation

Judges Power to Override Legislation INTRODUCTION The issue of judges having the power to override legislation can be linked to Judicial Review (JR) which has been a point of debate between different scholars. To understand judicial review, one must look at the definition of democracy and the nature of it. Democracy as described by A Weale is a government whereby important public decisions on questions of law and policy depend, directly or indirectly, upon public opinion formally expressed by citizens of the community, the vast bulk of whom have equal political rights.[1] Democracy can be seen as a good way of choosing government and as such the government cannot infringe on the rights of the people. This relates to the social contract theory which was given by John Locke whereby the people have to agree to give up their freedom as long as the government agree to do what is mentioned in the contract. The social contract theory was created to protect the natural rights of the people. For a democracy to exist, the people must have rig hts and this is the major reason Judicial Review exists; to uphold these rights for the system to be democratic. Therefore, I will be supporting the notion that the courts should be given the power to scrutinize, not override legislation if it conflicts with the rights in the Bill of Rights. I will be looking at arguments for Judicial Review put forward by Dworkin as well looking at the arguments against it given by Waldron and I shall give my conclusion. DWORKINS THEORY Firstly, the bill of rights according to Dworkin are the clauses of the American constitution that protect individuals and minorities from government[2]. Therefore, these clauses must be given the moral reading. Dworkin gives meaning to the moral reading in his book Freedoms law: the moral reading of the American constitution[3]. He explains that the moral reading proposes that judges, lawyers and citizens should interpret and apply the abstract clauses on understanding that they invoke moral principles about political civility and justice[4].   The moral reading brings political morality into the heart of constitutional law but this is uncertain and controversial, therefore any system of government that makes such principles part of its law must decide whose interpretation and understanding will be authoritative[5]. In the American System Judges have that authority and in his book, Dworkin disproves the critics that suggest the moral reading of the constitution gives judges t he absolute power to impose their own moral convictions on the public[6]. Democracy means government by the people[7] as seen in Dworkins article but he did point out that there are two ways in which democracy can operate. The first is the majoritarian premise[8] and the second is the constitutional conception of democracy[9]. The majoritarian premise is of the view that political decisions and procedures should be made based on the favour of the majority or the plurality of the citizens provided that they have adequate information and enough time on reflection[10]. Dworkin rejects the view of the majoritarian premise. This is because even though it seems that most people in the United States of America have accepted the majoritarian premise, there are still some who believe that the majority should not always be the final judge[11]. The reason for this is that there are situations where individual rights need to be protected and the decisions should not be based merely on what the majority want. The premise supposes that it is unfair when the political majority does not always get their way[12] which is unfair to minorities and individuals. Dworkin looks to a different, better account of the value of democracy[13]. This is the constitutional conception of democracy[14]. This takes on the view that collective decisions should be made by political institutions whose structure, composition and practises treat all members with equal concern and equal respect[15]. This is done out of concern for the equal status of citizens and not out of commitment to the goals of majority rule[16]. This is one major reason Dworkin argues in favour of the courts. He believes that an independent body such as the judiciary can make decisions which respect not only the majority but also individual citizens. In relation to Dworkin proving that JR improves democracy, he proposes three arguments that favour the majoritarian premise and he rebuts each of these arguments which demonstrates that the majoritarian premise is undemocratic. However, only two of these arguments will be looked at. The first argument in favour of the majoritarian view is liberty. People that are in support of the majority view argue that allowing judges to strike down legislation can be perceived as undemocratic because it infringes on the right to liberty. The right to liberty includes the freedom of the people to govern themselves by electing political officials. Dworkin rebuts this argument in two forms which are the statistical collective action and the communal collective action.[17] A collective action is statistical when a group of people do that action as only a matter of individual interest, that is, doing it for their own selfish gains but it leads to a result that favours everyone in the community[18]. While a collective action is communal when it cannot be reduced to some statistical function of individual action[19]. This is a matter of individuals acting together consciously to bring about a result. Dworkin believes that if a loss of liberty should exist then the collective action should be communal not statistical. Loss of liberty to any individual would be negligible. The communal collective action brings about how an individual voter can identify with the community. The community as a whole must treat an individual with respect and as an equal[20]. This relates to the concept of moral membership. Moral membership is how an individual should be treated as part of the community as a whole. There are two features of moral membership; the first is structural[21] which explains that the community must have a shared culture, history and language. The second is relational[22] which emphasizes on individual rights. As a member of the community every individual must have political rights. If every member has these rights, then everyone should all be treated equally as a member of the community. This also means that people have a part in collective decision making, as well as a stake in what happens and they also have independence from it[23]. Dworkin believes that without these rights then democracy cannot exist. The second argument is community. From the majoritarian view the argument would be that if the view of the majority is overridden then citizens are deprived of the value of participating in communal decision making. Dworkin rebuts this by saying that citizens can also participate in the political process through other ways. One of such ways is the power that is given to the people by the constitution to form non-political communities such as religious, professional and social groups[24]. Dworkin refers to the first amendments association of protection that prohibits religious discrimination which enhances that power[25]. The second way is through influence; citizens may have more influence over a judicial decision by their contribution to public discussion of the issue than they would over legislative decisions just through voting or even a referendum[26]. Dworkin reaches the conclusion that there is no loss in democracy if the final say is left to judges, therefore he believes that Judicial review can improve democracy. WALDRONS THEORY Waldron takes on a different view regarding Judicial Review and democracy. In his article THE CORE OF THE CASE AGAINST JUDICIAL REVIEW[27]Waldron begins by saying JR is just the subjection of the legislature to the rule of law and then he goes further by drawing a distinction between strong and weak JR[28]. Strong JR is a system whereby the courts have the authority to override a statute in a particular case or modify the statute to make its application conform with individual rights[29]. While weak JR is a system whereby the courts do not have as much authority; the courts may scrutinize legislation for its conformity to individual rights but they may not decline to apply it[30]. Waldrons focus is on societies that have strong JR. In making his argument against JR, Waldron makes four assumptions about a society. In this society there is a functioning democratic system, a set of judicial institutions that is functional, a belief and respect for individual and minority rights and disagreement over the meaning of rights among members of the society[31]. It is the disagreement over rights that Waldron lays emphasis on. In a society, people will have disagreement about the compatibility of the legislation and rights and when these disagreements exist there needs to be an ultimate authority that can settle the disagreements about rights. Waldron looks to two sort of reasons that need to be taken into account in evaluating the decision-procedure for settling disagreement. These are the outcome related reason and the process related reason[32]. The process related reason[33] are reasons for insisting that a person makes a decision that stands independently of the considerations about the appropriate outcome[34]. It is all about the process and the way the outcome is reached.   In politics, the most familiar process-related reasons are those based on political equality and the democratic right to vote, the right to have ones voice counted even when others disagree with what one says[35].   Waldron continues his process related reason argument by saying that the legislature gives each person the greatest say possible which is compatible with an equal say for each of the others[36]. He believes that representative system satisfies the demand for political equality which is equal voice and equal decisional au thority[37]. Waldron believes that this is preferable to the outcome related reasons. Outcome related reasons[38] are reasons for making the decision procedure in a way that will ensure the appropriate outcome[39]. It focuses on which institution brings about the best outcome. Waldron gives three reasons that favour JR producing a better outcome and he gives his reply to each argument. The first is the orientation to a particular case. The issue of rights are presented to the judges in the form of flesh -and-blood individual situations[40]. Since the courts are dealing with individual rights it helps to see how an individual is affected by a piece of legislation[41]. Waldrons reply to this is by the time these cases reach the highest court almost all trace of the original flesh-and-blood right holders[42] has vanished[43]. The judges tend to view these cases in an abstract way and the courts address these issue in a more general way[44]. The second argument is the orientation to a text in the bill of rights[45]. Waldrons response to this is that a legal right that finds protection in a Bill of Rights finds it under the supports of some official form of words in which the provisions of the Bill are articulated[46]. The written creation of the Bill of rights tend to encourage a rigid word based formalism which the courts may try to interpret in an obsessive manner[47]. Waldron believes that this can be avoided in a system of legislative supremacy because legislators can take on the issue for themselves without reference to the Bill of Rights formulations[48]. He also makes one final point which is judicial reasoning may be distorted by an omission in the bill of rights[49]. He gives a scenario of a disagreement between positive (socioeconomic) rights and negative(liberty) rights which may alter Judges understanding of the rights included[50]. They may give more weight to positive rights than negative rights which may l ead to Judges striking down statutes that are trying to make up for the rights that failed to register in the formulation of the bill of rights[51]. The third argument that Waldron gives his response to is stating reasons[52]. He says that Courts are concerned with the legitimacy of decision making therefore they focus their reason giving on facts that show that they are legally authorized by constitution, statute, or precedent[53]. This counts heavily against the court in the outcome related argument about JR over legislation[54]. The courts are distracted by the legitimacy issue they pursue and as a result they lose track of the heart of the matter[55], whereas the parliament go directly to it[56] and their reasons are given in debates and are published in Hansard or Congressional record[57]. He gives the example of Roe v Wade[58] whereby none of the judges in the supreme court paid attention to the plaintiffs position that was being discussed[59]. Waldron reaches the conclusion that the legislature is a better process than the judiciary because it is a legitimate and fair way of deciding disagreements over rights. The Judiciary being a non-democratic institution does not uphold democracy. MY OPINION In a democratic system rights that are upheld can be found in the Bill of Rights. For the sake of the question it is the British bill of rights that will be considered. This brings up the issue of JR. Judicial Review gives the court the authority to scrutinize statute or in some cases override statutes if it is incompatible with the bill of rights. One thing to remember is that the court is a non-democratic institution. Looking at both sides of the argument they each carry weight; Dworkin is of the view that JR improves democracy while Waldron is of the view that the parliament is better suited to improve democracy. From Dworkins argument I understood the difference between the majoritarian premise and the constitutional conception of democracy. In his book Dworkin thought the constitutional conception of democracy was a better way for democracy to operate. The constitutional conception of democracy is a good idea which upholds individual rights. Judges can be seen as independent bodies that can make decisions and interpret the law in a consistent manner unlike the government. In regards to governmental bodies in Britain, it can be seen that the executive and the parliament have some form of connection. It is possible that the executives may exert pressure on parliament seeing as how they make the parliament accountable. This could create inconsistencies. Dworkins theory relates democracy to rights, according to him without rights there is no democracy. As an individual in a community you need to have the sense of moral membership and as such the community treats you with respect and as an equal which means that all voices are heard and everyone can fully participate in self-government which is a political right. In reality to gain equal membership in a community would be impossible. Waldron also brought up some compelling arguments against strong JR. His focus is on the right-based JR; he believes that the process of JR is unsuitable for a democratic society whose main problem is the disagreement over rights. He believes that the disagreement can be resolved by adopting procedures that respect the voices and opinions of individuals whose rights are at stake and this procedure is done by the legislation. I agree with most of Waldrons theory but I still question some of what he proposes. Waldron explains the process related reasons and outcome related reasons as considerations that are separate but there are certain circumstances whereby the process and outcome work together as one. If the outcome is a bad one, then that means the process reasons that gave that outcome authority are invalid. It can be seen in Waldrons article he refers to process-related reasons including fair elections, majority decisions and citizen participation. I think this argument is biased in favour of the legislature, this is because all the processes he mentions are naturally associated with the legislature; they are legislative practices. Waldron believes that JR is not a good final decision procedure because it does not make proper use of these practices. These practices are meant for legislative procedures. This is not a good argument against JR because the courts have their own process related considerations which are hearing out the cases of individuals who are represented by lawyers, looking to precedents, making decisions and if the individual is still unhappy with the outcome, there is always a chance for an appeal. Just because the process is different does not mean it is not legitimate. He gave the argument of courts getting distracted because they seek legitimacy. Judges interpret the laws to the best it can be and apply it to the cases of individuals. They look for legitimate reasons because they are trying to protect individual rights in accordance with law. I agree with his outcome related argument that refers to the orientation of the bill of rights. I also accept that, that much power should not be left to the courts without a body to question them seeing as they are unelected, but in Britain there is a hierarchy of courts and it can be seen that various cases are taken from the magistrate court to the crown court, sometimes high court and finally to the supreme court. I would like to think that the judges in these different courts check and balance each other out. This is because different courts usually disagree with some of the decisions made. In addition to this, I would also like to make a point regarding the magistrate courts. In England, the judges in the magistrate are made up of people that come from the community, since these people come from the community, they can relate to the issues of majority and minority and that creates a chance for a well-rounded decision. In conclusion I am of the view that Judges should be given the power to scrutinize, not override legislation if it conflicts with rights in the bill of rights. [1]A Weale, Democracy (2nd edn, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2007) p14 [2] Ronald Dworkin, FREEDOMS LAW: THE MORAL READING OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION, (Oxford University Press, 1996) p7 [3]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Ronald Dworkin, FREEDOMS LAW: THE MORAL READING OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION, (Oxford University Press, 1996) [4] Ibid p2 [5] Ibid p2 [6] Ibid p2 [7] Ibid p15 [8] Ibid p15-16 [9] Ibid p15-16 [10] Ibid p16 [11] Ibid p16 [12] Ibid p17 [13] Ibid p17 [14] Ibid p17 [15] Ibid p17 [16] Ibid p17 [17] Ibid p19 [18] Ibid p19 [19] Ibid p20 [20] Ibid p17 [21] Ibid p24 [22] Ibid p24 [23] Ibid p24 [24] Ibid p29 [25] Ibid p29 [26] Ibid p30 [27] Jeremy Waldron, THE CORE OF THE CASE AGAINST JUDICIAL REVIEW (2006) 115 Yale L J 1346 [28] Jeremy Waldron, THE CORE OF THE CASE AGAINST JUDICIAL REVIEW (2006) 115 Yale L J 1346 p5 [29] Ibid p5 [30] Ibid p5 [31] Ibid p7 [32] Ibid p14 [33] Ibid p14 [34] Ibid p14 [35] Ibid p15 [36] Ibid p23 [37] Ibid p23 [38] Ibid p15 [39] Ibid p15 [40] Ibid p18 [41] Ibid p18 [42] Ibid p18 [43] Ibid p18 [44] Ibid p18 [45] Ibid p19 [46] Ibid p19 [47] Ibid p19 [48] Ibid p19 [49] Ibid p19 [50] Ibid p20 [51] Ibid p20 [52] Ibid p20 [53] Ibid p21 [54] Ibid p21 [55] Ibid p21 [56] Ibid p21 [57] Ibid p20 [58] Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) [59] Ibid p21

Tissue types Essays -- essays research papers

Biology Assignment 1. Tissue types and their properties! Body tissues! The four core types of tissues in the body are; epithelial, connective, muscle and nervous. Each is designed for specific functions. Epithelial Tissues! Epithelial tissues are spread out all over the body. They cover all surfaces and also line body cavities and hollow organs. These tissues are also the major tissue in glands. Epithelial tissues have many functions including secretion, protection, excretion, diffusion, absorption, filtration and sensory reception. Epithelial tissues have one surface free which is not connected to other cells; this is because the epithelial cells form linings and surfaces. The opposite side of the tissue is attached to connective tissue. Between these two surfaces are cells packed tightly together. The shapes that the epithelial cells may be are: - sqaumous, cubodial or columnar they can also be arranged in either singular or multiple layers. Simple cuboidal – found in glandular tissue and kidney tubules. Simple columnar – line stomach and intestines. Pseudostratified columnar – lines some of the respiratory tract and some of the male reproductive tract. Muscle Tissue. Muscle tissues include cells which boast the ability to shorten or contract to permit body parts to move. This type of cellular tissue also has a vast supply of blood vessels. Like the epithelial tissue the muscle tissue is also surrounded by connective tissue. Muscle tissue contains con...

Romanian Adoption :: Romania Adoption Adopted

Romanian Adoption Abstract During my research on Romanian Adoption, I first believed that the law had no relevance and was just a stupid law so that Romania could get into the European Union. However, during my research I saw that Romania did have the children at interest but the law was too extreme. The law has both upsides and downsides to it. The most effective and persuasive evidence that I have found is the letter from Emma Nicholson. This quote is pretty strong: â€Å"Adoption is the giving of a family to a child and not a child to a family.† This statement was made by the Stratsburg Court when they ruled in favor of the two Romanian girls who wished to stay in Romania but was adopted against their wishes. Even though I do not agree with Emma Nicholson completely, she is very persuasive and she makes very strong claims. Emma Nicholson does not live in Romania but she is very concerned about the children of Romania. Since she doesn’t live in Romania she doesn’t have too much concern for the country which makes her seem she is more for the children. I understand that Romania does not want to be a â€Å"baby producer† for other countries and I understand that European Union was threatening Romania about adoptions and I also understand that child trafficking is a problem in Romania. I do believe that Romania has interest for the child but the law is too harsh and some exceptions should be made to the law. The process of the assignment was tiring. Although there was not much more to do then research, pulling all the research together into one cohesive paper was tiring. My most valuable research tool was the internet. With my topic there were not any books. Most of my research was done on the database search on the Penrose Library. But I did have a lot of research through the US embassy and Joint Council. During my research I learned a lot about the history of Romania. I learned that the orphan problem in Romania was because of the Communist Regime and the Dictator.

Consumer Promotion Essay

I expect this report to fulfill the requirements of my internship program (BBA 449) at Unilever Bangladesh Limited. I have put in my best efforts to make this report a success. However, I am sure that this report could have been a more superior one, if it had not been my first time to conduct such a relational study. However this has obviously been a great source of learning for me to conduct similar research studies in future. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for your guidance and suggestions in preparing the report. I will be happy to provide any further explanation regarding this research report if necessary. Thanking You. Sincerely yours, Muhammad Mashfiq Huq ID# 0131001 Acknowledgements In preparing this report a considerable amount of thinking and informational inputs from various sources were involved. I express my sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed towards making this research report possible. Major contributions were received from officials at Unilever Bangladesh Limited and Independent University, Bangladesh. First of all I would like to thank the authorities of Unilever Bangladesh Limited to give me the prized opportunity to do my internship at their prestigious organization. The experience and knowledge gained at Unilever Bangladesh Limited helped me immensely to address and understand all the elements related to my report, which I otherwise would not have understood so well. I would like to specially thank my supervisor at Unilever Bangladesh Limited, Mr Rajeeb Bhattacharjee, Product Group Manager for Wheel, for his absolute support, co-operation and encouragement that he extended to me from the very first day. In spite of having a very busy schedule, he made sure in every way that I acquire the best possible exposure and knowledge during my tenure as an intern under him. My sincere gratitude goes to my internship supervisor Mr. Muzahid Akbar, for encouraging me at the very first place, to undertake such a relational study to fulfill my internship requirements. He gave all the time and attention, which I needed to complete my research and compile my report in as much orderly way as possible. Last but not the least I would like to thank the respondents of my survey, for sparing the time to fill out the questionnaires. This research would not have been possible without their valuable inputs. Correlation matrix of the study variables 3. Stepwise regression on Product Quality Perceptions 4. Stepwise regression on Brand Loyalty 13 15 16 17 Executive Summary This paper is directed towards exploring the relationship between consumer promotion, price perception, product quality perceptions and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. Through sizeable literature review and discussions it is known that there is considerable correlation that exists among the study variables mentioned above. The data sampling was conducted on the customers of different brands of detergents. A structured questionnaire was used to find out the views of people regarding consumer promotion in detergent brands, price perceptions about the promoted brands of detergent, product quality perceptions about those brands and also to find out about brand loyalty in the detergent markets. A correlation analysis and a stepwise regression analysis were run on the collected data to analytically explore the relations and their extent. It was found that consumer promotion is positively correlated with the product quality perceptions and brand loyalty of those brands. Meaning that if a person views the consumer promotion positively, then his/ her perception of the product quality about a promoting brand will be proportionately high. It also means that the chances of the same person being brand loyal towards that brand would also be high. There is a positive correlation of price perception with perceived quality and brand loyalty. According to this, if the perceived prices of the promoted brands are fair then it would have positive effects on product quality perception and brand loyalty of that brand. It has also been found that product quality perceptions about promoted brands are positively correlated with brand loyalty of those brands. Overall consumer promotions are expected to give positive results with the people who have positive views about consumer promotion and who can be influenced by promotional efforts. So while deciding about consumer promotion it should be thought in advance that who is the consumer promotion activity aimed at. This way wastage of large amounts of money can be avoided by spending on ineffective consumer promotion activity. Every effort should be given to make the consumers think that the prices of the promoted brand are fair, even when there is no promotional activity is undertaken. Though there is a tendency in the detergent market to provide frequent promotional offers, yet the perceived quality should in no way go down because there is a good possibility that the brand loyalty would also go down. Introduction Bangladesh has a detergent market of about 8. 8 billion taka of which Unilever occupies a share of 30% making it the market leader. The major competitor brands in the detergent market for Unilever are Keya, Chaka and Tibet. To fight this steep competition the above mentioned companies constantly run consumer promotion in hope to sell more than the respective competitors. Although this strategy worked well at first but with the passage of time, the intense consumer promotions have done little to prevent Unilever from loosing shares to its competitors. In 2004, Wheel, Unilever’s largest detergent brand ran about nine consumer promotions where as in 2005 it ran no consumer promotions at all. Consumer promotion over all is a very expensive affair. Unilever has the largest brands of detergent and so the cost of providing a consumer promotion offer is also large by the same proportion. Besides the competitor brands are known to involve in some unfair practices. They pay a very low wage rate to their labours so overhead costs are low, they under invoice their imported raw materials so that they can evade import taxes and other duties, so they save a lot of money in the process. They can then utilize this money for consumer promotion and other competitive activities that can earn them a higher share of the market. Therefore it is imperative that consumer promotions and other dependant elements have to be studied, to make sure that if a consumer promotion activity is implemented it is a highly effective one. This way, precious monetary resources have the minimum chances of being wasted. To understand the competition in the detergent market better price perceptions and product quality perceptions about the brands of detergent on promotion are also considered being worth studying. To look at market share issues, the brand loyalty element should also be explored. Statement of the Problem There are many companies that are operating to serve the detergent markets; as a result the competition has heightened. Consumer promotions are being heavily used in the detergent markets to increase sales of each available brand. Consumer promotions, when implemented use up a lot monetary resources. Failure to implement the consumer promotion activity effectively may result in major loss of money. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between consumer promotions, price perceptions with product quality perceptions and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. Research Timeline 2005 2005 2005 2005 2005 October November November 20 November 28 December 6 Research proposal writing and literature rivew Data collection (surveys etc. ) Data analysis and interpretation Draft submission of research report Submission of research report Limitations There are vast amounts of information and write-ups relating to the topics of this research that are present in the internet and various other sources, but it was not possible to gain access to many such information. So missing out some important aspect of the discussed topics can be a possibility. There is a major time constraint in doing the research work and preparing the report, a much larger pool of information could have been dealt with if there was more time to analyze them. A minimal sample size will be used for this research; if a larger sample was taken into consideration the research would have been more accurate. The survey will be conducted in Dhaka city which could be a possible reason for the people’s mind set to be similar and survey results not being very different from each other, the results could be different if people from outside metropolitan cities were brought under consideration. Review of Literature Consumer Promotion Sales promotions as we know is a very important component of marketing promotion. Consumer promotion (e. g. coupons, samples, contests, sweepstakes, and price packs) is a part of sales promotion that is targeted towards the final buyers of consumer products (Kotler and Armstrong, 2002). There can be various types of consumer sales promotion some are incentive based while others are communicative in nature (Kotler et al. , 1999; Tellis, 1998). The incentive based promotions can be price – oriented promotion or non price-oriented promotion. According to Britannica (article 21279) advertising presents a reason to buy a product but consumer promotion offers a short-term incentive to purchase. Consumer promotions often attract brand switchers (those who are not loyal to a specific brand) who are looking primarily for low price and good value. Thus, especially in markets where products are highly similar, consumer promotions can cause a short-term increase in sales. Abraham and Lodish (1987) stated that many consumer goods categories sold 90% of their volume on special deals which is a result of consumer promotion. Consumer promotion is thought to be a tool that helps manufacturers and retailers to achieve their objectives of generating sales (Alvarez and Casielles, 2004). They also stated that the influence of sales promotions on the consumer will also depend on the consumer’s characteristics Price Perceptions According to Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) price perception is about how customers see a product’s price, as high, low or fair. They also stated that perception of price unfairness affect consumers’ perceptions of value and ultimately their willingness to buy a product. According to Moore et al. (2003) years of research concerned with price show both positive and negative perceptions serve as marketplace cues. Several studies have also portrayed the role of price perceptions as an attribute to success (Jiang and Rosenbloom, 2004). When the price perceptions are high this is a sign of positive quality, prestige and status (Moore et al. , 2003). The concept of reference price is related to price perceptions. Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) stated that reference price is the price the consumers use as a basis for comparison in judging another price. It is through reference price that the price perception of a brand of product is formed. When the consumer plans to buy a product, he or she will judge prices comparatively with the reference prices in order to determine whether the price is acceptable or not (Alvarez and Casielles, 2004). They also stated that, a result of consumers’ comparison between the prices and the reference price, potential losses and gains emerge. The consumer perceives a gain when the reference price is higher than the observed price. If the observed price is higher than the reference price, the consumer experiences a loss. Product Quality Perceptions Product quality perceptions represent consumer judgment about the superiority of a product, which the user-based approaches think is essential in describing quality (Forker et al. , 1996). Bundles of attributes together represent a certain level of quality, which therefore provide utility to the customer (Snoj et al. , 2004). The benefits are measured through a perceived level of quality (level of working superiority), a bundle of attributes in comparison with the consumer’s expectations. Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) stated consumers often judge the quality of a product on the basis of a variety of informational cues that they associate with the product. They also stated that the cues can either be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic cues are related to the physical characteristics of the product itself, like size, colour, flavour, aroma etc. The extrinsic cues on the other hand are related to elements that are put together with the actual product like packaging, pricing, advertising etc. The perceived quality of products and services is central to the theory that strong brands add value to consumers’ purchase evaluations (Low and Lamb, 2000). Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty is the ultimate desired outcome of consumer learning (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2004). According to Rawly and Dawes (1999) brand loyalty is the likelihood of positive attitudes and behaviours of consumers towards a particular brand, this could amount to repeat purchase and positive word of mouth. They also stated that a loyal customer base is an asset for a company and it reduces the need for seeking new customers. It is also a known fact that retaining current customers requires less money and effort than getting new ones. The strongest measure of brand value is the loyalty a company produces among customers (Aaker, 1996). According to Quester and Lim (2003) brand loyalty is known to have two components, namely attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. Behavioural loyalty is related to consistent purchase behaviour of a specific brand; it is the consumer’s overt purchase behaviour (Dikempe et al. , 1997) while attitudinal loyalty refers to a highly favourable attitude towards a particular brand. Rowley and Dawes (1999) stated that to understand brand loyalty better the following components of attitude model should be considered: 1. Cognitive component – associated with a â€Å"rational† decision making based on informational determinants. 2. Affective component – associated with emotions and feelings about the product or service. 3. Conative components – associated with a behavioral disposition. Relation between consumer promotion and product quality perceptions A primary reason for consumer promotion is to give an impression of greater quality and appeal to the potential customers (Alvarez and Casielles, 2004). Sales promotion influence the relative weighting of the utility factors and extends the perceived quality (Groth and Dye, 1999). Sales promotions can offer many benefits, the most obvious being monetary savings, and also motivation to perceive higher quality, convenience, value (Quock and Uncles, 2005). The way a consumer promotion is framed is likely to effect consumers’ perceptions of price, quality, value, and purchase intentions (Munger and Grewal, 2001). Ong (1997) on the other hand stated that there is a danger of unfavorable consumer perception as a result of consumer promotion activity like bonus packs etc. Consumers tend to think that at the normal price or offering they over pay for a given level of quality, so their quality perception is affected. Relationship between price perception and product quality perceptions The more quality a product possesses the more utility it contains and the more its price should be in the market (Sjolander, 1992). According to Sjolander (1992) it is very much expected that there is a very strong positive relation between perceived price and perceived quality. Perceived quality explains a considerable portion of the variance in the price the consumers are willing to pay for different brands (Low and Lamb, 2000). Unfavorable price perceptions may have a direct effect on customer intention to switch to a different brand, because the consumers might think that the price does not match quality (Jiang and Rosenbloom, 2004). Companies sometimes attempt to appeal to uninformed consumers by using high prices from start as a signal of high quality, with the belief that if they perceive the price of their products to be high then they automatically perceive the product quality to be high as well (Kalita et al. , 2004). Relationship between consumer promotion and brand loyalty According to Alvarez and Casielles (2004) promotions can have, as an effect, the consumer acquiring a brand that he or she would not otherwise try. They also stated that categories of products whose buyers are very loyal, consumer promotion activity like coupons etc that reward the loyalty could have a bigger effect. Srinivasan and Anderson (1998) acknowledged that many times sales promotions are used by new entrants to break consumers’ brand loyalty toward established brands. In the short run, established brands may be able to ignore sales promotions from new brands without serious loss of sales. Over the longer run, however, unless proper defensive and counter-offensive strategies are developed and implemented, established brands can gradually lose their loyal customer base. Dawes (2004) on the other hand stated that repeat buying rates that buying a brand on promotion decreases the likelihood of a subsequent purchase of that brand. Relationship between price perception and brand loyalty Alvarez and Casielles (2004) stated that when the consumer perceives a loss, the utility that the provides (brand) will diminish, and with it the likelihood of purchase will also go down. If, in contrast, the consumer perceives a gain, he or she will be more inclined to purchase the brand. Price perceptions are expected play an increased role in determining both post-purchase satisfaction and brand loyalty (Jiang and Rosenbloom, 2004). According to representative research higher perceived prices leads to expectation of higher perceived quality and value, in turn lead to higher levels of satisfaction of customers, greater levels of customer loyalty and retention and to a greater success of organizations (Snoj et al. , 2004). Relationship between quality perception and brand loyalty According to Ruyter and Wetzels (1997) the perceived quality is often viewed as a pre-requisite for loyalty and that perceived quality contributes positively to increase loyalty. They also stated that the influence of quality on preference loyalty generally varies per industry. Boulding et al. (1993) found positive relationships between quality and repurchase intentions and willingness to recommend to others. Because product quality perceptions influence value, efforts of marketers have focused on improving product quality in order to enhance perceptions of value, and consequently purchase intentions leading to loyalty (Grewal and Munger, 2001). The loyal customers, who gave indication that they would return, will be the internal level for managers to improve their quality in order to increase customer loyalty (Bowen and Chen, 2001). Research Question The following questions have to be addressed for the study: 1. Is there any significant relationship between consumer promotion and product quality perception in the detergent market of Bangladesh? 2. Is there any significant relationship between price perception and product quality perception in the detergent market of Bangladesh? 3. Is there any significant relationship between consumer promotion and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh? 4. Is there any significant relationship between price perception and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh? 5. Is there any significant relationship between product quality perception and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh? Hypothesis The hypothesis that can be derived from the research questions are: 1. There is significant relationship between consumer promotion and product quality perception in the detergent market of Bangladesh. 2. There is significant relationship between price perception and product quality perception in the detergent market of Bangladesh. There is significant relationship between consumer promotion and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. . There is significant relationship between price perception and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. 5. There is significant relationship between product quality perception and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. Development of Conceptual Framework †¢ Consumer Promotion †¢ Price Perception †¢ Product Quality Perception Figure 1 . Model 1: Conceptual Framework of research variables †¢ Consumer Promotion †¢ Price Perception †¢ Product Quality Perception †¢ Brand Loyalty Figure 2. Model 2: Conceptual Framework of research variables Methodology Research design The illustrations of the conceptual framework model 1 and 2 (Figure 1 and 2) above gives a visual idea of the relationship and structure that exists among the study variables. The main purpose of the research is to assess the existing correlation among the variables. This research is about exploring and understanding the relationship that exists between consumer promotion, price perception with product quality perceptions and brand loyalty in the detergent market of Bangladesh. Here in the first model (figure 1) the independent variables are assigned to be consumer promotions and price perceptions. The dependant variable on the other hand is product quality perception. In the second model (figure 2) the independent variables are consumer promotions, price perceptions and product quality perceptions, in this case the dependant variable is brand loyalty. So the researcher is attempting to find out, if any changes in the independent variable have a changing effect on the dependant ones as well, thereby proving that a relationship exists. The researcher also tried to find out the degree to which a change in the dependant variables has an impact on the independent ones, in other words the degree of relation is also explored here. Therefore the correlation study was chosen for this research. Sampling method The required data for this research was collected from the regular customers of detergents. There was no particular sample frame available for this research so convenience sampling was used, as it is also the cheapest and the easiest methods of sampling. The sample frame for this research consisted of shoppers (mainly house wives) at different shopping centres and stores etc, and also the parents of school children were included. In the shopping centres the researcher surveyed the people who seemed to be the most appropriate respondent for this kind of survey. The parents of kindergarten students, who spend time waiting for their kids outside the schools, were also surveyed, because they usually have a lot of time to spare and can give valuable inputs. Due to time constraints the survey was conducted in Dhaka city only. Over all there were about a 104 people who participated in the survey. Survey instrument A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire consists of different parts to gather information on the different variables under considerations. The questionnaire is the best instrument for the survey in this case because, for a correlation study the sample sizes have to be very large as it is quantitative in nature, so surveying so many people with personal interviews or observations would be next to impossible. With questionnaires, no responses of the respondents can be missed out. It gives more time to the respondents to think and then give the answers. And it is a quicker and cheaper way to conduct the survey. Questionnaires can be conducted in any environment, with minimum influence of the outside environment. Questionnaires also have the advantage of keeping the personal details of the respondents confidential. A sample of the questionnaire has been attached in the appendix.